Filed under: Currently Reading | Tags: breaking dawn, Currently Reading, stephenie meyer, twilight saga
I’ve finally finished it. I’m currently experiencing post-series-completion syndrome. Will elaborate when I feel like talking about it.
Basically, I liked it. I know SOME PEOPLE I KNOW (*cough cough*) will probably hate it a lot and would have a field day if they read it. I could tell this was one of those tying up loose ends and satisfying yourself and your readers kind of book.
Filed under: Currently Reading | Tags: Currently Reading, history, philippa gregory, royalty, tudors, women
WOW. Philippa Gregory has become my favourite historical fiction author. I am very, very, addicted. After reading ‘The Virgin’s Lover’ and ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’, I thought there were no more of these books. But turns out I was wrong. ’The Constant Princess’ is about Henry the Eighth’s first wife Katherine of Aragon. ‘The Boleyn Inheritance’ was about Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard. And they were really sad. =_=
Before I go on, I should warn people that history is one of my passions. And I have a specific obsession with the Tudors (which started LONG before they decided to make it a TV series that I have not seen. T___T)
Anyways, I had no idea that Katherine was the younger sister of Queen Juana of Spain. I had just found about her from reading ‘Scroll of Seduction’ so it was quite interesting to read from different points of view. I also didn’t know that Katherine Howard was Anne Boleyn’s cousin. This only served to cement my perspectives here though.
All this time I was constantly changing ideals on who was the evil person here; first I felt sorry for Anne, then I thought she deserved it and felt sorry for Katherine and Mary Boleyn. Same thing with Mary Tudor and Elizabeth- wavering allegiances. I know I shouldn’t be basing my opinions on Hist.Fic. but oh well.
Then I read ‘Scroll of Seduction’, and ‘The Boleyn Inheritance’ and I realized something. The women were pretty much faultless (well ok some of them were ambitious.)
But I think that most of the time, women were powerless and basically manipulated by the men, which was saddening as a reader because I could feel the increasing sense of helplessness as the stories of these women progressed. At first I could tell myself “Oh, this character was really stupid; she should have just done this, or not done this.” Yes, there were some cases that these women could have handled better; but it would have been useless in the end. In that world, surrounded by those ambitious men, those women were nothing but pawns.
Just lookat what happened to Juana of Spain when she had had enough of being a pawn tried to rebel; Her own husband (who apparently loved her) and her own father declared her crazy and sane at his whim. They locked her in a tower for most of her life.
I developed a sene of admiration for all of these women in the end, no matter how they ended. Katherine of Aragon was a brave woman, and a true queen. Even after her love was taken from her she managed to accomplish her goals. But I couldn’t help thinking that what a difference it would have made if it had been King Arthur and not Henry. But of course, then we wouldn’t have Queen Elizabeth.
Even Anne Boleyn was set up by the male patriarchs of her family along with her sister who somehow managed to escape the fate of her sibilngs. But she was ambitious and that was her ‘fault’. Katherine Howard was a 16 year old who was similarly set up. But today she would have been the equivalent of Paris Hilton, so it was obvious that she couldn’t last as a queen.
Anne of Cleves was the smartest of the lot. She agreed to lie and become the king’s sister in order to save her neck. And she managed to do what she wants to do rather than be manipulated. Yay.
But that’s how it was back then, so I guess not much point in complaining. But I still wish I was born back then, no matter how bad it was..as long i wasn’t royalty : p
I hope I haven’t given away too much, haha.
Filed under: Currently Reading | Tags: Currently Reading, Religion, The Year of Living Biblically
This book by A.J. Jacobs was recommended by my former TOK teacher. Basically, the author, who in a previous book had apparently read the whole encyclopedia, decides to live literally as possible according to the Bible. (Non-fiction.) I found it rather witty and thoughtful. But also thought-provoking. One of the things that the author cited as his reasoning was that he wondered whether his child was better off raised with or without religion. I, too have wondered whether it would be better raising a kid with or without religion. I know it’s not exactly something i have to worry about now, but still I want to be prepared. Though I’m technically Hindu, I’ve been going off on an agnostic and/or atheist pathway for a few years now. I have friends who are Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, or atheist, and they’ve all turned out fine. So how can you tell? On one hand, you could just leave it til they choose on their own accord; on the other you can raise them in your religion and hope they’re happy living with it (as many seem to be).
That was the main thing I was pondering when I read this book, but seeing the progress of the beard was funny too. I wonder if the author still likes to Google himself. If so, Hi Mr. Jacobs! : D
Filed under: Currently Reading | Tags: Currently Reading, Enter Three Witches, Macbeth
Enter Three Witches is one of those ‘let’s take a classic and write it from a different point of view’ (this sounds like I’m being negative but I’m not) books by Caroline B. Cooney (yeah, she actually writes other things besides mystery stuff). I think I would have liked it better if I had read the full version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, but nevertheless it was interesting. It was dark at times and I liked Lady Mary, the main character. It was somewhat predictable though but I guess that’s an inevitability considering it’s genre. Sometimes it felt like the story was focusing on inconsequential characters, but they turned out to be quite important. But still a very enjoyable read, maybe because of my partiality to the genre.
As far as its awesomeness compared to others of it’s genre though, I think ‘Romeo’s Ex’ and ‘Song of the Sparrow’ were the ones I liked better. X D
Filed under: Currently Reading | Tags: Currently Reading, Escape from memory, Margaret Peterson Haddix, memory
This book, Escape from Memory, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, was a great book from a great author. She’s also the one who wrote Just Ella, which was enjoyable, but this one was very different in tone and genre. It was more of a mystery genre. It had a lot to do with memory, and the general story follows a girl named Kira who finds out that she is not who she thought she was all her life. I don’t want to spoil it, so I shall say no more! But it has a lot of plot twists that I didn’t expect and it was definitely one of those books you couldn’t put down. One of the things that was really interesting about the book were the characters who could remember everything and I was sort of wistful about that. I’ve always thought that having a photographic memory would be really cool; you would probably be really smart =_=. But I understood, I think, from reading the book that sometimes there are things you don’t want to remember, and as a result, remembering everything that ever happened to you- or in the book’s case, even stuff that didn’t happen to you in particular- would be painful…
Filed under: Currently Reading | Tags: Azumanga Daioh, Currently Reading, manga
: D Read a random volume of Azumanga today. To anyone who doesn’t know, it’s a hilarious manga by Kiyohiko Azuma. It has no plot, so don’t bother reading it for that. It just follows the life of 6 high school girls. And occasionally, two of their teachers. The anime is hilarious as well.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
I love Osaka’s and Sakaki’s dreams of Chiyo-chan’s pigtails as wings and her dad as this weird cat thing, repectively. Watching the anime especially, is fun because it has a style of comedy different from others. It’s a bit slower than other comedies; I don’t think quick wit is even present in this one. But it makes it even more fun to watch. The only thing I would change is the length of the series. I wish it went on for longer. XD
No, not the novel by Jane Austen, though I will be reading that sometime soon. This is a 7-volume manga by Kaoru Mori. I did think at first that it was just like a Jane Austen novel, though. Set in Victorian London, it’s the story of a Emma, a maid who falls in love with a member of the gentry, William Jones.
Up til now, I’d always avoided this manga, because to tell the truth, it didn’t look like something I would enjoy. But the other day, I found it in the library, and spontaneously took it out. And was rather pleasantly surprised. The art is amazingly intricate and skillful. The plot was actually pretty interesting and even had a couple of twists. I would actually go so far as to say that the plot and the characters’ reactions were quite realistic. Of course, that didn’t mean I liked the plot all the time.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Like when Mrs. Stowner died, in like the second volume. That was quite necessary for plot development, but still. Or when William RANDOMLY proposed to Eleanor. Another event somewhat necessary if you think about it (I try not to) but at the time I felt it was just sort of oddly placed. There was no reason for it when it occurred.
But the characters were what attracted me the most, I think. Even in this setting, their emotions felt real to me, in the 21st century. They had good points and bad points, and the author chose not to go for fluffy love scenes, opting for realistic ones. I loved that scene where Mrs. Trollope (Mrs. Jones) asked Mr. Jones something along the lines of “Did you ever regret marrying me?” and he answers “I have and I haven’t.” Actually, besides Emma, I think Mrs. Trollope (Mrs. Jones) was my favourite character. She epitomizes the result of the pressures of that society, and I loved that she had this inner strength as a result of it. But of course, I liked each character for their unique personalities.
And the random addition of the dancing Indian girls who accompanied Hakim (who was an awesome ‘potentially the other guy’) and, later Monica, was pure genius.
The one-page epilogues at the end of chapters were highly appreciated. Also, the ending was realistically satisfying.
All in all, I might actually buy this series next AN.
