I was on a used bookstore shopping spree recently so I have a lot of books I plan to read this Fall. Or at least that I plan to carry around with me when I'm going for a chai latte at Starbucks. This post is part of The Broke and Bookish Top Ten Tuesday meme. Today is Top 10 Books on my Fall TBR...
Northanger Abbey is certainly less famous than other Jane Austen novels like Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. But it is not less fun or charming. It has all that good Austen stuff: despicable villains, exciting balls and, of course, a dashing hero. To be honest, it took me longer than I expected to finish this book. Probably because the book tries...
Like so many girls, I decided to read Sense and Sensibility after reading (and loving) Pride and Prejudice. Unfortunately, the first time I read it, Sense and Sensibility felt like a bucket of cold water. Sense and sensibility's sad tones and tricky situations took me by surprise. And don't get me started on the male characters. Willoughby, Edward and Col. Brandon are complex and troubled -...
One of the most enjoyable experiences to me is finishing a book. For some, is buying a book, for others is starting it, for some crazies is beginning Chapter 5. I like all those things too, but nothing beats that final page rush. I'd say I have more or less three common but different reactions when I finish a book. The "I'm not...
Today's post is part of the series Writer's Corner I just finished reading a collection of Jane Austen's juvenilia and unfinished novels. I couldn't help feeling the difference between her great novels, such as Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility and the writings from her youth. I know it's not fair to judge her early material. I mean, 12-year-old Jane puts 26-year-old...
I am posting one day in advance of schedule to take part on Broke and Bookish's meme Top 10 Tuesday. Today's theme is bookish people you want to meet. My list consist mostly of dead people, which isn't very realistic, but let's face it when am I ever going to meet John Green? 1) Dostoyevsky In the dispute Tolstoy versus Dostoyvesky, I say without...
I just remembered I never got around to writing about Persuasion by Jane Austen. I recently finished reading all her books and that makes me happy and sad at the same time. Happy because they are all amazing books and sad because there are no more Austen novels to read. Maybe it's time to start re-reading them. I recommend reading Persuasion after Sense...
Twain’s attacks on Austen are over a hundred years old, but he better watch it. You guys have probably already heard about Mark Twain bad-mouthing Jane Austen. Even though making author-on-author attacks is every writer’s prerogative, I can’t share Twain’s views. It just so happens that I was reading Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper” the other day. I admit it – it...
Reality is more real than fiction, but is it more pleasant? It is a truth universally acknowledged that neighbors suck. Our relationship with them range from hate (because of their pets, kids, music taste etc) to neutral cordiality (usually chit chat about the weather and how you've grown and - oh, my! did you see that article about that stomach reduction operation?). On...
The Duet by Karl the Elder Schweninger If you liked Pride and Prejudice, Emma is the book for you. For starters, Emma's plot has so much potential. Emma is young, pretty, clever and rich. Oh, and she also likes to play God, which means she is one of those annoying matchmakers. She needs a companion now that her governess got married and left her house....
Here’s an amusing inquiry: what book would you like to live in? When I was a teenager the answer was easy: Catcher in the rye. Source I would love to befriend and perhaps date Holden Caufield. I know many girls feel the same way, but I think the likely scenario is that he would end up hating me. Nowadays, however, I don’t care much...
Everybody's first Austen book Source I was at a book store the other day and I saw two different people holding copies of “Pride and Prejudice”. Now that I consider myself an Austen reader (which, let’s face it, it’s no big deal, she only wrote six novels) I look down on people who only read "Pride and Prejudice". “They’re not real fans!” –...
