New York and Scotland

Current Read: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Current Listen: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Whoa. So many feels. I finished New York by Edward Rutherfurd last night, and I was not expecting the 9/11 section to have such an impact. Obviously you can't write a historical novel about New York City without it, but it was a bit of a trigger. This novel was an epic, I'll grant you, and I'm not sure that it will be to everyone's tastes, but I definitely found it worthwhile. I might have even liked it better than the first Rutherfurd I read, Paris.

It follows the Van Dyke and Master families (Dutch and English) through generations from the times of New Amsterdam through the 2008 recession. Along the way we also learn about many other families that reflect the diversity that New York generates throughout history. We encounter the descendants of the Masters' slave, Hudson (no last name there for obvious reasons), the Irish McDonnell family, the German Kellers, the Italian Carusos, and the Jewish Adlers. All of the story lines blend so well, and Rutherfurd generally does a great job keeping you up to speed with who each character is related to and using dramatic irony to reference things from the past. He also does a great job of making sure the generations of characters are not flat or stale and have different personalities, motivations, and perspectives. I had a fun time reading it, and I learned some things! I had no idea about the Draft Riots of 1863, for example. Also, since I just really got into Hamilton the musical, which is set for the most part in New York City around the Revolutionary War, it's been fun to put both the musical and the book into the same historical context.

I also finished At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen. I read this one quite quickly, and it was a fun little break after the seriousness of the Dickens from the previous week. In this story, Maddie Hyde travels to Scotland from Philadelphia with her husband Ellis and his best friend Hank, despite the fact that it's early 1945. Silly war getting in the way of the rich folks' plans. They also happen to be looking for the Loch Ness Monster. It was sort of a strange, unbelievable premise, but it turned out okay. A lot of complaints I have read about the book mentioned the fact that Maddie is rich and privileged and therefore hard to relate to, and I'll agree that for the first 50 pages or so that was a struggle. However, Maddie SUPER redeems herself by overcoming the privileged attitude and standing up for herself (yay feminism!). She and the cast of Scottish characters make the book worthwhile, along with Gruen's writing style.

I know I have no reason to be antsy, but I am getting a little nervous about the books I have left in the challenge. Here's an updated list:

A classic romance: Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t: Mr. Sammler’s Planet by Saul Bellow

A book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

A book that came out the year you were born: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

A book set during Christmas: Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle

A book based on or turned into a TV show: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

A book you started but never finished: Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

Awesome people keep writing books that I just NEED to read (like the new Harper Lee that I just started), and those have more intense time constraints. Also, my favorite TV shows are starting up again (Mindy Project, How To Get Away with Murder, Scandal, etc.), AND Oscar contender movies have started coming out, which divides my time some more. Incidentally, would people be interested in my movie travails, or would that make this too complicated? ANYWAY. I've started the Harper Lee and also Jurassic Park, and also have been reading Musicophilia, since that seems like one that is better read a chapter a night rather than binged. I have fall break in a few weeks, so I reckon I'll get a lot done then. This blog continues to motivate me to read, which is pretty darn great!

Thanks for taking me seriously, and for now, that's all she read.

The Mystery of the Unfinished Book

Current Read: At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen
Current Listen: New York by Edward Rutherfurd

Whoa, buddy. What a week of reading. I forgot how intense Dickens is. I read A Tale of Two Cities in high school and ABSOLUTELY loved it, but I do remember several intense marathons of reading out loud so I made sure that I got everything. There's a lot of wordplay in tiny jokes in Edward Drood, and if you blink you might miss one. I miss that aspect of high school and college lit courses. Discussing books with other people is the best part of reading, in my opinion. I'm constantly demanding that people read books so I can talk to someone about them. I was actually thinking about writing a post about this topic...people seem confused sometimes when I say "I liked a book so much that I had to buy it." I tend to buy books that I have already read if I really, really loved them so I can read them again or recommend them to others. Thoughts on a longer post about this?

ANYWAY. The Mystery of Edwin Drood was Charles Dickens' last novel. It was published in serial in 1870 and is unfinished because he died in June of that year. It was shaping up to be a great novel. This was Dickens' first foray into the world of the detective or mystery story, and he introduced many different characters who could have been the murderer (if in fact Drood was murdered at all). The idea of reading an unfinished story was quite intriguing to me, and I have come up with several different things that I would have liked to happen. My best friend is performing in the musical version of the show this weekend, and I am interested to see what ending the writers of the show came up with. The story is centered around two young people, Edwin Drood and Rosabud, who have been engaged to be married since they were young. Edwin Drood's guardian is his uncle, John Jasper, who is the music master of the cathedral, Rosabud's music teacher, and an opium addict. The story takes place in the town of Cloisterham, which is universally agreed to be a depiction of Rochester, England. It is revealed early on that Edwin and Rosabud have drifted apart and do not necessarily wish to be married, and it is ALSO revealed that Jasper is enamored with Rosabud (who is repulsed by Jasper in turn). The plot is a bit difficult to describe since many, many different characters are introduced even in the first 23 chapters that were published. My two favorites were Mr. Grewgious, Rosabud's guardian (a very Angular man), and Durdles, a stonemason who is often called upon to give characters more information about the cemetery in Cloisterham. Durdles always carries a mysterious bundle and pays a youth, known as Deputy, to throw rocks at him if he is out after 10 at night.

Overall, I am not sure that I would recommend this book to people who did not already like Dickens. I find that people often need convincing to try a novel that is more than 100 years old, and so if you are new to Dickens you should probably stick to one of his more notable works. I do not, however, regret reading it. I am quite fond of Dickensian humor, it turns out. Next up is the new Sara Gruen book! It is not part of my reading challenge, but I have been on the hold list at my local library for months and it finally came in. It won't renew, obviously, so no time like the present! I'm also making good progress on New York, which is QUITE a long audio book at 36 hours. I am almost half way through it, and I just finished a LONG section on the Revolutionary War, which is one of my favorite bits of history. Next up is Tammany Hall and the Civil War.

Thank you so much for reading, and for now, that's all she read!

I'll Give You the Sun and some updates

Current Read: The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
Current Listen: New York by Edward Rutherfurd

My name is Katie, and it has been one day since I purchased a book.

I'm ashamed. I bought two. BUT. To explain. One, The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty, was purchased with the three dollars I was given for selling a few old DVDs to Half Price Books, and I was actually GIVEN 11 cents for buying that book, since the amount I was paid was less than that of the book. The other one, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra, was purchased at a fun little thrift store in Chesterton, Indiana for 1.07. SO I paid a total of 96 cents for two books. Not feeling too guilty about it. I'm also planning on selling a bunch of books soon, which is the other benefit of actually reading everything I own. After I read it, I'll know whether or not it's a keeper that I want to re-read and recommend to others (The Shadow of the Wind) or whether it is taking up more space than I think is worth (Our Town). I'm not anticipating HATING anything that I've purchased or been given in the past, but nor am I counting on loving every single thing. Also, I'm a millennial with college debt. Sometimes I sell things because I need money. Or need to at least feel better about spending money on books.

But now to the matter at hand. The magnificent I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. This was recommended to me by Kristina Horner in the same video that led me to Aristotle and Dante. Almost want to write her a thank you note, since these two books were two of the best that I've read all year. I'll Give You the Sun follows twins, Jude and Noah, who grew up incredibly close, but at age 14 are torn apart by tragedy. The twins share the narration, Jude at age 16 and Noah at age 13, which created both suspense and dramatic irony as the plot was teased out bit by bit. Both of the twins have an artistic sensability, which took some getting used to and almost created a sense of magical realism as the two talk to ghosts and view circumstances as though they were a part of a painting. I was brought to tears several times, but I ended the book feeling incredibly uplifted. I am holding off on buying it only because it isn't out on paperback. I also just ordered Nelson's other book, The Sky is Everywhere, from the library. So we'll see if I end up just buying both in the end.

And now for a few updates. Firstly, I have finalized the last few books of my reading challenge! It's really doable, actually. Rather than posting the whole list, I'll just show you the categories that I have yet to complete and what will go in them.
A classic romance: Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

A book more than 100 years old: The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens

A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t: Mr. Sammler’s Planet by Saul Bellow (Finally figured out something for this! We were told to buy this for our First Year Seminar course at Butler but then never read it)

A book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

A book that came out the year you were born: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

A book set during Christmas: Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle

A book based on or turned into a TV show: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

A book you started but never finished: Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks (RIP)

Secondly, I've been thinking more and more about venturing into the Youtube space. I have been spending more and more time watching Youtube videos and have been exploring the world of booktubing since the BookTubeAThon a few week ago. That seemed like a LOT of fun, but I'm worried about how low my production value would be. I was thinking I would try something simple for a first video, like a video version of the TBR list that I just talked about.

Finally, I just want to express how grateful I am to everyone that has taken the time to read my thoughts on books and book buying and life. I have noticed that it has been motivating me to read more so I can write more blogs, which I think is just awesome. Reading makes me feel much better about myself than bingeing on Netflix. Finding hobbies as an adult can be tough, but this one seems like it's a keeper.

So, readers (because I have those now), what are your thoughts? Opinions on anything in my to be read? Suggestions for future posts? Should Youtube happen? Did I make any grammar mistakes?

That's all she read!