Northanger Abbey [A Book Review]

It is the Jane Austen buddy bosom novel, a tale which makes you feel juvenile and carefree. Northanger Abbey is a friendly story that makes you feel warm and adventurous. The note  guiding in the beginning  is indicative of the influence of the  reading choice of ‘the day’  on the author’s characterization of Catherine, the lead lady of the story.  Additionally, the preview of the “Advertisement by the authoress, to Northanger Abbey’  says

“And that during that period, places, manners, books, and opinions have undergone considerable changes,”

shows how the publisher is aware that the passage of time has an effect on the reader’s perception of a book concerning its social content. It is interesting to note that at the time Jane Austen penned  Northanger Abbey in 1788-89, Gothic Literature was the popular  reading choice of the day.

There is a school of thought that men only read more sophisticated books however Jane Austen thrashed this belief in Mr. Tilney.  Mr. Tilney is fond of reading and  abreast with the Literacy world ‘sticking’  up for historians. I believe this works out excellently for the story because Jane Austen created an intellectually stimulating hero. Mr. Tilney ‘ nice’ mouth is a result of a mixture of his natural charm and reading. A quality which allowed him to relate to Catherine with such ease, creating a beautiful atmosphere for our heroine to grow fondly of her hero.

A  review written so very long ago and left to nest in The Draft

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Apology by Plato [A Book Review]

Apology by Plato

For the first time I am able to lean back, understand and enjoy a Socrates
dialogue. Although it is concerning his judgment to death, it does not read as a
sad anthem but rather a piercing, honest, mouthy and a bit nonchalant piece.

The Classics Spin #16

It’s time for another Classics Spin!

What is the spin?

It’s easy. At your blog, before next Friday, November 17th, create a post to list your choice of any twenty books that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list.

This is your Spin List. You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the year (details to follow). Try to challenge yourself. For example, you could list five Classics Club books you are dreading/hesitant to read, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favorite author, re-reads, ancients — whatever you choose.)

On Friday, November 17th, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List, by December 31, 2017. We’ll check in here in January to see who made it the whole way and finished their spin book!

 

My Book Spin List for the Classics Club  

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

2. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell

3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis

4. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

5. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons

6. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger

7. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins

8. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

9. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

10. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien

11. Middlemarch, George Eliot

12. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck

13. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton

14. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

15. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett

16. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

17. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

18. Animal Farm, George Orwell

19. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy

20. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

 

Update: The spin number chosen was 4. Therefore, my book to read was A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I did complete the book by December 30th 2017. It was a tough book to break into (like every Dickens book I have read) but I persisted. I often wondered why on earth did Dickens created all these subplots that by the time the entire picture is laid out my hea hurt terribly. I certainly did not understand the outcome of the Tale of Two Cities.

 

 

 

 

Top 5 Wednesday/ Books From Before You Joined

Hello Wednesday people,  another Top 5 Wednesday  going back in time with

August 23rd: Books from Before You Joined ________
— These are some of your favorite books from before you joined the online book community, whether that be booktube, goodreads, blogs, bookstagram, twitter, tumblr, etc.

I celebrated my 5 year anniversary this year on WordPress in February and Goodreads in August. I stumbled upon Booktube sometime after or around the time I was introduced to Goodreads and blogging. My taste has not evolve drastically since I thrust myself into the social book world but I must admit that there are many books that I read because of networking. So here are the books and genre that I love before book world expanded beyond the physical library.

Let us dive into it:

Top 5 Wednesday/ Books You Felt Betrayed By

Hello book world, we are having another go at Top 5 Wednesday with:

March 15th- Books You Felt Betrayed By
–Beware the Ides of March! What books (or characters) did you feel betrayed by, for whatever reason…big or small

Let us dive into it?

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Is that it?” I said after finishing the story. How can a book which features on 98% of Classics books to read, fell so flat. I expected more, I needed more. I needed Gatsby to be more than a love-sick puppy and I needed Daisy to just be more than she is and for the love of narrator will  Nick grow a pair and stick up for himself.At least he had a shred of humanity in the end.

Tess Of The D’Urbervilles[Book Review]

Tess of the D’Urberville left me with a mixture of feelings. I hated the way the story progressed but at the same time I was intrigued by the writing style.

The Classics Club 50 Question Survey [Part One]

 

 

The Classic Club

 

1.Share a link to your club list.

Classics Club is a “A Community of Classics Lovers; The Classics Club hopes to unite readers who blog about classic literature and inspire people to make the classics an integral part of life! The Classics Club is a club created to inspire people to read and blog about classic books. There’s no time limit to join and you’re most welcome, as long as you’re willing to sign up to read and write on your blog about 50+ classic books in at most five years. The perk is that, not only will you have read 50+ incredible (or at the very least thought-provoking) works in five years, you’ll get to do it along with all of these people. Join us! We’re very friendly.”

My list of books is one of many.
2.When did you join The Classics Club? How many titles have you read for the club? (We are SO CHECKING UP ON YOU! Nah. We’re just asking.) 🙂

I joined the Club in October 2015. I have read three (3) books from my list but I read other Classics not on my list.

 
3.What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. The book is not on my Classics Challenge list but I am reading it for Jane Austen month and for The Women’s Classic Literature Event.

 

4.What did you just finish reading and what did you think of it?

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It is not on my Classic Challenge list but it is for my personal Jane Austen month read. If Pride and Prejudice did not convey the social set up of the time: Entailment, Marriage in Gentry Society etc,, I would dislike the story. It is my 2/3 read and after every read the story bothers me even more.
5.What are you reading next? Why?

Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Emma or Lady Susan all by Jane Austen to continue my Jane Austen readathon for December.

Love and Freindship And Other Early Works [A Collection of Juvenile Writings] A Book Review

 

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.

Persuasion [A Short Review]

This time around Persuasion felt even more of an emotional read and my bond with Anne Elliot felt stronger. I sometimes wondered if she would suffer from an emotional heart attack and transfer it to myself. I had to keep saying “breathe Anne, breathe Anne,” as if she was next to me.

The Secret Garden [A Book Review]

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.