The Great Jane Austen ReRead Of Awesome

Hola Readers!  It's spring time...kind of...well it's supposed to snow all weekend...but still...it's March sooooo in my head it's spring time.   I have been seriously craving the classics lately (seriously the
last trip to the book store brought home new Tolkien's, Lewis's and other such greats).  Spring also always puts me into an Austen mood.  I also realized that there are several books of this awesome lady that I have not read in a while.  Since I can usually get through a Jane Austen book pretty quickly I've decided to spend the spring (and let's be honest, probably a chunk of the summer) rereading these awesome books.  I will also be watching the movies (in some cases multiple versions of the movies) and rambling on them as I finish.  I'm excited!!!! Happy Reading Everybody!

College, Classics, and Quotes

In my perusing used book stores lately, I have been lucky to come across some older books that are much harder to find in the traditional book store.  One of these books was Tam Lin by Pamela Dean one of the Fairy Tale series edited by Terri Windling (whom I ADORE).  The story is based on the Scottish poem The Ballad of Tam Lin, which being one of my favorites mad this a very intriguing book.  What did I think of this ambitious work?  Well first, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Janet Carter is starting college at Blackstock College, a fictional school in Minnesota.  She has wanted to go there since she was young as her father is a professor there.  She meets her roommates, Molly, a fellow book lover and Biology major, and Tina, a more pedestrian type who is also a Biology major.  Janet herself is an English Major.  The book follows Janet through out all four years of her college career and focuses on her classes and her and her roommates relationship's with a group of beautiful, yet odd students.  The girls all end up in relationships with various members of the group and all endure various problems while in them.  A lot of the book is just about Janet's classes, her love of books, and her various strange interactions with various people on campus.  There is also an allusion to a ghost of a girl who discovered she was pregnant and killed herself, an act which was duplicated years later by a second student upon learning she herself was pregnant. We also see various professor's and advisers who have a weird sort of control over various staff members and students.  Eventually Janet breaks up with her distant, yet smart and funny boyfriend Nick and ends up with his much more human seeming friend Thomas and after a single night with him, despite precautions, ends up pregnant.  After much convelutedness we finally get the story of what is going on with this mysterious group.  The Faerie Queen and her cohorts have gotten bored with living in their realm and have come out, along with some of the humans who live with them, yet never age.  They have decided for some reason that this little Midwestern college is a good place to hang out.  We learn that almost every student the three girls have encountered is one of the ageless humans and that they have been around so long that some of them even knew Shakespeare!  The exception to all of this is Thomas.  Thomas is a normal human, who stole one of the Faerie Queens horses and became her tithe to Hell, something the faeries have to pay every seven years.  According to Thomas this has played out many times over the years, and the only way to be saved is to have a pregnant lover hold on to him as he changes forms.  Janet is at first incredulous, and then accepting as it actually explains several odd occurrences.  She agrees to keep the baby and saves Thomas in the traditional manner.  The story ends with the Faerie Queen stating that since their was no tithe, the next time they will take two.

This is one of those types of books that grows on you the more you think on it...or at least it did for me.  Originally I did not like it very much at all.  It is very convoluted, slow and the author comes across very pretentious with all of her babble about the classic literature.  She has a tendency for her characters to speak whole paragraphs to each other in obscure quotes from books that only a professor of classic literature, or somebody who is obsessed with them would ever be able to recognize.  This makes the story very difficult to follow on occasion.  The author for some reason felt the need to describe every building and layout of the campus multiple times, even ones that had nothing to do with the plot.  A lot of what the characters did and said was vague at best, and confusing at worst.  All of this leads to a long, slow read, that leaves the reader frustrated.  The other problem was I am very familiar with the story of Tam Lin, and I still could not figure out where the story was going, I can't imagine somebody not familiar with the ballad trying to follow the plot.  On the other hand, the story of Janet and her roommates and their college experience was fairly accurate, especially for the era (the early 1970's).  The uncertainty, the finding oneself, the exhausting course load, the trying to get along with all the various personality types, all very familiar to the college crowd.  In that sense it was a very simple, girl goes to college and survives the experience type of story.  When you put the two together, you get a story about a girl and her roommates and mysterious friends, (most of whom speak in forms and ways that would never happen in the real world) trying to survive college, with the occasional fae experience.  The action only really picks up near the end of the book, culminating in essentially the whole ballad being played out literally for us at the very end. I felt like this book would have been much better if it had been shorter and a bit more to the point. After all of that you may ask why I feel the book grows on the reader.  Well now that I have finished the book, and it has been several days, I still feel it is pretentious and slow and a bit confusing...but it also has a way of staying in your brain.  All the mentions of various books and the character obvious passion for them have me ready to quit work and just stay home and read Chaucer, Dante, Austen and of course Shakespeare.  The idea of the fae running around, living everyday life is always and intriguing idea and has me day dreaming about meeting up with my own personal otherworlder in various situations.  I'm not doing a very good job explaining what I mean, but...yeah...so overall this book was frustrating, but I am glad I read it.  I would recommend it to anybody who has a degree in classic literature, has a bit of patience, and understands that a person can like a book much more after they have put it down for a while.  I give it 6 out of 10 thundering steeds.

Have you ever liked a book better a couple days after you have finished it?  Is it possible to not really enjoy the reading of the book, but still enjoy it living in your head?  Is it possible for me to ever really get what I mean from my head to the page?

Book Therapy

After a VERY long week, me and two of my fellow EMT girls got together to try and insert a breather into our hectic life.  We spent some time eating, drinking and rehashing all of our recent calls like we normally do, but this time it just wasn't helping like it normally does.  One of the girls suggested we hit 2nd and Charles as we were right next to it all ready, and upon learning one of us had never been there hightailed it across the street as fast as we could.  Upon arrival at this utopia, I instantly headed for the classics, I have just finished a book (more on that next post) that set me

craving the classics and so I decided to update my shelf.  The other two drifted over and what ensued was a two hour discussion on when and where we had read certain books, what they meant to us, why we loved, hated or eh'ed them.  We proceeded to buy each books that we thought they should read and also added to our own shelves.  It was awesome, and in all honesty one of the best therapy sessions I have had in a long time.  It is so great to have friends who love to read, love to discuss, and love to share.  The most shocking part of this whole trip was we did not discuss work, or the fire station or anything even remotly medical related the whole time we were in the store, or on the way home and if you ask any of our significant others...or just anybody who has spent more then 10 minutes with any of us, they will tell you that NEVER happens, that we are ALWAYS talking about our calls and patients (in a totally HIPAA compliant way of course).  It was exactly what I needed and just goes to show that books are seriously the worlds most perfect things.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Cover Under The Sea

I love love love love love the idea of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.  I mean I really like the book itself, but the idea and feel of it is what really hits home for me.  It is steampunky, underwatery, angsty, tensionfilledy, creativy, (all real words, I swear) and all of this tends to come out in some of these really cool covers.  Here are a few of my favorites.

I love this old school cover and how it makes it feel like the bottom of the sea is similar to space

The Nautilus looks like a steampunk metal deep sea fish here and I love it!

Here is cover that gives us the ultimate giant squid that wreaked so much havoc!

This black, white and red version is one of my favorites

This cover conveys a bit of an ominous tone

I see the giant squid!

This stylized version is one of my favorites.

These are just a few of the many amazing cover versions of this awesome book, send me any you think are cool and I will add them to my collection :-)

No Complaints...No Really

Spring is here!  I know I know, spring has been here for a while, but it actually feels like spring, not to hot, not to cold, everything is green and you know what that means...time for JANE AUSTEN!!!!! Along with reading all of the books, I have discovered the holy grail of book to movie adaption.  Yep the BBC mini series adaption of Pride and Prejudice.  This gem is really less of an adaption and more of a translation of page to screen.  I love everything about this movie starting with the opening strains of the music that always sets the mood for me.  We then move on to the perfect Colin Firth who will forever be Mr. Darcy to me.  The rest of the casting is also sublime from Jennifer Ehle as the sassy and smart Elizabeth Bennet, to my personal favorite Alsion Steadman who played the over the top Mrs. Bennet to perfection.  The simpering Mr. Collins is perfectly portrayed by David Bamber and I'm pretty sure that Barbara Leigh-Hunt is Lady Catherine.  One of my favorite parts of the movie is the settings, we get to see Longbourn, Pemberly, Netherfields Park, London, Lambton, Kent, Rosings Park, Brighton, Ramsgate, and a plethora of just really pretty English countryside vistas.

The costuming is spot on, with attention paid to the differences between classes, town vs country, age and seasons.  Of course the absolute best part of this show is that it follows the book exactly.  Now to be fair it takes 6 hours to accomplish this...which I guess is a tad long for a single sitting...so I've heard, but the result is finally a faithful, nothing cut, full dialogue, all the characters, all the situations, the whole story being played out in front of you.  This my friends is why the mini-series rules.  I wish more books were adapted in this style as it gives you time and space to actually get the whole story on screen, and not just the parts that particular director/producer feels are necessary.  I also appreciated that they left the story alone, they did not feel the need to add a duel, or a love triangle or anything to "jazz it up", it is a wonderful story and they let it shine.  Now that I have talked about it I am going to go and watch it.  Happy Reading Everybody!
What movie do you think does the best job adapting a book?  Do you think that you can actually adapt a whole book in less then four hours?  Do you think I can watch the whole mini-series in one sitting?

Just Add An Airship

Hello all, I hope you all had a great weekend cheering on your favorites at the Olympics, I know I did.  As much as I love the Olympics I had to take a break from the screen and read for a couple hours yesterday...ahh so refreshing :-)  I finally finished The Mammoth Book of Steampunk with its 30 short stories all set in the Steampunk genre.  This book took me FOREVER to get through and as I contemplated why I came up with one main reason.  Writing steampunk is hard.  I find steampunk and all its co-genres and sub-genres and parent-genres to be a very visual thing and sometimes it feels that all an author has to to is add a zeppelin and BAM steampunk.   Now this is not true for everything, in my last post I showed off some of my favorite books in the punk genre's and all of them are excellent.  A couple things I have noticed about genre books I like, the story always comes first. In all of the books I mentioned the story comes first, world building, characters, and genre conceits are all well done, but are added to serve the story, not make a book steampunk.  Here is where I veer into total personal opinion, everything I am about to say hinges sole on my own likes and dislikes as a reader, you may see things in a completely different way, which is awesome and wonderful and you should tell me all about it.

The biggest problem I have with written steampunk, especially in short stories is that it gets really really dense.  The authors seem to get caught up either in trying to describe every little cog and wheel or they meander into over inflated pseudophychology/philosophy of deepness/scientificology (those are all real words I swear).  I love the idea of exploring alternate universes and timelines and I understand this means discussing various ideas of those times, but when you sound like a jumbled pretentious book your overly academic professor assigns you in how to sound like a rambling jerk class it is no longer enjoyable to me (yep I have actually taken that class before). The books and stories tend to get caught up in minutiae or

vagueness or vague minutiae when all you want is to know what is going on.  Again I think that part of the problem is that steampunk is so visual, if I say steampunk what pops into your head is probably images of top hats and goggles, clockwork limbs, the ever present airship, the genres seems to be most easily defined by its visual aesthetic and when a writer tries to write to that you end up with a jumbled mess.
On the other hand their is some wonderfully written steampunk(ish) out there, oddly enough most of them are in the YA section (as I am sure you noticed in my last post).  I think this is because YA novels are allowed to be about the story or characters, while adult genre sometimes feels it needs to be thought-provoking and deep, and gritty, and "real"  all of the time.  This is not to say that YA stories are all perfect, or you cannot get a good adult steampunk book, in my humble opinion I just have an easier time finding it in the YA section.  I have also found that a lot of books fall into the steampunk (or sub-genre punk styles) without us even realizing it.  Many of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne books could be now considered steampunk (though back when it was written it was plain old science fiction).  I mean how can you read The Time Machine and not think clockwork and science, or how about my personal favorite 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea which has to be at least one of the inspirations for the octopus/seahorse steampunk aesthetic.

Overall I guess I have to say that I prefer my stories first and then genre second.  If you can use cogs and wheels and steam and alternate history to tell me a great story then I will love you all that much more for it.  But if the only way you can make a book steampunk is by overly descriptive phrases stating exactly what each automaton or air ship looks like, or use it as a platform to pontificate on an alternate philosophy then I will let somebody else enjoy it.  As for The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (on which this post was supposed to be a rambling) it has some good little stories like Icebreaker by E. Catherine Tobler, Clockwork Fairies by  Cat Rambo, The Mechanical Aviary of Emperor Jala-ud-din Muhammad Akbar by Shweta Narayan Numismatics in the Reigns of Naranh and Viu by Alex Dally MacFarlane and Lady Witherspoon's Solution by James Morrow.  I found these stories to have a good mix of story and atmosphere and in a few a good bit of humor.  This book is full of variety so if you have any interest in steampunk, science fiction or short stories go ahead and pick it up, just be warned it is not a sit down and read straight through collection, but more of a keep it at hand for when the mood strikes.  I give it 5 out of 10 clockwork gear airships.

What part of steampunk most appeals to you?  How defined do you think the steampunk or any specific genre or sub genre should be? Do you sometimes think that I am just a wind-up bot that types until my spring runs down?

Classic Carves

I've been reading my Legend of Sleepy Hollow and remember just how great the classics are!  Here are some pumpkins that have been carved using classic characters from classic books 'cause when you get down to it there is nothing more classic then carving pumpkins around Halloween!

The Headless Horseman

This pumpkin features our Headless Horseman in the above mention The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, one of my favorites

Frankenstein Monster

Loving this classic monster from Frankenstein...remember the Dr. is Frankenstein, and his creation is just called a monster (poor deformed fella)

Count Dracula

Dracula is still one of the scariest books I have ever read, back when vampires where evil demon creatures not sparkly angsty 100 year old teenagers.

20,00 Leagues Under the Sea

Years ahead of it's time Captain Nemo and his adventures under the sea have been a favorite of mine for years!  Though as a kid I was always a wee bit terrified that a giant squid was gonna capsize our boat.

The Raven

One of our classic American tales of terror, The Raven is probably one of the most recognizable poems out there.

Have these classic tales of terror inspired you to go pick up a classic?  Are you now mulling over your choices in the world of pumpkin carving?  Will somebody come to my house and carve me an awesome pumpkin?

Back To The Books

Everybody is headed back to school today, and besides the fact it messes up my morning commute, it is the time of year everybody gets to start over and try again.  Here are some of my favorite schools in the books I've read through out my own school years.

Sweet Valley High- Don't judge, you know you read these too!  The Sweet Valley High Series was one of my first introductions to the "idealized" high school experience.  Of course the fact that I was a sheltered little middle schooler who wore a uniform probably helped to foster the fantasy.  Of course the real experience was nothing like what I had read, and looking back some of the messages in these books are probably questionable at best, but hey they are still great for a nostalgic sigh.

Lowood School-Jane Eyre is not my favorite of the classics, but I always love the first part at the Lowood School.  Something about it's sinister Mr. Brocklehurst, and the banding together of the girls, and the tragic typhoid deaths that is everything a good character forming school in a gothic novel should be.

Harper Hall-I always wanted to go to Harper Hall after reading about it in the Harper Hall Trilogy.  Regardless of my complete lack of musical ability this combination school/college/guild always seemed like the perfect place to learn just about anything.  I also like that they use Teaching Songs as a way to impart learning on the children through out the world.

One Room School Houses-I loved the old school...well schools in the Little House series. I loved watching Laura and Mary go to school.  I loved watching Laura graduate and become a teacher.  I loved all the little advances that were made from the beginning of the series until the end.  I know my siblings probably hated this series because I used to make them bring there dinner pails and go to school in my made up school houses all the time.

Hogwarts-Of course my favorite school in a book/series is without a doubt Hogwarts that is the setting for a good chunk of the Harry Potter series.  This is a school you would actually be excited to go to everyday, with classes like Potions and Charms how could you not have a great time.  These books combine all of the best and worst bits of school with magic and adventure, the perfect back to school tale for anybody.

What is your favorite literary school?  What kind of books did you discover in school?  What type of school would you like to go to?  Did you have senoritis in kindergarten like me?

True Love

I am not really a Valentines person, I have never been the sappy, star-struck romantic type and think a good book and a cup of coffee is better than roses and jewelry any day...I'll take the box of chocolates though :-)  This got me thinking about my favorite love stories, usually the relationship part of books is my least favorite part, mostly because almost always falls into a trope of love e.g. insta-love, I am a bad boy/girl who is mean and awful to you and yet we are still destined to be together love, realizing the best friend is the love of my life love after I have done horrible things to him, but he still loves me anyways because I am irresistible love etc.  Every once in a while, I do read of a love story that I actually enjoy.  Here are a few of my favorite (and yes some of these fall into the above tropes, but hey it's my blog so pbllttt!) romances that seem to make some sort of sense to me.

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy-This is probably my favorite relationship ever.  Pride and Prejudice takes the trope of "loving against ones will" and dumps it on it's head.  One of my favorite parts is when Darcy proposes to Elizabeth in what may be one of the most insulting manners ever, instead of swooning over the fact that he loves her against all odds, this is her reply “I might as well enquire,” replied she, “why with so evident a design of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character?” It is not until much later, when both parties have actually gotten to know each other and discuss their feeling AND their future AND clearing up all misunderstandings that they both actually decide to proceed with a relationship.  This is a great example of a person valuing themselves enough to want an equal partnership, not one were she would be resented for the love she receives.

Nick Bottom and Titania-This is my favorite Shakespearean couple ever, you can keep Romeo and Juliet give me an Ass-headed buffoon and an enchanted fairy queen any day. A Midsummer Night's Dream is my favorite of Shakespeare's comedies and takes every form of love and puts it on display.  There is true love, implied love, told by your father who you are going to marry love, enchanted love, comical love, stage love, fairy love, parental love, friend love, all wrapped up in a deliciously magical package for all to see and hear.  If there is one time I am ok with love being forced on people by enchantment, it is in this story...mostly 'cause there is fairy's and a guy gets a donkey head and the beautiful and powerful queen of the fairies makes a fool of herself, which makes a little enchanted false love, endurable.

Sorcha and Red -This founding couple from Daughter of the Forest have what I consider one of the most believable long term relationships from the books I have read.  Even though Sorcha can't speak or write, they find ways to communicate with each other.  They fall in love at different rates over a long period of time and still love each other after many trial and separations.  When Sorcha gives him up because she thinks he has been spelled to love her, and knows that no matter how much she may love him, it would never be real if he did not have the choice to love her back...aw it made me sad 'cause I knew how much that had to hurt.  I mean that is real love if you are willing to make sure your partner has a free will in his/her decision to be with you.  Of course Red returns this love by giving up his throne to become part of her life (a far different ending from the usual, girl gives up her life to go live in the palace with the prince/king). This mutual respect for the other person is what makes this relationship work in the long term.

Ella and Char- Ella Enchanted is one of my favorite books in the whole wide world.  Part of the reason is that this Cinderella story is less about the poor orphan maid being saved by the dashing prince, and more about Ella figuring out how to fend for herself.  The fact that Ella is independent and self-sufficient is one of the things that Prince Char likes about Ella, in fact in one part of the book Ella actually saves the Prince. When the Prince declares his love for Ella (in a good old fashioned letter), she realizes two things, one that yes she is in love with Char, and two that her curse would be bad for the kingdom (finally a bit thought for the world outside of just two people).  Ella tells Char that she is married and breaks his heart.  I love the thought process behind her going to the ball (lends a sense of realism, I don't think I could stay away either) and in the end when she breaks the curse and insists and asking Char to marry her, instead of the other way around just makes me happy.

Menolly and Sebell- The Harper Hall Trilogy is not about a love story at all, in fact the character of Sebell does not even appear until the second book.  This is one of the most subtle love stories I have ever read, it is a slow gradual realization between two people who are busy living their lives that life is better when they are together.  I love love love that both the characters of Menolly and Sebell are quiet, gentle, strong people.  Neither of these two are overly outgoing, loud, sassy or any of the other "opposites attract" qualities that are so prevalent in books and movies.  These are just two smart, music loving people who work well together and just happened to be very attracted to each other as well.  Also I may still have a major book crush on Sebell, something about that quiet strength is just so attractive...reminds me of my Hubbin :-)

So that is a short list of a few of my favorite literary couples.  As you can see, I usually prefer my love stories to be a part of a bigger story and not the focal point.  I like believable love, I like love that results in an equal partnership, I like love that does not end a story because their is not where else to go, but rather starts a new journey of adventuring with your partner.  I like it when (as my Mamma would say) love is recognized as not a feeling, but rather a commitment.  There are other couples in stories that I like, and I may do another post on those later, but I think for the moment these best sum up feelings on reading about True Love!

Do you celebrate Valentines Day?  What is your favorite literary couple?  Do you think that unrealistic love is ok in books because it is supposed to be fantasy?  Do you prefer your couples to take center stage, or do you like the love story to be part of a larger whole?  Who is your literary crush?

Creepy Classics

People have been drawn to scary stories since the dawn of time.  They were originally used to teach lessons to children and morality to adults, but from some of the elaborateness of even the oldest stories I think people just enjoyed a good scare.  I love some of the more classical incarnations of these monsters, back when they were just around to scare people and tell a good story.  Here are some of my favorite creepy classics.

Dracula by Bram Stoker-This is my favorite of the "monster" subset of horror.  I love how intensely creepy and jumpy and just evil this book is.  Stoker sets up the story of the vampire Dracula beautifully and never gives you a moment to relax.  I first read this book in the middle of a hurricane by candle light and let me tell you every time that thunder cracked or a tree fell I jumped out of my skin.  This is also my favorite vampire story because I think that Stoker really captures the beautiful seductive yet utterly horrifying character that is Dracula and now I compare all vampire books to this one and have yet to find one that is anywhere near as chilling and wonder.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly-First of this was written by a woman, which kinda is super awesome, especially considering the time period in which this was written.  Second, whenever I hear monster the first image that pops into my head is of Frankenstein's creation. Many people mistakenly call the monster Frankenstein, but he was actually it's creator...though I guess after reading this book one could argue that it really was Dr. Frankenstein and not his creation that is the true monster.  This book is actually less of an all out horror novel and more of a scifi/drama/thriller.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde-This book combines elements of the supernatural ( a picture that keeps the subject young and immortal) and a cautionary tale of too much excess and what it can do to a person.  This book details the fall of a young man from naive and innocent to a lecherous, greedy, selfish worthless man.  The story shows how living a life with no consequences can result in some pretty horrific outcomes and the past will always come back to haunt you.  When this book first came out it was censored and warned against for it's pretty vivid and graphic descriptions of an unwholesome life. A very interesting look at a classic morality tale.

The Essential Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe- I had to put in a collection for my friend Mr. Poe because I just cannot choose my favorite story, The Raven, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Fall of the House of Usher.  Mr. Poe knew how to use words to invoke such great imagery that you really get into the stories, even the short ones and all kinds of creepiness ensues.  These stories are also great for beginners of classic horror because they are short and concise enough to be able to get into a great story while learning the vernacular of this particular era.  Plus Poe is just simply awesome.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving-I absolutely adore this little bit of American folk-lore, gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling to know that we have our own special ghosts stories and legends.  This story is a bit different from the previous ones on this list as it has a bit more humor to it.  The legend is never confirmed nor proven false to the outcome of the tale is left mostly to the readers interpretation.  This is also one of the few stories that has translated fairly well onto the screen, mostly cause you can go either slightly comical (Disney's cartoon version) or more on the creepy side (Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow)

What is your favorite classic creepy?  Do you think stories are scary back in the day or have we upped the ante in modern times?  What is your favorite original monster?  What contemporary creepy do you think will be on the classic list in 100 years?

Not So Much

Last month I did a post on books that I would assign if I were a teacher.  This got me thinking of all of the books that are considered classics, that people swear you have to read or your life is meaningless, favorites of young and old alike...that I kind of really don't like.  I must stop quickly and refer you back to my previous post on my feelings on personal tastes in books.  This post is not meant to be mean, or piss anybody off, in fact if the following are books you love, let me know why in the comments so I can get a better insight into them.

Jane Eyre-Charlotte Bronte

I will say that I did not hate the book, it just got really really drawn out and overly dramatic for my taste.  I think the biggest problem I had reading it, is it is from one persons perspective and that perspective unfortunately is not the most spirited of one. I really liked bits and pieces of it, especially the beginning at that wretched school, but not my cup of tea.  I seem to be in the minority on this one as I know a ton of people who cite this as there favorite book.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-Mark Twain

Oddly enough I really love Adventures of Tom Swayer, but I never got the appeal of Huck Finn.  Maybe I just like the character of Tom, and cannot relate as well to Huck, maybe the pacing was off, maybe I felt it was a bit too preachy for my liking.  This is one of those books I can't really put a finger on why I don't like it...I just don't.

War and Peace-Leo Tolstoy

Here is a book that is EPIC just to be EPIC.  There is a good story in here somewhere and Tolstoy is an exquisite writer, but when it takes you 12 pages to describe a meadow...well that makes for a tough read.  I am kinda proud that I actually made it all the way through this one, I feel like I deserve a plaque commemorating the event.

The Golden Compass-Philip Pullman

Ok so this is one of the only books I actually contemplated throwing away.  This book really got to me in a not good way.  The writing is beautiful, the world very well laid out, everything I could hope for in a book.  Unfortunately the content was too much for me.  This idea of essentially ripping an essential part of children away from them, leaving them permanently scarred and emotionally broken for experimental/power grubbing purposes was horrifying to me (and I love the Hunger Games)  I think it was the cold cruelty was the factor that really did it for me.  Again, I have read and enjoyed many a twisted, sadistic, torturous, stories and this one I just couldn't stomach, I think it is because it is touted as a young adult book and shelved in the younger readers section that I really hated.  I know many people love this book, so I may be missing something here (and yes I read the whole thing).

Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte

I really do not get the appeal of this one.  I know so many people, authors, artists, who claim it as their favorite book but I do not get it.  The writing itself was very hard for me to get through, long emotional rambles that never went anywhere.  The sheer self-destructiveness and willful selfishness was just crazy.  I understand a quick glance surface appeal of the "romance" of Heathcliff and Catherine, but as soon as you actually get into the story it is just so unhealthy and appalling.  I hate the idea that anybody would model any sort of relationship off of these characters.  Also if I want to hear semi-coherent rants about what a person is doing, or has been doing, or is being done to them I can always turn on a Real Housewives episode and get the same level of psychosis 

Already folks, let er rip, why do you love/hate any of these books?  What book do you hate that everybody else loves?  What actually makes a classic? What book do you think gets overlooked as a classic?

Classic Humor

I need a laugh today and these hit the spot.

Dickens Humor

Grimm Humor

Hawthorne Humor

Shakespeare Humor

Austen Humor

Hopefully some of these made you giggle.  Hope everyone has a great day

Spring Is The Time For Austen...And Iced Coffee

It is supposed to be 70 degrees here in the Capital today!!!! My most sincere heartfelt apologies to the rest of you and any yucky weather you may be having.  Weather like this means something very special is about to happen, that's right folks the annual cracking open of Jane Austen books!!!!  Now even thought Ms. Austen's books tend to cover whole years, I always feel the urge to read them in the spring.  I usually don't get a chance to read each and every one of them every year, but I do get a couple of them done so I have read them all several times (does that sentence make sense...I think I need more coffee).  Here is a quick summation of these great works, maybe this year you can pick a couple to read and we can discuss them whilst sipping tea and nibbling scones brought to us by our chambermaids...

Sense and Sensibility-Jane Austen's first published adult novel tells the tale of a family who after there husband and father dies are left with very little.  The mother Mrs. Dashwood moves with her girls the responsible eldest Elinor, the unbridled Marianne, and the young Margaret to a cottage on the estate of her cousin.  The girls fall in love, out of love and all around love.  Every possible combination of man is presented in this book in every possible situation.  In the end the girls end up with there true loves and life is lived in some semblance of contentment.  This is probably the most romantically romantic of books in my personal library.




Pride and Prejudice-Easily my favorite and probably most reread of Ms. Austen's books, at some point I will do a full post dealing only with this book, but until then here is the quick and dirty.  The Bennet sisters are all in need of husbands according to there mother as their estate is entailed away from the female line.  This book follows the parallel paths and perils of falling in love with someone against your better judgement with three of the five sisters finding a man of their own each in vastly different ways.  Ms Elizabeth Bennet is probably one of the most recognized characters in literature and it makes me happy that this icon is a feisty, smart girl who is not the acknowledged beauty of the family. Seriously I could go on and on...but i would rather you go read it for your self.


Mansfield Park-This book is a bit of a Cinderella story, focusing more on the shy, quiet gentle heroine Fanny Price, instead of Ms. Austen's other heroines who tend to be a bit more fiery.  This book is a great one for scandal's and multiple love triangles and not everybody gets there happy ending in this one (except of course our heroine and her love)






Emma-This is probably my second favorite, second most read book of my Austen's.  This book is entirely contained in Highbury, without the heroine traveling to resolve or push issues to the forefront as in the authors other books.  I love Emma because she means well, but she is really a bit of a self-righteous busy body.  She is the heroine who has the most personal transformation instead of other people changing there minds about her, and accepting her, she must change how she views herself and work on improving herself and only then does she get her true love.  This book is probably the funniest one as well as the most light hearted of the bunch.



Northanger Abby-This book is a play on the popular Gothic novels at the time (think Twilight for the 18th century) Our heroine and Gothic novel addict Catherine Morland goes to Bath and meets many interesting people, among them the Tilney siblings Henry and Eleanor. They eventually invite her back to Northanger Abby which supposedly harbors a dark secret, this coupled with Catherine's love of Gothic novels has her convinced of things that are not there.  As with all Austen novels much confusion and adventure ensue, again ending with the prevalence of true love.  This book is a bit tongue and cheek which makes me love Jane Austen all the more.


Persuasion-This is the last novel Ms. Austen completed before her death and along with Northanger Abby was published posthumous .  This novel is a bit quieter then previous ones, showing a more mature and sensible heroine then in previous books.  Anne Elliot is the middle daughter of a baronet who we find out had been talked out of marrying her true love because of his supposed unsuitability. The young man Wentworth left understandably upset at Anne's inability to stand up for them.  Anne's father Sir Walter is forced to rent out there estate as it comes to light he has overspent for many years. With her altered station Anne does some traveling eventually running into Mr.Wentworth and after many mishaps and heartbreaks ends up as always and finally with her true love.

Ok so obviously there is a lot more to these books then my little blurbs, but I could write 100 page posts about each of these so this is what we get for today.  Some of my thoughts on why I like Jane Austen so much.  I was kind of surprised how much I did enjoy all of her books, since I am not usually the romantic type, but I think as far as fictional always happy in the end novels go, she tries to add a sense of feasibility to each situation.  She gives reasons that might actually occur to why a person would marry below there station not just "true love" which was much less a consideration in her day.  I also love the variety in her heroines, some are feisty, some are quiet and shy, some are silly, some are loud, some are sensible.  Again to me it gives a sense of realism that not all her characters are cookie cutter icons.  She usually has multiple story lines so you don't get to bored and her sense of humor is still funny even today.  I love how she has become an icon for a different era, a way to fuse a femininity with being a strong woman.  I think her novels show the idea that you don't have to choose one or the other that you can be just as strong in a frilly pink dress while sipping tea, as you can be utterly absurd while spouting non-realistic girl power nonsense. Another really cool thing is that they are all available for free on e-readers, so no excuses!

What Jane Austen book is your favorite?  Which character are you most like?  Who really wants to go drink some tea and eat some crumpets while wearing a feathered hat?