The Classics Spin: Dickens and Eliot



Yes, my kindle cover has elephants on it.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Charles Dickens
1870 (left unfinished)
 
Why did you have to go and die, Dickens, and leave this unfinished? I have so many questions. And not just questions, burning questions. I'd wanted to read this ever since watching the BBC adaptation last year (amazing, by the way, totally worth a watch) so I was really pleased it came up on the spin. I wasn't quite prepared though for how abruptly it ends and how unresolved it all is. Still, as usual the language and characterisation is, well, spectacular and I'm pleased to announce that I loved The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

John Jasper was suitably freaky, Edwin Drood suitably irritating, and Rosa Bud suitably pathetic. The highlight of the novel by far was Rosa's guardian, the lawyer Grewgious (his clerk Mr Bazzard is pretty brill too). In Dickens there is usually one character that sticks in my mind and Grewgious is joining the likes of Joe Gargery and Mr Micawber as one of my favourites. He, a bit like Mr Bucket in Bleak House I think, is one of those outside characters that is able to judge the situation in order for the reader to see it as it is. Smart fellow. Mostly, I just love the way he speaks.

'I am a particularly Angular man, and yet I fancy (if I may use the word, not having a morsel of fancy), that i could draw a picture of a true lover's state of mind, tonight.'


The Lifted VeilGeorge Eliot
1859

'While the heart beats, bruise it - it is your only opportunity'

I felt a bit let down by The Lifted Veil. I've read Middlemarch (loved it) and The Mill on the Floss (also loved it) and I was really quite intrigued by the whole George-Eliot-does-gothic-fiction-in-a-novella deal. It was an interesting read, a typically intellectual read and at times even a bit spooky but there was just something missing. All the way through I was just waiting for something to happen that actually made it gothic fiction. I don't know, maybe I just missed the whole point of it. Maybe I was meant to just take from it some kind of moral about the dangers of knowing the future and how you should just live in the moment and take each day rather than waiting for something you know will eventually happen. I guess the quote I've slipped in above demonstrates that...do things while you still can because, before long, it will be too late.

Ok, maybe I did take more from it than I thought. I think it just was not the sort of enjoyable reading experience I previously attributed to George Eliot. Although, to be fair, I read Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss way back when I was at school so I could have the old rose tinted nostalgia glasses on...Still, this one may benefit from a re-read in 10 years time.

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Musing Mondays

Hosted by Should Be Reading

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
  • Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s). • What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! • Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
  • Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) thatgets your ire up? Share it with us!
  • Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

I'm currently reading...Honour/Gone Girl

I'm finally getting round to cracking on with the Women's Prize list. I'm going for a bit of a double book approach, though reading these two alongside each other is perhaps not the best idea. I'm already getting hooked on Gone Girl so I think Honour may get left behind in a cloud of dust.

Speaking of clouds of dust...I ran a half marathon yesterday. In 1 hour 54 mins and 41 seconds. Last year I did it in 2 hours 9 mins. Yeh, I got fit. And fast. For the last two months I've been swearing this will be my last, providing I manage it in under two hours. Well, actually, I think I've kind of got the bug for it now. I got to mile seven, realised I had run that in under an hour and that I still felt heck of an energetic and decided right then and there that I am a half marathon runner. For real. I mean, today is a struggle. I'm rocking a very attractive waddle and standing up is kind of a two stage process with a break half-way up BUT I feel awesome. Like, take on the world kinda awesome. And I don't even care if people (i.e the family) get fed up of me talking about it because I basically rock.

And....back to the books. So I started Honour over the weekend but in all the excitement (all my family came home to support me. There was lots of alcohol consumed.) I couldn't really settle to get into it. Enter: Gone Girl. I thought it made sense to pick up a book I know I will get hooked to and read in a couple of days instead of bumbling along barely reading Honour and not giving it the attention I want (because, let's face it, the writing is pretty lush). It has turned out to be a pretty ideal solution. I'm sure you'll know my thoughts on these soon enough.

Now, let's see how long it takes me to get off this chair...

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Modern March: As I Lay Dying

As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner
1930

Oh my poor head. Every time I even think about this book I get crippling stream of consciousness headaches (yes, that is a real thing). Though I must say, finishing As I Lay Dying feels like quite the achievement. Aside from the pain, frustration, confusion and general distress at Vardaman drilling holes into his mother's head (seriously, did that happen?) I am pleased to have read it. But that doesn't mean I think it is a good book.

As I Lay Dying is considered a great American classic. It focuses on the Bundren family shortly before, during, and immediately after the death of the matriarch, Addie. The majority of the novel narrates the family's journey from the Bundren home to Addie's burial site several towns over. Obviously they encounter quite the number of problems along the way and really the journey manages to destroy almost every member of the family. With the exception of Addie's husband, Anse, who seems like a right shady fellow and gets off scott free, Jewel, Cash, Darl, Vardaman and Dewey Dell are all either mentally or physically damaged. Basically, there is some pretty poor parenting going on.

As much as I didn't like this book, it did have its moments. I thought Dewey Dell as a character was really quite interesting and it was completely heartbreaking watching her try to procure an abortion. It made me get a bit ragey when the chemist assistant or whatever he is completely takes advantage of her naivety and ignorance. Vardaman's narration was also one of the highlights as I think Faulkner describes his gradual mental unhinging quite well.  

Overall I can see how this would be quite the meaty book for degree study but I can't see myself heading towards Faulkner for an enjoyable read. I almost wish I had studied it because I do think it would benefit from multiple readings. Nonetheless, I think I may have to alter my reading ambition from wanting to read ALL THE BOOKS to wanting to read ALL THE BOOKS (except Faulkner).

'Sometimes I think it aint none of us pure crazy and aint none of us pure sane until the balance of us talks him that-a-way. It’s like it aint so much what a fellow does, but it’s the way the majority of folks is looking at him when he does it.'

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Review: Dance the Moon Down

Dance the Moon Down
R. L. Bartram
2011

'In that moment, as she watched him go in the last days of that golden summer, she felt her life change. After this, nothing would ever be quite the same again.'

This is a novel that has all my favourite components: suffragettes, the First World War, war poets and women (are you bored of me yet?).

The novel follows the war-time experiences of Victoria, a product of a Victorian/Edwardian upbringing, who meets and falls in love with Gerald, a young poet, at university. Despite her mother's misgivings, Victoria and Gerald begin quite the clandestine romance that culminates in their marriage shortly before the outbreak of the First World War. Gerald almost immediately signs up for the army but after a few short months has gone missing in France. The rest of the novel documents Victoria's struggle to find out what happened to Gerald in a search which leads her to face countless challenges and, ultimately, destitution.

I really like how this novel starts at the end, with Victoria as an elderly woman observing a young couple who themselves are examining a war memorial on which Gerald Avery is named. Those sorts of beginnings give you enough of a storyline to really absorb you from the start. Although the writing has the occasional tendency to slip into cliche, the historical accuracy and the author's clear passion for the subject made it a very interesting read. I was pleased to read a war novel that decided to focus on life on the home front rather than the front line.

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Thank you to the author for providing me with a copy to review.

Things to do when you own too many books

The situation in my house is getting pretty dire. I have more books than I have space for. And I keep buying more. I have been wracking my brains trying to think of some handy space saving tips that can look pretty (obviously) and open up a slot or two (or three, or four) for new arrivals.

Idea #1: The bookstandmirror

Take one old mirror and a stack of books. Lean mirror against books. Hope it doesn't fall and break. Done.

Anyone else have any genius space saving ideas?

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The Classics Spin: Result

So today is April 1st which means it's the end of the Classics Spin and time to own up to whether I completed the challenge or failed miserably.

#14 on my list was The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens and as this post attests, I finished this one well before the deadline. What can I say? I'm competitive. Because I love a good challenge and because I had another one of the potential spin reads on loan from the library, I decided to read a second book. This time The Lifted Veil by George Eliot (I did intend to read Brother Jacob too but that never happened).

I am pleased to have finished both of these short novels (very short, in the case of The Lifted Veil) and I'm very pleased that the Classics Spin gave me the kick I needed to get cracking on my Classics Club List (which, by the way, is slowly growing in length).

I will be posting a double-whammy review of the two spin books later this week. In the meantime, how did everyone else get on? I'm such a Curious George.

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Musing Mondays

Hosted by Should Be Reading

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
  • Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! • Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
  • Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
  • Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

This week I'm reading...Fifty Shades of Feminism

To all my fellow feminists out there, you need to read this book. It is so good.

This book is 'fifty women exploring what the F-word means to them today, where women have got to, what still needs to be done – socially, politically, sexually, psychologically. And at the same time naming feminism, claiming it, owning to that sometimes reviled "ism", which too often slips into the lexicon as a synonym for man-hating.*'

This is a wonderful collection of essays that was more or less born out of the Fifty Shades phenomenon. I'm about a quarter of the way in and so far it has made me smile, feel angry and feel sad. And it has definitely made me think. I'm particularly looking forward to reaching Natasha Walter's essay as her book Living Dolls was a completely mindblowing read.


*The editor Lisa Appignanesi writing on the Guardian online.