26. Ira Levin - The Stepford Wives

This is the second novel I've read from Ira Levin for this challenge. And just like A Kiss Before Dying The Stepford Wives failed to thoroughly impress me. You probably all know the story about a little suburban town called Stepford where the housewives are beyond perfect, scarily so. Joanna Eberhart moves into this little community and she also notices straight away that something is fishy in suburbia. Maybe fishy is not the right word, maybe I should say roboty...

It could be just me, but I seem to remember that a lot more of the actual events are shown in the film with Nicole Kidman. We actually see an army of robots. Not here. Levin keeps it all very secretive (I am going on a limb here by assuming I'm not giving anything away when I'm describing this book. I feel that saying The Stepford Wives is about robots is the same as saying American Psycho is about a American psychopath). What Levin gives us is the desperation Joanne feels when she can't reveal the Men's Club's secrets and when she might be next after  all her friends have turned into those things. 

I reckon this novel was very much with the times in 1972, nowadays, it would be unthinkable that men control women. If a woman would move into a suburban town where all other women are just doing housework without any ambitions of their own, there would definitely be something wrong. The strength of this novel lies in the fact that we really don't know if that's the case here (well we do, but I'm talking about the original readers from back then) We wouldn't know if Joanne is feminist who is ahead of her time or whether there is actually something wrong in Stepford. Nevertheless, this novel is a classic and I wouldn't dare to talk it down because it is slightly outdated. 

25. Gabriel García Márquez - No One Writes to the Colonel

Gabriel García Márquez' book I don't understand at all. I'm aware that this is not the best way to start a blog, but it has to be said. No One Writes to the Colonel is a really short novel, with I believe a deeper message, but I can't find it. I don't know if I've been reading it half-heartedly or whether the story is just not that interesting but I didn't get into it at all.

It's about a colonel who is waiting for a letter every Friday by the docks and also about the colonel's rooster. I understand more of this story when I read the back of the cover where it says that the colonel, who together with his wife, is really poor, has been waiting for 15 years for a letter about the Army pension, which he hasn't received yet.

I did not get that from the story to be honest. It's probably a really beautiful book, but my heart wasn't in it. Next week I hope I can write a more passionate story because I notice that the last few weeks my love to read is slowly diminishing. I will not let this little reader's block get me down though, so I will carry on reading just like I have done for 25 weeks now.

24. Roald Dahl - Esio Trot

It was time for another Roald Dahl book. This time Esio Trot. I tried to finish a really short book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez this week, but I didn't make that either. I had friends from Holland visiting this weekend and next weekend I'll be in Liverpool so this means I have about two weeks to finish The Three Musketeers. Yes, I'm combining books these weeks. I need to get back into my rhythm.

Anyways, this week a love story. Mr. Hoppy is madly in love with his neighbour Mrs. Silver. She, however, is crazy about her tortoise Alfie. Mrs. Silver's biggest dream is that Alfie would grow though and Mr. Hoppy finds in that request a chance to win Mrs. Silver over. He buys hundreds of tortoises and in the course of a few weeks he puts a bigger tortoise in Mrs. Silver's flat. It's a simple story but for once it's just really cute. Although I feel kind of bad for Alfie who has been with Mrs. Silver for 11 years and is abruptly taken away without her even noticing. Poor tortoise... 

Luckily, my Dahl books are not running out just yet so I have some more short stories for if I get more deadline issues. Let's hope it doesn't happen too often though, I already feel ridiculed by my boyfriend who doesn't understand that Roald Dahl changed the way children's book were written. 

23. Anne Frank - Het Achterhuis

A autobiography this week, but not just one by a random famous artist. This week I was ready for Anne Frank's famous diary called Het Achterhuis. And even though it hurts me to say, I really wasn't interested in the slightest.... The only part that really got to me was the last page and the short summary of what happened after they were discovered, which wasn't written by her of course. 

I probably need to explain what I'm talking about. Anne Frank is a German/Dutch Jewish girl who hid with her family in a house between her father's office during World War II. Her farther's old colleagues kept them safe and made sure they had supplies. She kept a diary because she wanted to become a journalist and this was supposed to be her first publication. And her farther (who is the only one of the people in hiding who survived the war) made sure it was published after they were discovered and taken away by SS to be killed 

In this diary the 12-year-old Anne writes about everything that happens in the house all the minor clashes between the eight people who are forced to live together in a confined space for more than 2 years. Everything she writes about is not that interesting. It's basically just an observation of social interaction by a teenager. The sad thing is, though, is that she never had the chance to develop into an intelligent young woman. 

22. Ira Levin - A Kiss Before Dying

After last week's horribly annoying book it was time for something old this week. Not something I've read before but a writer I'm very familiar with. Who doesn't know Ira Levin who is famous for writing Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives? I certainly do. So this week it was time for his first novel, written in 1954; A Kiss Before Dying. 

Levin wrote about a mother giving birth to a demon child and a town full of robotic wives. His first book is relatively harmless compared to them, but so much more realistic. It must occur to everyone that Mr. Perfect might not be as perfect as he comes across. The main character in the book certainly isn't. He has blond hair and blue eyes, he's ambitious, charming and very smart, but behind all these perfect trademarks hides a vicious killer with no selfless feelings. He is intent on marrying a rich girl and seems to have found that girl in Dorothy, but her father would disinherit her if he found out she's pregnant so he slips her some pills hoping she will never wake up.

The writing style Levin adopts in Rosemary's Baby is a little bit more intriguing than here because it shows you what Rosemary's thinking and your frustration at not knowing what is going on will be just as strong as her frustration. However, A Kiss Before Dying is still very well written considering we move from the mind of the killer to the point-of-view of the soon-to-be-wife/victim. And the fact that even though we can see in his mind, halfway through the book we become aware we literally don't know who this person is. It could be anyone and that's what makes this book very exciting at first. After we find out who it is, it dulls down a bit, but not enough to stop reading. 

21. Kate Morton - The Distant Hours

I’m so happy I finally managed to finish The Distant Hours by Kate Morton.What an incredible feat! It isn’t the longest book I’ve read for this challenge, but it took me the longest amount of time. 2.5 weeks to be exact.

I can’t describe how dull this book is. Of course, it is just my personal opinion, but it would have enough to quickly describe the events in a short novel. The ending would then actually be spectacular. Now, I was too bored to death to remember what happens at the end, which I’ve only just read 10 minutes ago.

No, I’m kidding I do remember, but believe me when I say; Don’t touch this book. It is truly truly too long! In any case I need to give a short description, which is surprisingly easy for a book that’s 600 pages. It’s about a woman Edie Burchill who decides to snoop into her mum’s life when the latter receives a message from the past. When Meredith Burchill was a young girl the Second World War was raging and her parents decided to send her to the countryside in the hopes that it would be safer than London. She ends up with the Blythe sisters; Juniper, Saffy and Percy in the majestic Milderhurst Castle.

Sixty years later Meredith does not want to tell her daughter Edie anything about the events that took place during that time and she takes matters into her own hands fuelled by the novel written by the sisters’ father: The True History of the Mud Man.

I liked the ending, say the last thirty pages of the book, but the way it works up to that ending is far too tedious. Like I said before I would not recommend this book to anyone, and I’m happy it’s over and done with and I can finally start with a new book!

20. Roald Dahl - Fantastic Mr Fox

Yes I cheated again this week. This morning I figured out that I wouldn't be able to finish Morton's book I'm reading now. It's too boring to read about 100 pages a day. But that's why I bought Roald Dahl's books. I saw this film a while back and I liked it so much that I figured Fantastic Mr. Fox should be great in book form as well.

And I must say that it's a really cute read. It's not completely similar to the film, but in this case it doesn't ruin the book. It's a bit simpler and less funny, but it's still a sweet story about a cunning Fox and his family, who are stuck in their holes because the farmers he always steals from are after him. Mr. Fox wouldn't be Mr. Fox if he didn't have a clever plan to make up for there new situation.

It's nothing special, it's still a kids' book after all. But it's much better than The Magic Finger by Dahl. I finished it within half an hour and that's also part of its charm. I hope that I manage to finish Kate Morton's book next week, because it would be embarrassing to post another Roald Dahl book next week... I'll try my best!