novels, comets, movies
I've been watching a lot of "Les Misérables" adaptations since finishing the novel. I've watched the usual suspects, and I'll list them below (slight spoilers), but I have to start with one of the very best, only 10 minutes long, that I found entirely by chance. Click on the photo for Inspector's Javert's vlog, or … Continue reading Other Les Misérables films
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
It's a common trope in fiction: a final confrontation between the central hero of a story and its central villain. It's an important trope in Westerns, both on the page and screen -- Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" is just one famous example. And we see it in works of fiction that are too many to count: … Continue reading Hero, meet your villain; or, never mind
"Anna Karenina" is not quite letting me go. Partly that's because it was just that good. I went back to re-read Part 8; and generally I don't re-read books until years later; but I had to drink in that last section of the novel again, and slowly. Partly the book is hanging on because I've … Continue reading Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary Discuss Their Suicides
December 31, 2020 I’ve read Charlotte Lennox's “The Female Quixote” (Kwicksoht), and I struggled through much of the first half, but the effort was well worth it. I flew through the last 100 pages. Lennox’s novel was inspired by Cervantes and later inspired Austen, two authors I’ve recently discovered, so I really wanted to read … Continue reading The Female Quixote
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
December 13, 2020 I’ve read “Emma” now, and it was a bit hard going. I’ve seen virtually all of the movies -- so many that there was almost nothing about the story that I didn’t already now. “Emma” turns out in large part to be a novel of, and about, small talk. Emma herself delights … Continue reading Emma (Woodhouse)
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 16, 2020 I’ve just seen the 2007 version of “Northanger Abbey”, and maybe my expectations were too high, but it was disappointing. Everything is too broad and obvious. We know, for example, who are the bad apples because they are clearly, ominously bad as soon as we see them. All mystery, ambiguity, and uncertainty … Continue reading Northanger Abbey movie (2007)