The Moonstone

Ok, here is another book review for the Back to Classics challenge. I read The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and I have to admit, I was slightly disappointed. I really enjoyed The Woman In White and thought The Moonstone might be just as good. Reviews for it are mixed – some loved it and some thought it was a little “meh”, I’m in the latter category.

Summary: Exposition: Creepy story of how an angsty dude steals a gigantic yellow diamond from India and then keeps it hidden away from crazy killer Brahmins who vow to search the ends of the earth for the stone in a very sadistic sort of crusades/ search for the holy grail kind of way. The killer Indians wouldn’t even have been an issue if the stupid angsty dude hadn’t been so greedy to begin with, but whatever. So the real story then starts out with a charming pretty dude being left in charge to give the diamond to a pretty spoilt brat cousin when she turns 18. Oh, and he’s totally wanting to marry her. Go figure. So all sorts of family and friends gather for bratty girl’s birthday where she dodges marriage proposals from another skeezy cousin who has a penchant for being a pansy and ripping off extremist old Christian ladies. Meanwhile, crazy Brahmins come dancing on the lawn, casing the house but are chased away. The girl gets the diamond and within 12 hours of her having it – it ends up stolen. MYSTERY! Whodunit narratives from various people acquainted with the family and friends give evidence in a sort of book style court case.

I really enjoyed the various viewpoints from the character narratives and sometimes I wished the whole novel had only been written by one character, but the shifting point of view was interesting. The tit-for-tat going on between Miss Clack and Mr. Blake’s narratives was hilarious, although I generally found Clack’s narrative to be the most annoying to get through. The set up and mystery of the Moonstone itself was fascinating and I wanted to know more, but when it came down to it, I was left feeling a bit deflated. I suppose I prefer to actually read through the action instead of being told it after the fact. Despite how much Rachel was loved by Franklin and considered always honest and honorable by Betteredge, I didn’t really like her all that much. The row between her and  Franklin when he confronts her about her animosity towards him was a wonderful scene, but it only made me more interested in Franklin being vindicated instead of hoping the two would end up together. The whole “experiment” to test the hypothesis of how the Moonstone was stolen and how to go about getting it again irked me. I didn’t buy it at all. I found it to be horribly lame and ridiculous. I can believe that the ultimate villain was capable of what he did in the story, but how he came about to “steal” the Moonstone was disappointing. I had hoped for something a bit more realistic and cunning with regards to the theft. All that being said, I do like how where the Moonstone ended up.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Another Back to Classics Challenge review. A classic play was next on the list and I figured why not shoot for some Shakespeare. I went with a short comedy because I honestly didn’t feel like banging my head against a wall trying to get through MacBeth or Hamlet. I *almost* decided to go with Faust, but I’ve got so much Shakespeare on my Kindle I figured I needed SOME excuse to read it.

Anyhoo, summary time!

Valentine is all “pfft, dude please” when his BFF Proteus starts sighing too heavily about his love (why not read it for what it is – lust) for fair Julia. Valentine is apparently made of stronger stuff (or so he thinks) as he sallies forth to Milan where he’ll serve in court. Proteus leaves a love letter for Julia, who likes Proteus as well, but isn’t sure if she should admit that, you know, she LIKE likes him. Her maid sets her to rights about admitting her affection without too much affectation. Meanwhile, Proteus’s dad gives him the boot to Milan, unaware of his lust for Julia. The two sigh and say adios for a while, but Julia devises a hair-brained idea to go see Proteus incognito. In Milan Proteus comes across Valentine, who has been nipped in the butt with cupid’s bow, and laments about his love for the Duke’s daughter, Silvia. Proteus gets a look at Silvia and his “love” of Julia deflates about as fast a balloon. He’s instantaneously in “love” now with Silvia, thus begins the jealousy, conniving craziness of two BFFs in “love” with the same woman. A very eye-roll worthy and ridiculous series of tiny events ensue with an appropriate Disney ending.

The only real comedy in this comedic play comes from the servants. They are either sharp witted and sensible or dim witted yet still manage to speak the truth in a very simplistic manner that makes the reader go “Ooooh, hmmm.” The reader may then wonder if even the dim witted characters aren’t more intelligent than all the main protagonists combined. Very clever there, Shakes’!

At first, I had to adjust myself to Shakes’ speak because it’s been a long time since I read ye oldey English-y. The first few pages I was mentally banging my head against a wall saying, “WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO READ THIS? DO YOU NOT LIKE YOURSELF AT ALL!” But after those pages I settled into it and managed to follow the plot better than I thought I would. It’s a very short read and by the time I was done with it I got up off the sofa with a “meh” shrug of the shoulders feeling. Not too bad, but not great either. Would only read again for the servants’ bits and only if I was REALLY desperate for something to read quickly.

Jane Eyre

For my Classic Reread in the Back to Classics 2012 Challenge I read Jane Eyre. I think I read this book 15 or so years ago and fell madly in love with it. Whenever anyone asked me what my favorite novel was I’d proudly say “Jane Eyre” and most likely in a manner that seemed to say “What else would I choose, you simpleton!”

Then came along Pride and Prejudice, and Jane Eyre took a back burner in my favorites, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. Rereading this again for the challenge reminded me of why and may have even nudged my former beloved out of the favorites category all together. I suppose I’ve grown up a lot since I last read it and though I’m sure my tastes have changed to a degree, I was shocked to wonder why I ever loved Jane Eyre at all.

I suppose this book is still very popular with certain people (and here I admit I’m generalizing): the young and impressionable, who love a good passionate read, and those who never get over the need for passion and drama.

Is Jane a strong female character? To a degree, yes she is. She’s spirited, honest, speaks her mind, and doesn’t back down. But, she’s also not quite the smartest tool in the shed, slightly pompous and a tad melodramatic. I won’t write a summary because the story is so well known, but the part where she leaves Thornfield to run away from Rochester and her aching heart came across as an utterly stupid thing to do. I’m principled although I love! I’ll run away to spare him even though I ache! I’ll not take anything with me to help me at all economically because I’m so principled and daring to show I don’t need anything from the man I love but still must flee!

Seriously. WTF. The only word that came to mind throughout all of it was, “Idiot.”

The beloved Jane of old who could do no wrong now came across as rather hysterical and ridiculous. Her reputation was further tarnished when she started to teach at the school set up for her by St. John. The condescension in her thoughts regarding her poorly students made me want to smack her upside the head. Oh, they are such crude people. So poor and uncivilized, but *I* will help them along and perhaps make their puny existences slightly more bearable to my refined tastes. She didn’t say that, but she may as well have. Constantly comparing her own worldliness over the lowliness of the peasantry she was teaching had me wrinkling my nose quite a bit. Her oh-so-humble benevolence in teaching these poor children wasn’t even tempered by her own reflections of her reduced situation. I understand her personal pride took a great hit to be lowered in such a situation compared to her previous employment, but she still came across as snobbish and pompous.

The role of religion in the later half of the book also rubbed me the wrong way. St. John’s extreme self-righteousness seemed to rub off a little on Jane and the internal monologues of religious faith had me yawning and wondering where the spunky self-reliant Jane had wandered off. I don’t know how I could have gotten past all the religious speak the first time I read it, but I was positively annoyed by it this time.

Submissiveness also reigned in the later half of the story. Jane always referring to Rochester as “my master” started to grate on my nerves as did her constantly bowing down to do whatever St. John commanded. She was aware of her own submissiveness and if the story had taken a turn for the S&M I could almost have tolerated it, but Jane’s submissiveness to be loved, feel useful, and make everyone happy nauseated me.

I still enjoyed the book, but now I’m seeing it through mature eyes and noticing all the details I glossed over years ago when I wanted only a passionate love story. Those details seem more important now because they confirm or deny what I value in the characters I read about. I used to think the world of St. John, even though I felt Rochester was better merely for being more roguish. Now, St. John makes me want to flee and never read another word about such oppressiveness in the name of religion. In the end, Jane was still her strong-headed self for saying no to St. John for a life in sin with her beloved Rochester (if viewed through the eyes of St. John). Granted, the manner she takes Rochester back make her a bit petty in my eyes, but at least she ended up with someone she loved instead of a Christian noose around her neck.

Book reports

I’ve already read through the first two books I assigned myself for the Back to Classics 2012 Challenge. So, far here be duds.

19th Century Classic: Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

I like Dickens. I like how crazy exaggerated his characters are – like big cartoony caricatures of what people are really like. His characters tend to be about one good element or one bad element, such as Avarice, Deceit, Greed, Honest, Pure, Gullible, Vain, etc… When there are so many of these characters interacting in a book, it’s always fun. However, Nicholas Nickleby was not fun. It was boring. Yes, each character had his/her flaw/virtue, but the plot was so mediocre I lost interest quickly.

Summary: Nice dad dies from broken heart because he made a boo-boo financially, which puts his family in peril of being poor.  He leaves his wife and two late teen/early adult kids with not much money so they appeal to the nice dad’s not-so-nice-money-grubbing brother, Uncle Ralph. Ralph is all “ew, family” and “don’t touch my money or I’ll chop your hand off” so he throws the boy at a bad school in Yorkshire, places the girl with a crazy dressmaker and her lecherous hubby to work as a seamstress, and throws the mom in a dingy old house. Family problems solved! The boy, Nicholas, hates the school with the mean headmaster and after a series of boring events bludgeons said headmaster and runs away, but ends up with a little follower from the school who is roughly the same age but has the mental capacity of a 10 year old – Smike. I had a hard time believing Smike to be around 18-19 years old because of how ridiculously he spoke all the time. I kept thinking he was a sort of brain dead Oliver Twist. Nicholas realizes he must not interfere with what Uncle Ralph decrees for the family b/c there is some $$ help involved, so Nick runs off to make money.  Good fortunes seem to fall on everyone, but Uncle Ralph decides REVENGE SHALL BE MINE FOR YOU PEOPLE BEING SO GOOD AND ME SO BAD! More ridiculous and rather boring events happen, which seem perilous, but really aren’t and, in fact, are quite predictable  (LOTS of eye-rolling and yawning). Like all good Dickens stories the good people get good endings and the bad get bad endings and then there’s always a bittersweet ending for someone in the mix to remind us all that LIFE – IT IS PRECIOUS (and slightly unpredictable).

The reasons for people doing things action wise in the novel were more for psychological reasons than anything else. Uncle Ralphy wanted revenge – just because he wanted revenge and didn’t like being overshadowed by a poor goody-two-shoes nephew. That may be all fine and well, but came across as a really bad Tale of Olde a la Jerry Springer, only without the cat fight and chair throwing. Come to think of it, the whole reason for Ralph being such a baddie was actually piss poor and juvenile. That being said, Ralph was the most interesting character in the novel because we got to see what was inside his think tank at times – such as his almost caring about his pretty, young niece – but then not enough to not feed her to a bunch of lechers. Also, his realizing his own inadequacies, but then justifying them to himself (someone in denial, luv eeeet!). Ultimately, his own fault in character being his greatest undoing, but knowing he could change it – but doesn’t – because he’s a baddie and this is Nicholas Nickleby and not A Christmas Carol. Everyone else was boring, except maybe the crazy dude who climbed down the chimney. There was no point in his existence in the novel other than to give the reader a WTF moment or two.

Overall, not impressed. Would not read again.

20th Century Classic: The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan

 James Bond, olde style without all the half naked dancing ladies. I didn’t know there was a series about the main protagonist until halfway through the book when I looked it up because I was bored with it. Yeah. Another dud.

Summary: Well-to-do war vet, man about town, jack of all trades (WTDWVMATJOAT) chum named Richard Hannay is BORED with London. He’s got money and good looks and oh my gosh he’s just so BOOOOOORED because being good looking and smart and rich is BOOOOOORRRRINNNNNG and omg he’s going to die or worse yet leave London if nothing fun happens ASAP! Queue crazy dude who shows up at Hannay’s house and says “I need help and you look like you could use some FUN, so HELP ME!” Hannay (WTDWVMATJOAT) lights a cigar, points to a chair and says, “Carry on….”  Crazy dude relates WILD TALE about GREAT PEOPLE ABOUT TO BE KILLED by BAD BADDIES WHO ARE SUPERBAD and crazy dude with his little black book of insane coding is the only one to help! He needs a place to hide out! And plan! And plot! And eventually gets killed when Hannay steps out one night for a sandwich! Hannay decides to pick up the crazy dude’s gauntlet (actually just the little black book) and a series of DEATH-DEFYING adventures across Scotland happen! Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE DEATH-DEFYING ADVENTURES! But… wait… doesn’t the main action that crazy dude mentions happen in London? YES, BUT DEATH DEFYING ADVENTURES NEED TO HAPPEN FIRST! Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE DEATH DEFYING ADVENTURES! Hmmmm…. right…. So after all the DDAs across northern England/Scotland the plot finally gets back on track (in London).

I could tolerate all the DDAs if it hadn’t been for all the times Hannay (WTDWVMATJOAT) was RIGHT about EVERYTHING. Whenever Hannay found himself in a pickle, which was constantly, he’d remember something that happened in a war, or something he read, or someone he knew, or some kind of peanut butter that had magical qualities and would cure the world of disease, hunger, and baddies….. you get the point. His little “aha!” moments (*queue blinking light bulb over head*) ALWAYS got him out of trouble in the NICK OF TIME – ALL the time. There was always the teeny tiniest hint of doubt just to make each “aha!” moment interesting – but not really. The first time was ok, the second amusing, the third barely tolerable, and by the time I was done with the book I wanted Hannay to exist just so I could shoot him point blank for being THAT DUDE WHO IS ALWAYS RIGHT. I cannot imagine reading one more word about that character and shocked there are 3 more stories in the series.

Not impressed. Would not read again.

Next book report will be about a classic reread – Jane Eyre.

Not necessarily calm, but definitely quiet

On New Year’s Eve I got my hair cut again. This time even shorter. I’m much happier with it now. It was rather amusing to see the looks on some of my friend’s faces that night. The night before, Friday, I went out with a group of friends for dinner. Over piping hot bowls of pho we made jokes and talked. We’re trying to make those types of nights happen more often – mostly at that particular restaurant because we all like pho. Next time we go I’m getting the papaya salad my friend Danielle ordered. The following night, NYE, I saw some of those friends again with my new haircut, which at first confused them. I like it when little things like that create such funny reactions. I wasn’t the only one to make a change. My friend Jason had gone from a full lumberjack/ serial killer looking beard on Christmas day, to a half beard/goatee in a weird art-house critic style that following Friday. On NYE he showed up with just a handlebar mustache and small goatee, looking like a thinner version of Al Swearengen from Deadwood. I deemed him “Swegen” for the rest of the night, although Zach said it was more of a Bullock look.

NYE was spent sober and playing zombie dice. We had to wake up early NYD so we left shortly after midnight. The next morning we got ready for our trip to NY to see the Miyazaki film, My Neighbor Totoro, at the IFC Center. After a mediocre brunch at some pub a few blocks from the IFC, we got there just in time to get in line before the doors opened to the tiny theater. It couldn’t have held more than 75 people at most. Watching Totoro on a screen was wonderful and when we found out The Cat Returns was playing next we considered getting tickets for it – until we found out it was sold out – as was every other Miyazaki film for the day. After getting coffee and hot cocoa from Third Rail Coffee we traipsed down Broadway for a bit, had a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant off 8th Street and then headed to the bus stop for our ride home. All in all it was a lovely day.

Monday was full of chores and the rest of the week seems a blur now – it was so busy. Tuesday night was another outing with friends. Two of them got engaged on NYE so we went out for a celebratory/goodbye dinner since they were headed back to their home on the west coast. Delicious burmese food at Rangoon and “dessert” being a basket of fries with beer at a Grace Tavern across town. Zach and I will now be saving some side money for a trip to Portland, Oregon for their wedding. Thursday I had a CAT scan and follow up appointment with the ENT regarding my ridiculous sinus issues. He wants to do surgery. I think he just said “surgery” because I think it’s what he always says – i.e. a quick fix. I’m not very impressed with him and am going to look into getting a second opinion. I don’t want surgery because the surgery isn’t guaranteed to get rid of the problem. Why put myself through recovery pain on par with having my wisdom teeth removed (and week long recovery) if my problems might return and never leave? It’s ridiculous. Some people have surgery several times for these issues and it’s never solved. I simply don’t think it’s necessary.

This weekend will be more chores (always with the chores on the weekends now – I have no other time for them), taking down the xmas decorations and the tree to a recycling station collecting this Sunday, then Zach’s company holiday party – also on Sunday. Everything has been busy, work, busy – but it’s been quiet. At least I feel I’ve been quiet. Perhaps, only quiet online. I’ve not had time, nor desire to pick up my camera. It’s only with some mental butt-kicking that I’m even writing this now.

I told myself this year would be about focus. I have certain things I want to accomplish and I’ve been focusing quite a bit already on them. The main one being running again. I’ve read two books about running already, Born to Run and Running Barefoot Step by Step. I wasn’t overly impressed with either, but did take away some good tips and exercises to practice in the latter. Born to Run was annoying to read through because the writing was so awful, which was a shame because I found the information on the Tarahumara interesting and the data on the last 30 years of running shoes enlightening. But gosh, the writing was nauseating. It’s a good thing the book was on my Kindle or it would’ve been thrown out the window. Barefoot Running was written well, but Ken Bob’s zealous mantras about barefooting got a bit annoying. Understanding the need for technique and practice did help, but I think I need to make my own routine that won’t be so gung-ho as his. Granted, I’ve not done a lot of running. For one, the weather has been very odd. Tuesday night as we met with friends one of them teased the engaged couple for choosing the coldest night of the year to go out and celebrate. By the time Zach and I left the bar the temperature was 17F with a windchill below 0. Instead of freezing my butt off outside I’ve been doing indoor exercises to strengthen my lower legs. After my first run out in my new shoes a couple weeks ago I was hurting quite a bit as I mentioned. It took me a few days to get over that and realize I needed to really work on strengthening my legs first before going out again. It’s amazing what sorts of good tips and exercises one can find on the internet, particularly with videos.  So while I wait for the weather to make up its mind (high of 28F Tuesday, 55F today) I’ll be working little by little indoors for when I can go out again.

Yesterday I decided to start my 2012 classics reading challenge and began with the 19th century novel – Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens. It’s rather disturbing what kind of parallels I’m finding between the novel and my work place.

Book Challenge

Normally, I don’t do this sort of thing and avoid such stuffs as reading challenges because my reading habits are so fickle. However, I’m actually intrigued by the Back to Classics 2012 Book Challenge.

Here are the categories:

• Any 19th Century Classic
• Any 20th Century Classic
• Reread a classic of your choice
• A Classic Play
• Classic Mystery/Horror/Crime Fiction
• Classic Romance
• Read a Classic that has been translated from its original language to your languange   - To clarify, if your native language is NOT English, you may read any classic originally written in English that has been translated into your native language.
• Classic Award Winner  - To clarify, the book should be a classic which has won any established literary award.
• Read a Classic set in a Country that you (realistically speaking) will not visit during your lifetime  - To Clarify, this does not have to be a country that you hope to visit either.  Countries that no longer exist or have never existed count.

So, I’ve been thinking of my list and I’ve mostly got it sorted. My main concern is whether or not I’ve chosen books I can tolerate reading and not want to chuck across the room, which I’ve done in the past with books I thought horrible. That would be a particularly bad thing because I read from my Kindle now.

• 19th Century Classic: Nicholas Nickleby By Charles Dickens
• 20th Century Classic: The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
• Reread: Jane Eyre (it’s been a long time)
• Classic Play: probably one of Shakespeare’s, not sure which yet – although Faust is tempting me as well
• Classic Mystery: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
• Classic Romance: Lorna Doone by Richard Doddridge Blackmore
• Translated: Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
• Award Winner: dunno if I want to read Slaughterhouse Five By Kurt Vonnegut or The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy – it may just depend on if I want a quick read or a long one (Slaughterhouse has a Nebula award and Forsyte a Nobel)
• Distant country: toss up between Arabian Nights and Art of War by Sunzi. I got a good edition of Arabian Nights that includes all the cutesy tales kids love as well as the erotica. I figured if I’m going to read it, I want to read ALL of it. Again, this might come down to whether or not I want a quick read.

I think I’ve chosen a rather nice variety – for me. I’m straying away from my safety zone on some of these, which makes me nervous, but also a bit curious as to whether or not I’ll break out into even more varied works.

Now for a book report: Little Dorrit

A Very Merkel Halloween

All Hallows Groove is the name of the tumblr my friends are using to share their Halloween songs. Some of you might remember the link I shared to  ”A Very Merkel Christmas” album made by Merkel and the Merkelets last Christmas. Well, here is the “A Very Merkel Halloween” EP to enjoy. My friend Jule is part of the band and while at the Wild Flag concert a couple weeks ago I got some details from him about these Halloween songs and what might hopefully be a slew of Valentine’s songs as well. I loved the Christmas album from last year and asked if there would be more, but they are still working on that. Enjoy these silly songs made by my friends! Btw, the skeleton in the car for the “Spooky” song has actually been sitting around in Jule’s car for a while now, which I’m sure is rather interesting when people notice his passenger.

I also wanted to write up a few words about my last Gothic novel for the month, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. This is considered a gothic mystery novel – AND HOW! Counts! Ghost like women! Mistaken Identities! Secret Societies! Crazy Italians! Evil Old Ladies! Evil Old Men! Insane Asylums! There are not enough exclamation points to do this novel justice! If I even attempt to give a plot summary I’ll end up giving too much detail and it’s best not to give any at all because this novel is So. Full. Of. Suspense! I couldn’t sleep at night because I was too busy gorging myself on this novel and pressing the button on my kindle for the next page with rapid-fire machine gun intensity! The writing is easy, simple and fast to get through. Some parts of it had me choking with laughter as a sort of slap-stick moment or thought would be thrown into the writing for a relief when it started to take itself too seriously. Wilkie has a damn good sense of humor. The nice thing about this novel was it being more of a suspenseful mystery than gothic, which transitions well into other stuff I’ve been wanting to read this winter.