The Three Musketeers

I finished this book just before Christmas. I was delayed somewhat due to happenings in my own life, which, ironically, have left me with a lot more time to read, but were not exactly what I was expecting. I took a break during Christmas and didn't read anything, letting chance direct me to what book I should read next, which I'll tell you about shortly.

I liked The Three Musketeers. If I had children, or if I should someday have children, I think this (and the Harry Potter series) will be the sort of book I'd read to them at night. Written for adults in its time, it's not sexual, gory or anything that would be inappropriate for kids. It has lots of throw-down-the-gauntlet, grab-your-sword sort of excitement (seriously - if you bumped into one of these guys by mistake, you better be prepared for a sword fight. They were a little touchy) and every woman's honor was fought for (except Milady Winter - read the book if you want to know why). Good narrative, good descriptions and an interesting book overall.

Favorite of the Musketeers was probably Porthos. I think knowing Oliver Platt played this character on film biased my opinion. As a literary character though, he just seemed the most kind-hearted of the three.

I have to admit, the entire time I was reading this book, I wanted a Three Musketeers bar badly. I prevailed and stayed true to my diet.I have a sickness where I think about chocolate a lot.

So my next book choice was difficult. I personally don't like to pick my next book. I like to leave it to chance and let the book pick me, which can sometimes take a while. Sounds flaky but it's how I go about minor decisions in life, as long as they have no direct or major affect on others. It happens in different ways, at different times, like someone mentioning a book to me, or randomly reading/hearing/seeing an interview or TV show that mentions a book, author, etc. You get the point. 

While contemplating my next choice, the following all happened within about 1 week: I watched The Help (loved it - you should definitely check it out) and in a random scene, there is a bookshelf with Native Son by Richard Wright clearly visible in the frame (book number 73 on my list); I was watching TV one evening and an episode of The King of Queens comes on and the plot is that Doug and Carrie join a book club. The first selection? Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (book number 53 on my list); Then I read an article that mentioned Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (book number 20 on my list). So I now had three books to choose from and it was a difficult choice .All three sounded good once I was able to research them and read the summaries. Jane Eyre won in the end because it's a book I've always wanted to read but just never did for some reason.

Not a big follower of movie releases, I was also very excited to see this trailer for a movie based on the book that had been released in March 2011. I love when I have a movie to look forward to after I read a book. Although, honestly, more times than not, I'm disappointed in the film adaptation. Why does Hollywood need to put so much fluff into films? Why can't the story ever be enough?

As I do with any book I read, I googled the author, the book itself and just did a general knowledge tour for myself. The family story of the Brontes is tragic and heart-breaking. I knew sort of that almost everyone in the family died young, but when I read various web biographies, it became a little more real and a lot more sad. Thankfully, health care has improved somewhat since the 1800's.

We'll see how Jane Eyre goes. I started it this afternoon and I'm enjoying it. Only on page 28 right now. At 401 pages, it's what I call a light read. I expect, if all goes well, I'll be finished in under two weeks. Yes, I'm pretty sure I have said that before. I'm committed to it this time!

Happy New Year!