Books

Maybe it is because we are getting back into the swing of things with school, or maybe I just remembered how much I love reading … whatever the case may be, I’ve been reading a lot more lately. I finished Pride & Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Love Comes Softly, Love’s Enduring Promise, Nights in Rodanthe, Three Weeks with My Brother, Inside Delta Force … I think there was one more, but I can’t remember it.

Anyways, I wanted to comment on a couple things. Northanger Abbey used to be billed as my favorite book. After reading it this week, I’ve decided it is not. 🙂 It was an earlier work of Jane Austen, and the heroine is much different from her others. The narration is wordy and sometimes seems cumbersome. Austen still has the art of using words to convey many things that aren’t said, and that was enjoyable. But reading the book this time was a lot like trudging through mud – you just want to get out. The reason I had listed it as one of my favorite books was because I thought Catherine (the heroine) was so kooky, she was endearing. But the part I remembered most (where she decides to discover whether or not the lady of the household is not really dead, but being held captive in some dark recess of the abbey) was not as great this time around.

Guess I have succumbed to popular thinking since I really like Pride & Prejudice now. 🙂

Another thing I wanted to comment on is the Love Comes Softly series (by Janette Oke) vs. the new films on the series (produced by Michael Landon, Jr.). I read these books when I was pretty young – I was around 11 when I started reading them. So when I saw the movie at Blockbuster, I was pretty excited. It isn’t too often Christian things get produced so nicely. I took the first movie home & watched it (while doing dishes, of course). Sadly, I was disappointed. I was pretty sure there were quite a few things missing in the movie. Next chance I had, I went to the library to get the book. The first book vs. the movie was okay. There were a couple things off – like the movie having Missy (the baby in the book) being six when Clark asks Marty to marry him. But, it presented a good example of a Christian family.
The second movie was supposed to be based on the second book – Love’s Enduring Promise. I decided to read that first, then get the movie. The book was ok – I have moved on, I think, in my depth of reading (sometimes I wish Christian writers took more care in their writing – like Francine Rivers), but it was ok. The book covers quite a bit of ground. The movie was NOTHING like the book. The only thing that was the same was that Clark cut his leg with an axe. This made me very sad, as the book was good – and could have been easily followed in a plot for a movie. It would have been more along the lines of the “Christy” TV series/movies, but it still had the potential of being good.
I happened to watch the third movie before I was able to get the book from the library. This movie, too, deviated a good deal from the book. I had the feeling it was, just becasue nothing seemed familiar about it. It was ok – but I would have rather they stuck with the book. I wonder what Mrs. Oke thinks.

While I was at the library, I went in search of Emma (another Jane Austen book – the only one, I think, that I haven’t actually read). We had a subscription to Audible.com a while back & I listened to Emma on there (while doing dishes … once again!!), I also love the movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow. For the life of me, I couldn’t find the “A’s” in the fiction section. However, I did find The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas. So I’ll be reading that soon! 🙂 There was the thoguht of reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but someone told me it was awfully treacherous to get through. I’ve heard the same about Moby Dick & Frankenstein. It’ll probably be a while befoere I attempt digging into those. 🙂

Have you read anything good lately?