books I've read

Anne Hawn's books

Who Moved My Cheese?
If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans
Scientific Secrets for Self-Control
Just One Damned Thing After Another
The Vanishing
Exercises in Knitting
The Good Dream
The Very Best of Edgar Allan Poe
The Chosen
BT-Kids' Knits
Talking God
The Professor
The Christmas Files
The Finisher
Home Decor for 18-Inch Dolls: Create 10 Room Settings with Furniture and 15 Outfits with Accessories
Dracula and Other Stories
A New Song
Christy
All Quiet on the Western Front
File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents


Anne Hawn Smith's favorite books »

I'm reading 150 Books

2019 Reading Challenge
2019 Reading Challenge 19614 members
<b>Are you ready to set your 2019 reading goal?</b> This is a supportive, fun group of people looking for people just like you. Track your annual reading goal here with us, and we have challenges, group reads, and other fun ways to help keep you on pace. There will never be a specific number of books to read here or pressure to read more than you can commit to. Your goal is five? Great! You think you want to read 200? Very cool! We won't kick you out for not participating regularly, but we'll love it if you do. Join us!

Books we've read

The Help
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
The Night Circus
The Golden Compass
11/22/63
The Little Lady Agency
Catch-22
The Good Father
A Discovery of Witches
The Knife of Never Letting Go
Fahrenheit 451
Frankenstein
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
A Christmas Carol
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
The Color Purple
Matched
Cloud Atlas
The Princess Bride
The Catcher in the Rye


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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Silas Marner

Silas MarnerSilas Marner by George Eliot

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this in about the 8th grade and I liked it, but there were parts I didn't understand. I can see now that I didn't have the vocabulary or the understanding of the time period to see the hints that were given in the book. I also remember it taking a long time to read, but the audiobook takes 8 hours to read! How things have changed!

This time I found it delightful. It is one of those very satisfying classics where things have a good conclusion and yet they are unexpected. Silas Marner lives in a small community and belongs to an austere religious sect. When something is missing, they draw lots to determine who is guilty and the lot comes up to Silas. He is forced to leave the community and he comes to another "country" which is actually another village about 30 miles away, but of an entirely different sort. (Most people of the time period never traveled more than 8 miles from the place they were born and many no more than 3) Embittered, he sets up his successful weaving business and hoards the gold coins he earns. He has no friends and does not go about the community. All that changes when his gold is stolen and is "replaced" by a little "golden headed" orphaned toddler. The story takes a completely different turn and we see the redemptive power of love.


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