Alice’s Adventures in Russia
In honor of a rather silly book I read about a high school girl with a crush, I give you this article on the journey Lewis Carroll’s classic took in the Soviet Union. A choice excerpt:
Category Archives: British Literature
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
Synopsis: After returning from Italy, a young woman struggles to adjust to her new fiance, and quell the disturbing yearnings for romance so recently awakened. Review: A Room with a View is my third Forster. It’s more straightforward than A Passage to India, but it’s not as rich and fulfilling as Howard’s End.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Synopsis: A little girl falls down the rabbit hole and steps through a mirror, finding herself in an illogical, marvelous world.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Synopsis: The destinies of two men who look almost like twins are intertwined with a prisoner of the Bastille and his golden-haired daughter, as the drums of the French Revolution bring death, destruction, and La Guillotine ever closer. Review: A Tale of Two Cities is three of five for the Classics Challenge. I don’t think I’m going to accomplish the goal, not because I wasn’t reading but because I should’ve signed up for Anna Karenina. Oh well. Dickens I have loved, and Dickens I have…
Judgment in Stone by Ruth Rendell
Synopsis: An illiterate housekeeper’s resentment of the privileged family she serves boils over into a murderous rage. Review: Judgement in Stone was turned into an incredible movie called La Ceremonie by Claude Chabrol, starring Sandrine Bonnaire as Eunice, the “stone” of the title, and the marvelous Isabelle Huppert as Joan, the local postmistress who fans the flames of Eunice’s anger. This is yet another case of a film adaptation that is truthful to the book, but that can also stand on its own.
Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
Review: The second in trilogy begun in His Majesty’s Dragon finds Temeraire and Laurence traveling by sea to China where Temeraire will take his rightful place as the dragon of an emperor–not a member of His Royal Majesty’s Navy battling against an ever-encroaching Napoleon. Review: Throne of Jade is a more than worthy installment in the tale of Temeraire, a dragon hatched from an egg given by China to Napoleon but seized by the English. When Temeraire hatched, the first person he saw was naval…
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Synopsis: Roberta and her brother and sister have to leave London for the countryside when their father is mysteriously sent away, but they discover a world of delight thanks to the nearby railroad.
Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller
Synopsis: An old spinster teacher narrates her obsession with fellow teacher Sheba Hart, who is having an affair with her 15-year-old student.
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Synopsis: The theft of a rare diamond from India throws an upper class family and their servants into disarray and suspicion. Review: Published in 1868 and taking place from 1847-48, The Moonstone is one of my selections for the Winter Classics Challenge and the Chunkster Challenge. I knew that it was the first novel to introduce the classic British detective character, but I was not prepared for how funny and satirical the book would be. Collins structures the book around a series of first-person narratives…
Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose
Synopsis: The best way to learn to write is by the close reading of great literature. Review: I wish I could get Francine Prose to tell me about every book I read. She is so astute and insightful about the craft of writing, and equally tuned into the joys that reading has to offer the lover of language. You might think that the Superfast Reader would be averse to a technique asking her to slow down and smell the sentences, but nothing could be further…