So here's the story, Katie and I wanted to read...a lot. So we our own book club via facebook to make it official...because nothing is official unless it is on facebook...coughcough...joking. The process is each member takes a turn picking a book we want to read whether it is something we have tried seven years to finish or just having had the motivation to pick it up but after we pick the book, we read it. Mostly our discussions are very unstructured and often just our thoughts of how awesome or questions of plots. Nothing very deep, but we have had many long talks about the awesomness of the books...But HLCTBC is similar to other book clubs just we get to read from our eclectic and random tastes in books.
You can visit us on facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=119307148090955 ) , if you want to start reading with us. :)
On wards to the wonderful world of our imaginations!
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The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. Amazing. Expansive, invasive, enthralling...beautiful. I feel everyone must read this book. But the characters of Edmond/The Count were so beautifully written. The journey everyone goes through over the time period is breathtaking. The thought of revenge is crazy and how The Count executes his plan is brilliant. the only part of the book I did not enjoy or thought that did not quiet fit the rest of the book was the theatrics of Maximilian and The Count at the end of the book. I did not think the 'I'm going to die because I have nothing to live for anymore/I'm going to die because I have no purpose and I'm a bad person' arguments were not quiet in character. Haydee is one tough woman and I commend her the repair she had to do after the book ended. But overall a wonderful book. The Best I have read up to this point in my life, but I am only 23 and there are many more years of reading a head of me.
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To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I did not read this in high school as most people do for I was in an advanced humanities class. But I went into the book thinking the book was boring and slow. But these were the thoughts others who when they read the book last they were young and had read three or four other books of the same nature and had an overload of the subject material. Also, there are few high school students who read and enjoy most books (it is a shame! I wish more people read). But despite my slow start into the book, I finished the book in three days after I found time and became enthralled by the world Harper Lee wrote.
I loved reading of the 1930s Southern Society views through the eyes of a six-nine year old girl. Scout is amazing. The coming of age story of Jem, Dill and Scout was expectant and I enjoyed their journey. The one character I loved was Atticus. I thought he was a very progressive man for the time in which he lived and tried to teach his children the same views he had. The courage and fearlessness towards everything (except when his children were in danger) was great to read. I know a lot of the wonderfulness I feel for Atticus was a lot of Scout's views of her father. But I feel Atticus is a good man and a good father, despite what Aunt Alexandria thought.
The case of Mr. Robinson was very interesting because as everyone in Maycomb knew, the reader knew that there was little chance he had of winning. When he was shot for escaping, even though in the back of my mind I knew it was coming or going to happen, I was still surprised.
I liked the metaphor of the mockingbird to the Robinson case as well as for Boo Radley helping the Finch children during their attack. To kill a mockingbird...
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