firstimpressionsreviews's reviews
608 reviews

To Kill A Mockingbird is a coming of age story, but the focus is not on raging hormones. Harper Lee's novel deals with prejudice of race and finical standing, rape and the battle of good against evil, showcasing that life is not always fair or as black and white as it appears to be.

In To Kill A Mockingbird the reader steps into the skin of six year old Scout Finch, living in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. Through Scout and her brother Jem we see the world how ever unfair, through the innocent eyes of a child who slowly grows up and comes to an understanding of her surroundings.

The incident begins with their reclusive neighbor, with the children not being able to leave well enough alone and summer after summer try to get Boo to come out and play. To be honest, the really instigator on this mission with Dill, a precocious little boy who is the master of tall tales. I should also mention that Dill was based on Harper Lee's childhood friend Truman Capote.

Summer ends and School begins, with Scout having difficulty adjusting. Her idea of problem solving is using her fists rather than words, with regular telling-tos by her older (by four years) and wiser brother Jem and rational father Atticus.

Her father is also a lawyer and defends Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white women. With their father being named as a disgrace ice begins to fall in the children's snow globe of a world changing their perspective on everything they thought they once knew. There's no need to reveal the verdict of Mayella Ewell's case, it was 1936 , it was open and shut from the beginning.

No matter how many times it is read To Kill A Mockingbird leaves a strong impact taking more and more away after each reread. Either wishing Atticus Finch was your father or having a better understand of the metaphor in To Kill A Mockingbird "It's a sin to kill a mockingbird. Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy." This is true on so many levels, a main example of this is the treatment of Boo Radley and Tom Robinson.

I think I will close by reminiscing of the first time I read To Kill A Mockingbird, it was labeled as required reading in ninth grade and remember my teacher saying it was her favorite book. At the tender age of fourteen most of the symbolism went over my head and didn't pick it up again until senior year of high school. Then I had an aha moment, so this is what Mrs. Fields was talking about.

"Do you think the dead come back and watch the living?"

This line is spoken by Mrs. Danvers and a very good question it is too.

Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier is the gothic novel of an unnamed girl. The story begins with this young girl as a paid companion to a Mrs. Van Hopper. Mrs. Van Hopper likes to hobnob with the rich and famous and after spotting Maxim de Winter, owner of the wonderful Manderly. (I should also mention that Mr. de Winter has recently lost his wife and just can't get over it). So like a tabloid with Miley Cyrus on the cover, she sets her eyes on the prize of befriending him.

Little does she know that a friendship and eventually love spark between he and the unnamed girl, who is soon after taken to Manderly and introduced as Mrs. de Winter. Her reception is rather cool, as the staff has yet to recover from Rebecca de Winter's death as well, especially Mrs. Danvers who runs the show.

The Second Mrs. de Winter has difficulty adjusting to her new role as Mistress of Manderly and being constantly compared to the first Mrs. de Winter does not help her self-esteem. The ever existing presence of Rebecca does not help matters either. After being consistently sabotaged by the Mrs. de Winter's devotee Mrs. Danvers send her into a melodramatic insanity. Then an unfortunate discovery is made at sea changing the course of regularity at the prized estate of Manderly.

This was a eyes glued open pageturner from the first sentence. Rebecca was exceptionally well written and I think no matter how many times it is read, Rebecca will always keep you spellbound. Mrs. Danvers is seriously creepy turning the home into a haunted house and sick memorial to her former mistress but yet somehow you still feel for her in a most disturbing way. Also, I think that the second Mrs. de Winter remaining anonymous added to the mystic of it's fictional surroundings. All around, Rebecca is a fantastic novel perfect for curling up by the fire and reading well into the night.

Dorthy Gale is farm girl from Kansas whose house is carried away in a cyclone to the wonderful land of Oz. There she meets many interesting persons and creatures and a few companions along the way who follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City in hopes that the great and powerful Oz will grant their requests.

I like this book, but at the same time I didn't. I think this is because some of the magical creatures such as the talking china dolls were unnecessary and got in the way for the real reason of the story, to get Dorthy back to Kansas with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Even so, I did enjoy reading the book that the beloved film was made out of and the creativity was amazing with the Flying Monkeys being controlled by a golden cap, the many shapes of the Wizard, from a ball of fire to a lovely lady and even though I didn't care for the china people they were still very imaginative. Lastly, the Oz books have a wonderful message, There's no place like home

"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and having nothing to do..."

Alice Liddell's story does not begin on this "golden afternoon" but this particular day defines her as "Alice".

Mr. Liddell is the Dean of Oxford College and living across from Charles Dodgson who wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll. Mr. Dodgson grows a strong attachment to the Liddell girls, Ina, Alice and Edith. The girls crave his attention but grown ups find his eccentric ways alarming and are skeptical on the closeness of their relationship. The section on childhood slowly builds to the day Charles Dodgson tells a story of a girl named Alice with its muse begging the author to write it down. But, like a fall down a rabbit hole the novel does not lose interest for the reader and for the remainder of her childhood focuses on the tight knit relationship, ending with a sudden, unexplained break of the friendship.

The girl who chased a white rabbit down it's hole has since grown up but is still seen as Alice in Wonderland and begins to carry it as a cross as no one can look past and see the real Alice. She begins to date Prince Leopold, now a student at Oxford with high promise of it ending in matrimony. Yet the exclusiveness of her relationship with Lewis Carroll haunts her and goes to extreme lengths to hide it from Leo. The ending of Alice's young adulthood ends with tragedy, her younger sister Edith dies and soon after her mystery is revealed to the Prince and breaks all connection with the fairy tale.

Alice has now reached old age and is married with three boys but still cannot shake her persona and trembles at the thought of reading her story to her children. Eventually, she owns that she will always be see as just "Alice" even though her life was not a Wonderland at all.

Part of the mystery, (although it has never been proven) is the accusations towards Charles Dodgson being labeled as a pedophile, having Alice as a romantic interest. Throughout the novel memories are surfaced, but as this is told by Alice being "to young to understand" is broken into fragments like a puzzle missing pieces. Even though this brought an interesting quality to the novel, it was not overused tainting the tale. Because in reality, who wants to believe that a beloved author such as Lewis Carroll was a dirty old man?

I really enjoyed this book and looked forward to turning on my Kindle each evening. Alice I Have Been was very well written in a fairy tale sort of way, with characters developed so they seemed almost real on the pages. Because indeed this was a story within a story, after completion I got online to learn more of the real persons in this historical fiction novel. I was pleasantly surprised how accurate it was, and what an extraordinary life Alice Pleasance Liddell truly lived.

Frank and Claire Randell have been married for eight years but have been separated by WWII. At the war's end the two take a second honeymoon to Scotland. During an early morning walk Claire gets time warped to the 1700s. There she runs into Frank's Great-great-great Grandfather Jonathon Randell. The two do not strike it off very well leaving Claire to play hide and go seek. During their game she runs into Jamie member of the Mackenzie clan. More out of convince than love the two marry like an Alien trying to stay in the United States. Of course the two fall madly in love after their vows and go on crazy adventures throughout Scotland and make love in their spare time.

I'm going to make this short and sweet. I did not like this book. At times it felt more like a harlequin romance rather than historical fiction or fantasy. Hype can be a good thing but in this case it set my expectations too high so I think that was part of my dislike toward Outlander. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't wait for her to go back to 1945.