Another New Favorite

 #39.  I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith

I want the book to linger, to not taint my mind with any other book or video, so I'm sitting here, happy to have finished a book, but a bit melancholy that this one has ended.  Cassandra Mortmain keeps a series of journals over the course of a year between the ages of 17 and 18, capturing the characters in her life and the rundown castle they occupy in the English countryside (father, stepmother Topaz, older sister Rose, younger brother Thomas.)  They live in utter poverty, supported by the labor of a former servant's son, Stephen, work for a neighboring estate, none of the adults much inclined to work.  Her father wrote a novel many years before, of some acclaim, especially in America, but now keeps to himself; a possible tortured genius, or perhaps suffering from mental illness.  In desperation one night, Rose climbs up and makes a wish on a gargoyle for something to happen to change their fates, they really have no prospects, Rose even considers prostituting herself.  New, wealthy, American neighbors suddenly fall into their lives, and Rose is determined to marry one of them for money, if not for love.  Over the course of the year, it's a sea change for everyone, and the girl Cassandra becomes a woman.

Oh, I loved this book.  (Read after seeing a YouTube video from Spinster's Library, as one of her favorite books.)

August Update

I still have a bunch of library books checked out, but haven't felt much like reading this month.  Feeling restless, so only five books thus far, though I have begun a few others.  The Book Bingo thing ends on September 7th, and I am seven books away from a blackout.  I've read more than twenty four books since it began, but not in the right categories to count.  At any rate, for August, thus far:

#34.  Nobu - A Memoir, Nobu Matsuhisa.  

Both a memoir and advice on running a restaurant.

#35.  The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith.  

The first of the Tom Ripley books.  Will his luck run out in the future books?  I enjoyed the writing and the story, though, unlike some reviews, I didn't find him all that sympathetic, though it is a view into a life where someone makes choices different than I would, and again, seeing a different point of view from your own, different life choices, different outcomes, seeing that my ideas aren't the last word (not even for me, for how common is it to be the same person at 40 that you were at 3?)  Isn't that one of the gifts of reading?

#36.  Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan.  

Really enjoyed this.  Still haven't seen the movie.

#37.  We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, Samantha Irby.

Book of essays on her life.

#38. The Body - A Guide to Occupants, Bill Bryson.  

Fascinating.

My Favorite Book So Far

#33.  A Pilgrimage to Eternity. From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith. - Timothy Egan 

I loved this book.  It's probably something more to appeal to people who have, or had, some religious leaning at some point in their lives: Catholic or mainstream Protestant.  Or perhaps anyone who has ever gone on pilgrimage.  The hero's journey.  The time out of time.  The search for miracles or clarity.  I know them well.  I see other people's stories daily.

I read "The Good Rain" in college, as part of my studies (Natural History/Ecology).  He's been writing a long time, has a journalists eye and sensibility, and has twenty pages of bibliography at the end of the book.  He winds his journey in the twines of church history, place history, stories of saints, stories from his personal life, the every day struggle of being a pilgrim in the present, and his encounters along the way to Rome into a whole that leads you, too, from Canterbury to Rome, and across 2000 years of history.  I've walked the same journey via different roads, other countries.

Are there ultimate answers that prove a faith?  I don't know.  I understood things when there was the space and simplicity of repetition allowed to clear the clutter of busy and shoulds from my every day. And he found this, too.  

A pilgrimage is in three parts: calling/beginning (physical), wrestling (mental), return/reintegration.  It was curious to me, the tradition on this route, too, that he carried a stone to leave behind on the third section of the journey.  There was also a reason why on the Camino Frances, through Spain, that the Cruz de Ferro, where millions of pilgrims have left behind a stone on a mountain, is between the "big empty", as I think of it, the Meseta, and entering Galicia, where one prepares to return back home.  You've had the Meseta to wrestling with yourself, and then it's time to let the burdens you've been carrying go (symbolically, with the stone.)  Then you learn how to be with people again, without that burden.  Is this a universal truth of a pilgrimage?

I trace my fingers through the pages as if a labyrinth.  When I find my way out, I'm ready to be in the world again.  I've changed, so the world I'm in has changed, too.

Forms of Lonely

#31.  Seek You - A Journey Through American Loneliness - Kristen Radtke

Science, personal experience, and stories about loneliness, distilled into graphic novel form.  Well written, and intelligent.  Another book I'd recommend to everyone.

#32.  Last Chance to See - Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine

This is another book I've had around for a couple of decades, bought it from an old used bookstore.  I started reading it a month or so ago, and then it got buried by other books and papers when I recently had to rearrange to figure out how to fit an air conditioner in here.  Uncovered it today, and read the last chapter. 

Adams is best known for his irreverent, comic, science fiction writing, and Carwardine is a zoologist, at the time working with the World Wildlife Fund.  Initially, they were paired to go to Madagascar and search for an endangered lemur called the "aye-aye," by the Observer Color Magazine.  The pairing was a success and they ended up travelling across the globe to search for other endangered species for BBC Radio.  It's both funny and heartbreaking.  Adams will write with irreverence, and then drop in a thought deeply insightful, such as (when inches from a mountain gorilla): I began to feel how patronizing it was of us to presume to judge their intelligence, as if ours was any kind of standard by which to measure.  I tried to imagine instead how he saw us, but of course that's almost impossible to do, because assumptions you end up making as you try to bridge the imaginative gap are, of course, your own, and the most misleading assumptions are the ones you don't even know you're making...But somewhere in the genetic history that we each carry with us in every cell of our body was a deep connection with this creature, as inaccessible to us now as last year's dreams, always invisibly and unfathomably present. (From the chapter, Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat.)

In the epilogue, Adams tells the fable (?) of a prosperous village visited by an old woman who wishes to sell them a volume of 12 books which contain all the world's wisdom, they laugh at her, and she burns half of them.  Each year she returns with the remaining volumes, increasing the price, they continue to rebuff her, and each year she destroys a portion of what remains.  The village falls on hard times, the price too steep to pay when it comes down to the final remaining book, as she moves to destroy it, they finally pay the price, all that they have.  But what was lost that can never be restored in the eleven that were destroyed?  Every time we willfully, or passively, allow the destruction of a species, or even an ecosystem (we want it to be more like where we came from, or we want to extract as much wealth as we can before someone else gets there) we lost a collective memory, a collective wisdom, a collective story that we cannot restore.  We don't know what holds the fabric of life together, which once removed will cause an unravelling we cannot stop.  Sure, it might be possible to collect DNA from a piece of amber, but we don't have the environment, other species, or open spaces for that species to thrive.  We hold possibilities and shadows of what once was even as we continue to destroy what is. (And the same could be said for the loss of languages and cultures, we lose an understanding of the universe that can't be translated.)

Two of the species in this book have since gone extinct in the wild: the northern white rhino, and the Yangtze River dolphin.  And countless others not covered in this book.  As Carwardine says in his epilogue, There is one last reason for caring, and I believe that no other is necessary...And it is simply this: the world would be a poorer, darker, lonelier place without them.

And Least Favorite So Far

#30. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte.  

I quite disliked this book, yet forced my way through it as a form of inoculation, that obsession and control are not a form of love.  And why this is ever billed as a "love" story is beyond me.  The writing is good, and Bronte's playing with time and story-telling is interesting (Lockwood relaying the story Nelly Dean relayed to him, very little of it happening in the present moment of the novel.)  But it takes a long time to tell the story, and the main two characters are detestable, maybe born that way, but also the result of abuse (and indulgence) rained down over and over again for no reason than for the sake of cruelty itself, or the need to be superior over someone else.  It got more readable for me when it was the story of the offspring.

Bronte was very insightful as to human character, especially with Heathcliff, he could be the poster child for what is now known as dark triad personality disorder.  He's cruel, vengeful, violent, manipulative, remorseless, selfish, obsessive, controlling, malevolent, moody, mercurial, and vile.  Cathy is more immature, selfish, indulgent, and somewhat obsessive, and one wonders how she would've turned out with more loving parental guidance, but her father was also obsessed and indulgent of Heathcliff, the mystery child.

In the end, even Hell expelled them, leaving Catherine and Heathcliff to haunt the moors.

Most laugh-inducing, so far

#29 - Hyperbole and a Half - Allie Brosh

Yes.  A graphic (novel?) of a blog in print form.  Made me both laugh out loud (all the dog stuff - why did they think they had "dog whisperer" abilities and adopt the scariest dog in the joint?  Although, I do love that they made that dog part of their family anyway - plus recognition of so much of her struggles in me) and cry.  Plus, drawing herself like a sad amphibian is endearing.  Or as I've started using the term all the time now, "sad guppy."

Almost Thirty

#26 - The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Inga Moore.

Not without controversy, for comments about race.  Two ill-tempered and ill children find one another, and heal from the power of nature and the power of being known.  The tending of a garden, of the soul, and the effect of our thoughts on our well-being and will to live.

#27 - Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston

Janie Crawford is raised by a former slave to be satisfied with the scraps of life, but feeling inside herself that there is more being fully alive.  She's married off at 16 to an older man, Logan Killicks, who doesn't treat her poorly, but also doesn't allow for her to develop as a person.  She then runs off with another man with big dreams for himself, Joe Starks, who hears of a new town being formed and sweeps in and pulls it together, becoming shopkeeper, landlord, postmaster, and mayor.  But who also keeps Janie on a pedestal apart from all society, leaving her lonely and boxed in.  After he dies, and she inherits their wealth, she runs off to the swamp with a much younger man, Tea Cake, to make their way through picking beans and gambling. They survive a hurricane together only to have Tea Cake succumb to rabies from a dog bite while saving Janie (a horrible way to die, and much more prevalent before widespread vaccinations in pets.)  With Tea Cake, Janie came into herself, and after his funeral, she returns to her home and tells her life story to her friend Phoeby.  It's unclear at the end what her fate will be (Tea Cake bit her as he died.)

It's Janie believing she can decide her fate, that there is more that she can become besides what she has been told she can be.  More that her Grandma, her husbands, or society tell her she has to be.  It's wanting more than merely surviving, it's believing that a full life is for her, to fully embrace what can be and what she wants.

#28 - Crimes of the Heart (Play) - Beth Henley

Inclusiveness

#25 - Disability Visibility First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, edited by Alice Wong

One of the few books I think should be required reading.  We live in a very ableist world, we have a very narrow definition of what we perceive as "normal" and our societal definition of useful and meaningful life follows from that narrow definition.  Begin to conceive it isn't the only one.  Begin to conceive and view an inclusive world where all people can contribute their gifts, are not facing barricades: accessibility, clothing, transportation, communication, help, healthcare, mobility, discrimination,, etc., from reaching their potential.  See the world from someone else's point of view.  (Which I might add, is also kinda' the point of reading.)

We fall so short of what could be.  We do enough to be ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant, and miss the spirit of what it means to be inclusive.  (For instance, my apartment building has an elevator and ADA compliant units, but non-ADA compliant entrances to the building.  If you needed a wheelchair if would be very difficult to get into the building without assistance.  The key fob is high up on a wall, 4' perhaps?  and then you have to get to the door and pull it open before the buzzer stops.  It's hard enough to do if you are carrying anything, much less have mobility constraints.  A push pad to open the door would solve that, though not solve security issues.) What it means to be open and welcoming.  To say, we are happy to have you here.  To say this place is for all, and we welcome your contributions, you have a place at the table.

Screenplay for "Sense and Sensibility"

24 - Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries - Emma Thompson

I was late to Jane Austen.  Something about the titles sounded trite to me as a teenager, and I didn't take the Senior English class that read Austen.  So, my introduction was this movie.  I'd gotten sick, thinking it was a cold, which progressively got worse over a course of days to the point where I could no longer swallow food (and actually, liquids were pretty painful as well) and finally hauled myself to a doctor, who had me open my mouth, took a look down my throat and proclaimed, "Yuck.  Looks like Strep." And then sent me off for antibiotics.  By the point I could swallow ice cream (half-melted), a couple days into the liquid anti-biotics, my roommate told me she was going to take me to a movie, to make me feel better, and because she owed me money for tp or something.  She took me to a matinee of Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" saying something about needing tissues (I think she had already watched it once.)  I was crying my eyes out, and fell in love with Jane Austen on the spot.  And then of course, started reading her.  My sister, I think, gave me this book later that year.  I've looked over it before, but I've not read the whole thing.  Began and finished it this afternoon.  Reading straight for the past couple of hours to the point where Emma Thompson's voice is in my head.  The diary is entertaining that way.  And I haven't seen the movie in a while, but I think there are changes between this version of the screenplay and the movie, added dialogue, dropped dialogue/scenes from the final cut. 

June 30th

 Well, it's almost 11 pm.  And I wont finish any more books.  I starting this one in January, but it had been awhile since I'd read any of it, that I started it over again earlier today, and just finished it now.

#23 - Journal of a Solitude - May Sarton

A diary from 1970-1971 as the author spends a year mostly alone working on a poetry book for her upcoming 60th birthday.  Her observations (inner and outer), struggles, joys, and self-revelations.

Twenty Five by End of Month?

20 - The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Robert Ingpen

Lovely.  Animal adventures in rural England, bygone days.  Originally began as bedtime stories for his son.

21 - A Coney Island of the Mind - Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Mid-century poetry.

22 - The Valkyries - Paulo Coelho

A story about wanting to meet his guardian angel.  I thought of it because there is an early scene where they walk out into the Mojave Desert and get heat stroke, and it's 102 F outside right now and it resonated.  So far my apartment is only at 89 F, but I'm getting the afternoon sun through the blinds I couldn't lower (too high to reach).  Whole Foods is air-conditioned, only open until 9 pm, but it's an option.

Finished #19

 18 - Dial A For Aunties - Jesse Q. Sutanto

Meddelin Chan is a wedding photographer for her close-knit family's wedding business.  The night before a lavish wedding set on an an island off the coast of California, she accidently kills the date her mother set her up with from a dating website.  A Chinese-Indonesian rom-com with a lavish wedding, first love, lost love, found love...and a dead body.  What could possibly go wrong?

19 - Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro

Since I first became aware of this novel, it has been the one I was most looking forward to reading; a story told from the perspective of Klara. The Klara of the title is an "artificial friend" or AF, meant to keep children from becoming lonely.  In some future time, somewhat similar to our own, children are separated into those "uplifted" and those not (fates chosen by their parents), and learn through tutors and computers at home, no longer in the classroom (which has been the experience of so many children across the world over the past year-and-a-half.)

Klara is a unique AF, in that she is observant, curious, and takes an interest in understanding humans, in particular their emotional states and reasons, as well as the world around her.

Ishiguro novels have an overarching sense of melancholy to me, though I find them engaging, thought-provoking, and page-turning.  They deal with a stratification of society, there are outsiders who will never find a place in society. Society deems them as separate, undeserving of equal treatment.  In "Remains of the Day" (sorry, I read the novel a few years ago and can't recall the characters' names, but I remember the movie) the Anthony Hopkins character no longer has a place, while the Emma Thompson character has adapted to a different world. "Never Let Me Go" where people are bred to be used for organ donation, unable to reproduce, and kept apart from society, and with a stigma that makes other people fear them.

And the thing is, they are naive about what they do not understand.  They have been kept so separate, isolated from the "outside" world, that they do not understand how things "work".  I could call it "fish out of water" but that usually implies a comedy, and these are lives deemed unnecessary, to be used and discarded.  They never win, the world had been constructed such that there was never any chance for that.  I think of the Anthony Hopkins butler when he is driving in the country and his overconfident belief that he understands the world, but he's been sequestered on an estate for his whole life, while the world outside has drastically altered, he might as well of woken on a different planet.

Klara creates her own religion.  A supreme being to please and appeal to, in order to assist someone she has grown to love.  And holds her conviction so strongly that she convinces others to help her in her scheme, even without being able to tell them her secret promises.  Shades of "Never Let Me Go" here, though with Klara she chooses, while the donors in the other have no agency in their fates.

There's also something interesting in how the two mothers made different choices for their children, but on the same trip to the city, make desperate choices to hedge their bets, second-guessing what can't be undone.

15-17

#15 -The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Tale of a shepherd boy's search for his destiny.

#16 - The Meaning of Mariah Carey - Mariah Carey with Michaela Angela Davis

Her story of her life, as opposed to what the tabloids have told you.

#17 - Maurice - E.M. Forster

Maurice is an interesting choice for a "hero" in that there isn't anything particularly likable or extraordinary about him at first glance.  He's an average boy and then an average man.  He's in denial of his sexuality until he goes to Cambridge where he falls in love with a fellow student.  And yet, as he somewhat methodically tries to come to terms with his sexuality even going so far as to see a hypnotist in hopes of "being cured", which of course, doesn't work, once he decides to be who he is, he gives up everything for love.  And that is heroic.  Forster wrote "Maurice" in 1914-15, and for most of his lifetime, homosexuality was a crime in England.  It was decriminalized in 1967, and Forster died in 1970.  "Maurice" was published posthumously.  In the novel, after the hypnotist fails, he suggests Maurice could move to Italy or France where it's not a crime, but in the end, Maurice and Alec stay in England.  He chooses to live fully whereas other people fulfill societal expectations and live half-lives.  

This is the first writing of Forster I've read, so I don't know if it's the style of his writing, the time period it was written (perhaps there is shorthand that people of the time would have understood, that readers 100+ years later, don't have the context or norm of language for), because of the subject matter, or because Maurice himself keeps things hidden from himself, but the first part of the novel seemed somewhat hidden, if that makes sense.  Like things were being alluded to, talked around, rather than directly addressed. It was hard to stay engaged.  That changed for me in the middle, it felt like it opened up more, let me into the story.

And I can't recall if it was a reviewer or Forster himself that commented (or a combination) but if he'd written a morality tale about homosexuality with a tragic ending it would've been publishable in his lifetime, but as it is, Maurice has a happy ending, no one is punished or suffers, and that was an unacceptable outcome in England for most of the 20th Century.

Goal for the rest of the year

My goal is to try to read 100 books by midnight on Dec 31 of this year.  Or at least 50.  The Library Book Bingo has begun, and that's 25, so we'll see.  All but one of the books I have right now are 3-400 pages (except "Vanity Fair" which is 800+, I think.)  Or maybe I'll aim for the "big" books: "Moby Dick," "The Divine Comedy,"-which I did get 1/2 way through last summer, "Don Quixote," "Paradise Lost."  None of which are in the current queue...or maybe 50 + one of those.

I think I might renew my lease, which frees up some time.  Technically, it's not over until late August, but they contacted me yesterday, because they want to pre-lease to students returning to in-person learning this fall if I'm not planning on staying.  No increase in rent, which is good.  I was thinking of moving, but this year has been in flux, and I feel like I never got to fully live, unpack, enjoy the space.  Been feeling somewhat unsettled, due both to pandemic, and all the construction/repairs going on since I moved in.  Plus, I hate moving. 

Next up

13 - Year of Yes - Shonda Rhimes

Did boys hear "You're acting big" the ways girls did (do?) growing up?  Were they taught to take up less space, to not claim their accomplishments that they worked for and earned?  I began reading this before I got on my Jane Austen kick, so I was half-way through, took a break, and then finished the rest in a day.  So, what ended up being meaningful to me were the chapters on taking up space, and saying "yes" to saying no.  This book is her sharing of a year (+) to begin to say "yes" to fully being alive and owning her space in the world.

14 - White Magic - Elissa Washuta

One woman's search for answers for personal pain, to fill a hole. Using whatever means (stories, history, sex, drugs, magic - stolen and reclaimed, or otherwise, mystery, video games, Twin Peaks, etc.) to get there.  And if stories can act as a type of mirror to the reader/receiver, I also found parts of myself healed (or shrugged off my back) in the process of witnessing her struggles.

So much of this was heartbreaking, both the personal and historical information.  And I do remember the Artist-in-Residence in the bridge tower, which I thought was a great idea (and still do.)  And was happy she won it.  It's set aside money, and money well spent.  Art matters to me, enriches all of our lives, and should be nurtured.  And as with Jessica Simpson's memoir, I'm rooting for Washuta.

Number 12

 12. - Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

I like this one the least; while I like the story itself, I find the writing hard to follow and stay engaged.  It meanders quite a bit.  I know it was her response to the criticism of novel reading, particularly as done by girls, and how that was considered to be frivolous and dangerous, to weaken the female mind.  Catherine Morland (and Eleanor Tilney) defend novels, having also read serious works such as history (written by men), much of which must have been created by the authors, since there isn't really any way of being certain what was said by historical figures at all times.  There must have been creative license taken with what was said, even in "serious" history, and this is generally accepted as being known.  And why are wars and politics more important to know than human behavior, which affects our lives more intimately, and regularly?  (Which also brings to mind the scene in "Persuasion" in the conversation between Captain Harville and Miss Elliot, where he argues that all literature, histories, poems, etc, are against women in terms of who feels the most, the most pain in parting.  To which Miss Elliot replies, "But they were all written by men.")  And a woman's reference to the wider world was always through the interpretation of men: their feelings, and what they believe is important to know.

And in spite of Catherine Morland being referred to as "scatter-brained" by others, she's a strong character, (her refusal to give into the persuasion, badgering, demanding, guilt-tripping, flattery, etc, by the Isabella and John, and even her own brother James, on the plan to go to Blaize Castle when she had already promised to spend the day with Eleanor and Henry Tilney.  Even reversing the underhanded maneuvering of John Thorpe telling Eleanor that Catherine needed to change plans, even though it wasn't true.) And mostly solid in her reading of others: her dislike of John Thorpe, her seeing through Isabella Thorpe's false affection (and affectations), her wariness of Captain Tilney's attentions of Isabella, her trust of Eleanor.  She was only mistaken briefly in her feelings toward General Tilney's attention toward her because of her attraction to Henry, and wishing to be liked and accepted by his family.

If I get around to reading "Sense and Sensibility," I might talk about Isabella Thorpe more, as well as Lucy Steele.  And the thing is, Mrs. Thorpe is no more maneuvering than Mrs. Bennet (in "Pride and Prejudice") in the attempts to marry her daughters off to wealthy men in order to save them from a life of poverty.  We just identify positively with the Bennets because they are the protagonists, and the Thorpes are not.  And in "Sense and Sensibility" Eleanor Dashwood is as much as a villain as Lucy Steele, after all, who's stealing from whom?  If anything, society as a whole is the villain for putting women in a desperate situation of scarcity with no other remedy.  (And Edward Ferras for being so spineless.  Which does make one wonder about Jane Austen's view of men in general. Mr. Knightley in "Emma" and kinda' Henry Tilney in "Northanger Abbey" being the notable exceptions.)

What to Read

 How I'm deciding what to read this year.  

Well, before I was comfortable with using the library again (and it's been open for curbside pick-up for months) I was reading books I had sitting around that I'd never gotten to.  I got comfortable taking books from the curbside "Little Free Libraries" earlier than actual libraries, so got books from those, and contributed to them, too.

I got to watching a lot of "booktube" videos where people talk about what they are reading, and how well they liked them.  I watch lectures on literature, and especially on pre-1900 literature, I find it helpful to understanding better both the language and societal conditions of the time.

I look at booklists on the library website, things recommended by librarians.  And I read the recommendation blurbs in Bookbub.

And then there is the random grab bag from the actual library, where you could choose a genre and they would hand you three random books to read.  Every time I go to the library to pick up something I reserved, I ask for random books.  I've started most of them.  I think they've gone to random books that were popular last year.

I can't read as much as I'd like.  I'm having trouble with my eyesight.  I need to wear glasses most of the time now, and if I wear them too long, I can't focus when I take them off.  I think I need a new prescription, but I'm waiting until I get my second vaccination before I go to the eye doctor since that's very face-to-face.  Maybe I should switch to audio books for a while. 

What I've Been Reading This Year

 Last year was somewhat of a wash, I didn't have much attention for reading, and then at the end of the summer I decided to move, so that took me off of books, or at least from finishing any, for the remainder of the year.

What I've finished since mid-January, in order:

1) A Wrinkle In Time - Madeline L'Engle

2) The Distance Between Us - Reyna Grande

Autobiographical account of life before and after immigration.

3) The Numbers Game - Danielle Steele

4) Can You Keep a Secret? - Sophie Kinesella (Has a Bridget Jone's Diary vibe)

5) Open Book - Jessica Simpson 

6) The Pilgrimage - Paulo Coelho

7) An American Spy - Lauren Wilkinson

8) Rough House - Tina Ontiveros

9) Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Of note: The entailment of Longbourn, which willed the property (all of it, except what Mrs. Bennet brought into the marriage, which is to be divided between the five daughters) to the closest male heir, was probably done prior to Mr. Bennet coming of age.  That said, he didn't make any plans or put anything aside for the girls, and as he is close to an age where he could die, it will leave them destitute. (This wasn't necessarily dictated for everyone by law, for example, Lady Catherine's daughter Ann will inherit, and Georgiana Darcy also has an inheritance.  And on a side note, the reason Wickham tried to elope with he was that her inheritance would not be protected under those circumstances, and he could spend it as he chose.)  Even though the Bennets are landed gentry, Mrs. Bennet didn't encourage a proper education and training, nor decorum for a proper lady, to any of the daughters, which puts them at a disadvantage.  The only work the girls could go into would probably be as a governess, but young governesses were also subject to unwanted advances, so unless they marry well, or are taken in by a male relative, there really is no protection.   Hence, Mrs. Bennet's sense of urgency to marry them off, and the problem with Lydia running off with a man and then living with him outside of marriage (young couple's weren't even allowed to talk to one another without a chaperone), and making a good marriage even harder for her sisters.  Both parents left the girls to run wild, without curbing their behavior to societal norms, which is neglect, and Mr. Bennet allowing Lydia to go to Brighton was also neglect.  The Bingleys came into their money through trade, and were not landed gentry.  Elizabeth Bennet is therefore of a higher status than Caroline Bingley, but less refined, and less of a lady in behavior; still she takes precedence over Caroline Bingley.  She doesn't even try to be refined, which must be a frustration to Caroline. So, Mr. Darcy and Miss Elizabeth are in the same class, if not of equal fortunes.  And both Jane and Lydia marry beneath their status.  This is just prior to the Victorian Era, society was more open than it will become very shortly.  All Austen's novels take place during the reign of the Prince Regent, and the time of the Napoleonic Wars, where men could make their fortunes (Wentworth in "Persuasion.")  And many of the "novels" of the age, and particularly those read by Austen, were moralistic, where women were either chaste, or fallen and had to suffer for it. (See particularly Samuel Richardson.)  Lydia defies this, she's not in the least remorseful for her actions (Isabella in "Northanger Abbey" does pay for her behavior, however, that was written earlier than this novel.)

And as awful as Mr. Collins is portrayed, he was trying to do the right thing by marrying into the Bennet family to keep Longbourn in the family.  Mary might have been favorable to the prospect, if Charlotte Lucas had not beat her to the punchline.  Also, under the law, once Lady Catherine gave him the parsonage on her estate, it was a lifelong arrangement or until he decided to leave the clergy.  So, he was set either way.

10) Persuasion - Jane Austen (This might be my favorite Austen novel.)

Of note: The two main characters, Anne and Wentworth, have very little dialogue with one another throughout the novel.  We hear the thoughts in their heads, or rather, Anne's and what she might be imagining Wentworth is thinking.  I checked it out of the library, but want to buy it so I can mark it up, and follow all the times, and why, someone is persuaded.  I used think Wentworth didn't deserve Anne, but in reading the book (as opposed to just watching film adaptations) and listening to commentary, he wouldn't deserve her, save after Louisa Musgrove's accident, he was forced to look at his own behavior and choose to be a better man.  He was playing with both the emotions of Anne and Louisa.  Anne, because he still felt hurt by her refusal of his earlier offer of marriage, and Louisa, because he encouraged her affections and behaviors without thinking that anyone might take that as an honest attachment, and is mortified when he he is told by Harville, that everyone expects a marriage to take place between them.

11) The City We Became - N.K. Jemisin 

What makes a city unique unto itself? How does it come together to withstand the forces of gentrification that would take it over and destroy it?  This story sticks in my head much like "The Bird King" by G. Willow Wilson did.  They both left strong images in my mind; I've often tried to remember what the movie was, and then recall that it was an image I created in my head from the story.