'Not Fade Away'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
whether Leonora was a complete bitch or justified in what she did (I defended her, of course).I don't know if I'd go as far as "justified." But I love Leonora.
It even starred Jeremy Brett as Edward and John Ratzenberger (yes, Cliff Claven!) as Jimmy.Ooo, that's wacky.
Have all you Good Soldier fans read Parade's End? You should!
And if you read Trollope, you can feel all in the know when listening to Dave's True Story "I'll Never Read Trollope Again."
Stendahl's "The Red and the Black" is a frequently overlooked book that everybody should read.
P-C if you get Middlemarch make sure to get an edition with footnotes Eliot has lots of references to events and people contemporary to the time so it makes it much more enjoyable when you know what people are refering to.
Will do, thanks!
I tried Trollope, but I just couldn't bear how *serious* they all were about their social standings etc. However, I quite enjoy Jane Austin. I've been tempted to read Wilkie Collins, but I'm afraid of running into the "We're British, we're here to help you poor benighted savages achieve your place in civilization as our servants, you lucky creatures" thing. I understand that that was the prevailing world view, but it makes me throw books across the room.
I'm more the "ordinary person facing extraordinary situations" type rather than the comedy of manners type.
Connie, you could try Wilkie Collins' Woman in White, which is an early mystery/suspense thriller, with no White Man's Burden to be seen.
you could try Wilkie Collins' Woman in White, which is an early mystery/suspense thriller
And a classic of its kind, I've heard. I wonder if Gutenberg Project has it.
edit: Didn't he write The Moonstone as well?
Yeah. I've only read The Woman in White, which is very sort of Gothic meets Sherlock Holmes (although this was before Sherlock) meets a little Dickens.
Quite a bit of Wilkie Collins is on Gutenberg. I've nabbed Woman in White, and if it seems like a good read I'll see if I can find it in print at the library. Some things just need to be more comfortably curl-up-able than a Palm Pilot. Plus I have to hit the scroll button too often for comfortable reading.
I've been tempted to read Wilkie Collins, but I'm afraid of running into the "We're British, we're here to help you poor benighted savages achieve your place in civilization as our servants, you lucky creatures" thing.There's a bit of ooo-spooky-heathens in The Moonstone, since it's about a stolen Indian gem. But not paternalism, I don't think.
The Woman In White doesn't have any of that, but it might be harder to take because for a contemporary reader, a couple of the plot twists are obvious several miles off. But it has a fantastic villain which totally makes up for that.
You do have to bear in mind that they were published as serials and there are plenty of (un)lucky coincidences. And that a large portion of The Moonstone was written while Collins was addicted to opium. I liked The Moonstone more, because I think the characters are more entertaining on reread, but they're both good fun.