dappled shade

Mansfield Park

Let me just come out and say it: Fanny, the protagonist of Mansfield Park, is hard to like. She shrinks, she shies, she sighs, and she never seems able to stand up for herself. She's so very good, but so very timid.

It wasn't until I read Mansfield Park for a second time that I began to like Fanny. And it was only recently (after so many readings that I've lost count) that I think I finally understand her and what Jane Austen was getting at.

The point with Fanny is that she's got incorruptible morals. Any opposition she makes is certainly not for selfish reasons (she will avoid conflict whenever possible), but when push comes to shove she won't give way on a moral point. I can't remember seeing a heroine like her in any other book I've read - a noisy defense of morality is more common, and certainly more in tune with modern sensibilities.

I'm still surprised at what a hold Austen has on modern readers, especially a book like Mansfield Park which is so divorced from modern concepts of behavior. But far more intelligent, educated women like Austen than an author who wrote so long ago has any right to expect.

I think Austen's books are loved for two reasons - her characters seem real and she constructs a perfectly rational world. I like the characters because they foul things up and make fools out of themselves and have to learn from their mistakes. But the perfect, unrelenting, rational story line (with a satiric bite) rolls on, dragging the heroines with it, to a perfect harmonious ending in marriage. I think this rational construction of a deeply irrational world is what attracts a lot of people - we know the world isn't like this, but it would be nice if everyone really did get exactly what they deserve (especially as we all know that we're the ones who deserve the happy ending).

Mansfield Park is almost frightening in the degree to which everyone gets exactly what they deserve (though modern readers might find some of the sentences too harsh). It is undoubtedly one of the harder Austen books to read - if you're looking for an introduction to Austen read Sense and Sensibility or, better yet, Pride and Prejudice. But if you've read Austen before and want a perfectly ordered ending written by a mature author, read Mansfield Park.

The Songs of the Kings

Everyone already knows how The Songs of the Kings is going to turn out — Agammemnon is going to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, so the Greek fleet can sail to Troy. But the devil is in the details, and this book is all about the details.

Even though Barry Unsworth's book is set in the ancient world, it is a modern exploration of social forces such as power, distortion of reality by the media, and religion. There are so many facets to this story that most readers will be able to find something that interests them and that they can relate to.

Unsworth's portrayal of the two-faced justifications for war ring disturbingly true. Unsworth shows that the war the Greeks want to fight has nothing to do with the stated reasons — and the Greeks routinely violate the morals they are pretending to uphold. The Greeks are going to war for power and money, but use patriotic and idealistic arguments to justify their actions.

The Songs of the Kings also contains stories that are implied. A continuous thread that holds the book together is the implied battle for control between the gods, even though the story is never told directly. The sacrifice for Iphigenia ulitmately represents the loss of power for the old goddess, and the gain of power for the newer god Zeus - and the final movement to a new male-centered society.

The Songs of the Kings is a deeply unsettling book, but a fascinating read that is impossible to put down.

An Introduction and The Princess Bride

Do you absentmindedly interpret song lyrics? Do you corner innocent people and insist that they discuss books with you? Do you secretly find Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" partially unintelligble? And do you dislike "The DaVinci Code" - not for any philosophical reason - but because it is appalling badly written? Then this weblog may be for you.

I read chronically.

I always bring a book to the doctor's office for fear that I may have to just sit there for 15 minutes if I leave my book behind. I take public transportation and average a book and a half a week. I lend people books whether they want to read them or not - and then corner them to discuss passages.

My husband suggested that I start a blog about books - and a friend very kindly said that she'd be interested in reading it. So with a guaranteed audience of two (at least for the first post), I decided to launch this blog.

The Princess Bride

I purchased The Princess Bride from a local bookstore (because I don't want Amazon to take over the world) one sunny Sunday morning. Halfway home I pulled the book out of its bag as I didn't have the patience to wait any longer and there was a convenient bench in dappled shade. Imagine my disappointment that I had absentmindedly bought an abridged version.

(I have avoided abridged versions ever since I realized that the 300 page Count of Monte Cristo I grew up reading - and loving - was actually missing something like 700 pages. The long version with the drugs and the lesbianism is much better.)

But it got worse with The Princess Bride - not only was this an abridged version, but the wretched editor had put in all sorts of irrelevant and irritating comments. Sure they were amusing, but I don't read a book to find out what the editor thinks of it.

About halfway through I finally got it - the editor and writer are one and the same and the abridged version is the only version (though I would have enjoyed reading about Buttercup's three-year stint at the Royalty School).

The Princess Bride is a great quick read - and definately a good choice for anyone who loves the movie (which is apparently most of the western word). It is very similar to the movie, but fills in little details that were missing, plus the added entertainment of being gently mocked by the writer throughout the book. Buttercup doesn't come off quite so well, though.

The Princess Bride is recommended for anyone who loves the movie or has never seen the movie and just wants an entertaining read.