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Favourite Books V: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Posted by Lahni in Classics | Favourites - (0 Comments)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Ok, what female doesn’t love this book?  All those who have fallen in love with Mr. Darcy say “aye!”  I know there are some people out there that aren’t huge fans of Jane Austen, but I am not one of them and I would have to say that Pride and Prejudice is my favourite of them all.

Someone read me a really great summary of this book from this website.  It says: (SPOILER ALERT! I try not to post spoilers in these little reviews but I figured that pretty much everybody knows what happens in this book, right?)

Mr. Darcy: Nothing is good enough for me.

Ms. Elizabeth Bennet: I could never marry that proud man.

(They change their minds.)

THE END

Obviously, there is a lot more that goes on in the book, but that is the main idea.  I actually really like the way Austen chose to write the novel.  Although it’s written in the third person, it doesn’t jump around and follow several characters.  Occasionally we are allowed to view the thoughts of other characters, but mainly the book is told from Elizabeth’s point of view.  I love how the reader is able to slowly fall in love with Mr. Darcy, just as Elizabeth does (at least I do, over and over, every time).

I love the way Austen satirizes her characters.  I sort of imagine that some people who read Austen back in the day, didn’t really realize they were being made fun of.  (Sort of like people who read SSB and don’t get it… She was the TAMN of her day!)  I reread this book to write this review and I had forgotten how funny it is!  The very first line in the book is: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”  I’m pretty sure she meant that to be tongue in check.  And I laughed out loud in several other places.  Austen is really very witty.

I really like her characters, they are so believable even nearly 200 years later!  They are people you know.  (At least I know some of the characters in this book!)  And the story is just so great.  Austen sure knew how to tell a good story.  I would recommend this book to anyone who hasn’t already read it, or even hasn’t read it recently.  I really like all of Austen’s works but I think my second favourite would have to be Sense and Sensibility.

I also have to mention the different movie adaptation of this novel.  I have not seen the BBC version (I’m planning on it very soon though) but I’ve heard it’s very good.  I have seen the newest version with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet.  I really like this one.  I think it’s cast very well and it’s actually pretty true to the book.  Another version I like is Bridget Jones’ Diary (the movie and the book.)

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Favourite Books IV

Posted by Lahni in Favourites | General Fiction - (0 Comments)

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner begins with Amir (the narrator) making this statement: “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.”   That cold winter’s day, Amir failed to stand up for his good friend Hassan when he needed it the most.  The one thing in the world that Amir desired the most, was the approval of his father, and that day, he traded Hassan’s happiness for his father’s love and affection.  Sadly his father’s approval was short-lived and Amir could not get over his guilt at the betrayal of such a close friend and so pushed him even farther away, this time putting physical distance between them by forcing Hassan and his father to leave.

After living in California for 25 years, Amir is summoned to Pakistan to see an old family friend (Rahim) who is dying. Rahim is able to answer some of Amir’s questions about the fate of Hassan and his father and reveals to him that Hassan had a son that is living in an orphanage in Kabul.  Rahim is also able to provide some insight into the Amir’s strained relationship with his father.  Amir returns to Afghanistan determined to find Hassan’s son and bring him back to Pakistan to be cared for.  Through this process Amir is able to forgive himself and find peace.

My favourite thing about this book is the story.  It’s gripping and emotional.  It’s truly a book you can’t put down.  There are parts of the story that are sad, and parts that are happy.  And it’s so well written, the characters are so real.  I really feel for the characters and feel with them.

There are some really bad things that happen to the characters in this story.  It could be very depressing, but the way Hosseini tells the story, I felt sad and outraged when these things happened, but not depressed, it didn’t bring me down.  Hosseini has a way of telling the story, that lets you accept what happened and move on.  He allows the reader to hope for happiness for the characters.

I read Hosseini’s second novel A Thousand Splendid Suns and didn’t like it nearly as much as The Kite Runner.  It’s a good book, but it’s not at all the same type of story.  I think I would have liked it a lot more if I hadn’t known it was by the same author.

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Favourite Books III

Posted by Lahni in Favourites | General Fiction | Young Adult - (0 Comments)

This book was originally intended for adults but was marketed in the US for young adults.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief takes place during WWII and one of the most interesting things about it, is that it is told from the point of view of death.  I know that makes it sound like kind of a morbid story, but it’s really not.  Death is not the stereotypical grim reaper type character.  In fact, death isn’t really even a character in the story.  The story is really about a young girl named Liesel, who due to circumstances caused by the war is going to be left with a foster family in a town near Munich.  Her father has been imprisoned for his communist sympathies, her brother has died from an illness and her mother can no longer care for her.  It is as her brother is being buried that Liesel becomes the book thief, grabbing a book she spots at the graveyard.  It is this act that causes Death to take an interest in Liesel.

As Liesel goes to live with the couple that have agreed to take her in Death continues to keep an eye on her.  She quickly adjusts to her new life and develops strong relationships with her new family and some of the people who live on her street.  Liesel continues to steal books with the help of her foster father, she begins to learn to read.  She uses her stolen books for other purposes as well, including comforting neighbours during an air raid.

This story contains all the regular types of occurrences you expect to find in a WWII story – loved ones dying and disappearing , Jews being persecuted and forced into hiding, and fear and hardship, but they take such a unique twist that the story isn’t boring or predictable.  I especially love the use of colour in the narrative.  Zusak uses colour as a noun rather than an adjective and colour is a very important part of this novel.  One of the reasons I’ve chosen this as on of my favourites is that the story is touching and real, but never overly depressing.  It’s an easy read with lovable characters and an uplifting message.

I have read another book by Zusak (I am the Messanger) but it wasn’t nearly as good as The Book Thief so I won’t recommend it.

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Favourite Books II

Posted by Lahni in Favourites | Science Fiction - (1 Comments)

Well, I wasn’t going to include this one, but I’m sure it’s the book I’ve read the most times, so that must say something about it right?

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

I believe it was Michelle that introduced me to OSC, and I know that Ender’s Game was the first one of his books I read.  I was in high school the first time I read this book and I was really into science fiction at the time.  However, I have continued to read it over and over because it’s more than just science fiction.

The novel opens as the human race is on the brink of destruction.  Earth has been attacked previously and future confrontations are imminent.  The ruling body has decided that the best hope for success is to breed geniuses and train them in the art of war.  The main character in the story, Ender, is one of these geniuses.  As the story begins, Ender  – a mere child – is taken from his family to begin his military training in space.

All of the other recruits training on the space station are children as well (although Ender is the youngest) and their life revolves around the game referenced in the title of the novel.  It is a war game played in zero gravity.  As the story progresses the game becomes more and more important and difficult. As Ender is challenged in the game, he reveals his intelligence and sheds his innocence.  I can’t say more than that without giving away the story.

There are so many reasons why I continue to read this book over and over.  First, I love the narrative. There is something about it that will appeal to anyone who enjoys a good story.  It is interesting and entertaining and relevant (even though it’s about an alien war…it’s not really about the war, it’s really about human nature).

I also love the way it is written.  The only word I can think of to describe the way it’s written is smart.  (I know that’s not very descriptive, but hey, I’m not putting myself on this list!)  I really like that the writing strictly tells the story.  There is nothing at all that is not needed as part of the story.  (No 100 page soliloquies here!) It’s very succinct and to the point.

A third reason I love this book is that despite the fact that this is a science fiction novel, it is very real and believable.  The characters and their behaviour strikes a familiar chord.  The behaviour of the children is certainly not admirable or the best we could hope for, but in this sense I find it very similar to Lord of the Flies.  I took a class in university were we always seemed to end up arguing about the reality of the Lord of the Flies. Many of us, myself included, argued that this would never have happened.  I have since changed my opinion.  I think, if left unchecked, a child dominated society would very quickly deteriorate into anarchy.  (I’ve seen how quickly that happens in my own home when I am not policing things!)  With current research we now know a lot more about how the human brain develops and when, than OSC and William Golding did.  Turns out that the part of our brain that is responsible for rational decision making isn’t fully developed until your mid-twenties (as anyone who has dealt with teenagers probably already knows)!

Anyway, back to Ender’s Game.  I think it’s a book anyone can enjoy and not just science geeks like me!

I recommended another book by Ayn Rand and I have another recommendation for Card too that’s a little less science fictiony.  It’s called Songmaster.  It’s been a while since I’ve read this one but I remember liking it because it was about the power of music.

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Favourite Books Part I

Posted by Lahni in Favourites | General Fiction - (0 Comments)

I told someone (you’d better be reading!) I would make a list of some of my favourite books, so I thought I would post them here. I was going to put them all in one post but after writing some of the reviews, I decided that they could stand alone.  Also, these are in no particular order, just as they happen to occur to me.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand:

Rand was born in Russia and lived through the revolution that led to the rise of communism.  Her experiences in communist Russia were apparently decidedly BAD as evidenced by her anti-communist, anti-socialist and anti-religious leanings.  Atlas Shrugged takes place in an America that is slowly and covertly abandoning a free market economy.  In response to this, the country’s most talented minds decide to do something drastic about it.  Some deliberately run their businesses into the ground, others merely disappear, leaving their ventures to be run by people who are less competent. The story continues as the blundering government tries to make do without the more intelligent entrepreneurs.  You can probably see where the story is leading and it is very political.  I still found it very entertaining and well written.

The development of objectivism is attributed to Rand and many say that this book is where she perfected her philosophy.  At times the novel gets very heavy and even overwhelming but even these parts are worth reading.  I learnt a lot from reading these parts.  As someone who lived through the Cold War but didn’t really know much about world politics, I never really understood what the big deal was.  Reading Atlas Shrugged and other books by Rand I have come to realize that communism, the way it was implemented in the Soviet Union is really very dangerous and destructive.  In my opinion (as a good little Canadian socialist) her viewpoint is extreme but after going through what she did, I think she is entitled to a little extremism.

I would suggest that before a person tackle Atlas Shrugged (1000+ pages – eek!) a good starting point is another of Rand’s novels – We The Living.  Rand herself has said that this is the most autobiographical of her works and it definintely helped me to be more sympathetic to her ideas.

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