Plans for June: A Victorian Celebration

Like every single other person around here on the bloggosphere I am taking part in Allie's Victorian Celebration this June and July (Allie: thanks for hosting by the way!).
I have been looling forward to it for months now, because what could be more awesome than a summer full of Victorian Literature?
Unfortunately I was quite disappointed with the result after having piled up all Victorian books hidden on my shelves: there are only five I haven't read yet! These are pretty basic titles, so please keep in mind that I never consciously read a single classic until last November before laughing at me. Let's start the list with Dickens who is an obvious choice but also an intimate friend of mine:

• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (I am a little afraid of this one because it is one of his best-known works and I usually tend to prefer those books of an author which are not so appreciated in general.)
• A Study in Scarlet and
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Exciting because I love Sherlock)
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (this is technically a re-read because I once read a simplified version, but it had only 70 pages and I don't remember anything except for desperate love)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  (Surprisingly, I have nothing to say about this one, but I am not especially looking forward to it.)

Additionally I have The Fall of the House of Usher and other Tales by E. A. Poe waiting on my TBR pile, but since some of these tales were written before the Victorian Era it will probably remain there.

I would like to finish all of these titles during the event because I really want to focus on Victorian Literature. If things go very well I will even make a huge Victorian Amazon order and post a new list at the beginning of July.

However, what I will not abandon during the Victorian Celebration is Les Misérables. I am finally on schedule with the readalong again and I am enjoying it. Also, the lovely trailer for the new movie just came out and motivated me extremely. 

Probably I will continue with the Divine Comedy too, so I would like to finish Purgatorio in June. That way I will always have something to turn to when corsets, street children and Victorian psychopaths start getting on my nerves.

Which Victorians have you chosen? Anything else on your nightstand for June?

I hope you all have a lovely month and better weather than in Austria!

Busy Times

It is downright ridiculous how busy I am at the moment. I'm sorry I didn't post anything lately, but I had to decide between blogging and sleeping, and after three sleepless nights my tiredness won over.
I have not quite survived the worst yet, but I thought I'd do a quick update just to let you know that I'm still alive.

The reason for most of the stress is that my piano class at the conservatoire is organising our annual concert on monday which means endless hours of practise, especially because I was a little lazy during the last months.
As if playing part of a huge concert were not reason enough to freak me out, I also have to host the whole evening, because the girl who should have done this originally is moving away: so the last two weeeks were filled with writing speeches, practising like a madwoman and worrying about what I should wear... I'll thank God when this whole thing is over!

As you might expect I didn't do to well with my reading, I didn't even post about The Woman in White last Monday because I wasn't able to keep up with the Readalong schedule, but I am catching up again. And I have many thoughts about this book! I am pretty sure I'll have to read The Moonstone too.

Les Misérables has turned itself into a source of frustration again, but that's not Hugo's fault this time. As you know I went through hell trying to find an unabridged German copy and finally succeeded by borrowing one from a friend of a friend of my mother. So far so good, but seemingly this woman decided suddenly that she needed her book back immediately, despite the fact that it had rested untouched on her shelves for twenty years. I had to give it back when I was only about one third through, and now I have finally given in and ordered an English copy because it is obviously impossible to read this book in German.
But of course it hasn't arrived yet, so there goes my resolution of finishing Les Misérables in April...

Nonetheless I have been reading a lot recently, even if it was not what I had planned: I have to hand in a paper in two weeks and the subject I chose is The Influence of the French Revolution on 19th century literature, so I have been a steady guest in the university library, trying to dig out the few books they have on English literature. So far I am loving my work, it is exciting and I get to write about Dickens, but it is also pretty exhausting.

I hope you are all having a less busy April and for those of you who are taking part in Dewey's 24-hour Readathon (oh, how I wish I could!): Good luck and have fun!

April, month of chunksters

Today is the first day of April, which means that one quarter of the year is already over. Easter is advancing fast and everything is changing; moving forward, at least in my perception.

It's unalterable: when the birds start singing and the winter jackets disappear into the wardrobes to rest half a year I grow restless. My head is full of travelling plans, but since I am not financially independent I have to transfer my planning to other areas of life, books namely. During the first three months of this year I didn't finish more than nine books (a post on the last one, Carmilla, which I finished last night by candlelight is coming up soon). I have also been reading about the first quarter of Les Misérables, which was surprisingly enjoyable, but plunged me into desperation for a while nonetheless, simply because I didn't see any progress. I am looking forward to intensifying my work on it, because with this book I want to read more and more once I pick it up, but since it is not very plot-driven I do not pick it up as often as I should. My intention is to finish it in April.

I have signed up for Reading Rambo's The Woman in White Readalong starting tomorrow. I am really looking forward to exploring this book, after all Wilkie Collins was a close friend of Charles Dickens and also, since the ominous woman in white is obviously no ghost my curiosity demands to know who she is to get a whole book named after her.
My edition has 500 pages, so considering my slow reading pace I will be busy with that.

This month is going to be dedicated completely to these two big projects, as well as to a third chunkster. Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind is a fantasy novel a friend wants me to read. I am not too eager to do so, but she and I usually have pretty similar tastes, so probably I will enjoy it.

What is most important is that I am dying to read: I am so excited to explore new books and putting together my list for The Classics Club has opened my eyes to the multitude of amazing books in the world. I am so hungry to read at the moment and every day a new book catches my fancy. Today I came across the trailer for Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami and it has really tried my determination to stick to my chunksters-only reading plans.
Perhaps I'll give in when I am doing well with my regular reading schedule, we'll see. Until then I am just going to hit the repeat button on Youtube.

Revelations and Reading Slumps

In February I learned something about me which I never believed possible, and as usual, it was books which taught me. Since I am not hiding anything from you, my dear readers, here it is, the ugly and unpleasant truth:

I am impatient.

Considering that I'm often practising one bar on the piano for literally hours, that I actually enjoy waiting for the bus and, perhaps most importantly that I've been learning French for five years without giving up, this is something I really did not expect, but the last month showed me the limits of my patience: long books.

I know that this is a horrible confession for anyone who is interested in literature, but I just can't do anything about it and I've tried, believe me, I've tried. The problem with me is that I'm really bad at reading more than one book at the same time; I have to finish one book first in order to enjoy another one.
I started reading Les Misérables in February and even though I actually liked it very much I was getting more and more annoyed every time I opened it. After two weeks I had read 300 pages, which isn't bad considering my slow reading pace and family occupations, but when I realised that this was not even one-fifth of the whole book I was really irritated. I began to read even if I wasn't in the mood to and didn't really pay attention to the story, just to the page numbers. I liked the book but didn't see any progress and that is something which gets me. No matter what I'm doing, I have to see some progress of any sort, otherwise I'm losing interest, and this is exactly what happened to Les Misérables.
I hardly read anything during the last two weeks (that is the reason there haven't been any posts) and to be honest I am not in the mood to read anything now either. I guess one could say this is my first reading slump since starting this blog, and it annoys me beyond measure.
There are so many great books piling on my shelves, not to mention my poor Hugo which I have completely abandoned and yet I can't animate myself to even open them. I have no idea how to get out of this slump again.

To make it short: I am disappointed in myself, I am miserable and your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Revolution and Turmoil, Uproar and War

Peace is onle the time between two wars. This German proverb seems very appropriate to me considering that I currently seem to be haunted by riots and rebellion, literary at least.
Coincidentally everything I have been reading recently deals with these themes in all variations, from the French Revolution in A Tale of Two Cities and Les Misérables over World War II and a nameless uproar in The Caucasian Chalk Circle to the American Civil War in Little Women.
War and violent conflicts are of course something horrible, but it is very interesting to observe how different authors use them differently in their works.

Dickens for example is a clear pacifist and describes the terror of the French Revolution so vividly that I cried not only for Sydney Carton but for all the other innocent and nameless people who were murdered in reality.
He uses the novel to warn his readers of what can happen if anger wins over reason and self-administered justice rules over pity.
Victor Hugo in contrast seems not to fully share Dickens's view of the revolution as a series of inhuman crimes, from what I have read until now he apparently regards it as a necessary evil. In my opinion he thinks the revolution was essential for creating a better society, but perhaps I am mistaken because Les Misérables starts after Napoleon's reign, when the terror is long over.
Later in the book Hugo will also focus on the June rebellion, so maybe my impression of his political position changes completely once I have read that.

In The Caucasian Chalk Circle the motive of the uprising is mainly character development. Brecht follows the rule that we only show our true selves in extreme conditions, so the riots are simply his device of putting his characters under pressure. His noblemen act mostly cowardish as soon as they are threatened whereas some of his poor, oppressed people prove their courage and their wits.

The portrayal of the Civil War was in fact the only thing about Little Women I didn't like because it rather unsettled me. All the characters seem to regard the war as something thoroughly positive although Mr March is severly wounded and thousands of other soldiers die. I don't know if that was simply the spirit of that time, but for a modern reader this tolerant representation is pretty shocking, especially visible in the following excerpt:

“I think you would if you had Laurie for a pupil. I shall be very sorry to lose him next year,” said Mr. Brooke, busily punching holes in the turf.
“Going to college, I suppose?” Meg’s lips asked the question, but her eyes added, “And what becomes of you?”
“Yes, it’s high time he went, for he is ready, and as soon as he is off, I shall turn soldier. I am needed.”
“I am glad of that!” exclaimed Meg. “I should think every young man would want to go, though it is hard for the mothers and sisters who stay at home,” she added sorrowfully.

Perhaps this truly was the general opinion, but I would find it very upsetting (and rude) if someone told me they were glad I went to war!

On the whole, reading so much about killing and rebellion I am indeed thankful to live in a country which doesn't even have a real army and hasn't needed one in half a century. Oh, and I am looking forward to reading something more peaceful soon, a really kitschy romance would be fine!

 

Hooray-Term's-over!-Readathon

Term's over, grades are good; time to celebrate!

After seemingly infinite days it is finally here: I announce my Readathon for opened!
Again a huge Thank you to all participants, I hope you'll have a great weekend and I'm eager to read your updates during the Readathon (I am afraid I'll spend a little too much time reading them instead of my books).

I have pondered the question what I would read this weekend for two weeks and have not been able to come up with a decided list, so when I say I am going to read the following books it is just a rough outline and perhaps I'll end up reading something totally different.

Les Misérables
I really want to read the first 200 pages of this, because I should already have read them according to my Readalong timetable. January was such a busy month...

Little Women and Peter Pan
I know, both of them are children's books but I haven't read them yet and I feel like that's a huge gap in education.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht
This is a play I have to read for my German literature class (yeah, holidays and I still work for school) and in fact I find the idea of reading something German for a change quite nice.

???
This is where my planning ends, but possible candidates are King Oedipus by Sophocles, The Metamorphosis by Kafka, The unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera or Oliver Twist by my beloved Dickens.

We'll see what I choose in the end! I will report my progress in updates at the end of this post. For now, have fun and off to Les Misérables!

1.30 pm
Whoa. As promised I've read the first 200 pages of Les Misérables and on the whole I liked it a lot. The start was a little slow (the first 70 pages are only devoted to describing a bishop's everyday life...), although I surprisingly enjoy Hugo's wordy writing style and a lot of his picturesque metaphors are astonishingly beautiful. I am really interested how all of the loose threads in this looong novel will fit together in the end, but for now I'd like to read something shorter, with less references to French history. Oh, before I forget it, during the chapter "The Year 1817" I came close to throwing my copy against a wall. There are at least two names of people who were famous in France two hundred years ago and whom nobody knows anymore today in every single sentence, for 6 pages. I am not joking. That was excruciating.

4.45pm
Finished The Caucasian Chalk Circle and didn't expect it to be so thrilling. It was also really clever, Bertolt Brecht is an author I'll have to investigate in further. More about this later, for now I'm going to watch an episode of How I Met Your Mother with my little bro to have a short break from reading.

9.30pm
Okay, this "short" break became somewhat extended because my grandmother came over for luch surprisingly and stayed for what seemed an eternity (her TV's broken).
Nonetheless I've just started reading Little Women and although I haven't found a character to identify with yet I am really enjoying the setting and the atmosphere.
I am going to delve into this one for the next few hours and see how far I come.
I hope everyone is progressing well!

Day Two: 9am
The second day of my lovely Readathon and I'm already sad because it will be over soon!
Last night I read Little Women until my mama took it away from me, complaining that I was staying up too late. I still can't identify with any of the girls which is unusual I think, but I am really eager to see how they will develop into grown-up women.
Since I am a very slow reader Little Women will probably keep me occupied the whole day, so bye bye my beautiful plans of reading so much more.

12.30pm
The morning spun away reading, I can hardly believe it's already noon.
Of course I am the thousandth girl to say this, but I have to do so nonetheless: Little Women is an absolutely wonderful book! I didn't imagine it to be so amazing, everyone seems to love it, yes, but in general I tend to dislike books which are so popular. I have read half of it and can't wait to finish it, especially since I am feeling that the second half is getting a little more serious. Unfortunately I have to give it a little break now to prepare lunch, and after just reading about Jo's disastrous attempt to cook dinner it's only fair to admit that I'm a little nervous. Be strong, my heart!

10.30pm
I am still reading Little Women (told you I was reading at a tortoise's pace) and don't have anything to report, except that I just cried out of relief that Beth doesn't die.
What is it just with this book that it is so moving?

0.30am
I have finished Louisa M. Alcott's masterpiece just in time, for, sad as it is, the Readathon is over now! The whole next week I will be busy writing more detailed posts about the absolutely wonderful books I read, but for now a quick overview:

Books read:
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (first 200 pages)
The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht
Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott

Estimated number of pages read: 540

The only thing to add for now is that I hope you've enjoyed my little Readathon as much as I have! Again, thank you for taking part and celebrating my holidays with me (which I shall spend asleep after totally neglecting sleep this weekend)!

Always read the small print or How to really annoy your potential readers

I love book buying, I love it almost as much as reading itself.
There is a pretty big book store in my town and whenever I enter it I feel as if I was on a long, relaxing holiday and surrounded only by the best of people: interesting, sophisticated  persons who all share my love for literature (because no one ever is in a bookshop just so they can buy a present for someone they don't know very well or some comics or maybe even a copy of the Playboy...).

Anyway, yesterday I went on a shopping spree again and since I am joining Kate's Chunkster Les Misérables Readalong I thought it was about time to get a copy of Hugo's long epic book.
Since they only had one edition the choice was easy and I bought a thick paperback with the beautiful title "Die Elenden" which is the exact German translation of "Les Misérables".
I decided on reading it in German because my French is far away from sufficient to understand such a book (I'm battling through Le Petit Prince at the moment) and it would be rather absurd for me to read the English translation of a French book which I would have to translate into German again in my head.
To be honest the book seemed a little too thin to me to be treated as the Chunkster of Chunksters but I thought that they had probably used really thin paper and also I didn't know the exact page number Les Misérables is supposed to have, so I bought it despite my little doubts.

When I had a closer look at home I grew more and more suspicious, the French original has about 1900 pages and although German is not quite as drawn-out a language as French, my edition was decidedly too short considering that it had not even 700 pages. Finally on the 4th page I found a note in about this font size saying that I had just bought a copy which had been "improved and abridged for better readability".

?!?!?

"Improved and abridged": Are they serious?!? How can anyone dare say that they have improved a book which is considered one of the greatest novels of French literature and the whole 19th century? And abridged: What kind of abbreviation is it to simply leave out two thirds of a novel? I mean, thousand pages are not quite a trifle, are they? 

I know that a lot of people think that Hugo's writing is too longsome and I am sure there are some boring scenes in Les Misérables, but I have got the feeling that if I read this abridged version I don't read Hugo's book at all, I read a renarration.

How can anyone assume they are able to decide 150 years later which parts of a book are relevant and which not? They have not felt what Hugo felt, they have not seen what he saw and they certainly don't know his thoughts. How can they arrogate to say "Oh, this part is boring, let's omit it!"?

And, more than anything: Why can't they write abridged version somewhere on the cover so people can choose if they want to read the thoughts of some arrogant German translator or of the real Victor Hugo?

Sorry that I am moaning so much today, but this really made me angry, I can hardly imagine what Monsieur Hugo would say if he was still alive! Oh, and I have kept the best to myself until now: After my disappointing discovery I looked for an unabridged German edition on Amazon and guess what? There is none. During the 1970s one which cost about 80€ existed, but it is no longer available. Apparently no German person was interested in reading Les Misérables in the last 30 years.

I am so angry with my parents for not being English.