The Chimes by Charles Dickens

Title: The Chimes


Author: Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870)
Originally published: 1844
Page count: 88 (Av. of several versions: 120)


Dates read: 7/27/19-7/30/19
2019 book goal progress:  18 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: 
Classic Novella (under 250 pages)

Read my other Dickens at Christmas reviews HERE.

Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.


Description on back of book:
The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In, commonly referred to as The Chimes, is a novella written by Charles Dickens and first published in 1844, one year after A Christmas Carol. It is the second in his series of "Christmas books," five novellas with strong social and moral messages that he published during the 1840s. The chimes are old bells in the church on whose steps Trotty Veck plies his trade.

First sentence(s):
"There are not many people - and as it is desirable that a story-teller and a story-reader should establish a mutual understanding as soon as possible, I beg it to be noticed that I confine this observation neither to young people nor to little people, but extend it to all conditions of people: little and big, young and old: yet growing up, or already growing down again - there are not, I say, many people who would care to sleep in a church. I don't mean at sermon-time in warm weather (when the thing has actually been done, once or twice), but in the night, and alone."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7.4 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters      - 6
Atmosphere   - 7
Writing Style - 10
Plot                - 6
Intrigue          - 8
Logic             - 7
Enjoyment     - 8
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

This story has many of the same themes as A Christmas Carol and has a similar feel to it as well. It is very well written and almost reads like poetry, though some parts were a little confusing to me. There are ghosts (or goblins - as the book calls them), but they're not as personified. Trotty is not shown the past or present, but is shown a several-year summary of what the future might look like. Also - this book isn't about Christmas at all. It all happens on New Years' Eve into New Years' Day. It's about ringing in a new year.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Charles Dickens have the last words:

"The Voice of Time cries to man, Advance! Time is for his advancement and improvement; for his greater worth, his greater happiness, his better life; his progress onward to that goal within its knowledge and its view, and set there, in the period where Time and He began. Ages of darkness, wickedness, and violence have come and gone: millions uncountable, have suffered, lived, and died: to point the way Before him. Who seeks to turn him back, or stay him on his course, arrests a mighty engine which will strike the meddler dead: and be the fiercer and wilder, ever, for its momentary check!"

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Title: Wuthering Heights


Author: Emily Bronte (English, 1818-1848)
Originally published: 1847
Page count: 317


Dates read: 7/19/19-7/27/19
2019 book goal progress:  17 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: Classic Tragedy


Read my other Bronte Sister book reviews.
Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.



Description on back of book:
Wuthering Heights is the only novel of Emily Bronte, who died a year after its publication, at the age of thirty. A brooding Yorkshire tale of a love that is stronger than death, it is also a fierce vision of the metaphysical passion in which heaven and hell, nature and society, and dynamic and passive for forces are powerfully juxtaposed. Unique, mystical, with a timeless appeal, it has become a classic of English literature.

First sentence:
"I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 3.9 - ⭐⭐
Characters      - 0
Atmosphere   - 1
Writing Style - 9
Plot                - 4
Intrigue          - 7
Logic             - 4
Enjoyment     - 2
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

This is a horrible book where every character is driven by anger, hatred, manipulation, abuse, and revenge. Everyone, even those who seemed they would rise above, is eventually brought low. This book is about the intermarriage of two families: the Earnshaws (Wuthering Heights) and the Lintons (Thrushcross Grange)... and Heathcliff, who the Earnshaws adopted. There are 13 family members listed in the book and, by the end, only two of them are still alive. The last 30 pages or so turns the book on its head and it actually ends positively.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Emily Bronte have the last words:

"Treachery and violence are spears pointed at both ends: they wound those who resort to them, worse than their enemies."

The Space Trilogy by CS Lewis

Title: The Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet; Perelandra; That Hideous Strength)

Author: CS Lewis (British, 1898-1963)
Originally published: 1938; 1943; 1945
Page count: 150; 182; 370


Dates read: 3/20/19-3/27/19; 3/28/19-4/6/19 and 5/5/19-5/11/19; 7/8/19-7/18/19
2019 book goal progress:  16 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: 20th-century classic


Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.


Out of the Silent Planet (book 1)
Description on back of book:
Dr. Ransom is abducted by a megalomaniacal physicist and his accomplice and is taken via spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra. The men plan to use Ransom as a human sacrifice, but he escapes and must fight for his life, and the chance to return to Earth, while exploring a world that is enchanting in its difference from Earth and in its similarity.

First sentence:
"The last drops of the thundershower had hardly ceased falling when the Pedestrian stuffed his map into his pocket, settled his pack more comfortably on his tired shoulders, and stepped out from the shelter of a large chestnut-tree into the middle of the road."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 9 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters      - 9
Atmosphere   - 10
Writing Style - 9
Plot                - 8
Intrigue          - 9
Logic             - 8
Enjoyment     - 10
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:
Malacandra is Mars and 'the silent planet' (or Thulcandra) is Earth. Malacandra has 3 intelligent beings: Hross (tall, black, furry, seal-like creatures - they are farmers, fishermen, and poets), Sorns (tall, thin, light-colored, feathered but without wings, humanoid-ish creatures - they are scientists, philosophers, and shepherds), and Pfifltriggi (frog-like, grasshopper-like, dwarf-like - they are minors, crafters, and mechanics). There are also 3 spirit-like beings: Oyarsa, Maleldil, and the Old One - which I believe represent the Christian trinity. There are also eldils, which are kind of like angels.

This is a great story both for those interested in science fiction alone, as well as for those also interested in philosophy. CS Lewis does such a great job discussing theology in the accessible form of fiction, which makes it easier to understand. The last chapter and postscript turn the whole book on its head. I cannot say much more about it - otherwise, this review will turn into a long essay and would contain many spoilers.

Favorite quotes:
"He wondered how he could ever have thought of planets as islands of life and reality floating in a deadly void. Now, he saw the planets as mere holes or gaps in the living heaven - excluded and rejected wastes of heavy matter and murky air, formed not by addition to, but by subtraction from, the surrounding brightness. And yet, he thought, beyond the solar system the universe ends. Is that the real void, the real death? Unless... he groped for the idea... unless the visible hole is also a hole or gap, a mere diminution of something else. Something that is to bright and unchanging heaven as heaven is to the dark, heavy planets..."

"Our only chance was to publish in the form of fiction what would certainly not be listened to as fact. This might have the incidental advantage of reaching a wider public. To my objection that if accepted as fiction it would for that very reason be regarded as false, he replied that there would be indications enough in the narrative for the few readers - the very few - who at present were prepared to go further into the matter."

Perelandra (book 2)
Description on back of book:
Dr. Ransom is fighting against the most destructive of human weaknesses, temptation, when he must battle evil on a new planet - Perelandra - after it is invaded by a dark force that strives to create a new world order on the peace-loving planet.

First sentence:
"As I left the railway station at Worchester and set out on the three-mile walk to Ransom's cottage, I reflected that no one on that platform could possibly guess the truth about the man I was going to visit."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 8.6 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters      - 7
Atmosphere   - 9
Writing Style - 9
Plot                - 9
Intrigue          - 9
Logic             - 8
Enjoyment     - 9
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:
Perelandra is Venus and Earth goes by the Latin word Tellus. There is only 1 intelligent species on Perelandra - a green humanoid and there's only 2 of them. There's the Lady or Queen who is later named Tinidril, who represents Eve. There's also the Lord or King who is named Tor, who represents Adam (and we don't actually meet until the very end of the book). Besides Ransom, another man from Earth comes to Perelandra and becomes possessed by Satan, representing the snake. The Trinity discussed in the first book is confirmed with Maleldil talked about as Jesus who became man, died, and rose again.

This book is basically a retelling of the Garden of Eden, with a very different result. It is incredible to read the story in a whole new light with so many parallels, but also many differences. The theology in the first book is relatively subtle to the extremely blatant theology written out in this book. This book is more mythology-like than a space story like the first one. This is still a great novel, but I liked the first book better.

Favorite quotes:
"One goes into the forest to pick food and already the thought of one fruit rather than another has grown up in one's mind. Then, it may be, one finds a different fruit and the fruit one thought of. One joy was expected and another is given. The very moment of the finding, there is in the mind a kind of thrusting back or setting aside.  The picture of the fruit you have not found is still, for a moment, before you. And if you wished you could keep it there. You could send your soul after the good you had expected, instead of turning it to the good you had got. You could refuse the real good; you could make the real fruit taste insipid by thinking of the other."

"When He (Jesus) died in the Wounded World (Earth) He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less. Each thing, from the single grain of Dust to the strongest eldil (angel), is the end and final cause of all creation and the mirror in which the beam of His brightness comes to rest and so returns to Him."

That Hideous Strength (book 3)
Description on back of book:
Dark forces are poised to invade Earth, while a rumor that the ancient wizard Merlin is returning and offering tremendous power to those who can find him and control him. The heroic Dr. Ransom is trying to handle these threats, while battling a sinister technocratic organization, by applying age-old wisdom to a new universe dominated by science.

First sentence:
"'Matrimony was ordained, thirdly,' said Jane Studdock to herself, 'for the mutual society, help, and comfort that the one ought to have of the other.'"

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7.7 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters      - 7
Atmosphere   - 9
Writing Style - 9
Plot                - 7
Intrigue          - 8
Logic             - 6
Enjoyment     - 8
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:
I was nervous to start this book because it's longer than the first 2 books put together and all I remember from the first time reading it is that it was very confusing. The story drew me in, so the length wasn't a big deal. The beginning is confusing because you meet A LOT of characters quickly and it's important to know where each one is associated and what role they play. Also, the last 100 pages or so get very philosophical and some of it still went over my head. Overall, though, it's a great book.

Basically, a husband and wife get separated and the book goes back and forth between what Jane knows of the situation and what Mark knows. At first I really just wanted to read Jane's parts, but by the end, Mark's parts were more interesting to me. There is no space travel in this book. Instead, it's science fiction in a more classical sense - it's medical and psychological, similar to Frankenstein or The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There also was something called a Pragmatometer described as an "analytical notice-board" and it made me think of an early, rudimentary type of internet.

Favorite quotes:
"It's not theology I'm talking about, but the Lord Jesus. Theology is talk - eyewash - a smoke screen - a game for rich men. It wasn't in lecture rooms I found the Lord Jesus. It was in the coal pits, and beside the coffin of my daughter. If they think that theology is a sort of cotton wool which will keep them safe in the great and terrible day, they'll find their mistake. For, mark my words, this is going to happen. The Kingdom is going to arrive: in this world: in this country. The powers of science are an instrument. An instrument of judgment as well as healing."

Fun Side Note: The idea for The Chronicles of Narnia was conceived in 1939, but Lewis didn't finish writing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe until 1949 and it was published in 1950. That Hideous Strength was published in 1945, halfway between Narnia's invention and the first published book of the series, and includes this brief glimpse into what was to come:

"That same afternoon Mother Dimbe and the three girls were upstairs in the big room which occupied nearly the whole top floor of one wing at the Manor, and which the Director called the Wardrobe. If you had glanced in, you would have thought for one moment that they were not in a room at all but in some kind of forest - a tropical forest glowing with bright colors."

Conclusion:

I really liked all three books and would highly recommend them to anyone,  though, I think the first will always be my favorite. The connection between the books is rather thin and I think I might've enjoyed them more as individual books rather than part of a trilogy. All three books are quite different and I think it would have been easier to get lost in them on their own rather than trying to make the stories and styles work together in a series.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let CS Lewis have the last words:

"A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered." -Out of the Silent Planet

"The account a man gives of the universe, or of any other building, depends very much on where he is standing." -Perelandra

"This is the courtesy of Deep Heaven: that when you mean well, He always takes you to have meant better than you knew." -That Hideous Strength

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Title: A Christmas Carol


Author: Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870)
Originally published: 1843
Page count: 85 (Av. of several versions: 105)


Dates read: 7/8/19-7/11/19
2019 book goal progress:  13 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: 
Classic Novella (under 250 pages)

Read my other Dickens at Christmas reviews HERE.

Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.


Description on back of book:
A Christmas Carol is a novella that tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation resulting from a supernatural visit by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. The book was written when there was strong nostalgia for old Christmas traditions together with the introduction of new customs, such as Christmas trees and greeting cards. Dickens' sources for the tale appear to be many and varied, but are, principally, the humble experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.

First sentence:
Marley was dead: to begin with.

Favorite quotes:
"At this time of the rolling year, I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!"

"Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if preserved in, they must lead. But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 9.4 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters      - 10
Atmosphere   - 9
Writing Style - 10
Plot                - 9
Intrigue          - 9
Logic             - 9
Enjoyment     - 10
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

This was an incredible read and extremely nostalgic. To be honest, I couldn't help but picture Mickey's Christmas Carol. If you're up for a little nostalgia, the title is linked to the 20-minute video for your viewing pleasure. Though the film is not as in-depth as the novel (as usual), it is really quite accurate. It is interesting to imagine how it would've been taken by its first readers. I think we take this story for granted since we're so familiar with it and have watched so many different versions, but can you imagine how it would've been like to read the first Christmas ghost story? Like I said, the Micky Mouse version is very similar to the novella and, since that's the version I'm most familiar with, I'm going to compare them.

The opening of the video is true, except Bob Cratchit didn't do Scrooges laundry. In the book, Marley's ghost is very grotesque and a bit scary - quite unlike the lovable Goofy. The ghost of Christmas past isn't a cricket (though one of Dickens' other Christmas novellas is titled The Cricket on the Hearth), but actually a very old looking man with a young child's face. We are also shown that Scrooge was an orphan and that he eventually was adopted. The ghost of Christmas present is accurately represented, except he also had a nightcap that he poured over people in the streets and it gave them Christmas cheer. The Cratchits actually have 6 children, not 3. We are shown to Scrooge's nephew's house and everyone is talking badly about him, but Fred, the nephew, says he just pities him and he could never hate him.

The whole scene with the ghost of Christmas future is much scarier in the film than the book - he's never actually pushed into the grave. We do see a group of grave robbers getting money from their loot off of the dead Scrooge. The ending is true except he bought a huge turkey and had it sent to the Cratchits. He never went to the Cratchits himself, but instead went and surprised everyone at his nephew's. Then the next day when Cratchit comes in, he gives him a raise and says he wants to help Tiny Tim, but there's no mention of him being made partner. There are more parts to the written story, but those are the main ones that stood out to me.

I was smiling the whole time I was reading the book. It's a quick and easy read - it's more than just that, though, it has a great flow and almost reads like poetry. Every word has a purpose and makes you feel something. I would highly recommend this story - you could read it in one night if you wanted to.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Charles Dickens have the last words:

"I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come around - apart from the veneration due its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that - as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!"

The Bostonians by Henry James

Title: The Bostonians

Setting: Boston, Cambridge, and Cape Cod (mostly)

Author: Henry James (American-British, 1843-1916)
Author from: He lived several years in Boston/ Cambridge, MA (he traveled around a lot)
Originally published: 1886
Page count: 350


Dates read: 5/14/19-5/21/19; 6/10/19-7/7/19
2019 book goal progress:  12 out of 41
Back to the Classics category: 
Classic From a Place You've Lived
(Novel set there or author from there.)
I've lived most of my life in MA.


Read my other book reviews for the challenge HERE.


Description on back of book:
In The Bostonians, Henry James tackled one of the burning issues from his day - 'the woman question.' The story centers on the struggle between Olive Chancellor, a wealthy feminist from Boston, and Basil Ransom, a conservative from Mississippi, for exclusive possession of the beautiful Verena Tarrant. One of the most humorous and vibrant of James' novels, The Bostonians is also one of his most contentious.

First sentence:
"Olive will come down in about ten minutes; she told me to tell you that."

Favorite quotes:
"Men and women are all the same to me. I don't see any difference. There is room for improvement in both sexes."

"When I look back from here, I can measure the progress. You mustn't think there's no progress because you don't see it all right off. It isn't till you have gone a long way that you can feel what's been done."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 3.6 - ⭐⭐
Characters      - 1
Atmosphere   - 4
Writing Style - 3
Plot                - 6
Intrigue          - 6
Logic             - 3
Enjoyment     - 2
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

When I first started this book, I was excited to read another fictional book regarding feminism. To be honest, I was skeptical with it being written by a man, but I chastised myself for my own sexism and read it anyway. Unfortunately, it turns out my concerns were well-founded and there wasn't much I liked about this book at all.

The book was EXTREMELY slow. The first half of the book (175 pages) should have been summed up in 75 pages, the second half of the book summed up in 100 pages, and the ending extended about 25 pages. That would leave the reader with a nice, short, 200-page book that, despite my not agreeing with it, could be recommended simply for the history of it - but it isn't. The author/narrator also made comments throughout the book. I would finally be getting into the story and then the author would make a comment and jolt me out of it. Apparently, 'show don't tell' wasn't around quite yet in James' time.

As the description says, the story is all about Verena either being friends with Olive and supporting the feminist movement or marrying Ransom and accepting to live a private, conservative life with him - it's all very black and white, which is just not what life is like. Also, the idea of feminism is in your face all the time, but, in actuality, it plays a secondary role in the story. Other than a couple of speeches, the book does not have much to do with feminism or the suffrage movement. The description also said that this book was one of his most humorous. Well, maybe the story was meant to be taken more satirical than I interpreted it, but I did not find this book funny at all.

I also didn't like any of the characters, even Olive, whose ideas I agreed with, rubbed me the wrong way. Actually, there was one minor character that stood out - Miss Birdseye. She was an elderly lady who was one of the first abolitionists and then fought for the equal rights of women. I would have been much more interested in reading a book about her life than the nonsense in The Bostonians. I definitely wouldn't recommend this book. There are so many others out there, this one just isn't worth wasting your time on.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Henry James have the last words:

"Many men are starving to death while they have a cupboard at home, all full of bread and meat and wine... The meat and wine are simply the suppressed and wasted force of which society insanely deprives itself - the genius, the intelligence, the inspiration of women... The public life of the world will move in the same barren, mechanical, vicious circle - the circle of egotism, cruelty, ferocity, jealousy, greed, of blind striving to do things only for some, at the cost of others, instead of trying to do everything for all. All, all? Who dares to say 'all' when we are not there? We are an equal, a splendid, an inestimable part... Some of you say that we have already all the influence we could possibly require, and talk as if we ought to be grateful that we are allowed even to breath. Pray, who should judge what we require if not we ourselves? We require simple freedom; we require the lid to be taken of the box in which we have been kept for centuries. You say it's a very comfortable, cozy, convenient box, with nice glass sides so that we can see out... Good gentlemen, you have never been in the box, and you haven't the least idea how it feels!"