book review
Book Review: Jane and the Genius of the Place
Jane and the Genius of the Place (Jane Austen Mysteries, #4)
by Stephanie Barron
by Stephanie Barron
3 out of 5 stars
Jane Austen is visiting her brother and sister-in-law at Godmersham Park, when a mysterious lady is murdered at the Canterbury Races. As Justice of the Peace, Jane’s brother, Edward, must investigate the murder, and Jane is all eagerness to help solve the puzzle.
I really liked this story and the history behind it. There is quite a lot of real history woven into the story with Jane’s family and her acquaintances, but of course the murder mystery and Jane’s involvement in the investigation are entirely fictional.
The best part of this book is the close look at Jane’s day to day interactions with her family, her nieces and nephews, and especially her sister Cassandra. It’s fun to imagine what their family dynamic might have been like. Continue reading
Reading Rush Wrap Up
Book Review: The Telling
The Telling
by Ursula K. Le Guin
by Ursula K. Le Guin
2 out of 5 stars
Sutty is an Observer visiting an alien planet to escape the political and religious unrest on Earth. But she arrives at a planet in the middle of their own religious upheaval where the old religions are illegal, and only small pockets of people in the countryside practice their beliefs in secret.
I DNF’d this book after page 63, because I was upset at the themes and attitudes behind the moral worldview of this book. Sutty is homosexual, and I didn’t like how that was approached and handled in this book. Continue reading
Book Review: Down the Rabbit Hole
Down the Rabbit Hole (Echo Falls, #1)
by Peter Abrahams
by Peter Abrahams
1 out of 5 stars
Ingrid solves a murder mystery while auditioning to be Alice in a theater play of “Alice in Wonderland”.
I did not enjoy this book. There is profanity, under-age drinking, under-age gun usage, and domestic violence. Ugh.
The writing style is full of fragments. I don’t mind a fragmented sentence every once in a while for emphasis or to draw the reader’s attention to something specific. Sometimes there is a pacing that needs a fragment or a run-on sentence to achieve a kind of pattern in the narrative, but this was just excessive. So many fragments that it got really tiresome.
Non Fiction Review: Lady Catherine and the Real Downton Abbey
Lady Catherine and the Real Downton Abbey
by Fiona Carnarvon
by Fiona Carnarvon
4 out of 5 stars
In 1922, Catherine married Lord Porchester, and eventually became the Countess of Carnarvon, and Highclere Castle was her home. This book follows the family living at Highclere, and their neighbors and staff, through the roaring 1920’s and the devastation of WWII. During this time, Highclere Castle was used as a children’s nursery school for children fleeing the bombs in London.
I loved the mixture of history and personal anecdotes in this book. The book is completely non-fiction, but the writing feels like fiction because it pulls you into the story.
I was expecting to skim through most of this, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it extremely interesting and readable. I didn’t skim any of it, and I truly felt connected to the beautiful history and the Carnarvon family. Continue reading
Ranking Jane Austen’s Novels
Book Review: The False Princess
The False Princess
by Eilis O’Neal
by Eilis O’Neal
4 out of 5 stars
Sinda has grown up as a princess, but on her sixteenth birthday she is told that she was only a decoy. She was a commoner baby switched with the royal baby to shield the real princess from a murderous prophecy. Sinda has to leave the only life she has ever known to live in a poor country village with an aunt she has never met.
I loved this book so much! Sinda is a wonderfully complex character, and goes through really intense character development. She is shy and awkward in the beginning, floundering around in fear and anger. But she gradually learns to trust her own strength, and she begins to fight to build a life of her own.
The plot is really interesting with brilliant magic and plot twists.
Mansfield Park Review Video
Classic Book Review: Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park
by Jane Austen
by Jane Austen
5 out of 5 stars
Fanny Price goes to live with her rich relatives, who make her feel inferior and criticize her. She befriends her cousin, Edmund, but is belittled by her cousins, Maria and Julia. When the Crawford siblings arrive as new neighbors, Maria and Julia compete for the attention of Mr. Henry Crawford, while Edmund gradually falls under the spell of the beautiful and wicked Miss Crawford. Only Fanny is undeceived by the Crawford’s pretty manners.
Marvelous story! Each time I reread it, I find something deeper in the story and the characters. But I always want to slap some sense into Edmund, until he realizes how delightful Fanny is.
Jane Austen’s writing never fails to amaze me. She has such a perceptive way of laying bare every thought and action of each character with exquisite insight into the little vexations and desires of human nature. Continue reading
