| # | cover | title | author | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages | avg rating | num ratings | date pub | date pub (ed.) | rating | my rating | review | notes | recommender | comments | votes | read count | date started | date read | date added | date purchased | owned | purchase location | condition | format | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 039460430X
| 9780394604305
| 3.46
| 64,966
| 1928
| Jun 12, 1983
|
liked it
|
Idle: Is, uh,...Is your wife a goer, eh? Know whatahmean, know whatahmean, nudge nudge, know whatahmean, say no more? Jones: I, uh, I beg your pardon? I Idle: Is, uh,...Is your wife a goer, eh? Know whatahmean, know whatahmean, nudge nudge, know whatahmean, say no more? Jones: I, uh, I beg your pardon? Idle: Your, uh, your wife, does she go, eh, does she go, eh? Jones: Well, she sometimes 'goes', yes. Idle: I bet she does, I bet she does, say no more, say no more, know whatahmean, nudge nudge? - Monty Python’s “Nudge Nudge” sketch  Why did I just quote that? I don’t know, it seems oddly appropriate somehow (but probably isn’t!) From its reputation, I was half expecting Lady Chatterley's Lover to be wall-to-wall sex. As it happened this is not the case, floors and beds are sometimes included in the configuration—nudge nudge! Well, OK, not really, if you are looking for “porn-fic” from this novel you had better look elsewhere*. I would not know where to direct you, though. As always, Google is your friend! D. H. Lawrence was a serious novelist, I am not even sure he had a sense of humour**. The last thing he would do is write a salacious novel to titillate the masses. My only other experience of his fiction is the beautiful and moving Sons and Lovers, a moving portrayal of a mother and son relationship, with myriad relatable themes. Lady Chatterley's Lover is equally serious, packed to the gills with Lawrence’s ideological messages. The basic plot is very straight forward, Constance is married to invalid aristocrat Clifford Chatterley, who was injured and became paralyzed during the Great War. Unfortunately, the paralysis seems to have spread to his humanity also. This is very depressing for Lady Constance Chatterley who finds her married life entirely devoid of warmth or happiness. She has a brief fling with a German boy whose wurst turns out to be unsatisfactory and also dies unexpectedly, then she has an affair with Michaelis, an Irish playwright, and an aristocrat wannabe. This ends when Connie finds that she can not love him. Eventually, she meets the real love of her life, gamekeeper Oliver Mellors who is rather plebian but has a heart of gold. So begins their affairs and several scenes of these two famously having it off. Of course, one day the cat gets out of the bag… Unlike Sons and Lovers, Lady Chatterley's Lover does not resonate much with me. I cannot relate to any of the characters. Connie—when fully clothed— spends most of the time fretting, feeling sorry for herself. Sir Clifford is entirely unsympathetic and unfeeling, and Oliver Mellors, like Connie, is always moping when he is in a vertical position. The sex is portrayed as something rather silly and awkward. As for the aforementioned ideological messages, Lawrence has plenty to say about the class system, intellectuality vs. passion and the battle of the sexes, but I cannot relate to the characters and their plight so I don’t have a feel for the nuances. For me, Lady Chatterley's Lover is readable but a little bit of a chore to get through. I don’t care for the characters and the plot is just not interesting enough, it seems the nuances are more important than the plot. There are a lot of rambling narration and dialogue which is only made more bearable by the audio format (easier to zone out or just doze off until something interesting happen). I can’t exactly recommend the book but if you are particularly curious about it, it is not too hard to get through. Of course, you may like it a lot more than I do, it just is not up my street, not even in the same time zone. ______________________________ * I was expecting to write “More like Lady Shaggerty, nudge nudge!” Alas, no. ** I think Sons and Lovers may have some funny bits but I don’t really remember! Notes: • Free Audiobook read by Jan McLaughlin. Quite nicely read on the whole, some strange pauses during the first couple of chapters but she seems to settle down after a while. Anyway, I am very grateful for her effort. The whole audiobook in one ZIP file can be downloaded here. • I am not really into Lady Chatterley's Lover but I am interested to read more from D.H. Lawrence, he does write very nice prose. Next time I’ll check out the synopsis first. Quotes: “It would be wonderful to be intelligent: then one would be alive in all the parts mentioned and unmentionable. The penis rouses his head and says: How do you do?--to any really intelligent person. Renoir said he painted his pictures with his penis...he did too, lovely pictures!” 'All the darned women are like that,' he said. 'Either they don't go off at all, as if they were dead in there...or else they wait till a chap's really done, and then they start in to bring themselves off, and a chap's got to hang on. I never had a woman yet who went off just at the same moment as I did.' “A woman wants you to like her and talk to her, and at the same time love her and desire her; and it seems to me the two things are mutually exclusive.” ...more | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| May 23, 2016
|
Jun 05, 2016
|
May 23, 2016
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1840224029
| 9781840224023
| 3.81
| 140,632
| Mar 20, 1852
| Aug 05, 1999
|
really liked it
|
I jist done readin thar book, why, Mas’r, it don’t make no sense to me. Why a man get treated like a dog by another man and the law is all right with
I jist done readin thar book, why, Mas’r, it don’t make no sense to me. Why a man get treated like a dog by another man and the law is all right with that? I knoe it dont mean nuthin now we is all civilased with iPads and lor knows what, but whar was it ever OK? Slave narratives are morbidly fascinating to me, it amazes me that slavery was ever “a thing” in civilized countries. Uncle Tom's Cabin tells the story of a faithful, kind and extremely pious “Uncle Tom” and several characters associated with him. At the beginning of the book, Tom is one of the more fortunate slaves working for the very kind Shelby family who treat their slaves as human beings. Unfortunately, the head of the family, Arthur Shelby, is considerably less kind than his wife and son and one day decides to sell Tom, Eliza (a pretty slave girl), and Eliza’s young son Harry, to a slave trader. Eliza makes a run for it, taking her son with her, but Tom—incredibly pious man that he is—stays put and meekly goes with the slave trader. During his voyage with the slave trader down the Mississippi River Tom lucks out again and meets Augustine St. Clare, a very kind man traveling with his angelic little daughter Eva. Augustine buys Tom and takes him to his home in New Orleans where Tom lives happily for a couple of years, and is promised his freedom by Augustine. Before the emancipation could happen, however, Tom’s luck runs out. Augustine dies and Tom is sold again—in an auction—by the nasty Mrs. Marie St. Clare. This time, he is bought by the irredeemably evil plantation owner named Simon Legree, leading to the most harrowing part of the book. Besides being fascinating Uncle Tom's Cabin is also harrowing, disturbing and heartbreaking. This is one of the most historically significant slave narratives ever, it played a major part in helping to bring about the abolition of slavery in the US. It reminds me of the TV adaptation of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and the more recent film adaptation of Twelve Years a Slave. I have not read either of these books, though I found the TV series and the film very moving. The only other slave narrative I have read is Octavia Butler’s beautiful, harrowing and heartbreaking novel Kindred. What these narratives have in common is the shocking portrayal of an era when people are so unenlightened as to treat fellow human beings as mere tools; buying and selling them like animals, splitting up families, in order to sell the individual members as separate items. The slave traders put a price tag on the slaves on the basis of their physical attributes. One thought kept occurring to me, “why was this ever OK?”. OK, in the sense of "sanctioned by law", with certificates of "ownership" and everything, so the people can legitimately own what they could not possibly own; human beings are "unownable". The book is not wall to wall “man’s inhumanity to man” however, Harriet Beecher Stowe put in some lighter moments to balance the grimness of the story. Still, the lighter moments are overwhelmed by the tragic lives of the enslaved characters. Besides being a slave narrative Uncle Tom's Cabin also clearly belongs to the Christian fiction genre. Any atheist reading this book to find out more about slavery in the nineteenth century America is likely to be put off by the Christian piety which underpins just about every page of the book. There are even scenes which verges on the miraculous or divine intervention. The book’s religiosity doesn’t bother me at all but I think it is fair warning for potential readers looking for a more secular narrative. The characters are very vividly drawn but the eponymous Tom, and the spooky little girl, Eva St. Clare, are too Christ-like to be entirely believable. In any case Uncle Tom's Cabin, as a novel, is very readable, there is not a dull moment and Harriet Beecher Stowe knew what buttons to push to connect with the readers on an emotional level. However, the novel is literally “preachy” in many places—not to mention sentimental and melodramatic. If you are OK with all that then the book is highly recommended. ______________________ Notes: • Audiobook credit: Free Librivox audiobook of Uncle Tom's Cabin, brilliantly read by Mr. John Greenman. Thank you! • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is, in some ways, a slave narrative, and as it is a Mark Twain book you don't have to worry about overwhelming piety! • For some reason, the name “Uncle Tom” has become a derogatory term to suggest “a subservient fool who bows down to the white man”. This is not how Tom is portrayed in the novel at all, he meekly accepts abuses aimed at himself, but draws the line at being ordered to abuse other slaves. (view spoiler)[He literally stands up for his fellow slaves until his last breath. (hide spoiler)] (Thanks for the tip Kevin!) • There is a pro-slavery genre called Anti-Tom literature written by authors in response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's book. According to Wikipedia there are more than twenty books of this kind, they generally portray slavery as beneficial for the African Americans who will come a cropper without the white man's supervision. I don't know what these authors are smoking but I don't want any! ______________________ Quotes: “These critters ain't like white folks, you know; they gets over things, only manage right. Now, they say," said Haley, assuming a candid and confidential air, "that this kind o' trade is hardening to the feelings; but I never found it so. Fact is, I never could do things up the way some fellers manage the business. I've seen 'em as would pull a woman's child out of her arms, and set him up to sell, and she screechin' like mad all the time;—very bad policy—damages the article—makes 'em quite unfit for service sometimes.” “He was possessed of a handsome person and pleasing manners, and was a general favorite in the factory. Nevertheless, as this young man was in the eye of the law not a man, but a thing, all these superior qualifications were subject to the control of a vulgar, narrow-minded, tyrannical master. ” “That is to say, the Lord made 'em men, and it's a hard squeeze gettin 'em down into beasts” “For, sir, he was a man,—and you are but another man. And, woman, though dressed in silk and jewels, you are but a woman, and, in life's great straits and mighty griefs, ye feel but one sorrow!” “I defy anybody on earth to read our slave-code, as it stands in our law-books, and make anything else of it. Talk of the abuses of slavery! Humbug! The thing itself is the essence of all abuse! And the only reason why the land don't sink under it, like Sodom and Gomorrah, is because it is used in a way infinitely better than it is. For pity's sake, for shame's sake, because we are men born of women, and not savage beasts, many of us do not, and dare not,—we would scorn to use the full power which our savage laws put into our hands. And he who goes the furthest, and does the worst, only uses within limits the power that the law gives him.” “Why, because my brother Quashy is ignorant and weak, and I am intelligent and strong,—because I know how, and can do it,—therefore, I may steal all he has, keep it, and give him only such and so much as suits my fancy. Whatever is too hard, too dirty, too disagreeable, for me, I may set Quashy to doing. Because I don't like work, Quashy shall work. Because the sun burns me, Quashy shall stay in the sun. Quashy shall earn the money, and I will spend it. Quashy shall lie down in every puddle, that I may walk over dry-shod. Quashy shall do my will, and not his, all the days of his mortal life, and have such chance of getting to heaven, at last, as I find convenient.” ...more | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Apr 17, 2016
|
May 10, 2016
|
Apr 17, 2016
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0140183523
| 9780140183528
| 3.72
| 23,740
| 1901
| 1981
|
liked it
|
“We'd go down to the river And into the river we'd dive Oh down to the river we'd ride” That’s Bruce Springsteen, not Rudyard Kipling. All the mentions “We'd go down to the river And into the river we'd dive Oh down to the river we'd ride” That’s Bruce Springsteen, not Rudyard Kipling. All the mentions of The River just reminds me of this song. So Kim is all about the adventures of a young Irish boy, Kimball O'Hara, in British colonial India. Kim starts off as a Tom Sawyer-ish, or Bart Simpson-esq, little scamp. One day he encounters an elderly Tibetan Lama and volunteers to become his disciple in order to go adventuring on the monk’s pilgrimage in his quest for the mystical River of the Arrow. En route he encounters British, Russian and French spies, and decides to become one himself (for the Brits of course); to participate in “the Great Game” (of espionage). Ooh, I dunno about this. I like the colorful characters of Kim, the Lama, and the various spies. I am particularly intrigued by the Lama, is he a true mystic or just an old loony? I really like the cosmic and somewhat ambiguous ending, it’s like, totally Woodstock man! My slight problem with Kim, the book, not the character, is that—as a Boy’s Own adventure—it’s a bit boring really. Sorry. The espionage side of it really falls flat for me. I was not expecting Kim to order martinis, shaken but not stirred, race around in a Ferrari that morphs into a submarine, or have it off with tons of supermodelly girls in formal gowns. No, I did not expect all that, but what I did get was not all that (apologies to my grammar sensei, Cecily, for this appalling sentence). As a spy thriller Kim just did not thrill me, my eyebrows remain disappointingly unelevated throughout. On the other hand, the philosophical side of Kim is very interesting. His crisis of identity and his eventual coming to terms with his duality is thought provoking stuff. I also admire how Kipling portrays the Lama’s pacifist nature and his vague mystical ramblings are interesting and often humorous. His angst at almost wanting to punch someone is adorable. At the end of the day, on the whole, when push comes to shove, to cut a long story short, without beating around the bush, or barking up the wrong tree, or cutting off my nose to spite my face, I kinda like this book. I think. ______________________ Note Librivox Audiobook very nicely read by Adrian Praetzellis. Thank you! ...more | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Mar 07, 2016
|
Mar 17, 2016
|
Mar 16, 2016
| Mass Market Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1585678759
| 9781585678754
| 4.14
| 22,870
| May 01, 1919
| May 10, 2007
|
it was amazing
|
What ho! This Goodreads review lark is a rummy thing. Here I sit, drinking buckets of tea, that indispensable tissue restorative, waiting for the old
What ho! This Goodreads review lark is a rummy thing. Here I sit, drinking buckets of tea, that indispensable tissue restorative, waiting for the old muse to come up with something, squeezing the old bean until it turns purple, and the blighted screen remains stubbornly blank. What is a frightful chump like me to do? How interesting it must be to be one of those animal-trainer Johnnies: to stimulate the dawning intelligence, and that sort of thing. OK, if I keep that sort of faux-Wodehouse business up the old bean will surely explode—or possibly implode. Still, one must endeavor to give satisfaction and all that sort of rot. It’s been many years since I read a Wodehouse book, there was a time when I could not get enough of them. Unfortunately if you read to many of them one after the other they do tend to seem very similar and the magic fades. Better to not over indulge, don’t you know. P.G. Wodehouse’s books are kind of magical, though, there is never any substance to them that I can discern, no moral lessons or in-depth exploration of the human condition. They are just fun and astonishingly written. Wodehouse wrote several series of books, but the most popular one by far is clearly the “Jeeves and Wooster” series. Fortunately, quite a few of Wodehouse’s books are in the public domain including My Man Jeeves. My Man Jeeves is a collection of eight short stories, half of them featuring Jeeves and Wooster, the others feature Reggie Pepper, one of Wodehouse’s less well known (and less funny) protagonists. In any event, none of the stories fail to raise a smile or the odd chuckles. I don’t expect to split my sides reading a Wodehouse book, his humour is not in the style of Douglas Adams or Monty Python, though he may have been an inspiration for both of them. It is enough that his stories are “extremely diverting”, uplifting, and it is wonderful just to soak up the language, don’t you know. It has been said—by some literary Johnnies—that Wodehouse did not simply write but orchestrated the English language. Who am I to argue with these brainy blighters? All the stories are about helping a friend out of a difficult situation, usually disinheritance; and they tend to involve deception, stealing or a harebrained scheme of some kind. If the scheme is Jeeves’ it usually works, sometimes with unexpected results, if it is anybody else’s they go pear-shaped—landing the schemer “in the soup”. Reggie Pepper—like Bertie Wooster—is a “gentleman of leisure”, living off an inheritance and spends all his time amusing himself. Reggie is a little bit brighter than Bertie and also has a butler called Voules, who speaks like Jeeves but is not nearly as intelligent or concerned about his employer’s wellbeing. Reggie’s schemes for helping his friends always go awry. The most memorable one is when he kidnaps a child in order for his friend to present said child back to his cute auntie, and be regarded as a hero. It transpires that the child is not related to the girl at all. The Jeeves and Wooster stories are all set in New York, where Bertie is on the run from his irate Aunt Agatha. My favorite of the four stories is “The Aunt and the Sluggard” which involves his friend Rocky Todd and Rocky’s formidable aunt. Bertie has to pretend that Rocky owns his flat which results in his being evicted from his own residence by the aunt who takes an immediate dislike to him: “The aunt took the chair which I'd forgotten to offer her. She looked at me in rather a rummy way. It was a nasty look. It made me feel as if I were something the dog had brought in and intended to bury later on, when he had time. My own Aunt Agatha, back in England, has looked at me in exactly the same way many a time, and it never fails to make my spine curl.” When I review a short story collection I usually write a brief note for each individual story. Not this time, old scout, the stories tend to be fairly similar. “The cases are in some respects parallel, sir”, as Jeeves would say. They are all pretty much top-hole. If you are feeling down and need cheering up it occurs to me that reading My Man Jeeves might prove efficacious. Toodle-oo! _______________ Librivox audiobook read by Mark Nelson, an American chappie, don’t you know, but he did a corking job. American accent for all the British characters notwithstanding, but narrated with plenty of vim! _______________ Quotes Wodehouse is one of the most quotable authors ever. Here are some of my favorites from this book: Thick Bertie “I'm a bit short on brain myself; the old bean would appear to have been constructed more for ornament than for use, don't you know.” Superhero Jeeves “He's like one of those weird chappies in India who dissolve themselves into thin air and nip through space in a sort of disembodied way and assemble the parts again just where they want them.” “He flowed silently out of the room—he always gives you the impression of being some liquid substance when he moves.” Jeeves’ enigmatic smile “Jeeves smiled paternally. Or, rather, he had a kind of paternal muscular spasm about the mouth, which is the nearest he ever gets to smiling.” Reggie Pepper “A fellow who may have been a perfect knight-errant to a girl when he was engaged to her, doesn't feel nearly so keen on spreading himself in that direction when she has given him the miss-in-baulk, and gone and married a man who reason and instinct both tell him is a decided blighter.” ...more | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Feb 22, 2016
|
Feb 26, 2016
|
Feb 25, 2016
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0141439637
| 9780141439631
| 3.75
| 54,728
| 1881
| Sep 30, 2003
|
it was amazing
|
Henry James would probably get all well with Thomas Hardy The Portrait of a Lady is a tragedy almost of Tess of the d'Urbervilles proportions. Charact Henry James would probably get all well with Thomas Hardy The Portrait of a Lady is a tragedy almost of Tess of the d'Urbervilles proportions. Character study novels are extraordinary things, the plot is mostly fairly mundane but when you get to really know the characters, when they resonate with you, the personal crises they go through become fascinating because they are like people you know. It has that lovely fly on the wall appeal for nosey parkers like myself. However, it takes an immense talent to create vivid and vibrant characters that the readers would care about; this is a gift Henry James seems to have in abundance. The story, in a nutshell, concerns a young American lady, Isabel Archer (the subject of the titular portrait), comes to England to stay with her aunt, she soon receives a vast amount of inheritance from her uncle, is proposed to by three men, and proceed to chooses the absolute worst of the three. From then on her life is a 24/7 misery. If anybody shows me this micro-synopsis and ask me if I would want to read the book I’d probably tell them to eff off (in the nicest possible way of course). However, the simple storyline belies a psychologically complex and endlessly fascinating book. At the beginning of the book, Isabel is described as “a young woman of extraordinary profundity”. Certainly she seems to be an intelligent, lively and charismatic young lady with a strong sense of independence and seemingly indomitable will. She also has an infectious enthusiasm to experience what the world (which is her oyster) has to offer. That several men fall at her feet and practically worship her is not hard to believe. What is harder to believe is how—in spite of her wit and intelligence—she allows herself to be manipulated into marrying a total poseur. The book is an account of how her vibrant sense of independence seeps away during the course of her awful marriage. We follow Isabel’s thought processes, feeling swept along with her enthusiasm for life and crash-land with her when things go south. As Henry James puts it in his intro: “The idea of the whole thing is that the poor girl, who has dreamed of freedom and nobleness, who has done, as she believes, a generous, natural, clear-sighted thing, finds herself in reality ground in the very mill of the conventional.” The ending is a little too ambiguous for my taste, James seems to like this kind of WTF ending, his novella The Turn of the Screw has an even more infuriatingly ambiguous ending which I found so aggravating I wanted to write him for a refund (hampered by the fact that I got the book for free, and James is pushing up the daisies). The ending of The Portrait of a Lady is ambiguous to a lesser degree and leaves an interestingly melancholic aftertaste. So, yeah, read it, it’s pretty great! __________________________ Notes Read mostly in audiobook format, narrated by the extremely wonderful Elizabeth Klett in her melodious and expressive voice (download link). I often wondered why so talented a reader would only read free Librivox books, it turns out that she has also narrated many contemporary books for the decidedly not free Audible.com. Still, that she has read so many books gratis, for the public domain is amazing. __________________________ The following footnotes are inspired by my dear friend Cecily. I find it very difficult to review a character novel, because I want to talk about the characters and why they are interesting. The trouble is I feel like I would have to introduce each of the character I mention, and that would be a drag for me and— I imagine—the review reader. If you have an opinion on this issue please let me know in the comments section. Anyway, Cecily has suggested several ways to integrate the character bits, which I will do in future reviews but for this one I can’t think of a suitable entry point so I’ll just shove them here in the footnotes, and I won’t introduce any of them! Thoughts on some of the main characters Gilbert Osmond: I wonder if he has big, bright teeth like most of the Osmonds I have seen. In the 1996 film he is portrayed by John Malkovich who doesn’t look much like an Osmond. I reckon Gilbert is not deliberately evil, I am not even sure he misrepresented himself to Isabel, she just saw some nobility in him that is not there. Ralph Touchett: Capital fellow, he is the only one who loves Isabel selflessly. He is very wise, observant and witty. Shame about his health. Lord Warburton: Nice bloke, a bit of a snob. Looking for a trophy wife I suspect. Caspar Goodwood: Hate him, stupid stalker bastard. I don’t think leaving Osmond for him would be much of an improvement. Madame Merle: Awesome kickass villainess who doesn’t even kick any ass and is not really all that bad. It’s not actually her fault that Isabel decides to marry that poseur, she only introduced them, she did not force the girl to marry the cad at gunpoint. Pansy Osmond: Tragic silly kid, a total doormat. ...more | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Feb 2016
|
Feb 17, 2016
|
Feb 17, 2016
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0393970124
| 9780393970128
| 3.96
| 592,653
| 1897
| May 12, 1986
|
it was amazing
|
“Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make.” This iconic quote illustrates the unfathomable depth of Dracula’s evil. Not only does he “Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make.” This iconic quote illustrates the unfathomable depth of Dracula’s evil. Not only does he have terrible taste in music (wolf metal, anyone?), he is keen to inflict his awful taste on poor Jonathan Harker who is already regretting his visit to Dracula’s castle. If the novel was set in the present day the Count probably would have put on a “Yoko Ono’s Greatest Hits CD”. “Listen to her. Nice Japanese lady. What music she makes.”. At which point Jonathan, usually slow on the uptake, would have run away screaming. One of these days I will be able to resist the urge to write stupid intros to my reviews. Today is not that day. Dracula is one of the most frightening horror novels ever; or it would have scared the willies out of me if I did not already know the story in considerable details (I was a bit hazy about the last two chapters though). I should warn you that this review is full of spoilers; I wonder if there is anything left to spoil though, presumably you are well aware that the poor Count’s plan for turning all of London batty does not according to plan. Having said that, even if you know the entire story but never read the book you ought to take the time to read it. Bram Stoker did a terrific job of creating a dark, brooding atmosphere, and writing some horrific and even erotic scenes that I imagine must have caused nineteenth century readers of delicate constitution to pass out. I am surprised that Stoker did not organize the novel into three parts, something like this: Part 1: Jonathan Harker’s visit to Dracula’s castle. Part 2: Dracula vamping it up in London. Part 3: Dracula buggers off back to Transylvania. Dracula is a very well paced novel, with several memorable characters. Starting with the Count himself of course,  in the first few chapters of the book I find him quite affable and generally very polite (bad taste in music notwithstanding). I cannot help but find Jonathan Harker a bit of an idiot. Especially in the scene when he is shaving with the aid of a mirror, Drac comes barging in and he notices the old vamp’s lack of a reflection; then Drac rudely throws his mirror out the window and later Jonathan writes this in his journal:“It is very annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case or the bottom of the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of metal.” LOL! He is annoyed that he can’t shave after seeing the Count casts no reflection? He really needs to sort out his priorities. Even before the shaving incident he notices the Count has gross hairy hands with horrible long fingers and Wolverine fingernails, and he still sticks around to discuss the sights and sounds of London with the old dude! Miss Lucy Westenra’s fiancé Arthur Holmwood is equally slow on the uptake, he notices that Lucy’s teeth have been growing longer and sharper since she became ill, especially her canines which are particularly long and pointy. He passes this off as a symptom of her illness, presumably an unexpected dental side effect from whatever virus is causing her mysterious blood loss. Only Prof Van Helsing—the man with the plan from the Netherlands—seems to know his rear end from his elbow, but even he does a very poor job of protecting Lucy. He knows there is a vampire about and he still leaves the girl alone with her mom and goes off to get a good night sleep at his hotel or something.  Van Helsing reminds me of Agatha Christie’s Poirot or TV’s detective Columbo, an eccentric genius who likes to pass himself off as an amiable fool. His idiosyncratic uses of English grammar is probably more Poirot than Columbo though, with a touch of Yoda. Then we have Renfield with his intellectual conversations and fondness for insectile cuisine with extra toppings of rats. The ladies are equally memorable, with Lucy being entirely helpless to begin with until she becomes Lucy 2.0 the scary, sexy, badass vampire, better known to kids in London as “The Bloofer Lady”, Mrs. Mina Harker has much more self-reliance and fortitude, even after the ghastly “baptism of blood”; silly Drac messes with the wrong girl there. Stoker does tend to be somewhat misogynic with his assumption of what women are generally capable of, but on the other hand Mina is portrayed as strong and quite ingenious, an intellectual equal of Prof VH I would say. As far as I know Stoker was a one-hit wonder, but if you are only going to have one hit, may as well make it an all-time great. While Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is a beautiful, poignant, and lyrical novel, it is less concerned with scaring the bejesus out of the readers, whereas Dracula is really quite horrific (in spite of my effort at lampooning it). If you enjoy horror fiction Dracula is a must-read. __________________________ Notes • “Read” in audiobook format, the audiobook is read by Rob Goll . Available on Youtube only, as far as I know, you can of course, convert the videos to MP3, try http://www.youtube-mp3.org/, http://convert2mp3.net/en/ etc. Rob Goll’s narration is excellent. Thank you, Mr. Goll! • Contrary to what Francis Ford Coppola and other filmmakers would have you believe, Dracula never had any romantic feelings for Mina Harker, she is just another Happy Meal to him. • Shame about Renfield, I think he would have liked an albatross on a stick.  • Dracula is sometimes called “Prince of Darkness” (in Hammer films) but did you know that he is also “Prince of Logistics”, he really organizes his traveling arrangements like a pro, and he booked a hotel for Jonathan Harker! • The epistolary narrative format works quite well, but how can a bunch of people write diaries in practically the same style? • My favourite film adaptation of Dracula is the 1977 one by the BBC, about 90% faithful to Stoker's book, and gave me the willies. Somebody uploaded the whole thing to Youtube, but these unauthorized uploads are often removed so I won't link to it. ...more | Notes are private!
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Jan 19, 2016
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| 0141439580
| 9780141439587
| 3.98
| 455,909
| Dec 23, 1815
| May 06, 2003
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really liked it
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Upon my word! After reading a couple of chapters of Emma I do declare—with all due respect—that Miss Emma Woodhouse is one silly cow. I have sought as
Upon my word! After reading a couple of chapters of Emma I do declare—with all due respect—that Miss Emma Woodhouse is one silly cow. I have sought assurance from my dear friend—the very learned Mrs. Roberts from a nearby vicarage—regarding correct usage of the term “silly cow”, and she has given me her approbation with the greatest felicity.  Yes, Emma Woodhouse is clueless, so much so that the wonderful 1995 movie Clueless is entirely based on her story. Emma likes to make matches, and I don’t mean her hobby is to make short, thin pieces of wood with a bit of phosphorus that ignites. No, indeed, Miss Woodhouse fancies herself as some kind of cupid and does the job disastrously. The first thing she does upon meeting young naïve 17 year old Harriet Smith is to make a project out of her: “She would notice her; she would improve her; she would detach her from her bad acquaintance, and introduce her into good society; she would form her opinions and her manners. It would be an interesting, and certainly a very kind undertaking; highly becoming her own situation in life, her leisure, and powers.” I was thinking “What the hell? You silly cow!”. Anyway, in the process, she dissuades poor Harriet from accepting a desirable marriage proposal and pursues the snobbish Mr. Elton instead. Possibly the funniest scene in the book is when “Mr. Elton actually making violent love to her”—to Emma that is—without anybody taking their clothes off. It’s more in the Eltonesque tradition of “Don’t go breaking my heart”. Jane Austen was well aware of the flaw in Emma’s character, she even described the character as “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”. Of course she is not quite correct, lots of people like Emma Woodhouse, even I warmed up to her toward the end of the book (as Austen undoubtedly intended). Unlike Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility which I enjoyed from the first chapter it took me more than half the book to appreciate Emma’s appeal. Her conceitedness and snobbery is almost unbearable in the early chapters. It is only when consecutive events start to confound her that I started to really enjoy the novel. As usual Austen’s characters are very well drawn, from Emma herself, to the twittering Miss Bates, the ridiculous Mr. Elton and his even more ridiculous wife who appears later in the book. The novel’s love interest for Emma can be spotted a mile off. He is another Darcy clone: taciturn, with good looks, sensibility, kindness and wisdom to spare. He is called Mr. Knightley on this occasion. By the end of the book I was quite sold on Emma the novel and the character. In all fairness to the poor eponymous character I was of a similarly bovine intellect at her age, and I am not sure to be able to claim to have improved significantly since. As with most of her books—on the surface—the novel seems to depict the small world and small concerns of her characters, but Austen has deeper observations to makes about the social mores and class system of her times. I believe she is also cautioning her readers against overconfidence in one’s abilities in spite of inexperience and lack of accomplishment. It took a while but I eventually succumbed to Emma’s charms. Let’s see how long you can resist. _________________ Notes For better or for worse I have reviewed five out of six Jane Austen novels now. Only Pride and Prejudice left to reread and review. I think I quite like her stuff. I "read" this (mostly) on audiobook, thank you Ms. Elizabeth Klett for her reliably pleasant and melodious narration. If you are looking for free audiobooks with beautiful, professional level narration look for titles narrated by her at Librivox.org. ________________________________ A few quotes from Clueless, just because I can't even: Cher Horowitz: “So okay, I don't want to be a traitor to my generation and all but I don't get how guys dress today. I mean, come on, it looks like they just fell out of bed and put on some baggy pants and take their greasy hair - ew - and cover it up with a backwards cap and like, we're expected to swoon? I don't think so.” "Do you prefer "fashion victim" or "ensembly challenged"?" Travis: “I would like to say this. Tardiness is not something you can do on your own. Many, many people contributed to my tardiness. I would like to thank my parents for never giving me a ride to school, the LA city bus driver who took a chance on an unknown kid and last but not least, the wonderful crew from McDonalds who spend hours making those egg McMuffins without which I might never be tardy.” Murray: Your man Christian is a cake boy! Cher, Dionne: A what? Murray: He's a disco-dancing, Oscar Wilde-reading, Streisand ticket-holding friend of Dorothy, know what I'm saying? Cher: Uh-uh, no way, not even! Murray: Yes, even; he's gay! Dionne: He does like to shop, Cher. And the boy can dress. Tai: Do you think she's pretty? Cher: No, she's a full-on Monet. Tai: What's a monet? Cher: It's like a painting, see? From far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess. Let's ask a guy. Christian, what do you think of Amber? Christian: Hagsville. Cher: See? ...more | Notes are private!
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Jan 06, 2016
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| 076072850X
| 9780760728505
| 3.85
| 127,258
| 1870
| Apr 01, 2002
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really liked it
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“Under the sea Under the sea When the sardine Begin the beguine It's music to me What do they got? A lot of sand We got a hot crustacean band Each little cla “Under the sea Under the sea When the sardine Begin the beguine It's music to me What do they got? A lot of sand We got a hot crustacean band Each little clam here know how to jam here Under the sea” - Sebastian the groovy Caribbean Crab The perfect soundtrack for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas really. I bet Captain Nemo wishes he’d thought of it. The direct translation of the full title of this here book is Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World*, note the S at the end of “Seas” also, the tour spans multiple seas you know. The book really is what it says on the tin, a large part of it book reads like a travelogue with more marine biology infodumps than I know what to do with. This aspect of it is a little like Moby-Dick*, the difference is that Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (eff the extended title) is much more accessible and less dry (haha!). The version I read is translated from the original French by F. P. Walter with an excellent introduction by Mr. Walter that is informative, not too long and creates a nice sense of anticipation. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, as you probably already know, is the adventure of Professor Pierre Aronnax, his ridiculously faithful servant Conseil, and the ruff 'n' tuff, love-em-and-leave-em, wham-bam-thank you-maam, Ned “Is that a harpoon or are you just happy to see me” Land. That sentence went on so long I train of thought has derailed... Oh yes! The adventures of the above-mentioned fellows in the Nautilus, a super-submarine captained by the mysterious Nemo***. Basically, Prof Aronnax and co go hunting for a creature they believe to be a mega-whale which they believe to have sunk several ships in the ocean and has to be stopped. As luck would have it, their own ship is sunk and the creature they are hunting turns out to be the high-tech submarine the Nautilus. Fortunately for them, Captain Nemo is nice enough to rescue them and take them on board his sub, less fortunate is that he won’t allow them to leave the Nautilus – ever! From then on Prof Aronnax’s first person narrative takes us along on this extraordinary voyage. The 20,000 leagues of the title refers to the distance, not the depth, covered by Aronnax’s voyage on board the Nautilus, which mostly takes place under the sea. I see what you did there Mr. Verne! I have to confess I am not an enthusiast of marine biology so my mind did float off to other places during some of the more educational passages. In all fairness, the book never bored me though, the tone of the narrative is always affable and pleasant to breeze through. If you are familiar with Disney’s awesome 1954 adaption of the book you will already know what to expect at the climax of the book involving a giant octopus (called devilfish in the book). This scene is brilliantly depicted by Verne, I was surprised how vivid and effective it is even in written form. The central characters are quite well developed, though I did find Conseil to be subservient to a fault: “He's in Master's employ, he thinks like Master, he speaks like Master, and much to his regret, he can't be counted on to form a majority.” In a scene where oxygen was running out of the Nautilus, Conseil says "Oh, if only I didn't have to breathe, to leave more air for Master!" . For heaven’s sake man, get some agency! Ned Land may be a little plebeian but at least he is his own man. The faithful servant Passepartout from Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days is very similar to Conseil, but he is much more independent and even goes off on a solo adventure for a while. Aronnax is the least interesting of the main characters, but he makes a good narrator. Captain Nemo is, of course, awesome. A sort of Sherlock Holmes crossed with Batman – with gills (well, no gills but I bet he wishes he has them). I generally prefer Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days to this one, as it has less slack and moves along at a brisker pace. Still I like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, it is very amiable and entertaining to read. _______________________ * “Vingt mille lieues sous les mers: Tour du monde sous-marin” if you want to get all Frenchie about it. ** Can I just plug my *** Unfortunately the Nautilus is not yellow so I can’t, in all good conscience, quote from another song. **** My "emojitional" Twilight review is even worse, and it gets very little love, either because it is too far ahead of its time, or too far behind! But Cecily likes it so it can’t be all bad ;) Audiobook clearly and entertainingly read by Librivox volunteer Ms. Michele Fry. Thank you! ...more | Notes are private!
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Nov 19, 2015
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| 0060809248
| 9780060809249
| 3.97
| 138,347
| 1909
| Dec 30, 1987
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it was amazing
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“No more talk of darkness. Forget these wide-eyed fears. I'm here, nothing can harm you. My words will warm you and calm you...” OK OK, I won't go th “No more talk of darkness. Forget these wide-eyed fears. I'm here, nothing can harm you. My words will warm you and calm you...” OK OK, I won't go there, no Andrew Lloyd Wibbly in this review. The Phantom of the Opera seems to have joined the rank of books that few people bother to read because too many people assume they already know the entire story. There is a lot more to the novel than a crazy guy with half a mask abducting a girl just to give her some free singing lessons. I mean who does that? Interestingly in this English translation of Gaston Leroux’s novel by Alexander Teixeiros de Mattos the character commonly known in popular media as The Phantom is never called that in the book. He is more commonly referred to as the Opera Ghost, the Angel of Music and Erik. He even signs his letters O.G. The word phantom seldom appears in the book, and never as a reference to Erik. I cannot speak for the original French version of course. Unfortunately, this precludes anybody referring to him as The Phantom Menace* when he is being particularly destructive. As you would expect the most interesting character in the book is the Opera Ghost himself. I suspect Erik may be the prototype for the fictional psychopathic geniuses like Hannibal Lector. His wide range of abilities makes him almost superhuman: brilliant singer, genius architect, magician, ventriloquist, weapon expert etc. “You must not think, Raoul, that he is simply a man who amuses himself by living underground. He does things that no other man could do; he knows things which nobody in the world knows.” The most enjoyable aspect of the book for me is Erik popping up unseen all over the place in the Paris Opera, thanks to his stealth and the numerous secret passages that he created. He often seems like an omnipotent supernatural creature. His subterranean lair is an eerie creation and very atmospheric. The intensity of his madness is also awesome. The other characters are somewhat less successfully developed. Christine Daaé is too good to be believable, her lover Vicomte Raoul de Chagny comes across like an impassioned idiot most of the time. In spite of his zombie-face and pizza-like complexion, Erik seems a much better prospect than whiny Raoul. The only interesting secondary character is a mysterious man called The Persian who knows more about Erik than anybody else. Erik’s only foible is his love for Christine Daaé which causes a lot of grief for all parties concerned. Erik’s ugliness is off the scale, with a face not even a mother could love, so of course what he wants most in the would is to be loved. The Phantom of the Opera is – as you would expect – a story of an unrequited and obsessive love. It is also a story of extreme loneliness and madness. I had a really good time reading/listening to the book (hopping back and forth between audiobook** and e-book as appropriate). If you are looking for a book to read during Halloween and don’t want to spend any money The Phantom of the Opera is just the thing. _________________________ * Can't put in Whovian reference, may as well do Star Wars. **Free audiobook from Librivox (of course) nicely read by Ralph Snelson. Thank you! ...more | Notes are private!
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Oct 31, 2015
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Oct 22, 2015
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| 0451528956
| 9780451528957
| 3.78
| 217,273
| Jan 05, 1886
| Sep 02, 2003
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it was amazing
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“I have become a monster! I must find a place where I can hide! That’s it! I shall call myself…” DUN-DUN-DUUUUN!!! “Mr. Where-I-can!” The above is para “I have become a monster! I must find a place where I can hide! That’s it! I shall call myself…” DUN-DUN-DUUUUN!!! “Mr. Where-I-can!” The above is paraphrased from a “Morecambe & Wise” Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sketch, they don’t often make me laugh, but this one is gold! Not so much "The Strange Case" as the "Overly Familiar Case". The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of those stories that practically everybody knows so few people bother to read the original text. The original Frankenstein and Dracula are also often neglected by readers for the same reason. This is a shame because these are great books and well worth reading, ( Frankenstein is particularly beautifully written). Clearly the inspiration for “Dr. Banner and Mr. Hulk”, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is, first and foremost, a damn fine horror story. If you ignore the fact that you already know all the plot points and just immerse yourself into Robert Louis Stevenson’s wonderfully atmospheric setting and prose. Imagine walking around a foggy London street in Victorian times, whistling some spooky tune, and suddenly — DUN-DUN-DUUUUN!!! — Mr. Hyde comes out of nowhere and whacks you on the head. The theme of the duality of human nature is not exactly vague since it takes on a such a physical manifestation. However, Stevenson leaves you to draw your own conclusion of whether Jekyll’s theory is valid. The story is also an allegory and a cautionary tale for inebriation (or getting wasted), and yielding to temptation in general. “Just one more pint” and you may find yourself whacking people in foggy London. Interestingly Dr. Jekyll is not as good a guy as many people may assume. The text clearly indicates that he is always up for a wild time, painting the town red, visiting houses of ill repute, and doing some serious S&M*. Besides, no decent gentleman is going to deliberately — and repeatedly — take drugs that turn him into a psychopath. Anyway, do give The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a read, it may be old hat, but it never goes out of fashion. Try it on for size!  Art by "MB-CG". _________________ * Not to be confused with M&S which is Marks & Spencer, where you can be fairly sure of non-mayhem. Notes: Cool quote: "Will you be wise? will you be guided? will you suffer me to take this glass in my hand and to go forth from your house without further parley? or has the greed of curiosity too much command of you?" Non-quote from the book: “Don’t make me angry, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry!” There are several audiobook versions of this book on Librivox, I chose the one read by David Barnes, as he sounds suitably English. The narration is a little bit of a monotone, but nice and clearly read, and it's free so I can't complain. Thank you Mr. Barnes! ...more | Notes are private!
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Oct 04, 2015
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| 0812504690
| 9780812504699
| 3.95
| 70,330
| 1894
| Feb 15, 1992
|
really liked it
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“Welcome to the jungle We've got fun 'n' games We got everything you want Honey, we know the names” The opening poem of The Jungle Book: “Now Rann the Kit “Welcome to the jungle We've got fun 'n' games We got everything you want Honey, we know the names” The opening poem of The Jungle Book: “Now Rann the Kite brings home the night” etc. is much more elegant than Axl Rose’s effort, but I feel it would be much nicer for you to read it in the context of the book. Now if you are looking for a review from someone with an in-depth knowledge of Rudyard Kipling’s works you had better look elsewhere. My Kipling-fu is so feeble I did not even know The Jungle Book was an anthology, not a novel about a badass little boy who blazed a trail for Tarzan. It didn’t even occur to me to read this book until I saw the trailer for the new 2015 movie a few days ago. I’m just going to run through the list of the stories then: 1. Mowgli's Brothers This surprised me, it’s basically the entire story of Mowgli as I know it from the movies (animated and live action). I wonder if Shere Khan is the inspiration for Chaka Khan? (cue eye rolls). If you only read one story from this book (what a silly notion) read this one. 2. Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack Nice poem, all the poems in this book are nice. 3. Kaa's Hunting This goes back up the timeline from the conclusion of “Mowgli's Brothers”, it features Mowgli being kidnaped by monkeys. At no point does Mowgli say “Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!”, Kipling was not into pop culture references (I am). Any way, Mowgli is chiefly aided by Kaa the python and his very particular set of skills. “Trust in me”. "but I didn't expect a Spanish Inquisition!" 4. Road-Song of the Bandar-Log Nice poem 5. “Tiger! Tiger!” Mowgli has a rematch with Shere Khan and finds human society not to his liking, the beds especially (I don’t blame him). 6. Mowgli's Song Great song, especially the guitar solo. 7. The White Seal Kotick the white seal is like the Columbus among seals. Very good story. Especially when Kotick decides he has had enough of the ignorant seals and their jibes then proceeds to hand their asses to them. They did not know he has been working out with some marathon swimming. 8. Lukannon “A sort of very sad seal National Anthem”. Thank you Literaturepage.com 9. “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” Laugh at his silly name at your own peril Rikki-tikki-tavi is one badass mofo of a mongoose. I guess he could be the prototype for Ninja Turtles, K9*, Hong Kong Phooey and other superhero animals. 10. Darzee's Chant Darzee is a tailorbird from Rikki-tikki-tavi’s story with a penchant of breaking into songs at the most inappropriate moment. After Rikki-tikki-tavi is allowed to knock himself out with full blown hero worship through this song. 11. Toomai of the Elephants An Indian boy takes a clandestine ride on an elephant’s back and witnesses a huge herd of elephants performing “We Will Rock You”. “You got blood on yo' face You big disgrace Wavin' your trunk all over the place” 12. Shiv and the Grasshopper “The song that Toomai's mother sang to the baby” 13. Her Majesty's Servants Ah! Oh dear! For me this story is like throwing an eel at a marble wall, it just won’t stick. I listened** to it twice and I still can’t remember what it’s about. Somethihg to do with a bunch of animals nattering about something completely devoid of interest. 14. Parade Song of the Camp Animals Related to the previous story. No thanks. That’s it then, I enjoyed most of the stories, poems and song, except number 13 and 14 as mentioned above. Definitely recommended, especially the first story, which is a bear necessity. _____________________________________ * Hey Cecily, I managed to sneak one in! ** Librivox Audiobook, very nicely read/performed by Phil Chenevert. Thank you! ...more | Notes are private!
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Oct 01, 2015
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| 0141439661
| 9780141439662
| 4.05
| 705,634
| 1811
| Apr 29, 2003
|
really liked it
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Sense and Sensibility is a lot like a Fast & Furious movie, except there are no supercar races, gun fights, fist fights, robbery, and scantily cla
Sense and Sensibility is a lot like a Fast & Furious movie, except there are no supercar races, gun fights, fist fights, robbery, and scantily clad girls. Come to think of it Sense and Sensibility is nothing like a Fast & Furious movie. I just had no idea how to start off the review. Actually Sense and Sensibility is (seriously now) a lot like Pride and Prejudice. What with the sisters, one stoic and worldly, one a little wild, impulsive and naive, not to mention the youngest one who is the Maggie Simpson* of the family and does not have much to do. Then we have the nice but immediately friendzoned gentlemen, the handsome cad and the twittering mom with the In all fairness to Ms. Austen, the two books are not that similar, Sense and Sensibility is her debut novel and she later used some of the same elements to write her magnum opus (“Pride” that is). The book is entirely focussed on the two Dashwood sisters Elinor and Marianne and their felicitous relationships with men. This is not the kind of book you should put through the Bechdel test because the ladies herein very seldom talk about anything else except the men in their lives. Still, you never have to wonder what the ladies in this book do in their spare time because all their time seems to be spare time, Thomas Hardy’s heroines seem to have much harder and more productive lives. Still, I don’t want to put too much of a negative spin on Sense and Sensibility because it is a pleasure to read in spite of its flaws and low stakes. Jane Austen is brilliant at writing silly, twittering, meddling women who actually mean well but never stop talking except when they are listening through the door and completely misunderstanding the snatches of conversation they could hear. Mrs. Jennings, a friend of the family, is my favorite character in the book, she can always be relied upon to hilariously bark up the wrong tree. Curiously characterization is both a strength and a weakness of this book. The “good guys”, namely Edward Ferrars and Colonel Brandon, are awfully dull, semi-zombified gentlemen. Whereas Willoughby the cad is lively and always game for a laugh. Sir John Dashwood, who is somewhat of an antagonist, is not so lively but he is hilariously tactless and shallow. Our two heroines are both too nice and are no match for the almost-femme fatale Lucy Steele. Jane Austen is at her best when she is skewering people in polite society and terribly inhibited gents: “The nature of her commendation, in the present case, however, happened to be particularly ill-suited to the feelings of two thirds of her auditors, and was so very unexhilarating to Edward, that he very soon got up to go away” Unexhilarating! LOL! Then there is this bit which is worthy of a high five: “she did not really like them at all. Because they neither flattered herself nor her children, she could not believe them good-natured; and because they were fond of reading, she fancied them satirical: perhaps without exactly knowing what it was to be satirical; but THAT did not signify. It was censure in common use, and easily given.” I started reading Jane Austen to find out what the fuss is about, why do the studios keep adapting her works for films and TV? Initially I did not get it, her storylines always seem inconsequential to me but I have always liked her beautiful prose so I keep coming back to read more. With Sense and Sensibility it finally clicked for me. The snark! Beneath the Victorian politeness and sense of decorium Ms. Austen was a fabulously snarky lady. Having come to this conclusion I am practically ready to join the rank of the Janeites. I already have a bonnet, with several bees in it. * and her name is Maggie Dashwood! (sort of) ___________________________ Notes: It’s kind of a shame that the multiple Oscars winning 1995 film adaptation cast the excellent Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant as the nice but awfully boring gentlemen. Emma Thompson is spot on as the super competent Elinor Dashwood though, and Kate Winslet is always worth the admission price. GR's Sense and Sensibility Quotes page is full of pithy lines, I think it misrepresents the books as something overly earnest or serious. Sense and Sensibility is, for me, a hoot. Special thanks to the fabulous Ms. Karen Savage for her gracious and beautiful narration of the free Librivox audiobook edition of Sense and Sensibility. She could narrate a laundry list and I'd be happy to listen to it. ...more | Notes are private!
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Sep 24, 2015
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Sep 23, 2015
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| 0141439831
| 9780141439839
| 3.75
| 89,103
| 1847
| Jan 30, 2003
|
it was amazing
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Vanity Fair is a big surprise for me. I was expecting a story about the trial and tribulations of a couple of plucky lady friends what I discovered wa
Vanity Fair is a big surprise for me. I was expecting a story about the trial and tribulations of a couple of plucky lady friends what I discovered was a witty, satirical novel that made me laugh several times, engaged my attention always and even moving at times. On the surface Vanity Fair is a story of the two main characters Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, two childhood friends from the opposite ends of the moral and intellectual spectrum. Becky is ambitious, conniving and smart, Amelia is humble, kind, simple, and rather dim. The novel concurrently charts Becky’s rise from her humble station in life to the rank of the fashionable high society, while Amelia meets with several misfortunes and becomes penniless. It is quite a lengthy novel of more than 800 pages with a large cast of characters who revolve around the lives of the two protagonists. The most interesting feature of Vanity Fair is how meta it is. Thackeray often breaks the fourth wall to address the reader directly with sly and humorous asides, making light of the novelist’s omnipotence. This is a difficult book to review because it is so densely plotted with something happening on every page. The characters are very well developed, particularly Becky who is basically a femme fatale but still manages to show the odd flashes of conscience. Amelia is too virtuous for her own good yet unintentionally takes advantage of a man who has an unrequited love for her. It is an interesting trope of a lot of fiction that the nicest, kindest man is immediately friendzoned by the love of his life. This is very much the case for William Dobbin the man who longs for his (dead) best friend’s girl Amilia like a Norwegian Blue parrot pining for the fjord* My only minor criticism of the book is that some of the characters are just a little too stupid to be realistic. Amelia is well aware of Dobbin’s love for her but feels unable to return his love because she feels that she would be betraying the memory of her dead husband. Although Amelia is naïve, dimwitted and does not care for him Dobbin – an intelligent fellow – cannot get over his obsession with her. Amelia’s brother Jos is even worse, he has seen with his own eyes that Becky is dishonest, mercenary and cannot be trusted but he still falls for her entrapment. His stupidity is surprising because he is described as talented and singlehandedly recues his father and his sister from extreme poverty. Thackeray’s writing is wonderful, excessive usage of the word “prodigious” notwithstanding. I don’t think I have read anything this witty since The Picture of Dorian Gray. Like all long novels it is something to sink into and live with rather than just passively reading. The book makes me reflect that being virtuous is not enough to be of much use to the world if the virtue is not supported by intelligence and wisdom. On the other hand being clever like Becky and achieving wealth and fame is a hollow accomplishment if you are left with no genuine friends and family and viewed with disdain everywhere you go. One of my favorite Victorian novels, if you like reading the classics Vanity Fair is a must. ______________________________________ Notes For a change the free audiobook does not come from Librivox.org, they have their own edition but it is read by multiple readers several of them are very bad. The edition I listened to is from Lit2Go, beautifully read by Amanda Elan. My favorite quotes are not included on GR’s quotes page for this book so I’ll drop them here: LOL: “Though he was familiar with all languages, Mr. Kirsch was not acquainted with a single one, and spoke all with indifferent volubility and incorrectness.” Meta: “If, a few pages back, the present writer claimed the privilege of peeping into Miss Amelia Sedley's bedroom, and understanding with the omniscience of the novelist all the gentle pains and passions which were tossing upon that innocent pillow, why should he not declare himself to be Rebecca's confidante too, master of her secrets, and seal-keeper of that young woman's conscience?” * Hi Cecily! ;) ...more | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Jun 21, 2015
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Jul 16, 2015
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Jun 21, 2015
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0151009988
| 9780151009985
| 3.77
| 131,785
| May 14, 1925
| Oct 28, 2002
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did not like it
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This is not so much a review as a declaration of surrender. When I read in the intro that this book is comparable to James Joyce’s Ulysses I already
This is not so much a review as a declaration of surrender. When I read in the intro that this book is comparable to James Joyce’s Ulysses I already started looking for my white flag. Really I cannot be doing with experimental stream of consciousness prose with no dialog. I cannot even cope with absence of quotation marks. I read Mrs. Dalloway for almost an hour and could not discern any kind of plot. The lady is wandering around London observing “the excitement of elms” (wtf?), trees waving about, grazing cows etc. By the time she starts waxing lyrical about bloody sparrows chirping in Greek words I was ready to do a runner. I did find a bit of dialogue though, it goes: “ ‘Oh look,’ she implored him. But what was there to look at? A few sheep. That was all.” Oookay, I’m off! Note: I don’t disrespect the book, just don’t make me read it please! Oh and the one star in this context means “I seriously cannot read it” which is not the same as “it’s crap”. And here's to you, Mrs. Dalloway Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa Whoa Whoa. ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| not set
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not set
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Jun 19, 2015
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0140186301
| 9780140186307
| 3.79
| 18,009
| 1954
| Sep 01, 1993
|
liked it
|
I tend to be very unfair to comic (humorous) novels, I have this unreasonable demand that every page makes me laugh. Quite a tall order for the poor a
I tend to be very unfair to comic (humorous) novels, I have this unreasonable demand that every page makes me laugh. Quite a tall order for the poor authors I think, but I can’t help it, so I generally avoid reading comic novels. I stumbled upon an audiobook of Lucky Jim on Youtube and thought I’d give it a go as it is often listed as one of the all-time great novels; my aversion to comic novels notwithstanding (freebies conquer all). Lucky Jim is the story of James Dixon a history lecturer at a provincial English university. Dixon is not terribly good at his job, lacking interest in the subject he is teaching or academia itself. He is more interested in recruiting pretty students for his class. What he lacks in teaching skills he makes up for in sass. Throughout the novel Jim is preoccupied by Margaret, a fellow lecturer with emotional issues who he had a romantic relationship with. His attempt to break up with her triggers a hysteric reaction (possibly faux-hysteria as she is quite manipulative). He later meets and fall heads over heel in love with Christine Callaghan a more attractive girl with a good sense of humour, the only snag is she appears to be spoken for. There is not much more than that to the plot apart from Jim getting into scrapes and his attempt to get out of them by his outlandish plans which sometime backfire on him with hilarious results. His favorite artifice is to put on accents to make fake telephone calls to create an alibi for himself or to get out of appointments. Much of the humour of the book comes from the dialog and Jim’s unflattering observations of himself and other characters, and his unending sarcastic comments. Lucky Jim certainly did not make me laugh on every page but it is funny enough to get a pass from me. I feel there is not much substance to the book to treasure in the long term and the development of most characters tends to be rather perfunctory; especially female characters who are portrayed without much depth or agency. The only character the reader gets to know very well is Jim. An important aspect of the book’s humour is the satire of academic life from the faculty’s point of view, but I have too little knowledge or experience of such a life to appreciate this side of it. Anyway, I cannot think of much to say about this book, it worth reading if you like comic novels where the laughs come mainly from witticisms rather than slapsticks (though there is a bit of that too). I much prefer it to that other humorous classic Three Men in a Boat which I found to be almost entirely mirth-free. As for Lucky Jim’s status as a classic I have no idea what that is about. ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| Jun 16, 2015
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Jun 19, 2015
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Jun 16, 2015
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0451530179
| 9780451530172
| 4.10
| 34,943
| 1915
| Jan 02, 2007
|
it was amazing
|
So I have been living with this book for almost ten days. Not so much reading it as living with it or perhaps even living in it. It is strange that I
So I have been living with this book for almost ten days. Not so much reading it as living with it or perhaps even living in it. It is strange that I was led to read this novel by Philip K. Dick’s science fiction novel Dr. Bloodmoney where Of Human Bondage is mentioned quite a few times. I have also noticed that this book is ranked at 44 in the Guardian’s “The 100 best novels” list, so that clinched it for me. A more direct (but inelegant) title for Of Human Bondage would be “The Life and Times of Philip Carey” because that is basically what it is. A “Bildungsroman” chronicling the life of the novel’s protagonist from his childhood to his adulthood, in a similar vein to Dickens’ classic David Copperfield. What a life though! I was hooked pretty much from the first chapter to the last. The book is fairly long at 684 pages, but not a single page is wasted as far as I am concerned. It is not divided into major parts like most long novels but it could have been, the parts would cover his childhood and school years, his life as an art student, his life as a medical student, Mildred!, his destitution, his (view spoiler)[recovery and redemption (hide spoiler)]. Among the episodes of his life Mildred looms as the largest figure. Described by Philip Carey at one point as “that vile woman” Mildred somehow manages to derail Carey’s life whenever she appears. He falls madly – and inexplicably – in love with her while she is happy to string him along for the convenience. His obsession is in explicable even to himself: “He did not care if she was heartless, vicious and vulgar, stupid and grasping, he loved her. He would rather have misery with one than happiness with the other.” “The other” referred to in the above quote is Norah Nesbit, a kindly, loving and intelligent woman Carey meets after Mildred seems to have gone out of his life and helps him to rebound. Unfortunately Mildred comes back into his life and he immediately dumps poor Norah. His crazed passion for a girl who is obviously extremely bad for him (or any man) makes me want to strangle Philip sometime, as if he is a real person. That is worth italicizing because it is the chief strength of this powerful novel, everything feels so real and vivid. The novel is clearly a character study of Philip Carey, Mildred and other colorful characters he comes across. The reader lives inside Carey’s head, feeling his pain, his shame and even his insane passion. Mildred is something of a femme fatale but she is so well depicted by Maugham that you cannot really blame her for the cruel treatment of Carey. She is unsophisticated and cold, but she never even pretended to love Carey, in spite of being well aware of this he is swept along by his own mad passion. She is who she is and makes no pretense of being virtuous. Any semi-sensible person would stay well away from her, but Philip Carey is not anywhere near the neighborhood of sensibility when she is around. Beside his disastrous dalliance with Mildred, Carey also makes quite a few more extremely bad choices, throwing caution to the wind unnecessarily, at one point he almost dies of starvation! This is a much more painful novel to read than David Copperfield because Carey is a deeply flawed human being. Phil does mean well generally, his mistakes stem from searching for himself throughout most of the book, often barking up the wrong tree. He does not know what he really want until the very last page. You cannot help but root for him a little. The ending is very nice if a little too pat, W. Somerset Maugham is no Thomas Hardy so I finished the book with an added spring in step. One day I am going to rewind it all and go through the wringer with Philip Carey again. Before that I will certainly read more W. Somerset Maugham. ____________________________________ Note on the audio book: Very nicely read by Tom Weiss, for free as part of Librivox’s collection (download link). Thank you sir! ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| May 18, 2015
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Jun 05, 2015
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May 18, 2015
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0141439807
| 9780141439808
| 3.82
| 194,626
| Jul 1814
| Feb 27, 2003
|
it was amazing
|
For some reason I keep coming back to read Jane Austen in spite of liking only two of the five* that I have read previous to Mansfield Park. I love he
For some reason I keep coming back to read Jane Austen in spite of liking only two of the five* that I have read previous to Mansfield Park. I love her prose and dialogues but her tales of “conjugal felicity” are usually less than riveting for me. Still, I keep coming back for more of her romantic shenanigans so I guess – for me – her prose is more important than her plot at least where Austen is concerned. So I started Mansfield Park with some trepidation, once again wondering why I bother. The Telegraph’s declaration that this is “Jane Austen’s least-loved novel” did not bode well for me, but lo and behold!, as early as Chapter One I found myself digging the book, in other words I was happy to give it my complete approbation. “Least-loved novel”? Tcha! Upon my word! etc. I think with this book Austen was firing from all cylinders, telling an interesting and psychologically complex yarn through her reliably gorgeous prose. Like all Jane Austen novels Mansfield Park focuses on a single female protagonist, Miss Fanny Price on this occasion. What confounded my expectation immediately is that her childhood in the first chapter is one of privation. When she moves from her crappy family home to live with her rich aunt she is a fish out of water and regarded by the residents of her aunt’s house (the eponymous Mansfield Park) as something of a plebeian; what with her inability to play any musical instrument and ignorance of geography etc. The only kindness she receives is from super nice boy Edmund Bertram who can immediately be identified as the book’s romantic interest. Still the circuitous route to the eventual romantic relationship is even more circuitous than usual. Fanny Price has a much harder time of it than other Austen heroines, though Thomas Hardy’s heroines would have scoffed at her difficulties. Mansfield Park is populated with quite a few colorful characters, there is the womanizing cad Henry Crawford who is a stock Austen antagoist, his sister Mary who is an evil sultry seductress, a nasty “I think it ought not to be set down as certain that a man must be acceptable to every woman he may happen to like himself.” I think this is a key passage that nicely encapsulates her attitude. Much as I like the book I do find the ending quite predictable, Austen seems to always resort to an “elopement crisis” to create a climactic drama, and while there are some signs that Henry may reform through the love of a good woman he reverts back to his traditional Austen villain role. I would really like to see an unconventional ending to what is already an unconventional Austen adventure. Still I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can – for once – recommend it unconditionally. ___________________________ * Pride and Prejudice (liked), Sense and Sensibility (liked), Emma ("as if!"), Persuasion (boring), Northanger Abbey (boring). ** Mrs. Norris is a nasty piece of work, but within Jane Austen's limited scope of nastiness. The worst thing I can imagine doing to an Austen villain is to waggle my finger at them with extreme prejudice. Notes I read/listened to the free audiobook version beautifully read by Karen Savage, in her soothing and pretty voice. Thank you Ms. Savage. Whovian corner (dedicated to my dear friend Cecily) Billie Piper as Fanny Price:  ‘Nuff said! ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| Apr 13, 2015
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Apr 29, 2015
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Apr 13, 2015
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0141439785
| 9780141439785
| 3.78
| 39,356
| 1886
| Mar 27, 2003
|
it was amazing
|
If Thomas Hardy's Wessex region was a real place the British government would probably have to nuke it as nothing but misery seems to go on there, as
If Thomas Hardy's Wessex region was a real place the British government would probably have to nuke it as nothing but misery seems to go on there, as recounted in Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure, The Return of the Native and other bleak-fests (I am excluding Far from the Madding Crowd here because I find it quite cheerful by his melancholic standard (only a few tissue papers required instead of a whole box of Kleenex). The Mayor of Casterbridge is Hardy at least wonderfully mirthless best. A sign reading “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” would do just as well for the border of Wessex as Dante’s gate of hell. The Mayor of Casterbridge, subtitled “The Life and Death of a Man of Character” is the story of Michael Henchard the (sometime) eponymous mayor of the town of Casterbridge. A bad tempered man with incredible mood swings who specializes in making very poor decisions. He starts off in fine form with selling his wife and child to an unknown sailor for the bargain basement price of five guineas (better known today as a fiver or GBP 5) while inebriated (pissed out of his mind in fact). After losing his wife for the price of a Big Mac he somehow manages to get his act together and works his way up in the world from a lowly hay-trusser to becoming a successful merchant and the town’s mayor (some suspension of disbelief is required here). After almost twenty years his poor sold wife shows up in town and reconciles with him, all seem to be going well until the fecal matter hits the fan. Seriously if they had electrical fans in Wessex I would stay well away from them as fecal matters would always make a beeline for these things, and spanners are always thrown into the works. Most of Henchard’s troubles are of his own making but the universe also seems to have it in for him as his bad decisions are always compounded by misfortunes. Henchard is Thomas Hardy’s most interesting protagonist, bad tempered, cynical, violent and pessimistic, yet energetic, well-meaning (sometime), and honorable (usually); but don’t make him angry, you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. He is often despicable yet oddly sympathetic and I could not help but wish things will work out well for him, but his worst stroke of luck is probably to find himself in a Thomas Hardy novel so that is not going to happen. This is the fourth Hardy novel I have read and it is definitely my favorite. I am a sucker for tales of redemption or at least contrition and I felt an unmanly lump in throat several times towards the end of this book. Hardy was a master at creating complex and vivid characters, his prose is always a thing of wonder. However, it is always best not to become too attached to his characters as he usually put them all through the grinder and make sausages out of them. In his defence he does not do it out of malice but to illustrate the pitfalls and vicissitudes of life. If only people would be more open and honest with each other, if only they do not let secrets fester in their lives. Henchard’s step daughter Elizabeth-Jane is a good example of this, she survives being in a Hardy novel relatively unscathed* by virtue of her humbleness, honestly and resilience. For example: “So she viewed with an approach to equanimity the now cancelled days when Donald had been her undeclared lover, and wondered what unwished-for thing Heaven might send her in place of him.” Attagirl! Likewise Henchard’s unintentional antagonist and rival Donald Farfrae who is always kind and forgiving. The Mayor of Casterbridge is a beautiful and moving novel in spite of its bleakness. There is always something you can take away from a Hardy novel, usually about your interrelationship with people around you. Now I’m going watch some cartoons… * Though it was touch and go for a while when she is attacked by a crazed bull (!). ______________________________________ Audio book credit: I "read" the free audiobook version from Librivox, beautifully read by Bruce Pirie. Thank you sir! ...more | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Mar 22, 2015
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Apr 03, 2015
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Mar 22, 2015
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0140620613
| 9780140620610
| 3.46
| 56,109
| Oct 13, 1898
| 1994
|
it was ok
|
Spooky old house, creepy kids, very nicely narrated free audiobook. What’s not to like? Just about everything else as far as I am concerned. The prota
Spooky old house, creepy kids, very nicely narrated free audiobook. What’s not to like? Just about everything else as far as I am concerned. The protagonist is a gabby unnamed governess who sees dead people but ain’t afraid of no ghosts. In the meantime there is something very fishy about the two beautiful children in her charge, I imagine their omega-3 level must be through the roof. Seriously though, one must not diss the classics even if one does not like them, it is very bad form. Certainly with The Turn of the Screw Henry James leaves a lot to the reader’s imagination. He provided some vague clues about the governess, the children and the ghosts and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusion about whether the ghosts are real, what are the children’s problems? Is the governess suffering from a severe case of missing marbles? For some reason the biggest mystery seems to be why was the creepy (but cute) boy Miles expelled from school? Is it because the teachers are mean and he is just another brick in the wall? A lot of people like that the author is leaving so much for the readers to interpret for themselves. The way I see it, if I have to draw so many conclusions for myself then what am I paying him for*? Perhaps that was the whole point?  I am also surprised that some people find this book scary, I find it about as scary as an episode of Scooby Doo. The ending is not so much WTF as WTF-throw-book-at-wall. Having said all that rubbish I have to confess that The Turn of the Screw is probably a lot better than my limited capacity to appreciate it; certainly I am not going dissuade anybody from reading it. I can at least recommend the free Librivox audio book version, beautifully read by Ms. Elizabeth Klett who has very nice enunciation and a very pleasant voice. She has also done very nice readings for a few free Jane Austen titles, also E. M. Forster, Jane Eyre etc. Thank you Miss! * OK, I didn’t actually pay anything for it but I consider myself shortchanged! _________________________________ Adendum I have just been watching the 1999 TV adaptation of The Turn of the Screw on Youtube. For me it works much better as a TV show, somebody should have told Henry James that (though he wouldn't have understood what a TV is). It is much scarier than most episodes of Scooby Doo (except the one where Shaggy turns into a werewolf, that gives me the willies). The TV show does hint fairly heavily that the governess is several sandwiches short of a picnic, though this is not necessarily Henry James' intent. Update April 7, 2016 I've read The Portrait of a Lady now and it's great! Hooray Henry! :D ...more | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Mar 15, 2015
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Mar 19, 2015
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Mar 15, 2015
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0553213695
| 9780553213690
| 3.76
| 346,733
| Oct 1915
| Mar 01, 1972
|
it was amazing
|
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” This very effective opening sent “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” This very effective opening sentence entirely encapsulates everything I knew about this story prior to reading it. I remember as a teenager watching a few minutes of Steven Berkoff’s televised adaptation and shortly changing the channel for some greener posture. I remember there was this bloke contorting on the floor pretending to be an insect and I just did not want to know any more. Before I read The Metamorphosis had no idea what to expect, I thought perhaps some PKD weirdness, something surreal, probably with some kind of message. The weirdness is definitely there (though not in PKD style) and Gregor’s cavalier reaction to his transformation is quite surreal. What I did not expect though was how sad, poignant and tragic this story is. In spite of being amply bizarre, the strangeness of the situation almost seems to be beside the point. After waking up to find that he has morphed into a horrible giant insect overnight Gregor seems to take it all in stride. Not one to waste any time WTF-ing Gregor rallies like a champ and simply gets on with his insectile life. He worries more about how his situation will affect his family’s welfare than how horrifying his predicament is. What a guy. Gregory lives in a shabby apartment with his parents and a younger sister. Initially they are all sympathetic of his condition, but as time goes by and their financial position deteriorates their patience and sympathy begin to evaporate. I don't want to elaborate any more on the plot as it is a short story (novella). Throughout the story Gregor retains his goodness, even through the gradual loss of his humanity. The opposite seems to be the case for his family. His sense of alienation and isolation is very palpable (especially as I was reading the story in a very quiet environment). What befalls Gregor is so tragic Thomas Hardy probably wishes he had thought of it. Even the “happy ending” makes me sad. Of course the entire thing can be interpreted as an allegory, there is a school of thought that it is all in Gregor’s mind and he has simply gone completely cuckoo one fine morning (working in textile will do that to you). As a sci-fi nerd I reject this hypothesis and choose to believe that the poor fellow does metamorphose during the night. Probably due to a stray cosmic ray from another dimension, or just a demented Dalek having a laugh at his expense. In any event this is a story that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Note: Thanks to Glenn for recommending this book to me. ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| not set
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not set
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Mar 01, 2015
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0143037617
| 9780143037613
| 3.99
| 65,786
| 1853
| Jan 06, 2006
|
it was amazing
|
Bleak House the novel is – as you would expect – pretty bleak, but Bleak House the eponymous house in the book is one of the happier places to be foun
Bleak House the novel is – as you would expect – pretty bleak, but Bleak House the eponymous house in the book is one of the happier places to be found therein. In any case this being a Dickens novel you should not expect a wall to wall bleak fest. You would need to pop over to Hardyverse (also called Wessex) for those. Bleak House is difficult to synopsize, it is about so many things and so many people. It has a very large cast of characters and a lot of intrigues. However, don’t let that put you off Dickens knew how to structure and narrate his novels in such a way that it can be followed without much confusion. At the centre of the novel is a lawsuit called “Jarndyce and Jarndyce” (the “Vs” is not used in those days), a case that just drags on and on for decades with no end in sight. The details are so serpentine that nobody can make head or tail of and several interested parties are driven insane by the wait for its conclusion. The protagonist of Bleak House is Esther Summerson who narrates at least half the novel in the first person. The rest of the book is narrated by an omniscient narrator (but you can call him Charles). Esther is from Dickens’ stock impossibly nice ladies who seem to always put the interest of everybody else ahead of herself. In spite of a sad and lonely childhood and not knowing who her parents are she is mostly quite chirpy and optimistic. A major aspect of the novel is the secret identity of Esther’s mother. I won’t tell you anything about her except that in the recent BBC adaptation she is played by Gillian Anderson, best known as “Scully” from The X-Files, just so you know she is not to be trifled with (she is also on the book cover). There are so many plots and subplots in this book and I would be here all day if I were to mention them all. The book is highly flavored with myriad elements, comedy, tragedy, whodunit etc, there is even a spontaneous human combustion! That last one knocked me for a loop.  As usual Dickens populates Bleak House (the novel not the house) with a cast of colorful characters, many of them with funny names like Jellyby, Pardiggle, Skimpole, Smallweed etc. Dickens is often accused of creating unrealistic cartoonish characters usually defined by one quirk. However, he actually based most of those on actual people he knew and satirized them, and they are very entertaining to read about. I must make a special mention for a Harold Skimpole. Initially I thought he was a prototype hippy or freeloading surfer dude, but as the novel progresses he becomes increasingly pernicious, with an “ingenous (not ingenious) simplicity” that is quite infuriating when you realize what his game is. There is also a policeman called Inspector Bucket that reminds me a little of Hercule Poirot (though he is not French). In spite of being quite tragic at times I find Bleak House vastly enjoyable and would recommend it to fans of Victorian fiction. Those new to Dickens should start with the shorter and less complex Great Expectations. My enjoyment of the book is much enhanced by the freebie audiobook from Librivox. This one is read “solo” by the wonderful Ms. Mil Nicholson who has graciously read several Dickens novels for the public domain. She is one of the very few Librivox volunteer readers who can match the best of professional readers from Audible.com, with voices galore. I must remember to send her a thank you note. Addendum: A word about the prose style, I think Dickens' writing skill is not so much a talent as a superpower. However did he come up with those turns of phases? The quotes I have chosen are not the pithy, inspirational ones people tend to highlight, just the ones that made me laugh: ""Upon my life," said Mr. Skimpole, shrugging his shoulders with his engaging smile, "I have not the least idea what he is to do then. But I have no doubt he'll do it". This is Skimpole's way of saying that he does not give a shit about whether a sick boy will live or die if left in the street uncared for. "Writing was a trying business to Charley, who seemed to have no natural power over a pen, but in whose hand every pen appeared to become perversely animated, and to go wrong and crooked, and to stop, and splash, and sidle into corners like a saddle-donkey. It was very odd to see what old letters Charley's young hand had made, they so wrinkled, and shrivelled, and tottering, it so plump and round." Esther's lovely description of teaching her maid to write. “I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies.” Ha! Skimpole for President! ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| Jan 28, 2015
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Mar 06, 2015
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Jan 28, 2015
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 037575850X
| 9780375758508
| 3.73
| 42,751
| 1853
| Oct 09, 2001
|
liked it
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According to The Telegraph Charlotte Brontë’s Villette is better than her best known work Jane Eyre. This bold declaration alone put Villette in my re
According to The Telegraph Charlotte Brontë’s Villette is better than her best known work Jane Eyre. This bold declaration alone put Villette in my reading list because Jane Eyre really is one of the best books I ever had the pleasure of reading. Having just read Villette I have to disagree with the Telegraph’s columnist, I should have known better, goddam hyperboles. Villette is a fictional city in France, the novel is somewhat autobiographical in that it is partly based on Brontë’s experience as a teacher in Brussels. Villette’s protagonist is one Lucy Snowe, a plain, quiet and often rather timid lady who generally avoids speaking her mind unless completely provoked. For the first half of the book Lucy seems like a secondary character in her own story while she narrates her experiences in the home of her godmother Mrs. Bretton. This early section of the book is very charming but Lucy is more of an observer than a central character that drives the story. After leaving the Bretton’s house Lucy works for a while as a caregiver for an old lady who dies after teaching Lucy some life lessons. Lucy's next move is to try her luck in France in a city called Villette where she is informed that the prospects are good for someone in her position. Her arrival in France starts with an initial adventure of a “fish out of water” variety. Her initial troubles in France are mostly due to her inability to speak French. She eventually finds an occupation as an English teacher in a school where she develops a crush on a nice doctor, quickly retreats when he falls in love with somebody else, then starts a sort of “will they / won’t they” relationship with an eccentric professor of French literature. For most of the book there seems to be no clear plot trajectory as the storyline seems to become aimlessly episodic. It was not too much of a hardship to read through though as Ms. Brontë wrote with considerable grace and charms, as with Jane Eyre her prose is a thing of beauty. My main complaint with Villette is the inclusion of many French dialogues, the meaning of which I can not infer from the context. It is ironic that Lucy initially complains of a “storm of French” when she is addressed in that language which she does not have a command of. Later on as she picks up the language she seems to speak it like a pro and leave this hapless reader behind with the storms of French from several characters as well as herself. The story itself is not nearly as exciting or dramatic as Jane Eyre. There is no mad woman in the attic to speak of, though there is a touch of gothic spookiness in the story. The writing is of course exquisite and the characters are all vivid and believable. While the tone of the novel is mostly cheerful or hopeful, there is always an underlying feeling of sadness and loneliness in Lucy’s narrative. There is also some surprisingly profound examination of the differences between Protestantism and Catholicism, the latter of which Ms. Brontë was definitely not a fan. The ending can be described as WTF and it made me feel kind of exasperated, but I have since read several articles concerning this “controversial” ending and I have to concede that it is quite clever and original. I am still not terribly keen on it though. I guess you could say I am somewhat disappointed in Villete as I have been led by the goddam Telegraph to expect something awe inspiring like Jane Eyre. Having said that, it is still a good book; beautifully written, funny and sad in places. I can certainly recommend it if you are looking for a nice Victorian novel to read and you like Brontë’s style of writing (which you should). If, like me, your command of French begins and ends with “bonjour” you may want to have a French - English dictionary within reach, or make use of Google Translation which is very useful but occasionally comes up with some hilariously nonsensical results. ...more | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Dec 16, 2014
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Jan 25, 2015
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Dec 16, 2014
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 037575718X
| 9780375757181
| 3.83
| 24,112
| 1878
| Feb 13, 2001
|
it was amazing
|
“Hurt so good Come on baby, make it hurt so good” - John Mellencamp WUT? Well, reading Thomas Hardy novels always poses this kind of challenge. They hur “Hurt so good Come on baby, make it hurt so good” - John Mellencamp WUT? Well, reading Thomas Hardy novels always poses this kind of challenge. They hurt, and yet I keep coming back to him because they are indeed good and this kind of hurt is like a good exercise for your EQ. In term of language, I don’t think Hardy’s writing is particularly difficult to access. The more challenging aspects of his books are the initial meticulous scene setting and characters introduction chapters and, of course, the miserable situations that his characters get into. “Tragedy When the feeling's gone and you can't go on It's tragedy” Sorry, I just had a sudden attack of Beegeesitis. Anyway, I am always glad(ish) to be back in Hardyverse, better known as Wessex, a fictional region somewhere in the south of England. A lot of pastoral mayhem seems to take place here so it is probably not an ideal vacation destination (non-existence notwithstanding). In The Return of the Native Hardy again depicts what bad marriages can do. Clym Yeobright, the returning native of the novel’s title, marries the almost preternaturally beautiful Eustacia Vye who is very discontent with her rural surroundings. She yearns for the bright lights, big cities, iStores etc., preferably in Paris. However, she is not a femme fatale, she does her best to be a good, loving wife. Unfortunately her best is of a disastrously low standard and tragedy ensues. Much of the tragedy stems from people being unable to speak their minds, to be honest, sincere and – most of all – forgiving. Where this novel really resonates with me is the relationship between Clym and his mother. They have a very close, loving relationship until Eustacia (inadvertently) comes between them. The mother, Mrs. Yeobright, has some very strong prejudices about people of ill repute and is very quick to pass judgment on them, her unyielding mentality eventually leads to her downfall. Eustacia’s inability to settle down, to compromise with her circumstances also leads to a lot of grief and much gnashing of teeth. As usual Hardy’s characters are very believable and vivid, and it is interesting that there is no actual villain in this book. Some characters become antagonists of sort merely through very unwise decision making and impropriety. The hero of the book is also not Clym the protagonist, but a sincere, helpful and humble man called Diggory Venn who is a “reddleman” by profession. Basically, he goes around marking flocks of sheep with a red colour (a mineral called "reddle"). Not much call for such services these days I imagine, but it makes him a fair amount of money and also causes his entire body to be red coloured. It plays hell with his attempts at courting a certain young lady, but he eventually finds a way. According to Wikipedia Hardy had a tack on a happy ending for commercial purposes so not all the characters are down in the dumps by the end of the book. Left to his own devices he would rather depress the hell out of his readers. Over all this is a typically depressing book by Thomas Hardy. Yet I really like it and recommend it for people who are not overly sensitive or those who are too insensitive and need to emote a little. “Life's a piece of shit, when you look at it Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true You'll see its all a show, keep 'em laughin as you go Just remember that the last laugh is on you” - Monty Python Well, after all that I don’t have any room left to quote an eloquent passage from this book. There are always plenty of those in a Hardy novel (so that’s hardly novel!). ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| Dec 02, 2014
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Dec 15, 2014
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Dec 02, 2014
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1593082649
| 9781593082642
| 3.79
| 205,535
| Dec 1817
| Mar 03, 2005
|
liked it
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When I was half way through Northanger Abbey I was thinking: “Upon my word! Half way through the book and nothing notable seems to have transpired! I w When I was half way through Northanger Abbey I was thinking: “Upon my word! Half way through the book and nothing notable seems to have transpired! I was expecting Miss Austen to supply greater felicity than she has managed thus far and once again receive my complete approbation! I do declare I am awfully vexed.” I really don’t know why I keep coming back to read Jane Austen books when they are not really suitable for my taste (if I can lay claim to possessing any). In most novels I read the stakes are very high for the protagonist, the entire world (if not the universe) is in peril and needs saving, or at least the poor guy or girl is having a very hard life and is going through the wringer to eventually emerge triumphant. Jane Austen’s characters seem to lead much more leisurely lives going for long walks and dinners, falling in and out of love and eventually falling back into love on a permanent basis. Her plot always seem fluffy and inconsequential to me. If you are an Austen fan please do not take offense, we can not all like the same thing, and I am not complete unaware of the lady’s charms. The only Jane Austen novel that I really like is Pride and Prejudice, not surprisingly her most popular book. I have now read five of her novels and “Pride & Prej” remains the only one I would rate at 5 stars (I have to admit I have forgotten practically everything about Sense and Sensibility including the plot and the characters, Emma I remember quite well because of the movie Clueless. Northanger Abbey started quite well with the story of Catherine Morland’s early childhood, how she is something of an ugly duckling and a tomboy. I though this is an interestingly unconventional Austen heroine. However, by the next chapter she is grown into a pretty young lady and it is business as usual; but at least she has a fondness for gothic novels, Stephen King would have been right up her alley. As I was “reading” this book in audiobook format on my commutes to and from work (an hour’s journey each way) I actually dozed of now and then as Catherine goes on long walks and dinner parties with her friends. I do reverse back to most of the parts that I dozed through though (I may have missed a few paragraphs’ worth). Even when I was awake some of the narration went into one ear and out the other as my mind wandered. In all fairness Northanger Abbey is not a boring book when I can concentrate on it I find it quite amiable and not at all unpleasant. Anyway, things pick up considerably after the middle of book when Catherine arrives at the eponymous Northanger Abbey. I quite enjoyed Henry Tilney teasing her about the spooky goings on at the abbey in an amusing parody of gothic fiction of the time. Catherine’s “adventures” at the abbey, rummaging through things, skulking about, imagining a “murder most foul” are also Still Northanger Abbey is no Wuthering Heights and nothing horrible really happen, after one or two timidly spooky scenes the niceness of Austenverse reasserts itself and things work out just fine for Catherine. Is this a spoiler? Surely not! Catherine Morland is not Tess of the d'Urbervilles which I suppose is comforting if you are reading Jane Austen. At least I never thought I would see the word “Necromancer” in one of her novels, that made me chuckle. Austen’s protagonists are usually likeable and Catherine is no exception, however, she is no Elizabeth Bennett, I find her a little too scatterbrained and too much of a wet blanket at times. As for her love interest Henry Tilney, he seems to be an Austen stock love interest character, a plot device rather than a fleshed out character. Catherine's BFF Isabella Thorpe starts off as an average chatterbox bestie character, but her subsequent gold diggery makes her much more interesting (if less appealing), her brother John seems like an ill-mannered oaf throughout, I kind of like him, his loutishness is good for a giggle. Come to think of it perhaps I do know why I keep coming back to Jane Austen, it is not to recapture the magic of Pride and Prejudice but to enjoy her orchestration of the English language. With Jane Austen even if you don’t like the story you can still soak up the lovely and elegant narration. Dammit I just put Mansfield Park on my reading list, somebody stop me! Note on the audiobook This is another free Librivox audiobook read entirely by Ms. Elizabeth Klett who has done a gracious and beautiful job. As with A Room with a View she read the narration in her native American accent and the dialogues in English accent. I think a little bit of America slips in now and then but over all she did a tremendous job and her voice is nice and soothing (which is probably why I dozed off at times). (Download Link) ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| Nov 20, 2014
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Nov 29, 2014
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Nov 20, 2014
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0141439475
| 9780141439471
| 3.73
| 791,288
| 1818
| Jan 30, 2003
|
it was amazing
|
It is almost a pity that the story of Frankenstein is so well known because far too many people neglect to bother reading Mary Shelley’s novel under t
It is almost a pity that the story of Frankenstein is so well known because far too many people neglect to bother reading Mary Shelley’s novel under the assumption that they already know the story. This is a shame because Frankenstein is beautifully written, very dark and scary but also quite poignant. Most people have an image of Frankenstein’s Monster as a shambling massive thing with bolts on its neck, going around mumbling GAAHHH GAAAAAH!!! and snapping people’s necks because that is how he rolls. Some people even call the Monster “Frankenstein” which is really a faux pas as that is the name of Victor Frankenstein who created him (though if things had turned out differently and Victor had adopted The Monster as a family member then he would have been rightly called Mr. Frankenstein!). What happens to Victor’s nearest and dearest is quite horrifying even though all the violence happen “off screen” in that the Monster’s murderous rampage is not described in the narrative, the reader is only shown the final result. Somehow this makes the story even more believable and creepy. The way I see it the real monster of the story is Victor, not The Monster. Imagine how things would have worked out if instead of making a run for it when the Monster wakes up he welcomes The Monster into the world and help him to finds a place in society. If he is really so ugly just buy him a mask and a hat or something. His reaction also seems to be illogical, while he was stitching the Monster together he must have noticed how fugly the poor thing looks, how is it that he only realizes it as the thing was waking up? How the Monster learns to speak, read and write entirely from observing some neighbors is also not quite believable, it reminds me of Tarzan figuring out how to read all by himself in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes; rather preposterous. That said Mary Shelly’s prose is so beautifully written I was quite willing to suspend disbelief. Victor is an obsessed mad scientist who runs away from his responsibility and in spite of advance warnings still endangered his family and friends. The Monster is surprisingly eloquent in his speech and comes across as very pitiful and poorly treated by everyone he come across; by his “father” most of all. One point he often comes back to is that he never asked to be born and that if he can not get the love he yearns for he will take revenge as a substitute: "Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed.”Poor bastard. There are myriad themes in this book, but the most salient one for me is prejudice based on physical appearances. The Monster wants to be loved and accepted can only take so many rejections and abuse before he goes berserk. Victor gave him life but denies him everything else, he is the real villain of the piece. Mary’s Shelly’s prose is lyrical to the point of being flowery at times. Besides being a morality tale Frankenstein is also a prototype science fiction book, it is amazing that it is written by the wife of a famous poet. It is a terrible shame that she did not write more novels of this kind. Children may find the language a little too flowery and the narrative does go to some very dark places. However, I would recommend this book to just about everybody else. Certainly I would like to read it again one day. Notes This book was “listened to” in audiobook format, nicely and graciously read by Caden Vaughn Clegg for Librivox.org (free public domain audiobooks). Thank you sir! (Download link) Paul McGuigan, the director of Victor Frankenstein (2015), said that Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is "as dull as dishwater", what this indicates to me is that McGuigan has no understanding of subtlety or nuances. The simple fact that he made a movie based on a book he neither fully understand or respects is enough for me to avoid it like the plague. ...more | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Oct 07, 2014
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Oct 18, 2014
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Oct 07, 2014
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0192840398
| 9780192840394
| 3.63
| 161,147
| Dec 15, 1856
| 2004
|
liked it
|
I like to start a book knowing almost nothing about it. With Madame Bovary the only thing I knew was that it’s a French classic and often cited one of
I like to start a book knowing almost nothing about it. With Madame Bovary the only thing I knew was that it’s a French classic and often cited one of the all-time great novels. I knew absolutely nothing about the plot going in, though I expected it to be centered on the eponymous Madame Bovary, whoever she is. I imagined she is probably a French equivalent of Jane Eyre or Tess of the d'Urbervilles. I could not have been more wrong. The protagonist Emma Bovary turns out to be a kind of anti-heroine and the novel is so downbeat it makes Tess of the d'Urbervilles look like Three Men in a Boat. Basically Emma Bovary is a girl who married a dull country doctor just so she could leave home but soon becomes a very desperate housewife. The story is about her infidelity and the consequences to herself and those around her. She seems to imagine herself as the protagonist of a soap opera; this is apparently from reading too much romantic fiction, Fifty Shades of Grey would have been right up her alley. Her husband Charles Bovary is a hopeless cuckold, a decent fellow but in his way just as delusional as his wife. As far as I can tell he is the only sympathetic character in the novel (not including his young daughter Berthe who has very few speaking parts). Things do not turn out well for anybody except Monsieur Homais the pompous and egotistical chemist. This is not an easy book to read (or listen to in my case) as there is not a single character to empathize with, even the nice Charles Bovary is too idiotic and delusional to generate much sympathy. Of course the author Gustave Flaubert was well aware of this, the reader is not supposed to like any of them. Their behavior and situation only serve to convey his disapproval of the French society of the time, particularly the bourgeoisie and romanticism. The great attraction of reading fiction is to follow the characters’ thought processes which are often very alien to my own, to be somebody else for a while. I found Emma Bovary’s way of thinking very selfish and immoral but nonetheless quite fascinating. Unfortunately the other characters are not so interesting and when Emma is “off stage” the narrative becomes rather plodding. The translation by Eleanor Marx-Aveling is quite readable but I have no idea how good it is as I don’t read French. There are some nice lines like “a demand for money being, of all the winds that blow upon love, the coldest and most destructive” and I imagine the original French version would have been more of a pleasure to read, though I would not start taking French lessons just to read this book. The Count of Monte Cristo may be, but not this one. If you like morality tales this book is for you, if you are looking for some kind of page turner this is not it. I listened to Madame Bovary on a free audiobook from Librivox, unfortunately this is not one of their better offerings. It is a multiple readers one, and some of the readers are just awful and incomprehensible. I had to supplement a few chapters in print (e-book) format to follow the narrative of a few chapters. If you get Amazon’s free Kindle e-book edition you can get the Audible audiobook with it for $2.99. I wish I had done that! ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| Sep 23, 2014
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Oct 07, 2014
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Sep 23, 2014
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0451528557
| 9780451528551
| 3.86
| 265,045
| 1895
| Oct 01, 2002
|
it was amazing
| “Any real body must have extension in four directions: it must have Length, Breadth, Thickness, and—Duration. But through a natural infirmity of the “Any real body must have extension in four directions: it must have Length, Breadth, Thickness, and—Duration. But through a natural infirmity of the flesh, which I will explain to you in a moment, we incline to overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time. There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between the former three dimensions and the latter, because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives.”Ah! The original wibbly wobbly timey wimey novel (well, Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court predates The Time Machine, and perhaps some other books as well, but never mind, you can put me right in the comments section if you want). Certainly it is the first one that I ever read as a wee lad. Last week I was looking for a short free audiobook for a bus journey and for some read on I thought of H.G. Wells and picked The Time Machine as it is my favorite. The only problem I have with reading this book is that it is already “spoiled” long before I read the first paragraph. I remember all the major plot points very well, and what sci-fi fans have never heard of Elois and Morlocks? What I have no memory of is Wells’ prose style and his narrative talents. As the above quoted passage shows he was an eloquent writer with a rare ability to make scientific expositions sound elegant. Wells was also an amazing story teller, the story may seem like old hat now but if you imagine that you have never heard of this story and never read anything like it before it is quite an astounding and riveting story. Consider the world building of his Dystopian far future with the two sub species of the human race. It is a beautiful piece of social satire and a thought provoking metaphor for social classes which are still prevalent today hundreds of years after the publication of this novel. There is not much in the way of characterization but that is perfectly fine for a book this short, besides the Elois are all hippy-ish airheads and the Morlocks are not interested in conversations. The protagonist does not even have a name. The last couple of chapters may well be the most atmospheric. Wells’ depiction of an even further future beyond the Elois and Morlocks era is a little surreal and quite eerie. Those crab things seem like something out of H.P. Lovecraft. The conclusion of the novel is also nice and mysterious, mystical even. If you think H.G. Wells is old hat but never actually read any of his books I urge you to give him a try. Certainly I intend to reread The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man etc. before too long. Yes, they are all old hats but they are great hats! Classic headwears never go out of fashion. Finally I would like to bookend this review with another favorite passage: “You know of course that a mathematical line, a line of thickness nil, has no real existence. Neither has a mathematical plane. These things are mere abstractions. Nor, having only length, breadth, and thickness, can a cube have a real existence. So most people think. But wait a moment. Can an instantaneous cube exist?I have no idea but it sounds great! Note: I read the free Librivox audiobook version, read by Mark Nelson, the reading is excellent. ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| Sep 03, 2014
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Sep 06, 2014
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Sep 03, 2014
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0439227143
| 9780439227148
| 3.81
| 221,856
| Aug 1903
| Jan 01, 2001
|
it was amazing
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Novels narrated from a dog’s point of view are rarities. I distinctly remember reading two, Fluke by the late great James Herbert, and Cujo by Stephen
Novels narrated from a dog’s point of view are rarities. I distinctly remember reading two, Fluke by the late great James Herbert, and Cujo by Stephen King (only partly from the dog’s POV). If the author’s talent is up to the task, it is quite a nice change in perspective (though I am sure you wouldn't want to read fiction from a canine perspective all the time unless you are a dog, even actual dogs don't want to do that, I have asked a few). Set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, The Call of the Wild is narrated in the third person but almost entirely from the dog’s point of view. The protagonist is Buck, a huge St. Bernard-Scotch Collie. (half St. Bernard and half sheepdog). At the beginning of the book he is living a happy life as a pet of a judge but is soon stolen by the judge’s gardener and sold to dog traders, one of whom beat the stuffing out of him to teach him his place in the world (as the trader sees it). After this traumatic and transformative experience he is soon sold off to Canadian mail dispatchers. The story of his life as a sled dog is quite harrowing, featuring a fight for supremacy among his teammates, being sold off again to inhumane ignoramus and almost starving to death. Buck goes through the wringer and survives admirably thanks to his tenacity, cunning, fortitude and general badassery. The title of the book The Call of the Wild only becomes a theme toward the end of the book, but I won’t spoil the book by elaborating on this. The book is generally very well written though but there is very little dialog, as the dogs are not Disneyfied / anthromorphosised talking animals. The hardship and abuse endured by the sled dogs is quite harrowing. If you think you’ve got it bad try being a sled dog (though if you are reading this the contingency is an unlikely one). The author Jack London clearly has a lot of affinity for dogs and feels a moral outrage at the abusive treatment they often receive from human beings. He also has an insight into dogs’ mentality as this passage demonstrates: “But the club of the man in the red sweater had beaten into him a more fundamental and primitive code. Civilized, he could have died for a moral consideration, say the defence of Judge Miller's riding-whip; but the completeness of his decivilization was now evidenced by his ability to flee from the defence of a moral consideration and so save his hide.” “In short, the things he did were done because it was easier to do them than not to do them.” Ah! I wish my dog was so eloquent! The process of “decivilization” of Buck is a fascinating one, in order to survive he has to turn feral and it later transpires that Buck has some kind of primordial instinct for turning wild. That said he also has an almost conflicting desire to be loved by a human master, and for doing the best job he can as a sled dog, and later as a bodyguard and companion. What he also has above all other characters in this book is an indomitable will to live, and eventually to be free. If you love dogs this is a novel not to be missed. It is quite short, only about 170 pages, and there is an excellent free audiobook version from Librivox, very well read by Mark F. Smith (thank you sir!). ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| Aug 28, 2014
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Sep 02, 2014
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Aug 28, 2014
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0374528373
| 9780374528379
| 4.29
| 157,867
| Nov 1880
| Jun 14, 2002
|
it was amazing
|
The most difficult thing about reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky is pronouncing his name I think. The first Dostoyevsky book I read was Crime and Punishment,
The most difficult thing about reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky is pronouncing his name I think. The first Dostoyevsky book I read was Crime and Punishment, I liked it well enough even though it was dark and sad and generally something of a downer. The Brothers Karamazov is also dark and sad yet there is an element of optimism in it. If you are attempting Dostoyevsky for the first time Crime and Punishment is probably the easier option, being less dense, complex and simply shorter. Actually having read these two books I believe Dostoyevsky (translated) is not that hard to read, he was not one of those experimental postmodern authors that will have you scratching your head trying to decipher his prose and narrative structure. That said The Brothers Karamazov is a profound and psychologically complex novel, there are at least a couple of chapters which entirely consist of philosophical or even mystical digressions. At the most basic level The Brothers Karamazov is exactly what it says on tin, that is a story of brothers of the Karamazov family. Three of them (and possibly a bonus one). Dmitri, the wild one who seems to specialize in digging his own grave, Ivan the overthinking intellectual, and Alyosha, the pious one. None of them were raised by their father Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, who is clearly one of the all-time worst dads in fiction. The novel explores how such a shabby, unloving upbringing shape the three brothers in different ways. The narrative gradually transforms from a story of the development of the three brothers into a murder mystery followed by a courtroom drama. However, the intent is not to thrill but to explore the psychology of the main characters and the consequence of their actions. If this sounds like a drag I can assure you that it is not, most of the book is quite gripping and thought provoking. That said if you are looking for a thriller you would have to look elsewhere. The three brothers and practically all the characters in this book are very vividly drawn by Dostoyevsky. I believe the most remarkable achievement is the characterization of Alexei Fyodorovich Karamazov (A.K.A. Alyosha) who is the heart and soul of the book. “Nice” characters are very hard to write, especially as a protagonist, they tend to be less colorful than other characters and often downright bland. For example Harry Potter is hardly the most compelling character in the series named after him, his teachers, friends and enemies are much more interesting and fun to read about. Dostoyevsky has somehow managed to make Alyosha a complex, interesting and compelling in spite of not having a single mean bone in his body. The other two brothers are no less compelling. Dimitri’s actions and eventual fate is a great illustration of what tend to happen when the head rules the heart, his wild “love crazed fool” behavior is often embarrassing undignified, and he ends up being something of a train wreck. Ivan is intellectual to the point of pretentiousness, this also works out badly for him. Alyosha, on the other hand, has an uncanny ability to shame the very worst people with his incorruptible goodness and extract goodness from them. There is also the dastardly yet pitiful Smerdyakov who is probably an uncredited Karamazov, he reminds me of Dickens’ Uriah Heep (from [book; David Copperfield]). The novel extols the value of honor, self-sacrifice, forgiveness and redemption, but above all love and understanding. I am certainly sold on these themes, by the time I finished The Brothers Karamazov I wanted to hug everybody. As usual for me with the classics, I “read” it on audiobook over several weeks (a couple of months with this one). Also as usual, I am a total skinflint and opted for the free Librivox version. This is book is read by quite a few volunteers, some are better than others but at least all of their reading is understandable. I you do not want to pay $20+ for an Audible.com professional reading this is the way to go (there are of course other, rather nefarious ways to obtain audiobooks but I won’t mention those!). ...more | Notes are private!
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1
| Jul 14, 2014
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Aug 28, 2014
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Jul 14, 2014
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0571225381
| 9780571225385
| 4.10
| 107,552
| 1989
| 2005
|
it was amazing
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Kazuo Ishiguro, there seems to be a dichotomy between the author's name and the subject matter of the novel. I did not know anything about Mr. Ishigur
Kazuo Ishiguro, there seems to be a dichotomy between the author's name and the subject matter of the novel. I did not know anything about Mr. Ishiguro before reading this book (I am not as well read as I pretend to be) but I have heard of the 1993 award winning film adaptation of The Remains of the Day starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. It seems like a quintessentially British story and when I looked up some info about the source material I was intrigued by the author’s name. Anyway, Wikipedia cleared all that up, Ishiguro has been living in the UK since the age of five and received his degrees from British universities. According to The Times, he is one of the greatest British writers since 1945. Moving on from the author's name, The Remains of the Day is a fascinating look at the life of a butler “Mr. Stevens”. The novel starts with the framing “present day” narrative of Stevens working as the butler for an American gentleman Mr. Farraday, his embarking on a road trip holiday by himself and episodic flashbacks to his years of loyal service to Lord Darlington, with emphasis on his working relationship with the housekeeper Miss Kenton. I find this to be a very thought provoking novel it really taught me a few things about the almost extinct profession of butlering. Not how to make a decent cucumber sandwich or anything like that, but the philosophy of butlery. I have always wondered why any intelligent person would want to be a manservant of any kind. Serving meals and drinks to a single household, or worse still, a single individual does not seem like a dream job. Well, according to Mr. Stevens when a butler is serving a great man who does great things for the country you are facilitating that greatness. So vicariously he is also doing great deeds. Whether this is a fact or one man’s misconception is debatable, but it a plausible motivation. Another fascinating thing about the traditional Jeevsian butlers is their eloquence, mannered speech, and unflappability. Very few people speak like Jeeves or Mr. Stevens these days, more is the pity. Their convoluted yet precise speech is music to my ears, and the way they seem to almost teleport by moving about extremely quietly is just wonderful. Mr. Steven’s aspiration to be a great butler means that he has to suppress his emotions at all time, practically turning himself into a super efficient robot. Maintaining a stiff upper lip at all times can lead to an entirely stiff body and soul; being the best at something always comes at a price. During the first half of the book, I did wonder what the point of the novel is as it seems to amble along amiably from page to page never actually boring but the point of the story escaped me. However, around the halfway point, I found myself smiling as I was reading a certain scene and realized that the story and the characters have charmed me. By the end of the book I understood the central themes of ambitions and regret and I was moved. My the audiobook edition is beautifully read by the late great Nigel Hawthorne whose diction of the classic English butler dialogue is just the thing for Anglophiles. Kazuo Ishiguro’s sci-fi-ish novel Never Let Me Go seems very much my kind of thing, we will see how that goes. As for The Remains of the Day, may I be so bold as to respectfully suggest that sirs and madams set aside your undoubtedly valuable time and suspend all telephonic communications to read this particular publication forthwith? ...more | Notes are private!
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| Jun 26, 2014
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Jul 05, 2014
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Jun 26, 2014
| Paperback
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