Still reading The Golden Notebook, but....

I am still reading the Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, but I have also read two book club choices for last month and nest month, so I thought I would review them least I forget.

This month the book was A WRINKLE IN TIME, by Madeleine L'Engle, my copy was printed in 1997 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc for the Quality Paperback Book Club. I read this book when I was not a child, but later on in life, then again when I had children, and now for a third time. When I was younger I did not pick up on some of the religious themes in the book, but concentrated on the fact that there were two children rescuing their dad from an evil entity. I was heavily into science fiction, so this fell into my favorite kind of read. When I read it with my children, we were looking at it through eyes of book reports. In each read I found myself being drawn to the character of Meg. I was a little different from my family, though they loved me they did not understand me. I also had a mass of curly hair in the era of Twiggy and straight hair. This made me the butt of jokes in school. I also had to explain why my father mysteriously disappeared, to people who would come up to a seven year old and say things in a snide tone, "Where's your father?"

It is a cleverly written book that can follow you from childhood to adult and still be able to find different meanings. I believe the author when she was asked who this book was written for and she said people. She did not want it to be a specific age group and I applaud her for making it a book that can be enjoyed on many levels.

At our book club we talked about the time frame this book was written , when the start of cookie cutter houses started showing up, where whole neighborhoods looked exactly the same and if you did not fit the mold you were ostracized. A time when individuality might have been frowned upon. Also discussed were the religious concepts of dark overshadowing the light. Love conquering all. That maybe the Mrs's were also seen as the holy trinity. So many concepts in such a small powerhouse of a book.

I think the only thing we did not like was how the book ended so abruptly, one minute we are in conflict and the next we are back in the garden and the story ends. I felt like she wanted to go on but decided this was a good place to stop, leaving you with the feeling that there should be more. I have not read the other books with these characters so maybe that will be when I finish the rest of my 100.

Also, I think I will end here with this is a good book to read with your children, you may want them to be in 6 grade so that they can understand it a wee bit better. I will do another blog for the next book.

The reading has started.

I have started the book THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK by Doris Lessing, once again we have a 600 page book, at least it is not 1000+ pages. It is also not printed in teeny pinhead print, so my eyes may be saved. I love the letters that Doris Lessing put in describing what not to think this book is about, such as feminism. She wrote both in 1971 and 1993, both letters are in the book. I will not try to paraphrase her words, but do read them if you are inclined to read this book.

The central characters so far, are Anna, her friend Molly start off the book, but it quickly drops back in time, when Anna leaves Molly to go back home and look at her notebooks, which are described by color as the black, red, yellow and blue. Anna chooses the black notebook to start writing in which is about her time with a group of people she refers to as the Colony, which resides in Africa. The group is made up mostly of Brits with the tentative leader named Willi. That is where I am so far, and currently I am enjoying the book. I think the black notebook definitely has a dark side. I wonder what the other three notebooks will reveal.

Happy Summer Reading

Next book

Tomorrow I start the next book in my finishing the 100 books on my list that was part of the 100 book challenge. It is a book by Doris Lessing called the GOLDEN NOTEBOOK, published originally in 1962, my book is a reprint from 1999 through First Perennial Classics. Now here is the kicker, on the back of my copy, yes I bought the book, so I would not have to keep returning it to the library, it says it is a great work of fiction. However, when I have looked for it in  the library I have always found it in the non-fiction section. So I am going to have to do a little research to find out if this really autobiographical. Or does the library just assume it is non-fiction, or was it just misfiled, but the card record online says it is in non-fiction. Alas we have a mystery to help us read the book.

Have a pleasant summer and fun reads.

C'est fini- The last review of Les Miserables.

I have finished LES MISERABLES  by Victor Hugo. I have read it in two formats, book form and on Kindle, as the library would not let me recheck it out for a fourth time. I am sorry that it has taken me so long to finish and I feel I had abandoned my readers to other pursuits. That being said I decided enough was enough and I will finish it this weekend. I did not realize how far I had come in the book and how little I had put off reading. I also know that reading on a phone such a lengthy book is very tiring on the eyes. I one again apologize.


At the end of the Kindle version there are over 100 questions to review if you read this book for a book club, they are broken down into areas such as characters, settings, history, etc, I have not looked at these questions, but did read the notes that Monsieur Hugo wrote to an Italian publisher about his book. I agree with him that this is not a book for just France but for all mankind. He talks about countries with poverty and wealth, of money going to military and not to education, and I see this in the US currently. Is the book idealistic? Maybe. Is the book concerned about mankind and its search for improvement by any means necessary? Yes, I believe it does address that from one mans struggles to feed his family, to the street poor trying to make something of themselves through thievery. This book carries many of the tones found in Dickens, but it carries the struggle to be a better person, even if in the end you are defeated.

I mentioned I had read this book in high school french class, but we only looked at the Jean Valjean parts. I realize now that we looked at very few passages and a very abridged edition. There is so much more to this book then the validation of an ex-con, there is history, romance, betrayal and a thousand understandings of the human condition. Having said that I still do not understand the concept of rebellions over and over again. The snuffing out of lives that apparently occurred so often in France. I am saddened by all of the men Marius knew dying in such a manner and not changing anything. It was strange to me that these doctors, lawyers, students at a University would willingly die, knowing that they may not produce change, that the same scenario happened over and over again in France. I could imagine that the poor and lower waged workers may have had a rebellion, bit it was not them who started the rebellions. I thought do they really care about their fellow man or are they being romantics. I am still not sure.

Jean Valjean is indeed the hero throughout the book. He rescues so many and in the end though forgiven suffers the most. It is a tragedy, showing that no matter what your circumstances, that you can change for the better, which he showed in so many ways. His counterpoint is Thernadier whose only redeeming quality was at the end of the book when he unwittingly gave Marius information that changed his opinion of Jean Valjean, other then that Thernadier showed the ugly side of man, in all it's forms.

I could go on but this is not a dissertation, nor is it a thesis, a book report, or a news item. I loved this book, though it took me forever to read it. I liked hearing the history, the romance, the subtleties of the characters, the notions of the time period. It was an eye-opening book, a good read, but you must be prepared for the areas of long explanations of wars, Frances architecture, the long windiness of the grandfather, these took pages and chapters in the book. If you have time it is a good book to read.

Out of the Revolution

I have finished the section on Waterloo and how it connects to Cosette and the Thernadieres, Mr. Thernadier being one of the robbers of the dead after the war. Cosette and Jean Valjean have once again escaped the clutches of Javert and are hiding inside a convent. A very weird convent of which it is easier to read then describe. I think this is why it is not shown in the movie, or why we did not discuss as a class.

Anyway I am in a new section Part 3 Marius. Book one in this section is all about the street urchins of Paris, it is very descriptive and almost makes you want to be one of the carefree ones with no chores, except to make some coin for food or play five finger discount. I am sure this is where we will be introduced to the Thernadiers son who is a non-entity, he was described as a baby who kept crying in the last section. The Missus was all about her girls and did nothing for her son, I am not sure how he survived but we are several years into the future from Part 2 where he was first brought into play.

         This almost puts me half-way through the book. YEAH. With this cold and flu I am able to     read, so who knows when I will finish. Pleasant journeys and be happy to be part of a family.

Battle of Waterloo

Who knew, not me, that there was so much information about the battle of Waterloo and surrounding areas in the book Les Miserables. I am part two of the book entitled Cosette and the first book in this section is entitled Waterloo. It is about 45 pages long going into detail about the battlefield and the plans of Napoleon, number of people who died, etc.  Anyway,not sure where this is going, being that Cosette was born about two years after this battle. I guess if you want to study the battle of Waterloo, then I would also look at this section in the book. Makes me want to find it.

Historians there are monuments including the place mentioned in Les Miserables called Hougemont. In fact on the website for this and other monuments in the area, is a notation about the fact that there are two chapters in Les Miserables that mention this battle. So new things to learn everyday.

Les Miserables a beginning.

I have started the book, Les Miserables, and I realized that my French teacher back in high school, only had us read the parts about Jean Valjean in class. I have seen the movie and we were given the general gist of the book in class, but there is a so much backstory that we did not read in class. Anyway, I am at the pass the part where Fantine has given her daughter to people she thought she could trust and back with Jean Valjean being the benefactor for the M and M district. Though they have not said that it is Jean because he did not show his papers when he was being a hero. Though it is inferred by the way he was dressed and his desire not to be given titles.

I love getting the backstory and can put things in better perspective. I liked the movie but I did not realize how Fantine became with child and what drove her to leave her child with the Thenardiers. Where did the young men and women go that were with Fantine in the book, but I do not recall those scenes in the movie. Anyway, still lots to read.