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Janet's Reading Log 2008


Janet

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Finished No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay which I enjoyed. 8/10

 

I've just started Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll - I haven't read this for about 30 odd years but I know it well as I was a 'stage hand' in a school production of it when I was 15!

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After a dodgy start, I read Pride and Prejudice and absolutely loved it! :smile:

023-2008-Aug-20-PrideandPrejudice.jpg

 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

 

The ‘Blurb’

Pride and Prejudice, which opens with one of the most famous sentences in English literature, is an ironic novel of manners.  In it the garrulous and empty-headed Mrs Bennet has only one aim - that of finding a good match for each of her five daughters.  In this she is mocked by the witty cynicisms of her indolent husband.

 

One of her daughters, Elizabeth, becomes prejudiced against her future suitor Darcy, because of his arrogance and uncalled-for interference with his friend Bingley’s courtship of her sister Jane.  In spite of this, Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth - a blow to his pride - proposes, but is rejected.  However, his sensitive assistance when Lydia Bennet elopes, dissolves Elizabeth’s prejudices, and the two are reconciled.

 

Oh wow.  I can't believe just how my feelings for this book turned round.  I went from feeling so indifferent to it at the start that I kept finding excuses not to read it to wanting to read it slowly in order to make it last.

 

I wanted to slap some of the female characters hard to start with.  My head could tell me that the ladies would have behaved that way in 1813 when the novel was first published, but my heart couldn't stand the way they were so pathetic!  However, I soon got over that and warmed to them.

 

I especially loved the characters of Lizzy, Mr Darcy (despite never having seen P&P on the TV, I still pictured Darcy as Colin Firth - which is no bad thing!) and Mr Bennet.  Oh, and Jane.

 

I wanted to slap Lydia for being so selfish, and give Mrs Bennet a damn good shake by the shoulders for being such an embarrassment.

 

It had humour in spades.  It was sad too.  Mr Bennet being trapped in such a loveless marriage was a tragedy considering his lovable and amiable nature.

 

I have quite a few 'favourite bits', but I think the one that stands out for me was where Jane stood up to Lady Catherine when she came to dissuade Elizabeth from having a relationship with Darcy - this bit showed just how strong the character of Lizzy really was.

 

As a ‘modern’ woman, it seems very strange to me how society worked back then.  For Charlotte to marry someone after only knowing them for such a short time to secure a future for herself seems very alien!

 

I don't think a book has caused so many different emotions in me for a long, long time.  After feelings of total indifference I simply grew to love this book.

 

The paperback is 376 pages long and is published by Wordsworth. The ISBN number is 978-1853260001.

 

10/10

 

(Read August 2008)

 


Have moved on to Entertaining Angels by Joanna Bell. It's more chicklitish� than I thought but I shall persevere for now.

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This post is about Entertaining Angels by Joanna Bell, so if you're planning to read it for September's 'Reading Circle' on here, then don't look at the comments! :D

 

 

I thought this book was going to be a standard chick-lit story, but it wasn’t really. It’s a family saga with a touch of magic about it, and yet it’s convincing. The characters are well-written and the autistic girl at the centre of it feels as though she’s believable. I don’t have much experience of autism to draw on, but from my understanding of it (and my experiences of a friend’s son who has Asperger’s), I’d say Hebe is fairly characteristic of a child with the condition. The author is a GP so I guess she knows her stuff!

 

Joshua is very set in his ways and believes that Hebe should live in a home because she’s ‘retarded’. He feels very uncomfortable around her. However, something happens that leads to Hebe spending more and more time with the bigoted old man that she calls ‘Grandpa’ and gradually he begins to mellow…

 

Perhaps my only slight criticism is that the loose ends all tie together rather conveniently at the end, but then I read this purely to be entertained - and it did that rather well!

 

8/10

 

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Have you/are you planning to read any more Austen, Liz (is it Liz?)?

 

 

I've just finished Playing With The Moon by Eliza Graham

 

This book, Graham's debut novel, slips effortlessly between past and present as the story of how the skeleton of Lew Campbell came to be found on a beach some sixty years after his death, together with Minna and Tom’s tale of how they have become alienated from one another. As the story unfolds, things start to change for Minna and Tom, and ghosts are laid to rest for both Minna and Felix.

 

This book is my choice for our next Bookworms meet next week, and I don’t think my co-members will be disappointed with this one!

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Oh I'm Laura. Well, I read Sense & Sensibility several years ago and have a copy of Emma. I would love to read Persuasion soon also.

Whoops, sorry Laura - I don't know where Liz came from! :D

 

I have S&S to read. I started Emma last year but found it rather waffly so I gave up and passed it on to a charity shop, but having read Pride and Prejudice, I'm confident I can get through it after all!

 

I'm going to start on The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett later today. I haven't read the thread on here about it yet. It's only skinny so should be a short read. :006:

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I'm going to start on The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett later today. I haven't read the thread on here about it yet. It's only skinny so should be a short read. :D

 

I read this in one sitting and enjoyed it :006:

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Did you like Shakespeare by Bill Bryson Janet? I have it on my TBR list.

I know you found my review and I commented there, but I didn't want it to appear that I was ignoring you. :)

 

Yes, I thought it was very informative for a non-Shakespeare expert.

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I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini today. Only one word for it - amazing!

 

I thought The Kite Runner was very good, but this just blew that out of the water.

 

I wonder how he'll follow this?! If I could give it 11/10 I would! :)

 

 

I don't know what to read next now... :D

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