Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte |Ignore 10 year old Jane, and all is good

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Despite being one of the most popularly known pieces of canonized literature, I still struggle to explain what this book is about beyond “it follows the life of Jane Eyre”. Honestly, I don’t feel like all that much happens for the length of it. But that’s not to say it doesn’t deserve it’s high acclaim. It’s just that when you read a lot of fantasy, you come to expect a lot of events (and numerous opportunities to wield your magic slaying-powers, of course).

So we start off with Jane as a child – a state I can just about manage. It’s far from my favourite stage to read about. To me, the language just seems rigid and almost wrong for her age. I’m well aware that the story is being narrated through an older Jane Eyre’s perspective, recounting her story and being able to add intelligence and hindsight beyond her focused years. But when that language and voice doesn’t change at all in recounting the dialogue of a ten year old…it’s strangely jarring. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it, no matter if it was true to the time period or character. So we’ll just ignore ten-year-old-Jane, okayy? Okayy.

Saying that, Jane Eyre soon grows older – as nature requires – and from that point on I can barely find anything to fault in the book. Because ohhhh it gets intense.

But how can it get intense if not all that much happens?

Well.

Continue reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte |Ignore 10 year old Jane, and all is good

The Iliad by Homer | A lengthy read, but totally worth it to me

iliad

And with this review, you see the beginnings of my exploration into ancient classics. If you have me on instagram or twitter you many have heard me mention buying a few ancient greek inspired books recently, but my reviews have a bit of a backlog and so finally, the first is coming to my blog.

spoiler free

Let’s dive right in!

Iliad

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Continue reading The Iliad by Homer | A lengthy read, but totally worth it to me

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde | I mean…I guessed the ending…

dorian gray

A random pick up on my part, I had zero intentions of reading this soon. But, I’m mightily happy I did, because it’s one I’ve been meaning to check of the list for an awful long while now.

spoiler free

Let’s dive right in!

Picture of Dorian Gray

Continue reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde | I mean…I guessed the ending…

A Room With A View by E.M. Forster | One of the loveliest books I’ve read in a long time

So this is a book that wriggled its way onto my TBR for April without me even realising. I was just suddenly hit with the overwhelming OH-MY-GOODNESS-I-NEED-TO-CONSUME-THIS-BOOK-RIGHT-NOW feeling.

So here we are!

Let’s dive right in!

Continue reading A Room With A View by E.M. Forster | One of the loveliest books I’ve read in a long time

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll | Getting weirdly annoyed at a child

 Well this sure was an odd reading experience. I picked this one up for a quick read – being half the size of my usual books and a children’s. But it really didn’t go how I expected.

Let’s dive right in!

Continue reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll | Getting weirdly annoyed at a child

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood | What is going on with the writing?

The Handmaid's Tale

It was about time this one was read. It’s been on my TBR for so long, and now that it’s been sat on my bookshelves for a fair few months, now was the time.

spoiler free

Let’s dive right in!

The Handmaid's Tale

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Continue reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood | What is going on with the writing?

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen | A long book with a lot of toing and froing, but a good read nonetheless

sense-and-sensibility

Yes I know there’s a typo in the title image. Yes it bothers me immensely. Yes we are just going to ignore it and pretend it didn’t happen. 

Sense and Sensibility. The last Jane Austen novel I needed to read to be able to proudly say “I’ve read Jane Austen’s entire works”…kind of. I still have a book of short stories by her. But you know. I read all her full novels so it counts.

I recently made a video of mini-reviews for Jane Austen, going through each of the books in order of least favourite to favourite. So if you’ve seen that, you might remember where this one came. But now, it’s time for the full review.

Let’s dive into Sense and Sensibility!

*Sorry the image looks weird. My phone camera doesn’t get along with clothbound books, apparently?*

sense-and-sensibility

Title: Sense and Sensibility

Author: Jane Austen

Publisher: Penguin

Series Status: Standalone

Genre: Classic, Romance

Number of Pages:  448

Continue reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen | A long book with a lot of toing and froing, but a good read nonetheless

Emma by Jane Austen | A really entertaining read, with some rather…interesting…characters

emma

Another one for the Austentatious Book Club!

I finished this just before the end of November, luckily. I don’t want to fall behind. Which is a very real struggle when I read classics so damn slowly. But I have my ways *insert mysterious eyebrow quirk*

Hint: Those ways are audiobooks. Shh don’t tell. 

spoiler-free

Let’s talk about Emma!

Sounds like we’re being mean, doesn’t it?

emma

Title: Emma

Author: Jane Austen

Publisher: Penguin Classics

Series Status: Standalone

Genre: Classic

Number of Pages:  474

Continue reading Emma by Jane Austen | A really entertaining read, with some rather…interesting…characters

November Wrap Up – The weird month where I feel like I’m not reading, then end up reading more than usual

november-wrap-up

November. The month that begins with an onslaught of sporadic fireworks. The month where winter begins to settle in, grabbing the bones of us here in the UK, and lies with us for the long run. Fog and frost become a daily occurrence. We have only 6 hours or so of real daylight. Step outside and instantly your cheeks are flushed, fingers stiff, and you’ll be glad for extra layers of clothing.

But inside is a different matter. Inside is where I (and most bookworms) thrive on these freezing days. November was the month where my bedroom became my cocoon of warmth. At some point every day, you could find me wrapped in 5 layers of blankets, cuddling a hot water bottle and cat simultaneously while reading a book by fairy-light.

And so, November was a true bookworm month for me. Even if I didn’t read any more than usual, every comfort my heart longs for – blankets, hot water bottles, warm drinks while fog smothers the outside world – was available to me once again. Every moment of the day I wanted to get cosy and read. And now here we are – getting closer to Christmas, might I add.

So let’s see what November brought…

There’s also a video version of this post if you’d like to see, combined with my December TBR! Click here if you want to see!

PS. Do you like the new intro? Thought I’d try the scenic route rather than just throwing you all in. Let me know if you like!

*ahem* anyway

Continue reading November Wrap Up – The weird month where I feel like I’m not reading, then end up reading more than usual

A slow but enjoyable trundle through Anne Elliot’s life in…Persuasion by Jane Austen

persuasion

Another classic!

I don’t know why I said that as if it were surprising. I’m part of a Jane Austen book club. I’ll be reading a classic every month 😆

But yes! This was the September book for the Austentatious Book Club. I’m actually so thrilled I managed to finish this on Friday night, considering the movie night for the TV film adaptation was on Saturday – I didn’t want to be spoiled! But I did it! *throws confetti*

spoiler-free 

So let’s talk about Persuasion!

persuasion

Title: Persuasion

Author: Jane Austen

Publisher: Wordsworth Classics

Series Status: Standalone

Genre: Classic

Number of Pages:  199

Continue reading A slow but enjoyable trundle through Anne Elliot’s life in…Persuasion by Jane Austen