Wives and Daughters

I watched the BBC miniseries first and then I decided to read it.    It is unfinished since Gaskell died but the reader can pretty much figure out what happened afterward.  It is the story of Molly Gibson whose widowed father marries again.  Although she doesn’t get along with her stepmother that great Molly does get along with her stepsister Cynthia.  Cynthia manages to catch the fancy of the guy that Molly Gibson has a crush on Roger Hamley.   However, Cynthia has a past and it manages to come back and harm her.  I noticed that the stories behind the Hamley family weren’t as told about in the British miniseries.  It’s too bad about that.  I liked the novel overall.  This was my first Gaskell book.  I read The Bronte Myth earlier which criticized Gaskell for feminizing Charlotte Bronte.  I’m glad I took a chance on Gaskell anyway.  4/5

Pictures of Hollis Woods

Hollis’ foster mom Josie is experiencing Alzheimer’s so Hollis fearing she’ll be taken away runs away with her.  Hollis remembers when she lived with a loving family that worked except an accident scared her away.  Ultimately Josie needs care and everything in the book is resolved nicely.  Although this book was predictable, the characters seemed real and were likable.  You root for the main character.  This won the Newberry Honor.  

A Solitary Blue

This is the story of Jeff the guitar player in the Tillerman books.  His mother abandoned him when he was young.  She’s trying to get back in his life somewhat.  However, she’s cruel and manipulative.  He just wants to stay with his father, a professor.  Dicey from the previous Tillerman cycle book doesn’t come into the last third of the book.  It turns out that Dicey and Jeff have more in common than what was assumed in the previous books.  This was a good book although I have to admit I was hoping for the focus to be more on the Tillerman family.  

Expensive People

Joyce Carol Oates really knows how to start a novel.  She begins this book with the narrator saying that they are a child murderer meaning that they are a child who does murders.  This book shows the character as he goes to private school and his home life.  Joyce Carol Oates decides to include a short story in the middle of the book which I thought came across as a bit awkward and showed less focus on the novel itself.  The specific murder did come across as somewhat of a surprise for me although I should have seen it coming.  I’m more impressed by her short stories but I’m going to read more of her early novels.  

The Bronte Myth

This is not so much a biography but an examination of the myth that surrounds the Brontes.  It says that rather than focusing on the lives of these three women (Anne, Emily, and Charlotte) that people should focus on their literary efforts.   It tears apart Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography of Charlotte which domesticated her.  It contradicts itself when it says that Anne is ignored but doesn’t even contribute a chapter of her to the book.  Charlotte gets the majority of the book and Emily has a few chapters devoted to her.  I’ll just have to read a biography of Anne’s life myself.  I agree with the book that the movie Devotion from Hollywood in the 40’s wasn’t that good.  I never heard about the myth that Branwell, their drunken brother, wrote Wuthering Heights.  Daphne Du Maurier (Rebecca) even wrote a book about that so I’m planning to read it sometime. 3/5

The Love Object

I never heard of Edna O’Brien until goodreads came out with a list of the best short story collections ever.  A comment suggested that this should be put on the list.  I found it a rewarding collection and will read more of O’Brien.  Sister Imelda reminded me of Madchen in Uniform.  It’s a story about a student who has a crush on a nun.  The Connor Girls was probably my favorite story about a girl’s recollection of two strange sisters and their love lives.  The Doll was also interesting about a teacher stealing a doll away from one of her students.  

Eyes of the Killer Robot

This is like the billionth book I’ve read from Bellairs. He’s a fun writer. It’s about a robot that when you put eyes into it, it becomes evil.  The professor and Johnny Dixon’s original intent was to receive 10,000 from a baseball contest from this robot.  However, there’s more on their plate now with the inventor of the robot on their trail.  I’m really hoping that the upcoming The House with a clock in its walls movie is good.  If it is it could introduce John Bellairs to a generation of new readers.