Tea and Paperbacks

Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows.

2009-11-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

I'm not the biggest of poetry fans, but I do like it a lot. Occasionally I'll read a poem that really gets under my skin - it'll be in my head on a continual loop, each stanza over and over again; I'll link it to any mundane event that happens during the day and I won't be able to get it out of my system at all. I've been thinking a lot about this recently and have picked out my personal favourite poems. Interestingly, they're all very different; from different periods with different themes.

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT >> DYLAN THOMAS

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

++ I'm sort of a huge Doctor Who fan, and this poem was quoted by David Tennant on the Confidential for the most recent episode, The Waters of Mars. It fits the whole character of the Doctor so well at the moment and is an incredibly powerful poem for me currently.

THE RAVEN >> EDGAR ALLAN POE

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.

++ It's a huge poem so I only quoted the first two stanzas, both of them very atmospheric anyway. When I was 14 I learnt the whole thing for some reason, just for the sake of it. I still love it.

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY >> LORD BYRON

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent.

++ Until yesterday I'd completely forgotten that I loved this poem. My English Lit teacher mentioned it and I thought "Ooh, Byron" - so I looked it up and suddenly remembered that I already knew it! It's beautiful.

I also happen to love two of Carol Ann Duffy's poems, Little Red Cap and Eley's Bullet, but they're not available on the internet so I assume that means you can't replicate them. The latter is tragic and beautiful, and the former is a brilliant autobiographical retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. I didn't used to be a Duffy fan, but in the past year or so I've found myself becoming more and more fond of her work, especially from The World's Wife.

So that's about it. If I come across any more poems that affect me I'll try and post them here, but these are the ones I currently love :-)

Emma 2009, more views

2009-10-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

I've been struggling to find time to write individual reviews for each episode, so this post will just be a rambly one with various thoughts on this adaptation. :)

I'm enjoying this a lot more now, probably because my expectations fell so low after the first episode! The mannerisms and dancing and hairstyles (yeurgh) are still annoying me, but I'm attempting to focus on other good things instead.

I do like how they're getting in a lot more detail with four, hour-long episodes. The pace seems to reflect that of the book a lot more than both the KB and GP versions. Emma is a long book with an almost lazy pace at times because it's only set in one place and you can see how the seasons and social aspects change around it, over time. That being said, however, I do think that they have changed a lot of lines considerably.

This version is... lively, I'd say. Sometimes a bit too lively but I'll try not to let my purist side take over! I also think it's quite pretty. For me, it probably sits in the middle of the three most recent adaptations when it comes to colourful-ness. The KB version was so dreary at times (despite being very true to the novel in terms of scenes and dialogue), and the quality of filming isn't very good (it's so brown and grey), whereas the GP version is very pretty and colourful indeed... although in some scenes it can look a little too colourful, I suppose. There's an awful lot of soft colouring in the proposal scene (which I love nevertheless). So this version is a bit more realistic whilst still being not-unpleasant-to-look-at.

I think this adaptation has my favourite ~~Fred~~ Frank! Not that I'm biased or anything. I like how he's brought a slightly darker and more manipulative side to Frank as well.

Still love this Miss Bates to pieces. Tamsin Greig is just wonderful: comic and on the edge of being very annoying, but just misses it because she has that deeper and more sympathetic portrayal. She hasn't featured as much lately but the next (and last) episode has the Box Hill episode, which I'm dreading because I'll probably cry! *hides*

The Eltons are fantastic! End of.
(Christina Cole gets around, period-drama-wise, doesn't she? I like her ^.^)

Emma's facial expressions still scare me sometimes. Once I have screencaps for all episodes, I'm making a picspam of Emma's Scary Faces.

There have been some gorgeous dresses in the last 2 episodes. Still not too sure about salmon pink for unmarried ladies, but Harriet's had some lovely floral prints.

Jane Fairfax is lovely.
(However, at the ball at the Crown, I know she was happy that Frank was back, but she didn't have to be THAT animated. A more subtle little smile would have been nice. :D)

THEY CUT OUT ONE OF MY FAVOURITE LINES.

"Whom are you going to dance with?" asked Mr Knightley.
She hesitated for a moment, and then replied, "With you, if you will ask me."
"Will you?" said he, offering his hand.
"Indeed I will. You have shown that you can dance, and you know we are not really so much brother and sister as to make it improper."
"Brother and sister! no, indeed."

♥

I was so looking forward to that line :( It was the one that really could have saved this adaptation and even made it a favourite with me.

JLM is lovely as Knightley. Seriously. I don't know what I was expecting (apart from Richard Armitage... that would have been nice...) but he exceeds it. I've warmed to him a lot.

But... he just isn't MY Mr Knightley!

*clings*

The funny thing is, although I (personally) have a definitive Mr Knightley, I don't necessarily have a definitive adaptation of this novel, or a portrayal of Emma herself. I think that Kate, Gwyneth and Romola all have certain aspects of her, but none of them are the Emma I see in the book. Kate is too moody, Gwyneth is too elegant/sugary and Romola is far too active and stroppy! The Emma Woodhouse I love in the book is all of these things in moderation, but I love her all the same. When I read it, I see a young woman whose heart is nearly always in the right place (a touch of GP), when she sets her mind on doing something she's determined to (a touch of RG) and when things go wrong she's not happy, to say the least (both KB + RG). Maybe if I squished all three together, I'd get my perfect Emma :D Alicia Silverstone as Cher in Clueless is the closest any actress has got, but it's not an official adaptation, being a modernised one. I actually really like all three actresses in other films - KB in Serendipity, RG in Atonement (she is INCREDIBLE as Briony, I was stunned!) and GP in various things, though she's not actually a favourite actress of mine, strangely. She just seems to be in all my favourite films, or the ones I want to see! Much like Keira Knightley, but we shall not go into that just now.

There's probably a lot more points I've forgotten, but I'll add them in another post if I remember. Bye for now! :-)

Emma 2009, Episode 1

2009-10-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

I've decided I'll do a mini-review-thing for each episode, which will be good practise for studying the novel and comparing and such. I can't do it in a proper review format (essayish) because I don't have time - funnily enough, I have some Box Hill notes to do tonight for tomorrow!

So, here we go. Episode 1. I liked it, despite having several things wrong with it. I did not have exceedingly high expectations but I was also not disposed to think ill of it even before I'd seen it. I am still determined to have an open mind, and try not to be a purist. Even though it is my second favourite Austen novel (joint with Persuasion; I could never choose between them)...

However (and I have to write this down first to get it out of my system), there were a few things that got on my nerves and made the whole thing seem very lacking in Austen.

DID NOT LIKE

Her hair. No, I should reword that. I do like her hair. It's a lovely style - in 2009. I just wanted to go up to her and scrape it back properly and give her some actual curly tendrils at her temples, instead of those straggly bits near her ears. That being said, it's not quite as unAustenish as Billie Piper's in Mansfield Park.

The slouching. Oh, the slouching. And the running and shrieking and hyperactive SQUEE waving. And the way she looked ever-so-slightly disturbed when she smiled. Emma is a very well-mannered young woman, decorum-wise, despite her stroppiness (which is a lot subtler in the book), so why she's acting in such an uncooth manner is beyond me. There's also some strange facial expressions and hand gestures going on with Knightley too, I can't make them out. I think... if you took these characters out of this setting, they would not be out of place in a modern drama today. JANE AUSTEN IS NOT DATED. There is no reason to modernise her in this Regency context.

... *breathe*

Same goes for the dialogue, actually. I don't know why they've felt the need to 'update' it when the other existing Emma adaptations have Austen's dialogue and everyone understands and enjoys it just fine. Are we, the public, thought of by the BBC as so stupid nowadays that we have to have everything updated? There were a few scenes where they kept the dialogue from the book (hooray) but rather a lot of it was changed.

Oh, yes - the voiceover. Enough said. Something about the sun shining on Emma?

This 'bind' thing with Emma/Frank/Jane. What's that about? And why did it start with these three as children? Couldn't we work out the backstory as we go along?

Harriet's hair is the wrong time period. It's like Blanche Ingram's in Jane Eyre (thanks to StarsandButterfly for reminding me!).

Michael Gambon's great, but he's not Mr. Woodhouse. He's too... active!

I did like a lot of it, too, though :)

LIKED MUCHLY

Pretty music. Pretty pretty. ♥

The credits are gorgeous! Here's a thought, as far as Sandy Welch adaptions go: This has standardised opening titles, Jane Eyre had the same, North & South didn't - it was only the title and credits over the top of the film. I thought that was quite interesting! I'm probably reading too much into it. I have the tendency to be like Amelie and pick out little details... a lot.

It's quite colourful and nice (though, as a BBC one I expected the cinematography to be a shade prettier or more colourful). It's a nicer-looking adaptation than the KB version.

Settings! And the costumes are quite nice, though Emma (who is wealthy) wore quite a few dresses several times. And Harriet's dress was Edwardian-looking in one scene. But overall the dresses were lovely. (I have a question, though: did they wear salmon pink in that era? I'm not too sure).

TAMSIN GREIG.

I absolutely love her to pieces. She's brought a new depth to Miss Bates already - and she looks by far the most Georgian (especially with her hair) of all the ladies! I may cry in the Box Hill scene.

Quite liked the long scene at the end with the quarrel between Emma and Mr. Knightley. Enjoyed that argument!

Knightley's okay. He's quite cute, moreso than I was expecting. He's the right age but because Romola is 27 (instead of 21), there's less of an age gap which makes him seem younger. And he was a bit stroppy in an unKnightleyish way. I'm just very biased because for me, like a lot of other women I know, Jeremy Northam is a very tough act to follow. He is my Mr. Knightley!

The 'next time' trailer with FRED - er, I mean FRANK! I was so excited to see dearest Frederick Hale!

So, overall... I enjoyed it in certain respects, even though it was lacking in Austen. I think my main quibble is this: I loved Welch's other dramatisations along with their subtle contemporary elements. However, I think too much has been done this time to make Emma so obviously updated. Nevertheless, I'll stick with it and see how it goes. I was not so put off as to avoid the rest completely! And I'll keep rewatching the episodes more than once so I can fully appreciate it.

Handsome, clever and rich...

2009-10-03T05:37:00.000-07:00

EMMA 2009 STARTS TOMORROW NIGHT!

Behind the scenes video from the BBC...

Current feelings:

1) Squeeeeee! Only a day away from a new Jane Austen adaptation!! *breeeathe, breeeathe* And a whole FOUR HOURS OF AUSTEN! I cannot WAIT.

2) What's all this about 'modern body language'? What? What? Maybe it's just me being a bit pernickety, but the whole point of "less modern" body language is that's how they behaved in Jane Austen's day. You HAD to stand up when someone entered or left a room, you HAD be restrained in public. It's historical context. Also, no public displays of affection (although this is coming from Sandy Welch who did write one of the most romantic Victorian train-station-kisses EVER... ;D) because it just wasn't 'done'. Another teeny-tiny problem I have is Emma's hair. It looks like she's scooped it back and tugged out a couple of little straggly bits. Not very Georgian. Anyway, they are minor points. Back to the main point...

3) SQUEE! AUSTENAUSTENAUSTEN. Period drama loooove ♥

Here endeth the squee-ramble.

Tomorrow, 9pm, BBC1.
Be there or be... intolerably stupid! As Jane would say. Well, she might say it if she were actually alive to see her books adapted. And also to see the television invented. And I think I'll shut up now.
:)

Long time, no blog (again!)

2009-09-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

I've got a lot to read at the moment - and not for leisure, although I'm enjoying the books I'm studying - so I don't have much time for blogging. However, I will get around to it again soon because it's all good practise for my essay writing (although I blog in a slightly different manner to the way I write essays!)

I'm reading a lot of Gothic stuff at the moment (which is great fun!) for my exam, alongside Emma (yum) and A Room with a View (yum again) for coursework. Doing various background/wider reading too, so I'm a tad busy when it comes to books ;)

Talking of Emma, I see it's not long until the new version comes out. I'd really like to enjoy it as a good little Janeite (plus the superamazingfantastic Tamsin Greig is in it!). But after reading a couple of articles about they'd made it "modern" (how can you do that in a period drama? 'Clueless' is already a modern Emma, and one of the best adaptations!) and the characters in Jane Austen's novels are "stuffy" (have they been reading the same books as me?) - so they've "un-stuffyed" them, so to speak - I am a little wary. I now like the idea of Romola Garai as Emma. I'm sure she'll be great. I do not like the idea of adding in modern language and attitudes and whatnot, though. Still, time will tell. I don't want to prejudge it because although it's one of my favourite Austens, I prefer the Paltrow to the Beckinsale version, despite the fact that GP has less lines/scenes from the novel. I think the mood is wittier and more Austeny ;) I just wish this new version would start now!

That's about all I've got time for, I think. Got to get back into my Gothic business...
Until next time!

F ♥

P.S. I was thinking I might make a new header, since the current one is quite old and saved as a JPG, therefore slightly fuzzy. Opinions? y/n?

Desperate Romantics

2009-08-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

I'm allowed to ramble about this here because the series was based on a factual book, apparently ;-) As far as accuracy goes, I am aware it wasn't great, but it was good fun (for the most) and I found the characters' stories strangely addictive. Except for Rossetti and Lizzie. I got bored of their story by the end.

Last episode SPOILERS below.

Rossetti is still as obnoxious as ever and Lizzie's finally dead and that's that. My weekly Rafe fix is over *sniff* - although I don't think I'll miss that beard that had emerged in the last few episodes. I so wanted more of Maniac's story. I felt that he was sadly neglected in favour of Rossetti and Lizzie and their so obviously doomed story - normally I like a good Doomed Romance but this one was getting tedious. His continual womanising and longing for women he couldn't have was always going to end badly. Gah.

In fact, I'm going to throw all accuracy out the window here (although I'm no expert on the Romantics and so don't know how inaccurate I'm actually being) and say I WANT ANOTHER SERIES. I want Fred - poor, dear, sweet Fred who had such an awful unrequited love situation that I just wanted to give him a big hug - to finally get some proper love because he is so adorable that he deserves it. I want Maniac to come back and Annie to come to her senses and come back to him (whilst telling him to shave) and then they can be happeeee. Not that bothered about Millais - he got his happy ending and he and Effie were cute together, although they ended up being kind of sickly. I laughed so hard at the line about making up alternative nicknames for each other if they had a row - "Effie likes to call me Mr. Crumpet!" And in my imaginary second series I want no more Rossetti, PLEASE. Or, at least, not as much as there was in this series. Yes, he's attractive; no, he's not as nice a character as the others in the Brotherhood. Hmph.

I think that's about it. I still feel so sorry for Fred in particular. I liked him from the beginning and hoped he'd get a happy ending :( And as for ~~Rafe~~ Maniac, I think Annie was mad. Mad, I tell you!

I meant to say, one thing I did like overall in this series, besides the showing of the paintings, was all the redheaded models! Being of fraise-blonde-ness (gingreness?) myself, I was very happy to see all the red hair in such a positive light in this programme. It's not often we gingers are looked at like that - another reason I'm convinced I was born in the wrong era. I am considering growing my hair down to my waist, actually, like a Pre-Raphaelite painting.

MTA: The costumes were GORGEOUS. Plenty of beautiful dresses and cravats going on! Spotted Fanny Thornton's pinky checked one from North & South, and I swear I saw Margaret's green dinner party one at Rossetti and Lizzie's wedding.

I think there's something wrong with me!

2009-08-13T14:32:00.000-07:00

I am not normally this... lenient when it comes to adaptations - and, particularly, adaptations of novels that are my favourites! I just watched the ITV (Andrew Davies) version of A Room With a View which is completely different in so many ways to the novel (especially the very end), and yet...

I really enjoyed it. How strange! I've seen quite a bit of the Merchant Ivory one and expected to fall in love with it as I know how popular it is among other people I know who have read the novel. I liked what I saw well enough, but wasn't, I suppose, as captivated as I expected to be after I'd read the book (which I absolutely love).

I've read some online reviews of this newer version and I agree with all the points they make. The relationship between Lucy and George has been changed - things have been added, things have been taken away, the kisses are different, and the ending is completely the opposite from Forster's appendix, A View Without a Room. Completely the opposite. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Andrew Davies completely wrecked the ending! So this begs the question - why did I enjoy it so much?! It took me ages (and my TaUBF ;D) to accept the 2005 adaptation of P&P because it was different to the book. I'm able to accept it now as a different interpretation and I love the soundtrack and the genuine beauty of the film too. But we're talking a LONG time after first viewing, here. I've only just seen the RWAV adaptation!

I just don't understand - nearly always, I like the version which is truest to the novel. In this situation I seem to prefer the less true version and I am so confused! Maybe it was the music. That was just beautiful. I WANT the soundtrack, and I'm not even sure it's available. I don't know. The point is, I enjoyed this version (and I'd just like to take this opportunity to say that Rafe Spall was looovely; I love his smile) and I must make graphics for it, pronto.

Ta for now! :D

Am I missing the point?

2009-08-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

I had to write this because it's threatening to drive me mad. I just read an article (I've forgotten what newspaper) where Wuthering Heights came top of a poll for all-time greatest love stories (or something). It described WH as a "passionate romance." Also, on the front of my copy of the novel it says "Passion and romance written like they ought to be." Now, here is where my problem stands.

Why is Wuthering Heights considered a romance?

I am great reader of classics - it's my favourite genre - but when it comes to this one novel I never seem to "get" the so-called "romance". Personally, I don't find anything remotely "romantic" about WH at all. Romance is... wooing someone and being wooed, courtship, smiles and long gazing looks at each other, stolen kisses in the rain or in a field of violets. Romance is banter and overcoming problems and at the same time being NICE (mostly) to each other. I like how romantic novels give me butterflies. Funnily enough, I don't find any of this in WH, and the characters are so unlikeable.

I would say it's a story about love, certainly, but it's not a Love Story. It's about the kind of passionate love that can tear you - and everyone around you - apart, the kind of passionate love that can kill you.

I'm not saying that WH isn't a good book. Of course it is. It's a classic. And just because I don't like Emily Bronte's writing style doesn't mean that the storyline isn't good. I like WH's harsh, dramatic setting - the idea of those moors give me chills - but I just hate the fact that WH is advertised so much as a Romance when it's not. I'm going to be studying this come September so I hope I get more of an insight when I do. For now, I'm just annoyed.

A book I am truly grateful for...

2009-08-09T05:25:00.000-07:00

It's made me think so much about... life. Life and faith and love and friendship and Jane Austen, and how she knew all this and what makes humans so totally and utterly... human. This book has been a lifeline for me to reach out and grab onto - right when I needed it, in the middle of a bit of a rough patch with my faith, and I shall be forever glad that I read it. It's been an inspiration. Thank you, Lori Smith!

Why is it that whenever anything happens, it's always you three?

2009-07-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

So... here's a little rambling after seeing Half-Blood Prince.

There will of course be some *spoilers*, so you have been warned. ;) Look no further if you wish to remain unspoilt!

I have mixed feelings - there are some bad points and some good points.

I know I could go on for hours comparing the film with the book, but I won't. I try not to be a purist about the HP films, especially the later ones as the books have so much going on in them. I've always tried to accept that each film is someone else's interpretation, and even though I am so attached to the books I understand that my perceptions of the locations and characters will be completely different to someone else's. I always try and enjoy the films as films, rather than adaptations of the books.

However, four main things annoyed me:

1) The ending. Lack of emotion, lack of tension, lack of build-up. Seemed rather rushed and like a string of scenes that didn't really connect. Even as a "film" ending I wasn't convinced. Every time I re-read the end of the book I end up sobbing uncontrollably, but this left me feeling slightly flat.

2) That completely random, made-up scene at The Burrow. What? I didn't get that at all. Yes, it could have been a Harry/Ginny device as their relationship in particular seems to come out of nowhere, but why burn the house?

3) Lack of Neville. Most unhappy about this. Why did he only have one line? He's an important character, actually, given that he could have had Harry's fate. I've always had a soft spot for him, and the only time I really saw him in this was as a waiter at the Slug Club party. Poor Neville.

4) Lack of Tonks/Lupin. One appearance?! Tonks is in Book 6 quite a bit, actually, so the reader can see how miserable she's become. She's Harry's saviour on the Hogwarts Express, not Luna (although I did quite like her specs!). Why? We had one slightly couply scene with Lupin and Tonks (at the wrong time entirely - where did that come from?) and that was it. Want more, please.

Other smaller annoying things:

- Ginny: wasn't really feeling her feistiness or stubbornness. I liked her in the earlier films.

- Where was Dumbledore's Petrificus Totalus on Harry? Looked like he was just standing watching Dumbledore die.

- Reactions to Dumbledore's death (and lack of funeral; I thought he deserved as much as that, but Gambon to me isn't Dumbledore anyway.)

- The way the whole film seemed centred around hormones. Yes, romance is in the books. It's quite a prominent thing, but it's not the main element of the story. They seemed to be trying too hard to emphasise the fact that the characters are older. The amount of time taken to do these scenes could have been used for Pensieve scenes, thus exploring Voldemort's past further (the whole point of the story).

- How is Harry going to know what the other Horcruxes are? Are they going to show the unshown Pensieve scenes in flashback in DH?

---

Having said all that, I really did enjoy lots of the film - the majority of it, in fact - it was just the end that was flat, for me, which was a shame.

Things I liked:

- The trio in general. They've come along nicely; I like their chemistry now.

- Ron after having taken the love potion. Oh, my word, how I giggled. "It's beautiful, isn't it? The moon..." And when he fell backwards off the sofa. Classic.

- Ron's woolly hat. It was so pointy and hilarious! I think I was choking on popcorn when that snowy scene came up.

- Ron playing Quidditch! Enough said. Weasley Is Our King.

- Slughorn: he was perfect. Just perfect. Bravo to Jim Broadbent!

- Snape: ditto. He never disappoints, although he wasn't written in an ambiguous enough way in HBP. Now I cannot wait for him in Deathly Hallows; I pray that his scene will be well-written.

- The camera move through London at the beginning. Very cool, I LOVED it.

- The musical score. It gave me chills, as always. Especially at the beginning, combined with those grey clouds.

- Harry on Felix Felicis. Very funny indeed. "Harry!" "SIR!"

- Ron/Hermione moments. ♥ "Er...my...knee..."

- The tiny glimpse of Lupin and Tonks (I wish it had been more). I am such a fangirl. I hope they get more scenes in the next films *sniff*

- Hermione's Slug Club Party dress was divine.

- Nauseating Lavender! Loved her drawing the "R+L" heart on the window.

- Harry and Hermione leaning on each other for moral support, although I didn't like her confessing her love for Ron to Harry. It made it seem too obvious.

- Tom Felton as Malfoy pleasantly suprised me. I thought he was fantastic as I hadn't seen much of him lately, lots of great character development.

- Tom Riddle. YEAH!

- The cinematography and colours were gorgeous as ever, no question about that.

- Hermione's bushy hair in the potions class - it should be like that all the time!

- The banisters at The Burrow at the beginning, with everyone leaning over to ask if Harry had arrived. Loved it.

- Sectumsempra, with the music (although I thought there wasn't enough build-up to it).

- Weasley's Wizard Wheezes! I want to go there. That is all.

- The funny parts of the film were really funny. I was crying with laughter in places.

So: not my favourite film so far, I can only hope that Deathly Hallows has more emotion in the finale. I don't want to leave the cinema feeling as flat as I did on Saturday. However, I really loved certain parts and I did laugh a lot.

I'm bracing myself...

2009-07-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Slightly worried about seeing this as it's getting mixed reviews. I read a newspaper review today (can't remember if it was the Guardian or the Observer's film and music magazine) in the library and they gave it 2 stars! Woops. I'm not normally a huge fan of the films anyway, but I do have them on DVD - I've read every book before seeing an adaptation of it, and have normally just accepted the fact that they'll never be as good as the books, because there is no way you can fit a Potter book (especially the later ones) into a feature-length film. Despite this, I normally do get excited when the films are released, though, because... well, for me it's part of being a Potter fan, to join in when there's Potter-themed celebrations going on ;) However, this time around I haven't got so excited about the film, mainly because of reviews I've been reading, and things I've been hearing. I'm re-reading Half-Blood Prince at the moment and I am LOVING it again, which just makes me even more nervous about the film. But I don't want to be negative about it: I hope to enjoy it just as a film in its own right, which is what I've done with the rest. But apparently Neville doesn't have much screen time or lines - what??

I took a "Which HP Character Are You?" quiz recently and came out as Hermione. Sadly, this doesn't surprise me.

Actually, on the point of Hermione, here is something I have always wondered: what is up with Emma Watson's (as Hermione) hair? Why is it never bushy enough? That's one of her most memorable... things. I remember it seemed right in the first film, but later on (pretty sure it was Azkaban) it lost its bushiness! From PoA onwards she's looked too cool to be Hermione. I've seen a behind-the-scenes clip where EW is talking about how her hair had to be made bushier in the Potions scene. But why wasn't it bushy before? It was just wavy. GAH. And what's happening to Ron's hair? It keeps getting restyled. PoA was on TV at the weekend so I rewatched it (even though I have the DVD...) and personally I think his hair looked awesome there. And I loved Harry's in GoF; I don't know why. It seemed to have the scruffiness that's described in the book; the way it "sticks up at the back" like his father's. But don't get me started on the GoF film in general. Hermione's dress??! "Periwinkle blue" does not really come across in that thing she was wearing...

I should stop talking about hair now; apart from my point about Hermione's in relation to the book, the rest of that was irrelevant. I've watched too much Green Wing. Hair is sort of an obsession now.

Anyway. One thing I AM excited about, most definitely, are the Ron/Hermione (or trying-to-make-each-other-jealous) moments. I love them. LOVE them. They were my OTP in the books (although I do have a thing for Lupin/Tonks, too). And I love them to pieces. I love all the little moments the writers have added into the films, actually.

♥

Oh, and Snape should be amazing. Because he's Snape. Woot.

I'm seeing it tomorrow, so I expect I'll be ranting afterwards, and doing some serious R/Hr squeeing (if, indeed, their scenes are good).

Et si c'était vrai ...

2009-07-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

I ordered the novel Et si c'était vrai ... by Marc Levy a few days ago, and yesterday it arrived! It's a bit of a long story. It's the novel that the film Just Like Heaven (2005) is based on, although in English the book is called If Only it Were True. I do feel like the English title gives the wrong sort of mood, though, because the French title translates into "And if it were true", which is a bit more positive, but that's just my view. Here's a brief blurb of the book, from Amazon:

A young architect, Arthur, moves into his apartment and finds a girl in his closet. But Lauren Kline isn't an ordinary girl. She has been in a coma for six months after crashing her open top Triumph--her "heart is beating in one place" but her "spirit is alive somewhere else." And that somewhere else is with Arthur; he's the only one who can see, hear and touch her.

Anyway, I'd better start at the beginning, so as not to confuse anyone...

I recently rewatched Just Like Heaven, two years after I first saw it, and I completely fell in love with it again. I suppose it can be seen as a bit of a chick-flick, but I'm a complete sucker for a good romance and this seems like a bit of an homage to films such as Ghost. I love the whole story in general; it's funny, very romantic and sometimes very emotional as well. In short, it's a fantastically feel-good film with two great leads and left me with a huge smile on my face, which must be a good thing! It's not a groundbreaking film, but then again I don't think it's meant to be; it's just a love story with a fun (and touching) twist.

"If you could ever really touch me, I might wake up from all of this..."
David (Mark Ruffalo) and Elizabeth (Reese Witherspoon)

These two were so good in their roles. David started out moody and angsty, and Elizabeth (upon discovering him in her apartment) was a little bit of a control freak with serious problems about putting mugs on tables sans coasters. Very amusing. But of course gradually they change in a rather Pride and Prejudice-style way (aren't most romantic comedies like this now? ;-) it seems to me like quite a few are!) and it's all very lovely. I've also loved Mark Ruffalo since I saw 13 Going on 30 way back in 2004 (LOL, yes I did actually go to see chick flicks at the cinema in those days! It was quite sad, really) because he is, quite simply, adorable. And a wonderful actor in a subtle way. I've also watched the outtakes from this film and he and Reese are just hilarious together; my sides were hurting by the end! Back to the film: the whole thing is really quotable as there are some very funny lines, so these are some of my favourites:

David: Have you have any traumatic experiences recently?
Elizabeth: Like what?
David: Oh, I don't know... Like DYING?

Elizabeth: Maybe I am dead.
David: Okay, I'm sorry I said you were dead. Maybe you're not dead, maybe you're just very... light.

And I love the tagline for the film: Love will bring you back. Sigh.

Normally I wouldn't write a blog about a modern-day romantic comedy - I'm more of a classic-novel-adaptation (or general period drama) kind of girl, but this is an adaptation of a book and although I haven't read it yet, it'll be fun to compare it to the adaptation when I have! When I saw that the film was based on a book, I instantly went to look at it on Amazon and saw that the original version is in French. I'm studying French at the moment and after reading some very good reviews, including a few that said the language isn't very hard if you're not a native French-speaker, I had to order it. I've read a few pages and am already enjoying it. I already know that the characters' names have been changed but the San Francisco setting seems to be the same. I have heard that the endings in the book and film are different, so I don't know what to make of that, but I hope I enjoy it all the same. Fingers crossed. Another difference I've spotted is that in the novel, Arthur can touch Lauren, yet in the film, David can't touch Elizabeth. I think it must just be different dynamics. Anyway, I hope to update when I've read it!

F x

Relief! sigh

2009-06-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

Just to confirm, I did not fall in love with the wrong 'hero' character in The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, hooray! I thought the whole book in general was excellent and I'm so glad I read it. I was able to escape to 1955 for a few days and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! I woke up this morning and actually forgot that I was in 2009, because for the past few days my mind had been totally at Milton Magna with Penelope and Charlotte, and their beautiful coats ;) I've been in quite a vintage mood recently, actually - the music I've been listening to and clothes I'm wearing, for a start, so this book turned out to be wonderful escapism to fit my current state of mind! I can recommend it to anyone who likes to escape to a period in history that is almost close enough to reach. And the style of writing is gorgeous - and addictive. Such a feel-good book (and also very touching at times) if ever you need one!

If I could eat a book...

2009-06-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

My decisions would probably change every month or even more often, but at the moment it would be this:

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets (Eva Rice)

I have completely fallen in love with this yummy book. It's so vintage (set in the 1950s) and has a wonderful tone and a charming, witty narrative. I'd never heard of it until a couple of weeks ago, and since then the title has been following me - I kept seeing it everywhere! So on Monday when I found it in a bookshop I gave in and bought it.

18-year-old Penelope Wallace lives in a crumbling ancestral home with her eccentric, short-of-money family and is completely and utterly in love with singer Johnnie Ray. One day she meets Charlotte at a bus stop - spontaneous, fashionable Charlotte who can wear anything and make it look right. She actually reminds me a bit of Delysia in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and I think that both the self-confident and vulnerable sides to her are delightful. Penelope is lovely, too, and I love the way she looks at things when Charlotte starts taking her along to parties and dinners. The descriptions of clothes in particular is just wonderful, and sets the vintage scene perfectly. I also love the descriptions of her house - the supposed 'haunted' rooms, the long gallery, and her dining room in particular. It's such an easy book to lose yourself in and it's fabulous for curling up with a huge mug of tea. Put some 50s music on in the background and you're right in the period!

Although I am totally in love with this book, I am worried that I'm falling in love with the wrong 'hero' character, which is what I stupidly went and did in I Capture the Castle, and I was disappointed with ending, which made me annoyed with myself. I love this book so much (and it has shades of ICTC) and I don't want to be disappointed at the end! I hate it when that happens with books! Fingers crossed. This is my favourite quote about this problem:

"Really, one should stick to books where one sees the hero coming a mile off."

I hope the audio version of David Nicholls' One Day comes out on CD, because it's not on iPlayer anymore and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever listened to. It made me laugh out loud and it made me sob so much I almost ruined my laptop keyboard. I grew to love 'Em and Dex' to pieces. I'll probably buy the book version of it too, but I know I'll cry again.

That's all for now, folks!

"Summer" Reading List 2009

2009-06-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

Last year I made a huge list of books I wanted to read, and I failed miserably. This year I decided to make my 2009 challenge a lot wider by making it fairly vague, and so far I'm feeling quite good about it. When it comes to the books I buy, however, I have no self-control whatsoever and so I'm setting myself a bit of a summer(ish) challenge, to read the books I have on my shelves that are as yet unread, as well as a couple of re-reads for my coursework. This list is a rough model; I won't get them all read but I wanted to get organised :)

I'll make one post and then come back to edit it, so I'll make a link to it.

Ones in bold are new reads (which is most of them)

Emma (Jane Austen)
A Room With a View (E.M. Forster)
Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
A Passage to India (E.M. Forster)
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell)
Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier)
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets (Eva Rice)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (Truman Capote)
Under the Greenwood Tree (Thomas Hardy)
The Duchess (Amanda Foreman) - FINISH
Villette (Charlotte Bronte)
A Walk With Jane Austen (Lori Smith)
Enduring Love (Ian McEwan)
Wives and Daughters (Elizabeth Gaskell)
Cranford (Elizabeth Gaskell) - FINISH
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (Helen Fielding)
Chocolat (Joanne Harris)
Musicophilia (Oliver Sacks)
The True Darcy Spirit (Elizabeth Aston)
A Gathering Light (Jennifer Donnelly)
The Piano (Jane Campion)

I won't finish them all in the "summer", so this list will probably carry on into the autumn and until the end of the year.

Updated 9th August

And for my next essay...

2009-06-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

Emma

A Room With a View

*deep breath*

*Squeeeeeee!*

I can't describe my happiness at the moment. Emma is my second favourite Austen. I've just read A Room With a View. I can't believe how lucky I am to get to study these two gorgeous, yummy books. I have waited years - YEARS - to study Jane Austen as part of a proper literature course, and the fact that I can now study the one that made me laugh the most is just wonderful. My room is littered with all sorts of Jane Austen-themed books - her life, her works - and I've looked through them and read them at a glance - my head is filled with Austen trivia - but now I have a chance to really use them.

Forster is a relatively new discovery for me. I don't know how much more of his works I'll be reading; I'm a bit wary because I've heard that the rest are pretty bleak and don't end particularly well. I did buy A Passage to India today, secondhand, and I don't know if I'll get around to reading it any time soon, but at least I have more Forster for future reading.

Anyway, I loved this Forster and I'm so happy to be able to look at such a thought-provoking book as this in depth. And I get to compare them both!

It is Fate. Everything is Fate. We are flung together by Fate, drawn apart by Fate - flung together, drawn apart.
(George Emerson, A Room With a View)

Here endeth the squee session.

I Capture the Castle

2009-06-11T13:49:00.001-07:00

I honestly didn't know what else to call this blog entry because I haven't finished this book yet and the whole thing is just so darned quotable that it's almost impossible to choose the most profound one as a title.

I have to write something quickly because I feel so inspired by this novel in so many ways.

I've often wondered why I never read it when I owned it a few years ago, and why I suddenly had an urge to, now. Then today I realised: maybe it was just meant to happen this way. Maybe I was supposed to wait until I reached a point in my life where I have the tendency to feel insecure and sometimes even miserable in Real Life (ie. not on the internet or in my little fantasy-book-land I tend to spend half the day in). Maybe discovering the book was postponed until I needed the wonderful narrative of Cassandra Mortmain and her outlook on life, and her views on writing. Maybe I needed to wait until I needed reassurance, in some way, from her as a character. I was going to include a quote here but I'll save my favourites until I've read the whole book. I just find her comments... inspiring. It seems such a plain, mundane word but it's all I can think of at the moment.

Reading the first part of this novel has actually inspired me to dig up a pretty notebook I was given at the beginning of December last year and write what I can see around me, and how I feel about it. I'm currently (sort of) writing two novels; one Georgian and one Victorian one, but I haven't actually had a proper creative burst in months. I had a thought today that maybe, in order to get me writing properly again, I should just write a journal. BUT - not a diary, with moans and rants and completely pointless ramblings: they are saved especially for my lovely friend who technically is my diary, and I'm guessing the only one who really reads my blog ;-) No, I want to write thoughts about this unfamiliar - and sometimes uncomfortable - world around me, but not in a moany way. I want to write them as thoughtful... thoughts. Little snippets of my mind. I want to use proper, descriptive prose that makes you think, and this idea just came to me today after reading a chunk of this one novel. It has made me think.

Actually, recently I've come across a few things that seem to 'speak to me'. I've been listening nightly to BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime, One Day, by David Nicholls (LOVED Starter for Ten), at first only because Julian Rhind-Tutt is reading it and I love his audio work, but I'm taking notice of a few little details of Emma's character. She's had a "romantically-barren life", two unfinished novels, and in a letter from Dexter he tells her she "won't let herself be happy." It really made me think - am I not letting myself be happy? Is this subconsciously-on-purpose?

Enough rambling about my life for now. I guess I just wanted to ramble about how much books have been having impact on my life lately. It's odd, in a way. I don't know how to feel about it. More on I Capture the Castle later, I'm sure.

She was convinced with a certainty that was both delightful and frustrating...

2009-06-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

Ramble alert! ;)

I'm not even halfway through The Girl at the Lion D'Or (Sebastian Faulks) yet but I'm already discovering that it's possibly one of my favourite books... ever. I don't know what it is about this story - I know how it ends, since I first listened to the radio play, and I'll probably cry - but it is so romantic and written in such a beautiful way. I can't say I love it more than Birdsong, but I can't say I love it less. They're both very different books in very different styles. Birdsong's narrative is complex, jumping between different time periods and perspectives, and therefore it's much longer. This should be a relatively quick read in comparison but I don't think it'll be any less heartwrenching.

I think one of the reasons I love it so much so far is a technique Faulks uses - I recognise it because I've used it quite a bit in some writing I've done myself. It's when a character observes, sometimes from a distance, another character and picks up on tiny little details about them: their stance, the way their hair is sitting, tiny flecks of dust on their clothing - that sort of thing. I think Ian McEwan uses it too, but I'll have to dig up a copy of Atonement somewhere to check.

Anyway, it's a wonderful technique; I love using it because it adds to the sense of a character's fascination with something or someone else, and it is VERY romantic. Here are a couple of little snippets I particularly loved:

He watched her leaning against the bar, her dark hair tied carelessly back, swinging her foot in its flat black shoe slowly back and forth as she waited for the next order.

Anne laughed, then looked down to the glasses in her hands as a small silence came between them. Hartmann watched as her hair fell over her cheek.

Guh! It's those little, tiny tiny tiny details that just make the whole thing more beautiful. I LOVE IT.

I also found another lovely passage that seemed so profound so early on in the story, I had to include it:

She was convinced with a certainty that was both delightful and frustrating that she already knew him; that she knew him in fact better than these friends of his did, and that any slow acquaintance they might go through would be a waste of time because she had already seen into the heart of him.

*Sigh*

Hello, I'm Fiona, and if you hadn't guessed by now, I am a hopeless romantic.

Long time, no blogging

2009-06-05T02:35:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted here. I had exams shortly after my last entry, though, and have only read one book since finishing Romancing Mr Bridgerton, which I'll talk about in a minute. RMB was gorgeous, though; my favourite Bridgerton Male book (my other favourite is The Duke and I, in which the male isn't a Bridgerton - that's why I call it that). I read it in one night and just adored it. I love Penelope, though, which probably increased my love for it, as well as Colin! ;-)

I've had time off school for over two weeks now, so technically I should have read more than one book, but I've been doing some TV programme rewatches (Doctor Who: Series 1, and the complete Green Wing collection, both of which I'm working my way through) and I'm loving them so much (again) that reading actually sort of took a back seat for a while. Since this is a book blog for me, I've been rambling about the latest Doctor Who spoilers over at my Livejournal, since they were driving me mad and I had to talk about them somewhere!

I've bought quite a few books since my last post, too, and borrowed some from the library. Summaries from Amazon.co.uk.

Bought:

Breakfast at Tiffany's (Truman Capote)

Holly Golightly, glittering socialite traveller, generally upwards, sometimes sideways and once in a while down. She's up all night drinking cocktails and breaking hearts. She's a shoplifter, a delight, a drifter, a tease. She hasn't got a past. She doesn't want to belong to anything or anyone. Not to 'Rusty' Trawler, the blue-chinned, cuff-shooting millionaire man about women about town. Not to Salvatore 'Sally' Tomato, the Mafia sugar-daddy doing life in Sing Sing. Not to a starving writer. Not even to her one-eyed rag-bag pirate of a cat. One day Holly might find somewhere she belongs. Until then she's travelling.

It's been a while since I saw the film, but from what I've heard, it's not much like the book. Some reviews I've read are by people who preferred the film, and some are by people who preferred the short novel. I'll just have to see what I think of it. Personally, I really liked the film and am feeling positive about the book.

A Walk With Jane Austen (Lori Smith)

At thirty-three, Lori Smith found herself falling short of her expectations: single, facing a difficult job, and sinking into something like depression. She needed a change - and she needed it now. In the absence of a Darcy, she made the bold move of leaving her job and country to travel through Jane Austen's England. On a voyage of multi-layered discovery, Lori leads readers through Jane's life and the landscapes she knew and loved - from Oxford to Bath, to London and the Hampshire countryside - and through her own emotional landscapes, in which grace and hope take the place of stagnation and despair. Along the way, we explore the small and the great things in human nature to discover what Austen herself knew: the joy of life, however ordinary or unexpected.

This isn't the copy I've got. In fact, it's much prettier! I picked the book up for about £3.99 somewhere and it looks quite comforting and cosy. A bit like Me and Mr Darcy, but deeper.

The Girl at the Lion D'Or (Sebastian Faulks)

A beautifully controlled and powerful story of love and conscience, will and desire which begins when a mysterious young girl arrives to take up the post at the seedy Hotel du Lion D'Or in a small French town in the mid 1930s.

I am so looking forward to reading this. What a gorgeous cover! I do have another picture of this book, a rather "amusing" one of me holding it, but you can't see it very clearly, and I suspect it may become a bit of an in-joke. LOL. Anyway, I have loved Sebastian Faulks since I read the beautiful and harrowing Birdsong last year, and a few weeks ago I listened to the radio play of this book on BBC R4. I decided to listen to it because I knew it was Julian Rhind-Tutt voicing Charles and I couldn't miss a chance to hear his wonderful voice. I completely fell head-over-heels for the whole story and even though I cried (it is, after all, set between World Wars) I just loved it. I hope the book's just as good.

Library:

A Room With a View (E. M. Forster)

Forster's social comedy is a witty observation of the English middle classes as they holiday abroad in Florence. One of these tourists is Lucy Honeychurch, a young girl whose heart is awakened by her experiences in Italy.

I might be studying this book next year (or this year) so I thought I'd get a head start. Sounds good!

I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)

This is the journal of Cassandra Mortmain; her extraordinary account of life with her equally extraordinary family.

I'm only using this picture because it's the copy I got in the library. I haven't seen the film (yet). I don't like books with film covers, and I've always said that the only time I'd condone it is if I had this type of copy of North and South. Anyway, I used to have this book but threw it out for some reason, before reading it, so this is another chance. I've heard very good reviews of it.

The Night Watch (Sarah Waters)

Sarah Waters, in her stunningly atmospheric novel The Night Watch, narrates the lives of a group of women – and some men – as they are affected by the terrors of the London Blitz and the World War II's aftermath.

Ah, Sarah Waters. I loved Fingersmith - the narrative was so compulsive I didn't put it down for ages. As soon as I finished it I knew I had to read more of Waters' work, and I've finally got around to it. Apparently the narrative is a bit different in this one, as it goes in reverse chronological order, but I'm always willing (usually) to step out of my comfort zone with books, I suppose ;-)

I just finished The Girl From the Chartreuse a couple of nights ago and it was just beautiful. Sad, so sad, but beautifully written. It starts with a bookseller who accidentally runs over a little girl, and he becomes completely racked with guilt. It's sort of the aftermath of the accident for both him and the girl and her mother.

I leave you with a few quotes about books I've selected (as he is a bookseller) from this book, as they sum up my own feelings about how books play such a part in my life.

"Standing amid the riffle of pages, encountering a few words that appear to be addressed directly to oneself. The unhoped-for reassurance in black and white. An all-embracing, intimate acquaintance. Soundless music."

"Tingling with anticipation, Vollard would take the paper blocks in his hands, run his fingers over them, scrutinise them, turn them over, open them feverishly, inhale the smell of glue and paper, and before long he would be turning the pages with bated breath and razor eyes, drawing rapid but pertinent conclusions, whereafter he would select several titles for his night-time reading."

"Vollard had never thought of literature as soothing, nor of reading as a consolation. On the contrary. Reading with abandon, which had always been his way, had more to do with discovering the pain of someone else. The pain of a lonely man, the bewilderment of a lonely woman. Reading meant descending to the depths of their suffering and exploring it at close quarters. It meant that behind the sentences, even the most beautifully-crafted ones, you could always hear the cry of anguish."

"Everywhere I looked for peace of mind, I never found it but in a corner with a book."

Book Bargains are Love/I win the race!

2009-04-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

Happiness is coming out of a bookshop with a heavy(ish) carrier bag, with that warm, fuzzy feeling that you haven't spent too much money. I found an amazing little independent bookshop/cafe thing today with Wordsworth Classics at only £1.99! And it was a big classics collection. It was almost mouthwatering. The only annoying thing about the shop was that it had a lot of classics, but their general fiction selection wasn't great - not a single Georgette Heyer or Julia Quinn in sight (but I'll get to JQ later).

SO - here's what I bought:

Villette - Charlotte Bronte

You know, I really don't know much about this novel. I've heard of it, of course, and the fact that it's largely based on her experience as a teacher in Brussels, but that's about as far as it goes. The blurb on the back isn't too helpful - it basically says what I've just said, and mentions "repressed feelings" (ooh... I like the sound of that), "heroic fortitude" (hooray!) and a "rigid social order" (as was the case in many lives during this period). Apart from that, it gives no plot outline or character names or ANYTHING. Which is interesting. It's kind of a new experience, diving into a book this way. The other thing I don't know much about when it comes to this books is other peoples' views on it. No-one I know in RL has read it (but then again, hardly any of my RL friends read classics anyway), so any opinions will be greatly appreciated!

Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell

I don't think I will ever be able to forgive myself for missing the last couple of episodes (which were shown in one chunk) of the BBC adaptation when it was shown on BBC4 a couple of months ago. I was so annoyed, especially as I'd watched all of it up to that point. I plan to buy the DVD anyway with some of my birthday money, but I spotted the book and decided I wanted to add to my Gaskell Collection (I already own North and South - two copies of it! - and Cranford). I understand that this novel is unfinished, but that you can just about get the grasp of where Gaskell was leading with the plot, so it's not too destroying. I wonder if Roger is as lovely in the book as he was in the adaptation... *sigh*

After I'd been in this little independent shop - good for classics, not so good for romantic fiction - I decided to go into WHSmith, as they always have a special section for that. I'd decided that I really, really wanted to buy Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (Julia Quinn) as a couple of months ago you may remember I mentioned a Quest with a friend to find it - it was neither in the main bookshop in town nor the secondhand one. Well, it may have been in the secondhand one but that's not the best shop to go to if you are looking for one specific book; it smells wonderful but there is no real order to things in there. Anyway - I have WON the race! Of course, there it was on the shelf in WHSmith, all blue and shiny and lovely.

I have been particularly looking forward to this one because I have always had a soft spot for Penelope - she reminds me of myself so much. The only differences between us are the facts that she has an insufferable mother and brown eyes. Apart from that, I see so much of myself in her. Also, I have been in love with Colin since I read Anthony's book, because he's just so... for want of a better word, nice - in the words of Penelope herself. I can understand her struggle to find a word that fits him more, because he is just a generally nice person. I am so looking forward to snuggling up with some chocolate, tea and this book. I hope it kick-starts my reading metabolism again; I've been having trouble over the last month. It's been driving me crazy because reading is the thing that keeps me sane - no matter where I am or what's going on in life, books are always there, and when I can't get comfy with a book it makes me frustrated and upset.

I think April Lady was the book that gradually made me more 'comfy' again; it was simple and sweet, and not too challenging. After reading this I definitely want to try more Georgette Heyers, like Venetia, Frederica or The Grand Sophy, because I've heard that April Lady is not necessarily her best one. The trouble is, Georgette Heyer novels are rather expensive when you buy them new - in a normal bookshop they're about £7.99! I could start a rant here about how expensive books are in general, but I won't. All I will say is I used to be able to go into a shop like Waterstone's and buy a novel with a £5 note, and now I can't. It makes me feel sad :(

Next book I want to find:

Strictly Love - Julia Williams

They can be whoever they want to be - they'll just let their feet do the talking. Over the weeks, as they foxtrot, tango, waltz and cha-cha-cha their way into each other's lives, they discover the truth about each other - and themselves. But will they like what they learn? (Summary from Amazon)

Many, many thanks to you who mentioned this to me - yes, you know who you are! This book just sounds very 'up my street', so I'm on a hunt now. I'll let you know how I get on.

And lastly, books received for my birthday:

Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott
(I'd include a picture but the edition I have is Collector's Library, and I can't find a big/clear enough one).

I hardly know anything about this book! I mentioned looking at a course in Scottish Lit and my parents decided to buy me this. I feel a bit embarrassed, seeing as I am Scottish but have only vaguely heard of it. I had a quick scan of the blurb and it talks a bit about Sherwood Forest, so it's already got a thumbs-up from me on that subject... *ahem* I'm looking forward to reading it, as I'm constantly looking to broaden my literary horizons.

The True Darcy Spirit - Elizabeth Aston

After being disowned by her family, Cassandra Darcy -- the artistic eldest daughter of Anne de Bourgh (and granddaughter of the infamous Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mr. Darcy's cousin in Pride and Prejudice) -- strives to make a living by painting. But struggling to succeed in bohemian London turns out to be the least of her worries! To begin with, there are the unwelcome advances of a certain Lord Usborne, and then there are the letters bequeathed to her by a friend -- highly compromising letters written by Princess Caroline that her husband, the Prince Regent, would very much like to possess. In league with Lord Usborne, the prince enlists the services of Cassandra's cousin, Horatio Darcy, who is a lawyer, to track down the missives. When Horatio's investigation leads him straight to Cassandra, he initially disapproves of her lifestyle until he finds himself utterly charmed by it -- and particularly by her. Romance may prove elusive, however, as social obstacles and the efforts of a vengeful Lord Usborne conspire to divide the two would-be lovers. (Summary from Amazon)

I'm not sure if it's part of a series or not, but it looks like fun.

So, I must bid thee all goodnight now, updates will follow on all these books! (I hope.)

MTA: Have just been putting the books away, and realise that they DO NOT FIT on my bookshelf. Ah.

It left us quite speechless I tell you, and we have not stopped talking of it since!

2009-04-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

I am finally ready to ramble about the BBC's new production of Emma, coming out later this year. Thanks to wonderful sources at C19 I have known about this for some time, and we have all been speculating about who would end up getting various parts, but I think the official cast list came as something of a surprise to some of us, especially as with regards to Knightley. I don't think everyone would have been happy, no matter which actor was chosen, but all the same, I am a little deflated, to be honest.

Anyway, here we go. I'm going to discuss the main actors/actresses I know, or have heard of:

Emma Woodhouse: Romola Garai

- Meh, not bad. I've seen clips of her in Atonement and I think she's a good actress and very pretty, but for some reason she doesn't say 'Emma' to me. I haven't seen enough of her work to know if she can do 'stroppy-but-still-charming'. Time will tell. Another point is that Emma is sixteen years younger than Knightley and she's only ten years younger than...

Mr. Knightley: Johnny Lee Miller

- My first thought was, 'He's already played an Austen hero! Isn't that unfair?' I was never a fan of Edmund Bertram anyway, so I guess that didn't give him much favour in my eyes, but I still don't think he looks the part very much. Knightley is one of my favourite Austen heroes simply because he's not arrogant and you can imagine yourself having a conversation with him. He's meant to be quite attractive, but not obviously, so you can understand why Emma doesn't realise at first how much she loves him. My first choice was, unsurprisingly, Richard Armitage as he's the right age and has the friendly, handsome-but-not-obvious-unless-you-watch-four-hours-of-him-in-a-cravat thing going on, too. However, he's filming Spooks so it was kind of obvious he wouldn't be available. Tom Ward was my absolute favourite choice - also the same age and similar looks, I guess. And his voice is perfect! Ah, well. I was never going to be happy with anything other than RA or TW because I love Knightley so.

Frank Churchill: Rupert Evans

- Yes! One of my favourite choices. At least we got one N&S actor, LOL. He's dishy, charming and I can easily see him as Frank. Hurrah!

Mr. Elton: Blake Ritson
- Now it's the other Edmund Bertram! I have to confess, I don't remember much of Mr. Elton's description in the novel, only that he made me laugh. Regardless of how true to the novel Alan Cumming's Elton was, he will always be that for me. I think he's meant to be attractive, which Blake is, and I think I could see him as Elton, hopefully.

Mr. Woodhouse: Michael Gambon
- Yep, I can see him in that chair, moaning about the cold, etc. Personally I had my fingers crossed for Tom Courtenay (Amy Dorrit's father in Little Dorrit) but Michael Gambon seems convincing enough. It should be enjoyable.

Miss Bates: Tamsin Greig

- My favourite choice! I am very excited about this. Tamsin is one of my favourite actresses (comedy especially, but she was also incredible as Anne Frank's mother) and to choose her as Miss Bates is truly inspired. I would never have thought of it myself, but I can picture her and it's perfect! Looking forward to this character in particular.

So, those are the parts I particularly wanted to write about. I'm happier about the supporting roles at the moment, so still looking forward to the production as a whole. I think the reason I was so disappointed with the leads at first was because I so wanted this adaptation to be the 'perfect' Emma. As much as I love the Gwyneth Paltrow version, it still had bits missing, like the Kate Beckinsale one did, and with Sandy Welch as the writer I know this one will be good. I guess I just wanted the 'perfect' parts, as well.

I suppose we shall just have to wait and see...

In other literary news, I am currently reading Georgette Heyer's April Lady which is just lovely. Updates to follow!

Real life is annoying.

2009-03-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

It's taking up all my reading time! During the last few weeks I've had hardly any time to read because of essay deadlines, French speaking prep and just general LIFE. Moreover, I simply cannot be motivated, and that's not really like me at all. I'm just in a bit of a low mood and am not in the mood for unhappy endings in book, which leads me onto...

The Dressmaker (Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck), which I bought on a whim because it sounded nice and I needed a break from the politics of The Duchess. Little did I know, it would leave me feeling just as bad as I'd felt before. Normally I wouldn't mind that kind of ending, but once I'd finished it I felt like throwing a tantrum and flinging it across the room.

I am considering starting Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day, because it has been recommended to me several times at C19 and I loved the film (or rather, I loved Lee Pace... and the rest of the actors were also incredible!) and apparently it's good for comfort reading. Updates to follow.

Just wanted to get my opinion out...

2009-03-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been reading several different reviews of the worldwide phenomenon that is Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series - not intentionally Googling them; just stumbling across them - and I feel I should ramble about my overall view of them. There are so many "OMG It's Amazing And Edward Is My Favourite Hero, Ever!" views and then there's the "Stephenie Meyer cannot write to save her life" views, that I - never one to take sides ;) - feel like I'm sitting on the fence, more or less.

I think the total time I took to read the four books was less than a week. Not knowing all that much about it, I picked up the first book, after hearing several good comments about it, in an English bookshop when I was on holiday in Spain, and devoured it in two evenings. When I came home I bought the next two, and they each took me one night to read, and then the last was over a weekend. I admit that I was completely and utterly addicted to them in the short period in which I read them, but the 'obsession' has worn off - my real obsession is Jane Austen (etc) and that hasn't worn off after over two years.

Having never heard of or read a vampire romance before, and unsure of whether or not these actually existed, I found the first book rather refreshing, and I liked it. In many respects, SM could have stopped right there and I would have been satisfied - to leave the "happily ever after" ambiguous and open for fanfiction (which I could peruse) would have been fine for me. To start with, I still admired Bella as a character at that point, at least more so than in the later books. Looking back on the rest of the series, I remember getting completely frustrated with her and other characters as it went on - part of the reason I stayed up so late to finish the books.

I think one of the reasons I have kind of retreated from the Twilight fandom is the huge popularity of the film. Yes, it was truer to the book than I expected (and I hadn't expected much - the trailer showed them up a tree - what was that all about?!) and yes, some of the acting was really quite good (Jessica/Charlie/Rosalie) but I find it rather annoying when 'your thing' becomes a worldwide, everyone-in-my-class-has-read-it, thing. It happens to me (and some other people I know) with everything, from Taylor Swift and ABBA to various period dramas. When I'd first read the series, only one of my RL friends knew anything about it. Now everyone I know has either read or is reading it.

Of course these books aren't literary masterpieces - and I'm sure they're not intended to be - but however Meyer writes, good or bad, she does something that makes it impossible to put down. There are several points about the series that aren't so good, but the thing is just not to take it too literally. I am slightly concerned about some things, such as the fact that (apparently) girls are as young as nine are reading them and getting the wrong idea about love/men/etc. There are some 'adult' issues in them, but then again they are about a seventeen-year-old girl. I know some parents won't have a clue as to what the story is, but there IS a blurb. Personally, I wouldn't be too happy with letting a nine-year-old read something that was "Deeply seductive"...

So there you go - a bit of good and a bit of bad, but the first is still a favourite with me :)

New header (Among other things)

2009-03-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

I know it's not really a book-related post, but I finally got around to making a proper header for the blog! *Dances* I think I may have become a GIMP addict.

In other news on the literary front in my life, I have only a chapter left to read of Shakespeare. I don't want to rush through it so I'm taking my time with this one, as I want to absorb all the little trivial details of his life and works. Quite strange; normally I hurtle through books - the more I love it, the quicker I read it - but this time I've actually slowed down. It's a wonderful book; I've been giggling as I turn each page.

I have embarked on a rather tricky quest - to find the fourth in the Bridgerton series (Julia Quinn), Romancing Mr. Bridgerton. I seem to have looked everywhere in my town, and I can't find it. Worse still, now a friend of mine has declared her quest is to find it before me! I've been told you can get them (on offer) in The Works, but unfortunately I don't live very near one. I'm thinking about a trip to a nearby town at the weekend, but in the meantime I shall just have to content myself with continuing to discuss the books with various people... >:-)

I thought I'd do a little ramble on Catherine Cookson. I haven't read any of her books (I did buy The Glass Virgin after I first watched it, but didn't have time to read it and it must have got thrown out in the move, along with the rest of my CC DVDs) but I've seen quite a few adaptations, and I really love them. I can't choose an absolute favourite because I love them all for different reasons - except for The Dwelling Place, which was just grim from start to end. However, here are my top five (in NO particular order; I just love them all).

1) Colour Blind

- Possibly (but only possibly) the best. I think the storyline about racial prejudice was the most emotional, and to throw in a romance (as she does!) topped everything off. I remember staying up watching this one night in the summer until about 1am because I had to see it to the end; it kept me guessing all the way up until the last scene. It stars Niamh Cusack (sister of Sinead - another fabulous actress) which is one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much; I feel nostalgic when watching her because I still picture her as Beatrix Potter.

2) The Round Tower
- I didn't expect to enjoy this very much before I saw it, as it's set in the 50s/60s, and anyone who knows me knows that I am strictly a Regency/Victorian period drama addict only, really. However, this adaptation was so good, with the emotional ups and downs, it's now a definite favourite. Plus, Emilia Fox is one of my favourite actresses and the fact that Ben Miles was in it was another added bonus ;-)

3) The Secret

- This was probably the most 'exciting' CC I've seen, due to the amount of drama and the fact that it was 'Catherine Cookson's only thriller novel'. Freddie, the hero, was so instantly endearing I knew I'd be sticking up for him throughout the whole film. This is a great one to watch; I definitely recommend it, although it was quite violent at times.

4) The Glass Virgin

- This was the CC adaptation that got me hooked! I was given it after it came free with a newspaper, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I particularly remember loving the scene where Annabella (played by Emily Mortimer) runs through the rain in her many skirts. Very dramatic, à la Catheeee. Almost. Anyway, it's a very good romance and also stars a young Brendan Coyle with a Spanish-sounding name, but without the Spanish accent. I don't remember the particulars... but his character was sweet!

5) The Cinder Path

- I don't really understand why Catherine Zeta-Jones is on the front of the DVD box for this, because she isn't really a main character at all. Yes, her character does a few things that deeply affect the story, but it isn't primarily about her character's life. Anyway, this is one of the most recent ones I've seen. I found a Catherine Cookson two-for-£10 offer and picked up this and Tilly Trotter, which I haven't finished watching yet. The fact that this is now a firm favourite with me has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it stars Lloyd Owen as the impossibly lovely Charlie McFell. Nothing at all. Nothing. It is a great story, with a beautiful train station scene (although nowhere near the standards of North & South - but then I'm biased anyway), the added drama of it being set before, during and after WW1, and ---

Oh, okay then. I guess maybe it was a little bit of LO then... heehee. All I can really say is that I really, really loved this one. It's funny because, like with The Round Tower, I'm not as much a lover of WW1 dramas than earlier-set ones, but this was fantastic.

So, those were my five favourites. But remember, I haven't finished Tilly Trotter yet, so tomorrow this list could be different!

Mary Boleyn vs. Jane/Anne/Katherine

2009-02-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

I finally finished The Boleyn Inheritance! I decided yesterday afternoon just to sit down and not get distracted by any work I had to do, and I blocked out everything around me. Perhaps I should have done a little more work than I did end up doing, because I wouldn't still be up now after having just finished yet another -yes, you guessed it - essay. This one was in English, but I bet I'll get set another French one tomorrow.

Anyway, Philippa Gregory. I love her writing style because it's (for me) the type that you can read on the bus or the train or in a noisy cafe and still get utterly lost in it. I've only read two of her books - both Tudor court ones - and they are some of the most compulsive I've ever read. I think I prefer her Tudor novels to the other historical ones, because I remember getting one from the library in October about a Georgian estate (it was possibly Wideacre or The Favoured Child) and I really couldn't get into it as much as her Tudor fiction. At the moment I'm having trouble deciding whether I preferred The Other Boleyn Girl or The Boleyn Inheritance.

With The Other Boleyn Girl, it was pretty much a spontaneous idea when I decided to read the book. I saw the film trailer on TV, found out it was adapted from a book, and just went out there and then to buy it. I'd had trouble 'settling' with books so far that year (it was March and I had a few module exams which were getting to me) so when I read TOBG it was blissful escapism. It had such a compulsive narrative I couldn't stop reading it and was finished in about three evenings. I know there's death and beheading and gruesome things like that in it, but for some reason I found that I just adored it. Then I went to see the film and... well, it seemed okay at the time but later I got a little bit annoyed. I didn't understand why they mixed everything up at the beginning, and they missed so much out! I was probably being such a purist because I loved the book so much.

I know that The Boleyn Inheritance took me longer to get through, but I've been wondering if that was down to too much work, or the fact that three different narratives just isn't my 'thing'. I found Katherine Howard extremely irritating throughout the whole course of the novel, although at the end I accepted it was because she was young and naive and just didn't really know any better. I still found all three narratives - including hers - just as compulsive as TOBG but I keep thinking that now I've got to the end, I wouldn't want to read it again, unlike the first book, where I was itching to go back to the beginning almost instantly.

Either way, I loved them both and am seriously considering collecting all of Gregory's books until I have the complete Tudor Court collection... then I can just spend an entire weekend reading them...

I've just started Bill Bryson's Shakespeare and I love it! I'm not normally a 'biography' type reader, but this book is amusing, quirky and well written. It's fascinating to see how we've attached ourselves to an image of Shakespeare that probably isn't even him, and how little we do actually know for certain about him. Updates to follow!

I feel guilty.

2009-02-24T16:18:00.000-08:00

Firstly, I've been neglecting this blog quite a bit, and that ties in with the second 'guilt factor', which is that I've hardly done any reading since my last post. It's been a mixture of tiredness, essays and being ill - not a great combination. The worst thing is the essays - almost every week I'm having to write a variety of essays in two different languages - English and French - about different things, and they all end up just merging together in front of my eyes.

The third thing is that last week I bought more books! I really shouldn't have done it - I know - but I had money (the books were quite cheap, in fairness) and I thought that I would finish The Boleyn Inheritance before the week was up. How wrong I was. I spent most of my week off just sleeping... and I watched The Book Quiz on BBC4 so that must count for something.

Anyway, I found The Duchess (Amanda Foreman) - originally published as Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire - in Tesco for under £4, I think, and I'm not usually a biography-type reader, but I think I'll give it a go. I didn't really want the copy of the book with the film cover - I've just always had a thing about reading novels without photos on the front, the only exception being if I found an adaptation tie-in edition of North and South - but they only had that version and I really wanted to buy a book that day, so I got it.

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, was one of the most flamboyant and influential women of the eighteenth century. The great-great-great-great aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, she was variously a compulsive gambler, a political savante and operator of the highest order, a drug addict, an adulteress and the darling of the common people.

It does sound interesting, I have to admit. Her whole life seems fascinating. I missed the film so if I enjoy the book I might get the DVD, depending on how I feel.

The other book I bought was for 80p in a charity shop! I love charity shop books; they give me such a feeling of satisfaction. It was Chocolat (Joanne Harris), which I spotted on shelf, so it was a bit of an impulse buy. I remember watching the film a few years ago, and unless my memory fails me, I really liked it.

When an exotic stranger, Vianne Rocher, arrives in the French village of Lansquenet and opens a chocolate boutique directly opposite the church, Father Reynaud identifies her as a serious danger to his flock - especially as it is the beginning of Lent, the traditional season of self-denial. War is declared as the priest denounces the newcomer's wares as the ultimate sin.

I have an inkling that this book may become a comfort read for me, seeing as it includes two of my favourite things - France and chocolate. The only problem is, I've decided to give up chocolate (and everything else fatty) for Lent myself, which incidentally starts tomorrow. If I read this book during Lent it's not going to be very good for my self-control.

On Sunday I managed to catch a re-showing of Under the Greenwood Tree on TV. It was the 2005 version, starring James Murray as Dick Dewy and Keeley Hawes as Fancy Day. I was planning to read this Thomas Hardy novel this year anyway, but after seeing the adaptation I am even more eager to start it, especially as I've been reading some reviews and it's interesting to read opinions about how different it is to the book. Admittedly, to me it didn't seem like a Thomas Hardy adaptation; it seemed quite bright and cheery (although I have heard that it's a cheery story compared to others) and it reminded me of a Catherine Cookson adaptation - but I'm not complaining; I've always had a soft spot for her.

I liked the progression of the protagonists' relationship, and the character developments, and Murray and Hawes had good chemistry. I loved the 'lake scene' (although it was very different to the Pride & Prejudice scene with the same reference name!), it may well turn into one of my favourite scenes in period drama, actually. Just because I am a soppy romantic, of course. I'll have to create that list some day. I can tell from off the top of my head which scenes would be up there already!

Overall, as a romantic period drama I enjoyed it, and (to be rather shallow) the hero was dishy in a cravat, as period drama heroes should be, but I can only assume that once I've read the novel I'll see it differently. However, I do like how Hardy has been 'softened' in this adaptation - I love his descriptive writing style but the subject matter is usually incredibly depressing, and that isn't something I go for in a book, normally. It was nice to watch a Hardy adaptation without feeling miserable afterwards.

Bridgertons & Boleyns

2009-02-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a friend on C19 I am now addicted to the Regency romance novels about each member of the Bridgerton family, by Julia Quinn. I've found that they aren't typical Regency romances, such as Stephanie Laurens' ones, which, although enjoyable, all follow a similar structure. I've only read two Julia Quinns and yet I'm detecting a certain feistiness in her heroines - Daphne from the first book, The Duke & I, is actually one of my favourite heroines in historical romance novels now. I love how she knows her own mind and what she wants in life.

(Second in the series.)

Last night I finished The Viscount Who Loved Me, which I don't think was as good as the first (doesn't that always happen? Sigh...), however I still loved it. I prefer Simon, the hero of the first book, to Anthony of the second, but then again, they've gone through different (but similar) ordeals in life, and Simon is of course not a Bridgerton! They're a very competitive family... Anyway, a friend has now lent me the third, An Offer From a Gentleman, which looks like a Cinderella-type story, so I'm hoping it'll be good!

I'm also reading Philippa Gregory's The Boleyn Inheritance, as it has been recommended to me several times and I've never gotten around to reading it. I loved The Other Boleyn Girl, although the structure of the film was completely messed up, so it's great to finally lose myself in a Philippa Gregory novel again - Tudor fiction, like Regency, has always been a weakness of mine. Updates on this book to follow!

Bathsheba, Gabriel... and Jane, too.

2009-02-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

Last night I finished Far From the Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy) and I enjoyed it. I've only ever read one other Hardy, which was Tess of the D'Urbervilles when I had a very long, boring summer last year. Well, I started it in the summer, at least. Anyway, this book was far cheerier that Tess, which, for a first Hardy, was pretty depressing, to say the very least. FFTMC had some happy moments, some sad moments, and some simply smack-the-book-on-the-table ones.

The main reason I loved this novel was for Gabriel Oak, who has become one of my all-time favourite literary heroes now. He's just so lovely, and the voice of reason when, for example, all the other men are drunk. Bathsheba, on the other hand, didn't truly win my affection as a character until towards the end of the book. Until that moment she was rather silly when it came to Troy (one of my least favourite of Hardy's characters, even more than Angel Clare - grrr) and blind when it came to Gabriel. I think one of the reasons I disliked Bathsheba so much at first was because of Hardy's misogynistic comments he used to try and explain why she behaved so. Apart from these points, I loved the book. It's so rural and cosy, and I have loved snuggling down in the evenings with a cup of tea (surprise, surprise) to read a chapter or so. Although silly at times, Bathsheba is a wonderfully strong-willed heroine. Later on this year I may read Under the Greenwood Tree as my other 2009 Hardy, but I have been told that if Tess left me feeling depressed, I should go nowhere near Jude the Obscure.

In other literary matters, yesterday I decided to rewatch Becoming Jane on a whim. My lovely English teacher gave me a copy of the DVD as a leaving gift just before I moved (as well as a copy of the book Fingersmith - very good) as I wrote a review on it for my coursework last year, and my other copy was slightly... well, battered since a friend had borrowed it. The new copy had been lying with my other period dramas for a month or so and yesterday I just felt like watching it again.

Now, I KNOW that this film is nothing like Jane Austen's 'true' romance with Tom Lefroy. In my rather informative book, Jane Austen (Pitkin Guides), it states that Tom was a person "with whom Jane enjoyed a mild and probably not very serious flirtation". In another book that was a Christmas present, Jane Austen's World (Maggie Lane) it basically says the same, and in a letter from Jane to Cassandra we're told that Tom actually ran away when she called on Mrs Lefroy. A week later he was called away and never seen by Jane again. But she got over it! So I've always known that Becoming Jane is mostly just fiction when it comes to romantic details especially. Oh, and they changed some names and added fictional characters, too.

Tom Lefroy

HOWEVER, despite all this (and this is very odd for me; anyone who knows me knows that I am a real purist when it comes to things like Austen, especially) I can't seem to stop loving this film. I don't know why; I think it's just a good film in its own right. In other words, if you forget the fact it's about Jane Austen (hmm... not entirely easy) it's a good, romantic film. It's a bit like one of Anne Hathaway's other films, Ella Enchanted. Absolutely nothing like the book - and trust me, I know. It was a childhood favourite of mine. They changed everything - and yet, it's still a really fun film.

There's one particular scene that still makes me melt completely in BJ, and it's this one:

*guh*

It's that look on his face. I can't explain it. When I saw the film in the cinema, that moment actually made my heart almost stop. It's something to do with the fact that he just appears! The music in this scene is lovely too. I really must get around to buying the soundtrack. I have quite a few CDs of period drama soundtracks...

So, despite the extreme lack of historical accuracy and the fact I am an Austen purist most of the time, something about this film still draws me in, almost two years after I first saw it.

I think that's enough rambling for now. I really should be getting on with a Psychology essay...

Hi there!

2009-01-30T11:52:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my blog. It's still under construction but I'm sure I'll pick this up in no time. I hope you enjoy (!) reading my ramblings as I add to them.

F