Tag: Books

Random, Updates

Lunch Break Interlude III

Geoff W

Like I said on the last Lunch Break Interlude barely two weeks ago.  It never fails that if I post a regular update something else awesome comes along that I want to share.  So lucky for you dear blogging world  I don’t have a set schedule!

After all the hullabaloo (aka my What about Anne Brontë? series here, here and here) I realized I didn’t have any clue where my copies of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are and I tried to find three editions of those two and any Anne novel but couldn’t find separate editions 🙁  Instead I splurged and spent most of my remaining Amazon gift cards from Christmas/Birthday on a nicer collection and a gift for Tom to the right. The book contains Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey.

On a completely different note, and the REAL reason for this post, last week Claire over at Word by Word (direct link to the post) posted about Tagxedo. Tagxedo is an awesome program you can enter a blog address or any amount of text and it will create a designed tag cloud for you. Mine is below.

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Random

What about Anne Brontë? Part 3

Geoff W

As you’ve read in Part 1 and Part 2 of this random mini-series, I had a visceral reaction to Mary Ward’s preface of The Tennant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë.  It has however inspired me to do a bit of research to read up on the life of Anne and her sisters, and to reflect more on Anne’s books and writing than I probably would have without the preface.

Upon digging further I found a pretty solid (and somewhat revealing) biography of Anne based at the University of Pennsylvania Digital Library. And it definitely shed light on a few things.  Living to only 29 years of age, (photo of her grave in Scarborough, North Yorkshire right) Anne was not the ethereal non-entity she has been made out to be throughout history, and she certainly wasn’t as meek or as quiet as her sisters’ would have us readers believe.  She has been ‘left out in the rain’ because her works are so starkly different in comparison to her sisters, however I don’t believe this is solely due to the public or even her publishers – a large portion of this rests upon Charlotte’s shoulders.

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Updates

May 2012 Update

Geoff W

All sorts of exciting stuff happened this past month and so far this month.  Not really, but it’s a great way to start a blog post right?!  However, that’s an awesome photo to the left isn’t it? Last week, Tom and I took a day off in the middle of the week to see Anderson Cooper speak at Tom’s alma mater, Salem State University, but AC cancelled at the last-minute. And all I have to say to that is, DAMN YOU WORLD EVENTS!

However, when trying to decide what to do with our time I asked the best question any good bibliophile can ask, ‘Are there any good used book stores around?’ Well, after a quick search I found Derby Square Books and that’s where these AWESOME photos took place. Photo 1 (above is the view when you walk in the door) and Photo 2 is me so overwhelmed I didn’t even know where to start!

Once I had a few moments to take it all in Tom took the photo to the left.  I’m pointing at the Science Fiction/Fantasy sign even though I was looking mostly at classics.  IF you look closely you can already see I have one book in hand.  As an aside, Tom didn’t spend a lot of time reading before he met me, however, slowly but surely I’m turning him into a reader!  He is currently reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, and just finished Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho and has quite a few others lined up for this summer.

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Random

What about Anne Brontë? Part 2

Geoff W
Anne Brontë, by Charlotte Brontë, 1834
Anne Brontë, by Charlotte Brontë, 1834 (Wikipedia)

On Wednesday I wrote about Mary Ward’s introduction to  The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë. And the more I think about it, the more I realize it wasn’t so much an introduction to the novel as it was a critique of Anne in comparison to her sisters. It does talk about the novel briefly, but mostly serves as a diatribe of the weakness of Anne’s literary contributions in comparison to Emily and Charlotte Brontë. IF you’re interested in reading What about Anne Brontë? Part 1, click here.

One of the great things about the Kindle version I am reading is that it is the second printing of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and it contains a forward by the author. In the forward she, writing as Acton Bell, has quite a bit to say in response to her supporters and detractors. Something else to note is that at publication, aside from Jane Eyre, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was the most successful of the Brontë’s novels. Without further ado let’s see what Anne has to say:

To represent a bad thing in its least offensive light is, doubtless, the most agreeable course for a writer of fiction to pursue; but is it the most honest, or the safest?  Is it better to reveal the snares and pitfalls of life to the young and thoughtless traveller, or to cover them with branches and flowers?  Oh, reader! if there were less of this delicate concealment of facts—this whispering, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace, there would be less of sin and misery to the young of both sexes who are left to wring their bitter knowledge from experience.

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Random

What about Anne Brontë? Part 1

Geoff W
Portrait of the Brontë sisters – painted by their brother, Branwell. (Found on Google.)

When ever I think of writing a post like this I usually talk myself out of it because I don’t have an English degree or 50 years of reading experience.  However, I realized I am a reader and I share my thoughts on the books I read so why not share my thoughts on the prefaces of the books I read. So keep in mind this is my own internal dialog as I finished reading Agnes Grey and started reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Agnes Grey and couldn’t figure out why Anne Brontë’s novels weren’t as talked about as Charlotte’s Jane Eyre or Emily’s Wuthering Heights and then I came across a quote in the preface of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Mary A. Ward that riled me up. See for yourself:
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