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Yesterday, I finished The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and, also, from a most generous gift from Psyche, I additionally started and finished one of his popular plays, The Importance In Being Earnest, in one sitting. Both, in comparison, had such different styles - both had such witty, cynical characters, but had entirely different plots - one a dramatic . . . I cannot label it, and another a comedy.
My rating: both get 10/10.
I just finished Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov which I enjoyed much more so than his previous novel Crime and Punishment. I'd give it a 9/10.
Right now, I'm thinking of diving into Bernard Cornwell's historical fiction The Last Kingdom.
Just tonight finished reading, "Gates Of Fire", by Steven Pressfield. The book is a fictional recount of the Battle of Thermopylae (Greece) which took place in 480 B.C.
In this recounted battle, 300 Spartans and their allies battle to the death against a Persian army of 2 million. While the Spartans planned only a delaying action, they fought till all of themselves were dead, but inflicted the same end upon tens of thousands of their enemies. The tale is one of courage, sacrifice, love, devotion. The Spartan King, Leonidas fought alongside his handpicked men, and died with them there.
Today in Greece there remains 2 small monuments to their valour: one is a 2 word quote by King Leonidas when he was asked by the invaders to lay down his and his army's arms; "Monon labe" (Come and get them!). The second monument is ancient, words by the poet Simonides of Sparta, simply carved into rock: "Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie."
It is claimed both soldiers, serfs and freepersons fought alongside each other in common effort at preserving their way of life. It is claimed that democracy's birth and its cradle lie in the heart of this tale, and in the heart of Greece.
I give this book a 10 of 10 for shear power of deliverance by its author, as there is little in the way of adornment, and a rapid pace of events.
The last thing I read was actually a reread, Anne Brontė's The Tennant of Wildfell Hall. Loved it, still. It's my favourite Brontė book together with Jane Eyre. Wuthering Heights just annoys me, though.
But, that leads me straight into what I'm reading now: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. Loving it! It is so much fun...
The last book I read two days ago is Arms and the Man , a play by G.B.Show . I really like it . The idea that the great principles we may believe in ( war and higher love in the play) could be a lie made me feel more realistic with a painful feeling of bitterness. However, Show's ironic style with the very funny situations taking place once and another through the three acts of of the play kept me smiling most of the time ( laughing loudly sometimes :D ) . All in all , it was great.
The Phantom of the Opera- Gaston Leroux. Quite good, tragic love story. I recommend it.
All Through the Night by Mary Higgins Clark
Picked this one because it was at a library display. It is about an abondoned baby, stolen chalice and forged will, which are somehow related but since you are told the 'secrets' right from the start, there is no mystery element to it and you end up reading the next 150 pages for the sake of it (well, at least that is what I have done!)
It is the first Higgins-Clark book I have read and probably the last one... The story line lacks originality, the technique is ordinary if not boring.
4/10 KitKats!
hmmm...the last book I finished (re)reading was J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye I think, but don't trust my memory.
The last book I'v read was "The Family Reunion", a play by T. S. Eliot. It is a very beautiful piece of literature that I like much. It reveals a lot about the strugle between society and individuals. It is a poetic play and enjoyable to read. I'v learned a good lesson from it. Eliot's works are always fasinating.
Today, I finished The Complete Plays Of Aristophanes (translated by Moses Hadas), which mostly consisted of comedies. I cannot call Aristophanes my favorite among the Greek playwrights (maybe Euripides or Sophocles), but I enjoyed the collection immensely, especially that most contained elements of philosophy (particularly Sophism).
My rating: 8/10.
I just finished Orlando by Virginia Woolf. I thought it was fascinating following Orlando through the centuries and his transformation to female. I agree with Woolf that both sexes are capable of being fundamentally the same; it's society that puts pressure on us to act and develop according to gender specifics. I also read The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence. It's amazing that Lawrence and Woolf had the guts to write what they did in early 1920's as they helped in the transformation from the Victorian frame of mind.
Rachy,
I read Wuthering Heights a while ago and I agree it was really very good. In my literature course we are to be studying it soon.... it will be interesting to see the other students' reactions to it, as I have already been told by someone, they did not care for it at all.
I am not sure about anyone else, but I believe it is rather feministic...
I last finished Virginia Woolf's last novel, Between the Acts.
I wrote up some thoughts and posted them here.
Few weeks ago I'v finished A Farewell to Arms, a novel by Hemingway; I gess everybody knows it. Intresting novel if it is well analysed. I found intresting themes to be descussed in it. In short, it changes, in a way, my vision of life.
Gump & Co.
Hilarious.