100+ Challenge Update - October

October has been, by far, my best reading month ever. I've been trying real hard to get in some books so I can complete the 100+ Challenge. I've read 75 books this year so do you all think I can read 25 books in the next two months?? Eek!

October
63. The Last Dickens - Matthew Pearl
64. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
65. Sacred Hearts - Sarah Dunant
66. The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery
67. The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Charles Dickens
68. The Strain - Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan
69. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys
70. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
71. Real Murders - Charlaine Harris
72. Seeing Redd - Frank Beddor
73. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
74. Sunflowers - Sheramy Bundrick

R.I.P. IV Challenge - Completed

I finished Carl's R.I.P. IV Challenge. For all you who haven't heard of Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings, go check him out. You can also check out what I read last year for the R.I.P. III Challenge.

I chose Peril the First: Read Four books from any sub-genre of scary stories that you choose.

Here's my completed list:

1. The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Charles Dickens (Finished October 20, 2009)

2. The Last Dickens - Matthew Pearl (Finished October 04, 2009)

3. Dark Star - Alan Furst (Finished September 05, 2009)

4. The Harrowing - Alexandra Sokoloff (Finished September 01, 2009)

5. The Strain - Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan (Finished October 21, 2009)

6. Real Murders - Charlaine Harris (Finished October 26, 2009)

You can see what everyone else read over at The Review Site.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Charles Dickens

I became interested in reading Charles Dickens last unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood while reading Matthew Pearl's novel The Last Dickens. You don't have to read the Dickens novel to understand The Last Dickens, but I was just intrigued by the whole mystery. So I checked online and found the site The Literature Network where you can read it for free. I had a ball reading this little unsolved mystery.

The premise is this:

Orphan Edwin Drood is engaged to be married to fellow orphan, Rosa Bud. Their fathers had arranged the marriage a long time ago. Neither Edwin nor Rosa seem to be too enthralled with the idea. Edwin's uncle and guardian, John Jasper is the choirmaster, an opium addict, secretly in love with Rosa, and basically just a creepy guy all around.

Enter two more orphans, brother and sister duo Neville and Helena Landless. Neville is kind of a sweet guy who happens to get into trouble. And his sister is a loyal beauty. Neville develops a crush on Rosa as well.

During the course of the novel, John Jasper's actions seem very odd. He sneaking around, tours the cemetery/crypt (a good creepy part of the novel). And then Edwin goes missing.

Then a stranger comes to town, Dick Datchery, who becomes interested in this mystery. What is his deal? Will he solve the mystery? Did Edwin just take off? Did John Jasper do him in? Did Neville kill him off?

We never know....

I loved reading this. First of all, does Dickens just love orphans or what? And then there is the names! They crack me up. Like Rosa Bud....seriously? Here's some more characters: Reverend Crisparkle, Durdles (the creepy stonemason of the crypt), Princess Puffer (the opium queen), Miss Twinkleton, and Mr. Honeythunder. O my gosh.

After reading The Last Dickens and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, I am becoming quite the Charles Dickens fan. Masterpiece Theater is running some shows and I've watched Oliver Twist (another fun orphan) and am watching Bleak House (loving it!).

Do you like Dickens? What is your favorite that you'd recommend I read?

Random NYC photo

I finally got around to uploading some photos from one of my cameras. So here's another random NYC photo:
I love when the clouds are low and help illuminate the Empire State Building's lights.

Other random NYC photos here, here, here, here, and here

Auburn Game

Every year my husband and I meet up with some friends in Auburn, Alabama to catch an Auburn game. My husband is an Auburn alum so watching college football is his thing.

I love the Auburn campus. It's got such beautiful buildings:


I really like this one:
It was COLD this year! And it rained just a little.

You can see the ominous clouds:

They lost but we still had a good time.
***Quick shout out to Alabama Book Worm and Lisa at Books. Lists. Life. --WAR EAGLE!

Past Auburn posts: Auburn photos and Auburn puppies

Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys

I decided to read Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys because of Twitter. Yes, that's right. Because of Twitter. I follow @WNBA_NRGM which is National Reading Group Month from the Woman's National Book Association. They mentioned this article from NPR. Confused yet?

I had no idea that this novel had anything to do with Jane Eyre [my review]. **If you've never read Jane Eyre and are planning to, you might want to stop reading here. **I happened to see it the other day at the library and picked it up. So here we go.

Wide Sargasso Sea imagines the background of "Bertha" the first wife of Rochester from Jane Eyre. It's supposed to clear up the mystery of why she ending up being the crazy lady in the attic.

And I say "supposed" because it didn't really clear up anything to me. At the end of the book, I still feel that "Bertha" a.k.a. Antoinette Cosway, the wealthy Creole girl from the Caribbean, is still such a mystery.

Let's be honest. I didn't really like this book. Classic literature it may be but here's why I had problems with it.

1) Rochester doesn't really seem like the Rochester from Jane Eyre. That said, if he's supposed to come off as an evil man who enslaves her in his attic....it kind of failed. You could see where he seemed just as stuck in having to marry her as she was to him. And there was no logical reason for him to start calling her "Bertha", it was out of character, and it just bugged me. (A large portion in the middle of the book is written from Rochester's perspective. I DID like that.)

2) The book jacket made it seem as if she had no choice in marrying him. As if against her will she was forced. But I didn't really see that in the book either. I couldn't really see WHY she had to marry him or why she did.

3) She remains a complete mystery. If she's supposed to be strong-willed, I don't see it. If she was supposed to be an innocent who was manipulated, I don't see it. I'm just not sure where the author was wanting to take this character.

4) The characters were confusing, the writing was confusing...I'll just leave it at that.

What I did like about this book:

1) The very beginning is very vivid. It's the part where Antoinette is a child, growing up as a Creole without a father, and the social changes that happen on the island where she lives. I'd tag this as "classic" just from that small section. Then the book just goes down-hill from there.

2) In a weird way, I could never get a picture of what Antoinette looked like. Maybe it was purposeful since Antoinette was caught between worlds, not fitting into either one. I thought that was a really powerful writing tool she used.

3) I did like the parallel between Jane's upbringing and Antoinette's. Lots of similarities.

4) Jean Rhys. I am kind of fascinated about the author herself. I'd love to read a book just on her.

***Has anyone else read this? Did you like it? If so, what was I missing?

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

I wasn't going to jump on this bandwagon. If you haven't heard, The Hunger Game Series is huge. I mean HUGE. The Hunger Games is the first novel in the series and the second book, Catching Fire, just came out.

So I put a hold on the book at the library and it came in just in time for me to read it for Dewey's Read-a-thon. And O. MY. I loved it. It honestly reminded me of one of my favorite books growing up, Invitation to the Game. If you or your kid like The Hunger Games...check out that one.

Anyway...the story (and please ignore the oddity of the names, because I think most of us think they're a bit silly):

It's the future and what was the U.S. has been demolished and what exists is the Capital (I'm thinking it's Denver) and 12 Districts (District 13 was destroyed). Katniss is 16 years old and lives in District 12 (Appalachia...think Tennessee). She's basically taking care of her little sister and mom because her dad died in a mine explosion/cave-in. To stave off starvation, Katniss sneaks out of the Districts fences and poaches for food with her friend Gale, an 18 year-old guy-friend.

Enter THE GAMES. Once a year the Capital holds The Hunger Games which basically reminds the people that the Capital rules over everything. Every kid ages 12-18 has an entry into The Games. A boy and girl from each district are randomly chosen to represent in The Games, which a duke-it-out Death Game with only one winner.

We know where this is going. Obviously Katniss is the girl representing District 12. To add to the problem, the boy chosen is handsome and nice Peeta who helped her years ago after her dad died.

Why did I like this? I think Katniss rocks. She's taken the hunting skills her father taught her (including her prowess with the bow and arrow) and is now using them to save her life. She knows a heck of a lot about foraging for edible and medicinal plants. It just reminded me of all the books I liked growing up about self-sufficient kids. You know, My Side of the Mountain, Island of the Blue Dolphin, and of course Invitation to the Game.

For some reason I kept imagining The Games to take place in some sort of arena, instead of them being dropped off in the wilderness. And obviously the deaths can be pretty gruesome because, well, you've got 24 kids killing each other in the wilderness.

I immediately made my husband read it. He liked it but I don't think as much as I did. I put the next book on hold at the library and of course we're both going to read it.

Here's an alternate cover which looks more YA:

Here's their idea of Katniss and Peeta. I think they look too young. More 12 years-old than 16+

And I have to say that GalleySmith and My Friend Amy crack me up. They made Team Peeta and Team Gale buttons.

So I'll admit I'm on Team Peeta, although I wish Suzanne Collins had written him as a brunette rather than blond. Just my preference :)
Also reviewed by:
My Fluttering Heart
Devourer of Books
S. Krishna's Books
Monniblog
Medieval Bookworm
Great Books and Fresh Coffee
Muse Books Reviews
Stephanie's Written Word
Books I Done Read
Ticket to Anywhere
Serendipity
GalleySmith
Booking Mama
At Home With Books
Maggie Reads
Books and Bards
Nothing of Importance
Stuff as Dreams are Made On
Regular Rumination
Today's Adventure
Maw Books Blog

Phew...what a list! Let me know if I missed yours!