Jane Eyre (thoughts on the beginning)

I didn't really know what Jane Eyre was going to be like. I had only heard that it was a classic and it was amazing. When I read the beginning of this book, I immediately liked it. The book starts off when Jane is a young girl and she is living with her Aunt because her parents are both dead. Jane's aunt is not a nice person. She also lives in the house with her cousins and many caretakers. She doesn't really get along with any of them. She and her cousins fight a lot, and Jane is always the one who gets blamed for starting it. Her aunt continuously ignores that fact that Jane is related to her family at all. Instantly, I felt very bad for Jane. She is such a spunky, spontaneous character. She is so misunderstood. People don't like her because she is very poor and they think she lacks manners. I can understand where they are coming from about her behavior (because she doesn't really have manners), but they never give her a chance. This book is absolutely amazing! I enjoyed the whole thing, but the beginning was one of the best parts because it set up the story so well.

Something Borrowed

I loved the book, Something Borrowed, by Emily Giffin. This book is about two best friends, Darcy and Rachel, whom have known each other all of their lives. Darcy has always gotten her way and has a dream life. Rachel in more of a floater and stands by Darcy to support her in whatever she does. Darcy is engaged to a man Dex. One night, at Rachel's birthday party, Dex is the last person to leave because he has to come back to look for Darcy's lost purse. Rachel and Dex end up spending the night together and their summer affair begins. The book tells the story of Rachel and Dex falling in love, and hiding their affair from Darcy. Rachel is surprised that she does not feel guilty (for falling in love with her BEST friend's fiance), but she ends up feeling guilty for not feeling guilty in the first place. This book takes place mainly in New York City, but the characters travel to London, Indiana, and the Hamptons. At first, I felt bad for Darcy because she had no idea what was going on. As I learned more about how Darcy always got everything and Rachel got nothing, I ended up feeling bad for Rachel instead. The best part of the book is worrying about whether or not Darcy and Dex will get married. Rachel is the maid of honor! I'm currently reading the sequel. It's called Something Blue. Something borrowed is being made into a movie (starring Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin) which will be in theaters in early 2011. I can't wait to see it.

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Dear John is a great book for teens. It is a love story about a soldier and a young girl who spend the summer is the carolinas. I thought this book would be just another love story, but it was so much more. Savannah and John have so many adventures together. From stamp collecting to the death of John's autistic father to John being stationed in Germany for a really long time. The two of them fall in and out of love and reading their story as it unfolds is so exciting. My favorite part is when John's father shares his coin collection with Savannah. Savannah is such an open person. I would definitely recommend this book.

Emma by Jane Austen

I've had a copy of Emma on my bookshelf for a while. It was given to me as a gift from my godmother when I was very little. I finally decided to read it because I was missing my godmother a lot. I thought reading this book would make me feel close to her again, because she moved to California. I really enjoyed this book. I had never read a Jane Austen novel before, and after reading Emma, I definitely want to read more. Emma is the story of a young, spoiled, wealthy girl named Emma Woodhouse. Emma loves to play matchmaker with all of her friends, and sometimes her plans don't really work out the way she planned them in the first place. I absolutely love the way Jane Austen writes. I feel like I am living during the time period of her books because the language is so vivid. Each character is so well developed and the romance between the characters is classic. The whole novel is classic in every way, and that is what made me love it. I would definitely recommend this book to people who love to read classic romance novels.

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

I had been seeing the trailer for the movie, 'The Last Song', for a while. It made me want to read the book. At first, I thought that this would be a boring book about a teen's experience during a summer in the Carolinas, but it was so much more. Ronnie goes to stay with her dad for the summer. She is very angry at him because he left their family and ran away to live in his hometown. Ronnie falls in love with a boy named Will, and gets involved with a few criminals roaming the beach town where her father lives. From start to finish, I was hooked on this book. At the end of the book, the reader finds out that Ronnie's dad has cancer, and that is why he wanted to spend the summer with his kids- it would be his last summer. During the last third of the book, I could only read about five pages at a time because I was crying so much. I was truly touched by this book. It teaches many lessons about forgiveness and looking beyond peoples' exterior. I can't wait to see the movie!

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (my favorite part of the book)

My favorite part about reading this book was learning about a lifestyle so completely different from my own. I really enjoyed learning about life in Botswana and South Africa.

Mma Precious Ramotswe is the first female detective in Botswana. She sells her father's cattle to buy a little office for her detective agency. I learned a lot about how people respect each other in very different ways in Botswana. For example, Mma Ramotswe is asked to figure out if a man claiming to be someone's father is actually their father. The women who asks Mma Ramotswe to do this has taken "her father" under her roof and is cooking and cleaning for him all day while he sits around. This is the first time she has ever met her father, yet because he is her parent (or he claims to be her parent), she gives him her utmost respect because that is how you treat your parent in this country. You do whatever they ask even when you are an adult. No questions asked.

Mma Ramotswe's father also talks about his life in South Africa and working there as a miner. He describes the hardships he faced, how racism impacted his job, etc. It is so amazing to me that so much is done by miners to gather things like coal and diamonds and no one ever thinks about that when they are using the finished product. I really enjoyed reading about the effort and learning so much history. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!