Lolita, or as I like to call it, child porn!

I was so excited to start this book because of it's racy nature, but alas I wasn't horribly impressed. The fact that this book was published in 1955 and not completely banned in the U.S. is beyond me. Apparently it sold rather well here in the states, which goes to show you that people loved the sexually provocative even during the conservative craze of the fifties.

The novel is about a man named Humbert Humbert, age 37, who is obsessed with "nymphets". A nymphet is basically, a girl on the verge of womanhood...kind of right before puberty (age 10-13ish). The book is sort of like his diary and he goes into painstaking detail in describing everything that he loves about these pre-pubescent girls. He moves to some new town and rents a room from a woman named Charlotte who has a 12 year old daughter named Dolores (aka Lolita). As I'm sure you can guess, he becomes infatuated with Lolita to the point of marrying her mother in order to stick around. While Lolita is away at summer camp, Charlotte comes across Humbert's diary and realizes his intentions. She freaks out and ends up getting run over by a car and dies. Wow, lucky break Humbert.

Humbert gets custody over Lolita and goes over and over in his head how he will sleep with her. In the end, she seduces him (shocker) and he realizes that she's done the deed before. He apparently is ok with this and the two travel the country and eventually settle down in another random town. Humbert keeps Lolita under strict care and if she ever wants something, he only gives it to her in exchange for sexual favors (gross). Lolita becomes involved in the school play which is written by a man that knew her from when she was living with her mother. Right before opening night Humbert and Lolita get into a fight and decide to pack up and travel again. Lolita becomes ill and has to stay in a hospital. Humbert goes to get her and finds out that she was checked out by a supposed "uncle". Humbert desperately tries to find Lolita but he never does find her.

Fast forward a few years and we see that Lolita is down on her luck. She writes to Humbert and we find out that she is married, pregnant, and in need of money. He goes to visit her and gives her money in exchange for the name of the man that took her. Clare, the man from Lolita's childhood and the writer of her school play took her and tried to get her to star in a porno. Lolita refuses to leave with Humbert and he goes postal and kills Clare. At the end of the book he is arrested and wishes Lolita well.

Wow, drama. I should state that the novel is extremely easy to read and is interesting. I guess I was expecting a better ending...it kind of just lied there...flat. The book was humorous in Humbert's narrative...but I just found it it be a little lacking. It's hard to describe. Overall, I give the book 3/5 stars for being mostly entertaining and an easy read.

Wuthering Heights...aka a NOT so happy ending :)

Sorry it's been a while since I've last updated but I am currently in the throes of linguistical hell, otherwise known as my current semester of grad school. Reading dense material on phonology and second language acquisition leaves me little time for pleasure reading. I am happy to report that I finished Wuthering Heights the other night, and boy was that an interesting novel.

I've always heard such conflicting views about this book; either you love it or hate it. I happen to lean more towards the love side, but I do have my issues with it. On the good side I find it incredible that Emily Bronte had this published (posthumously) right around the same time that Jane Austen's Emma came out because the language used is so different. Bronte's novel is MUCH easier to read and you don't have to pay attention to every word on the page in order to gather what she's writing about. Another plus in my book is that there really isn't, technically, a happy ending for the main characters. Here's my quick synopsis: Wuthering Heights is the name of an estate in Northern England owned by the Earnshaw family. Their neighbors are the Linton's who live at Thrushcross Grange. Mr. Earnshaw brings home an orphan whom he names Heathcliff. Heathcliff is very rough, and has no manners. Hindley Earnshaw, the son, hates Heathcliff and makes his life as miserable as possible. Catherine, the daughter, sort of adopts Heathcliff as her playmate though she constantly looks down upon him. So they grow up, Mr. Earnshaw dies, Hindley marries and inherits the estate. Hindley's wife dies in childbirth leaving him a son named Hareton, whom he dislikes and treats as poorly as he treats Heathcliff. Catherine has become friends with the Linton children, Edgar and Isabella, and fancies herself wanting to marry Edgar because he has money and status. Heathcliff overhears a conversation between Catherine and her maid about how Catherine can't be with Heathcliff because of his lowly stature. Heathcliff storms off just before Catherine confesses that she loves him. Cue drama.

Heathcliff doesn't return for a few years, but when he does, he's magically become wealthy! Catherine has married Edgar and Heathcliff has taken over Wuthering Heights because Hindley has become a drunkard who can't pay his bills. Heathcliff marries Isabella Linton just to piss Catherine off and to amass some of the Linton wealth. Heathcliff hates Isabella, and she hates him as well. Heathcliff goes to visit Catherine, they argue, she gets sick (EVERYONE gets sick in this book, seriously, it's kind of annoying), and on her deathbed informs Heathcliff of her true feelings for him, and vice versa. She dies in childbirth; the baby is named Catherine.

Heathcliff becomes an extremely angry and bitter man. Isabella runs off to live away from his madness. Hindley Earnshaw died at some point living poor Hareton to be raised illiterate and having poor manners, just like Heathcliff. Isabella dies 10 or so years later and low and behold she had a son (Heathcliff's) who goes to Wuthering Heights to be raised by his father. Linton, Heathcliff's son, is this biggest wuss I have ever encountered in literature. Seriously, sick all the time and whines constantly. Oddly enough, Cathy Linton (Edgar and Catherine's daughter) takes a liking to her cousin. Edgar dies, Heathcliff sees his chance to snatch up Thrushcross Grange and forces Cathy and Edgar to marry. Literally, he hits Cathy in the face and scares the crap out of her. Everyone is miserable and hates each other. Linton dies, thank god, and Cathy takes a liking to her other cousin, Hareton. She teaches him to read and the two slowly start to fall in love. Heathcliff sees this and has some weird mental breakdown. He doesn't eat or sleep for days and walks around the moors all night, apparently taking to Catherine's ghost. He dies and is buried next to Catherine. Everyone is happy and the ghosts of Heathcliff and Catherine are together, walking the moors at night.

Phew. Long summary but a lot goes on in this book. I love how the main character's children re-live the lives of their parents, only with a happy ending. If you didn't catch who was like whom, here it is: Heathcliff=Hareton, Edgar=Linton, Catherine=Cathy. I also found it very interesting at how violent Bronte made Heathcliff. He literally called Cathy a slut and hit her among the other children. His loss of Catherine turned him into such a horrible monster, but at the same time, you feel for him. It made me happy that a townsperson saw their ghosts walking together because you really want Heathcliff to find peace. There wasn't much I didn't like about the novel besides that it felt like the climax was in the middle of the book. After Catherine died the book became a little dull until the children started interacting together. Overall, I give Wuthering Heights 3/5 stars.

Hopefully I will update more, especially with spring break approaching. I'm thinking Lolita might be next ;)

Old Vladimir Lenin had a farm...

I love Animal Farm. I read it in high school and now re-reading it I get the same feelings. It's such a GOOD book. Even though this book is extremely easy to read, you still feel smart reading it. The best part is when you can catch the historical references beneath the story. Ahhh...so much better than Jane Austen.

In a nutshell, Animal Farm is a very blatant criticism of the Stalin regime and how it ruined the original idea of communism. One can even go as far to generalize that it could be a critique of ANY totalitarian regime and how, in the end, everything goes to shit. Animal Farm takes important Russian figures, such as Lenin and Stalin and transforms them into animals. The story starts out on a farm in England and an idea given by an elderly pig named Old Major. Life on the farm is hard and cruel, and the animals receive little reward for their efforts. Old Major calls for a revolution against man, and the running of the farm by the animals. After Old Major dies the animals revolt and start to run the farm by themselves. The pigs become the "leaders" (I put that in quotes because all animals are supposed to be equal on Animal Farm) and teach the other animals reading/writing, develop plans, and overall improve the quality of life. The animals have more food and more time off than they did when the humans ran the farm, but not all is as perfect as it seems. The two head boars, Napolean and Snowball never agree on anything and one day Napolean and a pack of dogs that he trained (whom I think are a reference to the KGB) run Snowball off the farm and take over. Under Napolean everything changes. The animals work harder, have less food, and watch while the pigs do everything that no animal was supposed to do. The pigs slowly start adopting human habits such as drinking, trading with humans, wearing clothes, and lastly, walking upright. None of the other animals are truly smart enough to really understand the horror of this situation, so they go on working. Things get so bad that animals are executed for possible treason and even the hardest worker, a horse named Boxer, got sent to the slaughter house when he became too sick to work. The last scene, and probably the best one in the book, is when some of the animals spy on a meeting between the pigs and the humans. They look back and forth between the two groups, and can't tell who is a pig and who is a human.

While I would love to delve more into the story, I don't want to rewrite the novel. Animal Farm shows that ideas that are meant to be ideal for the masses can be ruined by a greedy individual. I love how over 60 years later this book is still so fresh and could be applied to regimes operating today. I give Animal Farm 4/5 stars and recommend it to anyone who loves a good story and one that makes you think.

Oh Jane Austen...You slay me...

Well, I did it. I finally finished my first Jane Austen novel. After years of enjoying Austen adaptations on film, I figured I would have at least been somewhat entertained by a novel. Yeah, not so much.

For those of you who are interested in the plot of Emma, I will continue from my last blog post. I must warn you I will be brief, which is exactly how I wished this book was.

Emma finds out that Mr. Elton has no interest in Harriet whatsoever, and has his eye on Emma. Emma says no thanks, and the jilted Mr. Elton goes to Bath (really awesome Romanesque town in England...been there...love it) and comes back with a fiancee, whom Emma can't stand. While Mr. Elton was gone a Mr. Frank Churchill rolls into town (He is the son/step-son of family friends). Around the same time we're also introduced to a Miss Jane Fairfax who lives with her crazy old aunt. Emma fancies herself in love with Frank and is encouraged by everyone (including Frank himself) that she has caught his eye. Eventually Emma tries to pawn Harriet off on Frank (poor girl). In the meantime it has been brought up that Jane and Mr. Knightley might be good together. Emma doesn't like this, but she's not sure why (because you're in love with him, you dumb girl), and decides she just doesn't want him to be with anyone. Eventually it is learned that Frank and Jane are secretly engaged (scandal!)...so there goes another eligible bachelor. Harriet fancies herself in love with Mr. Knightley, and the evil green monster finally makes itself known to Emma. She's in love with Mr. Knightley (banging head...on...wall). Luckily for her he holds her in the same affection and the two are married at the end of the book. Oh, and Harriet goes back to Mr. Martin and they get married too.

Phew. What a nightmare. Honestly, I was hoping for some grand declaration of love or SOMETHING that truly indicated the turning point when Mr. Knightley and Emma decide their mutual love for one another, and it didn't happen. I mean, it was mentioned, but was so understated that I can't remember what was said. Overall, I was sorely disappointed. I found Emma to be so immature and spoiled that I really didn't care to read what she had to say anymore. It was interesting to read an Austen story in which the heroine wasn't poor (which I think, correct me if I'm wrong, that Emma is the only one in all of the novels that has money) but I prefer the Bennetts and Dashwoods.

I give Emma 2/5 stars...only because the story, if less cluttered, is decent. For those that are interested in the Emma story but don't want to go through the hell that I just endured, PBS is starting and Emma miniseries that airs on the 24th of this month. I will be watching :)

One book down, one hundred more to go. Off to the land of Animal Farm next...much more my style!

Emma...so far..

So I started reading Emma earlier this week and am almost halfway done. I probably would have been finished by now if I could read more than a couple of chapters at a time. The beginning was soooo slow....snooze. I never fully read Pride and Prejudice because Jane Austen tends to describe everything...and I mean EVERYTHING. Luckily for me, I'm a little bit older and more patient so I know I can get through this.

Ridiculous description aside, we also have the problem of language difference. This book was written in 1816 and they definitely spoke more eloquently back then. So say you get past the verbose descriptions and syntactical differences, you are then confronted with the army of characters. Seriously, I can't keep them straight. So many names it makes my head spin. These are my chief complaints so far.

As far as the story line, it's pretty decent. Emma is a 20 year old (which is almost spinster age back then) single girl living with her Dad. Her mother died a while back and her older sister got married a long time ago so her job has been running the household. She's considered very clever and well-liked by everyone except for the family's friend Mr. Knightley. He finds her, as I do, to be rather meddlesome and slightly annoying. You see, Emma is a matchmaker, and an apparently decent one. The problem she has run into, at my point in the book, is trying to match up her friend Harriet with Mr. Elton. Harriet has already had a marriage proposal by Mr. Martin, whom she finds to be sweet and endearing, but Emma talked her into refusing because she feels that Mr. Martin is beneath Harriet's status. This infuriates Mr. Knightley and rightly so because in actuality, there isn't much difference at all and Mr. Martin is a respectable, well- liked member of society. Mr. Knightley and Emma get into a heated blow out and he storms out. I foresee sparks later on between the two of them.

So spoiled Emma continues with her matchmaking, and it doesn't work very well. Emma draws a miniature of Harriet for Mr. Elton and tries to get them to socialize alone. He doesn't seem to be entirely interested though, and at this point, I had an epiphany.

"Holy crap, this sounds like Clueless!!"

Sure enough, after my browse on Wikipedia, Clueless is loosely based upon the novel. So Cher is Emma, Ty is Harriet, and Elton is Mr. Elton (way to hide that one). So who is Cher's step-brother?? My marbles are on Mr. Knightley...he puts her in her place, which is exactly what she needs.

That's it so far, not much in 100 pages (thanks Ms. Austen, cause we really need an entire page to know how Emma felt about dinner). I will post again when I'm finished :)

Well crap...

I apparently read the list wrong and 1984 is not on it...Animal Farm is. Way..to...go..

SO scratch that, I will be starting with Emma by Jane Austen since I have that lying around.

A Journey into Knowledge (or hell...I'm not sure yet)

Hello.

For those of you out there that don't know me, my name is Stephanie. I am an almost 26 year old married, grad student living in the great state of Connecticut. I live a quiet life with my husband, dog, and cat...things are very normal. A couple of days ago I decided to break the cycle of normalcy and apathy by creating a personal quest. I scoured the internet searching for exactly what I wanted and finally discovered the list. I, Stephanie West, will read the Penguin Classics"s "101 Best Books Ever Written".

101 books, and not just any books mind you. These are the classics folks. From Homer to Dostoevsky, from Dickens to Austen...I shall read them all!

This list is rather daunting and I'm rather certain it will take me quite a while to finish due to lengthy grad school work that will be occurring simultaneously. It will be a long and arduous road and I plan on sharing all of it with whomever wants to hear me.

I'm not sure where this idea came from but I believe that every once in a while, it's nice to do something that not a lot of others can say that they did. My husband and I own a small handful of these books and were discussing how we wanted to buy the classics to put in our library for our children someday. So, in a way, I think I'm also doing this for my future children. I shall arm them with an arsenal of great literature and will be able to assist in English papers! As for the blogging, perhaps I was inspired by Julie/Julia or I just think some people would get a good laugh at my rather unprofessional book reviews. Either way, I am looking forward to the challenge and to sharing my thoughts!

I am starting with 1984, even though I have already read it (I am reading ALL of the books). I originally wanted to start at the top of the list but the weather today prevented me from going to the book store so alas, that fell through.

So it's off to the land of George Orwell I go! The next time you hear from I shall hopefully be finished with it. Happy reading everyone, and wish me luck!!