It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (Nov. 12)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a fun weekly meme hosted by Shelia at Book Journey, in which we share what we've read and reviewed and what we plan on reading in the coming week.

What I have reviewed this week:
1) All Things New by Lynn Austin (review)

What I am planning on reading this week:
• Anna Karenina
• Les Miserables
• A Team of Rivals
• The Litigators
• Mansfield Park 
• The Taming of the Shrew
• The Hobbit

Musing Mondays (Nov. 12)

For this week, MizB of Should be Reading fame has decided to give us a number of questions that we can choose from that were submitted back in the summer.  Or if you are really adventurous, you can answer them all.  I am going to just going to do a couple.  My first one comes from Dr. Pepper Diva:

Do you read outside of your preferred genre? Has your preferred genre changed?

I will read outside of my preferred genre from time to time, but generally I don't.  My preferred genre has changed over time.  I used to read a lot of Christian fiction, but once when I was reading one of my typical Christian fiction, which really are historical romance, I realized how cheesy they are.  But I was always a reader that read a variety of materials and my tastes evolved over time, even though I still do read a bit of Christian fiction.

My second question comes from Lady With Books:

Do you have a favourite book/movie combo?

I am assuming that this means ones favourite movie adaptation in addition to the book and based on that assumption I would have to say that my favourite book/movie combo would have to be Jane Eyre and the 2006 adaptation that starred Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens.

Sunday Salon - Remembrance Day

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly 

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

~ John McCrae, 1915

All Things New - Lynn Austin

Title: All Things New
Author:: Lynn Austin
File size (Pages): 1367 KB (416)
Published: 2012
Genre: Christian fiction, Historical fiction
Challenges: Support Your Library, Historical Fiction
Edition: E-book
Source: Library

Description: In the aftermath of the Civil War, Josephine Weatherly and her mother, Eugenia, struggle to pick up the pieces of their lives when they return to their Virginia plantation. But the bitter realities of life after the war cannot be denied: their home and land are but shells of their previous grandeur; death has claimed her father and brother; and her remaining brother, Daniel, has returned home bitter and broken. The privileged childhood Josephine enjoyed now seems like a long-ago dream. And the God who failed to answer any of her prayers during the war is lost to her as well.

Josephine soon realizes that life is now a matter of daily survival--and recognizes that Lizzie, as one of the few remaining servants, is the one she must rely on to teach her all she needs to know. Josephine's mother, too, vows to rebuild White Oak... but a bitter hatred fuels her. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: I thought that the book was okay.  It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either; it felt like it was middle of the road and much like a number of Lynn Austin's current books and felt that it could have been better.  I felt irritated with the relationship between Josephine and her mother evolve a little differently and felt that their relationship was sort of made "nice" in relative short order and that Daniel really didn't face any real consequences for his actions in the book; it felt too unrealistic in that Daniel basically got away with his actions and I am sure that if that had really happened during the reconstruction period, that he would have been arrested and put up on trial for his actions.  I wish that Christian writers wouldn't put things in nice and tidy bows and assume that people got away with things of that sort of seriousness.

Bottom line: Overall, I quite enjoyed the book and look forward to more of Ms. Austin's writing.

Rating: 3/5

Pages for 2012: 19841

Booking Through Thursday - Blackouts

Booking Through Thursday asks this week:

1. How do storms affect your reading? Do you go for comfort reading?

2. How do you deal with power outages? Do you read by candlelight? Flashlights? Use a self-lit e-reader or tablet? Skip reading altogether for the duration and instead play games with the family?

1) Storms do affect my reading because I am usually not thinking about reading, but rather when I am going to get power again.

2) I don't deal well with power outages.  Fortunately the longest was about 7 hours on a Saturday, but I don't do well.

The Classics Club - Question #4

For November, the Classics Club asks:

What classic piece of literature most intimidates you, and why? (Or, are you intimidated by the classics, and why? And has your view changed at all since you joined our club?)

The piece that intimidates me is War & Peace.  I guess its just the notion that War & Peace has this mythology around it that its a difficult book to complete.  I am not intimidated by the classics, its just this particular book that I am intimidated by.

WWW Wednesdays (Nov. 7)

This is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B at Should be Reading.  To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll be reading next?


Answers:
1) What are you currently reading?
• Anna Karenina
• Les Miserables

• All Things New
• Mansfield Park 
• The Taming of the Shrew

• The Hobbit
• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

2) What did you recently finish reading?

Home by Toni Morrison (review)

3) What do you think you'll be reading next?

Probably start The Litigators sometime this week.