James Joyce and Mild Pretention

I've concluded that pretty much everyone in my British literature class is more than mildly pretentious. I don't know if its because we're reading some more-advanced stuff, or because their very natures as English majors cause them to put themselves above those who are less literary in lifestyle, but there are times when I feel like I'd be strung up for my ankles if I ever admitted that I have, indeed, read The Devil Wears Prada.

Other than dealing with that particular group of people, I will say that I am thoroughly enjoying James Joyce's Dubliners, which I'm reading for my term-paper. Although I'm not usually a fan of reading "day-in-the-life" kind of books (as a daily liver of life, I find it rather pointless to do such), this seems to be a different case. Perhaps its because it is a day in the life so different than mine. Perhaps it is because Joyce writes with such a vivid passion. Who knows. Here are some of my favorite passages:

"The journey laid a magical finger on the genuine pulse of life and gallantly the macheinery of human nerves strove to answer the bounding courses of the swift blue animal."

"He knew he would regret in the morning but at present he was glad of the rest, glad of the dar stupor that would cover up his folly."

"Experience has embittered his heart against the world. But all hope had not left him."

"He remembered the books of poetry upon his shelves at home. He had bought them in his bachelor days and man and evening, as he sat in the little room off the hall, he had been tempted to take one down from the bookshelf and read out something to his wife. But shyness had always held him back, and so the books had remained on their shelves. At times he repeated lines to himself and this consoled him."

Even in the mundane, there is a way that Joyce is able to craft and twist to create a story that I find myself falling more empassioned for with each turned page.

Give-Away Time!

Care, of Care's Online Book Club is offering a pretty sweet prize package, including a copy of The Unbearable Lightness of Being and St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves as well as a color compact from the unbeatable Mary Kay. Sounds pretty good to me!

The Jane Austen Book Club

Title: The Jane Austen Book Club
Author: Karen Joy Fowler
Country: USA
Pages: 304
Year: 2004
Rating: 4 out of 5

There is something remarkably special about a group of women who gather to talk about books and literature, and maybe even the occasional men who join them. And when the women of the Jane Austen book club get together, it easy, as a reader, to see the magic thats created. Each one of these women have something remarkably dfining about them, and it is interesting to see the ways in which each of them parlay the book-of-the month in to a kind of personal connection. My favorite characters were inevitably Grigg (the lone male, a science fiction reader who was raised by an eccentric father and three sisters) and Allegra, the lesibian daughter of two of the central characters (whose final confrontation between her and the girlfriend is heartbreakingly unexpected and, as a reader, it is more than easy to feel the betrayal).

As someone who used to be part of a book club, and is now longer able to be part of a book club (damn you, 19-hour course load!) it was nice to have a little flashback to the times when I was able to gather and talk about what was read, really trying to figure things out. The characters that Fowler creates are, in their essence, simply human, living their lives and dealing with their own issues. Whether it be divorce, un-natural feelings towards students, a lack of love, or dealing with impending old age, there is something to be said, and something to be learned, from each of these characters, as well as from the unspoken character - Austen herself. Fowler includes a brief synopsis of each of the Austen books she mentions in the back, as well as including the opinions of other famous authors about Austen. Perhaps the most memorable instance is the very opening page, in which each of the main characters describes their "personal Austen." Everyone who has read Austen has read her in a different way, has created for themselves a kind of confidant, hero, role-model. To each their own, there is no "one" Austen.

It was a quick read, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I was able to read most of it out loud to my mother during our car trip to Oklahoma this past weekend over my spring break, and finished the rest of it within hours of returning to school. If you're looking for a quick read, a small glimpse in to the lives of women who are altered by Austen, or if you just want a quick synopsis of all those books you were "supposed to read" in high school, consider this your one-stop-shop.

Up next - finally getting to the comments on my blogroll, and perhaps a little F. Scott to keep my company! I wish you all peaceful days!

Consider It Boy-Crazy

So, in my British Literature class we were talking about the makings of a hero. And it go me thinking. I was recently recommended Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (which I really can't believe that I haven't read before) and I'm basically in love with Zooey, as a male protagonist. So I decided that now, for all to see, I'm going to pay homage to those other strikingly beautiful, elegant, drool-worthy and completely fictional men that I've come to love.

1.) Marcus Flutie, The Jessica Darling Series: If you have not read these books, I more than suggest it. I command it. It's an imperitive that you have them read. They will cause you to laugh, cause you to cry, and cause you to remember why you're glad you're not in high school anymore. And they WILL make you fall in love with Marcus Flutie. Whether its his red dread-locks, his snarky attitude, or the fact that he gets over his drug-doing ways and goes to a Buddhist school in the desert, there is something utterly delicious about this man. It could be the way he's in love with Jessica, the slightly-annoying-and-self-indulgent female lead. It could be the way that, for their first "kiss", all he does is bite her lower lip and then walk away. Or it could be the fact that he really it, under all the attitude, a sensitive guy. Either way, I'd jump his bones in a second.

2.) Mark Darcy, Pride and Prejudice and Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Obviously. No top-five list will be complete without THE man of men. Whether its the reserved, capricous gentleman we meet in Austen's original canon, or the sex-craving lothario protrayed in Takes a Wife, there really is no greater lover out there. Add to the mix the embodiment of Colin Firth, and you may have the measuring stick for all future boyfriends!

3.) Laurie Lawrence, Little Women: If you haven't read the book, you're missing out on some of Laurie's greatest charm - his utter adoration for all of the March sisters. Having read the book once a year (religiously) from the ages of 8 to 18, I've spent quite a bit of time with the shy boy next door. He's always up for a romp (ice-skating, anyone), provides endless amounts of shoulder to cry on (even when he is secretly in love with you) and, in the end, provides a much needed masculinity to the all-feminine Alcott tale. And, honestly, if you can get through the on-paper rejection by Jo without tears, I'm not sure you have a heart at all. If you haven't read the book, well... you've still got Christian Bale to work with.

4.) Dexter, This Lullably: Yes. It's by Sarah Dessen. Yes, its teen chick-lit if ever there was such a things. But he plays the guitar. He sings in a band whos hit song it "The Potatoe Opus". He comes from a family with a long line of divorces and remarriages. He has a shaggy dog named Mutt, and he's totally willing to put his heart on his sleave. He has black hair. He drives a white "maybe I'm a rapist" van. And his name is Dexter. And all of this and simmer with a girl who refuses to fall in love, and you have the makings of the best teen-chick-lit book I've ever read. And believe me, I've read it many a time.

5.) Henry, The Time-Travellers Wife: Well, to being with, he time travels. Thats got to earn you some immediate street cred. Secondly, he's so willing to love that he does it over generations at a time, always coming back to Claire. And, thirdly, he's made his life out of academia. He is not only full of sex appeal (I always pictured him as a mix between the Sean Connery and George Clooney...mmmm....), he's also a bit of a role-model (he works in the rare books section of the library, for God's sake). True, his story may get a bit long-winded, with the book tapping in at over 600 pages, but its 600 pages of brilliant dialouge, and quite a bit of naked Henry!

And there you have it. I'm sure I've left off some wondeful leading men. But, for me, these guys really do take the cake!