MrCat

The movie was with Audrey Hepburn and that's what made the movie excellent in the first place. Her acting, her persona, how she looked in the now iconic black dress at the start of the movie, all made the movie great. Capote wanted Marilyn Monroe to play the role (Holly in the book is blonde too) and he was very unpleased with Audrey but I'm sure the entire world thanked the producers for their choice. No, I have not seen the movie. I have heard about it though and I will keep an eye out for it. I From Viginia's works, I have to say that I like all of them but Mrs Dalloway and Orlando would be my favourite if I'd have to pick.

I've been putting this one off for ages now but this month I will give it a go. Will be reading Middlemarch in the... wait for it... middle of March. *drums* I know bad pun but I could not resist . I have high expectations for this one, I even bought a physical book so I don't read it on my e-book reader. Here's hoping it won't be a 900 page long snooze fest.

I prefer whatever fits better in my library. I'm not kidding. Most of my books are paperback though with the occasional hardcover here and there. I am more interested in the quality of the paper itself and the translation if it's the case. Some of my books come with a double cover, where the first one is just there to protect the original cover but I generally take very good care of books and it does not make much of a difference.

Started reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac and after 50 pages I question the four euros I spent on the book.

Last time we did one of these I barely managed to read 150 pages from The Bell Jar. I assume math problems do not count here so yet again I barely read anything. Maybe, just maybe this month will be glorious.

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf I will start my writing with a small nod to John Green's open letter sections from Crash Course: "An open letter to Virgina Woolf. Dear Virginia Woolf, I love your works. You are truly the queen of excellent prose matched probably only by Jane Austen. Your novels might sometimes be hard to read, I even have to re-read certain passages and my brain struggles as it is put to the test in order to grasp your writing. Sometimes it just goes over my head. But to quote a character from this book: What does the brain matter, compared with the heart? Best wishes, a random reader" Reading Mrs Dalloway is like... Well you know what? Screw it. I'm not even going to try and compare it, because I would not do it justice. Instead of insisting on fancy words like modernism or stream of consciousness I'll just say that reading Mrs Dalloway feels like you are in a crowded street, where everyone goes left and right constantly and you can hear their thoughts and know their inner secrets all the time. Mrs Dalloway isn't necessarily about the central character with the same name, or any character for that matter. It is about moments in life, moments that we all have and share with others, moments that the author analyzes and reflects upon in such depth that one might think Woolf personally knows each and every member of our species. There are nods in the book regarding social condition, feminism (what's up with me and this subject?), effects of the war on society and even civilians that did not actively participate in it. However I feel that Woolf's writing was directed towards the characters with probably some of the most beautiful prose ever written. Each character (even the ones that don't appear very much in the book) is sliced in pieces so the reader can explore his most inner feelings and thoughts. One noticeable thing that I especially liked about this book (and to a certain extent it reminded me of Joyce's Dubliners) is how ordinary the characters and situations are. There's no hero with extraordinary qualities that performs extraordinary feats, we just read about ordinary people with ordinary lives. Yet, similar to Faulkner's characters in As I Lay Dying, Virginia Woolf gives them more meaning by showing off their inner struggles and beauty. She shows us that even ordinary people can be great, think great and have deep feelings. Final verdict: 5/5 and definitely a book that is worth reading.

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote This is one of those "The movie was better than the book" books and yes of course I am going to mention the movie so fast. Do you like the movie? Do you like Audrey Hepburn? If the answer to these questions is yes, then feel free to skip the book. In fact, you might feel free to skip the book anyway, unless you are a fan of Capote's works or want to rush through some reading challenge. But let's start with the good bits. Capote's Holly is quirky, funny, lonely, fashionable and overall a person you'd never feel bored around. She's an excellent character that reinvented herself based on what people around her wanted. By the end of the novel I wasn't exactly sure how Holly really was and if she was ever honest to anyone. Capote gave her a plethora of attributes, both interior and exterior, and just toyed with them, putting each forward depending on the occasion. The book is quite feminist at times and I am sure it must have caused some muttering at the time. Holly is a prostitute but a classy one. She only hangs out with rich and important people and she's only 18. There is a particular fragment in the book where she talks about gay marriage and love and for an 18 year old, I have to say Capote sure gave her some wits. As much as Capote invested in Holly, the rest of the characters were left out and did not get the same treatment. Nameless narrator, Mag, Joe Bell they all fall in the same pot even though some do get more attention than others in the book. And as much as Capote gave Holly her own unique personality compared to the shallowness of the others, at times she is still a silly eighteen year old girl. She suffers from the first world problem syndrome too often and it's hard to take seriously her more mature feelings and opinions at times. The book has many excellent quotes and one liners but most of it is "filler". Kind of like when you are watching a TV show and you see one important episode, then 15 filler ones just to make the time pass and then another episode relevant to the story. There's not much happening and almost nothing interesting that does happen have a purpose. These being said, I rate the book 2/5 or skippable/5.

Happy Birthday Tony Morrison! Born on this day, 1931.

Is it even possible to avoid spoilers these days? We are daily on the internet and there are movie adaptations left and right so staying away from a possible spoiler would mean staying away from the internet. I guess it is annoying when someone spoils a book but at least one can still read the book for something else, like character and writing.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath’s autobiography, dark, honest and surprisingly not as feminist as most reviewers claim it is. Her alter-ego, Esther, describes her internship in New York at a popular magazine, her dreams and aspirations and then somehow everything manages to crumble down. I am not exactly sure how much of the book actually coincides with her real life but it’s a sad story even if a quarter of it was true. I said earlier that the book is not as feminist as most people claim and I know that raised some eyebrows so let me clarify certain things. The reader finds out very early in the book about Esther’s situation in NY, her age, thinking and the fact that “I was supposed to be having the time of my life”. Society throws expectations at us from a very early age and that mixed with every young person’s sense of invincibility and an “I can do everything my life” attitude, puts a lot of pressure on the individual. Notice I said the individual and not the woman. Every person is subjected to this at some point in life and while I’d assume that women are most affected by this, I would not count out men. Of course there are some feminist ideas thrown here and there about women’s dependency or independence of men, childbirth and marriage but they are treated from a very one dimensional point of view. You can’t compare childbirth with anything and can’t understand it properly as a man but fathers are just as well involved in the child’s birth, they also have hopes and fears, just like the mother. Esther also often contradicts herself in the book and given the circumstances I found this to be totally acceptable. I could say that in some ways Sylvia’s book speaks to the read on a personal level. We’ve all been young and with more or less similar problems at some point and maybe that’s why so many people like the book and resonate with it so much. Beyond the gender, the norms, the fears, the expectations, every person has had similar struggles at one point in life and every person can identify with Esther’s struggles. It’s very misleading to call the book feminist when it appeals so a much wider audience. The narrative is very straightforward and the writing wasn’t anything special. Everything in the book feels and is very dated, especially since she mentions the Rosenbergs in the first sentence but the themes in it are universal and timeless. I have not read any of her poems but this book got me interested and maybe I will pay them a visit soon.

Happy Birthday Mrs/Mr *insert author here*. Since we have a general RIP thread (at it's always a bummer whenever I see that one bumped), I figured we should have a thread that celebrates the birth of an author. That one magical day when the person that wrote our favourite novels was born. And without further ado, happy birthday James Joyce, born on this day, 1882!

Wait what? There are more books in the Mistrborn series? O.O

Have you seen Freaks and Geeks? A much better show imo. Too bad it was cut short because of the time's low ratings.

My favourite Scorpions era. Such a pity that they moved away from this style to a more commercial one. Don;t get me wrong, I love 80's Scorpions and I saw them twice live but that stuff can;t hold a candle to this.

Maaaaaaaan I wish The Big Bang Theory would go back to their early humour from the first seasons. The whole nerd thing is old and predictable. You can only make so many Star Trek jokes.

Currently reading The Bell Jar. I don't know how I feel about this... It feels fresh and dated all at once.

Tom Clancy - Patriot Games. Erm I don't know... Can I pick Beloved, Norwegian Wood or A Brief History of Time instead?

Might participate too. I really missed out on the last one.

RIP John Hurt.

Speaking of book popularity, Orwell's 1984 is off the charts these days in USA. I guess politics proved to be another good reason for book popularity.

Thank you. I think this book is certainly not ment for everyone, I wouldn't exactly call it a "must read", unlike... To Kill A Mockingbird. But it does offer excellent writing and characters so it might be the right read for someone looking for those things in a book.

According to Goodreads, it has 750 pages.

Welcome to BCF!

Thread resurrection! I saw this one mentioned by a booktuber and she said it was one of her favourite books read in 2016. I have not heard of it before but it sounds like something I would read. However... It is 750 pages long, meaning quite a time investment. Is it any good? Anything similar and more popular that it could be compared with, so I might get an idea if I'd like it?

Yeah... The Hobbit movies were terrible. I can still remember how hyped I was when I saw the trailer for the first movie and the major disappointment I felt at the end of the film. I still don't understand how they managed to mess up such and easy and fun book. edit: Speaking of, I might re-read The Hobbit this year.