Annotations of 2 books

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Sure, most of us have read (or at least seen the screen versions of) Pride and Prejudice, but my favorite Austen book has to be Persuasion.  Anne Elliot is 27 and unmarried which in Regency England means she is probably going to remain single for life.  She had the chance to marry at 19 when the handsome Frederick Wentworth swept her off her feet.  However, he had yet to make his fortune or a name for himself and she was persuaded by her friend, Lady Russell, to turn down the young naval lieutenant.  As luck would have it, Wentworth (now a rich Captain with a distinguished Royal Navy career) has returned and Anne cannot help but wonder and hope if he still loves her or did her rejection 8 years earlier turn him against her forever?  Will Anne and Captain Wentworth get together?  Will Anne's nutty family including her vain and financially reckless father, her equally vain older sister, and her hypochondriac of a younger sister stand in the way?  What of the sudden reappearance of the dubious Mr. Elliot, heir presumptive to the Elliot title and home?  A cozy story that allows the reader to get inside the head of Anne, really feel her suffering at the hands of those who should love her, and root for Anne to triumph over it all.

Employee of the Month and Other Big Deals by Mary Jo Pehl

Mary Jo Pehl (probably best known for her work on the cult classic TV series, Mystery Science Theatre 3000) shares some vignettes from her life as a performer and Minnesotan.  Her quirky, funny, and sometimes touching style will make you laugh out loud as she struggles with issues we can all relate to such as landing your first 'real job,' trying to find true love amidst a sea of oddballs, and feeling out of place when everyone else seems to be fitting in.  Pehl's style is reminiscent of Bill Bryson but without the self-conscious cleverness that Bryson sometimes resorts to in his books.  This book should appeal to anyone who appreciates intelligent writing and dry wit.

What I (Probably Should but Don't) Already Know

After looking over the Recommend Links, I decided to go with Salon even though my PC has a bit of a problem loading.  I thought the reviews were intriguing and I want to try and read more non-fiction.  In fact, I started reading Going Clear by Lawrence Wright which is about Scientology and the famous people who are members.  Very intriguing book and well-written, too.

As for genres, I was torn between Romance and Sci Fi, since I don't read any of the former and few of the latter.  I am going with the RT Book Reviews which is very nicely laid out with sub-genres.  Also, I saw what other people were saying about it and thought it was a good choice.  Plus, they have a Sci-Fi sub-genre of Romance (which I didn't know existed) so it's like reading two genres at once!

Sporcle

Pretty interesting site.  I did both the Adult and Children's book cover quizzes and did pretty well.  20 out of 24 in Adult and 20 out of 20 in Children's. 

Welcome!

This is my first post to my BCPL blog for the Be More Bookish training.  That about sums it up.
More posts (with my substance to them) to follow.  So, I'm better at recognizing a book by its cover than I thought I was!