. . . And Death Will Seize the Doctor, Too by Jeremiah Swanson

 . . . And Death Will Seize the Doctor, Too by Jeremiah Swanson

Publisher: Jeremiah H. Swanson (May 2014)

493 pages, eBook (provided by Author for review)

Book Rating: 4 Stars

Content Note: Includes Swearing, Sexual Situations, and Graphic Violence

Christian has the power to trade one life for another with the touch of his hand, taking one life only to give it to someone else. He tries to use his abilities for good, but as things move along, the distinction between what is right and wrong, good and bad, becomes complex. Though this story centers around Christian and his unique gifts, we meet others along the way that have their own distinct supernatural talents, and it gave the story a bit of a superhero comic book feel at times as a variety of supernatural powers swirled around each other. The book begins working with three different storylines (two set in different points in the past, while one is set in the present), and I found the movement between the different points on the timeline a bit disorienting, but once things started coming together and all the storylines moved into the present, I can truly say I thought it was worth the wait. Great Read!

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Publisher: Starbooks Classics Publishing (2013)

325 pages, eBook (Purchased Myself for $1.99)

Book Rating: 4 Stars

Content Ratings:

Violence: Mild-Moderate-Brutal

Swearing: Clean-Light-Filthy

Sexual Content: White-Pink-Red

Summary:

After the death of their father, the Dashwood girls (Elinor, Marianne and Margaret) along with their mother are forced to leave the only home they had ever know to the possession of a half-brother and take up residence in a small cottage on a greatly reduced income, their lack of fortune interfering with the romantic prospects of the two eldest girls.

My Thoughts:

This was the first Jane Austen book I ever read. I was first introduced to it by an English teacher in 10th grade, and it marked the beginning of my love of reading and opened up the world of the classics to me in a way that I will never forget. This is the third time I’ve read it, and I was struck by how little dialogue it contains. Much of it was told through narration, much like a story would be told to you by a person passing along a good bit of gossip. Of Jane Austen’s stories, I believe this one to be the most realistic and its ending to be least like a fairy tale. This whole idea of hiding one’s feelings in conjunction with the guarded nature of conversation via the rules of proper behavior at the time, that is so central to the story, I don’t think plays well with modern society . . . or maybe it’s just me, but by the end I was quite disgusted with the notion. So many people were so unhappy and all they need do was sit down and have a real conversation for once. I think of all the central characters, Colonel Brandon comes off by far and away as the best and most interesting of the bunch, and it was hard to see him suffer through so much of it. And despite the females in the story thinking better of Willoughby in the end for his sob story, I still find him a rogue and have little sympathy for him.

Edition Notes:

This Starbooks Special Illustrated Edition with Literary History and Criticism is the best ebook version of Sense and Sensibility that I’ve found. It is organized for optimum maneuverability, is prettily arranged, very readable, includes illustrations by the Brock brothers combining the illustrations from their various editions, and includes the literary history and criticism section from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. My only complaint with this edition is that the illustrations often were not opposite the passage they illustrated, and they would often pop up now and then, seemingly out of the blue. 

Cover Art Favorites:

Quotes:

“—his will was read, and like almost every other will, gave as much disappointment as pleasure.” -Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“she had had no opportunity, till the present, of shewing them with how little attention to the comfort of other people she could act when occasion required it.” -Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“On every formal visit a child ought to be of the party, by way of provision for discourse.” -Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“When is a man to be safe from such wit, if age and infirmity will not protect him?” -Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“Is there a felicity in the world—superior to this?” -Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“—just the kind of man—whom every body speaks well of, and nobody cares about; whom all are delighted to see, and nobody remembers to talk to.” -Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“—he threatened me with rain when I wanted it to be fine—“-Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.” -Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“No, not all—we could not be more unfortunately situated.” -Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“He had just compunction enough for having done nothing for his sisters himself, to be exceedingly anxious that everybody else should do a great deal.” -Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

“I am excessively fond of a cottage.” -Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Movie Adaptations:

Sense and Sensibility (TV Mini-Series 2008)

Dan Stevens, Hattie Morahan, Charity Wakefield

TV Rating: NR

My Rating: 5 Stars

Adaption: Verbatim-Tweaked-Veiled

Eye Candy: Plain-Pretty-Sultry

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman

TV Rating: PG

My Rating: 5 Stars

Adaption: Verbatim-Tweaked-Veiled

Eye Candy: Plain-Pretty-Sultry

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Publisher: Top Five Books (2014)

96 pages, eBook (Purchased Myself for $0.99)

Book Rating: 5 Stars

Content Ratings:

Violence: Mild-Moderate-Brutal

Swearing: Clean-Light-Filthy

Sexual Content: White-Pink-Red

Summary:

The strange association of upstanding citizen Dr. Jekyll with the villainous Mr. Hyde is a source of surprise and mystery to those who know Dr. Jekyll, but his lawyer, Mr. Utterson, is determined to get to the bottom of things.

My Thoughts:

This story is kind of a gothic mystery, in that it has an ominous feel to it, and though Mr. Hyde is described by all who’ve met him as a horrid, devilish sort of person, no one seems able to ever explain in detail what sort of horridness he is involved in or in what way particularly he is offensive, except a general evil aura and a brief scene in which he “trods” on a young girl in the street. In any event, Hyde is generally bad and Jekyll is widely known to be good, so Hyde’s constant visits to Jekyll’s house are a quandary for Jekyll’s legal counsel and good friend. The drug dependence and the idea of isolating particular parts of one’s personality in order for other parts to better be able to cope, I thought were interesting elements. Strange and entertaining little story.

Edition Notes:

This Illustrated Top Five Classics ebook edition is prettily arranged with easy maneuverability throughout the text. This edition also includes an Introduction with some background information on the story, illustrations by Charles Raymond Macauley are included (I loved the illustrations!), and a bit of background on the author is included at the end of the text. Great edition for a great price!

Quotes:

“I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.” -Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

“You start a question, and it’s like starting a stone. You sit quietly on the top of a hill; and away the stone goes, starting others; and presently some bland old bird—the last you would have thought of—is knocked on the head in his own back garden and the family have to change their name. No sir, I make it a rule of mine: the more it looks like Queer Street, the less I ask.” -Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

“—the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil.” -Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Howards End by E. M. Forster

Howards End by E. M. Forster

Publisher: MT Publishing Co. (2010)

339 pages, eBook (Purchased Myself for $0.99)

Book Rating: 4 Stars

Content Ratings:

Violence: Mild-Moderate-Brutal

Swearing: Clean-Light-Filthy

Sexual Content: White-Pink-Red

(Sexual Topics are at times vaguely implied)

Summary:

Two artsy and philosophically inclined sisters, Margaret and Helen, met the Wilcox family while on holiday, and despite the unlikely connection of their dissimilar families, they keep meeting up with one another and find themselves becoming more permanently connected as time goes on, though a chance meeting with a poor clerk named Mr. Bast throughs a wrench in it all.

My Thoughts:

The contrast between the artistically inclined Schlegel family and the very practical and business-minded Wilcoxes permeate the book. Then there is poor Mr. Bast, wanting so badly to educate himself and attain all that he thinks that entails, while completely without the means of doing it, and the Schlegels wanting to help him in his education, but not knowing how to go about it. A great study of people, their actions and their intentions, as well as the things done that they wish they hadn’t done, as well as the particular endearing quality that certain places and/or houses have for some people. I’ve seen the movie many times, and always wanted to read the book. I’m so glad I did.

Edition Notes:

This Classic Literature ebook edition is a perfectly adequate reading copy and very reasonably priced. It contains only the text itself, with no introduction and no appendix of extra materials. This edition did contain a few editorial mistakes (misspellings and such), but it was still very readable and I wasn’t overly troubled by it. For the price, a good reading copy.

Quotes:

“It isn’t going to be what we expected. It is old and little, and altogether delightful—red brick.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“—life is sometimes life and sometimes only a drama, and one must learn to distinguish tother from which—“-E. M. Forster, Howards End

“What’s an engagement made of, do you suppose? I think it’s made of some hard stuff that may snap, but can’t break. It is different to the other ties in life. They stretch or bend. They admit of degree. They’re different.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“To trust people is a luxury in which only the wealthy can indulge; the poor cannot afford it.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“There had always been something to worry him ever since he could remember, always something that distracted him in the pursuit of beauty.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“It’s better to be fooled than to be suspicious—that the confidence trick is the work of man, but the want—of—confidence trick is the work of the devil.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“His mind and his body had been alike underfed, because he was poor, and because he was modern they were always craving better food.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“But after all—there’s never any great risk as long as you have money—money pads the edges of things—God help those who have none.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“It is thus, if there is any rule, that we ought to die—neither as victim nor as fanatic, but as the seafarer who can greet with an equal eye the deep that he is entering, and the shore that he must leave.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“—their hands were on all the ropes—“-E. M. Forster, Howards End

“Actual life is full of false clues and sign-posts that lead nowhere. With infinite effort we nerve ourselves for a crisis that never comes.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“—had risen out of the abyss, like a faint smell, a goblin football, telling of a life where love and hatred had both decayed.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“—wondered whether it paid to give up the glory of the animal for a tail coat and a couple of ideas. Culture had worked in her own case, but during the last few weeks she had doubted whether it humanised the majority, so wide and so widening is the gulf that stretches between the natural and the philosophic man, so many the good chaps who are wrecked in trying to cross it.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“But they to him were denizens of Romance, who must keep to the corner he had assigned them, pictures that must not walk out of their frames.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“No affection gathered round the card, but it symbolised the life of culture, that Jacky should never spoil.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“It is the little things one bungles at. The big, real ones are nothing when they come.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“Only some rubbish about furniture—it alone endures while men and houses perish, and that in the end the world will be a desert of chairs and sofas—just imagine it!—rolling through infinity with no one to sit upon them.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“—this outer life of telegrams and anger.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“The poor are poor, and one’s sorry for them, but there it is. As civilisation moves forward, the shoe is bound to pinch in places, and it’s absurd to pretend that any one is responsible personally.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“—the real thing’s money, and all the rest is a dream.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“—and had the sense of great things sweeping out of the shrouded night.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“—all the things and people for whom he had never had much use and had less now.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

“In that case he must pay heavily for his misconduct, and be thrashed within a inch of his life.” -E. M. Forster, Howards End

Movie Adaptations:

Howards End (1992)

Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter

TV Rating: PG

My Rating: 5 Stars

Adaption: Verbatim-Tweaked-Veiled

Eye Candy: Plain-Pretty-Sultry

Piano From a 4th Storey Window by Jenny Morton Potts

Piano From a 4th Storey Window by Jenny Morton Potts

Publisher: Grafton Way Fiction (October 2014)

389 pages, eBook (provided by Author for review)

Book Rating: 4 Stars

Content Note: Includes Swearing and Sexual Situations

This is the story of two eccentric people, Lawrence and Marin, though Lawrence is undoubtedly the most quirky of the two, and the life they have together over the course of about a year as they become immersed in each other’s lives. This isn’t a feel good story or one that in any way glorifies the adventure we call life. At times heartbreaking, sometimes gritty and fantastically real, this story really captures the essence of people and the complexity of their relationships. I definitely felt as if these were real people, with real problems, and if I went to Brighton they would most definitely be there living their lives. It was a bit difficult to acclimate to the style of writing in the beginning, but it kind of grows on you as you move along. A very moving story, I only wish there could have been an epilogue at the end to satisfy my curiosity for what became of all these people I came to know throughout the story, but the ending scene was one of hope, and we don’t get answers for all of our questions in life, now do we. Great story and I’m looking forward to Romy & Raphael, due out Spring 2015!

Whiskey and a Gun by Jade Eby

Whiskey and a Gun by Jade Eby

Publisher: Jade Eby (November 2013)

58 pages, eBook (purchased myself for $2.99)

Book Rating: 4 Stars

Content Note: Includes Swearing, Violence and Sexual Situations

This is the story of the making of an abusive husband, from the husband’s point-of-view. This takes a tough topic like domestic abuse and handles it in such a way that even if you are disgusted by the things he does, in some sick and twisted way you feel you can understand how he got to that point—the point of no return. This story in no way glamorizes abuse, but it doesn’t shrink from the complexities of such a messed up relationship. Interesting psychological thriller. I’m interested to read the companion story, The Finish, and hope to see it out soon!

Beowulf by Anonymous (Translated by Seamus Heaney)

Beowulf by Anonymous
(Translated by Seamus Heaney)

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (2001)

256 pages, eBook (Purchased Myself for $8.52)

Book Rating: 4 Stars

Content Ratings:

Violence: Mild-Moderate-Brutal

Swearing: Clean-Light-Filthy

Sexual Content: White-Pink-Red

Summary:

A king of old built a treasured hall, that was to be the most celebrated and decorative hall in all the world, but enjoyment of said hall was hindered by the monster Grendel, who came night after night and slaughtered those left overnight in the hall, until the king’s fighting force was severely weakened. Beowulf, a hero from across the sea, comes to fight the monster, and the king promises to give him treasure if he is victorious.

My Thoughts:

An epic poem with lots of dark, brooding imagery. When you look at the ending, it makes you wonder if Beowulf was pleased with his treasure in the end. Did he wish he had had a family instead? A main theme that is very evident is the contrast between heroic deeds and cowardliness. The vision of his men fleeing in his hour of need is something that has stayed with me, and it made me question, if Beowulf had been a better leader would they have stayed? A good warrior, doesn’t necessarily make a good leader, someone able to persuade others to follow them. Poor Beowulf.

Edition Notes:

This ebook edition is the New Verse Translation as is stated on the cover, not the Bilingual edition (despite the erroneous parenthetical labelling on the Amazon product page). So, if you are expecting the Old English text, you will not find it here. The New Verse Translation, however is very good on its own, and if you are just looking to read Beowulf and, not necessarily use this to study it, I believe this would be a very enjoyable reading copy, despite being a bit higher priced than some other translations available in ebook format. For a reader that is unfamiliar with the story of Beowulf, this translation provides summarial statements before each section of the story to further guide the reader in understanding the text, and I found them very helpful.

Quotes:

“—a prowler through the dark—” -Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)

“All were endangered; young and old were hunted down by the dark death-shadow who lurked and swooped in the long nights on the misty moors; nobody knows where these reavers from hell roam on their errands.” -Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)

“—until darkness gathered again over the world and stealthy night-shapes came stealing forth under the cloud-murk.” -Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)

“Grendel came greedily loping.” -Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)

“—all of us with souls—must make our way to a destination already ordained where the body, after the banqueting, sleeps on its deathbed.” -Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)

“It is always better to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.” -Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)

“So the guardian of the mound, the hoard-watcher, waited for the gloaming with fierce impatience—“-Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)

“It was like the misery felt by an old man who has lived to see his son’s body swing on the gallows. He begins to keen and weep for his boy, watching the raven gloat where he hangs: he can be of no help. The wisdom of age is worthless to him. Morning after morning, he wakes to remember that his child is gone; he has no interest in living on until another heir is born in the hall, now that his first-born has entered death’s dominion forever.” -Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)

“As God is my witness, I would rather my body were robed in the same burning blaze as my gold-giver’s body than go back home bearing arms. That is unthinkable, unless we have first slain the foe and defended the life of the prince—” -Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)