The Sound and The Fury

The Sound and The Fury.  William Faulkner. Published by Vintage.  First published 1954.  326 pages.  Source:  Audio library.

First Sentence: Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting.

Plot: The novel reveals the story of the disintegration of the Compson family, doomed inhabitants of Faulkner’s mythical Yoknapatawpha County, through the interior monologues of the idiot Benjy and his brothers, Quentin and Jason.

My thoughts:  This one was chosen for my classic club challenge.  I started it once but tabled it.  I pushed through it this time because I just had to.  Wow, there is enough disfunction in my life but to add this family just about made me go crazy! 

This is one messed up group of people.  It took me several chapters to even get the gist of what was going on.  Faulkner's writing style is not my idea of a good time.  Back and forth and who is narrating... Since the story is set in Mississippi the dialect was so very southern it difficult to take at times.

As you can tell I did not enjoy this book and don't really recommend it.  Especially for younger adults.  I only gave it 2 out of 5 stars on Good Reads.

Back to the Classics Challenge

Here I go again getting all excited about another year of reading challenges! Most of the books that I have stacked up to read this year could apply to this challenge.  A challenge which I have never completed!  So once again I am linking up with Books and Chocolate (isn't that the best combination ever?) to give it a go.  So HERE are the guidelines. 

THE CATEGORIES: 

1. 19th Century Classic. Any classic book originally published between 1800 and 1899.

The House of Seven Gables by Nathanial Hawthorne

2. 20th Century Classic. Any classic book originally published between 1900 and 1969. 

All books in this category must have been published at least 50 years ago. The only 

exceptions are  books that were published posthumously but were written at least 50 

years ago.  The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner 1/22/19

3. Classic by a Woman Author. Villette by Charlotte Bronte

4. Classic in Translation. Any classic originally written in a novel other than your native language. You may read the book in your native language, or its original language (or a third language for all you polyglots!) Modern translations are acceptable, as long as the book was originally published at least 50 years ago. Books in translation are acceptable in all other categories as well.  The Red and The Black by Stendhal (Translated from French)

5. Classic Comic Novel. Any comedy, satire, or humorous work. Humor is very subjective, so if you think Crime and Punishment is hilarious, go ahead and use it, but if it's a work that's traditionally not considered humorous, please tell us why in your post. Some classic comic novels: Cold Comfort Farm; Three Men in a Boat; Lucky Jim; and the works of P. G. Wodehouse.

6. Classic Tragic Novel. Tragedies traditionally have a sad ending, but just like the comedies, this is up for the reader to interpret. Examples include The Grapes of Wrath, House of Mirth, and Madame Bovary.

7. Very Long Classic. Any classic single work 500 pages or longer, not including introductions or end notes. Omnibus editions of multiple works do not count. Since page counts can vary depending on the edition, average the page count of various editions to determine the length. Middlemarch by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

8. Classic Novella. Any work of narrative fiction shorter than 250 pages. 

9. Classic From the Americas (includes the Caribbean). Includes classic set in either North or South America or the Caribbean, or by an author originally from one of those countries. Examples include Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (United States); Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (Jamaica); or One Hundred Years of Solitude (Columbia/South America). On The Road by Jack Kerouac

10. Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia). Any classic set in one of those continentss or islands, or by an author from these regions. Examples include Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt); The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki (Japan); On the Beach by Nevile Shute (Australia); Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria). 

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

11. Classic From a Place You've Lived. Read locally! Any classic set in a city, county, state or country in which you've lived, or by a local author. Choices for me include Giant by Edna Ferber (Texas); Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser (Chicago); and Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann (Germany). 

12. Classic Play. Any play written or performed at least 50 years ago. Plays are eligible for this category only.

Top Ten Tuesday

I have decided to give this blog hop at That Artsy Reader Girl another go. I did pretty well with it some time back. You know when I was a regular blogger and did regular posts each day. 

This week we are to list the books that you wanted to read in 2018 but didn't.  This will be an easy one because I had high expectations for 2018 and fell very short. 

1. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
2. Longbourn by Jo Baker
3. Middlemarch by George Eliot
4. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
5. The Red and The Black by Stendhal (Maire Henri Beyle)
6. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
7. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
8. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
9. The House of Seven Gables by Nathaiel Hawthorne
10. At The Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft

Mostly a list of my Classics club challenge reads!  I have high expectations this year and hope to get these all read. Some are CHUNKSTERS!

The Witch's Daughter

The Witch's Daughter.  Paula Brackston. Thomas Dunne Books.  December 2008. 305 pages. Source: Audio library.

First Sentence: Bess ran.  The clear night sky and fat moon gave ample illumination for her flight.

Plot: My name is Elizabeth Anne Hawksmith, and my age is three hundred and eighty-four years. Each new settlement asks for a new journal, and so this Book of Shadows begins.
In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate at the hands of the panicked mob: the Warlock Gideon Masters, and his Book of Shadows. Secluded at his cottage in the woods, Gideon instructs Bess in the Craft, awakening formidable powers she didn't know she had and making her immortal. She couldn't have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he would be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life.

In present-day England, Elizabeth has built a quiet life for herself, tending her garden and selling herbs and oils at the local farmers' market. But her solitude abruptly ends when a teenage girl called Tegan starts hanging around. Against her better judgment, Elizabeth begins teaching Tegan the ways of the Hedge Witch, in the process awakening memories—and demons—long thought forgotten.

My thoughts:  I enjoyed this story of a young girl who was put in a position to either "become a witch" to escape burning or die for being one even though she was not.  

She lived saving lives working with herbs and medicines then into actual operating rooms and working as a Doctor in the earliest of times when this was not the norm for a woman to be practicing surgical procedures.  She tired to do nothing but good and not to use "magic" for crazy selfish things.  All her life as a witch was spent trying to hide from the warlock Gideon Masters.  Gideon loved her (or so he said) and pursued her for centuries.

Elizabeth (Bess) spent a lot of lonely years because she could not get close to anyone.  A life of mostly solitude.  

This is not a book promoting witchcraft.  I would recommend it to young adults as there are some light suggestive situations over the centuries.

If There Be Thorns

If There Be Thorns. V. C. Andrews. Published by Pocket. November 1981. 374 pages. Source: Purchased from Betterworldbooks.com

First sentence: In the late evening when the shadows were long I sat quiet and unmoving near one of Paul's marble statues.

Plot: Out of the ashes of evil Chris and Cathy made such a loving home for their splendid children...
Fourteen-year-old Jory was so handsome, so gentle. And Bart had such a dazzling imagination for a nine year old.

Then the lights came on in the abandoned house next door. Soon the Old Lady in Black was there, watching their home with prying eyes, guarded by her strange old butler. Soon the shrouded woman had Bart over for cookies and ice cream and asked him to call her "Grandmother."

And soon Bart's transformation began...

A transformation that sprang from "the book of secrets" the gaunt old butler had given him... a transformation fed by the hint of terrible things about his mother and father... a transformation that led him into shocking acts of violence, self-destruction and perversity.

And now while this little boy trembles on the edge of madness, his anguished parents, his helpless brother, an obsessed old woman and the vengeful, powerful butler await the climax to a horror that flowered in an attic long ago, a horror whose thorns are still wet with blood, still tipped with fire....

My thoughts:  This is a re-read for me.  I read this series as a teenager in the 80's.  I had forgotten much of it but if you can enjoy such a demented read I guess I did.  It makes me think just how messed up someone can be from not having a loving and caring environment while they are young children.  This story brings in a fourth generation of "mental illness" in my opinion.  The kind of mental illness brought on by greed and love of money and a twisted and false belief in God.

There are two more books in this series and I own them all so I am anxious to get on with this next generation.

Annihilation

Annihilation. Jeff Vandermeer. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. February 2014. 195 pages.  Source:  Audio book.

First Sentence: The tower, which was not supposed to be there, plunges into the earth in a place just before the black pine forest begins to give way to swamp and then the reeds and wind-gnarled trees of the marsh flats.

Plot: Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything. 

My thoughts: This story is told from the perspective of the biologist whose husband was part of the eleventh expedition.  A lot of the story is her personal history as she ends up being the lone survivor of this expedition.  It doesn't end with her returning to her home.  Leaving it wide open for the next book in the series...Acceptance.  

I'm not a fan of science fiction, which is what is actually shelved as on Goodreads, but I think I would continue on with the series if nothing else but to find out what is actually in the "tower".

To Be Where You Are

To Be Where You Are. Jan Karon. G. P. Putnam's Sons. October 2017. 450 pages. Source - Audio book.

First sentence: It was the first day of October, and all things considered, Mitford was pretty quiet. 

Plot: After twelve years of wrestling with the conflicts of retirement, Father Tim Kavanagh realizes he doesn't need a steady job to prove himself. Then he's given one. As for what it proves, heaven only knows.

Millions of Karon fans will be thrilled that it's life as usual in the wildly popular Mitford series: A beloved town character lands a front-page obituary, but who was it, exactly, who died? And what about the former mayor, born the year Lindbergh landed in Paris, who's still running for office? All this, of course, is but a feather on the wind compared to Muse editor J.C. Hogan's desperate attempts to find a cure for his marital woes. Will it be high-def TV or his pork chop marinade?

In fiction, as in real life, there are no guarantees.

Twenty minutes from Mitford at Meadowgate Farm, newlyweds Dooley and Lace Kavanagh face a crisis that devastates their bank account and impacts their family vet practice.

But there is still a lot to celebrate, as their adopted son, Jack, looks forward to the most important day of his life--with great cooking, country music, and lots of people who love him. Happily, it will also be a day when the terrible wound in Dooley's biological family begins to heal because of a game--let's just call it a miracle--that breaks all the rules.

In To Be Where You Are, Jan Karon weaves together the richly comic and compelling lives of two Kavanagh families, and a cast of characters that readers around the world now love like kin.

My thoughts:  I was kind of disappointed in this one from Jan Karon.  Not sure what I expected but I don't feel it lived up to the hype prior to it being published.  To be fair maybe I waited too long to actually read it.

I feel like the story didn't flow very well. It seemed to jump around from person/family often times making me think, "who is this now?".  My favorite situation in this one is when Father Tim brings home a new dog from Dooley and Lacey's.  After the passing of Barnabus I didn't think Father Tim would have another.  But I was happy to see him with another.

New Beginnings... Again

Well it's a new year let's see if I can do better with my book reviews and challenges this year.

For the Good reads challenge I am aiming for 60 book again this year.  I missed that number by two books in 2018.

I have not committed to any other challenges yet this year other than my regular 1 million pages and the classic club challenge.  I hope to just keep up on my reviews and maybe the Sunday Post.