The Great Gatsby

I really enjoyed this book, although I found it slightly thin on the story side. The protagonist, Nick, moves to new york in the 1920s and right next door to the mysterious and much admired mr. Gatsby. Nick and Gatsby soon become fast friends at one of the laters infamous social occasions. We soon find out that Gatsby was formerly involved with Nick's cousin, Dasiy, and he is still very much in love with her, despite her marriage. Daisy's husband, Tom, is cheating on her and so Daisy finds solace in the arms of her former lover. When Tom finds out him and Gatsby argue, with Gatsby and Daisy leaving new york abrubtly. Whilst driving Daisy hits Tom's lover with her car, causing her husband to hunt down and kill Gatsby, as Tom tells him he was driving.

The basic plot is pretty intense, but it still seems rather thin for the most part with all the action packed into the end. I think tho when reading more into the text Fitzgerald's writing is revealed as a cleaver satire on the american dream. What we want the most, in Gatsby's case Daisy, can lead to dire consequences, i.e. ultimately his death.

Many of the sub-plots of the underworld and the boot-legging of prohibiton during the 1920s really intrigue me. I am not a history buff, but Fitzgerald made me want me to learn more about 1920s america, and from this well crafted prose I feel I have a little more insight.

The Virgin Suicides

"A Catcher in the Rye for Our times" the front cover proclaims. "Oh fan-bloody-tastic" I thought, and may have given it a miss if I had actually brought another book to the hospital with me. Faced with a 4 hour wait for my op (screw removal from my broken left ankle) I thought, "Well I best make the most of it and I'll grin and bear it".

I was wrong, or rather mislead. The Virgin Suicides is not a Catcher in the Rye I would say (since I HATED catcher). I enjoyed the virgin suicides, with a morbid interest, almost like watching a natural disaster on the news. The style maybe slightly similar to Catcher, with the familiar tone of the protagonist. The Virgin suicides, however is a recollection, a fuzzy incomplete tale of the entrancing beauties across the street and their tragic demise, told by an unknown boy, who we never clearly "see".

The narrator and his friends are obsessed with the beautiful, pure and innocent Lisbon girls. Now much older, balding and rotund with middle age, they are still obsessed and recount the tragic year that preceded a mass suicide by three of the Lisbon girls. It starts with the youngest, Cecile's suicide attempt. The book then follows through to Cecile's actual suicide, the rest of the Lisbon girl's turmoil. Through out this we know that the rest of the girls will take their own lives, but we read about their struggles to cope with their sisters' death. The book culminates in the death of three of the remaining 4 sisters in a mass suicide (Mary's attempt being unsuccessful). The final few pages are devoted to the boys attempts to return to a normal life, only to see once more the ambulance at the Lisbon house, and Mary, finally prone, carried out. We stand with the boys, the last ones to see her, who offer her a lighter in the air "it was the best we could do for an eternal flame". The last few pages we deal with the boys growing up and leaving each other. Our narrator; balding, middle-aged sums up, in the boyhood tree house with the "exhibits" of the girls, that the children saved.

The book has a beautiful undulating sub-current that laments the loss of youthful innocence. The elms, that dying of dutch elm disease, play an almost integral role to showcase the passing of time, and the passing of age... from childhood into that infinite gap of adolescence. Lux Lisbon's foray into the sexual promiscuous is part of this, the bubbling current of innocence versus experience.

I really enjoyed this book! Hallelujah, I am back to reading books that I enjoy after the fog of the last three literary adventures.

The Catcher in the Rye

The catcher in the Rye... SNORE, in the Snore. Simply hated it. Holden is a winy annoying brat who needs a kick in the arse. He has nothing intelligent to say, whilst he constantly complains that no one is intelligent. In one part he meets up with a friend from an old school, saying he was looking for intelligent conversation... the he proceeds to ask about said friends sex life. Hmmm not the most intellectually stimulating conversation.

I simply hated this book. Holden never has me rooting for him, I feel no emotional attachment to his "plight". I fail to see anything that happens to him as extraordinary or even insightful. It isn't even the case of a well written account of the everyday. IMO Holden needs to grow up, and realise that life is playing the game. The lack of pragmatism in his character started to grate on me and I found myself wanting to shout at him to grow up and realise that to succeed you need to dig in and work hard.

I didn't like Salinger's style, being constantly spoken in Holden's voice got irksome fairly quickly, as he has an extremely poor lexicon and tends to be rather repetitive. Holden's grammar also started to irritate me, and the prose being no different to his speech made the whole book rather dull and far too similar for my taste.

I would recommend The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - Chbosky over this. I persevered and was thoroughly underwhelmed.

The amber spyglass

You finally have it, a book I didn't like! OK, the story was fine and I discovered what was missing from the subtle knife... IOREK! He's back! Yes, the talking polar bear from the Northern Lights book... Hi Iorek, can I be your friend? I mean really, I want an armoured bear. It would be so Am-a-z-ing!!!! I would ride him everywhere and he would smite my enemies with his razor pointed claws :D (Yes, I've been reading Dan blogging twilight lately)
OK, so Iorek is awesome but there are some things that are stupidly annoying about this book.
1. The head angel (after the "authority") has the stupidest name ever, Metronon... He sounds like a freaking transformer!! I couldn't take him seriously, every time he was mentioned it made me giggle.
2. Pullman is the worst explainer ever... He is attempting to describe things like angels, and diamond shaped people, and ermm yeah. I just didn't get it! Diamond shaped people, who ride on wheels and have trunks... Hmmm picture would have been helpful here Phil!
3. The authority dies erm and no one notices... in fact, not even me until I re-read the chapter title "The Authority's end" or something similar!
4. Lyra and Will kiss... and fall in love... They.Are.12. TWELVE!!! They aren't in love! We are supposed to be all sad and upset that they can't live in the same world, blah blah blah... oh grow up!!! It also seems a bit purvey the description of two CHILDREN KISSING and being described as LOVERS. Just plain wrong...
5. There is a war and no real fighting... we don't get a big description of the fights and we don't really get to know what's going on. You have to kind of infer it, and hmm no. Don't like it. Please Mr. Pullman, next time, try to actually describe what's going on and explain whether or not the republic won, this is a Kids novel, not a deep philosophical tombe.
6. It's contradictory, Seffenapeckala tells Mary that humans in our worlds can't see hers and Will's daemon... hmmm why could they see Lyra's in the subtle knife?Mark this as "Does not make sense" and leave it to that.
7. Dark matter... is dust... is shadow particles... is Angels? nah, I don't buy it. I can buy that there is a three part body. I can believe in a land of the dead, and that we become atoms when we die. I just can't believe dark matter is angels... hmmm. The Shadow particles and dust being what we are made of, our consciousness if you will is also a bit twee... "All we are is shadows and dust" ring any bells? Maybe something you wouldn't pick up on if you were 12. The particles being consciousness and attracted to experience but also able to condense and form angle. I don't buy it, it's a bit odd.

My favourite part of this book was the land of the dead. I think it was well written, and thought provoking. What does happen when you die. I like the telling stories to feed the harpies in return for guiding you to the new world... Almost like paying the ferryman. I like the idea of becoming part of everything; the consciousness throughout the whole world, the leaves on the tree and the stir of the summer breeze.

Overall I liked the Dark materials story, but it all went down hill from Northern Lights. The other books just didn't stand up to it, and it's certainly not something I would re-read.

The Subtle Knife

I found it much easier to fall into Pullman's since reading Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife continues Lyra's journey to find out about Dust. Lyra is the main focus of this novel, as well as a new character, Will. Will is from "our" world, as much as I can assume. It is very similar in any case! I like Will. He is definitely a like able character and the bond between him a Lyra develops to a sweetness and innocence, which is really easy to believe.

Will is searching for his father who has disappeared, and accidentally falls into a strange new world, where he meets Lyra. This new world is haunted by spectres that suck the life from adults, leaving children alone. We are later told that the spectres are interested in experience, innocence is not as tasty...

Overall, a good book, but not as substantial as Northern Lights. I will reserve judgement of the overall trilogy until I have finished The Amber Spyglass...

The Perks Of Being a Wallflower

We are infinite...
This is the best of the books I have read so far. A sad, funny and heartfelt account of a naive boy growing up in the early 90s. Chbosky doesn't describe his characters outer appearances, but you see into their souls. I found the lack of description completely irrelevant, it wouldn't have fit with the style. Charlie is our protagonist, who is writing letters to someone, bearing his soul. I found it more like a diary than a conversation, much more introspective and philosophical than communicatorary. In parts it made me cry, and others snort with laughter. I couldn't put it down.

Charlie's way of dealing with the ups and inevitable downs of life really made me think. Remember the good times, they help the bad. Try not to cry unless it's important. Remember the days when you feel like the summer air. Listen and I mean really LISTEN, to songs with your friends, and feel the infinite possibilities. Don't take LSD and fall asleep in the snow. Hand made presents and those that are carefully thought about are better than anything else, and do not require a one-up-mans-ship around them. Books are to be shared. Teachers, are at the end of the day, trying to help. That's what I learned from this book.

Although the ending disappointed me, and took me by surprise and I find it impossible to think of a 15 year old boy who didn't know what masturbation was. This was set in the 90s Chbosky! Charlie does at times seem slightly too naive to be plausible, but then again Charlie isn't normal, he has been mentally ill. I love Charlie's honest descriptions of times he feels like screaming, but realises it's probably not the right thing to do. His description of Micheal's suicide is sad, touching and so vivid you can almost taste the bitter pill of his pain.

I chose not to focus on that. I chose to think of the day when I felt like summer air and spring grass, when I remembered I was infinite...

Northern Lights

Northern Lights, the first in the "his dark materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman. I opened this book for a light read while writing my essay, and I couldn't put it down. It's set in a parallel world which to my eyes, is religion has won over science. The church is all powerful and war is seemingly continuously waged in strange places, like Holland.

At first I was unsure the fantasy style was to my taste or whether it was Pullman's writing style that wasn't my cup of tea. Lyra's world is full of odd words I wasn't quite sure how to pronounce let alone what they meant, but more often than not these were explained by the plot line or situation, so I just sort of ran with it. Pullman's style definitely did grow on me after a few chapters. Soon the strange differences didn't feel so jarring, they were more expected and often welcomed. A sharp little reminder that this novel is not set in everyday worlds, in this world people have daemons and witches ride the wind on cloud pine.

On to daemons, this difference is something I couldn't get my head around when I watched the film (yes, I did watch the film first, something I rarely do). The book explained daemons much better, In this world, daemons are an animal form a bit like a conscious and a friend rolled into one. To be apart from your daemon is like having your heart torn out, something that made my head hurt.

A second more noticeable difference in the book to the film was Lord Asriel, Lyra's father/uncle. now in the film he is harsh but fair, rugged and brilliant. In the book he is well, frightful and a hypocrite. He uses the innocent to achieve his own ends, resulting in the death of Roger the Kitchen Boy (say it quick and have a giggle) Lyra's friend from Oxford, whom she has crossed the world to save. Now I'm certain that doesn't happen in the film, in the film Lord Asriel is still imprisoned! The armoured bears are also quite different, they feel richer as characters, another proof of Pullman's mastery. I never thought I would find a talking polar bear a believable character of a book!

His Dark Materials, as a children's' fantasy book that has amassed adult audiences and critical acclaim is obviously likely to draw comparisons to Harry Potter. Now I love Harry Potter, Northern Lights is not as easy a read, I think it would also be more difficult to re-read as frequently as the potter novels. Saying that, Northern lights is definitely not a difficult read by any means. If you'll excuse me... I have a few books waiting for me on the shelf besides me.

The Bell Jar

Plath's only novel is a semi-autobiographical account of a girls slow decline into madness. I was expecting something harrowing and evocative, much like Elizabeth Wurtzel's "Prozac nation" which really made me angry and annoyed with her self indulgence. Plath's character, Ester, is however easy to identify with and doesn't create any of these negative emotions. I was surprised at how easy Ester was to like and how much I identified with her. Ester did not seem crazy, she didn't act crazy, with one exception, she attempted to kill herself. Her suicide grew from one particular and easy to identify with place, she had no idea where to go with her life. A brilliant collage student, she was on the precipice of life in the real world, and she had no idea which way to go. Constrained by the conventions of her time, does she get married and have children and become dull? Or does she travel to amazing place like the wilds of Africa or Europe? Does she become a writer? Or a tough New York Editor? She sees all these choices as figs on a tree, and she knows if she chooses one, the rest will fall so she sees herself sitting immobile as all the figs turn black and rot around her. This is why I can relate to Esther, I too am at a cross roads as to what I do with my life. I too can see all the figs and I'm hesitant as to which ones to take, but fortunately I don't see that suicide will solve my dilemma.

My problem with Esther stems most likely from the time period of this novel. Esther is obsessed with her virginity and her childhood sweethearts lack of it. She sees Buddy as a hypocrite as he has already had sex, this was however before he and her got together so I really can't understand her problem. She becomes increasingly obsessed with this fact and trying to out do him or get one over in some way. In these parts I felt increasingly distant from Esther and as though she was just a character, not a real person.

I do think the ending of the novel was slightly abrupt, but then again that might be just because I enjoyed it so much. I do feel that if Plath had lived longer there may be more beautifully penned prose into which I could delve, but unfortunately the bell jar was the first and last novel before Plath's untimely death. Unfortunately unlike Ester she never crawled from under her personal bell jar.

the litterary adventure begins

Being immobile is increasingly dull, so having been interested in literature, but never really having the time to read, I have decided to buy myself various books from Amazon and ebay. I will review each book as I finish it, hopefully making my time whilst incapacitated a little more productive.

The first order of books

I love books, so limiting myself was difficult, I bought a selection of books I'd heard of and a few that were new "wild cards" in the hope of discovering something new and amazing. I already owned a few books that I hadn't had time to read, I'll include these in the list of books I am due to read. As I go I'll strike out books I've read and hopefully by the time my leg is healed and I am due back to work I will have read all of my list, and possibly started a new list of books to read and review. I am aiming for 2-3 books a week once I have finished this essay, so I should be updating regularly.

1. The Odyssey - Homer
2. Canterbury tales - Chaucer
3. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
4. His dark Materials series - Philip Pulman
5. The Bell Jar - Silvia Plath
6. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
7. The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides
8. The Perks of Being a Wall flower - Stephen Chbosky
9. The Lovely bones - Alice Sebold
   
10. Frankenstien - Mary Shelly
11. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
12. Our Spoons came from Woolworths - Barbara Comyns
13. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
14. One flew over the cuckoos nest - Ken Kessy
15. The Great Gatsby -F. Scott Fitzgerald
16. My Sisters Keeper - Jodie Picoult

14 000 things

inspired by my amazon recommendations, I am going to write a list of things that make me happy at this present moment. I shall continue,

1. diet coke, in a glass bottle
2. the discovery channel
3. getting a text message from a friend
4. unexpected phone calls
5. piano music
6. clean teeth
7. the smell after it rains
8. illicit lie-ins on weekdays
9. satin fabric
10. flannel pyjamas on cold nights
11. silver jewellery
12. guinea pigs
13. wild flowers
14. petit filous yogurts
15. unexplained giggles
16. random car journeys
17. learning something new
18. old skool music
19. rockband/guitar hero world tour band edition
20. placebo
21. beautiful poetry/lyrics
22. taffeta and organza
23. drawing in charcoal
24. painting in ink
25. tattoos and piercings
26. people I love
27. forests in spring
28. oak woodland glens
29. snow
30. digital photography
31. black and white
32. daydreams
33. tim burton movies
34. musical sing-a-long nights
35. laughing til you cry
36. rose wine in the sunshine
37. beer gardens with friends
38. discovering a good book
39. amazon books for 1p
40. recommendations
41. tagging
42. hand-made presents
43. pearls
44. ice-cream
45. game-shows
46. competitive wii play
47. shoes
48. the smell of fresh bread
49. anything that sparkles
50. betta splendis fish
51. mac make-up
52. rtw flight planners
53. gossiping
54. seeing the sunrise when you've been up all night
55. cuddles
56. dancing in the rain
57. snow angles in the dark
58. graffiti art
59. indie music
60. northern accents
61. eye liner
62. toffee scented bubble bath
63. orchids
64. Chinese food
65. cleaning the house
66. buying presents and wrapping them in a ridiculous amount of bows and ribbons
67. packaging
68. that knowing look
69. ;)
70. emotes
71. peony roses
72. sequins
73. charm bracelets
74. tea
75. lively debates
76. doodling
77. "I want to be adored"... in the sunshine
78. singing in the shower
79. dancing when no one is there
80. Eskimo kisses
81. play fights
82. your mam jokes
83. having my hair played with/brushed/styled
84. nostalgia
85. new glasses
86. sherbet
87. fimo
88. cloud spotting
89. Dr. Who
90. Butterflies
91. reality TV (tattoo, wedding, cooking...)
92. tapas tea with friends
93. harry potter books
94. a revolution on canvas
95. take offs and landings
96. over the ear headphones
97. drinking cocktails in nice dresses
98. jumping on piles of crispy autumn leaves
99. Stephen Fry, QI, Mock the week, the IT crowd, peep show etc.
    
100. cute nicknames that no one else gets...

so not quite 14000 but surprisingly easy to think of once I got going.

:) smile

If I had a million dollars...

Since breaking my leg, I've been amusing myself on net-a-porter. I now am convinced I need to win the lottery to buy the various peices I am lusting after :(.


These are beautiful oscar de la renta peices. Fabulously wonderful peices of art, I deffinately need to win the lottery.