Blast from the Past

I feel bad for republishing something I have already done, but I am bogged down by homework, at least until the end of this week (Spring Break!!!). Not finding a lot of time to read or write much beyond the stuff with a deadline. So I am going with a blast from the past in order to stick with my once a week goal. 


So, here is an old book review from my other blog. This was a great literary exploration, and I am proud of the insights I came up with. 


Blast from the past: Sunday, December 12, 2010


My Date with Mr. Darcy... Wait what??


As I often do at various times in my life, I read a book this week. And it was such an interesting experience, I thought I would blog about it. So here is my story, or rather, My Date with Mr. Darcy.


Strolling through the fiction book section at Hastings, I discovered that they have some rather cheap books. Mainly because they are used. But, being a college student with a lame job, cheap is good! Excitement rolling through my veins, I found a book entitled My Date With Mr. Darcy (if you haven't already guessed). I thought "Hey, this looks good. Looks like something I might enjoy, right?". So I bought it. $6.49.


Driving home, I was excited. It has been awhile since I bought a new book. Being as poor as I am, rereading books is kind of my thing. But here I was! A NEW (used) book! Oh the joy!


When I did get home, I looked up the book on  Goodreads, just because, well, I was curious. This website has tons of reader reviews for every book imaginable. Its amazing.


So there I was, reading the reviews for this new book I just bought. And there I was, having my hopes being completely crushed. Every single review just tore this book to pieces, saying that it was terrible, a waste of time, no way in H-E- double hockey sticks was it ever going to be a good book. And most of the comments about the book were about the terrible writing. And thats when I knew I was going to hate it too. As a wannabe writer, I value good writing, and I like to think that I can recognize terrible writing.


NOW what was I going to do?? I owned this book and apparently it was a terrible one... All of my enthusiasm for reading it was gone. I had just spent part of my pitifully small paycheck on a book that I was likely going to hate... oh boy...


But, out of sheer stubbornness probably, I decided to try it anyway. I mean, really? It was published, wasn't it? How bad can it be, right?


Wrong. Horribly wrong. The book was TERRIBLE! I was ashamed that it was EVER published! I mean, I am only a freshman in college, with absolutely no experience in the area, but I knew that this book should never have been published...


The huge problem was, well, CHEESE. It was extremely cheesy. Although, to be fair, the whole PLOT was destined to be cheesy. But in my opinion, a good writer has to be able to take a cheesy, clichéd plot idea and make it work. At least, that is MY goal. Because I do tend to have cheesy plot ideas...


But really, Alexandra Potter really didn't get that concept. For the first 30 pages at least, we had to hear all about how her heroine, Emily Albright, just ADORED Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane Austen's dreamboat character from Pride and Prejudice. It was rather pathetic. She had actually given up on dating men. From now on, she was going to stick with men in her beloved books. "I mean, why cant I go on a date with Mr. Darcy?" she says. Seriously, there is hopeless romantic, then there is just plain hopeless.


And, something I just HAVE to mention is the poor word choice. Namely, the cuss words, and other vulgar words. I mean really?? I might be a little biased because I was raised to know that cuss words shouldn't be used, that they are just too vulgar. But, in my opinion, they DO NOT belong in books. Okay, maybe the dialog, but certainly not the narration! Cuss words were just oozing off of the pages of this book. It got to the point that whenever I would see one, not in the dialog, I would mentally take it out, and you know what? The sentence worked SO MUCH better! It actually made it flow better, and it almost made the book actually worth reading. 


Also, while still on the subject of word choice, I hate the word 'OK'. Shouldn't it be 'okay'? I don't know. Thats just one of my pet peeves. And this book was full of 'OK's...


But, despite all of this, I kept reading. I don't like not finishing a book. I HAVE to finish it. So I trugded on. And you wont believe what happened. 


I have this theory. (Flashes of Mandy Moore in Chasing Liberty are going through my head. Her and her theories) I think that when inspiration for a story comes to a person, they have it all thought out perfectly as a result. They know exactly how the story is going to go, or going to end up. I think of Stephenie Meyer in this theory. She has said that her idea for her international sensation, Twilight, came in a dream. But her dream was just one or two scenes. She had to fill in the rest with her waking imagination. And, despite what other people say, I thought she did a very good job. Her story works out very nicely. (Although, I do admit that Twilight will probably never be a literary great)


It almost seems as if Alexandra Potter had a similar inspirational process (although I have no idea if it came in a dream). When she thought up the idea for this book, I am sure she knew just how it went, as far as the main story goes. But, in order to turn it into a novel, she had to fill in the rest. She had to introduce it. Thats where she went wrong. It seems, as I am reading it, she didn't put as much thought into the fill-ins. So that is why it, well, sucks. 


But, to refer back to the inspiration process, the part that she thought up first was probably impeccable. It completely and totally worked. 


Which is why, as I kept reading, I started to admire this author as a genuinely good writer. And it was because I had gotten to the 'dream' part of the book. The part that the author obviously had thought out to the very last detail. Her sentences started to flow better. I was amazed. I was actually starting to like this book. And, I am excited to say, she took some scenes, which I just knew had to be so cheesy that I would outwardly cringe, she took them and made them, how shall I say it? Brilliant! Somehow, she was able to take these 'cringe-able' scenes and make them really work. I cant quite place how, but they just worked. I really don't know how else to put it. 


And her theme turned out to be my favorite part. I thought that it would be a rather humdrum and shabby one. But it really made sense. And I really liked it. It thought that, miraculously, it was very well supported by her entire plot, although, while reading it, I was totally at a loss as to how it would be any good. 


Needless to say, I was very surprised. Finishing the book at about 1 am, I laid it down and thought "Wow. I actually liked that book." Funny how that worked out.


I have learned a really valuable lesson here. And it is "put as much effort into the fill-ins as you do into the heart of the story". Also, cuss words just do not belong in books. 


I was thinking, when I read the reviews online, that I would sell the book back to Hastings, and at least get some of my money back. But now I have changed my mind. I am going to keep it as an example of this lesson. It will be my go- to book when I am attempting to get rid of cheese.


I am still in awe of how good that book turned out to be. So that is why I am here, blogging about it. This story may not be one of intense excitement or one that will make me an instant internet star (one of my ambitions in life), but it has helped me to gain a slightly new perspective on the world of fiction. 


I found this on Goodreads. (told you I liked it) it is a review of a book: 
       "You know that bit at the beginning of Amadeus, where Salieri has composed this very uninspired little march, which he and the Emperor play for Mozart? Then Mozart sits down at the keyboard and says, hm, that's not quite right, is it? And he messes around with it for a couple of minutes, until he's suddenly transformed it into "Here's farewell to the games with the girls" from The Marriage of Figaro. "


Well, this is what I want to do with this book. the bad parts anyway. :) But I wont cause that is rather illegal. You know, copyright and all that.




Now, once I finish this blog, I get to study for an English final. At this thought, I am having my own fantasies about being in the world of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Now who is the hopeless romantic? Oh boy... ;) 


Wishing I could be in 19th Century Britain, yours,


Amanda In (21st Century) Logan.
---------------------------------------------------


Funny, how I am working on an English paper, and back then I was studying for an English final. Well, I am an English major after all. English, English, English!

The Magic of Moments in Novels

If any decent, self-respecting, and devoted female reader knows anything about the literary world, it is that Eva Ibbotson writes amazing novels, and it is she who should be gaining the Stephenie Meyer-like success in today's world. However, she doesn't and it is such a shame.

I cant quite place how long it is that I have been an ardent fan of Mrs. Ibbotson, but I have certainly enjoyed the years. My first favorite, a book that will always remain dear to my heart, was A Countess Below Stairs.


This novel is an absolutely fantastic one. The plot just gets my attention every time, and the way that the reader gets to experience everything first hand is magical. I gained my knowledge on the way the old English households were run from this novel. (And more recently from Downton Abbey. Marvelous show. I cant wait for the next season, or series, to start!)

You should know that I sincerely enjoy rereading books. It's rather like going back in time and reliving your greatest memory. The day you fell in love, your first kiss, your wedding day (I am a bit of a romantic). However, since I cant actually do anything of those things (the Doctor not having come to take me away in his Tardis yet), I reread the best books I've ever read again, where I can experience those lovely sensations all over again. For example, In A Countess Below Stairs, there is a part where the heroine is about to cut her long, lovely locks (alliteration is amazing) and the male character, who is falling in love with her, absolutely insists otherwise. He is adamant about it. He refuses to let her cut it. The blatantly obvious love and feelings of protection he shows to the girl just makes me so giddy inside. To have someone feel that way about you is just so... fairytale and magical (yes, I did just use fairytale as an adjective).

However, since I seem to have misplaced my copy from all of the moving around I have been doing in past years, I was unable to read it again as I wanted to. So, instead, I had the good fortune to reread another Ibbotson novel, A Company of Swans. I just LOVE this book! I think, of all the characters in Ibbotson's works, I relate to Harriet Morton the most. She is a naive but brilliant young girl who has never known anything but the life in her strict, old-fashioned father's care, in the house that is kept by her spinster aunt.

The thing that Harriet loves most in her otherwise drab and tragic life is ballet. So, when she is forbidden to accompany a ballet company to the Amazon, she goes anyway. Its the one time in her life that she has truly done something for herself.

So, through her own daring and rebellion, she follows her dreams and discovers a new world and a new love.

It is a love story that matches such stories like Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, Ron and Hermione, and Flynn and Rapunzel. (Okay well it might not be THAT good. You know what? Nevermind. It IS that good!)


When Harriet gets to the Amazon, she meets the rich, handsome, and strong man that is Rom Verney. They embark on a love story that includes pomegranate seeds, swans, kidnapping, and bursting out of cakes. And it is a great love story. Just as Flynn rescued Rapunzel from her tower, so did Rom rescue Harriet from her drab life in her father's (poor) care. It is grandiose and beautiful, a story befitting the ballets that Harriet so wonderfully and performs.

This book is bursting with those moments that cannot be forgotten. Moments of first loves and grand gestures. There is a certain magic in moments. It's the evidence that show that magic truly does exist. Words can either be just a plain, instructive textbook or grocery list, or they can invoke passion. they can paint a picture like the best artists. When words are used to tell a story, they bring magic to them. Those are the moment that are in this book. Moment that I look forward to in my life.

 I cant help but fall in love with Rom. He so obviously cares for Harriet, and he treats her like a queen. And Harriet is one who completely deserves to be happy, as she brings happiness to everyone that she encounters, including the reader. One cant help but laugh at her naivete, and we cant help but shout in anger when her aunt, thinking she is doing right, practically starves her.

The novel, as is Eva Ibbotson's style, completely draws the reader in and tells a tale that thoroughly entertains. Just thinking about it brings a smile to my own face.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone looking for a new book to devour, and a new author to discover. A Company of Swans is exactly this kind of book that I just love to reread (this last time is probably the third or fourth) over and over again. It truly is a classic to me, and it definitely deserves a spot on my bookshelf.

Up next I want to read (again) The Reluctant Heiress, also by Eva Ibbotson. With that one, I like to examine the really great WORDS that is used. Ibbotson has such a way with words that truly affects me like any nerdy English major would be affected.

Wicked, or not so wicked?

Everybody knows the story of the Dorothy, swept up inside a house by a tornado in Kansas, taking her to the magical land of Oz, where she meets Munchkins,  Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, and a Tin Woodman. She is given Ruby Slippers by Glinda, the good witch, and she melts the Wicked Witch of the West.

Y'all know that story right? Well, Gregory Maguire imagined a new interpretation. He gave us his idea of what happened before Dorothy came to Oz. He imagined, and wrote, the life of Elphaba, the girl mysteriously born with green skin and a disagreeable manner.

She grows up as the daughter of missionary parents, attends college and meets Galinda, the social diamond, has a love affair with Fiyero, and seeks redemption from someone who she had wronged, and all in all disagrees with the great Wizard of Oz and his world changing orders.

This interpretation creates an Elphaba who is good, not wicked, for most of her life. It is only others acts that affect her life that makes her resent the world, and turns her to wicked deeds, and it ends with, you guessed it, her death by water.

The novel, expertly told with bits revealed piece by piece and characterization that fleshes out the well-known characters, was very entertaining. It was cool to read a more detailed version. It gives motivations and reasons why things happen. Its akin to hearing what mood Hitler was in the day he decided to take over the world (not to compare Elphaba to Hitler. She really wasn't that Wicked.)

It was such a great read, because Its not so fast paced that you finish in a day, but not so slow as to defer you from continuing.

I am just not sure how it stands in my favor.

The book is just so political and theoretical. I think I may need to read it again to understand the theories behind it all. The good thing, though, is that one doesn't need to understand them to enjoy or oven get, the book.

It really was great, what with all the layers. Page by page, chapter by chapter, everything is revealed, fleshing out the story in a way I envy.

All in all, I highly recommend it, if you don't mind a little vulgar terms in some parts (really not as much as I was expecting, thankfully).

However, what I am really looking forward to is the musical adaptation of it, which I hear is very different. I hope to see it at some point in my life.

Always accepting recommendations for books, feel free to give them! I really enjoyed Water for Elephants. know of anything similar?