Freedom by Jonathan Franzen - stayed up way too late to finish this book. Not because I particularly liked it - the first quarter was funny and involving but after that, Franzen got carried away with his broad canvas - but because I just can't go to bed until I find out how a book ends. This one - shmaltzy. Lost it's way with the whole zero population/save the warbler section, redeemed itself with some portraits of unusual relationships. And with skillful handling of moral ambiguity.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - one of Lucy's birthday books. She appreciated the happy ending...there is no way I would give a 13yr old a copy of Wuthering Heights for a birthday present - Heathcliff is just too awful and Cathy just a wee bit too stupid - but Jane Eyre ? No problem. Except for the sappy ending, in my personal opinion, but as you've just heard, not Lucy's. She's reading The Book Thief now.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - started reading this aloud to the girls this week. You have to love a serialized novel with its nice, short chapters. Snowy was playing Lego in the loungeroom whilst I was reading and I thought he might be perturbed by shackled and murderous convicts and physically abusive parent-figures, but apparently not...
The girls are also listening to Pride and Prejudice on CD, which Arwen says is slightly funny. She only likes one character - Charlotte - and she only likes her because she has the same name as her ballet teacher. Still, I said Arwen couldn't read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies until she's at least listened to the original. Keep going, honey! This was another one of Lucy's presents and I know she likes it because of how happy she got when she was given a set of P&P paper dolls last birthday.
Snowy and I are not reading the second half of The Incredible Journey, because I think we are both slightly bored with the travails of dogs and cat. We are revisiting Milly-Molly-Mandy stories instead, which I actually know off by heart now and can read aloud whilst thinking of other things, like....
A post justifying my shameful Jodi Picoult addiction. Stay tuned.
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