I did something with Everything Everything that I have not done with books in a very long time. I picked up the book, opened it, read the first sentence and continued reading (nonstop) until the last page of the book which is an excerpt from the author Nicole Yoon newer novel. It felt tingling good to feel greedy for words again.
I am not sure if the style of writing is characteristics of the time period or simply Austen’s own but I just did not fancy it at all. Did people seriously spoke in such flowery poetry manner such as “uncommon violence exerted against our unoffending door.” If she used a mocking tone as a satirical writing style, then my word 18th century Literature was quite in the clouds. Furthermore,I found myself rolling my eyes in disbelief to frequency at the rate of fainting (too frequent) and the secession of death toll. The portrayal of death by fainting seem a mad bad comedy.
Heart-warming, soul turning, emotional healing blended in the midst of an alluring moor and a beautiful garden.
I felt like my heart went through a healing process reading about Mary and Collin’ s journey to peace and happiness. It is so important to point out how the author showed that the children could not glow on the outside without changing their insides. Mary and Collin first had to change negative thoughts to positive and learn to act kindly and pleasantly to others. The transformation was so beautiful that I had my hand on my heart with a smile on my face reading the last few chapters. Collins call it magic, I call it inner peace but whatever name anyone calls it, everyone was affected. At first I felt I had to keep my eyes on Dr. Craven but even he too got caught in the miracle of good change. It was a combination of goodwill brought with Mary, Dickson and Martha.
Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
You know how you feel when you take a stroll enveloped in a gentle breeze accompanied by your thoughts and gentle whispering birds and the clouds dancing above? Well this is Anne Bronte’ s ‘Agnes Grey’. An unaffected prose of the sometimes too busy plot development where the authors tries unsuccessfully to cover a thousand storylines. ‘Agnes Grey’ does not suffer such fate and the reader clearly sees that Agnes is in charge of the story and Miss Murray’s chuckling presentation is there merely to assist in ‘climaxing’ Agnes Grey.
Hello to all folks out in Book Land for we visit another topic for Top 5 Wednesday (better late than never). Today’s topic speak of books which took the longest to read not necessarily because of the length but struggle to get past the beginning, middle or it took us ages to finish the last pages. There are books that I am currently reading, I am climbing at a steady pace (or not so much) to finish read, however today’s books are only for the finished.
Let us dive into it:
° Bleak House by Charles Dickens
I started the story sometime around October/ November 2015 as part of a Spin Challenge for the Classic Book Club but I did not finish till February 2016. What made the book stood out for me was the challenge to get pass near the middle when the Jarndayce vs Jarndayce matter took precedence. I had to read from my copy and had the aid of a audio. I am definitely not rereading anytime soon but I still have a ‘thing’ for Charles Dickens work.
General Observation
I am still on chapter four but I feel that Gaskell is creating a headstrong, defiant, beautiful and independent heroine in Mary. She reminds me a bit of Margaret Hale from North and South. It is interesting that Mr. Barton does not want his daughter to work in the factory because of his dislike for the toil on her life and laboring for a rich class that he feels does not help working people but Mary (the daughter).
Although the language skill which blew me over in book one was not so forceful in book two, the character development left me emotional hence involved. I disliked Mr. Macy in book one but in book two based on the behaviour of other characters namely Foresterre and Lord Pierson, I wondered at times if he is that terrible. My beloved Edward left me with a bitter taste at the end of the story. I am not sure if I am ready to forgive Jessica Dotta[aka JD]
for writing Edward in such manner that his outcome with Julia left me bland. This is what I wanted at the ending of book one BUT the author threw in Issac Dalcy she sugar painted him and left him for the vultures. I feel like weeping.
Why did the JD threw in that religious conversion with such an awkward twist?
Why did she pen Julia into more of a frustration who I highly suspect behind her so call humble facade is a spoilt bitchy weakling ensemble that urghhh left me screaming! Forgive me but I just need to understand what is JD rationale for Julia. She is hot one minute, then she is cold. One minute Edward is her beloved, next Mr. Macy’s touch has her flustered and then she might consider Issac Dalcy but ohhh nooo, her beloved Edward. Remember that scene in Tangle where the girl is happy that guy frees her from the tower, she is skipping around and in a blink she is mourning she did something bad but then the next minute she is back to skipping. This is Julia.
But I supposed it is a human trait but it is frustrating!
Let us dwell on the introduction and disappearance of characters such as Ben and Erasmus. What the hell, JD just threw that in the story and BAP, move along folks.
Sigh…..
I am frustrated with Jessica Dotta for book two BUT the way she panned out the events still needs me to read book three to complete the story.
From my list of books that I read, I take a look at five[5] intimidating stories for Top 5 Wednesday [a Goodreads book meme]. My take on “intimidating” does not necessary fall under the thickness of the text but how tedious or slow building the plot flow or character development feels.
Let us dive into it:
5. Selected Poetry by Derek Walcott
A few poems stacked into one for English Literature that I just could not get my head around and it reflected on my grades at that time. It did not help that the poet is from my country and he wrote on topics reflecting his experiences and life in the West Indies. I am trained to analyse and interpret but every time I attempted to tackle some of the poems I failed miserably. In turn, I grew to dislike Walcott’s poetry and a block matured. It was not until last year that I saw some faint hope in understanding.
4. Romance Of Lust by Anonymous
A story which falls under my few ‘Did Not Finish’ reads because I could not cope with following a plot with no motive but merely a book porn version. It is an extreme erotica which did not make any sense.
The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah [A Book Review] for January Theme: Minority Struggles.
One of the most graphic descriptions of personal disappointment, poverty and struggle that I have read. The author Ayi Kwei Armah pens the story of a man’s [name never mentioned] interpretation of living in Ghana after Independence. The narrator’s tale is compelling and coarse at times but that made it more engaging and demanding me to read more. Although some aspects of the description were gross, they were a reality that I understood and once lived. Cutting that detail from the story would be taking out the essence of a painstakingly quest for the man to keep toiling and to keep his family alive.
For many pages the different point of views (POVs) distracted me with my fancies taking a liking only to Cecily Swann. [Cecily and her lover inspired one of my poems.] I guess it is the author’s way of introducing the characters but it encouraged me to take so many breaks between the first 125 pages. However, I came across this sentence “things were not going to be fine. Storms clouds were gathering over Cavendon and trouble was brewing,” and voila I braced myself for delicious excitement and scandal.
Yelhispressing 