Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Northanger Abbey

[Edited by Jocelyn to add: This book isn't actually on the list but we'll give it to her because she's only read a 3rd of what Emm and I have (and it's a great review)!!]

Lets see if I can review this one a bit better.
I LOVED this book. Catherine is a great protagonist because she is that weird girl who hangs out in the library reading gothic novels. She isnt bad looking, but she's weird enough that no-one notices that she is cute. I loved her overactive imagination because her thought processes were exactly the same as mine would have been in the same situation. she was vague enough to miss every implicit cue, which meant that she led Captain horrid-man into thinking that she was keen on him, when in reality, she was just nice. Upon reflection this girl is just a emalgamation (sp?) of the three authors of this blog. cute, gothic, oblivious, loyal with a killer imagination.
It isnt much focused on except a bit at the beginning, but the guy she falls for is also not entirely normal. its great to see the weird ones get together and the beautiful ones fail spectacularly.
I like the way austin covers so many different situations. What do you do if your friend is flirting with someone else when she has a boyfriend? what does it mean when a guy askes you to dance and then gets distracted? is that guy keen or just nice? did my best friends dad kill her mum? how do you cope when someone is spreading rumours about you? Is it appropriate to punch Mr Thorpe in the face becasue he is an insecure Douche?

Most of these questions get answered, sadly, not all the way I would like them to. Mr Thorpe's nose remains ugly and undamaged.

thats all I cant think Right now, I am so incredibly tired and have typed up about 4 pages in the last hour.
Goodnight Im off to read Persuasion.

Pride and prejudice.

There is very little I can say in terms of reviewing Pride and prejudice because everyone already knows it all. So I think that I am a cross between Jane and Lydia. Is that possible? I think it is. Im also In love with Mr Bingley. I had bookmarked a bunch of quotes I liked but I seem to have lost them :(
Ok, so for the shortest, possibly worst, review ever I am going to finish by saying that I think im hooked on Austin.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

This review should be a nice change from my regular rambles.
I've never liked movie/tv versions of Alice in Wonderland, the people weren't nice and it was weird and hard to follow. So I didn't go into the book with high expectations. The book made more sense to me than visual reproductions. I suspect some of the movies have also used material out of 'Through the looking glass' which I have not read, as there were things I recalled that were not in the book.
Alice seemed much more in control in the book, and less phased by what was going on around her. She comments that she isn't used to being bossed around so much, but you don't get the sense that she is having a bad time. I also felt she had more agency in the book than movies.
I was disappointed (and surprised) that some of the lines I remembered from movies were changed just slightly, like 'dooo you PLAY croQUET?' from the 1999 tv movie is actually 'can you play croquet?' in the book!
Overall I prefer the book to the movies and whipped right through it in less than a day.