false 41219 38 "Literary critics make natural detectives," says Maud Bailey, heroine of a mystery where the clues lurk in university libraries, old letters, and dusty journals. Together with Roland Michell, a fellow academic and accidental sleuth, Maud discovers a love affair between the two Victorian writers the pair has dedicated their lives to studying: Randolph Ash, a literary great long assumed to be a devoted and faithful husband, and Christabel LaMotte, a lesser-known "fairy poetess" and chaste spinster. At first, Roland and Maud's discovery threatens only to alter the direction of their research, but as they unearth the truth about the long-forgotten romance, their involvement becomes increasingly urgent and personal. Desperately concealing their purpose from competing researchers, they embark on a journey that pulls each of them from solitude and loneliness, challenges the most basic assumptions they hold about themselves, and uncovers their unique entitlement to the secret of Ash and LaMotte's passion. <p> Winner of the 1990 Booker Prize--the U.K.'s highest literary award--<i>Possession</i> is a gripping and compulsively readable novel. A.S. Byatt exquisitely renders a setting rich in detail and texture. Her lush imagery weaves together the dual worlds that appear throughout the novel--the worlds of the mind and the senses, of male and female, of darkness and light, of truth and imagination--into an enchanted and unforgettable tale of love and intrigue. <I>--Lisa Whipple</I> 2246190 book 1990 Possession: A Romance total:7311|5:2628|4:2338|3:1490|2:555|1:311| 7311 28339 10978 963 5 19 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 27 19:09:54 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 27 21:07:15 -0700 2008
Then I started reading Possession. The happiness project got put on the ...more...]]> 5 7 false false Sun Oct 11 10:59:36 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 14:48:51 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 10:59:36 -0700 2009 Possession, again for about the fourth time. It has been several years since I last read it, and I have to say that I saw it in a completely new light. It is a literary masterpiece that is exquisitely plotted and written.

This time around ...more...]]> 4 7 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 01 19:23:18 -0700 2007 Thu Jan 03 13:24:44 -0800 2008
Possession is a highly celebrated novel by A.S. Byatt that contains two story threads. The first story could be categorized as historical fiction. We learn about the relationship of fictional poets Christabel LaMotte and R.H. Ashe through...more...]]> 1 10 false false Fri Oct 12 13:58:04 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 12 14:06:14 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 17 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Mon Jun 04 10:21:27 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 25 10:13:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 4 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Mon Aug 20 16:20:29 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 20 16:39:46 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 3 false false Sun Aug 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 03 20:10:30 -0700 2008 Thu Nov 12 18:01:41 -0800 2009
I read somewhere that if you pick up a book, and you're not enjoying it by either: a) your age (if you are under 50); or b) 100 minus your age (if you are over 50), you should abandon it and move on. There is too much to read and life is too short to...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Mon Jun 30 12:37:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 17 08:34:49 -0700 2008 I first read it when I was a graduate student myself, and I felt that in so many ways, it ran true to what I experienced studying the depths of the humanities (this book deals with English lite...more...]]> 2 5 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Oct 16 04:17:01 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 15 10:37:07 -0700 2009 Yes, there's a but... it took me 3 tries to get past page 10. I should have known then... but (again with the 'but') I persevered... thinking that I would eventual...more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Mon Aug 20 06:11:01 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 20 06:25:47 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Oct 09 07:02:50 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 09 13:07:54 -0700 2009 10 Possession is like a bottle of wine or a box of really good chocolate (the really, expensive and sinfully good kind). There is an aboluste beauty in this book, and it seems to lie in the details. How all the characters still in character, the resolution to both romances at the end, all the...more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Tue Aug 18 21:22:15 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 12:33:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 3 false false Fri Sep 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 21:14:33 -0700 2009 Thu Nov 12 18:01:41 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 12:52:14 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 19:11:56 -0700 2009 Now and then there are readings that make the hairs on our neck, the non-existent pelt, stand on end and tremble, when every word burns and shines hard and clear and infinite and exact, like stones of fire, like points of stars in the dark... -Possession, Pg. 512

How do I write a review w...more...]]> 1 2 false false Thu May 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 17 19:58:46 -0700 2008 Thu May 22 19:31:31 -0700 2008
Still reading...

It started out pretty good, set in London, Roland, a young research assistant is look...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Tue Feb 12 08:54:01 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 07 08:18:02 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 11 15:08:03 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 18 12:13:59 -0700 2007
Wow.

What an original book! AS Byatt was awarded the Booker Prize of Fiction in 1990 for her ambitious unfolding love story between two fictional poets from the 19th century,R.H. Ash and Cristabel LaMotte, and two modern day literary experts on their works and life, ...more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri Jan 25 13:29:47 -0800 2008 Sat Jul 19 18:40:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 12 17:30:42 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 28 23:46:33 -0700 2007 The reader may find him- or ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Jan 04 08:33:33 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 08:35:07 -0800 2009 1 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=41219