Friday, June 14, 2013

The Classics Club: Flash Reviews 1-5

Goodness, this blog had been lacking posts of late. And the problem is, I seem to say that practically every time I post something. :P One of these days I'll give myself a challenge of posting every day for a week or two...

Anyways. When I first started The Classics Club I planned to write a paragraph or so about every book rather than actually reviewing them all (that's too daunting) and then group them together and post every five books. But I did do some separate reviews since then, of JA re-reads and Charles Dickens stuff and N&S, so it's only now that I finally have five to toss out there at once and some of them have been languishing in a Word document for some time. But anyways, here they are! 

Title: Anne of Windy Poplars
Author: L.M. Montgomery
Date: September 25, 2012
My thoughts: Delightful! Of course, it’s an Anne book, so that’s kind of duh. But I did enjoy it very much. And here I go again—it’s another book that I’ve been meaning to read for simply ages. Well technically I’ve been meaning to read the whole series for simply ages, and I only got as far as Island, and that was a few years ago, so I almost feel like I should reread the first few books too… but I intend to read the ones I’ve never read before I do that. ;) Anyway, having seen the first two Anne movies far too many times to count, it was very amusing for me to spot all the quotes and situations that came from this book that went into Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel. In the movie it’s all sort of shuffled and combined, but I must say I think they shuffled and combined in quite a masterly manner, and kept the spirit of Anne and so many of the quotes, even if they were in a very different context, were delightfully exact. Another thing that made me giggle was a couple of the characters who said things that sounded suspiciously like Mrs. Bennet with her poor nerves and nobody knowing what she suffers, but then she never complains. (Cough.)


Title: Pygmalion
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Date: February 24, 2013
My thoughts: This was fun! I was actually surprised to see how much of My Fair Lady came straight from the original play. It did have a whole lot less of the teaching period… and I must say, pretty much all the things that were changed in My Fair Lady I think were for the better. Sorry, George. But just the same, you can understand the story even better from reading the play, and it’s a pretty short read and a fun one.

Title: The Elusive Pimpernel
Author: Baroness Orczy
Date: April 10, 2013
My thoughts: It was very good.  It had been about a year since I’d read TSP, so it was definitely time to read another one. ;)  I have to admit, though, I was not liking Sir Percy most of the time.  I know the Leaguettes will not kill me for saying so, because after all, I make no attempts at murder when they say disparaging things about Mr. Darcy, so all is fair. :P
Anyways. It definitely kept my attention—but it did irritate me how right when you want to know what happens next, it goes into long descriptions about stuff you really don’t care to know the details of. Sigh. And also, these books always seem to start out rather slowly. (Well, this is only the second one I’ve read, haha, but anyways.) And it was so suspenseful the whole time, and then doesn’t spend too much time winding it down at the end. Those kind of books kind of leave me feeling a bit drained, which is probably why I’m think it will be a while again before I get to El Dorado. (But I’ll read it eventually. I promise.)

This is how I felt some of the time while reading the above. :P

Title: Jane Eyre
Author: Charlotte Brontë
Date: May 28, 2013
My thoughts: Well, this was my second reading of this book, and this time I was reading it along with Amy which made it even more delightful. J My original review is here, and if you skip down to the part with “my sentiments”… well, they are pretty much still the same, so, you know, I don’t want to repeat myself here. Of course rereads are always different… so I’m trying to think if there’s anything in particular that struck me this time. Uh… well, I was even MORE annoyed by St. John. That dude drives me NUTS, and I thought it rather a pity that the entire book ends with a quote from him. Charlotte, what were you THINKING? Heehee. And the only times I don’t like Jane is when she’s sort of under St. John’s power. :P Well, not exactly, but if you’ve read the book you’ll know what I mean.
Anyway. I definitely recommend this to everyone. And if you haven’t seen any of the movies yet either… read the book first. I didn’t. But you should. :D


Title: Anne’s House of Dreams
Author: L.M. Montgomery
Date: June 11, 2013
My thoughts: Delightful! Just what I said about Windy Poplars, I know, but that’s the word that seems to describe the Anne books for me. Just purely delightful. Of course, the whole thing wasn’t happy (heh), but everything just has a sort of light-hearted feeling that I love. Another thing was that reading this book for me it was like getting to a clean, new portion of snow that hasn’t been walked on yet and experiencing the mixed pleasure and regret of doing it yourself. Having seen the movies, I knew at least parts of the stories of the first four books, but as this is the fifth it was all completely new for me—and I’d always sort of looked forward to it at the same time since... well, once you know you know and then it’s not new anymore. ;) But anyways, it was a lot of fun getting whole new stories and characters. You can really grow to love Leslie Moore even though you may not at the beginning… Miss Cornelia is absolutely hilarious and I know I will be quoting her forever with her “Isn’t that like a man?”, “believe me.” Oh, and Captain Jim! Ahhh! He was great, besides for having a low opinion of women writers. (Of course, it was a woman writer who made that up, so whatever. Haha.) And I finally get the context of the race that knows Joseph, after having had it quoted at me a lot. ;) (I still don’t know why Joseph, though. Am I being dense? Can anybody enlighten me?) 

And that's it for now. (You can see my Classics Club page here.)

10 comments:

Evelyn said...

A fun list of books! Though, unfortunately I have only read the two Anne books... right now. =) I will hopefully, someday, read the others. =D

I absolutely adore, Anne's house of Dreams. It is probably one of my favorite books, and it's one of my favorite Anne books. =D I too think it's a nice change of pace. =) Do let me know when you read Rilla of Ingleside? I love that one too. Super sweet!

Miss Dashwood said...

Oooooh, I'm so glad you loved the Anne books... you're going to ADORE Ingleside. I know it's mostly about Anne's kids but it has such an Anne-ish feel. And Miss Cornelia is in it a lot. :D

And thy knowledgeable Tween has the answer to the race that knows Joseph question. :D It's referring to the pharaoh of Egypt who ruled when the Israelites were escaping Egypt-- you know, the one who knew not Joseph. :D Obviously he was not a kindred spirit. So one who DOES understand about things is one who DOES know Joseph. Seeeeeee? (Took me quite a while to figure that one out... and I may actually be mistaken, haha. IDK. I'm really just guessing. But it makes sense to me so... yeah.)

Jane B said...

For once, I've read every book listed on this post! And I agree, the Anne books (make that anything by LM Montgomery!) are delightful!
And Miss Dashwood explained the race of Joseph quote, perfectly. At least, that's what I've always thought Miss Cornelia meant. I thought she explained it in the books, didn't she? Now I've got to go check up on that one!

Jessica said...

Yes, Miss Dashwood is correct about "the race that knows Joseph". How very Biblical of Miss Cornelia. ;-) I love that book! Probably my favorite Anne book. I have read it many times.

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness, I loved all your reviews. I've read most of the books you reviewed and I agree with you. And you must read all the Anne books as fast as you can!!! They are my favorites... actually, anything written by L.M. Montgomery I like. :) That's all, just thought I'd comment saying I agree with you and I love your blog!

Miss Jane Bennet said...

Yay! I love Anne's House of Dreams as well! Miss Cornelia is so funny and Captain Jim is one of my favorite characters in the entire series.
I was thinking of reading Pygmalion, so I'm glad you reviewed it. I've definitely made up my mind to read it now. :)
I was furious with St. John sometimes too! I definitely agree with your thoughts on Jane Eyre. I almost didn't read it because of the introduction which told me that Charlotte Bronte thought that...well, go this link and you'll find out.
http://austenonly.com/2012/03/06/charlotte-bronte-george-henry-lewes-and-the-vexed-question-of-jane-austen/
I had to agree with some of her points, but definitely not all of them!
I'm not going to argue with you about TEP. Suffice to say that until I read that book, I didn't realize what a hero Percy really was. TEP made me like TSP better. But...I still prefer Mr. Knightley. ;)

By the way, I'm holding a P&P95 watch-along on my blog, if you're interested.
Great reviews, and I'm sorry about the long comment! :)

Eliza said...

I have officially decided to stop being a lurker of blogs I like.:)

I liked reading this post a great deal (Strangely enough, I always like posts relating to classics or period dramas.)Of these five books, I have read both Anne books and Jane Eyre. I haven't read the Anne books for quite a few years, but I remember enjoying both of them quite a bit, especially Anne of Windy Poplars. Jane Eyre was never my favorite classic (due largely to Mr. Rochester), but it is certainly a fun-to-read one.

Melody said...

Evelyn,
Rilla is on my Classics Club list too so I'll get to it & post about it sometime! :) I've heard many good things about it so I'm looking forward to that... but I have two others to read first. :) You should definitely read the earlier ones! :D

Millie,
Haha, I think you've done that every time I've finished an Anne book. "Glad you liked it, you're going to LOVE the next one." Heehee. ;) Good to know Miss Cornelia will be there! Yay! By the way, I was pleased when Anne mentioned to her about it being similar to Cordelia. Because I think I thought of that one of the first times I heard there was a character with that name. ;)
And thank you, my knowledgeable Tween! ;) Now I know. Haha. And proberly whenever I read anything about that in the Bible or it's talked about in church, I will think of the Anne books... ;)

Jane,
Well, you must have very good taste in books then! Heehee. ;) Thanks for commenting!

Jessica,
Heehee! I remember always seeing those books around the house, in windowsills and on coffee tables and the arms of couches and so forth. ;) Shocking that I've taken this long to read them...

Maddie Rose,
Thanks! :) With such delightful books I'm torn between reading them as fast as I can, and dragging them out to make them last longer. I'm glad you like my blog. :)

Miss Bennet,
Oooh, yes, Charlotte Bronte's infamous opinion about Miss Austen. I almost feel like I'm betraying my dear favorite author to even like Jane Eyre. ;) How chagrined Charlotte would be if she knew that so many people get "Jane Eyre" and "Jane Austen" mixed up... hahaha.
Well, I must say Sir Percy's love of adventure above a lot of other things (and that it's partially that and not just a strong desire to save people :P) was not something I found very admirable. He's a bit to foolhardy. Recklessness does not appeal to me.
But let's not argue, indeed not. ;) It's good to know you like Mr. Knightley better.
And don't think of apologizing! When it comes to comments, the longer the better! :) And I'll have to stop by your watch-along sometime...

Eliza,
Splendid! I'm glad you've decided not to be a lurker. ;) I sometimes wonder who reads my blog that I don't know about! :)
Ha, it isn't a bit strange that you always like posts relating to classics or period dramas... and that's pretty much all I even have on my blog. ;)
Ah, Mr. Rochester... I can never decide about him. I don't completely dislike him, but there are times when he angers me a lot. ;) At least he's not boring...
Hope to see you around more in the future! :)

Miss Jane Bennet said...

I just realized that THIS TUESDAY Amy is going to visit! Congratulations!!! :)

Melody said...

Miss Bennet,
YES! I am crazy excited. It's seeming so unreal. And thanks! ;)

Would you rather hear the story...

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