Christina Stind's comments (member since Dec 08, 2008)

Christina Stind's comments from the Reading from the Best Books group.

Of the three Austen novels I've read (P&P, S&S and this), this is my second favourite.

I found Emma annoying at times, very spoiled and naive as well. However, she still comes across as somewhat likeable because she means so well. She tries to help Harriet to achieve a higher status because she likes her and believes her worthy of it. She really tries to do good - but still, because of her sheltered life, her knowledge of the world and how society works is rather limited and she ends up doing more harm than good.
Her idea of what is good, is in some ways so egoistic, almost solipsistic, in her lack of ability to really consider other people's feelings and her lack of true empathy and understanding of what it's like to be someone else.
But despite all these flaws, she still comes across as a sweet girl. And I'm so impressed with Austen's writing skills!
But this is a book where everybody end up on their proper place and maybe the only thing really annoying me is how it seems that the only way to be happy is to marry a in status compatible person.

John Fowles The Magus

I'm in too. But I hope we can read Dickens for three months and not just in December - I have a lot of Dickens I would like to read!

Fiona wrote: "Yeah vote for Grotesque! I've been reading so much Historical fiction in October I want to move onto some gruesome Japanese crime!"

Grotesque is already on my to-read list so it could easily be the one I vote for (however, so is the Hansel & Gretel one...) - but I think I'm more into some weird Japanese stuff right now :-)

Not sure I'm going to make it to the 100 books mark...

60. Sense and Sensibility (didn't enjoy this one all that much even though I've been looking forward to it)
61. Dragons of the Hourglass Mage (novel about Raistlin's way to the black robes - okay but not as good as some of the other Dragonlance books)
62. Middlemarch (tough to get into but then an amazing book)
63. Skyggen over Stenbænken (=The Shadow on the Stone Bench. The first volume of what I remember to be an amazing series of ya books)
64. ... og de hvide skygger (... and the white shadows. Second volume in Gripe's shadow series - I understand why my younger self loved this one!)

Currently reading volume 3 and taking on volume 4 after that. After that - probably Elfland by Freda Warrington; at least I've been looking so much forward to reading that!

There are actually several really good suggestions this month! I like both Grotesque and The true story of Hansel and Gretel and volume 12 of Whee of Time - but as much as I would like to read the new Wheel of Time, it will have to wait till I have read the first 11 in that series (I've finished 3 so far...). But the other two suggestions are so good that I will refrain from suggesting something else this month.

Currently reading Middlemarch by George Eliot - it's a bit hard going in places but I'm still enjoying it. But again, when you read classics, you really have to consider whether you want to read the introduction - why do they always assume you've read the book already before reading the introduction and then fill it with spoilers???

nurul.h.a wrote: "any good book to recommend. i am done with the collection of haruki murakami. he left me in daze now..."

Maybe try something by David Mitchell. He should be somewhat similar to Murakami, but still different. I think Cloud Atlas is his most famous work. I have Ghostwritten on my shelf and am looking forward to reading it.

I agree Silver. The sisters' situations are similar but showed as being completely different from each other. That was one of my issues with the book as well.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

55. Ned til Hundene (Down to the Dogs - novel by Danish author about a woman having left her husband)
56. Un Lun Dun (great urban fantasy ya book about two girls discovering London's abcity UnLondon where all lost and unwanted things end up)
57. The Grapes of Wrath (excellent amazing book)
58. Smashed, Squashed, Splattered, Chewed, Chunked and Spewed by Goodreads author Lance Carbuncle (not quite what I thought ...)
59. Eksil by late Danish author Jakob Ejersbo (great novel about a young girl living in Africa)
60. Sense and Sensibility (didn't enjoy this one all that much even though I've been looking forward to it)
61. Dragons of the Hourglass Mage (novel about Raistlin's way to the black robes - okay but not as good as some of the other Dragonlance books)

Currently I'm trying to work my way through George Eliot Middlemarch and looking forward to Dan Brown The Lost Symbol.

And now I've finished it. Still didn't care particular about it or it's characters. Not sure what went wrong since I really liked P & P.

Willoughby, who for most of the book is a villain, gets excused in the end - both by his own attempt at explaining but also by Elinor's/Austen's attempt to describe why he is that way: "Her thoughts were silently fixed on the irreparable injury which too early an independence and its consequent habits of idleness, dissipation, and luxury, had made in the mind, the character, the happiness, of a man who, to every advantage of person and talents, united a disposition naturally open and honest, and a feeling, affectionate temper." (p. 324 in my edition and it goes on...). So it really wasn't his fault that he treated Marianne that way ... I do realise that Austen use this as a critique of society and that Elinor later on sees less kind on him - but still. It kind of bugged me that because he had become independent early one, he wasn't to blame, not really.

And I didn't like the way the book was tied up. Both marriages seemed rather sudden and weird to me. Edward had in some ways behaved just as badly as Willoughby and yet, he was instantly forgiven. And it seemed that Marianne only married Colonel Brandon because her family wanted her too - and because it was a reward to him after a hard life...

I agree with Silver that Margaret was not necessarily. In P & P she used the extra sisters - she didn't really here. Margaret is used so little that I at times forgot there even was a third sister...

This is my second Austen. I've read P & P and also watched the Colin Firth movie and I loved both. But this one ... I don't really care for it. I don't find it as ironic or sarcastic as P & P was in parts (I love the father in that book!), Marianne seems to be a bit of a drama queen to an extent that I don't really care for her, the men are rather bland - I have trouble keeping some of them straight - and the entire book just leaves me rather uncaring.
I still have about 100 pages to go so I'm hoping something will improve my impression of this book. It's a bit sad because I was so looking forward to reading more Austen and now I'm just a bit bored...

I just got 'Dragons of the Hourglass Mage' from the Dragonlance series - looking forward to reading that! And the two first volume of what looks like a very interesting fantasy trilogy - The Shadow of the Apt (by Adrian Tchaikovsky), third volume was sold out unfortunately.

I'm about halfway through Smashed, Squashed, Splattered, Chewed, Chunked and Spewed by Goodreads author Lance Carbuncle. Not quite sure what I think yet - but definitely some funny parts.

I've recently read this one as my first Austen and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm currently watching the BBC version of it with Colin Firth and liking it a lot as well.

I'm a bit more than halfway through and it's such a powerful read. You are constantly feeling with these people and hoping for them that they will catch a break somehow somewhere. And still, just as Avigail said, even when they have absolutely nothing, they find something to share. I really like how he describes the small communities that appear along the way from east to west and how they all take care of each other, even though they're part of a new community each evening.

Still behind - and I am starting work full-time on the 14th so then I'll have even less time to read...

53. Tarka the Otter (un-sentimental book about the life of a otter from birth to dead)
54. To the Lighthouse (my first Virginia Woolf - really enjoyed it)
55. Ned til Hundene (Down to the Dogs - novel by Danish author about a woman having left her husband)
56. Un Lun Dun (great urban fantasy ya book about two girls discovering London's abcity UnLondon where all lost and unwanted things end up)

Reading The Grapes of Wrath for Steinbeck Summer. So far really good.

I'm more than halfway through Un Lun Dun by China Miéville. An easy YA book that really shows up it's authors incredible imagination. I'm enjoying it a lot.