The Amber Spyglass

SPOILERS:

I have mixed feelings about this book.  I'm still recommending it though because it is the final installment of the His Dark Materials trilogy.  There were good things about it.  I liked the subplot of Mary Malone, dust, and the mulefa.  I just didn't buy the romance between Will and Lyra.  They felt romantic feelings all of a sudden for each other in two pages.  Where did that come from? The series started out well.  The Golden Compass may have had an agenda too but at least there was enough action to overlook this.  The first book was just so imaginative and had ideas.  There was too much hate in this one. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray

This is Oscar Wilde's masterpiece.  This was also my third time reading it.  I always read something I didn't see before. It's the story of a handsome man who sells his soul to look forever young.  However, his life of sin is reflected on a painting that Dorian soon hides away in the attic.  Dorian's emotions range at the painting from indifference to horror to remorse (more like hypocrisy though).  Dorian's sins start with leading a girl to suicide to more serious ones like murder.  Dorian's friend Lord Henry has tons of quotes in the book.  (Most of them are women-hating.)   Dorian is poison leading most people who end up on his path to trouble.  I wish that Oscar Wilde wrote more novels for this is a witty but cautionary tale. 

A Clockwork Orange

I've been meaning to read a book by Anthony Burgess for some time.  He was one of the few who gave a good review to The Bell Jar at its time.  I read that he didn't like the movie of A Clockwork Orange because it glorified violence.  That made me interested as well. I'm not sure that I like this book.  Alex is very unlikable and especially are his acts. Nevertheless, it intrigued me.  It was very well written.  I already started on another Burgess novel The Wanting Seed,   The book can be frustrating to read since the author makes up some of the language.  Alex and his gang go out and commit acts of violence at night. He gets caught and has to serve time at an overcrowded prison. At the prison, there's an experimental treatment where the criminal becomes ill after watching acts of violence.  This, of course, changes Alex's lifestyle.  There's a controversial chapter that wasn't in the original American version where Alex basically grows up.  Few readers actually like this chapter.  The Kubrick movie didn't follow it.    

Station Eleven

I have to admit I read this book because of the Coronavirus.  My older sister was talking about how people were bringing up this book.  I told a friend of mine I was reading this and he said don't you want to escape right now? why are you reading it?  He proved a good point.  Still, I like it.  It's about a flu-like virus that brings about the end of the world.  But what I really liked was the story between the actor Arthur and all of the women that he loved and betrayed. The book goes between his death and then two decades later with Arthur as the main link to both plotlines.   I was interested in its depiction of tabloids and I also liked the character, Miranda.  Arthur isn't exactly a man to applaud for (he wants attention and he uses people) for but he's compelling nevertheless.  

Anna Karenina

When I was 13 the teacher said that we could only choose books from the school library to read.  I looked at all the books and it was a bad selection.  I purposely picked the hardest book to read which was Anna Karenina.  The teacher took me aside and said that I was special and didn't have to listen to that rule. :) Anyway I was talking to my brother in law and I told him that I thought it was just ok.  He said to me "You're just 13."  So I gave it another try now in my mid-30's.  Yeah, it's better than I remembered.  I still don't think it's the best book of all time.  What I really liked about it was the relationship between Kitty and Levin which is poorly represented in film.  I liked reading about their love.  I know Anna's the one with the tragic love and the bad reputation but still, I was involved with both love stories. 

The Turn of the Screw

Sparknotes had a new section of unreliable narrators and they mentioned The Turn of the Screw. I hadn't read it for years so I thought I'd give it another go.  We're dealing with Henry James, an author people either like or dislike.  I'm one of the few that like.  This is one of his better works.  It doesn't drag and gets to the point.  It's the story about a governess who thinks she's seeing ghosts of the children's past governess and others.  It's either that or she's losing it.  The boy Miles has been kicked out of school.  We don't find out why but she thinks he's an angel.  We aren't particularly sure if she's crazy or not.  Still, it's a fascinating story.  I need to watch The Innocents again, which was a movie version of this novella. 

The Sixth Heaven

This was ok.  I thought the book before it The Shrimp and the Anemone was better.  The characters were more interesting when they were children.  There's little plot in this.  In The Sixth Heaven Eustace tries to get a scholarship he worked for.  People don't think it's fair that he can get a scholarship and be in someone's inheritance.  Hilda works for a clinic for cripples.  I liked The Hireling and The Go-Between a lot.  I do recommend L.P. Hartley but it's probably going to take me a while before I read the third book of the Eustace and Hilda trilogy.