Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Today is kind of like the day that my husband realized he's not a Republican. Today, I no longer can honestly say “ugh, I hate Dickens”. Just goes to show that when you’re 15, you’re not always right. Fancy that. Great Expectations was a GREAT read. It was intense, humorous, Dickens didn’t wax too verbose, it contained both creepy, crazy characters, and also those who were sweet and likeable. I kept waiting for the book to suck, but it never did.

The story is about “Pip” who was a young orphan, raised by his aunt and her husband. His uncle is raising him to be a blacksmith but Pip is a boy of “great expectations” who, upon meeting the beautiful and wealthy Estella, and her guardian Miss Havisham, he thirsts for his own wealth. For Pip, the grass is always greener somewhere else. He mysteriously stumbles into a fortune of an unknown size and still finds no happiness in his station, as he loves Estella who refuses to love him in return. The story continues and gains intensity as Pip unexpectedly runs into an old acquaintance who surprises him and once again the course of his life is changed.

My biggest disappointment was the ending—not so much because of what happened, but because the final third (or so) of the book was so intense and compelling and I felt like it came to a screeching halt and the end felt abbreviated. Everything was resolved and the story concluded, but it just felt incomplete to me. The edition I read also contained the original ending; which I read with hopes that it would be more definitive, but it was even less appealing to me. Am I the only one who thought "huh? that's it?" at the end?

Favorite Quotes:
"We Britons had at that time particularly settled that it was treasonable to doubt our having and our being the best of everything: otherwise, while I was scared by the immensity of London, I think I might have had some faint doubts whether it was not rather ugly, crooked, narrow and dirty." (pg 162)

"As to forming any plan for the future, I could as soon have formed an elephant." (pg 325)

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade." (pg 429)
If this were a movie, I'd rate it: PG-13

Overall Grade: A- (I think that’s fairly accurate, but I may be biased based on the fact that I had such low expectations going into the book.)

Would I recommend this book to my friends: Yes.

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

This was my favorite Terry Pratchett so far. The main character was Sam Vimes—to whom I was introduced while reading Guards! Guards!. He was the watch captain in that book. Vimes played a slightly different roll in the majority of this book as he travels back in time 30 years after falling through the ceiling of the Ankh-Morpork library (known to be enchanted). He lives a dual reality in this earlier and darker Ankh-Morpork as he plays the role of John Keel—the boss of the young, rookie copper—Sam Vimes. Vimes, as John Keel leads a rebellion against the corrupt government of Ankh-Morpork while trying to find out how to return to the future where his wife is in labor with their first child.


Night Watch was an intriguing, intense, energetic and entertaining read. I normally view time travel as a cop-out for lack of creativity, but it was very well played in this book. The story had a far more somber tone than some of Pratchett’s other works, but humor interposed.

Favorite Quotes:
“Oh dear, here we go again, thought Vimes. Why did I wait until I was married to become strangely attractive to powerful women? Why didn’t it happen to me when I was sixteen? I could have done with it then.” (pg 214)

“…Vimes found it better to look to Authority for orders and then filter those orders through a fine mesh of common sense, adding a generous scoop of creative misunderstanding and maybe even incipient deafness if circumstances demanded, because Authority rarely descended to street level.” (pg 65)

If this were a movie, I'd rate it: PG-13

Overall Grade: B

Would I recommend this book to my friends: Yes.

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

To be completely honest, had I read this book in Spanish, I probably would have comprehended about as much as I did in English. (I probably only know about 100 Spanish words.)


Here’s what I understood. The story is about a guy named Rincewind, an almost wizard (he flunked out of school), and his travels with Twoflower—a guy from another planet. Oh, and when I say another planet, I don’t mean—a planet besides Earth. What I mean is—a planet besides Discworld. Discworld is the flat circular planet which rides around space on the back of the Great A’Tuin—a turtle—and the planet where Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is set. (Fancy that.)

Twoflower and Rincewind get themselves into some trouble and are manhandled around the planet for a while until they end up in Krall. Krall is significant, but I’m not sure how. I was drifting in an out of sleep during the last pages of the book, so I won’t spoil the ending for you…mostly because they are a bit foggy.

Something can be said about a 200 page book that takes me three weeks to read. I’m not sure can be said, but it says something. I wanted to like it; really I did. The combination of fantasy and Britishness was just too much for my puny little brain to handle.

Favorite Quotes: “In an instant he became aware that the tourist was about to try his own peculiar brand of linguistics, which meant that he would speak loudly and slowly in his own language.” (pg 196)

“Some pirates achieved immortality by great deeds of cruelty or derring-do. Some achieved immortality by amassing great wealth. But the captain had long ago decided that he would, on the whole, prefer to achieve immortality by not dying.” (pg 161)

If this were a movie, I'd rate it: PG…I think (I might have missed some stuff)

Overall Grade: it wouldn’t be fair for me to rate it.

Would I recommend this book to my friends: Yeah, I’d recommend it to my friends who like fantasy.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

This book is the 8th book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series--which is a humor/fantasy series about a flat world which rides through space on the back of a turtle.

I'm going to steal the next two paragraphs from Wikipedia because frankly, I’m not all that great at writing book reports (not particularly revelatory to anyone who reads this blog).

“The story follows a plot by a secret brotherhood, the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebony Night, to overthrow the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork and install a puppet king, under the control of the Supreme Grand Master (Vetinari's secretary, Lupine Wonse). Using a stolen magic book, they summon a dragon to strike fear into the people of Ankh-Morpork.


Once a suitable state of terror and panic has been created, the Supreme Grand Master proposes to put forth an "heir" to the throne, who will slay the dragon and rid the city of tyranny. It is the task of the Night Watch – Captain Vimes, Sergeant Colon, Corporal Nobbs, and new volunteer Carrot Ironfoundersson – to stop them, with some help from the Librarian of the Unseen University, an orangutan trying to get the stolen book back.”

Guards! Guards! was very hilarious in a very British way. I’m not incredibly well versed in the art of understanding British humor, but I did find that reading this book with a British accent and imagining Monty Python-esque situations seemed to increase my appreciation of the story significantly. I guess that’s about all I’ve got on this one.

Favorite Quotes: "Aiding and Abetting what, Captain?' said Carrot, as the weaponless guards trooped away. "You have to aid and abet something.' 'I think in this case it will just be generalized abetting,' said Vimes. 'Persistent and reckless abetment." (pg 329)

"They felt, in fact, tremendously bucked-up...which was definitely several letters of the alphabet away from how they normally felt." (pg 157)
If this were a movie, I'd rate it: PG-13

Overall Grade: B

Would I recommend this book to my friends: Yes, the kind of dorky ones.(and I mean "dorky" with the highest possible level of respect.)

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

On the Road is a story about the carefree, irresponsible, nomadic life that sometimes I wish I would have led when I was 20 instead of going to college.

Jack Kerouac tells the story of his adventures hitchhiking, driving (cars owned and stolen), riding trains, and walking across the country (also to Mexico) multiple times over a several year period. He travels with several friends, (some famous as I understand it) the most continuous of whom is Neal—Jack’s loony addict friend who is addicted to sex, drugs, getting married and stealing. Neal simply can’t figure life out but makes traveling a real adventure for Jack and all those who stumble in and out of the story.

The edition of On the Road I read was “The Original Scroll” which was the author’s first draft. It varies from later editions in several ways. The original draft contains the “real” names of the people in the stories and also was written on a literal scroll. It was written in one big three hundred page long paragraph. Whether that’s because Jack didn’t know how to mark a new paragraph on a typewriter or whether he just didn’t care (which seems more likely) I don’t know. The lack of punctuation made the book tough to follow, fragmented, and rough, but was a very interesting read.

Fittingly, the book came to a halt mid-sentence. Apparently, there’s a note at the end of the scroll which reads “DOG ATE”. This edition does slap a fabricated (from the 1957 edition) ending in as an appendix so that readers aren’t left hanging. The ending gave me some insight into what the “real” book reads like as it has a completely different feel from the rough draft which was more artistically written and better developed. All in all, however, I’m glad I read the rough draft, as it was very organic and likely more true to reality than was the revised version. This was an enjoyable read—although devoid of plot twists or any real intensity—but it was a leisurely and entertaining story.

Favorite Quotes: "This is the Story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do." (pg 170)

"I have finally taught Neal that he can do anything he wants, become mayor of Denver, marry a millionairess or become the greatest poet since Rimbaud. But he keeps rushing out to see the midget auto races." (pg 145)

"Somebody had tipped the American continent like a pinball machine and all the goofballs had come rolling to LA in the southwest corner." (pg 206)

If this were a movie, I'd rate it: R...or NC-17 depending on how you chose to make it.

Overall Grade: B-

Would I recommend this book to my friends: Yes.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

I’ll be honest. I have a sort of overarching paranoiac fear associated with books that are a) “old” and b) long. This probably originated with my very drawn out and painful reading of David Copperfield in the 9th grade. The Count of Monte Cristo is one of “those”—old and long books which I approached with hesitation and fear. Fortunately my fear was completely unfounded. The Count of Monte Cristo is anything but painful, drawn out and/or boring. This is a quick, intense, easy read. Dumas’ writing style is action packed and devoid of unnecessary details.

You’ve probably seen the movie and therefore have a general grasp on the plot of this book. (Although, let me tell you, while I loved the movie, it BUTCHERED this book.) For those who aren’t familiar with the plot: the main character, Edmond Dantes, is a young, happy sailor who is engaged to a beautiful woman, and is in love. His life is turned upside down when he is wrongfully accused of treason. He is imprisoned in the Chateau d’If; after which, he seeks revenge on those who wronged him. Okay, so Edmond Dantes isn’t exactly a great role model, but the story is awesome nonetheless.

Favorite Quotes: “Live and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget that, until the day comes when God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these words: Wait and hope!”.

If this were a movie, I'd rate it: PG-13

Overall Grade: A-

Would I recommend this book to my friends: Yes, absolutely.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

I decided to read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (AAW) now since the new movie will be coming out shortly and I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. Generally, I don't enjoy going to movie theatres, but for a Tim Burton movie with Johnny Depp, I'll make an exception.

AAW is only 118 pages long (in the edition I read) so it is one of those books where the movie really tells the entire story. Actually, it tells the entire story plus some. For example--Tweedledee and Tweedledum and Humpty Dumpty aren't even in AAW; They are characters in the sequel--Through the Looking Glass.

I learned in the introduction that there was an edition of AAW released in 1999 called Annotated Alice. This edition includes footnotes explaining insight that Victorian readers would have understood but that are lost on modern readers. I wish I would have picked up Annotated Alice.  I think it would make the story far more insightful and amusing. What makes AAW entertaining is the plays on words, the quirky characters and plot, and the random, dreamlike feel of the entire book.

The most interesting thing I learned was in the introduction and was the following. Lewis Carroll had a strong affinity for photographing young girls nude. He apparently had an innocent obsession with children--especially female children. He was friends with a family--one of the daughters was named Alice and he was in love with her. He told her the story of Alice in Wonderland (originally titled Alice's Adventures Underground) and later wrote it down for her. He supposedly mentioned the possibility to Alice's parents of his marrying her someday at which point Alice's parents promptly severed ties with Lewis. Curious.

Favorite Quotes: I don't have a favorite quote, but I enjoyed the section about the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon.

If this were a movie, I'd rate it: G

Overall Grade: B-

Would I recommend this book to my friends: Yep.