Book #6: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I feel like I know Pride and Prejudice really well--but apparently I've watched the movie/adaptations of it a lot recently but not actually read the book for a while. I know the whole plot, but I was totally surprised by how funny and sarcastic a lot of the story is! The narrator's voice is hilarious. I really loved this re-read. And I couldn't help but love the Mr. Darcy of the book--I don't think it comes through in the shows/movies what a change he undergoes after he proposes to Elizabeth and is rejected the first time. He really was prideful and rude before, but he humbles himself after her words and changes to be much more open and willing to please, just like she changes to acknowledge how prejudiced she was. In the movie, I feel like somehow you get the idea that he was this good guy all along who she just didn't understand until she read his letter of apology and explanation.

I love re-reading these books because I learn/notice new things every time.

Book #5: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

I started this book not really anticipating that I would fully enjoy it. I remembered enough of the storyline to be annoyed by some of the characters (let's just say I am not even close to Marianne's or Mrs. Dashwood's sensibility) and figured I'd just give it a go since I was trying read all of Jane Austen's books again. And I totally got into it! I got through all of the plot that I remembered in the first 100 pages and then there was still a full 2/3 of the book left to go. I feel like I am much more of an Elinor--logical and underplaying emotion--than anyone else in the book, although she's much, much nicer and less selfish than I am in real life. She treats her sister with much more compassion than I ever would in that situation. . . . I'm always tempted to smack Marianne in the face and tell her to knock it off! All in all, I loved the story, love that everyone ends up getting married happily (except the bad people, who are unhappy--HA), and love Jane Austen, of course.

Book #4: The Return of the King (Book 3 of The Lord of the Rings) by J. R. R. Tolkien

I finally finished this (yesterday or two days ago) and it was so good. I really can't believe I didn't like the books the first time I read them. . . . just tells you what type of reader I was when I was a teenager.

Some of the things that surprised me about this book: the whole section about the Shire and having to fix everything there, and having Saruman end up in the Shire and all--wow! (Side note: Tommy and I are watching the extended version of this book right now and there's a scene where Grima kills Saruman on the top of his tower, instead of in the Shire--it's pretty gruesome. I always wondered what happened to Saruman in the movie, and now I know.) Also, it's so funny that Frodo destroys the Ring and then there's still like 100 pages more after it. It seems like it's the climax of the whole series (well, it is) and it's funny that there's so much story to follow afterwards. But it's all really good stuff--I didn't even really want it to end.

Frodo is so much cooler in the books than in the movies. I'd say more, but the babe is awake. The end.

Book #3: The Two Towers (Book 2 of The Lord of the Rings) by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Two Towers has always been my least favorite of the movies, because I really hate Frodo and Sam's parts in it. All they're doing is going round and round and traveling towards Mordor, and Frodo's acting more and more strange, and they get attacked and he falls over (have you ever noticed HOW OFTEN he falls over?) and of course, Gollum's there to make everyone even more cheerful. I always just can't wait to get back to the action with Merry and Pippin and Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. But the way the book tells the story is much more bearable than the way the movie tells it! For one, Frodo doesn't act like a haunted bipolar maniac (although, I understand that they have to show him getting more and more affected by the Ring in the movie), and he's a much more interesting and loveable character in the book. Also, the movie changed several things about the plot in the book that made me dislike it even more: adding the scene where Gollum makes it look like Sam ate all the lembas bread and Frodo sends Sam away (hate that), and making Faramir seem much more interested in keeping the Ring than he really was. He doesn't even actually bring Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath like they say in the movie. NOT that this whole review is supposed to be a commentary or comparison between the movie and the book--but I was just pleasantly surprised by how much more I enjoyed reading The Two Towers than I have when watching it. I thought it was an interesting choice for Tolkien to completely separate Frodo and Sam's part and write it as the second book in the book, keeping both stories totally apart from each other. It makes it hard to see what was happening at the same time as each other, but it does make it easier to follow each individual storyline.

Side note: This image is actually the cover of the trilogy that we actually have! We found it at a used bookstore for a decent price and bought them because they looked so nice and beautiful (hardcover, perfect dust jackets, etc.). I'm really happy we have them.

Book #2: The Fellowship of the Ring (Book 1 of The Lord of the Rings) by J. R. R. Tolkien

I loved The Hobbit when I was in high school, but when I started The Lord of the Rings at that age, I just couldn't get through them. I was so bored by all the description and couldn't remember who all the characters were. I had seen the movie maybe once, and I just didn't know enough about the books to stay invested. I did finish The Fellowship, but got stuck somewhere in The Two Towers. However, I'm working my way through them again. I decided it was high time that I actually read them, since I love the movies (a lot) and I feel like a hypocrite saying that I love LOTR without having finishing the trilogy.

I feel like knowing the movies so well has helped me to appreciate the books a lot more. An almost-universal rule is that the book is always better than the movie, which I still think is true in this case, but not by the usual margins. I really like the extra background and detail that get left out of the movie by necessity. In The Fellowship, for example, you learn much more about Strider/Aragorn, more about hobbits and the Shire, and more about the elves. I'm glad they left out the part about Tom Bombadil out of the movie (it really feels so random and dream-like) but I really liked the chapters about Lorien and Moria in the book. One reason why Tolkien was so hard for me when I was a teenager was how descriptive and detailed it was, but I honestly don't even notice it now. I actually like it--it helps paint a bigger picture than was available in the movie, and I love how the movie was so true to the books that I can see the places that Tolkien described so specifically in my mind as I read.

Book #1 of 2013: The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

Tommy and I actually started listening to this on our drive to and from the Outer Banks for Thanksgiving, but never got the chance to finish it until our flight home from California after New Year's. So I'm going to count it as book #1 for the new year! Quick plot summary: the beloved daughter of an American millionaire gets murdered on an overnight trip on the Blue Train, the same trip that Hercule Poirot, renowned detective, was making. So he gets involved with helping to solve the mystery. Of course, it ends up being the least likely person (even after they arrest the one who looks most likely to have done it) and Poirot saves the day. Poirot is such a funny character--he just puffs himself and thinks he is all that. I imagine he would be very obnoxious in real life. BUT he does always solve the crime, so I guess that makes up for it! This was a great audiobook to listen to while traveling.