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#40 Jonathan’s Story; Finale
I finished Jonathan’s Story last night and it felt somewhat like watching (or, in my case, listening) to a Friday episode and immediately being able to watch the Monday episode. A murder is committed, but it isn’t nearly as wanton as I had hoped. That being said, it was deserved from a vigilante justice perspective. I just wish the characters had more fun in the process (the fiction reader in me is evil, don’t you think?). The ending also answered the question I had about how well Reva and Alan were getting along after Alan found out that Sarah and Jonathan are alive and that Reva had been keeping that from him. So, that’s all good.
The last third of the book had scenes were Tammy appears to Jonathan and Sarah. Similarly to the way in which she appears to Cassie on the show, Tammy has words of encouragement and wisdom for Jonathan that he finds hard to accept. I did find Tammy’s first “appearance” to Aubrey somewhat hokie, but this is a book about my guilty pleasure, so why not? One thing that legitimately got in the way of book for me did deal with this specifically. As I mentioned in Part 2, there were a couple of instances where the name of the baby got mixed up in the prose. At the very end of the book, not knowing if the character was the baby or Tammy confused me and, therefore, the very end didn’t flow as beautifully as it could have.
I was somewhat disappointed in how quickly the ending came for the plotline encompassed within the book. I know that part of the purpose of the book was to develop Jonathan and Aubrey’s relationship. That was good. I genuinely like Aubrey and I think that Jonathan needed to move on from Tammy. However, there was the potential for some really juicy action at the end involving Reva and Alan showing up in Tourmaline and the murder. It all happened so fast and at such an accelerated pace from the rest of the book. To me, it felt as if it was rushed just to complete the book on time to coincide with the show.
All criticism aside, I enjoyed the book and I’m glad to have read it. I don’t feel like it wasted my time in the least. It was a quick read and now I’m ahead of the game – assuming watching Guiding Light is a game with other people who watch Guiding Light. (nana nana boo boo! ;P ).
Personally, it was nice to take a break from some of the headier and involved books I’ve been reading recently as well. I’m in the homestretch of my 52 books goal and I’m getting just a wee bit tired of the pace I’ve needed to keep up. There is a time and place in this life for guilty pleasures. I think I might have thought of counting this book as cheating earlier in the year. The truth is that in any way that you challenge yourself you have to take a rest period of sorts. Your body/mind/spirit needs it. Even God rested on the seventh day.
#40 Jonathan’s Story; Part 2
I’ve now read through chapter 23 and there is a new lead in the “Who did Reva and Alan kill” mystery: Keith. Yay! Wouldn’t it be nice to live vicariously through Reva for that one? 
Okay. I know that this book is a guilty pleasure and not much more “literary” than a dime romance. Still, obvious errors that should have been caught by a content editor stick out to me like a sore thumb. Thus far, there have been three:
- Aubrey leaves her job at the daycare to get the staff pizza because her co-workers couldn’t stomach another club sandwich. Within a matter of pages, Aubrey actually purchases club sandwiches for them. Hmm… I would have been pretty pissed off if I were Noelle or Nancy.
- One of Aubrey’s days off begins by a violent confrontation with her father. He ends up pinning her by her throat to the wall. Although Aubrey doesn’t think it will bruise, she covers her neck with a scarf just before she leaves for work. Apparently days off in Tourmaline don’t last very long.
- Jonathan (J.B.) tells everyone in Tourmaline that his daughter’s name is Tammy. In one scene Aubrey calls her Sarah. I was waiting for the big “How the hell did you know?” scene, but it never came. Aubrey next calls the baby Tammy.
I should finish the book tonight or tomorrow. I have to say that while this book has been a fast read, it’s taking forever for Jonathan and Aubrey to get together. Maybe the time frame of the story told should have been longer so that we could see more of the two together. As it is, there’s only about 90 pages left and Reva and Alan haven’t even found out Jonathan is in California. I hope this doesn’t end quickly after a draggy-ish middle.
#40 Jonathan’s Story; Part 1
Jonathan’s Story by Julia London with Alina Adams
* Spoiler Alert: If you are not caught up to last week Friday’s episode of Guiding Light,
this post touches on plot lines. *
I was able to catch up on my backlog of Guiding Light episodes over the course of the work day yesterday. By the time I turned my mp3 player off, I was extremely excited to start reading Jonathan’s Story. I could not believe my ears when I heard Reva talking to Alan about the MURDER they committed while they were away from Springfield. Murder? Who? Alright!* Reva and Alan teaming up as assassins is really something I could dig my chops into and I knew the answers to my questions were in the small hardcover book I had waiting in my purse.
The book begins with a Prologue that tells the story of the day that Jonathan and Sarah “died” in a car crash. Although I am very familiar with this episode, reading about it brought the images back in mind very well. Although I have to admit that it seemed funny to be reading about Reva instead of watching her or listening to her, I think that author did a great job of capturing her essence in a few short pages.
I was able to read through Chapter Seven. I have really enjoyed it so far. I can hear Tom Pelphrey’s voice and see the character of Jonathan very clearly as I read. What is happening is credible. We’re also introduced to Aubrey Cross, a young woman just about Jonathan’s age and type. She is the daughter of Tourmaline, CA’s sheriff named Zeke. Zeke is well revered in his community, but Aubrey knows him to be a vile, hateful man. I believe we have our first candidate for assassination here. 
Jonathan reaches Tourmaline and finds it to be a small town in which he can settle down and start a life with his daughter. He and Aubrey have had a few sexually charged meetings that confuse them both. Jonathan, bless his troubled heart, feels guilty being attracted to a woman other than his dearly departed Tammy. As much as he loves Tammy, I don’t see his guilt standing in his way that much longer.
As we enter Chapter Eight, Aubrey has a confrontation with Keith Stanley, her ex-boyfriend. Keith and Zeke get along famously and Aubrey is pretty sure that the two men have worked together to murder at least one other person. I find some personal satisfaction from this. I have a Keith in my past who did me wrong. I loved reading the in Chapter Seven where Aubrey “cuts him off at the knees” publicly. I would love to have that experience myself.
* Literatehousewife does not in any way condone committing murder in real life. That being said, she loves a good murder in her fiction.
Ray of Light
Today I’ve been catching up on my Guiding Light episodes so that I don’t get hit broadsided while reading Jonathan’s Story. It was while listening to Marina whining about loving Cyrus but being unable to stop being the straight-laced Cooper that she is that I had a mini-personal revelation. I love Reva for the same reasons I love Scarlett O’Hara and Elizabeth Winthrop – they move mountains to be the person they want to be. Sure, Reva doesn’t have quite the strict societal norms with which Scarlett and Elizabeth had to contend, but that doesn’t make her any less her own woman. I like Marina Cooper and I love Melanie Wilkes, but they are not the reasons why I read or listen to soap operas. I want to experience all that it out there in this world. I’m sorry, but you just can’t do that through people who are as thoroughly kind and self-deprecating.
What does this say about me? Well, I guess it says that I define “making the most out of life” as experiencing all (well, most) of what this world has to offer. I do not find that through reading the lives of saints (either secular or otherwise). Good people are the backbone of this world. There’s no doubt about it. However, the individuals who push and question and scandalize that have a greater impact on where society heads. I suffer from too much guilt and anxiety to do as I damn well please and to hell with everyone else. As I get older this is less problematic, but I don’t see myself as a woman who will change the world. Instead, I will champion those women and men (let’s not forget them) who have done what I might have liked to do by reading about their lives and reporting to my readers here.
I hope this doesn’t make me sort of voyeur or a purveyor of personality pornography… Strike that. So what if it is? Reva, Scarlett, or Elizabeth wouldn’t feel guilty about it – at least not for long.
#39 The Winthrop Woman
The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton
I joined the Historical Fiction forum at the end of last month. [I need to write another post on that later - it's a lot of fun.] They have a book of the month forum for anyone who would like to join. From the beginning of September on, the picture above has been on the Home page. After about 10 days, I took the plunge and bought the book. I’m so glad that I did. The Winthrop Woman is a wonderful fictionalization of the life of one of the New World’s first citizens, Elizabeth Winthrop. To most, she would be best known as Elizabeth Winthrop, niece and then daughter-in-law of John Winthrop.
The Winthrop family is one of the best known Puritan families. John Winthrop served as the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony off an on from the moment he arrived in the New World. Much of his family followed his beliefs. Elizabeth, however, is an exception. From an early age, she is scared of the manner in which her Uncle John rules his household and holds his extended family to account. At a tender age, prior to the death of her mother in childbirth, Elizabeth was caught while staying at her maternal family estate in a grave lie. Her Uncle John punished her per his view of Biblical principles. This event, as envisioned by Seton, became the basis for Elizabeth’s view of God as vindictive and harsh. Elizabeth never follows along the path of faith tread by her family and always distrusts her uncle’s motives.
Elizabeth is a fascinating character. I found her to feel very much like Scarlet O’Hara, a woman who doesn’t set out so much to thumb her nose at society as she does to live her life as she sees fit. In fact, there are parts of Elizabeth’s story that are similar to the early life of Margaret Mitchell. Both Mitchell and Elizabeth grew up in the midst of a family member with very fierce religious/political beliefs. In Mitchell’s case, that person was her mother, Mary. Mary was a suffragist who pushed Mitchell extremely hard to excel in academics, only to have her daughter push back. I will have to reread the early portions of Southern Daughter, the Mitchell biography I’ve read, to see if there is really a likeness between the two women. That should make some interesting research.
In addition to learning more about the Puritans in England and their dreams for the New World. They had dreams of being able to freely practice their faith and to set up a society based upon worshiping God in the manner they believed humans were intended. Unfortunately for Elizabeth, the Massachusetts Bay Colony under Puritan leadership was worse than living in England as a Puritan. John Winthrop and many other leaders became increasingly more hard-lined as the colonies matured. Isn’t that just like human nature? I came away from this book with a much deeper appreciation for the religious freedom I live with every day. Thankfully, whether I go to church or not is my own business. Elizabeth suffered a great many disappointments in her life for this very reason. I have to wonder how relations with the American Indian tribes could have better been handled if the European leaders were more interested in governing their territory than they were in monitoring the day to day lives of those they found ungodly.
If you are a fan of historical fiction or simply interested in reading about one of this country’s strong settlers (who happened to eventually own land in her own right!), you will enjoy this book. In the Author’s note at the beginning of the book, Ms. Seton makes mention of the fact that prior to writing this novel that the modern day Winthrops of her time knew that Elizabeth was someone for whom they should be embarrassed. She was the family’s black sheep. They just weren’t sure why that was the case. I hope that they read Seton’s novel. I hope that they now are proud to be related to such a strong woman. They should. She is a wonderful role model in my eyes.
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A Friendly FYI:
I purchased this book from Barnes & Noble. The next day, while on my lunch break, I read up until page 46 until I realized that the pages were out of order. B&N was great about exchanging it for me. I posted this on the Historical Fiction forum and another person had the same experience. If you decide to purchase this book, I would ensure that the pages are all there and in order before buying it. I was lucky to have bought it at the store. My friend on the forum had bought it on-line. The company refunded her money without incident, but she didn’t feel comfortable buying it again on-line.
Clear and Present Misogyny
Last weekend during her live web-cast, Philippa Gregory was asked on a couple of occasions which historical character she wishes she could have been. She jokingly selected Henry the VIII. In seriousness, she said that she would not want to go into the past to be any historical character before 1920 when women got the vote. More to the point, she would prefer to continue to live after the 1960s when contraception was legalized and made available. Along with many people in the audience, I don’t think that it would be that bad to go back and live as a woman who was born into some status and had strong character. After this week, I feel differently society still hasn’t come far enough.
On the September 14th episode of “Real Time,” Bill Maher made some insulting, degrading, and medically inaccurate remarks about women, the role of their breasts, and their over-appreciation for the role of childbearing and its associated responsibilities. I won’t repeat what he said here. If you’re interested in reading the transcripts or seeing a video of this segment, it’s readily available on-line (it’s been removed from You Tube for violations).
Today is September 20th, six days full days after the episode aired. With the exception of the Internet’s Mommy Bloggers, there has been no other significant reporting about his remarks. Where is the outrage?
In fact now, as I published this post, not even Bill Maher’s wikipedia entry has been updated to reflect this “controversy” yet.
On the other hand, within minutes after Don Imus made his radio faux-pas, we heard of nothing else for weeks. In fact, I stopped watching CBS’ morning show because I couldn’t stand another minute of Julie Chen rehashing it with yet another “expert.” I’m not downplaying what Don Imus said at all. It was a crude comment focused on a group of minority women. Is misogyny only reprehensible under those circumstances? I hate to break it to you, but Maher’s remarks cover just about every single possible minority covered by law. Again, where is the outrage?
I would wager that if Maher had been comparing the fruits of a homosexual relationship to something “dogs can do” that he would have be tarred and feathered 10 times over with more angry crowds headed in his direction. Why aren’t there any angry crowds gathering to support all women and their roles in our society by speaking out against such a public display of misogyny? Why hasn’t HBO suspended him and his show yet? Can it be true that all of the flap about Don Imus had more to do with protecting the dignity of African American males than it did with defending the Rutgers’ women’s basketball team? I’m beginning to wonder.
So, Philippa, I’m beginning to understand what you were saying last weekend. Sure, we can now vote, own property, and use contraception. That’s all fine and good. What I would like, however, is to create and live in a society where men like Bill Maher are not given a pulpit from which to spew their misogynistic viewpoints to the entire world. Unfortunately, it is unrealistic and perhaps counterproductive to attempt to make every single human being fully appreciate all other human beings. There isn’t enough societal pressure in this entire world to keep one subset of humans from thinking and talking poorly about a different subset of humans.
I don’t want my daughters to live in a world where men, like Maher, can say such things to them. Unfortunately, I won’t always be able to protect them without the help of our corporate media. HBO, you, along with your subscribers and advertisers, can prevent those viewpoints from being telecast. Can’t you? Will you?
Audiobooks from emusic
My husband is often a wealth of knowledge for me. He just sent me an email today letting me know that emusic is now offering audiobook downloads as an add-on to their monthly music subscriptions. What impressed me the most about this is the types of books and the breadth of options they have. I can’t say that I’ve fully researched other audiobook sites, but seeing Special Topics in Calamity Physics right away impressed me very much. For a service just getting started, they have books an impressive selection of historical fiction and memoirs as well. You can count on me signing up for this service. Danny’s investigating if there are any advantages to adding on to what he already has. I can’t wait to download my first book!
Jonathan’s Story An Update
You want a piece of me?
As much as I try to not think about Jonathan’s Story, I knew the second that I woke up yesterday morning that today was “the” day. The book is in the book stores. I checked the reviews, and I could only find two on Amazon.com. One liked it one didn’t. Hmmm… So, I bought it last night. Apparently, my dismay over having to pay to find out what has happened off-screen on my soap opera was just a little tantrum.
Who could pass up a book that includes the “Slut of Springfield?”
I’ll keep giving updates as I read. I’m not up-to-date with the show from the Reva and Alan leaving Springfield perspective, so I’ll work on that as well.
Another fun thing I found was a contest to win a copy of the book signed by Kim Zimmer. Would giving you the link ruin my chances because of increased entries, or increase my chances because of good karma????
Sorry, Alan… You’re signature isn’t part of the contest.
Dy-no-mite!
My husband called me this afternoon to tell me a book I’d ordered had arrived. I haven’t recently ordered a book, so I was a little perplexed – and I don’t like not knowing these types of things, right, Trista? As I checked my accounts at all possible places, I remembered that I’d signed up for the First Look Book Club through Barnes & Noble. Today, my free advanced reading copy arrived! I cannot tell you how excited I am! It’s so incredible to live in a day and age when such things are possible. I know that the concept of the advanced reading copy is not new, but such an opportunity is new to someone like me. This, my first Virginia Tech game (Go Hokies!), and Philippa within 48 hours of each other. Am I blessed, or what?
Philippa’s New Website
At the end of the wonderful live webcast yesterday, Philippa Gregory launched her new website. It is very nice and much more attractive than the original. It now has a UK and a US version. There are some new things available as well (or at least new to me), including a new newsletter and a reader’s board. You should check it out. It’s really very beautiful.
Book Blogger Con
Have you heard about the 1st Annual Book Blogger Convention that will be held in NYC during the BEA? You should check it out. I know it will be a fantastic experience. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend due to family obligations, but I'll be trolling blogs for up to the minute news.
WE Magazine’s A Woman Blogger to Watch
Literate Challenges
What's in a Name? 3
Random Reading Challenge
