Tuesday 30 October 2012

NaNoWriMo

Oh how I wish I could take part this year!
     Like every year since I learnt about the existence of NaNoWriMo I have far too much work to even think of taking part. This is a huge pain in the butt, as I have an idea for a novel that's been running around in my head for well over a year, but my degree has to come first. I have a ten thousand word dissertation to do for April, a three thousand word Shakespeare essay due in in a few weeks, a five thousand word Victorian essay to do over Christmas, another five thousand word Gothic essay next term and an eight thousand word Creative Writing portfolio due in in March.
     In other words, I have a lot of work.
     On the plus side it means I'm never without something to do, and I bet I'll miss this feeling at the end of the year when I have weeks and weeks of nothing before my graduation.
     Graduation. Now there's a scary word.
     Well I'm gonna get back to reading Treasure Island and calming my raging hormones with spoonfuls of Greek yogurt. Because this - this right here - is student living.
     Toodles! J.

Saturday 20 October 2012

Agnes Grey Review

There is no doubt about it, I adore this book.
     In my personal opinion Anne Brontë is so very underappreciated in the literary world because she is overshadowed by Emily and Charlotte. I cannot deny that both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are fine pieces of literature, but there is something so much more real in Anne's narrative that I love.
     She is honest about the world and the brutal way that it works without needing to add a gothic element to it. Yes, Agnes can sometimes appear a little too perfect compared to the other characters in the novel, but there is something so genuinely kind about her that it does not bother me in the slightest. I want to appreciate how sweet she is as a person because I fully believe that she deserves to be appreciated.
     One of the best things in the novel? Why Mr. Weston of course!
     I did not read the book purely for the male lead, but as a character and love interest he was perfectly charming. I have never quite been able to understand Heathcliff's popularity among women; realistically he is a frightening, controlling, violent man. As for Mr. Rochester, while he leaves me feeling a little more sympathetic, I am not sure I would be able to trust a man who had kept his wife locked in an attic.
     Mr. Weston is perfectly normal and just plain nice. That, ladies, is what I find attractive in a man. Niceness. While Heathcliff spends his years abusing everyone within his vicinity, Mr. Weston spends his time helping old ladies find their cats. All while keeping his masculinity intact.
     All in all I simply found this novel a pleasure to read. It was calming and sweet and beautiful.
     I am most definitely an Anne Brontë fangirl.