Book Review- All the King's Men

For the Mount TBR Pile challenge, Back to the Classics challenge, 12 Month Classics challenge, Shelf Love challenge and the Classics Club I read Robert Penn Warren's book All the King's Men.

Synopsis from Goodreads: More than just a classic political novel, Warren’s tale of power and corruption in the Depression-era South is a sustained meditation on the unforeseen consequences of every human act, the vexing connectedness of all people and the possibility—it’s not much of one—of goodness in a sinful world. Willie Stark, Warren’s lightly disguised version of Huey Long, the onetime Louisiana strongman/governor, begins as a genuine tribune of the people and ends as a murderous populist demagogue. Jack Burden is his press agent, who carries out the boss’s orders, first without objection, then in the face of his own increasingly troubled conscience. And the politics? For Warren, that’s simply the arena most likely to prove that man is a fallen creature. Which it does.

This was an absolutely fascinating book. At the beginning I felt like it was a little slow but as it went on I was entirely captivated by it. I kept turning the pages to find out what was going to happen. None of the characters were really good, which normally turns me off from a book. They were all intriguing though. Their character and motivations keep the story rolling. The politics were messy, as politics often are. As Warren said, politics really does show off man's moral depravity.
Overall I enjoyed this book though it was not my normal cup of tea.


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Book Review- Mr. Midshipman Hornblower

For the Mount TBR pile challenge, the 12 Month Classics Challenge and the Classics Club I read C.S. Forester's novel Mr. Midshipman Hornblower.

Synopsis from Goodreads: Here we meet Horatio Hornblower, a young man of 17, in this Volume #1 of what becomes the 11 volume set about the career of this British Naval officer fighting against Napoleon and his tyranny of Europe as an inexperienced midshipman in January 1794. Bullied and forced into a duel, he takes an even chance. And then he has many more chances to show his skills and ingenuities - from sailing a ship full of wetted and swelling rice to imprisonment and saving the lives of shipwrecked sailors. And along the way, he fights galleys, feeds cattle, stays out of the way of the guillotine, and makes friends with a Duchess. Here Hornblower becomes a man and develops the strength of character which will make him a hero to his men, and to all England.

I watched the Horatio Hornblower TV series several years ago and really enjoyed it and finally now I'm getting around to reading the books. So far I've just read this first one but I hope to read the rest eventually.
While reading it I really related to Hornblower. His first experiences running a ship and then feeling like he failed felt like my first experiences as a nurse. Eventually we both gained confidence and skills necessary to survive our unfamiliar environments and they became familiar to us.
I was surprised at how fast paced the book was. Many "classic adventure novels" I've read haven't been as fast paced as I wanted them to be but this one pleasantly surprised me. The nautical terms didn't bog me down, though, through my previous reading, I have become familiar with some of them. There was also a historical aspect, which I always enjoy.
Overall I enjoyed it and I will probably hand it to my brothers in the future.

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Book Review- The Age of Innocence

For the Shelf Love challenge, Mount TBR challenge, the 12 Month Classics Challenge, Back to the Classics challenge, Full House reading challenge and the Classics Club I read Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence.

Synopsis from Goodreads: Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s masterful portrait of desire and betrayal during the sumptuous Golden Age of Old New York, a time when society people “dreaded scandal more than disease.”This is Newland Archer’s world as he prepares to marry the beautiful but conventional May Welland. But when the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York after a disastrous marriage, Archer falls deeply in love with her. Torn between duty and passion, Archer struggles to make a decision that will either courageously define his life—or mercilessly destroy it.

This was quite a book. I knew going into it that it was going to be give me lots of food for thought so I took the time to slow down while reading it, which is a struggle for me. It was worth it though. But even with slowing down I still feel like I can't quite put into words how I felt about it. There was a lot I loved about this book but I'm not sure I love the conclusion it draws. As the synopsis indicates it is a story about naivety, the dread of scandal, convention, tradition and HYPOCRISY. It was horribly aggravating sometimes how snooty (I'm not sure what other word I could use) the people are in this story. They never give Countess Olenska a chance. As Newland thinks once, they were setting her up to be the mistress of Beaufort (a married man notorious for having mistresses) by looking down on her for getting a divorce. Which by the way, I am against divorce for any reason basically except infidelity and her husband's infidelity is exactly why she wanted the divorce so I think she should have gone through with it. The countess is unconventional, which is what draws Newland to her. Intellectually they are equals.
Mae Welland, the woman Newland marries is a cookie cutter woman not really trained to have her own thoughts. A blank page. Conventional. Boring! Newland had longed as a bachelor to have a different marriage than those around him but in the end that is what he is stuck with.
So in my opinion here's what should have happened. He should have broken his engagement off with Mae and Countess Olenska should have gotten her divorce and Newland and Countless Olenska could have married. That's not what happened and because of that Newland and the Countess end up having an emotional affair before Mae slyly and oh so innocently contrives their separation by telling the Countess that's she pregnant (before she knows she actually is). Then, to prevent Newland from going after her like he planned to she told him she was pregnant (when she was actually sure of it).  The thing is, after Newland made the decision to go ahead and marry Mae that should have been the end of him and the Countess. They made themselves miserable and in my opinion it was kind of their own fault. I think the concluding decision is really made when Newland decides to marry Mae instead of the Countess though I think others might disagree and say it's when Newland decided not to pursue the Countess to Europe. He chose rightly though. I think maybe you're supposed to think he should have gone anyways and fulfilled their love for each other but that wasn't the right decision! He was a married man. He made that decision and he has no right to be changing it now. Newland was the better man for making that decision too. It also effectively ended up breaking him and the Countess entirely off... which was Mae's plan. In the end, Newland still had a decent life and as it says in the book, he truly mourned his wife's death. He loved his children and enjoyed being with them. In the end, while we pity Newland I think we can also be happy for him. One wonder a little though how Countess Olenska's story concluded.
So I know that was a horribly disjointed review but it's the best I could come up with. I doubt I could ever put into words how I feel about this book. I liked it though. I did watch the 1993 film version with Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder after reading the book and I'll be reviewing it soon enough. Short review for it though is that I thought it was a good adaptation.
This book was quite thought provoking and very interesting and I did enjoy it. The themes it explored were fascinating. Read or not? Read!
P.S. Thank you Olivia for recommending this one to me!

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Book Review- Leaves of Grass

For the Mount TBR pile challenge, Shelf Love challenge, the 12 Month Classics Challenge and the Classics Club I read Walt Whitman's classic collection of poetry Leaves of Grass.

Synopsis from Goodreads: Whitman is today regarded as America's Homer or Dante. His work the touchstone for literary originality in the New World. In Leaves of Grass, he abandoned the rules of traditional poetry: breaking the standard metred line, discarding the obligatory rhyming scheme & using the vernacular. Emily Dickinson condemned his sexual & physiological allusions as `disgraceful', but Emerson saw the book as the `most extraordinary piece of wit & wisdom that America has yet contributed'. A century later it's his judgement of this autobiographical vision of the vigor of the American nation that has proved the more enduring. This is the most up-to-date edition for student use, with full critical apparatus.

When I selected this book for the Classics Club I had no idea it was a book of poetry.... obviously I should have done a little more research. I really am not a poetry fan. Therefore, Leaves of Grass already had a huge point against it from the start. Then it just wasn't the rare kind of poetry I like anyways. It was the kind that has an ulterior message hidden deep within it that you're somehow supposed to derive from it. My copy was used and the previous owner had written notes in it like "This is about America." Well considering that I never would have had a clue that that particular stanza was about America this was enlightening as it made me look at it in a different light. However that's my point! It was the kind of poetry that I had no clue what it was talking about half the time because it was never directly talking about what it was actually talking about and to know what it was actually talking about you either would need a study guide or be a great guesser. I'm sorry but I don't like that kind of poetry. I'm really just not a fan of poetry. If I'd known, it was poetry I wouldn't have added it to my Classics Club list. However, I did and then I read it and discovered it was poetry. So all that to say, not my favorite. There were some beautiful lines at points, though probably they meant something other than what I thought they did. It wasn't all bad.
Obviously this is really my own fault. I should have known it was poetry.
Recommend or not? Not if you're like me! If you like poetry though I suppose you'll enjoy this.
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2016 12 Month Classics Challenge Reviews Link up

Sorry this took me so long to put up!
To keep track of your progress through the 2016 12 Month Classics Challenge I'm posting this link up for your reviews. You can do a review per book, batch reviews or even just an end of the year wrap up post but I do need something so I can know how many books you read plus it's fun to see what you think of the books. If you don't have a blog or Goodreads or something else like that you can always leave a comment.

So here's the link up!


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The 12 Month Classics Challenge

As evidenced by 2015's long list of reading challenges, I love a good reading challenge! Even more I love hosting a good reading challenge. Okay... maybe not even more but it's still lots of fun!

I'm a member of the Classics Club, and if you're not you should be! I've always been a classics reader but the Classics Club has really challenged me to read classics I maybe would have never picked up. So for 2016 I am going to host the 12 Month Classics Challenge. When I first thought of it I thought of it in relation to Classics Club members but really anyone can join! If you've always wanted to try some classics but have never gotten around to it try this challenge out and maybe it will be the inspiration you need! So from classics lovers to classics haters (that covers everyone right?) this challenge is for you! ;)
How the challenge works is every month you read a classic corresponding to the month's theme. Now I'm a flexible person and if for some reason you're just feeling the need to read that particular classic in a different month than the theme is, feel free to. I'm not going to haunt you for the rest of your life or anything like that. ;) Additionally, if you feel this is the year to read War and Peace or some other ridiculously long classic but you know you aren't going to finish it in a month I understand too! You don't have to finish the book in a month! The ultimate goal is to read 12 classics (or more if you like) in 2016. If you read five one month and then read none the next, again, I'm not going to haunt you for the rest of your life. If you read War and Peace all year long I will just be very impressed and won't mind that you didn't read eleven others. ;)
So do you get my drift? Flexibility!!!!
Also any form of book is acceptable including real books, audiobooks and ebooks. Additionally, re-reads are acceptable as well.
I would encourage everyone to write a review of their books and I'll have a link up where you can link your reviews but if you don't have a blog or goodreads account you can always just comment a few thoughts. :)
Now when it comes to defining a Classic that gets a little tricky. As you can see below I have a month for reading a modern classic so please use that month to designate your modern classics. Besides that, try to keep the classics to a restriction of being written fifty years ago or more. It's not an entirely hard and fast rule just more of a preference.
Okay, so here are the themes for each month. :)

January- A classic you've always wanted to read- Start the year off with a bang!
February- A classic you've always dreaded reading- Get that book out of the way... and who knows! You may end up loving it!
March- A classic you've been recommended- We all have those
April- A classic you've seen the movie/miniseries/TV show of- If you're like me you've probably seen quite a few film versions before being able to read the book. It's time for that book to get read!
May- An American classic
June- A British classic
July- A European classic (non-British)
August- A modern classic- Up to your interpretation
September- A children's classic
October- A classic by a female author
November- A classic by a male author
December- A classic written under a pseudonym- If you don't know which books were written under pseudonyms here's a few names to help you out. Jane Austen wrote her books under a pseudonym (by a lady) as did the Bronte sisters (published their books under male pseudonyms), George Elliot (real name Mary Ann Evans) and Agatha Christie also wrote a few books under the Pseudonym Mary Westmacott.  Men who also have written under Pseudonyms are Mark Twain (real name Samuel L. Clemens) and Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). I'm sure there's more out there but there's a few to start you out.

Sign up here! 

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