What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? by Henry Farrell

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Title: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Author: Henry Farrell

Genre: Suspense, Thriller

Length: 245 pages

Published: 1993 (version I read) 1960 (original)

Publisher: Carroll & Graf

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Baby Jane, a child star of early vaudeville, resented having to grow up in the shadow of her prettier sister Blanche Hudson, who became Hollywood's reigning love goddess. Now, some fifty years later, they are together and alone. And reality has toppled crazily into eerie fantasy. Blanche now finds she is growing old in the shadow cast by Baby Jane -- and a very sinister shadow it is.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

I'm going to admit that I didn't have high hopes as I started reading this book. I didn't know that I was going to start reading this at breakfast Saturday morning and end up spending the next two days finishing it in my spare time. I could not put this down. 

There are a lot of different points of view which makes it nice. You have the point of view of the Hudsons' neighbor, Mrs. Bates; Blanche's; Jane's; Edwin Flagg's; and even a few others. The way the book was written really had me hooked right from the start. It was also an extremely quick read. 

There are definitely some terrifying moments. The author did an amazing job building up suspense, making you believe one thing when later you find out something else really happened. Definitely worth the read!!!

You can purchase What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir

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Title: Innocent Traitor

Author: Alison Weir

Genre: Historical Fiction

Length: 400 pages

Published: 2007

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) I am now a condemned traitor . . . I am to die when I have hardly begun to live.

Historical expertise marries page-turning fiction in Alison Weir’s enthralling debut novel, breathing new life into one of the most significant and tumultuous periods of the English monarchy. It is the story of Lady Jane Grey–“the Nine Days’ Queen”–a fifteen-year-old girl who unwittingly finds herself at the center of the religious and civil unrest that nearly toppled the fabled House of Tudor during the sixteenth century.

The child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother, for whom she is merely a pawn in a dynastic game with the highest stakes, Jane Grey was born during the harrowingly turbulent period between Anne Boleyn’s beheading and the demise of Jane’s infamous great-uncle, King Henry VIII. With the premature passing of Jane’s adolescent cousin, and Henry’s successor, King Edward VI, comes a struggle for supremacy fueled by political machinations and lethal religious fervor.

Unabashedly honest and exceptionally intelligent, Jane possesses a sound strength of character beyond her years that equips her to weather the vicious storm. And though she has no ambitions to rule, preferring to immerse herself in books and religious studies, she is forced to accept the crown, and by so doing sets off a firestorm of intrigue, betrayal, and tragedy.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

This novel was incredibly fascinating. It was beautifully written. Drawing on her vast knowledge of this era of history, the author does justice to a very tragic figure: Queen Jane Grey, who ruled for only nine days. 

I couldn't help but love the innocent Jane, feeling horror at the abuse she suffered as a child, the abuse she later suffered in her marriage bed, and every tragic thing that kept befalling her. A victim of her own birth and rank, Jane is trapped by society, her family, and others.

This was definitely an amazing book. It's not often that a fiction novel brings me to tears, but this one did. Definitely recommend it for any fan of the Tudor era. 

You can purchase Innocent Traitor through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Innocent Traitor? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving

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Title: Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

Author: Washington Irving

Genre: Classic Literature, Short Stories

Length: 256 pages

Published: 1999 (version I read); 1819 (original)

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) From the "Father of the American Short Story" comes a classic collection of well-loved tales sure to chill the faint of heart and thrill the brave-hearted. Ride with the headless horseman as he makes his rounds through "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," soon to be a major motion picture starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. Find out what happens when a lazy man falls asleep for 20 years and wakes up to a strange new world in "Rip Van Winkle." Dare to experience Gothic horror at its best in "The Spectre Bridegroom." With five gorgeously illustrated plates by Nenad Jakesevic, this celebrated anthology belongs on every family's bookshelf.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

Everyone knows about the legend of Sleepy Hollow, the headless horseman, Ichabod Crane...They've even made a movie based on the legend, and most recently they've created a TV show based off of it. I've always known the loose basics of the tale, but never read the actual story. So I jumped at the chance to grab this off my library's shelves. 

I really enjoyed every story in this collection. Most of them were chilling, and even haunting. I could see myself curled up in front of the fire listening to someone tell these sometimes dark tales and feeling a cold chill go down my spine. 

Another bonus is that it was a super quick read (and thankfully not as dull as many classics can be), so you can easily read it in a day or two and move on to something else.

You can purchase Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories through Amazon in hard copy format. 

Have you read Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

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Title: Death Comes for the Archbishop

Author: Willa Cather

Genre: Classic Literature

Length: 304 pages

Published: 1927 (original); 1990 (version I read)

Publisher: Vintage

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) There is something epic--and almost mythic--about this sparsely beautiful novel by Willa Cather, although the story it tells is that of a single human life, lived simply in the silence of the desert. In 1851 Father Jean Marie Latour comes as the Apostolic Vicar to New Mexico. What he finds is a vast territory of red hills and tortuous arroyos, American by law but Mexican and Indian in custom and belief. 

In the almost forty years that follow, Latour spreads his faith in the only way he knows--gently, although he must contend with an unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. One of these events Cather gives us an indelible vision of life unfolding in a place where time itself seems suspended.

My Review:

I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

I just realized that I completely forgot to write up and post this review. Whoops!

This was an excellent tale of how a priest becomes Archbishop of a territory recently acquired by the United States. It really shows how Latour was able to spread his faith to the people of the region without disrespecting their native beliefs. 

The story starts out in Italy as a colleague of Latour's puts his name forward to several higher ranking Church officials as someone to take over this region. The remainder of the book follows Latour's time in New Mexico with the help of friends he makes along the way. It was an excellent story encompassing the forty years of Latour's reign as Bishop, and then Archbishop, of New Mexico. Definitely an enjoyable read.

You can purchase Death Comes for the Archbishop through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Death Comes for the Archbishop? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

White Noise by Don DeLillo

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Title: White Noise

Author: Don DeLillo

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Satire

Length: 326 pages

Published: 1984

Publisher: Viking Books

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) A brilliant satire of mass culture and numbing effects of technology,White Noise tells the story of Jack Gladney, a teacher of Hitler studies at a liberal arts college in Middle America. Jack and his fourth wife, Babette, bound by their love, fear of death, and four ultramodern offspring, navigate the rocky passages of family life to the background babble of brand-name consumerism. Then a lethal black chemical cloud, unleashed by an industrial accident, floats over their lives, an “airborne toxic event” that is a more urgent and visible version of the white noise engulfing the Gladneys—the radio transmissions, sirens, microwaves, and TV murmurings that constitute the music of American magic and dread.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This was...bizarre. I don't think I've read a book this odd in a long time - probably not since I read Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk at the beginning of the year. Strangely enough, the oddity of the book is exactly what made me like it.

The conversations that take place throughout the book and even just the general narrative are stilted. This adds an extra layer of bizarre to the story - just sort of makes you keep thinking and wondering what other strange thing is going to happen. 

The story is told in the voice of the main character J.A.K. Gladney (or Jack) who is a college professor that lectures solely on Hitler. He tells about his strange life, his many wives, his children, his step-children, and his colleagues. These tidbits of information about his family and himself are interspersed throughout the whole novel.

The book is in three parts: Waves and Radiation; The Airborne Toxic Event; and Dylarama. The first part gives basic background information on the narrator, his wife, their family, and a friend of his. Throughout this you see hints of events to come: his wife is on some mystery medication, the family watches as a train spills a toxic substance into the soil and air. The second part delves into the evacuation that happens because of the toxic substance. And the third part draws to a conclusion the events after that toxic spill and what happens with the mysterious medication that Babette (his wife) is on. 

The most maddening part of this book was the sheer amount of denial the narrator is in. But considering his other issues, it just seems to fit with the whole scheme of things. All in all, this was a decent book and definitely worth the read if you enjoy bizarre stories.

You can purchase White Noise through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read White Noise? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

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Title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Author: Ken Kesey

Genre: Classic

Length: 281 pages

Published: 1962 (original) 2002 (copy I read)

Publisher: Penguin Classics

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Boisterous, ribald, and ultimately shattering, Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the seminal novel of the 1960s that has left an indelible mark on the literature of our time. Here is the unforgettable story of a mental ward and its inhabitants, especially the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, the brawling, fun-loving new inmate who resolves to oppose her. We see the struggle through the eyes of Chief Bromden, the seemingly mute half-Indian patient who witnesses and understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the awesome powers that keep them all imprisoned.

My Review:

I give this book a 3 out of 5. 

This one was rough for me. While I did end up liking the book, I had to mark this as three stars because I simply had the hardest time getting into it. I don't know if it's because I've been really distracted lately or if it's because I just didn't like Kesey's writing style, but it took me until around Part Three before I started really enjoying it.

The plot is good. The story is from the point of view of a half-Indian patient who everyone believes is deaf and mute. When a new patient comes in, he eventually opens up to him (McMurphy) and everyone is surprised to find that not only can he hear but that he is smarter than anyone has ever given him credit.

McMurphy enters into a battle of wills with Nurse Ratched, the head of the ward. As McMurphy and Chief Bromden eventually learn, the other wards are not nearly as awful as theirs but the nurses on those wards can't do much to help them as Nurse Ratched controls who is hired and fired, by making simple suggestions to the head of HR, her friend.

All in all, it was enjoyable, once I got over the hump of not getting into it enough to read more than a few pages at a time. 

You can purchase One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest through Amazon in hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Monthly Update - December 2013

I didn't get nearly as much read last month as I thought I would. And I'm two days late with this post. With the holidays things have been pretty hectic, so finding time to read has been tough. I'm hoping things will get pretty normal around here soon so I can really get through some books. Oh and as of this post, I have completed 119 books this year: one book from my yearly goal of 120. 

Here's what I'm currently reading:

• Anna Karenina (As soon as I finish this round of library books I have, I will be concentrating on this before I read anything else.)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

What's coming up next:

• Alice Close Your Eyes by Averil Dean
• Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
• What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? by Henry Farrell
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving
• Innocent Traitor by Allison Weir
• White Noise by Don DeLillo
• y1 by Sherrie Cronin (won't be reading this until after Anna Karenina is finished)
• z2 by Sherrie Cronin (won't be reading this until after Anna Karenina is finished)

As always, if you have anything you'd like to see me read and review, leave a comment here or drop me an email!