Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men

I know this song is kind of old, but I just discovered it a few days ago. I'm completely obsessed!

Regina Spektor + the Strokes is a beautiful collaboration

"Our aspirations are wrapped up in books"

Books I want to read soon...

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Middlemarch by George Eliot/Marian Evans

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

Perhaps it's a bit ambitious, but I'll get around to all of them eventually. I happen to own Gulliver's Travels, The Count of Monte Cristo and Mansfield Park so I ought to start with one of those. As you can see I'm already dreaming of what to read next. A Tale of Two Cities is monstrously difficult reading at some points. Honestly, reading it makes feel stupid. However, there is no mistaking of Dickens' boldness in the novel. The story is epic. I just wish the story had another Pip or Joe for me to have a crush on. Perhaps Mr. Darnay, he looks promising. haha.

"I hear the midnight birds, the message in their words"

I'm in an excellent mood today, I've been singing and prancing around my empty house all morning! I bought four new songs: God Help the Girl by God Help the Girl, and Come Back Margaret, The Nights are Cold and Honey in the Sun by Camera Obscura. God Help the Girl is my fantastic new discovery, the song sounds like somebody wrote a comical depiction of me: "I keep to myself. I love my room; I'm getting used to sleeping. Some nights I really like to lie awake. I hear the midnight birds, the message in their words.... I sit for hours just waiting for his phone call, I'll leave the chocolate hidden in the fridge.... I think of him while I'm doing the dishes, I think of him while looking in the sink... If he gave me a sign, I'd think about it for a week. I'd build it up, then turn him down. You have been warned. I'm born to be contrary". haha. Anyway, since I'm feeling so musical this morning I thought I'd do something disgustingly narcissistic and post a playlist of songs about me. Sort of like a soundtrack to Camille. I like to think that secretly everyone has their own soundtrack, even if its only in their heads.

1. Just Like Heaven - The Cure

2. Here's Where the Story Ends - The Sundays

3. Half a Week Before the Winter - Vanessa Carlton

4. Field Below - Regina Spektor

5. Judy and the Dream of Horses - Belle and Sebastian

6. If Looks Could Kill - Camera Obscura

7. Not the Same Girl - Leona Naess

8. Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want - She & Him

9. Meet Me By the Water - Rachael Yamagata

10. Someday the Waves - Iron and Wine

11. How Deep is Your Love - The Bird and the Bee

12. Marble Halls - Enya

13. Clair de Lune - Jean Yves Thibaudet

14. Afterglow - Vanessa Carlton

15. Landslide - Fleetwood Mac

16. Faithful to Me - Jennifer Knapp

17. Dream - Priscilla Ahn

18. Diamond Heart - Marissa Nadler

19. On the Radio - Regina Spektor

20. God Help the Girl - God Help the Girl

"Reliquary eyes, and a diadem frown"

Well, I've been terribly neglectful and it's been an awfully long time since I've posted. However, as you may have noticed I updated my layout. Anyway, I am still reading A Tale of Two Cities, but I've been quite busy and haven't gotten very far. I'll give a grand review of it all once I am through, but for now perhaps I'll give a more personal entry. The past week has been full of excitement and endings. I went on a trip to Disney World with my friends, and that was marvelous! I was absolutely enchanted with Disney World. Being there is like being tucked a way into a fairy tale. I'm half certain I could live there if the weather was milder. I collected such lovely memories on my quiet, little adventure and I'm sad that it has ended. Friday night, we watched the fireworks show as a sort of farewell to Disney World. And as I watched the castle glittering in the shower of light, I felt a peculiar mingling of emotions. I was happy, and hopeful and sad all at once. I felt like bursting like a fire cracker.

Now that I'm home, my life has resumed its routine for the most part. However, I've encountered an unexpected ending. I can't disclose anything of substance, because I don't wish to betray anyone's privacy. Life is strange, and yet it's also familiar. People are always disappointing one another, and yet they always pretend to be surprised. I'm afraid I've disappointed someone, and for that I feel sorry. However, some things cannot be helped. I wish I knew how to give this a nice clean, mended ending, but I do not.

Onto, lighter topics... the Lost series finale was this Sunday. I've been following that show for 6 years and now it is finally over. I disliked the ending, although I expected something like that. It was a bit too vague for my liking.

I feel like posting some pictures...

Oh Henry Cavill, how I adore you.

Wandering Thoughts

Well, I'm still faithfully reading A Tale of Two Cities. Every scene is stunning and poignant, quite lovely. However, the story just hasn't grabbed me yet. Perhaps, I ought to stop comparing it to Great Expectations (which is one of my top favorites). Its just that, there comes a point in a novel where the story should take hold of you, the characters seem utterly real, the world they inhabit is the one that you inhabit. I love that feeling. The feeling of feverishly racing through the chapters. Every moment you spend engrossed in the pages takes on a magical quality. I remember the first time I felt this way about a book. I was 14 and I read Wuthering Heights (by Emily Bronte) for the first time. Since then, I've been on a continual search for books that make me feel that way. Nonetheless, I have hope that Dickens will not disappoint me for too long... Although I did stop at the book store today and picked up The Silmarillion (Written by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien). In faithfulness to this blog I'll do my best to leave it sitting quietly on the bookshelf. If you're wondering, yes, I'll be reading The Silmarillion next. This book isn't typical of the kinds of fiction I had planned to peruse in this blog (I meant to stick to the classics), but Tolkien is my #1 favorite author (yes, he beat out the Brontes!) and I can't help it! Perhaps I'll read The Lord of the Rings again sometime... I've been wanting to, but have refrained because I'm on a quest to read as much classic literature as I can, and rereading books would only slow me down. I'll end here before I start gushing about Tolkien. I'm such a nerd :)

A Tale of Two Cities

Well, I've begun reading my next book, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. By the way, forgive me if I sound distracted, I'm watching The Mummy. I can't help but wish I was on some fabulous Egyptian adventure with Brendan Fraser in the 1940s... Anyway, back to Dickens. I'll be honest, the first few chapters are a bit dry. For about the first 30 pages it's difficult to discern a clear protagonist. In fact, chapters 1-3 feel rather like an introduction or a prologue. However, that being said, chapters 1-3 are also full of beautiful, insightful, moving passages. The passages are so lovely and perspicacious that they ought to be read several times over. I've only reached chapter 4, so I have little left to report. I'll be sure and update as soon as I've read further.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of DArkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." -Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (Chapter 1)

The Age of Innocence

"The worst of doing one's duty was that it apparently unfitted one for doing anything else." -Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

Book: The Age of Innocence

Author: Edith Wharton

Year Published: 1920

Analysis:

When thoroughly and properly examined, Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence is a fascinating read. The beginning chapters might seems a bit slow and tedious, especially for those who are unaccustomed to the structured, formal language. However, the initial "slowness" is more than atoned for by the end of the novel. Wharton's book is intricate. Although the reader might not recognize this fact early in the book, towards the end of the novel the reader begins to see how tightly and skillfully woven the book actually is. I also found that The Age of Innocence is brimming with meaningful imagery. Wharton continually gives her readers clues and insights about her characters and the plot within this imagery, which makes it all the lovelier. Aside from the imagery, the characters from the Age of Innocence are equally beautiful. Newland, Ellen and May are vibrant, captivating portraits of their time. I especially like that the novel is given from a male perspective. Most books of this kind are female centric. Don't mistake me, I adore a good Victorian heroine, but seeing a romance unfold from a male point of view is deeply intriguing, especially considering the fact that the book was written by a woman. Another thing that I loved about The Age of Innocence is that Wharton allows all of her characters to explain themselves. She could have easily written May and her family as snobs, which they are, but she reveals their complexities and allows the reader to understand characters who they might otherwise find un-relatable. Wharton does this especially well with Newland, since he is the narrator we see his thoughts which are sometimes noble, but we also see how enticing societal norms are for him. This helps the reader realize that Newland isn't a true snob, if put in his position wouldn't any one be tempted to act similarly? Anyway, in my opinion, The Age of Innocence is a beautiful, poignant novel that juxtaposes images of tradition and change, and of duty and desire, and it stands out as a rich and insightful picture of "Old New York", and upper class society in general.

*Spoiler alert*

Thoughts about the ending:

The ending, although thoroughly frustrating, should not come as a complete surprise if you pay careful attention throughout the book. However, as much as I understand that structurally the novel had to end that way, I'm going to choose to believe that Newland and Ellen meet accidentallly in some obscure corner of the L'ouvre and fall in love again--instantly. ♥

Favorite Quote/Passage:

"The amber beads were trying to her complexion, or her dress was perhaps unbecoming: her face looked lusterless and almost ugly, and he had never loved it as he did at that minute. Their hands met, and he thought he heard her say: "Yes, we're sailing tomorrow in the Russia--" then there was an unmeaning noise of opening doors, and after an interval May's voice: 'Newland! Dinner's been announced. Won't you please take Ellen in?'

Madame Olenska put her hand on his arm, and he noticed that the hand was ungloved, and remembered how he had kept his eyes fixed on it the evening that he had sat with her in the little Twenty-third Street drawing room. All the beauty that had forsaken her face seemed to have taken refuge in the long pale fingers and faintly dimpled knuckles on his sleeve, and he said to himself: 'If it were only to see her hand again I should have to follow her--' " (chapter 33)