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The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte

by Syrie James is a fictional account of the life of Charlotte Bronte. Charlotte grew up with two sisters and a brother under the supervision of her parson father. The book mainly focuses on the love interests of Charlotte Bronte, her teacher Monsieur Heger and her father's curate Arthur Nicholls. It is a brutally honest account of Charlotte's life, including descriptive scenes of Branwell's drunken crazes. James allows Bronte to explore her feelings on every subject, alcohol, love, sex, and family. It also documents the writing of her four novels as well as the writing practices shared between her and her two sisters, Emily and Anne. After the death of Emily and Anne, Charlotte experienced a drastic change in her writing ability and habits. While the novel doesn't come out and say it directly, it is pretty clear that the absence of her sisters contributed to the lower success level of her final two novels.

Since Charlotte Bronte wrote my favorite book I had high expectations to for this novel. It met those expectations, for the most part. I have to admit that I couldn't put this book down. I saw a lot of my own experiences in Charlotte's, even though she lived in a very different world from mine. James does an amazing job making Bronte into a character we can empathize with and understand. Just a few days ago I was telling a friend of mine that if Charlotte Bronte haunted me I would be terrified. I said she would probably be really mean. After reading this book, my entire view of Bronte has changed.

As much as I loved it, I did have a few problems with this novel. Some of the footnotes were annoying and unnecessary, of course I'm assuming that anyone who would read this book would have some prior knowledge about Charlotte Bronte. There were also some language choices that felt a little too contemporary for me. When I came across them I became annoyed, really. James makes up for it with her frequently asked questions section in the back of the book, as well as the inclusion of sections of Bronte's letters. I was pleased that she came out and said what was true and what was false, and also that she mostly stuck to the story of Bronte's life.

This book evoked every emotion from me. I laughed at Bronte's humor, empathized with her foibles, and cried in grief and joy with her. A must read for any Bronte fan. And if you are a Bronte fan then you should join Laura's Reviews All About the Bronte Challenge. It starts in January and I will be participating in it as well!

Pub. Date: June 2009
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Paperback, 512pp

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When I found out about Laura's Reviews' All About the Brontes Challenge I became overwhelmed with the amount of books I want to read about the Brontes. It is really my favorite topic and I have several books that I haven't gotten around to reading because I've been to busy. So I've come up with a list of the bare minimum I want to read, mostly books I already have. Yes, this is the bare minimum. I'm really a Bronte nerd. The challenge runs from January 1, 2010 to June 30, 2010.

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
The Professor by Charlotte Bronte
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
Charlotte Bronte: A Passionate Life by Lyndall Gordon
The Three Brontes by May Sinclair
The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fford
The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James

I know I already did a post at the end of my one hour, but I didn't include any stats so I figured I'd just include them here.

But first, mini challenges! I couldn't resist I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read's mini-challenge to make a soundtrack for a chapter of the book you are reading. I just finished Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and I wanted to pick a song to be playing during the scenes where Guy Montag and Clarisse McClellan are talking and Montag starts to realize that something is really wrong with the world. The song I chose is Something to Talk About by Badly Drawn Boy, which was actually mad for the soundtrack of the movie About A Boy which is a great book by British author Nick Hornby. So I got very literary on this one.

This song might sound a little too peppy to be on a soundtrack for Fahrenheit 451, but can imagine it being really cool in a movie for the scene, especially since I see Clarisse as being a soft but strong character.

And I'm also going to do 'Til We Read Again's And The Nominees Are challenge.

Favorite Female Character in a book: Marian Halcombe from the Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Favorite Male Character in a book: Henry DeTamble from The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Favorite Side Kick in a book: I really like Dick in High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, is he a sidekick?
Favorite Couple in a Book: Jane and Rochester in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Favorite Book Series: Right now probably The Luxe series by Anna Godbersen
Favorite Author: As far as authors I have read multiple books by... I'd probably have to say Virginia Woolf
Favorite Book Cover: I really like the cover of The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
Favorite Book of 2009: Middlemarch by George Eliot, which is a book I read in 2009

And lastly, I'll do a kick rundown:
Title of book(s) read since last update: Fahrentheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Number of books read since you started: 1
Pages read since last update: 179
Running total of pages read since you started: 179
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 3.5
Running total of time spent reading since you started: 3.5
Mini-challenges completed: Miss Remmers' Kick-off Challenge, I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read's Soundtrack Challenge, and 'Til We Read Again's And The Nominees Are challenge.

I mentioned yesterday that I got a lot of books for Christmas. I thought I'd go through which ones I got as a preview for what I'll be reviewing in the next few months. The coolest book I got is probably The Wild Things (Fur-covered Edition), which I received from my boyfriend. For those of you who don't know this is an expansion on Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. I haven't read a lot by Dave Eggers but I am a big fan of Best American Nonrequired Reading. This book averages four stars on Amazon, hopefully it will hold up well under my critical eyes.

I received A Good Man by Larry Baker from my boyfriend as well. Baker lives in Iowa City as well so I am eager to read his book. The man character of this novel is essentially at the end of his rope. He is failing at everything until he meets a strange man named Peter Prophet. This man makes many claims that the main character is skeptical about, but they begin to turn around his life.

I got two Bronte novels, Emily's Ghost: A Novel of the Brontë Sisters and The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte

. Emily Ghost is about the three Bronte sisters but seems to concentrate on Emily. As a child Emily goes to school and says she can see ghosts. She is punished for this and it later inspires a scene in Jane Eyre. It averages four stars on Amazon. The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte begins with Charlotte trying to clear her name against an accusation of plagiarism. On the way to London she witnesses a murder and this is the beginning of her adventures. The book averages four and a half stars on Barnes and Noble. I will be reading both of these books for the All About the Brontes Challenge.

Gone With the Wind is one of the longer books I received this Christmas, which is frustrating because I am very eager to read it. This is the description of the book from Amazon: "Gone With the Wind is a sweeping, romantic story about the American Civil War from the point of view of the Confederacy. In particular it is the story of Scarlett O'Hara, a headstrong Southern belle who survives the hardships of the war and afterwards manages to establish a successful business by capitalizing on the struggle to rebuild the South. Throughout the book she is motivated by her unfulfilled love for Ashley Wilkes, an honorable man who is happily married." This book averages four and a half stars on Amazon. Another book about the Civil War I received is A Separate Country. Both of these books are historical fiction and a little different from the normal historical fiction I read. I'm looking forward to them both.

I got a few other books but these are the most exciting ones that I actually got for Christmas. I've bought a few other books using gift cards and other books I just couldn't resist because they were on sale. Needless to say I won't be buying new books for awhile. (And I mean it this time!)

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A Little Princess

by Frances Hodgson Burnett is my first book for Booking Mama's Shelf Discovery Challenge. The novel takes place in 19th Century London. Sarah Crewe is taken from her home in India to attend Miss Minchin's boarding school for girls. She is rich and her father showers her with every extravagance, until he dies and she is tossed into the attic to live with the scullery maid. Sarah never loses heart though, and still thinks of herself as a princess when she is wearing rags. She has a wild imagination which is tested by continuous hunger. When new neighbors move in she is fascinated by their Indian furniture and grows fond of watching them. Sarah adopts them as her friends even though she never speaks to them, but she finds out they are closer to her than she realized.

I had never read A Little Princess before, but I watched the 1995 version of the movie several times as a child. The movie changes a lot of things that I was a little surprised by, it really changed the meaning of the novel. I loved how in depth the book goes into what Sarah is thinking when Miss Minchin yells at her, even as an adult I wish that I could think the way she does.

When you will not fly into a passion people know you are stronger than they are, because you are strong enough to hold in your rage, and they are not, and they say stupid things they wish they hadn't said afterward.

I was interested to read that the book was possibly inspired by Charlotte Bronte's unfinished novel Emma. Charlotte Bronte is my favorite author now so it was interesting to see yet again how my taste in childrens books are so similar to my taste in books now. My favorite part of the book was definitely the relationship between Sarah and the Indian lascar. It really captures the obsession with the Eastern mystique; everything he does is seen as magic. At the end you find out, of course, that it was not magic at all but that he was just sneaky. I felt like this really questioned the perception of India, almost in the vein of Virginia Woolf.

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It's no secret that I'm a fan of Charlotte Bronte, but about one year ago when I tried to read Villette

I could not succeed. I'm not sure what stopped me from finishing it, but I got exactly halfway and put it down. After finishing it this time around I can guarantee it was entirely circumstantial.

Our heroine is Lucy Snowe, a British woman who has recently moved to the fictional city of Villette. The country is based on Brussels, which means that everyone speaks French. The bulk of the novel takes place in this fictional city, but before that we see a younger Lucy Snowe. In her younger years she watches her godmother's son Graham Bretton and a visiting girl named Polly begin a strange romance but Polly is taken away shortly before Lucy leaves. Not too long after Lucy moves to Villette where she his hired as an English instructor in a girls' school.

This is where she meets Dr. John, the man on every woman's mind but who is mainly interested in Lucy's student, Ginevra Fanshawe. Ginevra is horribly spoiled and deceitful. Lucy tries to pull her out of these habits, but to no avail. There is also M. Paul who appears to be rude and hot tempered, and somewhat frightening. He and Lucy work closely together, but typical to Lucy's narration the reader does not truly know her opinion of M. Paul for the majority of the novel.

So yes, narration. Let's talk about that. Lucy can also be a bit deceitful, well actually she just withholds information from us. This creates a very bizarre ending and a few confusing points in the novel, but it always kept me guessing. And this combined with the extremely feminist images throughout the novel made this an excellent read. I still favor Jane Eyre, but I was really interested in the strange ideas and dreams Lucy has. At some points her emotions seem so heightened. Such as when she is looking at art, or after she comes in from the garden at night. And this book has some creepy Gothic elements that made it fun as well as intriguing. Which is why...

This novel earned an A. This first A of the year!

I read this book as part of the All About the Brontes Challenge.

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For those of you who don't normally read my blog I'll let you in on a little secret: I love classic novels (and really I love Victorian literature). My challenge for you is to think of your favorite classic novel, grab it (or you can look it up online), and find a quote from the novel that makes you love it. If your novel is borderline classic that is fine, this is just a chance for us to share quotes from novels we love and talk about why we love them. You can include some context for the quote if you would like so people can understand why it is so important. If you don't have a quote from the book you can also find a quote from the author, or you can do both!

My favorite classic novel, and actually my favorite novel, is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I could talk about this novel for hours, but instead I will just make my post because I know you all have reading to do. I chose three short quotes because, well, because I am bad at making decisions.

It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make if if they cannot find it. -Jane

To live, for me, Jane, is to stand on a crater-crust which may crack and spue fire any day. -Rochester

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.-Jane

These are three of my favorite quotes from the novel and I picked them out as favorites during different times I read the book. The final quote is the first quote I loved in the novel, I found it the first time I read it when I was seventeen. The first quote I found during my second time reading the novel when I was eighteen. The second quote I found just this year when I read the novel as a 19 year old. I explain this only to show the reason I love Jane Eyre: it's a novel that grows with you. Each time I read it I find something new and I find myself becoming annoyed with Jane in different places and sympathizing with her for different reasons.

Finally I'll include a quote from Charlotte herself:

"I'm just going to write because I cannot help it."
You can post this in a comment to this post or in a link to your blog. Happy Reading!