February reading

[coffeesnob318]

I didn't get a lot read this month. I'm not sure why. But here's what I did read.

8. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I had forgotten how much I like this book. It was good to reread it. It was a little exhausting – I’ve gotten used to reading things that read so much more easily with simpler language – but worth it. I also forgot how much suspension of disbelief romanticism of this era requires, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

9. Babyville by Jane Green

I wasn't going to read this one - I bypassed it in the library - but Maggie brought it home, so I read it, too. Not bad. Not one of her best. But I liked this quote - “I’m tired of doing everything on my own. I want someone else to deal with things. I want someone who can stand up to people who try to rip me off. I want someone to ring the bank when they’ve cocked up my statement again. I just want someone to share it all with.”

10. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

I’ve got to stop reading chick lit for a while. It makes me disappointed in men and life in general. And it reinforces feelings like this: “The trouble with trying to go out with people when you get older is that everything becomes so loaded. The whole thing builds up out of all proportion, so finding a relationship seems a dazzling, almost insurmountable goal, and when you do start going out with someone it cannot possibly live up to expectations.”

But funny. This book is hilarious. Having seen the movie, though, I admit I was a little disappointed when neither Colin Firth nor Hugh Grant popped up out of the pages. That would have been grand.

11. The Vision and the Vow by Pete Greig

I took this book from Jeff and Shelly’s house because I like the guy who wrote it. I wasn’t particularly looking to be inspired, so it surprised me. I guess I should have known by the author that it would be a vision “with feet on it” (as MeMaw would say), not just some motivational nonsense. I enjoyed it, and I was refreshed.

Comments

[chicklet73.livejournal.com]

Ah, Jane Eyre. One of my favorite books ever. We were assigned to read it back in grade school - and I pretty much immediately wanted a brooding Mr. Rochester of my very own. I still come back to it and give it a re-read every once in a while.

I also forgot how much suspension of disbelief romanticism of this era requires

Hee. YES.

[coffeesnob.livejournal.com]

I was amazed how much I still disliked that other fellow (so much, apparently, that I have repressed his name for the time being). He frustrated me just as much this time as he did the first time I read it.

[chicklet73.livejournal.com]

It was "St. John" somebody, I think...I remember thinking how odd it was to actually have the title "Saint" as part of someone's name.

I also remember disliking him intensely, and, upon repeated readings, skimming through the sections where she was with him. Blech.

[elsmoka.livejournal.com]

I just read Bridget Jones' diary in january and i thought it was funny how they talk about interviewing colin firth for something, I think for playing Darcy in some play, knowing that in the movie he is mark darcy. that amused me.

also I liked how the story with her mom was so much more dramatic in the book and how mark darcy came to her (or their, he saved bridget and her mom) rescue. that was even a tad more romantic than in the film. at least for me. :)

[coffeesnob.livejournal.com]

I loved the dynamic between her and her mom. I don't remember seeing that at all in the movie.

I loved that they interviewed Colin Firth. They talked about Hugh Grant at some point also. It was a little surreal.

[elsmoka.livejournal.com]

no, there wasn't as much interaction between mum and daughter. and that was really surreal and hilarious. I loved it. :)

[ringsandcoffee.livejournal.com]

I love Jane Eyre! After two Austen novels, somehow the language was easier to take. I just read a chapter the other day and skimmed over most of the flowery descriptions.

[coffeesnob.livejournal.com]

The flowery language did take some getting used to. And it made me want to reread Emma again (I'm trying to take on more classics this year). The hardest thing for me to adjust to, though, was the oh-look-how-everything-falls-exactly-into-place part. For example, the people whose doorstep she stumbles upon just happen to be her long lost relatives? Yeah. That happens ever.