Book 8: The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Start Date: November 18, 2011
Finish Date: December 6, 2011

This is another book I read back in high school, but had no memory of what it was about. I might have read more of the Cliffsnotes and less of the book back then.

Guy, Nick, moves to Long Island. Nick meets his neighbor, the Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is a mysterious man who throws lavish parties every weekend. Nick finds out the reason Gatsby is throwing all these parties is so he can reconnect with his long lost girlfriend Daisy, who so happens to be married to Nick's cousin, Tom. Daisy and Gatsby finally reconnect, create a plan to run away together, but not before Tom can interfere. The night everything was laid on the table, Daisy ends up running over and killing Tom's mistress. Tom ends up taking Daisy and getting out of Long Island, Gatsby gets shot and killed by the man who was married to Tom's mistress, who thought his wife was having an affair with Gatsby. Gatsby dies, no one shows up for his funeral, Nick moves back to the West. The End

So.. This book was interesting. I felt a little let down at the end. Also, I felt like the ending drew out a little too long. I understand the writer wanted the impact of the fact that no one showed up to the funeral. But then again, I didn't feel so attached to Gatsby that I cared. It took half the book before he showed up. Then once he did, he was killed. I was hoping Daisy and Gatsby would end up together. That was kind of the plot of the book. It is ironic that both Daisy and Tom had a sidepiece. Both of their mistress were killed for something that wasn't really their fault, and then Tom and Daisy run away and they're lives are just as they were. I feel bad for the Gatsby. All he wanted was to be with the love of his life. I wouldn't have felt bed for Tom if Daisy left him, since he was already cheating.

I thought there would be more depth to the characters. It felt like the author was trying to develop them move, but I guess since they were all so shallow you could only go so deep. I wished the book was longer maybe, so we could know each character a little more. Not just their 'past', but their 'present.'

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. It left me feeling a little puzzled and unsatisfied, but it was an easy read so I wasn't too disappointed. (ahem, Wuthering Heights, ahem)

Book 7: Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Start Date: October 19, 2011

End Date: November 17, 2011

Gah. I hated this book. It was torture to read. From the first chapter I had no idea what was going on. I had to finally use Wikipedia to get a grasp on what was going on. I think my main confusion were the names. Lots of re-used names: Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, Edgar Linton, Cathy Linton, Linton Heathcliff. Also, they'd call the same character by 2 different names : Earnshaw/Hareton, Mr. Linton/Linton/Edgar. I couldn't keep up. The only time I finally figured everyone out was when half of the characters were already dead.

Another weird/gross part about this book was that cousins were marrying each other. I'm not sure if this was common back in the day? Cathy married Hareton and Linton, who were both her cousins....all the while the parents all hated each other.

This book seems like it was the mold for current day TV drama. Drama with the parents, drama with the children, drama all around. Everyone hated each other and was rude and selfish. They needed to get out more.

I hate Heathcliff. I think his character is horrible. I hate how at the end within the last couple pages he's not so evil anymore, almost like he's trying to redeem himself. Could just be that he was going crazy from seeing the ghost of Catherine? But I didn't care. I hated him already. He was the center of why everyone's life turned to shit.

And peoples moods in this book go from zero to WTF in 1.2 seconds. They love each other, they hate each other. She wants to go outside, she wants to stay inside. He wants to marry her, she wants to kill him. Cathy and Linton seemed like they were Romeo and Juliet, lovers torn apart because their fathers hated each other. They saw each other in secret, wrote each other love letters...then what happens when they finally are allowed to see each other? He turns out to be a prick and aids in the kidnapping of Cathy and Nelly so Cathy has to marry him. After he's an asshole until he dies. Good riddance. Next, Hareton and Cathy spent the whole half of the book hating each other. Why in the heck did she all of the sudden want to apologize and befriend this boy who she spent her whole life mocking and teasing because he was stupid? People don't change that fast.

All in all I really didn't like reading this book. I couldn't wait to be done with it, but it was so hard for me to read that it was torture. I contemplated giving up and not finishing it, but alas, my reading journey had to go on. I'm very happy I'm done with the book. I don't even want to watch any movie that was made. SO over it.

Book 6: Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

Start Date: May 30, 2011
End Date: June 24, 2011

Awww :) My initial feelings right after finishing this book. Such a cute story...except for Injun Joe!!

The story starts out with Tom Sawyer getting nagged by his Aunt Polly to do chores and such. Tom's a lil trouble maker.. getting other kids to do his dirty work by saying it's a big treat to be painting the fence! His Aunt Polly loves him but has trouble keeping up with him. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn go on a bunch of little adventures together...until one night they see a murder go down and poor Muff Potter got framed by Injun Joe. Good ol' Tom came to Potters defense at the trail and saved him. Injun Joe escaped town and Tom was always worried he'd come back for revenge. In the end, Injun Joe dies, Huck and Tom find a huge treasure, and Becky and her family love Tom. The story ended really happily.

I read this book a lot faster than I thought I would. It seems like it'd be more interested for a juvenile boy to enjoy, but I really liked it. It was an easy, light hearted read. Although I did fear Injun Joe, and was afraid when Becky and Tom got lost in the cave. I'm happy everything worked itself out in the end, and Huck got a home with a loving Widow to take care of him and send him to school.

Overall, great book! :)

Book 5: Dracula - Bram Stoker

Date Started: March 14, 2011
Date Finished: May 27, 2011

Wow, another book that took me a really long time to read. This book was also written in a way, almost like Little Women, where it was really hard for me to understand what they were saying at times. This also made it to where I could only read a few pages before falling asleep. I felt like it took 3 pages for them to get from point A to B, then 5 pages to get from point B to C, then 2 more pages to go from C back to A. So 2 1/2 months later I finally finished.

I felt like I needed to read this book to see where it all came from. I'm slightly obsessed with Vampire/paranormal romance books, shows and movies. Dracula is where it all started and I wanted to start from the beginning. This was definitely one of the hardest vampire books I've read. :P

The COOLEST part about reading this book, is that my brother and future sister-in-law got me this book for Christmas from UstarNovels. This company, www.ustarnovels.com, can switch out character names with any name you choose! So these are the edits they made:

Jonathan Harker = My boyfriends name
I was Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray
My BFF was Lucy Westenra

This made the book really fun to read because I was reading about names that I knew. (except for when they had to kill Lucy aka my bff hannah)

This also might not be good for future reference when I'm discussing this book with someone and they ask me about Jonathan Harker, and I ask "Who?"

Overall I liked this book. I'm happy I read it. I feel like the book could've been half in length and still could've gotten the story across. But this book was written in 1897. I'll blame the century time difference that made it so difficult for me. I'm sad Quincy Morris died in the end, but I guess it would've been too easy if no one had died.

Time for another break in my literary quest. Book 11 of the Sookie Stackhouse series calls, and then possibly the start of The Hunger Games. BBL