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! :)
Saturday, November 15, 2014
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.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
OMG WHAT IS GOING ON????
Alright, I'm going to just jump right into this...
INCOMING, SPOILER ALERT INCOMING, SPOILER ALERT INCOMING.
So who exactly is Rebecca? Maxim de Winter's beautiful and outgoing first wife, who died tragically in a sailing accident? The story goes that her drowned body was found miles up the shore, horribly mauled by the sea. Well that is how the story went until Rebecca's sunken boat was accidentally discovered a little offshore by a diver who was helping another boat. However that's not even the crazy part. Rebecca's body was found in the cabin. Whaaaaaaaaaaaattttt?????? I know right, it got me too. So now poor New Wife has to deal with this haphazard resurrection of Rebecca, continuing to fight for Maxim's love. Only the thing is, she never really needed to win his love. Maxim never loved Rebecca and was deeply in love with New Wife. The reason? She was a harlot, to put it non-colloquial terms. She had that cottage to bring her many lovers to spend the night there. Maxim new about this the whole time, though. He agreed to marry her because she promised to make Manderley great, and she did. In turn, Maxim allowed her to go up to London to see her various "friends", especially her first cousin Jack Favell. Incest much? Yep, Favell was one of her cottage-mates. Maxim resented her for this, so much so that he killed her. Yes, you read right, Maxim de Winter killed Rebecca. He shot her in her cottage, hid her body in the cabin of her boat, locked the door, and sunk her boat. He admitted all of this to New Wife, who in turn, out of all of this the only thing she got was that Maxim loved her. It was the only thing she wanted to here since they got married about four months ago. However, they still need to deal with the fact that Rebecca has returned to threaten their happiness. After a grueling and stressful meeting with the coroner, Rebecca's death was ruled as a suicide. So yay, the de Winters are officially out of the woods now! Yeah, no. Rebecca's incestuous lover Jack Favell is still around and has made a claim that Maxim killed Rebecca because he hated Rebecca's consorting with him. This new investigation led to the discovery that Rebecca had cancer. So now it seems as though Rebecca had a motive for suicide. Whoo hoo, New Wife and Maxim can live happily ever after! Not so fast, said the notorious Mrs. Danvers. On the way home home, Maxim sensed something wrong...
INCOMING, SPOILER ALERT INCOMING, SPOILER ALERT INCOMING.
So who exactly is Rebecca? Maxim de Winter's beautiful and outgoing first wife, who died tragically in a sailing accident? The story goes that her drowned body was found miles up the shore, horribly mauled by the sea. Well that is how the story went until Rebecca's sunken boat was accidentally discovered a little offshore by a diver who was helping another boat. However that's not even the crazy part. Rebecca's body was found in the cabin. Whaaaaaaaaaaaattttt?????? I know right, it got me too. So now poor New Wife has to deal with this haphazard resurrection of Rebecca, continuing to fight for Maxim's love. Only the thing is, she never really needed to win his love. Maxim never loved Rebecca and was deeply in love with New Wife. The reason? She was a harlot, to put it non-colloquial terms. She had that cottage to bring her many lovers to spend the night there. Maxim new about this the whole time, though. He agreed to marry her because she promised to make Manderley great, and she did. In turn, Maxim allowed her to go up to London to see her various "friends", especially her first cousin Jack Favell. Incest much? Yep, Favell was one of her cottage-mates. Maxim resented her for this, so much so that he killed her. Yes, you read right, Maxim de Winter killed Rebecca. He shot her in her cottage, hid her body in the cabin of her boat, locked the door, and sunk her boat. He admitted all of this to New Wife, who in turn, out of all of this the only thing she got was that Maxim loved her. It was the only thing she wanted to here since they got married about four months ago. However, they still need to deal with the fact that Rebecca has returned to threaten their happiness. After a grueling and stressful meeting with the coroner, Rebecca's death was ruled as a suicide. So yay, the de Winters are officially out of the woods now! Yeah, no. Rebecca's incestuous lover Jack Favell is still around and has made a claim that Maxim killed Rebecca because he hated Rebecca's consorting with him. This new investigation led to the discovery that Rebecca had cancer. So now it seems as though Rebecca had a motive for suicide. Whoo hoo, New Wife and Maxim can live happily ever after! Not so fast, said the notorious Mrs. Danvers. On the way home home, Maxim sensed something wrong...
"The road to Manderley lay ahead. There was no moon. The sky above our heads was inky black. But the sky on the horizon was not dark at all. It was shot with crimson, like a splash of blood. And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea."
I'm pretty sure you can guess what happened...
OKEY DOKEY KEEP ON READING PEOPLES.
I have no idea how I'm going to follow up Rebecca, but I'll choose my next book from the list Mrs. Finco gave me. I super recommend this book though! Happy reading till next week then.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Rebecca, Rebecca, Rebecca!!!
I'm going to just going to come out and say it, Rebecca is outstanding!!! Yes, three exclamation points were necessary.
SUPER EXTREME SPOILER ALERT. IF CAN'T HANDLE THE AWESOMENESS, TOO BAD.
I left off giving you guys a gist of what Rebecca was about. Read it if you don't know. Okey dokey now, so New Wife (still don't know her name) has married Maxim and is living at Manderley. She met the staff and one particular employee stands out as a major obstacle. The creepy Mrs. Danvers acts like she welcomes and likes New Wife, but in reality she still is hanging to Rebecca as mistress of the house. New Wife feels uncomfortable being the new mistress of the house, but she has made a friend! Maxim's agent, Frank Crawley, fully supports New Wife and believes she can help Maxim get over Rebecca's death. However!!! I've noticed there has been some suspicion surrounding Rebecca's death. New Wife met a mentally impaired man named Ben on the beach and also discovered a cottage Rebecca used when she was out sailing late. Ben reveals that Rebecca once threatened to put him in a mental institution for seeing her in the cottage. What is sweet Rebecca doing threatening people, I have no idea. So poor New Wife is stuck trying to figure all this out while trying to shrug off the burden of succeeding Rebecca.
SAFE TO CONTINUE. I REPEAT, SAFE TO CONTINUE.
I have to give props to Mrs. Finco and my friend Emily for recommending this book. And in turn, I recommend it to anyone else reading this! So this week I'll continue to read hopefully unravel the mysterious shroud that surrounds Rebecca.
SUPER EXTREME SPOILER ALERT. IF CAN'T HANDLE THE AWESOMENESS, TOO BAD.
I left off giving you guys a gist of what Rebecca was about. Read it if you don't know. Okey dokey now, so New Wife (still don't know her name) has married Maxim and is living at Manderley. She met the staff and one particular employee stands out as a major obstacle. The creepy Mrs. Danvers acts like she welcomes and likes New Wife, but in reality she still is hanging to Rebecca as mistress of the house. New Wife feels uncomfortable being the new mistress of the house, but she has made a friend! Maxim's agent, Frank Crawley, fully supports New Wife and believes she can help Maxim get over Rebecca's death. However!!! I've noticed there has been some suspicion surrounding Rebecca's death. New Wife met a mentally impaired man named Ben on the beach and also discovered a cottage Rebecca used when she was out sailing late. Ben reveals that Rebecca once threatened to put him in a mental institution for seeing her in the cottage. What is sweet Rebecca doing threatening people, I have no idea. So poor New Wife is stuck trying to figure all this out while trying to shrug off the burden of succeeding Rebecca.
SAFE TO CONTINUE. I REPEAT, SAFE TO CONTINUE.
I have to give props to Mrs. Finco and my friend Emily for recommending this book. And in turn, I recommend it to anyone else reading this! So this week I'll continue to read hopefully unravel the mysterious shroud that surrounds Rebecca.
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