Me Like to Read: Review - Wuthering Heights

OK. This review will be soooo biased and soooo long because I luuuuuuurrrrrrvvvvv Wuthering Heights. I read it for the first time in college and I read it maybe every two years. Every time I come back to it, I get angry for six hundred some odd pages and then! Like lightning! I remember that bad people come to bad ends and all gets to be right in the world.

Let the review commence.

It's the story of Heathcliff, an orphan who is found and housed by the generous Mr. Earnshaw. Heathcliff is brought to Wuthering Heights - the Earnshaw home - and treated not as a servant but as one of the children. He is despised by the boy, Hindley, but adored by the daughter, Catherine. Years pass, Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley comes home to claim his inheritance including Wuthering Heights and all of the generosity shown to Heathcliff for so many years is stripped away.

Now a servant, Heathcliff struggles to accept that his best friend and lover (in old English terms) Catherine could so easily move on without him in her life. She quickly finds herself reformed and haughty and begins to treat Heathcliff with the same disdain that everyone else in life treats him. One night, while sitting at the table with her housekeeper Nelly, Catherine reflects on the wedding proposal she's received from the local boy, Edgar Linton. She knows that she doesn't love him and that Heathcliff despises him, but in only caring for her comfort she tells Nelly that she accepted the proposal. Heathcliff is sitting just a few feet away and upon hearing the news steals out into the night, leaving Wuthering Heights for good.

This is the part of the book where I inevitably say things like, "Grrr! I hate Catherine! She's a man ruin-er!!!"

Five years later, Heathcliff comes strolling through bringing with him an untold amount of wealth. Hindley has become a gambling alcoholic and is now ripe for the picking. Catherine is living the good life over at Thrushcross Grange - her home with Edgar. Heathcliff stops by and Catherine acts like a 14-year-old girl - totally silly and infatuated. Heathcliff refuses to live without her and they hide their affections from no one. Because she won't leave Edgar and Heathcliff has become a vindictive jerk, he asks her young sister-in-law, Isabella Linton, to marry him. This way, he's a part of the family and can be near Catherine by proxy.

What he didn't count on was Isabella having the good sense to figure out that he didn't really love her and Edgar forbidding Isabella - or anyone in her household - to come to Thrushcross Grange again. Betrayal makes people do and say funny things, doesn't it? Catherine goes stark raving mad. I say she's just a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum but everyone in the book believes that she has some sort of mental illness. Heathcliff plants himself outside her house day after day until he can convince Nelly to let him in to see Catherine. Upon his arrival, Catherine acts a damned fool and refuses to let him leave, even as Edgar ascends the stairs to check on her progress.

Heathcliff pushes her way for the last time and later that night her daughter (also named Catherine but hereby called Cathy) is born 2 months premature. Catherine dies in the process. Edgar prays for peace and Heathcliff prays to be haunted. They both get what they ask for. Isabella runs away from Wuthering Heights which is currently being run by Heathcliff although no one can figure out how he managed to finagle control from Hindley. Word gets out that she too has a child, a son that she names Linton - her maiden name.

Time passes and Isabella goes with it. Heathcliff claims his right to his son Linton and he puts the world's most diabolic plan in to motion all to get back at the man that had the audacity to love and marry his beloved Catherine. Young Cathy is forced to marry her first cousin, Linton, because both he and her father are deathly ill and Heathcliff has taken care to make sure that her father dies first ensuring that she inherits everything. Then when his son dies, he will own all of the Linton's property. Cathy inherited nothing from her mother except for her dark, piercing eyes and her fiery temper. As a woman in the late 1700s and early 1800s, she knows that she's at his mercy but refuses to cow tow to him.

She makes peace with her circumstance and spends her time disobeying Heathcliff while staying firmly out of his reach and helping Hareton - her other cousin - learn to read. It's when Heathcliff walks in on the two of them reading by the fire that he realizes that all his years of plotting and planning revenge still couldn't dampen the happiness of those who sought it. He starts to go crazy and his ever-present scowl is replaced by a permanent and even more menacing grin. For four days he refuses to eat or spend time with anyone around him. He also never writes a will.

When they see him next, he is found on the floor of Catherine's childhood room in Wuthering Heights grinning like the devil and pale as a ghost. All of Wuthering Heights is given back to it's rightful heir and true love blossoms for those who have cultivated it. Thrushcross Grange is abandoned. No one will go down there at night where Catherine is buried with her husband Edgar to her left and her beloved Heathcliff to her right. No one will go down there because - as legend tells it - you can still find Mr. Heathcliff walking among the moors... with a beautiful woman on his arm.

Me Like To Read - Review: 'Til Somebody Loves You

'Til Somebody Loves You by Dee DeTarsio was a complete waste of my time. I don't care what any of these people say.

This is the story of Mary Beth, a copy editor for a marketing firm, and her obsession with Dean Dineno (say that three times fast!), the star salesman. Now, the novel is categorized as a Romantic Comedy and that is made painfully obvious through the events that occur. However, I feel like the author could have should have put more effort into building her characters.

Mary Beth is supposed to be a small town, Midwestern girl that's thrust into the fast life of the big city. But anyone who's ever been to Chicago knows that it ain't New York and she could have found her footing just fine. Her best friend who tells it like it is only shows up twice and not to tell it like it is but to mock Mary Beth. And Mr. Dineno a.k.a. Prince Charming is someone that we know nothing about because Mary Beth knows nothing about him. Except he always greets her when he sees her and she's only ever managed to say, "Ham". Oh! and he's dating the boss.

Mary Beth finds that she's been made charter on a new fragrance being pushed by an unnamed rock star. The fragrance will be called "Rapunzel" and she somehow, by the grace of God, has to make it work. After getting stuck in a myriad of hair related slogans she decides to read the ingredients and discovers that "Ph-ux" is a new, top-secret pheromone that supposedly makes Rapunzel different from everything else on the market. Yeah. Ph-ux. Because Ms. DeTarsio is super creative.

Alone in the office - or so she thinks - Mary Beth dabs on some Rapunzel cranks up the Dean Martin tunes these are the details that make me groan and starts to dance carelessly. It's actually a really cute scene. This is how Dino finds her and he is so smitten that he whisks her away - shoeless - to a cab. That they take. To her house. Where they engage in an "orgiastic hootenanny". Until she wakes up alone and he acts like she slipped him a roofie.

She's convinced that the Rapunzel is what changed her life. She gives herself no credit and sinks into even deeper despair when Dino acts like a chode. Her boss takes the Rapunzel and she comes in with the same swagger that Mary Beth carried for so many days before. The three of them (Mary Beth, Dino, and his girlfriend the boss) get stuck in an elevator on page 116. The shenanigans that ensue had me laughing out loud for the first time and our damsel in distress reaches deep down to become the hero.

All in all, the book was free so I guess I got what I paid for.

Me Like To Read - Review: There's Cake in My Future

Hooray for Chick Lit!

There's Cake in My Future by Kim Gruenenfelder is a story about Nicole (Nic) who has finally met the perfect man and is getting married. Even though she lives in California, she holds tight to the Southern tradition of the bridal shower "cake pull". The charm that's pulled will bring the recipient the magical assistance she needs to change her destiny.

She's rigged the cake so that she and her two best friends get exactly what they need from the universe. Melissa (Mel) will get the engagement ring because after six years with the same man she deserves to get married. Seema will get the chili pepper to give her the courage to spice things up with her best friend Scott and get out of the "friend zone". And for herself, Nic has planted the shovel, which denotes hard work, hoping that it will help her get re-employed after a round of layoffs.

But somehow the cake gets shifted and no one pulls the charm Nic has designated for them. When the other party guests' fortunes begin to come true, Nic, Mel and Seema get hyper vigilant (and super worried) about their own destinies. The best line in the whole book comes from Nic's new step daughter, "Suck it up, grow a pair, and let's go!".

It was fun watching the girls iron out the wrinkles of their lives and I felt like I was reading about me and my own friends. I encourage you to sit down with this easy read. Especially, if you just want to clear you mind and have a few laughs.

Me Like to Read - Review: Heat Wave

I finished Heat Wave by Richard Castle and I give it 3.5 stars.

A real estate mogul jumps is thrown from his penthouse apartment in New York and leaves his twenty-something trophy wife and pre-K son to grieve him. We find out that the Mrs. is really mourning the fact that he left her nothing because he gambled it all away or spent it on other women. You want to accuse her of the crime because her past is shady. Like stripper poles and rich old men shady. But then she's attacked, so, you know.

There's the accountant that kept meticulous books but always did what his employer wanted. A whole lotta thugs that find convenient alibis in each other and bad people doing bad things. But then... wait for it!... a heat wave hits and causes a blackout in the city. (insert gasp). Things go missing. And just when you think you have it figured out you don't (unless you do) because the writer has decided that you don't need important pieces of information that connects the characters to each other.

The book itself (and all its sequels) were written by a ghostwriter hired by ABC because they wanted to support the series "Castle". Thank God! Because the book was written in an annoying way that dragged me through the streets of New York and made me feel like a tourist. Really, it should have come with a map. Add to that the offhanded attempts at humor (Detectives Ochoa and Raley are affectionately nicknamed "Roach" because... well, just because. I swear man humor is retarded.), the absurdity of the circumstances, and the ridiculousness of trying to have an A, B and C storyline in less than 200 pages and you can see why this book made my head hurt much like the show does on the nights when I wake up on the couch to find it grinding into my subconcious. But if you're a guy? You'll love this book. It has sex, crime, stupid jokes, and just enough pages to keep you intersted to the end. Ladies can pass.

It is, however, the most elaborate marketing scheme since Chris Gaines and since we all know how that ended, I say "Bravo!" to ABC for making this one work. And apparently, they're doing a good enough job at it because they keep pushing out New York Times Bestsellers.

Me Like To Read - Review: Mini Shopaholic

Writer's Block.

That's what has kept me from writing a review on a book that I finished over a week ago.

I want to say that I'm at a loss for words because everything in my life is so crazy that I can't find time to sit let alone write about a piece of nonfiction. But the reality is that I have nothing to say about this book because I was so absolutely bored by it.



Snagged from Miss Kinsella's website


In Mini Shopaholic, our heroine - Rebecca Brandon (nee' Bloomwood) is now 29. We've watched her pay off her debt, take on Manhattan, fall in love, find her lost sister, get married and have a baby. After all of that, I expect Becky to have learned something - ANYTHING - about how to handle her money but she hasn't.

I'll admit that this book feels like it was rushed for money. Becky exhibits no more discipline over her life than she did when she was still living in Suze's apartment. All the years that she's been with Luke and she still takes him for granted. I read in horror as she continued to spend like a sieve and get offended when challenged to wear everything she currently owned at least once before buying anything new.

It upset me that she exhibited no control over her child and instead made excuses about how she was simply "spirited" and "normal" and quite possibly a genius when really Minnie is just out of control. So much time is spent scheming on ways to convince Luke to have another child so that she can go and buy more things. I know it's just a book but I was still sickened by her insatiable materialism. Becky is clearly an addict... but no one in her life cares enough to tell her.

There's also the continued theme of lies and fabrications. Becky has told her parents that she, Luke and their daughter will be moving into their own home. Yes, the three of them (and aaaaallllllll of Becky's stuff) have taken up every nook and cranny in her parents home for the last two years and finally declares that they have found their own place. Except they haven't because the deal fell through. But instead of being honest, Becky insists on her fantasy that they can drive around in the moving truck and pull up to a magically available flat. She won't admit the truth of the situation because she's too busy pouting about how her parents are thrilled for her to be moving out instead of begging her to stay.

In the end, she is rescued from her foolishness by - here's the twist - people that love Luke. Everything works out in the end not because they can't stand to see her fail but because Luke deserves so much more. Even Rebecca stands in awe at the lengths that individuals go to see her husband happy. That message spoke to me and let's hope that when Becky embarks on her next journey she takes that message with her.

Me Like to Read - Reviewing the Millennium Trilogy Series

It's only the tenth day of the year and I have 5 books under my belt. This challenge has been both the best and worst thing to happen to me this year. It's the best because it's taken me back into the world of literature that I love so much. It's the worst because I forgot how single-minded I can be when engrossed in a good book.

I have recently finished the Millennium Trilogy Series written by Steig Larsson. Collectively, it's one of the best series I've read in a long time. For the purpose of the reading challenge, I will only count one of them toward the 26 books I committed to read this year because I feel like doing otherwise would be cheating. But I will be reviewing them all separately.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first installment of the Millennium Trilogy. It centers around Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who finds himself disgraced when he publishes a story that he can't verify. He refuses to fight against the corrupt financier who has tarnished his name and has all but given up on his profession when he's hired to write a billionaire's biography. The trick is that the billionaire really wants him to find his niece who went missing almost 40 years ago.

Mikael takes on the task with the promise of five million dollars if he succeeds. He knows that he can't do it alone and requests the aid of one of the world's finest hackers - Lisbeth Salander. Together they unearth a secret that Mikael can't tell and Lisbeth won't let go unpunished. You find that Lisbeth is a lot disturbed but when you see the kind of people who have been pushed into her life you understand why.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a full-on adrenaline rush. It's filled with dark twists and demands your full attention at all times. The only draw back is that it includes so much violence against women. So much so that it - at times - vexed my spirit.

The Girl Who Played with Fire

The second book in the Millennium Trilogy is - like in trilogies - the best. Mikael has exacted his revenge and Lisbeth is trying to go back to the person she was before she started to care about anyone that wasn't herself. While she's in the midst of finding her way, she lands smack dab in the middle of Mikael's next big story - sex trafficking.

They find that they are both hunting the same person and share the same source except Lis is accused of murdering him and Mikael's not. She goes on the lam as she focuses more on finding the bastard who really committed the crime and less on clearing her own name. Mikael puts all of his energy into the latter if only because the Lisbeth Salander he knows is one very different from the one the government is hunting.

It's a high-octane ride that's good from the first page to the last. The Girl Who Played with Fire had me gasping out loud and forgetting that the events weren't real. It weaves it way through one of the best kept secrets in the Swedish government and proves how far a country will go to save its global reputation.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

This last book starts with Lisbeth being air lifted to the hospital alongside her nemesis. She's finally been captured by the state and they have no intention of letting her go unless Mikael can prove that she is innocent of the crimes. While Lis is still the star of the book, there's not much she can do as a ward of the state and we are left to put all of our hopes in the lap of Mikael Blomkvist. He knows two things for sure: 1) Lisbeth Salander didn't commit the crimes and 2) he might die trying to prove it.

There are a number of new characters introduced in the first hundred or so pages. I counted two doctors, six police officers and an entirely new entity called "The Section". Being force fed so much new information made it hard to enjoy the book and there was really no action until page 125. I felt like I was on an emotional roller coaster as the plot would take me to the peak of action and then let me free fall into boredom.

All in all, I was utterly moved by the amount of people who wanted to help Lisbeth simply because they knew it was the right thing to do. The characters were all smart enough to pick up on the goodness in her soul despite her eccentricities. At times it was hard to accept that all of the bad characters were coming to a bad end but I guess that's what fiction is all about.

In the end, Lisbeth finds herself wrestling with her own reality. She can't believe that she has feelings, friends, and freedom. It's a place that I'm sure we've found ourselves in at one time or another and it's the first time that any part of her adventure actually seemed real.

Me Like To Read - First Review: Room by Emma Donaghue

So, let me just say that taking this challenge is probably the best decision I made in 2010.

I've already read 3 whole books, am in the middle of this one and put it aside for this one.

The deal is that I have to write a review of each book read and link that post to the challenge blog.

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know that this is unlikely to last. I will do my best to tell you about each book but with my Nook, I'm now collecting and blazing through them so fast it's unreal.

I promise to give this whole review thing my best shot. And with that, I present to you the review for the first book I completed for the challenge: Room by Emma Donaghue.

Ed note: Click the link for the title, read Audrey Niffenegger's assessment and embrace it. Right now, you're questioning how she could come to that conclusion; I know that I did. But once I finished Room I understood.

Room is told completely through Jack, the five-year-old son of a woman who was kidnapped and imprisoned by a sexual predator. His mother, Ma, lives everyday in angst hoping and wishing for freedom while Jack spends everyday waiting for his friends to show up on t.v. He doesn't understand why Ma is sometimes "gone", he just knows that those days are the days he has to fend for himself and make his own meals and keep to his rigid schedule.

He knows that Old Nick is bad because that's what Ma told him but he doesn't know why. Jack understands that he is supposed to be asleep in the wardrobe when Old Nick comes around but sometimes he's awake and counts the creaks. One time he participates in some mischief that ends up causing his mother pain. He tells her that he's sorry and she says that she knows, but even at five Jack knows that its not the same as it being OK or being forgiven.

When Old Nick gives Ma some terrifying news, she panics and forgets her role as hostage. It's only after they find themselves at the mercy of Old Nick's whims that she puts together a plan for escape. Only it relies entirely on Jack who has never spoken to anyone expect for Ma and thinks it would be much better to try when he's six.

This is a story that goes inside the life of a captee and their child. It's an angle that's never been covered by any media outlet. Reading Room took me outside of my realm of comfort where I safely shake my head and freely voice my disdain for the people in this world who cause suffering to others. It took me to a place of deeper understanding for the victims - especially the ones that don't know they are.

Who Said Holidays Are Relaxing?

This past holiday weekend was eventful even though I didn't do much.

Thursday, I sat at work and prayed, hoped, and wished on freshly fallen snow that they would let us go home early. They did not. Which is ok. I went and had family Christmas where I gots my Nook! The gift exchange was awesome. We all got our annual Christmas pajamas and even Mr. T had a good time.

Later that night I met Averi and her hubs at our favorite watering hole.

Sidebar: This is the first time I've met hubs. He's a prior Marine and good Lord is he a hugger! Major hugs! Apparently, Av has nothing but good things to say about me and so he felt like he knew me. Except for the part about personal space. He must've missed that.

But we passed up a Christmas Eve's Eve concert to just drink beers and shoot some pool. Only Av started drinking beers at 8p and I was with the fam until a little after 10p. Which is totally her fault because originally we weren't supposed to meet until 11p. You can see how I was actually early and not late as she tried to bill it. But we shoot a few games. I'm preoccupied, Av is talking to everyone that she makes eye contact with and the Marine is looking tired.

We grab a bite to eat at a local diner that I lived across the street from for FIVE YEARS but never knew existed. Go figure! The food is good and the pancakes are humongous (they call them "manhole covers"). There was a serious conversation about having more than one child. The Marine thinks that you can't love more than one child; its not possible. Av was drunk so we won't talk about what she thinks. But I tried to help him see that you can love each child the way they need. It is haaaaaaaaaaaaaaard being sober when everyone else is lit! Reasonable conversations take a dark, twisty turn for no reason. I was told way too much info about his family that shall not be disclosed because... DAMN!

Friday I sat at home and cleaned half of what I own. Taking on the whole apartment just seemed like too much. I also waited until 9:15p to decide that I was hungry and that nothing in my house would do. Which resulted in Donatos because they were the only ones open. I paid $2.95 for a side salad. I can't even use an exclamation point because its just so damn sad.

Christmas Day I put on my holiday jammies and met with some of my favorite ladies for a gift exchange. Just super cute small stuff. We also allow a Yankee swap of things you got from friends/family earlier in the day that you just can't stand to keep. I took some things that I'd won at various other parties since the summer. I mean, how many lotions and body washes does a girl need?


Sunday was my Fundaaaaaaayy! I watched my beloved Bengals play without distraction (ahem! T. O. & Ocho) and win against the Chargers! WHO DEY! I went with my birthday buddy who is an avid Chargers fan and a sore loser. It was all extra special because I'd never seen the Bengals win before. *queue tear drops*
Pic found here

Monday, I stayed home and did nothing... at all... except  read. And walk the dog. It was a spectacular plan really. I was supposed to meet Nat at my mom's around 10p but I dutifully fell asleep on my futon around 9:30. TV was just that boring.

So there you have it. My holiday weekend was way more exciting than I had planned on it being and I enjoyed every minute of it. There was no pressure to please anyone or do anything "seasonal" and I think that's what made it so fine.

P. S. - Who dey? Who dey? Who think they gonna beat them BENGALS!!!!!

What I'm Reading

I guess it's time to share with you my plans for children. Why not, right? It's currently on my facebook page and most of my friends know (and support me fully!).

For those of you who don't know, I want nothing more than to be a mother and I've been doing my research…

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