Book Review: Our Mutual Friend (by Charles Dickens)

Mysterious disappearances, heaps of dust, a spoiled girl, dinners in high society—all this meets in Dickens’ novel Our Mutual Friend.  With Dickens’ most lovable heroine, this is a book it’d be hard not to enjoy.

Our Mutual Friend is not as long as Dickens’ longest books, but I guess it’s about the length of David Copperfield.  It’s like three times as long as something along the lines of Anne of Green Gables or Ivanhoe.  Probably a little more than twice as long as Pride and Prejudice.

Dickens tends to make use of a wide vocabulary and complex sentence structures in his writing style, so it would be hard for a child to understand much.  This particular book has one violent character, but in general is not as dark as some of Dickens’ stories.  I give it a 15+ age range.

As always, you can skip straight to the bottom for a brief recap and a link to the ebook, or read through for all the details!

Continue reading “Book Review: Our Mutual Friend (by Charles Dickens)” →
0

Book Review: The Story of the Treasure Seekers and sequels (by E. Nesbit)

Have you ever wondered how much crazy trouble six unsupervised children could get into?  There seems to be no end to the scrapes the six Bastable children can get into!

There are three books in this series, The Story of the Treasure Seekers, The Wouldbegoods, and New Treasure Seekers.  Each book is about the length of Tom Sawyer or Anne of Green Gables—the last book is probably a little shorter than the other two.

The books are fairly easy to read and occasional hard words are usually explained within the text.  Any child who can read would probably enjoy the books, but a little bit of maturity is called for in order to recognize the do-not-try-this-at-home incidents.  In general though, the age range is about 7+.

Skip straight to my brief conclusion about the series at the bottom, or read straight on through for all the details!

Continue reading “Book Review: The Story of the Treasure Seekers and sequels (by E. Nesbit)” →
0

Book Review: Three Men in a Boat (by Jerome K. Jerome)

There was a time when writing books about your travels was quite the thing to do—and although many of that kind of book are rather dull unless you’re particularly interested either in the person travelling or the place they traveled to (sometimes they’re dull even if you’re interested), Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome is packed so jam-full of humor, it’s a pleasure to read!

Three Men in a Boat is by my guess about as long as Northhanger Abbey or The Coral Island.  Not long, but not short.

Readers 15+ will probably find the book interesting.  Since it’s a travel book, not a story, it may not hold the attention of a younger audience—and some of the humor might go over their heads, too.

If you’d like my brief conclusion on this book, along with a link to the ebook, jump to the bottom.  For the details, read straight on through!

Continue reading “Book Review: Three Men in a Boat (by Jerome K. Jerome)” →
1

Book Review: The Railway Children (by E. Nesbit)

The title The Railway Children probably invokes ideas of dark railway cars, extreme poverty, hoboes, and dangerous escapes.  This book involves none of these.  On the contrary, it’s a story of three happy children, though they do have their hardships and moments of silliness.  They live by the railway for most of the book, and many of their adventures involve it; but other than that, they hardly count as railway children.

The Railway Children is a fairly short book, probably about the length of A Little Princess or Alice in Wonderland.

Children 7+ will be likely to enjoy this story, and its moral(s) are particularly geared toward that general age.  So is the writing style and plotline; there’s a good deal of excitement and not too much unnecessary complication.

For a brief conclusion and a link to the ebook, skip to the bottom—or read right on through for the full details!

Continue reading “Book Review: The Railway Children (by E. Nesbit)” →
0

Book Review: Lorna Doone (by R. D. Blackmore)

Set in the late seventeenth century and early eighteenth, in wild, hilly Exmoor, England (not that I know anything about Exmoor, but that’s the impression I got), Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor weaves together history, legend, and fiction.

Lorna Doone is, I think, about the length of Dicken’s David Copperfield or Our Mutual Friend; a longish book, but not to be compared to War and Peace or The Count of Monte Cristo.

It’s also a fairly slow-paced book, with a plot that only has rare cliff-hanger moments.  I doubt it would hold the interest of a younger reader.  I give it roughly a 17+ age range.

Jump to the bottom if you just want the brief conclusion, or read on for all the details!

Continue reading “Book Review: Lorna Doone (by R. D. Blackmore)” →
0

Book Review: A Little Princess (by Frances Burnett)

What if there were a book that encouraged children to be patient, kind, generous, and noble?  Look no farther; A Little Princess does that and does it effectively.

For length, I estimate that A Little Princess is a bit shorter than Anne of Green Gables, but longer than Little Lord Fauntleroy.  With only a little bit of dedication, anyone could read it in a day.

Girls 7+ should be able to grasp the main ideas of the book, and will surely relate to the seven-year-old heroine.  Sometimes it takes boys longer to be interested in books about girls, but it’s still worthy reading for a boy if he’s willing.

Find my brief four sentence conclusion at the end or read on through for the details!

Continue reading “Book Review: A Little Princess (by Frances Burnett)” →
0

Book Review: War and Peace (by Leo Tolstoy)

The year is 1812 and we’re in Russia.  Napoleon, the man, the myth, the legend, is facing off against General Winter.  Here to guide us through the chaos—to lend us eyes that we can see with—is Count Leo Tolstoy with his historical-based novel, War and Peace.

How long is War and Peace?  Well, when you’re scrolling through the table of contents and you see “First Epilogue: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc.,” then you know that you’re talking about a long book.  Page and font sizes vary, and if you’re reading digitally you may never even see a page number, but by comparison, War and Peace is definitely shorter than Les Miserables, and I think a little longer than The Count of Monte Cristo or Little Dorrit.

I’d put the age at 17+.  The language is simple, but the overall style of the book is not likely to be interesting to younger children and the Russian names are a bit of a speed bump.  Also, some of the characters are engaged in immoral behavior, which, although it’s not talked about in an inappropriate way, is not something 13– need to be reading about.

Feel free to skip to the end for my three sentence conclusion on the book, and then come back up for more details if you need them!

Continue reading “Book Review: War and Peace (by Leo Tolstoy)” →
0

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑