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.

Hard Times

Hard Times. Charles Dickens. Penguin Publishing (first published in 1854). 321 pages. Source: Audio Library

First sentence: Now what I want is facts.  Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts. Facts alone are wanted in life.

Plot: The 'terrible mistake' was the contemporary utilitarian philosophy, expounded in Hard Times (1854) as the Philosophy of Fact by the hard-headed disciplinarian Thomas Gradgrind. But the novel, Dickens's shortest, is more than a polemical tract for the times; the tragic story of Louisa Gradgrind and her father is one of Dickens's triumphs. When Louisa, trapped in a loveless marriage, falls prey to an idle seducer, the crisis forces her father to reconsider his cherished system. Yet even as the development of the story reflects Dickens's growing pessimism about human nature and society, Hard Times marks his return to the theme which had made his early works so popular: the amusements of the people. Sleary's circus represents Dickens's most considered defence of the necessity of entertainment, and infuses the novel with the good humour which has ensured its appeal to generations of readers.

My thoughts:  This is a hard one for me as are all Dickens novels.  The story that I in my head most followed was that of poor Louisa.  The youngest daughter of Thomas Gradgrind.  She was married off to a man twice her age and went to live in a home where there was no love at all.  Louisa had never had a love interest but when James Harthouse arrives and tries to win her heart she runs back to her father and tells him what an error he made in having her marry the old Mr. Bounderby.  

Mr Bounderby is furious that Louisa left him but he is determined to find the man who has robbed his bank.  The thief all along is Louisa's older brother who has fallen on Hard Times and has taken money consistently from Louisa to cover his debts.

This story was a little hard to follow at first but I soon had it figured out in my head who everyone was.  I'm glad that I have read this one but it's not my favorite Dickens novel.

Anges Grey

Anges Grey. Anne Bronte. Wordsworth Classics. Originally published 1847. 168 pages. Source: Purchased from Betterworldbooks.com.

First sentence: All true histories contain instructions: though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity, that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely for the trouble of cracking the nut.

Plot: At age 19 Anne Brontë left home and worked as a governess for a few years before becoming a writer. Agnes Grey was an 1847 novel based on her experience as a governess. Bronte depicts the precarious position of a governess and how that can affect a young woman. Agnes was the daughter of a minister whose family was in financial difficulty. She has only a few choices for employment. Agnes experiences the difficulty of reining in spoiled children and how wealth can corrupt morals.

My thoughts:  I like Bronte's style of writing.  After the last book I read this one was a calm and enjoyable read.  Not all of the situations that Anges was in was calm and enjoyable but over all I enjoyed this one. 

Anges was a very kind young woman. She had no skill or trade in which to earn money to help support her family so she convinced her mother to help her secure a position as a governess.  Having no real knowledge of raising children other than her own experience as a child she found her first position.  It was not a favorable experience as the children were greatly spoiled and she had no control over them at all.

Her second situation was somewhat better as the children were much older.  The issues she dealt with were along the line of lack of character building.  She did have some villagers that she was able to minister to through acts of kindness.  The new parson was very kind and Agnes had some very tender feelings for him.  But she was tormented by Miss Murray in that Miss Murray wanted every man to love only her.  

Anges returned home after the death of her father to help her mother with a school she had started in order to make a living.  Anges was sad to be leaving Mr. Weston, the parson, but she had hopes of seeing him again.

This was a nice read and I wish I had taken the time to sit and enjoy it more.  It took me a lot longer than it should have being as busy as I was in March.  I would read this one again.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland). Lewis Carroll. Suzeto Enterprises (the publisher on Kindle).  1865 (original publication date). Source: Kindle

First sentence: Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book' thought Alice 'without picures or conversations?'

Plot: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. Its narrative course and structure, characters and imagery have been enormously influential in both popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre. (Goodreads)

My thoughts: There is much more to the actual Adventure's of Alice in Wonderland than the one I remember as a child. Maybe it's because they had to make it so children would actually enjoy it.  The story in full seems to be way more advanced than most children would read.  It should be in the category of teen to young adult maybe.

Alice falls through a rabbit hole and finds herself in a strange land where she has many weird and unexpected experiences.  Eating and drinking could make her grow into a giant or shrink down to ant size.  A floating, grinning chestshire cat, a mad hatter, a white rabbit, a queen constantly screaming "off with her head", and playing cards a the queens servants.  Yep, kind of a weird tale and I agree with it being literary nonsense...

I Heard The Owl Call My Name

I Heard The Owl Call My Name. Margaret Craven. January 1980 (first published in 1967) Laurel. 159 pages. Source: Betterworldbooks.com

First sentence: He stood at the wheel, watching the current stream, and the bald eagles fishing for herring that waited until the boat was almost upon them to lift, to drop the instance it had passed.

Plot: Amid the grandeur of the remote Pacific Northwest stands Kingcome, a village so ancient that, according to Kwakiutl myth, it was founded by the two brothers left on earth after the great flood. The Native Americans who still live there call it Quee, a place of such incredible natural richness that hunting and fishing remain primary food sources. 

But the old culture of totems and potlatch is being replaces by a new culture of prefab housing and alcoholism. Kingcome's younger generation is disenchanted and alienated from its heritage. And now, coming upriver is a young vicar, Mark Brian, on a journey of discovery that can teach him—and us—about life, death, and the transforming power of love.

My thoughts: The cover of this book actually drew me in however this isn't the version that I actually read.  A white man, a vicar, goes to live among the Natives.  He has a lot to learn of their customs/traditions but he does well.  The Natives send their children to the white man schools to be educated.  They are quickly forgetting their native tongue and the old stories.  They are "Americanized" if you will.  It's really kind of sad to see this happening.

Mark, the vicar, finds himself letting go of the white mans traditions and ways of thinking.  He can see the changes coming in the tribes he serves and it saddens him.  It didn't have the ending that I expected but it was a good one nevertheless.  

The Old Man and The Sea

The Old Man And The Sea. Ernest Hemingway. 1952. Charles Scribner's Sons. 132 pages. Source (purchased Betterworldbooks.com)

First sentence: He was an old man that fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.

Plot: It is the story of an old Cuban fisherman and his supreme ordeal: a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Using the simple, powerful language of a fable, Hemingway takes the timeless themes of courage in the face of defeat and personal triumph won from loss and transforms them into a magnificent twentieth-century classic.

My thoughts: From the beginning I felt sorry for this old Cuban man.  He's all alone except for this very thoughtful boy who brings him food without making him feel like a charity case.  Good kid!  
Now he's out at sea, alone, fishing and he hooks the biggest fish he has every caught.  It's a struggle for days!  Me being the worrier that I am fretted through most of the story.  Will he be lost at sea, will this fish capsize his little boat?

If I go into much more I will spoil the story for you.  It was a good little read though.  I read it in just two sittings.

The Mayor of Casterbridge

The Mayor of Casterbridge. Thomas Hardy. Dover Publications 2004. 256 pages. (Source: Betterworldbooks.com)

First sentence: One evening of late summer, before the nineteenth century had reached one-third of its span, a young man and woman, the latter carrying a child, were approaching the large villiage of Weydon-Priors, in Upper Wessex, on foot.

Plot: A cruel joke at a country fair goes too far when a drunken laborer auctions off his wife and child to the highest bidder. So begins The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy's gripping tale of a man's rise and fall amid the natural beauty and human brutality of a rural English community.

First published serially in 1886, the novel was praised by critics for its realism and poetic style. Most agreed, however, that its plot hinges upon unlikely turns of events. Hardy replied, "It is not improbabilities of incident but improbabilities of character that matter." In this book — originally subtitled "A Story of a Man of Character" — the author perpetually tests his characters with frequent intrusions by the hand of fate. Rich in descriptive powers and steeped in irony, this timeless tale offers a spellbinding portrayal of ambition, rivalry, revenge, and repentance. 

My thoughts:  I LOVE Thomas Hardy!  He is a very intreguing author.  He makes me focus on the words that are written and not just read them quickly (you can't).  From the first I was struck by this strange tale.  Though it took me longer to get through than I planned due to being busy with the holidays and our son home I am happy to say this one did not let me down!  

It was not a predictable tale that's for sure.  Michael Henchard gets his wife and daughter back 18 years after a terrible mistake he made by selling them while drunk only for his wife to die and leave him with a terrible truth.  Life is not what Henchard has expected it to be.  There were many twists to this tale but it's strange how life works out for him.  

I enjoyed this one very much!

Brave New World

Brave New World. Aldous Huxley. Harper Perennial Modern Classics. 2006 (first published 1932). 259 pages. (Source: audio library book)

First sentence: A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories.

Plot: Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order--all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine” (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New World likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites. (Goodreads)

My thoughts: This book was way advanced for the year it was written.  What a wild imagination this author had!!  I did not particularly care for this one but I must give him that credit.

The idea is to show how the world could be controlled through medical advances.  Don't know if this author considered it a warning or not.  The State believes that if it controls the people and they have nothing to worry about then everyone is safe and happy.  Peace abounds.  Really it was a strange read.  Had a really bad ending in my opinion.  Don't know why I continue to try science fiction.   It promoted promiscuity over chastity.  Free living as apposed to the more "oppressed" life of marriage and family.