Twanged

Twanged
By Carol Higgins Clark
0446605360

Not as predictable as I thought it would be! Great characters, a good time was had by all. Definitely a different plot, I really liked the fluffy novel this was.
7/10

Sassy Cinderella and the Valient Vigilante

Sassy Cinderella and the Valient Vigilante
By Sharon Dunn
082542495X

Cute, fairy predictable but enough surprises to make it worthwhile. I am glad I didn’t know this was a Christian romance novel until after I picked it up and started reading, that was a nice surprise! The character was slightly quirky, but only enough to be believable and funny, not enough to be annoying. And her characters are entertaining, even the minor ones. I was pleasantly surprised at the ending, though, in regards to her job situation. Very nicely done!
8/10

Jane Austen: A Life

Jane Austen: A Life
By David Nokes
0374113262

Wonderful look at the author’s life. I personally knew next to nothing about Jane Austen’s life. Her books, of course, I could read all day. But her life, I was clueless. This book lays her life completely out, as open as it seems it will ever be. It is a shame that some parts of her life will be forever mysterious, because of some burning of letters after she died. But on the other hand, it does give her life that little bit of mystery that every great author seems to need!
9/10

More Letters from Pemberley

More Letters from Pemberley: 1814-1819
By Jane Dawkins
0595283721

Not quite as perfect as the first. I loved Lizzy having to go through more heartbreak (because she is a fake character but I still like to see her grow as a person!) Her life was not perfect, butterflies and roses and all that. I’m glad, glad that Ms. Dawkins has given Lizzy the room she needed to grow. That said, the one part that I didn’t like: I didn’t like Lizzy talking about an author she’s reading, Jane Austen. That completely took me out of the story and was a horrible intrusion. Luckily, it happened near the beginning of the book so there was time to save it. But it was still a jarring and unnecessary inclusion. It is obvious Jane Dawkins is a huge fan of Austens, as evidenced by these books. But this was too much of a wink to readers that, to me, brought the book down a notch.
9/10

The X-Files: Fight the Future

The X-Files: Fight the Future
By Chris Carter
0061059323

Decent adaptation of the movie. Better than the other X-Files novels I’ve read. But I really read this hoping the mysteries of the movie would be solved. You know, since in a book you can spend more time on things than in a movie. But noooo!! I still don’t know how Mulder and Scully escaped from the frozen wasteland they were in with only a SnowCat with almost no gas in it. Bah! Seriously, it was good in some small details, filling things in. But the big questions will never get an answer, I suppose (like everything else on the X-Files TV show!)
8/10

Medieval Costume in England and France

Medieval Costume in England and France
By Mary G. Houston
0486290603

Picked it up to use for my thesis and ended up just reading the whole thing in two days. Very detailed look at the costumes of the Middle Ages in parts of Europe. Gorgeous outfits, from when people really knew how to dress! I liked that the figures were on the same page or at most one page away from where it was being discussed. The 8 plates on the front and back inside covers are a great span of how dress changed in the years that the book covers.
9/10

Letters from Pemberley

Letters from Pemberley: The First Year
By Jane Dawkins
1893337006

Brilliant! I adore Pride and Prejudice, may have to reread it this summer. And this is a near-perfect sequel to it. Only “near” because it’s a new author. I would have loved to read Jane’s responses, because her story was nearly as interesting as Lizzy’s. And Mr. Darcy’s letters, since he’s an amazing character. But I can’t bear to give this wonderful book any less than: 10/10

Great American Folklore

Great American Folklore
By Kemp P. Battle
0385185553

Many of the stories were hysterical! I ended up marking them to type them out onto the computer, so I can save them. Some I couldn’t read, though, because of the “real speaking voice” that was used. I don’t know what else to call it! But it’s so hard to read that I was skipping whole stories because they were unintelligible. Some of the stories I had heard before, being American folklore and all. Some were brand new, and some put new twists on old stories I had heard.
8/10

Quotable Cats

Quotable Cats
By Running Press
0762401524

Short book, short response: Cute, cats are a great subject, love quite a few of the quotes!
8/10

What’s Right With America

What’s Right With America
By Dwight Bohmbach
0553257110

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I didn’t finish this book. I read to about page 150, then got bored and put it down. I guess a lot of the data is out of date, so maybe that turned me off. It was also very boring, just facts and more facts. Then I started to skip around, figuring I would just read the topics that interested me (there weren’t many, or at least the titles of the chapters didn’t jump out at me enough!). I finally put the book down after the chapter about women being ready to run for President. The author begins by talking about suffrage, then talks about the anti-suffrage movement. Spends a bit of time calling a woman names for not agreeing with women’s suffrage. There were women (and maybe there still are) who didn’t think women should have the vote. They formed societies to try to block women’s suffrage amendments from being passed. Okay, history has decided they were wrong, that women should have the vote. Personally, I believe they are wrong. But there is no need to call them names for their opinion! In a perfect world, maybe they wouldn’t need to vote, maybe their husbands/fathers/brothers would look out for their well-being as well as their own. In a perfect world, no one would need to vote, politicians would just instinctively do the right thing! I was disgusted by the author calling these women all kinds of names just for having the audacity to have an opinion and try to work change in their world. We should all be as politically active as those brave women were. The book, for that, gets 5/10

Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment
By Fyodor Dostoevsky

Moving depiction of a man driven to insanity. But I’m not sure what was going on. Was I supposed to feel sorry for him? Understand what he was going through? Sympathize with him? Because all I felt was “what a waste of intellect.” The main character, I mean, not me. He could have done so much, but instead he walked around in a fog, not knowing what was going on most of the time. His poor family and friends went out of their way to help him- with money, a job, support, medical care. And all he did was wander the streets, being… what? Too smart for everyone around him to understand? His attitude was ridiculous, in my opinion. I almost wished for him to kill himself so at least Sonia wouldn’t be tied to him for the rest of her life. The last two paragraphs seem to redeem him but it’s too little, too late. I’m not even sure if he was really changed at the end or this was another moment of clarity that he would soon talk himself out of.
7/10

Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I
By Jacob Abbott

Originally published in 1877. Much better biography than the last one I read about Elizabeth! Very informative and clearly written. Apparently, it was written for people much younger than me as a textbook! Oops! Doesn’t mean I didn’t like the book. It was a very interesting read, I like how clear it made events. I liked that it didn’t gloss over Elizabeth’s faults. Everyone has faults, glad this book acknowledged that. But also glad it was up front about her good qualities, since to keep power she must have had some.
8/10

The Constant Princess

The Constant Princess
By Philippa Gregory
1419364731 (book on CD)

Powerful. Apparently not historically accurate in certain regards, like the father-in-law being a lecherous old man. But still intriguing and moving. There are more famous wives of Henry VIII, and his daughter overshadowed any woman before her, but there is still quite a bit of interest in this first queen of his. What a life she must have led, getting to the throne and keeping it for so many years. This book takes a definite stand on the question of whether she was lying about her first marriage being consummated, but I believe the jury will be out on that one for years to come. This book paints her as quite conniving, but for the “right reasons” I suppose. She is an extremely interesting character, in real life and in this book. I really liked it: 9/10

Across the Miles

Across the Miles
By L.M. Montgomery
0553571036

I love this author!! Anne of Green Gables is a wonderful series. Story Girl is great too. But this collection is so adorable. A group of stories, all about letters being written, misled, mistaken, and all other ways a letter can change a life. Her short stories are just as charming and beautiful as her long stories.
10/10