Breadcrumb Reads

I've Moved from Blogger to WordPress!

2011-10-07T10:32:00.001+05:30

I've finally decided to move (back) to WordPress. I love the clean lines of those templates, and the many ways I can clean up the blog for easy navigation and still have so many things in that one blog! Most of you who read my blog frequently will have realised that I've been quite impatient, changing its look every two or three days in the last three or four months! I quit WordPress before because I was rather impatient with the inside workings of the blog, being unable to do or find anything I wanted to do. This time, however, I have been spending some time getting used to the way this site works and learning to manage its various tools. I think I've got a pretty good hang of it now, and would like to shift my abode to http://breadcrumbreads.wordpress.com.

I won't be transferring the contents of this blog to the new one, save for a few posts here and there. I will be linking back to this old blog often when guiding readers to a post I have made on this blog. I'm looking forward to having you all over at Breadcrumb Reads the Second! ^_^

Short Stories on Wednesdays #13

2011-10-06T00:01:00.000+05:30

Short Stories on Wednesdays is a weekly event hosted here, at Bread Crumb Reads. The purpose of this event is to encourage people to read at least one short story a week. There are no limits, of course! If you have made a post on the short stories you've read this week, please do leave a link in the comments section. If you haven't made a post, it does not matter. I'd still love to know what you've been reading. Just put the titles down in the comments section.

Well, I'd intended to read some more Poe this week, but I'm still hanging in the middle of "Ligeia". This story made me think of a song I loved by Pat Boone. So, I went hunting for the song, couldn't find it anywhere online - not the words or a video or anything! - and then I left the story unfinished because I was so disappointed at not finding the song. :(

However, I did read a couple of other short stories. They happen to be ones that other readers last week had read. So, I'll just give the name of the stories, link them to the reviews given by last week's readers and then quote my responses to them. :)

"The Phantom Rickshaw" by Rudyard Kipling
A brief outline of the story and a review can be found at Priya's blog.
Here's my response to her review:

I read the first few lines of your post and decided I would like to give this short story a go. Kipling starts off with a lot of humour, but yes, it does eventually become the ghost story of a tortured man. I loved these lines just before the real story takes off: When he recovered I suggested that he should write out the whole affair from beginning to end, knowing that ink might assist him to ease his mind. When little boys have learned a new bad word they are never happy till they have chalked it up on a door. And this also is Literature.

"The Baron of Grogzwig" by Charles Dickens
A brief outline of the story and a review can be found at Sophia's blog.
Here's my response to her review:

Very amusing! I especially enjoyed the whole passage on 'pedigree'!:D....I must say, though, that the end was rather tame.

So then, what have you folk been reading this past week? Anything scary yet?:D

P.S. - I apologise for the delay in getting this post up. I'd quite forgotten it was Wednesday until an hour ago!

The Frightful Fall Read-a-thon!

2011-10-05T00:06:00.005+05:30

I hadn't had the time yesterday or even in the last three or four days to put this post up, but I've decided to sign up for Michelle's Frightful-Fall Read-a-thon Oct 3-9. I'm not sure how much reading I will be able to get done, but I'm looking forward to trying and having a good time.

While I don't usually decide before hand on what I'm going to read for a read-a-thon (unless I'm already reading it), I think I have a sort of plan for this week. Here's the rough idea:

The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame (completed!)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
A few short stories from Selected Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
A story or two from The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
And a 'maybe' on Love and Friendship by Jane Austen

So, are any of you taking part in this read-a-thon? What do you have lined up for this week?...

Latest Book Additions to my Collection

2011-10-04T16:31:00.002+05:30

Over the last month I've been getting unexpected presents (and expected), and I'm quite thrilled to have added six more books to my shelf! Two were surprise presents from a couple of friends, and the last four were gifted me by the husband.:D

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
It's a pop-up book that a friend of mine thought would be perfect for my son. However, as the story is very much in its original translation, I think it might be awhile before my little one gets to dig his teeth into this one.

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
This one was gifted to me by the friend who lent me The Kitchen God's Wife by the same author. I'd enjoyed it so much that she decided to give me an Amy Tan of my own.

The Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis
I'd been wanting to get myself this book for a long while now. I'd been putting it off for some reason or the other until I saw this illustrated version. When my husband told me I could go ahead and order a few books all paid for by him, I decided to add this one to the cart. I flipped through it...love the illustrations...can't wait to read it!

The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke

I'd read Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell a few years ago and had quite loved it. When I discovered that Clarke had another book to her name - short stories based in the world of Strange and Norrell - I just knew I had to get a copy too. I's so excited about this one!

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
My own copy, at last!

Selected Tales by Edgar Allan Poe

Through the Short Stories on Wednesdays meme I discovered from other readers that Poe was a really good and creepy sorta story teller. I decided to give him a shot for the RIP Challenge, and ended up deciding that I would love to own something by him. I'm hoping I might be able to finish this book of short stories for the challenge, but I won't cry if I don't.:D

Short Stories on Wednesdays #12

2011-09-28T13:31:00.000+05:30

Only yesterday the Selected Tales of Edgar Allan Poe came to my doorstep. It is one of a few books my husband has gifted to me as an anniversary present. I couldn't help but start flipping through the pages, and then immersing myself in the short stories. I haven't read more than three, but they have been strange and fascinating to read. I'll have to admit to some ignorance to many of the literary and art allusions, that I'm sure, had I known them, I would have appreciated the stories more. However, they are obviously not detrimental to the understanding of the stories on the whole.

The Duc De L'Omelette

The Duc de L'Omelette dies after choking on an olive. Three days after his death he comes face to face with the Devil himself. The duc tries to cross swords with the latter, but after learning that the Devil doesn't fence, they gamble. The duc comes out as the winner. And the duc's parting shot is rather funny (after I used the translator and figured what that comment meant!), and reminded me so much of the days of the Regency when the French were the leaders of fashion and social customs. If you've read Georgette Heyer, the Duc is rather reminiscent of the likes of the Duke(s) of Avon The Black Moth and These Old Shades, though highly French!

This short story is only about three pages long in my book, and is really a humourous read.However, I must confess, I had to read this story twice before I understood it. I suppose the reason why it went completely over my head the first time was because I was really tired at the time and too impatient to decipher the many French phrases and words. The second time is when I really fared well, and decided not to be lazy about using an online translator.

MS. Found in a Bottle

The narrator, a seaman, and a Swede, are the only survivors on a ship tossed about by a rather unnatural storm. For five days they rock along the highseas towards the south while the freak storm gets stranger and more supernatural by the day. On the sixth day their ship is hit by one that is much bigger. The Swede does not make it alive, but the narrator manages to survive, escaping into the cabins of the other ship. But its inhabitants are seemingly old me who never notice him even he stands in front of them and talks to them. From what I understood, this sixth day is an eternity, for the narrator says half way through...

We waited in vain for the arrival of the sixth day - that day to me has not yet arrived - to the Swede never did arrive.

We learn that the narrator manages to get his tale across only as a message in a bottle.

All I could see, while reading this short story, was a dull orange, read colour - hell, perhaps, with a stillness more terrifying than, perhaps, fire. The ship seems to be a ship of the damned. And yet everything is so numbingly quiet. This story gave me the chills, though slight, and left my sense suspended in a sort of expectation until the very last few lines that makes me wonder if that ship and the crew, along with the narrator, really did get lost in the whirlpool.

The Assignation

The narrator of this story witnesses a beautiful woman throwing her child into the currents of the Venetian Canals. He also witnesses its rescue by a young man who seems to know the woman. They exchange information on a day and time that the narrator overhears. Then, the young man hops onto the narrator's gondola and invites him over to his house early in the morning. The narrator goes there and finds this man's house full of collectibles, many of which are not particularly tasteful, but lots of others that are so familiar to the narrator. They talk while the latter explores the place, and then, the end.

Nope. It does not end with them talking, but I don't want to give anything else away.

I did have something of a problem with this story, though. While I quite liked it, I found this particular one to be too full of allusions that quite escaped me, and felt, throughout the story, that I was missing a little something by not knowing exactly what these allusions were. Of course, I could sit with an online historical/literary dictionary and check through all of them - but there are too many and I'm an impatient woman. I was also puzzled about the young man. It would seem that his was a famous name. The narrator describes him in great detail...

The person of the stranger - let me call him by this title, who to all the world was still a stranger[...] In height he might have been below rather than above the medium size: although there were moments of intense passion when his frame actually expanded and belie the assertion. The light, almost slender symmetry of his figure promised more of that read activity which he evinced at the Bridge of Sighs, than of that Herculean strength which he has been known to wield without an effort, upon occasions of more dangerous emergency. With the mouth and chin of a deity - singular, wild, full. liquid eyes, whose shadows varied from pure hazel to intense and brilliant jet - and a profusion of curling black hair, from which a forehead of unusual breadth gleamed forth at intervals all light and ivory - his were features than which I have seen none more classically regular, except, perhaps, the marble ones of the Emperor Commodus.

A little later he says this man was an Englishman. Any ideas who this person could be? Or do you think Poe was just adding to the sense of mystery by reporting the fictional fame of this man?

Truly, I'm fast beginning to appreciate Poe's skill as a short story writer and am looking forward to finishing this short story collection, acquired only yesterday, for the RIP Challenge. However, I'll try not to make this a promise 'cause I never follow through on those!!

So then, what have you folk been reading this past week in the short story form?...

Short Stories on Wednesdays #11

2011-09-21T16:45:00.000+05:30

No Regular Blog Posts for the Next Month or Two

2011-09-16T12:07:00.000+05:30

I've been in something of a reading lull these past three or four weeks. I began Mrs Dalloway in the beginning of August, and I'm still only half done with it. I began The Wind in the Willows at the beginning of September and I've only finished seven chapters out of the twelve. The first novella is interesting and intriguing, and I adore the second. But time has been scarce, and I only get to read for a few minutes at a time if I'm lucky.

There have been lots of things happening in my life these past couple of months...mostly good, because I've been able to get out of the house more often than I usually do. But then there have been illnesses in the family, especially with my son not keeping too well, and that has kept me occupied a great deal. When I take a break, I find that I'm reluctant to spend my time at the computer. Neither do I want to pick up a book. I want to cook, or bake or do some needlework, or potter about the house, or do some studying. I find I really want to keep physically or productively active.

Many of you who pop in here regularly must be aware that I haven't written much about books I've been reading for over a month now. Most of my posts have been as part of memes or something a little bit more random. The only thing I've been doing a little regularly has been reading short stories. So, having reached this point, I've decided to take a break of about a month or two from regular blogging. I intend to keep the Short Stories on Wednesdays going, especially as I'm enjoying reading this literary form, and I love that there are others who are enjoying it too. I guess there wont be much by way of book commentary and other memes. I'm hoping, with keeping away as much as I can from the computer, that I might be able to get some good reading done as well (I've noticed that the reason I don't get much reading time is because I spend a lot of said time blogging or browsing).

So, to sum up:

I'm taking something of a break from regular blogging to attend to other things at home and spend more time with my son
Short Stories on Wednesdays will still be running, so for those of you who enjoy this meme, don't worry. I'll be in to get the main post up every Wednesday.^_^

Special message to Lesa of Baja Greenawalt's Cozy Book Nook:
Am so sorry for dumping you mid-way through the readings and discussions we were to have this month.:( I'm still eager to share views on The Wind and the Willows, so once I'm done I'll tweet you!:D

Short Stories on Wednesdays #10

2011-09-14T22:46:00.000+05:30

Short Stories on Wednesdays is a weekly event hosted here, at Bread Crumb Reads. The purpose of this event is to encourage people to read at least one short story a week. There are no limits, of course! If you have made a post on the short stories you've read this week, please do leave a link in the comments section. If you haven't made a post, it does not matter. I'd still love to know what you've been reading. Just put the titles down in the comments section.

"New York Mining Disaster" by Haruki Murakami
This week I decided to get back to Haruki Murakami. I read just one story...unusual as usual. The narrator speaks of a friend of his who loves the zoo and visits it every time there is a typhoon. This friend knows exactly how the zoo animals behave during such a storm. Then the narrator talks of how he borrows this friend's funeral clothes to go to four funerals in one year. He gives a brief description of how these friends meet their end. On New Year's Eve of the same year, he meets a woman slightly older than he who conducts a rather strange conversation with the narrator leaving the latter bewildered and nervous. The short story ends with a whole bunch of miners trapped in a mine.

Honestly, nothing of the above seemed particularly connected. At the last couple of paragraphs left me wondering if I'd skipped a page or two and entered another short story! As usual I could not really see the point to Murakami's narrative. However, again, as usual, his 'story' grabbed my attention from the words "a friend of mine".

If anyone has read this story before I'm eager to hear your thoughts on them! Did I miss something? Or was that ending deliberately vague and unconnected?

So, what short stories have you been reading this past week?

Ten Books I've Read So Far This Year Because of Another Blogger

2011-09-13T22:29:00.002+05:30

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

The following books listed isn't a 'top ten' list. These just happen to be ten books I've read this year because of another blogger or because of the glowing reports on Goodreads. In parenthesis I've given the number of stars of five that I have rated these books on Goodreads.

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald (4 stars - this was a re-read inspired by Jenny O, and was a completely different experience this time around.)
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitcell (5 stars - inspired by Jillian who is so passionate about Mitchell)
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (5 stars - from glowing reports on Goodreads)
Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloester (3 stars - egged on by so many interesting reports on Austen blog sites, plus my love for Georgette Heyer's romances)
Amy Tan - The Kitchen God's Wife (5 stars - I was asked to give this writer a try by some folk from a Goodreads group. The book I borrowed from a friend who suggested I try it.)
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (2 stars - encouraged to read this during a read-along)
The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Colleen McCullough (2 stars - curiosity regarding Austen fans' negative remarks led me to read this...especially as it is written by one of my favourite writers)
Evelina by Fanny Burney (3 stars - I managed to read this because of a read-along)
Shakespeare on Toast by Ben Crystal (5 stars - inspired by Falaise's review on this book)
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (to-be-read - bought due to the fantastic reviews I've reading on blogs about it)

What books have other bloggers inspired you to read?...

Do Literary Works Have to be Difficult?

2011-09-08T10:44:00.004+05:30

The Literary Blog Hop is hosted biweekly at The Blue Bookcase.

I'm so glad the hop is back! I was beginning to wonder if we'd all run out of questions. And I'm ashamed to say I couldn't think of any! Anyway...

This week's question is:

Must all literary writing be difficult? Can you think of examples of literary writing that was not difficult?

Should the question have begun with a 'must' or could the question have read 'Is literary writing difficult'? I make this distinction because it is not a necessity for literary writing to be difficult at all. To me, what makes a piece of work a literary piece, is not just good language, but also the universality of the themes that are dealt with. Centuries old literature that make up the canon, have survived only because they are relevant to our world even today. That, or, there are themes and ideas that mark the progress of man's way of thinking, or even the digression or degeneration of the process. Language, really has not all that much to do with the level of difficulty, and does not mark it as an active condition for a work to be termed 'literary'.

Let us take Shakespeare, for instance. Though, for us, 'Shakespearean English' as many like to call it, was really the language of the day. Would crowds of groundlings have come to watch Shakespeare's plays had his language been elite and sophisticated? While certain ideas and themes might have gone over their heads, these people definitely understood what was being said. Then there is the likes of Austen and Dickens (I take these names from the post made by Lucia of The Blue Bookcase)...their chosen writing style belonged to the language and syntax of their times. They were household names; Dicken's stories came in newspapers - surely the common man was reading them! However, language is a living thing that shifts and changes according to culture and the times. Since none of us talk like Shakespeare or Austen or Dickens, we are bound to find the language difficult to understand. Constant reading of literature form the distant past familiarises use with the language and style, thereby making it easier for us to understand these writers' works.

Really, if you take contemporary literary fiction, the language isn't hard at all, simply because it is a language of our times. Years and years from now, some reader would likely find the likes of The Poisonwood Bible and The Book Thief and Memoirs of a Geisha rather archaic. But it isn't for us and so it isn't difficult to read. However, Joseph Conrad comes to mind, in terms of 'difficult' literature - and I'm not talking about the language. Conrad's language is brilliant. And contemporary enough for us to understand. However, it's the themes he deals with that weigh heavily on our (I don't mean everyone) inability to read through it quickly or take time for us to digest the content. In my mind, I'm thinking of The Heart of Darkness - a rather thin book in terms of pages, but so weighty in terms of content that it took me nearly two weeks to complete it! That to me, is difficult literature. And while the afore mentioned titles mark contemporary classics, dealing with interesting and/or relevant themes and ideas that make us think and ponder, they do not fall under 'difficult' literature. Neither, for that matter, do Austen's and Dickens' works.

Short Stories on Wednesdays #9

2011-09-07T18:07:00.001+05:30

In the last week I found myself reading four short stories. All of them very short. Two of them are by a very young British author called Ben Galley, and two others were suggestions by other bloggers for the RIP Challenge I'm taking part in this year.

Shorts Stories by Ben Galley

I came across this writer when browsing through amazon for free kindle editions. He has a fantasy novel called The Written that seems to be doing pretty well. I decided to check out his website and found that he had three short stories of his up for anyone to peruse. I read two of them (the shorter ones, that is), and found that I quite liked the way this writer wrote. I'm really looking forward to picking up The Written sometime in the next couple of months or so.

"The Watchers" - This short story was about five pages long and was mostly dialogue. It was amusing, funny and intriguing - in that we don't know who the conversationalists really are. The watchers are, seemingly, on duty, keeping an eye on earth. One of them is dreadfully bored, the other is very sincere about his job. Hilarity ensues. I did suspect them of being angels at first. But then the end was rather confusing. Honestly, I wish we knew a little more of who or what these people were.You will find the story HERE.
"The Cardinal" - This was two pages long, simple, yet quite effective. The story is a series of thoughts and memories a bird has as he looks at his old home. It runs along the idea of reincarnation. Not particularly remarkable, but nice. You will find the story HERE.

"The Demon Lover" by Elizabeth Bowen

I read this one on the recommendation of Mel. It was an easy simple read. Eerie, which is what I was looking for considering the challenge. A woman returns to her shut up home in London, many years after the bombing from the Second World War. She sees a mysterious letter addressed to her, and memories come flooding back of a soldier who was once her fiance. A man who seemed to control her in some unexplainable way. Now he offers to meet her at a certain hour again. She begins to panic. The rest is suspense. While I found the ending rather predictable, Bowen's writing did manage to create that atmosphere of tense fear. I'm looking to reading more of Bowen's short stories! This short story can be found HERE.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe

It was recommended, by alittlefuzzy and Michelle, that I start out with this short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Everyne seemed to agree that it was one of his better horror short stories. I honestly don't know about that. But I do know that he was freaky to be reading of a murder from the perspective of the murdered - that is, by a psychopathic murder. He makes light of his motives, simply because he sees nothing wrong in them. He likes his old grandfather, but this old man has a cataract eye that scares the narrator out of his wits. So his grandfather has to go. The narrator is fine about it...the murder does not prick his conscience. Or...does it? I couldn't help but be reminded of the mad man in Dracula, the one who knows a great deal about the count, and tries to warn the group after him. I can't say I'm particularly enthusiastic about Poe after this. But I'll be reading on...

So, what short stories have you been reading this past week?

What I'm Reading as of 6 September 2011

2011-09-06T11:41:00.000+05:30

Reading, for me, has been rather slow for over a week now. I haven't found much time to do any reading, plus, once I get on the internet I'm stuck for at least two hours! A waste of time, sometimes. However, I have been reading for about 10 to 15 minutes every now and then. Currently, these are the books I have going...

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Honestly, I've reading this book throughout August and I've only just crossed the halfway mark! It isn't because this book is boring. When I think about it I wonder what's so great about the novella. But each time I pick it up I find that the pages just fly by. I really enjoy the few minutes that I peruse the pages of Mrs Dalloway. However, as you might have already done the math, you can see that I very rarely pick this one up. I hope I'm able to finally finish this by the end of the week!

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

I started reading this last night, and have finished just one chapter. I'm finding it very charming, though. And I know that I'll be finishing this little novel soon enough. I love the breath of fresh air that it really is! I've already noted down a couple of quotes from this chapter in my Tumblr page:

When Mole sees the river for the first time - ...The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spellbound by exciting stories... (read the whole quote)
Mole's introduction to the fascinating Toad - ...Last year it was house-boating, and we all had to go and stay with him in his house-boat, and pretend we liked it. He was going to spend the rest of his life in a house-boat... (read the whole quote)

The Gods of Dream by Daniel Arenson

I've got the free Kindle edition of this novel, and so far it's quite interesting. Dream is a beautiful perfect world that is slowly being taken over by Nightmare. It is up to a pair of twins to save Dream from being completely run over. So far I'm three chapters in, and I like the way things are going. I hope it continues to be a good read...right up till the end.

Book Meme: Day 07 - Most underrated book.

2011-09-05T09:49:00.000+05:30

I've mentioned how I don't really work well with extremes, right? Besides, the above title is rather hyperbolic in scope. So, I'll mention a book I feel ought to get more attention than it ought, rather talk of how underrated it is. Yes. I see a difference between the two. I would mention liking to see more of Stephen R Lawhead and his works, especially on blogs of fantasy fans, but as I've already mentioned one of his series in two posts so far in this meme, I'll bring up another fantasy author and her work.

Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell looks rather daunting with its story of over 1000 pages and its tiny print. But it is a rather fast paced book once you are past the first fifty pages. Personally, I haven't really come across any other book like this in my fantasy reads, save for an intriguing short story by Mark Chadbourn called "Who Slays the Gyant, Wounds the Beast". The story is set during the Napoleonic wars, and revolves around two practicing magicians. They are each experts at what they do, and they are each other's greatest rivals. Perhaps, only rivals? As the chapters go by their powers and their rivalry get stronger and stronger, and in the midst of it all, history takes place that is, at many points, helped along by these two magicians. There are a great many footnotes as is likely to be found in a good history book. The footnotes are a must read because they detail little stories of Faerie that help the main plot along. It's a fantastic book, full of the dark, eerie atmosphere that one is bound to attach to original folk faerie tales. I really think that fantasy and non-fantasy fans alike ought to read this book. It's a rather unique experience in my opinion. And your barely notice the enormity of the pages!

For a more full-fledged review have a look at Becky's beautifully detailed one at Page Turners.

My First Foray Into R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril

2011-09-04T22:21:00.001+05:30

I saw this challenge last year as many blogs took part. But, as I was new to book blogging myself, and the R.I.P. Challenge (hosted at Stainless Steel Droppings) looked a bit too dark for me, I stayed away from it. I didn't think I would be joining it this year either, until I saw that the genres involved are quite vast as long as they involve suspense and/or gothic elements. So, I've decided to give this a shot. I don't want to be too ambitious with this challenge, considering I've already got some books lined up for me to read in the next couple of months. However, the various levels include short stories, and I figured I'd try and read one novel as well.

As it stands:

This level requires me to read one book that falls within any of the categories of suspense, mystery, horror, thriller, dark fantasy, gothic or the supernatural. I've decided to take my pick from out of the following:

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (gothic)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (gothic)
Winter Warriors by David Gemmel (dark fantasy)

My choice will depend on my mood. But I've a strong feeling I'll be going for the Gemmel.

I've decided to read at least one story a week that falls under the above mentioned categories. I don't know as yet, what I could read. I'd love to hear of some suggestions for short stories that would fall under the dark genres. Right now I'm thinking Poe would be a good bet?...

Book Meme: Day 06 - A book that makes me sad.

2011-09-01T12:41:00.000+05:30

It took me awhile to figure out what book makes me sad. I can't say I had to choose from much, for there are many books that do not come to mind right now. However, Little Women did pop into my head, and I decided that I would mention how Good Wives, the sequel to Louisa May Alcott's afore mentioned work, makes me sad. It is sad because *spolier alert*, for one, Bessy dies - the sweetest of the four sisters. Then there is the choice Jo makes not to marry Laurie. I always hated reading Good Wives because of this scene. I felt Laurie deserved Jo, and I disliked it much when he ended up with Amy. *end of spoiler* Reading about Jo and the old professor was something of an anti-climax for me.

I recall a few other gut-wrenching stories. But as they are from so long ago, and I don't remember why they saddened me, I shall just stick to the above details.

Is there any book you've read that makes you sad?

Book Meme: Day 05 - A book that makes me happy.

2011-08-31T18:39:00.001+05:30

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster, popped into my head when I read this. The only other books that came to mind were books by Georgette Heyer and, since I'm reading L M Montgomery right now, her too. But yes. Daddy-Long-Legs has been a favourite read to relax with. I haven't read it as many times as I would have liked to, but I have read it enough times to know that I could read it from cover to cover many more times and never ever get bored with it. It's a light-hearted, fun, epistolary novel that brings to light four years in an orphan girl's life. From drudgery, a kind trusty discovers potential talent in her, and educates her. But she hasn't a clue who he is. All she knows is that he has very long legs as seen as a shadow on the wall. The shadow-legs, having reminded her of the spider, prompts her to nickname him Daddy-long-legs. She keeps him updated on all the new things she learns at college, the friends she makes, and the hearts she breaks. She is simply hilarious, and there are some fun little doodles that make the letters more 'real' in a way. Whenever I pick this book up to read, I finish it with a warm, happy feeling.

If you haven't read it, I would suggest you do. You can't help but be cheered by such an orphan as Jerusha Abbot. :D

Why I love...Brer Rabbit!

2011-08-31T18:24:00.001+05:30

Why I Love Wednesdays is a meme hosted at Reflections of a Bookaholic.

This week's topic is Children's Book.

I know the last time I mentioned a series in this meme, it was one by Enid Blyton. I'm going to mention Enid Blyton's Brer Rabbit series now. I simply can't help that as, truly, quite literally I grew up on her. :D So then, Brer Rabbit is supposed a rather folksy creation, not really belonging to Enid Blyton. But I've always loved reading her stories on this cunning little animal. Even now I have Brer Rabbit's a Rascal...at least, it's somewhere in the huge collection of books that is vastly my mom's. I've never tried reading a Brer Rabbit story by any other writer. I guess I should try that when my son is old enough to understand. I'm definitely getting him an Enid Blyton one as well!

Any of you have any book from your wee years that you remember with much fondness?

Short Stories on Wednesdays #8

2011-08-31T18:05:00.001+05:30

A Brief Note on "The First Dragoneer". And in Other News.

2011-08-29T20:20:00.003+05:30

The book.

So, I was looking for something really light to read on my husband's iphone, and spent some time browsing through the fantasy section. (It's been ages since I've read something on elves and dragons and I'm missing it.) I came across a free novella by M R Mathias called The First Dragoneer (click on link to Goodreads' blurb and free ebook). It sounded promising and the reviews were good. I 'pick it up' and read through it quickly.

It's a well-written story about a couple of youth on the threshold of manhood, who go hunting. They come across a huge cave outside the safety of their kingdom's borders and an adventure they sure couldn't forget for the rest of their lives.

However, after this adventure, things moved to quickly, without pause. The story seemed to go out of control, rushed, as though the writer decided that he had given his readers enough of a prequel and it was time to get to the real thing. I found it disappointing in away, especially after the detailed description of these boys on a final hunt and the exploration of the cave. Also, at the end, I was reminded so suddenly and strongly of Christopher Paolini's Eragorn. A dragon, dragon rider, and the connection between the minds of two completely different beings.

This novella is the prequel to the actual Dragoneers Saga, and consists of the first two chapters of The Royal Dragoneers. I did not read those two chapters as I wasn't sure I would be able to read this series, and I preferred not to be tempted too much. I would recommend this, though. M R Mathias has a great deal of writing potential, and premise of the story sounds interesting.

~0~0~0~0~0~

In other news.

The blog has been really quiet the past few days in terms of interaction. For the first time in a long, long time I was able to check my blog on the weekend, and was disappointed to find that there was absolutely nothing to to check on! On the other hand, I've been doing a lot of blog exploring and discovering new blogs, commenting on interesting posts. It's been fun!
Earlier this evening I opened my latest blog, Lead, Kindly Light. It's a separate place for me to record my journey of faith whenever I remember to do so.
In a couple of days I hope to have a short list of fairly contemporary books for those interested. I'm doing this on the request of Jillian from Random Ramblings. I hope she and others will find it useful. Let me remind you that list won't be very long, I'm afraid. Most of it will be fantasy and literary fiction.
I haven't been doing much reading since Gone with the Wind and Sense and Sensibility (click on titles to go to discussion posts). I've just been reading Mrs Dalloway piece-meal and I discovered another fantasy book called The Gods of Dream (click on link for Goodreads' blurb)by Daniel Arenson, which I'm reading bit by bit on my husband's phone.

And that's it for now!^_^

Book Meme: Day 04 - Favourite book of my favourite series.

2011-08-29T19:48:00.000+05:30

Having mentioned in my previous book meme post that Song of Albion is my favourite series, I have to say now that my favourite book from the trilogy is The Silver Hand (Book 2 of Song of Albion). The entire series is written in the first person. Books 1 and 3 are narrated by the whiny university student I mentioned, in the previous post, was the hero (Lewis/Llew). Book 2, however, is narrated by the hero's bard, Tegid. Of the three I find this book to be most lyrical and full of stories within stories. Tegid is blind (in this book), and whatever is narrated is what Tegid sees through the eyes of Llew. Later, he is blessed with inner vision, and what is narrated is somehow more 'clear'. This is also the book that sees Llew grow the most, where he begins to show the qualities, courage, and decision-making capabilities of a king.

Book Meme: Day 03 - My favourite series.

2011-08-27T11:50:00.001+05:30

The Song of Albion is my favourite trilogy. It falls under the genre of fantasy, but really has a historical base in Celtic lore and legend. It is also the only set of books of its kind written by Stephen R Lawhead, one of my favourite writers. The story is based on the concept that the Otherworld is a parallel and perfect form of what our world is. But, it is not a faery world. It is the world of the Celts, old Britain once called Albion. The two worlds are intertwined by the Endless Knot, that, at the time the story begins, is showing signs of unraveling. Two Oxfort history students go out to explore all the strange things that have been happening around England, and one of then, Simon, disappears through a portal into the Otherworld. Lewis, Simon's friend, and the hero of the trilogy, is egged on to follow Simon and get him back before the latter can corrupt the Otherworld, thereby destroying our world.

Lewis is a whiny, annoying character, whom we see growing into a noble warrior of Celtic legend through the pages of the three books. We witness the destruction of beautiful Avalon and its bards, and the survival of the tribes and clans under Lewis' leadership.

Lawhead's writing has a literary, lilting quality to it, in spite of its modernity. I love the little stories he has within his stories, and the plot is rather complex, it is very gripping.

A Change in the Read-along Concept. And Announcing Next Month's Book for Discussion.

2011-08-27T01:57:00.004+05:30

So far, in the thirteen months I've been book blogging, I have been a part of three read-alongs. Not one of them have I managed to pace according to the schedule set. Once I began those books I simply had to finish them. I'm talking of Evenlina that was hosted at The Duchess of Devonshire, Gone with the Wind which is currently being hosted at The Heroine's Bookshelf, and my own read-along of Sense and Sensibility. All three books I finished well ahead of time, and, especially with the last, found my discussion post lagging behind. I sometimes wonder why I love taking part in these events. I have understood, now, that this is because I enjoy the discussions that follow. I love the freedom of stating spoilers from the novels, knowing that others are reading it too, and will be able to discuss things in detail with you.

Some of you might have noticed, that a couple of months back, I had a post up scheduling a read-along for each month from August 2011 to December 2011. I fear, that if I go ahead with these read-alongs my discussion posts are likely to falter as they have done this month. This is mostly because, having read the entire book, I find it difficult to not be influenced by everything I have read when only trying to comment on a certain portion of the novel. However, I do not want to do away with these read-along all together. So I have come up with a different plan.

I have decided to rename these Read-alongs, and call them Book Discussions instead. The idea is to read the book of the month at any pace we like. In the last week of said month I will make a post regarding the novel and the discussions may begin. Anyone is welcome to make their own blog posts on the novel as long as they link back to the main discussion post and let me know so that I might link back to theirs. There will be only ONE post on the novel for discussion. If there is more than one it will only be because I am separating themes or concepts to make discussing easier.

Having said all this, I'll be hosting a Book Discussion of The Scarlet Letter next month, i.e., September. If anyone would like to join in, please do let me know in the comment section of this post. Also, there were a few who expressed an interest in reading The Scarlet Pimpernel together. If you're still interested let me know here.^_^

Any questions? Please don't hesitate to ask.

Book Meme: Day 02 - A book I've read more than three times.

2011-08-26T16:55:00.001+05:30

I've read so many books more than three times, I'm not sure which one to mention! I've just been scrolling through my goodreads lists to see if there's a book in there I haven't mentioned before, but it seems I've mentioned most of them more than half-a-dozen times on this blog. A quick glance through my shelves also confirms that I've mentioned everything in there. Most of my re-reads have been the classics. But keeping in mind someone's soulful request that I mention something more close to our times or belonging to our times, I'm going to go completely non-classical and mention a favourite fantasy series of mine - Dragonlance: Chronicles.

This is an original series by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. These two authors are responsible for inventing the world of Krynn where there be dragons and elves and dwarves, and a little, heretofore unheard of people, the kender. This particular series revolves around a war that is to take place as the Dark Queen, Tarkhisis, tries to take over all of Krynn. There is so much that happens, once noble knights who have forgotten their code of honour, powerful dragon lords who serve the dark queen, thousands of draconians (dragon/lizard men) who make up the majority of the dark army (and their breed is a puzzle until the story of the good dragons is revealed), two powerful elven kingdoms pitted against each other due to extreme pride, and in the midst of all this, a band of unlikely companions (a half-elf, an elf, a dwarf, a kender, a knight, a warrior, a mage and a barmaid) who are firm friends, set out to move the pieces on this chessboard of pure, unadulterated fantasy.

While there is nothing extraordinary about the writing in this series, there is a lot of humour and I love the way the stories and plots run. They keep you at the edge of your seat, never at any point, stalling or dragging their feet. Two of my favourite fantasy characters also come from here - Tasslehoff Burrfoot, a help-full child-like creature that belongs to the kleptomaniac race called the kender, and Raistlin, the sullen, dangerous mage with white hair and hour-glass eyes.

If you love fantasy, I think this series is a fun and appreciative read.Yes, I've read it at least three times, and each time it has been for a fun, relaxing, adventurous ride.

The three books are:

Dragons of Autumn Twilight

Dragons of Winter Night

Dragons of Spring Dawning

Sense & Sensibility: Final Discussion

2011-08-26T11:48:00.001+05:30

I want to start out with an apology to all those of you who came in last week looking for a post on volume 2. I'm afraid the reason I did not make a post last week was because I had completed the book by then and I found, while trying to prepare a post for volume 2, that it was clouded with the conclusions I had come to by the end of the novel. I found it really hard to write the post without bringing my knowledge from the final volume in to play. So, I figured I would combine the two into the final post.

A brief summary

Volume 2: Elinor is labouring under the knowledge of Edward's secret engagement to Lucy Steele. Mrs Jennings invites the elder Dashwood sisters to London during the winter. The girls go mainly because Marianne is eager to see if she can get in touch with Willoughby. Once at London, she sends him a couple of letters, letting him know that she is in town. But she gets no response. She sees him at a ball where he is rather cold towards her, and learns the next day, that he is engaged to Ms Grey, an heiress. Marianne is heartbroken, and Elinor tries to shield her from prying questions. In the meantime, Lucy Steele flatters her way into John Dashwood's household. Elinor watches all this with mixed feelings, glad that at least she won't have to face Mrs Ferrers, Edward's formidable mother, and Lucy's future mother-in-law. With news of Willoughby's going round about town, Colonel Brandon tells Elinor what he knows of him in the hopes that Marianne might realise that she is better off without Willoughby. It turns out that Willoughby, only a year before, seduces the colonel's ward and leaves her to have a baby on her own.

Volume 3

Lucy's engagement to Edward is out in the open, and the John Dashwoods and Mrs Ferras are none too happy. Edward is disinherited when it seen that he refuses to dishonour Lucy by calling off the engagement. Marianne is shocked to learn that Elinor has known of this for four months, and has kept it quiet because of a promise to Lucy not to let anyone know. Heartbroken and tired the sisters long for home and their mother.They leave with the Palmers, intending to stay with them for a week before going on towards home. During that one week Marianne falls seriously ill. Colonel Brandon sets off to get Mrs Dashwood to her sister. In the meantime, Willoughby learns that Marianne might be dying. He rides over to the Palmers and meets Elinor. He tells her why he left for London so abruptly. It turns out, that they day before he left, his rich aunt confronted him with the affair of Brandon's ward. She said that all would be forgiven if he married the girl. But Willoughby refused and so his aunt disinherited him. As a result, he felt the need to find himself and heiress. He declares that he is unhappy and that he always loved Marianne. He asks that Elinor tell her that. Marianne recovers and the girls and their mother are finally home. Days pass and they learn that the Ferrers are in the country. Edward rides up to meet them, and polite questions lead to the knowledge that Edward is not married. Lucy has been clever and has ensnared Edward's younger brother, Robert. Edward proposes to Elinor and they are married. Colonel Brandon courts Marianne for a time and they are married at the end. Both sisters live near each other and are very happy. The End.

Characters

As usual, once having begun an Austen, I found it hard to put the book down more than it was absolutely necessary. I love the way she says so much in just dealing with a handful of families. Each of her characters are so unique and yet so universal. I read somewhere that, being her first full-fledged novel, the characters in Sense and Sensibility were more of types than individuals; that the characters were not completely rounded. Perhaps, thinking about, this is so with the exception of Elinor and Marianne themselves. I'm sure, if possible, there could have been so much more to the Middletons, the Palmers, the Dashwoods, and even to Edward, Willoughby and Colonel Brandon. However, I do not see this as a problem. Each of these characters serve the purpose of the story, I think, and serve it well.

Sense and Sensibility (Elinor and Marianne)

As is rather obvious, Elinor stands for the 'sense' in the title, and Marianne for 'sensibility'. The two sisters are so vastly different from each other in terms of their personality and their way of thinking. Elinor is so completely down to earth, practical, and aware of the social graces that she faithfully adheres to, while Marianne is a creature of extremes, extreme happiness and abject dejection, living in the moment with no thought of the future consequences, speaking her mind with not much concern for others save her sister(s) and mother.

How they love

I suppose this difference is most clear in the way these two young women love. Elinor's love for Edward is quiet. She dare not presume that things will work out. Yet she, obviously, enjoys the little time she gets to spend with him. To her it does not matter that Edward cannot understand her paintings or read with passion or appreciate music. To her, it is enough and perhaps, more important, that Edward is a man of good sense, gentleness and honour. In fact, we see how much Elinor takes pride in Edward when her refuses to call off his engagement to Lucy. No doubt she wishes he would, but the fact that he sticks by honour makes Elinor respect and love him all the more, for she sets great store by loyalty.

In total and complete contrast we see the passionate affair between Marianne and Willoughby. Marianne does not care a whit about propriety, and takes for granted that she will end up with Willoughby. For her, it is a joy to discover a man who is as passionate as she is and adores music and books. She totally disregards things like honour and good breeding (I say this because, right from volume one, we see a Willoughby who does not grant Marianne the respect of a well-bred young woman in society). Yet, in the country all can be forgiven while everyone believes these two, with their obvious lover-like ways, will make a match of it. At the end, I wonder if Marianne could ever have respected Willoughby, even had she married him and then learnt of his treatment of Colonel Brandon's ward. For all her passionate and free ways, Marianne, we know, is a young woman who does respect honour. It is another aspect that her ideal man should have.

Even in grief, one suffers in silence, believing that her pain is her own and the whole world need not know that she grieves, while the other grieves so openly not caring if the world sees her pain.

Money and happiness? - roles switched at the end

Somewhere in volume one, Elinor and Marianne discuss the importance of money. Elinor believes that money is an important ingredient to happiness in a marriage, while Marianne believes otherwise. She does not see how money can contribute to happiness when all one needs is love. Sense and sensibility. At the end, though, we see that Elinor marries Edward who hasn't any money to his name save the couple hundred pounds a year he earns from the parrish. Marianne, though, ends up being married to the rich Colonel Brandon, though, one must admit, she does not marry him for the sake of the same. So, we see, that Elinor marries for love; Marianne out of strong esteem and lively friendship. And, in time, Marianne grows to love her colonel as much as she once did Willoughby.

Setting Edward and Willoughby side by side

It's quite interesting, the contrast that we see in the Dashwood sisters' lovers. Willoughby is rather flambouyant in his manner and way of expressing himself. He sets himself out to charm and flatter and rather skillfully becomes the life of the party. However, personally, I found him to be insincere at times, and as selfish and uncaring as a child. I was quite disgusted by his reaction when Colonel Brandon gets a letter that obviously agitates him and he needs to leave to London at once. Willoughby is rather inconsiderate in his remarks. But most of all, Willoughby is not a man of honour. He seduces a young woman who bears his child, leaves her and runs away, and later refuses to make "an honest woman out of her". One wonders how far he would have gone with Marianne and he been a while longer in her company.

Edward, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of Willoughby. He might be quiet and unassuming, but the way he stands by an unwanted engagement speaks of a strength lacking greatly in Willoughby. It marks Edward, in my book, as a man. I also find it interesting that Edward gave no explanation to Elinor that might in anyway dishonour his fiance. While, Willoughby, married, comes to Marianne to unburden his heart at a time when she is so ill. I think, this way, he dishonours both his wife and Marianne. Why can he not leave well alone? Doesn't he believe he has done enough damage? I really disliked the fact that he came to 'explain'. It only serves to drive the knife in deeper, I think.

A moral?

The last few pages of Sense and Sensibility read like a moral to the story.

Marianne Dashwood was born to an extraordinary fate. She was born to discover the falsehood of her own opinions, and to counteract, by her conduct, her most favourite maxims. She was born to overcome an affection formed so late in life as at seventeen, and with no sentiment superior to strong esteem and lively friendship, voluntarily to give her hand to another! - and that other, a man who had suffered no less than herself under the even of a former attachment, whom two years before, she had considered too old to be married, - and who still sought the constitutional safe-guard of a flannel waistcoat! But so it was. Instead of falling a sacrifice to an irresistible passion, as once she had fondly flattered herself with expecting, - instead of reamaining even for ever with her mother, and finding her only pleasures in retirement and study, as afterwards in her more calm and sober judgement she had determined on, - she found herself at nineteen, submitting to new attachements, entering on new duties, placed in a new home, a wife, the mistress of a family, and the patroness of a village.

Seems to me a debunking of all Marianne stands for and believes in in the first half of the novel.

Can it be that Austen is punishing one pair for their complete lack of sense? Can it be that Austen is judging them for their lack of sensibility other than what revolved around themselves? For even Willoughby is forced to realise that only, had he been faithful to Marianne, he would have had both love and money. And, perhaps of the two, Willoughby is the one who is really punished for Marianne gains happiness in security and the love of her husband whilst Willoughby still longs after her.

Willoughby could not hear of her [Marianne's] marriage without a pang; and his punishment was soon afterwards complete in the voluntary forgiveness of Mrs Smith, who, by stating his marriage with a woman of character, as the source of her clemency, gave him reason for believing that had he behaved with honour towards Marianne, he might at once have been happy and rich. That his repentance of misconduct, which thus brought its own punishment, was sincere, need not be doubted; - nor that he long thought of Colonel Brandon with envy, and of Marianne with regret.

So, what do you folk think of Austen's first novel?

Do you agree with her finale for her heroines? Do you believe this story should have ended differently? Why? Why not?

What do you think of the concept of 'concealment' in the novel? It would seem that the whole story is based around what many characters and only some know.

Other Bloggers' Posts

Amy @New Century Reading: Sense and Sensibility
Sophie @Life Between Pages: Volume 2 and Volume 3

Short Stories on Wednesdays #7

2011-08-24T13:08:00.005+05:30

"The Golden Key" by George MacDonald

George MacDonald is a Victorian writer who is said to be the first to write fantasy or fairy stories for adults. His best know "adult fantasy" is Phantastes. This particular short story, "The Golden Key" was stated by Tolkien, to be one of his finest short story pieces. The preface to this story reads that quite a bit of MacDonald's fantasy work was Christian allegory without the preaching and moralising.

The story is like that of a fairy folktale. It is about a boy and girl who are drawn, separately, into Fairyland whence they are each caught up in a mission - he, to find the keyhole to the golden key he carries, and she, to be his helper. They lose each other in the country of shadows, but they each move on having been advised to do so by the lady who first sets them on their path to discovery. As does time pass in Fairyland, this boy and girl go through adventures that gain them experience and wisdom in what seems like days but are really many, many years. By the time they see each other again, he is a handsome man nearing his middle-age, and she is a beautiful woman full of wisdom. They come to the end of their journey separately before he finally finds the keyhole for the golden key, and ultimately to the country form whence the shadows come.

I didn't read the preface to this story until after I had read it. However, all the while was reading this I could not help but feel it was allegorical in nature. It's like the boy and girl set out on a spiritual journey to find truth. On the way they learn wisdom and understanding, and they see glimpses of heaven that they are finally able to experience in full at the end of their journey. The story was strange and fantastical, and while I felt the beginning was rather slow and dry, it began to pick up towards the middle as anticipation, of what was to happen next and how the end was to come about, grew.

While I read this from my fantasy anthology, The Mammoth Book of Fantasy, you will find an online text of this story HERE.

"Cik Giok" by Reda Gaudiamo
Mel U had read this story and set a link to it on this meme last week. It is an Indonesian short story, about five pages long. It was sad, touching, and bewildering in a way. I will leave you with a link to The Reading Life for a review. The text can be found online HERE.

So, what short stories have you been reading this week?

On How I've Been Swept off My Feet by "Gone with the Wind"!

2011-08-24T12:39:00.002+05:30

I finished Gone with the Wind this weekend. There is still a part of me that wishes I had prolonged the last few chapters, given myself time to savour the final pages of this indescribable epic. It is such a powerful story of magnificent proportions in terms, not only of story, but of background, setting, and characterization. Seriously, I think Mitchell has a gift for drawing out her characters with such subtle complexity. As Mel says in his review of the same - The characters were amazingly well developed. Just as soon as you think you have a character all figured out they do something that shocks you but you realize it is right in character and you just did not understand them well enough.

Naturally, the most incredibly fascinating of all her characters is Scarlett O'Hara. I hated her. I was fascinated by her. I admired her. I despised her. Oh, and definitely at the end I admired her all over again. I can't say that at any point I loved her or even liked her much. But I admired her traits of common sense although I did not agree with the means through which she worked for her gains. And, of course, the strength she has to survive and help all those, who depend on her strength, to survive as well.

I believe this post is going to be quite a long one. I have so much I want to say about this book that I'll be labeling each part. To those of you who have never read Gone with the Wind, a warning - there will definitely be spoilers ahead.

The "destruction" and "reconstruction" of Scarlett

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara

Right from the start we see glimpses of a Scarlett we cannot much like. We see how she cannot stand it when any of her beau are attracted to her contemporaries. We also see how she "steals" them away with her whiles and charms. We see a determined young woman (I refrain from saying 'lady') who is used to getting her way and knows exactly how to get what she wants. She is like a spoilt child, and there is so little of the woman in her, really. As the story moves on we begin to be aware of her instincts of a survivor. She is strong, so much so, that the only person who truly knows and understands her, Rhett Butler, leaves her alone with four helpless dependents to find their way back to Tara. He knows that she will make it home without getting into danger. As a result we find that Scarlett has no use and spares not pity for the weak. This would explain the utter contempt she feels for Melanie, and later admiration when the latter shows that her spirit is strong even if her body is weak. And yet, considering that she despises weakness in others, she cannot understand that Ashley stands for the kind of weakness she has no patience with. She is so completely obsessed with him that it is too late by the time she realises that the two people she really loves are the two people she has shunned from the start - Melanie and Rhett. Then there is her obsession with money. Her greatest fear is such a basic one and such an earthy one that her drive to never be hungry again causes her so much in terms of the things that truly matter. At the end, though, when she realises that she loves Rhett Butler, she even understands that if they were poor it would not really matter as long as she had love.

I believe all this realisation and loss begins the process of her growing from a willful child to a determined woman. Strange, though, isn't it, that this process begins only toward the end of the novel, not to mention, that in spite of all the trials she goes through up to that point she can still maintain the cruel ignorance of a child. Personally, I like how this entire process of her personality parallels that of the "destruction" of Georgia and the "reconstruction" of the same. In the last page we see that Scarlett is not broken but is as determined as ever to get her way. One can only hope that this time around she would go about it in a more mature manner.

Character foils for Scarlett

I suspect that Mitchell set up almost every character beside that of Scarlett's. The three other main characters are Melanie, Ashley and Rhett. It is quite ironic that the two of these three characters Scarlett has the most in common with, she hates, while she loves Ashley without really understanding or knowing him. Melanie and Scarlett are both survivors. They are both strong in spirit, though Melanie lack physical strength. However, the strong fighting spirits are quite different. Scarlett fights with a will to come up on top, to never be hungry or without money again. Her driving force centres about herself. On the other hand, Melanie's strength is for others. They lean on her and see her as a beacon of light - Ashely, the genteel people of Atlanta, the riff-raff of the same, and quite surprisingly Rhett Butler himself. Of course, Scarlett depends on her a great deal too. Something she realises only when she loses Melanie. If only Scarlett had recognised that the true strength of Melanie was what Scarlett herself understood only as a weakness. Up against Melanie, we see that Scarlett could have survived without losing her soul if only her aim had not been money.

Clark Gable as Rhett Butler

Rhett Butler also serves as a foil to Scarlett. He is also there to show us how much of herself Scarlett destroys in order to never be hungry again. While these two characters are so completely alike in being selfish and unscrupulous in their means, we find that Rhett is still humane. He knows what kind of person he is. He knows the truth about himself. And so, while he laughs at the world he jeers at himself too. He is a cynical man. But he recognises what kind of people he comes across. He realises that Melanie is truly "a great lady" and not hypocrite hiding behind social etiquette. He knows why Ashley cannot survive in the world after the Civil War. Seeing what Rhett is one cannot help but notice that Scarlett is completely devoid of introspection. She is shrewd, smart, but as ignorant as a selfish child. Everything she sees and understands revolve around her insignificant self and so she never realises the worth of the people who are closest to her.

Ashley Wilkes is the one Scarlett has the least in common with. In fact, apart from their background they share nothing else except delusion. They are both so deluded about the other, each thinking that they know the other so well. I found it so frustrating when both of them said things that took for granted that they each understood the other. Even at the end, when Scarlett realises that Ashley is as much a child as she is, and is way more lost than she has ever been, she does not truly understand why this is so.

Ashley, a whimp?

He's only a gentleman caught in a world he doesn't belong in, trying to make a poor best of it by the rules of the world that's gone. (p.1015)

Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes

This is how Rhett describes Ashley to Scarlett when she finds that the latter is not what she had thought him to be. Do I believe Ashley is a whimp? I doubt it. We only say so in comparison to Rhett. But we know that he is indeed noble, honourable and full of physical courage. As he tells Scarlett when she says she fears hunger, he does not fear starvation. What he really fears is living in a world that he does not know, a world that is far removed from the libraries of home. He is, by nature, a gentle man - a man brought up in times of leisure, who lives in dreams, in the writings of the past, in all things that are beautiful, that is art. With the war Ashley has lost his "mainspring". I love the speech that a minor character, Will Benteen, gives at the funeral of Gerald O'Hara:

Everybody's mainspring is different. And I want to say this - folks whose mainsprings are busted are better dead. There ain't no place for them these days, and they're happier bein' dead... (p.704)

I think Ashley's mainspring was Georgia of the past. With it went his will to survive. He was afraid of living. He did not know how he was to live in a world he was not brought up in. I believe those who survived the war, in the real sense, were those who loved a good challenge. The kind of people who perk when something dares them. One has only to look at the aristocrat Rene, and his lame friend, Tommy - both of who obviously reveled in the challenge to remake their lives. And then the determination of others, like Mrs Merriweather, who refused to let anything defeat them. For those like her they were still fighting a war that they had to win. But Ashely had never believed in this war. All he longed for was the past. And he was not alone in his longing.

Everything in their old world had changed but the old forms. The old usages went on, must go on, for the forms were all that were left to them. They were holding tightly to the things they knew best and loved best in the old days, the leisured manners, the courtesy, the pleasant casualness in human contacts and, most of all, the protecting attitude of the men toward their women. (p.598)

Ashley simply didn't have the heart to fight because he never had wanted to fight. Ashley, we see, isn't a doer. He is a dreamer, and so completely misplaced. I doubt, though, that that gives anyone call to say that he is a weakling or a whimp.

Ashley and Rhett

Strangely, whenever I came across either character I never thought of their differences but their similiarities. It's quite amazing how much these two, seemingly different men, actually have in common. As Rhett says (or was it Ashley who did? I cannot recall), fundamentally both men are alike. They come from similar backgrounds and upbringing, even to the extent of their bookish knowledge. Both of them strongly believe that the war is useless, that no good but loss of lives and a way of living can come out of the war. We see how it is the two of them that work to stop the Klan from functioning. And really, it is not ironical. Both are aware of the concept of the "winnowing of the weak". In fact, both of them, at different times tell Scarlett this using almost the same words. Both of them are very self-aware. They have no illusions about themselves. Ashley is aware that he is not made of the mettle needed to survive the aftermath of the war, and he understands why. Rhett knows himself to be unscrupulous and self-centred.

Melanie

Olivia de Havilland as Melanie

It strikes me as interesting that Melanie is what Ellen O'Hara, Scarlett's mother, would have been had she survived the war. The person Scarlett most admired and loved was her mother, and yet she was as unlike her mother as night is to day. It comes to mind how often Scarlett thinks of her mother's teachings only to put them aside saying, none of it makes sense if she and her dependents are not to starve. Yet Melanie retains her gentleness and kindness in the midst of strife, while growing in strength and offering it to others. Really, I think Melanie is the strongest character in the story. She is the pillar of strength where Ashley, Scarlett and Rhett and even Atlanta, are concerned. It is she who boosts up the morale of all the other characters.

Melanie and Rhett

I like the similarity between these two characters. I like how each of them is strength behind their deluded halves. How they are both the reason Ashley and Scarlett, respectively, make it through as far as the end of the novel, and how the latter two realise this only once they have both lost Melanie and Rhett, respectively. I also love the relationship these two have with each other - one of mutual respect and kindly love.

Margaret Mitchell

Mitchell's mouthpieces

I noticed how Mitchell uses certain characters to voice insights into others and the real, underlying situation is Georgia's Southern society. Among these characters Mitchell uses, rather prominently, Ashley and Rhett. They are both observers of the world around them and constantly seek to enlighten Scarlett, and there-by the reader about people, their situations and their motives. Quite often, in fact, Rhett serves as an analyser of Scarlett's nature. Another character who plays an interesting part in the revelation of insights into peoples' nature is Old Mrs Fontaine. While she does tend to miss the mark where Scarlett is concerned (really, I believe Rhett is the only one knows her) she is spot on with every other character including, and especially, Ashley Wilkes and Melanie.

Mitchell's thoughts?

I do not presume to know what Mitchell was thinking as she wrote this story, but it seems to me that Mitchell is just as admiring and despising of Scarlett as most readers are bound to feel. I doubt she particularly likes Scarlett. You can see how much she jeers at her own character even to describing her as having a "shrewd shallow brain" - an absolutely apt description, I think. It also seems to me that Rhett is really Mitchell, or in other words, Mitchell uses Rhett as the portrayer of her feelings regarding, not only Scarlett, but society and its strange sense of honour and dignity when pitted against common sense. And yet, it would seem, in spite of herself, even as Rhett does, that she cannot help but admire this society and admire the strength that is Scarlett's. Perhaps, even in spite of Scarlett, Mitchell loves her as does Rhett.

However, from what I've heard, Mitchell's true heroine is really Melanie. I think this becomes quite apparent when Melanie dies as we see who this affects all the people around her including the other main characters. All of them realise that she was their foundation, in a manner of speaking - the person they depended on for love and kindness and generosity. I think Mitchell also sets Melanie up against Scarlett in showing us how, in order to survive, one need not lose one's humaneness and natural courtesy. Yet, now that I think about it, I wonder, if, in order for Melanie to retain her gentle nature and survive if she did not need Scarlett a great deal in her turn. I think that might be true or Melanie could not have survived - physically that is.

Some things about the emancipation

1. How much did Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin really influence the North's opinion of the South? It seems to me, from this novel, that its influence was great. Also, I read somewhere (I cannot remember where) that this novel was highly sensationalised and not based completely on fact. How true or not true is this?

Hattie McDaniel as Mammy

2. I found it fascinating the way the Southerner think of the "darkies" and the Northerners' reaction to the same. The former treat them so well in spite of their being slaves, and the latter fear and distrust them in spite of freeing them. Big Sam's and Uncle Peter's experiences with the Northerners were really heart-breaking in a way. I'm curious about the real situation at the time. It seems to me, though, that the outdoor slaves did not have much of a good time, though, it would again seem, that these are the ones that were weaned away from the good, hard-working and trustful lot.

Well, that's it for now. I think I have covered all that I have wanted to cover, and I've rambled on quite a bit!

I loved this so much, though. And thanks to Jillian and her passion for Gone with the Wind and Margaret Mitchell that really spurred me on to pick up this brilliant novel. :D

Books I've Enjoyed But Haven't Reviewed

2011-08-23T23:14:00.000+05:30

Today's Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and the Bookish, asks for a really interesting list! I'm going to try and avoid mentioning favourites of mine that have featured more than twice on lists and as mentions on my blog in spite of their never having been reviewed here. You will notice that most belong to the fantasy genre. Others I have mentioned time and time again I've decided to avoid mentioning them. So, in no particular order...

What I've read this year and haven't reviewed yet...

1. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

I took my time about beginning this book, but once I did I simply couldn't put it down. It was simply brilliant...especially at the beginning. I felt it dragged a bit in-between when Michael is in Sicily, but on the whole it was a fantastic read! I'd had so much I'd wanted to say about it in a review, but somehow or the other I was not able to get it done.

2. A Long Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brijid Pasulka
This is another book I wish I'd been able to review. It's a debut novel by the author and I found it to be absolutely interesting. She tells two stories at the same time, each taking place at different times in Poland - one just before and during the World War and the other set in the 1990s. The two stories are connected by bloodlines. They are parallel views of Poland struggling through two eras of change. The first is obvious. The second is more subtle, more or less on a cultural and economical level. We read of the strength and courage of the generation that goes through the war, and we read of the confusion and discouragement that reign in Poland two generations later.

3. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan

Ah! Another book I had so much I'd wanted to say! I'd made so many notes on pieces of paper and then lost the lot. This story is about a Chinese American mother and daughter, and their relationship. There's is one of misunderstanding as neither mother nor daughter really know each other. And then, the daughter learns all about her mother's past. Most of the book is about her past and the struggles she goes through before, during and after the war. This too was simply and unputdownable book! I'd love to read more Amy Tan.

Favourites from the past...

4. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci: Volume I by Diana Wynne Jones
My best friend gave me this last year to read guaranteeing that I would love it. And I did! This is the first (and only) time I've read Wynne Jones, and this series was simply fascinating. The idea of a magician with nine lives and their strange powers had me swiftly flying across the pages and enjoying every minute of it! There aren't any set heroes or heroines. The series is held together by the concept itself.

5. The Heart of the Matter by Grahame Greene
Quite honestly I cannot recall details of this story. I read it so long ago. But I do recall my reaction to it, and it was a story that left me breathlessly fascinated. I'd read it a couple of years of The Power and the Glory, and decided I needed to give the latter another go after being hit by this book. The story is about a police officer in an African state during a war, and his staunch integrity that begins to crumble. I really should read this one again.

6. The Way to Dusty Death by Alistair MacLean

Alistair MacLean is one of my favourite authors. I've read almost all his books. They mainly deal with spies and the Second World War. This particular book in my favourite from my MacLean favourites. It has, for its setting, the Grand Prix circuits. The hero loses his brother in a racing accident which turns out to have been a planned one. He is roped in to do some spying for a detective, and the mystery unfolds. I've read this book countless times and I still love reading it!

7. Patrick by Stephen R Lawhead

Some of you might have heard me mention the Song of Albion trilogy. It's a one-of-a-kind series and it is an absolute favourite. This book is based St Patrick. It is a historical mystic book that takes you on a journey through the life of a wealthy Succat who is later made a slave and then goes on to be one of Ireland's saints.

8. The Janus Imperative by Evelyn Anthony

This story is a fast paced novel about a German journalist for a London newspaper who hears a dying man's last word - Janus. He goes on the hunt for this Janus only to learn that he is supposed to be Hitler's son. The son is dead. But a twin sister lives as a nun, and on sight they discover her inherent evil. Obviously she must be stopped from forming the Fourth Reich.

9. Legend by David Gemmel

This was my first Gemmel ever, and the first time I ever read a fantasy novel with such grey characters. There isn't a single character one can call completely good or completely bad. These characters fascinated me no end. I'm sometimes surprised that I've never read more than two Gemmel books. But I hope I can remedy that sometime.

10. The Belgariad by David Eddings

Gareth has grown up on a farm all his life when suddenly he is pitched into a vortex of adventure that he never bargained for. He discovers he is a sorcerer and that there is a prophecy that revolves around him. In other words, this is your fairly typical fantasy quest. But...Eddings has a witty sense of humour that has you chuckling throughout this five-book series. I finished this series in one go within a week!

There are so many more that come to mind. But I'll just stick to the above mentioned.^_^

A Quick Look In!

2011-08-18T22:33:00.000+05:30

I'm so completely hooked! Gone with the Wind is preying on my mind. I simply have to finish it as soon as I can, or else I keep wondering about it. Scarlett fascinates me - at times I admire her, at others I despise her, and then there are times when I wonder if I wouldn't have made the same decision(s) she makes at certain times. Each time I finish a major potion I feel I must post something about it. But my mind goes blank and I decide it's better for me to keep reading rather than to waste time searching for right words to describe all the emotions I feel as I read this epic novel.

So yes, the point of this post is to let you folk know that I'm quite caught up with reading and it might be another day before I can make a decent post.

For those of you waiting for a Sense and Sensibility discussion update, I should have it up by Saturday.

Happy Reading, Everyone!^_^

Book Meme: Day 01 - The best book I read last year.

2011-08-17T18:16:00.001+05:30

There were three new-to-me books I marked with five stars on goodreads last year - The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart, Caesar's Women by Colleen McCullough and Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Of the three, I choose to pick out Dracula by Bram Stoker for today's question. Why? It is the first horror book I picked willingly and then quite enjoyed. It was spine-tinglingly terrifying. And I hate reading anything that makes me sick with terror. But, I truly loved the subtle way in which the horror was suggested rather than laid bare. Stoker's writing style was also of a quality I quite liked. I doubt I would ever read it again, but it is definitely a favourite from last years reads.

Short Stories on Wednesdays #6

2011-08-17T16:59:00.003+05:30

I've just finished reading another fantasy short story from my The Mammoth Book of Fantasy anthology.

"The Valley of the Worm" by Robert E Howard

To those of you who have read the Conan series, Robert Howard would be a familiar name to you. For my part, while I've heard a great deal of raving reviews about the series from my cousin, I've never read anything by this author up until now. The little introductry paragraph to the short story claims that J R R Tolkien was a influenced to a small extent by this writer from Texas. "The Valley of the Worm" is said to be one of Howard's lesser known short stories, but, apparently, it is a fine example of what one might expect from Conan.

The story begins like this:

I will tell you of Niord and the worm. You have heard the tale before in many guises wherein the hero was named Tyr, or Perseus, or Siegfried, or Beowulf, or St George. But it was Niord who met the loathly demoniac thing that crawled hideously up from hell, and from which meeting sprang the cycle of hero-tales that revolves down the ages until the very substance of the truth is lost and passes into the limbo of all forgotten legends. I know whereof I speak, for I was Niord.

The narrator goes on to describe how he is currently dying, living the name and life of one called James Allison. However, his is the culminating conscience of so many past reincarnations, and as he lies dying, his greatest feat as Niord, millennia ago, comes to mind in grave detail. He goes to give a brief background of the race he once belonged to - that of the Aryans - describing how they were a nomad and warring tribe. He then leads us to the specific, as, temporarily, his tribe dwells in peace with a lesser race until Niord's enounter with the demoniac beast that destroys half his clan.

I found myself being drawn completely by the story-telling. Howard doesn't waste any words, and yet the language he uses helps to set the tone for a time long forgotten, or long passed into legend. His is an easy read - one could so easily imagine it being 'told' to another; being passed down by word of mouth. Perhaps, in a way, the narrative echoes Niord's plea at the end:

"Let my tribe remember...Let the tale be told from village to village, from camp to camp, from tribe to tribe, so that men may know that not man nor beast nor devil may prey in safety on the golden-haired people of Asgard. ..."

The narrative resounds strongly of pride in the Aryan race. I do not know if this is a well done personality sketch of Howard's warrior or if these are Howard's thoughts himself. I would rather it was the first, for if it were the second, I would have to say this is a rather racist piece. If the first, then it is surely brilliantly done.

I think I'll go look up some more Robert E Howard. This short piece has given me a taste for his writing, and I would love to see how good the Conan series really is.

An online version of the story can be found HERE.

So, then, what short stories have you been reading this week?

Top Childhood Favourites and Gothic Novels

2011-08-16T17:28:00.000+05:30

This week, The Broke and Bookish have given us free rein to make up a top list that we would love to write. I had some trouble deciding between two lists - My Childhood Favourites and My Top Gothic Novels. I've decided to go with both, listing out 6 from the first and 4 from the other.

My Childhood Favourites (right till I was about 12 or 13 years old!)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott- I loved reading about Jo and Laurie. They were my favourite characters in the book. Especially Jo. And I loved the early scene where the girls would give up whatever they'd been longing for to get their mother something cozy for Christmas. I also loved the end when their father returned home. This was such a cozy read, I loved picking this book up and reading it any time, any where! Having said that, I never took to Good Wives. I hated how Jo and Laurie never ended up together and believe Alcott made a huge blunder by not doing that!
Heidi by Johanna Spyri- ooooo! The little girl who tames her hermit of a grandfather, and falls in love with the Swiss mountains. I loved Heidi and Grandfather! I recall spending so many happy hours reading and re-reading this book. It's been ages and I'm looking forward to reading it again soon...in as original a form as I can get it in, for I read an abridged version of it as a child.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe - I don't know how I would react to this book now. But I do know that this was another book I've read so many times, and loved so much. These were the days when I loved anything that had to do with people surviving on an island. This book appealed to my young sense of adventure a great deal! This classic, too, I read in an abridged version.
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster - Even now, I read this book from cover to cover each time I pick it up. It is such a warm, charming, hilarious book of epistles by a young orphan girl with an eager mind and a generous, yet unknown benefactor. She keeps him updated on her academic and personal progress by addressing her letters to "Daddy-long-legs".
Norwegian Myths - I think the mythology I enjoy reading the most is that of the Norwegians. I grew up reading so many little little stories about Thor and Loki and Odin, and loved them so much more than the Greek gods. Some of my favourite stories are to do with Loki, the fire god and the trickster.
Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery - I think of all the books I've listed out here, the Anne of Green Gables sereis is the only one I never re-read (until now, i.e.). I guess, this was mainly because I never owned this series. I discovered and borrowed them from our school library, and I simply enjoyed them. I definitely consider them a part of my joyful, childhood experiences!

My Top Gothic Novels

Tregaron's Daughter by Madeleine Brent - I believe I've mentioned this book in a previous Top Ten Tuesday post. It has one of my favourite couples Cadi and Lucius. It's all about Cornish fisherman's daughter who is adopted into a gentleman's family when her father dies. The family discovers that she is really the grand-daughter of an Italian Countess, and that Cadi is really an heiress to a vast fortune. The story revolves around the discovery of her Italian family and all the gothic-ness of the results. Embedded in this all is the love of Cadi for her guardian's nephew, in spite of being an social out-cast.
The Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt - This is a typical gothic tale with a gothic castle, a young governess and her handsome employer, a mystery about a dead wife, and how they couple in love beat all odds to survive.
Malispiga Exit by Evelyn Anthony - Set in the early 1900s, there's a mystery that involves a young woman's family. I cannot remember the finer details, but I do recall I enjoyed this novel, so much so that I've read it twice or thrice! It's also by one of my favourite writers from my teen-age years.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - But, of course! This is one of my favourite classics and gothic stories.

I suppose there are others, like Dracula that fall in the above category that I would have loved to put into my to favs. But I figured I'd stick to just 10 books.:)

It's Doing the Rounds: The 30 Day Book Meme

2011-08-16T15:46:00.000+05:30

So, I've been seeing this meme all over the place in the last couple of weeks, and I've finally decided to join the band wagon. Really, for how long could I resist a questionnaire (of sorts) on books! Since I think it a good thing to trace back at least one step, the last person I've come across taking enthusiastic part in this meme is Elena from Books and Reviews.

The meme is quite a simple one: answer thirty questions related to books in thirty days.

For the curious the questions are as follows:

Day 01 – The best book you read last year
Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than three times
Day 03 – Your favorite series
Day 04 – Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 05 – A book that makes you happy
Day 06 – A book that makes you sad
Day 07 – Most underrated book
Day 08 – Most overrated book
Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 10 – Favorite classic book
Day 11 – A book you hated
Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 – Your favorite writer
Day 14 – Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 – Favorite male character
Day 16 – Favorite female character
Day 17 – Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favorite romance book
Day 21 – Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 – Favorite book you own
Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favorite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your favorite book of all time

Interesting questions, no?

While reading through them I realised I might have a tough time answering at least five of them! I only hope I do every one of them justice and I don't leave a question with an answer that reads "I don't know" "I've never thought about it and can't think of any" and the like. That would be sad, wouldn't it? And seeing as this is a thirty day meme, I intend answering these questions in thirty days, though I do not guarantee they will be answered in thirty consecutive days.:D

So Far...

2011-08-16T10:51:00.001+05:30

Okay, time for a blog update, I guess. I'd like to begin by saying I feel as right as rain! It feels so good to be 'normal' with no headaches and sore-throat and fever. It feels good to know I can come back and not be repulsed by my laptop. It feels good to know that I can do some blog-browsing, and get back into the groove of things.

Having said that, I'd been meaning to direct you folk to a post of mine that's being hosted at Stiletto Storytime. It's a post on Georgette Heyer titled A Class of Her Own. One can tell how out of it I've been since I'm sending this alert almost a week after the post has been up! Do stop by and have read.:)
For those of you who are reading Sense & Sensibility this month, or who are following the discussions, the first post for discussion has been up since last Saturday. Post number two will be due this Thursday. I hope you're all having a lovely time with Austen!
In other news, I finished reading Anne of Green Gables a couple of weeks back. I've been meaning to post about it since then and I hope I'll get to do so some time this week. For now I can tell you I had so much fun reading it again! I'm so looking foward to re-reading Anne of Avonlea! I'm also going to try and see if I can watch the movie online. It's been ages.
I have a few thoughts about Gone with the Wind that I would like to share. Whether I get down to it soon or wait until I finish volume three is another question. But I can tell you this - this story is beautiful! I've never read anything on the American Civil War before, and it's heart-breaking. I had no idea the Civil War was rather one-sided from the start. At least, it seems so.
In terms of the Reading Challenges I'm taking part in this year, here's an update:
a) British Books Challenge: I chose to complete 12 books which I have done. However, I hope to increase a bit further. I'm quite surprised I've only read this many so far. There was time when most authors I read were British. But then, I'm happy with the variety I've been reading this year!
b) E-Book Challenge: I had first signed-up for 12 then brought it down to 6 when I found I wasn't able to spend too much time reading online. I've completed said 6 e-books. But it looks like this might increase a bit more by the end of this year, what with my excitement over L M Montgomery and Heidi!
c) Victorian Literature Challenge: I chose to read 7-9 books. I'm only 4 down, but I know this isn't a difficult one to finish by the end of this year.
d) Back to the Classics: This has been a fun challenge where we get to select a book from 8 categories. It's been a fun ride. I had finished about 7 by 8, but decided to stick to my original list and am so down to 6 books. I've two more to go, one of which I reading now (Gone with the Wind), and the other being a The Scarlet Letter that I intend reading next month. So yeah, I should be done with this challenge by the end of September!

Discussion One: Sense & Sensibility: Volume One

2011-08-13T12:19:00.003+05:30

I would like to begin this post with an apology for its delay. I had hoped to stay on schedule for the group read discussions, but I believe this should not be too much trouble, right?

So then, without any further delay I shall begin my thoughts on Volume I of Sense and Sensibility.

Edward admiring Elinor's paintings.

A brief introduction

Apparently Sense and Sensibility, while published in 1811, had its beginnings in an epistolary format labelled Elinor and Marianne sometime in 1795. It saw at least two revisions, one in 1797-1798 when Austen decided to make it a narrative, and revised it further again in 1809-1810. The novel was first published anonymously "by a lady". 750 copies from first edition were sold in about two years. By the time Pride and Prejudice was published early in 1813, the second edition read "by the author of Pride and Prejudice". Then, not considered one of her more popular works, Sense and Sensibility has garnered a great deal of attention since the 1900s, finding a great deal of merit in its themes of passion, rationality and social commentary.

A brief summary of volume one

Mrs Dashwood and her three daughters are left without much after the death of their husband and father. John Dashwood, the son of the first Mrs Dashwood, inherits everything due to an entailment of the property, but he is charged, by his dying father, to provide for his step-mother and half-sisters. John Dashwood, egged on my his rather selfish wife, does not provide much by way of monetary assistance but allows his mother and sisters to stay on at Norland until they should find a small place of their own. John's brother-in-law, Edward Ferras comes to stay at Norland, and a deep bond is formed between him and the eldest Miss Dashwood, Elinor. This does not go well with Mrs John Dashwood and a few nasty words given to her mother-in-law causes Mrs Dashwood to leave her old home at once so that they need not be insulted any more.

Mrs Palmer commenting on how droll
her husband is.

A cousin of Mrs Dashwood, a Sir John Middleton, offers her a cottage on his estate at Barton. The Dashwood women move in and settle down to a simple yet good life when love finds Marianne, the second daughter. Willoughby, who rescues Marianne from a storm while she had twisted her ankle, soon becomes a favourite and frequent visitor. It becomes obvious to friends and family alike that the two are in love and there is a sense of expectancy in the air as they all wait to hear that these two are engaged. In the mean time two sisters by the name of Steele, become guests at the Middiletons' house and become well acquainted with the Dashwood sisters. On hearing that someone by the name of Edward Ferras is a 'beau' of Elinor, the younger Miss Steele, Lucy, seeks to make Elinor her confidante and tells her of a long engagement between herself (Lucy) and Edward. Volume one ends with this secret being reluctantly harbored in Elinor's breast and Willoughby leaving the country so unexpectedly and in such a hurry, with a broken hearted Marianne crying her heart out.

There are, of course, other characters such as Lady Middleton's mother, Mrs Jennings and her propensity for match-making and Colonel Brandon, a quiet, older gentleman, who is also seen to have to quit the country for London due to some ill news he receives a few days before Willoughby is forced to leave.

Embedded questions for discussion...

Willoughby carries injured Marianne
back to the cottage.

Wow! My mind is all over the place right now that I'm not sure where to begin with regard to offering my opinions. I think I might stick to characters, and my opinion on them and the things they do. I would begin with John Dashwood, for his selfishness is, currently, upper-most on my mind. Do you think, had his wife been of a more genial nature, that Dashwood would have gone ahead and settled his original thought of three thousand pounds on his sisters? His character is weak, yes. But lacks a sense of malice which his wife seems to have in abundance. It struck me, how constantly Austen refers to their opulence while Mrs John Dashwood begrudges her mother-in-law and sisters the furniture and the crockery (the only things that could be bequeathed to them) saying they (Mrs J D & fly.) don't have anything; how her in-laws could so easily live in a little cottage with just five hundred pounds a year yet to take that amount out of Harry's (her son's) inheritance would be like reducing him to a pauper. Austen does not seem to be attacking of this sort of behaviour, but one definitely knows how deriding she is really being. I really love the way she brings about this contrast so fluenty and effortlessly.

Sir John Middleton, come to welcome
the Dashwoods to their new home.

I like the contrast between the character of Elinor and that of her younger sister and her mother. Mrs Dashwood and Marianne are so alike that one almost feels Elinor is actually the mother! And yet, one cannot help but respect Mrs Dashwood for the person she is, for the decisions she makes, and all of them for the sake of her daughters' comfort and happiness. Marianne, I find, is very much like your typical, everyday teenager. She is so full of her ideas of what is right and wrong, and she leaves no leave-way for others. She seems to bracket everyone, classify them, in terms of their age, mood, manners and the like. She doesn't seem to look beyond the outer-covering...so she does not see that Colonel Brandon's grim silences are perhaps the cause of old hurts, that Mrs Jennings, in spite of her 'vulgurness' is really, perhaps, the kindest character out there apart from her family members and perhaps, Sir John Middleton. Her obsession with Willoughby I find rather embarrassing. To be wearing her heart on her sleeve?...surelly that isn't a good thing at all! I'm also quite surprised at how, when they have dances, Marianne and Willoughby dance most of them together. I was always under the impression that two dances with a particular partner was the limit!

And is it just me? Or don't you sometimes wonder if perhaps Colonel Brandon and Elinor could so easily make a match of it? They are both very sensible people, quiet, and obviously very comfortable in conversing with each other.

I don't care much for Willoughby. He's too charming. And all that nonsense about the cottage in Chapter 14 where he tells Mrs Dashwood, who is looking to adding a few more rooms to the house, that not a thing should be changed...even those things that are an inconvenience to everybody. Marianne and Mrs Dashwood might find that very romantic and sweet of him to say so. But I think it is quite convenient for him to sputter nonsense when he isn't living the inconvenience! Pfft! What do you think of Willoughby? Especially his attitude toward Marianne? I keep thinking, that if he were truly the gentleman he wouldn't treat Marianne so, well, casually, it seems to me. I guess you can tell that I'm totally anti-Willoughby!

I've noticed something else that I don't know if I ever noticed in Austen before. She doesn't give a description of her characters' looks! I mean, she does state if they have a neat figure or if they round and chubby; if they have fine eyes or grim looks. But there's no mention of 'colouring'. I mean I don't know if Elinor and Marianne are fair haired or dark haired. What colour their eyes are. Or perhaps we could conclude that Elinor's hair is brown, almost the same as Lucy Steele's since there's mention of the lock of hair made into a ring for Edward. But in general there isn't any description of hair and eye colour. Does anyone know why Austen chooses not to give such descriptions? Do you think she was thinking of the universality of her characters? Allowing for anyone to put themselves easily in their shoes?

Oh! And I nearly forgot this one! What do you all think of the Palmers? Especially Mrs Palmer? I find it rather odd that she does not see how every word her husband utters is filled with sarcasm. Can it be she is so in love with him that she does not see this? Or that she does not understand because she herself is of such a cheerful nature?

Other Questions to Discuss
- How do you think Austen represents marriage so far in Volume one? The Middletons and Palmers seem very odd matches. (this question occurred to me after reading Amy's post!)
- What do you think of the Steeles and they way the fawn over Lady Middleton?
- Which character (that is not a Dashwood) do you take to the most so far?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Well...that's all I have for now. The floor is open for discussion!! If any of you have posts or are putting up posts for the first leg of this discussion just leave your links in the comment section so that I can add them to this main post for others to have easy access. Thank you!!^_^

And again, I apologise for the delay. It's taken me two days to write this post!! Yikes!

Other Bloggers' S&S Posts

1. Amy @ New Century Reading - Sense and Sensibility
2. Sophie @ Life Between Pages - Read-along - volume 1 of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Short Stories on Wednesdays #5

2011-08-11T11:16:00.000+05:30

This week had been a pretty bad week for me so far. I've been running a temperature, and after a lot of cajoling finally went to see the doctor yesterday. So now I'm on antibiotics, am drowsy and tired. I apologise to those of you who came looking for post on the short story meme yesterday. I'd hoped to be able to get online briefly just to get that post up. Unfortunately I was too exhausted and the thought of sitting at the computer put me off completely.:-/

However, I'm back now!:D

For those of you who would like to link back to your Short Story posts please do leave your links in the comments section.

For those who are new to this...

What does one do when the Internet does not work...

2011-08-08T11:04:00.000+05:30

...for two days?

Read, of course!

I was rather frustrated that our internet connection had broken. And since it was a problem with our network source, we and our neighbours had to sit out till the company decided to fix things. So, I used this time to read. I generally get so caught up browsing through blogs, constantly checking my emails and twitter account, that quite often I don't read as much as I like to. But, with this two day break I was able to read an (almost) entire book and progress a little further with Gone with the Wind...not to mention getting other household chores done!

What I've read so far...

Completed Anne of Green Gables - I hadn't planned to do any re-reads this year. But I simply could not resist this one, especially after so many many years! I shall have a commentary post on this one some time tomorrow.
Am two chapters short of completing volume 2 in Gone with the Wind for the read-along
Am 10 chapters into Sense and Sensibility for the read-along.

What I hope to finish this week...

Volume 1 of Sense and Sensibility
Volume 2 of Gone with the Wind
Heidi by Johanna Spyri - this one was a huge childhood favourite. I'm really excited about reading it again!
(hopefully) read a few more pages from Mrs Dalloway
catch up on some short story reading...

Changes for next month's read-along

If you look at the read-along schedule for the rest of this year, you will find that I have allotted to short novels - The Wind in the Willows and The Scarlet Letter - for the September read-along. However, Erin of Erin Reads is hosting a read-along of A Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghost, that I so very much want to take part in! As I have also the Gone with the Wind read-along in my schedule for next month as well, I decided I'd cut down on one book. Therefore, next month (i.e. September) I will be hosting a read-along only for The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

I shall have a sign-up post for The Scarlet Letter up by Thursday or Friday this week, after the first discussion post for Sense and Sensibility.

Character Connection: Freddy Standen

2011-08-04T13:49:00.002+05:30

The hero from Georgette Heyer's Cotillion.

When the Viscount, Freddy Standen, first comes onto the scene, we see that he is an incredibly well dressed man, apparently a leader of fashion in London. His manners are simply impeccable. But he is not handsome, merely with a pleasant, amiable countenance; he is not tall, merely of average height; he is not intelligent, in fact he is quite accorded the term 'fool' by his huge family. This does not bother him, of course.

Yet, during the course of the story we learn that far from being a fool, Freddy is really a man of extreme common sense, and while this part of him has never had much of a role to play hither-to, he finds he has to use every ounce of it in order to get his pretended fiance, Kitty Charing, out of all sorts of scrapes. We discover, too, that he is a man with a kind heart...and this is a discovery that Kitty herself makes. Kitty, who had set her cap at her cousin Jack, an absolute libertine, slowly learns that her Freddy is really worth ten of him!

We see in a conversation she has with Freddy's sister, the first signs of her realisation of her feeling for Freddy:

'Was he very much vexed?' enquired Meg. 'He has such stuffy notions!'
   'No, no, he was so kind that I almost burst into tears! And he might have reproached me! I do think,' said Kitty fervently, 'that Freddy is the most truly chivalrous person imaginable!'
   Freddy's sister, regarding her with awe, opened her mouth, shut it again, swallowed, and managed to say, though in a faint voice: 'Do you, indeed?'
   'Yes, and a great deal more to the purpose that all the people one was taught to revere, like Sir Lancelot, and Sir Galahad, and Young Lochinvar, and - and that kind of man! I daresay Freddy might not be a great hand at slaying dragons, but you may depend on it none of those knight-errants would be able to rescue one from a social fix, and you must own, Meg, that one has not the smallest need of a man who can kill dragons! And as for riding off with one in the middle of a party, which I have always thought must have been extremely uncomfortable, and not at all the sort of thing one would wish to happen to one - What is the matter?
   Meg raised her head from the sofa-cushions: 'He w-would say it was n-not at all the th-thing!'
   'Very well, and why should he not?' said Kitty, refusing to share in her hostess' unseemly mirth. 'If you were to hear of such a thing's happening, you would think it most improper, now, wouldn't you?' A sudden thought occurred to her, and she choked, and said, in an uncertain tone: 'As a matter of fact, he said that Lochinvar sounded to him like a d-dashed loose-screw!' (p.245, Cotillion by Georgette Heyer)

I think Freddy is an absolutely lovable character. His final remark from the quote above is so typical of this very down-to-earth, practical character. He might "have no brains", but as Kitty keeps telling him, he is very wise.

After Re-Reading Cotillion: On the Lot of the Non-Aristocracy

2011-08-04T13:14:00.001+05:30

I finished reading Georgette Heyer's Cotillion (click on link for goodreads' blurb) for the second time, last night. I realised while and after I was done that I my reaction to and observation of certain things in the novel had changed a great deal in one year. Last year, when I read it in June 2010, I had given it a rating of 5 stars on goodreads. However, this time, I felt compelled to give it one star less. Why was that?

It's been about a year since I last read a Georgette Heyer before last night. In the last one year, as frequent readers of my blog might have noticed, I have been changing as a reader. I expect different things, different kinds of experiences from what I've been used to for so many years. My reading priorities, in a manner of speaking of changed, and so have my reading expectations. Thus, when I was reading Cotillion again I realised two things: 1) I found myself getting rather impatient with the amount of characters and the unnecessary bits of dialogue that crowded the novel (mind, I quite enjoyed all the wit!); and 2) I realised I was a bit more sensitive (by which I mean observant) to a few things that Heyer so subtly refers to.

As regards the first point, it was the main reason I brought the rating down to 4 stars. I found myself being just a wee bit nervous about re-reading some of my other Heyer favourites in case I took out my annoyance on them as well and brought their ratings down. Really, this is only a matter of 'preference' and not a rant about the author and her works.

As for point two I noticed that Heyer actually does bring out certain living conditions of people not among the bon ton. But these are always overshadowed by the brightness of the romance. In this particular novel I noticed that actually quite a bit is revealed about a governess' lot in those times, simply by the description of Miss Fishguard's mannerisms:

Miss Fishguard's method of entering any room in which she had reason to believe that a tete-a-tete was taking place, was first to peep round the door with an arch smile, saying: 'Do I intrude?' and then, without awaiting an answer, to trip across the floor on tiptoe, as though she feared to disturb a sick person. The habit arose partly from timidity and partly from a resolve never to presume upon her position; and it never failed to irritate her employers. However, as Kitty was well aware, from Miss Fishguard's fund of reminiscence, of the slights and snubs which were a governess's portion, she creditably hid her annoyance, summoned up a welcoming smile, and announced her engagement. (p.63)

Every time this governess was mentioned I could not help but feel a sense of exasperation with her, but also pity...very much the way Kitty feels. It's this sort of sense that Heyer leaves behind with all her mentions of governesses and lady's companions. While not all are alike, most of them are, as are their rather precarious positions in the household the work for. Their lot is so uncertain that they can't really be at ease until the sense of unease becomes a part of their characters and their mannerisms, which, for the most part and through no real fault of their own, tend to annoy and exasperate their employers. Such a horrible position to be in! Heyer manages to convey both sentiments - that of the employer and the employed.

I also noticed the treatment of another type of character - not by Heyer herself, but by one of her other characters. Apparently, if you came from stock that was not of good ton or of trade, making your way up in the world was the toughest thing on the planet without having to sell yourself. A young innocent by the name of Helena is quite stalked by the 'villain' of the story for he intends making her his mistress. The reason? Her mother was once a prostitute, who later married a gentleman. While the girl herself is very well-mannered, shy and frightened, looking only to please her mother, the man in question is determined to treat her like a 'piece of muslin'. Every time I came across her situation I couldn't help shuddering disgust and horror. How uncomfortable and despairing to be in Helena's shoes? Did not she deserve respect? How difficult for the women of those days! I could not help but think, as I read this novel, that I am glad I belong to the era I belong to!

Having said all of this though, I must remind you that Heyer does not focus on these things. Her focus is on the romance and adventure. But, these little tidbits on the side, apart from lending authenticity to her works, also give us some insight into non-aristocratic classes of the Regency Period.

Off at a tangent

I looked up 'cotillion' in a few dictionary sites to see why Heyer had named her book so. According to dictionary.com the cotillion is:

1. a formal ball given especially for debutantes.
2. a lively French social dance originating in the 18th century, consisting of a variety of steps and figures and performed by couples.
3. any of various dances resembling the quadrille.
4. music arranged or played for these dances.
5. a formalized dance for a large number of people, in which a head couple leads the other dancers through elaborate and stately figures.

Keeping these definitions in mind I see why Heyer named this book Cotillion.
a) Kitty Charing was going to London for the first time. It was something of a debut into the ton.
b) There is much intrigue where couples are concerned. Who likes whom? Who will end up with whom? Who is compelled to marry whom? It really is like a dance.
c) As concerning definition no.5, if we take it metaphorically it could mean, with Kitty and Freddy leading the pack, it is they who set rolling the series of events that follow the first three chapters.

So, there we are. I just had to get that out of my system!:D

I'll be doing a Character Connection post on Freddy Standen in a few minutes. Stay tuned!

Round the Blogosphere in August

2011-08-04T11:45:00.000+05:30

August seems to be a very happening month. There are so many activities and events taking place, I feel a bit overwhelmed! It's interesting, though, and so much fun even if I don't take part in everything. It gives one a sense of 'community'. So then, I decided to compile a list of what I know is going on this month, into this single post. Some, you might be aware of, others might be news to you. So here goes!

For Austen Crazies!

Meredith of Austensque Reviews is hosting the Austenesque Extravaganza at her blog this entire month. This event is meant to celebrate the various spin-offs and sequels based off Jane Austen's well-known and well-loved novels and characters.
Old Fashioned Charm is hosting a "birthday party" for Anne Eliot! She is the only character of Austen's whose birth date is given. So, for August 9th, Old Fashioned Charm has some fun things planned!
For those of you who don't know, yours truly is hosting a read-along of Sense and Sensibility this month. The first discussion post is due on Thursday, 11 August.
Stiletto Storytime is hosting the Gems of August 2011, a month long event in tribute to Georgette Heyer, the mistress of Regency Romance. Hop on over to her blog to read the daily reviews and miscellaneous posts by Courtney and her guest bloggers.

Other Events and Challenges

There is an Indonesian Short Story Month being hosted by The Reading Life and Novroz from 1 August to 17 August.
The Art of the Novella is an August challenge to encourage readers to pick up novellas recently brought out by Melville House, and read. More details can be found here.
The Great Gone with the Wind Read-along is being hosted at The Heroine's Bookshelf from 1 August 2011 till 17 October 2011.

Well, I think I've remembered everything. Hope you all have a lovely August!:)

Orange July 2011 Wrap-Up Post: Burnt Shadows

2011-08-03T15:50:00.000+05:30

We're already three days into August and I've yet to write my wrap-up post for Orange July 2011! I joined this event in the hope of reading a 2009 shortlisted Orange Fiction book. I had found it rather a difficult read, and I quite despaired of ever finishing it. I managed to, though, nearly two weeks ago.

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie

The story is about a survivor of the Nagasaki bombing of 1945. Hiroko Tanaka looses everyone she knows and loves, but has the strength to move on. She travels to Delhi, in India, where she knows she will find her dead fiance's sister, Elizabeth, and her family. Elizabeth immediately welcome Hiroko and begins to treat her like she was indeed her sister. With Hiroko's flare for languages, she seeks to learn Urdu from the family employee, Sajjad Ashraf. They fall in love, but the whole chaos that erupts from the partition of India, renders them exiles and they are forced to live in Pakistan after they get married. There is a time loop and they come to the period of the Cold War. Beneath the surface there are factions rising in Pakistan, and the son of Hiroko and Sajjad, gets involved at the age of sixteen. Circumstances cause him to lose someone he loves because of his unwitting involvement in the war. Again, there's a time loop to a few months after the September 11 bombing in New York. We see a Hiroko nearing her ninetieth year, as she dwells with her old friend, Elzabeth, and her grand-daughter, and their sons are involved in a dangerous game of life.

While the story itself was captivating, it was not captivating enough when the language was rather dry. I found that the characterization was rather shallow. There was not a single character that I could relate to on any level. And at some point, the novel began to read as an action novel, with none of the literary quality one would expect in a piece of proclaimed literature. The end of the book takes a rather unexpected turn. There is a sense of completeness and incompleteness; the former in the life of Hiroko and the latter in the suggestion of so much more that could happen. And yet, with all that takes place in this one woman's life, we get pieces of interesting commentary on the effects of war, but nothing from Hiroko's emotional experience itself.

On goodreads I've given the book three stars because of its rather speechless end. Otherwise it had really been courting a two-star rating from me.

Short Stories on Wednesdays #4

2011-08-03T14:59:00.003+05:30

This week I've read only one short story...

"The Absence of Mr Glass" by G K Chesterton

I was a page or two into this story before I realised that this was a Father Brown story. Father Brown is a little reverend who has a gift for solving mysteries. This particular mystery doesn't really come to him for solving. In fact, Brown goes over to a private detective, a Dr Hood, to help solve an issue with one of his parishioners. However, he is in the process of being snubbed when the parishioners daughter, in question, comes bursting in with a tale of one of their lodgers being at death's door.

Both the reverend and the detective hurry over to see what the to-do is about. The moment they step into the room where they espy the 'unfortunate' Mr Todhunter, all trussed up like a turkey ready for the oven, the detective puts on his private-eye hat, metaphorically speaking, and begins to use his powers of deduction to solve the problem of an obvious tussle in the room. Things take a startling turn, though, when every single one of Dr Hood's deductions prove to be wrong. Father Brown solves the 'case', and it is hilarious.

I found, as I read everything concerning Dr Hood, that Chesterton was really poking fun at the likes of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. The former seemed a rather exaggerated caricature of Holmes, and right from the start one can't help thinking that Dr Hood is really the butt of a joke.

If you're looking to read this piece you can find it here.

So, what short stories have you read in the past week?

Short Story Event in August

Mel U of Reading Life is hosting the Indonesian Short Story Month, along with Novroz from Jakarta, from now until 17 August, 2011.

Gone with the Wind: Post One for the Read-along

2011-08-02T12:04:00.000+05:30

I'm reading Gone with the Wind along with a whole lot of other enthusiastic readers, headed by Erin Blakemore of The Heroine's Bookshelf.

The first part of this read-along calls for a discussion of Chapters 1-7, that is, the first volume of the novel. I must admit, at the outset, that I'm already half way through Volume Two, and I hope I do not overlap my views on the first part, with the second. If I do, I don't mind a wrap on the knuckles.:D

For these posts, I'll be answering the questions Erin asks for discussion. And should it be that I have more to say than the answers to these questions allow, then I'll add more of my bit.

Warning: This post is made assuming that whoever reads this will have read the First Volume of Gone with the Wind.

So…what did you think? If you’re reading the book for the first time, tell us what jumped out at you. If you’re already familiar with the book, tell us what you noticed now.

I had barely completed the first couple of chapters when I found myself realising that I had missed out on a fantastic novel simply because of early prejudices. I watched the movie on Gone with the Wind when I was around eleven or twelve. *spoiler alert!* I recall that four hours of continuous screen time with endless dialogue had made me so incredibly restless and the fact that Scarlett does not end up with anyone but Tara, completely upset me. Yes. I hated unhappy endings! *end spoiler*

Hence, every time my mom told me to give it a go, I turned up my nose at it and said it was not worth it. Quite frankly I never ever thought I would read this book - ever! I'm so glad I finally decided to give Margaret Mitchell a chance. So far, it is an absolute pleasure that I quite lose track of things I need to do sometimes!

What I've loved the most in the first volume is Mitchel's fantastic gift for description. I find myself drinking up every single word! And perhaps my favourite descriptions are to do with Tara. I can literally taste the colours that are Tara.

Scarlett: Appealing or frivolous? What’s your first impression?

Scarlett is the sort of girl I would generally keep my distance from because I find it hard to keep a superfluous conversation going. Melanie is really more my type. I love anyone who reads!:D So, yes, I find Scarlett absolutely frivolous. And where Ashley is concerned she seems quite obsessed. I wonder what kind of extreme lengths she would go to to get him. I find, that her opinion of others is skewered by her own rather unimaginative self. The smallness of her person (and I'm not talking of her height) tends to seep its way into her idea of others. And yet, she is a powerful character solely by the vivacity that pervades the pages when she is in it. She's definitely one of those people you can't ignore.

Antebellum life: MM goes to great lengths to describe the vigor and leisure of the South. What’s your opinion? How do you respond to her depiction of slave life and the primary slave characters in the book?

Does Mitchel really go to great lengths to give us an idea of vigor and leisure in the South? I don't really know about that. I think it's mainly because we're here to listen to Scarlett's story and anything to do with anything that has nothing to do with Scarlett is easily dismissed as the heroine herself would dismiss it. Do I make sense? And yet, one does see glimpses of a hard life. We see it in Ellen, Scarlett's mother. We hear it in the song of the slaves as they come home. However, I must admit that I've found myself wondering so many times while reading this volume - all the black people seem so happy; they seem satisfied with their lot; they have their own order of class hierarchy; how did the civil war begin then? And then I think of books like Uncle Tom's Cabin and I realise that what I'm reading is perhaps a tiny percentage of owners who made their slaves happy. Am I right? Or wrong?

Ashley and Scarlett

Marriage: Gerald states that like should marry like, but he’s nothing like his sedate wife. How is marriage portrayed in the book so far? What does marriage give and take away from the characters?
This is an interesting question. I think the first thing I need to remark on is, that in spite of Gerald's belief that like should marry like (ironical coming from him!) the couples (whether unofficial, official or just plain make-belief) seem to be poles apart. I speak of Ellen and Gerald, Scarlett and Ashley, Scarlett and Charles. They are each of them drawn to someone who is completely unlike them. And, sadly, none of them truly understand or know the other. However, I suspect the exceptions in these cases are Ellen, who seems a model wife in spite of a lack of passion for her husband, and Ashley, whom I suspect knows Scarlett better than she does him to a certain extent. However, one has only to see Ashley and Melanie together to know how perfect they are for each other. And one has to see the spark and fire between Rhett and Scarlett to see that they could definitely have something going.

Most of all, though, I think it's fascinating how Mitchell brings out, so easily and naturally the fact that marriages are based on any number of reason, and are arranged between any number of personality combinations. At the end, if character-wise, a couple is not really compatible, Ellen and Gerald become an example of how a marriage can well anyway. Of course, these opinions are based of the first volume of the book. I'll have read further to see what else can be said on the subject of marriage.:)

Minor Characters: MM gives great voices and descriptions to the book’s minor characters. Which ones have you taken a shine to?
Hmmm...so the minor characters would include Scarlett's parents? The twins? Their mother and sisters? Mammy? Gerald's valet? I don't think there's really much to choose from at this point. However, I really feel quite attached to Mammy already! I love how she bustles around and scolds with affection. And strangely enough, while I usually have trouble reading and understanding dialect, I find it fun to read Mitchel's manner of writing the black man's dialect. I love reading these parts aloud!

Other: A Question I have...Regarding Ashley, I've been wondering...it isn't clear in the first volume that Ashely really loves Scarlett. Many of the things he says and does could so easily be because he feels guilty know how Scarlett feels for him. Can it be that the idea he is in love with her, could be her own wishful thinking manifesting itself into the narrative?...

What I Read Last Week: The High-Summer Read-a-thon Wrap-Up Post

2011-08-01T16:50:00.001+05:30

So, in taking part in Michelle's High Summer Read-a-thon I found myself doing quite a bit of reading. However, I was simply all over the place so I haven't really finished a single book. I am pleased, though, with my progress. The only thing that has me a bit apprehensive is that I'm reading about four or five books at the same time that I'm hoping I'll finish all of them (save one) by the end of August!

Random fact no.1 - all the books I read last week for the read-a-thon were all begun last week.

Random fact no.2 - every single of these books are by women writers. (This was purely coincidental! The Short Story was the only exception.)

Books I Read During the Read-a-thon Week:

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (for a read-along hosted from August to September at The Heroine's Bookshelf) - 219 pages
Anne of Green Gables by L M Mongomery - 114 pages
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf - 33 pages
Cotillion by Georgette Heyer - 80 pages
Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft - a chapter (pages unknown)
"Grander than the Sea" (a short story) by T A Pratt

Yep! I'm quite pleased with my progress last week. If you're wondering why I dived into so many books at once, my explanation is rather simple. Gone with the Wind was for a read-along that begins to days; as I spend a great deal of time at the computer, and I had this sudden urge to read Anne of Green Gables, I found myself an ebook and began to read it; Mrs Dalloway I'd intended to read after I finished Burnt Shadows; Cotillion I picked up at mom's house as I hadn't taken anything to her place to read yesterday; Wollstonecraft has been going incredibly slowly as I read it whenever I can from my husband's iphone; the short story was for my meme. :D

Follow Friday Blog Hop #3

2011-07-30T12:36:00.001+05:30

Welcome to Bread Crumb Reads! My current reading interests lie in the classics, literary fiction and fantasy (of the elf/dwarf/dragon kind). I've also begun reading a few short stories, and I host Short Stories on Wednesdays in order to encourage myself and others to read at least one short story a week. Also, beginning in August, I am hosting a read-along for Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. If you would like to join us in reading and on discussions, or either one of these, please do state your interest here.

So, then, back to the blog hop question that Jen at Crazy-for-Books asks us this week:

Highlight one book you have received this week that you can't wait to dig into!

Well, had this question come next week I doubt I'd have had an answer. I very rarely buy books these days. But it so happens that the copy of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak I'd ordered came this week, and yes, I can't wait to begin reading it. It has had such raving reviews, and the premise of a young girl seeking solice in books, discovering the wonder of words, during the reign of terror by the Nazis, sounds very promising.

Welcome again, and thanks for visiting!^_^

Character Connection: Sir Percy Blakeney aka The Scarlet Pimpernel

2011-07-28T22:51:00.000+05:30

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Introverted Reader.

Ever since I watched the 1987 version of The Scarlet Pimpernel with Anthony Andrews playing the title role, I've been wanting to blog about it. More specifically, I've been wanting to blog about Andrews' fantastic rendition of the tall, staid, haughty and foolish looking English aristocrat and his alter-ego, the dashing, clever and quick-witted saviour of some of the more lucky French aristocrats. When my mother first waxed eloquent about Andrews and this particular version, I was rather skeptical about the whole thing. It's very rarely that an actor can live up to my expectations of a character.

But after having watched this movie, I think I'm quite in love with Sir Percy Blakeney. He's your typical Englishman, with a drawling accent, and a rather stupid look on his face that quite deceives his own wife, Margarete. However, he is really a man who lives a double life, and due to a particular incident, though Blakeney marries his French wife out of love, he hides his true self even from her. The story follows the hunt for the Scarlet Pimpernel and how Margarete is blackmailed into discovering this elusive man's identity.

I thought Andrews played the part of the lover, later disillusioned, the compassionate rescuer of frightened French innocents and the imbecile Englishman so exquisitely well. While the character is not really complex, Blakeney is a man you love just for the double role he plays - one of which is a very swashbuckling role.

Why I love...Jack, Peggy, Mike and Nora!

2011-07-27T23:10:00.000+05:30

Why I Love Wednesdays is a meme hosted at Reflections of a Bookaholic.

This week's topic is Favourite Childhood Friend(s).

By this one it would seem we're asked to name the book-characters we loved as children. Mine were Jack, Peggy, Mike and Nora from Enid Blyton's Secret Series. I especially loved The Secret Island. It is the first book of the series where the parents of the latter three are presumed dead, and the children, along with their friend Jack, escape to a lonely island where they build a happy life for themselves. They have all sorts of little adventures; they build themselves a shelter and try to figure out ways to survive. It's a dream island, and I never read that book without wishing fervently that I was a part of the adventure too! I wanted to be one of those lucky children.

So, who were your childhood bookish friends?

Short Stories on Wednesdays #3

2011-07-27T16:03:00.001+05:30

I've only managed two stories this week.

"The Birthday Girl" by Haruki Murakami
"Grander than the Sea" by T A Pratt

I'd hoped to complete at least two more before today. But I got so carried with reading Gone with the Wind!

Am looking forward to see what you're all reading...:)

Terror Under the Sea?

2011-07-27T15:52:00.000+05:30

"Grander than the Sea" by T A Pratt

This is a short story about a crazy sorcerer who tries to revive a dark sea god. He copies his soul in anticipation of another sacrifice that needs to be made in a hundred years, following the one he is imprisoned for. However, a hundred years later he's still very much alive and kicking (though still in prison) and he wants to be the one, not his copy, to make the second sacrifice. In steps Marla Mason, sorcerer in charge of the city, Felport. It is up to her to show the crazy man that he is delusional and to save the many innocent lives scheduled for sacrifice.

The story is set in our modern world, and has a rather Harry Potter-ish ring to it in terms of the normal people who are unaware that there exists a world of sorcerers and magicians. I suspect, from the language, that his story is meant for young adults, because the conversations smacks of teenage talk, though the characters are much much older. I didn't care much for this piece, but it was a quick and easy read.

On a scale of 0-5, I'd likely give this a 2.

"The Birthday Girl"

2011-07-27T15:37:00.001+05:30

"The Birthday Girl" by Haruki Murakami

Yet another strange short story by this Japanese writer, it's about a girl, who, on her twentieth birthday, is stuck at work. Apparently, twentieth birthdays are a milestone, but things work out so that she's unable to celebrate it. However, something strange happens to her that day. She works as a part-time waitress at a respectable hotel. But she and all her other co-workers have never seen their employer. This girl, by a series of circumstances, gets to meet him for the first and last time. She is granted one wish. And that's all there is to it.

The writer never tells us what this one wish was. In fact, there aren't any clues, either! I'm beginning to think that Murakami loves to leave his readers full of insatiable suspense. Even the rather cryptic comment made by the birthday girl, at the end, has you puzzling over it for awhile. I read this story sometime last week. But even now, I find myself pondering. What is the purpose behind this story? Is it merely to leave the reader in the knowledge that some things are meant to be a mystery? Does the writer himself know the answers or the endings to his own riddles?

Anyone?

Reading Update for the High Summer Read-a-thon

2011-07-26T10:44:00.002+05:30

Michelle of The True Book Addict (and the host of this read-a-thon) and Laura of Book Snob have a couple of mini-challenges up that I find very interesting. The challenges are these:

Michelle asks that we post a cover picture or some picture that illustrates what we're reading at the moment.
Laura asks that we post pictures of the time period or the place in which the story we're reading takes place.

I'm a slow reader, but I've been savouring Margaret Mitchell's language from Gone with the Wind. I'm still being introduced to her characters, and the experience is like a gentle cruise down a blue, blue river with lush banks (not that I've ever experienced this, except in my imagination!). I especially love this particular description (so far) as Scarlett O'Hara waits for her father to return home in the evening:

The sun was now below the horizon and the read glow at the rim of the world faded into pink. The sky above turned slowly from azure to the delicate blue-green of a robin's egg, and the unearthly stillness of rural twilight came stealthily down about her. Shadowy dimness crept over the countryside. The red furrows and the gashed red road lost their magical blood color and became plain brown earth. [...]
In the strange half-light, the tall pines of the river swamp, so warmly green in the sunshine, were black against the pastel sky, an impenetrable row of black giants hiding the slow yellow water at their feet. [...] - p.30, Gone with the Wind

And just to give you a little something of the description of two of the characters introduced to us so far. Taken from the same scene as the above quote, Scarlett's father comes home, and she is anxious to hear of news from Ashley Wilkes place where Gerald O'Hara has just been visiting. It is during this scene that we see how much father and daughter are alike:

Scarlett looked at her father in the fading light, and, without knowing why, she found it comforting to be in his presence. There was something vital and earthy and coarse about him that appealed to her. Being the least analytic of people, she did not realize that this was because she possessed in some degree these same qualities, despite sixteen years of effort on the part of Ellen and Mammy to obliterate them. - p.33, ibid

I'm beginning to realise, even as I am reading and as I was searching for images, how synonymous the Clark Gable/Vivien Leigh movie has become with the original book. I recall watching the movie for the first time (and the last) when I was around eleven or twelve. I hated it, and it's the reason I never read the book...until now. However, some of the images from the movie have firmly imprinted themselves on my mind. Maybe it was the brilliant acting? I don't know, but I discovered it's difficult to find anything about Gone with the Wind without finding images from the movie itself - not that I'm complaining!

However, I was quite pleased to find that I was able to get the picture of a book cover that did not have the actors' faces on them. Instead, there is the picture of Tara - a very Georgian house with not much of landscape on the cover, but enough.

Hope my fellow read-a-thon members are having a marvelous time! Now I really should get back to my book...

Happy Reading all!

An Update and Two New Books!

2011-07-25T15:52:00.002+05:30

Three Sick Mice

The last one week has been a rather lousy one for me and my family. First my little one fell ill with a cold. Two days later I got it from him which led to a bout of very high fever. I'm extremely grateful that my son had just the cold and not the fever. Then my husband caught it towards the end of the week. He sounds awful even now! Though, thankfully, even he didn't get a fever. So, right now, our house if full of noisy cough-ers! But we're all much better, and I'm really glad to be able to get back on the blog.

Moving on...
Since I was in the mood for cleaning up my blog, so to speak, you'll have noticed that it now has a brand new look! (Goodness knows how long this one's going to last...) I'm also quite relieve about having finished Kamila Shamsie's Burnt Shadows. I was really struggling with it. My post on this novel should be up sometime later today or tomorrow. This read also wraps up my participation in the Orange July 2011 event held at the Magic Lasso.

Two New Books!

And now to the exciting part of this post.

I have finally managed to get myself Tolstoy's War & Peace! It's been ages since I've wanted to get it, and I had been hoping to participate in the year-long group read hosted by Jillian at A Room of One's Own. I'm not sure I'm too late for it yet. I'll have to see if I can catch up, or else, I'm leaving this to savour next year!:D

The second book isn't really my own. It belongs to my sister who was recently given it by a close friend of hers who had come down from the UK. It's Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel. It came along with the dvd (which was what we were actually aiming for) and I was simply thrilled to see it! - yes, the book was a lovely surprise! So, it is going to be a re-read, yes. But it has been years and years since I've read this novel about a group of brave Englishmen saving French aristocrats from the guillotine. It used to be a huge favourite of mine. I look forward to spending a few happy hours with this book. Oh! And I watched the movie - the 1982 version starring Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour and Ian McKellen. Let me just say, I can't imagine a better Sir Percy Blakeney than Andrews!

The High Summer Read-a-thon!

2011-07-22T15:34:00.002+05:30

Michelle at The True Book Addict is hosting a week-long read-a-thon from 25 July till 31 July. I think next week would be the perfect time to get some solid reading done. But in order to do so, I shall barely be blogging next week, save for my short story meme, and perhaps, a character connection.We shall see...

The following is what I've decided to read next week:

1. Gone with the Wind - chapters 1-7 for the read-along hosted at The Heroine's Bookshelf

2. Burnt Shadows - in spite of my rant ~~the other day, I'm determined to finish this one. Hopefully I'll be done with it next week~~ - Finished this one over the weekend. So it's off the read-a-thon chart!

3. At least two short stories from Murakami's Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

4. At least two stories from The Solaris Book of New Fantasy

Here's hoping to a week of lots of reading!

Book Blogger Hop #2

2011-07-22T11:11:00.001+05:30

Hello all!

Welcome to Bread Crumb Reads. You'll find that my blog is mostly about literary fiction, classics and fantasy. Every once in awhile there might be something different. I very rarely write reviews, and those are usually on books that are less than four or five years out. Most of my posts are commentary and appreciation of the books I read. Starting August I am hosting my very first read-along with Austen's Sense and Sensibility. It has also been a couple of weeks since I have begun Short Stories on Wednesdays, a meme to encourage readers to read at least one short story a week.

Now to answer this week's question from Crazy-for-Books:

What's the one genre you wish you could get into, but just can't?

Well, once upon a time my answer would have been literary fiction and short stories. But it has been a couple of years since I've overcome the first problem, and I'm already working on the second one. I enjoy both genres now. However, if we're going to look outside the prose form I would have to say 'poetry'. I enjoy analysing poetry - when I have to. But I would love so much to be able to sit down with a book of poems and read them like I would a novel. It's something I've always wished I could do.

Welcome once again! I hope you enjoy your visit.:)

Short Stories on Wednesdays #2

2011-07-20T11:27:00.003+05:30

Short Stories on Wednesdays is a weekly event hosted here, at Bread Crumb Reads. The purpose of this event is to encourage people to read at least one short story a week. There are no limits, of course! If you have made a post on the short stories you've read this week, please do live a link in the comments section. If you haven't made a post, it does not matter. I'd still love to know what you've been reading. Just put the titles down in the comments section.

Welcome to Short Stories on Wednesdays!!:)

In the last week I've read six short stories. I'm feeling quite happy with myself! Here's what's been keeping me occupied:
Virginia Woolf
1. Solid Objects
2. The Haunted House

Fernando Sorrentino
3. There's a Man in the Habit of Hitting Me on the Head with an Umbrella
4. An Enlightening Tale

5. Tornado of Sparks by James Maxey
6. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami

So, what short stories have you been reading this week?

Sampling Murakami with a Short Story

2011-07-20T11:17:00.000+05:30

"Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman" by Haruki Murakami

It's been almost a year since I've been coming across Murakami's name round the book bloggosphere. I've only ever read raving good reviews about him and I finally decided I didn't what to be left behind on a good thing. So when I discovered the site I order my books from, had a short story collection by Haruki Murakami, I decided to go for it. Admittedly, I have only just begun reading it, with only one story down so far. However, this short story was very interesting.

First of all, I want to mention how much I've enjoyed reading this writer's style (kudos to the translator - Philip Gabreil!). The imagery is so vibrant and unique, and this experience, with just one short story, has been incredible.

I cannot say that I have completely understood the significance of "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". There seem to be two stories going on...or perhaps, three. There is the immediate present where the narrator is taking is kid cousin to the doctor. This cousin has a hearing problem where, sometimes, he just can't hear a thing. Doctors have been puzzling over his issue, and this boy, in question, has become quite resigned to his fate. The second story is a memory - a memory of the narrator as he remembers his best friend from high school, and this friend's girl friend who was in hospital for a minor surgery. The signs point to the fact that she dies (sorry if you think this is a spoiler, but I'm not sure it really is one), but it isn't very clear how. At least, I haven't been able to understand it. A simple, minor surgery gone wrong? There is mention of some melted chocolate that the narrator feels very bad about, but again, I'm not able to understand its significance.

Then comes the myth - the story of blind willows and a sleeping woman. The story is very interesting, apparently made up by this friend's girlfriend. I cannot help but feel that so much is going on between the lines. There is a lot of intertwining between the three stories; between the young cousin, the young woman, and the sleeping woman. Could it be possible that, at some point, present and past, they were all dying and no one could help them?

I have so many questions! I intend reading it again to see if I can glean something more from it. But, oh! I simply enjoyed the read!

A Short Story on Dragons!

2011-07-20T10:52:00.000+05:30

"Tornado of Sparks" by James Maxey

Ah! I've read one more from the Solaris Book of New Fantasy this week. This particular short story by Maxey takes place in a world where dragons rule. Dragons are considered superior beings of reason, while the humans are ruled by emotions. Doesn't this remind you of Planet of the Apes? However, the storyline of this little piece hasn't to do with humans versus the dragons. Instead, it's about a sky-dragon called Vendevorex, who seeks a position as the Royal Advisor of Magic at the court of the great sun-dragon, King Albekizan. However, the dragons watching him are quite skeptical. Are all the things Vendevorex shows them just illusions or is it all real magic? The sky-dragon is desperate to show them that what he can do could be useful to them, and cannot be done without him. Finally, claiming he can bring down an entire mountain with one blow, the king takes him to a stone house and tells him to prove it. However, the house is occupied by humans, two of which die in the heat of the blast. The dragon king does not care, but after he has proven his worth, and the king and his advisor are ready to discuss his chances, Vendevorex goes all out to see about the survivors of the wreckage he created.

I really enjoyed this short story. It's just the kind of fantasy I love. It was interesting to see how Maxey describes the dragon, giving their whole race an entity apart from humans. They are powerful, and it shows through the writing. The language itself was easy reading, yet not lacking a lyrical quality that made the experience enjoyable. At the end, I found myself wishing I could read more about this make-believe world!

Woolf and a Sorrentino

2011-07-20T10:34:00.001+05:30

So, last week, I was just browsing through the blogs I follow when I came across the mention of a short story of Virginia Woolf's, reviewed at The Reading Life. Considering I was planning on giving Woolf's Mrs Dalloway a try sometime soon, I figured it would be good to try reading a short story first. (Yes, I'm afraid I've never read any of Woolf's works before!) So I followed the link Mel had provided to an online Text of "Solid Objects" and read it through. This was succeeded by another trial short story called "A Haunted House". Then, considering I was on a bit of a role, I read a couple of short stories by someone I'd never heard of before - Fernando Sorrentino. He is an Argentinian whose works have been translated by Clark M Zlotchew. The two stories I read by him were supposed to be humourous. They were, however, strange. I'll elaborate on that later.

"Solid Objects" by Virginia Woolf

[online text]

I found this piece very interesting. It is about this man who's ambitions lie in getting into parliament. However, this ambition takes a rather strange turn when he finds a piece of broken, smooth, green glass buried in beach sand. He begins to collect anything green that reminds him even remotely of this piece of glass that sits so proudly on his mantlepiece. This interest soon becomes an obsession to the extent that he loses his chances at parliament and all his friends. At the end, one wonders if the message is that an obsession can lead to your eventual isolation and destruction, or could it be that if you have ambition it is to the exclusion of all else. Nothing else should really matter. Really, the man does not seem to care, even when his best friend, the one who tries to stick with him the most, finally walks out never to return. I thought this a very very thought-provoking story.

"The Haunted House" by Virginia Woolf

[online text]

I think this story provides us with a sample of surrealism. The premise itself is simple - the ghost of a former loving couple come to re-visit their home as they linger on their lovely memories. However, this house is inhabited by another couple. Throughout this tale I could not make out, at times, whether it was the real couple or the ghost couple talk to us. Everything just seemed to flow one into the other until you could not distinguish between the real and the unreal, between memories and the present. I really enjoyed reading this piece. However, I doubt I could read too much of this sort of writing. At some point a reader, at least I as a reader, would prefer something more straightforward.

"There's a Man in the Habit of Hitting Me on the Head with an Umbrella" by Fernando Sorrentino

[online text]

This was such a strange story. I really could not fathom the sense behind it. The writer, for five years, is hit continously on the head by a man with an umbrella - I mean continously. Even when the writer has to sleep, eat or go relieve himself. Initially, it annoys him a great deal and he tries everything, including beating the man up, to get him to stop. Yet the strange man never stops beating on the head with his umbrella. Pretty soon, the writer becomes quite used to this, and at the end, even says, that should this man stop he would miss him dreadfully. The only 'moral' I can see from this story, or rather, underlying meaning, is that sometimes, what annoys us, could so easily grow on us that at some point, when it stops, we simply miss it like we would an arm or a leg.

"An Elightening Tale" by Fernando Sorrentino

[online text]

Well, if the previous story was strange, I found this one a bit absurd. This one reads like a real short story. A beggar, begging at a miserly, rich lady's house, is given a loaf of hard bread. When he bites into it he finds a ring of diamonds. He takes it back to the lady, and as a sign of gratitude she gives him another hard loaf of bread. Again he bites into a ring...in fact, the exact same ring as before. He returns it and the same events follow. At the end, the beggar is said to be 'lying' about the ring he finds in the loaf and he gets a loaf everyday of his life. I'm afraid I didn't quite get this story. How could the beggar 'lie' if he didn't have the ring as proof? And how many rings of the same kind did the woman have?! If anyone can figure this one out, do let me know....

To read something about Fernando Sorrentino, go here.

Orange Reading Update: It's Slow Going...

2011-07-19T23:05:00.000+05:30

I'm on page 101 of Burnt Shadows by Kamalie Shamsie, and the going is slow, and no, not steady. While the premise of the story is interesting, it has failed to capture my attention. I read a chapter every now and then, but only because I feel dreadful about leave a book unfinished. I'm not saying the novel is bad, simply that it isn't good either. I don't feel involved with the characters and their situations at all!

One would have thought that the story of a surviving victim of the atom bomb would have been deep, compelling, sad and tragic - not necessarily in terms of a storyline, but in terms of dealing with the kind of loss survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki must have had. Even for a resilient person, there would be moments when the reader actually feels close to them, or at least, close enough to sympathise, right? However, Shamsie is simply telling a story, and that's that. I feel nothing for Hiroko Tanaka in spite of the loss of her love; I feel nothing for Sajjad Ashraf, though he seems gentle and humane. Strangely enough, it is a secondary character, Elizabeth Burton, who has something about her that helps the reader connect to her in some way. There is more about her inward struggle -- a German married to an Englishman during World War II, and staying in India -- than there is of the process of pain and healing that Hiroko must be going through.

I began reading the second part of this novel about two weeks ago. Part two finishes on page 126. You can see how dreadfully I'm doing!

Has anyone else read Burnt Shadows? What do you think of it? Did you connect with the characters and the story? Did it get better?

What Would I Recommend to Teenagers?

2011-07-19T12:28:00.000+05:30

Our hosts at Broke and Bookish have asked what our Top Ten recommended reads to teenagers would be. Tahleen has mentioned books that have some sort of educational value in them. However, I've chosen a few that cover as many genres as I could think of and put together. These are, by no means, my 'top ten', but these are ten I would definitely recommend.

01. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - simply because this book is a treasure. It allows an insight into the lives of an all-woman household, holding it together while their father is off to war.

02. Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery - It is quiet but it brings to life the adventures of one orphan and the community she is adopted into. Another treasure.

03. The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien - I feel this is a must-read, especially if one is into fantasy. Tolkien isn't called the 'Father of Fantasy' for nothing! In here were see the tradition of high fantasy at its best.

04. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - I think anything by Dumas ought to be worth a read, but this book is certainly a favourite of mine. I have read countless of times. It is full of action and adventure, beautifully and skillfully told.

05. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden - Many might have mixed feelings about this one or even disagree whole-heartedly with my choice. However, I really think this is a lovely novel. It is well-written, rich in imagery and character. If you would like to enjoy language and a story well told this is worth it. P.S. - this isn't a true story.;)

06. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe - Oh yes! I would highly recommend this play by the man who is supposed to have been Shakespeare's greatest influence. It is a powerful and passionate play and leaves you all spent by the end of it. [my commentary]

07. Dracula by Bram Stoker - The beginning of the 'vampire' genre. This is one classy book. It is full of horror so subtly put across. I think, for anyone who loves the paranormal genre this is a must read. By the way, this is the only horror book I like! [my commentary]

08. The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight by Elizabeth Von Arnim - I discovered this author only this year. She is a writer from the early 1900s and I'm glad I came across her. She is so full of humour, and while this particular book is a little didactic in nature, it is so wonderfully done. It was a book I simply could not put down till I was done.[my commentary]

09. Arms and the Man by Bernard Shaw - Ever watched My Fair Lady? It's based off of Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion. Arms and the Man, I feel, is several times more fun! I believe a Shaw play is a must read. They are always full of social satire and wry humour.

10. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie - A crime classic. A must read for all crime buffs! I haven't read much of Christie's works, but this is the only one that has stayed with me in the crime department.

Other books/authors I would recommend are Shakespeare, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. However, I didn't put these on my list because they have found themselves into many others.-_^

"Sense & Sensibility" Read-along in August!

2011-07-18T13:28:00.005+05:30

Coming up in August 2011 is a Group Read or Read-along of Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility. I've been meaning to read this novel for awhile - Austen's first published novel. It would be lovely to have other people to read it and discuss it with!

There have already been quite a few who have expressed interest in this read-along. I hope there might be others who would like to join us and make the experience even more delightful than it promises to be.:)

How this Works
The novel is divided into four parts. For each part there will be an update/discussion post every Thursday. Those who intend blogging, are welcome to. On the other hand, no one has to blog. There are no obligations of any kind. Simply read and have fun with others like you!^_^

Date for Read-along
1 August 2011 - 31 August 2011

Discussion Schedule (every Thursday):

11 August - discussion of Volume I
18 August - discussion of Volume II
25 August - discussion of Volume III

Note: Each volume is less than 150 pages each, in case you're wondering.;)

To Sign-up

Please state your interest in the comments section.
If you have a blog and intend writing posts on your progress through the novel, please do give me a link to your blog. I will add your name and link in my main post.

You do not have to be a blogger to take part in this read-along. You do not have to make posts either. All are welcome to read-along together and comment on the discussion posts.

Participant List(A list of those who have expressed interest so far.)
Jillian
Enbretheliel
Falaise
Lesa
Sophie
Jenny O
Robin
Georgie
Jeba
Mel U

If you have any questions or doubts you would like to have cleared, please do not hesitate to ask. You can ask them either here, in the comments section, or you can email me at breadcrumbreads(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Other Novels in Line
Here is a list of the novels I'll be hosting read-alongs in from September to December 2011.

"Peter Pan" is More than Just a Story for Children

2011-07-18T12:37:00.000+05:30

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

It was only a few days ago that I finished reading J M Barrie's Peter Pan, a novel written for children, and last night, I watched the Disney version of this novel after more that fifteen years! The book was quite an experience, different in mood and tone from the Disney adaptation.

Although Barrie writes this book for children, the dark vein that runs throughout the story seems unchild-like. There are children, and then there are adults who are like children and children who are like adults. Doesn't make any sense? Wendy, John and Michael are siblings who believe in the-boy-who-never-grew-up, though they have never really seen him before the story begins. Then one night, when Mr and Mrs Darling are out and Nana, the nurse-maid dog, is out in the kennel, in steals Peter Pan and the children's adventures begin. Peter teaches the three children how to fly and then he takes them to Neverland.

Neverland
Neverland is not a place where dreams come true. Instead, it is a place where all the adventures a child believes he or she has, really take place. Neverland hosts all the make-belief games that children like to play. For instance, pirates, red-Indians, mermaid and the opportunity to make a 'home'. Really, when reading this novel I couldn't help but identify so well with Wendy. I used to love playing 'home-maker' when I was child (and 'teacher'!). When there were boys at home, the oldest would be the 'father' while I played the 'mother', and all the other kiddies were the children. That's essentially how Wendy, Peter Pan and the Lost Boys play it in Neverland! I think the Disney movie captures that idea so well when the Lost Boys are captured by the Red Indians and are tied to the stake. They very good naturedly laugh and then tell the Chief he wins that round, so to untie them and let them go. Apparently, they have battled many times before and either one or the other team has won. To them it is just a game. And every day is an adventure. Indeed, while only a few adventures are described to us in the novel, throughout the term we are acquainted with the events at Neverland, Peter Pan, the siblings and the Lost Boys have more adventures than we can count! In other words, it is all holiday for these children on the island.

The Island

I find it interesting that Neverland is really a small island. There is something so romantic and so adventurous about an island. Naturally, these qualities would appeal to children. On the other hand, an island also represents a sense of aloofness and solidarity. There are no 'adults' on this island, and so the children really make up their own rules and live their own way. I am reminded so much of all the adventure stories I read as a child with children marooned on islands and loving it. Those used to be some of my favourite stories! One could say, of course, that there were pirates and a Red Indian tribe on the island, so how were there no adults? Well, considering the pirates and Red Indians are part of the adventures provided by the island for this children they are not considered a hindrance. Really, what do pirates and Red Indians care for little children who want to get dirty in the mud!

Child or Adult?

There's a theme that runs throughout this story that I find so fascinating - that of the child and adult. Who exactly is the child? And who is the adult? We find this ambiguity a great deal in the book, especially where Mr Darling, Captain Hook and Wendy are concerned. The first two seem rather child-like in many ways. They are both blustering men, outwardly throwing their weight around, but inside they are really, very insecure. Mr Darling longs for his family's approval, loving to be the centre of attention. Captain Hook longs to be what he believes Peter is - a man of 'good form'. I love they way these characters are not two dimensional. There is so much to read into and learn about these two men (as Enbrethiliel and I have been discovering through the character sketches we've written). Wendy, on the other hand, is a little girl, who plays the role of adult in Neverland. She knits, she cleans, she cooks, she tells stories to the Lost Boys, and they all call her 'mother'. In fact, there comes a stage when her own brothers begin to believe that she is really their mother! It's also interesting to note how Captain Hook longs for Wendy to be his mother too. Allow me to mention at this point, that none of these deeper themes show through in the Disney adaptation. At the end, this adaptation is merely meant for entertainment and does not mean to explore the various, underlying meanings of Barrie's story.

The Characters

If you would like to dig deeper into the characters, or discuss them, here are a few links.
Peter Pan - a character sketch by Enbretheliel at Shredded Cheddar

Captain Hook - a character sketch on my blog

Mrs Darling - another character sketch by Enbretheliel at Shredded Cheddar

As you can tell, I've really enjoyed reading this book, and I hope to come back to it again soon, and see what else I might discover from a second read.

The Great "Gone With the Wind" Read-Along

2011-07-17T17:31:00.000+05:30

I came upon The Heroine's Bookshelf while following a lead. Erin Blakemore, the blogger, is hosting a group read of...you've guessed it right! - Gone With the Wind. I was really excited when I saw this as I'd been looking for a group I could read this with, otherwise I was sure I wasn't going to touch it, at least, not any time this year. So, seeing as this is the perfect opportunity to finally read such an all-time favourite, I've decided to join Erin and others for this read-along.

Date of Read-along: 1 August 2011 - 17 October 2011 (that gives me more than enough time!)
Discussion Schedule:

1 Aug (chaps 1-7)
15 Aug (chaps 8-16)
5 Sept (chaps 17-30)
26 Sept (chaps 31-47)
17 Oct (chaps 48-63)

Sign-up: Here

Follow Friday Blog Hop #2

2011-07-15T11:58:00.001+05:30

Hello all! Welcome to Bread Crumb Reads. I'm a stay-at-home mom who loves reading and blogging every free minute I get a break from my mischievous little son. I generally read the classics, literary fiction and high/mystical fantasy. Of course, if anything else catches my interest I'm all for diving into it.

Two weeks ago, I completed a year of book blogging. I've been taking part in memes, reading challenges, read-alongs and read-a-thons since July 6, 2010. I have recently begun a meme called Short Stories on Wednesdays, basically meant to encourage folk to read at least one short story a week. Coming August I am also starting group reads, next month's choice being Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility.

And now, for Parajunkee's question:

What do I do when I am not reading?

I'm blogging or cooking or playing with my son or sleeping!:D

The question at Crazy-for-Books is:

How/Where do you get your books? Do you buy them or go to the library? Is there a certain website you use like paperbackswap?

I tend to buy most of my books. Until a few months ago, I used to go book-shopping rather often. I could/can never step into a book store without picking up at least one book! But recently, I haven't been able to get out much, so I began to look for an online bookstore to do my shopping. I finally found and have settled for flipkart.com. I find them very good and reliable. Other major sources for books to read are my mother's, sister's and friend's book shelves. I borrow from them quite often. From my mother and friend I get all my classics, literary fiction, historical fiction and the like, while my sister supplies me with all the latest in high fantasy. I do have a library that I've visited only twice in the last year. I should seriously think of checking it out again!

Once again, welcome to Bread Crumb Reads! I hope you find this a blog to your taste.:)

Character Connection: Captain Hook

2011-07-14T10:51:00.001+05:30

Character Connection is a meme hosted by The Introverted Reader every Thursday.

Today, I've decided to write something on Captain Hook from J M Barrie's Peter Pan. Captain Hook is one of those childhood pirates I sort of grew up with. A villain out to get dear ol' Peter and the Lost Boys. And a coward where a certain crocodile was concerned.

However, on reading the original, I realised there was a great deal more to Captain Hook than childhood memory of the Disney movie serves. I say 'memory' because I need to watch the Disney one again to see how much of what I remember is right. Again, I say this because, I found, as I was reading the story that Disney had stayed about 90% true to Barrie. The only element missing, perhaps, was the dark vein that runs throughout this children's tale.

So, when we are first introduced to Captain Hook (in the book), we see a suave, gentleman pirate, described as having a melancholy look in his forget-me-not blue eyes. With just those eyes we know there is more to this pirate than just pure evil. He is an aristocrat in dress and manner, and the thing he values most is 'good form', a sense of fairness, mannerisms and etiquette that are considered good ton in the English aristocracy. You will find a full, in depth description of this pirate, as described by his creator, here.

We realise that Captain Hook's real desire to beat Peter Pan stems from his fury at the latter's cockiness. When that is understood one really can't help but feel for Captain Hook. About twice in the course of the story we see a rather soft side to Hook. At one point he is in a really good position to do away with Peter Pan, finally! But on looking at the boy he feels a sense of pity because for a few moments Peter Pan looks vulnerable. However, inevitably, the cockiness of the boy shows through and it drives Hook insane. There's another reason he hates Peter. He suspects, strongly, that Peter Pan is, perhaps, a better 'man' than he because he shows a strong sense of 'good form'. It is rather sad when, at the end, Hook dies happily, knowing that for one brief moment, when Peter Pan forgets dueling etiquette and kicks Hook off the ship, he shows 'bad form'. And so, Hook falls to his end, a happy man.

Really, there is something rather child-like about Hook. More so, strangely enough, than one sees in the boy, Peter. We find this at strange moments. Like, when the pirate crew captures the Lost Boys and Wendy, their 'mother', Hook hopes that Wendy might be his mother too.

At the end of the story I found that I didn't hate Hook. I just felt sorry for him. The melancholy in him managed to transfer itself to my opinion of him. Really, I think, at the close of the story, I preferred him to Peter Pan.

Short Stories on Wednesdays #1

2011-07-13T17:19:00.000+05:30

Short Stories on Wednesdays is a new event that starts its debut today, on this blog. I had originally intended to be on Saturdays and it was to have begun two Saturday ago! Unfortunately, I had reckoned without my crazy weekend schedules that don't even allow me time to read, leave alone get online and blog. So, I've shifted it to Wednesdays.

So, what is this event about? There was a time when short stories were the main diet for verocious readers. But over the decades, the novel has gained great popularity, surpassing all other literary forms. As a result, short stories tend to get neglected. I'm one of those who neglect them a great deal, and by starting this weekly meme, I was hoping to begin slowly whittling away at the short story anthologies gather dust on my shelf. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join me every Wednesday for Short Stories on Wednesdays.

How does this work? This meme is basically to encourage us to read at least one short story a week. It can be any short story for any time and any genre. Wednesdays are open for links to your reviews or comments on the short story or stories you have read that week. For those of you who do not blog, you can always post a comment on what you've read.

What I've read this week. From The Solaris Book of New Fantasy I've read:
1. "Who Slays the Gyant, Wounds the Beast" by Mark Chadbourn

2. "Reins of Destiny" by Janny Wurts

What short stories have you read this week?...

Two Fantasy Short Stories

2011-07-13T17:16:00.001+05:30

In the last couple of days I have finally picked up my copy of The Solaris Book of New Fantasy and have begun reading it. The following are the two stories I have read from it so far.

"Reins of Destiny" by Janny Wurts

This story begins with a hurried missive brought to the Master of Horses, apparently from the king of the land. An order is placed for the best horses to be sent through the messenger, but the horse master is suspicious. He calls the messenger's bluff and extracts from him a tale of blood and woe.

From what the sub-title reads, this 'short story' is apparently part of a greater whole (A Wars of Light and Shadow Story). Of course, this need not have been a drawback except, in this case, it was - a huge one. The writer seems to presume that you have already read something of the series. As a result, vague mentions of things like clansmen, Fellowship Sorcerers and the mention of some vague enemy, simply goes over ones head. So many things seem to be happening that need plenty of background. And so, this fails quite miserably as a short story. One can merely call it a companion piece to something else. I also found the writing rather contrived and the sentences, at times, garbled. Many times I found myself getting quite confused by who was saying what and doing what; and even a re-read of the passage never helped. I would quote an example, except that it would be tedious to read something that makes no sense. Really, on a scale for 0-5, I'd give this one a 0.

"Who Slays the Gyant, Wounds the Beast" by Mark Chadbourn

This story is set during Christmas Eve of 1598. Queen Elizabeth I has sent her greatest spy to get Edmund Spenser, the poet, and his lover, the Faerie Queen, back to her court. The fugitives in question are about to make their escape into the Otherworld. However, this is something that cannot happen for they both possess information that could potentially allow the fairy world to finally beat England in the cold war that has been raging between them for years. This story speaks of that dark and dreadful night when Will Swyfte wins one more dreadful battle against the Unseelie Court of the otherworld.

I simply love this short story! I love the way Chadbourn blends history with fiction and folklore. There he has Edmund Spenser, one of the greatest English poets, married (only in this story of make-belief) to the Queen of England, and in love with the Faerie Queene (who is in turn, in the reality of Spenser's poem an allegorical representation of Elizabeth I herself). He brings alive old fairy lore with the Unseelie Court - dark, menacing and sinister. The story on the whole contains all those qualities as the aristocrats in the surrounded hall wait out the siege until dawn breaks. I think this is a must-read fantasy story, and for those who know of Edmund Spenser, have (I dare say) read his greatest work, Faerie Queene, and know something of the dark, witchcraftly times of Elizabethan England, then this story is even more thrilling and satisfying. On a scale from 0-5, this one gets a 5.

Fact: Chadbourn gets the title to his short story from Book I Canto VIII of Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene:

Fair Virgin, to redeem her Dear,

Brings Arthur to the Fight:

Who slays that Gyant, wounds the Beast,

And strips Duessa quite.

Ten Authors I Would Like to Meet...

2011-07-12T22:34:00.001+05:30

It has been a long, long while since I last participated in Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and Bookish. But today, the lists going around have been very interesting and I finally decided to get a list of my own this week. So... who are these ten authors I would like to meet?

1. Jane Austen: But, of course! Who wouldn't want to meet, perhaps, the most popular woman writer of all time! I would love to have tea with her and talk to her of things of no consequence but a lot of character.

2. J R R Tolkien: I think I would love to just sit and watch this man think. From what I've read of him, he's something an introvert, absent-minded in a way. It would be interesting to watch a genius at work!

3. Stephen R Lawhead: I enjoy reading his books, and I love the extent of his knowledge of all things Celtic and of English legend. It should be fun to talk to him about these things.

4. Colleen McCullough: I think I'd love to have her sign a copy or two from the Masters of Rome series.

5. J M Barrie: I've just finished Peter Pan and I've read his Admirable Crichton so many times! He is quaint and interesting. I like quaint and interesting.

6. Christopher Marlowe: Wow! I think meeting up with him would be one heck of an experience! A spy, a scholar, a proclaimed atheist, a suspected homosexual, a wanted man destined for the gallows, a fantastic playwright, the original pioneer of the Blank Verse made popular by Shakespeare... I can imagine myself in the middle of a tavern, just drinking up every word he says!

7. Georgette Heyer: Much as I enjoy her books, I think I'd be very intimidated by Heyer as a person. But it would be nice to just say 'hello, I love your books!'

8. G K Chesterton: If there's something about him that I like, it's his subtle, gently satirical sense of humour. People with a (nice) sense of humour would always be wonderful company for me.

9. M M Kaye: I'm curious to know how much India really affected her, and what she thinks of the many cultures and peoples she has come across in her travels.

10. Elizabeth Von Arnim: She's an author I discovered this year. Charming, witty, and full of fun, I think I'd love to get together with her and have a riot!

Well? Who are the ten you would enjoy meeting?...

News Updates on Bread Crumb Reads

2011-07-12T14:06:00.003+05:30

So, this is basically something of an update post. News on my blog, so to speak.

1. To begin with, July 6th 2011 marked one year since I've been book blogging in earnest. I know this piece of info comes six days late and I haven't done anything special like other bloggers have been doing, but then, I think my husband's penchant for quiet birthdays is sort of rubbing off on me. :D

2. Starting from August I am hosting monthly group reads on this blog. We begin with Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen on 1 August through 30 August. For more details you can have a look in here.

3. For those of you who are wondering about the Short Story Saturday event I had planned, do not despair or give up on me. This has been bad planning on my part. I reckoned without the busy-ness that is my weekends. I usually am never able to spend more than five minutes at the computer during my Saturdays and Sundays. So, I've decided to move this event to Wednesdays, renaming it Short Stories on Wednesdays. Look out for my first post that should be up tomorrow.:)

4. Come August, Courtney at Stiletto Storytime, Georgette Heyer Gems of August 2011. She had many events planned throughout the month for Heyer fans. I, myself, am to be a guest poster at her blog. I'll be talking about how, of all the Historical Regency writers, Georgette Heyer is in a league all her own.

5. Sometime this week I should have my posts regarding The Godfather and Peter Pan up.

6. I've begun reading Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie for the Orange July 2011 event hosted at The Magic Lasso. For those of you who are not aware, mrstreame is conducting giveaways this entire month for this event. It is also an event to encourage folk to pick up the women's works short listed or long listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction. So, if you would like to give this a try, hop on over to The Magic Lasso!

Th-th-th-th-th-That's All Folks!

Literary Blog Hop: A Favourite Literary Device

2011-07-11T11:30:00.000+05:30

The is a bi-weekly event run by The Blue Bookcase.

This fortnight's question:

What is one of your favourite literary devices? Why do you like it? Provide a definition and an awesome example.

Well, I think for me, a favourite literary device would be that of foreshadowing. The online Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines foreshadowing as this: "to represent, indicate or typify beforehand." This definition found on about.com as taken from Lynn Franklin, "Literary Theft: Taking Techniques From the Classics." The Journalist's Craft: A Guide to Writing Better Stories, ed. by Dennis Jackson and John Sweeney. Allworth, 2002, says more definitely: "Foreshadowing can be...a form of 'backwriting.' The writer goes back through the copy and adds foreshadowing to prepare the reader for later events...This does not mean that you are going to give away the ending. Think of foreshadowing as [a] setup. The best foreshadowing is subtle and is woven into the story--often in multiple ways. In this fashion, foreshadowing helps build tension and gives resonance and power to the story. (my bold)

I love reading anything that foretells an event to happen in the future of the book. It leaves me anticipating, thrilling to whatever might prove to be the outcome of the glimpses we have been given. It keeps you wondering, second guessing, and I enjoy that sort of experience while I'm reading. The example that comes easily to mind, right now, is that of the message "recalled to life" in A Tale of Two Cities. Right from the first chapter we are introduced to this phrase and one keeps wondering what exactly this means. Does this mean someone in hiding has finally come out into the open? Is someone, once considered dead, actually alive? Is this really the crux of the story? I found it thrilling to be asking question, wondering, pondering out loud, second guessing myself, and then reading on. I guess, one of the main reasons I am such a slow reader, is because I love to ponder what I read, and foreshadowing is half the fun! If you're looking for another example, I would give that of Shakespeare's Macbeth when the three witches intercept Macbeth and Banquo and predict that Macbeth will be king of Scotland. You just know there's going to be bloody murder after that prophecy!

Group Reads at Bread Crumb Reads for the Rest of 2011

2011-07-06T11:55:00.004+05:30

I understand that this string of group reads comes at a rather odd time in the year. However, I've been meaning to host a group read for awhile, and it has taken up until now for me to gather up the courage to do so! I've quite a few classics in my bookshelf that I would love to read along with others. But, as this is new to me and I'm a slow reader, I've decided to stick to one book a month from August to December of 2011.

Here's what the Group Read List looks like:

August
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

September

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

October

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

November

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

December

The Christmas Books by Charles Dickens (includes A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth)

If there is anyone who would like to join me for any of these reads, please do state your interest in the comment box. In the last week of the previous month to a Group Read, I will have a Sign-Up post for anyone who would like to join in. All Group Read updates will be made on Wednesdays. I shall post the schedule for each read along with the Sign-Up post.

Also, if you know of anyone who is hosting a Group Read on any one of these books for the rest of this year, please do let me know. As far as I'm aware, these books are not on any book blogger's Group Read List. But if they are, then I'll take these down and put something else in their place.

In case you are wondering what criteria I used to decide on these five particular books, there were two - a) that I own these books I have yet to read, and b) a book that was short enough to be read in a month.

Here's to some fun reading!

The Pastoral Vs. The Urban

2011-07-05T11:53:00.001+05:30

Is there anyone out there who is completely touched to the soul at the enchanting descriptions of nature and the countryside, but is truly at heart a city person through and through?

It occurred to me, as I was reading The Blue Castle and Montgomery's dreamy descriptions of the Canadian outback, that while I shuddered with ecstasy and longing to belong to such a place, that at heart I would be lost without the regular, noisy hub-bub of the city. I'm the girl, who, when we had shifted to a suburban area after many years in the heart of the city, missed the noise of trucks racing through the main roads at midnight, and wondered when the chirping birds were going to keep quiet! And for me, night time with only crickets chirping and frogs croaking, are a nightmare! On paper and on screen, the quiet countryside looks like a dream place to be achieved. But while I love the sight of a lovely cottage, nestled in the foot hills, with a river flowing in front of it, I would shudder at the horror that is insects and slugs and snakes and goodness knows what else!

What I wouldn't give for the peace of blue tipped mountains, if only I could very occasionally hear the sounds of urban humanity!

Turin Turambar Extended

2011-07-05T11:39:00.000+05:30

The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien

This is one of those few reviews that's been a long while coming this year. I'd bought The Children of Hurin the moment it was published in 2007. But I never really read it until earlier this year. Perhaps, my reluctance to pick it up and read it stemmed from the fact that it was a detailed story of an account I liked the least in Tolkien's The Silmarillian. The story of The Fall of Nargathrond is one of the most depressing (or so, I find) because of its protaganist, Turin Turambar. He is a character full of abject pride and fool-hardiness. The Children of Hurin is about how fate plays a part in the destruction of this dark hero and his sister.


Young Hurin, father of Turin Turambar, being flown by an eagle into the kingdom of Nargathrond. Illustation by Alan Lee

Hurin, their father, is captured by the dark lord, Morgoth. [For those who are more familiar with The Lord of the Rings, Morgoth was Sauron's master until the former was defeated.] He is forced to watch, through the eyes of his enemy, the lives of his children and how they come to ruin due to the curse of Morgoth hanging over their heads.

I have never liked the character of Turin Turambar. He seemed to constantly be involved in himself. Everything he does, every action he takes, revolves around what good it would do for him. As a result he becomes responsible for the ruin of an entire elven kingdom, and the near ruin of a hidden human population.

As I read The Children of Hurin, I found young Turin quite interesting. His mood is dark, true - as dark as he is - but he has a kind and generous heart. However, something in him snaps at the death of his kid-sister, Lalaith, and he retreats completely into himself. His fate is sealed the day his pregnant mother, Morwen, refuses to go with him into the protected elven realm of Doriath. She still hopes that her husband will return, ignoring the advice her husband gives her, that she seek protection if he shouldn't return from battle. She is unaware that Hurin has been captured by Morgoth, and it this pride of hers (a pride that Turin inherits in abundance) that triggers off the series of events that bring about her family's downfall.

Illustration by Alan Lee.

Turin Turambar grow up in Doriath, but long for his mother and the sister he has not seen. When he is old enough he leaves the protected boundaries of Doriath in search of them. He soon believes that he has lost his mother and sister to evil raiders and he joins a band of ruffians who steal and murder. Later he becomes their captain, accidentally kills the elf who was also his best friend, finds the hidden elven kingdom of Nargothrond, becomes advisor to the elven king and encourages him to build a bridge to march against the army of Morgoth against all better judgement. This bridge is finally responsible for the destruction of Nargothrond. Then comes Turin's period of dwelling with some woodspeople as he usurps their leader's place and, later, marries a woman he does not know is his sister.

As you can tell, this is a tale froth with so much drama and tragedy. But at no point could I empathise or symathise with anyone save for Beleg, the elf whom Turin kills, and Brandir, the lame leader of the woodspeople of Brethil, whose kindness Turin repays with death.

In many ways, this tale reads like a Shakespearean tragedy. It is dark and hopeless, yet while it is convenient for all to believe it was Turin's fate, it is really Turin's pride and temperament that bring him to his pathetic end.

Shakespeare? Or Marlowe? Which One Do We Choose?

2011-06-30T20:38:00.000+05:30

The first play I ever read by Christopher Marlowe was The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. I found it to be so powerful and moving that I was quite in love with Marlowe. Later, while discussing this particular play with my mother, she told me all about the authorship question regarding Shakespeare's plays. It was from her I first learnt that Shakespeare was believed not to be Shakespeare, the playwright. Apparently, there were several contending candidates said to have written Shakespeare's plays; among them being Sir Francis Bacon, The Earl of Sussex and Christopher Marlowe.

I was quite intrigued by the case for Marlowe. It sounded so plausible, especially as Shakespeare is said to have been so greatly influenced by the former that it would seem almost like he was haunted by Marlowe's Ghost. Of all the playwrights and writers of the time, Marlowe and Shakespeare's style were incredibly similar. In fact, scholars have scientifically sought to deduce the similarity in their writing (in terms of syllabic words used, idioms, phrases and the like) to prove that Marlowe and Shakespeare were one and the same person. And if the results are to be believed, it would strongly appear to be so. Marlovians (scholars who support the theory of Marlowe being the real Shakespeare) say that the progression from Marlowe's plays to that of Shakespeare could be of a natural strain - of an artist growing gradually and surely in his art. Some other points that the Marlovians make in favour of their candidate is that

many of the plays are about exiles, and if Marlowe survived he most certainly was an exile,
in exile Marlowe would have travelled all over Europe thus being familiar with the places that pop up in Shakespeare's various plays; this as opposed to Shakespeare not having been anywhere further than London,
Marlowe's immense education, especially his scholarly interests in the Classics with special attention to Ovid; this as opposed to Shakespeare's mere education in a public grammar school.

To believe that Marlowe was in exile it had to be assumed that he did not really die in the reported tavern brawl. Research and investigation into the matter have brought up some interesting information. For instance, the fact that the three men with Marlowe were, in someway or the other, connected to the Walsinghams; (this bit is important as Marlowe was one of Walsingham's spies); that the whole coroner's inquest was suspect; that they were not even in a tavern but in a safe house run by a widow called Eleanor Bull; and most importantly the fact that Marlowe was on the threshold of coming under a death sentence. The details are quite astonishing and fascinating. However, while all of this might prove that Marlowe did not die, that the brawl was really part of a plan to get Marlowe out of the country, none of this proves that Marlowe wrote Shakespeare's plays.

I found my faith in Marlowe begin to waver as I read Ben Crystal's Shakespeare on Toast. While he does not deal at all with the authorship question, there were a few things that seemed completely out of place with the Marlowe-is-Shakespeare theory.

Shakespeare wrote plays meant for his actors to perform. His plays were fashioned to suit the abilities of his actors or the availability of kinds of actors. During the time he wrote plays like As You Like It and Twelfth Night it is said that Shakespeare has some good youthful actors in his company who fitted the constant gender-role changes of these plays. And apparently plays like Hamlet and King Lear were written with one of his rather powerful and oratorical actors in mind. (This information does not come from Crystal's book but from my recollection of tid-bits offered out in university classes.)
Shakespeare wrote for his stage. He knew the pros and cons of his theatre.
Shakespeare wrote for occasions. Macbeth being a case in point, having been written during the time of political unrest when James VI of Scotland became James I of England after the death of Elizabeth I.
The two years of the black plague saw absolutely no plays as theatres were shut down. However, these are the two years in which it is said that Shakespeare wrote his 154 sonnets.
While there are no documents or manuscripts by Shakespeare's hand, to prove that he wrote his plays, apparently there are documents by his actors that refer to the plays that Shakespeare had staged at The Globe. (Recently got this off reviews regarding this book.)
For all the places that Shakespeare has mentioned in Europe, he seems to get his geographical locations all wrong, according to Crystal, almost as if he had heard about these places rather than seen them.

All of this really makes one wonder if Shakespeare did write Shakespeare after all! Disbelievers have been accused of academic snobbery in their inability to believe that a man of Shakespeare's meagre education and lack of 'experience' could have written such works of absolute genius. But, isn't the mark of a genius that his ability springs from a brilliance of mind, thought and natural talent rather than from his education and experience? I don't really know, but right now I am strongly inclined toward giving Shakespeare the benefit of the doubt.

Shakespeare Through the Eyes of an Actor

2011-06-26T13:24:00.000+05:30

Shakespeare on Toast: Getting a Taste for the Bard by Ben Crystal

I ordered this book from flipkart.com the moment I read this review. As some of you might have noticed, I'm planning to read all of Shakespeare's works in the next couple of years or so, and this book sounded like it could have a clue or two to help me have a better experience of the Bard.

I am happy to say I wasn't disappointed. It was not what I had expected, but it didn't let me down.

Shakespeare on Toast is a book written by an actor who gives us a very different perspective on Shakespeare - through the eyes of a Shakespearean actor. When studying Shakespeare in college we were given to understand that all the stage directions, in his plays, were very much present within the dialogue. What I did not realise was how much! According to Ben Crystal Shakespeare tells his actors how to deliver certain lines, through his dialogue. Shakespeare wrote most of his play in blank verse, which there was a metre and a rhythm to it. In other words, the iambic pentameter.

While Ben Crystal shows us many clues to reading Shakespeare throughout the novel, the part that made me give this book a five star rating is when Crystal lays out the background for Macbeth and gives us a step-by-step analysis of one of the scenes from the view-point of an actor. Really, Shakespeare's plays are meant to be performed, and not merely read. But I've understood, that while reading, if I can keep in mind the stage, the people the plays were performed, the background of the plays, I can glean a great deal more from Shakespeare than just a story or some beautifully written poetry.

I would recommend this to anybody who is reading or intends reading Shakespeare.

"The Blue Castle"

2011-06-26T13:08:00.000+05:30

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

I read the Anne of Green Gables series a long, long time ago that I had forgotten why I had simply loved reading L M Montgomery. There is something so exquisitely charming about her stories, and I'm so happy I got to relive that charm in The Blue Castle.

The Blue Castle is, supposedly, Montgomery's only novel for 'adults'. It's about twenty-nine year old Valancy who has no happy prospects of marriage to look forward to. She is a timid woman, who fears everyone in her family and allows herself to be cowed down and bossed around by all. Then, a visit to the doctor changes her entire outlook on life and her attitude. She says 'no' to fear, leaves her family and moves out to make her own living. In the process she finds friendship and love - two things she has never experienced before.

It is a simple story about a young woman finding love. It's a simple love story. But so full of life and character. I found myself enjoying something I recall quite annoyed me as a child - Montgomery's colourful and sensual description of nature, sunsets and sunrise, moonlit nights, and the wild. I reveled in the poetic beauty of her language and decided that I had to read some more Montgomery and do a re-reading of Anne of Green Gables.

Let me end this post with a quote:

“The woods are so human...that to know them one must live with them. An occasional saunter through them, keeping to the well-trodden paths, will never admit us to their intimacy. If we wish to be friends we must seek them out and win them by frequent, reverent visits at all hours; by morning, by noon, and by night; and at all seasons, in spring, in summer, in autumn, in winter. Otherwise we can never really know them and any pretence we may make to the contrary will never impose on them. They have their own effective way of keeping aliens at a distance and shutting their hearts to mere casual sightseers. It is of no use to seek the woods from any motive except sheer love of them; they will find us out at once and hide all their sweet, old-world secrets from us. But if they know we come to them because we love them they will be very kind to us and give us such treasures of beauty and delight as are not bought or sold in any market-place. For the woods, when they give at all, give unstintedly and hold nothing back from their true worshippers. We must go to them lovingly, humbly, patiently, watchfully, and we shall learn what poignant loveliness lurks in the wild places and silent intervales, lying under starshine and sunset, what cadences of unearthly music are harped on aged pine boughs or crooned in copses of fir, what delicate savours exhale from mosses and ferns in sunny corners or on damp brooklands, what dreams and myths and legends of an older time haunt them. Then the immortal heart of the woods will beat against ours and its subtle life will steal into our veins and make us its own forever, so that no matter where we go or how widely we wander we shall yet be drawn back to the forest to find our most enduring kinship.”
— Chapter III, The Blue Castle by L M Montgomery

You can find an online version of the story here.

Friday Reads and Book Beginnings #1

2011-06-24T23:15:00.001+05:30

Here are two more Friday memes of I've decided to join this week. I figured since #Friday Reads and Book Beginnings on Friday are similar, I would combine them in one post. The first is all about books we're getting ready to tackle during the weekend, and the second is a brief introduction to one's current read by quote the first couple of sentences.

So then...

I am currently reading Shakespeare on Toast by Ben Crystal:

Never, never, never, never, never.
King Lear, Act 5, Scene 3, line 306

That quote is one of the most stunning lines in Shakespeare, and after reading this book you'll be able to give a number of very good reasons why this is true. (p.1)

I can tell you this, I'm eager to pick up a Shakespearean play after this to put all I learn from this book to the test!

Reading this weekend...

I'm looking at starting Entangled by Traci Bell:

It's supposed to be an adult fantasy story; about two dimensions getting mixed up with each other. I'm in the mood for something light-hearted and fantasy-like. So I figured I would give this a go. It was something I won at a giveaway in Armchair BEA, so I can't say what it will be like. I'm hoping it will prove to be a fun, relaxing read!

I'm also hoping I might be able to re-read a fantasy short story called Who Slays the Gyant, Wounds the Beast by Mark Chadbourne.

It's Fae: Friday Book Blog Hop #1

2011-06-24T22:24:00.000+05:30

I've been meaning to join the Friday Book Blog Hop, hosted by Parajunkee's View, for awhile, and finally, with this week's question, I decided to plunge right in!

So,

In light of the Summer Solstice, also known as Midsummer...let's talk about fairies. What is your favourite fairy tale or story that revolves around the fae?

Prince Arthur and the Faerie Queen by Heinrich Fussli

Ask a question about the fae, and I'm there! However, I'm not going to talk about a favourite fairy tale in this post. This tale is very strange and very...well...fae-like; of the changeling kind. If any of you have ever read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell you'll understand the kind of story I'm about to mention. Who Slays the Gyant, Wounds the Beast by Mark Chadbourne is a short story about a war that is about to break out between England and the World of Faerie. It is only Spencer, the protaganist, and his Faerie Queen who can do anything about preventing it. I believe this is some sort of take on Edmund Spencer's Faerie Queene. It has been, admittedly, about four years since I read this story, and the details escape me. But I recall the impression it made one me - it was beautiful in a creepy way.

I think it's about time I gave this short story another go.

So, do you have any faerie favourites?

Short Story Saturday beginning in July!

2011-06-23T13:58:00.001+05:30

So, I was just looking at my TBR list, and adding recently bought books to it, when I realised I wasn't getting much done by way of short-story reading. I have several short-story anthologies and collections sitting in my shelves, and I would really like to make a decent dent in them. Therefore, starting from the first Saturday of July 2011 I'm going to have Short Story Saturday(s).

The idea is to read at least one short story every Saturday. Considering my weekends is when I find less time to read, I figured I could at least manage a short story. I'll be posting that week's short story review. If anyone is interested in joining me I could either provide a system for you to link up or you could just post your link in my comments section. I guess if the participant-number is just going to be afew I could stick to the latter option.

As far as rules go, I'm making none. You could read one story. You could read two. You could read a dozen. You could read them through the week. Or only on Saturdays. It's really up to you. But on Saturday, the meme post goes up and you can link us to whatever you've been reading by way of short stories that week.

So, here's hoping to finishing off a certain percentage of my TBRs in these next six months!

Using 'Thou' and 'You'

2011-06-23T09:14:00.001+05:30

Here's a little piece of interesting information I've just gathered from reading Shakespeare on Toast.

I was always under the impression that 'thou' was the formal form of 'you'. In fact, I thought that 'thou' was used before 'you' ever entered the English language. Apparently, I was wrong on the first count, and as for the second, I'm not really sure that was wrong in thinking so, but it seems highly likely.

According to Ben Crystal, actor and author of the afore mentioned book, in giving clues as to how to understand a Shakespearean play, he mentions how 'thou' was used when talking to a commoner, one who was inferior in rank, and one who is intimate with you in terms of family, lover or friend. 'You' was used in all matters of formality, even when addressing royalty.

I guess, now, the term 'your majesties' makes sense!

UPDATE: Incidently, God was always referred to as 'thou' to reflect the close, fatherly relationship one could have with Him.

Must Literature have an Agenda?

2011-06-22T10:44:00.000+05:30

This is a bi-weekly meme run by The Blue Bookcase.

This fortnight's question:

Should literature have a social, political, or any other type of agenda? Does having a clear agenda enhance or detract from its literary value?

I doubt the saying, the pen is mightier than the sword, is just something that popped out of someone's head with no real meaning behind. Literature, and any art from for that matter, is representative of cultures, eras and various peoples. If literature is the voice of various kinds of people, then it is bound to find itself in various forms. The pen has caused revolutions, as in the case of the French in 1792. It was a revolution that was instigated through the writings of the likes of Robespierre. It was writers like Thomas Carlyle who brought, to the attention of his people, the goings-on in Paris about the same time. There were writers who exalted and encourage the cause of the common French people, and then there were others who later wrote in dismay of horrors of the revolution. Without the agenda's of these various writers, surely enough, we would have no history, right?

Literature has given hope to people, has inspired and stirred people on toward freedom; it has brought to light so much that would otherwise be hidden in the darkness. But, it has also sought to work as a means of escape, as a means of serving the imagination one fantastical dish after the other.

Should literature have an agenda?

To me, this is rather a rhetorical question. All literary works have an agenda - an agenda to incite, to inspire, to condemn, to judge, to entertain, to comfort. There is no literature without an agenda.

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