Review: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations by Radhika Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
How I Got It: I own a copy.

In an overgrown churchyard, a grizzled convict springs upon an orphan named Pip. The convict terrifies the young boy and threatens to kill him unless Pip helps further his escape. Later, Pip finds himself in the ruined garden where he meets the bitter and crazy Miss Havisham and her foster child Estella, with whom he immediately falls in love. After a secret benefactor gives him a fortune, Pip moves to London, where he cultivates great expectations for a life which would allow him to discard his impoverished beginnings and socialize with the idle upper class. As Pip struggles to become a gentleman and is tormented endlessly by the beautiful Estella, he slowly learns the truth about himself and his illusions.

Great Expectations.

It’s one of those novels so many of us have heard of but we haven’t sat down to read. Why? Who knows. It’s like that with a lot of books and frankly it’s sad. I can tell you the only reason it took me this long to read it is because I had no idea what it was about. That’s super sad, isn’t it? I should have a better excuse than that, but I don’t.

One day during an outing to my local bookstore, I decided to buy some classics. Many of you know that Barnes and Noble as a buy two and get the third free sale on their classics, so I decided to load up. I was buying some particular titles that I’d always meant to read, and GE was one of them. And, to my surprise, I decided to just pick it up one day because it was sitting close by and read it.

GE follows Pip, a young fellow raised by his uncle and sister in a small village in England. His future has been decided as he’s declared an apprentice at his brother in-law’s blacksmith’s shop. After a strange childhood punctuated with criminals, he discovers, much to his surprise, that he has been given a great fortune by an unnamed benefactor.

The novel then goes on to tell the story of how Pip moves to London to become a gentleman. He meets a good sort of peculiar characters and graduates from country boy to young man living on the high. Then follows several chapters of what is to be expected from letting his head get too big, and his wallet too skinny, and all the while the mystery of the mysterious benefactor follows him.

I lot of people are turned away by classics that haven’t been publicized as something modern or romantic. I find that once a classic has been translated into a movie in recent years, then somehow everyone is running out to read it and declare its mastery.

Great Expectations is a classic mystery that just happens to have been written several decades ago instead of in the past ten years. It’s a classic and a wonderful classic at that.

The book moved quicker at some parts and slower at others. There were some areas I was curious why Dickens had to include them at all, but it wouldn’t be Dickens without them. (It also wouldn’t be Dickens without his sarcasm laced within the pages.) His characters are super memorable, and I love pip’s character I think most young people who have been given some sort of freedom, like money, a car, going off to college, etc… have been in his shoes.

I would go so far as to say this is a classic novel that would translate well for mostly young adult readers. If you’re used to reading a lot of YA and want a classic to work through, as everybody should get through at least one a year, then this is a great choice.

Furthermore, I love Dickens. Some people hate his writing, but I don’t. I think he’s witty and imaginative. Don’t believe the Dickens haters, just find out for yourself.

Happy reading!


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Review: The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Yellow fog is swirling through the streets of London, and Sherlock Holmes himself is sitting in a cocaine-induced haze until the arrival of a distressed and beautiful young lady forces the great detective into action. Each year following the strange disappearance of her father, Miss Morstan has received a present of a rare and lustrous pearl. Now, on the day she is summoned to meet her anonymous benefactor, she consults Holmes and Watson.

The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
How I got it: I own a massive leatherbound copy of all his books, :)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of my guilty pleasure authors. I have always loved Sherlock Holmes. Growing up I watched the black and white short movies starring Basil Rathbone. When the newer film came out with Robert Downy Jr. I celebrated the event by purchasing the massive hardcover collection from Barnes and Noble the very same day I saw the movie.

This novella opens with the feature character shooting up drugs. Oh yeah, Holmes is a huge drug addict. Apparently his life is so terribly boring when he doesn’t have a case that he needs to get high to get through the day. For those of you unfamiliar with the Holmes books, they’re told through the point of view of Sherlock’s roommate, Dr. Watson, who you come to find is probably the only living human being who can stand to live with the man.

The problem with Holmes is that it’s difficult to write a lengthy review on one of his novellas. They’re pretty self-explanatory, and I don’t know what else to say aside from telling you all to read it. The writing is wonderful, the characters are memorable, and the plot stands up to Doyle’s reputation.

I’ll have you know that I much rather preferred this novella as compared to the Holmes work done before hand, A Study in Scarlet. If you are going to read any of these works, which I hope you do, I suggest starting with this one. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading all of his pieces, but I know from those I have read, this is my favorite so far. I think you get a better appreciation for the characters and it’s a better representation for the rest of the works.

Holmes, if you’ve ever seen any of the films based on him, is a very fun character, the novellas are short enough to plow through in an afternoon, and the stories are exciting. All I can say is that there are no excuses for giving these books a try. It’s just enough to read between your books that are as thick as bricks, and really, who doesn’t love Sherlock Holmes?

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Review - Jane Eyre by Charlotte

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I wish to highly apologize to not only myself, but every other self-respecting reader out there. I am SORRY. I don’t know why I did it, but I did. I can’t apologize enough and I regret every moment of my life having done so.

I watched the newer movie version before I read the book.

Reading the book was inevitable, and SURPRISE! The movie ended up under the Christmas tree before I had my hands on the book, and I got bored one night. Don’t yell at me, just let me go on with my review and deal with it.

I was once told that Jane Eyre was something like Pride and Prejudice which excited me because PaP is one of my absolute favorite novels. Then I was told, in large numbers, that the two books had little in common at all, which confused me but made me want to read the book all the more.

Let’s start with a quick overview. Jane Eyre’s parents die, and she’s raised by one of those aunts you’d rather use as firewood. Aunt gets sick of Jane and sends her away to a school, where she’s raised as Plain Jane for the rest of her life until she’d old enough to leave. She gets a job as a governess at a large, imposing hall and finds out her employer is sort of a crack-pot.

This book wreaks of gothic lore and dark, shadowy places you’d prefer not to stick your hand into. This I loved. This is one of those books I’d use during my lecture concerning how stupid genres are. A lot of people, including, it seems, the movie director, would like to claim that this is a romance. Well if that’s the only tag you can give this book I feel extremely sad for you and I’d really rather you never touch a book again.

More people feel that the novel surrounds Jane’s romance with Rochester, which isn’t true. This is a nineteenth century biography of a girl who comes of age, finds herself, faces demons, and eventually finds love. I do agree with those who say this is a piece of literature that illustrates a strong degree of feminine independence. I highly doubt that in that age, a woman of Jane Eyre’s upbringing would be as brave and outspoken as she is in the novel. (I feel this is a reflection of Miss Brontë’s own beliefs at the time.)

I will try to write the rest of my review without saying, “I loved this book because I major in British Literature and this is the crap I dive into because I love it.”

I loved the mystery of this book. A lot happens in and around the house and to Jane that really pulled me in. I was so happy to find the novel wasn’t so romantic that I wanted to throw it to the wall. It was a very dark piece of literature with a witty twist in the end that really spoke of the horrors, and of the real face of the nineteenth century without the façade once presented.

I think this is a classic that a lot of people will enjoy, even if they don’t necessarily reach for the classics on their shelves. It’s a brick of a novel, which is wonderful anyway because I love a book that will take me a while to get through, but it is so worth it. If you want a break from the usual, please check this one out.

Really, I don’t know how to make this any clearer, aside from giving this its own paragraph. Do not assume you know what this book is about. I can’t tell you how many arrogant people have claimed to know exactly what happens in this book, and they’ve been horribly wrong. It sort of upsets me, because they’re usually the people who force something in my face. At least give it a chance, although you should do that for every book, eh…?

I also want to say I have this book in one of those sexy, Penguin clothbound editions. SEXY. I get high just frigging holding this book. I didn’t even have to read it to think it was awesome. This classic series just makes me want to squee.

Review: Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the first of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, 007 declares war on Le Chiffre, French communist and paymaster of the Soviet murder organization SMERSH.


The battle begins with a fifty-million-franc game of baccarat, gains momentum during Bond's fiery love affair with a sensuous lady spy, and reaches a chilling climax with fiendish torture at the hands of a master sadist. For incredible suspense, unexpected thrills, and extraordinary danger, nothing can beat James Bond in his inaugural adventure.

We all know James Bond. How can't you? Tall, handsome, sexy, brilliant, and an agent for the British Secret Service. Oh, yes, if you have been around in media at all for the past several decades, James Bond is no mystery name to you.

So, since I am a fan of Mr. Bond, what harm would come in reading the book from which he sprang? Nothing, I tell you! I buckled in for a wild ride, sat down and just... dug right into the first James Bond book...

And then I realized how bad the book is and why I'd rather watch the movies.

Honestly? Yes. Ian Fleming, the man who created James Bond, makes him lame. Really, really lame. I read a book about a man that was not special int he least and didn't invoke the least bit of shock or awe. Most of the book centered around a single poker game, a poker game that had no excitement at all and just created a large section of book in which I felt I might fall asleep. Wasn't Bond more fun than this? Had media made him exciting when Fleming, his creator could not?

And is it just me, or was Bond a pig? He put down women, when he wasn't thinking about having sex with them, and honestly didn't care whether or not Vesper lived or died. Beyond that, he didn't do much secret-agent stuff. He just looked like a fellow at the wrong place at the wrong time, who somehow struck it lucky in a few events, and then had to have a Russian bloke swoop in to save his life, and his man-jewels. He just didn't do anything that made me sit back and admire him.

I suggest this book for fans of Bond. If you can dedicate a day to him, then all the better. I read this book in a span of a few hours and was glad it didn't last much longer than that. I'm pretty sure there are more secret agent man books out there that would better satisfy me.

I'll end with a picture of Daniel Craig, though, being sexeh Bond...








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Review: Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This first of Jane Austen's published novels is the story of two starkly different English sisters: Elinor Dashwood, the epitome of prudence & self-control, and her younger, more impetuous sister Marianne, who embodies emotion, openness, & sheer enthusiasm.

Jane Austen has this ability to portray people at their very best, and at their very worse. So it is with her acclaimed novel, 'Sense and Sensibility.'



Portraying two sisters, two completely different sisters, rather, Austen paints a tale of false assumptions and loss of communication. There is a lack of common sense and a rarity of logical sensibility as lovers are bred, torn apart and thrown into a woe of unspeakable yet memorable romance that only Jane Austen could procure.



Jane Austen's writing style is just fantastic, and screams of all classic English can present but also simplifies the tone so that even the most commonplace reader might enjoy her craft. She tells the story of Miss Elinor and Miss Marianne Dashwood, two eligible and lovely ladies who each have their own ways of falling in love and each their own taste in men to catch them. As a variety of characters take the stage and several plots wind within each other to create a master tale, any reader can learn to appreciate the world of Jane Austen.



never believe quite what you are told by this lady writer. Miss Marianne quickly falls in love with Mr. Willoughby while her sister quietly develops affection for a young Mr. Ferrars. Family's dispute over money and rank, the amiable Colonel Brandon stays back stage to admire the woman he loves. Neighbors and cousins rush to and fro across the play to sometimes improve upon the story and other times tear it asunder.



Her fans will easily recognize this tale for being completely and truly her own, while other readers will pick up this book and fall in love with her for the first time. As a classic, it is hard for me not to just hand off the book and command for you to read it.





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