"The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas

I finished! I finally, finally finished!!! It might be a miracle. I almost couldn't believe it when I ran out of pages. And the first thing I had to do was call my sister because this is one of her all-time-favorite books. Her first question was, "Did you love it?!"

The answer is . . . well . . . no. I didn't love it. But I did immensely enjoy the second half. The first half was so long and boring that I almost stopped reading, determined never to go back. However, the I-can't-leave-a-book-unfinished side of me resisted that temptation and started again a few months later. Confession: I may have read the first half in its unabridged form and the second half abridged. But that's ok. That may have been what it took to get me through. To be honest, though, I'm not 100% sure what I read. I read both halves on digital readers, but not on the same digital reader, so the editions were different. I didn't have the energy to go back and find the exact copy I'd been reading before and regardless, I still finished.

My greatest praise for this novel is that the ending is truly, truly satisfying. Having seen the movie many times, but knowing that the book was extremely different, there was still a part of me that was waiting for that movie moment to fall onto my page. It never did. The screenwriter of the movie took the bare bones of the novel and created something almost entirely new. But Alexandre Dumas created something better, something more realistic, something that only true adventure stories can give.

"The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery

Although this book was not on my "list" for the year, it was recommended by a friend when I did a social networking request for book suggestions. I had also seen it on the shelves at various book stores, so I thought I might as well consume this one along with the others. What I did not realize is that this book was written in French and then translated into English. So, of course, it is set in Paris.

Ah . . . I love Paris. Regretably, I did not love this book. It is about a 54-year-old concierge and a 12-year-old girl who live in the same building. Both characters are brilliant intellectuals, but hide their true brilliance in order to protect themselves from a world that is not always fair. The characters themselves, Renee and Paloma respectively, were easy to fall in love with, but the story was painfully slow. I found that for 300+ pages there was more philosophy and introspection than plot. It jumps back and forth between Renee's musings and Paloma's, which is easy enough to follow, but toward the end I was skipping over entire pages that had no storyline, but simply the observations or ideas of the characters. Now if you like that type of book then I'm sure you would love this one, but I guess my personal preference requires a little more "action" to keep the story going.

My other complaint about this book is that I absolutely did not like the ending. I won't spoil it, but will say that I certainly expected more to come from the relationship between Renee and Paloma. It was a means to an end, but I felt that the author could have chosen a happier, more satisfying way to end the book. While the entire novel was beautifully written, the plot choices of the author were quite disappointing. Does this mean I only like the fantasy type, happily ever after endings? Perhaps. I will let you judge this one for yourself.

*Note: This book also contains a few swear words, including three uses of the BIG bad swear word. That usually takes my opinion of any book down a couple of notches.

"The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy

I loved this book! I have seen the movie many times, but my sister Kimberly made me promise that I would read the book this year and assured me that it was even better than the movie. Well . . . of course she was right!

Knowing the basic premise of the book made it a little bit difficult for me to get into it at first, but I read 3/4 of the book yesterday, so I guess that means it drew me in at some point. I can't help but love the character of the Scarlet Pimpernel. In the movie he is lovable and intriguing, but in the book he is so much more.

For those of you who may not know the story already, I won't spoil it for you. Just know that this adventure set during the French Reign of Terror is one that will make you laugh and have you on the edge of your seat with suspense.

Thanks for the suggestion, Kim! This was the perfect start to my 2013 Year of the Books!