the book bum

    The picture is blurry, but you get the idea      Wuthering Heights is a gothic novel about two English estates and the tortured people who inhabit them.  The families are related, but that doesn't stop the cousins of Wuthering Heights from falling in love with the cousins of Thrushcross Grange only to marry other, wealthier cousins, and vice versa.      In case you couldn't tell, I didn't love this one.  I thought many of the characters were flat or unsympathetic, especially the housekeeper Ellen Dean, who was important to the story but seemed to care for nothing except the well-being of her employers. I was also annoyed by the abundance of exposition.  The story's narrator is a Wuthering Heights tenant named Lockwood; however, he spends most of the book listening to Ellen Dean explain the estates' history.  So much backstory!  So many quotations marks!  It irked me.      Additionally, some ...

     Most people have sappy days.  Most of my friends will tell me that they have days when all they want to do is switch on Netflix and find a movie that makes them cry.  But, you know, sometimes the Internets are not working or all that blue light is making your eyes bleed.  To remedy such crises, I have created this list as an alternative for people who would like to read a book that will make them cry.  Some of them are romantic-sad, some of them are tragic-sad, some of them are beautiful-sad. And I guarantee that all of them are good as well as tear-jerking.   My cat is having One Of Those Days 1. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell - Whoa, whoa, wait .  Is this really a YA romance in which the girl isn't gorgeous and flawless???  Yes.  Yes it is.  You're welcome. 2. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Di Camillo - An arrogant porcelain rabbit doll is lost by a little girl and learns what love is by l...