A Classics Challenge – January: Charlotte Brontë

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This year I am taking part in a Classics Challenge hosted by Katherine of November’s Autumn. The goal is to read seven classics in 2012 and on the 4th day of every month, Katherine will be posting a prompt to help us discuss the book we are reading.

The first book I’ve chosen to read for the challenge is The Professor by Charlotte Brontë. I’m almost halfway through the book and have been enjoying it so far. I’ll be posting my thoughts about the book itself after I’ve finished reading it, but for this month’s prompt, Katherine is asking us to focus on the author – in this case, Charlotte Brontë.

There are three different levels of participation this month depending on how far into the book we are, and I feel I’ve read enough of The Professor to answer the questions for all three levels.

Level 1
Who is the author? What do they look like? When were they born? Where did they live? What does their handwriting look like? What are some of the other novels they’ve written? What is an interesting and random fact about their life?

Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte was born in Thornton, Yorkshire on April 21, 1816, the third of the six children of Reverend Patrick Brontë and his wife Maria Branwell Brontë.

The Brontë Parsonage Museum

The Brontë family lived at Haworth Parsonage, now the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Charlotte Brontë is the author of four novels: Jane Eyre, one of my favourite classics, Villette, which I read last year, The Professor, and Shirley. I am reading The Professor now and will hopefully have time for Shirley too before the end of the year.

Charlotte Brontë's signature

Here’s an interesting piece of trivia about Charlotte: A tiny manuscript of an unpublished Charlotte Brontë story was sold at auction in 2011 to a French museum. The story was written in 1830 when she was fourteen years old and each page measures only 1.4 x 2.4 inches.

Level 2
What do you think of their writing style? What do you like about it? or what would have made you more inclined to like it? Is there a particular quote that has stood out to you?

I find it hard to explain exactly what I like about Charlotte Brontë’s writing style, but I obviously like it enough to want to read all four of her books! I love the way she expresses the feelings and emotions of her characters; she chooses exactly the right words and phrases to convey their sadness, loneliness and suffering as well as their moments of happiness and love.

However, there are a few aspects of her writing that I don’t like so much. Two problems I’m having with The Professor are the overwhelming number of references to physiognomy (judging a person’s character from their appearance) and also a tendency to include a lot of French dialogue which is not translated, making it difficult for a non-French speaker to follow what’s being said. Overall, though, I do like the way she writes and am looking forward to reading the rest of this book.

Level 3
Why do you think they wrote this novel? How did their contemporaries view both the author and their novel?

The Professor was Charlotte Brontë’s first novel, although it remained unpublished until after her death. The main character, William Crimsworth, is a teacher at a school in Belgium. As Charlotte herself (like her sister Emily) had spent some time studying and teaching in Brussels, she was able to draw on her own experiences when writing this novel. It seems that The Professor wasn’t very highly regarded during Charlotte’s lifetime and she was unable to find a publisher for it, even after she began to have success with her other novels.

Have you read any of Charlotte Brontë’s novels? What do you think of her work?

Don’t forget to visit Katherine’s blog post where you can find links to other participants’ responses. We are all reading different books so a variety of different authors are being highlighted this month.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

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2011, among other things, was the year I discovered that I do actually like Agatha Christie, having read a few of her books in the past which I didn’t enjoy very much. I think I had obviously just been choosing the wrong books because I read five in 2011 and loved all but one of them (The Mystery of the Blue Train).

This one, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, is set in the fictional village of King’s Abbott, home to our narrator, Dr James Sheppard, and the retired detective Hercule Poirot. When Roger Ackroyd is found stabbed to death in his study, Poirot comes out of retirement to investigate the murder. The suspects include Ackroyd’s stepson, his secretary and butler, a big-game hunter and one of the parlourmaids. With Dr Sheppard’s assistance, Poirot begins to piece together the evidence to solve the mystery.

I loved this book and it might even have become my favourite Christie novel so far, if not for one little problem: I guessed the solution to the mystery very early in the story. Now, this is not something that usually happens – I’m normally completely mystified by Agatha Christie’s novels and don’t even bother trying to solve them. This is the first one I’ve ever figured out correctly, but it did mean that in some ways the book was spoiled for me. Not completely spoiled – it was still fun watching for more clues that would confirm whether I was right or not – but it would have been nice to have been surprised when the solution was finally revealed, as the author had intended.

As most Poirot novels are written either in the third person or narrated by Captain Hastings (who does not appear in this book) it took me a while to get used to the new narrator. It gave this book a slightly different feel to the other Poirots I’ve read. I also thought the characters had a bit more depth than usual and I loved the scenes with the doctor’s irritating gossip-loving sister, Caroline, who added some humour to the story. And even though the ending of the story didn’t have quite the impact for me that I would have liked it to have done, I could still appreciate how cleverly constructed the mystery was. There were plenty of suspects, all hiding secrets of their own, lots of red herrings and some plot twists. I’m looking forward to reading more Poirot throughout the year ahead!

Thomas Hardy by Jane Drake (Wessex Books)

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Wessex Books are a publishing house based in Wiltshire who specialise in books about the history, mysteries and legends of the Wessex region of South West England. I was unaware of Wessex Books until they contacted me before Christmas to offer me a review copy of one of their titles, Thomas Hardy by Jane Drake, and as Hardy is one of my favourite authors I was very happy to receive this beautiful 32 page guide to his life and work.

Thomas Hardy, as you probably know if you’ve read any of his books, set most of his work in a fictional Wessex and Jane Drake’s book begins with a useful fold-out map and a list of the place names found in his writing. The pages that follow give some basic biographical information about Hardy with a focus on how his life related to his work. There are also some beautiful illustrations and photographs (many of them in colour) showing some of the places that were important to Hardy, including his birthplace at Higher Bockhampton, near Dorchester. And interspersed throughout the books are some of Hardy’s poems: Tess’s Lament, The Ghost of the Past, After the Last Breath, and a few others.

With all the poems, extracts from his novels, quotations, photos and captions taking up so much space, there’s not a huge amount of original text to read in this book. It’s not a comprehensive biography and at only 32 pages it’s obviously not intended to be. However, the book is lovely to look at and I’m sure it would make a nice gift either for someone who is interested in Hardy’s work or who is planning a visit to that part of the country.

December Reading Summary and Plans for 2012

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I read eleven books in December and I’ve picked out my four favourites below. Some months I find it very difficult to choose, but this time it was easy.

1. Stone’s Fall by Iain Pears was surprisingly good considering how much I struggled with one of his other novels a few years ago. It was the only one of my December reads to appear on my Top Books of 2011 list.

2. I am Half-Sick of Shadows, the fourth book in Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce series, was the perfect book to read in the week before Christmas. I think it might even be my favourite Flavia book so far.

3. The Girl on the Cliff was the last book I finished before the end of the year and I haven’t had time to write about it yet. I really enjoyed it and now I want to read Lucinda Riley’s previous book, Hothouse Flower.

4. I still haven’t posted my thoughts on Corrag by Susan Fletcher either, but it was a beautifully written book with a unique narrative voice and one of my favourites of the month.

The other books I read in December were:

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart
The White Devil by Justin Evans
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak
Shakespeare’s Mistress by Karen Harper
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Plans for 2012

I’ve been reading other bloggers’ lists of goals for the year ahead and was thinking about writing my own, but really I just have one goal and it’s a very simple one: I only want to read books that I enjoy in 2012. And so, to achieve that goal I’m going to read books from my favourite genres, re-discover authors whose work I’ve enjoyed in the past, re-read more books than I have in recent years, and avoid the temptation to read books that don’t really appeal to me just because everyone else seems to be reading them or because I feel that I should. I also want to give myself permission to stop reading anything that I’m not enjoying, whether I’ve read twenty pages or two hundred!

So, my goals for this year are not very specific (apart from the few reading challenges I’ve signed up for) but will hopefully lead to an enjoyable year of reading in 2012!

Did you read any good books in December? Have you been making plans for 2012?

My Top Books of 2011

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After a lot of thought, here it is: a list of my favourite books read in 2011! I would have found it almost impossible to put them in order, so I’ve just listed them alphabetically. I should also point out that not all of them were published this year (in fact, most of them weren’t).

Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

(Read in January)

If I had to pick out just one book as my absolute favourite of the year, this would be it. Also published as Every Man Dies Alone, this is the story of two people living in Nazi Germany who launch a postcard campaign in protest against World War II. As well as being a very moving and thought-provoking story, it also has a thrilling plot and although it’s a cliche, I really couldn’t put this book down!

From my review: “I found the plot completely suspenseful, exciting and full of surprises…I would highly recommend it if you enjoy reading World War II fiction and would like to view things from a different perspective and also if you enjoy novels that are both gripping and heartbreaking.”

The American Boy by Andrew Taylor

(Read in September)

Although this book was published just a few years ago, it has all the elements of a Victorian sensation novel: murders, mistaken identities, family secrets, betrayal and revenge. The ‘American boy’ of the title is Edgar Allan Poe, though he doesn’t actually play a big part in the story. This was the second book I read by Andrew Taylor this year and I’m looking forward to reading more of his work in the future!

From my review: “A very dark and suspenseful mystery – a perfect book to curl up with and enjoy at this time of year.”

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

(Read in March)

2011 is the year I ‘rediscovered’ Agatha Christie. I’ve read five of her books this year and this one is my favourite. Ten people are invited to stay at a house on Soldier Island and one by one they begin to die. Which of the ten is the murderer? I found it impossible to figure out!

From my review: “I admit that solving whodunits is not one of my strong points, but I think most people would be baffled by this one! Christie expertly leads you to believe one thing, then a few pages later proves you wrong.”

The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt

(Read in October)

The Children’s Book is a long and complex novel which follows the lives of a group of children as they grow up amid the social changes of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. This seems to be the type of book people either love or hate. I’ll admit that it wasn’t an easy read, but I enjoyed almost every page and didn’t have a problem with the slow pace and detailed descriptions.

From my review: “I enjoyed it…but if you’re not interested in the historical and cultural events of the Victorian and Edwardian periods, if you don’t like reading fairy tales, if you prefer books with more action and less description, then this may not be the right book for you.”

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

(Read in January)

This is the story of Marion and Shiva, the twin sons of an Indian nun and a British surgeon, who grow up within the community of Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I loved this book because not only is it a great story spanning several decades and continents, I was also able to learn a lot about Ethiopia, a country I previously knew nothing about.

From my review: “Even though it’s still only January, I can’t imagine I’ll be reading a lot of books this year that are better than this one.”

Gillespie and I by Jane Harris

(Read in May)

I was very impressed by this book, my first by Jane Harris, and went on to read her previous novel, The Observations, which I also enjoyed, though not quite as much as this one. I loved the setting (Victorian Glasgow), I loved the voice of the narrator, Harriet Baxter, and I thought some of the plot twists were stunning! This is also one of the few books on my ‘top books of 2011’ list that was actually published in 2011!

From my review: “At times it even felt like a Victorian sensation novel to me, which probably explains why I enjoyed it so much! Gillespie and I has been one of my favourite reads so far this year.”

The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier

(Read in January)

Narrated by Dick Young, who agrees to experiment with a new drug that transports the user into the 14th century, The House on the Strand has turned out to be one of my favourite Daphne du Maurier novels so far. This was actually the very first book I finished in 2011 and I knew almost as soon as I started reading it that it would be one of my books of the year.

From my review: “Choosing to begin 2011 with a book by one of my favourite authors was the right decision. The House on the Strand is a strange and unusual book which blends historical fiction, science fiction, time travel and psychology. I loved it!”

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

(Read in July)

Thomas Hardy is one of my favourite authors and I had been looking forward to reading Jude the Obscure. It definitely lived up to my expectations. I can understand why it wouldn’t appeal to everyone – it really is a tragic, heartbreaking story and contains what must surely be one of the most shocking scenes in literature – but I loved it.

From my review: “Although this one didn’t have quite the same emotional impact on me that Tess did, I was still moved to tears in places. I can’t recommend Jude the Obscure highly enough, unless you really just don’t like this type of book.”

Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski

(Read in February)

I chose to read Little Boy Lost for the Persephone Reading Weekend in February. This story of a man searching for his missing son is one of the most emotional books I’ve read for a long time and definitely my favourite of all the Persephone books I’ve read so far.

From my review: “Nicholas Lezard of The Guardian, who is quoted on the back cover, says it best: ‘If you like a novel that expertly puts you through the wringer, this is the one.'”

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

(Read in May)

The Master and Margarita is one of the most bizarre and original books I’ve ever read. I won’t even attempt to describe the plot here, but I can tell you that you’ll meet the Devil, a talking black cat, Pontius Pilate, and a beautiful witch! I’m so glad I decided to stop feeling intimidated by this book and finally just picked it up and started reading.

From my review: “This was a fantastic book – it was breathtakingly different and original, with so many different layers to it…the engaging writing, weird and wonderful characters and the dark humour all helped to keep me interested.”

Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart

(Read in November)

This was my first experience of Mary Stewart’s work. I’ve now read three of her books and she’s already becoming a favourite author! Nine Coaches Waiting is the story of Linda Martin, who arrives in France to start her new job as governess to a nine-year-old orphan, Philippe de Valmy, and finds that both she and the child are in serious danger. This is a wonderful, suspenseful novel with a thrilling plot and a haunting atmosphere.

From my review: “Nine Coaches Waiting is one of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s maybe not the most life-changing or the most original, but certainly one of the most enjoyable and exciting.”

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

(Read in January)

I read two Dickens books this year, and while I did enjoy The Mystery of Edwin Drood (despite it being unfinished), Our Mutual Friend is the one that has made it onto my list of top books of the year. With its length and complex plot, this was a challenging book but a satisfying one, and with some very memorable characters (who could forget poor Jenny Wren?).

From my review: “It does require the reader to invest a lot of time and effort in it, but it was definitely worth it for me!”

Persuasion by Jane Austen

(Read in April)

I’ve now read all of Jane Austen’s novels and this one is my favourite, even ahead of Pride and Prejudice which I also enjoyed. I loved Anne Elliot and loved the story of her romance with Captain Wentworth. Compared to Austen’s other novels this one has a more serious, mature tone and that appealed to me too.

From my review: “A moving story of mistakes, misunderstandings and second chances…I loved this book.”

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

(Read in November)

I would never have expected a western to be one of my favourite books of the year! I’m so glad I decided to take a risk and try something completely different.

From my review: “I loved this book, which I think proves that it doesn’t matter if something is described as a ‘western’, a ‘romance’, a ‘mystery’ or anything else: a good story is a good story and The Sisters Brothers was one of the best I’ve read this year.”

South Riding by Winifred Holtby

(Read in February)

South Riding is a wonderful novel about life in a small Yorkshire community in the 1930s. When I first started reading I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy it, particularly when I saw the length of the character list at the front of the book, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The characters all had so much depth it wasn’t hard to keep track of them all and I soon found myself completely absorbed in reading about their lives. I loved this one.

From my review: “I hadn’t expected to love it as much as I did. It was a book I looked forward to returning to every day and I was sorry when I reached the final page.”

Stone’s Fall by Iain Pears

(Read in December)

I finished this one just in time for it to make it onto this list. Moving backwards in time from London in 1909 to Paris in 1890 and then Venice in 1867, Stone’s Fall is a long and complex novel about the mystery surrounding a man’s death. I loved this book and was pleased I hadn’t allowed a previous negative experience of Iain Pears’ work to put me off reading this one!

From my review: “I found the plot completely gripping and was never bored – it was all so wonderfully intricate and clever.”

Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome

(Read in March)

This is the hilarious story of three men (and a dog) who go on a boat trip along the River Thames. Despite the fact that it was published more than 100 years ago, most of the humour is still relevant today. I must find time to read the sequel, Three Men on the Bummel!

From my review: “I can’t remember the last time I read such a funny book and I would recommend it to anyone who feels daunted by the thought of reading a Victorian classic.”

Have you read any of these books? If not, I hope I’ve convinced you to read some of them in 2012!

Stone’s Fall by Iain Pears

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With 2011 coming to an end, like a lot of bloggers I’ve been putting together a list of my favourite books read this year. One of the books on my list is Stone’s Fall by Iain Pears, which I finished a couple of weeks ago but haven’t had a chance to post about yet, so I thought it would make sense to tell you about the book today before posting my Top Books of 2011 later in the week.

I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy Stone’s Fall so much because a few years ago, I started to read Iain Pears’ An Instance of the Fingerpost and despite it sounding like exactly the type of book I would usually love, I couldn’t get into it at all and abandoned it a few pages into the second of the book’s four parts. With this book, though, I’ve had a completely different experience and I’ve never been so glad that I decided to give an author a second chance!

Stone’s Fall is a very complex and cleverly constructed novel. At the beginning of the story we are told that a man is dead but before we can understand the circumstances surrounding his death it’s necessary to go back in time and learn as much as we can about his life. And so the book is divided into three sections, each narrated by a different character, and moving backwards from London in 1909 to Paris in 1890 and finally Venice in 1867. The link between all three stories is the mysterious Elizabeth, Lady Ravenscliff, who plays an important part in the life of each narrator and is perceived in a different way by each of them.

The first narrator we meet, in 1909, is Matthew Braddock, a journalist working for a London newspaper. When John Stone, one of the richest and most powerful men in the world, meets his death after falling from an open window, he leaves behind a will containing an unusual bequest. Stone’s widow, Lady Ravenscliff, asks Braddock to investigate but as he begins to dig into the secrets of Stone’s business empire he makes some surprising discoveries.

At the end of the first part I was sorry to have to say goodbye to Braddock and move back in time and on to another narrator. However, it only took me a few pages to get back into the flow of the story – the second narrator is fascinating and I enjoyed the second section even more than the first! And in the third and final part of the book, we switch narrator yet again, with this section of the book being equally compelling.

Many of the characters are unlikeable or flawed in some way, but I found all of them interesting to read about. The way I thought about each character changed as I was given more information to piece together and I was constantly forced to re-interpret what I had just read.

Stone’s Fall is a long book (over 600 pages) and very detailed and the author takes his time in introducing us to each character and building up a full picture of John Stone’s world. However, despite the pace being slow at times I found the plot completely gripping and was never bored – it was all so wonderfully intricate and clever. The balance between the melodramatic plot twists and the more technical details of banking, politics and espionage was exactly right, so that the story was both entertaining and informative.

“Love, Murder, Espionage.” Those are the words on the front cover, but although all three can be found within this book, it also contains so many other themes and ideas that to mention everything would require a post twice as long as this one! And so I’ll finish by simply saying that I loved this book – which I hadn’t expected to, considering the problems I had with An Instance of the Fingerpost. This is a book I’d definitely like to re-read one day because I’m sure my knowledge of some of the later revelations would bring new meaning to the earlier parts of the book. I might even decide to try Fingerpost again too!

More challenges for 2012

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Despite saying that I wasn’t going to sign up for any more reading challenges, here are three that I couldn’t resist.

The first is the Historical Fiction Challenge hosted by the team at Historical Tapestry. The rules are as follows:

* everyone can participate, even those who don’t have a blog.

* any kind of historical fiction is accepted (HF fantasy, HF young adult,…)

* During these following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:

1. Severe Bookaholism: 20 books
2. Undoubtedly Obsessed: 15 books
3. Struggling the Addiction: 10 books
4. Daring & Curious: 5 books
5. Out of My Comfort Zone: 2 books

The challenge will run from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2012.

I haven’t made a list of books, but I’m signing up for the Severe Bookaholism level. Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres and I don’t expect to have any problems completing this challenge!

The Classics Challenge is hosted by Katherine at November’s Autumn and the goal is to read seven classics in 2012. Here is what Katherine says about the challenge:

Instead of writing a review as you finish each book (of course, you can do that too), visit November’s Autumn on the 4th of each month from January 2012 – December 2012.

You will find a prompt, it will be general enough that no matter which Classic you’re reading or how far into it, you will be able to answer. There will be a form for everyone to link to their post. I encourage everyone to read what other participants have posted.

This challenge was announced a while ago but I didn’t sign up immediately because I wasn’t sure which classics I would want to read in 2012. Now that I’ve had time to think about it I’ve listed the following seven books which overlap with some of the Victorian reading I’m planning to do next year.

1. The Professor by Charlotte Brontë
2. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
3. The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope
4. Aurora Floyd by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
5. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
6. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
7. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

I might read these in a different order, and I’m sure I’ll be reading other classics too, but all seven of these books are definitely on my list for 2012.

Finally, Risa of Breadcrumb Reads is hosting a read-along of twelve of Shakespeare’s plays throughout 2012. For every play there will be discussion posts for each Act. You can find out more and sign up at the Reading Shakespeare blog.

This is another one I’ve been thinking about for a few weeks. I do have a copy of Shakespeare’s Complete Works, most of which I still haven’t read. At the start of 2010 I had set myself a personal challenge to read some of his plays throughout the year, but I only actually managed to read one. I’m hoping that signing up for Risa’s challenge will be the motivation I need.

The schedule is as follows. I’m not sure I’ll have time for all of these, but would like to join in with at least some of them.

* January — A Midsummer Night’s Dream
* February — Macbeth
* March — Henry V
* April — Much Ado About Nothing
* May — Antony and Cleopatra
* June — Richard III
* July — As You Like It
* August — King Lear
* September — Cymbeline
* October — Twelfth Night
* November — Othello
* December — Pericles

I’m not planning to sign up for any other challenges, as in addition to these three I’ve already signed up for The Victorian Challenge and War Through the Generations. I’m looking forward to January so I can get started with all of these!