Posted on July 16, 2012 in Books
My friend Leah gave The Night Circus five stars on GoodReads. I had pinned about book hangovers, and she told me that she had one after it. When I saw the book in the library express shelf, I knew I had to read it too. So going into this, I wanted to like it since we have similar tastes in books. The plot seemed to be intriguing too.
This was one of the most enchanting reads of the year for me. I consumed it quickly, and I knew when I was reading it, that I would like to reread this novel. I don’t like to reread a lot of novels. This could be one I can enjoy again. It’s a tale of magic and romance. The characters are engaging, the plot moves along, but it has this quality of bringing the reader into its world and characters.
This is a debut novel, and I can’t remember when the last time I’ve been as engrossed in an author’s first novel as this It doesn’t happen often. The book reminds me of the works of Neil Gaiman. If you love Neil Gaiman, you will love this novel. It has mythos, fantasy, fairy tales, but also has a lot of heart.
The romance in this novel is told so simply in the good way. There is balance of their relationship with the conflict of the book. The angst is there, but it’s not over the top or excessive. I wish we knew more about the protaogonists. I couldn’t get enough of any of the characters. I rather miss them now actually. Book hangover indeed.
There are a couple of bad guys in the book, but they aren’t particularly evil, just amoral and cowardly. It’s not a story of good vs. evil. It’s actually more of a tale of star crossed lovers, and as much as a romantic as I can be, I am actually more critical of such romances (Romeo&Juliet is not my favourite Shakespeare play).
It is also about friendship and being part of a community and family. Most of the characters find and love each other through the circus, and many of them are from unknown origins or lack families. Both the main characters are orphans which is a classic mark of such tales. Everyone is brought together and cemented by the circus.
The book is suited to those who love fantasy, and stories with myth and magic. It was a pleasure reading this novel.
Read July 15th 2012.
Posted on July 15, 2012 in Books
The heatwave continues. This is the hottest summer in memory. The city is even at a Level 2 Drought. I just want to spend weekends indoors reading.
Yesterday, I finally finished The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. That was it for the week.
I just started The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern; I’ll be reading that today. After that, I think I’ll read a Heyer then tackle Game of Thrones or The Chaperone.
Now that I’ve got a couple of Victorian books for the Victorian Reading Challenge and Classics Club under my belt, what other challenge should I join to organize my reading? Why, one for Jane Austen!
Roof Beam Reader is hosting Austen in August. I encourage people to join especially if you’ve read little to no Austen. Summer is a good time to read her because her works are very light and great for holiday reading. She is one of my favourite authors. I have read and enjoyed every one of her fictional novels (including the Sandition and Lady Susan) EXCEPT Mansfield Park. I just bought it last month for the Classics Club too, and this challenge will force me to read it after all these years. I like Austen works so much, I even ship her characters. I’ve even read fanfiction for Austen even.
You can’t really go wrong with any of her novels. The challenge also includes biographies about her and modern day interpretations of her books. As much as I do like Austen, I do only plan on reading Mansfield Park because I have so many other books to read. However, I just remembered, I have the sequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After on Kindle. I wasn’t a big lover of the first book; it was amusing enough. The sequel has a different author though so I may as well.
I feel rather organised about now, but at the same time not since I only read one book this week! Goodness, do I love books. They are my drug of choice.
What are you reading this weekend?
Posted on July 14, 2012 in Books
This was my first Henry James novel. I like many novelists of this era including Edith Wharton and have read most of her major works so it stands to reason that I would like James as well. I don’t like James as much as I like Wharton yet, but I will need to read another novel of his to judge.
This novel was slow moving both in plot and in the manner I read it. It took me a week to read this book and that is not long for some people especially for a novel of over 500 pages, but it is long to me. I was very busy this past week and there were days when I didn’t read more than a page or two. The plot was not particularly addictive either.
While I am a tad unsatisfied with the ending, I did like the writing of the book. James is witty and observant and he is very good at getting the tone of emigrants, travelers, and those who live abroad. The following exchange about being an emigrant/immigrant was relatable to me:
“Well, I advise you to cultivate one. You’ll need it the next time you go to America.”
“I shall probably never go again.”
“Are you ashamed to show yourself?”
Ralph meditated with a mild smile. “I suppose that if one has no conscience one has no shame.”
“Well, you’ve got plenty of assurance,” Henrietta declared. “Do you consider it right to give up your country?”
“Ah, one doesn’t give up one’s country any more than one gives UP one’s grandmother. They’re both antecedent to choice—elements of one’s composition that are not to be eliminated.”
“I suppose that means that you’ve tried and been worsted. What do they think of you over here?”
“They delight in me.”
Like Ralph, I’ve lived most of my life away from my ‘birth’ country and grow in another continent. While I will go back, it’s true you can never really give it up and it makes you who you are. Furthermore, I think I amuse people when I went back to..
Early on, I identified with Isabel. I am rather frank and sometimes even blunt. I related to her in her desire to have experiences and new ideas. I also related to her in her dealing with people especially of the opposite sex. It’s not often I identify with a character like Isabel. I felt some deja-vu when reading about her. On the other hand, there were moments when I found her unlike me and this happened as she progressed long in her book.
Since I have taken two gender studies courses both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, I tend to read and analyse works from that point of view often. It’s rather natural now and it happened even before because I find the role of women in novels especially in classics interesting as they are often a deep reflection of history, time, culture, and a score of other things. I enjoy male writers who are able to really understand women and their place in society or how oppressed they are.
For example, James writes of Isabel refusing an offer of marriage:
But what disturbed her, in the sense that it struck her with wonderment, was this very fact that it cost her so little to refuse a magnificent “chance.” With whatever qualifications one would, [he] had offered her a great opportunity; the situation might have discomforts, might contain oppressive, might contain narrowing elements, might prove really but a stupefying anodyne; but she did her sex no injustice in believing that nineteen women out of twenty would have accommodated themselves to it without a pang. Why then upon her also should it not irresistibly impose itself? Who was she, what was she, that she should hold herself superior? What view of life, what design upon fate, what conception of happiness, had she that pretended to be larger than these large these fabulous occasions? If she wouldn’t do such a thing as that then she must do great things, she must do something greater. Poor Isabel found ground to remind herself from time to time that she must not be too proud, and nothing could be more sincere than her prayer to be delivered from such a danger: the isolation and loneliness of pride had for her mind the horror of a desert place… She liked him too much to marry him, that was the truth; something assured her there was a fallacy somewhere in the glowing logic of the proposition—as he saw it—even though she mightn’t put her very finest finger-point on it; and to inflict upon a man who offered so much a wife with a tendency to criticise would be a peculiarly discreditable act… But this was not the case; she was wondering if she were not a cold, hard, priggish person, and, on her at last getting up and going rather quickly back to the house, felt, as she had said to her friend, really frightened at herself.
Isabel doesn’t like disappointing people in the beginning, but it is right for her to question marriage and what it really means to her. Women must have questioned it back then, but it’s so natural for them to marry as well. It’s why I was disappointed in Isabel when she did give up her freedom.
As for the other characters, I did not care for Madame Merle. As with Ralph, I did not like her much; I found she had too much going on. All in the face and want of propriety. I also didn’t like Henrietta Stackpole for most of it as she had slight shades of ugly American abroad. She had no sense of privacy for her friend Isabel, but at least, she knows Isabel enough to guess when she is unhappy and try to help. She also showed a lot of growth through the novel, perhaps the most of all the characters.
I didn’t like Casper Goodwood either. I just think his only trait and point was to be passionately in love with Isabel. He was overly persistent and sometimes possessive about it.
Right away, I didn’t like Mr Osmond. I found him boring, prosaic, self-important, and as Ralph says in the book, he took himself too seriously. He was detached and then he became cold. It was creepy how he was introduced too; how Madame Merle told him about Isabel.
Of all her suitors, I liked Lord Warburton the best. He seemed direct without being overly stalkerish and creepy about his feelings for Isabel. He also didn’t chase her very far. He also seemed to be a kind and good man.
Most of all, I liked all of the Touchetts. Both Mr and Mrs Touchett; they both had good head on their shoulders. I adored Ralph. I would have been happy if Ralph and Isabel had fallen in love. He knew her so well and took care of her more dearly than anyone else in her life. But it’s best they didn’t in the end.
For the first parts of this novel, I really had no idea how it would end. That’s not actually usual for me since I usually get the idea of how most classic novels end. I didn’t know anything about this novel before hand. I wasn’t sure who Isabel would end up with because in the first half of the novel, she has three potential suitors (included Ralph). The real drama starts at the halfway point. There is slow build up. When Isabel chose her man, I question why she had made that choice. It mystified me to think she was in love with him. Therefore, I was disappointed to see Isabel did marry and I was disappointed just as much as Ralph was in the book. Once that happened, I knew it would not end well.
The ending is one that which gives you hope, but leaves you hanging wondering what happens next. I did enjoy some of the characters. Knowing Nicole Kidman plays Isabel Archer in the movie, I can see Kidman in the role if only because Isabel is described as having great beauty and charm. I also really did adore some of the other characters and passages. I don’t really like how the plot progressed though.
I think James is a good writer of characters, dialogue and human interactions. There is definitely something very perceptive about him that shows through his writing. Even though I was not completely satisfied with the book, I really look forward to my next James novel.
Read July 7-14th 2012.
Posted on July 13, 2012 in Beauty & Skincare
Good, affordable nail polish that comes in loads of colours.
Previously, I have gone years without painting my hand nails. Yes, years. I think the last major time was in 2010 or 2009. The reason for this is that nail colour chips often on my hands. I knit, cook, wash dishes, and I just wash my hands a lot. I am not obsessive compulsive, but I am good at keeping my hands clean. I do paint my toe nails more though because they don’t chip as often and my feet are rather boring so I like to spruce it up for myself.
Lately, since the start of this year, I have been needing retail therapy. Then I saw that these went on sale, looked up some reviews and sort of went crazy and bought 6 including the Invisible colour way as a base and top coat. These will last me years.
The bottle recommends 2-3 coats. I will usually just do 2 because I have no patience for 3. I found too much makes it take forever to dry. I will apply a top coat using the Invisible colour. I never use to do this, but it really helps the colour last on my nails mostly on my left hand. I applied a base coat with the Invisible once, but I find it actually makes it easier to chip so I just do a top coat now. I find these last a good few days without major chipping and the pigmentation is really good. On my left hand, I went a good five days without a major chip usually.
The biggest con with this line seems to be that it takes awhile to dry and if you apply too much. Make sure your coats are very thin. Otherwise, they will smudge or dent easily even if you allow more than 10-15 mins drying time between coats. I am also not a big fan of the brush.
Price: Got these all on a Buy One Get On Free (BOGOF) sale so down from a regular $3.49 each to about $1.79CAD before tax.
Pros:
- Affordable and widely available
- Good colour selection
- Very pigmented and sparkly (in the case of the Celeb City)
Cons:
- Drying time can be a bit slow compared to some other lacquers.
- Brush is not the best quality
Posted on July 12, 2012 in Books
On BTT this week:
What book(s) have you read that you’re secretly ashamed to admit?
There aren’t many, but I do admit to reading chicklit and there isn’t much shame in enjoying that. I don’t think people should be ashamed of what they read or enjoy. I have read some less than literary books.
I do read bestsellers sometimes just to see what all the hype is about. This happeend with Dan Browns’ The Da Vinci Code when it was very popular and Angels & Demons which weren’t great, but they weren’t awful either. I really enjoy the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris (much more than I do the TV series), and I know many people find them badly written. Personally, I don’t mind it and I think Harris has some good character development. I have read Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series and for the most part, I did not enjoy it. They were really easy and quick reads, but I didn’t enjoy Bella as a lead. I don’t care for the books, but I don’t have problems with the fans. I admit to enjoying Meyer’s The Host more.
Finally, I have not read Shades of Grey, but I have the whole trilogy on the Kindle. I got these books just when they started getting popular, and I didn’t really know what they were about. I read a few snippets from the book the other week, and I was not impressed with the writing, but two my best girlfriends love it and acknowledge you don’t read it for the writing. So I will see, I may write about a review on it here.
How about you?
Posted on July 11, 2012 in Knitting & Crafting
My spindle arrived last Tuesday!
Yes, I have been mad enough to add onto my ever growing hobby and interest list after reading, movies, photography, cooking, baking, running a blog, and travel.
I’ve been curious about spinning for awhile. Most knitters and fibre crafters are to some degree because it is one step before the process of knitting, crocheting or weaving.
At the beginning of this year, I suddenly felt it was time to take it on. I was immediately drawn to the turkish spindle because it would help with making the yarn into a ball.
Posted on July 10, 2012 in Monthly Movies
A lot more movie watching this month due to a heat wave and knitting.
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows (13,15 06 2012) – Had some decent action sequences, but didn’t seem to have the impact of the first film. I do like the chemistry between RDJ and Jude Law though. I am not a huge JL fan, but I feel he is a great Watson. I love his and Martin Freeman’s the best, and he slightly edges over the latter by being a tad more badass. It was also surprising to see Lane Pryce as Moraiarity and to watch Lisebth Salander as a gypsy. All in all, an ok sequel, but I will keep watching.
Black Swan (15 06 2012) – Yes, I finally saw this. What a trip. This movie was creepy and messed up. There is a reason why I haven’t watched Darren Aronofsky movies until now. I don’t watch horror films in general and this borders on that with psychological thriller. I found this movie was a tad too long. As a ballerina movie, I prefer The Red Shoes. I think it was worthwhile to see BS because it seemed everyone I knew had seen it. Why are there two major film works about the nature of ballerinas and self-destruction? I guess it is a harsh art form. The dance sequences were good. I liked the Black Swan stage dance the most. Good casting with all the females. I’ve watched Natalie Portman in a number of roles. She has been an ingenue for a long time. Since The Professional, her role as the innocent beauty has been cemented. She is the most innocent and fragile in this movie and also the reverse. It’s not really a surprise she won the Oscar for this role. I’ve liked Mila Kunis since “That 70s Show” and am glad she got this role to elevate her career. I do think some images from the film are memorable enough and it does stay with you.
Shame (20 06 2012) – Ahh, Michael Fassbender, how I adore thee. This movie lives up to its hype, it was well shot, had great acting, emotionally difficult to watch, and had a fantastic soundtrack. It was also very realistic in its awkwardness and depressing tone. Most of the sex scenes in this movie are very unsexy. The more you watched the film, the sadder it became. Like Ebert, I found this movie great, but I doubt I will watch it a second time because of how real it was.
Cleopatra (21-22 06 2012) – The most expensive film ever made. Epic, lush, and with a star studded cast, this was probably one of the last epic films of the pre-1970s film era. It’s always fascinating to watch such films before computer generated graphics. Rex Harrison was the right Caesar. Richard Burton was over the top, but Elizabeth Taylor looked fantastic. She was gorgeous and had such an amazing wardrobe. I believed the Cleopatra romance with Caesar but, I didn’t see how Cleopatra fell in love with Mark Anthony. I guess it was just love at first sight for both of them. Octavian is an ass through this whole film and oddly flamboyant for a general. This movie flopped at the box office and no surprise because while extremely well done, it was too long. I had to fast forward through some of the second half. It was dragging. Unlike say “Ben-Hur” or “The Ten Commandments”, this movie doesn’t have the Christian connection which probably made audiences less likely to watch it all the way through. I’m glad I watched it, but I don’t think I could rewatch it just because it really wore on.
Beginners (25 06 2012) – A sweet, slow and reflective film with a great cast. How can Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor ever be wrong? It was also lovely to see Mélanie Laurent again after “Inglorious Basterds”. Plummer is lovely, but Ewan is so quiet in this role. I rarely have seen him so vulnerable. Also, I liked the Jack Russell terrier.
Death on the Nile (25 06 2012) – This should have been called Deaths on the Nile. This was a bloody one. I don’t remember much of prequel Murder on the Orient Express, but I think I saw it. I any case, I know I have seen this Poirot before. It’s an amusing film like most Christie adaptations are. They shot it on location in Egypt and it looks good. The costumes and the cast are the best parts. Angela Lansbury’s character spends the whole thing drunk. David Niven looks only about ten years older than he did in he 1930s; I do like the Niven. I found Mia Farrow believably English in this too. I also like Poirot pops up everywhere and randomly eavesdropping on everywhere.
Posted on July 8, 2012 in Books
Hello, Sunday! It has been another hot week where I am. In other news, I started a new job this week so I have been in bed at 10 and awake before 7. It hasn’t given me a lot of time to enjoy my hobbies, but I did manage to read Frederica by Georgette Heyer this week.
I also started The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James yesterday. He is descriptive, but he balances it out with actual dialogue. So far, I like his sense of humour and tone. I will read more this week, but I anticipate another busy and hot week ahead so I definitely won’t be able to read very much.
After this, I’ll read another Heyer book. I want to read Game of Thrones after that, but I may opt to read another Victorian era novel instead. Also, I updated my Kindle on Calibre this week; I’ve accumulated a lot of books that I haven’t read the Kindle since last year! I bought the Kindle for travel, and I haven’t been doing it at all so it’s moot. Secondly, I do prefer paper books to the Kindle and often forget about it and what books I have already saved on it (a lot). Do you often feel you neglect your e-reader?
What are you reading this week?
Have a good week!
Posted on July 6, 2012 in Books
This was a fun one. Now that I am in the latter half of Heyer’s life, her books are consistently better for me. I know some people like the over the top nature of the earlier books, but I didn’t think they always worked. Heyer continues to have extravagant and distinct characters and plots, but the dialogue and character development has also stepped up a notch. I have immensely enjoyed the last three books I’ve read of hers.
This novel is Heyer’s version of Pride and Prejudice. Sylvester Rayne is Mr Darcy: he doesn’t like country dances, he knows his worth, he knows his responsibilities, dotes on his Mother and family, and he is a good master to his servants and tenants. He appears haughty and doesn’t always have a good looking countenance (“the look of a satyr”). Sylvester even has a favourite cousin named Georgianna.
Phoebe Marlow is Elizabeth Bennet in that she has many sisters (one of whom is named Mary, another Eliza), is not as wealthy as Sylvester, and has fine eyes. Phoebe’s confident and former governess comes from Hertfordshire.
There is definite pride and prejudice at work for both of them. The plot is wholly different, but in essence, it is about her overcoming her prejudice and him his pride. I actually think this is an good homage to the Austen novel; readers of that would like the fun nature of this one. There is a lot of great bantering between the leads, but the reader clearly sees them becoming closer as friends and are meant for each other.
Even though I adore Pride and Prejudice, I am not always a fan of antagonistic relationships that bloom to romance. It is over done in books and movies; I don’t like to watch a lot of mainstream romantic comedies for this reason. But when these type of romances are done correctly as Austen has done it and Heyer does as well, they can be electric and fun.
As usual, Heyer has wonderful and lovely secondary characters. I actually really like how her supporting characters are actually that. They are very supportive of the protagonists; they are loyal and loving, but are not blind to their faults. Reading Heyer novels is like going to her special brand and world of England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At the best of times, I don’t want to leave.
Read June 30th 2012.
Posted on July 5, 2012 in Books
On BTTthis week:
So other than books … what periodicals do you read? Magazines? Newspapers? Newsletters? Journals? Do you subscribe? Or do you buy them on the newsstand when they look interesting?
When I was in university, I would read periodicals more often because I had to be current with the news. My program in undergrad even had a subscription to “The Economist”, and I would read that once a week. In those days, I also really liked “The New York Times”, “The Guardian”, and “The Washington Post”. I also like “The New Yorker” and read some articles of it online. When I find the time, I read the BBC News online and I really like their small online magazine too. I also like fashion magazines, but one doesn’t really read them so much as use them for eye candy.
The problem is that I neither have the money nor the time to read more periodicals. My parents read newspapers; my Dad use to read books, but now he only has time for newspapers. Subscriptions can be expensive especially if I don’t really have the time to really make use of it. It’s a little dream of mine to be able to afford a subscription and the time to read “The New Yorker” one day.
I also read “The Best American Travel Writing” anthology every year. That is a compilation of travel writing from periodicals, and I do like periodicals a lot. You find some of the best nonfiction pieces in them. I just wish I had more time and money to peruse them.
How about you?
Posted on July 4, 2012 in Knitting & Crafting
Going to try to WIP Wednesdays almost every week in the summer. This Girasole is going to take awhile. I am now 3/4 of the way through Chart C.
I should have used this for my Ravelympics project, but it’s too late now. I don’t think I will do a Ravelympics this year and try to finish this instead. It’s my unofficial Ravelmpics project.
It is a very warm thing to have on my lap in the summer weather, but I want to finish it by August or earlier so I can lay it out to dry in the sun.
Other than Girasole, I am going to start work on another fibre WIP which I will post about next week. Stay tuned.
What is on your needles this week?
For more WIPs, visit Tami’s Amis.
Posted on July 3, 2012 in Books
April Lady
This was a lot like The Convenient Marriage. Older man becomes smitten with young, naive girl and marries her. Comedy ensues. Just as in that novel, the conflicts can be saved by the couple having an honest conversation. Just communicate, couples! If you don’t, ridiculous things happen!
I think it’s fine if these heroines are charming, over the top and even a tad silly at times, but I get impatient if they are not particularly intelligent or practical.
I was indifferent to all the characters in this novel. A lot of them blurred together with other Heyer novel characters. I’ve been reading too many of these books, but they do have this weird addictive quality.
Read June 21-22nd 2012.
The Unknown Ajax
This Heyer novel is distinct in the others I have read in that it featured a lot more of the servants and their relationships between themselves and their masters. The novel also had a plot about smuggling and free trade. I only found these parts interesting because they were new aspects of Heyer
but not actually that fascinating for most of the novel until the very end.
This was more serious and in a way, less of a romantic comedy than the others. I did like the romance in this novel though. It was believable as well as enjoyable. Hugo is a wonderful and lovely character. He had a wicked sense of humor
I know a Heyer novel is good when I want more of the characters by the end. I enjoyed this one. Maybe not as much as The Grand Sophy, but I liked Hugo almost as much as I did Sophy.
Read June 26-27th 2012.