Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys My rating: 4 of 5 stars Part of BBC’s “100 Stories that shaped the World” list, I thought it would be fun to keep track of all the works I have read that are listed.I should begin by saying that this story is a sort of prequel to the original Jane Eyre, focusing on Mrs. Rochester.If I still had my copy of this book, it would have a spot on my permanent book shelf. It not only holds a special place in my heart, but also played a crucial role in my academic and personal endeavours in studying and reviewing literature. 11 years ago…
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Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf My rating: 5 of 5 stars Part of BBC’s “100 Stories that shaped the World” list, I thought it would be fun to keep track of all the works I have read that are listed.My first conscious experience with the great Virginia Woolf’s works (previous to this novel was an excerpt of A Room of One’s Own for a class I took; I wish I could have read it in its entirety back then). As so often with classic British literature, this novel was assigned reading for an undergrad English course I took about 9 years ago. I can’t remember the name of the course,…
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Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë My rating: 5 of 5 stars Part of BBC’s “100 Stories that shaped the World” list, I thought it would be fun to keep track of all the works I have read that are listed.I have read Jane Eyre twice. The first time was 11 years ago and required for my intro to English Literature undergraduate course and the second time about 7 years ago part of a little book club I have with my husband. I remember getting into this heated discussion with him about the characters etc. I’m not sure what conclusion we drew, but it felt more like a truce and an…
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Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen My rating: 5 of 5 stars Part of BBC’s “100 Stories that shaped the World” list, I thought it would be fun to keep track of all the works I have read that are listed.When I found out that Rosamund Pike read Pride and Prejudice for Audible, I got extremely excited and signed up for a subscription just so that I could listen to it.I loved her in the 2005 movie production as Jane Bennett and listened to this version with delight. Pike’s performance and interpretation of the various characters had me chuckle in public. I adored her version of Mr. Collins and Mary…
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Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë My rating: 2 of 5 stars Part of BBC’s “100 Stories that shaped the World” list, I thought it would be fun to keep track of all the works I have read that are listed.During the last decade or so I read this story 3 times and I can say with absolute certainty that the third time definitely felt like a chore. I had to force myself to go to my local university’s library (not that I don’t like libraries) at 8 in the morning, with a packed lunch and a double shot cappuccino for two-and-a-half days to make it through this book. I had…
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Carmilla
Carmilla: A Vampyre Tale by J. Sheridan Le Fanu My rating: 5 of 5 stars I signed up for a graduate seminar course starting in the fall, perfect timing, called The Walking Undead: Zombies and Vampires in Transatlantic Cultural History, a literature course studying works other than the obvious Frankenstein and Dracula, and thank goodness for that. In anticipation of starting the new semester I asked my prof to provide me with the reading list, unfortunately he only gave me the list of authors, whose selected works we will be studying. I am pretty sure, though, that Carmilla is on the list, considering it is the story that inspired Bram…
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Cinderella
Cinderella by Jacob Grimm My rating: 5 of 5 stars Part of BBC’s “100 Stories that shaped the World” list, I thought it would be fun to keep track of all the works I have read that are listed.In the summer of 2009 I took a classic children’s literature course, probably the worst course I have ever taken in university. My prof was in charge for both the online version of this course and the in-class version, so in true nature of her lazy personality she used the twice-weekly lecture time, which I had to suffer through, to tell us about her amazing life and her amazing husband, who does…
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The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer My rating: 4 of 5 stars Part of BBC’s “100 Stories that shaped the World” list, I thought it would be fun to keep track of all the works I have read that are listed.I must have read The Canterbury Tales in the summer of 2009 for a course during my undergraduate program. Sadly, I can’t remember which course had it on its reading list, but I remember sitting in one of the smaller libraries on campus reading the tales and thought I noticed something odd. It turned out that for each page of the original tales, written in Old English the publisher of…
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The Prose Edda
The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson My rating: 2 of 5 stars I wish I could say that after reading this I would have a somewhat working knowledge/idea of Norse mythology, but I’m not even sure I can remember a fraction of what I read. It was dense and packed with so many names, it was impossible to keep up with any of it.My quest to find a good, comprehensible book on Norse mythology continues. View all my reviews
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Manga Classics: Jane Eyre by Stacy King
Manga Classics: Jane Eyre by Stacy King My rating: 5 of 5 stars I was auto-approved by the publisher Udon Entertainment through NetGalley to review this title. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre holds a special place in my heart and on my permanent bookshelf and I’m glad Manga Classics decided to turn it into a comic. The artwork beautifully captures the atmosphere of the story and emphasizes the remoteness and isolation of the characters. Overall, I enjoyed this comic tremendously and would recommend it to manga and classic literature enthusiasts. View all my reviews
