ALWINN and baby reading for 2014

I thought I already started my thread here so here it is. Im going to try and do alot better job of keeping up with this thread this year. I have my 3 month old grandson most of the time but he is a sleeper even if I dont get as much reading in as I want too I still get in a fair amount. So far this year I have been really good and have spang for two title on my kindle. But I know that will not last very long. So Im starting out with Bleak House and going from there.

Welcome back!

1. Agnes Gray by Anne Bronte. This is a re-read for me but I just need a light easy read. Its still a 4 star for me.

Oh, I haven't read that one, but it's certainly on my TBR list!

2. Bouvard and Pecuchet by Gustave Flaubert. I have to admit very disappointed in this book. I loved Madame Bovary but this was a real let down. Two older clerks that met in a park and notice they have a few things in common strike up a friendship. One of the clerks comes into some kind of money (sorry cant really remember right now) and the other one just retires and they buy this house out in the country. They find something that interest them and spend large amounts of money on it and lose interest to find something else and the cycle continues until they are back to where the were at the beginning of the story BROKE. The best I can give this is maybe a 2 1/2 stars.

3. Bleak House by charles Dickens. Im on a Dickens mission this year and what a perfect book to start out with. I shed a few tears for poor Jo and Lady Deadlock, felt for poor peppie and also laughed a few times at him. And actually cry tears of joy for Esther. 5 stars

4. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I was not always a Austen fan but I found a bio of her life and now knowing her life I realize she was very tongue and cheek about girls being on the 'Marriage hunt" and just the nosely habits of "polite" society make reading her books alot easier. 3.5 stars.

5. The Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas de Quincey. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm knowing that de Quincey was actually written about his own addition I just find it really sad. I just have to shake my head just how much different addition is looked at today compared to the early to middle 1800's. This will only get 21/2 stars at the best.

6. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells Im just not a big fan of sci fi stuff but it was a quick read and another one I can mark off the 1001 list. 3 stars

7. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. Yet another book that I would have never picked up on my own without the 1001 list and loved it. I have so many thoughts on this book I honestly dont know where to start. Just reading about the conditions that these men had to live in had me saying MY GOD MY GOD more then once and I almost felt guilty for complaining about my so called problems and for the comforts in my life. I could of done without the modern day part of things I dont think Elizabeth really added that much to the story except at the very end when she was told who her Grandmother really was. 4 stars

8. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood I know many people love this book but Im just not a big fan of dystopia stuff I guess. The book was very readable and just drilled the idea if life really came down to this just kill me off. 3 stars

9. Oliver Twist by Chalres Dickens. My 2nd Dickens book this year and never disappointed yet. The characters just comes alive plus the BBC movie was not bad either. 4 stars

10. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins. This poor woman and her decline into madness. This book backs up my theory If I am able to ask myself am I going insane then I am still at least okay. Since most people that are truely mad think they are normal. (Does that make sense at all) 4 stars

11. The Fortune of the Rougons by Emile Zola is the first book in Zola Rougon –Macquart series. This book is to introduce us to the family and give up as much background of how the Rougons and Macquarts are link together. Adelaide Fouque inherits her father’s substantial farm and then marries a peasant name Rougon who she give 1 son before he dies. Adelaide then meets Macquart and gives him 2 illegitimate children before he dies. This book introduces the family and explains how they are related and how and why the split happens. The series starts out with the legitimate Pierre Rougon who actually talks his Mother out of her home and property to secure the Rougon family fortune. Whereas the illegitimate son Antoine Macquart is much like his father lazy not willing to do much to help his family out and becomes bitter believing his has been robbed of his inheritance. I have read a few others out of order and this books kinda gives me the basic background to the family tree and the split. 3 stars

12. The Countess: A Novel of Elizabeth Bathory by Rebecca Johns. I found this movie over the weekend and so of course I had to find the book (since we all know the book is always better then the movies). The book begins and end with The Countess locked away in her tower writing to her youngest son and heir Pal. The Hungarian Countess tells her son her life story and really down plays the torture, abuse and killings of many young girls that come into her house has maidservants. In her eye she doesnt understand why everyone including an old lover as turned against her because in her eyes she has done nothing wrong. I see Elizabeth as a very vain woman that is afraid of growing old and when she finds out that her husband and lovers has taken a younger girl to replace her all her anger really comes out. I was alittle dissapointed in the book because I was not expecting her to be trying to explain herself the whole time, but more of the facts around how she got her name "The Blood Countess" or "The Female Dracula". But the books was still very readable. 3 1/2 stars

13. Home: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson. This book about family and relationship within the family really made me think about my own family and where did I fit in. 4 stars

14. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Ann Bronte. Really really enjoyed this book. Having read alittle about the lives of the Bronte Sister I know that Helens husband was actually the Bronte sisters brother. I admired Helen very much that she found the strength to take her young son and leave her husband and life of comfort to save her son from her husbands influences. But then had enough heart to go back and care for the husband that used and abused her so in his hour of sickness and death. 4 stars

15. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Finally done the first half was full of boys romping around flashing swords, but the 2nd half really picked up with the story of Milady. the Musketeers is by far not The Count of Monte Cristo. The biggest question is why is the book called The Three Musketeers when there were actually 4???? 3 stars

16. He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope Oh this book proves how a little bit of jealously and two people been hard headed can not only destory a marriage and a young family but make one lose their mind. I see where man and wife could have done to something to solve the problem. The wife could of told the gentleman not to call on her and stop all communication with him because that is what her husband wished or the husband could of went man to man and told the gentleman himself stop coming to my house and stop all communications with my wife. Over all 4 stars

17. Hard Times by Charles Dickens This is my 3rd Dickens this year and I just love his characters and the names he gives them. Hard times falls on all of us poor or riche, good or evil. But at the end of the day everyone reaps what they sow in life. 4 stars

18. Ladies Paradise by Emile Zola This is my 3rd Zola so far this year. I did find the 1st season of the BBC series Ladies Paradise and fell in love with it but now they have blocked the series on youtube so I will just have to order it on amazon or somewhere. The book is just as good as the series even if some of the characters dont really match up but that is okay I know they had to do what they did for the show. This is still a very charming read and cant wait for the next in the series The Masterpiece which I do believe continues from the Paradise. 4 1/2 stars

19. Gosta Berling Saga by Selma Lagerlof 31/2 stars
20. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh 4 stars

21. Cinder by Marissa Meyer. The is the first book of the Lunar Chronicles and Yes everyone this is a book that is so unlike me I know but I actually enjoyed this one believe it or not. Im not a big dystopian type of person but I thought they would be interesting because they are classic fairy tales with a twist. Cinder was Cinderella, the 2nd book is Scarlet and this is based on Little Red Riding Hood, The 3rd is Cress and that is based on Rapunzel and the 4th is Winter and this one is based on Snow White. So it will be interesting to see how these works out. Cinder was a fast and easy read didnt take a lot of brain power so who knows. 3 1/2 stars

22. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. This is the 2nd book of the Lunar Chronicles and again I really enjoyed this as well. And Im hoping to start the 3rd book Cress on audiobook today. 3 1/2 stars

23. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory 4 stars