Jane Eyre: Book or Film?

I would like to say that as an advanced reader for my age, I challenge myself in the books that I read. However, I have found myself lacking in the challenging-book department.

I have been reading what I like to consider brain-mushing books full of nasty girls with lots of money, extensive wardrobes, perfect boyfriends and their preppy school peers at their fingertips. Not that I don't love reading them (they are to me as Mills & Boon are to a middle-aged woman) but sometimes I think I do need that informative literature to enrich the mind.

After discussing Jane Eyre with fellow blogger Maria, I have had the urge to pick up the book, as it seems an interesting story. Though, I have been what most refer to as a "wimp" for my whole life. That, combined with the challenge of trying to translate such old language such as "thou", the dark plot and unspoken feminist controversy behind the book, it might be a little... heavy. As I rarely take the easy way out of these kind of situations, I think I owe it to myself to shortcut my longing to engage in the story a bit.


As the star in one of the book/movie duos that changed my life, Alice in Wonderland actress Mia Wasikowska is, in my opinion, very talented. She plays Jane Eyre in the new movie (I have included the trailer) that I think I will go and see as a sort of alternative to the book. Or is it a must-read, book-lovers?

X.

www.viewsofnow.blogspot.com

Bargain Book Bonanza (3)

Welcome to the third edition of Bargain Book Bonanza!

This week BBB is linking up with Mailbox Monday hosted this month by I'm Booking It and In My Mailbox hosted by The Story Siren. Both are terrific book haul linky parties and great places to mingle and meet some new friends!

BBB is a linky party to showcase all the great books (new, used, vintage, electronic, audio) that we book lovers score on sale.

Each Monday through Thursday, all book lovers are invited to carouse, make merry and revel with bargain book abandon!

Want to join the party? Just visit the Bargain Book Bonanza page for the particulars. 

Lesa's BBB 

What a glorious spring break week  (with actual spring temperatures, for once)! The whole week has been wonderfully rejuvenating but this is the last day-- which is sad but it also means only nine weeks are left in the school year. Yippee!!

One day of spring break, we went to Muskogee to prowl through the antique and thrift stores in search of a bookcase/hutch combo thingy for my little boy's room. 

No luck but one store had tons of books in every nook and cranny so, naturally, I perused at my leisure 

 scanned quickly before my family could begin moaning and groaning in agony. 

 Bending for a glance at a bottom shelf, I spotted the book--  lying horizontally on top of the standing books completely hidden from view!

Squeee!! Actually, I was too astounded to 'squee'.  

This is the book that the 1945 film of the same name is based on--  I first saw the film four years ago and just discovered it was adapted from a book this past January.  Never having heard of the book or author, I never in a million years expected to find it so easily.  And for only $1!! Wow Wow Wow! 

Have you heard of this book/author? Ever seen the film? It stars Gene Tierney as a beautiful but obsessively jealous psychopath. She jilts her lawyer fiance (Vincent Price in a non creepy role) to marry an author who reminds her of dear old dad--- then proceeds to do away with any competion for her new husband's attention. She is one scary lady!

The film has one of the most chilling murders ever. And that isn't just my opinion: the dapper little fellow who introduces films on the old movie channel thinks so too. ;o)

 So excited to find this book and can't wait to see your Bargain Book Bonanzas!

The Long Winter with Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Little Dorrit

Don't gape! There is not a bizarre Ingalls Wilder/Austen/Dickens mash-up on the shelves. 

 The long winter refers to the recent two weeks in which Mother Nature slammed Oklahoma with three back to back ice/sleet/snow storms--  which is just overkill,  in my opinion.  It was downright freakish really:  temperatures dropped  to -24 degrees, cars stranded in four foot snow drifts and highways closed  We missed seven days of school, for heaven's sake!

  

 Personally, we survived fairly well. The water pipes did freeze for three days the first week but no power loss this time, thank goodness. Since our home is all electric with a well, when the power goes, we truly are the little house on the prairie! Not as charming as in the books, that's for sure!

Are you wondering how one occupies oneself during seven unexpected days of hunkering down at home?  Rearrange furniture? Organize drawers/cabinets? Clean out closets, perhaps? Oh no, no, no---   warm sunny days are crucial for projects like that!

Proper hunkering activities include snuggling, eating comfort food, guzzling hot tea, reading, playing games, and watching movies. (blogging is not a proper hunkering activity since the mouse hand tends to freeze)



Here we are in all our unwashed glory!  We read  picture books galore!


A hunkering novice might assume reading would rule as entertainment but actually watching movies comes out on top. Like blogging, books keep the hands cold. With films, the hands can stay nice and toasty under a blanket. 

Now do you see where this going in a rambling, roundabout, Lesa-esque way? Yep,  films from books!   Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Little Dorrit to be exact. 

Persuasion and Mansfield Park arrived in the post in the nick of time on the day of the first storm . How fortuitous! Especially since we didn't see the postman for three days afterwards.   

Persuasion is one of my favorite Austen novels and I loved this 2007 adaptation-- it is delightfully fresh and fun. If you aren't familiar with the story, it is about the relationship between timid Anne, who is perpetually out of sync with her shallow status oriented family, and Captain Wentworth, the man whose proposal she was 'persuaded' to refuse eight years ago.

I liked that Anne and Wentworth look younger than in the 1995 version. And the actors playing the Elliot family are a hoot! I had forgotten that the Elliots rank right up there with Mr. Collins, the Dashwoods and the Eltons in the social foible department.  

 It is a regular length film not a miniseries which means there is no dillydallying in the story-- so you might even entice your Austen-phobic friends to watch it with you. 

 I haven't read Mansfield Park but the story of poor relation Fanny Price longing for her cousin Edmund seemed familiar so I may have watched an earlier version. This 2007 adaptation is very enjoyable and worth seeing but it has received very mixed reviews on Netflix.

An Austen purist might not like it but since I haven't read the book I can't complain in any particular way.   There weren't any truly obnoxious characters but I liked it. In fact, I would watch it again. After reading the book and watching the other adaptations, of course.

One funny thing: the actor who plays awful Mr. Elton in the recent Emma miniseries plays good cousin Edmund in Mansfield Park-- I kept expecting him to get the roles mixed up but he did an excellent job. ;o)

Now for the creme de la creme: Little Dorrit!  I haven't read this book either but based on this fabulous miniseries, Mr. Dickens deserves a whoop and holler!!  It is stunning: the set, story and characters.  I'm still stunned by the spectacularity of it all! You must watch it if you enjoy period films!

So what is the story?  Well, it is complicated to explain with the various subplots and all but the main gist is about a mysterious secret affecting the fortunes of two families: the Clenhams and Dorrits.  The secret is withheld from the pertinent parties by a cold fanatical old woman  (Mrs. Clenham). She is a real piece of work, that one!  

Little Dorrit is at turns satirical, funny, poignant and suspenseful veering on melodramatic at the end. It takes place in and around the Marshalsea Debtor's Prison in London with sojourns to the Alps and Venice. And it all looks real-- creaky, dark, grimy-- even the characters are grimy--not cleaned up for modern tastes.

Speaking of the characters, they are portrayed by a very talented cast.  All of the characters, from the leads to the supporting roles are incredibly vivid and a joy to watch. Such distinct idiosyncrasies and I can't wait to read the book to see how each chararcter is described.  Is the French murderer Rigaud/Blandois as jovial and sociopathic as portrayed?   Does the good hearted, not a bully boy after all, Mr. Pancks really snort constantly? If you've read the book, please tell me.

Little Dorrit is about a secret but it is also about societal shortcomings, the aggravating inanity of bureaucracies (the Circumlocution Office is too funny)  and prisons, real and self-imposed. Dickens story is surprisingly modern. Several times I thought: Hmm, not much has changed...

Little Dorrit arrived in the post just in time for snow storm number three-- only the first two discs though. Then, hubby and I were left hanging for discs three and four-- maddening!  There are mini-cliff hangers all along.  Apparently, Dickens wrote Little Dorrit as a serial over a two year period and I can just imagine folks of the time chattering over the latest edition and eagerly anticipating the next.

Have you read or watched Little Dorrit? What about Persuasion or Mansfield Park? I love to hear what you think about the films as compared to the books.

Please recommend more period films from books: I fear I am addicted!  And don't worry about enabling, it is a hopeless longstanding addiction but I always read the books... eventually.                                              

Phryne Fisher meets Precious Ramotswe

I inhabit a world where I might be killed by a snake released in my bedroom, stabbed while dancing, eaten by a crocodile, shot in a drive-by, or pulled from a train and hung from a water tower. Yes, I do love mysteries, but it would be easy to become paranoid. Lately I have immersed myself in two vastly different mystery series.

Not too long ago, my family and I attended Woodford Folk Festival (I wrote about it here). We had torrential, terrible rains, and camping was an exercise in endurance. But our nights were made more tolerable by curling up, each on his or her camp bed, with a book light and a good book. At one point our tent collapsed, breaking poles and wrecking the camp. All we were really worried about was the borrowed camping gear and the bag of Christmas present books, not necessarily in that order.

When gum-boot deep in mud, my distraction of choice was the Phryne Fisher series by Australian Kerry Greenwood. Surrounded by smelly muck, I escaped to the glamorous 1920's where Phryne (pronounced Fry-knee) has more money than she knows how to spend, luxuriates in expensive cosmetics, wears bespoke clothes, and solves mysteries while shocking society. She is a ballsy, unconventional woman with an amazing intellect who began her life distressingly poor, and I want to be her (after she got rich). The book covers are beautiful, each showing Phryne in one of the amazing outfits from the book. I even saved one illustration as my phone's wallpaper (I am truly a book tragic).



After purchasing all the books I can find from the series (there are 17, I think, and I have seven so far) I went to the library in search of another lady detective. And Mma Ramotswe came to mind. Alexander McCall Smith's creation is 'Botswana's only--and finest--female private detective.' She is, in contrast to Phryne, a woman of tradition and national pride with a strong moral compass. Mma Ramotswe's life has a quiet rhythm, and much of her detecting is done chatting politely to people over a cup of bush tea. There's a film version, too.



One of my friends tried to read Smith's series and found it boring. I love the gentle pace and evocative language. McCall writes just as I imagine Mma would speak, and I feel like I've already met Botswana's lady detective.

The two lady sleuths couldn't be more different. Phryne screams through Melbourne in a demonic Hispano-Suiza while Mma tootles across Botswana in her tiny white van, lovingly maintained by her fiance Mr J.L.B. Matekoni. One character is free with her favours, slim with hip bones jutting from milky white skin. The other is 'traditionally built' and honoured when someone calls her fat.

Phryne makes me want to take better care of myself while Mma makes me want to take better care of everyone else. Phryne makes me want more stuff and Mma teaches me that I don't need any more stuff.

They are both avaliable on Kindle (Phryne is here and Mma Ramotswe is here.) if you are trying to save bookshelf space.

However, if, like me, you are reading the traditional, paper versions, you'll need bookmarks. For Phryne I chose a Valentino exhibit bookmark with a vintage dress that Julia Roberts wore. For Mma Ramotwse I chose Emus by Aboriginal artist Yirra-Kurl.


If you are looking to escape from your everyday life (and is that not why we read?), then I can recommend either Phryne or Mma Ramotswe. They are vastly different from one another, but both wonderful detectives.

However, after reading of these ladies' escapes you might start looking over your shoulder.

Let's be honest... (Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert)

We have sacrificed way too much time on the alter of the mediocre book in hopes of finding one of “those” books. When younger, I was willing to read a few chapters in anticipation of the point where it would hook me, and by that time, whether it had done its job or not, I was committed.

I don’t have that kind of patience anymore. Every last bit of it was exhausted by people who eat lunch while they’re talking on their cell phones, traveling one mile under the legal speed limit, in the fast lane, with their blinker on when I am late or even worse... have to go to the bathroom! ( For the mothers of young children among you, think, “Screaming entity in car seat” )

Like I said, spent, so a book has two pages to woo me, three if it buys me a glass of wine, otherwise, I’m outta there, thank you very much. I’m only interested in a book that sweeps me off my feet. It has to transport me or transform me and nothing else will do.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love is one of those books, those rare gifts that did both and now it’s a movie. I won’t see it, but on some level I’m glad, because it’s made more people want to read the book, though ‘I’m trying to be glad’, is closer to the truth. I searched and didn't find any reference to it by the bookish beauties who create this literary oasis, but if I missed it, I apologize for being redundant.

Assuming you don’t live under a rock but allowing for the possibility that you’ve been reeeeeally busy, it’s the true story of a woman’s life in metamorphosis and the transforming power of throwing yourself into your own life, consequences be danged to heck.

The almost too much longer version is: mid thirties, married, slight nervous breakdown, runs very far away from home, eats, starting to feel pretty good about it all, more travel, larger or smaller breakdown depending on how you look at it, a lot of praying followed by more traveling and finally love, both of herself and a man, in Italy, India and Bali, respectively. The three countries are so pivotal to what happens to Gilbert that they become characters in a sense, but some how I don’t think of it as a travel book, though it did make me want very much to go to India. Road trip anyone?

Here is where I would insert the photo of my dog-eared, highlighted, tea and tear stained copy complete with margin notes, but I don’t own one. Even though I’ve lost count of the number of copies I’ve bought, I can’t include an original picture, because I keep giving them away, the last one just two days ago.

Instead, here are my 109 beads, one for each chapter. I think Mrs. Baja Greenawalt would understand.

Off the Beaten Page on the Tangalooma Whale Watch Cruise

Izzy is the cousin on the right.

What are you reading? Chronicles of Narnia the Magician's Nephew, and Water tales, Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman.

Why are you reading 2 books at a time? I brought two in case I finished one. Water Tales is boring in the second part. Chronicles is very interesting, and you should probably read it before you read the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, which everyone seems to be reading because of the movie.

What did you read before this? Ella Enchanted, which is suited to teens. Generally I read more than most of my friends.

She says, 'Reading is nice.'

By the way, on the cruise we saw these two whales above, and the one below. And about 10 of their mates. Just spectacular...

Heron Island Library

Can you imagine an island with NO INTERNET CONNECTION, NO MOBILE PHONE RECEPTION AND NO TV'S IN THE ROOMS? Hubby, my beautiful mother and I took five girls, our Aussie/American daughters and our American nieces, to Heron Island. Some expressed a bit of angst at the thought of such deprivation, but the truth is that they are great girls and great readers. I knew they would be fine.

Most people come here for the amazing sea and bird life, but personally I was also interested in the library. Guests can take and leave their books, and I was looking forward to seeing what choices people made. Have you seen other 'swapsies' collections? I have seen them in motels, hotels and other resorts, and I was keen to see what people were leaving behind in a beautiful place which mostly relied on reading for leisure-time entertainment.

The library itself is housed in the Whitstari Lounge, above the bar with a big TV and some family games. Below people might be having cocktails or playing pool, but above a book lover can be exploring another world.

First surprise was the amount of Dutch and German books. Hubby said we'd be right if only we read one of those languages.

I did find a couple of books in the other languages I speak; a copy of The Long Goodbye in Italian and Nelson Demille's Le deshonneur d'Anne Campbell in French. It's a recount of the investigation of the rape and murder of a General's daughter. With no dictionaries and no internet connection to speak of (online translators are so handy!), I have been forced to underline in pencil the words new to me and save them for later. I consider my languages other than English books to be text books, and therefore don't mind 'defacing' them in this way. Do you agree?

I took this book, which is actually in English, and a wonderful novel. More on it later!

There were naturally lots of family saga and block-busters. One that interested me was the Endless Forest by Sara Donati. It says it is a historical romance by a best-selling author. I loved the cover.

There was a well-thumbed classic, a copy of Arizona Justice by Gordon D. Shirreffs. The blurb inside says, 'Gunsmoke Showdown: A gun blossomed orange flame in the centre of the smoke. Rowan rolled to one side, ripped his Colt loose and pumped two shots into the belly of the man who had hurdled the fallen door and thrust a six-gun toward him. The man hit hard, smashed against Rowan and lay still. ' Wow, what an exciting read for lounging on a tropical island!

Hubby left a copy of Ivory by Tony Park, which I had not read, and he took Sidney Sheldon's Mistress Games. He had found Ivory amusing in a not so flattering way, reading out some particularly corny lines to me. He expects Mistress Games to be about the same.

Probably the least appealing tome in the collection is a 2009 copy of the Coletanea de Legislacao Administrative Constitulcao
Federal from Brazil. Looks to me like the laws of the country. I can just imagine a Brazilian lawyer arriving with full intention of studying, then abandoning the profession to become a dive instructor or cleaner just to stay on the island. This book probably was found on the pool deck.

What treasures have you found in a 'swapsies' library?

Coco and Igor

Have you ever seen a movie that made you want to read the book? Like most women I love learning about Coco Chanel, but I had never known much about her life. Coco and Igor is based on the book written by Chris Greenhalgh about the later years of Chanel's life. She is painted as a not-so-nice lady, and the movie has some graphic R rated scenes, but I found the sets and costumes amazing. The relationship between music and fashion, the Ballets Russes and French society in the 1910's - 1920's was so interesting. I had known that the Russians took the French by storm, but not that Chanel had such an integral role.

So now I have another book on my TBR list. Has anyone read it?

And by the way, the photo has very little to do with the book, but I thought you might like this image from a French teenager site. It's Mads Mikkelsen, the Danish star of the movie. Apologies to our male readers, you brave vanguards of testosterone in the female-dominated book blogging world.