January - March: Books 1-7
During which time I wasted valuable study time reading these books:
1. The Blythes Are Quoted, L.M. Montgomery. I found this fascinating. For those of you who read all of the Anne books, this one is particularly interesting. It's a little bit darker and more cynical than the other Anne books. It is The Road to Yesterday as Montgomery originally wrote it - with a framing narrative featuring Anne, Gilbert, and the children, and more references to the Blythe family in the stories. I love that so many characters in the stories are sick of hearing about the Blythes and don't buy into the hero-worship of the Doctor and Mrs. Doctor that we are used to from earlier books. Not everybody loves Anne as soon as they meet her - it's rather refreshing.
2. The Tragic Menagerie, Lydia Zinovieva-Annibal (translated by Jane Costlow). Darkly magical, but without actual magic.
3. Jane Bites Back, Michael Thomas Ford. So much fun! Jane Austen as vampire trying to get her last novel published - what could be better? And although I guessed it before we got there, I loved the reveal of who turned her. It was a great wink to the even moderately well-read.
4. How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read, Pierre Bayard. I dug this up over a year ago, and only just got around to reading it. It was rather cheeky, I thought (unless I was reading too much into it by not taking Bayard at face value here).
5. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad (reread). I hadn't read this since the last time it was assigned to me in school. I never really liked it, but I thought I'd give it another shot - still don't like it, but have come to appreciate Conrad's language much more than I used to.
6. Emma, Jane Austen (reread). I felt compelled to reread after the most recent BBC adaptation. (Jonny Lee Miller is my new favorite Mr. Knightley, btw.)
7. Mansfield Park, Jane Austen. I'd never read this before, but Emma brought to mind Jonny Lee Miller's Mansfield Park from a few years back, so I decided to finally brave it. I mostly love Fanny Price, but her crippling insecurity (although well-explained) really bugs.
& lots of stuff from the Norton Anthologies
I got all of the Austen books for free on the Kindle - it was irresistible.
I get to read for fun again, but I discovered while studying for the GRE Subject Test in Literature that I need to brush up on some of the recent-ish theorists if I mean to go back to school. Necessary, but not necessarily fun.
1. The Blythes Are Quoted, L.M. Montgomery. I found this fascinating. For those of you who read all of the Anne books, this one is particularly interesting. It's a little bit darker and more cynical than the other Anne books. It is The Road to Yesterday as Montgomery originally wrote it - with a framing narrative featuring Anne, Gilbert, and the children, and more references to the Blythe family in the stories. I love that so many characters in the stories are sick of hearing about the Blythes and don't buy into the hero-worship of the Doctor and Mrs. Doctor that we are used to from earlier books. Not everybody loves Anne as soon as they meet her - it's rather refreshing.
2. The Tragic Menagerie, Lydia Zinovieva-Annibal (translated by Jane Costlow). Darkly magical, but without actual magic.
3. Jane Bites Back, Michael Thomas Ford. So much fun! Jane Austen as vampire trying to get her last novel published - what could be better? And although I guessed it before we got there, I loved the reveal of who turned her. It was a great wink to the even moderately well-read.
4. How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read, Pierre Bayard. I dug this up over a year ago, and only just got around to reading it. It was rather cheeky, I thought (unless I was reading too much into it by not taking Bayard at face value here).
5. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad (reread). I hadn't read this since the last time it was assigned to me in school. I never really liked it, but I thought I'd give it another shot - still don't like it, but have come to appreciate Conrad's language much more than I used to.
6. Emma, Jane Austen (reread). I felt compelled to reread after the most recent BBC adaptation. (Jonny Lee Miller is my new favorite Mr. Knightley, btw.)
7. Mansfield Park, Jane Austen. I'd never read this before, but Emma brought to mind Jonny Lee Miller's Mansfield Park from a few years back, so I decided to finally brave it. I mostly love Fanny Price, but her crippling insecurity (although well-explained) really bugs.
& lots of stuff from the Norton Anthologies
I got all of the Austen books for free on the Kindle - it was irresistible.
I get to read for fun again, but I discovered while studying for the GRE Subject Test in Literature that I need to brush up on some of the recent-ish theorists if I mean to go back to school. Necessary, but not necessarily fun.