138. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

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Bronte, Emily. WutheringHeights. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1974. Print.

Originally published in 1847.

308 pages

Reviewed by Jess d'Artagnan Love

Wuthering Heights is a classic. Many know the basic story and there have been film adaptations. It is a classic love story about two lovers who are unable to be together. The Bronte sisters are masters of the gothic novel and this is a masterful work worth reading.

One of things I loved about this novel is how devastatingly human the characters are. They love to the point of madness and misery. The relationships are dysfunctional and full of hyperbole.

The simplicity of their lives also stood out to me. Very few of us anymore can appreciate the simple beauty of sitting in a tree and listening to the birds or laying on the grass and watching the cloud. Bronte makes these simple activities feel like a paradise. Novels of this era delight in the depiction of long walks through lovely countryside to work through internal conflict. It is something I think more of us need to adopt in our own lives.  

This review is short, but what more do you say about a masterful work? If you read or have read this novel, let me know what you thought about it in the comments below.  

Would I read it again? 

Yes.

Recommended for

Readers 18 and older mostly because the language is complex.

Not Recommended for

Young readers. The prose will be difficult for a young person to navigate.

4 stars out of 5

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125. "In the Woods" by Tana French

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French, Tana. In the Woods. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2007. Print. 

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

429 pages.

Told from detective Rob Ryan's point of view, In the Woods follows two homicide cases. The first case is that of young Katy Devlin and the second case is one in which Ryan was actually a victim--the case of two missing children in Knocknaree, Ireland back in 1984. With Devlin's murder also taking place in the same Knocknaree woods as the the 1984 cold case, Ryan is thrown back into a past that he can't clearly remember because he suffers from acute retrograde amnesia. 

I am usually pretty good about predicting the ending of mysteries and thrillers. While reading In the Woods, I made predictions on page 60, page 160, and page 246. All of my predictions were wrong. I'm not trying to sound arrogant here, but I am almost always right about the outcome of a mystery. This mostly because I've read so many mysteries that I can easily deduce patterns in mystery novels that indicate who dunnit. That Tana French was able to stump me speaks to the genius of her writing.

In the Woods is a mystery but Tana French's prose is so masterful that it reads more like a piece of literary fiction. I would compare her to Gillian Flynn in the way she explores morality and big life questions, though they have quite different writing voices.  

SPOILER ALERT. One thing was not very clearly wrapped up, but there is also a good chance that I just missed it in my first read of the novel: on page 298, Ryan notes that he had lost touch with reality to a degree that he wasn't sure if the following events were real or part of a dream. This isn't mentioned again as the book comes to a conclusion, so readers have to assume the events were real but I can't help but question it. I wonder if this is something that French will refer back to in later books as this was the first book in a series of the Dublin Murder Squad mysteries. END SPOILER. 

Without giving away any further spoilers, this book left some cases unsolved. It really created this raw, unhealed feeling of festering longing and grief that I imagine is only a small slice of what families who have actually experienced this kind of crime must feel.

Tana French is truly talented and I'm excited to continue reading this series. 

Would I read it again?
Yes. This is a book I'd like to read again and slowly so I can really absorb some of the ideas and character portraits. 

Recommend for
I think readers who like Gillian Flynn would also appreciate Tana French despite there being differences in tone and style. 

Not Recommend for
Readers who are triggered by violence and graphic descriptions. 

Word Bank (new-to-me vocabulary)

• bolshie (p. 11)
• apoplectic (p. 274)
• banjaxed (p. 248)
• bedsit (p. 12)
• bowsie (p. 110)
• Brylcreemed (p. 386)
• crenellations (p. 251)
• crosshatching (p. 3)
• curlews (p. 156)
• eejit (p. 128)
• gurriers (p. 217)
• kibbutzniks (p.35)
• inchoate (p. 178)
• jettons (p. 35)
• langered (p. 250)
• mattock (p. 39)
• mica (p. 23)
• midges (p. 21)
• Portacabins (p. 21)
• redolent (p. 285)
• restive (p. 248)
• satsuma (p. 105)
• slagged (p. 185)
• soupcons (p. 10)
• spate (p. 246)
• stoat (p. 187)
• tensile (p. 18)
• unprepossessing (p. 106)
• vestal (p. 81)
• votary (p. 82)

3 stars out of 5

Tana French's website: http://tanafrench.com/

Tana French on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/138825.Tana_French

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120. "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen

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Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Penguin Books, 2002 (originally 1813).

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

480 pages.

I am not a self-proclaimed fan of the romance genre, but I admit to really enjoying this classic romance. Jane Austen set the bar high for future romance writers. She builds tension so wonderfully that it even turned me, a nearly verifiable aromantic, into a big gurgling ball of mush. I guess she managed to get me to drop my prejudice regarding romance novels (womp, womp).

I feel like most people know the synopsis of a love story: love interests meet, a romance is kindled, something interferes with the romance to make it seem like "omigosh they will never be together now!" and then said obstacle is resolved and they can prance into the sunset smooching in the back of a carriage or something similar (ok, maybe she hasn't persuaded me to drop all of my prejudice about the genre). There are several love interests in this story which makes it extra tense: Bingley and Jane parallel Darcy and Elizabeth.There is much ado about money, and family status that cause trouble in this courtships and allows the story to follow that standard romance genre plot formula.

What I enjoyed the most reading this book was Austen's prose. She is witty and eloquent. For example, Jane Austen invented the humble brag. Well, maybe she didn't invent it but she was able to describe a humble brag with astute finesse: "'Nothing is more deceitful,' said Darcy, 'than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast'" (Austen, Loc 949). Only Austen could so eloquently and wittily describe what we commoners describe as the humble brag.

Since I read the book on my Kindle, I could easily look up language that was new to me and my vocabulary builder on the Kindle filled with new words I've never heard like: arrear, equipage, postilions, curricle, whist, and panegyric. 

While not life changing in any way, I fully understand why this book is so beloved and classified as a "classic." The story is timeless, entertaining, and thought provoking. I *may* give the romance genre another go having read this--no promises though. 

Recommended for: Pretty much anyone with a good reading proficiency. It's a classic that should be read at least once.

Not Recommend for: Readers who struggle with comprehension. If I had tried to read this in high school, I wouldn't have understood most of it as I wasn't as skilled a reader. Try it and see how it goes. If you're not there yet, just keep reading other things and challenging yourself. You'll get there eventually!

4.5 darts out of 5

113. "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll

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Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2005.

129 pages.

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

Most people know of this classic children's story. Most people also cheapen Alice's journey through Wonderland by claiming the story is just one big acid trip. While it is fantastical and full of whimsy, the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is much more political and social commentary than it is an acid trip.

In sum, Alice, a little girl follows a rabbit down a rabbit hole. This leads her to a series of adventures that are hard to believe. For example, in one scene, Alice enters the rabbit's house and drinks a potion that causes her to grow so large, she sticks one hand out the chimney and a foot out the door. A cat with a Cheshire grin seems to float through the air because he can make parts of his body invisible at will. The story is dizzying and disorienting and makes almost no sense. 

I enjoyed reading the book but I'll be the first to admit that fully appreciating this work is going to require that I do much more extensive research. A brief survey of the literature on this work points to Carroll indulging in a style called English nonsense verse that became fairly popular in his time. Carroll holds some scathing opinions about the English school system based on this tale and that is about as far as I've gotten with my research. 

The edition that I read appeared to only contain the first part of the story (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) so I need to find the second half and read it (Through the Looking Glass) and continue to read more about how scholars have made sense (as much as one can with the genre) of the writing to feel like I truly "get" Carroll. I'm not yet a frenetic fangirl, but I am intrigued and will keep exploring. 

Recommended for: a reader who has time to dedicate to really learning about the political and social discourse happening in these stories.

Not recommended for: readers who want a story that makes sense or readers not accustomed to searching for clues in writing. Someone who hates poetry, for example, would probably hate this.

3 darts out of 5

Reference

Kwoka, B. (2009).  Literature, History, and Culture in the time of Victoria. Retrieved from http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/carroll/kwoka8.html

(I know I'm mixing citation styles here but I primarily use APA but started this blog in MLA and try to stay consistent. Forgive me?)

61. "Shadow of Night" by Deborah Harkness

Harkness, Deborah. Shadow of Night. New York: Vicking Press, 2012

581 pages.

Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

Shadow of Night is the sequel to the much enjoyed A Discovery of Witches (click link to see my review). Shadow of Night picks up where A Discovery of Witches left of with Matthew and Diana traveling back in time in search of the elusive Ashmole 782. They traverse through sixteenth-century England where Diana works to find a mentor to help her develop her magical powers and she and Matthew meet many interesting people, including several important historical figures you are sure to recognize. The story has several twists and surprises and so many characters Harkness must provide a character list at the end of the book in true fantasy-fiction form.

This series is set to be a trilogy and I've heard rumors that there is already a movie series in the works. This is just a rumor, though--I'm not sure if it is actually true. One thing I do believe is that this series will make better films than they do books.

I do not mean this in a bad way. Harkness has a knack for description. The way she describes a scene is so clear and detailed, it is hard to not have a clear picture of what her vision is. It also doesn't leave much room for imagination. This is a personal preference and not necessarily a reflection of Harkness' writing. I like books that a leave a little wiggle room for the reader. I am more involved in a book that allows some breathing room for my imagination to play. I develop a closer relationship with a book when some details are left to my own devising. Harkness' writing doesn't allow for this. Every minute detail is nailed out providing great material for a potential screenplay.

Personal preference aside, the books was mostly enjoyable but not something of great literary prowess. I don't think it is meant to be anyway. The goal of this series truly seems to be aimed at entertainment rather than enlightenment. In comparison with the first book in the series, I like the story in Shadow of Night better but I like the writing in A Discovery of Witches more than in Shadow of Night. If you read this one, let me know what you think!

3 darts out of 5
Bookshelf Project Status: None (belongs to a friend)

d'Artagnan

57. "The Absolutist" by John Boyne

Boyne, John. The Absolutist. New York: Doubleday, 2012.

320 pages

Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

John Boyne is an Irish writer most known for his novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has sold over 5 million copies and was recently made into a major motion picture. His work has been published in over forty different languages and The Absolutist is his most recent novel.

Set during the first World War, The Absolutist follows seventeen-year-old Tristan Sadler as he lies about his age, enlists in a British regiment, and is sent to the trenches. During basic training at Aldershot, Tristan meets Will, a curious and moral soldier who swiftly entrances Tristan with his depth and physical beauty. Their relationship is not a simple story. It is fraught with confusion, anger, pain, passion, and questioning.

In the trenches they must wrestle with big questions. What is a human life worth? Tristan often thinks about the humanity of the enemy soldiers pondering, “I crawl forward on my belly, holding my rifle before, my left eye firmly closed as I look down the viewfinder for anyone advancing in my direction. I picture myself locking eyes with a boy of my own age, both of us terrified, in the instant before we shoot each other dead” (Boyne). For Tristan, the Germans he is fighting and killing are people, young men just like him.

Will is the son of a vicar and has high moral standards, standards that are too high for the rest of his regiment. He follows in the footsteps of the conscientious objectors that came before him which causes the greatest divide between Will and Tristan. Is an idea or principle worth dying for? What is courage and how does one display it? These are all questions this novel explores in heartbreaking and sobering ways. Boyne does not beat around the bush when it comes to the harsh realities of love and war in 20th century England. By the end of the novel I was in tears.

The Absolutist is captivating. The nonlinear plot kept me riveted and wanting more. The characters possess depth and flaws and are extraordinarily human. Reminiscent of All Quiet on the Western Front, The Absolutist will take you into a world where simple pleasures are “the result of inhuman deprivations” and unconditional love is the greatest form of courage (Boyne).

 4.5 darts out of 5

Bookshelf Project Status: KEEP

52. "Dracula" by Bram Stoker

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996.

512 pages

Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

Seeing as I love vampire stories, I figured I needed to get my hands on a copy of one of the original vampire stories—Bram Stoker's, Dracula. I didn’t know if (actually, I didn’t think) I would like the book but I was surprised. I realized I have some preconceived notions about what books considered “classics” are like. These notions are largely based on stereotypes about classic literature being boring, written in indecipherable prose and so on. Dracula is not a novel that fits such stereotypes.

Set in England, Dracula is written in epistolary form. Readers learn about the dreadful Count Dracula through diary entries, telegrams, letters, and newspaper articles. In doing this Stoker allows readers to understand this evil-doer through many lenses and points of view. Readers receive a well-rounded understanding of Count Dracula’s skills and motivations.

I didn’t expect to be frightened by this book, probably because of the previously mentioned preconceived notions, but I was. I was genuinely, hide-under-the-covers, creeped out by certain parts of the plot and descriptions of the characters. Some parts were downright chilling without having to be graphically violent or overtly sexual (as some vampire fiction tends to resort).

Another element that caught me off guard was the element of humor. Stoker does a beautiful job of weaving silliness into the grotesque and frightening storyline. I found myself laughing out loud at moments of awkwardness between Mina and all the men who seem to swoon after her, and at the overzealous Quincy who is quick to shoot first and question later.

I will mostly likely read this book again—I enjoyed it that much! It takes a fabulous book for me to want to read it a second time. I have a total of four books (of the hundreds I’ve read) that I like to re-read and will be adding this one to that list!

5 darts out of 5
Bookshelf Project Status: KEEP!

44. "The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf" edited by Susan Dick

Dick, Susan, Ed. The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1989. Print.

The more I read work by Virginia Woolf, the more I recognize Buddhist themes. The following is from her short story “The Journal of Mistress Joan Martyn,”: “And my brain that was swift and merry at first and leapt like a child at play, settled down in time to sober work upon the highway, though it was glad withal. For I thought of the serious things of life—such as age, and poverty, sickness and death, and considered that it would certainly be my lot to meet them; and I considered also those joys and sorrows that were for ever chasing themselves across my life” (58).

Here one can connect to the story of the Siddhartha Guatma (the Buddha) when he begins his journey and sees a sick man, a poor man, and a dying man. One can also connect her “merry and swift” mind to the monkey mind that, upon meditation, is settled and able to focus.

What I loved about this collection of Woolf's short fiction is that it is organized in chronological order. While reading, you are able to see how her writing evolves and it is sooooo fascinating. She wrote several short stories about characters from one of her seminal texts, Mrs. Dalloway, including such stories as "Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street," "The New Dress," and "The Man Who Loved his Kind."

Some of my favorite stories from the collection include "Phyllis and Rosamond," "The Journal of Mistress Joan Martyn," "The Mark on the Wall, and" "The Widow and the Parrot: A True Story." If you are a fan of Virginia Woolf, I highly recommend this collection of short fiction.

4 darts out of 5

Bookshelf Project Status: KEEP

36. "Written on the Body" by Jeanette Winterson

Winterson, Jeanette. Written on the Body. New York: Vintage International, 1992. Print

190 pages

Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

Written on the Body is an erotic tale of love, desire and loss. The protagonist moves from woman to woman, never really falling in love until she meets Louise. Louise has a secret that drives the protagonist to misery. Truthfully though, the protagonist causes her own misery. She is selfish to the end and by the time she learns her lesson, it is too late.

I love Jeanette Winterson’s writing style. It is fluid and abstract. The issue I had with this book, was I did not like the protagonist. This made it hard for me to like the book. I identified with Louise and ached for her. I related all too well with Jacqueline, one of the protagonist's many betrayed girlfriends, when she says to her, “You mean we’ll talk about it and you’ll do what you want anyway” (Winterson 58).

As hard as I tried, I could not sympathize with the main character and I could not, despite the beautiful, lyrical writing, enjoy the book very much.

2 darts out of 5

Bookshelf Project Status: Given as gift.

16. "Emma" by Jane Austen

Austen, Jane. Emma. New York: Washington Square Press, 1963.
430 pages
Reviewed by J. d'Artagnan Love

Since I started studying literature, I have begun to read in a very calculating way. I read looking for certain things like theme, feminist and queer discourse, post-colonial rhetoric, tropes, plot devices, errors, holes, flat characters, etc. I can’t remember the last time I just read a book forgetting about all these very academic forms of reading. Studying literature has certainly added a new dimension of thought to my reading but it has sucked the life out of the characters for me in some ways. No longer are they there for me to feel connected to, but for me to pick apart and analyze.

I started reading Emma over a year ago and, at first I thought it was this exact form of calculated reading that has kept me at a distance from this novel’s characters. For the first half of the book or so, all I could think about was how boring they were—rich, British snobs sitting around doing nothing but gossip about each other. To me, they held little depth and caused each other nothing but trouble.

So, I tried to put aside my literary “training” and just read the novel for pleasure. I tried to get to know the characters, to become involved in the plot.

It didn’t work.

As much as my academic peers will give me crap for it, I don’t like this book and I couldn’t finish it. It was a little bit like literary torture trying to read to the end. I stopped at 2/3’s of the way through. I could go no farther.

I am a very plot-oriented reader. I like a good story. Emma’s plot bored me. The characters gossip from one party to the next and poor widdle Emma meddles needlessly and unproductively in other people’s lives. Maybe I would gain a better appreciation of the book if I read it through to the end. Maybe there is some mind-blowing plot twist on page 400 that I’ve missed. The thought still wasn’t enough to get me to keep reading.

1 dart out of 5
Bookshelf Project Status: DONATE (donated to Goodwill)

12. "Between the Acts" by Virginia Woolf

Woolf, Virginia. Between the Acts. San Diego: Harcourt Inc., 1941.
219 pages
Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

Between the Acts was the last book Virginia Woolf wrote before her suicide in 1941. It is a story about a family in England who hosts a play at their country home to raise money for the church. The plot covers the play itself as well as the interactions and happenings, as the title suggests, between the acts. There are several unhappy characters making connections with other equally unhappy characters and a lot of implied scandal that never comes to fruition.

I am usually a huge Virginia Woolf fan. She is my favorite writer, and this is the first of her novels that I’ve been disappointed by. Keeping in mind that she died before she was able to make revisions, the characters seemed to lack the motivation and depth Woolf had so frequently achieved in her earlier novels. The plot moved slowly, very slowly, and nothing really seemed to happen. The depiction of character interactions was dull and simplistic.

Maybe this is the effect Woolf was going for. Maybe she wished to illustrate how mundane life can be. If that was the goal, it sure didn’t make for good reading. This is not her best work and I would recommend Orlando or Mrs. Dalloway over Between the Acts in a heartbeat.

1.5 darts out of 5

9. "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit" by Jeanette Winterson

Winterson, Jeanette. Oranges are Not the Only Fruit. New York: Grove Press, 1985.
Reviewed by J. d’Artagnan Love

The color orange is supposed to represent energy and warmth but it is a far cry from what the protagonist experiences in Winterson’s first novel, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit. Raised in a Pentecostal church, Jeanette experiences extreme ridicule and humiliation after she is discovered to be in a romantic partnership with another woman. She is publicly humiliated in church causing her great emotional strife.

This is a difficult review to write after only reading the book once. There are many, many layers in this text that I certainly did not discover after just one pass through. One section of the text is a mythical fairy tale which emphasizes the importance of story-telling in the text. It wasn’t apparent to me at first, but the more I read the more I picked up on the numerous strands of stories that were being woven together.

Winterson writes, “Of course that is not the whole story, but that is the way with stories; we make them what we will. It’s a way of explaining the universe while leaving the universe unexplained, it’s a way of keeping it all alive, not boxing it into time” (93). This is a good way to interpret this work. It explains everything while leaving everything unexplained. Certainly worth reading a couple of times.

3.5 darts out of 5