Reflections of July

I reviewed ten books in July.

Letters from a Father to his Daughter by Jawaharlal Nehru (Rating: 5 out of 5) 

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (Rating: 4 out of 5)

The Sky is Falling by Sidney Sheldon (Rating: 3 out of 5)

Good Idea, Amelia Jane! by Enid Blyton (Rating: 4 out of 5) 

Heidi by Johanna Spyri (Rating: 5 out of 5)

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks (Rating: 4 out of 5)

Nothing Lasts Forever by Sidney Sheldon (Rating: 4 out of 5)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Rating: 5 out of 5)

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (Rating: 5 out of 5)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (Rating: 4 out of 5)

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Beginnings/ Endings of books

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Some books have an excellent ending but sadly not-so-excellent beginning. Again some books have an excellent beginning but a rather disappointing ending. And again, some books have excellent ending AND excellent beginning. I'm listing ten of my favorite beginnings/endings.

                                  Beginnings

 1. Emma by Jane Austen: The book starts with the reader being introduced to Emma Woodhouse, ''handsome, clever, and rich''. The writing style, humor, and lightness immediately made me VERY engrossed to the book. And now it's one of my favorite books!

2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: The first few pages of the book introduce us to the protagonist, Jane, the orphan who is mistreated by her aunt and cousins. Charlotte Bronte's vivid and engrossing portrayal of the young Jane, is amazing. The whole book is excellent, suspenseful, and sweet.

3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl: Roald Dahl introduces us to Charlie, his family members, and the poverty they live in. I love this book. Both the beginning and the ending, are excellent.

4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling: I love the whole Harry Potter series. And the beginning of the series was perfect. More, much more than perfect, actually.

5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: In the first couple of chapters, Mr Lockwood, one of the narrators of this novel, introduce us to the mysterious Heathcliff and his mysterious household. Mr Lockwood becomes curious about the identity and history of Heathcliff's family members, the identity of Catherine (whose diary Mr Lockwood happens to read while he spends the night at Wuthering Heights), and very soon Nelly Dean, the housekeeper at Thrushcross Grange, tells Lockwood about the sad and haunting history behind all these.

                                                            Endings

 6. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: The middle part of Suzanne Collins's ''Mockingjay'' was filled with lengthy war descriptions, which were not that much attractive to me. However, the ending... oh, the ending, it was so excellent!!! It has become one of my favorite endings! It was so wonderful, so touching, so powerful.

7. The Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie: Amazing solution to the mystery! :)

8. The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit

9. Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley: Amazing, amazing, amazing, the whole book was! The ending was no exception!

10. Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. The wonderful twist near the end was, umm, wonderful. :P The entire book was amazing. Touching and thought provoking.






 

''The Murder of Roger Ackroyd''- Book Review

Author: Agatha Christie
Published: 1926

Genres: Novel, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Rating: 4 out of 5

Review

The narrator in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is Doctor Sheppard. One evening he is invited to dinner to Fernley Park, the residence of Roger Ackroyd. Ackroyd reveals to Sheppard a hidden fact, centering the late Mrs Ferrars and her late husband. Doctor Sheppard leaves the house after conversing for some time with Ackroyd.

At his house, Doctor Sheppard gets a phone call. It is from Parker, the butler at Fernley Park. Parker informs him that Ackroyd is dead! Sheppard runs to Fernley, but Parker denies having made any such phone call. They break into Ackroyd's study, and discover that Roger Ackroyd is... dead.

The magnificent Hercule Poirot steps into the case, and taking Doctor Sheppard as an assistant, he starts investigating.

Who can have murdered Roger Ackroyd? In this case there are so many suspects. A stepson who has been missing since the death of Ackroyd. A butler with mysterious behavior. A maidservant. The housekeeper. Ackroyd's sister-in-law and niece, with whom he was never generous with money. 

I was amazed with the twisted ending. Just AMAZED. I could have never even guessed it! It was so unpredictable. So unexpected. So amazing. Great twist, great ending!!!

I enjoyed reading the book. Well, Agatha Christie is always amazing. And so is Hercule Poirot. I guessed now and then throughout the book, but none of my guesses actually matched. Just as I was so amazed and delighted with the ending, it also took me some time to accept the twist. But however, the whole novel is excellent, and it brings me again and again into commenting about the ending, which was just unpredictable and excellent.

4 out of 5

''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe''- Book Review

Author: C. S. Lewis
Published: 1950

Genres: Novel, Adventure, Fantasy

Rating: 4 out of 5

Review

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was really a magical read for me. Absolutely magical. It was a quick read, but it was indeed a wonderful reading experience.

Siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are sent, during the World War II, to live with an elderly professor, to a huge and mysterious house. The professor himself has suspicions that this house is filled with odd and fantastical things.

One day, in a spare room, Lucy finds a wardrobe, and entering it, she finds herself in a separate world! A world with magical creatures: fauns, giants, centaurs, and many, many other magical creatures. She meets a faun, who tells her that the name of this world is Narnia. He also tells her that the world is being ruled by an evil witch, who claims herself as the Queen. It is because of the witch's magic that it is always winter in Narnia; summer and spring never arrive.

None of Lucy's siblings believe about her discovery of a world at the other side of the wardrobe, but eventually, circumstances make ALL FOUR OF THEM to get into Narnia. There they come across the fact that it had been predicted long ago that four humans will one day come to Narnia, and they will become the Kings and Queens of this world. And the witch is after them to kill them, so that they can't seize the power from, her. Moreover, Edmund gets on the witch's side because of his greed for the delicious food that the witch had given him. Will Peter, Susan and Lucy be able to save Narnia from the cruel hands of the evil witch? Will Edmund understand his mistake? Will the the witch be ever defeated?

This was a quick read and was really fascinating. Narnia's description is so wonderfully given. (The change from winter to summer as the Witch's magic was weakening- was really fascinating). The characters are so interesting. My favorite characters were Lucy and Aslan. The evil witch is well portrayed, and readers grow to hate her. I loved the overall story. It was magical and suspenseful. I loved the ending. And I eagerly look forward to read the sequels soon!

4 out of 5!

''Pride and Prejudice''- Book Review

Author: Jane Austen
Published: 1813

Genres: Novel, Romance

Rating: 5 out of 5

Review

I first read this novel a couple of years ago. To tell the truth, that time I didn't really appreciate this novel that much. Perhaps I was too young at that time to appreciate the beauty of this novel, this beautiful love story. This time I read it. And I loved it. I really, really, really loved it. Not as much as Austen's Emma though. Emma is my favorite Austen novel, and Pride and Prejudice has, undoubtedly, become my second favorite Austen novel.

Mr and Mrs Bennet have five daughters: the mild, gentle Jane, who is so timid that she cannot find fault in anyone; the beautiful but headstrong Elizabeth; the intellectual Mary; and silly and insensible Catherine (Kitty) and Lydia. Jane and Elizabeth are the only members of the family having the values to mix with the upper class, elegant society. Mrs Bennet is silly, and Mr Bennet, though sensible, is unsocial. All the family estate and wealth are to be passed to a distant male cousin after Mr Bennet's death, and Mrs Bennet is eager to get all her five daughters married to wealthy men.

Mrs Bennet gets a wonderful scope for her goal when the rich Mr Bingley comes to live in the Netherfield Hall.  Mrs Bennet is eager to get Jane married to Mr Bingley. Mr Bingley arrives, and brings with him Mr Darcy, a close friend. Mr Darcy seems to be overly arrogant and haughty, and everybody takes a dislike in him. Both Elizabeth and Mr Darcy take a dislike on each other. On the other hand, Jane and Mr Bingley become close and it is evident that they are in love.

Elizabeth's dislike for Mr Darcy becomes stronger when Mr Wickham, a man belonging to the regiment that has come to the area, tells her how Mr Darcy had deceived him. Mr Bingley leaves Netherfield, and Elizabeth becomes suspicious that Mr Bingley's sisters and Mr Darcy was persuading him to break his relation with Jane, because of the low connections of the family. But the mutual dislike, between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, must turn into love, because of the incidences, misunderstandings, and revelations that follow. Impressions will change, love will be gained, trust would be lost and gained. Impressions, this word is an important theme in this novel.

The change of impressions, and the reasons for this change, are so intensely explored in this novel. The change of Elizabeth's feeling for Darcy, from resentment to gratitude to love, is so well developed, so well described, so well explored. The progress of love is so steadily described, that it made me really care for the characters, their feelings for each other. Jane Austen was really a genius author who knew how to create so deep, so lively characters.

The two protagonists, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, are both flawed characters. The pride and prejudice have great influences in them- influence that they will regret in future. However, the incidences that character come across in course of the novel will make them realize their mistakes,  that will slowly develop the love, the romance. While Darcy and Elizabeth share pride, prejudice and headstrong character,  the other pair of lovers, Jane and Bingley, also share the qualities of gentleness, calmness, timidity, and the quality of easily becoming influenced by somebody. I also admired the supporting characters. Mrs Bennet was funny. Lydia and Lady Catherine were irritating. Mr Collins was both funny and irritating. I also liked Mr and Mrs Gardner.

It is not that Mrs Bennet's intentions can always be blamed. Yes, she is irritating. But she only wants her daughters to be settled, because of their such small inheritance. If we think from this point, then it can be a little bit easier to appreciate the character. I didn't take her as an irritating character. Rather, I thought the character was humorous, I thought the character was really very funny.

Like other Austen novels, wealth and social status play an important role in this novel. The book is set in an era where social status were important for every single marriage to take place. And it affected and influenced so many loves, so many marriages. Likewise, this theme plays an important role in this book as well. I won't go into detail about how it played the role because that would be giving away too much.

There is a lot of humor. A great deal of humor. The response of Mr Bennet after Mr Collins proposes to Elizabeth. Mrs Bennet is herself so very funny. Kitty and Lydia's actions were another source of humor.

 In short, I really loved this novel. Really. I loved the development of feelings, I loved the excellently-developed characters, I loved the humor, and on the whole, I loved this beautiful and touching love story.

5 out of 5!

Feature and Follow Friday

Every week, Feature & Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. It is a way to gain new followers and to make new friends. 

Q: What do you do with your books after you are done reading them?

I put them back to my shelves! I may sometimes reread some of the books that I absolutely loved! My shelves are overflowed, so I have to keep them someplace else until I find some more space! 

 

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