21) Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves 22) The Mill on the Floss

Two posts in two days? I know, it's crazy, but I haven't been binge-reading, I was just rather behind in my posts :) So here goes:

21) Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse

This being the second Wodehouse I had read, I was jolly well ready for some spiffing stuff, and I was not disappointed. I hugely enjoyed watching Jeeves and Wooster as a child, and the witty dialogue comes across as well on the page as it does in the series, if not better, as it is accompanied by Bertie's inward musings and revelations. The only thing which slightly disrupted my enjoyment of the book was Bertie's tendency to use single letters to replace words, for example: "I sank forward in my chair, the f. buried in the h.". While it's clear to anyone familiar with English idioms what he means, it rather pulls you up short, but this may, in fact, be the effect that Wodehouse is going for: a slight annoyance on our part at Bertie's laziness, while equally enjoying his ridiculousness.  

22) The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot 

Alternately diverting and dull, this novel is not something to be undertaken lightly, and I must confess that I may not have reached the end had it not been for the fact that I'm studying it. Just to give you an idea of its length: if you were to listen to the audiobook, it would take thirteen hours. I think it actually took me longer than that to read, as my mind had a habit of wondering off, and so I was often forced to read the same page several times. 

I don't want to be too harsh on Eliot, she (yes, she's a woman!) created some extremely interesting characters and surprising character development, it's just a rather slow book to take off (although much better than Robinson Crusoe, don't even get me started) and goes off into philosophical musings too often for my liking (did anyone else force themselves through all the philosophy in Sophie's world just to find out the answer to the mystery?). All in all, a book to read if you have a lot of patience and time on your hands.

19) The Magic Toyshop 20) Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

19) The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter

Having been recommended Angela Carter books on a number of occasions I've been intending to read one for some time now, and having this on my reading list for The Girl in the Book  has prompted me to finally do so.

Virginal Melanie comes round full circle in this fantastically disturbing and beautifully written book; draped in a white dress, pretending to be someone else. Other characters loom in the gloaming between perturbing and enchanting, and a childish obsession with puppets turns out to conceal something much darker. 

Finn (for here again is a book where one of the main protagonists goes by that name) presents an unlikely love interest: reeking and dirty, with yellowed teeth and a disquieting knowledge of unspoken things;  and yet it is this contrast to Melanie's perfumed naivety that makes their relationship so raw and interesting, and difficult to predict.       

My first forage into Carter's works has been an encouraging one, and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future, especially The Bloody Chamber, an adaptation of Bluebeard that I've heard a lot about, although it may be something that I want to read when it's still light outside...


20) Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson 


" 'The Devil himself is a drunk.' (Sometimes my mother invented theology)."

I think that this quote sums up the tone of this book quite well; a humorous, but worrying, look at the extremes of religion, and what they can do to people.

An interesting forage into what it's like for a lesbian to grow up in a strict evangelical community, this book was intriguing and dispiriting by turns, and mostly enjoyable to read, although I have to say that I wasn't very keen on the postmodernist meta-fictional elements, which  jarred with me, especially those involving Sir Perceval.

Overall, I recommend reading this novel this novel with an open mind, and finding your own answer as to what oranges represent.


   



 

17) L'étranger 18) What I was

17) L'étranger (The Outsider) by Albert Camus

 

I'd been meaning to read this book for ages but somehow never quite got around to it. In the appropriate setting of my job as an English teacher to French teenagers I finally bit the bullet and did it. I have to say that I don't regret it. I can see why it's such a classic; it reminds me of "Catcher in the Rye" with its strange honesty and trains of thought. It's disconcerting seeing the world through Meursault's eyes. He is so detached, so unbothered by life's daily trials that he seems alien. The worrying thing is that I can't tell if he has some kind of learning difficulty or mental illness, or if he's just someone who refuses to meet societies' expectations. Whatever he is, he's fascinating.

18) What I Was by Meg Rosoff

 

A young adult book that I picked up off the shelf of my family's holiday house, this book explores teenage sexuality without any sex, and teenage love without any declarations. In a way, this is frustrating; we, the readers, feel like we are being promised something that never comes to pass; but in another way it is quite refreshing, especially given the secret revealed at the very end. It is sort of ironic, that the main character, who we feel so close to, is nameless to us, yet Finn, the aloof Finn, is named but mysterious, never quite letting us in. 

I found this book enjoyable, despite a slight skepticism about the age of the main protagonist, who is supposed to be sixteen, but often seems much younger. This may, however, just be  because I don't remember well enough what it was like to be sixteen...I am getting old ^^