The Introverted Detective

 Villette is a book I don't hear much about, so let's talk about it. Written by Charlotte Bronte, it is about Lucy Snowe. I went into it knowing nothing.  When I started getting more into it, I discovered that Lucy Snowe was without family and looking for work. She gets on a boat on a guided whim, goes to a French speaking country, and ends up at Villette. She has money, but not very much. This is the story of a woman looking for work, who also has nothing to lose. She is going on whims, or if you read it as guidance, God's guidance. Every whim or guided suggestion pays off, so I would classify it as God's guidance.  Here's the thing about Charlotte Bronte's life when she wrote Villette; she wrote this after her sisters died. The hope you saw in Jane Eyre is definitely not the same because the author was not as lonely then. It explores her depression and ill mental health. You know Lucy is mourning, you know Lucy is alone, and you know she's not okay. Neithe...

 This challenge is for me, to make progress on Villette at the very least. I've discovered that Villette is not the easiest book to finish, but I think it'll be worth it. I'm reading one chapter of Villette for every five chapters of another book. I'm including three books in this challenge. Let's get into it.  My eyes are wandering to other books, while I have Villette open and unfinished. I need to close that tab in my brain. For every five chapters of another book, I read one chapter of Villette. I can either stop at every five chapters to read Villette or tally up the chapter count and read it later. The point is that I need motivation to keep going. I also don't need a reading slump early in the reading year.  Any books on this blog will be reviewed individually in other blog posts. The reviews are not going to be found on this post. Why? Because this is a post about logging how many chapters I read.  The books First up is Midnight In Death, part of a serie...

 Pride And Prejudice is great, but let's see what this adaptation brings to the table. Pride And Prejudice And Zombies is by both Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Let's dive into a classic unlike the original.  Shockingly, it doesn't go as differently as you would expect. It is the same love story - but with a few zombie fight scenes, some surprise zombie attacks, and some hilarious sentences that definitely made Jane Austen turn in her grave. Some will look at this book as an abomination, but others will laugh and enjoy the contrast between a calm regency romance and a zombie regency romance. I suggest you read the original classic before you read this, simply to see what changed.  If you want my thoughts on the original love story itself, here is the original review of Pride and Prejudice:  click here  . I'm not talking about that here because I already talked about it.  Overall Thoughts I was in love with this hilarious book the minute I started readi...

 This film was the project where Dave and Max Fleischer didn't speak to each other. Yet, it turned out adorable and fun. Gulliver's Travels is about a shipwrecked sailor coming upon a village of tiny people. It's silly, it's fun, and it wasn't enough to save Fleischer from going under.  Courtesy of alamy.com I watched this last (since the shorter cartoons are easier to fit into a busy morning). I loved it. It was adorable, silly, and family-friendly. This was one Fleischer cartoon that the whole family could watch. It was re-released in later years. I'd watch it again.  The Review What was so great about it? The silly characters, physical comedy, and fun music. Fleischer is known for music and animation together. This was no different. You could tell the animation took time. Gulliver being entertained by his tiny host country was delightful. He stops a war, saves a wedding, and creates a new song mash-up. It's so sweet.  10 stars, easy. I was entertained by ...

 I'm loving the Silly Symphonies. So much emotion in such a short cartoon. This one was The Ugly Duckling, which is exactly the story that you think it is. Let's dive in.  Courtesy of Pinterest Silly Symphony storylines are usually expressed without words (and in this case, no intelligible words). All you have is a duck quacking, bird sounds, and a swan crying. This is the tale of a little swan that got hatched by a duck, left by the duck mother, and picked up by a swan mother. It's incredibly sweet. There isn't too much to say.  After the little duck wanders off, it gets in another nest. After being chased out of the other nest, it finds a duck decoy and gets bonked on the head by it. This makes the ugly duckling (swan) a little traumatized and sad. It sobs its little eyes out until a swan mother and her little ones hear it. Once he finds a loving home, he never returns to the duck who hatched him. Our little swan swims off with the loving adopted mother and her hatchl...

 Today I watched Clock Cleaners (from 1937), a Disney cartoon featuring Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. Let's talk about it.  Courtesy of D23 As I research cartoons, I find that Disney can be hard to find in some cases (at least the full version, anyway). I don't have Disney Plus and don't intend to get it. It's true that Disney doesn't play around with pirated media. Even so, I found this one from 1937 on YouTube. The older the media, the higher the chance you can get it in a full version.  This cartoon is about Mickey, Donald, and Goofy cleaning a clock. That's it, that's all. Mickey encounters a sleepy stork while Donald fights with a spring. Goofy has the longest adventure and the fewest lines of dialogue as he cleans a bell and does it when the clock hits noon. Two statues hit the bell several times while he's in it, then hit him. Mickey then tries to help Goofy not fall off the clock tower. By the last moment, they are all sprawled on the floor together...

 Not only did I get this book suggestion from a friend, but I already had it when they mentioned it. Today I review The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware.  Book cover courtesy of Simon and Schuster The main plot of this book is a woman reporter, known by the nickname Lo, reporting on a cruise boat. She's already had a rough time by the point she's on the boat. She's having panic attacks, was burgled a day or so before the cruise ship reporting gig, and is clearly drinking to avoid some mental image you (the reader) don't fully understand. This is when she hears a murder on the boat - in cabin 10 - only there is no one in cabin 10. From here on out, you have to read it yourself. The ending is just too good. I tried to Agatha Christie solve this one and, well, I got it dead wrong.  Overall Thoughts This book starts with an unsettling mental image of a body washing up on shore in someone's nightmares. Not only that, but you get the feeling your main perspective is definit...

 I'm back to researching after the holiday season ended. Here's another Silly Symphony. This was made in 1932 and features two trees having a romance.  Courtesy of Pinterest.com The Silly Symphony cartoons seem to have less dialogue than I expect. What this one excelled at was telling a story of two trees romancing, with no words at all. It is all visual with an orchestra behind it. I loved it. Let's count the ways.  What I loved about it This was a feast for the eyes. While The Old Mill was better, this was still amazing. You see the whole story portrayed in visuals alone, with the musical support behind it to reflect the scene. The conflict between dead evil tree and nice tree is laid out before you in a way that everyone can understand.  A toddler could watch this and understand it. This makes it family friendly. While I do think some media doesn't have to be family friendly (example, Lonesome Dove), cartoons of the 1930s were aimed at the whole family. The parent...

 I love the In Death series of suspense novels (written by JD Robb). I collect them. This is one of the smaller books. Let's talk about a return serial killer and a Christmas spent solving crime.  Eve Dallas is having a Christmas of love and new traditions with her husband Roarke, until a serial killer named Dave - specializing in torturing people for long periods of time - gets out of the mental health facility to get back at the people who put him away. He leaves the judge of his trial in a public area and kicks off an investigation that interrupts Eve's Christmas celebration.  Thoughts This was a shorter read, a ten-chapter read that reminded me how much I loved this series. I don't have anything negative to say. I won't spoil it. These do have a formula if I remember the series correctly. Eve is in some sort of danger, as always. In this case, she's on Dave's hit list.  It was only ten chapters. This one was compelling and short. If you need a quick suspense...

 Here's to the only Bond novel that made me cry. Let's talk about On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Blofeld's personal attack against James Bond.  This was a five star read. Yes, Fleming fantasized some dialogue from Tracy, but otherwise it was one of the best Ian Fleming Bond novels. I expect some sexist moments from him because every book has proved to have one or two. He wrote this in 1963 and grew up in the 1950s, a sexist era if I ever had to name one.  The plot of this one is James Bond meeting a woman named Tracy at a familiar casino (the one from Casino Royale). He then makes a deal with her father (after a surprise meeting) for information on Blofeld. After finding out that Blofeld sought a high title, he pretends to investigate such things as someone from that office, meeting Blofeld at a ski resort of Blofeld's making. He finds out Blofeld's researching allergies in some rural young women and escapes the place (after someone accidentally blew his co...

 This year's TBR was mostly rolled over from last year's list. I have learned that DNF-ing (Do Not Finish) a book is not a crime. Instead, it opens you up to more books you'll enjoy. Let's look at how the TBR went.  This year I knocked out about half the TBR, opting to not follow it after I was in a reading flow. In my reading flow, I decided I had no trouble deciding on what to read next and didn't need the guidance. Surprisingly, most of the books I read were picked up on a whim. I threw some challenges in this year, as usual.  Challenges The library challenge is when a book must come from a physical or digital library. Easy challenge, especially if you are not sure of some books and want to test-drive them before you buy them. It pays to see if your local library has a copy.  The One-Shelf challenge is picking a shelf, then limiting your reading options to what is on that shelf. It means you read what you have. It's an easy way to attempt reading only what yo...

 If you like a cute little owl singing Jazz, you'll like this. It's a Merrie Melodies cartoon about a young owl that likes to sing Jazz, gets kicked out, and goes viral over the radio. His cute little owl family hears him and they run to support him.  Courtesy of themoviedb.org This was so cute, but I had to go to Vimeo to find it. YouTube gave me trouble with finding it.  Here is the link to the one I watched.   If this link doesn't work, comment below.  What I loved about it There is nothing to dislike here. A cute little owl family comes around to liking Jazz. They hatch some owl eggs, get multiple little musicians, and one of them is singing Jazz. The others are singing opera, playing violin, and playing flute. They try to teach him not to sing Jazz, but instead, the father kicks him out. The mother calls the police to go find him. It sounds like the owls are Italian.  After a hilarious depiction of the Gong Show, our little owl (Owl Jolsen) succeeds in...