Quotations Weblog

The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy is the second book in the Darcy series by Elizabeth Aston.

In this book, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s daughter, Alethea, has found herself in an abusive marriage. Isolated in the grand estate of Mr. Napier, Alethea’s only choice is to run away. With some jewelry hidden from her husband, she has barely enough funds to get to the continent with her maid, Figgins. Unfortunately, her family resemblance to the Darcy clan is difficult to mask, even though she is disguised as a male youth. Can she get to her sister, Camilla, before her reputation is sullied beyond repair?

I found plenty of good quotes in this book.

You don’t need to read the first book, Mr. Darcy’s Daughters, in order to understand the story, but it does make it a little more enjoyable.

Unshelved has reviewed the book, Spud by John van de Ruit. It won South Africa’s Booksellers’ Choice Award in 2006. See their review here:

• Unshelved comic strip – Spud by John van de Ruit

From the sound of this school, it could be set in almost any time. Here is the review from Amazon.com:

It’s 1990. Apartheid is crumbling. Nelson Mandela has just been released from prison. And Spud Milton—thirteen-year-old, prepubescent choirboy extraordinaire—is about to start his first year at an elite boys-only boarding school in South Africa. Cursed with embarrassingly dysfunctional parents, a senile granny named Wombat, and a wild obsession for Julia Roberts, Spud has his hands full trying to adapt to his new home.

Armed with only his wits and his diary, Spud takes readers of all ages on a rowdy boarding school romp full of illegal midnight swims, raging hormones, and catastrophic holidays that will leave the entire family in total hysterics and thirsty for more.

Sadly, my diaries when I was that age were filled with clothes and boys. There was very little interesting in them at all. Sounds like Spud will be a wonderful read!

So many of my readers had recommended Twilight by Stephenie Meyer that I felt I really had no choice but to at least give the series a try. I got the book from my local library and read about fifty pages. I never got back to the book and the due date at the library came, so I returned it.

Then I found out that they are making a movie. They have hired the actors and Stephenie Meyer is doling out snapshots from the movie production on her blog:

• StephenieMeyer.com | Twilight Series | Twilight | Twilight the Movie

When I saw the photograph of the Cullen Family, I KNEW I needed to read this book:

I have to say that I was pretty pleased with Twilight. I didn’t realize that it was a romance novel with a vampire twist instead of a vampire novel with a love interest. The book spends a lot of time on the romance element, but it didn’t leave the adventure side lacking. It just took two-thirds of the book to get to the exciting stuff.

Bella is going back to the rainy town of Forks. She had been living in Arizona with her mother for most of her life, but now she has been moved to live with her father. When she goes to school, she is surprised by the attention from everyone there and enjoys her newfound celebrity. The only group that doesn’t want to get to know her are the Cullen kids. They sit alone at lunch and they don’t associate with anyone, until Bella comes to town. Edward Cullen notices Bella and the school is abuzz with the gossip.

Little does she know that Edward, like the rest of his “siblings,” is a vampire.

The writing in this novel was right on and involves all the senses. The narrative describes the scent and sights of Forks in such detail that I felt like I knew the town. When she describes the first time she can see the sun in Forks, I was flabbergasted:

I have had that very experience in other parts of the world. Everything will seem alright, but something will be wrong. Is it the shadows? Is it the sun? It usually takes me days to get used to where the sun should be in the southern part of our country. The sun just seems too high and too close.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from this book:

After devouring Twilight, I’m ready to eat my way through the rest of the series. I’ll post reviews as soon as I finish them.

My reading binge continues with Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. It was an engrossing read and I refused to put it down until I finished. I just love books that suck me in so thoroughly that I don’t want to leave their world.

On April 27, 1967, Susanna Kaysen was admitted to McLean Hospital diagnosed with Borderline Personality. The doctor who committed her had a fifteen-minute conversation with her. Within two hours of first seeing him, she had been sent to the alternate universe of the insane asylum. The same place that had housed Ray Charles and Sylvia Plath was her home for nearly two years. Girl, Interrupted is her story.

I loved this book and I was able to find one good quote:

In 2000, Girl, Interrupted was made into a movie with Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it just moved to the top of my Netflix queue. Here is a link to some movie quotes:

• Girl, Interrupted (1999) – Memorable quotes

• Girl, Interrupted – Wikiquote

Blue Noon by Scott Westerfeld is the third and final book in the Midnighters series. You can read reviews for the first two books here:

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » Midnighters: The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » Midnighters: Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld

I was so pleased with the completion of this series. Rex, Melissa, Dess, Jessica and Jonathan are surprised during the pep rally when the entire gym turns blue and the Midnight Time encroaches on real time. Melissa can taste the darklings celebrating in the distance because they have found a way to invade the human realm. After narrowly escaping becoming a halfling, Rex is surprised at his new-found abilities. Can he and the others prevent the darklings from turning Bixby, Oklahoma into a twenty-five hour a day feeding ground?

I loved the ending of this book and I found a few good quotes along the way as well:

If you have ever felt like you were an outcast and didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the world, join the world of the Midnighters.