Owlowiscious Girls

I wanted to save one of my favorites for near the last- not just because it always comes last on the list in alphabetical order- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.  I can totally understand why people would hate this book.  The characters are intensely insane and horrible.  This is the only book I personally love but know completely how awful Catherine and Heathcliff are as human beings.  I read this book for English my senior year.  I have not reread it for fear of loosing the spark this book lit in me.  This book was so elegantly dark and twisted.  I had heard nothing quite like it ever since even though there has to be more Gothic literature like it.  This one holds a special place for me as a book I was emotionally invested with and loved to listen to my teacher talk about.  I think it was the writing style and descriptive passages that drew me in as well as the movie version. When I knew the whole series of Harry Potter was being turned into more movies I KNEW based on thi

Twilight by Stephenie Meyers (that is a weird way to spell STEPHANIE) is a book I thought I would NEVER read.  Not only am I not really into supernatural beings (vampires, werewolves, zombies, etc) but I am even less into supernatural "love/stalker" stories.  Just out of curiosity I tried to watch the movie- because I thought I MIGHT read the book if it had more of a plot then "plain Jane falls for sparkly butt vampire plus random werewolves" but no, there wasn't really any other plot!  There isn't a mystery.  There isn't much of a struggle except- "I want to bite you, but I totally love you"- gag me with a fork!!  The only reason I want to read it now is so that I can legitimate make fun of it and check it off the list .  THIS is the Twilight for me.     When I watched the movie, I was constantly saying, "Did they just say those things?  Did those words just come out of their mouths?!?!"  The dialogue is cringe worthy so I can&

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is a book that sounds surprisingly similar to Jane Eyre .  As I looked over a couple reviews this sounds like a book I might like.  I am kinda lost as to what else to say about it.  It is one of about 20 on the list that I had never heard of before.  I have a long way to go till I get to well read.  I am looking forward to reading this book in the future. 

This is a post that will not do this book justice- at all- but you need to know I LOVE Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  I didn't fall in love with Jane Austen till I was in college.  I was actually really intimidated by her.  She was too high brow for me until I took the time to read her work.  A friend suggested I start with Sense and Sensibility .  But I still can't read Austen without being alone in a quiet place or maybe light piano music in the background.  What really clenched my love for Austen's work were the movie adaptions, though, and it really helped that I found out I share her birthday (December 16th).  I have so many reading goals for the future but one of them has been to have a Jane Austen Year in which I would primarily read all her works and see how many adaptions and biographies or sequels I could read.  I don't know when this will be but it WILL happen. #VOTEPridePrej At my sister-in-law's Regency Themed Wedding If you don

Just a few days ago I went to the library for the last few books for this project knowing that I couldn't really start a new book on the list while still working on my Popsugar Challenge this year but my little girls wanted to play at the park so I told them to pick one of the books I could read while they played.  Lucy picked Watchers by Dean Koontz.  Right away the character is packing some Oreos so that meant I had to grab some mini ones because I like those a little better.  I have never read a Dean Koontz novel.  I don't know much about him but he has written a lot of books.  This one is a suspense novel with a super dog- hope that is not as cheesy as it sounds. 

Stephen King is the King of Horror and writing in general, but I haven't had much exposure to him, but it makes me all the more excited to eventually read the huge and one of the 5 over 1000 pagers on the  list The Stand (uncut and extended edition).  The only Stephen King book I have read is Cell .  But I have seen Carrie , Haven (based of his book The Colorado Kid ), and Children of the Corn (Malachi!!!) .  I have found myself much more into horror over the years.  I am not sure what that says about me, but it sure is entertaining.  Next fall will be the perfect time to sync this book up with Stephen King's birthday (September 21).  Library Copy

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut is on the shorter side at less than 300 pages.  With school about to start for my kids in less than a week and with my energy just bursting to get into routine and to finish this project I didn't really read much on this book.  It is a science-fiction book so there is that.  If you have been following me at all you know that this is not my favorite genre.  I will just post a Youtube review that I watched.  The copy of this book that I got from the library has a much more interesting cover.  Here we see four women- three of them are in a swirl of light or planet dressed in sheer goddess like togas while the one near the middle bottom appears to be naked except for a long blue cape holding a book.  Then we have the guy in the foreground wearing a gold loin cloth and reaching out for some invisible something.  It is giving me a very 70s vibe.  It is a much more interesting cover than the weird eye cover for the most recent publication. 

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is one of the 4 books on the  list in the 900 page range.  It is about the middles ages, lust, romance, bloodlines, and building a cathedral.  If this book wasn't so long I might be able to read it for my Popsugar Challenge prompt "a book from a celebrity book club" because this book was on Oprah's Book Club list back in 2007, I believe.  Here is a clip of Oprah and the book.  I feel sorry for the employees who have to lug these huge books to give to the audience members- haha!   And just out of curiosity I had to find out if there had been a movie or tv series based on this book- and wouldn't you know it there has been.  Surprise, surprise to me Eddie Redmayne aka Newt Scamander is in it. The book sounds interesting.  It almost sounds like a more historically based Game of Thrones .  There were a lot of mixed reviews on Goodreads but now I think I know what to expect when I pick this book up again in the future

This one was hard to track down- Mind Invaders by Dave Hunt was no where to be found in my library's database.  I only just found out it is a Christian book published by The Berean Call based out of Bend,OR (my state).  I wonder who said this was there favorite book because it is certainly the underdog of books on The Great American Read List .  Based solely on reading the cover it appears to be about aliens, psychic/telepathic power, and futuristic warnings that I am not going to take too seriously.  It sounds like a more spooky version of the Left Behind series.  I own this book now thanks to the fact that it wasn't available else where and I had to order it from Amazon. 

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison not to be confused with THE Invisible Man by H.G. Wells (emphasis mine) is a book about a man who says he is invisible.  Okay, it is a lot more than that- it has to do with race and bigotry and of the 10 pages I read the author is mastering the English language.  I heard that for summer homework a student in my husband's youth group read this book so it can't be too complicated.  My copy is a used copy and has a lot of complicated notes in the front that I first thought were artfully written words for creative reasons.  Any way, I am rambling unlike this book, which is written marvelously.  The song "What Did I Do to Be so Black and Blue" is mentioned within the first 10 pages and hear it is for your listening pleasure. 

Back in March of this year (2018) my Popsugar Reading Group voted to read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood for the prompt "book about feminism".  I personally wouldn't label it that way.  It certainly has feminists up in arms and it is a classic of speculation and dystopian world building, but it was not a favorite book of mine and I don't think I learned anything specifically about "feminism".  I listened to it on audio so I am not sure if reading it would be more helpful.  Unlike so many women who love this book, I could not find it very believable.  Plus the ending was such a cop out.  I wasn't moved.  I didn't feel like it was a "warning".  I understand women are oppressed, but not like this.  Atwood said she wrote that all these things have happened to women.  I really need to get to reading the articles that explain that- I know I started one but it was bit too wordy at the time.  I guess I just personally didn't get th

Dona Barbara by Romulo Gallegos is one of a handful (I haven't gotten a specific count yet as I have been busy) on The Great American Read List that is translated.  As I have come to learn this is one of the staples of Latin American literature written by the first democratically elected president of Venezuela.  It was also turned into a soap opera.  I have only glanced over the first 10 pages and I tried to read a couple reviews but they are mostly in Spanish, but my first vague impression is that Dona Barbara sounds a little like Kissin' Kate Barlow from Holes but less kid friendly.  She sounds like a woman with a mission and I am very curious to learn about the past that shaped her.  I did have to buy this book because I could only find it in Spanish at my library so it is only one of two books that I had to special order for this project- that is pretty good considering I have a limit on check outs at one time going on.  Also I am starting to burn out on this project jus

🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳🐳 This book needs more whales!<----sarcasm  Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, a book I read for more than one English Lit. class in college, was not my favorite book.  Not sure if this is even fiction because the majority of what I remember about it was actually learning about different whales.  It certainly wasn't what I expected.  I, apparently, mentioned reading this book around my kids a few times and they seemed to think it was my "favorite" book- far from it.  Plus I think I have the dirty mind of a 7th grader- sperm, dick, erect, Pequod- would often set me giggling.  At one point I actually thought the book was just all symbolic- "white whale" represents the perfect homosexual partner and "Captain Ahab" the guy trying to figure out if he needed to kill, conquest, or just accept his own or other's sexuality.  I don't know- I think I was just trying to make this book more interesti

So I was going "cheat" again and try to watch the movie before the book, The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy.  But it was pretty late when I started the movie and all I kept doing was- "Oh! Look it is a really young Alec Baldwin!  What?  Be more funny, Jack!"  "Oh!  It is Darth Vader's voice- James Earl Jones!"  "Look! It's the beard guy from First Knight and The Rock. -Sean Connery!"  "Is that the Jurassic Park guy?  I need to look that up on IMDB!- It is!"  "Tim Curry!?! The Home Alone 2 guy?  How did I not know he was in this?"  "One of the Mama Mia dads is in this!"  Yeah, it went on like that for a good 20 minutes and I could not pay any attention.  One time, a long time ago, in high school my boyfriend. at the time, invited me to his house.  His mom was watching The Hunt for Red October .  He said it was her favorite movie.  We watched it for all of 5 min. before I was bored to tears.  Ever since

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is one of about 15 books that I had never heard of before The Great American List came out.  So I am relying on a review by a fellow book friend whose taste is some what similar to mine when it comes to book.  She gave the book 5 stars.  She says she loves this book but she also loves African culture so she admits to being a little bias.  If anything I am neutral to African culture and history.  I am probably intimidated by it.  Africa is huge.  The history can't be simple.  I actually claim no real, true knowledge about it.  What I gather about this book is that it is telling two stories.  It sounds powerful.  It sounds almost magical with myths, fable, and truth surrounding it.  It appears to be a struggle between European missionaries and the world of the ancient African.  It sounds great.  I can't wait to read it, but not in a super excited way but in a "I really want to know more about this" way.  It also sounds emotional.

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin, as I understand it, was somewhat of a groundbreaking novel at the time because many of the characters in the book are gay.  I don't have a problem with this.  I am not offended by it in any way.  In fact, I am intrigued.  People are going to live very different lives.  I don't have any type of power to stop them, but I have the power to love and accept humans the best I know how.  If they are not hurting me, others, or themselves (at least not seriously) it is not my place to "fix" them.  Maybe that is "radical" I don't know.  Just let them live their lives and love them when they are a part of yours.  I am just one small person.  This is my opinion.  I don't think I always even had an opinion, but now I do.  So I guess this less about a book right now then it is about my thoughts on homosexuality.  Fabulous!  Okay I haven't read the book yet, but just say it with flair! Back to reading- this book

In honor of yesterday being Potato Day, I read about 30 pages of The Martian by Andy Weir because "Godspeed, little taters.  My life depend on you."  The Martian is a science fiction novel about a man who is stuck on Mars during a mission while all his team presumed him to be dead during a horrible windstorm.  The writing of this book is written like a diary or logbook by Mark, the man left behind, as he struggles to figure out how he is going make enough food (hence the potatoes) till the next mission is sent to Mars.  I have seen the movie version of this and I liked it.  I had heard the book was much more funny (it also has more foul language but not in a gratuitous way and definitely appropriate to the situation).  I actually did laugh out loud with this one already and I am only 30 pages in.  I was really hoping to find this book at the used book store so that I could continue read it, but alas I have not found it yet.  Some people think this book is too technical

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is not a favorite of mine, but I read it.  In fact when I am done with this initial project I am going to rank the ones I have read from my favorite to the least favorite (I don't usually hate but yeah I hate few of these).  I will have put a few in the middle as I don't remember much about a couple of the books I know I did read, but let's get back to the topic of hating on Gone Girl.  I gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads (probably deserved only one) only because I like mystery and at least it was interesting even though it was predictable and the characters were horrible, unlikable, messed up people.  The book was coated in narcissism for me.  The author thinks she is so deep and dark and twisted and absolutely relishes it to the point where you can't take it seriously any more.  It all ends up being a joke- a bad joke.  This book also contains a lot of profanity which I am not a big fan of.  I read this book back in 2014 before it

I didn't exactly spend time reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon so much as watch the first episode on Starz this morning.  I have read so many mixed reviews on this so I am happy to finally have my own opinion of at least one episode of the show and then I will read the book a little later.  Some of the mixed reviews have been that these books have sex scenes as steamy or even as intense as that of Fifty Shades of Grey so why is Outlander not being bashed.  I have seen many women in my Popsugar Goodreads book club reading them and loving them.  Well I can at least gather that this is some pure fantasy.  I don't know much about Diana Gabaldon but she has tapped into the wish fulfillment of quite a few women.  It is kinda like Game of Thrones for women where the fantasy is more time travel based rather than pretend world building.  These are some pretty long books and I did manage to find my own copy at a used bookstore so I have plenty of time to read/watch this later.

Sorry, animal lovers, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls is a book I have not read and will not have strong feelings for even if it has the typical sad ending.  It is short and I thought I might have time to actually finish it but summer is flying by fast as lightening.  This is a copy from the library.

"One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all.  and in the darkness bind them." Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is a fantastic book.  I have only read the first book and I have never reread it, but this is beautiful literature.  I actually got half way through the second book in the series The Two Towers and I put it down.  It was so wonderful.  I didn't want it to end.  I felt like I needed to be reading this book in a special time and special place.  I took a class in college on Tolkien but it was mostly the class watching the movies.  We only recently acquired the whole series so now all the books match.  This was my previous "complete" series.   Orlando Bloom as Legolas- college was good times! Boy, I really wish it were fall.  That is when you read these books when the leaves are changing color and the wind is crisp and you can fill up on lembas bread.  These books are popular enough and I d

I guess I am doing some of my shortest posts on some of the longest books so that I might find more time to actually get to read them.  Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is a big one and the only thing I know about it is that it is a Western- that's it.  That's all I know.  That is all I am going to know until I get some more reading time.  I have never read a true western before so I am kinda excited for when I get to this one.  But I don't own a copy of this one so might not be awhile.  

I have to be honest I was kinda surprised to see this book make the list.  Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins is one of the first modern fiction books I ever read.  I had no idea what to read as a Christian teen.  I didn't know what was good so I tended to stick to classics but they weren't always a favorite.  I also didn't REALLY like romance all that much and that seemed to be the only other Christian alternative.  This isn't to say I wasn't allowed to read other things I just didn't even know where to start when it came to choosing a book in the past.  To put it lightly, I was overwhelmed and painfully too shy to ask for help.  Enter in my first boyfriend's mom in 1998 who recommended The Left Behind Series.  As the books came out she gave them to me to borrow.  I was really hooked on these books and I was really into "End Times" because the world was "going to end" soon.  I read all the way up to Book Number 8 The Mark . 

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan- I love this book.  I read it for Minority Lit. Class in college and then I reread it again this year for my Popsugar Reading Challenge for the prompt #14 "a book by an author who is a different ethnicity than you".  I bought my copy for class and it was already used at the time so my copy is a little battered up.  I have never written an official review of this book but all you need to know is that it is about 4 Chinese mother immigrants to America and the relationship dynamics they have with their daughters.  The characters can be a little confusing at first but it reads easily and even though I am not Chinese I feel as if I can relate with the mother/daughter strains and joys.  I recommend this book.  I have Voted for it several times now. 

Wow, we are at the most controversial book on the list.  This is one of three books that I am a little embarrassed about and would not have read if not for this  list .   Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, from what I can gather from The Great American Facebook Book Club, is the most talked about in a "I can't believe it made it onto this list!" kind of way.  Based on what I have read about this book it is just strashy erotica and glorifying a very toxic relationship.  It also contains BDSM.  I am just going to stop right there and say I probably shouldn't read this book.  It sounds horrible.  But I would like to make my own opinion.  I embarrassingly bought the book from a little old lady at the used bookstore who seemed more surprised that Flowers in the Attic had made the list.  Still on the fence about reading this one so let's just end this post before I feel more sad about American culture. Possibly 50 Shades of it?

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a classic, but I have never read it.  I was much more into Wuthering Heights by Charlotte's sister Emily (more on that later as that book also made the list).  This book seems like the kind of book I would like and in fact I have tried to read it on numerous occasions but it has never been the right time.  Plus there is a funny story about the copy of this book I own.  While I was still in college but it was summer break I was at my parents house.  Everyone else was gone and I answered the door.  It was someone who claimed to be doing some type of fundraiser and was selling books to go on some school trip.  This young man seemed genuine and not creepy plus books!  Since no one was home I said sure I will buy a book.  What I did not know was that these were some pretty expensive "fancy" books.  I mean they were mostly classics when I glanced at the titles but these books were between $50-70 dollars a piece!  What were these books made of?

Right away let me inform you that this will be one very quick post as this book is an absolute head scratcher- The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead.  I have never heard of this book.  It has something to do with elevators, race, unidentifiable time and place, and apparently an odd ending.  I can see this one taking me a long time to read even though it looks short.  I couldn't find anything good on Youtube that would help explain it or even review it- so like I said "head scratcher" of a book.  I don't own it so this is another- "when I get around to it eventually books".

Here is another rather large book- Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.  I should probably have read this book by now.  I have seen the movie.  What I remember is that I thought it was kinda boring but also I have short attention sometimes.  It was mentioned in The Help , which I recently finished, so I will keep that in mind for possible reading prompts in the future.  I also remember after seeing the movie I understood a few jokes on The Simpsons a little better.  Like this scene.... But.... Just kidding.  I will read this book eventually just probably not this year.  I do like the sound track though.  If I owned the book I would probably make some effort to get into the story but as I don't this one will have to wait a little while. I almost forgot this little gem.

Over the weekend I was at our church's family camp and am woefully behind on this project now, but on the last day before we left the fog on the lake was just perfect so I had to take a couple of pictures.  Triangle Lake. So The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks got a bit of a special photo shoot from me.  But that doesn't mean it is necessarily special.  It does make it on the list for better movie adaption then book though.  I have read it and it is SUPER sappy.  It was like swimming in syrup.  I am not romantic enough to appreciate romance novels but I can see why others would really love this book.  It is a very short read and the ending really is touching.  I now own this book so I might appreciate it later but I will most likely not be voting for it.  Do you like romance novels?  Which are your favorite and why? 

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathon Swift is apparently one of Neil deGrasse Tyson's favorite book- I learned that from The Great American Read Show .  I am not even familiar with the movie of this famous book, but I have seen a number of illustrations of a big man being tied down by a bunch of tiny people.  Tyson says- "That's not even the weirdest part."  I will take his word for it for now.  I did notice that the famous scene is really early on in the book so I am hoping there is a lot more "travels" to go.  This is the library's copy. 

*1. A book made into a movie you've already seen:  The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown- DONE *2. True Crime: Truevine: Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy-DONE *3. The next book in a series you started: Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery-DONE * 4. A book involving a heist:  The Heist by Janet Evanovich- DONE *5. Nordic noir:  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson (January Group Read)- DONE  *6. A novel based on a real person: Gods and Kings  by Lynn Austin-DONE *7. A book set in a country that fascinates you: On the Road with Francis of Assisi: A Timeless Journey Through Umbria and Tuscany, and Beyond by Linda Bird Francke- DONE *8. A book with a time of day in the title: Afternoon of the Elves by Janet Taylor Lisle- DONE *9. A book about a villain or antihero: How to be a Villain by Neil Zawacki- DONE 10. A book about death or grief: NOVEMBER GROUP READ  The Immortalist by Chloe Benjamin *1

I know I said I don't hate books- at least not MANY books- often I feel like I am pretty generous with my starring system on Goodreads, but The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a book I really, really hate.  I hate this book for so many reasons- it was assigned in high school and college, it was boring, depressing, I didn't understand it, too much "symbolism' and greed and debauchery left me grasping for an unseen hope and left me depressed.  It confuses me to frustration that this is a classic.  I have wondered from time to time whether I should retry this book, but I haven't been in the mood to torture myself lately (thank goodness for that).  So....could YOU tell me why I should care about this book?  Why is this a classic?  Teach me again because I obviously didn't get it from the two classes I had to read this book for  BTW it is fun to read negative reviews for this book. The Great Gatsby can have my stinky feet.  I don't own this book

In honor of Sisters Day, I will be posting on the most iconic "sisters" book of all time- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  This book is about the 4 March sisters and their mom whom they call Marmee and all the big and little things that bring them closer as sisters and ultimately friends.  I actually have not read the unabridged version of this book.  But I hold this one close in my memory as one of my favorites.  This is the copy I carried around with me everywhere when I was ten year old. I loved the cover of this particular book.  I remember my mom showing me the 1933 version of the movie.  It was one of my favorites.  I loved all the sisters except for Amy.  I was 12 when the 1994 version of the movie came out.  I don't think I got to see it in theaters but I remember seeing it few years later and I used it as a compare and contrast paper for English.  In fact I am quite sure I saw a youtube video with just that.... If I had to say why I liked the book

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is a book I actually own and have owned for years and years and have never cracked it open.  I think my mom bought it for me because I was trying to get into classics and I just read Of Mice and Men , but that didn't last long.  I am probably more familiar with The Veggie Tales version.  I think the basic story is a family from Oklahoma are driven off their land and forced to work and move to California. right?  Well that is what the back of the book basically says, so there.

The Godfather by Mario Puzo- um, Italians? Mobs? Offers that can't be refused?  I don't know.  Am I close?  Oh. the music....I remember liking the music from the movie.  I never saw the movie though.  If you couldn't tell I don't know much about this book.  I think my brother likes the movies.  I am mildly curious but I couldn't tell you more than I like the theme from The Godfather .  I should know more I guess because it seems well known just not by me.  I don't own this book.  It belongs to the library.