The Mayor of Casterbridge

I always keep a book on my smartphone so that I have something to do while waiting or during boring meeting. I love having a book anywhere I go, and there are so many classics that you can download for free; this is my favorite site: http://manybooks.net/categories/ .

This week I finished reading Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge. It's basically a novel about how lies can come back to bite you in the ass.

It begins in a small town where a young man named Michael Henchard sells his wife and infant daughter after having a bit too much to drink. After he sobers up and realizes what he has done, he swears off the booze and builds a good life for himself. Twenty years later he is a very successful businessman and the mayor of Casterbridge - a town not too far from the place where he sold his family. When his wife returns with his daughter Elizabeth-Jane, he is torn between happiness at having a chance to make things right, and fear that his past indiscretions will be discovered by the townspeople and business associates.

A very complex web of lies is created as Henchard, his wive, and another woman from Henchard's past desperately try to safeguard their reputations. Unfortunately, the innocent Elizabeth-Jane is caught in the middle of all of the intrigue.

One of the things that makes this novel so interesting is that Henchard, his wife, and his mistress are not really bad people, but they make bad choices. Henchard's behavior makes him hard to like, but then he will turn around and do the right thing, or at least try to, and you suddenly have sympathy for him.

I give this book 4 gilded bird cages (a wedding present in the novel). The pets have no opinion on this novel because they lost their phone privileges last year, you wouldn't believe all of the scrapbooking crap they were buying from HSN.

My Guest Contributers

My name is Turk and I am probably a full-blooded Border Collie.

Likes: Cuddling, PBS, long runs around the lake, Benja.

Dislikes: The cat looking at me, Missy's singing, riding in cars.

Fears: Any kind of camera.




I'm Benja - I was supposed to be a medium-sized Border Colllie, but the jokes on mom :) I'm known around here as the big black thing with ADHD.

Likes: I LIKE EVERYTHING!! AND EVERYBODY!! AND ANYTHING THAT MOVES!!

Dislikes: Being ignored by the cat.

Fears: The remote control.





I'm Circe, I'm a cat, now go away. And take those stupid dogs with you.

Diversion #2

Please, please don't tell anyone - I hate to ruin my serious academic image - but I am hooked on a couple of reality tv shows. Yep, I watch Rock of Love and Flavor of Love. I don't for a minute believe that any of the celebraties or contestents actually think they are going to find true love. I think Flav and Brett are trying to make come-backs and the ladies are trying to get their 15 minutes of fame. But once I started watching I couldn't stop. I can't believe some of the things these ladies will do on TV. Didn't they read the part of the contract stating that this will be broadcast for the world, and their FAMILIES to see.

I only have two comments about the fellas:
WHY???

Don't these ladies know that Brett used to look like this? Don't ask, I don't know which one he is.

Oh, that's right, most of them are too young to remember Glam rock.

The Memoirs of Cleopatra

Another fascinating historical read from Margaret George. This novel was written in the same vein as Henry VIII; an attempt to show Cleopatra's side of the story. This time the information comes from a series of scrolls in which Cleopatra attempts to write down as much of her life story as she can before she dies. The scrolls are left to a trusted friend who adds a last scroll to detail the immediate aftermath of the queen's death.


Young Cleopatra manages to survive the treachery of her family (the Ptolemys were definitely not the Waltons), allies herself with Julius Caesar to regain her throne and to save Egypt, and begins an affair with Caesar. In her spare time she manages to find excellent advisers and government ministers and builds the empire of Egypt into a secure and very wealthy kingdom.

After Caesar's death, she once again picks a strong Roman as her partner; this time it is Marc Anthony. Unfortunately, Marc Anthony doesn't have Caesar's power or Cleopatra's insight into the minds of the power hungry. And we all remember from history class what happens next - get back to class if you don't!

The only problem I had with this book is that I thought the ending dragged out a little too long, but maybe that's because I knew how it would end. Or maybe it was because I already have my next Margaret George book on the coffee table and can't wait to get started.

All three pets were disappointed in this book. You see, they read up on Egyptian customs and were pretty psyched about two particular aspects of ancient Egyptian culture: the cat loved the whole "cats are sacred" bit, and the dogs liked the idea of a person being buried with their belongings, slaves, and favorite animals (easier to herd a cat in an enclosed space). However, the novel did not include cat worship or animal entombment so the dogs are shredding the book for the cat to use in her litter.