Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel

Let me say it again for the record: I love Toni Morrison. I think that her novels are some of the greatest books ever written. Her characters and storylines are completely fascinating and unforgettable. I am always curious to know what somebody like Toni Morrison reads. I can not image her enjoying an Eric Jerome Dickey book or even a Terry McMillian book. I would image that she reads books that are extremely thought provoking, well written, and full of information. Because her books are full of historical content and great details about humans and human behavior, I would image that most of the books that she read would be history or anthropology related. 

Toni is the reason that I read Wolf Hall. This is what she had to say about it in an interview with USA Today: "was so good, I had to go buy the book book, or whatever it's called now. When I like a book, I want to add my notes. Exclamation points! And questions marks! I want to corrupt it with my responses."

So, after reading this comment, I instantly downloaded Wolf Hall and has been held hostage by it for over a month. This book is mostly about Henry VIII and his strong desire to find a way out of his marriage to Katherine in order to marry Anne Boleyn. This novels has lots of characters and storylines and can be quite confusing. It took me sooooo long to read it, because it is not one of those books that I could read when I had a spare moment; I had to read it when I was fully engaged or the different storylines and many characters would have me completely confused. 

This is a book that I would totally expect Toni Morrison to enjoy, because it requires some of the highest levels of thinking in order to comprehend it. There were many times when I wanted to say f#ck it, but I kept on reading; there was no way that I was going to punk out on a book that is loved by Toni Morrison. (I had to prove that I can read books that are on her level!)

Hilary Mantel is an English writer who has received many accolades for this novel Wolf Hall, and I would only recommend it too someone who has something to prove like me or someone who is completely fascinated with King Henry VIII.

All I can say is "I's Free Now" and no longer held hostage by Wolf Hall!

Held Hostage

Held Hostage

I am the type of reader who can only read one book at a time. I thought that once I started reading digitally, I would be able to read several books simultaneously, because my books would all be stored in one place: the Nook. However, reading digitally did not change this quirk that I have; I still can only read one book at a time.

So, I have been reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and it is very a lengthy book, over a 1000 pages. With school ending, finishing up an internship for graduate school, working out, working in the garden etc., I have only had about thirty minutes a day to devote to this novel. With this said, it has taken me about six weeks or more to finish it.

In the meantime, other novels like The Third Jesus by Deepak Chopra, Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, and The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen have been on my mind. I have looked at them on my nook, but could not bring myself to even peep inside these novels, because I was being held hostage by Crime and Punishment.

Don't get me wrong, Crime and Punishment is one of my all time favorite novels. The story line is magnificent, the characters are unforgettable, and it really made me think about good and evil, justice and injustice, and the roles of women and men in relationships.

I'm going to veer off topic, for a moment, to talk about the roles of women and men in Crime and Punishment. The main character, with all of his flaws, seemed to be the central figure to all of the women in his life: his mother, his sister, and the girl whom he pulled into his scandal. No matter how badly he treated them, they all still seemed to desire his attention, love and wanted to save him. Also, another character, in the novel, stated that " And if once a girl's heart is moved to pity, it's more dangerous than anything. She is bound to want to 'save him' to bring him to his senses, and lift him up and draw him to nobler aims, and restore him to new life and usefulness-well, we all know how far such dreams can go." Now, the character who stated this is definitely not a noble man, but  damn, the actions of the characters and many people whom I know, support this statement. I'm just thinking "Is there truth to be found in novels? 

Back to the hostage situation. I finished Crime and Punishment last night, and even though I savored every moment of this read, I felt a sense of relief to finally be finished and no longer held hostage. Six weeks or more is a long time to read one novel, even if is over 1000 pages. Is it a crime to read more than one book at a time, and if it is a crime, is there a punishment?

People, let me know if any of you have been held hostage by a novel :)

Books that I can't wait to get to!