The Gone With the Wind Project: Part 2

Important!:  I have never read this book or watched the movie.  I don't know anything about what happens in this story, so please don't spill the beans! 

Day 1:  32 pages
Day 2:  37 pages

Wow, I am really right on track with this project!

Day 3:  18 pages
I have to admit I'm not really in the mood for reading right now, but I'll try to get through a few pages before The Husband gets home and I start dinner.  I do really like this book so far.  Starting chapter 5!

(Page 77)  The lingo of Mammy and the other slaves slows up my reading.  I can hardly figure out what they're saying that I have to actually mouth it out loud to myself.

(Page 83)  Scarlett is a poor deluded girl with her crazy ideas about eloping with Ashley tonight!  I can't believe it.

Day 4:  19 pages

Day 5:  36 pages
I'm already way behind in my reading, but it's hard to get even thirty pages in on a weekend.  I know that might sound backwards, but I actually have more time to read during the week.  Anyway, so far I love this book.  The characters are easily relatable and the descriptions are beautiful.  I love this time period and love reading about thel lives of people who lived during that time.  Scarlett is quite humorous in the way that she lets her imagination about Ashley Vilkes carry her away.  It seems that teenagers have not changed since 1861.

Day 6:  7 pages  (EEKS!)

Day 7:  3 pages!
 I ordered my own copy of Gone With the Wind from Amazon and it arrived today!  Yay!  The page numbering is all off, so I have to re-do my personal reading chart.  According to the this new book, I should be up to page 241.  I'm only at page 166.  Yikes; way behind.   This is truly sad.  I know I shouldn't, but I'm counting on my many hours on a plane tomorrow to catch up.

I can't believe Scarlett was so stupid to rush into marrying Charles just to get back at Ashley and all the gossiping girls.  I mean, didn't she think things through for one second?  Now she's moping around and hates her life because she's not only married to a man she despises but is a sixteen year old WIDOW?  Sorry, but it's kinda her fault so I have no sympathy for her.  It seriously sounds like a miserable, hopeless situation.

Day 8:  91 pages
So I was able to catch up, but I'm still not where I should be.  Sigh.  I could have probably read a lot more on the plane, but my eyes get so dry on planes and it's hard to read for long periods of time without having to take time to rest and doze off once in awhile.  I should be at page 272 and I'm still only at page 258.

Things are starting to get very interesting with our dear Scarlett O'Hara.  She is causing quite the scandal in Atlanta by breaking the rules of mourning and starting to flirt with boys again.  I don't really agree with her actions since the custom at that time was to mourn the loss of your husband for several years, but I'm also glad that Rhett convinced her to not care what everyone else thinks and to start thinking for herself.  Is she ahead of her time?  A feminist in her own right?  I'm not sure about that because she still is very selfish, spoiled and immature.  Melanie is far too kind to Scarlett.  I actually want to cry because Melanie is so loving and unselfish and giving towards others.  Even when the rest of the town refuses to receive Rhett Butler, Melanie continues to take him and show him kindness and respect!  She is the complete opposite of Scarlett O'Hara and I love her.  Scarlett just needs to give up her ridiculous ideas of Ashley Wilkes and move on with her life already.

The Gone With the Wind Project: Part 1

I was early for an appointment, so I ordered a tea at Starbucks and sat down with a very heavy, thick book.  With trepidation, I embarked on a journey with Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

(30 seconds later...)

...I am quite nervous about how to accomplish a reading of this book.  The hardcover version I checked out from the library is 1037 pages long!  I have never read a book this long and I'm hesitant now because I have so many other recently purchased books already on my list.

I'm very torn.  As much as I love to read, I'm only a medium-speed reader.  And if I'm not 100% completely invested in a book, it will drag on FOREVER.  For example, I've read the first paragraph of Gone With the Wind so far and all of a sudden I need to check my calendar for appointments, call my doctor, check my bank account, send a text to my husband, and of course write about trying to read Gone With the Wind.  This could be viewed as not a good sign for 100% investment in this book.  Should I even start reading it?  I'm not even quite sure why I even decided to request this book from the library.  Someone suggested it for our book club, and my husband and I had started to watch the movie, but I had never really ever been inclined to read it.  Hmmm.   I don't know...  I will try a few more paragraphs.

(approximately 5-10 minutes later)

I read to page seven and ended with this sentence:  "...she felt that a lick now and then didn't do the boys any harm."

Okay, so I kind of like it.  I'll keep reading for now.  Besides, I figured out that if I read only thirty pages a day, it will take me around thirty-five days to read it.  That doesn't sound so scary at all!  I have some long flights coming up too that will help me get even ahead of my thirty pages a day goal!  That does it.  I'm going for it.  Gone With the Wind, I shall conquer you in thirty-five days or less.

Books that I need to review...

Chasing Harry Winston -- Lauren Weisberger  (3 stars just for pure entertainment value)
Push -- Sapphire  (4 stars)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets -- J.K. Rowling (5 stars!)

The Forgotten Garden

This was a beautiful, wonderful book once I finally got into it.  The story jumps back and forth between characters and time periods, so the first two hundred pages were confusing as I tried to figure out what was happening and when it was happening.

However, I loved it in the end.

In the year 1913, a four-year old girl is mysteriously left alone on a ship bound for Australia from England.  A married man finds her on the wharf in Australia and takes her home until he and his wife can figure out where she came from.  The little girl doesn't remember anything, not even her name.  No one ever turns up to claim the child, and the couple never hears anything of a missing girl.  They decide to name her Nell and keep her until someone shows up to claim her.  The years go by and it is Nell's 16th birthday.  Her father tells her the truth about her past and Nell's life is changed forever.

Kate Morton takes the reader on a wonderful journey through the century and between two continents as the mystery unravels of how Nell came to be all alone on that wharf in Australia.

I can't say much more about the story without giving away any of the secrets, but I will include one sentence I especially enjoyed.  This author has a lovely way of writing description and her imagery is vivid and beautiful:  "This was the London of Eliza Makepeace, the London Cassandra had read about in Nell's notebook, of mist-filled streets and looming horses, glowing lamps that materialized, then vanished again into the fog-laden haze (132)."

I will have to say that a certain character's story line in the early 1900's London was my favorite.  It reminded me faintly of a Dicken's novel with the poor struggling orphans and all.  I also appreciated and related to this same character as she became older and transformed her wild imagination and gift of story-telling into fairytales (which are included in the book.)

This is one of those books that makes you just want to sit for hours and read without stopping.  I always appreciate a book like that because they don't come along often.

Five Stars!