Cranford (A novel about spinster women)

So I haven't written a review in over a month mostly because I have been reading so many books plus I've been on vacation. You can blame the library for my excessive reading (though can one ever read excessively?). I have recently re-discovered how much I love the library and how much I want to save money (and pay off those pesky credit cards). I have decided that the only books that I will be purchasing will be cheap books on the Kindle or ones that I want part of my collection (BN Classics, Agatha Christie's Poirot series, Martha Grimes Richard Jury novels and now Game of Thrones series) and if I read a book and I love it so much, I will take the plunge and purchase it or it is unavailable in the library.
Okay, enough with my ranting, although one cannot rant about the library. I have read a lot of books on the 1001 list one of them being Cranford, which I finished either in August or July. I have a lot of catching up to do obviously. So let's get my take on this novel as we jam out to the Coldplay station on Pandora, shall we?
Cranford is by Elizabeth Gaskell. This is a new author for me and I am surprised that I haven't come across her before, she has also written North & South and Wives & Daughters which are also included on the list. This is definitely not a Jane Austen novel, so expect no Mr. Darcy's to save the day.
The narrator is Mary Smith, a young woman who stays and visits two spinster sisters, Miss Matty and Deborah Jenkyns. Deborah is the older sister who leads the spinsters and other ladies in the story and rules with an iron fist. Not really, but she controls Matty's life. Miss Matty was in love once, with a Thomas Holbrook but that does not last (it is hinted that Miss Deborah had something to do with it) but Miss Matty gets a second chance at love when Holbrook turns up again but ends up dying. How disappointing. Luckily, Deborah dies early in the story so that's when all of the fun and the heart of the novel begins. The novel is written in vignettes but all the stories connect seamlessly. This is definitely a quite different take on a spinster woman's life in England though I am not quite sure why Mary Smith wants to spend all of her time with the old ladies. She is much younger, but these old ladies create dramatic lives for themselves and Mary gets into the middle of all it. I guess when there isn't much going on, you have to create a little bit of drama to make your life less dull.
I gave this novel 4/5 stars because there were moments that this book slogged along for me. I do hear however that there is a Masterpiece Theater mini series on this novel which I will definitely check out. Not sure what book I will review next, but at the moment I am currently reading Don't Move by Margaret Mazzantini which is also on the list and I love it so far.

Until next time, happy reading!

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (The Great American Novel?)

I am so far behind on my book reviews and I have been reading some interesting novels and a couple of short stories in between. I have also been purchasing more books (surprise, surprise). But to get back into it, I read the AMERICAN NOVEL, the one that put American authors in competition with their European peers, none other than by Samuel Clemens himself, Mark Twain.
Mark Twain is quite the celebrated author, writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court among others. However, I will confess that this is the first novel of his that I have read. I am pretty sure I read short stories of his in grade school but never a novel. I did watch the Wishbone episode on PBS when they did Tom Sawyer, but I am pretty sure that doesn't count, neither does the Disney film, A Kid in King Arthur's Court count either. So, I have owned both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn for over a year now, one of the spoils that I got when Borders went out of business. I never read it, but since I have been on a Brit Lit kick, I figured my next book would be, what literary scholars deem it, The GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL.

My Take: Meh, after getting used to the language (I guess the old Missouri back woods talk), you can see the novel evolve from a Tom Sawyer sequel (which was the intention of the book until Twain saw it was becoming something much more than that) to a novel with it's own voice. Now, I am drawing from my experience from watching the Wishbone episode, but Sawyer was the ring leader and main mischief maker. There is less Tom Sawyer in this novel because Huck Finn sails down the Mississippi with Jim, the slave that ran away from Huck Finn's caretaker.

The book is fun and far fetched but I don't see why this book is always on the banned list (I mean, yes the use the n word a lot but Twain was writing in the style of the times). I laughed in a couple of places but this book never stood out as the novel that all others are derived from. The message was different but I never quite understood why Twain sent Jim and Huck down the Mississippi and not north to obtain Jim's freedom.

I gave this book 4/5 stars mainly because I laughed and I always like a book that can make me laugh.

Next review will be on Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell!

Until next time, happy reading!