Tag: memes

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

• Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
• Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to The Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
• Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
• Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s topic is Books I Could Re-Read Forever.  Well, this is a difficult one for me because I rarely have time to re-read books as I’m so busy reading shiny new ones.  So I’ve had to put my thinking cap on for this one.  However, having given it some thought, I realised there are a few well-loved books that I’ve read more than once and I’d happily read again.

Click on the title to read the book description on Goodreads,

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Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

A few years ago, I reread this as part of studying for my MA with the Open University. Having to approach it from a literary criticism point of view, I was pleasantly surprised to find that, not only did it remain a great story, but the required closed reading revealed themes and layers I hadn’t noticed in previous readings.  I still find it astounding that such an assured and imaginative work could have been produced by someone living such a sheltered life in the Brontë Parsonage.  Who can forget lines such as ‘Reader, I married him’ and ‘Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?’.  I’m going to indulge myself by quoting the passage that always gives me the most delicious feeling:

‘Because, he said, “I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you – especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous channel, and two hundred miles or so of land some broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I’ve a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly.’

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

For me, this is the retelling of a classic to end all retellings.  It’s simply brilliant, shining a light on the Bertha Mason whom we only see as the ‘madwoman in the attic’ in Jane Eyre.

It has a stunning exotic location as well.  And I adore the beautiful cover of this edition which is the same as the one I own (although less tattered).

 

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I think I see a ‘second wife’ theme emerging here…. This is my favourite book by Daphne du Maurier and I have my beady eye on the stunning new edition (pictured) produced to mark the 80^th anniversary of its publication.

(I also love Hitchcock’s film version of Rebecca starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.  And that wonderful actress gives us a connection to Jane Eyre, of course, because of her starring role opposite a brooding Orson Welles in the brilliant original film adaptation of that book.)

 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Christmas tradition in our house is re-reading A Christmas Carol and/or watching one of the many film versions on TV. (The one starring Patrick Stewart is my favourite but my husband prefers the older Alastair Sim version.  But that’s OK, we’ll happily watch both.)

If you don’t fancy reading the whole book (what?), just skim to the section featuring the Ghost of Christmas Present for the  gloriously mouthwatering descriptions of food.

Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James

Talking of ghosts, what better than a collection by the master of Victorian ghost stories, M. R. James.   I’m a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to horror so what I like about M. R. James’ stories is that most of the shivers come from suggestion rather than graphic description.   Personal favourites are A Warning to the Curious, Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to Ye, Number 13 and The Ash-Tree.  If I can digress into film once more, can I recommend the BBC TV adaptations of the stories that used to be an annual event at Christmas, available from the British Film Institute.  And the film adaptation of James’ story ‘Casting the Runes’, The Night of the Demon – a classic!

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Le Carré

I love most of the books John Le Carré has written. (I’ll admit I did struggle with some of his later ones).

This remains my favourite.  It’s quite short but packs a real punch, notably because of its world weary but still likeable protagonist, Alec Leamas.

I think it’s the quintessential le Carré.

 

Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Hmm, I’m starting to think there’s a strong connection between books I love to re-read and some of my favourite films.  Here’s another.

I read the book long before I saw the film and was blown away by how the author managed to get inside the head of Stevens the butler.  I find its theme of missed opportunities so moving that every time I read it I kind of hope it will end differently.

The film version is absolutely magnificent.  Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson are brilliant.  (Anecdote: I once overheard two people talking about the film in a lift/elevator.  One said to the other, ‘Nothing happens’ and I thought to myself, ‘That’s rather the point, isn’t it?’]

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

You remember the film The Sixth Sense where it was said you needed to see it twice to work out how it was done?  Well, this is Dame Agatha’s equivalent.  The trick she plays on the reader is so clever you’ll want to reread it to find the few vital words that provide the solution if only you’d paid more attention to them.

Even though I now know the identity of the murderer, it’s still the Christie novel I turn to for its sheer cleverness and bravado. Oh, and it features my favourite of her detectives, Hercule Poirot, as an added bonus.

Mr Standfast and Sick Heart River by John Buchan

John Buchan is one of my passions and over the years I’ve built up a large collection of his books and read a lot about him.  I will be rereading a number of his books this year as part of my Buchan of the Month project.  These are the two I’m most looking forward to; my personal favourites of all the books John Buchan wrote (and he wrote a lot!).  They both make me slightly tearful at the end.

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Next week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic: Favourite Book Quotes

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

The rules are simple:

• Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
• Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to The Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
• Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
• Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.

This week’s topic is Love Freebie.  I’ve chosen to pick out the first meetings of some fictional couples.  Spoiler Alert: If you’re not familiar with the books and don’t want to know that these characters become couples, read no further. Click on the highlighted titles to read my review of the book in which the couples appear.

Richard Hannay and Mary Lamington from Mr Standfast by John Buchan

Hannay first encounters Mary whilst visiting a comrade recovering in hospital. ‘Someone put a tea tray on the table beside us and I looked up to see the very prettiest girl I ever set eyes on… I stared after her as she walked across the lawn, and I remember noticing that she moved with the free grace of an athletic boy.’

Elsie Boston and Rene Hargreaves from Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik

Rene and Elsie meet when Rene arrives at Starlight Farm to work as a landgirl. She feels an immediate unspoken connection with Elsie. ‘She had offered her hand to Elsie, and Elsie had reached out hers but it wasn’t a greeting – Elsie had reached out as if she were trapped and needed to be pulled out, pulled free’.

Carol Aird and Therese Belivet from Carol by Patricia Highsmith

Therese is working in a New York department store as a sales assistant in the toy section when a woman in her thirties walks up to her counter.  Therese’s first glimpse of Carol is life-changing; it awakens an overwhelming but quite unexpected attraction to this cool, stylish, beautiful woman.

 

Ove and Sonja from A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Whilst working as a train cleaner, Ove spots Sonja on a railway station platform ‘with all her auburn hair and her blue eyes and all her effervescent laughter.’ When she boards the train he does too and goes to sit by her. ‘It was the single best decision he would ever make.’

Connie and Seppe from Shelter by Sarah Franklin

They meet in wartime in The Forest of Dean; a serendipitous meeting for both of them. Seppe, an Italian POW, is desperate to get work that will take him outside the prison camp. Connie, a lumberjill, is desperate to remain in the forest for reasons of her own. “Look at that for a turn up, Frank. You’ve got yourself a new tree-felling team.”

Jane and Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

A country road at dusk, the sound of a horse and rider approaching, preceded by a huge hound. A patch of ice and the horse and rider are down. Jane approaches the fallen rider. ‘”Are you injured, sir?” I think he was swearing, but am not certain; however, he was pronouncing some formula which prevented him from replying to me directly. “Can I do anything?” I asked again.”You must just stand on one side,” he answered as he rose, first to his knees, and then to his feet.’

Cathy and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

An inauspicious beginning. Cathy’s father brings a strange urchin back with him from his travels, forgetting the present he had promised her. ‘When she learned the master had lost her whip in attending on the stranger, showed her humour by grinning and spitting at the stupid little thing.’

Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The scene is the Meryton ball. Bingley has been dancing with Elizabeth’s sister, Jane, and is seeking to encourage his friend, Darcy, to take to the floor, suggesting Elizabeth as a suitable dance partner. Elizabeth overhears Darcy respond: “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.” First impressions, eh?

Dr John Watson and Mary Morstan in The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes’ room at 221B Baker Street and a new client, Mary Morstan, arrives to consult the famous detective. Dr. Watson observes: ‘She was a blonde young lady, small, dainty, well gloved, and dressed in the most perfect taste. Her face had neither regularity of feature nor beauty of complexion, but her expression was sweet and amiable, and her large blue eyes were singularly spiritual and sympathetic.’

Elio and Oliver in Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

‘I’m back in Italy, so many years ago, walking down the tree-lined driveway, watching him step out of the cab, billowy blue shirt, wide-open collar, sunglasses, straw hat, skin everywhere.’