January 4, 2024

Bonnie Gentry

Books

Book Review: Goodbye, Mr. Chips

January 4, 2024

Bonnie Gentry

Books

Book review for “Goodbye Mr. Chips.” I'm always on the hunt for succinct books with endearing characters. While this book does not have a fast-paced, exciting plot to keep you entertained, it does charm you with the humorous anecdotes of an aging-humph-gentlemen!

January 17, 2022

Bonnie Gentry

Life

A Year in (Book) Review

January 17, 2022

Bonnie Gentry

Life

“Emma has been meaning to read more ever since she was twelve years old. But I have done with expecting any course of steady reading from Emma...She will never submit to anything requiring industry and patience, and a subjection of the fancy to the understanding.”

— Mr. Knightley, "Emma" by Jane Austen

I remember watching Emma, the 2009 BBC series, for the first time on the carpet of my Grandma’s living room. I distinctly remember feeling a kindred spirit with the snarky, confident, and clever heiress with a habit of matchmaking. She was everything I wanted to be, she spoke her mind liberally and was strong willed to a fault. It all began (in the movie) below the white lace of a side table. Where Emma found comfort in drawing up stories for her little dolls. There were two things that made Emma and I the same. Our love for lists and dolls! This quote by Mr. Knightley always made me agitated when I read the book, and reread it a few times after that! Like Emma, I’ve always been meaning to read more, and can draw up a nice list!

Since I no longer play with dolls under the grand piano in my Grandma’s front room, I must “endeavor to read more.” While I differ from Austen’s endearing Emma on other points of character and witt, I do share a willful spirit that when I set my mind to something, I will see it through!

Last January I set myself a challenge on Goodreads to read 21 books in 2021. I’ve finished the year reading 26 titles. (That’s 10,329 pages by the way) Between hardback, paperbacks, and audiobooks, I’ve managed to accomplish this task thoroughly and enjoyed the process as well! Of 26, 24 of them were fiction, and 6 of them are mysteries so I am branching out some! I reread 5 books and revisited 4 authors that are old friends of mine! 7 were historical fiction and 5 were audiobooks of the more children’s fantasy genre. I read 6 that are considered “classics,” and 3 of those belong to my beloved Jane Austen, of course!

I’ll start with one of my first books of the year that also happened to be one of the most influential reads. Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly was a historical fiction inspired by the life of a real heroin of World War II, Caroline Ferriday. The lives of three women are set on a collision course from New York City, Holland, to Nazi Germany. Here’s my five star review from February.

It’s been over a month and I’m still thinking about this book. The Rabbits. The evil I didn’t know mankind could be capable of, the brainwashing that happened in all levels of the Third Reich. I loved this book. Between Lilac Girls and a few other books I’ve read recently [That skip around narrators and viewpoints] I was a little thrown off at first by the storyline jumping but to be honest I think it was the best way to tell these three women’s stories. The speed in which I completed this book is due in part by quarantine and partly because I couldn’t understand how these three distinctly different women from different backgrounds and nationalities could come together. Nothing short of heart wrenching and stunning.

Another of my favorite authors, Katherine Reay, was represented by three titles this year. My favorite of which was the Printed Letter Bookshop. It was what got me on my kick of reading this year. I was lost in several of the titles quoted throughout the novel and once you read this book, turn to the end for a comprehensive book list that rivals Emma Woodhouse! Reay never ceases to whisk me into her stories with messy and relatable characters who navigate friendships and family relationships through the lens of some of your favorite authors. Printed Letter Bookshop and its sequel Of Literature and Lattes are two of her only novels not based on any particular book or characters. The whole of the story is based in a surviving small book shop so the wisdom of some of my most nostalgic titles are on every page. Her book Austen Escape is what got me listening to Jane’s finest works while waiting in the carpool line. Definitely add it to your TBR if you want a good escape into the world of Jane Austen, horse drawn carriages, balls, and a cynical engineer.

The book that took me the longest to finish was one of my only nonfiction books, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane Ortlund. It was one of those slow burn books with lingering questions and lots of reflection involved. Not really what I would consider to be a quick read! Words can’t describe how much this book has truly changed the way I look at the heart of Christ for me and the world we live in.

In the one place in the Bible (Matthew 11:28-30) where the Son of God pulls back the veil and lets us peer way down into the core of who he is, we are not told that he is “austere and demanding in heart.” We are not told that he is “exalted and dignified in heart.” We are not even told that he is “joyful and generous in heart.” Letting Jesus set the terms, his surprising claim is that he is “gentle and lowly in heart.”
-Dane Ortlund

Our heart is what defines and directs us, so spending some time attempting to uncover the heart of our savior is well spent. I can’t give a better review than the one a close friend and mentor of mine told me when recommending it, “This book changed how I view Christ.” That was it, went straight to Barnes and Noble that same day and I hope you will too!

Neither of us have the time for me to review every book individually here, so check out my Goodreads for more details and to see my book list for this year! If you have questions about any of the books I read, or want to make suggestions I’d love to hear them! You can email me from my About page or reach out to me on social!

Here are my final suggestions.

Most thought provoking: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Best vacation/airplane read: Maisie Dobbs by Jaqueline Winspear

Fantasy: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Look up trigger warnings)

Historical Fiction (Educating and tear jerker): Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

Historical Fiction (Mystery and romance): A Hundred Suns by Karin Tanabe

Coffee shop read: The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay

Audiobook: Hercule Poirot, Richard Armitage narrates these Agatha Christie novels on Audible!

Mystery/Thriller: The Rook by Daniel O’Malley (Look up trigger warnings)

Would read again: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (This was a reread!)

P.S. Just as a note I recommend everyone look up book trigger warnings before reading a suggestion! Everyone has different sensitivities and I always find it better to know before you begin reading so you’re not caught off guard.

February 3, 2018

Joe M Hernandez

Read a few, Emma

February 3, 2018

Joe M Hernandez

I just HAVE to write. The thought has pulsed through my head nonstop for the past year. My biggest obstacle has always been starting. And the middle bit. And finishing. “Short stories,” I said to myself. “That is something I could tackle!” But this too I’ve found requires some determination and will, which I find lacking when I set pen to paper.

I’ve heard it said, a reader who has nothing to read must write. So then, wouldn’t the opposite be true? A writer who has nothing to write, must read.

“Emma has been meaning to read more ever since she was twelve years old. I have seen a great many lists of her drawing-up at various times of books that she meant to read regularly through—and very good lists they were—very well chosen, and very neatly arranged—sometimes alphabetically, and sometimes by some other rule… But I have done with expecting any course of steady reading from Emma. She will never submit to anything requiring industry and patience, and a subjection of the fancy to the understanding.”

This excerpt from Jane Austen’s Emma, spoken by Mr. Knightley about young Emma’s endeavor to read more, could be easily spoken about myself. I’ve drawn up many a “good list” of books to read but never can get through them all without some distraction or to be taken with another title. But like Emma, I’m always game for a challenge and I do believe I will be endeavoring to read more the rest of my life. (Now if Mr. Knightley would choose to brew me a cup of tea and sit with me, I think I would happily read the day away with very few qualms!)

I sat down to read early on in 2017. I was disappointed that college provided little time for pleasure literature. All of my fantasies of being snuggled in the corner of a library aisle with a big thermos of coffee and a Charles Dickens novel were severely injured by the fast paced, jam packed collegiant life. Besides the obvious, classes, studies, and obligations as a music major, I found any amount of free time with friends was always being challenged by Netflix, sleep, or exercise. There is no built in time for, as Mr. Darcy would eloquently state, “the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.”

I decided that this must be remedied. So I began by finishing books I had started and asking others for suggestions. I didn’t want to exclude myself to certain “intellectual” literature. I read anything and everything! Even if it meant four books by the same author whose first name is not Jane and last name not Austen. (Of course, I am referring to Katherine Reay for any Austen enthusiasts who need a breath of fresh air into the 21

century)

Wuthering Heights

by Emily Brontë

This was my first book when I began this adventure, and I must say the darkness took me by surprise. Jane Eyre is an old friend of mine and I return to her on multiple occasions when her inner courage and moral compass are grounding and inspiring to me. But Emily’s book held so much darkness and not so much redemption that I struggled to navigate it in one swift reading. I had to take a break at one point and read something a bit lighter because it was a little bit too much for me to handle. Especially since I do most of my reading late at night.

The Gilded Years

by Karin Tanabe

At one point, I will sit down and write the thorough book review this title deserves. I am very partial to books set in periods, because at heart I’m an old-fashioned girl and this book touched every heartstring in my body. Anita lives her life hiding behind her skin color in order to achieve an education. Something happens that makes her question why she needs to live unloved in order to hide. She finds acceptance, friendship, and even love. But it may threaten all of the safety she and her family have built for her. An AMAZING read! I read it over the summer and couldn’t put it down.

The Brontë Plot

by Katherine Reay

This book took some digging through the back of a few Half Price Books to find. I fell in love with all of my favorite Austen characters all over again when I read Reay’s

Dear Mr. Knightley

and

Lizzie & Jane,

that this book wasn’t going to be left unread for long. I fell in love fast and hard with the world of old books, interior decorating, and the stories left behind by generations of English authors. It made me want to jump on a plane and fly to the moor where Cathy rode her pony and Mr. Rochester galloped on his brilliant black steed. In true Brontë style Reay writes a mystery that will keep you hanging on every word. I am currently reading

A Portrait of Emily Price,

which is not based on certain author or genre. I think it is a clear example of a

reader who decided to write what she wanted to read.

Mansfield Park

by Jane Austen

Dr. Johnny Wink, one of my beloved English professors, ignored the fact that I’m a music major, and allowed me to partake in an Honors course on

*drum roll please* Jane Austen! We traversed three of her novels,

Mansfield Park, Emma,

and

Persuasion.

While I enjoyed all three exceedingly, the first was the only one I had not read prior to the course and was the one I enjoyed the least. Nonetheless, it did showcase an aspect of Austen’s writing that I find most amusing. Satire. I find many of her characters in this novel are not so much meant to admire, like Mr. Darcy, Elinor Dashwood, or Jane Bennet. But instead, to scrutinize the character’s flaws and philosophies. I still find it an interesting read though maybe not as romantic as her other novels, but very amusing. Especially if you find discovering selfish motivation and justification of one’s actions and ideas diverting.

started

a few other books, but these four I believe are worth highlighting as my 2017 reads. For 2018, I want to continue my exposure to the classics. But also to male authors.. You’ll find in the above material, all of the names are female. As are many of my favorite authors, Montegomery, Alcott, Austen, Brontë, Rowling, Reay, etc. I plan to read a Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, maybe even another George Eliot. (Just kidding..)

I would love to hear what you are reading. Or if you have any suggestions for me as I make my 2018 reading list. Here's to another year of fictional adventures!

Happy when skies are gray