Hello readers!
I don't know about you, but the past couple of weeks have been crazy! I started a new job and started my junior (!) year of college, all in the same week. Boy has that been an adventure in itself. Before all the craziness ensued I did manage to read a new book that has quickly endeared itself to me. I will definitely be reading it again. So let me tell you why I enjoyed it so much.
First off, I will tell you that I am fascinated by stories about the Titanic. The only exception to this rule is the movie; I can't stand the movie, mainly because it is the first movie (after Marley and Me, which is another story in itself) to make me bawl my eyes out, not to mention put me in a sort of depressed mood for two weeks. True story. But any book I can get my hands on that tells of a passenger on the ill-fated voyage and their experiences before, during, and after. I'll even watch a documentary if I can find a good one. All that to say that it should come as no surprise when I say that this new book has made its way onto my favorites shelf.
The title is mainly what caught my eye: The Dressmaker. Now my favorite hobby other than reading is sewing. So that is the big reason why the picture of an early 20th century dress on a seashore caught my eye along with the title. I opened the cover and started reading the front flap, read that this book is centered around the sinking of the Titanic, and knew I had found my newest book. I guess you could say it was love at first sight ;-) Needless to say I started reading it there at the store, bought it, and finished it at home over the next few days.
This story is about a young girl named Tess who wants to do more than clean someone else's house and mend their clothes for little pay for the rest of her life. One day she makes up her mind to leave her employer. It's quite an amusing scene actually. She's trying to pick up her final pay and leave the house for good when her mistress intercepts her. Madame threatens that if Tess takes the envelope and goes through the front door without finishing her duties, her employment is terminated, which is exactly what she wants. They exchange a few lines of dialogue before Tess finally just walks out with only a few belongings in a small bag and her final pay. And so changes her life for good.
She had heard about a ship called Titanic that would be departing the next day for America. There were good jobs for seamstresses there, or so she heard, so she decided to find passage on the ship, however she could. Her plan was to find someone who would be willing to take her on as a maid, and thus pay for her passage. While searching the dock she spots a well-dressed woman with a fiery personality and learns this is the legendary Lady Duff-Gordon, a famous dress-maker at the end of her rein. To save you the amusing details, Tess manages to convince the high society lady to take her on as her maid and potentially an employee in her dress warehouse.
And now we are on the ship. And what a glorious ship it is, especially to Tess's eyes. While she is not given quarters with her new mistress, she is as happy as can be. She makes a few friends along the way, including a soon to be divorced millionaire and a young sailor named Jim. Both win her affections by appealing to what they see in her, the millionaire seeing a potential mistress and the sailor seeing a potential friend. And it is in the midst of her adventures on board with her mistress, the millionaire, and the sailor that tragedy strikes. We all know what happened next so I won't give you the details that brought tears to my eyes, just as in any story about this tragic night. So I will skip ahead in the story. The passengers who managed to find a seat in the lifeboats all made it to the Carpathia, yet not without any regrets or shock. One woman stayed at the railing the entire rest of the journey to New York, looking for her children.
Once in New York, our characters find themselves facing yet another sea, but this one full of flashing lights and shouting voices, reporters clamoring to get the best story from the survivors. It is not long before rumors begin to spread about Lady Duff Gordon that she intentionally left her large lifeboat only partially filled and would not return to rescue anyone else. To cut this long portion of the story short, all the crew members, including Jim, Titanic officials, and some willing survivors are called to testify about what happened that night. I won't tell you exactly what happened, you'll just have to read the book and find out ;-)
But to get to what I really wanted to talk about. I really liked reading about Tess' journey from a timid young servant girl with high dreams of becoming a seamstress, to an independent young woman who knows who she is and what she wants and isn't afraid to live a little. She eventually manages to get away from Lady Duff Gordon's employ, determined to make her own way. Now you might start to think that this is a feminist book, that I only want to talk about it because of that. That couldn't be further from the truth. (I will give my thoughts on feminism in my other blog later, but enough on that). I want to focus on her development. She thought the only life that she would be able to claim would be one of servitude to someone else with a stronger will than she; that she would spend the rest of her life living up to someone else's expectations for her life instead of her own. It wasn't until she met Jim and walked the streets of New York that she knew only she had the true power to set the course for her life. She became friends with a female reporter who also was coming to the realization that only she had the power to control her own life. Both women learned a lot from each other, and I'm sure were friends long after the last page. Tess eventually realized where her heart was at and decided to follow it. I think that if Tess had never walked out that front door, had never stepped foot on that ship, that her life would never have changed the way it did.
Sometimes a little risk is what we need in order to take the reins of our own lives. Imagine if Tess had not set foot on the Titanic, but instead stayed in Cherbourg. She would have been lost and confused and living in the shadow of all those whose voices ran through her head constantly. She most likely would never have discovered her heart and her dreams, never realized the person she is or what she could accomplish. Don't be afraid to open that front door, grab that envelope, and step foot on the next boat out of there. You never know what might be waiting for you when you get off. Yes there may be heartache along the way, but that can only make you stronger. Now I'm not saying quit your job and travel the world; all I'm saying is, don't be afraid to take a risk.
If you have not read this book yet, I suggest you do so as soon as possible. It is a beautiful story and one that I know I will cherish for a while. If you have read the book, do you think I did it justice? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Happy reading!
Showing posts with label british. Show all posts
Showing posts with label british. Show all posts
September 16, 2015
February 18, 2015
Ordinary? I think not!
Hello readers! I hope y'all had a great Valentine's Day, filled with love, laughter, friends, and just all around fun. I know I did. My sweetheart surprised me by preordering the next, and final, book in one of my favorite series, but I'll tell you more about that book in my next post ;-)
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of picking up a long time favorite of mine from the library. If you have never read Star-Crossed by Linda Collison, I would highly recommend that you make an effort to in the near future. Yes, it is a teen fiction work of literature, but it is a wonderful adventure. One might deduce from the title that all it will be is a love story, which in a round-about way it is, as the main character falls in love with life, but it is far more than that. It is full of lessons and adventure and discovering oneself.
This book follows a young girl named Patricia Kelley, who is an illegitimate daughter of a well to-do plantation owner in Barbados, raised in the heart of British society. However, her only contact with her father is through letters, one of which promises her the rightful ownership of his estate. As fate would have it, her father dies, leaving her without a legitimate claim to any funds, and so she sets off to claim her land. She stows away on a merchantman, and before long is discovered, as any good story will provide. Without giving too much of the story away, she finds herself forced to choose between the world of gentlefolk, of petticoats and slippers, and the world that she has come to love, the world of sailors and ships officers, of tar and sweat. By the end of the story, she discovers exactly who she is and who she wants to be.
There is one quote at the end of the book that I found very deep, with a poignant lesson contained therein. It is Patricia's realization of just how important each individual really is.
"I wondered how living beings could be at once so delicate, so easily destroyed, yet at the same time indomitable. I had said I could never be an ordinary woman but it occurred to me there were no ordinary women, or ordinary men. We're all extraordinary. And no matter what else it was, life was rich in possibilities."
At this point, Patricia has been through loss and heartache, happiness and sheer joy. She has been through battles, experienced first hand how merciless fever can be, and also seen the miracles that can be enjoyed through life. She understands the way life can be. Life is fleeting. No one is immortal, free from hurt. Yet, humanity as a whole has a will of iron; it refuses to be defeated, to be brought down. It may be worn down and exhausted at times, but it can never be obliterated.
Every human being on the face of this earth, past, present, and future, is extraordinary in their own way. They each have their own unique gifts to offer the world, whether they are scientific breakthroughs, a beautiful work of art, or even something as simple as a good word for someone in need. Nobody is insignificant, no matter where they come from. Nobody. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, life is as full as you make it. You just have to find the courage to find what makes it full, just as Patricia did.
Whoever says that books cannot offer relevant lessons for every day life, was wrong. Just look at what is taught through one simple quote from one page in a book.
I hope this sparked your interest in this amazing book, but more importantly, I hope you see what wonderful lessons can be learned from the pages of a novel, and you now know just how important every one truly is.
If you do decide to give this book a chance, let me know what you think of it!
Happy reading!
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of picking up a long time favorite of mine from the library. If you have never read Star-Crossed by Linda Collison, I would highly recommend that you make an effort to in the near future. Yes, it is a teen fiction work of literature, but it is a wonderful adventure. One might deduce from the title that all it will be is a love story, which in a round-about way it is, as the main character falls in love with life, but it is far more than that. It is full of lessons and adventure and discovering oneself.
This book follows a young girl named Patricia Kelley, who is an illegitimate daughter of a well to-do plantation owner in Barbados, raised in the heart of British society. However, her only contact with her father is through letters, one of which promises her the rightful ownership of his estate. As fate would have it, her father dies, leaving her without a legitimate claim to any funds, and so she sets off to claim her land. She stows away on a merchantman, and before long is discovered, as any good story will provide. Without giving too much of the story away, she finds herself forced to choose between the world of gentlefolk, of petticoats and slippers, and the world that she has come to love, the world of sailors and ships officers, of tar and sweat. By the end of the story, she discovers exactly who she is and who she wants to be.
There is one quote at the end of the book that I found very deep, with a poignant lesson contained therein. It is Patricia's realization of just how important each individual really is.
"I wondered how living beings could be at once so delicate, so easily destroyed, yet at the same time indomitable. I had said I could never be an ordinary woman but it occurred to me there were no ordinary women, or ordinary men. We're all extraordinary. And no matter what else it was, life was rich in possibilities."
At this point, Patricia has been through loss and heartache, happiness and sheer joy. She has been through battles, experienced first hand how merciless fever can be, and also seen the miracles that can be enjoyed through life. She understands the way life can be. Life is fleeting. No one is immortal, free from hurt. Yet, humanity as a whole has a will of iron; it refuses to be defeated, to be brought down. It may be worn down and exhausted at times, but it can never be obliterated.
Every human being on the face of this earth, past, present, and future, is extraordinary in their own way. They each have their own unique gifts to offer the world, whether they are scientific breakthroughs, a beautiful work of art, or even something as simple as a good word for someone in need. Nobody is insignificant, no matter where they come from. Nobody. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, life is as full as you make it. You just have to find the courage to find what makes it full, just as Patricia did.
Whoever says that books cannot offer relevant lessons for every day life, was wrong. Just look at what is taught through one simple quote from one page in a book.
I hope this sparked your interest in this amazing book, but more importantly, I hope you see what wonderful lessons can be learned from the pages of a novel, and you now know just how important every one truly is.
If you do decide to give this book a chance, let me know what you think of it!
Happy reading!
September 30, 2014
Agatha Christie?
Hello readers!
I recently introduced myself to the gripping world of Agatha Christie. Some of you are probably thinking "You're just now reading her? WHAT???" And with good reason. Agatha Christie is one of the best British authors of the 20th century. She earned the title of Dame of Great Britain just by writing her stories. Both books that I have read I found at this wonderful store called 2nd and Charles. Perhaps you've heard of it? I had some time to kill, and some store credit to use, so I picked up a few books that I thought it was high time that I read. Besides the two Agatha books, I picked up a beautiful copy of Thousand and One Nights for a very good price. (That's my commercial for the bookstore ;-) ) Anyway, on to my experience of exploring the world of this British Dame.
The first book of hers for me to read was Murder on the Orient Express. I picked this one up because I had seen a lot about it (there's even a video game based on it) and wanted to see what it was all about. Now, if you've paid any attention to my first post and the previous post, you would know that I enjoy mysteries. I knew Agatha Christie wrote murder mysteries, so I figured I'd give her a whirl. Granted, her stories are very different from Carolyn Keene's heroine, but they are still very well written. Murder on the Orient Express, obviously, takes place on a train. One passenger is mysteriously murdered while the train is stopped for weather. An inspector, M. Poirot, who just so happens to be traveling in the compartment next door to the victim, accepts the challenge to find the killer. I won't give too much away in case you have not read this story yet, so I shan't tell you who the murderer is. I can tell you that Agatha Christie gives a very surprising twist to the story. The direction the story takes as Poirot solves the case is so surprising, it almost made my head hurt! But, in the end, Poirot solves the case and finds his culprit. If you are looking for a good read for a beach trip or a road trip, or are just looking for something to keep handy just in case you have a few minutes to read, then this is the book for you. Depending on your reading style, you can read this book in a few hours or a few days. It all depends on how entranced by the story you become.
The second book, And Then There Were None, is shorter, but equally gripping. Ten people, each with a dark secret of their own, are invited to an island off the coast of the town of Devon. None in the party have met their host and hostess, but are eager to enjoy a holiday by the sea. However, once they arrive, they find only the groundskeeper and his wife. Their host and hostess are said to have been detained unexpectedly. The visitors enjoy their evening, speculating as to what could possibly be keeping their host away, and what his identity truly is. Then, after supper, the last thing anyone expects to happen, happens. One of their party suddenly drops dead while sipping his brandy. It is an apparent suicide, but the rest of the guests wonder why such a person would do such a horrendous thing to himself. Later that night, another occupant of the island is found dead in their bed, an obvious murder. Now the guests, among whom are a judge and a doctor, begin to wonder what, or whom, could have caused this person's death. The only problem is, they are the only ones on the island. Throughout the next days, they all begin dropping like flies, narrowing the list of suspects. The story continues in this manner until the last of the island's occupants dies, leaving the mystery unsolved. Agatha Christie takes a darker turn in this novel than she did with Murder. The story presents itself almost like a ghost story. She weaves a tale that is just creepy enough to set you on the edge of your seat and jump at any sudden noise or touch. But that is what makes this story so thrilling. It is only 200 pages, but you won't want to put it down. I managed to read it in an afternoon, and I regret nothing. I will say this about the book: it is not for the weak at heart or stomach. This is a story for the reader who wants to find a gripping tale that is a quick read and can provide a temporary escape from reality.
Well, that's it for now. I hope I have either reminded you of why you love to read Agatha Christie, inspired you to once again try her stories, or introduced you to a whole new story world. Either way, I feel I have done what I have set out to accomplish.
Have you had any experiences with Dame Christie? If you have, tell me! I would love to hear from you!
Until the next time!
Happy reading!
I recently introduced myself to the gripping world of Agatha Christie. Some of you are probably thinking "You're just now reading her? WHAT???" And with good reason. Agatha Christie is one of the best British authors of the 20th century. She earned the title of Dame of Great Britain just by writing her stories. Both books that I have read I found at this wonderful store called 2nd and Charles. Perhaps you've heard of it? I had some time to kill, and some store credit to use, so I picked up a few books that I thought it was high time that I read. Besides the two Agatha books, I picked up a beautiful copy of Thousand and One Nights for a very good price. (That's my commercial for the bookstore ;-) ) Anyway, on to my experience of exploring the world of this British Dame.
The first book of hers for me to read was Murder on the Orient Express. I picked this one up because I had seen a lot about it (there's even a video game based on it) and wanted to see what it was all about. Now, if you've paid any attention to my first post and the previous post, you would know that I enjoy mysteries. I knew Agatha Christie wrote murder mysteries, so I figured I'd give her a whirl. Granted, her stories are very different from Carolyn Keene's heroine, but they are still very well written. Murder on the Orient Express, obviously, takes place on a train. One passenger is mysteriously murdered while the train is stopped for weather. An inspector, M. Poirot, who just so happens to be traveling in the compartment next door to the victim, accepts the challenge to find the killer. I won't give too much away in case you have not read this story yet, so I shan't tell you who the murderer is. I can tell you that Agatha Christie gives a very surprising twist to the story. The direction the story takes as Poirot solves the case is so surprising, it almost made my head hurt! But, in the end, Poirot solves the case and finds his culprit. If you are looking for a good read for a beach trip or a road trip, or are just looking for something to keep handy just in case you have a few minutes to read, then this is the book for you. Depending on your reading style, you can read this book in a few hours or a few days. It all depends on how entranced by the story you become.
The second book, And Then There Were None, is shorter, but equally gripping. Ten people, each with a dark secret of their own, are invited to an island off the coast of the town of Devon. None in the party have met their host and hostess, but are eager to enjoy a holiday by the sea. However, once they arrive, they find only the groundskeeper and his wife. Their host and hostess are said to have been detained unexpectedly. The visitors enjoy their evening, speculating as to what could possibly be keeping their host away, and what his identity truly is. Then, after supper, the last thing anyone expects to happen, happens. One of their party suddenly drops dead while sipping his brandy. It is an apparent suicide, but the rest of the guests wonder why such a person would do such a horrendous thing to himself. Later that night, another occupant of the island is found dead in their bed, an obvious murder. Now the guests, among whom are a judge and a doctor, begin to wonder what, or whom, could have caused this person's death. The only problem is, they are the only ones on the island. Throughout the next days, they all begin dropping like flies, narrowing the list of suspects. The story continues in this manner until the last of the island's occupants dies, leaving the mystery unsolved. Agatha Christie takes a darker turn in this novel than she did with Murder. The story presents itself almost like a ghost story. She weaves a tale that is just creepy enough to set you on the edge of your seat and jump at any sudden noise or touch. But that is what makes this story so thrilling. It is only 200 pages, but you won't want to put it down. I managed to read it in an afternoon, and I regret nothing. I will say this about the book: it is not for the weak at heart or stomach. This is a story for the reader who wants to find a gripping tale that is a quick read and can provide a temporary escape from reality.
Well, that's it for now. I hope I have either reminded you of why you love to read Agatha Christie, inspired you to once again try her stories, or introduced you to a whole new story world. Either way, I feel I have done what I have set out to accomplish.
Have you had any experiences with Dame Christie? If you have, tell me! I would love to hear from you!
Until the next time!
Happy reading!
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