My Little Literature Life

[exodus238]

I've decided I'm going to update you with my little literature life again
I'm now considering studying English and Philosophy at university, especially East Anglia, looks like a really good course there. If anyone has any recommendations, speak now!
I take back what I've said about Margaret Atwood. Yes, The Handmaid's Tale is not great (though now I'm having to use it in my 3000 word coursework piece :S) but I recently read Oryx and Crake and Year Of The Flood, both written by her. These books are also dystopian but are so much better then The Handmaid's Tale and I could hardly recognize Atwood's style! They are incredibly different and absolutely brilliant!
I preferred Oryx and Crake to Year Of The Flood, as it has far more details about the fall of the society than Year Of The Flood.
They are both interlinked and I hugely recommend them both!
Well anyway, I am reading Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman at the moment to get to grips with a typical feminist novel. Any comments on anything I've said here, feel free to say.
x

[exodus238]

Hi guys, sorry I haven't been online for a while.. VERY busy with A Levels and all..
I have just started a blog on a big project of mine (writing a fantasy novel) so if anyone is interested, go to this link:



and feel free to snoop around, comment.. or whatever you like to do on a blog (just don't go being irresponsible and childish please!)

For an update on my Little Literature Life...
I am no longer taking the EPQ project this year as I just don't have time..
instead, I may base it on another project, mentioned above ^^
Recently, i've been studying John Webster's 'The White Devil'. Any thoughts on this? My opinion on it isn't very positive - it seems like a play full of ridiculous gore and is only used to study because of the complicated characters and plot. I would be interested to here other's opinions though!
My English Coursework on Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' and George Orwell's '1984' is coming on nicely after A LOT of research and planning!
How are other's little literature lives?
x

[Voivod30]

Sorry if this is an old thread but I haven't been on this site all that much so it's new to me so I figured I'd post a reply. I too love dystopian stories, of course the more well know are A Brave New World, 1984 and Farenheit 451 but I would also suggest the Dickens' novel Hard Times. It's not exactly a dystopian novel in the vein of the others mentioned but it definitely is along the same lines. It basically is about a world where art and emotions in general are shunned. I love Dickens in general but this may just be my favorite novel of all time. I also might suggest Flatlands by Edwin Abbot which also isn't exactly a dystopian novel in the strictest sense but approaches that style. I suppose Silas Marner could also be put in this category.

I just recently finished reading Tess of the D'urbervilles and I really liked it as well. I've read a small amount of Hardy's work but haven't actually finished any of his novels up until now (I used to have the bad habit of not finishing much of what I started, in the past year I've finally broken that habit). My only criticism is one of personal opinion and not a knock against his writing. I found the novel to be some what difficult to get through because of how depressing Tess's life usually was. She seemed like such a sympathetic character and through very little fault of her own such terrible things kept happening to her. I also felt that many scenes were a bit more vague then I might have liked. For instance the scene where she is essentially assaulted by Alec is at first hard to make-out as to whether she is actually attacked or just let things happen that she would later regret. Any how, it was still a fantastic novel and I'm glad that I was able to see it through to the not exactly happy but some what fulfilling ending.

[exodus238]

yeah, i kind of agree with you there.
the whole assaulting scene is so vague it took me a while to work out what had happened...
However Tess was and still is one of my favourite novels. I loved Silas Marner too, but I can't see how it is dystopian...?
I'm rarely on this site either...in fact, it's unusual to find me online.
x

[exodus238]

Hiya! So I know I haven't been around for a while. I've been doing stuff - like running 3 other blogs, writing 2 novels, doing my A Levels (I got BBB! I'm happy!) and generally living life. But I am back again for a brief moment!
I have started a reading project - 52 books in one year...so that's basically 1 book a week. It is WAY harder than I thought it would be! At the moment, I'm reading about 4 books at once. Yeah, I always read too many books at once!

I've put myself up for some little competitions here and there so...yeah...read and vote for them if you feel like being nice
I'm sorry this is such a short post but there really isn't anything else to tell you about! Umm...oh yeah...I'm on my gap year now, waiting to go and study English and Philosophy in Reading (which might change to English and Creative Writing...)
So have fun with...what ever you're doing!
x
oh and I'm also doing Latin GCSE...still...have I told you guys about that? And I'm reconsidering doing that EPQ thing...just because I'm bored and it'll give me something to do! Haha!
I'm writing a fantasy novel...currently called Homeland. It's set on a completely different planet...have I told you guys about that? I've been away so long, I forget what I have and haven't told you!
Oh and as of yesterday evening, I'm attempting to write some sort of screen play.
I want to get something published soon to set me up as an author
x

[kev67]

Interesting, did you study all Pre-Us or just the Pre-U in English? Well done on your A level or Pre-U results, and Reading University has a nice campus if nothing else.

I think your rule about finishing any book you have started is a good one. I have abandoned several books part way through on the grounds that life is too short, but later regretted it when I could not strike them off the list.

I recently read Tess too. Despite the unfamiliar vocabulary, the mythological and ecclesiastical references, I liked it right up to the last three chapters. I agreed with a comment I read on this forum that it was diseased book. Not just because Tess behaved badly at the end, not only because of its super-tragic ending, but for its ungodliness, for want of a better word. It has not put me off Hardy, but I am going to keep away from the sad ones. I watched the DVD of The Road with some friends one Saturday night - not a good idea. I don't think I have ever watched a more depressing film.

I took Latin at O level in 1983. I found it very difficult and extremely boring, but I still scraped a C by memorizing the literature translation. It bothers me I lost my grip on it so early on. Latin grammar relies on word endings so much, and pronouns and word order are no real guide. Unless you can keep track of the word endings, you're lost. One day, I might attempt to study it again.

[exodus238]

Hiya, no I just studied English Pre-U and got an M2 which counts as a B, right? So instead of explaining to everyone what the Pre-U is, I just say I got BBB. So much easier!
I pretty much always have to finish a book, but that doesn't stop me reading more than one at once! I'm currently reading 2 - which is a record - but it will soon be 3 because I'm about to get the next book in a series I'm reading
I didn't like Tess' ending either. I think the book was incredible because of her characterization and how detailed and slow it was...but how I never once found it boring! I wrote my own alternative ending for it when I was sixteen..feels so long ago now! But recently I looked back at it and realise how badly it was written! Or maybe it just shows me how far I have come with my writing? The problem with Hardy is that they all tend to be rather miserable. Staying away from the sad ones generally means staying away from Hardy in my experience...
I am totally loving Latin GCSE! Okay, so my Dad is my teacher and it's the only time I ever really get with just him and me. It's our thing and nobody elses which is, I guess, its attraction. But I have always had a dream of walking into any random church and being able to read the latin on the walls and the floor and windows etc. I also found it pretty awesome that last lesson, I read out the creation bit in the Bible in Latin! That makes my nerdy side tingle
x

[kev67]

I read out the creation bit in the Bible in Latin! That makes my nerdy side tingle
x

Like this? There's an annoying bit of glare on the image.

[exodus238]

a bit like that - just without the fancy writing.

[Seasider]

Not all Hardy is depressing. "Under The Greenwood Tree" is a lovely novel...a love story with, eventually a happy ending. I read it as a typically romantic 6th Former and loved it. I was reading "The Mayor of Casterbridge" for A level at the same time and so wished I could swop them.

[Andrew Mcleod]

I admire your determination.