“Canonical writing is born of an originality fused with tradition.”
– Harold Bloom
At long last – but seemingly all too soon – I’ve reached the end of my first year at university. A long summer awaits, and so it’s time to bid farewell to the reading list of first year and anticipate the list for next year. But before doing so, the favourites of the bunch await their highlight.
Continue reading Favourite university reads | What a mix of eras
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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
So I thought to myself the other day “Ashleigh, it’s been freakin’ AGES since you did a book haul on your blog. Sort yourself out.” They’re just easier to do on my booktube channel, and so somehow I’ve neglected to add them here too.
But NOT TODAY MY FRIENDS. Because here I’m bringing you my collective book haul. Like I did on my last haul, I’ll link my video at the start of the list, since that’s where I explain where I got the books from and any thoughts I have on them, but if you can’t watch the video (or simply don’t want to *cries* (just kidding)), all the books will be listed below as their own haul!
Continue reading Collective Book Haul – April & May |Gotta get those spring reads in
So after Part 1 of my recommendations, featuring Fantasy, Complex stories and SciFi, I decided to follow it up with three more genres:
So read on and enjoy!
I’ve been tagged in so many posts lately, which is why there’s been an increase of posts from me this week. Hope you don’t mind!
Astra @ A Stranger’s Guide to Novels tagged me to do the Seasons of Book Blogging book tag, so thank you, and here it is!
How this works:
I was tagged by Belle Infini and BOOKS AND OTHER MIRACLES to do this tag, so thank you! 😀
Well, my initials are AJW, so here we go…
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas/ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte/ Winter by Marissa Meyer. I don’t actually own Winter yet, but all the other options had boring covers and I think I’ll be getting it at Christmas so close enough, right? Also Jane Eyre turned out to be the only book I own beginning with J. I had to scavenge for it.
A frolic through fiction 