2 Reviews and a Confession

I am reviewing two books in one post to save myself time and space. Especially since, as much as I loved these two books, I am not sure how much I would be able to say about either of them.

It has been so wonderful to finally read books that I have always had on my TBR list. If this blogging business does nothing else for me, that will be enough.

I loved Little Women so much! It is such a sweet story, a little naive and sappy at times but instead of triggering my cynical side, this naivety and sappiness made it all the more sweet. I saw a little of myself in each of the girls and I loved how they were reflective enough to recognize their faults and try to correct them. It is so hard for many people to see their own character flaws.

I do wish the book had covered more time of the girls lives. Although, only covering a year or so in the young girls' lives shows how swiftly time passes in adolescence and also how much growth can take place if a person applies him/herself.

                       

Reading Shakespeare has always been a little maddening for me except for the times I have read him under the tutelage of a good professor. Once I got going, however, it got easier to understand. I sporadically worked on understanding imagery and references to mythology but as long as I understood the story I really didn't mind, for now, missing out on everything else.

I enjoyed reading the famous lines and passages I have often heard quoted, but I have to share my favorite line. It is in Act V, which was definitely not my favorite part of the play but this line when Starveling is acting the part of Moonshine struck me so funny that I chuckled out loud:   

    Starveling, as Moonshine

        This lanthorn doth the horned moon present.

          Myself the man i' th' moon do seem to be.

    Theseus    This is the greatest error of all the rest; the

         man should be put into the lanthorn. How is it else

         "the man i' th' moon"?                 (5.1.258-262)

Maybe I was a little punch drunk by then from trying to understand the language, I don't know. I did enjoy finally reading this play and understanding the context of those oft quoted lines. One of my favorite movies is Dead Poet's Society and now I understand why the scene where, with his father at the back of the theatre, Robert Sean Leonard's character is delivering Puck's famous last monologue is so dramatic. Being familiar with great literary works definitely broadens our perspective of the world.

I have a confession to make: I don't read as many books as my blog title implies. There I said it. Whew. I really do inhale books though; I have a conscious moment of simply inhaling when I enter a library or a bookstore. Two completely different scents, by the way.

I love to read and I wish with a great chunk of my heart that I had more time to read. I just don't. In addition to having a family, work and a house to keep marginally clean, I keep myself pretty busy.

When I started this blog, I had just gotten relieved of a stressful and time consuming job at church so I thought I would have tons of free time. Then I remembered the things that I hadn't been doing during those two years that desperately needed my attention.

Anyway, I just feel bad for starting a blog when I won't have nearly as many reviews to offer as some other wonderful blogs I read. I gain so much from everyone else's hard work and I do love having a place to write so I will keep coming here. Just not as much as I thought I would.