The Black Tulip by Alexander Dumas

About the book: Cornelius von Baerle lives only to cultivate the elusive black tulip and win a magnificent prize for its creation. But when his powerful godfather is assassinated, the unwitting Cornelius becomes caught up in a deadly political intrigue. Falsely accused of high treason by a bitter rival, Cornelius is condemned to life in prison. His only comfort is Rosa, the jailer's beautiful daughter, who helps him concoct a plan to grow the black tulip in secret. As Robin Buss explains in his informative introduction, Dumas infuses his story with elements from the history of the Dutch Republic (including two brutal murders) and Holland's seventeenth-century "tulipmania" phenomenon.

My thoughts: If you have read "The Three Musketeers," "The Count of Monte Cristo," and/or "The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexander Dumas you might be expecting and adventurous swash buckling type of story. You would be wrong. It is actually, as the title indicates, about events surrounding a black tulip. The main character to me is somewhat self centered and unaware of things around him that did not have to do with tulips. At first I didn't really like him but he grew on me. His love interest, Rose was a strong character.

I liked learning about the time period, becoming acquainted with "tulipmania."  The killings at the beginning of the book were quite brutal and depicted in gory detail. These, I later read, were actual events. Wow.

Over all I liked this book, I enjoyed the sense of time and place, the romance was sweet, the story woven through actual historical events was interesting. I recommend it.

Rating: A

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Persuasion by Jane Austen

About the book: At twenty-seven, Anne Elliot is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval captain with neither fortune nor rank. What happens when they encounter each other again is movingly told in Jane Austen’s last completed novel. Set in the fashionable societies of Lyme Regis and Bath, Persuasion is a brilliant satire of vanity and pretension, but, above all, it is a love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities.

Paperback: 272 pages

Publisher: Penguin Classics (April 29, 2003)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0141439688

First line: Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs changed naturally into pity and contempt as he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century; and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed.

My Thoughts: After reading Pride and Prejudice last year and enjoying it I thought I'd give Austen another try. I found this book at a used book store and snatched it up. I didn't enjoy it quite as much but still liked it quite a bit. This was a seemingly simple love story with a lovely ending. However it also an interesting commentary of the times as well as quite funny in places. Read it, you'll like it!

Rating: A+

Silas Marner by George Eliot

Product Description: Embittered by a false accusation, disappointed in friendship and love, the weaver Silas Marner retreats into a long twilight life alone with his loom...and his gold. Silas hoards a treasure that kills his spirit until fate steals it from him and replaces it with a golden-haired founding child. Where she came from, who her parents were, and who really stole the gold are the secrets that permeate this moving tale of guilt and innocence. A moral allegory of the redemptive power of love, it is also a finely drawn picture of early nineteenth-century England in the days when spinning wheels hummed busily in the farmhouses, and of a simple way of life that was soon to disappear.

First Line: In the days when the spinning-wheels hummed busily in the farmhouses-- and even great ladies, clothed in silk and thread-lace, had their toy spinning-wheels of polished oak-- there might be seen in districts far away among the lanes, or deep in the bosom of the hills, certain pallid undersized men, who, by the side of the brawny country-folk, looked like the remnants of a disinherited race.


My thoughts: I read this one many years ago in school and remember not liking it but nothing else. I am so glad that I decided to reread it. I quite enjoyed this story. It was a little slow in places but the gems of quiet humor were wonderful to stumble upon. Many of the sentences were extremely long (see the first line) and I found that a little distracting at times. The decline of Silas Marner into doom and gloom then his eventual reintroduction into a happy life was captivating. I loved the sense of time and place and the way the author showed the difference between the rich and poor of the time of the setting of this book. I also enjoy bookes where the dialect is written like this one. The look at adoption was, to me, interesting as my husband was adopted. You can read this for the simple story of Silas Marner on the surface or mine for religious outlooks, the effect of industrilization on society, betrayal etc. If you like classics you'll love this one, if you aren't into classics try this one. It is short and a great read.


Rating: E


Quote: "Ah, If there's good anywhere, we've need of it," repeated Dolly, who did not lightly forsake a serviceable phrase.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

About the book: With this acclaimed work and its immortal query, "Who is John Galt?", Ayn Rand found the perfect artistic form to express her vision of existence. Atlas Shrugged made Rand not only one of the most popular novelists of the century, but one of its most influential thinkers.

Ayn Rand's epochal novel, first published in 1957, has been a bestseller for more than four decades as well as an intellectual landmark. It is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world - and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators? Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies but against those who needed him most - and his hardest battle against the woman he loved? What is the world's motor - and the motive power of every man?

Tremendous in its scope, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life - from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy...to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction... to the philosopher who becomes a pirate...to the composer who gives up his career on the night of his triumph...to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad...to the lowest track worker in her Terminal tunnels.

Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand's masterpiece. It is a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller.

First line: "Who is John Galt?"

My thoughts: Wow! This has been in my TBR pile for several years and I have been putting it off, I guess because of the size of the tome. Even though I found it a bit wordy at times I thought it was captivating and compelling, I had a hard time putting it down. It is a dystopian novel set in an alternate 5os era so the sci/fi, fantasy nature of the book appealed to me. The author has very strong philosophical beliefs which were the foundation of this novel and are the source of much controversy. Basically I put the philosophy to the back of my mind, I read it for the fiction. The main characters were larger than life and I couldn't help loving them. Rand herself said about them that "they are not man as he is, rather man as he should be." There were no shades of gray here, all black and white. The good characters were good and the bad were evil.Even though I like this book, there were a few things that I didn't like: For one the sex was rough with little or no love involved. The 70 page speech on one of the main character's vision of life was a bit much (Yawn). All the main characters fall for Dagney and she has no trouble moving on to the next guy. Rand's treatment of her philosophy was preachy and heavy handed.


Rating: A

Quote: "She sat listening to the music. It was a symphony of triumph. The notes flowed up, they spoke of rising and they were the rising itself, they were the essence and the form of upward motion, they seemed to embody every human act and thought that had ascent as its motive. It was a sunburst of sound, breaking out of hiding and spreading open. It had the freedom of release and the tension of purpose. It swept space clean, and left nothing but the joy of an unobstructed effort. Only a faint echo within the sounds spoke of that from which the music had escaped, but spoke in laughing astonishment at the discovery that there was no ugliness or pain, and there never had to be. It was the song of an immense deliverance."

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

About the book: Charlotte Bronte's impassioned novel is the love story of Jane Eyre, a plain yet spirited governess, and her arrogant, brooding Mr. Rochester. Published in 1847, under the pseudonym of Currer Bell, the book heralded a new kind of heroine--one whose virtuous integrity, keen intellect and tireless perseverance broke through class barriers to win equal stature with the man she loved. Hailed by William Makepeace Thackeray as "the masterwork of great genius," Jane Eyre is still regarded, over a century later, as one of the finest novels in English literature.
First line: There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.

My thoughts: I "had" to read Jane Eyre in school (many years ago) and so remembered nothing about it. I must say I really liked it! It was a great read and I never found it to be too wordy, preachy or stuffy. I especially enjoyed the sence of place and time. It has a little of everything one could want in a good read: romance, mystery, an intelligent & independent heroin, a dark, brooding love interest, and a huge, gloomy home. Jane was a wonderful, well developed character. Jane's statement "I know no medium" sums up her character. She is strong and moral. She will not let herself be anything less. I'm glad I reread this at this time in my life when I could truly appreciate it.

Rating: E

Quote: "No sight so sad as that of a naughty child," he began, "especially a naughty little girl. Do you know where the wicked go after death?"
"They go to hell," was my ready and orthodox answer.
"And what is hell? Can you tell me that?"
"A pit full of fire."
"And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?" "No, sir."
"What must you do to avoid it?"
I deliberated a moment: my answer, when it did come was objectionable: "I must keep in good health and not die."

Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

Product Description: Born and abandoned in Newgate Prison, Moll Flanders is forced to make her won way in life. she duly embarks on a career that includes husband-hunting, incest, bigamy, prostitution and pick-pocketing, until her crimes eventually catch up with her. One of the earliest and most vivid female narrators in the history of the English novel, Moll recounts her adventures with irresistible wit and candour and enough guile that the reader is left uncertain whether she is ultimately a redeemed sinner or a successful opportunist.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed listening to this story. It was originally published in 1772 and gave many details of life, customs, morals and traditions in those times. I felt sorry for Moll trapped as she was. It really was very compelling and I'm glad that I finally "read" it

I liked this commentary about Moll Flanders.
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