Book Q&A with Mattie - Part 1

Hello! 

My sister and I answered some book-related questions we found online together! We answered twenty questions in all, and here is the first ten! 

To find part 2, go to Mattie's blog: Saltwater Stitches

1. How many books do you own? 

Mattie: 174.

Amelia: 104.

 2. What's your favorite book cover that you own?

Mattie: The Comedies of William Shakespeare. I really love all of the gold around the edges.

Amelia: Little Women. 

Little Women

The Comedies of William Shakespeare

3. What was your favorite book as a child?

Mattie: Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit. I don't really remember the process of reading it, I just remember that I did read it, and then again and again. I really loved it!

Amelia: Isabel: Jewel of Castilla in The Royal Diaries series. I don't know why I liked this book so much! I didn't read a lot when I was younger, so it was very special when I made it through a whole book. 

4. Do you judge a book by its cover? 

Mattie: Yes, I'm pretty bad about it. When I go to the library and look for books I have never heard of, if I don't like the cover then I don't get it!

Amelia: Sadly, yes. I rarely read a book I don't know anything about if it has an ugly cover! 

5. Where do you like to read? 

Mattie: I like to read on my bed. I like to be under blankets and to be able to turn on my side, so I prefer my bed to a chair

Amelia: I pretty much only read in my bed, but mainly because I read before I go to sleep. If I don't read right before bed, then I usually read on the couch. I've tried to read outside but I am easily distracted and rarely get any reading done! 

6. What book could you read over and over again and never get bored of? 

Mattie: It would probably be The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern. I have already read it three or four times, but I love it so much I could keep reading it over and over! After all, it is a classic! 😀

Amelia: I chose Anne of Avonlea because I have read this book probably more than four times and loved it when I was younger (I still like it), but I think I would probably get tired of any book if I read it too many times.

7.  What was the last book you bought?

Mattie: Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge. I have never even read this book, but it was the Junior Deluxe Edition (I have another Junior Deluxe Edition book, so I thought they would go well together) and the cover is so cute that I had to buy it!

Amelia: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. I've never read this book, but I found it in an edition that I really like to use when I read plays by Shakespeare! 

8. Do you like long or short books? 

Mattie: Long. If I'm not trying to catch up on my reading challenge, and if I like the book, then I prefer books to be long. I don't want the story to end!

Amelia: I probably like long books better. I just like looking at a really big book and knowing that I read the whole thing, haha! I would rather a book be short if I wasn't a big fan of it though. 

9. What is your favorite snack to eat while reading?

Mattie: Crackers and tea. The tea has to be spearmint and have way too much sugar than is good for me, though. 

Amelia: Stroopwafles (A Dutch dessert thing) and hot tea! 

10. If you could travel to one fictional place, where would it be?

Mattie: I'm going to give a boring answer, but in my defense, it is quite amazing. I would like to go to the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Being able to do magic would be awesome!

Amelia: I chose the Wizarding World, but I would love to go to Middle Earth or Narnia as well! I find that a lot of books I read have either just a boring terrain with not a lot of interesting things, or somewhere in our world, so it was a hard decision! 

Thanks for reading! This was a lot of fun to do and I hope to post soon!

Mattie's blog: http://mysaltwaterstitches.blogspot.com/

- Amelia :) 

Frankenstein - 11/13/19

Hello, everyone!

I meant to post much sooner than this, but we just got back from vacation a couple days ago and I am just now getting around to writing a post I planned to write quite a while ago!

I have a notebook full (haha, when I say full, it's literally one page) of blog post ideas that I hope to make in the future, and this one has gotten a little foggy in my brain, so, we'll see how this goes!

I recently read the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and wanted to write a semi book review/ just my thoughts on the book.

*Note: There are three different versions of this book that Mary Shelley wrote, all of them being very similar. I am not certain which edition I read since my copy didn't say which to my knowledge, but I read The World View Library edition.

*Note 2: I tried my best to give no spoilers in this review, so if it seems a little incomplete, that would be why.

Likes

This book makes you realize the consequences of your actions. It makes you take in the fact that each action can lead to another, and what happens when someone disregards God's authority of creator.This book makes one see the loneliness of rejection, and how it can lead to devastating destruction.

Dislikes

This was a very violent book and was often displeasing to read. It had very gruesome details and got a little frightening at times. Besides its violence, it was extremely sad, and left you feeling almost sorry for ever reading it in the first place, though I am very glad I read this book. It sparked a lot of interesting ideas, but it had such a dreadful story line that so rarely had happy moments.

Overall plot

This book is narrated by Robert Walton who is writing to his sister about the life of Victor Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein moves to a school in his late teen years, and starts to make many scientific discoveries which lead to the creation of his monster. When Frankenstein's monster comes to life, Frankenstein is in utter horror of this creature. The creature escapes, and Frankenstein falls ill from the trauma.

Frankenstein's monster then lives alone. He stumbles upon a family who he watches and learns from, teaching himself to read and talk. After a year or two of watching and caring about this family, he goes to meet them for the first time and is cast out in disgust and horror. He runs away from them, and seeks revenge to his creator, who he wished had never created him. He then goes to Frankenstein's home and commits crimes that put Frankenstein in complete misery. He finds Frankenstein and tells him that he must make another monster, a partner for him. Frankenstein is completely against this idea, but agrees to it with the horrid thought that his monsters would have monster children that would create mass destruction on the world. After much reluctancy, he decides to destroy his work on his second creature, which makes Frankenstein's monster more angry than ever. Frankenstein's monster commits horrible crimes again which destroy any reason Frankenstein has for living and puts him into complete misery. The monster and Frankenstein then go on a chase to murder each other, and though the book is left with an incompleteness, I will say no more on its ending.

Thoughts

Though I took away many messages from this book, the one that I distinctly saw come up in the novel was the role of creator. "Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed." (Pg. 115) These words are said by Frankenstein's monster to Frankenstein himself, and show what it feels like to be detested by your creator.

God, the Creator, is certainly not frightened or disgusted by his creations. He feels the exact opposite about His creations. Frankenstein as creator of an un-humanlike being, is in utter horror at his creation, which shows you the need we have for a loving and caring creator. Without God as creator, we feel miserable and rejected, knowing that even our maker has shunned us.

When a human steps out of their place, and creates a creature that is stronger than himself, it results in destruction. Frankenstein's monster was able to control Frankenstein and became his ruler," 'You are my creator, but I am your master;" (Pg. 200)

This book shows us that only God is the true creator of anything, and that is the way it should be. When man decides that he wants to be the creator of monsters, the monsters become stronger than himself. Because of our weakness and sin, only God can truly create a being, and only God can give that being His love and forgiveness.

Thanks for reading! I haven't quite figured out how I want to do book reviews yet, so it may change in the future since I am still very new to them.
I should be writing soon!

- Amelia :)

My Old Books - 11/3/19

 Hello!
I have quite a few old books that I have bought on my shelf and I thought it would be kind of interesting to show all of them! (They're pretty much some of my most prized-possessions so I don't mind showing them off as well;) ) I can't be exactly sure on the actual dates that some of them were printed (especially since I really don't understand all of the copyright dates), but I will roughly show them by the latest dates to the earliest!

                            

                        1.  American Literary Readings by Leonidas Warren Payne, Jr. -1985                                                       
                             
                            
I know, 1985 is not that old, but this book looked so cool and I knew most of the authors it had works from! And, it was probably around $2.00.

                              2. The Civil War Digest by Ralph Newman and E.B. Long -1961

I haven't read this yet (you'll be hearing that often), but this book had such cool pictures in it and the side was so pretty! :D

                                               3. Bleak House by Charles Dickens -1946

I haven't read this either, (mainly because it's 881 pages of tiny print) but I have seen the mini series and I really liked it! A couple of the pages have fallen out, but I'm still happy I got it!

                                                            4. Heidi by Johanna Spyri - 1943

 
This was the first book that I ever bought with my own money. I got it at a thrift antique shop, and I actually have read this one and really liked it!

                                 5. Anne of Windy Poplars by Lucy Maud Montgomery -1936

I actually had to go look on my Goodreads to see if I'd read this or not, and I have, but I remember not being too fond of it. It just wasn't as good as the others before it in the series. But, it was in a set with another one of the books so I decided it was worth buying (it's also really pretty)!

                                              6. The Spy James Fenimore Cooper - 1934 

I got this book at the library once and never read, and now that I own it I still haven't read it. But, when buying books, I can't resist a pretty cover, and I can never resist buying an old book. Something about old books is just so appealing!

                                    7. Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery -1915

Along with Anne of Windy Poplars, I didn't think that this book lived up to the two other books before it. It wasn't a terrible book, but something was very lacking in it. But, this isn't a book review post so I will say no more! :)

                                     8. Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery -1909

This is my absolute favorite book in the Anne of Green Gables series! I think I have read this book three times, and when I found this I already owned it but I'm so happy I got this copy!

                                            9. Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan -1881

This is my most favorite book that I own! I haven't even read the real version of this book yet, but it'll forever be the most prized book on my shelf! As you can see it is very old, and the cover is falling off, so it's a little un-readable, but I love owning a book so old.

Thanks for reading this post! I don't own that many old books, but every time I look over at my shelf and see all of the books that I have bought over the years, it makes me so happy to see them all!

- Amelia