August Wrap-Up 2019

August was my weakest reading month ever! I was so busy and exhausted but you’re not here to read my excuses. I ended up reading three books that adds up to 1,346 pages.

Texas, post civil war America, Ruby is growing up in this frontier of a state. She has recently become a woman, she starts to make decisions of her own and one of those being applying to art school in Philadelphia. To her surprise, she actually gets in and gets to leave Texas, her family, and her love, Bismarck. Not only does Ruby learn about the arts at college but she learns about herself and the world that is changing right in front of her eyes.

The first thirty-five percent of this book dragged on and on, plot points were happening but I just felt very bored and found myself thinking of other things than the words in front of me. The romances in this book has no real foundation, but the characters, the way they interacted and spoke made it seem like they did. I feel like they from meeting and then straight to the bedroom. The main thing that made up for that was Suanne Schafer’s writing style, I am shocked that this was her debut novel, the writing was beautiful and very detailed! The other thing that I liked about A Different Kind Of Fire was Ruby’s character arc, I think character arcs are so important! This ended up being a 3.75/5 stars for me.

Jane Eyre starts her life by having both parents fall a sickness and later death, before her first memory. She sent away to live with the only family that she knows, the Reeds. Her uncle dies while she is young and as she grows older her aunt hates her alongside her cousin. Jane has never known love her family doesn’t love her who else is there to do so? She falls ill,one night she tells the doctor all of her struggles he suggest her going to any other family she has,all Janes knows is that they are poor. Then it is brought to her attention that she can receive an education.

Education is a way out for Jane. She learns languages, arts, and even friendship. Jane stays at the boarding school for eight years, never seeing the Reeds. Once it comes time for her to leave she goes to an estate she’s never been to, to become a governess to a young girl from France. At Thornfield hall, Jane discovers love and that life does have meaning after all.

Brontë’s writing style was truly beautiful, That is something that I love about classics, you can tell that the writer is really knew what they were doing and putting their heart into it instead of just trying to make a quick buck. The writing was very atmospheric and I could easily make out the scenes in my head, that is something that I’m always happy about. I did like the romance in Jane Eyre I think the pairing did love each other even through all the twist and turns throughout life. My two complaints are I didn’t really care for the plot and the writing was really dragged out this book could have been 300 pages shorter.

Jane Eyre Book Review

August TBR 2019

August Wrap-Up 2019

Jane Eyre Book Review

Jane Eyre starts her life by having both parents fall to sickness and later death before her first memory. She is sent away to live with the only family that she knows, the Reeds. Her uncle dies while she is young and as she grows older her aunt and cousin hate her. Jane has never known love, her family doesn’t love her, who else is there to do so? She falls ill one night, she tells the doctor all of her struggles. He suggests her going to any other family she has, all Jane knows is that they are poor. Then it is brought to her attention that she can receive an education.

Education is the way out for Jane. She learns languages, arts, and even friendship. Jane stays at her boarding school for eight years, never seeing the Reeds. Once it comes time for her to leave she goes to an estate she’s never been to, to become a governess to a young girl from France. At Thornfield Hall, Jane discovers love and that life does have meaning after all.

“I am not an angel, I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.”– Jane Eyre

For starters, I did the audiobook for Jane Eyre and then followed along in my physical copy of the book. This book took me twice the amount of days than I had originally hoped for. I don’t think the novel is something difficult to read but it was so long and dragged on and on. I also found bits and pieces unrealistic, I’m not going to say which ones as they are spoilers.

Brontë’s writing style was truly beautiful, that is something I love about classics, you can tell that the writers really knew what they were doing and putting their heart into it instead of just trying to make a quick buck. The writing was very atmospheric and I could easily make out the scenes in my head, that is something that I’m always happy about. I did like the romance in Jane Eyre, I think the pairing did love each other even through all the twists and turns throughout life.

Overall, I feel strange writing a review for a book that has been with us since the mid-1800s. I know people love this book but it just didn’t do it for me. If a book is hundreds of pages longer than it needs to be I find myself getting bored and not wanting to read. The plot didn’t really seem important to me, it wasn’t something extravagant that caught my eye. Yes, I did not expect some of the plot twists and those were fun but it just wasn’t my favorite book, or classic, for that matter, that I’ve read.

August TBR 2019

In August, I went back to randomly selecting my books from my TBR, to be read, jar. I chose one book that I want to read without going in the jar, I will continuing doing this every month. This month I plan on participating in the Disney-a-thon, I am on team simba!

I am starting out August with a classic, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. In high school, I did watch some of the movie in my English class but we did not read the Victorian set novel.

Jane Eyre was orphaned and sent to live with an aunt who had no love for her and found her difficult to handle. Jane didn’t want to live with the only family she had, getting an education was one way out of this. We follow Jane to her boarding school and then later in life when she falls in love.

Secret For A Nightingale was published in 1987, so it is no new release. It is actually a funny story how I cam across this book. I was looking through Etsy, not looking to purchase anything, and I saw this novel and another by the same author, the cover stood out to me. Little did I know I have some Tudor era books by the same author just under a different alias!

Susanna is a young girl growing up in British run India. She had a talent at being a nurse and helping heal those around her. Susanna gets swept off her feet and married. When returning to England, she settles down as a proper wife, forgetting about her own dreams. She uncovers that her husband isn’t exactly what she thought he was.

I’ve heard that Elin Hilderbrand is the summer author. This was the book that I chose on my own to read this month, I figured I needed a summery read to end out the season. As some of you probably know, I read The Girls by Emma Cline last month which is also set in the Summer of ‘69, I have been loving the sixties setting and want to discover more books set in that decade.

The Levin family spend their summers at their grandmother’s home in Nantucket, Massachusetts. The last summer of the decade is no different, except not all of the siblings will be able to make it. The eldest daughter is pregnant and stuck in Boston, the middle daughter is spending her summer like many Americans, protesting, and the one son of the family has been sent to fight in Vietnam. Jessie is left with her grandmother, who she isn’t close with for the summer.

It may come as a shock to some that I have not read the widely popular book, The Book Thief. It has been on my TBR forever, and I will finally be getting to it this month! Markus Zusak’s other work, A Bridge Of Clay, was my favorite book of 2018. I can’t wait to read Zusak’s more popular book.

Set in 1939 Germany, we are told the story of Liesel from death. Liesel is a girl who discovers one book and leads her down the rabbit hole for a love of reading. She begins to take books from anywhere she can, including Nazi book burnings. The war changes her life forever and opens and closes doors for her every where.

My Sunday read this month will be Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets. I am continuing my Harry Potter reread, I won’t be giving a summary since it is such a well known book.

August TBR

Disney-a-Thon