Jeez it's been really taking me forever to finish this book... This is literally the longest it's ever taken me to finish a book. What's wrong with meeee???? It's only 464 pages, and I've finished 500 page books in a day. Oh well, I'll get there eventually.
On to the interesting stuff though! I lied, it's honestly not too interesting. Nothing much has been happening. Graham and Polly have writing to each other, ooh scandalous I know. Next thing you know they'll be walking arm in arm in public on the way to church. These kids need to take a chill pill and slow way down before they rush into things too fast! While that's going on, dear Lucy Snowe has been hanging around Villette doing whatever. And that's basically it.
Alright, I'm going to be honest here. I thought Villette would be as awesome as Jane Eyre, but so far it really isn't. All the reviews for it said "Bronte's finest novel" or "A still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre". Yeah, no. Jane Eyre is still way better. However I'll still finish it because I'd feel bad if I didn't. I also really wanted to read Jane Eyre again before the semester ended, but I guess that won't happen considering it's taken me forever just to finish one book. I really hope we get to do 20% Time again next semester because I already know what I want to do. Til then, happy reading!
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Welcome Back! :)
First off, I want to say Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone and I hope everyone had a relaxing week off!
So let's catch up with Villette! Dr. John, aka John Graham Bretton the 16 year old boy from the beginning, has gotten over the vain and shallow Ginevra Fanshawe! He also finally recognizes Lucy Snowe from their past and two reconnect. Personally, I believe this re-connection and new friendship has had bigger impact on Lucy than Graham. She seems a little two overly fond of the letters he writes to her and cries a lot more. But that's just silly old me, what do I know? Also, as I predicted earlier, dear little Polly (Paulina Mary) has returned! She is now a stunning young lady of seventeen years of age. Dear Graham (aka Dr. John) has indeed noticed this transformation from a little, undeveloped girl to a graceful, high-class lady. Methinks me smells some possible romance in the air, but again, that's just silly old me throwing suggestions into the wind. I feel bad for Lucy though because it seemed as though she really liked him... oh well I'm sure she'll get over it! Oh and Miss Fanshawe and Polly are cousins! Awkward, right?
Okay so that was my brief summary of what's been going on in Villette, but I have a special treat for you guys! The amazing Mrs. Finco took her AP Lit class to a magical place called the "library" where you can actually borrow books without any collateral or down payment for a finite amount of time. And it's free! What a crazy place right? Who would have thunk it actually existed? Alright. alright I'll get to the point and quit my sarcastic shenanigans (for now). I checked out possibly one of the most amusing books I have ever read. Ready for this? Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. "What? That actually exists?", you ask? Why yes, yes it does. And it was absolutely fantastic! I'm already a sappy, romantic Jane Austen fan to begin with, but Pride and Prejudice with the addition of zombies? That's just a super yes right there. It basically follows the story line of Pride and Prejudice, but with zombies! The Bennett sisters are super awesome warriors who fight with katanas (samurai swords) and they absolutely kick butt! Especially Elizabeth, of course. If Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen (Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy of the the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice) did this version, my life would be made!
So my break was awesome, I literally slept 12 hours everyday, and then ate turkey. Yep, that's called living the life. However we sadly have to jump right back into the saddle and carry on what we left undone. Bring it on school! Til then, happy reading!
So let's catch up with Villette! Dr. John, aka John Graham Bretton the 16 year old boy from the beginning, has gotten over the vain and shallow Ginevra Fanshawe! He also finally recognizes Lucy Snowe from their past and two reconnect. Personally, I believe this re-connection and new friendship has had bigger impact on Lucy than Graham. She seems a little two overly fond of the letters he writes to her and cries a lot more. But that's just silly old me, what do I know? Also, as I predicted earlier, dear little Polly (Paulina Mary) has returned! She is now a stunning young lady of seventeen years of age. Dear Graham (aka Dr. John) has indeed noticed this transformation from a little, undeveloped girl to a graceful, high-class lady. Methinks me smells some possible romance in the air, but again, that's just silly old me throwing suggestions into the wind. I feel bad for Lucy though because it seemed as though she really liked him... oh well I'm sure she'll get over it! Oh and Miss Fanshawe and Polly are cousins! Awkward, right?
Okay so that was my brief summary of what's been going on in Villette, but I have a special treat for you guys! The amazing Mrs. Finco took her AP Lit class to a magical place called the "library" where you can actually borrow books without any collateral or down payment for a finite amount of time. And it's free! What a crazy place right? Who would have thunk it actually existed? Alright. alright I'll get to the point and quit my sarcastic shenanigans (for now). I checked out possibly one of the most amusing books I have ever read. Ready for this? Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. "What? That actually exists?", you ask? Why yes, yes it does. And it was absolutely fantastic! I'm already a sappy, romantic Jane Austen fan to begin with, but Pride and Prejudice with the addition of zombies? That's just a super yes right there. It basically follows the story line of Pride and Prejudice, but with zombies! The Bennett sisters are super awesome warriors who fight with katanas (samurai swords) and they absolutely kick butt! Especially Elizabeth, of course. If Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen (Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy of the the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice) did this version, my life would be made!
So my break was awesome, I literally slept 12 hours everyday, and then ate turkey. Yep, that's called living the life. However we sadly have to jump right back into the saddle and carry on what we left undone. Bring it on school! Til then, happy reading!
Saturday, November 15, 2014
I'm Sorry
First of all, I'd like to apologize for that last blog post. It was really pessimistic and it didn't seem like me at all. I also kind of lied about not getting anything done. Although I didn't read Villette, I did read another book called Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. It's a memoir about this 18-year-old's experience in a mental hospitable. She was institutionalized for being severely depressed, attempting suicide, and having borderline personality. What's surprising the most interesting is her diagnostic appointment with the psychologist. In the records, it shows he examined her for three hours, yet Kaysen claims to have only been examined for 15 minutes. What, what? Crazy, I know right (haha no pun intended)? Anyway, Kaysen spent almost two years in this mental hospital (sorry I'm not more detailed, I returned the book back to Mrs. Finco already) and feels as though her time was stolen from her, hence the title. She views herself as the girl whose life was interrupted, and she'll never get that time back.
So I was a little productive, whoo hoo! I'll do my best to read more this week. Til then, happy reading! :)
So I was a little productive, whoo hoo! I'll do my best to read more this week. Til then, happy reading! :)
Friday, November 14, 2014
Lyfe
This past week was rough. It's amazing how the human body can do so many things, but only take so much. Why aren't we built to last longer? Why do we need to recuperate our energy every night? Why can't the day have more hours in it? Why Why Why???? It's just so frustrating...
Going to bed from 3-4 in the morning this past month or so finally got to me. Remember how I said last week I may be losing my mind? Well yesterday I did. Completely lost it, unattractive sobbing, curled up on a little bed in the clinic, the whole shabang. So yeah, not good.
Because of this, I literally read nothing this week. I'm just too tired and all I want to do is go home and sleep until it's Thanksgiving. Why can't humans hibernate? It always astonishes me how teachers complain that students don't do an assignment or fall asleep in class. Well excuse me for wanting just a little more than two hours sleep.
Ugh, enough of this frustrating emotional crap. I'll try my best to do some reading next week. Til then... um... happy lyfe?
Going to bed from 3-4 in the morning this past month or so finally got to me. Remember how I said last week I may be losing my mind? Well yesterday I did. Completely lost it, unattractive sobbing, curled up on a little bed in the clinic, the whole shabang. So yeah, not good.
Because of this, I literally read nothing this week. I'm just too tired and all I want to do is go home and sleep until it's Thanksgiving. Why can't humans hibernate? It always astonishes me how teachers complain that students don't do an assignment or fall asleep in class. Well excuse me for wanting just a little more than two hours sleep.
Ugh, enough of this frustrating emotional crap. I'll try my best to do some reading next week. Til then... um... happy lyfe?
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Vanity in Villette
To be honest, I don't remember must of what happened this past week... It kind of went by like a blur. I remember taking a calculus test and that's about it. Who knows, maybe I'm losing my mind. But that's besides the point! Who wants to read about my possibly deteriorating mental state when you can read about Villette! (No, that was not sarcasm, smarty pants)
Ah Villette (the city I mean), what a beautiful place. So I last left off with how creepy Madame Beck is. Good news guys, she's still super creepy! Yay! She's actually really awesome though. She thinks rationally and is only trying to run a tight ship. speaking of the metaphorical ship, remember the girl Lucy met on the literal ship? She's baaaack! Ginevra Fanshawe is the most annoying, vain character in the book so far. She's one of those girls who believes she's all that and a box of chocolates and literally tells you: "Don't you wish you amazingly perfect like me? *annoying cute giggle*" And guess who's stupid enough to fall in love with her? The handsome gentleman who assisted Lucy, Dr. John. He's so infatuated with her that he doesn't even realize that she's just using him. At Madame Beck's birthday ball, Fanshawe was flirting between both him and some military officer whose name isn't that important. Lucy tells Dr. John that Fanshawe is just playing him, but he simply will not listen to her. My hope is that Fanshawe dumps him so he can move on to a worthier interest.
I know it's kind of lame to end my summary like this, but that's all I read! Now let's move on to some complaints. Yes, I surprisingly have complaints about a Romantic novel (not to be confused with romance novel people. There's a difference, look it up). The French dialogues annoy the living poop out of me. I CAN'T READ FRENCH. Therefore, I have no idea what they're saying. If it was just one word or two I'd go look it up, but it's not. It's literally full blown multiple sentences. So what I do is that I just skip over it until they're speaking English again. I figure that if it's in French it's probably not important.I guess Bronte wanted show off that she knew French or something. Oh well, I still like the book.
Okey dokey, so this week I'll try to remember what I did and read more. Maybe all I need is Thanksgiving break. Mm I can't wait to stuff my face with food... but I digress! Til then, happy reading kiddiewinkles!
Ah Villette (the city I mean), what a beautiful place. So I last left off with how creepy Madame Beck is. Good news guys, she's still super creepy! Yay! She's actually really awesome though. She thinks rationally and is only trying to run a tight ship. speaking of the metaphorical ship, remember the girl Lucy met on the literal ship? She's baaaack! Ginevra Fanshawe is the most annoying, vain character in the book so far. She's one of those girls who believes she's all that and a box of chocolates and literally tells you: "Don't you wish you amazingly perfect like me? *annoying cute giggle*" And guess who's stupid enough to fall in love with her? The handsome gentleman who assisted Lucy, Dr. John. He's so infatuated with her that he doesn't even realize that she's just using him. At Madame Beck's birthday ball, Fanshawe was flirting between both him and some military officer whose name isn't that important. Lucy tells Dr. John that Fanshawe is just playing him, but he simply will not listen to her. My hope is that Fanshawe dumps him so he can move on to a worthier interest.
I know it's kind of lame to end my summary like this, but that's all I read! Now let's move on to some complaints. Yes, I surprisingly have complaints about a Romantic novel (not to be confused with romance novel people. There's a difference, look it up). The French dialogues annoy the living poop out of me. I CAN'T READ FRENCH. Therefore, I have no idea what they're saying. If it was just one word or two I'd go look it up, but it's not. It's literally full blown multiple sentences. So what I do is that I just skip over it until they're speaking English again. I figure that if it's in French it's probably not important.I guess Bronte wanted show off that she knew French or something. Oh well, I still like the book.
Okey dokey, so this week I'll try to remember what I did and read more. Maybe all I need is Thanksgiving break. Mm I can't wait to stuff my face with food... but I digress! Til then, happy reading kiddiewinkles!
Sunday, November 2, 2014
A Foreigner in France
Soooooo last week basically was the worst week EVER. I'm pretty sure I had a mini-mental breakdown at one point, but it's kind of hard to tell... Yeah between writing the government research paper of Hell and calculus, I just about died. It also means I didn't get that far in Villette. But the good news is that I've gotten more sleep this weekend than I've had last week combined! Whoo hoo laziness! Enough about me though, let us begin to peruse the life of Lucy Snowe...
Okay, first of all, I love the name Lucy Snowe. It just sounds really cool. It's unclear as to whether she is an orphan or not because she never mentions her parents and is currently living with her godmother, Mrs. Bretton. Another visitor comes to stay at Mrs. Bretton's as well. Her name is Polly Home and the reason of her coming is because her mother has recently died and her father travels too much, he can't take care of her. Polly seems quite mature for her age (6) and misses her father greatly. So much so, that she won't form any sort of relationship with Mrs. Bretton's 16 year old son Graham, no matter how hard he tries to win her favor. Polly's father comes to see her, but then leaves again in a few days. Polly, distraught, turns to Graham for comfort and the two become almost inseparable. Now that Polly has finally formed a strong relationship with Graham, her father takes her away, leaving her, yet again, distraught. All this is told through Lucy's eyes.
Soon after Polly leaves, Lucy leaves as well. She assumes work under Miss Marchmont, a rheumatic cripple. Lucy served as her caretaker until she eventually died (she was old). Lucy is left with no where to go, so she visits her old nurse, who is now a housekeeper. Here, she gets the idea to go to London to explore and seek her future. Poor Lucy realizes how big of an undertaking this journey is and cries out her feelings. She travels around some more and eventually finds herself on a boat. She meets a young girl who gives her the idea to find work in Villette as Madame Beck's English governess. Too bad nobody in Villette speaks ENGLISH. Lucy arrives in Villette lost and without her trunk because the baggage handlers lost it (yes, that happened even back then). She's trying to ask a non-English speaking attendant where her trunk is, but he of course cannot understand her. So she asks an English gentlemen who just happens to be in the vicinity and speaks French. Let me interject for a second here, when does that ever happen???? I know for sure that whenever I travel there is no nice, good-looking gentleman who helps me with my bag or anything like that. Jeez only in novels... Anywhoozles, so he helps her out, yadayadayada, he escorts her through the dark parts of town, yadayadayada whatever. So she ends up getting lost and miraculously ends up and Madame Beck's. Madame Beck is really weird. So she hires Lucy and then proceeds to look through her things when she's "asleep". Yes, sneaky Lucy, and Madame Beck's a creeper!
Soooooooo yeah that's where I left off because I fell asleep reading in class... yeah sorry Mrs. Finco, the floor was a little too comfy apparently... But Villette is definitely super interesting and I really want to know if Polly is coming back! I'll do my best this week though! Til then, happy reading!
Okay, first of all, I love the name Lucy Snowe. It just sounds really cool. It's unclear as to whether she is an orphan or not because she never mentions her parents and is currently living with her godmother, Mrs. Bretton. Another visitor comes to stay at Mrs. Bretton's as well. Her name is Polly Home and the reason of her coming is because her mother has recently died and her father travels too much, he can't take care of her. Polly seems quite mature for her age (6) and misses her father greatly. So much so, that she won't form any sort of relationship with Mrs. Bretton's 16 year old son Graham, no matter how hard he tries to win her favor. Polly's father comes to see her, but then leaves again in a few days. Polly, distraught, turns to Graham for comfort and the two become almost inseparable. Now that Polly has finally formed a strong relationship with Graham, her father takes her away, leaving her, yet again, distraught. All this is told through Lucy's eyes.
Soon after Polly leaves, Lucy leaves as well. She assumes work under Miss Marchmont, a rheumatic cripple. Lucy served as her caretaker until she eventually died (she was old). Lucy is left with no where to go, so she visits her old nurse, who is now a housekeeper. Here, she gets the idea to go to London to explore and seek her future. Poor Lucy realizes how big of an undertaking this journey is and cries out her feelings. She travels around some more and eventually finds herself on a boat. She meets a young girl who gives her the idea to find work in Villette as Madame Beck's English governess. Too bad nobody in Villette speaks ENGLISH. Lucy arrives in Villette lost and without her trunk because the baggage handlers lost it (yes, that happened even back then). She's trying to ask a non-English speaking attendant where her trunk is, but he of course cannot understand her. So she asks an English gentlemen who just happens to be in the vicinity and speaks French. Let me interject for a second here, when does that ever happen???? I know for sure that whenever I travel there is no nice, good-looking gentleman who helps me with my bag or anything like that. Jeez only in novels... Anywhoozles, so he helps her out, yadayadayada, he escorts her through the dark parts of town, yadayadayada whatever. So she ends up getting lost and miraculously ends up and Madame Beck's. Madame Beck is really weird. So she hires Lucy and then proceeds to look through her things when she's "asleep". Yes, sneaky Lucy, and Madame Beck's a creeper!
Soooooooo yeah that's where I left off because I fell asleep reading in class... yeah sorry Mrs. Finco, the floor was a little too comfy apparently... But Villette is definitely super interesting and I really want to know if Polly is coming back! I'll do my best this week though! Til then, happy reading!
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Bringin' it Back to Bronte
I've decided my my next book is Villette by the fantastic Charlotte Bronte. Charlotte Bronte is known for writing Jane Eyre, which I believe to be her most famous novel. I've read Jane Eyre and it was a marvelous novel, so I have high hopes for Villette. According to famous author Virginia Woolf, this is her "finest novel". So yeah, I'm super excited.
Weeelllll this week I didn't get much done. I didn't get another book after I finished Rebecca so I was basically doing nothing. It took a while to get Villette because it wasn't at the Parkview library and I had to request it at the public library (thank you my dear mommy for taking care of that for me). But for 20% Time this week I did do something somewhat productive. I read the amazingly, fantastic Harry Potter series, the first book anyway. Harry Potter is a classic on its own, so it counts!
Okey dokey, this week I'll most definitely start Villette and fill you guys on it later. Till then, stay classy people.
Weeelllll this week I didn't get much done. I didn't get another book after I finished Rebecca so I was basically doing nothing. It took a while to get Villette because it wasn't at the Parkview library and I had to request it at the public library (thank you my dear mommy for taking care of that for me). But for 20% Time this week I did do something somewhat productive. I read the amazingly, fantastic Harry Potter series, the first book anyway. Harry Potter is a classic on its own, so it counts!
Okey dokey, this week I'll most definitely start Villette and fill you guys on it later. Till then, stay classy people.
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