Top 5 Wednesday/Characters on the Naughty List

It is another Wednesday with Top 5 Wednesday:

December 13th – Characters on the Naughty List
–These can be villains or just characters you don’t like!

This week’s topic is similar to one of  last year’ and some characters just seem to have a special dislike place in my heart but some new ones manifested. haha

Let us dive into it:
1. Emma Woodhouse from Emma by Jane Austen

I do not think any reread will make me like this character or merely tolerate her nerve, to look down on people yet at the same time passing it off as looking out for the best interest of others. NO!

2. Lady Dedlock from Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Cold, unkind unmotherly bitch!

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Jane Austen: An Altered View

             

In the period December 2016 to July 2017, I reread all the completed novels of my favourite author Jane Austen (here after dubbed JA). Last year I created a reading challenge, designating each month for a particular theme. I choose December for Jane Austen books because her birthday would be on the 16th, a day I call Jane Austen Day. As you can tell from my July date in my opening, I could not complete my JA challenge in the assigned month thus I continued until Sense and Sensibility ushered the curtains on my JA journey. It is important to note that during my sensuous readathon, I noticed the growth of the Bicentenary Celebrations of JA’s death. I immediately drifted into that ‘huh mode’; Why the joy for the death of the author who gave us the plots and twists that we love?

It took a while to sink in but eventually I had to make myself understand that when many are creating workshops, parties, museum tours, lectures, tea parties, book clubs and all the other fascinating endeavours, people are celebrating JA and her novels.  I have seen an increase in the number of news articles specifically for JA separate from the usual JA dedications. It means that more persons learn of the author’s writings and setting time aside to reread not one novel but her entire collection. It is admirable and I am ecstatic that every time I social media (yes I made it a verb), there is an increase traffic in quiz, blog posts. JA writings are here to stay and I am happy to do my part in keeping her stories alive!

Top 5 Wednesday/ Books That Took You The Longest To Finish (Classic Edition)

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.

Most Unlikable Characters/ Top 5 Wednesday

Hello my Wednesday people, it is another Top 5 Wednesday .

July 27th: Most Unlikable Characters
— NOT VILLAINS! These are protagonists or side characters that are unlikable! (These should lean more towards characters who aren’t intentionally unlikeable. Not villains, or mean girl/guys, etc.)

Let us dive into it:

1.Margaret Beaufort in the Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

She made me dislike the book because of her irritating need to cling to a moral compass she does not embody.

2. Lady Dedlock in Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Cold, selfish, unfeeling bitch. Well perhaps she did feel something for her lost child but her actions could not fool me.

3.Lord Pierson in Mark of Distinction by Jessica Dotta

I have no idea how no one had yet to tell Lord Pierson to put a sock in it. A title with wealth does not mean he has to be overbearing, uncouth and severely rough that I swear steam came out of his ears during one of his rages.

4. Emma in Emma by Jane Austen

Entitled, pompous, wrong yet strong mentally, loves to give advice but not big on taking it for herself. Elizabeth Bennet could be her sister but Emma takes the cake for unreasonable heroine. Note to self: the film adaptations makes her more tolerably.

5. Mae in The Circle by Dave Eggers

She is just so power hungry she is willing to throw even her parents underneath the bus.

Appreciating Jane Austen

Source: http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/ zz173/ emilianozapata333/Jane_Austen.jpg

 

Since today(December 16) would be my favourite author’s birthday if she was alive, I believe it is proper to have a review of the main seven novels.

The complete set is one of my favourites read, I love me some Jane Austen.

I love her writing became of the way she merges her story with excellent scenery writing. She writes her scenes so well, I can feel and see the atmosphere at Lyme in Persuasion, I can see the beauty of the surroundings of the cottage when the Dashwoods moves in Sense and Sensibility. The landscape was so beautiful when Catherine and the Thorpes went sightseeing and the oh so lovely scene where Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland were exchanging words on novel-writing in Northanger Abbey.

The age of the writing also draws me to Austen’s world. I love reading about people in a different time period from the 20st and 21th century. The older the setting the better, 18th and 19th century is just an interesting period where society etiquettes were so class structured. It is one aspect that shows up in all her novels. The Bertrams took Fanny into the family but she was kept on a class beneath Edmund, Julia, Tom and Maria in Mansfield Park. The Elliots with excepting Anne accepted Captain W into their circles in Bath only when he amassed a fortune on the sea in Persuasion.

Austen’s characters are some of the wackiest and best in English Literature. I am glad she did not shy away from characters who would make women blush behind their fans in their morning rooms. Maria Bertram and Henry Crawford from Mansfield park, Lady Susan Vernon from Lady Susan, Willoughby from Sense and Sensibility, Lydia Bennet and George Wickham from Pride and Prejudice. I am also appreciated of the men who were so devoted and loved their women: Captain W, Colonel Brandon, Mr. Darcy. The comical ones also added laughter and fits of vexation for me: Mr. Collins were just so ridiculous, I could not help but laugh at him in P&P but I just wish Mary in Persuasion would shut up and go away.