tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77988292716844581762024-03-04T22:06:03.211-08:00Books Everyone Should ReadAn Exercise in Readinggroovyjosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01684622809415687168noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-51129211433150437492013-05-10T16:17:00.000-07:002013-05-10T16:17:51.851-07:00Writing WebsitesThis is just a short post to collect some websites that I've found, they've been getting mouldy in my bookmarks so I thought I'd leave them to get mouldy here.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.au.timeout.com/melbourne/aroundtown/features/2311/top-ten-writers-resources-in-melbourne">Here</a> is a list of resources for budding writers in Melbourne. Shelly Thacker, an author I've never heard of, wrote some <a href="http://www.shellythacker.com/betterbook.htm">tips</a> on writing a readable novel. And this is about <a href="http://www.kleineedit.com/standard-manuscript-format.htm">standard manuscript format</a>.<br />
<br />
And while we're here, <a href="http://www.redlightpolitics.info/post/45184280683/the-new-feminism-just-like-the-old-capitalism-the">this</a> blog is about feminism as a commodity market; <a href="http://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.no/2013/04/the-jerk-sweetie-spectrum.html">here</a> is one about the sweetie-jerk spectrum, and for some crafty stuff...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://thegreendragonfly.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/nibble-nibble-hop-hop/">These bunnies</a> are supes adorbs (I'll make them for next Easter); peruse <a href="http://make-handmade.com/2011/06/18/colorful-yarn/">these colourful crochet examples</a> only if you want to squee out. In the theme of my latest craze, <a href="http://justjen-knitsandstitches.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/easy-ripple-tea-cosy.html">ripple teacosy</a> and <a href="http://justjen-knitsandstitches.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/daylily-tea-cosy-for-mothers-day.html">daylily teacosy</a>.<br />
<br />
Thanks for indulging me!Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-18052142255288031802013-04-26T05:34:00.001-07:002013-04-26T05:34:17.997-07:00Anna Karenina (spoilers)It's been weeks since I finished Anna Karenina and she's still hanging around in my head.<br />
I have never read such a complex character, someone who can do terrible things and still elicit empathy.<br />
<br />
I saw the film first, thinking it didn't matter because I was never going to read an 800-page tome with a Russian storyline (they have no plot, I'd heard). As soon as I got home from the cinema I found the book on Mum's bookshelf and dived in.<br />
<br />
When I saw the film I thought, oh yeah, Kiera Knightley, let's see how she goes. I was surprised at the depth with which she played the character and impressed...<br />
<br />
You know when you watch a film and then you read the book, and because you've already been given visual representations of the characters, you don't form your own mental images? When I started reading <i>Anna Karenina </i>I pictured her as Kiera Knightley, but it only lasted 20 pages. Tolstoy's description of Anna was so much richer than KK could ever act. I was immediately caught up in her world, her personality, her... everything. I saw that ineffable essence of her that makes people fall in love with her: Vronsky, Kitty (in a girl crush way), Levin (as far as he can) and random men to whom she gives her notice.<br />
<br />
It is this ineffable quality of Anna's that makes her downfall all the more heartbreaking. It's not like she's some random "bad woman" as people characterise her. She is a woman who feels much and invokes much feeling in people. She is madly in love with two males, her lover and her son, and she cannot have them both. Anna choosing her lover means forgoing the whole rest of the world, and no-one can live only in the company of their lover, not forever. Neither can she hold him entrapped with solely her feminine charm. Jealousy floods her brain and drowns her sanity.<br />
<br />
I am too passionate about this book to write as lucidly as I want; it affected me too deeply. Even weeks later I cannot string a coherent thread together. But I have two more things to write about it.<br />
<br />
In the film, there is this great scene where Anna wants to go out. She is half-dressed. It took me a long time to realise that what she is wearing is her undergarments, a corset and a hooped petticoat that flounces around impotently. She runs around her apartment like a trapped animal, throwing wild accusations at Vronsky and growing less and less coherent as her restiveness grows. This seemed to me like a strong visual symbol of her wanting to be in society. She is dressed in the trappings of what is supposed to make her look stylish, but her hooped petticoat is transparent. Whenever she goes out, even though she's fully dressed up in a fashionable, expensive outfit, everyone can see straight through her as if she is only in her underthings.<br />
<br />
In the book, at the end I cried pretty much from when she leaves to go to the train to when she dies, because I knew it was coming. In the middle of this perfectly penned emotionally heavy chapter, when she going through the city thinking horrible run-on thoughts, she breaks in her inner monologue to notice that some young women have taken a double take to notice her beautiful, well put together ensemble. She thinks something along the lines of, "Yes, they think I'm very stylish." And it is important to her, even as she's thinking of suicide, that men and women alike admire her and are wowed by her.<br />
<br />
I probably haven't done a good job of representing Anna Karenina*, of trying to convince you that she's not just a "bad woman".<br />
<br />
Anna Karenina got under my skin. And I can't shake her loose.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*I certainly haven't well represented <i>Anna Karenina</i>; I haven't even got started on Levin and Kitty, or Oblonsky and Dolly, or the narrative voice style, or any of the other interesting things in this book.</span>Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-44617399777803557292013-03-21T03:35:00.000-07:002013-03-21T03:35:03.807-07:00Less Than Five Hours"Are you okay?" Darcy asked me, grabbing my arm.<br />
"Yeah, I'm just a bit dizzy, I guess. I think I stood up too quickly."<br />
"Take care of yourself," he said gently.<br />
"What are you even doing here?"<br />
Before he had a chance to respond the doorbell rang and I jumped. "Oh my God, who could that be?"<br />
My first thought was that it would be Bing, but then I remembered that he is in New York. With Jane. Who he would be here to see.<br />
Then I heard Charlotte's voice and realised it was the Chinese food. Of course. That would be an expected arrival at the front door. But these days I've come to expect the unexpected, not the normal.<br />
"What are you doing here?" I asked Darcy. It came out a little harsher than I intended, but I couldn't think of any way to soften it, so I just let my words hang in the air.<br />
"I got your message..."<br />
"And you didn't reply!"<br />
"No, I just, well, I just wanted to see you. Your last few videos have allowed me to hope as I had scarcely allowed myself to hope before."<br />
"Why are you talking like you're from the 19th Century? You sound like you're getting your lines from one of my undergraduate texts."<br />
"I'm trying to tell you something..."<br />
"Well stop talking and put your face on mine, William Darcy."<br />
"Eh, okay."<br />
<br />
lalalalallalaltonguelalalalallalallalalatonguelallalalallallaaallalamwahmwahmwahomgthreeepisdoesofpasshshshshing.....!<br />
<br />Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-2084128723240844622013-02-02T19:03:00.000-08:002013-02-13T15:24:56.424-08:00Book Recommendations!I keep hearing about books that I want to read, and I've decided to collate them virtually. Other writers on this blog should feel free to add to it:<br />
<br />
<b>Fiction</b>:<br />
<br />
<i>Raw Blue</i> -- Kirsty Eagar<br />
<br />
<i>Ask the Passengers</i> -- A. S. King<br />
<br />
<i>Just One Day</i> -- Gayle Foreman<br />
<br />
<i>Code Name Verity</i> -- Elizabeth Wein<br />
<br />
<i>Beneath a Meth Moon</i> -- Jacqueline Woodsen<br />
<br />
<i>Eleanor and Park</i> -- Rainbow Powell<br />
<br />
<i>The Spectacular Now</i> -- Tim Tharp<br />
<br />
<i>Peeps -</i>- Scott Westerfeld<br />
<br />
<i>The Boyfriend List</i> -- Emily Lockhart<br />
<br />
<b>Non-Fiction</b>:<br />
<br />
<i>Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future</i> -- Bill McKibbenEmmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-44504847787022662692012-11-06T00:05:00.002-08:002012-11-06T00:05:40.403-08:00A Christmas Carol<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens<br /><br />I read A Christmas Carol as a part of my bookclub reading list, even though I didn't actually end up going that particular week. We had decided to read it because not only does it show up in a lot of pop culture (Doctor who!) but one member had heard that week that it was a good Dickens to start with.<br /><br />Being short I was keen (you would think by now I would have learnt about short books) and wanted to be able to say "I've read some Dickens" whether or not "A Christmas Carol" was *actually* on the list.<br /><br />I did not like this book. I suspect that was because I was very familiar with the concept. When I was a kid one year we went to the Myer windows and the story was A Christmas Carol (check year?) and while I never really watched any donald duck-type cartoons I knew about "scrooge mcduck" and him diving into his monies.<br /><br />Knowing the plotline of a book is not necessarily a dealbreaker (I still enjoyed <a href="http://aconsensuscloud.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/picture-of-dorian-gray.html" target="_blank">A Picture of Dorian Grey</a>) but I found myself eager to get on with it: "okay okay, next ghost, let's get a move on".<br />Perhaps because I knew what the ending would be, or perhaps it is a kids book - is it a kids book? - I found the story too simplistic. Dude gets visited by 3 ghosts and then loves Christmas.<br />Really?<br />Aaaaaand perhaps it is a little because I am not actually the biggest fan of Christmas in the world. I misliked the overarching theme of "you must like christmas and be agreeable because: CHRISTMAS"<br /><br />There were definitely flaws with the way that Scrooge was living, and people need to be loving and caring ALL year around, not just at christmas. <br />I just didn't think that the arguments the ghosts made really would have convinced someone so set in his ways as scrooge. <br /><br />That being said, there were times when I really appreciated the writing. Despite me not being a big fan of the book, I think that perhaps my fellow bookclubber was correct, it was a good entry-Dickens. What it did do was make me interested to read a story of his in which I am less familiar with the plotlines so that I can appreciate</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> both story and writing. Provided it is, in fact, a good story!<br /><br />-Jocelyn</span></div>
groovyjosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01684622809415687168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-7924349338248076292012-11-05T15:05:00.000-08:002012-11-06T00:00:44.959-08:00The Invisible Man<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Edited to add a plot synopsis at Emmeline's request:<br />The Invisible Man is about a bloke who works out how to turn himself invisible but can't undo the effect. The story is about his efforts to fix the issue and how he manages to operate in a world in which one really has to be visible to be interacted with. [/edit]</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having previously watched Warehouse 13 on Syfy [very minor season 2 spoiler] the authorship of The Invisible Man was confusing to me because in Warehouse 13 H.G. Wells is brought back to life* and to almost everyone's surprise is actually a woman, Helena, who goes by 'HG' and used her brother as a cover but was actually the ideas powerhouse. From my brief research (yes, I just glanced over the wikipage), Wells does not appear to have been a woman, but having watched HG run around with Agents Bering and Latimer she was very much ingrained in my head as a woman.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do believe that you read a book differently if the author is a woman or a man**. So I was doing this weird thing whereby the lens through which I read the book kept switching back and forth between female and male authorship.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even though I knew the author was a man.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't like the main character, the invisible man. And I don't believe he is supposed to be sympathetic, given that for most of the book we follow the story through the eyes of those around him; Mrs Hall, Mr Marvel and Kemp.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The invisible man was nasty and rude and as the story progresses one imagines that he has always been so, it isn't just as a result of his invisibility.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later in the book they describe the man that was as having been an albino but the whole way I imagined him as black or very dark-featured because early on someone pointed out he had black legs.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I seed through the tear of his trousers and the tear of his glove. You'd have expected a sort of pinky to show, wouldn't you? Well—there wasn't none. Just blackness. I tell you, he's as black as my hat."..."</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That marn's a piebald, Teddy. Black here and white there—in patches."</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even though </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> knew the reason his leg was 'black' was because what the man was seeing through the tear was, infact, the dark inside of an empty trouser leg.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book was fairly unpleasant as none of the characters were particularly sympathetic. I was unable to connect with Mrs Hall; with Marvel I merely feared for his life (see below for reasons why); and whilst I liked Kemp he (and everyone) was hardly around long enough to get to know him.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason I feared for Marvel's life was because the way I read the back of the book was: Invisible man kills a man and goes to a friend for help. So I was waiting for him to kill someone in a rage or accidentally, which never seemed to happen.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[spoilers]</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps I misread and they were talking about when the Invisible Man is accidentally killed. But I spend the whole book on tenterhooks.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[/spoilers]</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the whole this book was not bad. As I say, the characters were not overly likeable but it moved quickly and was over soon. I wouldn't say that this is something everyone should read, but if you want to be able to say you've read some H.G.Wells you might want to go with this. From Warehouse 13 I was led to believe that Wells wrote about all sorts of fantastical inventions, so I was a bit disappointed in the lack thereof.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Jocelyn</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* In my handwritten notes (written about 6 months ago) I put an asterix here, but didn't put a corresponding thought anywhere on the page... so now I'm not sure why!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** For example, when I first read Harry Potter I believed that 'J.K.' was a man. I believe I was intentionally misled. Would Harry Potter have been as famous if, from the outset, the books were by 'Joanne Rowling'?</span><br />
<br /></div>
groovyjosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01684622809415687168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-81822813440356981472012-10-24T04:28:00.000-07:002012-10-24T04:28:07.162-07:00All the Sneaky Ones Part 7: Embassytown<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
“I’ve got this book I want you
to read,” a friend said to me during a femography meet. “I think you’d be
really into it. It’s about language, and… stuff. It’s science fiction. But it’s
really interesting.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
So after the meet, we went to
her house and got the book. We ended up hanging out most of the afternoon. I
was thrilled, because I’d known her for ages and wanted to be good friends with
her but never made that leap. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Giving someone a book because
it made you think of them, out of the blue, is a pretty special friendship
indicator, I think. I felt honoured. So I put the book on my bedside table and
after reading three pages from it that night I didn’t touch it for months. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
To be fair, occasionally I would
read a paragraph from it, before I put it down again. There were always at
least three books piled on top of poor <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Embassytown</i>.
The book starts in the middle of a party the reader has no context for, in a
world that is not explained, and characters that simply appear without
introduction. I desperately wanted to read the book, and find out what it was
that made my friend think of me. And, you know, I wanted to enjoy the book as
well. But it was tough-going.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Finally, when I was moving to Arnhem Land with only 15 kilos of baggage allowance, I
had the impetus to actually read the book. I took it as the only fiction book,
so I would be forced to read it. Even so, it took me two and a half months to
finish it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Until around page 50, where
there was a massive revelation, I still didn’t understand the story. After that
the revelations came in waves as the story picked up pace and the stakes were
raised, incrementally but significantly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
I can understand why my friend
didn’t tell me too much about the novel. I also don’t want to give much away
because it was so hard to earn the revelations and yet so worth it when I did,
so I don’t want to take the potential pleasure from you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
This makes it hard to review
the book. So I’m going to give you a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">SPOILER WARNING</span></b>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Embassytown, the place that
provides the title, is a colony town on the outskirts of a wide-ranging
country, comparable to Great
Britain, except on a galaxy sort of scale.
The story revolves around human (or as they call them, “terre”) relations with
the indigenous creatures of the land Embassytown is based in, who are called
Hosts, or Ariekei. (<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">As I’m living in Arnhem Land
and interacting with Indigenous people encountering colonialism on a daily
basis, this was pretty interesting to me.</span>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Individual Terre can’t
communicate with the Hosts because they speak with two voices and they only say
what is truth. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><b>Their language is organised noise, like all of ours are,
but for them each word is a funnel. Where to us each word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">means</i> something, to the Hosts, each is an opening. A door, through
which the thought of that referent, the thought itself that reached for that
word, can be seen. (62)</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<b><span style="color: blue;">If I [record] a word in Language, and play it to an
Ariekes, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I</i> understand it, but to them
it means nothing, because it’s only sound, and that’s not where the meaning
lives. It needs a mind behind it. (62-63)</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Through this interesting
premise, Melville is able to explore the idea of truth and fiction. Arieke, the
indigenous people, are not able to lie, because to lie would be akin to
believing something that you didn’t think was true. It’s a paradox. They can
use simile but not metaphor. They say <span style="color: blue;"><b>“I am like the girl who ate what was
given to her”</b></span> but not <b><span style="color: blue;">“I am the girl who ate what was given to her”</span></b>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Something that comes across is
that sometimes you have to “lie”, that is say something that is not factually
correct, in order to tell a deeper truth. Whenever we talk about big concepts,
we stray from straight fact and reach for metaphor. For an example of this, I
use an excerpt from the <a href="http://aconsensuscloud.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/more-sneaky-reads-julie-and-julia.html"><u>recently reviewed</u></a> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Julie and Julia</i>:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<b><span style="color: blue;">I believe that calves’ liver is the single sexiest food
that there is… The reason people despise liver is that to eat it you must
submit to it – just like you must submit to a really stratospheric fuck.
Remember when you were nineteen and you went at it like it was a sporting event?
Well, liver is the opposite of that. With liver you’ve got to will yourself to
slow down. You’ve got to give yourself over to everything that’s a little
repulsive, a little scary, a little <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">too
much</i> about it. When you buy it from the butcher, when you cook it in a pan,
when you eat it, slowly, you ever can get away from the feral fleshiness of it.
Liver forces you to access taste buds you didn’t know you had, and it’s hard to
open yourself to it.</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
I think this speaks for itself.
(<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Someone will probably argue this is a simile
but I think it blurs the line</span>).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
The truth in lies idea also
reminded me of a line from <u><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdjmNPlePVE">this video</a></u>, by John
Green: <b><span style="color: blue;">“Nostalgia is inevitably a yearning for a past that never existed, and
when I'm writing, there are no bees to sting me out of my sentimentality. For
me at least, fiction is the only way I can even begin to twist my lying
memories into something true.”</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
John Green says it better than
I can, but what he’s saying is what fiction is like. Fiction is telling a story
that didn’t happen in order to convey truth.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
The other most interesting part
of the story comes right at the end, so if you’ve coped with the spoilers so
far but you don’t want the end of the story ruined, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;">BACK OUT NOW BIG SPOILER COME BACK WHEN
YOU’VE READ IT (Highlight to read)</span></b>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: white;">At the end of the book the
Arieke have to learn to “lie” in order to save their lives and their world.
They have to recognise that terre are sentient beings who can communicate. They
have to split the signifier and the signified:</span> <span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>“What they spoke now weren’t
things or moments anymore but the thoughts of them, pointings-at; meaning no
longer a flat facet of essence; signs ripped from what they signed” (365)</b></span></span>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: white;">This is an incredibly painful
process. They are essentially destroying their mind and their worldview and
rebuilding it.</span> <span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><b>“No wonder it made them sick. They were like new vampires,
retaining memories while they sloughed off lives. They’d never be cured. They
went quiet one by one, and not because their crisis ended. They were in a new
world. It was the world we live in” (366)</b></span>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: white;">This reminds me of my daily
life. People I see every day still remember a time when there were no settlers,
when colonialism did not touch them, at least not directly. The process of colonisation
is ongoing, and it is sometimes painful. Reading this description of the Hosts’
minds being destroyed and remade instantly made me think of people here trying
to adapt to a balanda (white person) way of life. I don’t think it’s impossible
to live in both cultures and be considered a success according to both
world-views, but it is very difficult. I think the destroying and remaking of
the mind is a very powerful… wait for it…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
Metaphor!</div>
Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-8212862618403394842012-10-10T00:02:00.000-07:002012-10-10T00:06:14.213-07:00The Handmaid's Tale<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had heard a little about this book recently. Someone was
talking about fertility in the sci-fi/futuristic/dystopia genre and how it was
never addressed unless it was the whole purpose of the story. And how it was
rarely addressed well. In this discussion The Handmaid’s Tale was mentioned as
a good handling of the issue.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was discussing reading books off the list, as well as
feminist books (which I’ve been doing over on my other blog), with Sandra and
she was surprised that I had not read this book. She went and got it off the
shelf and told me I had to read it. To my relief (and pleasure) it was on the
list – I do not need to add to the books I’m reading which are not on the
list!!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So going in, all I knew was that it had to do with fertility
(I couldn’t remember if this was one of the well-rounded ones, or one of the
dedicated ones) and that Atwood talked about credit cards before they even
existed. Sandra had remembered reading this as a younger woman and being
incredulous at the idea of someone handing over their number and their money
being all in an account!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn’t even read the back of the book before I started it,
mainly as an oversight.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I was immediately drawn in. Although quite confused about
the age of the protagonist and her compatriots until quite some way into the
book; that did not deter me.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Atwood manages to explain how the world got to the extreme
situation it is in, as well as continuing the storyline and engaging the reader
with the characters all without causing me to lose interest. No easy task.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />There are a great many snippits of the Bible throughout this
book and I feel like the reader would be missing out on something if they were
not familiar with the Bible, especially as a number of them are not only taken out
of context, but have actually been twisted with additions and subtractions as
suits the regime. My knowledge of the Bible, and the overall context of the
Bible and God made the reigimes misuse of the Bible particularly heinous to me.
But I also know that any government that wishes to control its people will use
what it can.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I think one of the things that scared me the most about this
book was the similarity with today’s world. I am not someone who thinks that
9/11 was a conspiracy but it was a ‘muslim’ attack that has allowed the
government to take away many many freedoms from US citizens and indeed
governments around the world have taken advantage of the event.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our lives have not been as restricted as the lives of those
living in The Handmaid’s Tale, but our freedom is something we must continually
fight for. And we must fight for the freedom of others: “As long as you said
you were some sort of a Christian and you were married, for the first time that
is, they were still leaving you pretty much alone. They were concentrating
first on the others. They got them more or less under control before they
started in on everybody else.” As the quote goes:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“First they came for the communists,</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and I didn't speak
out because I wasn't a communist.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then they came for the trade unionists,</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and I didn't speak
out because I wasn't a trade unionist.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then they came for the Jews,</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and I didn't speak
out because I wasn't a Jew.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then they came for me</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and there was no one
left to speak out for me.”</span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-</span><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Martin Niemöller</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />There is much discussion in feminist and movie circles about
the Male Gaze and the panopticon. However Atwood discusses this world where
women are entirely reliant on the man in their life and how they therefore
watch that man consistently.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We’re all watching him. It’s one thing we can really do,
and it’s not for mothering: if he were to falter, fail or die, what would
become of us?”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So despite how awful the situation is for the women in this
world, especially the handmaids, it is also difficult for the men to have these
women depend on him for everything. I believe that part of the feminist
movement is not only to create choice for women, but to create choice for men,
and for them to be able to share that burden of provision with their partners
and others in their world.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not to be
solely responsible for everyone in their household. Later on in the book, we
see some of the guilt that responsibility (and lack of wielding it well) puts
on the Commander.<br />Although he continues to be irresponsible, so I’m not sure
how guilty he was really feeling.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Commander argues that the changes that were made to this
current world were necessary because “There was nothing for them [the men] any
more… the sex was too easy. Anyone could just buy it. There was nothing to work
for, nothing to fight for. [An] Inability to feel.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is like one massive backlash to feminism, the men can’t
handle the new world and their different role in it, so they take away ALL of
women’s freedoms and tell them it is better for them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Atwood’s description of the procreating process stood out to
me so much that I have quoted it below:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />“My red skirt is hitched up to my waist, though no higher.
Below it the Commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my
body. I do not say making love, because this is not what he’s doing. Copulating
too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is
involved. Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven’t
signed up for. There wasn’t a lot of choice but there was some, and this is
what I chose.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I am someone who loves to find the exact right word for the
situation and so her thought process here resonates with me.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />This book is obviously written by, if not a woman, then
someone who understands how a woman thinks about sex, love and relationships. I
really felt that the author was authentic. One example of this is when the
protagonist is wishing her lover from the previous world was with her for the
express purpose of </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">arguing</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> whilst
getting ready in the morning. This reminded me of a quote from my mother; she
was complaining about having double prints of a bunch of photos cos she could
look at us any time and we told her she would need them the next year when we
had all left home, then she looked all sad and said “I don’t want photos, I
want yelling.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The idea that knowledge is sin, and that the protagonist
equivocates about whether she really wants to know what is going on in the
world, or she is better off as is: “Knowing was a temptation. What you don’t know
won’t tempt you, Aunt Lydia used to say. Maybe I don’t really want to know
what’s going on. Maybe I’d rather not know. Maybe I couldn’t bear to know. The
Fall was a fall from innocence to knowledge.”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Everyone should read this book.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />-Jocelyn</span></div>
<br /></div>
groovyjosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01684622809415687168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-61811941324774165192012-10-08T03:11:00.002-07:002012-10-08T03:11:21.280-07:00Retrospective Read: Gone With the Wind<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
This book contains a great
memory for me. I read it the summer I was in America, in 2007. The only copies
the library had were these big hardcover books – the book was split into two
parts because the copies were so big – with full-page illustrations scattered
throughout.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
I tore (not literally) through
the first book and then had to wait a few days to get my hands on the next
instalment, which as anyone who’s been in that situation would know is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">agony</i>!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
It’s a huge book, but I think I
read the whole thing in about a month. It just seemed to go on forever. At the
time I googled it a lot and found out that it is considered to be literarily
quite poor. I didn’t understand why at the time, but now looking back on it I
can see that it’s not great prose, though it is still a classic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
I think I’ve read it through in
full once since then, and now it’s just one of those books that I can pick up
and read from any page and then put it back away when I’m bored again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
Why did this book envelop me so
completely that first time? The world that Margaret Mitchell describes so
richly draws you in. At first the depiction of Southern slavery and class
distinctions is hard to take, but I tried to read it in terms of its historical
context, and then I just got sucked right into their world, their values and
beliefs and ways of thinking. It was honestly a little scary.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
So the loving nostalgia with
which Mitchell describes the “old world” (cotton ranches, ladies and gentlemen,
southern manners etc.) is compelling, as is the tenacity with which the
characters try to hold onto this culture even as the world as they know it is
crashing around their feet and the old ways no longer make sense.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
The second element of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">GWTW</i> that makes it magnetical is the
relationship between Scarlett O’Hara, our heroine, and Rhett Butler, the archetypal
bad-boy we love to hate. They are both terrible scoundrels, as Rhett is always
quick to point out, but the difference between the two is that Scarlett truly
wishes she could be the lady her mother taught her to be, but she is just too
practical to pull it off. Rhett on the other hand is comfortable with his
devilish ways.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
Throughout the novel it is clear
that Rhett is madly in love with Scarlett, but he “is not a gentleman” and she
can’t manipulate someone who doesn’t play by the rules. When she thinks he’s in
love with her, she teases him and tries to get a proposal out of him so she can
shut him down. He doesn’t play into her game. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
SPOILER SECTION BELOW: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="color: white;">When he
does eventually propose, she accepts – mostly out of practicality. Even when
proposing to her, he doesn’t admit that he loves her, just that he “wants her
more than he’s ever wanted any woman”. As he explains at the end of the book,
though, he never could admit that he loves her because she treats the people
who love her so terribly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="color: white;">The heart-wrenching thing about
the Scarlett and Rhett love story is they never actually get it together. They
love each other so much, they are so perfect for each other, but they are
constantly “at cross-purposes”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="color: white;">Bear with me a moment while I
bring up a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gossip Girl</i> reference. The
Blair and Chuck relationship, the central one in the series, is obviously
influenced by Rhett and Scarlett. But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gossip
Girl</i> gets boring five minutes after they finally get together, and then
after that it’s on again off again, breakup sex, hate sex, screwing around with
other people, urgh, KMN.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="color: white;">Even though Rhett and Scarlett
get married, and the sexual tension is theoretically resolved, the relationship
tension is never resolved because by the time they admit they love each other,
Rhett is actually speaking of it in the past tense. He’s run out of love for
her, after about fifteen years of chasing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
/END SPOILER</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
So are you hating on Scarlett
yet? (People who skipped the spoiler section, not so much.) Well, she’s the
third reason I love <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">GWTW</i>. Likable
characters aren’t always the best to read. Scarlett is so selfish, a phony,
with questionable morals and terrible taste in friends and architecture. She is
in many ways the opposite of the kind of person I want to be. She spends the
whole book selling out to save herself and her family. It’s impossible not to
admire her and get caught up in her charm, even though you want to slap her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
Should everyone read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gone With the Wind</i>? Maybe, if only so
you can get pop culture references to it. People who are sensitive to
overwrought writing will find it a struggle, but the compelling plot will pull
you through in the end. It’s well worth the read.</div>
Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-51219932057194365542012-10-08T02:46:00.001-07:002012-10-08T02:50:57.750-07:00All the Sneaky Reads Part 6: Julie And JuliaLike most people in my (more likely my mother's) demographic, I saw the movie <i>Julie and Julia </i>a couple of years ago when it came out on DVD. I loved it. Unlike most movies, it passed the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLF6sAAMb4s">Bechdel Test </a>-- quite a rare feat.<br />
<br />
I used to be a stickler for not watching movies before I read the book. I've mellowed out in my old* age. Plus, having that rule kind of assumes that a) the book is <i>always</i> better than the movie and b) watching the movie first necessarily ruins the book. Neither of those things are consistently true. Especially if I had never heard of the book before the movie came out and had no intention of reading it, I now have no qualms about pre-book-reading movie-adaptation watching.<br />
<br />
I picked up the book a few months ago while having a lie-down in Mum's bed (oh em gee I'm so homesick!). I think I must have been feeling particularly sensitive at the time, because the ableism in the first couple of chapters** put me off and I put it down.<br />
<br />
But when the op shop lady offered me a free book with my hat and cargo shorts, out of curiosity I gave <i>Julie and Julia </i>another shot.<br />
<br />
I bought it on Thursday. I finished it on Sunday afternoon. I don't know how quickly most people read, but that's fast for me, for 307 pages. It was a compelling read. I spent all my free time (which was a lot, because I had a four-day weekend) reading it. I haven't been that obsessive (with a book, anyway) since I demolished <i>The Hunger Games </i>series like a ravenous Muttilation.<br />
<br />
Problems with <i>Julie and Julia</i>:<br />
It was a little repetitive. There were about 10 temper tantrums over failed meals that could have been edited out, and probably 15 too many instances of her husband skulking around avoiding kitchen implement missiles. The husband was actually not very well-rounded out of a character, which was strange because he was the main supporting character. This probably speaks to Julie's self-absorption more than it doesn't. Saying this, I feel bad, because I relate to Julie. I guess what I'm saying is, she's pretty self-absorbed, but no more than I am.<br />
<br />
Anyway, in these ways the movie was both snappier, in terms of just the right amount of kitchen tantrums, and deeper, in how it explored Eric's character and their relationship, and also the relationship between Julia and her husband Paul. To be fair, on that last point, I skipped most of the chapters about Julia and Paul because they were in italics and I found it hard to read, probs because I'm autistic. The movie slipped seamlessly between Julie's story and Julia's, telling them both chronologically. In the book, Julia's chapters seemed randomly sandwiched between Julie missives.<br />
<br />
However, I did really like the book, and I wouldn't go so far as to say the movie was better. They were both good, and I liked them both. There were some elements of depth that didn't come across in the movie. There is some simple signficance to the premise of the story -- making 524 recipes in 365 days and blogging about it -- that was more delved into in the text. 'The Project' as Julie nicknames it, saves her life. Not like she was undergoing major strife when it came into her life, just the mind-numbing pain of quotidian dissatisfaction and mediocrity. Through The Project, Julie got appearances on TV, reports in the paper, and launched a career as a writer so she could quit her soul-sucking secretarial job. But those things didn't have to happen for The Project to save her.<br />
<br />
I think she needed to achieve something. She needed someone to look up to and follow, someone who appeared to be higher than her humdrum existence. The Project was a journey for Julie, and as in all journeys, she was able to look back to the beginning and see herself a changed woman. I usually look back and see the year-ago me as a markedly different person, but it would be kind of awesome for that inevitable change to be the result of something intentional, like deliberately internalising the voice of a fictionalised 1960s lady-chef.<br />
<br />
The other insight I got from <i>Julie and Julia</i> was Julie's connection between cooking and eating and sex. I didn't understand it enough to explain it, maybe you should just read it yourself. But there were things about submitting to the fullness and totality of a taste in order to truly be consumed by it and enjoy it. And that's all I'll say about that.<br />
<br />
I don't think <i>Julie and Julia</i> is a book that everyone should read. But if you find it on your mother's bedside table, or for free at an op shop, I think it's worth picking up and perusing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*I'm not actually old, I'd like to clarify, I meant this ironically. I'm sick of people in their twenties moaning about being old. That's what your thirties are for, people!<br />
<br />
**It was something about how she saw a mentally ill person chuck a fit on the subway and realised she wasn't far off being that person. Her description, along with her premise, was (put on the thick glasses) <i>problematic</i>.Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-29543426858515187852012-07-10T22:39:00.002-07:002012-10-08T02:52:57.445-07:00All The Sneaky Ones Part 5: Rules of AttractionOnce again I have diverged from the consensus cloud. But here is my question. Why are we asking a cloud what to read? My advice is, if you want to know what to read, don't ask a cloud. When else would you get advice from a cloud??<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
Well, maybe I would have been better off following the advice of the cloud and not reading this book. I found it deeply
disturbing. It was just a bunch of overprivileged college kids at the fictional
Camden College who were deeply unhappy and
trying to find some semblance of meaning in drugs and casual sex. They hardly
ever went to class. And no-one seemed to do any study. Issues like suicide and attempted suicide were treated flippantly, part of the group self-destruction. And it changed perspectives, so it was hard to know what was real.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
It occurred to me that students
today at the college that Camden College is based on, Bennington, would
reference this book – or at least another by Bret Easton Ellis – and feel
literary and worldly and superior while they got completely drugfucked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
The irony of this served only to
depress me further.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
I read it really fast, in part
because I was so wrapped up in this world and it was slightly addictive, but
also because I wanted to finish it and be done with it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
But the day after I finished it,
this strange thing happened. I felt bereft. I actually missed it. The ending
felt unresolved, and I wanted to know what would happen with these poor souls.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
I guess that’s the mark of a
good book.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
I would recommend <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rules of Attraction</i> if, like me, you’re
a bit squeamish for the brutality of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American
Psycho</i>.</div>
Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-10154389336037431872012-05-23T03:04:00.001-07:002012-05-23T03:04:42.574-07:00Retrospective Read: Curious Incident of a Dog in the NightI read this book ages ago, maybe even when I was in high school. I think I read it before I knew I had Asperger's.<br />
<br />
This book came out around the beginning of Asperger's consciousness, and was held up as a prototypical example of Asperger's. This is problematic on two levels: one, it is meaningless to hold up individual examples as prototypical, because people are different and no-one is the Aspie Postergirl/boy. Two, the kid in <i>Curious Incident</i> is more on the autism side of things than Asperger's. I don't remember much from the book but I remember getting frustrated about that.<br />
<br />
Another thing I remember about it is that when the boy gets overloaded he tunes the radio into white noise and listens to it. I've never had to desire to do that, but I fully understand it. If all around you is noise, but you know there is meaning you are supposed to be getting from the noise, to listen to continuous meaningless noise can be soothing, a way of asserting control.<br />
<br />
I'm trying to think of what I do that's like this. Oh yes! I tune the radio station to a channel where they're speaking a language I don't understand. That way I can enjoy the cadence of speech while resting the part of my brain that interprets language. It's like music.<br />
<br />
Should everyone read <i>The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night</i>? I don't think so. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, really, let along everyone. And keep in mind that if you read it and come away considering yourself an expert on Asperger's, I may very well stab you.Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-37390786088335243552012-04-22T22:46:00.001-07:002012-04-22T22:46:33.634-07:00Anthem<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Anthem - Ayn Rand</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">To continue in the tradition of reading non-list books I read Anthem by Ayn Rand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">The reason I chose this book is that Atlas Shrugged by Rand is on the list and Sandra has a copy but she seemed to suggest I might struggle to read it. Perhaps because of the philosophies contained within? So I decided to have a go at Anthem which seemed short and manageable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">It was interesting to read a dystopian novel that was coming from a quite different angle. I generally think of dystopian fiction as being written by left-leaning individuals, and I have a feeling Ayn Rand is a poster-theorist for the American Right so that definitely biased my reading Anthem as anti-communism and pro-capitalism despite being written well before the Cold War. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">There are a number of issues in Brave New World* similar to those in Anthem which makes me wonder if perhaps not all...** actually I recall that Brave New World is more like capitalism taken to its extreme but the end result is much the same. Perhaps there is a lesson in that.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">In terms of the actual book, I was flabbergasted at the lack of sexism - men and women were raised separately to do their jobs, neither were demeaned as more or less important and the main character, Equality 7-2521, was portrayed as being disgusted at the way in which they procreate, rather than the anonymous sex being enjoyable to him but wanting to protect "the Golden One" from being defiled.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">[spoilers below]</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Once Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One run off into the forest it becomes a little more male-dominated as Equality makes all the decisions - he is the one who reads the books while the Golden One stares in the mirror.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Earlier in the book they had both committed acts of rebellion by naming each other (The Golden One and The Unconquered) however after his reading Equality gives himself his own name, which is a necessary act of rebellion however the Golden One is not afforded the same opportunity to rebel against her state-sanctioned name as Equality names her himself.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">There are too many subjugated women in the world for this to really feel like freedom for her to me. It grated against me and I felt like she was simply moving from tyranny to a patriarchy. It would have fitted better with the rest of the narrative to have each of them adopt the name given to them by the other in an act of submission and love to each other, or to each choose their own names in a rebellious act of freedom.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">I do think that everyone should read this book. It is short and easy and, despite a decided propaganda fell to it, it is important for people to understand the importance of fighting against bad policies and social movements. Rand and I might disagree*** on what those are, but I believe we both believe in the importance of fighting them!</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Jocelyn</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Endnote: This book would have been better in a language that distinguished between you(singular) and you(plural) and I imagine it would translate very badly into a language that doesn't distinguish between I and we - are there any such languages?<br /><br />*Which I appear not to have posted about despite having read it and it being an actual list book!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">** The end of that thought follows: ...perhaps not all dystopian authors are left leaning as I had previously suspected.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">***She died almost exactly 3 years before I was born, so it isn't something we've discussed over tea or bourbon.</span></div>groovyjosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01684622809415687168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-14514916512574117812012-03-14T21:58:00.000-07:002012-03-14T21:58:30.252-07:00Persuasion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Persuasion by Jane Austen<br />
<br />
Jane Austen sure is the bomb at writing Hateful characters. Previously I read Mansfield Park and I pretty much didn't like anyone in that. Even Edmund - the best of the lot - is sometimes manipulative to Fanny. But this is a review of Persuasion.<br />
<br />
I pretty much agree with what <a href="http://aconsensuscloud.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/persuasion-written-little-while-ago.html" target="_blank">Cecelia said about Anne's sister Mary</a>, she is whiny and disagreeable. Very frustrating.<br />
Austen's heroines often seem to be stuck in disagreeable families. Lizzy Bennett seems almost fortunate to have a sister-confidant AND a caring father when compared with the likes of Fanny Price and Anne Elliot. It kinda makes me wonder what Austen's family was like!<br />
<br />
I had a little trouble getting into Persuasion because at the beginning it was all "Anne is old and has no suiters and people pretty well mistreat her plus her family are proud spendthrifts".<br />
I actually had to call Cecelia and ask why I should proceed. <br />
<br />
[spoiler alert]<br />
<br />
She asked if I was up to the bit where they go visit Wentworth's navy friend. Which gave me something to look forward to, but also threw me off the scent. I was sure Anne would end up with Captain Benwick. He did seem so very suitable. But I guess you never really get over your first love.<br />
<br />
I did like that Charles' family were bummed that he married Mary not Anne.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">I don't really think that everyone should read this, but it was a pretty quick read. Although I would recommend reading a couple of the other more amenable Austen's beforehand, because it takes a bit to get into the swing of things and understanding some of the cultural norms of the time. Such as I believe it was pretty non-kosher for a single man to leave a letter to a single woman.</span></div>groovyjosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01684622809415687168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-66274443634515717032012-03-02T22:00:00.001-08:002012-03-02T22:07:42.591-08:00All the Sneaky Ones Part 3<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-AU</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> 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mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">Time for another female author! Today’s <a href="http://aconsensuscloud.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/all-sneaky-ones-part-1.html">sneaky book review</a> is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Bossypants</i>, by Tina Fey.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I have been wanting to read this book for a while, based on <a href="http://sallylife.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/bossypants/">Sally’s review</a> of it. When I visited <a href="http://dappledsunlight.tumblr.com/">the lovely Erin</a> the other day, she was talking about it and ended up loaning it to me. “I told Caitlin she could borrow it, but you’re a quick reader, so you can have it,” Ez said. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Challenge accepted!</i> I thought. I finished it last night, a few days shy of two weeks after she gave it to me. Not too bad, considering it’s pretty long and I started uni this week.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I liked <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Bossypants</i>. I don’t think everyone should read it, and I didn’t find it as funny as Sally said it was. Maybe it’s because she’s American and the humour is slightly different. It <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">was</i> funny, don’t get me wrong, but it just wasn’t side-splittingly funny.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ez warned me the writing wasn’t that good, and I found her assessment to be true. It wasn’t up to the literary style I’m used to reading. I think it’s because she’s a script-writer, but it seemed more like a written-down speech rather than a piece of writing that embraced the book-form. I really can’t articulate it any better than that. I think I’m going to go away and think more about what I mean by this, because right now I have no idea.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Tina Fey identifies as a feminist, but I think she has the problem feminists of her class and race have been accused of since they started protesting back at the turn of the 18<sup>th</sup>/19<sup>th</sup> century: “women’s equality” for her means “women like me who struggle with the same issues as me”. I don’t know if I’m being unfair on Fey, or hypocritical because my feminism probably has the same fault, but it’s just the impression that I get. She is also deeply entrenched in the American capitalist cultural model. And her references to feminism weren’t really supported by any kind of theoretical background.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Let me backtrack a bit. Tina Fey does make reference to some intersectional class and race issues, briefly. And also, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Bossypants</i> is not a feminist text; it’s the memoir of a woman, who counts feminism as a part of her identity.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">If I met Tina Fey, would I like her (based on her book)? I don’t know. I think I would enjoy talking to her. She’s ambitious and awkward and a feminist, all traits that I share. But there were certain parts of the book that I felt uncomfortable with. Like when she kind of screwed over a co-worker. There are other examples but I can’t remember them.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’ve just figured out what it is that makes me uncomfortable. Fey just seemed to not want to fight for institutional change. Instead of protesting at sexist attitudes in the entertainment industry, she recommends that women get jobs in the area and hire diverse women. When bemoaning that because she works long hours she can’t see her daughter as much as she wants, she doesn’t suggest a change to workplace structure, but rather says she just has to suck it up because people rely on her for their jobs, and there are positives and negatives to both being a working mother and being a stay-at-home ‘Mom’.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I enjoyed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Bossypants</i>. It was light and entertaining reading. But I don’t think everyone should read it.</p>Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-57110763215209413632012-03-02T21:51:00.003-08:002012-03-02T22:17:12.324-08:00All the Sneaky Ones Part 2<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-AU</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:dontvertaligncellwithsp/> 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Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="21" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Emphasis"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="31" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Subtle Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="32" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Intense Reference"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="33" semihidden="false" unhidewhenused="false" qformat="true" name="Book Title"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="37" name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">I have posted <a href="http://aconsensuscloud.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/all-sneaky-ones-part-1.html">here</a> about my rebellion against the book list and decision to write about the sneaky alternatives I have been reading.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Number two on my haphazard sneaky book list is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Holding the Man</i>. I borrowed this book from my Aunt back in September when I was on a queer theory hunt. It misses the mark, but it’s still a story about gay men so it’s close.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Holding the Man</i> is the autobiographical account of Timothy Conigrave. He details the story of his childhood and adolescence as a young gay person in 1970s Melbourne, his great love with first boyfriend John, and the eventual decline of both of them as they struggle with AIDS.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I really enjoyed the first part of this book. In the 1970s homosexuality was not something that was talked about much, and though a lot of the same prejudices are around today, it is more acceptable now for same-sex couples to hold hands in public, for example. I always like reading stories that are set in Melbourne, and to have a perspective from a past era, with a perspective I hadn’t considered, was insightful.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I also learned more than I had ever imagined about gay men sex. There is so much more to it than I had previously thought. I won’t go into details here, but as in my previous post, if you want to know what the homos (men) are doing, check out <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Holding the Man</i>. As well as the actual sex, I discovered that there is a lot of sexual play between adolescent boys. This I learned from the book and subsequently from discussions with friends.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This probably sounds really callous, but once the AIDS segment of the book started, it got kind of boring and tedious. I hate reading novels where I am literally waiting for characters to die. The medical jargon loses me and there is no plot or character development.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Another problem with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Holding the Man</i> was the two main characters, the writer/protagonist and his lover John. There was very little characterisation. The only description he ever gives of John is that he has beautiful brown eyes and luscious eyelashes. We learn nothing about what it is that attracts Tim to John’s personality, apart from the fact that he loves Tim unconditionally. As for Tim, I feel like if I met him (which I can’t now, because he died 6 months after the book was finished) I wouldn’t like him. He was just kind of annoying and whiny. Especially as a grown man, he just seemed like a stereotype of a flamboyant gay man. I liked him better as a teenager.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Should everyone read this book? I think everyone should read the first part.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And one more thing: I’d just like to note that in all 113 books on the book list, not one of them is at all queer (as far as I can tell, I haven’t actually read them all). Only <a href="http://aconsensuscloud.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/my-first-book-picture-of-dorian-gray-by.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Dorian Gray</i></a> (see also <a href="http://aconsensuscloud.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/picture-of-dorian-gray.html">here</a>)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> </i>has homo-erotic undertones.</p>Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-82150025677188628972012-03-02T21:48:00.001-08:002012-03-02T21:50:14.469-08:00All the Sneaky Ones Part 1<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-AU</w:LidThemeOther> 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10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">There must be a word for this: a specific form of procrastination where you do something you’ve been putting off in order not to do something else you’re putting off. For example, a friend of mine went to Centrelink and got a healthcare card, something she had been meaning to do for months, as soon as she had to write a 4000-word essay.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This effect has played out on me in the last few months since we started book challenge. Once I had a whole list of books I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">had</i> to read, I was suddenly desperate to brush the dust off the stack of books on my bedside table and devour them. So, in the spirit of rebellion against this book list, I am going to pen a few reviews of the books I’ve been reading while studiously ignoring the ‘have to’ books.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">First off: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Girl Walking Backwards</i>, a YA novel I read in December when Dracula got too scary/monotonous. I wouldn’t say this is a book everyone should read. I’m not even sure I should have read it. It’s the story of a fairly disturbed 16- or 17-year-old girl living in Southern California, who is coming to terms with her sexuality, her history, and her place in the world. As the title suggests, the book meanders along, not going anywhere in particular. It had the classic first-novel fault of not knowing where/how to finish, the result being that the last quarter of the novel resembled that sandwich you left in your bag for a week which, though once delicious, is now just mush.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">But what this book lacks in plot it makes up for in scandalous and daring content. I kind of wish I had read this book when I was in high school. It certainly would have opened up my mind more than the hundreds of samey YA books I tore through. One of these aspects is sexuality. The protagonist, Skye, is bisexual-identified but to my mind she seemed much more like a lesbian. I feel really embarrassed about this, but I think I’ve only read one or two other novels that are from a first-person lesbian perspective. I thought it was interesting, and radical, the way she looked at and talked about, other women, kind of objectifying but in less of an aggressive male-gaze manner. It opened my mind to new modes and concepts of lesbianism.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This book was also radical about sex. There was a lot of sex in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Girl Walking Backwards</i>; none of it, not even the heterosexual sex, is “penis in vagina” (PIV) sex. At the start of the book Skye has a boyfriend, Riley, with whom she has what she terms “our version of sex”. This includes masturbating together and cunnilingus. Later in the book, [SPOILER] Riley cheats on Skye with a girl she has a crush on by giving the girl cunnilingus in a bathroom. [END SPOILER]. There is also some detailed lesbian sex, so if you’re still wondering at this stage in life (whatever that stage is, I don’t know you so I’m not judging) how people have sex when there’s no penis, then maybe you should read this book and find out. Or just google it, I don’t know.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Girl Walking Backwards</i> also had some intense themes: drugs, abuse, abandonment, witchcraft, new age cults. It was written in the 90s, so I don’t know, maybe YA books were a bit edgier than they were ten years later when I was a teen. It was good to see some of this content, but I didn’t like how it was dealt with. It was pretty dark and just made me feel down. I like it when books can go to the dark places but not leave you there.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Finally, it is worth noting that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Girl Walking Backwards</i>, unlike 75%+ of the consensus cloud book list, is written by a woman. Grrrrl power, yeah!</p>Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-4643625829979093422012-03-02T19:25:00.001-08:002012-03-02T19:27:31.824-08:00A Room of One's Own<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf<br />
<br />
I really enjoyed this book as the writing style made me think of <a href="http://sallylife.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Sally</a>, whom I love. There were so many fabulous feminist sentiments held within. The main idea that Woolf explores deeply is that for men to feel comfortable within themselves they need to feel superior, and what better way than to believe that half the population is innately inferior to them?<br />
<br />
I would really like to buy my own copy of this book to highlight her wonderful arguments and turn of phrase. She deftly lays out the issue of women and men’s equality and how many men see women being brought up to their level as taking away their rights as a man. I’m not going to try to recreate the argument here, I have never been able to articulate it well and she is a master at it.<br />
<br />
Woolf is not above admitting that she has biases and they will affect her writing. “Lies will flow from my lips, but there may perhaps be some truth mixed up with them; it is for you to seek out this truth and to decide whether any part of it is worth keeping.” She does not purport to be an oracle speaking on women and fiction. I found her style of writing comfortable and enjoyable. Very stream-of-consciousness, but a consciousness that has been thinking deeply about these issues.<br />
<br />
One of the things Woolf pontificates on is how much men have written about women. And how little women have written about everything. I read about a challenge where one would write their assignments at University referring only to books written by women. As much as I would have liked to achieve that for some assignments in my undergrad, I was mostly studying theology and I had to settle for one book written or edited by a woman – even that was often a struggle. I also recently read about <a href="http://literaryminded.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/guest-post-jack-heath-spent-a-year-reading-books-by-women/" target="_blank">Jack Heath</a> who read only women authors for a year.<br />
<br />
I was phenommed* to find that this book, which is clearly a seminal feminist work, was not on The List. In fact nothing by Virginia Woolf was on the list. The list has obviously succumbed to the patriarchy and I see it as my solemn duty to recover it. Thus, this review will be posted on the consensus cloud blog, because I will not have dictated to me that this year >75% of the books I read must be by men.<br />
<br />
Everyone should read this book.<br />
<br />
<br />
*it was phenomenal to me</span></div>groovyjosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01684622809415687168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-80559529028660371042012-02-10T03:15:00.000-08:002012-02-10T03:15:49.599-08:00Persuasion- written a little while ago<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Well, I can tick another book off my list, I just finished persuasion. If that's not on the book list then I will just give up completely. There are spoilers , obviously.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I liked persuasion but far less than I liked pride and prejudice and northanger abbey. Its strange that northanger abbey is often left out or not read when i think its far more interesting than persuasion. Do you know what happens in persuasion? People get persuaded. Although I don't think any more persuaded than all the other books, its just, this time it happens to the main character so it gets the name. The main characters name is Anne. Plain old Anne. She is nice, reasonably attractive, able to get along with everybody and has a good set of principals. But I would never go for here. She is the kind of girl that is your best friend but in terms of love you always saw her as a bit asexual. I just want to shake her and say "get excited!! Fight for the attention of the one you love and have a bitch with your girlfriends about men." But noo, she is all about concealing her emotions with strategic head dips and walks to the piano on the other side of the room. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, I certainly wouldn't want to hang ut with her though, I'd probably knock her over and she would never get a word in edgeways, which I would feel guilty about. So that's Anne. She has a sister called Mary. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that there was someone in Jane austins acquaintance that she didn't like very much named Mary. Mary in pride and prejudice is an antisocial bore and Mary in persuasion is a pain in the arse. She is really jealous and precious and woe is me-ish. And she thinks she is so fricken entitled! And a hypocrite! My goodness she pissed me off, and her husband was such a great guy, I felt pretty bad for him. See, he actually proposed to Anne but she refused him I'll explain why in a sec, and so then he married Mary much to the chagrin of his sisters and mother who all like Anne much more than Mary.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, when Anne was 19 she fell in love and got engaged to this spunk called frederick who was by all definitions a top bloke trying to make his way in the world of sailing. Her mother like figure (a robyn, if you will,) strongly advised her against the marriage because she would be marrying lower and there was no gaurantee of his becoming rich. Did I mention that her whole family, spare her, were proud, haughty and had a strong sense of self importance? So she was 19 and persuaded out of this marriage. He went away to mend his broken heart and get rich at sea while she 'got over' him, but mysteriously refused other marriage proposals for no good reason. Fast forward eight years- Anne is well and truly over the hill when captain Wentworth (spunky Fred) returns to town with all his spunkiness in search of a wife. I know what your thinking, they fall in love again. WRONG! He really doesn't seem that interested in her anymore and shows no signs of angsty silence that so afflicted Mr darcy ( and Edward Cullen) when in love. Him and Louise, one of Anne's mates and her sisters sister in law, hit it off and it seems on the brink of engagement when a bit of larrikining goes too far and Louise gives herself<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a brain injury. Don't worry, she recovers. Anyway, I'm getting too bogged down in story telling. So Wentworth realises he loves Anne when Louise falls in love with someone else and he doesn't care (its more complex but I'll spare you) and then he goes to bath, where all the action happens, and has to vy with Mr Elliot, who has Anne's family's approval, for her love. Wentworth wins and they live happily ever after. So they did end up together After all.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I don't know, it was a tad boring for my liking and i thought a lot of really important aspects were brushed over while other stuff was over talked about. I tell you what though, I did not see Louise's fall coming at all. One minute everyone is having fun and the next minute Louise is lifeless on the concrete. For a good half a page I kept expecting her to open her eyes with wicked michief and say 'lol jks, you though I was dead.' She is the type to do it. So bravo Jane, a well thrown curve all. You should bowl for india, then Clarke might have actually gone out.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">OK I've started talking about cricket- a sure sign that this book review ought to end now.</span></div>Celmaymikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048990184817755907noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-19135325136010282272012-02-02T16:52:00.000-08:002012-02-02T16:54:59.609-08:00The Wind in the Willows<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">This book was ridiculously tedious, uninteresting and incredibly difficult to wade through!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Had it been any longer I would probably have given up! However I became determined not to be beaten by a children's book*!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">The character of Toad is horribly unsympathetic. The 'hijinks', such as they are, are unrealistic** and not overly engaging. Perhaps Toad was meant to be written as a duffer and a slimy character; but Rat is also condescending to Mole, not listening to him and presuming he knows more - much in the vein of Toad's behaviour. Even Badger is quite harsh to Toad. Perhaps that is what they believe Toad needs but being mean, lecturing and eventually imprisoning someone is hardly good manners.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">In the case of Toad it is clear that he is not interested in changing his ways, so the others are really wasting time and energy.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Until half-way through, the book doesn't even suffer from the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opM3T2__lZA" target="_blank">smurfette trope</a> because there are no women at all. When we finally meet som</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">e, they are unfavourable caricatures of the worst traits of women (as perceived by men). </span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">The gaoler's daughter is stereotypical mother figure; caring for Toad's every need.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Her aunt is money-hungry and unrealistically willing risk her job to help a prisoner escape. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">The barge washer-woman entraps Toad into looking like a fool (how dare she!).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Notice that none of these women have names? Now, to be fair, none of the human characters have names and the animals are all named by their species. But seriously? No women animals? Otter, who has children, is not even mentioned to have a wife; let alone her having a part in the story.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Lastly, the animals eat chicken, ham, bacon and tongue. How is this okay? The first horse is mentioned to have a personality, despite being a beast of burden, but later Toad steals and sells a horse, a process throughout which the horse never offers an opinion - even when a price for him*** is being negotiated.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">My recommendation is that no one ever read this book again. It isn't worth it.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Jocelyn.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">*This may have been karma, on account of I was (am) trying to cheat by reading all the easy books, so that I will have read more than Emmeline, it would have taken less time to read a 'hard' book I'm sure!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">** For example Toad receives a sentence of one year for stealing a car, three for 'furious driving' and 15 years for giving cheek to the police. All of which gets rounded up to 20 years. What? In what universe is 'giving cheek' 5x worse than reckless driving and 15x worse than stealing a car?? Also would Toad really be allowed to return to his house after escaping from a 20 year sentence - did the police not think to check there for the escaped prisoner?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">*** </span> <span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">I'm going to assume the horse was male - everyone else was</span> <span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>groovyjosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01684622809415687168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-45595566477391712032012-01-16T22:39:00.000-08:002012-01-16T22:49:13.003-08:00Emmeline: Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDo you know what an ipad is?<br /><br />Douglas Adams didn't, but he wrote about one, 31 years before they were released on the market. Except he didn't call it an ipad, he called it the hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy, a book with thousands of pages that could be accessed by pressing buttons. If in the form of an actual book, it would be far to heavy to carry around.<br /><br />Most futuristic books appear hopelessly anachronistic once the actual future arrives. Mary Shelley's<span style="font-style: italic;"> The Last Man</span>, for example, was published in 1826, set around 2030, and the characters all run around in horse and carriage and sending letters by messenger.<br /><br />Adams' book (and the whole series) is amazing because in it he writes about technology that the inventors hadn't even started imagining.<br /><br />Reading this book was weird because I couldn't remember whether I'd read it before. The whole time I kept second-guessing myself. It was familiar but new all at the same time. Maybe I read it when I was a kid, or when I was drunk (less likely), or maybe it was just familiar from the movie (the Zooey Deshanel version).<br /><br />So, should everyone read this book? I say probably, it's worth it, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if you didn't.Emmelinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16696284087151107451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-48986554706973690602012-01-04T22:52:00.000-08:002012-01-04T22:52:50.766-08:00Retrospective Read: Jane Eyre<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">[Spoilers start at the end of the second sentence]</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">I read Jane Eyre many years ago and it didn’t really capture me. I struggled to get into the story and later only had a vague idea of how the story went. When we lived in the US Emmeline was studying it and the college was to put on a play of Jane Eyre. There was some discussion around the book before the play, but not much as she had not finished and no one wants to be the person who accidentally spoils something (“Are you up to the bit where it is the wife in the attic?...no? oh, nevermind”). Poor Emmeline and her strict policy of reading books before seeing them performed was reading Jane Eyre right up until the lights were dimmed in the theatre.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">As a theatrical device in said play, the red room and the attic were the same place. It made the story a little difficult to follow, but drew a comparison between crazy young Jane and the crazy wife. The idea of the crazy wife that has to be locked away concerns me as to Mr Rochester’s character as there was a time when it was du rigour to have your wife declared crazy and committed so that she was no longer a bother. If she wasn’t crazy before he locked her away I’m pretty sure being locked away would have been enough to make her pretty mad.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">I reckon that the way in which he escapes being pigeonholed as such a man is the fact that he never actually had her committed because he didn’t want to not care for her and didn’t want her not living in an asylum. Given what we know about asylums, that was a good call if he did indeed wish to care for her.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Mr Rochester is a more interesting love interest than Austin’s Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy. He seems to have more depth and not just be a pretty face. The relationship has its basis in communication and mutuality not longing glances, frission and high tempers. He is also much more worthy of love than the men in Wuthering Heights</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Jane herself inspired me as a teenager reading the book because she was confident and a survivalist, but not at the expense of her own happiness. She took risks and they paid off. Lizzy Bennett (to continue the Pride and Prejudice comparisons) is confident in her own way, but she does not experience any threats to her comfortable way of life* and does not need to survive in the way that Jane does.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">This is probably a book that I should reread at some stage, but realistically I probably won’t unless one day I’m lying around bored and it is the most appealing option. There are just so many books I want to read for the </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">first</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> time!!</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">I would recommend not reading Jane Eyre too young.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Jocelyn</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">*I will note that if Lizzy and/or her sisters do not marry reasonably well they will in fact be homeless and reliant on the kindness of others once their father dies, this is not an imminent threat but I imagine it would stress one somewhat (especially with Mrs Bennett harping on).</span></div><br />
</div>groovyjosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01684622809415687168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-6939979165964546182012-01-04T00:30:00.000-08:002012-01-04T23:00:50.657-08:00The Picture of Dorian Gray<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">[Spoiler Alert]</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Overall review:</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Emmeline warned me that The Picture of Dorian Gray was depressing* so I was expecting something more along the lines of The Bell Jar. Unfortunately I knew the basic storyline of The Picture of Dorian Gray because on the tvshow ‘Freaky Stories’ I seem to recall one where a young man stabs his painting at the end. Emmeline was disappointed when I told her that because it robbed me of the ending, or at least of being able to guess the ending!</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Throughout the book I felt a little as though it was an opportunity for Wilde to show off a large amount of knowledge he had amassed on a variety of subjects, rather than him just writing a book. The descriptions of Dorian’s obsessions went on too long and there was a tendency to skim after a while. Jeffrey Eugenides** writing the introduction claims that Wilde writes witty dialogue but struggles in other areas and needs actors to bring his work to life. What dialogue there is to be had is mainly found in the first third and last quarter and, especially when it involves Dorian or Harry flirting (including with each other) is indeed snappy and one can imagine it being performed on the stage with much chemistry between the characters.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">The Picture of Dorian Gray leaves me </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">hanging</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> out to know what it is that Dorian does to lead others astray***. It is clear that he creates ‘fallen women’ and that is not too hard to understand, but I wonder how he ruins the lives of the young men whilst escaping unscathed himself. That being said, I also love that it is left to the imagination.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">[I]n his search for sensations that would be at once new and delightful, and possess that element of strangeness that is so essential to romance, he would often adopt certain modes of thought that he knew to be really alien to his nature, abandon himself to their subtle influences, and then, having , as it were, caught their colour and satisfied his intellectual curiosity, leave them with that curious indifference that is not incompatible with a real ardour of temperament.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">In the light of the previous sentence (and given Wilde’s own sexual proclivities) I like to imagine that not a few of the young men ruined were taken as lovers also. Dorian has the sort of sex appeal that does not discriminate. Beautiful and self destructive people are drawn to Dorian and he obliges them by flattering their beauty then destroying them.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">A few notes I made as I read the book:</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Lady Henry scores the best introduction in the whole book “She was a curious woman, whose dresses always looked as if they had been designed in a rage and put on in a tempest.” How does every woman not want to look like that?</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">As a language-nerd I was super-excited to see that the French that was in the book was not translated into English immediately afterward, however the conversation French phrases made it clear what was being said. When Dorian reads three particular stanzas of a French poem on Venice, they are relayed to us in their original form and the meaning is made clear in the reveal that follows. This is not always well done, in Anna Karenina**** Tolstoy throws French around like it’s Christmas and mostly I found it annoying and pretentious.</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Harry to Dorian: “You will soon be going about like the converted, the revivalist, warning people against all the sins of which you have grown tired.” There is indeed no one so passionate about the evilness of x than the one who has turned from x themselves!</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Is this a book everyone should read? I can’t decide. I think it has some interesting ideas but the package does not call for universal recommendation.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Jocelyn</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">(read Emmeline's review <a href="http://aconsensuscloud.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-first-book-picture-of-dorian-gray-by.html" target="_blank">here</a>)</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">*she later retracted that statement saying that she meant something else</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">**Author of Middlesex which I have read and have yet to review, Emm’s review is here</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">***Apparently the first version which he was commissioned to write was ‘mawkish and nauseous’, ‘unclean’, ‘effeminate’ and ‘contaminating</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">’</span> <span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">. I wonder if it details some of Dorian’s dalliances and if so are there still copies around?</span></div><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">****A book I read before we started the challenge and have not as yet retrospectively reviewed</span></div><br />
</div>groovyjosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01684622809415687168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-87837173861725058012012-01-03T23:55:00.000-08:002012-01-03T23:55:38.822-08:00Winne-the-Pooh<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif;">Winne-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne<br />
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I may get accused of cheating, because I believe I am now in front of Emmeline book-wise, but that is only because today I read Winne-the-Pooh!<br />
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This is a really sweet book, I love Milne's style of writing, you can really imagine that it is his son's toys and he is telling the stories about them. When the real Christopher Robin is asking the narrator questions the answers are very much an adult storyteller's indulgent answers. <br />
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The whole thing is very sweet.<br />
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When Winne-the-Pooh was on tv the character I disliked most was Gopher, who I believe was introduced by Disney and was not an original Milne character. I also didn't like when the storylines were over the top. Those aspects that most reflect the nature of the book are what makes the show a classic and well-loved. <br />
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There is a tradition in my family of giving 'Now we are six' to children on their 6th birthdays and having read Winne-the-Pooh I may start bequeathing it and other Milne books on non-six birthdays!<br />
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I believe this is a book that everyone should read - it only took me 2 hours tops!</span></div>groovyjosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01684622809415687168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7798829271684458176.post-51863798979425298402011-12-28T20:09:00.000-08:002011-12-29T14:24:33.766-08:00Northanger Abbey<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">[Edited by Jocelyn to add: This book isn't actually on the list but we'll give it to her because she's only read a 3rd of what Emm and I have (and it's a great review)!!]<br />
<br />
Lets see if I can review this one a bit better.<br />
I LOVED this book. Catherine is a great protagonist because she is that weird girl who hangs out in the library reading gothic novels. She isnt bad looking, but she's weird enough that no-one notices that she is cute. I loved her overactive imagination because her thought processes were exactly the same as mine would have been in the same situation. she was vague enough to miss every implicit cue, which meant that she led Captain horrid-man into thinking that she was keen on him, when in reality, she was just nice. Upon reflection this girl is just a emalgamation (sp?) of the three authors of this blog. cute, gothic, oblivious, loyal with a killer imagination.<br />
It isnt much focused on except a bit at the beginning, but the guy she falls for is also not entirely normal. its great to see the weird ones get together and the beautiful ones fail spectacularly. <br />
I like the way austin covers so many different situations. What do you do if your friend is flirting with someone else when she has a boyfriend? what does it mean when a guy askes you to dance and then gets distracted? is that guy keen or just nice? did my best friends dad kill her mum? how do you cope when someone is spreading rumours about you? Is it appropriate to punch Mr Thorpe in the face becasue he is an insecure Douche?<br />
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Most of these questions get answered, sadly, not all the way I would like them to. Mr Thorpe's nose remains ugly and undamaged.<br />
<br />
thats all I cant think Right now, I am so incredibly tired and have typed up about 4 pages in the last hour.<br />
Goodnight Im off to read Persuasion.</div>Celmaymikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04048990184817755907noreply@blogger.com0