Howards End is on the Landing-Susan Hill

Book Title: Howards End is on the Landing
Author: Susan Hill
Version: Nook Book
ISBN: 9781847652638
Published: August 8, 2010
Publisher: Profile
Genre: Memoir

Note: I know that I said I was going to review "Night Film" after my vacation but I have been thinking about this book for too long and I just have to get this review out of the way before I do "Night Film." 

SYNOPSIS: This book was supposed to be about a woman named Susan Hill who is a writer and reviewer and who after a search for a particular book in her home realized how many books she had that she had forgotten. She then decided to take a year and just read the books that she had in her home that she hadn't read yet or books that she owned that she forgot she had. She was going to buy no new books, she was instead going to enjoy the ones she already had.

This book was really about a woman who simply wanted to name drop and put down people with eReaders. There was very little talk about the books she read and more talk about where books were put in her house and the authors and famous journalists she met. There was some talk about books she has read, and some talk about books she studied in school. Mostly though she would talk about how she would never get an ereader because that was what real readers did and which famous people she knew or corresponded with. 

REVIEW: I try very hard to be as kind as possible while still being truthful in my reviews. But I feel as if I was being put down through out the whole book because I was reading on my nook. She made me feel inadequate because I hadn't read the complete collection of the famous writer Snotty McHighonhishorse. 

I didn't like this book, I didn't enjoy being talked down to through literature. Books are supposed to be enjoyed however they can be, in any form that people choose to enjoy them. Now I am a huge fan of every sort of book, I think that I have established that, but not all people are. A lot of people only like reading romance novels, or their bookshelves are filled with nothing but James Patterson, have Nooks filled with every classic ever written. Does that mean that the person who loves 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and all books like it is less of a reader than the person who's favorite book is 'War & Peace?' I think not. Am I any less well read because I read some of my books on a nook rather than the physical book? I don't think so. 

In fact I am able to read more because I have a nook, ebooks are more affordable and because this is New York and my space is limited I can own more books because ebooks take up no space. Because ebooks are more affordable and more accessible more people seem to be reading these days. So why would Ms. Hill spend a good chunk of her time putting down ereaders and those that use them? I feel as if that is totally counter intuitive for people to read. More people are getting back into reading because they have become more accessible to books again due to ebooks and ereaders.   

The writing was sub par, the story wasn't really what it was supposed to be and Susan Hill just all around rubbed me the wrong way. I was highly disappointed in the book as a whole and I was so angry the whole time that the question has to be asked 'why did I finish reading it?' I have no answer, I kept hoping that there would be some talk about books, or the utter joy she had while rereading a favorite passage but it just wasn't there. For someone who claims to love books the way she did I felt that she spent most of her time talking about how well educated and awesome she is. I want to say that there are a few parts about her excitement about libraries and how reading has always been a big part of her life. Books were talked about to a degree, I am not being fair saying that there was no book talk, however I feel that this was supposed to be a book all about books. An entire year spent reading and rereading amazing books. Her love for each new book or rediscovered book was what was missing. That was what I was expecting and the fact that, that wasn't what I was given was what disappointed me.  

I hate to put down a fellow reviewer and book lover but I felt like she just didn't care. I apologize to Susan Hill if my review seems harsh but I felt the whole time that I was being made fun of and put down for not having a degree in English literature and enjoying ebooks. I read books because they make me feel good, they make me laugh or cry, I get excited or fully absorbed in a new subject but no matter how I feel after I've read a book I always, always feel accomplished. I'm excited about reading and learning new things. But after I finished this book, I felt judged and angry and frustrated. This is not a good book to read. It's something that you can skip easily. It really was a disappointment but I have to say that I do not recommend this book at all. And I really hate not being able to recommend a book. However this is just a book that I have to say a big no to because it just doesn't love it's readers back, and I feel that, that is what good books do. 

My One True Love and Why I Love Them Part 2

I am so sorry that this wasn't posted last night. I was busy yesterday cleaning and then editing the friend's book I have been working on and I just lost track of time. As I was saying before I got too tired to continue there are just too many books in the world for me to get to all of them and I know this. However I feel as if I am letting them down by not trying. And so one book at a time I try to absorb a little bit of everything. I know that I am sorely lacking in quite a few genres or sub-genres but I am trying my best to become a truly well read person. 

I mentioned that I was on vacation, a couple friends and I went to Hilton Head, South Carolina for a week. While there I finished two books I had been in the middle of and read a third. All of which I will review here shortly. But in the meantime, one of them was a book called "Howard's End is on the Landing" by Susan Hill. It was a book that said it was supposed to be about a woman who spent a year reading only the books that were on her shelves in her home. Through out the book her love for reading came through and this reminded me of my own love and inspired me to finally write about why and what I love about books. 

Books are magical portals into other worlds and if they are put together right they can take you to places that your imagination only dreams of. They can be fun, or sad, they can anchor you or lift you up to new heights. I love the way books look all lined up on a shelf or stacked side by side on a table, just waiting for a new reader, a new friend to pick them up take them home and begin a new journey with them. 

I also truly appreciate bookstores. I am the first to admit, that I love my Nook, the books are cheaper and as a New Yorker it saves me a lot of space. But I still love bookstores with an undying passion. There is something about walking into a bookstore and seeing all the books that are out, there taking them in as a whole that can't be duplicated by 'browsing' online. As I mentioned before I was recently on vacation. While driving to Hilton Head from the Savannah airport we saw a "Barnes & Noble Center." At first, being B & N employees on vacation from said store, we were are all 'wow, we can't seem to escape it.' But as our book supply started to run out and as our bibliophile nerddom began to feel neglected we decided that it was a visit that had to be made. And so towards the end of our trip we bit the bullet and headed to the Hilton Head Island Barnes & Noble. Just walking in there made my heart beat faster, and made me get antsy and want to get back to reading. There is just so much to be read and seeing it all laid out in a bookstore makes me feel all happy and excited. Every time I walk into a bookstore I all in love with reading all over again. That is a pretty powerful thing don't you think?

I think that my love of books is pretty obvious. And I guess that it would be pretty easy to think that I am nothing but a book collector that enjoys reading occasionally. However this is not the case. Reading is what drives my love of books. I buy beautiful books but the difference between me and a collector is that I will go back and pick up that beautiful book to read again. A book can be beautiful but it doesn't serve its purpose unless it is being read. I love books, I love reading I love getting that rush of excitement when I walk into a bookstore. I love all of it. And I hope that someday I can inspire people to find that love as well, maybe not as obsessively as me because let's face it I'm a totally obsessed nerd and proud of it! 

Well I think that is all for now. I hope that you dear readers have truly enjoyed my two part post about my love of books and reading. It was a post that I knew had to be done at some point and I hope that I did my enjoyment justice enough to cause you enjoyment. 

  

My One True Love and Why I Love Them Part 1

I love books. I feel that, that is pretty self evident but I also felt that it needed saying. I love books of all shapes, sizes, material, color. I love them all as a whole. I don't always love all the individual stories that I read but I certainly respect the fact that the author made an effort (in most cases anyway.) There is a quote by Erasmus that says "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes." In a lot of ways this explains me to a 'T' because there was a time when this was almost literally true. Books feed and protect me in ways that food, and clothes just can't do. In short I love books.

I think that with a dad like mine I always knew the importance of books just like with a mother like mine I've always known the importance of art. But books never spoke to me when I was younger. I enjoyed them, and my dad reading Grimm's Fairy Tales was a favorite part of my day but I don't think that I ever really got them. Movies were more my thing maybe even too much my thing but there you have it. However when I was in the eighth I had to do a big joe project. This project was a huge part of me graduating and I was putting it off. And so my dad made a rule that there would be no more movies until it was done. I could however read whatever I wanted after my homework was done. And although I truly missed my movies, I even made a list that grew every day of movies I wanted to see once my punishment was lifted, I think that this is where my love of books started to grow.

I'm not a 100% sure that my memory is completely intact about this but I feel that this is where I finally started understanding books. Since then, even in my darkest days, books have been beside me in some form or another. My love for these magic creatures grew as I did. I think that I have always read above my level, I mean I was reading Shakespeare before I ever picked up a teen novel. Although those came eventually, Francesca Lia Block and Christopher Pike especially. But as I grew my appetite for them grew and all I could think about was what else could I read, what more was there that I missed? 

I want to read them all. I want to have read every book in every genre that I enjoy. I've read all of Austen's full novels, all Jodi Picoult's published novels. I've read a lot of Shakespeare, some Jack Kerouac, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, some Plath. I've read science fiction, fantasy, history, historical fiction, some biographies, poetry, plays, classics, general fiction, mystery, horror. And I feel as if I've read nothing. It seems crazy I know because for someone my age I have read more than my fair share. Yet I still feel like there are books out there that I don't know about and so many types of books that I will just never get to. 

I just got back from vacation and I'm feeling pretty tired so I think that I am going to end this here for now. Looks like this is going to be a two-parter. So more tomorrow.