The Lucky Spin Number is 6, and The Book Is...

 

CC Spin # 32 has drawn its lucky number: 6. And the lucky book from my list is...

The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy

Honestly, I was hoping to get no. 1 (Rural Hours) or no. 9 (Dandelion Wine). But The Woodlanders is nice too, at least it's not as bulky as Middlemarch! :)) Plus, I'm planning to read a Hardy next year, anyway.

My only concern is that I'll have to read it from my physical book (instead of e-book), and reading a paperback in January isn't perfect for me due to the lack of afternoon light. You see, between daily chores and full time job, I don't have much time left for reading. I can squeeze about an hour each (working) day by reading while commuting, during lunch break (if possible), and before sleep. The problem with January is that here in Indonesia we are in the midst of monsoon season, when it rains often in the afternoon on my way home. And that makes it almost impossible to read a book. Usually I pick books which I can read from my Playbook reader, and that's how The Woodlanders is a tough choice. I can probably switch to the e-book version, but it seems such a waste when I own a paperback copy!

Anyway, I'm still quite excited to start 2023 with Hardy. Maybe I just need to pick a second read from my e-book TBR list to read only in the afternoon, so that I won't waste my reading time. :)

Which book do you get? Are you satisfied with what you get?

Jane and The Twelve Days of Christmas by Stephanie Barron #InspiredByClassics

🎄Jane Austen is famous for her wit and intelligence in her writings. Now imagine, what if she's used those qualities to investigate a murder mystery? That's what Stephanie Barron captured in her "In Being Jane Austen Mystery" series. This Christmas story is the first time I heard about this series, but I loved it, so I might read more in the future.

🎄 The Austens were invited to celebrate Christmas at the Vyne, home of William Chute, a prominent figure in British politics. By the Austens I meant Jane, her mother, her sister Cassandra, her brother James and his family. Yes, Barron brought the real Austen's family and friends into the story. Not only that, in fact Barron based her story on Jane Austen's letters and journals.

🎄 It's the year of 1714; Napoleon has been banished to Elba, and John Quincy Adams signed the Treaty of Ghent on Christmas Eve. A messenger was sent to dispatch the treaty, but was killed while staying at the Chutes' while the area was snowbound. Meaning, that the murderer is one of the staying guests. The question is, is it a political murder, or a personal one?

🎄 It being a cozy mystery, the murder itself only happened after one third of the book. And if you worry lest the Christmas vibes is going to be polluted by the murder, don't be! There's a lot of Christmassy things to be enjoyed despite of the murder. Jane and Cassandra's Christmas presents to their niece, for instance. A beautiful doll and its twelve gorgeous handmade outfits, each submitted in twelve days of Christmas, is perhaps what most girls would ever dream of! And don't forget about the hint of a (promising) romance throughout the story..l. 😘

🎄 All in all, if you are a fan of Jane Austen, or at least of 18-19th century literature, and in need of cozy mystery with Christmas vibes, then this book is a perfect one. But diehard fans of crime novel might be disappointed by the plot.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

The Lark by E. Nesbit

💐 The Lark is the last adult novel Edith Nesbit wrote in 1922. It's a charming, delightful, and witty bildungsroman story.

💐 Jane and Lucilla are orphaned cousins who lived in boarding school until they were coming of age. They were supposed to get into a nice income, hitherto managed by their guardian. But the guardian gambled away the money, and so the two young girls must start their independent lives, free from school, with only £500 and a small yet lovely cottage in the village.

💐 Lucilla was disconcerted when they first realized of their predicament, but not Jane. Jane is an optimistic girl, though a bit too imaginative. She believes that "life is a lark", and so it should be how we perceive of life!

💐 The two girls start to earn a living by selling flowers from their little garden. But the garden is soon inadequate for their enterprise. If only they could own the uninhabited mansion house they saw down the road, with a large garden! One day they sneak into the house. Jane fell off the stairs, but luckily a handsome young man who is nephew to the house owner helps her. His name is Rochester. Wait... Jane... and then Rochester? As in... well, you know what I'm talking about, right? Is it a coincidence? I believe not!

💐 The house owner, charmed by the girls' personalities, let them use the garden, which delighted them. The flower enterprise is soon enlarged to a boarding house business.

💐 It's quite delightful to watch the two inexperienced girls entering an adult life with all the blundering, which they try to perceive as an adventure - or as a "lark"!

💐 This book is so refreshing - funny, witty, affectionate, heartwarming. It's hard for not loving and enjoying it. If you love Nesbit's children books, you'll love this one!

Rating: 4,5 / 5

Classic Club Spin # 32 #CCSpin

UPDATED 

I haven’t done CC Spin for quite a long while, but now I’m more than ready to shake up the beginning-of-year-reading. Let’s do it!

1. Rural Hours by Susan Fenimore Cooper
2. The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas
3. Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
4. Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
5. Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk (The Dancer) by Ahmad Tohari
6. The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
7. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
8. Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore
9. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
10. Under the Net by Iris Murdoch
11. No Name by Wilkie Collins
12. Middlemarch by George Eliot
13. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
14. Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Moskow by Paul Gallico
15. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
16. Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac
17. The Scarlett Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
18. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
19. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
20. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

• The list consists of books that are on my TBR pile, either in physical or e-books.
• I have shuffled the chunky and lighter ones, so.. let's hope for the best!
• Some of them I have intended to read this year, either for reading challenges I’m participating, or for my own reading events/schedule.
• Some of them have appeared in my previous CC Spin (and didn’t get picked), and few were even entered for last challenges but then I changed my mind (sorry, Middlemarch!)
• A Room with a View, I have started reading few chapters a couple of months ago, but I guess my mind was too pre-occupied at that time. Anyway, I’m willing to make another trial.

So, whichever gets to be picked, bring it on! I’m crossing my fingers for Rural Hours, though, so hopefully no. 1 will be lucky 😄!

 

The Knight of Maison-Rouge by Alexandre Dumas

👑 Dumas did it again! Alexandre Dumas père never failed to bring readers to the 18th century France with its heroic chevaliers, swordplay and romantic scenes, in fast-paced, high adventure historical fictions. This book is no different.

👑 The Knight of Maison-Rouge is related to the Marie Antoinette Romances, though it's not part of the series itself. It is set in 1793, right after Louis XVI's death, in what was known as the Reign of Terror - a series of massacres and public executions to those who were not a fervent followers of the Republic, after the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette was in prison with her children and sister, and some Royalists had been plotting to rescue her, with a mysterious man called le chevalier de Maison Rouge as the mastermind.

👑 Our protagonist is a brave Republican, Maurice Lindey. One night he rescued a beautiful mysterious lady who was found on the street alone after curfew, and caught by the National Guard. Unfortunately his infatuation with the woman unwittingly led him into the Royalists' plot.

👑 Although it is not one of Dumas' best or most known works, this historical fiction offers more than just romance and swashbuckling adventure. It provides a glimpse to the humane side of both parties: the royals with their aristocratic followers, and the Republicans. I loved how Dumas portrayed them equally. There's no good side or bad side, it's how the people treated other human beings that made them who they were.

👑 In this story, Marie Antoinette, for instance, is depicted as a woman - like all other women - with compassion. On the other hand, one of her ardent supporters turned out to be selfish and cruel. The same goes to the Republican side; there are brave patriots like Maurice, who fight for humanity cause, but there are also selfish cowards who pretended to be patriotic, but I think they're just poor people who are jealous of the rich aristocrats.

👑 I liked this book, though not a favorite - a perfect book to bring you out of a reading slump, for sure! 😄

Rating: 3,5 / 5

2023 Victorian Reading Challenge

 
Why oh why… whenever you want to restrain yourself from reading challenge, interesting ones always make a way to you! When I found this 2023 Victorian Reading Challenge created by Mrs. Sarah Coller of Belle’s Library, I knew I won’t be able to resist because Victorian books will always appear on my list…any year. So, here we are:

The Rules

*Books published during the Victorian age (1837-1901) are acceptable.
*Books written about the Victorian age are acceptable, no matter what year they were published.
*Stories are not limited to Victorian Britain. Read about what was going on in other parts of the world during this time!

My List:

1. The Ladies Paradise by Émile Zola (re-read)
2. Rural Hours by Susan Fenimore Cooper
3. Doctor Pascal by Émile Zola
4. The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
5. Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

Will you join me? 😉

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

🍎 This one is, perhaps, by far, my least favorite of Christie's. The background is promising - a teenage Halloween party in English country village - packed with traditional games like bobbing apple, snapdragon, and many more. That part IS fun, also the appearance of Ariadne Oliver, but not, unfortunately, the murder part.

🍎 Ariadne Oliver, the famous crime writer who also makes her appearance on several others Poirot's mystery, is staying at a friend's in a country village. At a Halloween party prep, Joyce, a 13 y.o. girl blurted out that she'd witnessed a murder years earlier, though at that time she didn't understand what it was. Nobody believed her, though, as she's a liar and boastful girl.

🍎 But at the Halloween party, someone drowned her head in a pail full of water used for the apple-bobbing. A deliberate murder! Does it mean that Joyce did witness a murder after all, frightened the murderer, who then took a huge risk by killing her in the middle of a party? Or she's indeed a liar, and some mad scoundrel just happened to randomly kill her?

🍎 Ariadne Oliver called her friend, Hercule Poirot, to investigate the case. He immediately went through all murder cases that had happened some years earlier, which might have incidentally been witnessed by a little girl.

🍎 There'd be the second murder, of course, and then Poirot would come to a conclusion no one would have ever thought, as usual. So, it should have been one of my favorites, but it's not. I wonder why Hallowe'en Party had felt nothing like Christie's. Poirot seemed to be not his usual arrogant, confident self. He's more often on doubts and relies (too much) on other people's opinion. The whole plot/story also felt somewhat (too) unreal. I don't know, on the whole, it's not my favorite. And it's not the kind of book you'd hope to list as Halloween readings - well, unless what you seek is the British Halloween party vibes...

Rating: 3 / 5