Moby Dick by Herman Melville - Review

I'm writing my reviews for my buddy reads all completely out of order so this one is actually from this year and we finished it not very long ago (7th of April to be exact)! It was my turn to choose and I thought we hadn't done a long read in a while so why not get a "biggie" read now and so I chose Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It was not quite as long as I expected and I am eternally grateful that it wasn't. I did also get us The Turn Of The Screw to read in between as a break when we needed it (which I'll review soon) and it was a good job I did.

Moby Dick 

'Call me Ishmael.' 

So begins Herman Melville's masterpiece, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history. As Ishmael is drawn into Captain Ahab's obsessive quest to slay the white whale Moby-Dick, he finds himself engaged in a metaphysical struggle between good and evil. More than just a novel of adventure, more than an paean to whaling lore and legend, Moby-Dick is a haunting social commentary, populated by some of the most enduring characters in literature; the crew of the Pequod, from stern, Quaker First Mate Starbuck, to the tattooed Polynesian harpooner Queequeg, are a vision of the world in microcosm, the pinnacle of Melville's lifelong meditation on America. Written with wonderfully redemptive humour, Moby-Dick is a profound, poetic inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception.

My Review

When I started Moby Dick, I was wondering why people said they struggled so much with it, I was really enjoying it and the pages were flying by...how wrong was I! This book tricks you into thinking that it will be good. The first 100 pages are really good, Ishmael is witty and engaging and his relationship with Quequeg was wonderfully endearing.

There was a lot more religion than I expected, but it was of a time where religion was pretty much the most important thing around.Though it isn't always dealt with as reverently as you'd expect, Ishmael mentions orchard thieves which took me a minute to realise he meant Adam and Eve and then I full on laughed out loud.

From the minute Ishmael and Quequeg step on the Pequod the whole book starts going down hill. I was thoroughly looking forward to meeting the infamous Captain Ahab and I expected him to be such a badass...but no sadly I was wrong. He was basically non present for most of the journey and when he was present he was not a particularly strong or stand out character.

I wanted a fast paced revenge story of one man and a whale, but what I got was an encyclopedic look into whaling in the 19th century. Don't get me wrong, the details were fascinating, but if I'd wanted to learn that kind of information I wouldn't have  read a novel, I would have done some research. When the story was being told, the writing was wonderful, but I just didn't like the dry facts throughout.

The ending to me really disappointed too, it felt rushed and half a$$ed. I won't spoil it in case there are people who haven't read it who still want to. It wasn't spoiled for me so I won't spoil it for other people. I will say however is was very unsatisfying.

It was a hard slog but I'm glad we did it, it's another one off our wish lists.

I gave this book 2 stars.

About The Author 

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His first two books gained much attention, though they were not bestsellers, and his popularity declined precipitously only a few years later. By the time of his death he had been almost completely forgotten, but his longest novel, Moby-Dick — largely considered a failure during his lifetime, and most responsible for Melville's fall from favour with the reading public — was rediscovered in the 20th century as one of the chief literary masterpieces of both American and world literature.

The Essential Kafka by Franz Kafka - Review

Slowly but surely I am getting back into the routine of blogging and I am making a dent on the reviews that I need to catch up on. Another buddy read that we finished all the way back in October 2016 was The Essential Kafka by Franz Kafka. 

The Essential Kafka

A collection of Franz Kafka's classic works. Includes: The Castle; The Trial; Metamorphosis and Other Stories

My Review

I'll start by saying the particular cover we got on this books (The Wordsworth Classics version) was absolutely terrifying and as I had no idea what any of Kafka's stories were about, I didn't know what it was in reference to and I had all sorts of horrendous thoughts about what it could be. 

I'm going to be honest and say I was particularly disappointed in this book overall as I'd heard such wonderful things about Kafka's work but I really didn't think most of the stories were very good at all. The two that stood out to me were Metamorphosis and In The Penal Colony. 

I found both The Trial and The Castle felt unbearably long and rambling. I understood the concept but I thought it was poorly executed. Josef K from The Trial bumbles around trying to figure things out but to me gets tied up and obsessing over the most random things that should have no bearing on what is happening, but turn out to be pivotal in the story. The same happens in The Castle in which K bumbles around trying to figure out how to get to the castle and for some reason marries a bar wench whom he falls in and out of love with at the drop of a hat. What makes The Castle worse than The Trial though is that is is unfinished, it literally stops mid sentence. There is no conclusion so everything you had slogged through reading to that point was, well pointless. 

Metamorphosis was enjoyable though it had it's own problems. The main problem being that if I woke up one morning as a giant cockroach, then I think I would have more of a reaction that wondering how I'm going to get myself out of bed! Also I hope if I ever did wake up as a cockroach one day, that my family would treat me much better than Gregor's did. 

In The Penal Colony was definitely my favourite out of all the short stories in this book. The detail that is gone into by the officer and the passion that he describes the execution device is incredible and the thought that has gone into it is kind of terrifying. 

Overall sadly very disappointed with Kafka, but I can now at least say I've read him.

About The Author

Franz Kafka was one of the major fiction writers of the 20th century. He was born to a middle-class German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Bohemia (presently the Czech Republic), Austria–Hungary. His unique body of writing—much of which is incomplete and which was mainly published posthumously—is considered to be among the most influential in Western literature.

His stories include The Metamorphosis (1912) and In the Penal Colony (1914), while his novels are The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and Amerika (1927).

Kafka's first language was German, but he was also fluent in Czech. Later, Kafka acquired some knowledge of French language and culture; one of his favorite authors was Flaubert.

Kafka first studied chemistry at the Charles-Ferdinand University of Prague, but switched after two weeks to law. This offered a range of career possibilities, which pleased his father, and required a longer course of study that gave Kafka time to take classes in German studies and art history. At the university, he joined a student club, named Lese- und Redehalle der Deutschen Studenten, which organized literary events, readings and other activities. In the end of his first year of studies, he met Max Brod, who would become a close friend of his throughout his life, together with the journalist Felix Weltsch, who also studied law. Kafka obtained the degree of Doctor of Law on 18 June 1906 and performed an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts.

Kafka's writing attracted little attention until after his death. During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories and never finished any of his novels, unless "The Metamorphosis" is considered a (short) novel. Prior to his death, Kafka wrote to his friend and literary executor Max Brod: "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread." Brod overrode Kafka's wishes, believing that Kafka had given these directions to him specifically because Kafka knew he would not honor them—Brod had told him as much. Brod, in fact, would oversee the publication of most of Kafka's work in his possession, which soon began to attract attention and high critical regard.

Max Brod encountered significant difficulty in compiling Kafka's notebooks into any chronological order as Kafka was known to start writing in the middle of notebooks, from the last towards the first, etc.

All of Kafka's published works, except several letters he wrote in Czech to Milena Jesenská, were written in German.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne - Review

I cannot emphasise how much I am enjoying having a buddy reader and working our way through classics that I may never have made the time to get around to reading! We read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne all the way back at the very beginning of November! 

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea

An American frigate, tracking down a ship-sinking monster, faces not a living creature but an incredible invention -- a fantastic submarine commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo. Suddenly a devastating explosion leaves just three survivors who find themselves prisoners in Nemo's death ship on an underwater odyssey around the world, as Captain Nemo -- one of the most horrible villains ever created -- takes his revenge out on society. This novel, written in 1870, foretells with uncanny accuracy the inventions and advanced technology of the 20th century, and has become a literary stepping-stone for generations of science-fiction writers.

My Review

I completely and utterly fell in love with this book. To me this is exactly what an adventure book should be like. There are pirates and mystery and hidden caves. 

I have to disagree with the synopsis stating that Captain Nemo is one of the most horrible villains as I have to say I really related to him and I'm certainly not a villain! Yes he has killed people, usually only when they are attacking him and his ship. To be able to go so completely off the grid and survive off the land, or in this case the sea and to find hidden wonders that no one else has ever seen sounds absolutely wonderful! To be so intelligent and continue your learning indefinitely within your own personal library, I'd imagine that quite a few people would enjoy this. 

Professor Aronnax and his personal servant Conseil have an extremely strong bond and have a mutual respect that is good to see. Ned Land though to me is another far more interesting character as he is a rugged adventurer from Canada who has seen the world and needs to be out there to really live. He struggles with captivity and suffers from cabin fever which you can feel through the excellent writing. 

There is a lot of scientific, nautical and geographical language used throughout the book and a lot of classification of sea life is done, but this did not take away any enjoyment for me as I enjoyed searching online what things meant when I didn't understand and learning, I enjoyed the learning. 

Hopefully I will have time in the future to come back and re read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea so I can revisit Captain Nemo and enter his exciting underwater world. 

About The Author

Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the genre of science-fiction. He is best known for his novels Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). 

Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before navigable aircraft and practical submarines were invented, and before any means of space travel had been devised. He is the third most translated author of all time, behind Disney Productions and Agatha Christie. His prominent novels have been made into films. Verne, along with H. G. Wells, is often referred to as the "Father of Science Fiction".

The Wolf Of Dorian Gray by Brian S. Ference - Review

Re-tellings are really popular at the minute and I'm enjoying quite a few of them. When I was given the opportunity to review The Wolf Of Dorian Gray I jumped at the chance as the idea intrigued me. 

The Wolf Of Dorian Gray 

"There on my desk is the first passionate love-letter which I have ever composed in my life—and it is addressed to a dead girl."

What will happen when the wolf comes to London? Can Dorian save his soul? Or will the beast consume it and his life, along with those of his friends and loved ones?

”The engorged moon hung full and low in the sky like a yellow skull. Misshapen clouds stretched across the floating orb with elongated hands and bony fingers grasping. As they neared the docks, the gas lamps grew fewer and the streets gloomier. The cobblestones blackened as they passed the deserted Brickfields. Bottle-shaped kilns spat their outrage with orange tongues of fire into the cooling air. Mangy dogs snarled in hunger and wandering sea-gulls screamed their displeasure at the hansom’s passage.”

This expanded edition of the classic philosophical fiction by Oscar Wilde, features all-new scenes in a compelling tale of love, lust, and the werewolf spawned by the evil of man. The story, set in late 1800’s England, follows the life of Dorian Gray, who through ancient Romani magic’s and the skills of an astonishing artist has had his fate and soul irrevocably linked with the last remaining wolf in the forests of England. Dorian revels in the experiences of first love, delights in the art and beauty of the world, relishes the freedom of his youth, and is awakened to the many pleasures of life. His friend and mentor, Lady Helena, provides a guiding hand as he struggles with his conscience and the purpose of living. Meanwhile, the wolf begins to grow and change into a hideous monster that is ravaging the countryside.

"The wolf had begun hunting human prey. They were plentiful in the dark city streets and provided enough good meat to satiate his gnawing hunger. He was still very careful not to let any who saw him live. To do otherwise would displease the Master. He would only stalk those people that were foolish enough to walk alone in the night."

My Review

It's been years since I read The Picture Of Dorian Gray but I do remember the basic story and The Wolf Of Dorian Gray seems to follow the original with some gender bending of characters and the obvious introduction of the Werewolf. 

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this up and I thought it would either be really good or really bad. I was pleased that it turned out to be the former. The original story is great anyway but the new scenes and changes have been done very sympathetically and so you the two authors work fits together seamlessly. 

I really enjoyed the character of Dorian Gray and I enjoyed watching his descent into depravity and perversity culminating in one particularly horrendous crime. It was fascinating the corresponding effect his crimes and behaviour had on the wolf and the painting. I thought it was really well thought out how the wolf became more of a wolf/monster/human hybrid as time went out, it was actually quite terrifying how it was described and the attacks it was committing with an incredible intelligence. 

The story shows how meeting just one person can change the course of your destiny for good or in this case for the bad. 

I would have liked to have seen more of both Sage and Lady Helena as they are both interesting characters in their own right and in extremely different ways. I really enjoyed that they were changed from the original male characters into female as I thought their friendships with Dorian took on another dimension. 

The only thing that didn't sit right with me is probably a problem with me rather than the writing, but I didn't like the use of measurements when describing things. Instead of saying someone was six foot tall, the height would be given in centimetres etc and I found it awkward to read. 

The Wolf Of Dorian Gray can be read as a stand alone, but the author has left an epilogue which totally whets your appetite for the second book which I believe might be out later this year. 

Overall a really enjoyable read and I am looking forward to re-reading the original at some point in the near future. 

I gave this book 4.5 Stars, 

About The Author

BRIAN S. FERENCE lives in Cave Creek, Arizona with his wife Rachel and two children Nathan and Lena. He has always had a passion for reading and writing from a young age. Brian loves new experiences, which has included operating his own company, travelling the world, working as a project manager, diving with sharks, and anything creative or fun. He is always up for a new adventure such as writing or other artistic pursuits.

His first book is titled: The Wolf of Dorian Gray: A Werewolf Spawned by the Evil of Man. You can learn more about book two in The Wolf of Dorian Gray series: Purgatory of the Werewolf, as well as any other upcoming books or projects at http://brianference.com or http://thewolfofdoriangray.com.

Twelve Days And Twelve Books Of Christmas - Day 9

Something a little different today, my stand out book from September was a classic and it really took my breath away! 

Day 9 - September Book - The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the great thrillers of all time. In 1853 William Thackeray wrote to a friend: 'began to read Monte Cristo at six one morning and never stopped till eleven at night.'. Falsely accused of treason, the young sailor Edmund Dantes is arrested on his wedding day and imprisoned in the island fortress of the Chateau d'If. After staging a dramatic escape, he sets out to discover the fabulous treasure of Monte Cristo and catch up with his enemies. A novel of enormous tension and excitement, Monte Cristo is also a tale of obsession and revenge. Believing himself to be an 'Angel of Providence', Dantes pursues his vengeance to the bitter end, only then realising that he himself is a victim of fate.

My Thoughts

The Count Of Monte Cristo was one of the most surprising books this year for me as I went into it expecting not to like it. Me and my buddy reader F are working our way through classics and taking turns choosing the next read. For one of my choices, I chose The Count Of Monte Cristo as I thought that it would be long and wordy and just....not very interesting. How wrong was I!

I found The Count Of Monte Cristo extremely fast paced and exciting. The story was full of revenge and intrigue and is incredibly well written. The characters are all incredibly well developed, in particular Edmond Dantes, obviously. It has actually made me excited to pick up more Dumas books in the future. 

I also think that this book is now in the joint top spot for my favourite classic alongside Crime And Punishment. I did think it might top it, but no Crime And Punishment will not be toppled just yet anyway. 

If you're wary about trying classics, I would 100% recommend this as your first go. Yes it is long, but it is so action packed and interesting it is worth every moment. I will definitely be going back to re read at some point in the future. 

So that was my September stand out book. Have you ever read The Count Of Monte Cristo? Is it one of your favourites? Don't forget to join me tomorrow for my October book choice.

About The Author

Alexandre Dumas, père (French for "father", akin to Senior in English), born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were serialized. Dumas also wrote plays and magazine articles, and was a prolific correspondent.

The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - Review

I am horribly behind on my reviews of buddy reads! F and myself finished The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas back in September and we're on our third book since then. So here I am being good and catching up. I'll have reviews for The Essential Kafka and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea in the next few days. 

The Count Of Monte Cristo 

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the great thrillers of all time. In 1853 William Thackeray wrote to a friend: 'began to read Monte Cristo at six one morning and never stopped till eleven at night.'. Falsely accused of treason, the young sailor Edmund Dantes is arrested on his wedding day and imprisoned in the island fortress of the Chateau d'If. After staging a dramatic escape, he sets out to discover the fabulous treasure of Monte Cristo and catch up with his enemies. A novel of enormous tension and excitement, Monte Cristo is also a tale of obsession and revenge. Believing himself to be an 'Angel of Providence', Dantes pursues his vengeance to the bitter end, only then realizing that he himself is a victim of fate. 

My Review

The Count Of Monte Cristo has to be one of the biggest surprises for me this year. I really had doubts about reading it as I didn't really know much about it and it is quite a chunky book; but I absolutely fell in love with this book! 

Edmund Dantes is easily one of my new all time favourite characters. And I now have two all time favourite classics. I was considering if The Count Of Monte Cristo had knocked Crime And Punishment off its perch, but no I think they are both equal. 

I thought the writing was really wonderful and so easy to read. I loved the characters, both the good and the bad and I thought the story was so well thought out and just so very enjoyable. Apparently I like a good revenge story! If I ever need to get revenge on someone I hope I can do it with as much cunning, class and flair as the Count Of Monte Cristo! 

I can now see how this is a lot of peoples all time favourite classic as it is so much more accessible than a lot of other classics due to the language used and the stories aren't always relatable in modern times. Revenge however is understood through the ages. 

Overall a really excellent book, one I'm so glad that we picked up as buddy readers as I may have missed out on this if not. I really look forward to picking this up again in the future, so I can re read Dantes adventures. 

I gave this book 5 stars. 

The Iliad - Homer

My most recent buddy read was a bit more intense than the previous few, our choice was The Iliad by Homer, translation done by Alexander Pope. It was also a little different as there was three of us working our way through this one.

When me and my buddy reader where coming near to the end of our previous buddy read (Pillars Of The Earth) when one of our friends from the IGGPPC (International Geek Girl Pan Pal Club) community got in touch to say that if we ever chose to read The Iliad that she'd love to buddy read alongside us. As it was on both our buddy read wish lists we decided to just make it our next read and then we could all get started.

When I started to read following the introduction to the first chapter/book I was really surprised to find that it was written in the form of a rhyming poem. I'm not exactly sure what I expected, it just was not this. At first I really enjoyed this as it was really easy to read and I was flying through my daily pages. After a while though I realised that I was not taking in a single word, I was just following the flow of the words without actually absorbing what was going on. I ended up having to go back a few days worth of reading to re read and slow myself down so I could know what was going on. According to research done by our newest buddy reader, this is actually one of the worst translations to read unless you already know the story inside and out.

Once I'd got into the habit of slowing myself down and the occasional use of Wikipedia, I quite enjoyed the epic tale that was told. I would definitely like to have seen more information into some stories, though I'm not 100% on the timeline so it may have not made sense at the time. I think the battles were the hardest to read as they just seemed to be a list of names rather than anything actually happening, whereas other bits seemed very graphic. As in War and Peace, people each had more than one name and it wasn't always very clear who was who. It did get easier as I went along and checked online if I couldn't figure it out, but it definitely didn't help towards the overall enjoyment.

I'm rating this book 2 stars and I feel that I am actually rating the translation/edition rather than the story itself, so maybe one day when I feel up to it, I'll find a better version and try again. But for now, something was definitely lost in translation.

Thank you to both my lovely buddy readers for getting me through this and actually concentrate on what I'm reading.

We read this from the 20th of May 2016 to the 1st of July 2016.
I gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads.

The Pillars Of The Earth - Ken Follett

Me and my buddy reader have finished our latest read, which was The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett. This time it was F's turn to choose and she managed to pick another book that I hadn't heard of even though it is incredibly popular, popular enough to have a TV show that when I checked it out on IMDB it was full of famous people!

When I read the synopsis I didn't know what to expect as it sounded very serious and the size of the book was intimidating, but F's choices so far have been a lot better than mine so I was looking forward to checking it out.

The writing is absolutely brilliant in Pillars, it is incredibly well written and flows so well. Though this is well over 1000 pages long, it really felt like it was less than half the length due to the ease of the reading. We actually found it so easy and engrossing that after a few days we upped our daily reading target from 20 pages to 40.

The characters throughout all really stand out in their own right, though I did have a couple of favourites. Tom the builder was a good man that had his faults but overall tried to do good. Lady Aliena is a character who really grows with time and becomes a really strong woman who overcomes many things to triumph in the end.

Talking about this book with F after finishing it, we discussed the fact that there are a lot of difficult subject matters covered and some that are worse than in Love In The Time Of Cholera and yet I didn't enjoy that and found it uncomfortable and I loved Pillars, The difference I found is that in Pillars, bad actions had consequences and aftermaths whereas in Cholera the bad things seem to be romanticised and shrugged off as the doings of an old man in love.

The story is well thought out and is extremely engaging. Even after we had upped our page target, I still found it hard to put the book down and wanted to see what would happen next. I particularly hate William Hamleigh, even more than Walereon Bigod. Though Walereon was slimy and devious, he didn't have the viciousness and pure evil that was in William.

The only character I can't say whether I fully liked or not was Prior Philip, One minute I thought he was great and then he did something that I just couldn't believe and I'd be disappointed in him. He was a very complex character in many ways which just shows how well developed his character is.

Overall an excellent book which surprised me no end. Who would have thought trying to get a cathedral built would be so interesting.

We started this book on the 17th of April 2016 and finished it on the 18th of May 2016.
I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads.

Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

Following Love In The Time Of Cholera (my review is here), it was my turn to choose our next buddy read and I decided that as I have somehow never read any Charles Dickens, that I would pick one of his books. I decided to choose one of his more popular works which was Oliver Twist.

Firstly I will just say outright, I really dislike the over of the edition that I got for us.

Secondly I will say that I thought I knew a lot more about the story of Oliver Twist than I actually do, I thought I'd at least seen a film adaptation or something similar, but I barely knew anything about it.

I'm going to start this review a little different and give you a list of things I learnt while reading Oliver Twist.

• Fagin and the Artful Dodger are not the same person. 
• Fagin is not in the book as much as I expected. 
• The "Please Sir, can I have some more" is not the main plot point of the story. 
• There's actually a lot of death, including a murder in the story. 
• The whole story does not revolve around a jolly band of pick pockets. 

There may have been a couple of other things, but these were the main things that stood out to me from what I thought I knew about the story. 

I really struggled reading this book due to the way it was written, I had a feeling that Dickens would not be for me and I was right. It's not that it's badly written, it's just not written in a way that I like. I also really didn't like any of the characters except possibly Mr Brownlow, so I found it very difficult to care what happened to anyone and yes that includes Oliver. There's nothing exactly wrong with Oliver, but he's just so bland that he doesn't really stand out to me at all. 

Overall the book was just ok and that's why I've given it three stars instead of two. It was just perfectly average throughout. The only thing that has come from this is that I can say that I have finally read some Dickens. 

Our next buddy read has already been chosen and we will be starting to read it tomorrow (17/04/2016) and that is The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett which is certainly more of a chunky read. 

We started this book on the 31st of March 2016 and we finished it on the 16th of April 2016.

I gave the book 3 stars on Goodreads. 

Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was my buddy readers choice for our second read along. (We're now currently reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens) She chose a more modern classic and it was one I have not heard of before. I have heard of One Hundred Years Of Solitude also by Marquez and I do actually own it but I haven't got around to read it as of yet. I will also admit that reading the synopsis it is not a book I would have ever personally picked up, but that's half the fun of doing this buddy read,

The story follows Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza and how they were what I imagine could be called childhood sweethearts who separated and then came back into each others lives at a lot older age. Florentino never gives up on his love for Fermina, but she goes off to marry a successful doctor called Juvenal Urbino who was my favourite character until he died at the end of the first chapter. (This is not a spoiler the information is in the synopsis). You follow both characters as they go through through their lives, in particular Florentino and you learn about them as you read the book.

Fermina was an ok character but I just couldn't get behind her as she just seemed very selfish and childish for the most part. Florentino however I absolutely hated. His character is just awful! He is a mummy's boy and not in a good way, she does anything and everything for him and he gratefully takes advantage of this, His opinion of women was also extremely disrespectful. A direct quote from page 188 of my version "He believed that when a woman says no, she is waiting to be urged before making her final decision"....there is so much wrong with that one sentence. The worst part of him though is his relationships with over 600 women (though he claims to have saved himself for Fermina and is a virgin) and the fact that his final relationship was with a 12 year old girl. Another direct quote from page 272 of my copy "He won her affection, he led her by the hand, with the gentle astuteness of a kind Grandfather, toward his secret slaughterhouse". I really really struggled with the content of the second half of the book as it concentrated more and more on Florentino and his relationships and what happened because of these relationships ( I won't say as I wouldn't like to give out spoilers, but trust me when I say that things don't always end well).

The book itself was absolutely beautifully written and the descriptions were flowery and expressive, but it certainly worked within the story of the book. I'm glad I read it, but I'm equally glad I had someone to read it with me to keep me going through the content I struggled with.

I'm conflicted as to whether I loved or loathed this book and so I've scored it down the middle giving it three stars. For the writing style and skill I think its wonderful, but for the content, the first half is great, but the second half is just not for me. It's definitely  book that will get people talking if they choose to read it.

We started reading this on the 12th of February 2016 and finished it on the 30th of March 2016.
I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads.

Conquering My Everest - War And Peace

Before I get into the review or any of the details of my reading experience etc I would just like thank every single person who got behind me while I have been reading War and Peace. The people who have liked my tweeted updates or my daily updates on Goodreads. The people who have sent me encouraging messages and memes. And especially to my buddy reader who without her I would never ever have gotten through this book! So thank you F, you're amazing!!!

I started reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy on the Readathon Day 2015 which was held on the 24th of January 2015. The readathon was 4 hours long and I was really proud of myself as I managed to read 153 pages and though it was excruciatingly wordy, I was getting through it. As an example of the wordy-ness, this is a sentence from the top of page 6 "As she named the Empress, Anna Pavlovna's face suddenly assumed an expression of profound and sincere devotion and respect, tinged with melancholy, and this happened whenever she mentioned her exalted patroness" - I feel this could have been done in a much more succinct way and in a way that didn't make Anna's face sound like it was performing a drama.

So we move onto April and I finally get around to picking the book up to continue reading it and I manage three pages before I fall fully asleep sat on the sofa.  tried on and off until September and I kept managing the same three pages before falling asleep, whether I was tired or not. In October I had some success and I finally read 26 pages all in one go and then on another day another six, but I just couldn't do it any more. It was so painful to force myself to read it and to keep myself awake, especially as there are so many books that I want to read. So I made the decision that I was going to DNF (did not finish) my first ever book! I made my intention known on Goodreads and then from nowhere one of my Iggle (IGGPPC member) friends said that she had wanted to read War and Pace too and that she would get a copy and catch up with me and we would read it together! I jumped at this as I was upset that I was leaving a book unfinished and had let it beat me, so a few days later we started reading 10 pages a day until new year and then we upped it to 20 pages a day.

Having someone else reading this with me gave me the motivation I needed to get through this tome. It didn't seem as much effort to get through the pages and with deciding to read a set amount of pages a day, it really felt like I was making progress. I am eternally grateful to F for helping me out with this and I look forward to all out future buddy reads to get through books we want to read, because we should read.

Onto the review. I am being very, very generous giving this two stars instead of one. The only reason that I am doing this is that during the times of "peace" there were bits of scandal and gossip that kept me almost interested. There is a whole host of characters that come and go so often that you forget who they are as a lot of them have very similar names. Some characters disappear for a long time, only to come back and die in nothing more than a sentence. One character has more lives than a cat and is pronounced dead so many times, you just don't care any more. There was character that I did like and I was pleased that he got his happy ending that he deserved.

The sections which were from Napoleans point of view, to me felt like they were added as an after thought or were written at a different time by a different person as they read so different to the rest of the story, I discovered through F that War and Peace was originally released as a serial so it is actually possible that these parts were added as an after thought. Towards the end of the book, Tolstoy seems to forget he is telling a story and there is more than one chapter which are just his opinions on war and history. It's very jarring getting to these parts when the chapter before and after are jut continuations of the story as if the middle bit never happened.

As I've said at the start, I would not have got through this book without the support of my buddy reader and I really respect people who can do it alone (and enjoy it!) I'm proud we got through it and I'm certainly glad that I can honestly say that yes I have read War and Peace.

Have you ever read War and Peace? What was your reading experience and did you enjoy it?

I started reading this book on the 24th of January 2015 and finished it on the 10th of February 2016.
I gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads

Can I Borrow a Feeling - My Review of The Borrowers

Back to PopSugar for this reading choice, and I opted for "a book my mum loved" It took a good while for her to decide what she would suggest., but her final decision was to suggest The Borrowers by Mary Norton which made me really happy as it was a book I loved as a child, so off I went to borrow it from my local library.

The book started off extremely slow and I found it very hard to get into, I kept putting it down and finding pretty much anything else that I could do instead of finish reading it. Sadly I think the book has aged badly due to it's casual mentioning of smacking children and being firm handed with your wife, The idea of the story itself is brilliant and with the amount of things I put down which disappear, I'm inclined to believe in Borrowers.

When Arrietty meets the boy, some of the magic I remembered came back into the story and it seemed to pick up the pace of the story as before she was "seen" the story was just meandering along with no real purpose or destination.

I think my favourite part of the book was in the back, where there were loads of quizzes and activities to do once you had finished reading. One of the activities was to draw your own Borrower family and make up a story around them which I think is a fantastic idea.

I started this book on the 19th of May 2015 and I finished reading it on the 6th of June 2015
I gave this book 3 Stars on Goodreads

Cyborgs, Princesses and Fairy Tales Oh My! - My Review of Cinder

I've been doing a lot of the PopSugar categories recently so I thought it was about time to get into some of the Book Riot Read Harder challenge categories. I chose "a book that is a retelling of a classic story" and the book I chose was Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

I will hold my hands up and confess that before reading this book, I really thought I was going to hate it. I don't like cyborgs and I'm pretty sure this is the first retelling book I've ever read so I did not know what to expect and I had made a judgement before I even started.

The writing throughout Cinder is fantastic and Meyer has created a world and characters that you can instantly recognise and relate to. I absolutely adore the characters of Cinder, Iko and Kai and in complete contrast I absolutely hate Queen Levana with a passion, though I think there's more to her character which I'm looking forward to hopefully finding more about in one of the other books.

I really enjoyed the fact that we had a bit of back story for the prince in this story too as I sometimes feel we get the princesses story and then prince charming just rocks up to save the day without us knowing much about him (this isn't true for all fairy tales, just some of the ones I can think of off the top of my head).

I loved this book and was gob smacked it ended when it did, I don't have the next book and I NEED to know what happens next.

The only...not negative but something I want to point out is that I figured out pretty much on page one who Princess Selene was, to be honest though surely everyone must have known. Am I right?

I started this book on the 23rd of May 2015 and I finished reading it on the 24th of May 2015
I gave this book 5 Stars on Goodreads

May 2015 Book Round Up

I said earlier this year that I would start to do a round up of the books I'd read each month as I was only blogging reviews of books on my reading challenges and I have finally got organised enough to be able to do it! Yay! These are the books I've read during May with the rating I gave them on Goodreads.

Book 1 - Half Bad by Sally Green  - 4 Stars
Book 2 - Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher - 5 Stars
Book 3 - Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth - 5 Stars
Book 4 - Superman: He'l On Earth by Scott Lobdell - 5 Stars
Book 5 - Superman: Godfall by Michael Lane Turner - 3 Stars
Book 6 - Gone by Michael Grant - 4 Stars
Book 7 - The Scorch Trials by James Dashner - 4 Star
Book 8 - Cinder by Marissa Meyer - 5 Stars
Book 9 - Half Wild by Sally Green - 5 Stars

9 Books, not a bad month if I do say so myself. Currently I am 52% the way through my reading goal of 100 books this year and I am 11 books ahead of schedule according to my Goodreads reading challenge counter thingy. I am however really slacking in my 2015 Reading Challenge, my Classics Challenge (though to be fair this is a 5 year target) and my Panels Challenge, I really need to make more of an effort to start ticking books off my lists.

Things that go bump in the night - My review of The Haunting of Hill House

I took my time choosing the book for the PopSugar challenge topic "a book that scares you" as I wanted something scary, but not too scary, because as I've got older, I just can't deal with horror the way I used to be able to and now pretty much everything terrifies me. I decided on a classic that sounded more psychological than outright horror and it's one I have wanted to read for a long time, the book I chose was The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. There will be a spoiler in this review, so you have been fairly warned.

The first thing that struck me about this book was the writing, it seemed slightly "off" to me. The book was written/published in 1959 and yet the writing seemed to try and make it feel like it was written a lot earlier than that. Once I got into it though, I got used to how it sounded and it felt natural.

The story itself took almost half the book to get started, but I did enjoy the character building with Eleanor. I absolutely love how Eleanor made stories in her head about things that she saw as she was driving along as I do the same thing when I'm out and about. Something I didn't like was the conversations between the guests at the house, I know it was written in a different time, but seriously who has conversations like these people do? All the make believe and non sensical stuff at times took away from the story and I found I didn't really follow what they were talking about.

This bit contains the spoiler. After finishing the book, there are a few things I'm still unsure about so if you can answer any of them or have your own thoughts please let me know! I'm not 100% sure whether there actually was any paranormal activity or whether it was just fear creating fear. And finally the ending left me confused, did Eleanor really exist? Did she kill herself? What happened?

Overall though I enjoyed this book and I'm glad that I got around to reading it.

I started reading this book on the 2nd of April 2015 and finished reading it on the 4th of April 2015
I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads

A Trip Down Memory Lane - My Review of The Enchanted Wood

Choosing a book for the "a book from your childhood" section of the Popsugar reading challenge was very difficult due to the fact I loved so many books! I ended up choosing the first book in The Faraway Tree series, The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.

Re- reading this as an adult, I was worried that it may have lost its charm, however I was wrong. I still thoroughly enjoyed Beth, Joe and Franny's adventures in the Enchanted Wood and up the Faraway Tree. I love the imagination and thought that went into each of the worlds that they found at the top of the tree. Each of the characters has its own personality and I particularly like Mr Whatizname as a grumpy old wizard who loves his sleep. I look forward to my little ones reading this series and seeing what they make of it.

The only things I did notice (as an adult) is that the children aren't just "mischievous" they're downright naughty. Sneaking out at night, disobeying their parents and doing things they know that they shouldn't. Though I think that my parent might be showing! There was also one story where the characters were all turned into toys and Silky was turned into a doll and everyone kept saying how pretty she was and that they wanted to take her away. This made me feel a little uncomfortable, but when this was originally released in 1939, it was a completely different time.

Overall I still really enjoyed this book and will probably now go back and re read the whole series. It brought back great memories of reading this as a child and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone.

I started this book on the 26th of March 2015 and I finished it on the 1st of April 2015
I gave this book 4.5 stars on Goodreads (rounded up to 5 stars)

National Readathon Day 2015 (US)

While updating my Goodreads account (which I do a lot) I noticed an advertisement for National Readathon Day 2015 and I instantly jumped upon this and read the information. The idea was to pledge four hours to uninterrupted reading between noon and four pm on Saturday the 24th of January 2015. When I first read through, I didn't realise that this was aimed at America mainly and so I asked the hubby if he'd be ok if I did this and he'd look after our little man (which of course he was). I then went back to Goodreads to choose which book I was "pledging" so that it would be updated in a special bookshelf, made for that day. It was at this time that I noticed that it was American time, though it was encouraged for people around the world to join in too, as we'd already discussed plans I decided to still do the reading noon to four in UK time as it wouldn't really affect anything.

The book I chose to pledge was War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I decided upon this book as it is on my 2015 Reading Challenge list as the option for a book with antonyms in the title and as it is such an imposing book, I thought this would be a great way to read a chunk of it and make it more manageable.

So the day came, I got myself prepared with a brew (tea naturally) and a bag of popcorn for sustenance and got comfy in my spot on the sofa. I live tweeted once an hour throughout with updates on how many pages I had read, what bookmark I was using as well as showing what I was snacking on and drinking. Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I will definitely join in again if possible next time it comes around!

For those of you who might be interested in how I progressed through the day

Hour 1 - page 41

Hour 2 - page 78

Hour 3 - page 117

Hour 4 - page 154

The Beginning of Something Great - My review of A Study In Scarlet

I seem to be cruising through my challenges so far, however we are only a few days into the new year so I best not get too confident!

I need to start reading one shorter book and then one longer book so that I don't get stuck with all the massive volumes at the end of the year as that is just asking to fail. For the mystery or thriller section of the PopSugar challenge, I made the decision to read A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as though I have read all the other Sherlock Holmes adventures, I have never read the one book where it all began.

I genuinely love the character of Sherlock Holmes and I found myself smiling as he was introduced to Dr Watson and then during their subsequent conversations. It was nice after all this time to read for myself how they met and how their friendship and partnership was begun. ( I think the closest I've come to it is reading and watching Basil the Great Mouse Detective) 

I really enjoy the way Doyle wrote, I think the way he writes is beautiful and an absolute pleasure to read. Everything I've read by him is just so easy to read and you don't notice that the language used isn't of this time.

There is one thing that I will say about this book (and it may be because I was reading it on my Nook) and that is that when Part 2 began and started at chapter 1, I was a little baffled as to whether I had stumbled onto another book and that A Study in Scarlet had just finished abruptly. The story was set in a different time and place with, to start off with anyway, different characters, so it really threw me, Once I'd realised that I was reading the back story of the culprit, everything fell into place and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the reasons behind the crime.

Overall I'd recommend this book to anyone, especially people who would like to read "classics" but are worried about the language used or the way they would be written. This would be a perfect book to try and you get to meet Sherlock Holmes!

I started reading this book on the 11th of January 2015 and completed it on the 14th of January 2015
I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads

"E I E I O" - My review of Animal Farm

I originally chose this book for the "book you can finish in a day" category for the PopSugar challenge, but I decided it would also be a good choice for The Classics Club challenge too.

I have owned Animal Farm by George Orwell for years and at one point it spent about a year on my bathroom floor as I was planning on reading it while soaking in the bath, but just kept choosing other books instead. 

Before I continue, I should say that there are spoilers in my review, if you've read the book, then please do carry on reading, if not then go away, read the book and then come back and carry on reading,

The book is written exceptionally well and I'd say that the language used stands the test of time and if you read it without knowing how old the book was, you wouldn't realise that it wasn't a modern story. However there is something I hate in this book and that  is the songs! Oh how I hate songs in books, I always skip over them. I skipped them in The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. I just don't read songs in books unless I absolutely have to and even then its begrudgingly. 

About the actual story, I know its based on the Soviet Union at the time but in animal form and that obviously this is a story, but there were just some things that I felt were "off". I feel that after the initial speech that Major gave about having a dream and that animals should rise up and life would be better etc, he mentioned that no matter what, when animals died they were sent to the knackers and yet when he dies a few days later, he was buried nicely under a tree on the farm grounds. To me this should have raised questions immediately as to what he had said about the way they were being treated and should have caused doubts in the minds of the more intelligent animals. 

Another thing that I could not quite get my head around was the fact that Farmer Jones would just abandon his farm whether his animals had attacked or that he was an alcoholic. It was stated that he had a shot gun from the beginning and even if he didn't have it on him when they attacked and he had to run off, any normal human being, let alone a farmer, would have come back with others if necessary and whipped the animals back into shape or had them slaughtered to make money off their meat. I can't see why a human would give up their home and lively hood over one case of crazy animals. Yes the way he was treating the animals and the farm itself was terrible and no he did not deserve to have any of it, but that wouldn't change his own mind about the fact that he owned the property. 

Around two thirds of the way into the book, you cold be mistaken for thinking that you were reading 1984 (a book which I love) due to the "big brother" atmosphere and the regimented way things were being run. By this stage I was just waiting for the end as I felt the story had pretty much run its course and all I wanted to see was which way Orwell would go with the ending. When it did finally finish, the story was just left hanging, which I guess must have been the intention to show that life goes on and that nothing has really changed, but I would have liked something a little more definite or even, as it is a story, a happier ending. 

There were a few characters in the book that I really liked, but none as much as the big strong work horse, Boxer. He was such a solid character, he was loyal and hard working and cared for everyone, putting their needs before his own. I expected his death for most of the book and when it did happen, I was upset (though not to the point of tears). I did feel more could have been done with his death and that more of a rebellion would have arisen from what occurred, but it was all smoothed over within two sentences. 

All in all, this is a good book and one that I would definitely recommend to other people. It only took me just over two hours to read, so it is not a book that will eat up much of your time. 

I started reading this book on the 9th of January 2015 and completed it on the 10th of January 2015

I gave this book a 3.5 star rating (well I would have if they allowed .5 stars) on Goodreads

The Classics Club 5 Year Challenge

Because I really want to push myself, I decided that I would also take part in this awesome challenge. The idea is to choose 50 (or more) classic books to read and blog about to keep discussions going about these books. You then set yourself a time limit of up to 5 years to read them and blog about them.

I've chosen to give myself the full five years (2020), just to ensure that I can complete it and give it my full attention as well as complete all my other goals. If I complete it within that time, I will be doing another list. There are also some books on here that cross over with my 2015 reading challenge which I feel will give me a good jumping off point to get this started.

On my list there are some books that I HAVE read before as I want to review them and share my love of them with other people. I have shown which these are by using *

1. Watership Down by Richard Adams*
2. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte*
4. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett*
5. The Essential Kafka by Franz Kafka
6. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
7. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielwski
8. The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
9. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
10. The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas
11. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
13. Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
14. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
15. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
16. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
17. Turn of the Screw by Henry James*
18. White Fang by Jack London
19. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
20. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller*
21. Animal Farm by George Orwell
22. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath*
23. Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
24. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
25. Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott
26. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley*
27. The Haunting Of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
28. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathon Swift
29. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
30. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
31. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
32. Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
33. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
34. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde*
35. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
36. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott*
37. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
38. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
39. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
40. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
41. The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett
42. A Study In Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
43. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle*
44. The Three Muskateers by Alexandre Dumas
45. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo*
46. The Story of my Life by Helen Keller
47, The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux*
48. Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov
49. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
50. The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson*

I'm really excited about this whole thing and I hope that other people are inspired to join in and discuss classics with me. I have made a Goodreads shelf if anyone wants to look at the books in more detail. The books that I have read before, I have marked as "want to read" but added to the shelf "books read before Goodreads" so that I can mark off when I have finished for this challenge.