The Heart of Mid-Lothian

The Heart of Mid-Lothian by Sir Walter Scott is a wonderful Scottish Novel that I am reading in my Scottish Literature class at this time.

I find some of the novel primitive but as he is kind of starting the modern concept of an English novel all by himself I'll have to give him a break.

The story flows well, he seems to use the first chapter, which has nothing to do with the story, to slow the reader down to the pace that he intends to write at. I'm sure even back when Scott was writing there was a bit of a hubbub in England and in the cities. So Scott wants the reader to relax and start to enjoy his book. As he gets into the story he really tells it quick as a shot but there are so many things going on and the narrator is keeping them straight for you but the reader hasn't got all the pieces yet. So there is some sort of mystery to each character as their lives unfold in the story.

I'm enjoying the reading thus far and hopefully I will be finished with the book over the weekend and I'll let you know what I thought of it in it's entirety.

The Secret Garden

Ever since I was a kid The Secret Garden has been my favorite book. It is facinating that there is an ugly girl who no one even remembers. She is left in an empty house and totally forgotten. It kind of makes you want to mind your manners and make a few more friends.

Then she is taken in by an uncle she doesn't know and she does not meet him for some time. Then she is allowed to have a patch of land that was once dearly loved by someone but now has been forgotten, just like Mary Lennox, the main caracter.

The boy that slowly becomes her companion is sickly just as Mary once was. he can not get out of bed and he is a miserable boy.

But Mary, the garden and the boy all slowly come to life and learn to be beautiful and to love and be happy as children and gardens should be.

The Upset Comes Out Now

I read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown a few years back. It was all the rage. Literally, rage! People were all up in arms about this book. I had never heard of Dan Brown. How everyone talked about the book I would have thought he was a Theologian or a detective. He's a fiction writer!

So big suprise! This book causing all this hubub is actually simply a fiction novel. It was a good novel and it was interesting. A real page turner.

I am sure that Dan Brown put a lot of time into the research for this novel. But it was definatly not telling us that the son of God has relatives living in the USA right now. People don't even seem to pay attention to what they know any more.

So I would recommend reading the book if you enjoy thrilling novels. It is not Gospel truth.

It was fun saucy and exciting to read just like all the critics said. It wasn't a religious experiance.

Top 5 Fave Books

Any Rand Atlas Shrugged

This is a timeless book, I loved reading! Though I'm sure i didn't understand all of it I am facinated with her view explained here.

Any Rand Anthem

This book really sparked my interest in the self. I was a high school student when I picked this novel up and I just couldn't imagine life like this. The narrator of the story doesn't seperate himself from everyone else. He does a job that he was told to do, not what he wants to do. I couldn't have lived like that with that kind of lack of freedom.

Anita Shreve The Pilot's Wife

This was a tremendous book of bravery and enlightenment. I fell in love with the whole story and how it came about that this was going on. This was my first book that I read of her's.

Anita Shreve Sea Glass

This book, with the big gloomy old house, really reminded me of me. I used to collect sea glass on the beach with my aunt. That is what drew me to read this novel. Once I had picked it up I just couldn't put it down again. It was entirely facinating and I was in love with it from the first moment.

Stephen King The Stand

This was a long but facinating book. I like his novels because they take place in the North East, where I'm from. Also they are all page turners, you won't be bored, and probably you won't be able to sleep. This novel is about the apocolypse and I find it facinating how King is able to write this but it's also beautiful and one of his best in my opinion.

Scottish Literature

I am currently enrolled in a class with which I am studying Scottish Literature. I really enjoyed some of the folk tales.

My favorite Folk Tale was Death in a Nut, I really enjoyed the humor in it and the lesson. Death is fought and stuffed inside a nut by this kid who doesn't want his mother to die, and now she can't because death is gone, but now nothing can die.

If nothing can die they can't eat, the whole town can't eat. So these people can be in pain and suffer, but they cannot die. So the boy learns that Death is an important part of life. Everything must eventually die and this boy must accept that Death is not something to fight with but to use it and be thankful for it.

The stroy was wonderful, it was a life lesson learned. It is my favorite story that we have discussed so far because it really shows how the Scottish lived. It has much to do with how they are precieved.

The Guardian

In rereading Nicholas Sparks The Guardian I found that I am more amazed at how he has written something outside of his genre so well. Nicholas Sparks is famous for his romance novels and yet this novel is a mystery.

It is a novel that gets your heart rate up and makes you want to flip to the next page. I couldn't seem to get enough of the story, I was up until 4am just reading. This novel is written with passion.

Yes there are a few mistakes, but how many of us are going to even try stepping out side of our commfort zones? Sparks has done something that most people won't consider doing and I feel that he should be praized more then criticized.