Bogormen

Title: Dracula
Author: Bram Stoker
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 8/10
# pages: Audiobook
Date read: November, 2006

Summary: When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries about his client. Soon afterward, disturbing incidents unfold in England-an unmanned ship is wrecked at Whitby, strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck, and a lunatic asylum inmate raves about the imminent arrival of his "Master"-culminating in a battle of wits between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries. (Amazon.com)

Review: After having read "The Historian" I thought it was only fitting to give Dracula a chance, and found it MUCH better than I'd expected. I don't know why I wasn't expecting to like it - perhaps because I've never really heard anybody talk about it - neither positively nor negatively. In any case I liked it a lot, and found the writing style (letters, telegrams and diary entries) very fitting to the plot. I probably didn't get as much out of it as I would have if I'd read it rather than listened to it (after all, I do have to keep *some* concentration on the traffic ;-) ), so I'll probably get it out again in a year or two and re-read it.

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Title: The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
Author: Ann Brashares
Genre: YA
Rating: 7/10
# pages: 392
Date read: November 2006

Summary: Carmen, Lena, Tibby, and Bee are beginning their 16th summer with new expectations for personal growth, romance, and deepening friendship, all enhanced by the magic of a shared pair of thrift-store jeans. Bee, whose mother died when she was 11, heads to Alabama under an assumed name to visit her estranged maternal grandmother. Carmen and Lena both become entangled in emotional spats with their mothers, and Tibby makes an edgy documentary film about her mother for a screenwriting course. This is a summer for coming-of-age, and for people materializing out of the blue, but making an impact-Tibby's old friend Brian appears unbidden at her dorm; Lena's Greek boyfriend, Kostos, arrives suddenly; and Carmen's stepsister comes seeking sanctuary. Meanwhile, the traveling pants are circulated among the friends. (Amazon.com)

Review: Not as good as the first one, as I found the ending relatively depressing and I really wanted to take both Lena and Kostos and give them a good talking to! But there were definitely some good parts to it as well - I loved reading about Bee living with and getting to know her grandmother.

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Title: Persuasion
Author: Jane Austen
Genre: Classics
Rating: 8/10
# pages: 237 pages
Date read: November, 2006

Summary: When she was 21 years old, Anne fell in love with and was engaged to Frederick Wentworth, a young captain in the Navy. Her belated mother's best friend, Lady Russell, dissapproves of the match as being below Anne, due to Anne's claim to nobility, and Anne cancels the engagement, much to her and and Captain Wentworth's grief. Nearly eight year's have passed since she broke off her engagement to Captain Wentworth when she, Lady Russell, and a Mr. Shepherd, a friend of her father's, are forced to pose and intervention and tell her father that he must quit his estate and find someone to lease it to, or he will be sent tot he poorhouse. Her father, his only pride being in his social position and personal appearance, relents, but only if they can find suitable tenants - which they do in Admiral Croft and his wife, the sister of Captain Wentworth. Anne thinks that her broken heart has mended, until she sees him again. Anne and Wentworth must negotiate their past, their different social classes, and proper behavior to find their way back to one another. (Amazon.com)

Review: For some reason I had a hard time getting through this one, which was weird, as I remember loving it the first time I read it. Perhaps I just wasn't in a JA-kind-of-mood. Still, Jane Austen always makes for a good read, and when I finally got properly into the book I enjoyed it, although it's very inferiour to her other books. I don't think you get to know the characters as well. But as this is also the shortest of her books that I've read, that might be part of it too.

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Title: The Clearance
Author: Joan Lingard
Genre: YA
Rating: 5/10
# pages: 139
Date read: November, 2006

Summary: Sixteen-year-old Margaret comes from Glasgow anticipating a rather dull summer with her Grandmother in the highlands but things begin to happen quickly when she meets the people across the road.

Review: Not much to write about this one. It's a quite read, and not half bad for what it is. However, it is obviously aimed at a much younger audience, and it shows. Had I been 15 years younger, I'd probably have loved it, but without the sentimental value, I don't see it as a book I'll reread any time soon.

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Title: Northanger Abbey
Author: Jane Austen
Genre: Classics
Rating: 8/10
# pages: Audiobook
Date read: November, 2006

Summary: Northanger Abbey is a hilarious parody of 18th century gothic novels. The heroine, 17-year old Catherine, has been reading far too many 'horridø gothic novels and would love to encounter some gothic-style terror - but the superficial world of Bath proves hazardous enough. (From Librivox.org)

Review: I really enjoyed Northanger Abbey, although it's definitely not Austen's best (that honour still belongs to P&P closely followed by "Emma" :-))Some characters in this book drove me just about crazy! I really wanted to take one and slap the other. Fortunately Catherine (the main character) knew better than to fall for their tricks more than once. Good for her!

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Title: The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands
Author: Laura Schlessinger
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 4/10
# pages: 180
Date read: November, 2006

Summary: In her newest book, Schlessinger relies upon her experience in private practice, radio and letters she received from men and women in tackling the issue of women who mistreat their men and suffer the consequences of unhappiness. The women who criticize their husbands in the stories that Schlessinger relates are depressed in their marriages and feel little love from their husbands. Unabashedly asserting that man is a "very simple creature," who needs only "direct communication, respect, appreciation, food, and good loving'" to respond with devotion, compassion and love, this controversial marriage and family therapist claims that every woman can achieve a deeply satisfying marriage if she adheres to certain fundamentals men require. Preparing dinner, caring for the children without complaint, greeting her husband with a kiss and engaging in sexual intimacy instead of "tearing down a husband's necessary sense of strength and importance" can result in the harmonious marriage women crave. While many of her listeners and readers claim her unequivocal advice has salvaged teetering marriages and improved marital harmony, others perceive Schlessinger as a throwback to what many see as years of female oppression in the home. (From Amazon.com)

Review: I'd been wanting to read this one for quite awhile, as I'd heard a lot of good things about it. Unfortunately I was very disappointed by it. While Laura did have a lot of good points, she also did sound quite a bit like it was all up to the wife to work on the marriage while the husband could just sit back and relax.

Especially the chapter about cheating annoyed me, because even though Laura made sure to say that she was talking generally, and that she knew not all relationships were like this, she wrote that usually the wife could have done something different to avoid her husband cheating on her. Excuse me? Now, I know that SOMETIMES this may be the case, but it is still an explanation and not an excuse, and in most cases there was absolutely nothing the wife did or didn't do that would have made any difference. What a way to put blame where it definitely doesn't belong.

Of course, the book wasn't all bad. A lot of what she wrote was sound advice and spot on. I just disagreed with her on too many issues to really enjoy the book. I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anybody as a book on good maritual advice. They'd be much better off reading "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman or "The Marriage Book" by Nicky and Sila Lee.

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