War and Peace by: Leo Tolstoy

When I was about eight years old, I remember my mom reading War and Peace. I was in awe over how HUGE it was and thought she must have been a genius to be able to read this epic novel. As I stood in the airport on Oct. 31st, trying to find a book that I knew was on my list (I didn’t have internet access), I saw War and Peace and decided that the time had come for me to become an amazing reader like my mom.

War and Peace was significantly less intimidating that I had convinced myself it would be. I cruised through the first 700 pages—which were exciting and easy to read (okay, keep in mind I'm a history geek) and then I trudged through the next 400 pages—which were mostly about war and therefore more difficult for me to get through. The last 150 pages were back to the fun stuff (fun meaning people dying in non-war settings) again.

What I enjoyed most about Tolstoy’s take on war was his cynicism. He has a dry sense of humor and I found that the humor was of the type that if you blink you will miss it, but if you don’t blink then it is enlightening.

Everyone has heard of War and Peace but for those who don’t know what it is about (like me about a month ago), it is the story of several families and 1) their daily lives and 2) their experiences during the Napoleonic Wars in Russia. War and Peace is historical fiction—I learned from reading the preface that Tolstoy was a general in the war. He originally wrote history, but started writing fiction because pure history left out too much about people’s lives.

Favorite Quote: “Lady luck is nothing but a whore.”
If this book were a movie, I’d rate it: PG-13 or R This could go either way depending on how bullet wounds are portrayed.
Overall Grade: B
Would I recommend this book to my friends? Yes, but only a few of them. This is no Harry Potter read.

Good Omens by: Terry Pratchett

I read Good Omens on a cruise ship which means my brain was at least partially turned off. This was my first Terry Pratchett—I had heard good things about him—that he is cynical and clever and irreverent (all things I like). Good Omens was all of those things—not to the extent of someone like Christopher Moore, but cynical enough to be worthwhile.

The story is about the apocalypse. Two friends (one angel and one demon) who have been on earth together since the beginning are left to their own devices as they try to prevent the world from coming to its end. Aziraphale (the angel) owns a rare bookshop—not to sell books, but just to have a place to keep them. Crowley (the demon) drives an old Bentley. The witch—Anathema Device—has a book written by her prophetic grandmother 300 years prior which directs her own activities. The antichrist is planted by the demon—Crowley—as a baby. The story is creative and fun and was (as I had hoped) a good, easy cruise ship read.

If this book were a movie, I’d rate it: PG-13—a much harder PG-13 than Wuthering Heights. There was some language, but not a ton. There were some sexual references, but nothing explicit.
Overall Grade: B-
Would I recommend this book to my friends? Yes

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Online reviews told me that Wuthering Heights was much less pleasant to read than Jane Eyre because Heathcliff is such a jerk. Yeah, he’s a jerk, but his personality didn’t negatively affect my enjoyment of this book. The way I looked at it, this was a love story between some crazy people who, in today’s world would have been heavily medicated, but in 1830 were left to their own devices, which creates a far more interesting story.

This was a quick read and yeah, there were a few disturbing, gothic parts, but what would life be without tragedy? It would be cheesy like Jane Austen. The entire book (more or less) was the account of the lives of the main characters by a housekeeper who witnessed it all. The ending seemed a bit abrupt, but otherwise I felt that it was very well written.

I believe that the Bronte sisters only wrote one book each. I applaude them both for just writing the one good story that each posessed and leaving us with two wonderful gothic romances.

If this book were a movie, I’d rate it: PG-13…possibly PG. If it was produced exactly as written it would be PG-13, but you could easily make it PG.
Overall Grade: B
Would I recommend this book to my friends? Yes