Tag: English

Book Group, Books, The Classics Club

Book 118: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson

Geoff W

Congratulations Hollywood and hype! I had no idea how simple and eloquently written this novella is. From the few adaptations I’ve seen the bits of and the general idea of the story I’ve gleaned over the years I thought it was a much more over the top, dramatic and violent story. I’m not completely wrong, but I definitely had more action in my mind, but I can now remind myself it Stevenson wrote, and set the novella, in the late 1800s. (Part of this may be I feel I was merging Frankenstein and this novel together in my head, but who knows.)

This book is for my Books into Movies book group at my local library and conveniently also counts for one of my 100 books for The Classics Club! I’m holding my breath book group is better than last month. I don’t think there’s anything too contentious in this novel, but who knows with book group.

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Books

Book 117: The Bird of Night – Susan Hill

Geoff W

I searched out this novel after reading Howard’s End is on the Landing and thoroughly enjoying Hill’s writing style. And after finishing The Bird of Night I’m even more convinced of her amazing writing style and ability, it’s no wonder the novel appeared on the Man-Booker shortlist in 1972 and won a Whitbread Novel Award (now called Costa Book Awards), and it’s definitely no surprise I found it stirring. I will definitely have to check out more of her work.

The Bird of Night is a story of love and madness. The narrator of the story, Harvey, looks back on his life and his time spent with Francis, the poet, and Francis’ rise to fame and coinciding decent into madness. There’s no way I can even begin to grasp everything in this compact novel, but I can definitely appreciate the beauty of the language and the intensity of the story. The quote below sort-of sums up the novel, or at least what I got out of the novel.

“And if he is mad, it is because one man’s brain cannot contain all the emotions and ideas and visions that are filling his without sometimes weakening and breaking down. But he will be perfectly well again, he is generally well. When he is not he is in despair and when he is fit he dreads the return of his illness. What can that be like to live with?” (149)

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2012 Challenges, Books, The Classics Club

Book 116: Mansfield Park – Jane Austen

Geoff W

[For an updated response check out my July 2015 reading of Mansfield Park.]

I finished reading Mansfield Park this weekend and I must admit that it’s still one of the best Jane Austen novels few people read. It’s a bit of a tome and the version I read with the tiny close quartered print was some times painful, but it’s well worth it. Mansfield Park counts for my Back to the Classics Challenge (Reread a classic of your choice) and also counts for The Classics Club. There will be an update later this week about where I am with my challenges and life.

I first read Mansfield Park sometime during college, not for a course, but because I realized I was never required to read Jane Austen and she was this entity that I found fascinating. So many of the teen movies from the early 1990s were based on her books (and Shakespeare’s plays) that I just had to read the originals. I remember reading them back to back but not what order, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and Emma—and I eventually read Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sandition. I’ve enjoyed all of them but Fanny Price remains one of those characters who sticks with me no matter what I read.

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Books, Quotes

Book 115: Farm City – Novella Carpenter

Geoff W

Any book that can make me want to do something I have no desire to do is clearly a good book. And that makes Novella Carpenter’s Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer an AWESOME book. I found myself giggling constantly at her way with words and reactions to events, and I found myself desperately wanting to become an urban farmer and try growing something in my backyard (not quite bringing up an animal, but baby steps). This book doesn’t count for any challenges – other than a fun read that I randomly grabbed off a shelf at the library.

Farm City was the Somerville Reads book for 2012 and I read it after the event and it’s made me want to get involved next year. Somerville Reads “is a project that promotes literacy and community by encouraging people all over the City to read and discuss books on the same theme.” I truly feel libraries help build community and provide resources for many people who don’t have access to other opportunities and this is just one example. But on to the review!

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Books

Book 111: Howards End is on the Landing – Susan Hill

Geoff W

Every book blogger should read this memoir at some point. I don’t remember when I first came across the title but it’s been in the back of my mind to read for quite some time, but funnily enough never made it to my to-be-read list. (Book bloggers, this may be contentious, but if you don’t want to read the post at least check out a quote on book bloggers and modern reading in the middle of the post and the following paragraph.)

This is one of my ‘take a break from challenges and read whatever I want novels’ and so counts for nothing other than a great book and a good source for future books to read. (If you read Howards End is on the Landing, be prepared for your to-be-read and to-be-re-read lists to grow dramatically.) Prior to reading this novel I knew nothing about Susan Hill, but having finished the novel I feel like I know her a little better, or could at least hold a conversation with her. There is something very intimate about publicly sharing your list of 40 books you would keep if you could only keep 40 for the rest of your life.

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