Mr. Rochester Voted Most Romantic Hero in Literature

Mr. Rochester, from Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, has been voted the most romantic hero in literature in a new poll by Mills and Boon. I guess some women like their romantic heroes dark and brooding with an insane wife locked up in the attic. Crazy wife aside, Mr. Rochester is just too moody and arrogant for my taste. My top pick would be Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. I’m really surprised that he was third in the poll, behind Richard Sharpe of Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe series. Here’s a list of the top ten:
1. Mr. Rochester, Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte
2.Richard Sharpe, Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
3. Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
5. Rhett Butler, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
6. Mark Darcy, Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding
7. Captain Corelli, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by [...]

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Ten Spooky Books to Read for Halloween

Halloween is only a few weeks away and here in Michigan the leaves are starting to change and there’s a chill in the air. It’s perfect weather for curling up with a cup of tea and a good book. In honor of Halloween, here’s a list of spooky/mystery/supernatural stories you may enjoy:
Just After Sunset by Stephen King
This collection of 13 short stories ranges from horror to gross-you-out to more common things we are fearful of like divorce and terminal illness. Stories include “The Cat from Hell” which is about a killer cat and the hit man hired to kill it and “N” which features a mental patient with OCD.
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
What could be better for fall reading than a gothic ghost story set in and around London’s Highgate Cemetery? It’s a creepy (but not scary) story and the dreary London weather creates the perfect backdrop. Read my [...]

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HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY Book Review

HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY by Audrey Niffenegger (3 stars out of 5)

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Release Date: September 29, 2009
Publisher: Scribner
Pages: 416
Buy on Amazon
What do a haunted apartment, a cemetery, two sets of eccentric twin sisters, an agoraphobic obsessive compulsive, and the Little Kitten of Death have in common? These are the peculiar things that come together in Her Fearful Symmetry, the second novel by Audrey Niffenegger. As you can probably guess, it’s a unique novel filled with quirky characters and not all of them are amongst the living. Set in London, it has a dark, gothic tone with themes of death and grief factoring heavily into the story. But it is also about love, albeit the obsessive love between twin sisters who can’t live with or without each other.
The twins in question are twenty-year-olds Valentina and Julia, mirror twins whose mother, Edie, is also [...]

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New Book Releases for September 2009

September is going to be a great month for book lovers. Dan Brown’s latest book has been getting all the press, but there are a lot of long anticipated books coming out this fall.
Take a look at the September releases I think you’ll be interested in:
Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin (Order on Amazon)
Available September 8, 2009

From the publisher:
Official Book Club Selection is Kathy Griffin unplugged, uncensored, and unafraid to dish about what really happens on the road, away from the cameras, and at the star party after the show. (It’s also her big chance to score that coveted book club endorsement she’s always wanted. Are you there, Oprah? It’s me, Kathy.)
Kathy Griffin has won Emmys for her reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, been nominated for a Grammy, worked and walked every red carpet known to man, and rung in the New [...]

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THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE Book Review

THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger

Once in a while I read a book that is so original, touching, or thought-provoking that it stays with me long after I’ve finished reading. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger is the perfect example of a book like this because it is all of these things and more. It tells the love story of Henry and Clare and how they maintain a relationship while Henry is spontaneously traveling to different points in time. The book begins with Henry meeting Clare for the first time when he is twenty-eight and she is twenty, but she first met him when she was six years old and he was in his thirties. This may seem impossible, but, due to a genetic disorder, Henry randomly travels through time. During one of his early visits, Henry tells Clare that in the future [...]

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