(no subject)
Today's reviews:
Moll Flanders (Daniel Defoe):
I found this book fascinating for the simple fact that you get so much information about the cost of things in 17th century England and, to a certain extent, its colonies. I'm not generally much concerned with money (of course I like having it because it allows me to buy and do things I like, but I don't think much about it) but I'm always interested in how much things cost in various places and at various times, and Moll Flanders, in between the moralising and the thieving, reads like a bill of lading.
The main purpose of the book is ostensibly to warn readers away from a life of sin, crime and depravity, but it's quite obvious that when it was first published, people would have been reading it for the vicarious thrill. Indeed, so much of the narrative is filled with details about all sorts of crimes -- it's almost a how-to manual, really! -- that it's all too easy to ignore the occasional, "Oh, but of course I was so wicked and sinful and I have since truly repented!" interjections. Also, to a modern reader, the whole whoring aspect of the book seems positively tame, save for the unknowing incest. I was expecting her to end up in a brothel at the very least, but she was rather more like a mistress to a few different men at different times in her life.
What really made me see red about the book was not the story itself, but the afterword, written in 1964 by Kenneth Rexroth. I don't care if that mysogynist helped bring the haiku to Western audiences, how can I take seriously a man who claims that whores are whores because they're lazy, even though "there have been whores with hearts of gold, it is true. I have even known some."
AFKLAJI VGAJAFKLJRF!!! <-- (keyboard smash of frothing outrage)
WHAT THE HELL KIND OF A REMARK IS THAT??? Besides which, that implies that he's known an awful lot of whores, and I don't care to go there. >_<
Final verdict: 7/10
A Wrinkle In Time (Madeleine L'Engle)
As a child, and up until the internet started taking over my life, I was a voracious reader of books. One thing I always enjoyed was reading about what the characters were reading: was it something I'd read myself? Was it something I liked? Three titles which came up in more than one book were The Phantom Tollbooth (which I've never read), Harriet the Spy (which I read when I was nine or ten and quite liked. I remember that the "pretending to be an onion" scene had me laughing so hard I cried), and A Wrinkle In Time.
It's always a bit weird to finally read a book that comes so highly recommended; that it was presented in other books as one of a character's favourite books tells us that it at least made an impression on the author, doesn't it? I suppose this is considered something of a children's fantasy classic in the U.S., as it won plenty of prizes, but I wasn't entirely convinced it ought to have, unless it's in comparison with what else was available at the time. For one thing, the answer to the question, "What do I have that they don't?" is rather predictable and it's been done a bit too often -- of course, that may be because I've read plenty of stuff that was published since then, so it may be I'm getting things backwards.
For another, I never managed to feel much for the characters, and Charles Wallace was rather annoying, even after it was explained what he really was. Also, the Mrs. Whatsit et al., though not half as bad, reminded me of those irritating anime characters that are supposed to be endearing and cute and funny but just make me want to hit something. And the whole "We can't tell you, you have to figure it out on your own" bit has been done to death, really. Of course, if it weren't, many books would only be ten pages long.
Final verdict: 6/10, though I might have given it 7/10 if I'd read it in elementary school. I can't imagine I'd have fallen in love with it.
Moll Flanders (Daniel Defoe):
I found this book fascinating for the simple fact that you get so much information about the cost of things in 17th century England and, to a certain extent, its colonies. I'm not generally much concerned with money (of course I like having it because it allows me to buy and do things I like, but I don't think much about it) but I'm always interested in how much things cost in various places and at various times, and Moll Flanders, in between the moralising and the thieving, reads like a bill of lading.
The main purpose of the book is ostensibly to warn readers away from a life of sin, crime and depravity, but it's quite obvious that when it was first published, people would have been reading it for the vicarious thrill. Indeed, so much of the narrative is filled with details about all sorts of crimes -- it's almost a how-to manual, really! -- that it's all too easy to ignore the occasional, "Oh, but of course I was so wicked and sinful and I have since truly repented!" interjections. Also, to a modern reader, the whole whoring aspect of the book seems positively tame, save for the unknowing incest. I was expecting her to end up in a brothel at the very least, but she was rather more like a mistress to a few different men at different times in her life.
What really made me see red about the book was not the story itself, but the afterword, written in 1964 by Kenneth Rexroth. I don't care if that mysogynist helped bring the haiku to Western audiences, how can I take seriously a man who claims that whores are whores because they're lazy, even though "there have been whores with hearts of gold, it is true. I have even known some."
AFKLAJI VGAJAFKLJRF!!! <-- (keyboard smash of frothing outrage)
WHAT THE HELL KIND OF A REMARK IS THAT??? Besides which, that implies that he's known an awful lot of whores, and I don't care to go there. >_<
Final verdict: 7/10
A Wrinkle In Time (Madeleine L'Engle)
As a child, and up until the internet started taking over my life, I was a voracious reader of books. One thing I always enjoyed was reading about what the characters were reading: was it something I'd read myself? Was it something I liked? Three titles which came up in more than one book were The Phantom Tollbooth (which I've never read), Harriet the Spy (which I read when I was nine or ten and quite liked. I remember that the "pretending to be an onion" scene had me laughing so hard I cried), and A Wrinkle In Time.
It's always a bit weird to finally read a book that comes so highly recommended; that it was presented in other books as one of a character's favourite books tells us that it at least made an impression on the author, doesn't it? I suppose this is considered something of a children's fantasy classic in the U.S., as it won plenty of prizes, but I wasn't entirely convinced it ought to have, unless it's in comparison with what else was available at the time. For one thing, the answer to the question, "What do I have that they don't?" is rather predictable and it's been done a bit too often -- of course, that may be because I've read plenty of stuff that was published since then, so it may be I'm getting things backwards.
For another, I never managed to feel much for the characters, and Charles Wallace was rather annoying, even after it was explained what he really was. Also, the Mrs. Whatsit et al., though not half as bad, reminded me of those irritating anime characters that are supposed to be endearing and cute and funny but just make me want to hit something. And the whole "We can't tell you, you have to figure it out on your own" bit has been done to death, really. Of course, if it weren't, many books would only be ten pages long.
Final verdict: 6/10, though I might have given it 7/10 if I'd read it in elementary school. I can't imagine I'd have fallen in love with it.