The Book Challenge discussion

2010 seems like a great year to read 10 classics! My goal will be one per month, but some of them are really long so planning for only 10 gives me a bit longer for a few of them if needed. Also, five of the classics I will read this year are on the Lost Literature List. I will post dates when finished and reviews once I have read:

-Emma by Jane Austen - finished Feb. 4
-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - finished April 24
-Dracula by Bram Stoker - finished July 10
-The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - finished May 30
-Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - finished July 4

And five classics from the Lost Lit List:
-Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - finished Aug. 22
-The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne - finally finished April 29!
-The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - finished July 30
-Moby Dick by Herman Melville - finally finished Nov. 1!
-The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky - finished Dec. 26!!!!!

Finished: 10/10!!!!

Emma by Jane Austen. 4 stars.

I read Pride and Prejudice when I was in high school, and I'm sorry to say that I didn't like it much. I felt like it was a lot of boring conversation with nothing much ever happening. As a result of this, I never read any more of Jane Austen's books. When I joined GoodReads, I could see that many, many people have read and loved her books - many people who have read and loved LOTS of the same books that I have. So I started to feel like it was time for me to give Jane Austen another chance. I'm glad I did! I thoroughly enjoyed Emma. Now I just have to figure out which Jane Austen I want to read next. (I might have to swap out some of my other 10 classics this year for some Jane Austen titles!)

I listened to the Librivox recording of Emma by Elizabeth Klett, which is VERY well done. I will be listening to many more of her Librivox recordings.

Next up: The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. I'm also listening to this one from Librivox, unfortunately not narrated by Elizabeth Klett.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. 3.5 stars.

I didn't realize how little I knew about this book before reading it. I'd heard of soma, and I knew I was reading a classic dystopic novel. Other than that, I was unprepared for the details of the "brave new world" created by Aldous Huxley. In the beginning, it all just made me sad and horrified - especially for those poor children who are conditioned using things like alarm bells, loud explosions, constant movement, and electric shock! I wasn't any less horrified by the adults who live in this world. They consider the words "mother" and "father" to be smutty and have absolutely no idea about the concept of "living with a family" and "home." They believe that "everyone belongs to everyone else" and that when life becomes the least bit difficult, or just for a "vacation," take some soma and everything will be better.

I can see why this is a classic, though. It's definitely a book that makes you think. And some of the attitudes of people in that world are a little too close to our world for comfort. While I didn't love this book, I wouldn't be averse to reading it again sometime - especially if I had the chance to discuss it with others in a reading group or a class. There are a lot of possible topics here for discussion.

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. 3 stars.

I never would have finished this if it wasn't on the Lost Lit List. It was just too long, not enough happened that I cared about, and I didn't care about the characters all that much. Herbert was probably my favorite.

The beginning was FAR too unbelievable. Why did Verne make such a big deal of them having absolutely nothing - one match, one grain of corn, a sharp edge they created by using the dog's collar? From that and the resources of the island, they create huge pots, iron-tipped spears, and a pickax! All in a VERY short period of time - with no problems whatsoever. Even Brian (of Gary Paulsen's Hatchet) had his hatchet and still had trouble collecting enough wood to keep his fire going. These guys collected enough wood to fire a kiln with just their bare hands. I kept telling myself, "Fantasy. Think of it as a fantasy." But it wasn't written that way. Verne really asked me to suspend my disbelief - but I wasn't enjoying it enough to go along easily.

There are a lot of Lost connections. As I was listening to this, I asked myself why I was so bothered with some of the things when the same exact thing didn't bother me on Lost? For example, I kept thinking, "Why don't they explore the entire island? Maybe there are people around on the other side and they just don't know because they haven't bothered to go looking." But then I never thought that on Lost. I think one reason is that Lost quickly got busy with all sorts of mysterious and unexplainable yet very interesting things happening while these guys were quickly making pots and tools and bricks for their mansion in an underground cavern. In fact, these guys kept themselves so busy, they hardly even noticed the mysterious happenings on their island until they had been there for more than two years, which is two-thirds of the way through the 750+ page book.

One similarity to Lost that I thought was fun was trying to send a message for help with a bird. Of course it didn't work on Lost OR on the Mysterious Island.

On the plus side, I did learn about some animals I'd never heard of such as the dugong and the onager. And I did start enjoying it more towards the end. Some exciting things did happen. Although, I have to say that the part with Captain Nemo was much too long coming and was over MUCH too quickly! I'm giving this three stars since it did get better as it went along, but for much of it I wanted to give it two or maybe 2.5 stars.

(I listened to the Librivox recording by Mark F. Smith. He does a nice job and has a pleasant voice.)

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. 4.5 stars.

An engrossing story of love, betrayal, suffering, and revenge. I can see why this is such an enduring classic! Alexandre Dumas immediately caught me up in his story of young Edmond Dantès who seems to have everything going for him - the love of his father, the hand of the woman he loves, and the respect of those he works for. But due to the jealousy of evil men, he is framed, arrested, and imprisoned in the Chateau d'If. The story of Edmond's life in prison, eventual escape, and quest for revenge is LONG and seems to wander needlessly into other storylines at times. Yet all of the threads are eventually (because this book is so LONG!) tied up neatly. Despite the length of the story and the many characters to keep track of from before Edmond's Chateau d'If period and then again after (some with multiple names and identities), I was only lost a few times with the "Wait! What? Who is this? What's going on?" and mostly was just carried along with the story. If you are looking for an adventurous historical classic that tells a great story for well over a thousand pages, then this is it!

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. 5 stars.

Why do I find it so much harder to write a review for a book that I really loved than for a book I really didn't? I also have a harder time writing a review for a book that is very well known and has had a lot written about it over the years. What could I have to say that would in any way add to what others have said? Especially when I just keep wanting to say things like "I loved this book!" "It's awesome, amazing, mysterious, and frustrating!" "Everybody should read this book!" and "Why didn't someone make me read this book sooner?"

Well, that's how I feel about Rebecca. It's another 5-star, well-written, thank goodness I finally read it, unforgettable book that I have Goodreads to thank for finally putting it on my "read" list. Although there are other opinions out there. A reviewer at Audible.com warns: "...don't buy this book. Don't read it. Don't listen to it. There is still time to turn back untouched.... I think this book was the first time I strayed into condoning or excusing murder. I sided with the killer. Do you hear? I sided with the killer! My moral compass spun free of all restrain. Daphne du Maurier has that effect on the reader. Take care or your compass will spin uncontrollable too. Don't buy this book. Don't listen to it. Stay free!" :) There's more, but I'll let you go find it. (I hope he doesn't mind if I quote him. I couldn't find a way to contact him. I would like to invite him to Goodreads!) So anyhow, despite the warning, I think you should all read Rebecca if you haven't yet! And if you have, post your comments here because I'm dying to discuss that creepy Mrs. Danvers - and the ending! The ending! Now I need to watch the Hitchcock movie.

Dracula by Bram Stoker. 4 stars.

I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did! This definitely deserves its status as an enduring classic. It's so well-written and timeless that I never felt like I was reading an "old" book - despite its original publish date of 1897! There were a few places where the story dragged and felt a bit wordy, but for the most part I was pulled along wanting to know the ultimate fate of Dracula and all the other characters. I thought it was appropriately suspenseful, yet never over-the-top scary. Although I was a bit disappointed with the ending. It all seemed a bit too easy after everything that had happened.

My print edition has an introduction by Holly Black. She said when she was nine, her mom told her Dracula was "the most frightening book" she'd ever read. She told her a bit about it, which gave Holly nightmares. She was 13 when she finally read it herself. She expected to be frightened, but was actually captivated. She says, "Stoker is masterful in evoking a sense of unsettling menace," and also that he "powerfully captures the allure of the supernatural." I think "unsettling menace" is a great description for both Dracula the character and the book.

Note: It's great having so many options with a classic like this. I read some as an ebook, some using my print copy, and also listened to much of it in audio format. This was fabulous to listen to as an audio book, which I downloaded from Librivox. There are multiple readers, but each read only their character's part. Some of the voices were better than others, but overall I enjoyed listening to it a lot.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. 1.5 stars.

I had been warned not to read this, but I didn't listen. It's on the Lost literature list, and I was looking for a couple of shorter classics to include in this challenge. Well, I should have listened. Yes, it's short. But it FELT long. I think listening to it in audio format also didn't help. Listening to it just seemed to drag it out even longer for me.

The only way I could get through it was to imagine that the main lady was in an insane asylum. The two children were part of her hallucinations. They didn't feel real to me anyhow. The uncle was the doctor who initially put her in the asylum. That's why he never wanted her to contact him again. The housekeeper was a nurse in the asylum, and the two people she kept seeing were actually other inmates in the asylum with her. (Buffy fans will recognize the idea.) Once I started listening with that idea, I didn't mind the story so much. It still felt long and a bit boring, but at least I could listen. How can this be a classic that people enjoy and revisit? Somehow I missed something somewhere. Unless that lady is really in an insane asylum, and then I'm on board. :) Although I don't want to ever revisit this book! 1.5 stars

Note: The Lost connections here are very minimal and have almost nothing to do with the plot of the book. With my spin on the story there is a stronger Buffy connection than Lost. Oh well, at least I can check this one off my list. My next classic will be another shorter one, Of Mice and Men, before I start the VERY long The Brothers Karamazov.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. 4 stars.

This is another classic that definitely deserves its status as a classic. The story is timeless, yet firmly rooted in its setting. It's so well-written that just the writing is enough of a reason to recommend reading it. The characters are memorable and incredibly real, although not necessarily people I would want to meet in real life. They hope for the same things we all want - a roof over our head we can call our own and people to share it with. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, right up until the end. And isn't that another mark of a good classic? You might see the end coming, but it doesn't pull any punches or let you off easy. And for such a short book, I can think of all sorts of topics that could be discussed. No wonder it is popular for high school literature classes.

For the Lost fans out there, this is a title on the Lost Literature List. Sawyer is seen reading it in jail, and in a later episode says it is his favorite book. Also, Ben quotes from it once when talking to Sawyer: "A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. It don't make any difference who the guy is, so long as he's with you. I tell ya...I tell ya, a guy gets too lonely, and he gets sick." Also, from the book, Lennie is looking forward to raising rabbits, and rabbits play a large part in the early seasons of Lost. I need to watch again some of the earlier Lost episodes that connect with this book now that I've read it!

Note: This does contain some strong language.

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. 2 stars.

** spoiler alert **

It seems to me that Melville decided to write a book that was "all things whale" - and I'm talking ALL things. Moby Dick is everything you ever wanted to know about whales and MANY, MANY, MANY more things you didn't. This contains more nonfiction information than actual fiction story. He should have written two books - one fiction and one nonfiction - so that I wouldn't have to suffer through all of the minutiae about whales when all I really wanted to read was a classic adventure story about Captain Ahab and Moby Dick! Finding THAT story is like hunting for a needle in a haystack - a haystack that goes ON and ON for hundreds and hundreds and HUNDREDS of pages! While this isn't the longest book I've ever read, it definitely FELT like the longest book I've ever read.

In fact, now that I've read this, I take exception with what I've always heard that this book is ABOUT. I even take exception with the title! Shouldn't that be called a SPOILER?? Because the part about M ...more It seems to me that Melville decided to write a book that was "all things whale" - and I'm talking ALL things. Moby Dick is everything you ever wanted to know about whales and MANY, MANY, MANY more things you didn't. This contains more nonfiction information than actual fiction story. He should have written two books - one fiction and one nonfiction - so that I wouldn't have to suffer through all of the minutiae about whales when all I really wanted to read was a classic adventure story about Captain Ahab and Moby Dick! Finding THAT story is like hunting for a needle in a haystack - a haystack that goes ON and ON for hundreds and hundreds and HUNDREDS of pages! While this isn't the longest book I've ever read, it definitely FELT like the longest book I've ever read.

In fact, now that I've read this, I take exception with what I've always heard that this book is ABOUT. I even take exception with the title! Shouldn't that be called a SPOILER?? Because the part about Moby Dick doesn't come until THE VERY, VERY END of HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of pages about other things - most of it VERY BORING! I'm very glad that I finally made it all the way through this book so that I WILL NEVER feel like I need to READ IT AGAIN!

All that said, there were some good parts and with some editing (LOTS OF EDITING - cutting out whole chapters at a time), this could be the exciting adventure story it's always made out to be. I listened to the Librivox audio version read by Stewart Wills who does a great job. I can tell he likes the story, and that did help me while listening to it. There are some very beautifully-written passages that were very nice to listen to. But overall, I can only go as high as two stars for this book. And now I'll never again have to wonder what all the fuss is about!

This is on the Lost literature list, and I have to say that wondering and waiting for the end of Moby Dick felt similar to waiting for the end of Lost. Was the end going to be worth all the effort and waiting? Was the end going to be good enough? Was I going to feel let down after devoting so much time and energy? One main difference, though - with Lost, I enjoyed the journey and trusted that I really would like the ending. I only enjoyed some parts of Moby Dick and I was never quite sure that the ending was going to be worth it. I'm still not sure.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. 4 stars.

While I was reading this, I kept wondering what rating I would give it. Is this a three-star book? Four star? Two star? Did I like it at all? Why was I making myself read this? Sometimes I found it fascinating and other times I was just bored with it. It felt like it took forever to read, yet when I finally got to the end, I wanted it to keep going!

I didn't expect to find so many pervasive themes such as family and religion. I can see why this book is often studied in literature classes. If I were asked to write a paper on The Brothers Karamazov, I would analyze the father relationships in the story, such as those between Fyodor Pavlovich Karamozov and his three sons, between Ilusha and his father, Captain Snegiryov, and between Alyosha and Father Zosima.

I felt that the first half of the book was particularly slow and drawn-out. We meet most of the characters and get LOTS of detail on their characters, their history, their place in the storyline, and their relationships with other characters. This information helps out later on, but it felt like Dostoyevsky took a long time getting to the actual meat of the story. Once we got to the murder (or patricide), I became much more interested in all of the details and the story moved along a little bit more quickly - although just a bit! Dostoyevsky really likes to take his time revealing things.

This is on the Lost literature list, which is one of the reasons I chose to read it. The themes of fathers and patricide are also important themes in Lost. Also, The Brothers Karamazov was the book Locke gave to Ben Linus (then Henry Gale) when he was held captive in The Swan. Ben asks, "You don't have any Stephen King?"

Now that I've finished the book, I'm still pondering what rating to give it. It wasn't difficult reading, but it was slow. I was interested in the characters, but once I stopped reading I wasn't always that anxious to start again another time. But then, as I mentioned, I wasn't ready for it to be over when I got to the end! That REALLY surprised me! So, while it hasn't been my favorite book in the world, I did find it interesting to read and I don't regret the time I spent with it. I wouldn't mind reading another book by Fyodor Dostoyevsky sometime. I would give it 3.5 if I could, but I'm going to round up to 4 stars because of how I felt when I got to the end.

Some personal statistics for this book:

* This is the first LONG book I've read entirely on my Kindle.

* This was book #10 in my "10 Classics in 2010" challenge!