Boop's Bookshelf: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie checks off 'A book set in high school' in my 2015 reading challenge

The Author

Muriel Spark was a award winning Scottish novelist. She wrote several short stories, plays, poems, novels and biographies. She had several titles and honors awarded to her through her lifetime. She has written pieces for the BBC, and lived in several countries through her life. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is the best known of Spark's works.

Synopsis

This short story centers around a Miss Jean Brodie and her exclusively selected group of students at the school she teaches at. The relationship between her and her students is a special one - though that may not be a good thing. Miss Brodie is in the prime of her life and she shares her experiences with her students, while subtly shaping them into miniature versions of herself. Brodie's teaching methods are looked down on by the school's headmistress, who invariably tries to intervene with Brodies' 'set' and gain a reason to dismiss Miss Brodie. Through a love triangle and increasingly manipulative behaviour, one of the girls eventually betrays Brodie to the headmistress, handing her the tools to bring her down. However, Miss Brodie never finds out who that was.

My Thoughts

While reading this, it was difficult to keep track of which girl was which. This was exacerbated by the chapters jumping around in time through the time that the girls knew Miss Brodie. At the beginning I felt that Miss Brodie was a forward-thinking, liberal teacher who is being stifled by the traditionalist headmistress. However, as the story progressed and the power Brodie holds over the girls is abused, I felt that she was much more ominous and her views more dangerous. I mean...I hate to lay down a spoiler, but at one point she says that she was in Germany and she thinks Hitler's regime is a good thing...

She was more than a little obsessed with fascism and she pushed that onto her 'set'. She more or less turns these girls into her very own fascist group, and they hung from her every word. She specifically chose the girls in her set because their parents were disinterested or too naive to intervene in her relationship with them. All a bit ominous and it made me feel a little uncomfortable.

On the positive side of that, my reaction to the manipulative Miss Brodie is the result of good writing. I felt genuine emotion towards Miss Brodie, even if the feelings weren't all positive. It is a well written novel, however I didn't particularly enjoy the story. Then again that could just be because there was a lot about fascism that I didn't understand...

My Rating:

3 stars

Good writing, didn't like the story quite so much...

Boop's Bookshelf: The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Angel's Game checks off 'A book that was originally written in a different language' in my 2015 reading challenge

The Author

Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a Spanish novelist. He has written both young adult and adult novels, most notably the 4 book series nicknamed The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. This is the series containing Shadow of the Wind, The Angel's Game and The Prisoner of Heaven thus far. This series was translated to English by Lucia Graves, who is both a writer and a translator. She is the daughter of poet Robert Graves. 

Synopsis

The Angels Game is the second book in the series - however it's a prequel to Shadow of the Wind, so I didn't feel too bad suggesting it for my book club!! The story is set in Barcelona, Spain. The story follows the life of David Martin - a writer at a newspaper, with a tragic back story and a talent for writing that needs to be explored. It is a dark tale following David's descent into writing and pouring his soul into his work. He also uncovers a mystery that parallels his own life, which he feels he needs to uncover the answers to. We as the reader, follow him in uncovering the mystery.

My Thoughts

I enjoyed reading this novel. I was pulled into the story from the start, and I wanted to know what was happening, and why the mystery resembled David Martin so much. I am not sure how much I actually liked the main character. I felt like I was on his side, but then there were situations or moments when I didn't like him. The story was all from his point of view, which towards the end made me suspect there was some tunnel vision going on.I found one of the secondary characters really interesting - Isabella - and wished there was more of her thoughts and opinions incorporated into the story line. I would have been interested to see David Martin and some of the various situations in the book through other perspectives. I liked the parallels within the story to that of other stories where a character has effectively sold their soul to the devil. The Angel pin that Corelli always wears made me think of heaven and hell, temptations and succumbing to it.

Bookclub Notes

At our discussion, one person in bookclub mentioned a review he had seen that suggested you read it thinking that the main character has schizophrenia. When I thought back through the book and the events that occurred - including the nickname Martin earned from Isabella 'Jekyll and Hyde' - it does explain some events and how some things happen in the story telling. Very intriguing - I'm glads this was mentioned because it opened my mind to a whole new side of the story!

Overall it is an involved and unusual story, and I really enjoyed reading it. However, there are a lot of points that either don't make sense, or are left wide open to interpretation - which I do find a bit frustrating. I really want to re-read Shadow of the Wind, and the newest installment - The Prisoner of Heaven. SO many books to read! 

My rating:

4 stars

I found it very difficult to rate this one - I was torn between 4 and 4.5 stars! I enjoyed reading The Angel's Game, however the unanswered questions I have are just that little bit too niggly to ignore...

Boop's Bookshelf: The Heart Specialist by Claire Holden Rothman

The Heart Specialist checks off the 'A book a friend recommended' category in my 2015 reading challenge

The Author
Claire Holden Rothman is a Canadian Author, who writes novels, short stories and also works as a translator. The Heart Specialist was her first full novel, published in 2009. Her other works include: Salad Days (short stories, 1990); Black Tulips (short stories, 1999); My October (novel, 2014).

Synopsis

The book follows the life of one main character - Agnes White - from when she is a young girl through to being a fully grown adult about to turn 50. The book is set through the turn of the 20th century in Quebec, Canada. Agnes' early years are full of struggle to become a doctor, contesting society's accepted norms as she goes. Along the way she learns much about the human heart biologically, but she knows very little of the hearts desires while it is still live and pumping. This is a book about one woman's unorthodox journey into womanhood, fighting societies perceptions of 'proper' womanly pursuits before, during, and after the Great War.

My Thoughts
I had no idea what to expect from this book. It starts out with Agnes as a young girl exploring natural science and collecting and examining her own specimens from the woods around her home. It took me a little longer than usual to get into this book, I was also reading one or two other books at the same time, so I had long breaks in reading this so at first I wasn't very involved with the story. That very quickly changed as Agnes got older over the next couple of chapters, and I could empathise more with her when she reached my age.

I liked the jumps between age in the chapters, it kept my interest by cutting out all of the inconsequential in between years. In contrast, the moments from Agnes' life that are described become more important and pivotal to her personal history, and to the history of womens educational rights.

I really enjoyed reading this novel and the more I read it, the more pulled into the story I was. The misunderstandings between some of the characters were both frustrating and amusing. I didn't like the way the main focus of Agnes' life turned out to be a complete dud. *Spoiler alert* - The whole time she is looking for her father, and when she finally finds him there's no recognition or acknowledgment from him. Highly disappointing really...then again maybe I only feel that way because it was written to make me feel that way. To feel the same as Agnes does about it.

My Rating:

4 Stars

An enjoyable read, with interesting themes and subjects. The story pulled me in and kept my interest.

2015 Reading Challenge

You heard it here first, folks. I'm attempting to complete Popsugar's 2015 reading challenge. 

I started this in January, however I haven't posted about it! Big oops. Well, to be fair I have been busy with setting up a bookclub at work...Yay me! My first book club!!!

I'm currently three books in, and I'll be posting about them at some point - I can't promise when that will be however...

The work book club are also following this challenge, we split the categories that don't require a personal book choice up between us, and came back with our selections for those categories - they are all listed below so have a look! This way we are all reading things that we may not have thought of or read before. We have some really interesting suggestions so far, I'll list a few for you!

A book with more than 500 pages: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

A book with nonhuman characters: Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton

A book with a colour in the title: Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

A book more than 100 years old: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

A book that was originally written in a different language: The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

And many, many more! I'm really looking forward to reading all of these great books, and all of the ones that I am choosing for myself!

 

Winter Bucket List Recap

The end is nigh...

Winter is coming to a close, and with it I have run out of time to complete my winter bucket list! 

Therefore, it's time for a recap!

1: Try a recipe from my Clean Eating Recipe book!

I did not complete this, at all!

 

2: Run the whole of a 5k (no walking breaks)

Nooope. Didn't happen

3: Post 3 book reviews (1 a month seems achievable!)

Man, I have not done much on this list at all...

4: Plan a trip

YES. I did do this! (1 out of 4 so far...) I have planned my Scotland trip, and Ireland trip. Both are booked! 

5: Lose weight over Christmas and New Years

I maintained my weight over Christmas and new years...nope doesn't count.

6: Have enough saved up to move out

I moved out, so I think this is a tick.

7: Clear out/tidy up the pile of stuff in my room

Yes - I did this when I moved out

8: Dye my hair one last time before the end of December (NYR to come involving this...)

Yes I did this - and I have stuck to my New Years Resolution of not dying my hair ever since...I am beginning to show some roots now

9: Fit back into some of my old clothes

No, did not complete

10: Do something awesome for my birthday

My actual birthday was very low-key, but I did do a couple of things - one of which was going to see Wicked which was pretty awesome, so that is a yes.

Final verdict: 5/10 completed!

All in all, not too bad. I would have liked to done the book reviews and recipe but there we go...there's always spring! 

Update...

It has been a busy few weeks. I feel like since we moved, I haven't really had the chance to stop and chill out. Not that I have found the time now, I was feeling guilty for neglecting my blog again so I'm cramming in some time to post. Since my last post, I had a birthday, anniversary, Valentine's day, saw a musical, travelled home a couple of times and had A's mum, aunt and uncle over for a week while they cleared out the house.

My birthday and anniversary are on the same day, shortly followed by valentines day. (Lucky me, I get spoiled!) I didn't do very much for my birthday until the weekends following, but I got some lovely gifts and cards on the day, as well as cake!

Andrews mum, aunt and uncle came down on my birthday, and we suddenly had a very full house. While they were there clearing out the house, we tried to keep out of their way.

The weekend following my birthday (while A's family were still at the house), we met my bff and her partner halfway between where we live, and where they live and went for lunch. This turned into going back to theirs and staying the night, which was fun. On the Sunday we went for a long walk with her greyhounds, had lunch, then Andrew and I said our goodbyes and headed to the cinema. 1 film later it was time to drive the 2 hours home.

I had my first work bookclub on Tuesday evening, which if the empty bottles of wine have any say was a successful evening. Yay me - it was kind of my idea so I was pleased it went well!

Andrews family stayed until Wednesday. While it was nice to have them over, it was also nice to have some time to ourselves again.

Friday I was at a German beer evening with work, many a stein was drunk (I had 2, so actually not that many).

The weekend came around, and we were busy saturday morning with the charity that had come to pick up a load of stuff. Saturday evening we went to see Wicked - and had use of the VIP lounge. Thank you Andrew! The show was amazing. Despite knowing the big thing that happens before the interval, it still gave me goosebumps!

Sunday we went on a long walk through awful mud - I slipped over in it - then visited Andrews family before having dinner and watching a film with mine. Back late again on Sunday evening.

That has been my life - around working - up until now! Hope you have had a good couple of weeks...I plan to be posting more regularly so I should be popping up again this week!

Happy Tuesday...

23 Things About Moving Out

Andrew and I moved out on the 31st January, it's been 10 days and things are going well. Sooo with me being me, I made a list of things I've learnt so far about about moving out...

Also, I may be jumping on the blog list bandwagon a little bit. Oops.

Here we go...

1. Moving out is exciting.
2. You realise how much stuff you actually own.
3. Packing is hard work.
4. It makes you think about all the clothes you never wear.
5. You start to think about how you're going to survive after moving away from where you have lived all your life. 
6. Seriously. So. Much. Stuff.
7. Where do boxes even come from? And why are they so expensive??
8. Moving in is messy.
9. It takes forever to unpack.
10. It's awesome to finally move out with your long term partner
11. Living with one other person, who works odd shifts means you are in the house all alone sometimes...which isn't always that fun.
12. Housework is harder than it looks
13. It takes a long time to heat up a house
14. ALL the stuff.
15. Unpacking takes forever. I haven't even moved all of my stuff here yet and I have still been unable to unpack a small portion of my things.
16. Moving out is expensive.
17. There are always a million things to do around the house, and millions of lists to go with them
18. Living with people at uni is not like living with your boyfriend full time.
19. It's really nice to come home to your boyfriend and spend some time hanging out.
20. Finding homes for all your things is both laborious and a little bit fun.
21. Moving a sofa through a small door, and around into another small door is quite difficult.
22. Compromise. Get used to doing it fast.
23. Running a household is a very 'adult' thing, but when it comes down to it, you still feel like a kid playing house from time to time.

Voila, a list for you to feast your eyes upon!