Tag: reread

Mini-Reviews #4: June Books, Part 2

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More mini-reviews! Just when I think I’m getting to the end of my backlog, I go and read more books. Will I never learn?

Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You, TheSchool for Unusual Girls, A

Lily Anderson, The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You — Oof. I really wanted to like this one — it’s a modern retelling of Much Ado About Nothing! But I was very underwhelmed, and the main reason is that I couldn’t stand the protagonist, Trixie. She’s incredibly self-absorbed and utterly convinced of her own righteousness at all times, which makes her downright mean to the people around her. She’s also a proud geek girl, obsessed with comic books and “Doctor Who.” Don’t get me wrong — I have nothing against these things! But Trixie’s constant references to geek culture didn’t feel real to me. Instead, I felt like the book was trying to pander to a specific audience and going way over the top. In short, I just wasn’t a fan.

Kathleen Baldwin,  A School for Unusual Girls — This one’s about — you guessed it — a school for unusual girls. Sixteen-year-old Georgiana Fitzpatrick doesn’t behave as a proper young lady should; and when one of her scientific experiments nearly burns down the stables, her parents pack her off to a school whose reputation for strictness is legendary. Of course, Georgie soon realizes that the school is not what it seems and that her fellow students all have unique, mysterious abilities. There’s also romance, kidnapping, and a touch of espionage. All in all, a fun read, although not particularly groundbreaking in the genre. I’d like to read the sequel at some point.

Tell Me Three ThingsStrong PoisonDecent Proposal, The

Julie Buxbaum, Tell Me Three Things — I enjoyed this novel despite its ridiculous premise: Jessie Holmes moves across the country when her dad remarries, and she is forced to attend a pretentious private school where she doesn’t know anyone — that is, until the mysterious Somebody/Nobody emails her, offering friendship and guidance in navigating the social scene at her new school. Though Jessie is skeptical at first, she soon opens up to Somebody/Nobody and speculates on who it might be. To the reader, the answer is astoundingly obvious, but it’s still fun to watch Jessie get there. A nice YA romance if you’re into that kind of thing.

Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison — I read this installment of the Lord Peter Wimsey series years ago but didn’t remember much about it, except that Lord Peter finally meets his match in Harriet Vane, a young woman who’s on trial for murdering her ex-lover. For me, this was the best novel in the series so far. The mystery is well plotted (although, as with other books in the series, the suspect list is so small that the true mystery is howdunit, not whodunit), and the romance is nicely underplayed. I’m definitely loving this series more and more as I continue to read, and I’m looking forward to the next book!

Kemper Donovan, The Decent Proposal — I was drawn to this book because of the title, and I knew very little about it going in. The premise is that a mysterious benefactor has promised two L.A. residents, happy-go-lucky Richard and highly regimented Elizabeth, that they will each receive half a million dollars if they agree to meet each other once a week for a year and talk — just talk. Of course they accede to the proposal, and of course they start out as very different people but eventually find some common ground. I liked the development of the relationship between Richard and Elizabeth, especially since I honestly didn’t know whether it was going to end in friendship or romance. I could have done without most of the other characters, actually; they seemed like they should get their own novels rather than being relegated to secondary characters in this one. I also think people who have lived in L.A. would get more out of the book, since it’s definitely written in that specific setting. Overall, I did like the book, but I’m glad I got it from the library instead of buying.

Reread: Emma

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As some of you already know, I am a huge Jane Austen fan. I’ve read all six of her completed novels multiple times, and I’ve seen (and in fact own) most of the major film adaptations. I may or may not (ahem) be in love with Mr. Darcy. I also have a Jane Austen action figure, which is lovingly preserved in its original packaging. In short, I am a big Austen dork. Feel free to judge.

Yet I recently realized that, for some reason, I hadn’t read any Austen in at least a year. To rectify the situation, I decided to revisit Emma. It’s definitely been several years since I last read it, and even though it’s not my favorite Austen novel (that would be Pride and Prejudice, obviously), I was craving some Highbury action. Here are some things that I was thinking about during this reading (and guys, there will be SPOILERS, so be warned!):

  • Miss Bates is GENIUS. Her long monologues may seem pointless and boring, but they actually contain all the clues to the Frank Churchill/Jane Fairfax relationship. I love Miss Bates. She would undoubtedly be tedious in real life, but she’s definitely a wonderful comic character — and also the moral center of the novel. Other characters (Emma in particular) are often judged by how well or poorly they treat Miss Bates.
  • The romance between Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax is actually a lot more dramatic than the main action with Emma. In some ways, Jane Fairfax is actually a much more likely heroine for a novel: she’s an orphan raised in a wealthy environment but destined to become a governess. She’s beautiful and accomplished — much more so than Emma, we’re told. She meets the dashing Frank Churchill at Weymouth and is swept off her feet. They’re secretly engaged, unfairly separated by the class-conscious Churchills, and forced to hide their true feelings from everyone else. It’s practically Romeo and Juliet, if you think about it! Yet Austen interestingly decided to tell most of this story offstage, focusing instead on the more mundane dramas of Highbury.
  • I love the moment when Emma meets Mrs. Elton for the first time and is enraged that she casually refers to Mr. Knightley as “Knightley.” Methinks I see some foreshadowing there!
  • Speaking of Emma and Mrs. Elton, in some ways they are eerily similar. Emma judges Mrs. Elton harshly for trying to manage every aspect of Jane Fairfax’s life — yet Emma herself did essentially the same thing to Harriet Smith! Emma is a more sympathetic character than Mrs. Elton, but does she really deserve to be?

So anyway, I really enjoyed my reread of Emma, and now I have a craving to watch the 1996 movie version with Gwyneth Paltrow. Well, either that or “Clueless”!