2011 Reading Challenge

Rosa has read 0 books toward a goal of 100 books.
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Monday, December 26

Knew it!!!

Gggggggrrrrrr! Hate feeling like this. This is y I avoid it.

Yes I'm smiling like an idiot and I get the butterflies at the thought of seeing someone, but on the downside to it....the butterflies turn to stones and nerves because I'm living from moment to moment of when I see them next.....and then there's the freaking out about whether I look cute or not...when I will see them again and freaking caring if he calls or txts me and dissecting EVERYTHING to figure out what it all means!

Le sigh. Le BIG freaking sigh......



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Thursday, December 22

A Modern Day Persuasion by Kaitlin Saunders

I thought this was a lovely adaptation of Persuasion. It's very modern and present day, but doesn't lose any of the essential story or characters. This story is very much what I imagine Austen would write for our world today. Seeing it in these newer more updated terms also helped me understand different facets and see the story in a new light. Yes, I'm still romantic and wish no one had persuaded Anne away from Cpt Wentworth when they were young, but if they were 18 and had no education or money, it wouldn't be reasonable for them to marry nowadays. There is more complexity than i would have admitted to before and it's not black and white romantic and tragic...it's also very realistic and practical. And I like when a book gives me something new to chew on.

Also, mid-book I noticed the religious undertones. A lot of praying and thanking God, and at the wedding a reading of a bible passage...normally I don't like religion in my stories (my own issues) but I thought is was done really well and wasn't just thrown in for the sake of being religious or preachy, but came across as subtle and meshed well with what was happening in the story so it in no way detracted from either Saunders or Austen. Kudos.


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Tuesday, December 20

Much Ado About Nothing...


Thanks to the reading challenge I decided to do this year, I am actually and finally reading books I always "wanted" and "meant" to read. Much Ado About Nothing is one such book. The title says it all! What a big hoopla we make about something like love. I absolutely loved the quick and funny wit of Beatrice and Benedick (like many others, I am sure). Even when they are fighting, they are hilarious and I can't help but quote their better insults.

Hero and Claudio are lame. Hero for taking Claudio back after what a d-bag he was and Claudio for being so hot tempered, malicious, and fickle. Dogberry and his watchmen are the comic relief, but having seen the Much Ado About Nothing movie (I loved it so much I bought the DVD), I can't stop picturing Michael Keaton's silly performance.

If you read the book, I recommend u watch the 1993 movie. It does it much justice and who can say no to a cast that includes Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, Kate Beckinsale, and Keanu Reeves?! Definitely a book I will re-read many times, till I'm sure I can quote many lines.

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Tuesday, December 13

Witch Baby

I don't that I can really say much about this book. It always makes me cry. Every. Single. Time. I don't know what t is, but seeing the world through tilty purple eyes and feeling the overwhelming sadness and loneliness Witch Baby has always raises a lump in my throat, tear tracks in my pillow, and a dull ache in my heart. Everyone is so caught up in their own world and lives, they ignore a very special, very soulfully little witch baby who wants to find her place.


My favorite/the worst part is when she sees Coyote so sad because they are cutting the trees across the street. He has 5 Joshua Tree seeds he cherishes and shows the baby witch. He tells her that trees are spirits and if you are quiet enough you can hear them when you hug them and leaves too sad from the cut trees to even eat. Witch baby stole his seeds before he left and plants them in the same place where they just tore down the old trees hoping one day she and Coyote will hear them talking.

The next day Coyote wakes her up and yells at her about the seeds saying they will not grow outside of the desert and that they are basically wasted. Poor Witch Baby spends the next 3 nights digging with a flashlight and her nails trying to get is seeds back for him because she feels so bad. She only stops because Dirk finds her one night and takes her home.

I can't praise this book enough. I love it. The language, the message, the main character, the plot. "Why is the city called Los Angeles when there are no angels here....it should be called Los Diablos"

Will probably read at least 20 more times and keep crying every time. The day I read it and I don't cry, I will have to take a look at myself and my values.


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Monday, December 12

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

I actually liked the story and the Steampunk fabulousness made it that much more enjoyable. That being said, it was a little predictable and there is no resolution in the end, which is frustrating and leaves me unsatisfied.You do end up finding out why the duality of Finley Jayne exists and I thought that was a very clever plot twist. I personally like the Duke, but am partial to the crime lord myself, Jack Dandy is real honest for being a scummy jerk.

The elements are fantastic in their nature, but a few days after a broken clavicle, a girl who heals normally is ready to go into action again, and there are always inventions that just happen to solve an issue or move the plot, sometimes a little TOO fantastic and outside of realism. The plot moved a little slow, and at some points kind of dragged with a lot of fluff. Again, I did enjoy the book. I have already recommended it friends who like the Steampunk genre and light reads knowing the will enjoy it too. Not to be taken to serious and enjoyed for what it is.


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Wednesday, December 7

Sense And Sensibility

I did enjoy this book, but not as much as I enjoy other works of Miss Austen. For starters, I find the sisters unlikeable and unrealistic. Marianne is too passionate and Elinor too confined in her emotions. I dislike Edward almost completely and think that the early engagement he had with Lucy, makes him foolish and passionate and more a match for Marianne than Elinor. I did like Colonel Brandon. He is probably the only character to keep my affection for the whole of this very long book. I think he and Elinor had a nice friendship and shared intimacies that would have made them a good match.

Miss Austen's style of writting is also more passionate than in other books and couldn't help but suck you in for some parts, but realistically, for me it was too long to tell the story it told and had more fluff to fill pages than was needed. I've read P&P at least 30 times and have loved Persuassion, so this is by no means a knock on Austen books. I just know what I like and this book was okay, but a little bland for my tastes. Maybe I've just outgrown it.


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In the mood for some fluffy romance...

Super sweet love story, which I was totally in the mood for. Saccharine. A playboy royal finds that to inherit his fathers title and fortune he has to be married by his 36 birthday. He tries to use an agency to find him an appropriate woman willing to play wife, under contract for one year exactly to fulfill the Wills needs. Instead of the chosen ladies, he propositions the owner of the business, promising to see to the financial upkeep of her very I'll sister in addition to the millions, if only she goes along. Fast paced and entertaining. Perfect if u need a quick feel good kinda book.


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