I have a new favorite author. And if you read this post's title, you know who he is.
Mr. P. G. Wodehouse writes some of the best and most hilarious books I have ever read. He wrote several different series, mostly set in New York in the early 1900s. His most famous series, and my personal favorite, concern bumbling millionaire Bertie Wooster, and his valet--not butler--Jeeves. In each story, Wooster or one of his friends has a problem, and Jeeves gets them out of it. In a truly comedic fashion, of course.
Just in case you're not persuaded, here are a few quotes:
“He had just about enough intelligence to open his mouth when he wanted to eat, but certainly no more.”
“I'm not absolutely certain of the facts, but I rather fancy it's Shakespeare who says that it's always just when a fellow is feeling particularly braced with things in general that Fate sneaks up behind him with the bit of lead piping.”
“I always advise people never to give advice.”
“He had the look of one who had drunk the cup of life and found a dead beetle at the bottom.”
“She fitted into my biggest arm-chair as if it had been built round her by someone who knew they were wearing arm-chairs tight about the hips that season”
The man was brilliant, and I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of his books! I would advise one to begin with "My Man, Jeeves," which contains four Jeeves and Wooster stories, and four stories centering around Reggie Pepper, another charming narrator.
I have a bit of an obsession for baby names. In fact, I have made list after list, and promptly lost each list right after I've made them. So I made a new list this afternoon, typed up in a word document, and I would love to share it with you!
The bolded names are my absolute favorites.
This week, I had the opportunity to borrow and read the book "Save the Date," by Christian author Jenny B. Jones. I had previously read one of Ms. Jones' other books, entitled "There You'll Find Me," which I absolutely LOVED. There You'll Find Me was intended to be a sequel to Save the Date, but both books stand alone quite nicely.
PLOT
In Save the Date, Lucy Wiltshire is a young woman operating a nonprofit organization to help teenage girls in need. However, the funding for her organization is pulled, and she has no idea why, nor how to keep the project running.
Enter Alex Sinclair. Alex is a former football star, heir to Sinclair Enterprises and is now running for Congress. He has also agreed to fund Lucy's organization, in exchange for one favor. He wants her to pretend to be his fiance in order to win him votes.
Lucy can't stand Alex, and the feeling is mutual. But through a series of events, the two find their hearts being pulled closer together.
It's a plot that's been used over and over again. But I enjoyed it. It was cute, fun, and really worked for a storyline. There weren't any major plot twists, such as, "OH NO! The main character is really an alien!" or "The whole thing was just a dream!" but there were a couple of moments that made me say, "Whoa!" and blink hard. Characters have secrets, and these secrets come out over the course of the novel. The plot progressed nicely. No moments seemed rushed, and none seemed as if they dragged on and on. It was a cute storyline and well developed. I knew which characters were going to end up together and what was going to happen, but I had no idea how they would get to the end.
CHARACTERS:
One thing that really makes a good book is good characters. Alex and Lucy were phenomenal. They had real problems, and addressed them in real ways. There were no horribly cliched moments for either of them, and I was very impressed by the level of characterization and personal growth. They really developed as characters, and I felt like their best friends by the end of the book.
I also loved Jones' minor characters. In many books, minor characters slip between the cracks and become nothing but cardboard cutouts of each other. Not so with Save the Date. Each character, even if they had no relevance on the story or were only mentioned for a couple of pages was enjoyable to read about. They all had their own issues and their own personalities.
ROMANCE:
This is a romance novel, and the romance did not disappoint. It was very sweet to see how the characters grew to love each other over the course of the story. It was incredibly fluffy, with lots of wonderful, "AWWW, too cute!!!" moments. But at the same time, it was believable romance, which I enjoy. It took its own sweet time to develop, and it was definitely worth it.
Overall, lovely, beautiful book. So glad that I read it. I would love to own it at some point, and I'll probably be buying it with a gift card I have. Definitely recommended.
I would love to tell you guys about a contest over at the lovely Miss Rachel's blog, The Inkpen Authoress. The contest is to write a story, dialogue, or poem, showcasing Valentine's Day from the perspective of a single person. I plan to enter, and I wrote up a rather cute little story yesterday, which I am calling Dreams Don't Turn to Dust. Hence, the Owl City song up above. Go on! Click! Listen to it while you read!
Jane opened the door to her
apartment, kicked her shoes off, and flopped down upon her musty, yellow,
sofa.She hadn’t been on a date in
months, and she was feeling a bit down in the dumps upon this dreary February
14th.She had begun the day waking
up, wriggling her toes in anticipation of the holiday…and suddenly remembering
that she didn’t have anyone to spend it with.
“Lovely,”
she said to herself.“And it’s not like
I even have any friends I can go hang out with tonight.”She worked at a small office with three
women, all married and spending the holiday with their husbands, and one single
man.However, this single man was Mr. J.
K. Duncan, head of the company.He was
in his late 60s, balding, and wouldn’t be on anyone’s “favorite person list”
for quite some time.
Jane had
moved into town at the beginning of the year, and was only now beginning to
feel settled in.She hadn’t made any
friends besides the women in her office yet, and she had spent many of her
evenings on the sofa in her tiny apartment, eating tv dinners and watching
black and white movies.
She opened
her box of DVDs and began absently flipping through them.
“Pride and
Prejudice?Yeah, just what I need.”She clasped her hands and intoned, “In vain I
have struggled.It will not do.You must allow me to tell you how much I
ardently admire and love you.”She
shrugged.“Not tonight.I have a feeling I’d flood the room crying in
my utter patheticness.”
She moved
to the next one.“Sound of Music?Eh, still romantic, and all those kids get on
my nerves.Don’t I have anything without
kissing, dancing in the moonlight, and long looks across the table?”
The next film
she pulled out was Gone With the Wind, and she gazed thoughtfully at it for a
moment.“It IS like five hours
long.That, plus a gallon of ice cream
might get me through tonight.”But she
shook her head.“Frankly my dear…”She trailed off.“No.Swoony and dreamy and romantic, and I really don’t want a Valentine’s
movie tonight, and why can’t anyone SEE that?”
She dropped
the box of movies, covered her face with her hands, and began to sob.“Why can’t I have somebody?Everyone else has a husband or a boyfriend or
SOMEBODY.I hate being alone now.Can’t you see me now?‘Jane the crazy cat lady, in her holey
bathrobe, never been able to get a husband.’It’s been that way since ninth grade, when Jason Johnson stood me up for
my very first dance.I mean goodness.I know I’m not a model, but am I THAT hideous?”
She knew
how irrational she was being, but she had just spent a day seeing other people holding hands and other people getting flowers and other people being happy.It wasn’t fair.
She sniffed
twice, dabbed under each eye with her sleeve, and began picking up the movies
that had been strewn all over her floor.
And then
she saw him.Tall, dark, devastatingly handsome, just
waiting for her to approach.
She
cautiously moved closer, fearful he would disappear before her very eyes.But he didn’t.He met her gaze with those chocolate brown
eyes, smirk upon his beautiful face.She
could have kissed him right then and there.
“Perfect,”
Jane breathed.And she picked up the Rob
Dallas film, The Last Hostage.It was a
super spy, action adventure movie, and the perfect thing to distract her from
her romantic woes tonight. And of
course, it starred the most gorgeous man to walk the face of this earth.She knew he would get the girl in the
end.He always did.But until then, she could dream.
She popped
it into the DVD player, grabbed her handy-dandy carton of caramel ice cream and
a spoon, and pulled her faded blue quilt over herself.She hit play, and wriggled contentedly.
She might
not have a boyfriend and she might not be sure when her next date would be, but
she was okay with that.She was with the
one she loved tonight, and that was all she cared about.
She was
with Rob, flashing his dark eyes and that wicked grin, making her melt, and
nothing else mattered.
It’s wonderful to be in love on Valentine’s Day,
she thought.
It'll probably undergo several more drafts before it's finished, but there is a rough version. I hope you like it! I might enter the dialogue and/or poetry sections if I have time.
Hi everyone, and welcome to my brand-spanking NEW blog!
As some of you may know, I am notoriously bad at updating my blogs. In fact, I've HAD two blogs, and neither of them really amounted to anything. Now it is 2012, and one of my new year's resolutions is to 1. Actually HAVE a blog, and 2. Actually UPDATE said blog. At least twice a week is my goal, but as I'm on the computer every day for hours, I have no excuse for not updating more.
In the blog, I would like to talk about things that interest me. Now, as I am a very, very interesting person, *sarcasm alert* I have many things that interest me. I go through various obsessions, and you'll probably see me blogging a lot about those obsessions. Right now my main interest is Jane Austen, so you'll see a multitude of Austen related posts. I also would like to write reviews of books I'm reading and movies I'm watching. Another of my resolutions is to read 100 books in a year, so there's 100 books worth of reviews right there. I'll talk about music, my life, the world, and any random little thought that pops into my head. And believe me, there are a lot.
So that's what I would like to do with this blog, all the while bringing glory to Jesus, the one who gave me the ability to even sit here in front of my computer screen. Thank you Lord, may you always be head of my life.
