novels, comets, movies
My blog is new, so I've never picked out favorite books for a year, but here we go. My ten faves for 2021, fiction and nonfiction, out of the 66 books I read: 1. New Testament -- the recent translation by David Bentley Hart 2. Notre Dame de Paris Translated by Alban Krailsheimer 3. Lonesome … Continue reading Favorite books of 2021 (and 2020)
“But I cannot be satisfied without Fanny Price, without making a small hole in Fanny Price's heart. You do not seem properly aware of her claims to notice. When we talked of her last night, you none of you seemed sensible of the wonderful improvement that has taken place in her looks within the last … Continue reading Fanny Price and Job
They say that “Streets of Laredo”, the sequel to "Lonesome Dove,: suffers from not having Gus McCrae, who didn't survive the first book. They also say that because fans wanted to see Gus again, Larry McMurtry wrote his prequels to “Lonesome Dove”, in which we get to see both Gus and Call in their youth: … Continue reading Dead Man’s Walk
December 15, 2020 Online there are many lists ranking favorite novels in order. My own ranking is really not well thought-out. Just going by enjoyment, I'll list them by how completely I enjoyed each one, ie, the degree to which I found any part of them to be hard going. 1. Mansfield Park2. Northanger Abbey3. … Continue reading Favorite Austens
November 24, 2020 If I searched right, the terms “persuasion” and “persuade”, or variations like “persuadable”, appear – 68 times in “Emma” 46 times in “Mansfield Park” 52 times in “Pride and Prejudice” 42 times in “Sense and Sensibility” 32 times in “Persuasion” 24 times in “Northanger Abbey” The novels are listed from longest to … Continue reading Jane Austen stats
November 24, 2020 Spoilers ahead I was engrossed by “Mansfield Park” from beginning to end. Of the thousand thoughts I’m having, probably questions about Henry Crawford are the most difficult to answer. That may be no surprise to those who have read the novel. Henry flirts with two sisters, just like Frederick Wentworth had. And … Continue reading Finishing Mansfield Park
November 19, 2020 I'm 25 chapters into "Mansfield Park" now, though I had not intended to read it. I was going to see only the movie from 1999, since I’d seen adaptations of all her other novels and knew nothing about this one. But I liked the story and movie so much that I opened … Continue reading Starting Mansfield Park