The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

First let me say that I cannot believe that it has taken me 31 years to begin this series! (When my husband, Jonah, found out I had not read these books, he told me that if I read this series, then he would read The Harry Potter series...we'll see if that works out for us.)

This book is so amazing! I suppose that fantasy is one of my favorite genres because of the unique story lines, and this book is no exception. Tolkien is a master at weaving a story and its characters together. Even though I have seen the movies, I am still able to remove myself from Peter Jackson's interpretation of the characters so that I can imagine them in my head as my own.

I also enjoy the simplicity of Tolkien's story. Basically, there is a group of characters who set out on a journey together, and they encounter hardships along the way. Even though that may sound like a very simple story for a 400+ page book, the different challenges and characters that the group meets along the way keep the story interesting. I also enjoy the character development that goes along with the story: the main character, Frodo, presents all the internal struggles that a true hero experiences. I adore Sam, and how he is the perfect representation of faithful friend. Then, of course, there is Strider, the dark and mysterious ranger.

This book is a true fantasy: I have just to pick it up and open to a page to be pulled right into the world that Tolkien has created within these pages.While I was a little wary of beginning a series (usually I lose interest after the first book), I cannot wait to begin the second book!

Victory by Daniel Alexander

When I started the Writing Club here at Olivet High School, one of my students, Daniel Alexander, decided to join up. It was obvious from the start that Daniel loves writing; he was involved in "November Novel Writing Month," which encourages people to write a novel during the month of November. We have been reading Daniel's novel in chapters during our weekly meetings, but he asked me to read the novel as a whole and to give him some feedback that he could use right away during his revisions.

I am always so happy to see how passionate my students are about writing in general. I am a natural lover of literature, but there is something about seeing young people who are so excited about their own ideas that makes my day. Daniel is one of those young people who I love discussing writing with, and it is a joy to read his writing (he has shared short stories and poems in our club as well).

Daniel's novel, Victory, is a story about a young man, Connor, who discovers he has super powers. Conner lives in a future in which super heros are almost common place; they work together with the government and police force to help protect "normal" humans. Of course, there are bad guys as well, and all of the super villians and super heros have their unique powers and names. What makes this story interesting is that it is told through Connor's eyes, as he develops these powers. Connor is, in the beginning, a "normal" college student who shares a dorm room with his friend, Drake, falls in love with a girl, Rachel, and attends classes taught by an eccentric professor, all while trying to get to know and understand who he is becoming. The novel takes a very interesting twist when tragedy (inevidibly) strikes, and Connor's character is forced to make changes and develop into something the reader might not expect...

I spoke with Daniel when I finished the novel, and I hope I was able to give him some advice as a reader. I appreciate his writing style and creativity--he has such a unique and interesting voice, and he should keep writing and developing it. The story was interesting and action packed, while at the same time commenting on universal themes like love and friendship. While I felt that the change in Connor's character needed to be developed more throughout the novel, Daniel did an excellent job of creating a story from beginning to end. This was an entertaining read with lots of interesting pieces that show the author's style and passion for writing.

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

          I choose to read this novel because it was set in the winter of 1907 in northern Wisconsin, a climate similar to Michigan.  I also consider myself a “reliable wife” and was interested to see the similarities between myself and another woman who would have been my peer one hundred years ago.  But I was mistaken about the plot of this novel.  Catherine Land turned out to be a fairly “unreliable” wife and quite dishonest, but I still read this 320 page novel in less than a day, so it definitely kept my interest.

            The book is written in three parts.  Part one begins with the extremely wealthy middle aged (widowed and children less) Ralph Truitt.  He feels judged by the entire town, but the author doesn’t tell us why Ralph is so self-conscious in the beginning. In chapter two, we learn that Ralph has placed a classified ad seeking a wife.  It is Catherine Land who has committed to marrying Ralph, a man she has not met, who lives in the rough terrain of northern Wisconsin, a climate she has never experienced coming from St. Louis.  But the happy couple doesn’t hit it off.  Catherine gets off the train, gets into Ralph’s carriage, and halfway to his home the horses get spooked by a deer and go crazy.  Ralph is thrown from the carriage and nearly killed.  Catherine is forced to learn her new role as wife in a strange place while her husband is unconscious.  She explores his beautiful home and chats with his servants, but meanwhile she treasures a small vile of poison that she keeps hidden in her room.  It is implied that she will be poisoning her husband.  If she wanted him dead though, why did she volunteer to sew up his head?  What was the purpose of answering his ad if she just wanted out of the relationship from the start?  Well, he is wealthy.

            In part two, it becomes clear that Catherine is not the pure “missionary’s daughter” that she claimed to be.  She actually experienced quite the opposite.  And she had a lover back in St. Louis whom she promised to come back to—with money!  I don’t think I can any further in this book review without being a spoiler.  You’ll have to read it yourself to see how it plays out between Ralph and Catherine.

            A note about author’s craft: I find Robert Goolrick to have a wonderful vocabulary, include beautiful similes, and very detailed imagery.  But I had a major problem with nearly every single page in the novel.  Hardly ever would Goolrick start a sentence with anything but a pronoun.  So if he was talking about Ralph, fifteen sentences in a row would start with “HE”.  If he was narrating about Catherine, nearly every sentence on the page would start with “SHE”.  As a writing teacher I was dying inside, screaming “Vary your sentence beginnings!” As a “sentence stalker” I am always on the lookout for sentences that I can use as models in the classroom, for example, sentences containing participles.  I did not gain many sentences to use as models from this novel, but I did thoroughly enjoy the plot and all of its twists.   

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

          In the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tatto, Swedish posthumous author, Stieg Larsson, focusses more of this plot on the talented and mysterious Lisbeth Salander.  In his first novel, Lisbeth played a supporting role to journalist Mikael Blomkvist in the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, but in The Girl Who Played with Fire audiences are given insight into Salander’s messed up life. 

            I was more easily hooked from the beginning of this novel, unlike the first in the series, because I was already familiar with many of the characters.  I was always left wanting more information about the introverted genius Salander in the first novel, and this sequel catered right to my curiosities.  After the creepy prologue, readers learn that Salander made out pretty well at the end of the first book, and is now able to do some traveling throughout Europe and the Caribbean.  When she finally returns to Sweden, she realizes that she has ruined any chance at a friendship with the two almost-friends she had: Blomkvist and an on-again, off-again lover.  Salander continues to live in hiding, although she does upgrade to a better apartment.  But it isn’t until she is accused of murder, a triple-murder in fact, that she has to put her hacker genius to work—this time to save her own life. 

            Although Salander ignores Blomkvist’s attempts to rekindle their friendship/romance, he still works behind the scenes, with the police investigation, with the media, and he even puts himself in harms-way several times in order to prove Salander’s innocence. 

            I found this novel much more “page-turning” than the first, because unlike Harriet Vanger, I had a much more loyal interest in Salander’s situation because I had grown to know her as a leading character.  The more readers learn about her dysfunctional childhood, the more they support her innocence (even though the author keeps us in suspense about Salander’s involvements in the murders until the very end).  And what a good ending it was!

            When I finished this 752 page novel, I did not take a break, get a snack, use the bathroom, take a nap, etc.  I immediately downloaded the third book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, and began reading.  Look for this review soon!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (a book club book)

          Although I struggled to get into this novel for the first several chapters, I’m glad I was persistent – it paid off.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a very complex, suspenseful, intellectual novel.  The author was obviously a very well-rounded individual, as every aspect of this novel – from computer programs to security equipment to forensics – was very detailed in nature.  There are at least twenty main characters, and dozens of suspects to the unsolved murder, the conflict of the plot.  I was almost convinced that I needed a graphic organizer to keep track of it all. 

            The novel starts with Old Man Vanger, a wealthy business owner, who receives a framed pressed flower, marking the anniversary of the disappearance of his then teenage niece, Harriet, and the flower was most likely a sick, taunting symbol from the killer.  From this moment on, the disappearance of Harriet captivates the reader with the infinite possibilities linked with this mystery.

            Old Man Vanger hires a troubled journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (and eventually his research assistant, Lisbeth Salander) to give the disappearance one last investigation.  He needs to know the truth about Harriet before he dies.  He has lived his life wondering what happened to the sweet girl and doesn’t want to die without knowing.  Blomkvist has no option but to accept Vanger’s challenge. 

            In a “Law and Order: SVU” and “Jason Bourne” kind of hybrid story that contains rape, murder, and violence (with a hint of religion), Blomkvist and Salander work side by side to uncover the truth buried forty years ago.  With the truth, Vanger gets what he wanted, Blomkvist gets his life back in order, and Salander is one step closer to freedom. 

            Although I highly recommend this novel to intellectual, competent readers, I do so with caution, as this book is rated “R”.  Due to graphic language, sex, and violence, I would urge only mature audiences to tackle this one. 

 

Other "book club" readers, please feel free to comment!

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

            Because I teach and absolutely love The Great Gatsby, I thought it would be appropriate to read some other F. Scott Fitzgerald literature.  I chose to read Fitzgerald’s first novel, This Side of Paradise, thinking it would have a similar complicated plot twist that chapter seven provides in The Great Gatsby; I may have been dozing through this novel, because I never came across that fantastic chapter where all the pieces of the puzzle come together.  Instead of an amazingly quick moving plot (with many twists), this novel was slow moving, and I’m ashamed to say it, quite boring. 

            The main character, Amory Blaine, is a spoiled rich boy, who never had to work very hard for anything (perhaps my dislike for the main character tainted my opinion of the novel).  He was born rich, considered himself superior to even his childhood friends, embarrassed girls who were saving themselves for marriage, and went off to Princeton to study literature (ok, so there is one thing I approve of in the narcissistic Amory).  He serves in the war (WWI) briefly, and tries time after time to actually go to class instead of slumming around with a hangover all day, and he desperately seeks a romantic relationship with the lovely Rosalind.  But she marries a wealthier man and Amory is left to his alcohol (perhaps a similarity to Gatsby here). 

            I have read many, many bildungsroman novels that detail the “coming-of-age” of a young person into a functioning adult.  I understand and appreciate the genre: mature and grow, mature and grow.  But I don’t understand why I can’t appreciate this piece of literature.  Maybe I am more accustomed to Holden Caulfield or Huckleberry Finn, kids who have a little sense of humor, or Celie Harris or Janie Crawford or Esther Greenwood, who have their romantic/morality struggles with the men in their lives, but Amory, oh boy, I cannot relate to Amory.  He doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes, he treats people horribly, and he throws his money away without even flinching. 

            I do happen to know that Fitzgerald wrote a bit autobiographically, and I wonder how much of this story is his confession of his wasted childhood.  Similarly to Gatsby’s story, Amory loses his woman because he isn’t wealthy enough, he drinks way too much, and he partied very hard.  Although I have little appreciation for this text, I can now draw conclusions between these two Fitzgerald works and his wonderful ability to chronicle the time period. 

Comfort and Joy by Kristin Hannah

          I started this school year reading the beautifully poetic and heart-wrenching Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah.  Since then, I have been searching for another text to affect me in a similar way.  Naturally, my first instinct was to read another novel by this author.  Mrs. Allan put Comfort and Joy into my hands.  I was eager to begin.

            It was clear to me that Comfort and Joy was nothing in comparison to Winter Garden.  In fact, it felt a bit cheesy.  I rarely abandon books because of poor plot, but I almost abandoned this one.  I felt like I was watching the worse movie on Lifetime that was ever produced.  And although this Hannah novel doesn’t hold a candle to my first experience with the author, I am glad I finished it. 

            Ok, the cheesy Lifetime stuff first: Joy (get it? “Joy”/Comfort and Joy) walks in on her husband with another woman…who happens to be her sister Stacey! Can you believe it?  Oh, and guess what?  Stacey is pregnant!  (Puke!)  So, of course, Joy is sad, so so sad, and she impulsively drives to the airport, buys a ticket, and gets on a plane.  She is going to leave her terrible life behind.  And then the plane crashes! Can you believe her luck? 

            Joy wakes up from her plane crash in agonizing pain, bleeding, broken, and confused.  But amazingly, she walks away from the crash scene and the first responders.  She walks and walks until she comes to a bed and breakfast, where she meets a young boy Bobby, and his widowed father, Daniel.  You guessed it.  Joy attempts to make a new life for herself here, in a cabin in the woods, with two males she hardly knows.  She takes over the role of Bobby’s mom, recently deceased, and Daniel’s new flame.  It gets so super corny that I could hardly stand it, and then there’s part two…

            I won’t go into Joy’s confusion in part two because that would be a spoiler, but I can say that it gets less cheesy and more believable than a daytime soap opera. 

            While in my obsessed “need to read another novel that was as good as Winter Garden” phase, I purchased another Kristin Hannah novel: True Colors.  Hopefully this novel is less corny and more poetic and plot-filled.  I haven’t given up on this author that I once was so envious of.