I actually downloaded six books to my nook from the library, but didn't get through all of them. The two I didn't get two are Reading Jackie and Ten Days In The Hills, but I'm going to definitely try and read them before my three weeks are up!
Here are the four I did read and my thoughts on them.
Salting Roses: This was definitely a quick, fun read--it was about a girl who discovers that she is the sole heir of an estate worth millions, and I can't go into much more detail because I don't want to ruin it. I liked the main character because she wasn't a stereotypical lead character, and I thought the plot was entertaining, but I wasn't totally in love with it. However, if you're looking for something light, it isn't bad.
Wench: This was a historical fiction, set during the Civil War, about a resort where white men summer with their black female slave mistresses. I thought it was definitely an interesting premise, and I think the descriptions were very realistic and made you feel like you were there, but I didn't like it as much as other books I've read set during the same time period. (Note: If you are looking for something of this time period that is very well-written, in a very dark way, check out Valerie Martin's Property. This is a book that I got at the literary seminar I went to and heard her speak about, and I really recommend it.)
That Old Cape Magic: This was a book I downloaded that I wasn't sure about. I thought the plot sounded interesting, but I had read Empire Falls and didn't love it, so I was skeptical. But I actually really enjoyed the book because it felt like real life. It discussed relationships in a non-fluffy way. Griffin is a husband, a son, a father, a person, and the books takes you through how he is all of these things and how each of the other relationships affects the other. It also looks at how different places, for instance, the cape, becomes a part of these relationships.
Alice I Have Been: The whole time we were in the Bahamas, I kept thinking of Wide Sargasso Sea, which I read my senior year, and I'm not quite sure why, because I hadn't really thought of it since. Maybe it was the setting that I was in that was reminding me of it.
I had wanted to read Alice I Have Been for a while, and I thought it would be similar--a book imagining what a literary character's life was like. I was definitely wrong, and I'm so glad. The book is a fictionalized, yet heavily researched, account of the woman that inspired Alice in Wonderland. When I first started the book, I expected it to be light and happy. It was the total opposite, to the effect that I thought I had to be imagining some of the dark things that were hinted at but never said. And honestly, I think my surprise to find these made the book very good. It was also well-written, and I think the characters were three dimensional and really stood on their own. There was also this fantastic passage that I bookmarked to share with you.
Finally, Mr. Dodgson told me that he had started to write it down. He said that he had been thinking about it all the time, fortunately, so he hadn't forgotten any of the particulars. He said that writing it down was quite different . . . when you write things down, he explained, they sometimes take you places you hadn't planned . . .
If it were true in stories, it was also true in life.
I thought this gave some insight into the book, the characters, and the overall process of writing. How writing things makes them different, how maybe you're imagining things in your life that may not actually be happening, and how you can't actually be aware of how your choices affect the rest of your life, in a way you hadn't planned.
And so, I think my ereading was quite successful, because even though I didn't love everything I read, I was able to explore some books I may not have chosen otherwise.
Here are the four I did read and my thoughts on them.
Salting Roses: This was definitely a quick, fun read--it was about a girl who discovers that she is the sole heir of an estate worth millions, and I can't go into much more detail because I don't want to ruin it. I liked the main character because she wasn't a stereotypical lead character, and I thought the plot was entertaining, but I wasn't totally in love with it. However, if you're looking for something light, it isn't bad.
Wench: This was a historical fiction, set during the Civil War, about a resort where white men summer with their black female slave mistresses. I thought it was definitely an interesting premise, and I think the descriptions were very realistic and made you feel like you were there, but I didn't like it as much as other books I've read set during the same time period. (Note: If you are looking for something of this time period that is very well-written, in a very dark way, check out Valerie Martin's Property. This is a book that I got at the literary seminar I went to and heard her speak about, and I really recommend it.)
That Old Cape Magic: This was a book I downloaded that I wasn't sure about. I thought the plot sounded interesting, but I had read Empire Falls and didn't love it, so I was skeptical. But I actually really enjoyed the book because it felt like real life. It discussed relationships in a non-fluffy way. Griffin is a husband, a son, a father, a person, and the books takes you through how he is all of these things and how each of the other relationships affects the other. It also looks at how different places, for instance, the cape, becomes a part of these relationships.
Alice I Have Been: The whole time we were in the Bahamas, I kept thinking of Wide Sargasso Sea, which I read my senior year, and I'm not quite sure why, because I hadn't really thought of it since. Maybe it was the setting that I was in that was reminding me of it.
I had wanted to read Alice I Have Been for a while, and I thought it would be similar--a book imagining what a literary character's life was like. I was definitely wrong, and I'm so glad. The book is a fictionalized, yet heavily researched, account of the woman that inspired Alice in Wonderland. When I first started the book, I expected it to be light and happy. It was the total opposite, to the effect that I thought I had to be imagining some of the dark things that were hinted at but never said. And honestly, I think my surprise to find these made the book very good. It was also well-written, and I think the characters were three dimensional and really stood on their own. There was also this fantastic passage that I bookmarked to share with you.
Finally, Mr. Dodgson told me that he had started to write it down. He said that he had been thinking about it all the time, fortunately, so he hadn't forgotten any of the particulars. He said that writing it down was quite different . . . when you write things down, he explained, they sometimes take you places you hadn't planned . . .
If it were true in stories, it was also true in life.
I thought this gave some insight into the book, the characters, and the overall process of writing. How writing things makes them different, how maybe you're imagining things in your life that may not actually be happening, and how you can't actually be aware of how your choices affect the rest of your life, in a way you hadn't planned.
And so, I think my ereading was quite successful, because even though I didn't love everything I read, I was able to explore some books I may not have chosen otherwise.
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