The 306 Greatest Books #45 - Wuthering Heights

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. This book can be found on the Sybervision, Norwegian, Observer, BBC, and My Book Lists. 

Wuthering Heights ended up being a very weird book and not at all what I expected. I initially considered this to be one of those "chic lit" books but I couldn't have been more off. This is one of the most depressing books I have read yet. The book explores how Satan himself can sometimes corrupt people into being wretched human beings, but in the end sometimes they are able to pull through. Most of the story takes place as a flashback of one of the former housekeepers. It is a little confusing and not very enjoyable at first because of the erudite language Bronte used, but after a few chapters I got used to it. After the flashback it shows an orphaned child, Heathcliff, brought back to the house and is shunned by everyone. However, Heathcliff eventually takes over everything. Since most of this is known at the start of the story, it is interesting to see how everything comes about and to see how two separate families who differ in everything (intelligence, strength, and health) intermingle. This book is definitely on my must read list and it should be on yours.

The 306 Greatest Books #44 - Les Miserables

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. This book can be found on the Sybervision and My Book Lists. 

I grew up attending the musical version of Les Miserables and I was always thoroughly confused by the play. I enjoyed the music but the plot of the musical confounded me. After having seen the musical three or four times, I decided to delve into the book and I must say that this book was absolutely enthralling. I have since seen the musical after having read the book and it makes much, much more sense now. The story is two fold, one following the social unrest of the French Revolution following the fall of Napoleon at Waterloo, the second follows an ex-convict, Jean Valjean, while he tries to redeem his life. The book meanders a bit in its plot, but overall I found it fantastic. I was lost in the depths of Hugo's Paris and I didn't want to find my way out. Many times when an author goes on random tangents (like Melville) I get bored and want to move on with the story. This was different for me. Hugo paints such a wondrous portrait that I want to delve back into it time and time again. This is definitely on my must read list and is perhaps one of my favorite books of all time.

Hovercraft - The Beginning

Note - This was originally published on my other site "The Geology P.A.G.E." but due to the content I have moved it here and backdated the post.

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After years of talking about it I am finally doing it. I am building a hovercraft. I purchased the plans about 2 years ago and now I am finally starting it. Today is day 1 where I go get the wood for the frame. I am so excited.

Life Update - Honeymoon Pictures

Note - This was originally published on my other site "The Geology P.A.G.E." but due to the content I have moved it here and backdated the post.

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 Pictures from our Honeymoon

View from our room.

Us hanging out in the pool after a romantic dinner.

View of the sample bar at the Bacardi factory. We could have any samples we wanted. They didn't let us take pictures of the factory itself however.

After collecting some sand samples for my Texas paleontologist friend.

Life Update - Honeymoon Recap

Note - This was originally published on my other site "The Geology P.A.G.E." but due to the content I have moved it here and backdated the post.

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Ok I know I have been negligent lately but I am going to catch up slowly. First off is the honeymoon. It was fantastic. I highly recommend going to an all-inclusive resort. We went down to a Sandals in Nassau, Bahama. The food was all terrific, even if we did get sick one night. Drinks were all top shelf (helps when there is a Bacardi factory on the island). And the rooms were super comfortable. Let's start this off in order. We arrived on Saturday and were extremely confused at first. Just leaving the airport was an experiment in cross cultures. They had random signs around with conveyor belts and people and we did not know whether to talk to them or keep walking. Then check in was just confusing because they held onto our bags and our room wasn't ready. But eventually everything turned out wonderful.

Overall, our days consisted of trying each of the 8 different restaurants, laying in the sun, swimming in the pool, relaxing in the numerous hot tubs, reading my book, and drinking. We met a couple of super nice people the first night there at the Japanese restaurant. Dan and Julie are from Wisconsin and we spent most of the week drinking with them and Joe and Nicole are from Chicago and were around our age.

The first day after we met Dan and Julie we saw them while we were relaxing around the pool when we start hanging out. Eventually Dan walks to the bar and comes back with 4 plastic cups and a cup full of what looked like a Corona. Well after one sniff I could tell I was not going to like this. So it eventually ended up where we had about 7 shots of tequila before the afternoon was over.

One day we went shopping in downtown Nassau, which is where all the cruise ships stop. We bartered and we spent lots of money but it was cool, we got lots of cool stuff, like pearls for my newlywed.

So the one downside to the trip started Wednesday morning when we got breakfast in bed. After we ate I started to have an upset stomach, then suddenly it turned into excruciating pain (37 on 10 point scale as I explained it). I eventually got taken to the hospital where we spent the day. It seemed like I had some sort of liver problem so no more drinking for Jimmy (N.B. I actually had passed a gallstone but I wouldn't know that until a few months later.).

And now to the really sad no drinking part, we then went to the Bacardi factory the next day. That was really cool, they had one storage room where all the rum was aged that they said you can get drunk just by walking into the room. I walked in anyway. :-). After that we ended up going home, but all in all a great trip. We want to go to Saint Lucia next.