From the Pages to the Silver Screen: My Top Ten February 23, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme run by the folk of The Broke and Bookish.

I was going to do this post, and then I wasn’t because my mind went completely blank when I tried to think up some of my favourite book-to-movie adaptations. I have, though, by this time come up with a list that I love, but the former was the reason why it has been one day late in coming up!

1. Ben-Hur: It is an epic movie. The first time I watched it I was in my early teen and was absolutely awed by it. Charleton Heston and Steven Boyd were such powerful actors and movie was so full of energy, passion, despair and hope. It will always be a favourite. I’ve never read the book it’s based on, though. It is only TBR list.

2. The Robe: This story, like the previous one, is set during the time of Christ. This one is also childhood favourite of mine, and I always remember it with fondness. I’ve been looking to get ahold of it in recent years. I do remember, though, that Richard Burton is rather stony-faced in his scenes, but that has never marred my experience of this movie, and I doubt it will when I watch it again as a full-grown adult.

3. Pride and Prejudice: I’m referring to the 1940 version with Lawrence Olivier and Greer Garson. Although this adaptation rather drastically changes the role of Lady Catherine de Burgh, it is a lovely movie with some excellent acting. Alongside this, I would place the 1995 BBC TV mini-series version (with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle) as well. But, although, Matthew Macfayden is my favourite Darcy in terms of looks, the 2005 movie was a huge flop in my book.

4. Much Ado About Nothing: The 1993 version with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh. It’s a wonderful, rip-roaring adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s best comedies. I can never watch it without being in splits. It’s amazing how much Shakespeare we can uderstand when we watch it being performed as it is meant to be!

5. Sense and Sensibility: Another Austen novel with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. Although I have as yet to read the book (I’ve got it down in my to-read list for 2011) I enjoyed the movie, and still do whenever I get the chance to watch it. I simply love the way the two sisters are played!

6. Scaramouche: Another old-fashioned, childhood-crush movie starring Stewart Granger and Mel Ferrer. (P.S. – I’m only in my late 20s, but the reason I watch so much of the old stuff is because, when I was a kid I was greatly influenced by my mom’s tastes!:D) It’s a movie set during the time of the French Revolution and is full of swash-buckling action and a story based on false identity. I still love this movie and I hope to read the book sometime this year!

7. The Age of Innocence: I watched this 1993 adaptation starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Phieffer and Winona Ryder about six years ago and loved it…which is why I bought the book for mom (who also loved the movie). Unfortunately, I couldn’t read the book past the first few pages…until now. I’ve just finished reading Wharton’s novel and I disliked it immensely because of the writing style. Hence, this is one of those few movies, for me, where the movie beats the book any day.

8. Stardust: This is another instance where I found the movie to be way better than the book. While I did find the book rather quirky and magical I thought the movie was more adventurous and full, with a better plot. (To know more about my views on this particular movie and book click here.)

9. Lord of the Rings: I loved all three movies just as much as I loved the book. Hence they all get a mention. I thought the movies captured the essence of Tolkien’s Middle-earth fantastically! I do have few issues with characterization, but they hardly matter in the bigger scheme of things.

10. Harry Potter (Movies 1, 2 and 5): The Philosopher’s Stone and The Chamber of Secret, directed by Columbas were simply wonderful! I think they captured Rowlings Hogwarts and magical society the best! The Order of the Phoenix, though my least favourite of the seven books, is one of my favourite movies because of the excellent direction, characterization and especially the battles towards the end!

And that’s it for my top ten book to movie adaptations!!

A Princess Living Her Ideal February 21, 2011

The Princess Priscilla’s Fortnight by Elizabeth von Arnim

If I were allowed just two words to describe this novel I would say it is “charmingly delightful!”

Set during the early 20^th century, Priscilla is a princess of an unmentioned German kingdom. Unlike her two sisters she is supposed to be the model of a perfect princess. But within the closed quarters of her schoolroom, Professor Fritzing instills in this royal heart, a desire for freedom, to explore their ideals. Princess Priscilla is not happy with her lot, though no one (save the professor) suspects. She dreams of escape. And escape she does, when her wedding is fixed to a prince from a neighbouring kingdom. Priscilla, her old professor and a maid flee the palace one quiet afternoon when fortune smiles upon the fugitives, and they make their way to England. From there, they find themselves in a small, happy village that possesses just the ideal cottage Priscilla has her heart set on. The rest of the story follows Priscilla’s adventures in this little village, all of them brought about through her unwitting ignorance.

The whole story is written with such a whimsical air. I simply loved Von Arnim’s style. It was such a pleasure to read – light-hearted, with a strong streak of humour and gentle satire. I found myself laughing aloud so often!

The novel is not without its didactic side; as the author herself tells us in the narrative,

But Priscilla’s story has taken such a hold on me, it seemed when first I heard it to be so full of lessons, that I feel bound to set it down from beginning to end for the use and warning of all persons, princesses and others, who think that by searching, by going far afield, they will find happiness, and do not see that it is lying all the while at their feet. They do not see it because it is so close. It is so close that there is a danger of its being trodden on or kicked away. And it is shy, and waits to be picked up.

And yet I could not accuse the writer of being preachy for she is most subtle in her method inspite, well, of not being subtle about her intentions. Recall that I described this novel as charmingly delightful – it was because of the writer’s very style. I have recently finished a novel by Dickens and am nearly through one by Edith Wharton. Like the first, von Arnim takes  the reader to a window to look through, but unlike Dickens, she does not make you feel like a stranger merely looking in, you become a part of Priscilla’s growing soul: and like Wharton, her narrative is full of satire, but unlike Wharton she does not demand that you see things the way she does; there is much food for thought. (I am absolutely thrilled about having discovered this author at Girlebooks!)

The story itself is much reminiscent of Roman Holiday (a movie about a princess who escapes her duties and lives as a commoner for a day), more particularly in Princess Priscilla’s role that is much like the princess-role of Audrey Hepburn in the movie.

Princess Priscilla is enjoying her freedom, unaware that it is the money that she has backing her up that allows her to dream. But things start getting stark ugly when she and the professor run out of every last penny they have. Herein lies one of the lessons – ideals are easy when there’s food in the stomach. The interesting thing is, though, that while the princess believes that in order for her soul to grow and mature she needs to live her ideals, it is the actual ‘suffering’ she experiences that moulds her into something better.

Was the simple life a sordid life as well? Did it only look simple from outside and far away? And was it, close, mere drudging? A fear came over her that her soul, her precious soul, for whose sake she had dared everything, instead of being able to spread its wings in the light of a glorious clear life was going to be choked out of existence by weeds just as completely as at Kunitz.

The reason the professor and princess seem to run out of money so quickly is because the former doesn’t want to burden his princess with the state of their finances. Thus, with her being wholly  unaware that they are fast sinking into poverty, she gives money like it grew on trees. Lesson two – communication is the key point to anything working out successfully.

He had not told Priscilla a word of his money difficulties, his idea being to keep every cloud from her life as long and as completely as possible.

And then, as a result of her free ways with money a robbery and a murder take place in the little village. Lesson number three – even among the poor, money needs to be earned honestly and accordingly for free handouts are sure to lead to ruin.

“Lose it? She has stolen it. Do you not see you have deliberately made a thief out of an honest girl?”

Priscilla gazed in dismay at the avenging vicar’s wife.

It was true then, and she had the fatal gift of spoiling all she touched.

“And worse than that—you have brought a good girl to ruin. He’ll never marry her now.”

“He?”

“Do you not know the person she was engaged to has gone with her?”

I am sure, along the way, that one is bound to pick up other such little lessons that might strike one. But, you are not to be daunted by all this. You can’t be. The writer simply does not allow it. She does not judge, she does not particularly comment. As she herself says,

Now how can I, weak vessel whose only ballast is a cargo of interrogations past which life swirls with a thunder of derisively contradictory replies, pretend to say whether Priscilla ought to have had conscience qualms or not? Am I not deafened by the roar of answers, all seemingly so right yet all so different, that the simplest question brings? And would not the answering roar to anything so complicated as a question about conscience-qualms deafen me for ever? I shall leave the Princess, then, to run away from her home and her parent if she chooses, and make no effort to whitewash any part of her conduct that may seem black. I shall chronicle, and not comment. I shall try to, that is, for comments are very dear to me.

But, by the situations described, you can’t help but notice that there is something didactic in all of that charming writing.

And, as I close with this post on Princess Priscilla’s Fortnight by Elizabeth von Arnim, allow me to leave you with a few more quotes from this novel.

 On Fritzing’s disguise consisting of a scarf and pair of goggles to hide his face:

Fritzing was a curiously conspicuous fugitive.

On Annalise, the maid that goes along with the princess and the professor:

As for Annalise, who can guess what thoughts were hers while she was being jogged along to Baker’s? That they were dark I have not a doubt. No one had told her this was to be a journey into the Ideal; no one had told her anything but that she was promoted to travelling with the Princess and that she would be well paid so long as she held her tongue. (my emphasis)

Priscilla had forgotten all about the Ideal, all about her eager aspirations. Sleep, dear Mother with the cool hand, had smoothed them all away, the whole rubbish of those daylight toys, and for the next twelve hours sat tenderly by her pillow, her finger on her lips.

Who but knows the inward peace that descends upon him who makes good resolutions and abides with him till he suddenly discovers they have all been broken? And what does the breaking of them matter, since it is their making that is so wholesome, so bracing to the

soul, bringing with it moments of such extreme blessedness that he misses much who gives it up for fear he will not keep them? Such blessed moments of lifting up of the heart were Priscilla’s as she sat in the churchyard waiting, invisibly surrounded by the most beautiful resolutions it is possible to imagine.

She had gone on, fascinated by the beauty of the place, and when she wanted to turn back found she had lost herself. Then appeared Sir Augustus to set her right, and with a brief thought of him as a useful person on a nice horse she fell into sober meditations as to the probable

amount of torture her poor Fritzi was going through, and Augustus ceased to exist for her as completely as a sign-post ceases to exist for him who has taken its advice and passed on. (my emphasis)

Just One More 2011 Challenge and I Hope I’m Done! February 20, 2011

I have only just finished reading Princess Priscilla’s Fortnight by Elizabeth Von Arnim, in pdf format. I’d never heard of this author until I started browsing through Girlebooks, and this book was such a lovely, enchanting read! I’ve discovered a few other authors and books I’ve never heard of and who sound rather promising, on this site, and I’m looking forward to giving them a go. Hence, I’ve decided to join the 2011 E-Book Challenge run by La Coccinelle at The Ladybug Reads.

There are seven levels to choose from ranging from 3 e-books to 100 and more. I’ve decided to stick to a do-able level and so it’s 6 e-books, for me!

Fascinated

1. Princess Priscilla’s Fortnight
2. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
3. The Blue Castle
4. Evelina
5. Doctor Faustus

Re-Signing Up for the British Book Challenge February 20, 2011

I’ve already signed-up for this challenge twice! Unfortunately, this was during the period when I couldn’t make up my mind about blogger and wordpress, and so kept jumping from one to the other. Now, I’ve been back with blogger for over a month and am quite sure I’ll be sticking with it. So here’s to signing up for the BBC the THIRD time!!!

For those interested, the British Book Challenge (BBC) 2011 is being hosted by Becky from The Bookette. As the title of the challenge states, it is to encourage readers to read books by British writers. The era is immaterial. Becky has two categories for this challenge – Home Grown and International Friend. Under the latter there are two sub-categories that allow you to choose 6 (Winston Churchill) or 12  (The Royal Family)books for this year. I belong to the latter category and am choosing the latter sub-category.

The Royal Family

1. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
2. The Children of Hurin  by J R R Tolkien
3. Peter Pan by J M Barrie
4. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
5. Persuasion by Jane Austen
6. The Ordinary Princess by M M Kaye
7. Shakespeare on Toast by Ben Crystal
8. Georgette Heyer’s Regency World by Jennifer Kloester
9. Evelina by Fanny Burney
10. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
11. Princess Priscilla’s Fortnight by Elizabeth von Arnim
12. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

 +

1. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer
2. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
3. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
4. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
5. The Christmas Books by Charles Dickens 

My Top Ten Favourite Love Stories February 17, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme run by The Broke and Bookish.

I am aware that it’s a tad bit late in the week to be putting up this post, but I just had to add my mite. I found I had to do quite a bit of thinking before I came up with the following list. But I would definitely stick to this one if I were asked again, with a few changes if new books that come way have more appealing couples.

Classics1. Jane and Rochester from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: In my book, this is quite the romance! I love the way Jane stays true to herself and her love for Rochester through all the bumps in the novel’s road. While Rochester is all passion and fire, Jane stands for the good sense that can also be a strong part of true love. I have read this book so many times and still enjoy it so much!

2. Jo and Laurie from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: I know that this isn’t traditionally and pair to pick. But I hate Alcott for messing up Jo and Laurie’s relationship. As far as I could see, they were both meant for each other – Jo’s energy and her boyishness as opposed to Laurie’s more calming, steady influence. I wish they’d stuck together. Theirs would’ve been a relationship of fireworks but it would’ve been a good one!

3. Elizabeth and Darcy from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: No surprises there! Though Mr Darcy isn’t my idea of an ideal man, I do love the story between the two. I can read this Austen novel a hundred times over and still find it pillow-hugging entertaining!

Fantasy4. Luthien and Beren from The Silmarillion by J R R Tolkien: I love the way Tolkien writes his love stories…they’re all so full of passion and tragedy. The one that conceren Luthien and Beren is full of these two elements. And although they end up together, there is something of pathos in the whole situation because they both lose something to gain their place in each other’s lives. The story of Luthien and Beren is literally an epic in Tolkien’s world of Arda.

Georgette Heyer5. Venetia and Damarel from Venetia: This is my favourite pair in all of Heyer’s couples. Though I find her various pairing unique and realistic in a way, Venetia and Damarel are simply delicious together. She’s an innocent in a worldly sense and he’s a rake. She has never been more than a few miles away from home, he’s been every where but at home. She is full of sparkle and fun, and he’s just waiting for someone like her to bring out whatever goodness there might be in him. I know this sounds like your typical romance. But trust me, it isn’t. This couple is unusual, especially because Venetia is a rather unusual sort of heroine. And I think she’s the reason this entire novel sparkles with humour and wit. It is rightly named.

6. Phoebe and Sylvester from Sylvester: Their relationship is something very much along the lines of Lizzy and Darcy – it’s all about pride on one person’s part and prejudice on the other’s. So yeah, I love it!

Historical
7. Winter de Ballesteros and Capt Alex Randall from Shadow of the Moon by M M Kaye: Oh this is a beautiful epic novel, and the love story of these two people is rather heart-breaking. And, set within the time of the Sepoy Mutiny in India, it so wonderfully told. I read this book a long while ago and loved Winter and Alex. Kaye also portrays the whole scenario during the Mutiny so incredibly realistically!

8. Cadi Tregaron and Luscius Farrell from Tregaron’s Daughter by Madeleine Brent a.k.a Peter O’Donnell: Cadi Tregaron is half Cornish and half Italian, and lives with her father who is a fisherman. It is only after she’s around twenty that she discovers her Italian roots are actually quite noble. In the meantime, there is a man, outcast by society, who is now Cadi’s cousin because of her having been adopted into his uncle’s family after her father’s death. He cannot tell her he loves her once everyone learns she is actually an heiress, and she believes that Luscius Farell doesn’t care. This novel doesn’t really revolve around the love story, but around the discovery of who Cadi Tregaron really is. Nevertheless, I just adore Luscius Farrell!

Mills & Boon (yep! you’ve read it right!:D)
9. Anthea and Oscar Warrender from A Song Begins by Mary Burchell a.k.a Ida Cook: There is this series by Burchell that dwells on opera/music romances, of which this novel is the first. There was something so charming about this romance with an opera novice trying to make it into the music scene and and world-reknown conductor who is very serious about his music. She’s all charm and sweetness and he’s always got his head in his music, and is very demanding of perfection. It’s quite adorable to read how this pair gets together.

10. Elspeth and Rev Dougal MacNab from Sweet are the Ways by Essie Summers: The reverend is simply adorable in this sweet-hearted romance. The moment he sees Elspeth he falls in love with her, and he’s very open about it. As far as he’s concerened he’s an open book and has nothing to hide. However, Elspeth tries to fight her feelings for him for two reasons – one, she wasn’t sure how she could make a pastor a good wife, and two, she’s guilty of something in the past. The reverend doesn’t see any of this as a problem. So how does he woo her? This is a very warm, sweet romance – one of those old, old ones, just like the one above.

And that’s it!^_^

The Book that Would Go with Me Through Thick and Thin February 17, 2011

The Literary Blog Hop is  bi-weekly meme hosted by The Blue Bookcase.

This fornight’s question is:

If you were going off to war (or some other similarly horrific situation) and could take only one book with you, which book would you take and why?

Hmmm…this is an interesting one. When I first read the question I thought, oh no! There’re so many books to sift through! But my next thought was The Lord of the Rings!! It’s a story of adventure, adversity, horror, friendship, leadership and most of all that single ray of hope when all seems lost. I love this trilogy which never fails to give me goose pimples when I read it.

However, this is not the book I would ultimately choose. In the midst of war there is only one book that can really give you “peace that passesth all understanding”, and that is The Holy Bible. THAT’s the book I would take with me in times of trouble: it’s the book that reminds me that all things in this world are effervescent, that even in times of war we can be humane; that in darkness, when all seems lost and we feel alone, we aren’t really alone – ‘…and though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and they staff they comfort me’…

Oh, yes…it’s The Holy Bible I’d take with me.^_^

Feature: Print Culture is Sinking. How Does This Affect Our Minds? February 10, 2011

While studying for an exam I came across this question:

Is print culture dying?

Interesting question, that. I had my own opinions, but I figured I’d do a bit of googling before I made my own post. As a result I came across some two or three interesting articles regarding the print vs. the Internet (links given at end of post). They threw out some ideas that had never quite occurred to me before. But, having been ‘enlightened’ I see how true it is. I know I sound a bit vague at this point, so I shall just begin.

Image take from here.

Back in the days when the first printed pages came into being it allowed for so many people to have access to literature that was so far only ever, available to the clergy, and perhaps, sometimes, to the nobility. The printing press brought out a revolution of sorts that was responsible for so many changes giving way to the period of the Renaissance, and bringing Europe from out of the Dark Middle Ages. Fast forward to more than four centuries later and we have the phenomenon know as the Internet that reaches every single part of the globe. If the printing press made reading accessible to the common man, the Internet makes endless information available to anybody who would care to look at the click of a button. Now people looking to research a topic will find millions of sources with all the information that they will need, and a great deal more!

However, there is something called information overload, and perhaps we are a generation that is currently experiencing what one would call ‘too much of a good thing.’ I don’t know about you, but whenever I am given many things to choose from, I take ages to decide what I want. For example, when my mother was a child she and her siblings only ever received a dress for their birthdays and for Christmas. Two dress every year, was all they had to choose from each time they went out. How easy for them to just pick up one dress, and the next they go out pick the other, alternating each time, perhaps. I, on the other hand, stand with my cupboard doors flung open wide, clothes spilling out of shelves and drawers, and I am so spoilt for choice that I finally decide I have nothing to wear!!

Image take from here.

The information we get over the Internet is rather like this clothes analogy. Search for ‘printing press’ on Google and the number of pages available to me is countless. The first page downloads and there are at least five pages that catch my eye. I click all of them open, and I find myself skimming crazily through each site, quite often skipping sections. There is way too much information to absorb, and I’m so desperate to take it all in. As a result, the data my brain has processed is all bits and pieces of information on various aspects of the subject, most of which are not of much use to me! On the other hand, had I two or three library books (the good thing about libraries is that they have a borrowing limit) on printing, I would sit down, my mind completely focused at the book in hand, and I would read through with more concentration, and I would be able to glean more information that would be useful to me.

But why talk about information alone? With many books being free online, and e-reading being a phenomenon that is picking up at an accelerated rate, we have pretty much the same problem, I believe. When I have my laptop open I find myself with pages from two or three novels wide open. I read one chapter from one, and another from the second and so on. My mind cannot stay focused on one story. It needs to keep jumping for fear that it will miss something. And yet, sadly, it misses every thing.

Only two days ago my best friend and I were talking about our growing TBR piles and how we read at least two books at a time. I was telling her how I actually prefer reading just one book and finishing it completely before moving on to the next, simply because I quite often I lose my momentum with the stories I’m reading, and I become less involved in my books. Yet, currently, I’m reading three books, and I am not even half way through any of them, and I feel dreadful for not giving them the justice they deserve! I think, this is mainly because, my mind, used to trying to absorb so much from the net that it keeps jumping, cannot relax and concentrate on one thing – it needs to keep jumping. I think this is a matter of habit. I envy my mother. She still hasn’t been caught up too much in the frenzy that is the Internet. There isn’t a single book in her shelves (she over a thousand books) that she hasn’t read, most of which she has read at least twice. And every since I introduced her to site with free e-texts, she reads online as well, and even then, it’s just a book at a time. I used to read like this once. Before the Internet flurry ensnared me. 

When we talk of the print culture dying, I don’t believe it is only that books have gone out of fashion with so much available over the net. But it is the death of a sort of discipline that is giving way to chaos. When was the last time you sat down and could think ‘deep’ about something you had read. I, for one, find that each time I try to dig deep, my mind comes up against a hard wall. With so much information available, most often we don’t have to think, for someone else has done all the thinking for us! Nothing is new under the sun – hence why put yourself through the effort when someone else has taken to effort to think and provide?

I don’t want my mind to be a blank. It’s a scary thought. I need it to work. I need it to think. I need  it to concentrate. To function to its greatest capacity, which should be more than a towering wall keeping outside of my own head. I want to get back to the good ol’ days, when reading was an art.

References:Is Google Making Us Stoopid? by Nicholas Carr
Print is dying. Digital is surging. Everyone is confused. Good riddance. by Alex Pasternack
Deep Reading, Deep Travel.
On the Importance of Print Culture