Peeking Between the Pages

...escape into the pages of a good book

The Classics Challenge

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Ok, I’ve decided to join a challenge. I see so many on other blogs. I’ve decided to join this one on Trish’s blog and I think if you click on this link you’ll even get there here, although I don’t know how to make it pretty like others do by it just saying ‘here’. LOL. I’m new to all this linking and all that stuff so this will be a bit of a learning experience for me I think. LOL-I still have to figure out how to link this post to her blog. That should be interesting.

My main goal is to actually read a few of the classics I have on my shelves. I keep saying I want to but never get to it so this will be a good way to get them off the TBR shelf onto the read shelf.

Here is my list:

1. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

4. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte or

5. War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy or

5. Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence

6. Bonus-Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, Atonement by Ian McEwan, Life of Pi by Yann Martel or House of Sand & Fog by Andre Dubus.

I read Little Women and Anne of Green Gables when I was much younger. I’m anxious to read them as an older adult and see how my interpretation of them has changed. As you can see I’m wavering on my fifth book. I’ve wanted to tackle War & Peace for years so I’m going to bat that back and forth for a while before I decide. Same goes for my bonus book-it’ll be one of those four (all on my TBR shelf), which I’ve wanted to read for ages. My first two selections are actually books I’m going to be reading for my bookclub so this works out perfectly for me.

Anyhow, I’m looking forward to tackling these and to seeing what others have to say about the classics. Truthfully they’ve never been a favorite of mine but still something I’ve wanted to read in my lifetime.

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The Department of Lost & Found by Allison Winn Scotch

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This novel is about a breast cancer survivor and I found it quite similar to the book I reviewed a while back called Reconstructing Natalie.
The main character in this book is also named Natalie. She’s a very strong and independent woman hoping to be president one day. Until she’s hit out of left field with the diagnosis of breast cancer. It completely redefines who she is and what she wants from her life. I connected with Natalie and came to feel her struggles and triumps in her fight against cancer and her will to survive in the worst of times.
This book is about strength, courage, and hope. Although the subject is difficult, the author keeps it light and funny at times while still making us feel all the emotions that this type of novel evokes.
From the first page of this book I was hooked and just had to keep reading what would happen with Natalie next. I always say when I have a good book on the go that it calls me-this one called me.
It’s encouraging to read books like The Department of Lost & Found and Reconstructing Natalie that show us that there are women who survive breast cancer and this hope is needed. I think they are both hopeful novels for anyone going through breast cancer to read and for those on the sidelines trying to be supportive-well worth reading.
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The Godmother by Carrie Adams

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What a great novel! This is one of those books that when you finally close it after that last page, that last sentence; you are truly sad to see it end.

The main character, Tessa, is very likeable as are her friends. This story encompasses all emotions-happy, sad, angry and tearful. It really is a book that seems to follow real life people with real life things happening to them.

Tessa is a thirty-something woman who goes on the emotional journey of her life and in the end comes to realize many things about herself and what she needs to do to take care of herself.

It shows us the importance of true and close friendships and what we need or should do to hold those relationships together. It shows us the benefits to being single or married and how both have good points. It shows us the longing of some people to have what all their friends seem to have but that they can never seem to attain.

They describe this book as a notch-up on the usual chick-lit and I have to agree. It delves deeper into the emotions of the individuals than you usually find in those type of books or at least I think so and I enjoy chick-lit. It’s not just a light read, it’s more of a drama with the funny chick-lit stuff thrown in.

I already miss Tessa and all her friends. I’m hoping that there may be a sequel and we’ll be able to find out where Tessa eventually lands in this journey we call life. I would absolutely recommend this book to other readers.

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Sundays at Tiffany’s by James Patterson

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I really enjoyed this newest romance novel from James Patterson. It always surprises me that a man who writes suspense/thrillers can manage to come up with a novel such as this. He has many sides to him. I think I agree with one of my PT friends, Fe, that Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas was better but this one runs a really close second for me.

This novel spins mostly around Jane who as a youngster has an imaginary friend Michael who basically was there to guide her through a turbulent childhood as her mom was a famous Broadway producer with no time for her daughter. However, at 9 years old, Micheal has to leave Jane. She is supposed to not remember him at all but she does and she never forgets him. Later on after she’s grown up, Michael is on a sabattical from being an imaginary friend and he comes back into her life shocked that she hasn’t forgotten him.

What ensues is a romance between the two and other things along the way. Both Jane and Michael are really likeable characters, especially Jane who’s hilarious. This book makes you think and dream about pure and true love such as Michael and Jane shared. It’s a beautiful story well worth reading.

As James Patterson’s son Jack says in the beginning of the novel to his daddy when he’s leaving on a trip and asks him if he’ll miss him, he responds with: ‘love means you can never be apart’. I love that and it’s so true, whether a person is far away or maybe passed on, they are always as close as our hearts…

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Perfect by Sara Shepard

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This is the third novel in the Pretty Little Liars series. The mystery of who killed Allison is still swirling around although we’ve been given a few more insights into what’s going on. These girls manage to screw things up for themselves on a regular basis. This novel finds Aria kicked out of home with no place to go; Emily admitting to herself that she’s a lesbian and her family sending her off to live with repressed relatives on a farm in the middle of nowhere because they refuse to accept her as she is; Hannah is losing her perfect and popular status and maybe not minding so much; Spencer has cheated from her sister’s paper on an essay that has received the attention of one of the highest academic awards. It ends with Hannah thinking she knows who the killer is. Spencer, after shoving her sister down the stairs, remembers doing the same to Ali, and thinking that she must be the killer. They all go to meet at the schoolyard but as Hannah is running to meet the girls she is hit by a SUV. As the girls are trying to help her they look up and see Spencer standing by the woods looking crazy. So, we’re left thinking that Spencer is the likely killer until we read a bit further on what comes next and it tells us that nothing is as it seems. I don’t think the killer is Spencer but I’ll have to wait until Unbelievable comes out to find out for sure. I’ve come to like these characters and their different personalities and troubles and I’m curious to see where the story goes next.
It’s really interesting how a lot of Young Adult fiction is making it’s way into adult reading. As for this series, it’s kind of fluffy, but still a quick and easy read and has a lot of things going on that aren’t necessarily even young adult in my world like affairs with a teacher, etc. With that being said, I do need to know what happens in the lives of these girls so I’ll keep reading.
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The Shack by William P. Young

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Well, what can I say. When I read the summary and the customer reviews of this book I had thought it would be better than it was. The first part of the book when Mack’s daughter goes missing is interesting. It shows how quickly someone, especially a little one, can just disappear. Then Mack gets a note in the mail telling him to go to the shack where his daughter last was and he thinks this note is from God or some really sick joke. Turns out it is from God and the story that ensues is of Mack having conversations with God and learning about himself and his beliefs. I found this middle part drawn out and really kind of boring-maybe for someone else it would be much more interesting-I don’t know. For me, I ended up skimming over some of it (yes, skimming-I know that’s bad), but I read enough to know what he was discovering about himself and moved on. I liked the ending as it wrapped up the novel and didn’t leave you wondering anything. I don’t know if I’d recommend it. I think it would depend on who the reader was. It’s by no means a bad book and maybe you just need to be in a different frame of mind to read it than I was. It was just okay for me.

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