I have found the next two books in my 100 book challenge: THE NATIVE SON by Richard Wright and GULLIVER'S TRAVELS by Jonathan Swift. I have seen GULLIVER'S TRAVELS and I know the book and how it ends but I have not fully read the book. I remember when I first picked up DRACULA by Bram Stoker that I was surprised at how the the book was actually written using letters and journal entries, so I am curious as to the style of GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. I will be starting these two books soon, but will probably not finish them until the new year.
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY BOOK READING
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Don't do it. 3 reviews
While you are in the midst of a challenge do not make or accept other challenge requests. It took me forever to finish THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt because I was trying to read and still trying to read as many books as I can before the end of December. I started this extra challenge and have now finished three books including THE SECRET HISTORY. Now I am going to read some simpler books, well not that simple, the challenge still says over 150 pages. So her are the books I have completed in this December challenge so far:
1. THE JANUS STONE by Elly Griffiths, this about an archaeologist named Ruth Galloway. It is a series book set in the UK. This is the second book in the series and Ruth was introduced to us after Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson finds a body in a salt marsh, near Ruth's house. She is a professor and is summoned to help with the case, when another little girl disappears and a long closed case is worked upon. In the tension that occurs in this book, Ruth and Harry have relations, leaving unbeknownst to the Chief Inspector, Ruth pregnant.
In this book, however, Ruth is called to an interesting site by a man named Max who is also an archaeologist. They have discovered a body under a door jamb of an old house that is being demolished to make room for condo's. This is where we learn about the ancient Roman god Janus, who was the god of comings and goings. Apparently, in ritual fashion the Roman Empire, it was fashionable to behead children and lay them under the front door. We have a mystery in that the body is not that old and someone connected to the house had to have put her there over 50 years ago. What I like about the book is the information about the god's which happened to coincide with the SECRET HISTORY which was based on Greek mythology and writings. Both are about murders as well and what drives people to do psychotic things. I really like Elly Griffiths characters and would recommend this as a good read. I have already started her next book in the series as part of my challenge. It is called THE HOUSE AT SEAS END.
2. 1225 CHRISTMAS TREE LANE by Debbie Macomber. What can I say when it is close to Christmas I always read a Christmas book. I try to get in the mood. This is a book I am sure was made for television on the Hallmark channel, as Ms. Macomber has several that air around Christmas on that channel. I found it a little sugary but then it is Christmas in romance is in the air then so be it.
Fun little read.
3. THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt, First published in 1992, my copy was from 2002 and published through Borzoi Books a division of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. This book starts right of at the scene of a murder Bunny, a boy who attends Hampden College in Vermont, by his best friends. The books narrator is a young man trying to escape his family situation by moving as far away from them as possible and attending the college. His name is Richard Papen. He wants to be a Greek Scholar but the class is already full with five people, Charles and Camille, who are twins, Henry, the leader, Francis, and Bunny, the freeloader. The teacher of this course is Julius who is someone who thinks highly of himself and has many a high end friends. He also has an alternate personality that defines him as someone who would like to keep to himself. He is not the central character, but he plays some crucial roles, one being letting a sixth person in the class breaking his five person rule.
The first half of the book is the set up to the death and the search for the body of Bunny Corcoran. The second part is about the five people dealing with their culpability. I think this reads very much like a Greek Play: murder, incest, manipulation, god's and goddesses, homosexual encounters drugs, and alcohol. None of these things are described in detail, most are insinuated, but they all play a role in this book. Probably the most seen are the drugs and alcohol, that causes most of the problems, especially the death of an innocent bystander, which becomes the cause of the fallout with Bunny.
The book is 524 pages long and except for a couple of slow periods in the book, it was a great read. As I said before you start out with a snippet of Bunny's demise, then you follow Richard and his observations, every once in awhile, we get more information about the death, until the actual time he dies. I liked the Greek comparisons, the way the story read and the way the story was not packaged up at the end with a neat little bow. It made the story real.
1. THE JANUS STONE by Elly Griffiths, this about an archaeologist named Ruth Galloway. It is a series book set in the UK. This is the second book in the series and Ruth was introduced to us after Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson finds a body in a salt marsh, near Ruth's house. She is a professor and is summoned to help with the case, when another little girl disappears and a long closed case is worked upon. In the tension that occurs in this book, Ruth and Harry have relations, leaving unbeknownst to the Chief Inspector, Ruth pregnant.
In this book, however, Ruth is called to an interesting site by a man named Max who is also an archaeologist. They have discovered a body under a door jamb of an old house that is being demolished to make room for condo's. This is where we learn about the ancient Roman god Janus, who was the god of comings and goings. Apparently, in ritual fashion the Roman Empire, it was fashionable to behead children and lay them under the front door. We have a mystery in that the body is not that old and someone connected to the house had to have put her there over 50 years ago. What I like about the book is the information about the god's which happened to coincide with the SECRET HISTORY which was based on Greek mythology and writings. Both are about murders as well and what drives people to do psychotic things. I really like Elly Griffiths characters and would recommend this as a good read. I have already started her next book in the series as part of my challenge. It is called THE HOUSE AT SEAS END.
2. 1225 CHRISTMAS TREE LANE by Debbie Macomber. What can I say when it is close to Christmas I always read a Christmas book. I try to get in the mood. This is a book I am sure was made for television on the Hallmark channel, as Ms. Macomber has several that air around Christmas on that channel. I found it a little sugary but then it is Christmas in romance is in the air then so be it.
Fun little read.
3. THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt, First published in 1992, my copy was from 2002 and published through Borzoi Books a division of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. This book starts right of at the scene of a murder Bunny, a boy who attends Hampden College in Vermont, by his best friends. The books narrator is a young man trying to escape his family situation by moving as far away from them as possible and attending the college. His name is Richard Papen. He wants to be a Greek Scholar but the class is already full with five people, Charles and Camille, who are twins, Henry, the leader, Francis, and Bunny, the freeloader. The teacher of this course is Julius who is someone who thinks highly of himself and has many a high end friends. He also has an alternate personality that defines him as someone who would like to keep to himself. He is not the central character, but he plays some crucial roles, one being letting a sixth person in the class breaking his five person rule.
The first half of the book is the set up to the death and the search for the body of Bunny Corcoran. The second part is about the five people dealing with their culpability. I think this reads very much like a Greek Play: murder, incest, manipulation, god's and goddesses, homosexual encounters drugs, and alcohol. None of these things are described in detail, most are insinuated, but they all play a role in this book. Probably the most seen are the drugs and alcohol, that causes most of the problems, especially the death of an innocent bystander, which becomes the cause of the fallout with Bunny.
The book is 524 pages long and except for a couple of slow periods in the book, it was a great read. As I said before you start out with a snippet of Bunny's demise, then you follow Richard and his observations, every once in awhile, we get more information about the death, until the actual time he dies. I liked the Greek comparisons, the way the story read and the way the story was not packaged up at the end with a neat little bow. It made the story real.
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