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'The Bronze Horseman' by Paullina Simons
July 20 - 25, 637 pages
I love reading about Russia. It fascinates me. I think I just find it so interesting that it is so different from the rest of the world. This novel most definitely confirmed that for me. Set in World War Two, I cannot imagine living the way those people did.
I enjoyed this book. Mostly its 'Russian-ness' I guess. And feeling like I was deep in the Soviet Union. It was a love story though. Which was nice. I did get over having to read about Tatiana and Alexander sleeping together for about 200 pages non-stop. I avoided reading it in public.
But it was good. Very interesting. I really want to go to Russia now. But maybe not in winter.
'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' by JK Rowling
July 13 - 14, 607 pages
I just felt like a bad person. I had read all of the Harry Potter books except the last. I needed to read this one. I like the books; they make for fun reading. And I always knew Snape was good. I just knew it. I can't believe I've finally finished the series!
'The Five People You Meet in Heaven' by Mitch Albom
July 15, 208 pages
This was a really good read. I powered through it. I quite liked Albom's style and will definitely read the more famous 'Tuesdays with Morrie'. Yes, this is a lovely book, sad at times.
'As I Lay Dying' by William Faulkner
July 17 - 18, 208 pages
I really liked the multiple points of view by didn't like the 9-day-old dead body: I could practically smell it!
My first three-book week! Wowee.
Some of my favourite quotes from 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven':
"Adam's first night on earth? When he lays down to sleep? He thinks it's all over, right? He doesn't know what sleep is. His eyes are closing and he thinks he's leaving this world right?
"Only he isn't. He wakes up the next morning and he has a fresh new world to work with, but he has something else, too. He has yesterday."
"Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else."
And from 'As I Lay Dying':
'When He aims for something to be always a-moving, He makes it long ways, like a road or a horse or a wagon, but when He aims for something to stay put, He makes it up-and-down ways, like a tree or a man ... Because if He'd a aimed for man to be always a-moving and going somewheres else, wouldn't He put him longways on his belly, like a snake?'
'... when I was young I believed death to be a phenomenon of the body; now I know it to be merely a function of the mind ...'
'She looks at us. Only her eyes seem to move. It's like they touch us, not with sight or sense, but like the stream from a hose touches you, the stream at the instant of impact as dissociated from the nozzle as though it had never been there.'
'He is a big tub of guts and I am a little tub of guts and if there is not any room for anything else important in a big tub of guts, how can it be room in a little tub of guts.'
And my favourite chapter of the book consists of only five words: 'My mother is a fish.'
'Breath' by Tim Winton
July 7 - 8, 247 pages
I like Winton. I like the way that he writes. I like the intensity, the power but also how casual it is.
I thought it was brought together well ,this novel, but I still much prefer 'Cloudstreet'. The passion was still there, though. I could really feel the way that the narrator loved, needed to surf: 'we'd left the ordinary in our wake.'
Yes. I think I enjoyed this. It got a little strange at times but had some excellent passages. In particular: '... more than a rebellion against the monotony of drawing breath ... breath upon breath upon breath in an endless capitulation to biological routine.'
I just love it when you find a passage with a clever link to the title in a novel. It reminded me of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' or 'The Catcher in the Rye'
'A Fortunate Life' by AB Facey
June 28 - July 2, 323 pages
I've mentioned before that I love reading Australian books. This was no exception.
It's a pretty amazing story. This guy has endless talent. It seemed as though everything he had a go at, he succeeded at. A very inspiring story.
I also found it very interesting. I have has little experience with farming, especially in the early twentieth century. It sounds like hard work, but very important to the national economy. It was an insightful read.
I recommend this book. I can definitely see why 'A million Australians already love the story of Bert Facey - an ordinary bloke.'
'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Brontë
June 24 - 27, 245 pages
I did it. I finally did it. Over the past two and a half years I have had three failed attempts at reading this book. I just could not get into it and eventually tossed it aside each time.
But I couldn't let it beat me.
I did start to get interested in the plot after one hundred or so pages but in no way was I hooked. I guess it just came down to the fact that deep down I didn't really care what happened to the characters. I didn't like any of them. Except maybe Nelly.
I am glad I read it, though. I can see why it's a classic. It is well-written and insightful. Complex and thorough.
I might have to take a break before embarking on more Brontë sisters' books though.
And at week twenty-six I am halfway through the year without missing a week yet!
'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest' by Stieg Larsson
June 14 - 17, 599 pages
I finished the Millennium trilogy! I really enjoyed this last book - it tied together all the loose ends from the previous book. It was frustrating at times, though. I just wanted everyone to work it out already!
I loved the scene where Gianni annihilates Teleborian in court. So funny. Yes. The series ended very well.
'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' by John Boyne
June 19, 216 pages
The first book this year that I read in just one day.
This is a lovely book. It is powerful in its innocence. It lingers in your mind. The ending is very sad. It's awful to think that those things happened.
