The Castle has been Captured!

One of the best things about book blogs, aside from getting to know like-minded people, are the book blogger recommendations. I have read numerous books that I wouldn't have picked up otherwise. For example, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (352 pgs, St. Martin's Press, 1948) is a book that I had not only never heard of, but I'm pretty sure I would never had even considered reading if it hadn't been for a review I read from Nymeth. Aside from the whole Tender Morsels ordeal (LOL), she has never disappointed. And I have to say, I fell in love with this book from the opening chapter! I'm using this as a selection for the What's in a Name II Challenge.

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. That is, my feet are in it; the rest of me is on the draining-board, which I have padded with our dog's blanket and the tea-cozy. I can't say that I am really comfortable, and there is the depressing smell of carbolic soap, but this is the only part of the kitchen where there is any daylight left. And I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring -- I wrote my very best poem while sitting on the hen-house.

This is the story of the Mortmain family, in all their wonderful eccentricity. It is told by Cassandra Mortmain, youngest girl of the family, and aspiring writer, as she tries to "capture the castle". She lives with her family in an old English castle. The father, known only as Mortmain, was a famous writer. His one novel, was very successful, especially in the United States. But he has been suffering from writer's block every since....and is a tad bit on the crazy side. With no income for years, the family is basically dirt poor, having sold off all their valuable possessions just to have enough food to live on. They live with Mortain's second wife, Topaz, an artist's model and extremely free-spirit who exists only to be her husband's muse. And hasn't been able to accomplish it. The eldest sister, Rose, is self-centered at best. She hates being poor. Hates it with a passion, and would do just about anything to marry someone with money. Youngest child, Thomas, is just a schoolboy, but remarkable insightful. And rounding out the motley bunch, is Stephen. Stephen is the son of their former housekeeper. When she passed away, Stephen stayed on with the family. He's exceptionally handsome, though Cassandra finds him a bit "daft" (of course, he thinks the sun rises and sets on her!)

Things change very little in the Mortmain castle until the day the Cotton's move into Scoatney. The Cotton's are Americans who have inherited the estate, and with that become the new landlords to the Mortmains. Simon, as the eldest brother, is the actual heir to the land and in essence, the "wealthy" one. Neil, the younger more carefree brother wants to return to America to become a cattle rancher. Rose, in her desperation to get out of the poverty that has struck her family, decides that she is hopelessly in love with Simon and will do just about anything to get him to propose to her. And since Simon is rather scholarly, he and his mother are taken with Mortmain. Fans of his writing, they try to get him over his writer's block.

The story is told in journal format by Cassandra, who is sweet and gentle and kind. She's also smart as a whip and devoted to her family. Cassandra, in a word, is delightful! I usually tend to root for the more brash characters. But there is just something so endearing about Cassandra. "And that was all she ever did talk about it -- that was almost the worst part of the gloom, our not talking naturally. Never have I felt so separate from her. And I regret to say that there were moments when my deep and loving pity for her merged into a desire to kick her fairly hard. For she is a girl who cannot walk her troubles off, or work them off; she is a girl to sit around and glare." "That evening of the row was our lowest depths; miserable people cannot afford to dislike each other. Cruel blows of fate call for extreme kindness in the family circle." Cassandra is level-headed and wise beyond her years. She is charming and refreshingly honest in all her writings.

Rose drove me crazy though. She is vain and self-centered and annoying. And even though she tried to justify that her marrying Simon would help the family as a whole, she really was in it only for herself. She was obnoxious and the type of woman that sat back waiting for someone to give her something. The Cinderella waiting to be rescued by the Prince, instead of the Belle, who was out there doing the rescuing. And that just drove me crazy! But, in truth, it's how the character is written and Smith definitely did a great job in making me dislike her immensely!

Each character was so thoroughly fleshed out. It's like you actually knew the people that were being written about. And you cared what happened to them. I can't remember the last time I was so taken with the characters in a book. And I can't even begin to pick a favorite. Aside from Rose, each character has some strange but endearing qualities. And I loved them all!! A timeless story that will last forever, this is one book that I'm truly a better person for having read! Thank you, Nymeth!! A 100% definite 5-Star Rating!!! Will surely land on my list of favorite novels! 5/5

Challenges for the New Year

OK. I admit it. I'm addicted to challenges. Not so much the finishing, because I haven't really done that well in actually finishing the challenges. Nope. I'm addicted to signing up for them!! I told myself last year that I would be good and stop joining them. But one look at A Novel Challenge, and all that went straight out the window! I knew there were a few I would join...I just didn't realize the sheer amount of challenges out there right now!! So here is my official Challenge post. Don't let it fool you.....I'm sure there are a lot more challenges that will end up with my name in a Mr. Linky somewhere!

Dewey's Books Reading Challenge is one that I knew I would join. Hosted by my friend Chris at Stuff Dreams are Made On and Robin at A Fondness for Reading, this challenge seemed like a nice way to honor Dewey, whose loss was felt across the blogging world last month. This challenge has it's own blog, and runs from Jan. 1st through the end of the year. The main point in this challenge is to read books that Dewey read and reviewed. I think the official number is 5 from any year, so we'll run with that option. Here's my list. And just for the record, I reserve the right to change this list!!

• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichu
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
• Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones
• Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
• When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

There is an extra one on the list, but this is as far as I could make cuts in my original list!!

Since Annie announced this challenge so many months ago, I've been planning on joining. But work and life has kept me from posting a lot, and it just kind of slipped my mind...until now. This is Part II of the What's in a Name? Reading Challenge (I think for part one, I only read 1/2. I'm definitely going to try to finish this one in 2009!)

Beginning January 1st and running through Dec. 31st of 2009, the challenge is to read one book from each of the 6 categories that Annie has chosen. There is a blog also dedicated for this challenge. Cool new categories for the New Year:

A book with a "profession" in its title: The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta or The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
A book with a "time of day" in its title: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
A book with a "relative" in its title: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
A book with a "body part" in its title: Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood or Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
A book with a "building" in its title: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith or House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewsi
A book with a "medical condition" in its title: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (ok...that might be pushing a medical condition. This one was tough!!) or Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier


Holy Cow. A NEIL GAIMAN Challenge??? Ok. I can NOT resist that one!! I mean, come on. My newest favorite author?? I've read most of his novels, but this will give me a chance to expand my Gaiman horizons. The Dream King Challenge is hosted by Jessi from Casual Dread. The challenge will run from January 1 to December 31st 2009. There is even a challenge blog! You can choose your level of participation:

Neophyte: Read one work and watch one movie
Acolyte: Read three works (from three different categories) and watch one movie
Devotee: Read six works (from six different categories) and watch one movie
Zealot: Read twelve works (from at least six different categories) and watch one movie

This will be ongoing for me. I'm not setting a reading list. I'd love to hit the Zealot level, but a lot will do with the availability of The Sandman books. I can't afford to buy them all....so we'll see where this leads us.


Next, is the 2009 ARC Reading Challenge. Hosted by the lovely Teddy Rose from So Many Precious Books, So Little Time, this challenge is to read ARC's. And yes, I have a stack to finish right now! The challenge is to read 12, but you have to keep adding the ARC's you receive throughout the year. I have a feeling, I will have way more than 12 to get through before the year is up!!

Here is a partial list right now:

• Eclipse by Richard North Patterson
• Wicked Game by Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush
• North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Hedley
• The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
• A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff

The World Citizen Challenge 2009 is hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair.

"There are a ton of challenges focused on almost every aspect of fiction imaginable, but not very many on non-fiction. So, hopefully all of
those with ‘inner bookworms’ (as Bybee calls it)guilt-tripping you for not reading enough non-fiction will be interested. And, of course, all of you who
love non-fiction should be perking up too! I struggled with what to call this challenge, but I finally decided on World Citizen. That’s because, in this day and age, it’s important for all of us to know something about the world around us"

There are several levels of participation:

The Prospie Level - This is for those of you with no time to read another book, but who still want to do something. There will be a different mini-challenge each month of the challenge, and all you have to do to be a prospie is say you want to participate in at least one of them. There will be prizes!

The Auditor Level - For this level, you just need to declare your interest in the challenge. Anything else you might want to do: the mini-challenges, making a list of potential books, participating in the discussions, etc. is completely up to you. Maybe you want to commit to reading a newspaper or magazine instead of a book-go for it.

The World Citizenship 101 Level - For this level, you need to commit to one book.

The Minor Level - For this level, you need to commit to three books, from at least two different categories (listed on the post about the challenge).

The Major Level - For this level, you need to commit to five books, from at least three different categories.

The Postgraduate Level - For this level, you need to commit to seven books, including one book from each category.

Categories include politics, history, economics, culture or
anthropology/sociology, Worldwide issues, memoirs/autobiographies. My list for this will be sometime this weekend!!

Not so much a challenge as an experience, is Carl's Sci-Fi Experience 2009. It runs for January and February of 2009. No level of commitment or lists needed. Just a chance to enjoy a little science fiction. Personally, there are some short stories I really want to read for this one. Besides, the button is rather righteous, don't you think?? Lots of fun to be had whenever Carl hosts anything!!

That's it for now. There are still a few others I want to join....The Year of Reading Dangerously, The 2009 TBR Challenge, 2009 YA Challenge, The Diversity Rocks Challenge, Graphic Novels Challenge and the Orbis Terrarum 2009 Challenge. I'm just saving them for another post!!

Later!