The Count of Monte Cristo

"The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas

The story begins with 19 year old Edmond Dantès on top of the world. He is about to be married and he is to be captain of his own ship. However, jealousy among his acquaintances cause them to sabotage the life coming his way. He is framed for being a Napoleon supporter. His judge has political reasons to continue the treachery. Edmond winds up in prison for the next 14 years.

Edmond's prison mate just happens to know where untold riches have been buried so long the world has forgotten them. He's also a Italian scholar who educates Edmond. Then circumstances allow Edmond to escape and claim the treasure. All of the players from his betrayal have left Marseilles and gone to Paris. They have also gotten rich. After roaming the earth for a spell, Edmond assumes the title "Count of Monte Cristo" and follows where he begins a campaign of revenge.

This book has every thing: love, murder, revenge, betrayal. But it's completely implausible. Every step of the way, things just fall into place to accommodate the Count. If he needs a murderous wife, she's there. If he needs a secret passage, it's there. If he needs a witness, it's there. (If his lucky star shined that brightly he'd have never gone to prison in the first place). It is over-the-top melodrama.

That being said, it's still a captivating book. The characters are so black and white you can predict most of it (but not all--I did have one big surprise from it)but it's easy to get swept up in. I recommend it to anyone who wants an adventurous escape.

Great Expectations

"Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens

Pip is an young boy living with his sister and her husband after the deaths of both his parents. He expects to be apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Joe, to be a blacksmith. After a while, a lawyer comes to him with startling news. A "Secret Santa" is going to sponsor him to learn to be a gentleman. But he must never question who. The sponsor will show himself at his own convenience.

I have decided to read all the books my book club read before I joined and this was one of them. My first Charles Dickens and I loved it. I read it in two days. I wish I'd been in on the discussions with the book club. Anyway someone has nominated "Bleak House" for our next season of books and I'm all for it. I want another Dickens.

Vanity Fair

"Vanity Fair" by William Makepeace Thackeray

"I think I could be a good woman, if I had five thousand a year."

So says Becky Sharp, one of the most cunning characters in literature. Set in the Victorian Age, "Vanity Fair" tells of the Crawley, Osborne and Sedley familys. The book begins as Rebecca Sharp and her best friend/rival leave boarding school. Becky's ambition leads her into marriage with Rawdon Crawley. Amelia marries George Osburn. Crawley makes his living by gambling. Osborne is in the army and is disinheirited after he marries Amelia. This is because Amelia's father lost all his money and this makes Amelia no longer good enough for George.

It's a soap opera, folks. But it's highly entertaining. Thackeray goes off tangent sometimes (often) but the narrative is an easy read.

Black and Blue

"Black and Blue" by Anna Quindlen

The first tome my husband hit me I was 19 years old.

So begins a story as frightening as anything Poe or King ever wrote. Fran has been married for 18 years. Her husband is a policeman who brings his frustrations home. He follows the typical pattern of hitting where the bruises will stay hidden. And Fran helps keep the secret until she realizes her young son is being harmed in another way.

So with the help of an underground organization who help women escape abusive husbands, Fran and her son move to Florida in a kind of domestic witness protection program. Now Fran and her son must learn to live a new life without revealing their old life.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde

Basil Hallward has found his greatest artistic inspiration in a young man named
Dorian Gray. While painting Dorian one day, his friend Lord Henry Wotton expains his philosophy of life to Dorian. That is, the persuit of beauty. Dorian embraces this philosophy and wishes his painting would age instead of him. Wish granted. As time goes on and Dorian slips further down into debauchery and hedonism, his painting begins to show the tell-tale signs of the corruption of his soul.

The Vicar of Wakefield

"The Vicar of Wakefield" by Oliver Goldsmith

Straight from Wikipedia:
The Vicar of Wakefield is a novel by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith. It was written in 1761 and 1762, and published in 1766. It is briefly mentioned in George Eliot's Middlemarch, Jane Austen's Emma, Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Charlotte Brontë's The Professor, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther as well as his Dichtung und Wahrheit. It is also mentioned in Dan Simmons's The Terror as a book brought along on the ill-fated Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin, which the book takes as its source. (In actual fact a copy was found near some skeletons of the last surviving members of the expedition.)

This book was considered a "sentimental novel" and seems to have been popular. Life for the Reverened takes a turn for the worse. And things continue to get steadily worse and worse as time goes on. But the Reverend Primrose is an optimistic man who believes in the goodness of others and refuses to let his troubles dampen his spirit. It's a simple little book that tries to send the message that life is good.

Just Noticed Something

BookAwardsChallenge

I picked out 17 books for my challenge. I've already read 3 of them. Trouble is, I got it into my head the challenge started June 1st. Nope...wrong!!! It starts July 1st. So I guess my list is down to 14 books. Oh, well. I enjoyed all three books, so I won't be complaining.