The Classics Club: Question for February February 20, 2013

What classic has most surprised you so far, and why?

 

I believe it has to be Three Men in a Boat.

Mom had this book in her shelf for years and years and I never bothered to pick it up because…well…three men in a boat doesn't really sound like much fun. For one thing, I know nothing of boats. For another, a story about three men confined in one space? How boring!….or so, I had thought until I finally picked up this book.

I cannot tell you what prompted me to read it finally. I hadn't a clue what it was about, save for what the title said…and that it was humorous — though I was quite skeptical about that. (I had conveniently forgotten having read essays by Jerome K Jerome and finding them hilarious.)

However, having once picked it up I found myself laughing so much (more than I have done over a book in a very very long time!), nodding in agreement with much of J K Jerome's little snippets of life-sayings, and being quite blown away by how wonderfully, and beauteously poetical Jerome was prone to get. I was also quite startled to find that it was actually a creative travelogue of a journey down (or was it up?) the River Thames. Had I known this, again, I might never have touched this book. But having learnt of it only on the reading, I was really glad of it, and it has actually inspired me to pick up and read other creative travelogues! My first book in 2013 was Around India in 80 Trains, and I am hoping to read some William Dalrymple in the near future, plus I have also been inspired to give Around the World in 80 Days a go.

So, there you have it! In a nutshell — Three Men in a Boat which turned out to be a fun romp down the R. Thames and inspired me to start reading other creative travelogues.

Have any of you read Three Men in a Boat? What did you think of it? Do you read travelogues? What's your take on this non-fiction genre?

 

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I’ve been reading some Saki. September 27, 2012

 

By the Open Window by Konstantin Makovsky c. 1910

It’s nearly the end of the month, and I finally had the inclination to read a handful of short stories. Thanks mostly, I think, to Jay for his pointing out a rather handy short story ereader app. I was going through it and coming across some Saki shorts I decided to read them. Two were stories I had read a long while ago, and two were rather new to me. The new-to-me ones were rather unlike the other Saki I have read before, though it felt rather Saki-ish, if you know what I mean. Here they are in the order I read them this evening:

The Music on the Hill

Sylvia Seltoun is feeling rather triumphant about getting her husband, Mortimer, to remove to their country house away from the evils of the town. But her triumph is rather short-lived when she scorns the existence of the god Pan and his power in the woods of Yessney.

This is a very short story, about 4 pages long, but rather eerie. I don’t really know what else I can say without giving the story away. Only this remark I have to make, if you believe in good you must necessarily believe in evil and vice versa.

The Peace of Mowsle Barton

Mowsle Barton goes into the country for some peace and quiet, only to find himself witness to the old, irritant feud between two withered old witches. His initial disbelief turns to conviction and then to his scooting back to town to find peace midst the bustle of town life.

This was a rather amusing piece, in a way, and if found myself chuckling in a place or two. It strikes me, while reading these Saki shorts, that the writer is rather skeptical about country life and sees much there to shudder at as in town life. Perhaps he’s saying peace in the country is overrated? Perhaps not everyone is made up for peace in the country? I could relate to that in a way. While I love the idea that surrounds a little cottage in the hills with a lovely garden in the outskirts of a forest, I would long for the sounds of heavy laden truck and traffic filled roads in a matter of a day or two!! Sad…but true.

The Open Window

This was simply hilarious and one I’ve read twice or thrice before. A young man, again off to the country to cure his nerves, comes to visit a Mrs Sappleton. The first person to greet and meet with him is the niece of the household, a highly imaginative little girl who sends her guest running for his life! There isn’t much else I can say about it except, that in looking for a picture to put into this post I came across a blog that analyses this short story of about 4 pages, rather deeply. I didn’t go through it completely save to notice that the blogger mentions how Saki turns the symbol of the open window, which ought to have stood for openness and honesty, into a symbol of deception. Interesting, no?

Tobermory

I’ve read this one once before. A Mr Appin claims to have taught the cat of his hosts how to talk. Lady Blemley, Sir Wilfrid and their guests are skeptical about this claim, and Tobermory is soon brought in to demonstrate his powers of speech. The novelty of it all soon turns to unease and horror and the cat begins to spill out everyone’s secrets.

This, too, is a highly amusing tale, and a true satire about that strata of society…the hypocrisy and falseness involved in high society’s “friendships”. I think it’s also a rather milder take on the theme that surrounds the likes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein – leave well alone or we create our own monsters.

I’ve been reading these for the Short Story Initiative hosted by Nancy.

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A hilarious journey up the River Thames with Jerome and friends. August 31, 2012

 

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Allow me to begin this review by saying I’ve given this book five stars because I found it hilarious, delicious, relaxing and informative at various times. I cannot say that everyone would give it a five, though I can’t imagine anybody giving it less than three stars.

So then, what is this book about? The title sums it up perfectly…it’s about three men (and a dog) in a boat. Jerome and his pals, George and Harris decide to take a fortnight off and go boating up the River Thames. Their adventures (or misadventures rather) are few but their trip inspires in our writer and his friends a lot of reminiscing that leads to the mini-novel being peppered throughout with interesting, and mostly hilarious little anecdotes. Here and there Jerome K Jerome let’s drop little pearls of life’s everyday paradoxes and we can’t help but laugh and agree with him. I wish I could put down a couple of quotes to show you what I mean, but I was reluctant to pause in the middle of my reading to take care of something as mundane as making notes.

Apart from the humour and the anecdotes there were passages that revealed the poet in the writer’s soul. Of the three friends Jerome is definitely the dreamer, and he describes the various places they see along the Thames with such freshness and delicacy that you can almost taste the scenery. Each place also has some interesting tidbits of history that Jerome happily shares with us. Really, in many places, the book reads as a travel guide for the River Thames. I kept wondering if, more than a century later, these places still exist with the same charm Jerome ascribes to them.

This books is really one to savour. And while I wouldn’t possibly read it from cover to cover again, I definitely would like to relish it piece-meal every now and then.

 

“Northanger Abbey” – A charming spoof! October 21, 2011

Catherine engrossed in a novel.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I picked up Northanger Abbey. Austen’s charm I was expecting, of course, but I wasn’t sure what her spoof was going be like. I began reading, and I must admit, for the first half of this very short novel I’d completely forgotten that it was supposed to be Gothic in scope. However, it is clear right from the start that Austen was working with an anti-heroine. Of course, while such heroines we find in plenty these days, I’m sure, at the time Austen wrote, beauty and various accomplishments were the standard requirements of a heroine. One only needs to read the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson to know how true this is. But, right at the start, we are introduced to a young Catherine who is an absolute ‘plain Jane’ and a tom boy to boot. She has no accomplishments whatsoever, and does not seem to be in the least interested in acquiring any. She is content with who and what she is, and later loses herself in volumes of romances that her parents wonder are perhaps not good for her.

We see the effects of all her novel-reading when she sets off with her kind neighbours, the Allens, to seek her fortune (in the heroic sense of the term though she has no such thought in her head) in the society of Bath. She meets with a couple of families there, one of which provides the hero to the story. Harry Tilney is unlike the usual romantic hero. He reads novels, finds them entertaining, loves to laugh and goof about, and has no dark or gloomy or brooding past. The Gothic-ness of the novel begins when the Tilneys invite Catherine, half way through the novel, to come over to their home for a stay. She discovers that they live in an abbey and she is simply delighted, immediately thinking of all the ghoulish adventures open to her.

Henry Tilney and Catherine

At the end, with no real adventure to find her, Catherine lets all her knowledge from the books she has read to come to play on her “sensibilities”.  *spoiler alert* She finds a mysterious, ‘hidden’ cabinet in her room with a roll of papers secreted away in a hidden compartment, she ‘discovers’ that the master of the house (General Tilney) is loath to open up the rooms of his dead wife to Catherine which immediately leads her to suspect that perhaps his wife is not dead at all but is a prisoner within those ancient rooms, she ‘experiences’ the tell-tale weather of all Gothic romances, and generally sends herself into near hysteria with all her imaginings. *end of spoiler* Later, of course, she is made to see the error of her ways and is quite embarrassed to find that she was carried away by all her reading.

I simply enjoyed the way Austen wrote this entire spoof. It was charming and witty, and I don’t think I’ve ever chuckled so much while reading any of her other books. Right from the  beginning to the end of Northanger Abbey I was well and truly entertained. There is mention of a great many books and writers in this novel (I’ve never seen so much mention of her literary contemporaries or fore-bearers, actually, hardly any, in her other novels), and I was soon under the impression that most of the spoofing was based off Anne Radcliffe‘s books – the one that gets mentioned most often and is our heroine’s favourite is The Mysteries of Udolpho. However, I did not get the impression that Austen despised the Gothic genre. In fact, she seemed to be a fan of Mrs Radcliffe, who was just amusing herself with gently poking fun at what she admired.

Northanger Abbey, is very different from the other Austen novels I’ve read (I’ve read all except Mansfield Park and Lady Susan). Besides its aim at being a spoof, it lacks the maturity of her other novels – not just in terms of style and her wit, which becomes more subtle and thereby sharp, but also in terms of the themes she deals with in her later books (yes, Northanger Abbey was meant to have been published in 1803…eight years before Sense and Sensibility, her first published work).

There are some who claim that reading Mrs Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolpho would help us to better understand and appreciate Northanger Abbey. But personally, I feel, that if you’ve ready even one or two Gothic novels from any era, you are bound to understand this novel really well. While I have yet to read Mrs Radcliffe, I have read the likes of Jane Eyre, Dracula, a couple of Victoria Holt books (all of them are Gothic) and have watched a couple of versions of Rebecca; and knowing these was enough for me to understand all the Gothic elements that Austen gently mocks at in her novel.

Would you like a brief introduction to The Musteries of Udolpho? Then read these posts by other bloggers:
The Mysteries of Udolpho and Northanger Abbey by Shannon – this is a very well-written account of Udolpho and a good comparison between the same and Northanger Abbey.
Entering Volume II of the Mysteries of Udolpho - Jillian’s account of her first encounter with Radcliffe’s novel.

This post has been written mainly for the Gothic Lit Classic Circuit Tour. You will find other posts for today at:
One Librarian’s Book Reviews – She’s posting about Udolpho!
Book Clutter – a review on The Castle of Otranto by Walpole
A Literary Odyssey – The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner – James Hogg

After Re-Reading Cotillion: On the Lot of the Non-Aristocracy August 4, 2011

I finished reading Georgette Heyer’s Cotillion (click on link for goodreads’ blurb) for the second time, last night. I realised while and after I was done that I my reaction to and observation of certain things in the novel had changed a great deal in one year. Last year, when I read it in June 2010, I had given it a rating of 5 stars on goodreads. However, this time, I felt compelled to give it one star less. Why was that?

It’s been about a year since I last read a Georgette Heyer before last night. In the last one year, as frequent readers of my blog might have noticed, I have been changing as a reader. I expect different things, different kinds of experiences from what I’ve been used to for so many years. My reading priorities, in a manner of speaking of changed, and so have my reading expectations. Thus, when I was reading Cotillion again I realised two things: 1) I found myself getting rather impatient with the amount of characters and the unnecessary bits of dialogue that crowded the novel (mind, I quite enjoyed all the wit!); and 2) I realised I was a bit more sensitive (by which I mean observant) to a few things that Heyer so subtly refers to.

As regards the first point, it was the main reason I brought the rating down to 4 stars. I found myself being just a wee bit nervous about re-reading some of my other Heyer favourites in case I took out my annoyance on them as well and brought their ratings down. Really, this is only a matter of ‘preference’ and not a rant about the author and her works. 

As for point two I noticed that Heyer actually does bring out certain living conditions of people not among the bon ton. But these are always overshadowed by the brightness of the romance. In this particular novel I noticed that actually quite a bit is revealed about a governess’ lot in those times, simply by the description of Miss Fishguard’s mannerisms:

Miss Fishguard’s method of entering any room in which she had reason to believe that a tete-a-tete was taking place, was first to peep round the door with an arch smile, saying: ‘Do I intrude?’ and then, without awaiting an answer, to trip across the floor on tiptoe, as though she feared to disturb a sick person. The habit arose partly from timidity and partly from a resolve never to presume upon her position; and it never failed to irritate her employers. However, as Kitty was well aware, from Miss Fishguard’s fund of reminiscence, of the slights and snubs which were a governess’s portion, she creditably hid her annoyance, summoned up a welcoming smile, and announced her engagement. (p.63)

 Every time this governess was mentioned I could not help but feel a sense of exasperation with her, but also pity…very much the way Kitty feels. It’s this sort of sense that Heyer leaves behind with all her mentions of governesses and lady’s companions. While not all are alike, most of them are, as are their rather precarious positions in the household the work for. Their lot is so uncertain that they can’t really be at ease until the sense of unease becomes a part of their characters and their mannerisms, which, for the most part and through no real fault of their own, tend to annoy and exasperate their employers. Such a horrible position to be in! Heyer manages to convey both sentiments – that of the employer and the employed. 

I also noticed the treatment of another type of character – not by Heyer herself, but by one of her other characters. Apparently, if you came from stock that was not of good ton or of trade, making your way up in the world was the toughest thing on the planet without having to sell yourself. A young innocent by the name of Helena is quite stalked by the ‘villain’ of the story for he intends making her his mistress. The reason? Her mother was once a prostitute, who later married a gentleman. While the girl herself is very well-mannered, shy and frightened, looking only to please her mother, the man in question is determined to treat her like a ‘piece of muslin’. Every time I came across her situation I couldn’t help shuddering disgust and horror. How uncomfortable and despairing to be in Helena’s shoes? Did not she deserve respect? How difficult for the women of those days! I could not help but think, as I read this novel, that I am glad I belong to the era I belong to! 

Having said all of this though, I must remind you that Heyer does not focus on these things. Her focus is on the romance and adventure. But, these little tidbits on the side, apart from lending authenticity to her works, also give us some insight into non-aristocratic classes of the Regency Period.

Off at a tangent

I looked up ‘cotillion’ in a few dictionary sites to see why Heyer had named her book so. According to dictionary.com the cotillion is:

1. a formal ball given especially for debutantes.
2. a lively French social dance originating in the 18th century, consisting of a variety of steps and figures and performed by couples.
3. any of various dances resembling the quadrille.
4. music arranged or played for these dances.
5. a formalized dance for a large number of people, in which a head couple leads the other dancers through elaborate and stately figures.

 Keeping these definitions in mind I see why Heyer named this book Cotillion.
a) Kitty Charing was going to London for the first time. It was something of a debut into the ton.
b) There is much intrigue where couples are concerned. Who likes whom? Who will end up with whom? Who is compelled to marry whom? It really is like a dance.
c) As concerning definition no.5, if we take it metaphorically it could mean, with Kitty and Freddy leading the pack, it is they who set rolling the series of events that follow the first three chapters.

So, there we are. I just had to get that out of my system!:D

I’ll be doing a Character Connection post on Freddy Standen in a few minutes. Stay tuned!

Woolf and a Sorrentino July 20, 2011

So, last week, I was just browsing through the blogs I follow when I came across the mention of a short story of Virginia Woolf’s, reviewed at The Reading Life. Considering I was planning on giving Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway a try sometime soon, I figured it would be good to try reading a short story first. (Yes, I’m afraid I’ve never read any of Woolf’s works before!) So I followed the link Mel had provided to an online Text of “Solid Objects” and read it through. This was succeeded by another trial short story called “A Haunted House”. Then, considering I was on a bit of a role, I read a couple of short stories by someone I’d never heard of before – Fernando Sorrentino. He is an Argentinian whose works have been translated by Clark M Zlotchew. The two stories I read by him were supposed to be humourous. They were, however, strange. I’ll elaborate on that later.

“Solid Objects” by Virginia Woolf

[online text]

I found this piece very interesting. It is about this man who’s ambitions lie in getting into parliament. However, this ambition takes a rather strange turn when he finds a piece of broken, smooth, green glass buried in beach sand. He begins to collect anything green that reminds him even remotely of this piece of glass that sits so proudly on his mantlepiece. This interest soon becomes an obsession to the extent that he loses his chances at parliament and all his friends. At the end, one wonders if the message is that an obsession can lead to your eventual isolation and destruction, or could it be that if you have ambition it is to the exclusion of all else. Nothing else should really matter. Really, the man does not seem to care, even when his best friend, the one who tries to stick with him the most, finally walks out never to return. I thought this a very very thought-provoking story. 

“The Haunted House” by Virginia Woolf

[online text]

I think this story provides us with a sample of surrealism. The premise itself is simple – the ghost of a former loving couple come to re-visit their home as they linger on their lovely memories. However, this house is inhabited by another couple. Throughout this tale I could not make out, at times, whether it was the real couple or the ghost couple talk to us. Everything just seemed to flow one into the other until you could not distinguish between the real and the unreal, between memories and the present. I really enjoyed reading this piece. However, I doubt I could read too much of this sort of writing. At some point a reader, at least I as a reader, would prefer something more straightforward.

“There’s a Man in the Habit of Hitting Me on the Head with an Umbrella” by Fernando Sorrentino

[online text]

This was such a strange story. I really could not fathom the sense behind it. The writer, for five years, is hit continously on the head by a man with an umbrella – I mean continously. Even when the writer has to sleep, eat or go relieve himself. Initially, it annoys him a great deal and he tries everything, including beating the man up, to get him to stop. Yet the strange man never stops beating on the head with his umbrella. Pretty soon, the writer becomes quite used to this, and at the end, even says, that should this man stop he would miss him dreadfully. The only ‘moral’ I can see from this story, or rather, underlying meaning, is that sometimes, what annoys us, could so easily grow on us that at some point, when it stops, we simply miss it like we would an arm or a leg.

“An Elightening Tale” by Fernando Sorrentino

[online text]

Well, if the previous story was strange, I found this one a bit absurd. This one reads like a real short story. A beggar, begging at a miserly, rich lady’s house, is given a loaf of hard bread. When he bites into it he finds a ring of diamonds. He takes it back to the lady, and as a sign of gratitude she gives him another hard loaf of bread. Again he bites into a ring…in fact, the exact same ring as before. He returns it and the same events follow. At the end, the beggar is said to be ‘lying’ about the ring he finds in the loaf and he gets a loaf everyday of his life. I’m afraid I didn’t quite get this story. How could the beggar ‘lie’ if he didn’t have the ring as proof? And how many rings of the same kind did the woman have?! If anyone can figure this one out, do let me know….

To read something about Fernando Sorrentino, go here.

The Princes and the P—?: A Modern Fairy Tale March 4, 2011

Manybooks.net is a site I frequent quite often for domain free texts. Recently (a week ago actually), I was browsing through the ‘recommends’ section when I found a particular fairy tale that went by the dubious title of The Princess and the Penis garnering itself a lot of attention (quite naturally) and scoring a constant five-star rating. Reviewers claimed it to be extremely funny and a sort of parody of the conventional fairy tale. So I decided to give this story ago, and judge for myself.

The story is very much your typical fairy tale with a beautiful and kind princess who has been sheltered all her life. Her father, the king, has worked very hard at keeping his daughter chaste, pure, innocent and ignorant. But when she turns eighteen (interesting, this…the original princesses of fairy tales do their growing-up when they’re just sixteen!) the king decides she has to get married. She is to be bartered off to the richest suitor to her hand. But just two weeks before the rich prince is to arrive the princess starts having a hard time in bed, causing her sleepless nights. As she proclaims to her mother and father at the breakfast table, “There is a lump in my rump.” A few nights go by with the king trying everything in his power to make his daughter comfortable in the night, when the unthinkable and unimaginable happens.

That’s it. I’ll stop there. You really need to read this for yourselves! It’s a fairy tale written by RL Silver.

Does this story work as a parody, though?

The whole lump-in-the-mattress scenario plus the title itself is very reminiscent of The Princess and the Pea. Not to mention the ‘purity’ of the princess that the king takes a great deal to ensure:

Amalia’s father, King Norwood, was so proud and protective of his daughter, he sought to do what no father had ever successfully done: to protect her from Cupid’s poisonous arrows.

I found this, and many other sentences like it, rather tongue-in-cheek. Needless to say, the whole story revolves around said princesses’ chasteness and innocence, poking fun at the very Victorian sense of prudishness that exists in the fairytale canon.

On the whole, I quite enjoyed this fairytale. It kept me wondering right through to the end! I don’t know I’d have given it five stars, though. I think four, perhaps. But it’s worth the read!:D

Attention! – look out for the aunts! They’re a riot!!

Attention 2! – this is a fairytale solely for adults.