Megan’s Comments (group member since Dec 30, 2017)

Megan’s comments from the EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club group.

I second The Outsiders

I second Sapiens

I second Frankenstein and The Shining

I second the haunting of hill house

I second Sonething Wicked

I second Middlemarch, Pillars of the Earth and The Stand

I agree with Lana that Jane Austen was promoting the importance of balance of sense and sensibility. Passion is important, but so it common sense and moderation. With Elinor, I think she really brought out that someone can feel very deeply and be quiet about it, that it's a mistake assuming someone has no feelings just because they're not passionately loud about it. I think both Elinor and Marianne grow in the book, Elinor learns to show her feelings a bit more when called for and Marianne learns there is a time for circumspection. Their relationship grew when Elinor stopped keeping everything to herself and let Marianne in. When I read this as a teenager, it was my favorite Austen novel because Elinor and Marianne reminded me of me and my sister. It's obvious they love each other deeply even with such different personalities. Margaret doesn't get a lot of play in the book, but I love how she's portrayed in the 90's movie with Emma Thompson(that's my favorite adaptation of the book so far)

I always feel a bit sorry for Willoughby, since he really did love Marianne, but he behaved so badly, he didn't deserve her. I'm glad she learns to appreciate Col Brandon at the end.

I like Edward a lot too, it's always nice to have a shy, socially awkward hero who learns to stand up for himself in spite of lots of familial pressure. Lucy was a cringeworthy social climber and it's poetic justice that she ends up married to his brother. It's frustrating but unsurprising that she ends up his mother's favorite, but they're really very similar, and Elinor and Edward have created a happy life for themselves with so they don't really care.

I love all the sly social commentary Austen makes, with Elinor and Marianne's selfish brother and his heartless, conceited wife, the jolly Sir John and his sister with the snide husband she thinks is hilarious, and his mom is great, although the teasing would get annoying after awhile.

This was the first Jane Austen novel I read back in high school and it was a joy to read it again.

I used the wrong R word, should have said “post-Reconstruction” not “Reformation”

I was really impressed with the writing, and the concept of the Underground Railroad actually being a subterranean railroad was intriguing. I knew beforehand that all Cora's stops correlated with different time periods in history, so it didn't throw me too much. It was interesting to try and figure out which time periods and historical events Whitehead was referencing, from 19th century Eugenics and the 20th century Tuskegee Syphilis experiments to the white supremacist terrorism of the Reformation and the genocidal policies of the Western expansion. It was a powerful narrative about the horrors underpinning US history. I really wanted Cora to find some peace or happiness at then end. The destruction of the farm was so tragic. Going West into the forest was sort of hopeful, in an exhausted kind of way.

I second Flowers for Algernon, Hunchback, Villette, Laura and Siddartha

I second Neverwhere

I second The Bluest Eye and The Color Purple

I absolutely loved this book too! It was one of my favorite reads of 2019, and I was hoping to reread it with you all but didn’t have time. I think the author captured the flavor of all the Ancient Greek stories while giving them a modem flare.

I second Siddartha and Gulliver’s Travels

I also second The Sand Child and Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

I second A Monster Calls

I second Dark Matter, Pride and Prejudice and Neverwhere

I’ve been meaning to read this forever, so I’m excited it’s this month’s pic! I should be able to start reading soon.

I read books on my phone too, usually when I’m stuck in a waiting room and bringing an actual book is a hassle. Reading too much on my phone is hard on my eyes. Using a larger ereader is better, but I still have less stamina reading off an electronic device than a physical book. I love the smell of most books too (some of them are too old and musty) and prefer actual books, but there are a lot of books I can only access as ebooks thru the library.