2010 (in procrastination)
1. Leap Year (2010) dir. Anand Tucker C-
2. The Road (2009) dir. John Hillcoat B
3. Once (2006) dir. John Carney A-
4. Away From Her (2006) dir. Sarah Polley ♥ A
5. Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983) dir. Spike Lee C
6. Do The Right Thing (1989) dir. Spike Lee B
7. She's Gotta Have It (1986) dir. Spike Lee C
8. Jungle Fever (1991) dir. Spike Lee C+
9. The Magic of Ordinary Days (2005) dir. Brent Shields B-
10. The Virgin Queen (2005) dir. Coky Giedroyc B+
11. Changeling (2008) dir. Clint Eastwood B+
12. Saved! (2004) dir. Brian Dannelly B +
13. Death at a Funeral (2007) dir. Frank Oz B+ +
14. Fish Tank (2009) dir. Andrea Arnold B+
15. Get On The Bus (1996) dir. Spike Lee B-
16. American Gangster (2007) dir. Ridley Scott B+
17. A Single Man (2009) dir. Tom Ford A
18. Clockers (1995) dir. Spike Lee B
19. Up in the Air (2009) dir. Jason Reitman A-
20. Possession (2009) dir. Joe Bergvall & Simon Sanquist C+
21. Bamboozled (2000) dir. Spike Lee B-
22. Wonder Boys (2000) dir. Curtis Hanson A- +
23. In a Day (2006) dir. Evan Richards B
24. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (Part 2) (2006) dir. Spike Lee A-
25. Moses Jones (2009) dir. Michael Offer B-
26. Inside Man (2006) dir. Spike Lee A- +
27. The Ghost Writer (2010) dir. Roman Polanski A-
28. Glorious 39 (2009) dir. Stephen Poliakoff C
29. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) dir. Rebecca Miller B
30. You've Got Mail (1998) dir. Nora Ephron C
31. Boyz N the Hood (1991) dir. John Singleton B+
32. I Capture the Castle (2003) dir. Tim Fywell B-
33. Run Fatboy Run (2007) dir. David Schwimmer B
34. Death at a Funeral (2010) dir. Neil LaBute C-
35. Date Night (2010) dir. Shawn Levy B+
36. Step Up (2006) dir. Anne Fletcher B-
37. Extract (2009) dir. Mike Judge B
38. The Boat That Rocked (2009) dir. Richard Curtis B+ +
39. Iron Man (2008) dir. Jon Favreau A- +
40. Flickan som lekte med elden (2009) dir. Daniel Alfredson B
41. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) dir. Wes Anderson A
42. The Princess and the Frog (2009) dir. Ron Clements & John Musker B-
43. Iron Man 2 (2010) dir. Jon Favreau B+
44. Back to the Future (1985) dir. Robert Zemeckis A
45. Shutter Island (2010) dir. Martin Scorsese A-
46. Teen Wolf (1985) dir. Rod Daniel B+
47. Teen Wolf Too (1987) dir. Christopher Leitch B+
48. Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation (1989) dir. Eric Zala A-
49. Luftslottet som sprängdes (2009) dir. Daniel Alfredson B+
50. The Russell Girl (2008) dir. Jeff Bleckner B-
51. Lennon Naked (2010) dir. Edmund Coulthard B
52. The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister (2010) dir. James Kent C+
53. Star Trek (2009) dir. JJ Abrams B+ +
54. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) dir. Peter Jackson A +
55. Gekijô-ban - Bishôjo senshi Sêrâ Mûn S (1994) dir. Hiroki Shibata B +
56. Gekijô-ban - Bishôjo senshi Sêrâ Mûn R (1993) dir. Kunihiko Ikuhara B+ +
57. Trainspotting (1996) dir. Danny Boyle A +
58. Pride & Prejudice (2005) dir. Joe Wright A +
59. Robin Hood (2010) dir. Ridley Scott C+
60. Goodfellas (1990) dir. Martin Scorsese A-
61. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) dir. Kevin Reynolds C+ +
62. Inception (2010) dir. Christopher Nolan A
63. Freefall (2009) dir. Dominic Savage B
64. Never Been Kissed (1999) dir. Raja Gosnell B+ +
65. 13 Going on 30 (2004) dir. Gary Winick A- +
66. Black Death (2010) dir. Christopher Smith B+
67. As Good as It Gets (1997) dir. James L. Brooks B+ +
68. Sharpe's Rifles (1993) dir. Tom Clegg A-
69. Sharpe's Eagle (1993) dir. Tom Clegg A-
70. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) dir. Edgar Wright A-
71. The Kids Are All Right (2010) dir. Lisa Cholodenko A-
72. Solitary Man (2009) dir. Brian Koppelman & David Levien B+
73. Zombieland (2009) dir. Ruben Fleischer A-
74. Salt (2010) dir. Phillip Noyce B-
75. Coco avant Chanel (2009) dir. Anne Fontaine B+
76. The September Issue (2009) dir. R.J. Cutler B-
77. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) dir. Edgar Wright A- +
78. The Invention of Lying (2009) dir. Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson C+
79. Jeux d'enfants (2003) dir. Yann Samuell B+
80. Ensemble, c'est tout (2007) dir. Claude Berri B
81. Irréversible (2002) dir. Gaspar Noé B+
82. Joyeux Noël (2005) dir. Christian Carion B+
83. Open House (2010) dir. Andrew Paquin F
84. Le battement d'ailes du papillon (2000) dir. Laurent Firode B
85. Adventureland (2009) dir. Greg Mottola B
86. The Switch (2010) dir. Josh Gordon & Will Speck B+
87. The Pillars of the Earth (2010) dir. Sergio Mimica-Gezzan B
88. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) dir. Blake Edwards B+
89. (500) Days of Summer (2009) dir. Marc Webb A +
90. Mother, 1905 (1926) dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin B
91. Maurice (1987) dir. James Ivory A
92. V for Vendetta (2006) dir. James McTeigue B+ +
93. Different for Girls (1996) dir. Richard Spence B+
94. The Social Network (2010) dir. David Fincher A
95. Never Let Me Go (2010) dir. Mark Romanek B+
96. The Town (2010) dir. Ben Affleck A-
97. Thorne: Sleepyhead (2010) dir. Stephen Hopkins B+
98. Halloween (1978) dir. John Carpenter B
99. Riddles of the Sphinx (1977) dir. Laura Mulvey & Peter Wollen C
100. Thorne: Scaredycat (2010) dir. Benjamin Ross B+
101. A Christmas Carol (2009) dir. Robert Zemeckis B
102. Return to Cranford (2009) dir. Simon Curtis A-
103. Mean Girls (2004) dir. Mark Waters B +
104. Easy A (2010) dir. Will Gluck B+
105. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (2010) dir. David Yates A-
106. Nowhere Boy (2009) dir. Sam Taylor-Wood B+
107. The Breakfast Club (1985) dir. John Hughes A +
108. Cinderella (1950) dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske B +
109. Black Swan (2010) dir. Darren Aronofsky A-
110. The Informant! (2009) dir. Steven Soderbergh B+
111. Christmas Vacation (1989) dir. Jeremiah S. Chechik B+ +
112. Where the Heart Is (2000) dir. Matt Williams C+ +
I am counting made-for-television movies and miniseries' as movies.
It should be noted that these reviews may contain spoilers.
01. Elizabeth & Leceister Sarah Gristwood A- I adore Queen Elizabeth, and despite the fact that history hasn't remembered him altogether kindly, I've always been fascinated by Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leceister. This book was fascinating and utterly engrossing. I definitely want to read a lot more on Elizabeth, particularly some works with a feminist bent.
02. Juliet, Naked Nick Hornby B This was decent, but for some reason I couldn't get invested in the main romance because the characters were TOO OLD. I'm terrible, but in order to get invested in a romance I have to have at least one character roughly be my age. Plus, Tucker Crowe and his issues didn't really interest me. But it was good, don't get me wrong.
03. King Lear - ed. Harold Bloom A I've read this four times over the years for school, and it was getting a little tiring. But once I started on this in earnest, I started to realize how great it was. I love it. I wish Christopher Plummer would play Lear at Stratford. He'd be fantastic.
04. The Fifth Woman (Wallander #6) Henning Mankell B+ I fell across these books because I watched the BBC's drama starring Kenneth Branagh as Wallander (which is itself fantastic). These books are great because they are easy and enjoyable reads, but very layered and intriguing. I was relaxed, but didn't feel I had turned my brain off, either.
05. Sidetracked (Wallander #5) Henning Mankell B+ The thing with these books is, I can never tell if they're actually good or not. I mean, the cases are suspenseful and kind of awesome, and the author tries to develop Wallander and his investigative team beyond what is called for from a mystery novelist, but there's something unsatisfying about them, and I can't quite figure out what it is. The plot of this one was pretty awesome, though, and much more gruesome than the movie made it out to be, which is a bonus.
06. Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures Vincent Lam B+ These stories were fabulous, I liked how they centered around a group of characters but in such a loose, almost unrelated way. My favourite part was the fact that none of the stories really got resolved, that was neat. Although I did want to know what happened to one of the characters after the SARS related story. Also, I don't think it's fair that the author can be a gifted surgeon AND a writer haha.
07. Wonder Boys Michael Chabon A This is the second Chabon I've read, and I absolutely adore it, and the author. The characters are just ridiculously funny and the plot is so, so weird and wonderful. I loved Terry Crabtree and I have a ridiculous crush on James Leer. I love stories about writers. Considering how much I loved this, I wish I had more astute things to say about it, but it was just a pure joy from start to finish.
08. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee Rebecca Miller A- I got this for $10 at Chapters, which is great because I've been wanting to read it for a long time. It was a little bit obvious, but the writing was absolutely nuanced and beautiful, and there was a particular line in it about writers being vampires and really only living half-lives which I particularly responded too. The characters were all extremely well drawn, with the exception of Moira I think. But I loved Pippa, and Herb, and Chris, and Ben and Grace. It was a lovely book.
09. The Pilgrim's Progress (Book One) John Bunyan C I really, really hate this kind of novel. I get that the man knows his Scripture, but that doesn't make the book any more fun to read. It was really, really boring.
10. Small Wars Sadie Jones B I really wanted to like this book, and for awhile I really did, but it was just sort of bland and tepid, in the end. And I felt sort of like the writer was trying to sound like a really great writer, but her prose was ridden with cliche and obvious metaphor. Still, a decent read.
11. An Education Lynn Barber B This was pretty well written, you can definitely tell that the author is a professional writer. I actually really liked that the book covered more of the author's life than just her affair with the much older man, because I found that I did want to see more than was shown in the film. However, I found the book a bit dry.
12. Death du Jour (Temperance Brennan #2) Kathy Reichs B This was pretty good, I think I actually prefer Reichs' Brennan to the television show Brennan. I like Andrew Ryan a lot, too, but I got spoiled that he dies, so now my enjoyment of him is marred. But Reichs' must be an incredibly busy human being, being able to write these, teach university, and work in Montreal and South Carolina. Insane. The plot was a bit "out there" but I will definitely keep reading these novels.
13. These Old Shades Georgette Heyer C It's not that this book was bad, per se, it wasn't. It was just bland. I liked the "hero", the Duke of Avon, but I pretty much couldn't stand Leonie. It seemed like he was gradually falling in love with a twelve year old rather than a nineteen year old. I don't think I will continue reading Georgette Heyer's novels. They just aren't my thing, I guess.
14. The Pillars of the Earth Ken Follett C+ This book was all right. At first, I was really into it, but then it started just doing the same things over and over again: someone from Kingsbridge, be in Prior Philip or Aliena or Jack, would encounter a seemingly insurmountable problem against evil men, but at the last minute miraculously solve it. It also fell into soap opera tropes incredibly fast. But it was still a pretty engrossing read, but not enough that I'll rush out to read World Without End or any other of Follett's novels.
15. Lucky Man: A Memoir Michael J. Fox A- I read Fox's second autobiography, Always Looking Up, last year and was moved and humbled by that, so I was excited to read this. I've always been a fan of his simply because he was awesome and Canadian, but reading about his battle with Parkinson's disease and his characteristic humour and grace when dealing with something so life-altering is always a joy. Not to mention that Fox is simply a great writer.
16. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy #3) Stieg Larsson B- I felt that this was a weak ending to the Millennium Trilogy. There were entire plotlines that were completely unnecessary, and indeed made the book lack cohesion and purpose, such as Blomkvist's dalliance with Figuerola, and Berger's moving to SMP and being stalked from within the staff. I actually felt that the movie was better, with the exception of the ending. In the book, Salander allows Blomkvist into her apartment, while in the movie they promise to "talk later" and he leaves. However I appreciated that the movie left out the Figuerola plotline almost entirely, so I won't complain much. I'm sad that the trilogy is over, and even sadder that the conclusion of it, for me, was not nearly as good as the previous two novels, of which the first was the best.
17. The White Lioness (Wallander #3) Henning Mankell B+ I sort of not so secretly love the Wallander novels. They seem a little bit more awesome than your average mystery novel, and Wallander is a much more layered and interesting character than, say, Kathy Reichs' Temperance Brennan. The fact that he's constantly morally conflicted and actually suffers from acute depression adds nuance. This novel in particular was really cool because it took place in South Africa as well as Sweden, giving the novel a more global scope, and it also dealt with real events, namely the points leading up to Nelson Mandela's election as the first black president of South Africa and a fictionalized assassination attempt. The novel expertly showed the tensions between the blacks and the Afrikaners living in South Africa. I don't know much about the conflict there, so it was an informative and entertaining read.
18. Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse #10) Charlaine Harris B I'm not quite sure what it is with this book that didn't quite click with me. There were elements of it I really liked, but at the same time couldn't take seriously, like Eric's maker turning Alexei Romanov. Speaking of Eric's maker, his presence and plotline was completely unnecessary. On the subject of Eric, I sort of resented Harris implying that Sookie doesn't quite know if she loves Eric or not because of the blood bond, although it made sense. Something else I thought was pretty lame was the fact that the person terrorizing Sookie the whole way through the novel was Claudine's husband being all like; "You killed my baby!" when in fact, Sookie wasn't even indirectly responsible for it. I think this novel was good (mostly for the fact that Eric and Sookie are together now, although their relationship has lost some heat as a result) but I feel like this book was more filler than anything. But hooray for Pam and Sookie being good friends, and for Sookie giving Eric head, and Harris literally writing; "And then I swallowed down everything he gave me." I haven't laughed that hard in awhile.
19. A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) George R.R. Martin A- All I can say about this one is that I became totally and utterly obsessed with it. It wasn't healthy. I haven't been that into a book in a long while, and it's even more surprising because I generally hate high fantasy. I liked some characters more than others, but I found them all interesting in their own way. Something I've learned about these books is that you probably shouldn't pick a favourite character, because it's more than likely that they will die. But this book was great. I'm currently making my way through the rest of the series thus far, and loving it.
20. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Scott Pilgrim #1) Bryan Lee O'Malley A- I bought all six of this series after seeing Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and based on this one alone it's quite impressive how well the graphic novel was translated to the screen. It was a fast, enjoyable read, and it's quite cool to see Toronto featured in something of this magnitude. It totally gave me major Toronto envy though.
21. A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) George R.R. Martin B+ For some reason, although I still immensely enjoyed this beast of a novel, I don't think I liked it as much as the first. With the first, I was immediately hooked - with this one, it took me more than a month to finish it, because I just wasn't as eager to sit and breeze through 300 pages in a sitting. That is, until about 750 pages in, when suddenly I became completely obsessed with these books again and read the rest of it in a little over a day. I still think some plotlines are really boring, particularly Bran's and Catelyn's, although I think Bran's are steadily getting better. Jon's plotlines are my favourite, so I am preparing myself for his inevitable death. Sansa is much improved as well. Also, I don't understand what is with George R.R. Martin and half missing noses, but gross. All in all, a great read, although I'm going to read a few books before getting to A Storm of Swords because I just need a break.
22. The Town (previously published as Prince of Thieves) Chuck Hogan B- I wanted to really like this book, and at first I did. The prose is neat and sparse, which is something I always respond to. Hogan is obviously a very talented writer, but I didn't like or sympathize with any of the characters, like I think I was supposed too. I did appreciate however that Claire wasn't going to run away with Doug after his last job, I would have been sort of appalled had she done so, so I'm glad it didn't happen. And I guess there was really no other way for the book to end organically than for most of them to die, but it just felt anticlimactic and pointless to me. Also, I hated Frawley with a passion. What kind of person puts himself and his career on the line to hunt down a bank robber based on the fact that a woman picks the robber over Frawley after they've only been on one "date"? Seriously.
23. On Beauty Zadie Smith B This is yet another example of a book that I started out liking very much but got tired of quite quickly. It's obvious that Smith is an incredibly talented writer (and anyone who name checks E.M. Forster as a favourite author has to be all right) but I felt like, although Smith was trying to say Very Important Things, I couldn't connect with her characters because I didn't particularly care about most of them because 80% of them were incredibly self-absorbed assholes. However, since that's kind of the way people are in real life, I guess I have to give Smith credit for that? Although it made me sad to see aspects of my own father in Howard Belsey. It was odd and a little upsetting. Something else I couldn't get past in the novel was Smith's excessive use of italics. I couldn't stop picturing that teacher from L.M. Montgomery's Emily books that used to bitch her out for doing it. It was unnecessary and really irritating. That said, I do like Smith a great deal and enjoyed this book, so I'll likely read White Teeth at some point.
24. Maurice E.M. Forster A I think this is my favourite novel that I have read thus far in 2010. I read Forster's A Room With a View in 2009, and I adored that (#13), too. I think Forster might be my favourite writer. Maurice is sort of your typical "coming of age" love story, or would be, except it is between two men, rather than a woman and a man. It was interesting that Forster initially chose to make Maurice a somewhat unlikable character, but by the end I loved him, which I think is testament to Forster's general awesomeness. My favourite character was Maurice's second love interest, Alec Scudder. I wish more of the novel had been devoted to his and Maurice's love affair, but I understand why it wasn't. I also felt that there was a ton of pathos in the novel, particularly for the character of Clive Durham. It absolutely breaks my heart that these men were, at one point or another, filled with such self-hatred for who they were. However, I think the perfection of the novel, for me, was that Maurice and Alec got to be together at the end, which was so, so wonderful. As like A Room With a View, the ending was a happy one, but just so beautifully so that my heart still hurts in a weird way. I can't explain it. And Alec's line, "And now we shan't be parted no more, and that's finished" is, for some reason, just utterly perfect and beautiful to me.
25. The Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole B I read this novel for my British Literature after 1700 class, and even though by today's standards it is pretty ridiculous (and aspects of it it truly laughable) I did enjoy it. It was obvious that Walpole used the tragedies of Shakespeare as his model for the novel, and there's something to be said for a book that's considered the first Gothic fiction of the English language. I can't dislike something that later gave me things like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. That said, I kind of hated most of the characters: Manfred was off his nut, Matilda was completely pathetic (as was Hippolita), although Isabella was more interesting than Matilda, she was underused and underdeveloped, and even Theodore, the hero and rightful heir to the castle, was completely lame. The ending, by the time I got to it, also felt completely anticlimactic. I think the best part of the novel was the middle section, the beginning and ending not being particularly interesting. Basically I just liked the Shakespearean idea of intrigue and underground passages and deceit and all that stuff.
26. The Monk Matthew Gregory Lewis A- This novel was really awesome. It was written in the 18th century but is so dirty and fabulous. Like The Castle of Otranto, however, some of the characters were deeply irritating, especially Don Raymond, who was the worst "romantic hero" ever, and Antonia, who was so spineless and innocent and just awful. She reminded me so much of Amelia from Thackeray's Vanity Fair and as such I just couldn't like her in any capacity. But Ambrosio was great, at least until he started raping people left and right (including Antonia, who he didn't realize was his sister). I should have known how twisted this novel was since it says on the back that the Marquis de Sade was a big fan, but I was not expecting how disturbing and awesome it was. Definitely read it, if you can.
27. The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde A My former roommate read this book last year, and when I asked her what she thought of it (having never read it myself) she raved about it, but said "Although it wasn't what I expected at all." I was a little puzzled by this statement. I believe I thought something along the lines of But everyone knows what this novel is about, how can it not be what you expected? But, having read it, I must echo her words. Dorian Gray is one of the rare classics that I hadn't been "spoiled" for - I literally had no idea of the events of the novel beyond what everyone knows. It was shocking and horrifying and so human and so amazing, and I honestly think it's one of the most perfect, beautiful books ever written. I know Wilde is often remembered for his bons mots, but this man... he was just a shockingly gifted and profound writer. I found myself turning down pages to remember excerpts, and by the end I had turned down most of the novel. Just a flawless book.
28. Christopher and His Kind 1929-1939 Christopher Isherwood A- I'll be completely honest here - I decided to read this because the BBC have made a movie from it starring Doctor Who's Matt Smith, and because I hate watching something based on a book without having read the book, I got this from my uni's library. I really liked it - Isherwood is an endearing and compelling writer, and very human and interesting. The only thing that took a lot of getting used to, for me at least, was his referring to himself for much of the book in the third person, and then commenting on his actions in the first person. It made sense as a literary device, since he was looking back on his past, and I think it would have been fine if I could have eventually stopped being bothered by it. But I wasn't. However, this was a great "memoir" in that it seemed so frank and honest. It's so awesome that Isherwood never denied his sexuality. I also didn't realize (not being familiar with Isherwood beyond my viewing of the 2009 film A Single Man) that he was friends with such awesome people, like Stephen Spender, W.H. Auden, Edward Uppward, the Woolfs, and E.M. Forster. That all these wonderful people interacted thrills me to pieces. I'm definitely enamoured of Isherwood now.
29. Sleepyhead (Tom Thorne, #1) Mark Billingham B I got this from the library after watching the TV mini with David Morrissey and Aidan Gillen. It was pretty good, especially considering that it was Billingham's first novel. They changed a lot of it for the film, which probably comes down to the casting of Stephen Campbell Moore, since his character was supposed to have grown up children and Moore is too young. The ending made more sense in the book, though. I was kind of excited to discover that this novel is the first in a series, because that gives me some good mystery to read (and I have discovered that I am a middle aged woman secretly and love mystery novels) and because that means there will probably be more of these adapted with Morrissey and Gillen in them.
30. The Lesser Blessed Richard Van Camp B+ I read this novel for my Canadian Literatures class, and was pleasantly surprised by it. Having never heard of the novel or even the author before, I wasn't sure what to expect but it was a great novel about subjects I may not read about on my own time. The characters, especially Juliet and Jimmy, were flawed and human, and Larry was endearing. The novel was also great because it had something to say about the state of NWT and the natives living there, from a teenaged point of view.
31. Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte A + This is my second time reading Jane Eyre, a novel I name as my favourite book. Having read it again, I still think it's fantastic, and I caught things that I hadn't caught when I read it for the first time four years ago. I really have nothing to say about the novel except that I love it, and this time around St. John's role in it struck me as deeply sad rather than making me hate him. Upon reading the book again though, it was made all the more obvious to me that as much as I love the 2006 Ruth Wilson adaptation, no production I have seen can capture the true spirit of the novel. Here's hoping for the 2011 one with Mia Wasikowska to do something new with the material?
32. Scaredy Cat (Tom Thorne #2) Mark Billingham B I enjoyed this, but I honestly can't give these books much beyond a 'B' grade because even though they're suspenseful and interesting, they are terribly written. I still like them because British cops trump American cops every time, but I just can't get beyond the prose. It's pretty obvious that Billingham isn't a naturally gifted writer. Even his editor misses basic grammatical errors, which drives me insane. But I'll keep reading these for Thorne/Hendricks moments alone. Those two are adorable.
33. Frankenstein Mary Shelley B + I read this for my Brit Lit II class, and I liked it quite a bit, especially the elements of Gothic horror. I had read this previously in the tenth grade, and I think I liked it better this time around. I very much liked that the monster is capable of speech and intelligent thought, I always hated that in the movie(s) Frankenstein is portrayed as kind of bumbling and dumb. However, I felt like not much actually happens in this book, which I think was intentional on the part of Shelley - I think the atmosphere of horror was more what she was aiming for than actual plot, in some ways.
34. Fantomina Eliza Haywood B Even though I gave this the same grade as Frankenstein, I think I liked it better. I also read this for my Brit Lit II class, and because I was watching a crapload of Community at the same time I totally pictured Alison Brie and Joel McHale was Fantomina and Beauplaisir, which was really weird but simultaneously really awesome. The only thing I didn't like about this novella was that (of course) Fantomina had to be punished for her sexual autonomy and end up pregnant and disgraced, and Beauplaisir gets away scot-free. But I still thought this was actually really good.
35. The School for Scandal Richard Brinsley Sheridan B I also read this for my Brit Lit II class (I'm sensing a theme here) and I thought it was great as well. It was hilarious and biting. I have to say I thought Joseph was pretty badass though and I was kind of sad when he was discovered for being a liar and a cheat at the end. Apparently I am a walking stereotype and always like the bad boy?
+ reread
Keep track of my reading list here.
Seasons watched:
30 Rock: season 4
An Idiot Abroad: series 1
Ashes to Ashes: series 3
Bones: season 5
Community: season 1
Doctor Who: series 5
Fixer, The: series 2
Green Wing: series 2 (+ special)
Law & Order: UK: series 1
Fringe: season 2
Identity: series 1
Law & Order: UK: series 2/3
Losing It With Jillian: season 1
Luther: series 1
Mad Men: season 1
Mad Men: season 2
Mad Men: season 3
Misfits: series 1
Modern Family: season 1
Murdoch Mysteries: season 1
Murdoch Mysteries: season 2
Parks and Recreation: season 2
Queer as Folk UK: series 1
Queer as Folk UK: series 2
Sherlock: series 1
Spooks: series 3
Spooks: series 4
Vampire Diaries, The: season 1
Vexed: series 1
+ rewatch