I've been on a definite reading slump lately. I'm not sure what it was. A month ago I finished "The Invention of Wings" and I loved it. Finished it in two weeks. But after that, it took me a while to get into a book. I tried to read a couple of books but just never finished them. So finally for the last couple of weeks, I've gotten in to some good books. And I thought I'd share them with you!
Title: Me Before You
Author: Jojo Moyes
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Synopsis: Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl
living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady
boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther than their tiny
village. She takes a badly needed job working for Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived
a huge life. Big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel and now he’s pretty
sure he cannot live the way he is.
Will is acerbic, moody, bossy but Lou refuses to treat him with
kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When
she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him
that life is still worth living.
Thoughts: This book really surprised me! I had heard that this was a good book but the movie previews made it look kind of just like a cheesy love story. But there really was more to it than that. I liked the character development between Will and Louisa and how their relationship evolved into a friendship and then into more than that. I wasn't emotionally prepared for how sad it was going to be but it was sort of a happy sad...depending on how you look at the circumstances.
Title: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Author: Mark Twain
Rating: Classic
Synopsis: You know the story but I'll tell you anyways. Huck is living with the Widow Douglass in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. His miserable, drunk, and abusive father comes into town because he heard Huck has come into some money (re: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) and wants to get his hands on it. He ends up kidnapping Huck and long story short, Huck fakes his death and runs away. He ends up running into the Widow's slave, Jim, who has runaway due to his fears of being sold further south. They hear through rumors that Jim is being accused of Huck's death.
Thoughts: This book is a classic and I don't think I've read it in maybe 15 years. It was interesting to read it as an adult because I forgot about the obvious parallels between Jim and Huck, who are nothing alike. But they both yearn from their freedom from a government does nothing to help them. The town judge failed Huck in allowing the Widow Douglass to adopt him since his father is still alive, even though he does nothing but use and abuse him. And the government of course is just a failed system when it comes to slavery. Great book, read it again as an adult. I loved laughing at the childlike perspective of Huck although he has a good outlook on his life.
Title: The Kitchen House
Author: Kathleen Grissom
Rating: 3 of 5
Synopsis:.When 7-year-old Irish orphan Lavinia is transported to
Virginia to work in the kitchen of a wealthy plantation owner, she is absorbed
into the life of the kitchen house and becomes part of the family of black
slaves whose fates are tied to the plantation. But Lavinia's skin will always
set her apart, whether she wishes it or not. And as she grows older, she will
be torn between the life that awaits her as a white woman and the people she
knows as her family.
Thoughts: I really didn't know how to rate this book. On the one hand I flew through it. It was so easy to read and to get caught up in the story with Lavinia and her new family. The author is also a beautiful writer, she really captured me right away. I believe that the author did her research about plantation life in Virginia in 1791 because the descriptions and the way she talks, I can just picture it. I also like that this was a book not just about slavery but about women at that time period, too. We see over and over that not only the slaves are taken advantage of and given no life of their own, but grown women are as well. What I didn't like was the narration. It switches back and forth between Lavinia and Belle (the slave who takes care of her) but its kind of odd since Belle's chapters are so short. I thought at first that maybe it was because Lavinia starts out as a child and Belle was there to give us, as the reader, a fuller perspective of their life and the events that unfold. But it sort of stays the same as Lavinia gets older but just kind of lets us in on other things that she doesn't see first hand. I also had a huge frustration with Lavinia as the main character and I can't figure out if it was written that way on purpose. After shes grown up and goes through a whole mess of experiences, she is still so blind by her life as a white woman. Even though I understand that she was raised by this family of slaves and can never think of them as property, she sort of has a childlike approach to the fact that her closeness with them could get them in trouble. She's an adult with the mind of a child. And I can't tell if that was on purpose. Also, Lavinia is a strong willed, smart little girl and she grows into being a weak woman and I just wanted more from her. Anyways, I could talk about this forever. Haha. I will say it was a good book and keeps your attention. I thought the ending felt rushed but it all tried to come together.
That's all I have for now! It's book sale season so I'm hoping I keep on a steady streak of good books to share with you! Let me know if you've read any of these books and what your thoughts are. What are you reading lately?
xoxo
Thoughts: I really didn't know how to rate this book. On the one hand I flew through it. It was so easy to read and to get caught up in the story with Lavinia and her new family. The author is also a beautiful writer, she really captured me right away. I believe that the author did her research about plantation life in Virginia in 1791 because the descriptions and the way she talks, I can just picture it. I also like that this was a book not just about slavery but about women at that time period, too. We see over and over that not only the slaves are taken advantage of and given no life of their own, but grown women are as well. What I didn't like was the narration. It switches back and forth between Lavinia and Belle (the slave who takes care of her) but its kind of odd since Belle's chapters are so short. I thought at first that maybe it was because Lavinia starts out as a child and Belle was there to give us, as the reader, a fuller perspective of their life and the events that unfold. But it sort of stays the same as Lavinia gets older but just kind of lets us in on other things that she doesn't see first hand. I also had a huge frustration with Lavinia as the main character and I can't figure out if it was written that way on purpose. After shes grown up and goes through a whole mess of experiences, she is still so blind by her life as a white woman. Even though I understand that she was raised by this family of slaves and can never think of them as property, she sort of has a childlike approach to the fact that her closeness with them could get them in trouble. She's an adult with the mind of a child. And I can't tell if that was on purpose. Also, Lavinia is a strong willed, smart little girl and she grows into being a weak woman and I just wanted more from her. Anyways, I could talk about this forever. Haha. I will say it was a good book and keeps your attention. I thought the ending felt rushed but it all tried to come together.
That's all I have for now! It's book sale season so I'm hoping I keep on a steady streak of good books to share with you! Let me know if you've read any of these books and what your thoughts are. What are you reading lately?
xoxo
