Book Wish List

Every time I go about making a reading list, I end up losing it or prioritize other than what is written down to begin with. However, with the approach of a new year comes increased resolve in the form of a month-by-month novel agenda. How could it fail? The first 5 months (to begin once university ends):

June –
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Tom Stoppard): Having read Hamlet multiple times for secondary school and university in addition to falling in love with Stoppard’s Arcadia, I swell with anticipation of seeing a contemporary form flushed with the content of Shakespeare. Would also be interesting to follow the inversion of their roles as minor characters to that of major.

July –
The Omen (David Seltzer): I was recommended this novel a few months ago during a discussion of Paradise Lost and was told it was an extremely scary book to read with the Bible side by side- how the quotations are compared and shown to be fulfilled.

August –
The Enchanted Places (Christopher Milne): To put it simply, autobiographies add so much more depth to a work- its intentions, the author and in this case, subject’s attitudes, the reason for particular characterizations, etc that I find Christopher’s tale hard to dismiss. Really looking forward to this one.

September –
Queen of the Damned (Anne Rice): My guilty indulgence. Perfect break from studying and essay-writing.

October –
The Pickwick Papers (Charles Dickens): Dickens is someone I’ve only found myself reading when I’ve been forced to by assignment; admittedly both Great Expectations and Oliver Twist were engaging. Just need the provocation and will to read more.

A book that ought to be rightfully stripped of its iconic status

REVIEW: North and South

Elizabeth Gaskell

While originally written in the serialized publication of Dickens ‘Household Words’, Gaskell’s North and South(1854-55) shows an utter lack of understanding and skill in conforming to the restraints imposed upon this format. She is defective in her ability to condense plot, creating a passive lull when action is craved. Although Gaskell does conjure up an array of endearing characters (from the stern Mrs. Thorton to the meek Bessy Higgins), these characters are often refused adequate ‘page time’ to develop in the novel as the heroine’s selfishly stolen introspection is prioritized. Gaskell is also at fault in her choice to delay the romantic resolution that should have naturally come to a climax a hundred pages prior. There is, once superfluous words are hacked away, no meat in the ‘tumultuous tale’ of North and South to provide a substantial meal for readers or indeed to satisfy the slightest pangs of hunger.