Sunday Salon: April 25, 2010.

It is really hard to believe that April is almost over! Where is time going these days?

I had a pretty good week in terms of reading. I am still in the middle of the three books at left. While I did my post for The Count of Monte Cristo and the Classics Circuit on Friday, I still have a little left to finish. It is a phenomenal novel and I think i just bit off a little more than I could chew doing it along with a few other things.

I am also still working on the second collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories. They have fallen by the wayside in the last week as I have been chipping away at the two big novels, but I really want to get through them by the end of the month.

The Brothers Karamazov has been a pleasant surprise and my last post over the 4th part and my feelings about the book as a whole will be posted on Thursday. I will be glad to wrap up all of these books. I find it hard to concentrate on so many different books at once. My mind is going all different directions as I read them! At least with reading the short stories I can settle in with one story in one quick sitting and not be bothered.

I did really enjoy the read-along and would love to do more of them in the future. It makes reading the harder books a little easier, since I almost feel like I have to get posts up to meet my commitment. Odd, isn't it? I did join a Paradise Lost read-along with Rebecca Reads. Paradise Lost is another title that intimidates me, so I hope to get through it unscathed. Speaking if intimidating titles, what books scare you off??

Goals for this week are to finish the three books I have in progress: The Brothers Karamazov, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

Happy Reading!

Classics Circuit Tour: Alexandre Dumas

I would like to welcome the Classics Circuit and Mr. Alexandre Dumas to my blog today on his tour! For those of you who are unaware of the Classics Circuit, it is a great way to experience some wonderful classic authors and their writing on a variety of blogs.

I had originally intended to read two pieces of Dumas' fiction, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers in anticipation of today's tour, but I only managed to spend quality time with the Count.

I originally read The Count of Monte Cristo as a freshman for my Honors English class. It was one of the three books we were required to read over the summer and I absolutely loved it. It was far different than anything else my little 14 year-old self was reading and has remained a long time favorite.

The Count of Monte Cristo follows the story of Edmond Dantes, a sailor who's luck was beginning to turn for the good. On a stay home when his ship comes into port, it seems as if Dantes has the world at his feet. His father is excited to see him, his fiance wishing for their wedding day, and the prospect of soon being named the captain of his ship. However, sinister plots by people close to him and his family result in Dantes being thrown in jail for over 14 years.

In jail he meets a fellow prisoner and together they plot to escape. Dantes learns other languages and propriety. It is only when his fellow prisoner is on his death bed that he learns of a treasure buried on the island of Monte Cristo. It is after Dantes escapes that the story takes a different turn.

Mysterious characters begin to emerge and the lives of the people who knew Dantes 14 years before begin to change. Some find fortune and riches from unknown sources. Others find tragedy and are murdered. Slowly, person by person, Dantes exacts his revenge for what was done to him unjustly.

It is a novel that encapsulates great themes of love, adventure, and revenge. I remember the first time I read it how shocked I was that we were being allowed to read this for a school assignment. The power of Dantes and what he is doing was so different from anything else I had ever read in English class.

Even with this last re-read, I fell in love again. Dumas has managed to create a portrait of vengeance that is all-powerful and will always linger as the epitome of revenge stories. Dumas' skill lies not only in the characters he molds, but in the strength of creating a lasting story that does not age through the decades.

The Count of Monte Cristo has always remained a favorite of mine since the first time I read it, and will always remain that way. It is a timeless story and a great place to start if you are new to Dumas.



I encourage you all check out the Classics Circuit (it is linked above) and to even participate! It is a great way to discover the classics in small doses, and you all know how I feel about the classics!

Life Gets in the Way.

Well then. I missed blogging like crazy this past week, and reading.

Again, I am so sorry that I went missing for a little bit, but I had some other obligations that took up a lot of time this past week. It takes a LONG time to fill out multiple online applications, but they are finally finished and we are waiting to see what happens. I barely had time to check my e-mail, let alone get posts up!

But, I have a big back-log of posts ready and waiting to go up (I am behind about 6/7 books from what I am currently reading), but they'll gradually go up as they always do. And I had been doing so well and had caught up so I was only 1 book behind. What can I say, life gets in the way sometimes.

Anyway, you can look forward to some great things in the near future. I have another The Brothers Karamazov post coming up on Thursday, as well as being the home of the Classics Circuit on Friday. Both should be wonderful.

Since I didn't do my Sunday Salon post, I'll just let you know that I haven't done a whole lot of reading in the last week. Even though I only had a small chunk of Persuasion left after the read-a-thon, I didn't finish it until Sunday. I have also been working my way through The Count of Monte Cristo for Friday's post, but I highly doubt I will also get through The Three Musketeers by then as well, like I had planned. Oh well, life happens.

So look for new posts that will start going up tomorrow!

I look forward to catching up on all of your wonderful posts!

Sunday Salon: April 11, 2010.

My eyes are still feeling a little heavy after reading so much yesterday, but let's give this post a go!

Things are going to get a little crazy around here this week, and I doubt I will get much of anything done before Tuesday. On Tuesday Matt and me are heading up to Michigan State for their annual Teacher Recruitment Fair. Every year school districts from around the country and Michigan go to meet with new grads, and old alums like me, and see if jobs can be found! The last two years I focused solely on talking with Michigan schools, since we didn't want to move. This year, however, we have both come to the realization that Michigan is floundering and there aren't very many teaching jobs.

We researched all the the out of state districts and have a list of our top districts (mainly in Colorado). Our only criteria was that there was a university or college within driving distance!

Anyway, Tuesday should be an exciting day and I hope that I come home with good news...and a job contract!

After all the excitement of Tuesday, I do have some grand reading plans!

• Finish Persuasion by Jane Austen: In all reality, I should finish this today, since I only have 60 or so pages left. It will make good bedtime reading tonight.
• Read/Finish The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas for the Classics Circuit. I keep putting these off and I need to finish them both!
• Read/Finish Part 2 of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I read another 100 pages yesterday in the read-a-thon, but I still have a chunk to go before Thursday's post.

Well, with all of that being said, I am going to go make breakfast and eat before I leave for work!

Happy Reading!

Book 25: O Willa....

Way back in the summer before ninth grade, I had a reading assignment to complete. Since I was attempting to be an over-achiever, I signed up for Honors English. That last few weeks of school in 8th grade were a bummer once we all found out we had to read three assigned books before the beginning of school.

Those books were The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, a choice between Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card or David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (I wisely chose Card's book unlike 4 of my classmates), and My Antonia by Willa Cather.

I decided to bring these three books with me on our annual summer vacation up to my grandparent's cottage. I have many great memories of reading up there in the summer while lying on the end of the dock, or sitting in the boat, and that summer is no exception.

Things start off well. I decided to read The Count of Monte Cristo first, since it seemed to be the heaviest of the three. I actually ended up loving the revenge and violence of the book and flew through it in 2 days. Then I decided to read Ender's Game. I had not read any science fiction at that point, but reading that book launched my love affair with the genre. By this point, I was ecstatic. If all Honors English was like this, I was going to be amazing. My teacher was going to love me and I knew I was going to rock in my class and show off my mad reading skills.

But I had one book left, and that book was My Antonia by Willa Cather. When we went to buy a copy, it definitely didn't seem intimidating. After all, it had a pink cover. I figured it was a girly romance and I could fly through it, no problem!

That is where it all went downhill. For some reason, I HATED Cather's novel. It was all I could do to force myself through it, page by page, moaning and groaning the entire way. I can vividly remember sitting in the back of the boat, book in hand, and trying not to chuck it in the water and be done with it. Somehow, I managed to finish it and I vowed that I would never read it ever again.

On the first day of ninth grade, however, the world's scariest English teacher, Mrs. P, gave us the lecture that scared us for the rest of the year (I was actually petrified of her until 12th grade when she subbed for us. Then I realized she was actually an awesome lady). She told us on that first day that the first month of school would be devoted to those three books and we were going to discuss every detail.

She also told us that she had no problem letting us struggle under water for as long as we needed to, and she was the kind of person to only dive in and get you if you actually drowned. It was a scary speech for a freshman.

We managed to discuss the other novels and there was a general consensus that everyone like the book choices. After all, they were pretty entertaining. But when it came time for My Antonia, no one said much of anything. In fact, the only thing I can really remember about the book is the "red grass" and that was all my classmates could remember. We discussed that red grass blowing in the wind so many times that I swore that if I ever saw red grass in my life I would scream (I haven't so I haven't had to embarrass myself yet).

It was pure luck that I was not assigned to the group that had to do a final project on My Antonia. We all felt bad for those poor kids (I got to do my project on Ender's Game).

So, you can understand why I have reservations about reading Willa Cather again. I mean, she ruined my summer and I don't even remember why! However, I am a believer in that a book has to come to you in the right moment for you to click with it (unless it is Dickens because I will never click with Dickens) and perhaps at 13 I just wasn't ready for Cather. I am willing to give her another chance and see if age has helped, especially since it has been 11 years since that experience.

Here is to second chances and red grass!