Monday Meme: Seven Deadly Sins of Reading Tag

For my first Monday Meme I am going to borrow from a BookTuber. Malyza adapted a tag for reading called the Seven Deadly Sins of Reading. Check out her original video here:

1. Greed: What is the most expensive and the least expensive book that you own?
The most expensive one is probably... hmmm.... my copy of The Joy of Cooking is going for $35... I know, not very exciting, but really I try to buy books used or in paperback whenever possible because I'm poor.

The least expensive one is any of the $1.00 or under books that I have picked up over the years at some of my favorite used bookstores (Ed McKays, The Last Word)


2. Wrath: Which author do you have a love/hate relationship with?
For me this one is defintley Jodi Picoult. I have found that I either love or hate her books. For instance, I LOVED My Sister's Keeper which was the first book of hers that I read and I HATED Perfect Match which was about the fourth or fifth book of hers that I read.

3. Gluttony: What book have you deliciously devoured over and over again?
I have read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman more than once. It's difficult for me to read books more than once though I would love to do a Harry Potter re-read at some point. There are so many books in the world that I find that I feel guilty if I read a book more than once. I feel like by reading that particular book a second time then I have decided NOT to read another book for the first time. It's weird, I know, but it's a tough thing for me to get over so..

4. Sloth: What books have you neglected to read due to laziness?
Les Miserables. So. Huge.

5. Pride: Which books have you talked about the most to sound like an intellectual reader?
Anna Karenina. Yeah, I read it! And that shit was loooooooooooooong!

6. Lust: What attributes do you find the most attractive for male and female characters?
Males: The protective nature that some males have for their friends, family, and leading ladies.

Females: Bad-assery.

7. Envy. What books would you like to most receive as gifts?

These!!!!: 

Stay tuned tomorrow for the top ten books I've read so far in 2013!

Review: The Awakening by Kate Chopin

I expected The Awakening to be a much longer book. For all of the criticism and banning it gets, I expected it to be a pretty hefty book. Imagine my surprise when I was able to read the entire book in one afternoon. Most of my friends on GoodReads gave it four or five stars so I had high expectations. These expectations were so not met.

 

Title: The Awakening

Author: Kate Chopin

Publication Date: 1899

Publisher: Dover Publications

Pages: 116

Where I Got It: Used Book Store

Dates I Read It: May 12, 2013

Read It For: The Classics Club, 2013 TBR Pile Challenge (October Selection- I do realize it's May...Don't ask), 1001 Book Challenge

Number of Stars: 3/5

The story is Edna Pontellier’s and it begins whilst she is on vacation in Louisiana where she falls in love with Robert. Robert feels the same so he sets off for Mexico since Edna is married and has two children. Edna goes back home to New Orleans where she pines for Robert. Soon her husband goes away on business and sends the children to his mothers. For the first time Edna is able to be on her on with just herself and she’s given plenty of time to consider her life and how she wants it to be. Having found a comfort in this independence she moves from her family home to a smaller one around the corner. She soon takes up with Alcee who is somewhat of the neighborhood player, yet Edna holds her own with him only to come undone after her affair with him. Robert returns to confess his love only to realize this mistake. He then leaves Edna a John Deere letter causing Edna to drown herself at the same beach that she first met Robert.

I did not like this book.  I could not relate to the main character at all, which is unfortunate because I should have been able to fully connect to her as someone who has always craved independence myself. Edna was very unlikable. I wanted desperately to be fond of her, but the character development was exceedingly lacking for me.

It was not just Edna that I did not like; I also did not particularly care for the story. I had a high anticipation for this particular book as there are so many positive reviews, it was banned which is always a plus for any book, it was shocking when first published, it was about a young woman’s sexual awakening- what’s not to love? Well, for starters I did not care for the writing style. I normally like the naturalism approach, yet this one bored me to tears. I personally found that the book was not all that shocking. I kept comparing the book to one of my favorite books dealing with marital infidelity: Anna Karenina. While making this comparison I found Anna to be much more shocking. I felt connected to Anna and Vronsky and Daisy and every single character in Anna, yet I can barely even remember the characters names in The Awakening (and not just because they were French/Creole!). There was not much story to the story. It felt like the book built to a crescendo only to let the reader down in the end. I wanted to feel more remorseful over Edna’s suicide, yet I just didn't care enough about her, or any of the other characters really, to give a damn. I did really like the one part where her husband thought that she was going crazy and got a good chuckle out of that, but that is about it. There was no anticipation to the novel for me. It was a page turner, but only because I wanted it to be over with. If the book were longer, I probably wouldn't have finished it. I did end up giving the book three out of five stars (it was okay) only because of the impact that the novel had on feminism and feminist literature. I’m just grateful that all feminist literature are not like this one. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Book Covers

Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday theme is the bookish resolutions that we hope to keep in 2013. Since I already kinda covered that with my end-of-the-year wrap up, I decided to dig back into the TTT vaults and participate in one that I haven't done yet, so this week for me is My Top Ten Favorite Book Covers

Reader, you know how the book that I'm either currently reading or the book that I have just finished reading will almost always appear on my next TTT list, and Anna Karenina is no exception. I did not read this version of the book, rather, I read the Barnes and Noble one but I love this cover of the book. Purple is my favorite color and it mixes so well with the black and white of the rest of the illustration.  There is something so innocent yet hinting about this cover; I think that this cover could also double for the cover of Lolita.




All of the covers of Sarah Addison Allen's books are breathtaking. Google any of the works by her and you will see what I mean. Every single edition of every single book that she has written has a gorgeous cover that makes you want to read the book. The writing is just as beautiful and magical as all of her covers. This edition of Garden Spells isn't even the best one!

I feel like even if I didn't enjoy the story of Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, I would still consider this book to be one of my all-time favorites just based on the beautiful cover art. The colors are amazing and invoke a since of witchery and earthiness and spells and girl power and even the most minute details like the thorns on the roses are perfect. I also love the font that the title of the book is written in and I think it lends itself to being a part of that overall magical feeling that engulfs the front of this book.

Reader, anytime there is any purple on a cover of a book, I'm sold. As is the case with Dracula in Love by Karen Essex. I saw this book in a Barnes and Nobles when I was in my first year of teaching and I wanted to read it so bad. Ever since then the poor book as been on my TBR list, but I have never bought a copy of it. When I moved to the Charlotte area this past summer I looked at the county's library catalog and they do have two copies, one available at the library just down the road. Seriously, one of these days I am going to read this book with the beautiful cover written from Mina's POV.

Okay, guys, I know that this image is burned into our minds forever now and there is no escaping it and it's not a very well written book, nor is it a masterpiece of American literature, but even if you didn't care for the book itself, you gotta admit that this cover is pretty stunning. What's great about it is the simplicity of two innocent hands offering an apple, the forbidden fruit. This cover has spawned several classics to come out with re-vamped covers that look very similar including the same Twilight Font that we've all come to know and love!

Confession: I have never read Lolita. I'd like to one day. I did once pick up a copy in a bookstore in high school because I did know the gist of the story, I did want to watch the Kubrick version of the movie, and the cover (I got the one with the legs and shoes in black and white) blew me the hell away. Later I saw the mouth cover and was even more floored. I love them both and from what little I do know of the books, the covers are perfect reflections of the story.

Wicked Lovely is another one that I have not read, and I had never even heard of until I was shelving books in the library one afternoon and stumbled upon this beautiful cover. By now, you know what a sucker I am for purple in a cover and this one grabbed me immediatley. I'm not sure if I will ever read the book itself, but I do display this one often and it is circulated a lot and I think it's got a lot to do with that beautiful cover.

                             

       

I love all of these updated covers of classic books. By adding a new, eye-catching cover to a book, I know for a fact that readers are more likely to pick it up than if it has a old, dusty cover. Hopefully by revamping these classic books looks and giving them some new clothes  a whole new generation of reluctant readers will be willing to shut off the screens and open up the books!

I have not read this one either, but I have to admit that as a child I was infatuated with the cover of this book. I wanted to pack my bags and move to wherever this book was set. The mountains, the forest, the rivers and streams, the beauty!

Any Cormac McCarthy book has the most bitchin' cover that I have ever seen. They are all frightening and eerie and you know no good is gonna come of the characters in these books. Whoever he has do his covers for him deserves a raise!

So, Reader, have you already done this TTT? If so, what do you think are some of the best covers out there? Even if you haven't done the TTT yet, what are some of your favorite covers? Which obvious ones did I miss? Which ones should I have left off? Let me know in the comments, and happy reading (and drooling over beautiful covers)!

Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Normal people living banal lives with a little affair and suicide to spice things up in Imperial Russia.

There. That's Anna Karenina.

But I guess that won't cut it in terms of a proper review, now will it?

Title: Anna Karenina

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Publication Date: 1877

Publisher: Barnes and Nobles Classics

Where I got it: Barnes and Noble- Huntersville, NC

Number of pages: 754

Dates I read it: December 9, 2012 - January 5, 2013

Number of Stars: 4 out of 5

Okay. So, Reader, it took me almost an entire month to read this damn book. I realize that I am probably giving you the impression that I disliked this book, and that's not an entirely fair impression to give as I did not dislike the book as a whole. I started off loving the book and was very into it. However, towards part 6 I started to wan on my happy feelings. I started to criticize and pick at each of the characters. You know how when you spend too much time with someone that you like you start to feel this burning hatred for them whenever they move or say something or breathe or smile or sigh?! That's how I got to be with this book and with the characters. The book was too long. Yeah, I said it. The version that I read was almost 800 pages long and dear Mr. Tolstoy, you do not need to take up an entire page of people deciding who they should go and visit and then having them not go and visit them at all. Trivial.

So, Anna Karenina is the story of two main characters- Anna Karenina and Konstantin Levin. Anna is married to Alexy Alexandrovitch who is stuffy and boring and serious and old and she does not love him. Levin is a hard-working farmer who is, for some reason, in love with Kitty. Kitty is a bore and I do not care for her. Kitty is pretty sure that Alexy Vronsky is going to ask for her annoying little hand in marriage and just before this happens, Vronsky falls for Anna and suddenly- passionate affair! Anna gives up her status and her beloved son and becomes an outcast in order to be with Vronsky. Soon she becomes jealous and raging and crazy and convinced that he will leave her for another (now, where the hell would she get a crazy idea like that?!) so she (SPOILER ALERT, kinda) jumps in front of a train to make him sorry and to end the cray-cray life that she has been leading. Meanwhile, in Russia, Levin has finally found the courage to swoop in on a rejected Kitty and get her to agree to marry him or else become a spinster. They have their ups and downs as a couple but basically end up in happy ever after land with a baby on a farm.

So, like I said, the book was really just about normal people living normal lives. I may sound unappreciative, but actually, that was what made the book so great and Tolstoy was able to take these characters and make them real and tedious and borning like we all really are (except maybe Lady Gaga). They were relatable and honest and raw and I have read a lot of reviews where people say that they hate Anna and can't understand her motives, but Reader, I saw a lot of myself in Anna. I wouldn't normally admit that to just anyone, Reader, but I appreciate you and I trust you and so yeah, I am a lot like Anna. I can be a real hot-head and I can be jealous and I am immature and I am rash just like she was. I was able to see pieces of myself in almost every character, even Alexy Alexandrovitch. The characters were abundant, but they were all, even the smallest of small characters, well and perfectly formed. Tolstoy is a master of the characterization and for this, I was able to forgive the novel its length.

I liked the book. I did not love it and I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. However, there are some themes in the novel that I think many people, even today can relate to. Consider- what is the position of the lower class citizens? Do they deserve government assistance or are they to be shunned and used only as labor? What about women's rights? The hypocrisy of the men in this novel is astounding. Anna has one affair and is never to be forgiven yet almost every man (minus the endearing Levin) has affairs all throughout the novel. It was a tedious, but thought-provoking read and I am glad to be able to put this brick of a Russian masterpiece finally on my "read" shelf.

Movie Review: Anna Karenina

Literally, all the world's a stage in the new remake of Anna Karenina. I loved everything about this movie. With one exception. The whole movie is set on a theater stage which could have been highly confusing if I hadn't first visited the film's website and read that it was done in this way. I even heard the husband part of a husband and wife that sat behind me remark that he thought that the first part was a play that the characters were watching and then fifteen minutes in realized that Oh! THIS is the movie! Several of the sets were just unquestionably painted backgrounds which gave the movie a campy and silly feel and made it very difficult for me to take it seriously. One scene in particular was supposed to be quite emotional, but I ended up chuckling at the absurdity of the background. It's when Alexy Alexondrovitch gets the letter from Anna and tears it up and throws it into the air. The background is a wood painting of Moscow and it looks as if it were done by a first year art student. The set was not only distracting in terms of an off-putting appearance but also because characters constantly walked off stage and straight into another scene. For example, a character who is in a Moscow ballroom exits stage left and ends up in a countryside staring at miles of snow. Despite the movie-set-on-a-stage-but-not-just-a-filmed-version-of-a-live-performance way it was filmed not working for me, I do have to admit that I was pretty dazzled by the horse race scene. They filmed a horse race on an opera house stage! Seeing that alone was worth the price of admission! (Well, that, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, but more on that later).

Ok, I can't delay, on to Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The only person that I knew that was in this film was Keira Knightly. Now normally, I do not care for Ms. Knightly, but I positively wanted to see  this movie so I was going to have to suck it up and get past it and I am so glad that I did. Knightly's performance was uh-may-zing! She brought Anna to life. It was like she was channeling the fictional train-smashed dead woman from nineteenth century Russia! For as much as I used to dislike Knightly, I equally love Aaron Taylor-Johnson (he plays Vronsky). I didn't actually know this, I just knew that the guy in the trailers for that movie Savages that came out a while back was h-o-t, hot! As I watched this movie I noticed that Count Vronsky was h-o-t, hot. So, I whipped out my smart phone and lo and behold they were the same person. I did not picture Vronsky as being blonde as I was first reading the book (I'm about 300 pages in) but it worked in the film! I pictured Vronsky as being a little more burly and domineering, but Taylor-Johnson pulled it off perfectly and I without a doubt believed him as Vronsky. I couldn't believe the normally h-o-t, hot Jude Law was so pug-fugly in this movie, but he, too, pulled off the character of Alexy Alexandrovitch (Anna's stuffy husband).

So, in the end, for the most part I was pleasantly surprised by this film. I would have preferred to see a true, plain retelling of the novel instead of a film that was attempting to be cutting edge and arty by employing the set-on-a-stage motif that was used. I loved the actors, I was surprised at how much I loved Knightly and I am now excited to watch her remake of Pride and Prejudice which I've always avoided because I don't like her (and that movie is directed by the same director as Anna K.!). I did love the movie though, the visuals were spectacular (when they weren't just painted pictures in a background) and made me want to visit Russia. The costumes were even more amazing. Every single thing that Anna wore was gorge and I loved that she wore feathers in her hair! Feathers! In. Her. Hair! Can we bring this back into fashion, please?! I feel like this might be a look for me. The attire was classy and elegant pieces of art. The score was beautifully done and had a very Russian feel to it. I'm not normally one for classical music, but I have listened to the free samples on ITunes many a times over the past few days and will most likely end up purchasing the whole album soon. And the dance scenes- wowie wow wow!

That first time that Anna and Vronsky dance is like watching moving art. I could have watched 2.5 hours of nothing but the dancing on screen and been happy and given the movie two thumbs up! Though the movie didn't follow the book perfectly, it did come pretty damn close to doing so. Feasibly  it couldn't follow the entire thing as the book is GINORMOUS and the movie was already pretty long. The book is so ginormous that I don't know if I would have read it without this movie coming out to prompt me to do so. Hopefully with Christmas break coming up I will have ample time to finish it! Check back soon for a book review...