A Cup of Tea & Biscuits

I love my books and I like good adaptations of them as movies, plays, musicals, television series, etc. So, when my Deutschlehrerin casually told me that she was going to watch Pride & Prejudice I went, literally, berserk. How could I have not known about it?! A little theater company called the  Lifeline Theatre  was putting up a two month production of  Pride & Prejudice  - the third in its history. Naturally, I didn't care where it was (just a half-hour ride on the CTA Red Line, so that was good) or how much the tickets cost (a reasonably priced ticket actually), I looked for a weekend when I would be able to attend, not even bothering to consult the guests I was supposed to be hosting last evening, and got my tickets. I was excited, but a bit subdued. No use getting my hopes up only to be disappointed, I told myself. This is, after all, my most beloved book ever. Nothing else that I have read in the thirteen years since has compared to Miss Austen's writi...

If I recall rightly, one of Guy de Maupassant 's short stories, I forget which, that led me  W. Somerset Maugham 's writing, his short stories in particular - Footprints in the Jungle, Rain and several others that appeared in his collective works. I never went back to reading either of their novels until now. I've known the story of The Painted Veil for a long time, having read excerpts of it here and there and watched the trailer to the movie adaptation starring Edward Norton (sigh) and Naomi Watts , and finally bought the book just last week on a whim - I haven't yet watched the movie. It is the story of a young, silly girl named Kitty who marries Walter Fane, a bacteriologist working in Hong-Kong, soon after her younger sister announces her engagement to a man with a title. While in Hong-Kong, Kitty has an affair with assistant colonial secretary Charles Townsend, a selfish man who believes Walter would rather forgive his wife and continue to live in assumed igno...

I will never get bored of claiming that, to me, one of the greatest love stories ever written is Pride & Prejudice. So far every companion novel, and the so called prequels and sequels, I've read, all recount the love story from different perspectives, hence, I was rather curious to see what a mystery novelist would make of it! Death Comes to Pemberley  written by  P. D. James , author of the Adam Dalgliesh  mysteries, was published in 2011 - I mention this because her first novel Cover Her Face  came out in 1962 and she, the author - Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, is 91 years of age! Why is this significant to me? Personally, she is the oldest living author that I've read. Anyway, the book. The book is about the murder of Captain Denny, whom we know to be George Wickham's comrade-in-arms and, quite possibly, only male friend. Set primarily in Pemberley and the surrounding woods, the story begins with a recap of the events in Pride & P...

It was my grandfather's interest in the Lady Chatterley trial  that first brought my attention to  Lady Chatterley's Lover  by D. H. Lawrence . I was, at the time, too young to even consider reading the novel (I must've been fourteen or fifteen), but, after a bit of research, I was able to ascertain the story and why it was so controversial. The novel concerns the notorious relationship between a lady of the aristocracy and the game-keeper of her invalid husband's grounds. Says it all? Most of the novel explores the necessity/desire for a physical relationship that Lady Chatterley, a young woman, longs for, now that her husband has been paralysed waist down in the First World War. Truth is, he is the one that pushes her towards it because he wants an heir, a boy, to carry on the Chatterley name and take care of Wragby, the family seat. There is the tone of class distinction, how Lady Chatterley, Connie, is rather sympathetic towards the lower classes but her husband, Si...

One of the earliest works of detective fiction, The Woman in White is an epistolary novel set in the late mid-19th century, written by Wilkie Collins , a man who is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. This is definitely literature, the sleuthing and legal mind at its best. The foreword/preamble to the book sets the tone and pace of the novel, which essentially is a collection of statements of the various important people that figure in it. Much like a trial scene where each witness provides his side of the story, in facts. Walter Hartright, a twenty-something drawing master, receives an offer of employment, to teach drawing to two young ladies that reside in Limmeridge House. As he bids his family farewell and sets off to fulfill his commission, he meets a lady dressed in white. He doesn't realize until later that she was an escapee from a private asylum but thinks nothing of it as he settles in to his role as tutor. His employer, Mr. Fredrick Fairlie, is a middle aged man w...

Day 9: A book I thought I wouldn't like but ended up loving Charles Dickens was forced upon me as a child. I believe it was my grandfather's doing. The Adventures of Oliver Twist was a favorite, Little Dorrit , A Christmas Carol and David Copperfield were others that I read on my own. I drew the line at Great Expectations and so was rather wary when I picked up A Tale of Two Cities . I loved it. It's a bit of a drag, but luckily for me, I was reading about the French Revolution at the same time I began the book. I liked the characterization - still do - and the history that is in this novel. Charles Darnay and Sidney Carton, though not my favorite fictional characters by any means, still remain embedded in my memory if only for their lives and the ending. Book the Third: The Track of a Storm is my obvious favorite and I'm not sure I would've liked to have read it in its original form of weekly installments. While I still look upon this book as one that forced me...

Day 6:   A Book that Makes Me Sad It took me a while to think through which book might possibly qualify as one that makes me sad.  Villette by Charlotte  Brontë wasn't foremost on my mind, but it does make for this category. Lucy, though not my favorite protagonist, is one to be reckoned with. The themes of the book, the loneliness, repression, and the intense feminist theme that's familiarly Miss  Brontë, keep you glued to the pages. Without giving away too much of the story, I must say that it would be the ending that made me think of this book as a sad one. The story has its plot twists and a very literal ambiguity to it, and will keep you hooked.

Day 5:   A Book That Makes Me Happy An unconventional choice this shall be. Generally, any book would make my happy, but if we're going by the story and writing, then my vote (at this point in time) would go for Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers . A mystery novel published in 1935, this book is pro-feminist novel. Very unique, it stands out in the series of Lord Peter Wimsey's investigations in that Harriet Vane is the primary investigator and there isn't really much of a mystery to look into. Importance is given to women and their struggles in society. For someone who places education and independence above all else, this book is definitely the perfect choice. I love Sayers' humor in Wimsey's lines, and I love Lord Peter even more. It's also probably one of my favorite books in the series because Harriet finally accepts Peter's hand in marriage.

Day 4 :  Favorite Book from a Favorite Series I may have picked ' The Eyre Affair ' had I not read through most of the series. The first book definitely remains the one that got my hooked onto the series but for literary purposes I love ' Lost in a Good Book' most. Thursday Next (see here for my review of the series) is now married to Landen Park-Laine , lives in Swindon and is happily chasing after literary crimes, while dealing with stardom born from her having changed the ending of Jane Eyre (in the book, Jane actually goes off to India with her cousin, but Thursday's intervention - after killing her nemesis, Acheron Hades , which causes Bertha Rochester to die in the fire and Rochester to lose his eyesight and an arm - results in Jane returning to Thornfield and marrying Rochester), then coming to terms with Landen's eradication by a rogue member of the ChronoGuard who is working with the Goliath Corporation's Brik Schitt-Hawse, who is in the course o...

Day 3:   My Favorite Series (current) Since I'm currently on the track of, and because it is a pretty darned good series, I am going to say the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde . Set in an alternate England, this is every book lover's dream come true, encompassing everything that is literature, British literature specifically, and all that is cool. You go into books, see how a book is constructed and projected to the reader, be read by a reader, drive with Mrs. Havisham, conduct help-groups for characters, jump between books, kill grammasites and mispeling vyrus, mark a minotaur with slapstick, die and be not-dead, trap Supreme Evil Beings in glass jars, make money killing zombies and vampires, travel through time, deal with snarky politicians and curb apocalypses by winning a Croquet Superhoop final, keep dodos as pets, experience mammoth migrations and be friends with neanderthals, meet cloned Shakespeares and Napoleans, bring Hamlet into the real world, be the bellman ...

Day 2: A Book I've Read At Least 3 Times Apparently I have a thing for books by authors who are no longer living. Quite naturally they are all at least a century old. Pro-feminist novels of the time definitely have my attention, but it is the literature that keeps me. North & South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (see my previous review ) is an industrial novel set in the fictional town of Milton, in northern England. The main aspect of this book, and the writing, is the passion in it. The passion for life, or the lack of it. The class and cultural differences of the time are clearly laid out before the reader. There is descriptive power in every word and all of the characters are uniquely defined. It is one of my all time favorite books, so it is no wonder that I've read it more than 3 times. Mr. Thornton is an amazing man and I love this book more for him. The story might drag along for some, but almost every aspect of living in an industrial town is covered. Beginning f...

Day 1: Best Book I Read Last Year Captain Wentworth's Diary by Amanda Grange This is Persuasion from Captain Fredrick Wentworth's point of view, from the time he first sets foot into Anne Elliot's life as a penniless naval officer, to the acceptance and eventual refusal of his offer of marriage by Anne, his returning as a somewhat wealthy captain of the Navy, and his struggles as he decides to 'settle down'. I'm not very certain if this book deserves the title of 'best book I read last year' but it definitely is one of my favorite in the past 10 months. It is filled with enough detail to stay honest to Miss Austen's narration. I found the beginning most interesting, the initial courtship when Wentworth falls in love with Anne. It is so pure and just. *sigh*

If the reality that I've read nearly 10 Austen spin-offs (I will not take into account the Austen books I have read this year), of which 8 are based on P & P, in 9 months doesn't cement the fact that I am addicted to Jane Austen, and Mr. Darcy is my idea of a perfect gentleman (and my man, of course), then I don't know what will. Though Jules Verne is undoubtedly the one who opened to me the gates of literature, Jane Austen will always be credited as the one who held me, inspired me, and fascinated me. This, not just because she is one of the best authors ever, or the fact that she had strong feminine lead characters - being a feminist I quite naturally like that -, but more because of her way with words, which I am sure all book nerds will agree with. And because I am such an addict and Austen nerd, and because I love the English language and mannerisms of the 19th century, I've always been a bit wary of reading spin-offs. Some have disappointed me hugely, others h...

For anyone, who is as obsessed with P & P as I am - and I'm certain there are many - the most natural thing is to wonder, after you've read P & P, what was going on in Darcy's head. What's his side of the story? His point of view, his opinions? Jane Austen told us one of the greatest love stories (I'm going out on a limb here, but I dare you to refute me) through the heroine's eyes. While Elizabeth is a practical and generally sensible story teller, it might seem very biased. Just the story-telling part of it. And because I like Mr. Darcy more than I like Elizabeth, for all the obvious reasons, I've always wondered, from probably my second reading of the book over ten years ago, what exactly was he thinking? This book, Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer , came out soon after the BBC adaptation of the classic. There are way too many around, if you ask me, and very few live up to the expectation. Many try to mimic Miss Austen because there is no other...

A bookworm's treat! That's one of the best compliments I can give to any book, and this series of novels by Jasper Fforde deserves the title like no other in the postmodern literature movement! A very literary inclined friend of mine suggested that I read this series. Or at least the first book, The Eyre Affair . She insisted that for someone who has grown up with English literature as the backbone for her love of books, this would definitely provide for interesting reading! And how right she was! The protagonist, Thursday Next , is an agent with the Literary Division of SpecOps , daughter of Wednesday and Colonel Next , niece to Mycroft and Polly Next, one an inventor and the other a brilliant mathematician. They live in a world, an alternate (and republic) England, with George Fromby is President, where literature is taken seriously. So seriously that people are named, or change their names, to their favorite authors, and have to be tattooed with an identification number; ...

I've always thought that the  Brontë  sisters , namely Anne, Emily and Charlotte, were messed up. I was, perhaps wrong at the time, but it was soon after I read Emily's Wuthering Heights that I came to this conclusion. I think anyone would have done the same! I digress. I read an abridged version of Jane Eyre , Charlotte's masterpiece, for a long time regarded as the best book between the three sisters. It, actually, is the most famous one, isn't it? The story? An orphan growing up in a loveless family, being sent off to boarding school, growing up to become a governess and taking on the position of a tutor, falling in love with her master, dealing with crises, and reconciling herself to love. Familiar enough? So, why does this book make it to my top favorites? Because it talks about people in the way people would react and do in situations. It's very pro-feminist. The protagonist, Jane Eyre, grows up with the idea of independence rooted in her mind. Jane Eyre is t...

I have a thing for 19th century novels. I don't know when it started, I don't know how, and I really can't explain it, but I love them. All of them. I'm fascinated by the history, traditions and culture of the time that I can't get enough! Which is why I'm thankful that there are so many books from that era, and that I can never tire of them no matter how many times I've read them! So, to the point now. North & South . Not so very well known, unless you like 19th century novels, or watch the BBC period drama productions. I knew of Elizabeth Gaskell , of Cranford fame, and was aware of her novels, but didn't really pay much attention to the others until a YouTube video of period dramas led me to look up Mr. Richard Armitage , North & South and then Mr. John Thornton. Good succession of things, I'd say. And so I watched the BBC adaptation of the book , fell head over heels in love with it right after the very first episode, printed out the eBo...