3-7 and 23 for the 2024 Reads in Review, please?
3. DNF With Prejudice: Book(s) you didn't finish on purpose
The Two Marys by Margaret Oliphant. I finished the title story, but it disappointed me enough that I couldn't bring myself to continue with the second novella, which promised to be pretty basic and mediocre.
4. DNF With Regrets: Book(s) you didn't finish but want to get back to
I really want to finish An English Squire by Christabel Coleridge. I liked the story and the characters, and I fell off reading at a very exciting point. I just have to find the motivation to finish it when there are a lot of other Victorian books demanding my attention.
5. Crowd Pleaser: Book you would recommend to almost anyone
What It Means to Be a Christian by Joseph Ratzinger is a book I can recommend to almost anyone with a Catholic bent, because it is extremely short and readable, while still having some good insights.
6. Dead Dove Do Not Eat: Book you would recommend to a select audience with a mountain of caveats
Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell. If you like Victorian novels--especially if you're a fan of Gaskell, and you're okay with some preachiness and repetitive middle and a sad ending, and if you love pro-life themes, there's a lot to love in this book and I definitely recommend it, but part of the reason I love it is that I know there are a lot of people who won't like it, so I need to love it extra.
7. Wasted Potential: Great premise and/or characters but fell down on execution
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley had a premise I was sure to love--a middle-aged woman leaves the farm where she keeps house for her brother, and travels the countryside selling books. Except she didn't do any bookselling, and the previous owner of the wagon was with her the whole time, and it was more about the hijinks that lead to them falling in love. A waste of the premise.
23. Free space--talk about any book you read in 2024 not otherwise covered
I've talked a ton about Lady Audley's Secret, but not as much about the other Braddon novel I've read, Aurora Floyd. I didn't love it as much as Lady Audley's Secret, but I did enjoy a lot about it. It's got a more Austen atmosphere, with a lot of the story taken up with the domestic issues of a pair of cousins who fall in love with a Darcy and Bingley pair of friends, but there's also a nice sensation plot woven in. There's a delightful sailor character at the end who's one of my favorites of the year. A few unnecessary cracks against Catholic ideas and High Church novels that annoyed me, but it was a solid book.
