Monday, February 6, 2012

It's Monday! What are you Reading?


Hosted By Sheila @ Book Journey
It's Monday! What are you reading????? ......Reading!!!...What on Earth is Reading???

Well, I have returned to work - and how can you tell? Well, firstly you will notice that there have been no posts for about 2 weeks now and secondly you will notice that I am reading the same books as I was way back in holiday time. It is very sad :( I am aiming to get back on track now.

Am nearly finished Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, both of which I have enjoyed a great deal! Will post reviews this weekend. I have started The Perks of Being a Wallflower (which is fantastic) and The Scarlet Letter which I need to read by the end of this month for book club. I like the Scarlet Letter, but the language of the first paragraph was incredibly taxing! It seems like one of those novels where you need to read a few pages to get used to the authors language before it flows. Does anybody else have this experience? I have copied the text from the first paragraph here: Let me know what you think! Happy reading everyone!!

It is a little remarkable, that--though disinclined to talk overmuch of myself and my affairs at the fireside, and to my personal friends--an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life have taken possession of me, in addressing the public. The first time was three or four years since, when I favoured the reader--inexcusably, and for no earthly reason that either the indulgent reader or the intrusive author could imagine--with a description of my way of life in the deep quietude of an Old Manse. And now--because, beyond my deserts, I was happy enough to find a listener or two on the former occasion--I again seize the public by the button, and talk of my three years' experience in a Custom-House. The example of the famous "P. P. , Clerk of this Parish," was never more faithfully followed. The truth seems to be, however, that when he casts his leaves forth upon the wind, the author addresses, not the many who will fling aside his volume, or never take it up, but the few who will understand him better than most of his schoolmates or lifemates. Some authors, indeed, do far more than this, and indulge themselves in such confidential depths of revelation as could fittingly be addressed only and exclusively to the one heart and mind of perfect sympathy; as if the printed book, thrown at large on the wide world, were certain to find out the divided segment of the writer's own nature, and complete his circle of existence by bringing him into communion with it. It is scarcely decorous, however, to speak all, even where we speak impersonally. But, as thoughts are frozen and utterance benumbed, unless the speaker stand in some true relation with his audience, it may be pardonable to imagine that a friend, a kind and apprehensive, though not the closest friend, is listening to our talk; and then, a native reserve being thawed by this genial consciousness, we may prate of the circumstances that lie around us, and even of ourself, but still keep the inmost Me behind its veil. To this extent, and within these limits, an author, methinks, may be autobiographical, without violating either the reader's rights or his own.

6 comments:

  1. I'm listening to Wind in the Willows, and I'd say it is like Scarlet Letter...better to listen to it being read aloud than to actually read it yourself!

    Here's my It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

    I'd like to invite you to sign up for my February Giveaway! Win All Kinds of Kisses or a $25 Amazon gift card!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Scarlett letter is a little wordy I am afraid it continues in that vein. I hope you find your rythym!

    Wishing you a great reading week

    Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really need to re-read Uncle Tom's Cabin - I tried it again awhile back and it got lost in the shuffle of moving, so I need to start over!

    I haven't read The Scarlet Letter in a very long time, but I do remember it being a bit plodding. I liked the story, once I got into it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What interesting books you are reading!!! Nice!

    My What? http://burgandyice.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-musing.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've been meaning to read Uncle Tom's Cabin. Been curious about it ever since I read New York by Edward Rutherford. I also wanted to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Slacks. It was a selection for my book group when it was still up and running but never got picked.

    I know what you mean. Sometimes it takes your mind time to switch into the author's writing style. I found this is especially so when I am going from one genre to another.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think I'm about to get hives just from the little bit of the Scarlet Letter excerpt that I read! I intensely disliked it in high school and have no desire to ever re-visit it. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete

Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you! :)