Far From the Madding Crowd”

Talia writes:
A lot has happened in my book “Far From the Madding Crowd” since my last blog entry. He was recently trying to win over Bathsheba’s heart, but she wouldn’t have him. Now he learns that she has left the area and gone to a place called Weatherbury; without even telling him. He misses her and fells like he is more in love with her now that she has left. I can already tell that this part in the story is foreshadowing that Gabriel will meet Bathsheba again soon.
On Gabriel’s farm, he has two sheepdogs that are still learning how to herd and aren’t making work much easier on the farm for Gabriel. During one night, Gabriel gets woken up by sheep bells and comes outside to see that the dog had chased all the sheep of the edge into a pit. Most of the sheep are dying and some lay there already dead. Now that Gabriel has no sheep he can no longer farm or make any money. The farm had been his only life, and without it he has nothing. He becomes very frustrated and decides to shoot both the dogs. In the end he is happy that he did not marry Bathsheba though, because he had promised her a great life full of many things and ended up with nothing.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Golshan writes:
I am reading the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. This novel starts off by having a character interview people in Starkfield about Ethan Frome. To this character, it seems like Ethan has a big secret. Right before he finds out what the secret is chapter one starts. Ethan is waiting for Mattie, his wife's cousin (who he has a crush on). When the dance she was at ended, they walk home together and discuss her job. Mattie works for Ethan and Zeena as a housekeeper. Zeena (his wife) is jealous and wants to fire Mattie, but she needs someone to help out around the house. She is always sick and can't do much most of the time. Ethan goes out to get wood and thinks about Mattie and Zeena. When he gets back, he finds out that Zeena is going to the doctor for a few days and he will be alone with Mattie. He has some flashbacks of when he met Zeena. Ethan's father had died in an accident and his mother was very ill and quiet most of the time. Zeena helped him take care of his mother and talked to him when there was no one else around. This is how they had met and they got married later. This is as far as I have read. I like this novel because it has an interesting plot and the characters are well developed. The only thing I did not like was how the author used too many details. She explained the scenery and setting too much. Also, she used a lot of pages to make one point. So far I would give this novel a 7 because of this.
-Golshan

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

Erika writes:
I have been reading the novel A Room with a View by E.M. Forster. The novel began with a young woman named Lucy staying in London. With Charlotte who was to watch over Lucy and make sure she has a good time. This is because she told Lucy’s mother that she would do her this favor. Unfortunately when they get there they are given two rooms without a view and they were supposed to get one with a view. So they were upset about this. Then two gentlemen named Mr. Emerson and his son George Emerson offer there rooms up because they say that they are guys and that they don’t care if they have a view or not. Charlotte does not want to take them but after they keep insisting and Lucy asking her to say yes she gives in. The reason why she did not want to take the rooms is because she did not want to feel implied to give something back to them. Lucy is basically told to keep away from George though because Charlotte is afraid he might want something form Lucy.
~One day when Lucy gets separated from the group she was with she witnesses a murder. Seeing a man gets stabbed she faints. She wakes up in George Emerson’s arms. He then insists to walk her home and she tells him not to say anything about what happened since she is not supposed to be with him. (He agrees to this). A while later a group of people are going on a trip in carriages Lucy and Charlotte get invited. They do go on the carriage ride through London and when they stop Lucy gets out and wonders off she finds herself in a field and then sees George Emerson, they kiss… Charlotte sees this occur and tells her to say nothing about it. Charlotte now wants to leave for Rome. Since they both have friends that are there right now along with because she does not want Lucy to get any closer with George Emerson who she may be starting to like.

Dubliners by James Joyce

Meaghan writes:

Just recently, I finished Dubliners, by James Joyce for my last reading classic book. It consists of fifteen short stories, all about different topics. I have never read anything else by James Joyce, but Dubliners was a very good read. Some of the sentences were choppy, but it all evened out in the long run.
My favorite short story was called The Sisters. When I begun Dubliners, it was my favorite short story. Now, finished with the book, it still is my favorite story. It is about a young boy who reflects about the death of his friend Father Flynn. The young boy continuously walks by Father Flynn’s house, knowing he is dead. Each time there is a different sign outside of his house. The first day there were two candles lit up on opposite sides of the house. The next day, there were flowers outside. That evening, the boy prays by the coffin with Father Flynn’s sister Nannie. The Sisters has a very unique ending, you will have to read the short story book to find out! This book creates real images in my head while reading, which makes it my favorite short story. The other stories do not have this quality.
The climax arises quickly in short stories like these, but it makes it more interesting. Some stories were very boring, and others held my interest very well.
In conclusion, I would rate Dubliners by James Joyce a seven out of ten. Not all stories were great, and not all of them kept my interest. I am looking forward to reading better books by the end of the school year and throughout the summer that hold my interest better.

Tobias Wolff

While growing up as a 12 year old boy just before his teenage years, Tobias Wolff is going through tough times since he has no father in his parents divorce and now he has to live with just his poor mother and take care of her the best he can. As a result of not having a normal life family wise, he tends to do things that others in his situation might have been taught properly not to do. You will find him and his friends going around egging nice cars, making cars roll down hills smashing into other cars, vandalizing bathrooms, and using his rifle that his mother told him not to use while she is away.
In addition to his hard times, Tobias and his mother, Rosemary move to a small town in Washington to live with his step-father and his three kids who are all in their late teens. If moving and leaving his friends wasn’t bad enough, Tobias’ step-father is abusive towards him. He controls what Toby is doing at all times and to keep him busy at all times, he makes him crack nuts and put them in a bowl for others to at. He would make him do this for hours and hours at a time every day. This must be hard for Tobias to get used to because all his life, while his mother was away at work, Toby would have all the freedom he wanted, and now that someone is bossing him around, in a matter of a few days, his life changes forever. Even when he does have some free time, there is not much to do since the other kids around him were at least 6 years older than him and would rather not hang out with him even though once in a while they have a game of monopoly.
Since Tobias is not one who is used to being told what to do, he has control of what he wants to do with the rest of his life which includes possibly running away and starting over on his own.

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

Maeve writes:
I am about halfway through Dracula, by Bram Stoker, and I am enjoying it immensely!
Since my last blog entry, the novel has gone through several different forms of narration. We leave Jonathan on the eve of his escape and move instead to a series of letters written between his fiancée, Mina Murray, and her best friend Lucy Westerna. The letters are, at the beginning, a bit tedious, as all the ladies are talking about are Lucy’s suitors and her fiancé, a rich, good-natured young man named Arthur Holmwood. Arthur is a friend of Lucy’s other two suitors, an ambitious doctor named John Steward who works at a mental hospital, and Quincey Morris, a Texan (of all things) who is fond of using, as Lucy puts it, “slang.” The men are quite civil to each other, and do not begrudge Arthur for winning Lucy’s hand.
The book gets more interesting as we move away from the letters between Mina and Lucy and back into journal entries, but not those written by Jonathan. The next journal entries to come are those written by Mr. John Steward. These entries detail the eccentric behavior of one of Steward’s more unhinged patients, who is simply known as Renfield. He has very strange habits, as we learn from Steward’s journal. Renfield keeps a succession of pets, all of which mysteriously disappear, to be replaced by bigger animals. Steward eventually finds out why they have been disappearing – Renfield, for some unknown reason, has been eating them. There is some method to his madness, but Steward has yet to figure out what it is.
Interspersed with Steward’s journal entries are those written by Mina. She has gone to the coast with Lucy to celebrate Lucy’s engagement. It is deeply beautiful there, and she is glad to be staying with Lucy, Arthur, and Lucy’s mother, but she is troubled and worries constantly about Jonathan, as she hasn’t heard from him in a very long time. Mina and Lucy spend lots of time together, most of it sitting in the graveyard of the old abbey, which overlooks the sea. Mina writes that she is also troubled about Lucy, as she seems to be acting not quite like herself, and has begun sleepwalking again, something she hasn’t done in a long time.
In the meantime, a terrible storm is brewed up, and a ship becomes wrecked on the shore of the town where they are staying. No one is left alive, but Mina is allowed to look at the captain’s logbook, which was found on the wreck. The book details the strange events that happened before the storm. Unrest began to grow in the crew, and the men whispered of something that lurked on the ship. Men began to disappear at night, and eventually only the captain was left. The log ends with him seeing the “monster” and vowing to go down with his ship, as there was no conceivable way for him to remain among the living. I can only conclude that the monster on the ship was Dracula, come to find Jonathan. What a strange fate that he should end up where Mina is staying.
As Mina’s journal entries progress, she writes that Lucy has been growing more and more troubled in her sleep. She then writes of a terrible fright she has one night when she wakes up and sees that Lucy is nowhere to be found. She runs to the churchyard and finds Lucy asleep on the bench they always sit on, with a dark shape bending over her. She shouts out, and Lucy wakes up. The shape disappears. Mina takes Lucy home and tucks her in. She sees two perfect, round puncture marks on Lucy’s neck, and thinks they are from her accidentally sticking Lucy’s neck with a pin (but we all know what they really are!). Over the next little while, Lucy’s health fluctuates from high to low. One day she seems to be fine, the next she is pale and weak. Mina thinks this is because she is sleeping with the window, as she sees Lucy sitting with her head out of the window on several occasions, and thinks she sees a large black bat on one of these (Dracula, I think).
In the world of John Steward, Renfield has moved on from eating animals to religious mania. All he can talk about is the “master coming.” All of this culminates with him breaking out of the asylum. Steward chases him and finds him at the church nearby, leaning on the door and speaking to someone Steward cannot see about his unending allegiance. After he is subdued and taken back to the asylum, he is locked up and straight-jacketed. I think that whatever Renfield’s mania is, it doesn’t have anything to do with God. He’s somehow being influenced by Dracula.
I can’t wait to see what happens next! There are so many loose ends to tie up, and I’m very curious to see how all of these characters eventually fit into Harker’s story.