about the books I read

Robinson Crusoe

2013-09-24T16:40:00.000+02:00

by Daniel Defoe
adventure
1719, England

I so loved reading this novel! I guess these days we know so many spin offs of this adventure story of a life on an exotic island far far away from the rest of the world: in books, films, reality tv shows, etc. But reading the original book was a lovely experience.

It's tedious at times (but it was 18th Century and the first English novel ever) and it takes some time to get through it all but I found it totally worth it. I liked the details. I liked the adventure. I would never make it myself on an island like that. Not in 18th Century and not these days. I enjoyed reading about how he managed to live on his own and to survive on the island but most of all I loved reading about his inner world and his religious thoughts. This made the book so interesting to read. I loved the human side of this book.

It's fiction and often not even realistic: he does not suffer that much and there were too many lucky breaks to be really realistic but it does have realistic aspects and feels real often. And it does give insight into British thinking and society of those times as well.

Anyway... I really enjoyed reading this book on the several levels it offered: the adventure on a deserted island, a coming of age story, a religious journey, insight in British society and much more. I felt like making a journey myself!

The Rape of the Lock

2013-09-17T18:59:00.000+02:00

by Alexander pope
satire / heroi-comical poem
1712/1714, England

Not my favourite book/poem ever. I'm intrigued by the ideas behind it and that's what it made interesting for me. It's all about the aristocracy in the 18th Century and their vanities.

The story/poem in itself seems to be about something too little to care about (cutting off a lock of hair) but there's much more to it. Of course you know it's satire so there was something to be expected in the first place.

Now, 18th Century mock-epic is not a real easy thing to grasp, especially since this was one of our first 18th C literary works to read. I needed the introduction to make more of it. I did not know much about the 18th C before this semester but now that I'm "getting to know" that period of time this poem makes much more sense.

I like how Pope mocked society so much with it. A society with aristocrats that don't seem to get what matters and what not. In his own special way he was trying to correct his world/audience into a more properly Christian society.

Another theme he wrote about was the woman. In the poem the speaker's opinion of women is not high. She can be replaced as easily as a vase and is often depressed. Apparently the latter was a typical female problem in those time... And of course a woman cannot function in the ration world of men...

I liked how Pope transformed images from the epic tradition into those of the every day of the 18th Century. He created quite funny moments with those in the poem.

Anyway... I did not particularly enjoy reading this poem but I must admit that it was very interesting to learn more about Pope and his world.

Oroonoko

2013-09-12T10:39:00.002+02:00

by Aphra Behn
1688, England

An impressive read. After finishing it I just sat for a while and gazed: what an ending to a story!

A romantic story presented as a realistic story, an account. The author made me think that Oroonoko was not only the character of her book but a person she met in real life, whose story of life she followed in Africa as well as in Surinam. She presented him as a hero, an ideal prince, she wrote as if she had a crush on him!

To me it was very interesting to read travel fiction of that period as I love to travel myself (either from my arm chair or in reality). In the 17th Century people did not travel that much themselves so I guess someone writing about a faraway and exotic country like Surinam must have made an impression. Especially as a woman. In that time the whole culture was still a place dominated by men. Women belonged to a man: were their property so to say. This was also visible in the story as the character Imoinda, Oroonoko's lover, was simply that: she was present, she was beautiful but did not have an important role in the story.

Behn was one of the first independent professional female British writers. How cool! She was not competing in the world of male authors of that time apparently because they were writing different stuff (poetry / classical plays). Women would write more histories, prose fiction and biographies. They would not form a threat for the male authors that way.

I find it interesting to learn that although Behn was such a modern woman for her time she still stuck with the traditional ideas of that time. She did not write about a strong female character. Maybe that would be too far stretched for a first female writer or maybe it was not something she was interested in.

Although the story in itself was a bit too much for me (the narrator's crush on the hero was overwhelming) I like this work for the 17th Century travel fiction and because it was the first real female work.

An interesting read!

My father's island

2013-08-02T11:51:00.000+02:00

Het eiland van mijn vader
by Albertine Sterk
2003, the Netherlands

I don't even remember when I bought this book, it's been on my book shelves for ages. Of course I wanted to read this on our road trip on the island of Corsica.

The book tells you about 30-year old Tes who's dad is from Corsica. Her mum fell pregnant from this man but he left the Netherlands before Tes was born. Her mum has been suffering from depression since his departure. Tes wants to get to know this man who had such great influence on both of their lives, accepts a job as a waitress in his restaurant without telling who she is and travels to Corsica full of revenge. Of course things turn out to be different...

I must say that the story itself was a tad disappointing at times but the setting and atmosphere felt totally familiar. I can relate to a lot of what Sterk writes about the island, its history and it was cool to read about the fragrances on the island when experiencing it at the same time. So all in all it still was an interesting read.

Tarte Tatin

2013-08-01T11:02:00.000+02:00

by Susan Herrmann Loomis
2004, France/USA

I always enjoy reading books like this when holidaying in France myself. I love French life and food (!) myself so I like to read what others think about it.

The author knows how to write in a pleasant way about her family life: when living with her American family in France, the renovations they did in their old French house and the starting of her cooking school at home in Louviers, a small village near Paris (recipes included in the book).

I love to go to French markets and enjoy buying the fresh groceries from the market men and women, sometimes even straight from the farmers. It's a delight: I can't agree more.

Many experiences she writes about French life seem more European than French to me though, but I can imagine it feels French to her being from American origin herself. And at some points the book is a bit too American and too-good-to-be-true-ish for me. Nevertheless it is interesting to see it from her point of view.

A lovely holiday read!

Cuban Heels

2013-07-26T11:28:00.000+02:00

Cuba Libre
by Emily Barr
2003, England

Hilarious! I did not know Emily Barr's work at all and when reading the book blurb I thought it was just another chicklit read: perfect for the start of my holidays:

Maggie moves to Brighton after splitting up with her long-term boyfriend, and, unable to find a job, starts work as a lapdancer. Failing to make any new friends, she writes letters compulsively, and the highlight of her day is the sound of the morning post being delivered. Maggie gradually becomes obsessed with the married couple, Libby and David, living next door. Libby has given up work after having a baby, and is finding life as a full-time mother very difficult. Just as she persuades David that she should return to work, he is asked to take a sabbatical from his management-consultant job. He's always longed to travel, and convinces Libby that they should spend six months in Cuba, learning Spanish. Maggie, deciding she too wants to travel, follows them to Havana, where the horrors of her past - in particular her young sister's violent death - begin to haunt her. And as Maggie starts to break down, she tries to take over Libby's life...

I had expected it to be fluffy but it was a total different read. Great British humour, some travel writing (I was in both Brighton and Havana so could relate to it) but also a pretty dark read at times. All in all a gripping book, which wasn't easy to put down.

Maggie is lost in life, big time. It's not difficult to see why but it's scary to see how things can go wrong so easily so fast in someone's life. We all can go crazy: it's a thin line...

I loved travel fiction but must admit the story grabbed as well. An addictive holiday read!

Confetti on the Treshingfloor

2013-05-29T17:09:00.000+02:00

Dorsvloer vol confetti
by Franca Treur
2009, Netherlands

This author is from the southwest of our country where I lived a great deal of my childhood. In 2009 I learned from a television show that she had written a book about a conservative reformed farmer's family, about their culture and traditions in Zeeland. I immediately ordered the book because I felt I needed to read it. And there it was, waiting for me on my book shelves because in reality I was reluctant to start reading it.

The book does awaken quite a bit of emotions for me. Not because of my own childhood but what was made part of my childhood by moving to this part of the country. A culture that was totally different to what I was used to and intriguing. Yet difficult.

The south west of our country is part of the Bible belt of the Netherlands. While I was raised "with the Bible" myself it was a very different kind of religion in this part of our country. I think even my parents did not realize how different religion could be. Much more strict, many more rules. Things you were not allowed to do. Things that were called sin and that you would be damned if you did not follow those strict rules. Looking back I can see that living in a village where this conservative religion was so important, going to a primary school where one teacher even told me I was a heathen, where my 'friends' and fellow pupils did not even greet me on Sunday mornings because I was going to a different church then they did.... it all had a huge influence on me and still forms a bit of a shadow on this part of the country that I immensely love.

Growing older I noticed that I need a bit more of Zeeland in my life. Not that darker side of it but the wonderful parts of it. I will tell more about that on my blog this summer. For now I will stick to the book I read.

So although my childhood was completely different most of what she tells about feels so familiar. It is what I learned through the village I lived in, the school I went to, the friends I visited at their homes. I read about experiences of a 12-year old girl and Franca Treur could have been talking about my own girlfriends of those years. It was overwhelming to read it at times.
Even the language is from the southwest. It's not written in the dialect but from the expressions I could read it's from the region.

Treur gives a clear peek in the world of conservative reformed families on the countryside (in the 80s) and I really do admire her for writing it because I can imagine the people in her village were not too pleased with this peek inside the conservative world.
The book gave me goosebumps without end, it moved me more than I wanted but it's been an incredibly good read!

The book was just released in Brazil (Livros de Safra) and apparently there's interest in Canada as well. And I learned they are working on a film.

The Grandmothers

2013-05-28T14:59:00.000+02:00

by Doris Lessing
short stories
2003, UK

The Grandmothers
tells about two women - best friends since childhood - who fall in love with each other's teenage sons.
I actually picked this book from my shelves because of the film adaption of this first short story. One of my girlfriends invited me to see the film and I suddenly remembered I own this book of short stories. I must say I enjoyed the story of the grandmothers for the ambiance it pictured (the setting is awesome as well) but at the same time it was a bit too flat to my taste. Even for a short story there could have been a bit more depth in it I think. But as said I did like reading it.

Victoria and the Staveneys
A poor black girl turns out to be pregnant from a boy of a middle-class family. She doesn't tell him at first but when his family is informed about their grandchild they welcome her a little too well into their family; so well that the mother more and more gets the feeling she lost her own child.
I never really like short stories because they are... you know... short. This story, though a very lovely one was no exception in that. I did not want it to end; I wanted to know what happened afterwards. I wanted to know more about the future. Not an open end. That said: it is an impressing story and I loved reading it!

The reason for it
tells about the birth, flourishing and decline of a culture. This story did not work for me; I wasn't able to connect to it somehow. I tried and I tried but it simply wasn't my kind of story.

A love child
A soldier in WWII falls in love with a woman he meets on a short stay in South Africa and becomes convinced / obsessed with the idea that she carries his love child. I loved reading this story. It feels so genuine and raw. The main character James is so lost in his life and living in between wars. He's so well pictured in words. I am totally hooked on this story! It's an incredible powerful story about love and pain, war and loneliness.

Even if not all stories in this book were to my liking I have become interested in Lessing and am looking forward to read more of her work.

Paradise Lost

2013-05-07T18:58:00.000+02:00

by John Milton

A religious political poem about Adam and Eve and Satan and Christianity and the fall of man. Very very interesting. But to be honest... I lacked time to appreciate it to the fullest. So I will definitely reread this again at some point in future when there's no deadline to be met.

Milton's purpose was to "justify the ways of God to men": virtue is meaningless if it's not an act of the will, so freedom / free will is so important that benefits outweigh the risks. I find this an intriguing point of view so I promise to be back whenever I will have time to reread this work again :)

Volpone

2013-04-09T18:54:00.000+02:00

The Fox
satirical comedy
by Ben Jonson
England, 1605

Volpone is a gentleman from Venice who pretends to be dying to fool Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino, three men who aspire to inherit his fortune. Everyone around him is treating him well out of greed. They all want to be named as his sole heirs. Even his servant Mosca who knows the secret of his master has a hidden agenda.

All characters were presented as animals (Volpone = fox, Mosca = fly), which makes this play into a fable. Not my favourite kind of literary work to read. And there's quite a bit of violence in the play. I guess that's why I had difficulties to connect to this work.

Apart from the theme of greed there's also some capitalism, class mobility and multiculturalism, issues of ethnic identity and corruption.
One of the female characters, Celia is considered as property, a wife is not someone to love but can be exchanged for anything else out of greed (material wealth).

One of the things I did like in this work is how Jonson plays with the reader's mind, which becomes clear at the very end of the play. I couldn't help but smiling, even if this absolutely wasn't my favourite read ever.

Othello

2013-03-26T18:30:00.000+01:00

by William Shakespeare
UK, 1603 /

This is such a sad story / play about friendship and love and jealousy and betrayal...

Othello the Moor of Venice is married to Desdemona. Iago hates Othello because he promoted Cassio who is younger above him and Iago decides to take revenge. What follows is a complicated web of manipulations and lies in which Iago tries to convince everyone of Desdemona's betrayal. Eventually Othello believes his friend and believes his wife is betraying him and a dramatic decision is the consequence.

The themes - I think - are of all ages and eras. People manipulate and betray if it suits them, even with people who are close to them. Sadly but true. I guess that's what makes it so convincing. We - as the reader or audience - still get to see these webs of lies. So many people do have a hidden agenda.

The web is so well done that I soon felt like I was in the middle of this all myself. It frustrates without end. How far can one stretch a friendship ~ sadly all the way to ruining it all...

A heartbreaking story!

The Tempest

2013-02-26T13:46:00.000+01:00

by William Shakespeare
1610/2008, England

I loved the Tempest: the setting on an island in the Mediterranean Sea, the intriguing characters and the ideas behind it!

The reader gets to know Prospero the former duke of Milan and his daughter Miranda and their slave Caliban.

Prospero derived his knowledge (power) from books and at the same time that is also the way he lost his power back in Milan: he was so absorbed in his books that he lost track of his duties as the duke of Milan.

So again this is a work about power. On the island Prospero's power is unstable: he does create a storm, but this does not prevent his brother and the rest of the crew to arrive on the island. He bullies Ariel, his servant, but Ariel does not accept Prospero's power unquestionably, he is not even convinced. Eventually it's not Prospero who has the power but Ariel. Even Prospero's daughter is not in awe of his power and also Caliban, presented more as beast than as human, is escaping Prospero's power.

I loved the scene where Caliban showed he is more than what he appears when he listens to the sounds of the island and appreciates it's natural beauty! He turns out to be a man of nature, a man with eye for detail and despite what everyone thinks of him he is a man of talents after all.
Another favourite of mine in this play are the lyrics in the epilogue: it's beautiful to read / hear.

Anyway... I really enjoyed studying this play!

Doctor Faustus

2013-02-19T11:13:00.000+01:00

by Christopher Marlowe
UK, 1604/1616

Not one of my easiest reads. While reading it by myself I couldn't really get into it. I felt 'at distance' most of the time. I really needed the study sessions together to enjoy it.

Faustus sells his soul to the devil in order to obtain twenty four years of power. It's a morality play, a tragedy, it's psychological, poetical and contains a lot of dark humor. Above all it's a classic.

I must say the study of it was extremely interesting and the play came much more to life when discussing it.

What I found intriguing is that he actually had it all for him in the first place. He cured people of the plague, which already gave him fortune and fame but it leaves him unsatisfied. It's more than any medical specialist could have dreamed of but Dr Faustus isn't satisfied! No... he wants eternal life on earth, to be God like, he wants magic.

He is mocking the Bible but only read the first part so he skips the part where it becomes clear that 'the gift of God' consists of eternal life through Jesus Christ. For him the message is "the reward of sin is death" and of course he rejects that.

Eventually it turns out that Faustus achieved more without magic than with magic. Faustus keeps feeling he was damned anyway and won't repent because he is convinced it won't help him anymore anyway. For him it's all about predestination (Calvinism). It's a tragedy though... a life gone to waste!

So eventually after studying this play the story turned out to be a very interesting one. And that's what I love about these studies. I get to work through literary works, which I wouldn't pick up myself and it opens up my world so much more.

Classical and Christian ideas in English Renaissance Poetry

2012-12-25T19:37:00.000+01:00

by Isabel Rivers
a students' guide
1979/1994

Not an easy read. Chapter by chapter it was quite a lot of information to chew. But... the result was satisfying. It was all very interesting to know more about.

It could have been a bit more accessible though. It for sure takes huge effort to work through it. At times I sincerely hated this book because it took so much time to grabs it all, so many details.

But it is a very useful students' guide, insightful and it gives a good view on the backgrounds of Renaissance poetry and literature.

A book to study then and again - don't try to read it in one day - but I'm convinced that it's a good way to lay that necessary basis of knowledge.

The Bible

2012-12-24T15:42:00.000+01:00

authorized King James Version
edited by Robert P. Carroll

Reading the Bible for my English studies, who would have thought that. I do understand why, no worries.

Fortunately I did have a good basis of Bible studies in my childhood and teenage years so that most of it felt familiar, because we had to work through the Bible in just a few weeks. It felt familiar and good.

And it's certainly different to read it in English. I often wondered why they changed all the names into the different languages, it's quite a bit of work to get the English versions of all the characters in my head (for exams).

I like this version, the explanatory notes are very interesting and insightful as well. Especially because we had to read the Bible with a different goal this time, namely with reference to literature, how it has affected English culture in a more general way.

And in a way I like it that I have now this version on my bookshelves as well. For sure I will read more out of it in English later on.

Chaucer's Language

2012-12-18T22:39:00.000+01:00

by Simon Horobin
2007, UK

Oh... and in my previous entry I forgot to mention another great help with reading Chaucer in Middle English: Chaucer's Language. This book offered so many tips and explanations and background information.

He explains why Chaucer wrote in English, which was one of my favourite chapters. I like it that Middle English is pretty much a blend of languages from French to Scandinavian. There's even Dutch in it.

He tells more about Middle English, the vocabulary (lovely), grammar (hard), language and style, and discourse and pragmatics. I found it all very interesting to read, not always easy to learn.

A great help when reading Chaucer in Middle English though!

The Riverside Chaucer

2012-12-17T10:48:00.000+01:00

by Lary D. Benson
1987/2008, UK

For our philology course of this semester we have read the Canterbury Tales in Middle English. With a little (or a lot of) help of the footnotes, the glossary, and lots more this book offers and of course the lectures and tutorials we did actually manage to read and understand it. I must say that I immensely enjoyed learning more about the Canterbury Tales this way, to know the backgrounds, the history and culture. So so interesting!

I thoroughly loved reading it and getting to know this new world to me. Middle English is not extremely hard but it takes quite the effort to read the Tales that way. But so worth it.

I even have a hard time picking my favourite tale. I think the Prioress's Tale, the Miller's Tale, and the Wife of Bath's Tale come close though.

The book is huge and heavy so it takes a while to read it. One day I will read the rest of this book because it's been a great journey. I will miss the 'behind the scenes' then for sure!

Twelfth Night

2012-12-09T15:10:00.000+01:00

by William Shakespeare
1601/1623, UK

I must admit I always avoided reading Shakespeare. Because it felt too overwhelming to read it. And I kind of feared this part of my English studies because of that. But I like a challenge! And guess what... I loved it!

A romantic comedy, identity issues, cross dressing and disguise, love even in triangle, homosexuality, male casts, music, epiphany, midwinter, melancholy, hierarchical change... there's so much in this play.

I found the character of Viola/Cesario an interesting one to follow. I loved the effect of cross dressing, it complicates things which makes it more interesting. My favourite line of Viola: "I am not that I play." as in I am not a boy. It is a play after all.

Our tutor told us that Shakespeare isn't interested in dirty thoughts about cross dressing, it creates pathos for being in love with an image. It's in your own head, like a fantasy or an idea. I found that an interesting angle to look at things.

And dressed up as a man Viola has more freedom to speak, women were not supposed to speak. When eventually she's engaged it's known she's a woman and she is shifted back into her old role. I like this twist in the play.

The BBC released a great Shakespeare collection, which gives a lovely picture to the words to the script:

In the coming year I'm planning to see some Shakespeare plays 'live'. Our English Department does have a theatre group that performed the Twelfth Night this week but due to the snowy weather I didn't feel like going there. But I'm sure I will have more opportunities in the coming year. Looking forward to that!

One out of many

2012-11-28T14:08:00.000+01:00

by V.S. Naipaul
Trinidad/UK, 1971

Very impressive story and kind of familiar. Migration into a totally foreign and new-to-you country and culture is scary, integration is hard... especially if you don't know what is to be expected. As a reader I got a glimpse of this immigrants' journey into his new life.

In India he was one out of the mass, but also moving to America he became 'one out of many'. America being the melting pot, an immigrant nation. It must have been so impressive on Santosh, the main character to move from Bombay to Washington. From walking bare feet and sleeping on the pavement (which felt good, and like 'home' to him) to this new world where people 'always dress up like they go to a wedding'. He feels underdressed in his 'domestic wear'.

He joins his boss Sahib when he is transferred to the USA. Santosh is his servant: "I am the dirt under your feet." He's happy with his life, even if life seems limited, he only exists in connection of his boss. He doesn't have to do a lot and has time to watch television, which gives him a view into American life and society. This makes him look into the mirror himself. After 35 years, for the first time in his life he looks into the mirror. I think that is the moment that everything changed for him. And he decides to break free.

Later he says: "I was good-looking; I had lost my looks. I was a free man; I had lost my freedom." The story deals with identity: What is it? Where are the boundaries of my own culture and the one I'm currently living in? What is it to be the representation of your country and culture in a foreign country?

There's also a lot of racial discrimination and ignorance. It already starts in the airplane on the way to Washington when the air hostess doesn't treat him well. But there's much more. The girl in the cafe says "We don't serve to hippies or barefeet here." And he just wasn't aware of that yet in his new country of residence. They use the name Hubshi which is a derogatory Indian term for African blacks and "wilde race". On the other hand he is considered an outsider himself as well.

In the end he has his freedom and American way of life but still feels like a prisoner:
"all that my freedom has brought me is the knowledge that I have a face and have a body, that I must feed this body and clothe this body for a certain number of years. Then it will be over."

Impressive story!

The Garden Party

2012-11-28T14:01:00.000+01:00

by Katherine Mansfield
New Zealand/UK, 1922

Wow, what a story! It's a short one but a beautiful one.

Great descriptive details of a garden party in preparation. I felt like being a part of it. In that way it was totally comparable with The Dead, which I read before this. Something else both stories have in common is the contrast between party and death.

I love it how you get a slice of the life back then, we can learn so much from short stories like these.
And deeper layers in life. The class distinctions. The girl, Laura, belonged to the upperclass but obviously did not feel like this herself or it was due to being a teenager: she refused to but was more part of it than she was aware. She innocently thinks out of the box by not caring about any social conventions and her family thinks she's being silly because of that. In this short story you get to know about the complicated relationships a family can consist of. A coming of age story and all of the different emotions with it, woven into a story of class distinction. Classes should not mix.

The huge differences she describes between the two worlds are all to be found in the smaller details: the great amount of flowers the mother had ordered and the variety of sandwiches that were made and Laura herself walking in her party outfit (including hat) to the working class neighbour who just had died and lay there in his small house. Death connects. In the end, we are all the same. We all die and we are all human. We all suffer, no matter what class we are from. "isn't life..." Yes, life is...
But is that true? Does it really?

This story, as well as the one of the previous entry, is about the failure of understanding someone else. Between classes, but also between family members. Even between close family members. Do we ever really understand each other?
It's a coming of age story too, is Laura mature enough to really understand the feelings of the family she visits? Is she able to transcend to the other class?

Loved this read! Highly recommended!

The Dead

2012-11-28T13:57:00.000+01:00

by James Joyce
1914, Ireland

James Joyce's name I only knew from walking through Dublin and the Writers Museum. I got interested in him years ago but so far never got the chance to read him. So this was the first novella to read from him.

I actually felt like being at that Epiphany party he writes about and loved to read about all the details of it. Joyce creates a wonderful atmosphere. I like Joyce's choice of words, his flow of it. I was often smiling when reading his words.

A short story, but there's so much in it: Ireland and nationalism, Catholicism and Protestantism, hospitality, conversation, feminism and revelations. And so much imagery too. Loved it!

For me a total pageturner, even breathtaking at times. I most of all loved the moment where Gabriel watches his wife at the top of the stairs, listening: "He was in a dark part of the hall gazing up the staircase. A woman was standing near the top of the first flight, in the shadow also. He could not see her face but he could see the terracotta and salmonpink panels of her skirt which the shadow made appear black and white. It was his wife." His wife (possession), not Gretta (her name would be much more personal). It just tells you so much.
Because of this moment Gabriel later has his own epiphany about life in general and his own life specifically and realizes that he needs to embrace life: "the time had come for him to set out on his journey westward". Great ending of the story and book!

Heart of Darkness

2012-11-21T15:27:00.000+01:00

by Joseph Conrad
1902, UK

I had a hard time getting through this novella at first and if it wouldn't have been an obligatory read for my English studies for sure I would have stopped reading after a while. It just felt like a long boring story to me... and although it was only 60 pages in total I thought I would never get to the finish line of it. It got better though!

I liked how maps form a repeating symbol: At the start of the story he's looking at a map and deciding where he wants to go. It's the traveler's heart speaking. We'll never find what we think we'll find when we actually arrive at the destination of the spots pointed out on the map but the anticipation is half the journey. The map is something that is repeated in this story. Also in a figurative way as Marlow is traveling back from the civilized world of London to the savage place of jungle of Africa. It is a journey back in time.

So it's dark, darkness all over: in his journey, location, in a psychological way... Africa is the "dark continent", there's deception in the story, many deaths. The only light you'll find is in the western civilization, which then again is dark as well. After all, what is civilization? Whose hearts are dark?

The women in Marlow's eyes were nothing: "It's queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there had never been anything like it, and never can be." Women must be shielded...

The native "fine fellows" of the heart of Africa, to Marlow they were more reassuring than the European "trained dogs" he met on the way... the natives were themselves, they belonged there. I can imagine those thoughts. I'm sure it was a huge culture shock to go to Africa. People weren't used to travel, let alone live in such a different world.

European colonialism is a big theme and thus the racist overtone: natives are primitive and savage. The book is anti-imperialist and antiracist and Conrad tries to awake the reader's feelings. I found it interesting to learn that Conrad's readers in those years often were racist and that he was seen as a good writer by them. Packed in an adventure story it served both groups apparently.

I liked the joke in the name of Kurtz, the ivory agent: he was huge and yet the meaning of his name is "small"

What I find amazing is that for a Polish writer whose second language was French he is so fluent in his third language, English. And such an admired author too. I admire him for his courage.

Some remarkable quotes:
"I don't like work - no man does - but I like what is in the work - the chance to find yourself. Your own reality - for yourself, not for others - what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means."
". . . No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence--that which makes its truth, its meaning--its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream--alone. . . ."

So all in all I must admit that it was a good read.

Wise blood

2012-11-14T20:43:00.000+01:00

by Flannery O'Connor
1968/1980, USA

Our tutor said about this novel that depending on the backgrounds everyone reads it differently. Now that goes for every book I guess but in this book just a little more. I so felt what he meant. Having experiences in different religious worlds this book did move me a lot.

I can imagine this is a book that is both hated and loved though, it's quite extreme and strange. O'Connor died young but she left quite an impression. She was a devout Catholic herself, living in a Protestant world. A Gothic writer from the Southern states. She was an outsider because of her illness. And all that resulted in this violent, kind of realistic book about religion. Did she want to shock people with it, stimulate her readers to start thinking about life and society? Or was it really the way she perceived things in her world?

I was totally intrigued by this book. It brought me a bit of a "yuck" feeling but at the same time I did feel her emotions. So it was rather confusing and confronting.

There aren't many normal people in this book, maybe that's the scary bit of it. It's really creepy to read about all those crazy characters and their activities in the (non)-religious field. Because you know in reality there are so many people walking around in this world who flipped because of religion, who are too fundamental in their thinking and activities. It is a scary world when you think about it.

Not a book you would read to have a cozy night of reading I suppose but to me it was an interesting read with some food for thought.

My favourite lines in this book:

"She (the landlady) was certain he (Hazel) was out of connection with the real world."

"If there's no bottom in your eyes, they hold more (Hazel)."

Northanger Abbey

2012-11-07T18:14:00.000+01:00

by Jane Austen
1818/1995, UK

Jane Austen never was one of my all time favourite authors so far, so I wasn't too thrilled to see her on my list of books to read for this semester. At the same time I was determined to take this challenge and make it worthwhile. And who would have thought... I fell in love...

Northanger Abbey can be divided into two parts: part I that takes place in Bath and part II that takes place at Northanger Abbey. The stories are quite different (written in different times). I must say I did enjoy the setting in Bath as I just was there this summer and felt familiar with everything Austen wrote about. I could so picture her going to the Pump Room or walking around the Circle or so. The second part is different but just as enjoyable. I guess it's a girlish dream come true to stay at a country home like that for a while.

I like how it is a parody of the gothic novel (a must read for girls in those years), how it is a novel from the Romantic period but actually is an anti Romantic novel (the end of Northanger Abbey is interesting in that way), I like Austen's humour and her critical tone... I wonder what she would have written, had she been a writer in later times.

Catherine is average, not too pretty, not too bright, a tomboy, she's alright but not your typical heroine. I like that point of view. I felt for her but at the same time her cluelessness made me fond of her. And I like coming-of-age stories anyway so I guess that was why I fell for this book in the first place.

I think what's great of this book is that while the setting and traditions of courting of those days might seem out of a different world to us now, we still recognize a lot from the interactions and social behaviour in our present lives. So in a way things don't really change that much.

Anyway... I must admit I like Austen much more than I thought. And now that I have so enjoyed this work of Austen I'm pretty sure I'll try again for her other works as well.

The Turn of the Screw

2012-10-31T18:17:00.000+01:00

by Henry James
intro by David Bromwich
1908/2011, USA/UK

Haunting, uncanny... and sooo good! The story is about a governess who is taking care of two orphans who live in a country house. She becomes obsessed with the idea that there are other forces that are haunting the children and she needs to protect them.

Is it for real, or not. That's the question in this novel. I like that: trying to figure out what is happening.

The mystery starts immediately... the reader doesn't get to know the governess by name. She's just: the governess.

And then the way James told it... a Christmas party where a man starts reading the governess' story out loud to the other guests... A female voice, ghosted by a man and interpreted by a male author. Lots of interpretations... and what is real?

And you simply know it's gonna be scary. I got sucked into this story and loved it thoroughly. I had to think a little more about it to decide what was the truth and what was imaginary.

Anyway, I don't want to give away anything but it was cool to be in her mind for a while!