Marie Antoinette's Hidden Life

So I have just finished another book!!! Yah go me!

Ok now here is the info about it

Title: The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette: A Novel
Author: Carolly Erickson

Mass Market Paperback: 341 pages (plus 14-16 pages for reading group questions)

Publisher: St. Matrin's Griffins, New York

Genere: Fiction/Historical Fiction

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

For all of those that love the French Revolution Era, Marie Antoinette, or just French History in general. This is a great book.

Carolly Erickson, author of 20 biographies writes the historical fiction The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette: A Novel. It is, of course, writen like a diary. The story line is that this Diary was left behind in her prision cell as she was going to her death. The reason she wanted people to know her side of the story. This book shows Antoinette in a light that for some of us, history has not shown. We will learn to see her as a young girl that had to leave her culture, country, and family behind and go off to France to get married to a man she never met. Upon her arrival she is met with disdain, distrust, and confusion. She doesn't know who to trust and has to learn of all the customs, while at the same time looked down upon because of her heritage. Despite all of this she stays strong and learns her way. Dealing with a timid husband and a failing kingdom, we see the strength of Marie Antoinette being displayed in this historical fiction.

It has a prolgue and chapters, which was one of the few reasons why the rating was lower. I think that having the chapters in there was a little off, seeing how this was said that this would be in diary form. It can help space out the Diary entires and mark a change in the topic and what is going on, but if she had kept it in just in the diary form, I think it would have been better. The reason why it would have been better is because I want to be lost in the book and be able to use my imagination and imagine that this is literally a diary taken from the prison cell where Marie Antionette spent her last days. I know it isn't but I want to be able to get lost in the book for a while.

Althought there have been debates over the book by Marie Antionette fans about some of the characters that don't exist and some of the events that didn't take place. Please remember that this is historical fiction, this is not an accurate telliong of it. It's not a non fiction book, it is fiction.

Overall this book gets 4 out of 5 stars. It was creativly done, written well, and very enjoyable. Defintly a book for those that love historical fiction.

Technology is the Bane of My Existance...

So this morning somewhere in this world has planned a consipracy because everything is not working. Many of the the computers at Pelissippi State suck!!! A lot!! Also my IPhone is not getting any service and its been like this for almost 2 hours!!

I know what the solution may be to that, which is to update. However I will not be able to because of the fact that I am at the Pelissippi Library and I have to update with ITunes and this computer doesn't have it! So I have to wait to get home. My phone is like my lifeline, its like my I.V. So I'm freaking out right now.

As for Pelissippi computers, they are ridculous. On some of them you are not able to access the start bar at the bottom, which mean if you are on the internet you can't do anything else & there is no minimize button at the top right corner of the thing for the internet and every time I try to close out of it it comes back on. This is not just one computer its about a majority of them. Luckily I found a computer that will at least let me get to the start button, but it won't let me maxmize the internet screen....so yeah.. This morning has offically sucked.

At least I can get my phone (hopefully) fixed. As for PSTCC, they say that they will be hopefully updating and fixing things by the end of the summer before the fall semester starts....let's hope so cause their system sucks!

I wanted to try to get some work done before class, but I am so miffed about everything I just want to scream and not deal with class today. I just want to go home an fix my damn IPhone and I know this sounds a little childish but damn it this morning has sucked.

Not to mention my mother's IPhone is not working either...

Ugh

Life Goes On..

So far my month of July has been great. I hope that it will stay that way, because I like have this happy content feeling I have been having. Right now I'm in the Pellissippi State Library right now waiting for my class to start.

Good news about the last class I took this summer.

My American Literature I class (that I worked so hard in) was a sucess...I got an A!!!! I'm still overjoyed about that. Since I was sick all last year the highest grade I made was a B, so seeing an A right now, really, really boasts my confidence.

Also this past weekend was an awesome weekend, I got to see some of my friends, hang out with my family and my boyfriend got to come up and spend the weekend with my family. He and my family got along really well. That made me very happy. I was great we went to a few bookstores, drove around K-Town, spent time together playing the new Harry Potter lego game (Years 1-4), it was the awesome!!! We also went to the World's Fair Park, and saw the fireworks and listened to the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. That was fun, but I'm not sure I would do it again....still on the fence.

This past 4th of July was pretty important and special for me. Not just because of my family, friends, and my boyfriend. It's because of everything that has happend these past 2 years. It's not just because Barack Obama is the President and we have a democratic majority in the House & Senate. That is a part of it, but not the reason. They helped play a part when it comes to question everything I have known and been told since I can remember.

An example with education, how many of us ever thought we were going to question what our teachers and professors told us? After all they are the "experts" they are the ones that know there stuff. How many of us read about history, science, and literature beyond what we are told in taxtbooks and the classroom? I know for me science would be a little hard seeing I am an English Major ( I also want to be a History major as well, I have just not filled out the paperwork yet to do this). But for me reading Literature and learning about History is not a hard thing. But others find it boring....which is a shame.

I use to not read a lot of historical non fiction books, after all it just wasn't my interest. But I started watching Glenn Beck. I honestly originally did not watch him even though he was on Fox News because he was on Headline News ( supported by CNN). But I started watching him and was amazed with how he was able to go after both parties with completle honesty. Then there was the fact that he talked about history and how it can apply to today, this was exicitng for me simply because I always thought that this was true. Then he really started to go into detail about history, that's when my brain went, "Wait....what!?!?!?!?"

He started talking about all these people, places and events that I have never heard of in American History, especially Colonial era during the time of the American Revelution, which my family and friends can tell I love readin about that era and I am an enthusiast. So for me not to know these things, immedialty put me into action. I started doing more research on what he was talking about and at the same time trying to find at the same time to see if there is any evidence that contradicts it. However I soon realized that I wasn't finding any evidence to contradict what he was saying, in fact I was finding more evidence to support it.

As a result I feel what I have learned in all of my class cannot be taken at face value. Like I said in my last post I really can't know who or what to believe anymore. I have to go straight to the sources.

I almost done reading a book called "The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette" by Carolly Erickson, it is quite good. After I finish reading that I think I will be reading a biography she wrote called "Misstress Anne".

Yes it is about Anne Bolyen, but I find her just fascinating and also since I checked it out of the library I should try to read that first instead of the other numerous books I have. I don't think I should check out books for a while, unless I have a paper to write. I always do this, I try to not to, it's just that I love books so much.

Anyway I should get going my class is in about an hour and I want to be able to read more of my book before class starts.

Oh and by the way for all those that live in Knoxville, Tennessee. it may reach 101 degrees today (which may be a record for the area of Knoxville). Stay cool everyone during this hot summer and have a great day!

What or Who Should I Believe.....

I have always been a questioning, skeptical person. An example being was I always asked all these questions about Santa Claus and I was persistent (after all we didn't have a chimney, so how did he get in?) I soon learned tht answer to that question :D

Now there have been parts of my life that I never thought I had to be skeptical towards when it comes to believing it and that is in the classroom. Call me naive, inexperienced, young, etc. whatever. The point is this I never thought I would have to wonder whether what I was being in taught in class was true or not.

I hear some many facts abotu history that contradict each other. I read different historical books, hear different facts from many professors and even stuff on TV: History Channel, Natinoal Geographic, and even Glenn Beck with his different specials that he has and his most famous one Founder's Fridays.

I hear and read of so many contradicting facts from all kinds of sources. I don't what to think. What I would like to be able to do is to be able to is to read the original documents and see it for myself, instead have other people and teachers telling me what to believe and think.

I want to think objectivly for myself, not have someone else do it for me. After all I don't like being told what to believe. I know I'm not the only one to believe this.

I know now what I need to do, I need to research anything that is of interest to me and write about, to help create interest in others. To help them to learn for themselves and to help them appreciate the amazing history of this great country.

Never Forget where we came from, for if we do, we will forget who we are and will be lost. I hope that if we do get lost, we will once again find our way. For I fear what to think if we are lost forever.

Something Disturbing ......Soviet National Anthem.... & Communism in America...

I was just browsing through people's blogs and I came across this link. It was a youtube vid about the USSR national anthem. Listening to it, oh it gives me chills.

Now I never lived during the time of when Communist Russia began, but I did have ancestors that lived in territories that were under USSR control. My ancestors came from what is modern day Ukraine and Slovakia. Now I don't know how the area of Slovakia was affected but I do know a little bit about Ukraine. Stalin and his Soviet Union was responsible for something far worse then the Holocaust in my opinion. The numbers even state this.

I'm talking about the Unkrainian Genocide.

I'm guessing you never heard of it. Neither did I untill a year ago. I was watching Glenn Becks show and I learned more about it. But that topic will be in my next post.

Seeing this is really bothersome for me. Yes I know I have the right not to watch and and people have to right to put it up, cause of our Consititution. Nevertheless. Seeing and hearing the Soviet Union's National Anthem- talking about how people are free and that they are a great communists nation in the same sentence...its like hearing Hitler and hero in the same sentence for me. It doesn't make sense. I advise you to listen to it and see how they made themselves look and how they wanted to have themselves viewed.

This link is to the communists party in America!!! Did you know we had one, I knew....but I didn't think how troubling they were.

http://www.cpusa.org/

But more then that...please...please look up information about the soviet union. Don't just believe anyone the politicians, your professors, me. Think for yourself. Learn the true history of it all.

Books I have Read and Want to Read #1

I have a lot of books. I want to read all the books that exist. I had a goal to finish about 10 books by the end of this summer.

This is What I have Read so far:

1. The Bad Queen ~Carolyn Meyer
2. A Child of Hitler~ Alfons Heck
3. Sybil ~ Flora Rheat Schreiber
   

...I need to get a move on. Although with taking classes and reading a lot there, I'm sure its understandable that I have read beyond that class.

Here are the books that I want to read that I have so far:

1. Rebel Women of the Gold Rush: Extrodinary Achievements and Daring Adventures ~ Rich Mole
2. Remember the Ladies: The First Women's Rights Convention ~ Norma Johnston
3. Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White ~ David Barton
4. Samuel Adams: A Life ~ Ira Stoll
5. Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Loves Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them ~ Francine Prose (love the last name...fitting for the book)
6. Ladies of Liberty: The Women who Shaped our Nation ~ Cokie Roberts
7. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream ~ Barack Obama ( I can't believe I'm going to read this but I can't critcize a book if I haven't read it, even though I know I might gage from reading it)
8. The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity ~ Wm. Paul Young
9. Republic ~ Plato
10. Vanity Fair ~ William Makepeace Thackeray
11. Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams
12. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies ~ Jared Diamond
13. George Washington's Sacred Fire ~ Peter A. Lillback with Jerry Newcombs
14. How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Read Between the Lines
15. A Severe Mercy (With Eighteen Letters)~ Sheldon Vanauken
16. Narrative of the Life of Federick Douglass, an American Slave~ Federick Douglass
17. My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams ~ Edited by Margaret A. Hogan & C. James Taylor
18. The Color Purple ~ Alice Walker
19. The Three Musketeers ~ Alexandre Dumas
20. The Man in the Iron Mask ~ Alexandre Dumas
21. The Guardian ~ Nicholas Sparks
22. The Princess Bride: S. Morganstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure ~ William Goldman
23. A Tale of Two Cities ~ Charles Dickens
24. What Could He Be Thinking? : How a Man's Mind Really Works ~ Michael Gurian
25. The Lovely Bones ~ Alice Sebold
26. Essential Dialogues of Plato
27. Dracula ~ Bram Stoker
28. Grimm's Fiary Tales
29. Eight Plays (all by Henrik Ibsen)
30. Cold Sassy Tree ~ Olive Ann Burns
    

So these are the list of books I want to try to get to this summer...I know I need to get going. And if you are wondering I have more books then the ones listed above...I just know I can't list all of them.

The Books that I am reading are:

1. The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writer's ~ Christopher Vogler
2. The Overton Window ~ Glenn Beck
3. Founding Mothers: The Women who Raised our Nation ~ Cokie Roberts
4. The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette ~ Carolly Erickson

So I hope I will be able to get to this. I was thinking about writing a book review on the books I have read...but I have to get to the reading for my class tomorrow. Maybe I will do that later tonight before I go to bed.

Been Busy With Classes

So I haven't been on my blog since I have been taking classes. Right now I am taking a class at Pelisssippi State Techincal Community. Its American Literature I and overall it has been awesome. We have talked about everyone from Anne Hutchison, Roger Williams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglas, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melvile, etc.

Overall I have been enjoying this class. Everynight I have to read about 50 pages of reading for the next day, it just depends. I also usually read more about the background of the author and other writings that our porfessor says that we don't have to read it, but she recommends it. So I take no chances, so I can be prepared at the end of the day.

I have had some annoyances while in this class, actually just one continuing annoyance. There is a girl next to me that rarely pays attention in class, she always is trying to copy other people's notes (as a result of her texting on the phone and not paying attention) highlights her book to the point where the page is moslty bright flourescent yellow (no one taught this girl how to use a higlighter) and this girl is going to be finished at the end of this summer at this community college.... really I know people get lazy at times I understand, but with her attitude and how she talks, she did this the entire time!!!! I know its a community college and it will get harder and blah, blah. But this girl is the kind to repeat questions in class that goes something like, "Wait...huh...w-w-what page was that on? Wait I don't see that, what page did you say it was? Umm what did you say the answer was?" And on and on. I sit next to an idiot and she keeps sitting next to me! I know I could move, but I like being close to the front.

Anyway, this class besides dealing with stupid girl has been a lot of fun, people might groan at that but I love literature, I have my own library(that's for another post). My favorite readings that we have done is:

1. Benjamin Franklin's Autobio( a part of it)
2. Anne Hutchinson's stuff
3. Frederick Douglass Narrative (a part of it)
   

I found these works my favorites, I found it to be inspiring and brilliant. I didn't agree with everything the professor said not because of my own personal beliefs, but because she was going on feelings of the what she got from the text, not using history of that person to interpret the text. Like with Benjamin Franklin, she said that he was that not much of a believer in God. Thats not true, you could say he would be considered a modern day non denomination Christian of sorts. For we were talking all about the His list of 13 virtues; she said he used them for money making puposes???? What!?!?!?!?!? Okay He did this, mostly because he wanted to be a better person and also ( this part Im not as sure of, cause I'm trying to recollect some research I had done a while back) because he knew that since he had trouble believing in the divinty of God, he thought that by practicing these virtues he may become a better person and maybe have a better understanding of God. But then again she is allowed to have her own opinion and I do respect her a great deal. Besides this, I really haven't had any moments that make me go Huh?

Now the one thing I learned a lot about was Frederick Dourglass. I admire that man, he is very brave and strong to have dealt with what he did. I am so glad I was able to read a part of it. I will be reading the full Narrative in the Future, I already bought it.

Back to the class itself....

So far in this class I have gotten 2 B's on 2 exams. An 88 & an 81. I have a strong B in thsi class. I am very proud of myself. And I have only missed one class; despite the fact that it is 8:00 every morning. I guess it helps that I'm home and I have my mom to tell me to get my butt up. ( :P )

Anywho I have just turned in my paper into this class this past Mon. and I will be taking the final exam next Mon. I hope I can get my grade up to a strong A!!

I'm also thinking of taking another class in the next session, American Literature II. I hope I wiil be able to take it. I know it may be shorter, but so far I was able to do real well, hopefully I can get it up to an A with the last test. I just have to do real well. Either way, I will be really proud of myself.

Well wish my luck with the coming exam next Mon!!