Latest Reads

In the past month or so I've read three novels: Water for Elephants, Gone Girl and You Had Me At Hello. All essentially are along the boy meets girl theme but they are each very different. Since reading Gone Girl I've recommended it to pretty much everyone I know, it's that good. I might even say it's one of the best novels I've read in a long time and goes to prove the old adage that 'you never know what goes on behind closed doors', whilst also making you question how well you can ever really know somebody. I won't say any more as I wouldn't want to spoil it, (somebody recently spoilt the end of Skyfall for me and I wanted to hurt them) just be sure to read it.

 

In other news, I am extremely excited about The Great Gatsby finally being in the cinema next month. I feel like this has been the longest wait for a film ever! In the meantime, I'll be reading Tender is the Night to get my F. Scott Fitzgerald fix.

Yay, Leo!

Musings

I recently had ten whole days off work, something I was pretty excited about. As is the norm, it went far too quickly and I'm already looking forward to the 'holiday' I've booked next month. Anyway during my week off, besides seeing friends I've neglected a bit since Christmas, going bowling, drinking too much Prosecco and making lemon curd cupcakes, I did quite a bit of pondering of life's big questions. Well, perhaps less 'life's' and more 'my life's' big questions. I've not yet found the answers to all of these questions, but I'm sure you'll agree they're fascinating, nonetheless... Or, maybe it's more that I felt I wanted to blog and this is the best I could come up with.

Hannah's Big Questions

- Why did I not know that Charlotte Brontë married and was pregnant at the time of her death? Thank you, Sheila Hancock, for filling me in on this.

- Has the 'if he can't see how wonderful you are, then it's his loss' speech ever made anyone feel any better?

- Am I brave enough to get a 'Where's Wally?' tattoo? I so want the answer to be 'yes'.

Tattoo number two?

- What is it about The Cure's 'Love Cats' that makes me feel so anxious? Seems I have an inexplicable, yet powerful, aversion to this song... 

- When does Facebook stalking go from impressive to scary? A friend of mine recently managed to find someone knowing only their first name and the university they went to... Worrying.

- Will I ever manage to convince someone to come on a literary tour of Britain with me?

- Should you ever trust a man who willingly professes his love for Michael Bublé and Hugh Grant? 

- At what age does it stop being acceptable to use hair straighteners to de-crease clothes?

- Will I ever give up on attempting to turn myself French? My latest 'man, I'm so French' attempt involved wearing a stripey t-shirt and baking madeleines, which I then forced upon my work colleagues. Although, when I think about it, I don't remember seeing that many stripey t-shirt wearing French people whilst on my year abroad. Hmm, maybe where I'm going wrong.

- Is there a better way to 'celebrate' an empty club than forming a conga line? I think not. 

Everybody loves a conga line...

However, there are some questions that I am quite certain I will always have the answers to, such as 'what are all the lyrics to the following songs: Disco 2000, Wuthering Heights and Jason Donovan's Too Many Broken Hearts?'. 

A Casual Vacancy

As a massive Harry Potter fan, I was intrigued to see what J.K. Rowling's newest offering would be like. Like her previous novels, A Casual Vacancy looked daunting, a tome of over 500 pages. For much of these 500 pages not a lot happens, even in spite of the novel opening with a death. (Note: this is not a spoiler and can be found in the blurb.)

Focussing on a small town in the west of England, much of the novel seems to be building up towards the denouement, which when it eventually comes is fast paced and exciting. There can be no doubt cast on the fact that Rowling is a wonderful writer. Like Thomas Hardy before her, Rowling sets the scene beautifully, slowly creating a back drop to her story. Rowling brings her characters to life and takes her time to creates a vibrant picture of life in a small community, alike in Hardy's Tess or The Woodlanders.

However, at times it feels like Rowling is throwing all she has into this novel, dealing with themes such as domestic violence, racism, bullying, sexual abuse and drugs. These themes, although interesting, seem perhaps slightly too much for one book and one small west country town. This said, J.K. Rowling presents us with a microcosm of society and challenges us to face several moral dilemmas and ask ourselves, 'what would I do in this situation?'. Beware, the answers to these questions mightn't be pleasant.

Although a slow burner, this novel is well worth persevering with. However, be warned, like the dementors of Harry Potter, there are many dark elements to A Casual Vacancy making it at times quite depressing.


I bought a new notepad, woo!

Literary Sisters

With 3 sisters of my own, the portrayal of sisters in literature is something I've always found interesting. Here are a few of my top literary sisters:

The Marches, Little Women: It's hard not to adore Louisa May Allcott's Little Women, arguably the most loving of all these sets of sisters. At times they seem like a family unit within themseleves, with Meg acting as a mum and Jo as a dad. They all play their parts as sisters well, Meg as the responsible eldest sister, Jo the outgoing, loud yet fiercly protective one, Beth quiet, caring, shy (and sickly) and Amy the spoilt youngest. (This is in no way a metaphor for me and my sisters...)

I still have the same hair and love of peter pan collars...
 

Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, The Sweet Valley Twins: Elizabeth and Jessica, despite being twins, are complete opposites. Elizabeth bookish, academic and career-minded, whilst Jessica thinks mainly about boys, clothes and being popular. In spite of their differences and some sibling rivalry, deep down they're the best of friends and are always there for each other through various scrapes they seem to get themselves into. Undoubtably the series, which according to Wikipedia spans over 100 books, is pure cheese but it remains a classic for millions of girls of the late 80s and 90s. Myself included.

The Lisbons, The Virgin Suicides: Shown only through the eyes of the boys who loved them, at first sight the Lisbon sisters seem like your average group of siblings. But as one by one they commit suicide it quickly becomes apparent that all is not as it seems. Quite what drives them each to end their lives remains unknown. However, despite what must be a deep rooted unhappiness in each of them, perhaps somewhat due the strict ruling of their parents, the strong ties of sisterhood remain, each keeping the others secrets and perhaps even to some extent all commiting suicide as some sort of unspoken pact.

Cecilia and Briony Tallis, Atonement: As the novel opens, Cecilia and Briony are shown to have a stereotypical relationship where the younger looks up to the older one. However, this doesn't last long and over the course of one evening their relationship changes beyond repair. Through Briony's young imagination and foolish lies she condemns both Cecelia, and esentially also herself, to a life of unhappiness and regret. As the story unravels it becomes clear that no amount of repentence can repair the damage done be the 11 year old Briony. Although she does give Cecelia the happy ending that she so tragically stole from her in 'real-life', it's all too little too late and the Tallis family is torn apart forever.

Running with the Christmas themed photos.

Five Fictional Friends

Whilst reading I often decide I either want to be or want to befriend characters. Were they real, of course!

Here are just a few on my list: 

Elizabeth Bennet - Pride and Prejudice: We could go for walks, talk books and she could introduce me to Mr Darcy's rich friends. Perfection.

Emma Morley - One Day: In spite of her many flaws, Emma Morley is one of my favourite characters of all time. There are certain similarities between myself and her: both aspiring writers, share a love of literature, Scrabble and France. My real-life best friend even joked on seeing the film that they could have based the character on me. However, the same is likely to be said by millions of women around the world. For these reasons, were she a real person I would happily attempt to befriend her. Perhaps ever so slightly narcissistic of me.

Bernard - Not Now Bernard: Nobody has any time for little Bernard. Not only does he deserve a friend but also a protector from monsters.

Marty - The Woodlanders: In true Hardy style, life is tough for poor Marty. During the course of the novel she loses a tree, her hair, her father, her home, her job and the love of her life. I reckon she could do with a friend.

Neville Longbottom - Harry Potter: By the final book Neville had gone from geeky classmate to unlikely hero. Definitely someone worth having around, even if just to kill Basalisks.

Lis(z)tomania

I love books. I also love lists. So, in an attempt to revive my blog I’m going to combine the two. Beware, there may be some spoilers.

The Hit List

Over the past few years I’ve been compiling a mental list of literary characters I believe are deserving of a slap. Perhaps a sign that I get too emotionally involved in things that aren’t actually real… From friendly ‘knock some sense into’ them slaps to a full on punch in the face, some characters have an ability to get under your skin. Here are just a few of the characters that have topped my list:

Briony Tallis - Atonement: If little 13 year old Briony had told the truth, things could have been very different. Granted it wouldn’t have made for one of my favourite novels of all time but it would have saved a LOT of tears.

Pip – Great Expectations: Don’t get me wrong, I love Pip so this slap would be a friendly, ‘sort your life out, mate’ one. Hopefully he’d then stop being so mean to Joe and realise that Biddy is so much better than Estella.

Catherine – Petite Anglaise: She buys her affair underwear from Monoprix. Need I say more?!

Edward and Florence – On Chesil Beach: It might have been a good idea for Ed and Flo to talk about their sexual preferences before getting married. Apparently this hadn’t occurred to either of them and so ensues a wedding night from hell. Someone should have definitely banged their heads together. 

Daisy Buchanan – The Great Gatsby: Yeah, she might be beautiful and Gatsby might love her but seriously, make a decision: Gatsby or your cheating husband? And if you’re going to run people over you should really take responsibility for it! Poor old Gatsby.

Books, Glorious Books

As an English graduate actually being able to choose what I read is still somewhat of a novelty. So, now I can theoretically create my own reading lists, I thought I'd take a few minutes to influence yours!

I've just finished reading Caitlin Moran's How To Be a Woman and think it might be one of the best books I've read in a long time. I found it honest, funny and moving and it left me wanting to shout 'I am a Feminist' at the top of my voice whilst dancing around the house to Independent Woman by Destiny's Child, because I did indeed buy the shoes on my feet! Always a sign of a good book. In a slight shift, the next book I've moved onto is 50 Shades of Grey... I'm blaming a combination of hype and peer-pressure. Next, I'm tackling Anna Karenina. Eek!

In other book related news, I recently went on a mini tour of some of London's independent book shops. This perhaps doesn't sound like the most exciting way to spend a Saturday but I enjoyed myself, at least. Plus, we saw a contestant from The Voice! What more could a girl want?!

Persephone, Dickens and my purchases