Racking my brains for something to write about other than "oh my gawd I'm just so stressed!", I decided to turn once more to the multifaceted face of the love of my life: awesome women in awesome books.
Sometimes they're awesome because they're empowered, sometimes they're just the only ones who actually think straight in the entire novel, sometimes they're so sad that you just want to hug them over and over... and over.
Who's first?
The most loveable heroine ever to be put on paper?
Why, it's Elizabeth Bennet, obviously. I mean, Jane Austen said so.
In that sex-starved, hypocritical society, where all that mattered was how many "pounds a year" you had to your name and whether or not you knew important people, Elizabeth warmed our hearts by not giving a damn.
She was witty, pretty, smart and didn't really care whether or not the rich people liked her.
She had flaws too, and by that, I don't mean the let's-think-of-a-flaw-that's-actually-loveable that is the hallmark of the Mary Sue, but actually flaws - like a human being.
She also made the best speech in the history of ever:
"From the first moment I met you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed upon to marry."
(at which point in the movie I'm always high-fiving the air around me, yelling "you go sister!")
(and she knows it!)Look, I know it's cool to like the more accurate and longer BBC-version more, but let's all at least agree that Keira Knightley is by far the better Elizabeth, shall we?
The BBC actress never convinced me. Too soft and humourless. Elizabeth was a well-meaning force of nature, but in a cute way.
Who else, then?
Since the novel was a big hit (mostly in the US, I think, but still - it sold well here) I'll just assume most of you have at least heard of The Crimson Petal And The White, Michel Faber's much acclaimed magnum opus. Also, one of my favourite books ever.
It's huge, it's fresh, it absorbes you (if you let it, but you must, you absolutely must!) and in the end, 900+ pages don't seem like enough and you spend weeks devising outcomes for the - oops, but I'm being a spoiler-spoil here!
No, I'm not telling. I'll just say that it's wonderful in that it contains a lot of elements commenly found in Victorian novels (the captain of industry, his mistress, a mad wife,..) but it's viewed in a very modern, 21st-century like light, which makes you not only enjoy the whole thing more, but also look upon other novels (say... Jane Eyre?) in a different way.
The heroine of the day (year? decade? ever?) is Sugar, a prostitute with a nasty skin condition who is goddamn smart and kind of bitchy, in that she uses her lazy bum costumer William to get out of the gutter and up into the higher circles. Under her influence, William and his perfume "empire" both grow amazingly, and - yep, spoilers again.
I love Sugar because she's so damn human. She's damaged goods, granted, Victorian whores usually weren't the most confident and all's-fine-here people, but she's so determined not to stay in that situation that you have to love her for it.
I both hope and fear that they're making it into a film soon - hope because hey, the more Sugar the better - fear because they have the tendency to screw things up.
Okay, sure, the book is always better than the movie, so I don't expect EVERYTHING, but my heroines! My favourite characters, ALL WRONG!
All wrong I say!
Keira Knightley's Elizabeth is one huge exception, of course, but how can I trust them with my lovelies?
My babies, my carebears?
A: I CAN'T.
For our third heroine, I find myself in a little predicament.
I cannot tell you about the awesomeness of Isserley (of Michel Faber's Under The Skin). I cannot possibly divulge more information than this: she is female, and she is so tragic that it hurts.
It makes me want to hug her. For forever.
If Isserley were here, I would not be typing this as I would be too busy hugging her. So there's something to be thankful for, I guess.
I believe I have urged you before, but I shall do it again, as I say: Please Read Under The Skin. I promise you most heartily and sincerely you will not regret it.
That's it for now. I must return to my non-life which is filled to the brim with very unproductive stress - but I am nevertheless happy to inform you that the latest hiccup in the road to Our Own Apartment has been overcome, and only the actual signing remains.
And with that, I leave you.
Good night.
I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.
(Jane Austen)
Oh Jane! How I love you.
That woman - but I seem to be drifting from my original statement (or rather, the quote I shamefully scribbled down to hide my lack of originality).
I live on my own, and indeed, I have a library.
It's not the library I want, granted, but a collection of books which I shall liberally call "a library", nonetheless.
What I realy want is this:
Taller, though. And in warmer colours. And with the darkest mahogany wood I could possibly find.
And with portraits of my favourite writers interspersed on the wall.
Also, not sure about the floor. I'd like it to be a round room, sure, but with a hardwood floor, possibly covered in the softest carpet in existence. And nobody would be allowed to wear shoes in there.
Sunday is mandatory keep-your-jammies-on-day.
Good lord. Why do I fantasize about this? Good Lord.
Either way, in between studying sessions, I found myself grabbing the new Michel Faber, Fire Gospel, which I had purchased a few months ago and never bothered to read until now because I had (and still have) a sudden case of Jane Austen mania.
Well, I read the first page, looked up 2 hours later and started mentally cursing at myself for the lost study time.
I then read the rest of the novel.
It's short, it's powerful, it's evocative, it asks questions with only brief hints at answers - just the way I like it.
It's especially interesting, too, because it's about Baby Jesus, well, I can't give you the particulars, because I firmly believe that would ruin your true enjoyment of the novel, but as the title suggests, it is about a new gospel being discovered, translated and published.
Go read it. I swear, you will not hate me for wasting your time.
I also picked up Jane Austen's Mansfield Park again, with the heroine I never particularly liked but am starting to warm up to now: Fanny Price. Perhaps it's because of her name (which, as you might recall, is the same as the evil sister-in-law of the Dashwood sisters), maybe it's just her damn shyness, not sure, but that's how it was and no longer is.
Fanny is awesome.
Even more awesome is reading some Jane Austen with Unforgettable in the background, which is just nostalgic enough for it. If I had any original piano concertos on my laptop, I would put those on, but hey, you have to work with what you have.
OH GOD.
There exist, in this world which you and I both live in, as well as lots of other people, JANE AUSTEN T-SHIRTS.
My nerdy fangirl heart just leaped up and is preparing to launch into outer space.
They're pretty basic, but still - JANE SHIRTS!
They have awesome matched pairs where one is 'pride' and the other 'prejudice' (or you could get cheeky and buy a 'sense' and a 'pride' so people have no idea what you're about).
What are the odds I can get The Boy to agree with buying these, and actually wearing them? As in, in public?
Must. Find. Leverage.
I would offer him my firstborn child, but he doesn't want children. Dammit.
I could dump him and find a Jane fanboy. (a straight one).
No, never going to happen.
Still, I can keep dreaming.
Also, I'm aware that there are shops where you can have your text of choice printed onto a shirt without paying 20 pounds for it, so I'm going to do that instead.
And with that, I leave you - until the morrow.
I'm going to be honest here.
I'm getting pretty jittery over my upcoming tattoo (next Thursday, in fact).
I mean, it's too soon. This isn't fair. I had to wait for two months.
Two months isn't long enough! I need more waiting time!
Can I just skip that entire week, please? Wake up after and it's all done, perfectly healed and all? (Cuz you know, I can't get water on it for a full week. Kinda difficult to wash my hair if I can't get my shoulder blade wet. No, I have no bathtub to kneel down at.)
Yes, I know I'm a sissy.
I don't mind being called a sissy. It's true.
I already have one tattoo (a small G clef in the back of my neck), and I know, I know, I got really worked up about that one too, before I actually had it done and it wasn't so bad.
But that took, what, ten minutes? Fifteen? Maybe?
Granted, I'm only getting the one on the left done, not the other one, but still...
This baby is going to take 2 fuggen whole hours. Makes me cry in anticipation.
Do you think I'd be allowed to read during? I mean, a good Austen novel would distract me, probably. That'd be nice.
Plus, I'm a smoker and the "urge" gets way worse when I have nothing else to focus on. So if I'm reading, I'm ignoring both the urge AND the pain.
I could wander off into that lovely world that is Austen England, and laugh heartily at Mr. Collins. I could just try to decide - no, I still haven't made my decision - whether I prefer Colin Firth or the other Mr. Darcy.
Also, you know...
I could not be there. Not being there sounds like a world of good to me.
And I know, it's going to be worth it. I wouldn't get it if I didn't think it'd be worth it.
There's something poetic about experiencing that pain, and walking away with a token of something that means so much to you. Like you earned it, just by sitting through it. Except that you still have to pay a lot of money.
My facial piercings were the exact same thing (except I know for a fact those don't hurt.) Worry worry worry, then relief.
And a chocolate milkshake for my troubles, thank you very much.
So yeah. I think I'll go for two milkshakes this time.
Today, my loves,
I am making good on my promise to show ya'll my bookcase - which makes me feel both immensly proud and immensly frustrated, as it is way too small.
(Anekdote alert: when me and The Boy just bought it, I immediately knew it wouldn't be big enough - and nor is my studio, frankly - so I was planning an entire redecoration for maximum extra-bookcases potential. Unfortunately, The Boy didn't like this, as he is as avid a collector as I am, only of CD's - and thus would require an entire case of his own. So we decided to postpone it 'till August, which is when we'll be moving in together.)
Back to basics:
(top shelf, right hand)
(also top shelf, right hand, but behind the stack in the above pic)
(top shelf, left hand)
(2nd shelf, right hand - Jane Austen addiction alert!)
(2nd shelf, left hand)
I will spare you pictures of the 3rd shelf, which is mostly DVD's interspersed with more books, mostly textbooks etc.
"Gee Sado, that's not so bad!"
Right - but it's a small bookcase.
Check out my closet:
There's more behind all of those, guys. I swear I have too many books.
I'll spare you the close-ups :p
So how's it work?
I just put my favourites of the moment onto the case, and leave the rest in the closet.
Some of my favourite right now:
1. First up, most of Jane Austen's work is in my bookcase in the Penguin Classics editions - even though I'd love to get my hands on a hardback copy.
I still need Persuasion and the shorter novels (Susan &c) and then my collection will be complete.
For those of you who haven't read anything by her yet, you absolutely must, she's a wonderful writer and each and everyone of those books are classics! After reading one of her novels, I always speak the way she writes and feel like saying things such as "Oh, indeed not!" "I find this city most pleasing, and the society quite diverting." &c, which makes me smile.
2. Another one of my favourite writers is Michel Faber, who is, of course, most known for his "magnum opus" The Crimson Petal And The White" (perhaps I may by and by observe that the Dutch translation of that title is much pleasanter than the original - Lelieblank, Scharlakenrood), which I have in Dutch and English, after The Boy's mother decided she would rather not read the book and said she would throw it out (!!!).
The Crimson Petal takes us to Victorian London where we follow Sugar, a prostitute who hopes to better herself by becoming the mistress of rich captain of industry, William Rackham (who, by the way, she helped become rich because he's a good-for-nothing-lazy-person). It contains so many Victorian novel elements (the rich man with the hooker mistress, the forgotten child, the mad wife) but seen from a refreshing 21st century perspective.
I swear to you, it is an addiction. I read the entire 900+ page thing in one day.
Less well known, but definitely as good, is Under The Skin, which I cannot possibly tell you about because you need to discover all its secrets by yourself, ASAP.
Go on. Off to the bookstore. I'll wait here and make myself a snack.
...back? (I know you didn't go anywhere! But no worries, I am confident my recommendation will haunt you, urging you to look for the book for three years, as I did, until you get your hands on it and never want to let it go again. You'll see).
I also own several collections of short stories by him, and though they are very different in style and topic, they are all very enjoyable.
My favourite story ever is that of The Fahrenheit Twins, who are both endearing and sort of creepy in an endearing way. I cannot possibly explain it. Go read it.
3. Must I honestly tell you about the Dune series?
Must I really?
Anekdote alert: I came across this series a while ago when using the little girls room in a friend's house (even though it was both a little girls room and a little boys room in one, obviously, he does not live in a palace), and there it was, lying there, so I read a few pages, then thought no more of it.
Everytime I went there, I checked if the book weren't there, and I'm quite positive my friends must've thought I had some sort of medical condition since I'd be using the facilities for ever longer periods of time, until finally, I bought my own copy.
And no, I refuse to explain what Frank Herbert's award winning series is about. I flatly refuse.
4. I will tell you upfront that I am no lover of history novels, in general. Nevertheless, Tracy Chevalier's work MADE me read it. I swear. We needz it! We must have it!
I started, obviously, with Girl With A Pearl Earring, having seen the movie first (gasp!) with my trusted sidekick E.
That was - what? - four or five years ago, and I am sure I have read the book nine or ten times since then, which is a lot for me, since I buy or borrow new books continually. It never fails to amuse and fascinate. If you haven't read it yet, do so immediately - also, watch the film, it's quite good - even though - rule n0. 1: The book is always better than the movie.
I then read The Virgin Blue, which I can only read when I am quite emotionally stable, as it is very disconcerting to me, for some reason.
Just a few months ago, I came across The Lady And The Unicorn in Walhalla FNAC, and I had to buy it.
I was forced to against my will.
You see, Tracy Chevalier has the very very SLY habit of adding the first chapter of another novel to every book she has, apparently to torment readers into buying all of them.
Well, I did, and I loved it.
Unicorns will never look innocent to me again (even though, to be fair, after viewing Charlie The Unicorn, that kind of was a set thing for me).
What are your absolute favourites?
Let me know!
PS.
Announcement: starting Monday, my mysterious best friend E. will be joining us every week with a guest article.
Her debut will (a little birdie told me) be about a certain brand of awesome buy-online cosmetics.
Tune in ;)
