A Christmas Carol: Read Along (Stave 2)

Well, we’re back for week 2 of A Christmas Carol read-along hosted by Dog-Eared & Bookmarked.  Hopefully our first session was enjoyable.  If everyone will please open their books to the beginning of stave 2 we’ll go ahead and get started.  Quiet down in the back and Stanley; spit your gum out please….

Stave Two is almost entirely about the eventful visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past.  We can only imagine what it must have felt like to hear the clock bells toll ever closer to 1 o’clock.  On second thought, we don’t want to imagine it.  Once again the humor in this part is solid.  The highlight for us is when the ghost proclaims that his visit is for the benefit of Scrooge’s welfare and Scrooge immediately reflects that an uninterrupted night of sleep would be more welcomed.  In the end, the unlikely pair decides to indulge in an evening stroll down memory lane.

Five scenes are revealed which enable the reader to glean important information about Scrooge’s past (there is considerable weeping performed by the main character).  We also learn that given slightly different circumstances Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig would have been the favorites on next season’s, So You Think You Can Dance.  Most profoundly however, we begin to see small glimpses of remorse within Scrooge.

Overall, Stave 2 was another Dicken’s delight.  As an added benefit, we experienced about an inch of winter during the reading.  There’s nothing like some blustering snow to further establish the mood.  Unfortunately, we’re forced to cut this post just a little short because the shovel is calling our name from the garage.  Class dismissed!  Extra credit if you lend a hand with the driveway!   

Top 10 Tuesday - Coziest Places to Read

Yeaaa!  It’s our new favorite day of the week – Top 10 Tuesday!  Head on over to The Broke and the Bookish to join the fun.

This week’s Question:  Coziest Places to Read/Favorite Places to Read 

For us cozy = quiet, which rules out any high traffic areas.  Some people are able to read with the television, radio, and kids all blaring at the same time – not us.  Additionally, we both suffer from fidgety body syndrome and one of us suffers from extreme inflexibleness, which unfortunately rules out a stone park bench in central park or leaning against a tree inside Yosemite National Park for any length of time.  Not gonna happen.  Therefore, it is with less inspiration than we had hoped that we reveal our top 10 coziest places to read:

1. Sitting in a comfortable folding chair at the beach – We’re from Indiana so anytime we can combine ocean, sand, and reading – we’re totally there.
2. Lying on a towel at the beach – As you can see a trend is starting to form.  The beach provides very favorable reading conditions for us, especially this time of year. 
3. Walking by the shoreline at the beach – You’ll have to ignore the annoyed expressions of passersby, but we found this to be a very pleasant experience.  Audio books also work well here.  (Okay, we’ll be done with the beach theme!)
4. Bathtub – We’ve read many books in this environment and only one paperback suffered a horrible watery death.
5. On the floor in our home library – We really need to add a set of comfortable chairs in this room…
6. In bed – Reading under the covers with a flashlight as a child kicked off our torrid love affair with this local.
7. Living Room Couch – This is probably our most utilized reading spot and maybe our most comfortable. 
8. Toilet – Yes, this made the list and we’re not ashamed to admit it (at least one of us isn’t).
9. Sitting in a folding chair on the back patio – The view is hardly inspirational, but fresh air and books go hand in hand.
10. Driving to work – 90 minute commute time = lots of audio book.  Over the course of three years, we’ve (Evan) only ran one stoplight.  (The un-witnessed infraction occurred near the conclusion of The Kite Runner, which we think makes it forgivable…)

Have a great week of the list and be sure to leave a comment so we can check out your list.  Oh, and if we haven’t mentioned it before, we’re very fond of followers on this blog – give us a try and we’ll be sure to return the favor! 

What's in a Name Challenge

It seems like Monday is quickly turning into 2011 Reading Challenge announcement day. In the spirit of this one week tradition, we’ve decided to join the 2011


What’s in a Name Challenge. Thanks to Bethfor hosting.Our choices are populated below, however we’re still looking for inspiration on the 2nd category. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

 

• A book with a number in the title: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• A book with jewelry or a gem in the title:
• A book with a size in the title: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
• A book with travel or movement in the title: Rabbit, Run by John Updike
• A book with evil in the title: Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
• A book with a life stage in the title: Man and Boy by Tony Parsons

Be sure to check back for exciting updates as we track our progress!

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith

Evan’s ESS = 8 out of 10

Erin’s ESS = 8.1 out of 10

Content = PG (Adult Content, Mild Violence, Mild Language, Disorderly Conduct)

“The world was hers for the reading.”

Why: Like us, you’ll find it very difficult not to fall in love with little Francie Nolan.  Unfortunately, numerous friend requests to her Facebook account have gone unanswered… 

While you may not pull an all nighter to finish this one, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a must read.  The plot is delightfully complex, though, primarily surrounds the childhood of a lonely girl who loves books (now you know why we’re so fond of her).  Her family is stricken with many hardships including poverty and alcoholism, although her dad possesses one of the most underappreciated singing voices in all of literature.  Symbolism is prevalent throughout and even Francie herself represents the American dream.

For us it was so much fun to watch Francie bloom, ironically enough, much like a tree.  We found it very easy (almost too easy…) to get caught up in each one of her successes and failures.  There’s also a whole cast of great characters that evolve and mature throughout the story.  In the spirit of the holiday season, we double-dog dare you not to crack a smile at some of Aunt Sissy’s antics.

Since completion of the novel, we’ve been very anxious to watch the 1945 movie adaptation.  Is it worth it?  On a completely unrelated note the Bugs Bunny cartoon titled A Hare Grows in Manhattan is supposed to be hilarious…   

Editor’s Note: Like most of you, we too were skeptical of the author’s extraordinarily common name.  After a thorough investigation by the heavily funded literary investigation wing of Two Bibliomaniacs, it has come to our attention that Betty Smith’s real name was Elisabeth Lillian Wehner.

Additional Editor’s Note:  In case we’ve sparked your interest on the Bugs Bunny cartoon – the episode referenced may or may not be found on Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, disc 1, track 4…    

The World of Book Blogging - Part 4

That’s right people – it’s time for everyone’s favorite Friday social!  As always, thanks to Jennifer over at Crazy-For-Books for hosting the book party!  While you take a look at this week’s question, we’ll just be over here hanging out by the beverage table….

"What very popular and hyped book in the blogosphere did you NOT enjoy and how did you feel about posting your review?"

Owing to the fact that we’re very new to blogosphere this question is quite difficult to answer.  Instead, we’re going to put on the friendliest of smiles, promise not to raise your taxes, and respond with an answer slightly unrelated to the question.  A Tale of Two Cities was probably the most over-hyped book we ever read.  I know most readers will disagree and we might even lose a few followers, but there you have it.  For all its acclaim, we just couldn’t get into this book – and we love Dickens.  Great Expectations, Bleak House, David Coperfield, and Oliver Twist are some of our favorite books of all time.  In fact we’re currently participating in A Christmas Carol read-along and loving it (you should definitely read our groundbreaking analysis)! Sooooo, to answer the question in our own personal way, for us, A Tale of Two Cities was the worst of times….

Oh, and before you head off looking for another dance partner, please be aware that we’re very fond of followers on this blog – give us a try and we’ll be sure to return the favor!  

The BBC's Big Read - How do you stack up?

We’ve seen this list floating around on a couple blogs lately (most recently at Reading with Martinis) and we feel we must join in the fun.  Book lists could possibly be the coolest things ever invented and the BBC’s list is our authority when looking for new reading material.  Two years ago it inspired us to step outside our small cardboard reading box and expand our authors.  The result was life changing (or at least a ton of really good books).  We (Evan) has read 67 (in bold) of the top 100 titles and we (Erin) has read 29 (with *)…for the complete story, please refer to  our A Brief Preface post.

In April 2003 the BBC's Big Read began the search for the nation's best-loved novel, and the results are listed below.  The people at the BBC believe that most people have only read 6 of these novels.  Sooooo, what we want to know is – how do you stack up?  Count ‘em up and let us know!

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen*
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling*
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee*
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë*
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë*
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier*
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger*
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell*
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling*
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling*
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling*
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien*
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett*
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens*
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl*
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen*
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery*
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald*
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell*
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens*
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett*
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck*
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy*
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl*
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden*
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding*
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl*
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith*
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

A Christmas Carol: Read-Along

A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

Evan’s ESS = 9 out of 10

Erin’s ESS = 9 out of 10

Content = PG (Unfriendly Dispositions, Forewarning Spirits, Multiple Use of the Word Humbug)

Why: Okay, let’s get a few things out on the table.  We know you’ve seen Mickey’s Christmas Carol over a hundred times.  We know you can recite Tiny Tim’s memorable line in your sleep.  We know you’ve mentally judged someone a Scrooge more than once in your life.  Still, what you must realize is that reading A Christmas Carol is as much a part of Christmas as stale fruitcake and yellow snow.  In our house, this novel has become a rich, storied tradition that started just last year...  For this reason we jumped at the chance to participate in the Read-along hosted by Dog-Eared & Bookmarked.  Over the next five weeks we will be diving into the world of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchet, and Tiny Tim. 

Before we lose your attention completely, we present, completely unabridged and in amazing Technicolor, our analysis on Stave 1:

The tone for this entire novel is set within the first two paragraphs.  The reader is given confirmation that Scrooge’s longtime business partner, Jacob Marley, is unequivocally dead (The reader is also able to glimpse the profound humor found in all of Dicken's writing).  Most importantly, we are introduced to Ebenezer Scrooge and shown the extent of his miserly existence.  To further emphasize Scrooge's cruel nature, every other person we encounter stands as his polar opposite: holiday cheer charity, remorse.  We are also reminded why you should never enter a dwelling once its front knocker morphs into a person’s face.

What we especially love about this first stave is the imagery created.  It’s so simple and yet you get goosebumps reading about Marley’s chains echoing throughout the house.  You also get such a great insight into Scrooge’s character through his dialogue.  We loved reading about his appeal to encounter all 3 ghosts at once in order to get things over with quicker.  Finally, we love the perspective that Marley provides in the final sequence.

Sorry for the overabundance of love in this review, but we… thoroughly adore this novel.  Stave 1 sets the table for everything to come and definitely has us anxious to plow ahead.  Until next week….