Book #22: Thirteen Clues for Miss Marple by Agatha Christie

Quick, easy, FUN. There's not much else to say about Agatha Christie books, except that I can't help loving them. Even when Miss Marple solves everything without any clues and seemingly always knows everything for no reason. I thought the Miss Marple novel that I read was more believable than all of these short stories. But still a perfect read for an evening when your husband is gone all night, and not creepy at all.

Fun fact: It might be good for you to know that Miss Marple lives in St. Mary Mead. I was asked this in a trivia game we were playing ("What is the name of the small town that Agatha Christie's heroine Miss Marple lives in?") and I actually GOT IT RIGHT because I'd just read the other Miss Marple book (last year). Tommy was amazed and disappointed that I beat him BOOYAH.

Book #21: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

I've been wanting to read this book for AGES. I stole it from my parents' house probably three or four years ago and never actually got around to reading it until this week. I can't believe I waited this long!

The main reason I shied away from it for so long was because of its bulk, of course. It's over 1,000 pages. But it took me fewer days to read this one than Connecticut Yankee did, because I was SO much more interested in this one. I started it on Wednesday and have spent a few hours reading each day since then.

First off, I loved it. The story is awesome. I've seen the movie once, and it pretty much includes EVERYTHING from the book. But the background and internal conflict/thoughts you get in the book is SO much more involving than in the movie. I still did not like Scarlett, at all, even after reading the book, but you can't help being fascinated with her and rooting for her, even as you hate her. (Except for the whole Ashley situation--that just MAKES ME SO MAD.) I love how Mitchell really creates the world of the Southerners and helps you to understand where they were coming from, how they felt about the war, and all that stuff. It's all so foreign and old-fashioned to us, but I felt like she did an excellent job of getting the reader into that.

As a part of that, it's so interesting how the book is so not-self-conscious about the racism and sexism in it, since it was written in the 1930s. The freed slaves in Georgia are really seen as a totally different species, almost. And Mitchell definitely portrays the institution of slavery (and the whole Southern culture) as being so romantic and perfect. All the slaveowners love their slaves and treat them like family, which is so counter to usual slavery portrayals you read in books.

I really did get into the whole book. I kept explaining how interesting it all was to Tommy and talking about parts of the book with him all weekend long. I just cannot get over HOW much I hate Scarlett for trying to steal Ashley from Melanie all the time, and how obnoxious it is that Melanie never believes that Scarlett's trying to do it. And there are ALWAYS people telling Scarlett how lame Ashley is or how dissimilar they are, and she just always replies with, "You don't know anything about him! You aren't worth to wipe his shoes!" and it's SO OBVIOUS that she's stupidly wrong. But it's still awful at the end that Rhett leaves her--you want her to be happy with him because that's what HE'S wanted all along. But I'm still glad he leaves--she needs to be taught a lesson. I think in the END they should get back together, though. In a decade or so.

Also, I wonder if they re-made the movie nowadays, how it would be different. What parts of the book would they leave out? Because they didn't leave ANYTHING out of the book for the 1939 movie--the entire plot is in there. They would never do that in Hollywood today. I'm really interested to see what stuff they would leave out and include--but I don't know if they'll ever re-make it, since it's still the most popular movie of all time.

Book #20: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

I had to read this when I was in seventh grade English, along with Beowulf and Travels with Charley. And I HATED IT--hated ALL OF THEM with a ferocious hatred that only a seventh-grader is capable of. I thought they were all the worst things ever written and refused to enjoy them in any way. But I saw this old, beat-up copy at my favorite used bookstore in Raleigh when I was there procrastinating the other day and bought it for ten cents. I figured it was worth a dime to figure out if it was THAT BAD or not.

It took me FOREVER to read this tiny little book. (I guess it's not that tiny, but the copy I have is one of those small classics.) I was reading only when I exercised, and I guess that says something--that I was never excited about it enough that I wanted to read it when I wasn't exercising. The book itself was actually really good--Twain's irony and sarcasm is awesome, of course, and I found myself laughing at parts throughout--but I never REALLY got into it too much. The plot isn't really the main point of the story--it's the commentary you get through Hank Morgan's head about Camelot and the improvements he's making, etc. So I think Twain did a good job, but I was kind of glad it wasn't any longer. I even ended up skimming through the last few chapters because I was feeling ready to be done, and I knew exactly what was going to happen.