the woman in black by susan hill

best. ghost. story. ever.

i've read it three times now. 

i wanted to get another reading in before the movie comes out next week (which i cannot wait for!!). from the looks of it, they've gotten a little free with the plot/story, but it's hollywood. what can you expect. 

as for the book: it never disappoints. chilling! every single time. 

the book is the story of arthur kipps, a young lawyer who is sent to settle the affairs of a recently deceased client. as soon as he arrives in town he begins to sense that there is some horror attached to his client and her house, which he brushes off as simple townsfolk nonsense. 

all too soon he is personally acquainted with the reality of those horrors, and pays a price for his meddling.

read it. ideally at night in the fall or winter. you won't be disappointed. 

cinderella ate my daughter by peggy orenstein

i read this for my book club. out of all the books we had to choose from, this was the one book i absolutely did not want to read.

i really enjoyed it.

i don't exactly know how to review this book, or summarize it. it's an exploration of how media, marketing, literature, technology, psychology, etc. affect our perception or understanding of what it is to be female/feminine.

i think i'm pretty safe from devolving into a vacuous barbie zombie; i'm discerning about what i watch on tv, what i read, what i wear and how i present myself to the outside world. i value my intellect more than my appearance; i'm selective about whose opinions i allow to influence my own. all that being said, all precautions being taken: sometimes i still end up being dazzled by the wrong things.

the book gave me a lot to think about and and made me re-evaluate how i look at things, how i judge things, how i perceive things, how i present myself, why i like the things i like, how i react to things. i'm coming away from it determined to be more aware of and more accountable for my interaction with outside influences. i would definitely recommend it (even if you don't have a daughter).

the hobbit by jrr tolkien

surprisingly, this is my first time reading the hobbit. i think i was turned off of it by that creepy cartoon movie that was perpetually on television when i was a kid. but i loved the lord of the rings series (novels and films) and i wanted to read it before the movie comes out. 

i like that the book completes the story in one volume; but at the same time, i often felt like i was being rushed. you're told a long time passes, rather than experiencing the passing of time with the character. you're told there is action rather than having it described to you in detail. i think this book leaves more for your own imagination to fill in than the lord of the rings trilogy. 

relatively easy to read, good characters, good messages (be brave, be wise, be fair, be loyal), a lot of story in one book. it left me wanting more . . . in a good way.  

i can't wait for december!

the girl with the dragon tattoo by stieg larsson

i really can't explain what possessed me to pick this book up. a whim.

i really don't see what all the hype is about. i mean, the movie looks pretty exciting, i'll give it that . . . 

but the book is just straight up genre fiction. entertaining, but devoid of any real moral substance or inspiration.

i doubt i'll read any of the others.

fall semester 2011 reading

i only took one class this semester

masterpieces of english literature

given the entire canon of english literature

i was a little dismayed by the three books we read.

these definitely wouldn't make my short list of english masterpieces.

but i'm not in charge.

we read these three books in class to examine the change in public attitude and widespread secularization around the turn of the century (19th to 20th) in great britain. 

***

heart of darkness

by joseph conrad

this is my third time reading this book for a class.

this is the first time i can actually remember what happens.

very quotable; has some interesting things to say about human nature.

my professor pointed out a lot of symbolism that i never noticed before

and that none of my other teachers ever pointed out.

i don't really ever want to read it again,

it's not that kind of a book,

but it's one of those books that should be read, at least once,

as far as academia is concerned.

***

the strange case of dr. jekyll and mr. hyde 

by robert louis stevenson

more enjoyable than heart of darkness.

i've actually read this book before too, but of my own volition.

the only thing i don't like about jekyll & hyde is that

most of the book is pointless.

you really only need to read the last thirty-ish pages to get the main gist of the story.

i'd say 75% of the book is just stylized build-up

typical of the time period.

***

civilization and its discontents

by sigmund freud

technically i haven't finished this book.

i'm in the last chapter, and i'm probably not going to get any further.

freud is crazy. 

i've thought so since my into to psychology class

taken my freshman year.

i'm not going to sum it up.

just know that i disagree with almost everything he asserts.

but it was interesting to read in conjunction with the other two books.

***

we also read a bunch of poetry for this class

(most of which i've read before)

as well as a short story by kipling

the man who would be king

the turn of the screw by henry james

i decided to read "the turn of the screw" because i've heard it referenced several times as the best ghost story of all time.

i don't get it.

major let down.

the far pavilions by m m kaye

this book was recommended to me by my visiting teacher in my last ward. her daughter lived in india until just recently and she visited her there several times. we talked about my fascination with india and my desire to travel there sometime. she brought me back some jewelry and showed me her pictures and eventually handed me this book. 

what a book it was! very long, 955 pages. but i really enjoyed it. it is a romance and adventure story. 

the story takes place primarily in northern india. it tells the story of aston (ash) pelham-martyn, born in india to british parents who are researching languages in the far-off reaches of british india. his earliest years are spent among mostly indian natives, speaking the native tounges. his parents die while he is very young and when his nurse goes to take him to his extended family there is an uprising (sepoy uprising of 1857) of the indian natives in which any and all whites are killed. to protect him she leaves for a more remote part of the empire where the uprisings are not being carried out and raises him as her son (his dark complexion, black hair, and ability to speak like a native make this possible). he is young enough that he forgets his british parentage and believes himself to be hindu.

his parentage is eventually revealed to him and he is returned to england to be educated. after the completion of his education, he returns to india as an officer of  the corps of guides. in the course of his service in the guides, he is unexpectedly reunited with people from his past and falls in love.

the tale is epic. i learned a lot about india and its customs, and british history. the book raises questions about imperialism and identity. ashton's childhood living as a hindu and british education leave him in a bit of a no-mans land. he can see and understand both points of view. he often finds himself at odds with superiors and even fellow officers. they often criticize him for being disloyal. yet he is not fully accepted among the indians either, their caste system barring him from acceptance on many levels. he does not feel he belongs completely to either group.

i really enjoyed this book. i kept stopping to reach for maps and look up locations. i wish it came with a visual companion! a good chunk of the end of the book is devoted to a detailed recounting of the fall/massacre of the british mission in kabul (afghanistan) following the second anglo-afghan war. white it was interesting, the main character has almost no part in it, therefore it seems long and unnecessary. the history major in me enjoyed it, but the novel reader in me thought the book ran on for 100-150 pages too long on its account.