Weigh in Wednesday (4): Novellas vs Anthologies

Before weighing, this is the definition of both stuffs we are discussing today for Lauren’s weekly meme:

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel.

An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts. In genre fiction anthology is used to categorize collections of shorter works such as short stories and short novels, usually collected into a single volume for publication.

[source: Wikipedia]

Actually both novella and anthology are not my first choices of fiction, I love novel for a long reading and offering complex stories or deeper meaning. However, if I must choose one, then I’ll pick novella. At least novella consists of one single story, and sometimes being short does not mean it is going to be light. Two novellas that I have read so far are both classics works: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I don’t quite like John Steinbeck, but A Christmas Carol is certainly a good book and worth reading despite its shortness (only 100 something pages). With novellas, I think, I just eager to read more. It’s like when you just found a beautiful places, but you know that you only have ten minutes to stay. Only that? But I want more…! That’s what I feel with short novel or novella.

And how about anthology? Well, stories in anthology are certainly much shorter than novella. But again, sometimes you’d find a gripping short story despite of its shortness. For example, short stories of Edgar Allan Poe. He is so genius, that in that very short a story, he could send chill to your bone! For this kind of short stories, I certainly don’t want more! LOL… However, I kinda like anthology IF ONLY it’s a compilation of works from ONE author. I dislike anthology from several or many different authors, even though they have one same theme. Authors, especially great ones, have their own specific style, and when you try to combine several authors like that, the uniqueness will fade away.

So, in short, I prefer novella than anthology. And I won’t ever read an anthology of more than one author. What about you? Are you with novella or anthology side?...

And if you love memes, please check out my weekly meme : Character Thursday

The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes

[conclusion in English is in the bottom of this post] Buku ini berisi kumpulan cerita pendek kasus-kasus kecil yang ditangani Sherlock Holmes, yang dicatat dan dituliskan oleh rekannya, Dr. Watson. Ke 12 kisah ini dipilih Watson karena keunikannya, dan sebagian besar merupakan kasus yang nampaknya rumit, padahal pemecahannya sedeana saja. Kasus-kasusnya bervariasi, dari saat Watson masih berbagi apartemen dengan Holmes di Baker Street hingga saat Watson sudah menikah dan menempati rumah sendiri namun masih sering menemani Holmes dalam penyelidikannya.

Yang paling menarik mungkin adalah kasus pertama, A Scandal in Bohemia. Klien Holmes adalah seorang Pangeran penerus tahta kerajaan Bohemia yang pernah menjalin hubungan asmara dengan artis opera cantik bernama Irene Adler. Sekarang ia ingin mendapatkan kembali foto mereka berdua yang kini disembunyikan Irene, yang dikhawatirkan akan menjadi skandal bila terungkap. Kasus ini menjadi sangat menarik karena di sini Holmes berhadapan dengan musuh yang seimbang, yakni Irene Adler. Irene bukan hanya cantik namun juga cerdik, dan menurut Watson hanya Irene-lah wanita yang pernah memberikan pengaruh dalam hidup Holmes, meski mungkin bukan dalam hal romansa namun lebih kepada kecerdikannya yang dikagumi Holmes. Selanjutnya Holmes beberapa kali menyinggung tentang Irene dengan menyebutnya sebagai 'wanita itu'.

Sedangkan kasus yang akan membuat anda paling jantungan mungkin adalah The Adventure of The Specled Band, yang mengisahkan sebuah keluarga dengan ayah dan dua anak perempuan tirinya. Si ayah pernah berkelana ke Asia, dan kini hidup terisolir. Saat anak gadis sulungnya akan menikah, terjadi sebuah tragedi. Si gadis meninggal padahal tak mungkin ada orang lain masuk ke kamarnya. Yang lebih aneh lagi adalah dua kata yang diteriakkannya sebelum menghembuskan napas yang terakhir: speckled band! Apa maksudnya? Sebuah teka-teki yang membutuhkan keahlian analisis dan deduksi setaraf seorang Sherlock Holmes untuk memecahkannya. Yang jelas ketegangan pada detik-detik menunggu 'speckled band' itu benar-benar memacu adrenalin!

Selain itu ada kasus yang melibatkan pembalasan dendam Ku Klux Klan yang lumayan mengerikan. Kasus ini menonjol karena Holmes harus berpacu dengan waktu untuk menghindarkan kematian calon korban berikutnya. Kengerian tiap kali kita mendengar atau membaca tentang sepak terjang KKK ini lumayan terasa di sini.

Meski keahlian Holmes sangat mengagumkan, namun kurasa Conan Doyle kurang menunjukkan sisi manusiawi Holmes di buku ini. Seperti yang ditulis Watson tentang Holmes, yang ia ibaratkan sebagai sebuah mesin,

“He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position.”

Conclusion:

Being the only short stories collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle which was included in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, of course The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes has been quite intriguing for me.

Overall, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is varied from boring cases, to an exotic case (A Scandal in Bohemia), and suspenseful ones. I can get to know better about Holmes (by personal character and by his methods) from this book, however I still feel the lack of emotional tight in it. Perhaps it’s because this book is a collection of short stories, or perhaps Conan Doyle has written (through Watson) the stories in a formal and descriptive style, that it feels like I'm reading a report, instead of stories.

After reading this book, I can’t but compare Holmes with the works of Agatha Christie. Christie was more focus on characters who are involved in the cases. It is how the conflicts were built, as if we were involved emotionally inside the scene. Then from there, the detectives build their analysis. In Doyle’s works, he often uses narratives (most of them were narrated by Watson, although there are several which were narrated by Holmes himself, and the rest by third persons). I guess that's what makes Holmes stories seems dry and emotionless, despite the greatness of the deduction made ​​by the master of reasoner and 'father' of the next generations of detective stories, Sherlock Holmes. Good, but emotionless.

Three pipes for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, are the special gift I’d like to give to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for his 153^rd  birthday which is today, May 22^nd, 2012. Happy birthday Sir, we are thanking you for bringing such a famous detective and great cases to our literary world for over a century!

Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Fomat: e-book

Publisher: Project Gutenberg

The Color Purple’s Cover

Discussing covers of books with a strong value is always interesting. The copy I read belongs to my friend, however I love this cover more than any other covers of The Color Purple.

From the time I started reading this book, I have been curious why Alice Parker picked ‘purple’ as her book title. What does the color represent? What does it symbolize? This is my little research has resulted:

In the meaning of colors, purple and violet represent the future, the imagination and dreams, while spiritually calming the emotions. They inspire and enhance psychic ability and spiritual enlightenment, while, at the same time, keeping us grounded. [source: Empower Yourself With Color Psychology]

It makes sense, considering the value that Alice Walker brought in this novel. I myself prefer to think that the color purple speaks about two main themes: spiritual connection between Celie and God, and the spirit of freedom.

So, from the above thoughts, I think this certain cover speaks a lot about the book. First, there is a portrait of a black woman’s bare legs, standing at the porch. The lack of shoes and the body language of the woman already brought the sense of poverty and powerless. The grayish color of the portrait only added a sense of hopeless to the scene. However, there are also three purple flowers, as if from the helpless ground the flowers had grown to bring a new brighter and more colorful scene to the world. The purple flowers represent the new hope of happiness that awaits Celie at the end of her long waiting.

What do you think?

Weekend Quote (2): The Color Purple

For this weekend, I am sharing a quote from a wonderful and inspiring book: The Color Purple by Alice Walker. It contains letters written by Celie, a poor African-American woman who were struggling in male’s and whites’ dominant world in America of the 1930’s. In one of the letters, Celie—with her limited skill of language—wrote this simple but deeply touching sentence:

“Never mine, never mine, long as I can spell G-O-D I got somebody along” ~Cellie

That is what Celie told her little sister Nettie, who worried about how Celie would do after she left. Although she is not well educated, Celie has a strong faith to God, why with the impossible situation like what she faced at that time, she wouldn’t make it without her faith. With his father abused her, her mother died, her husband didn’t love her, and her babies were separated from her, who will love her? It’s only to God she can address all her sorrows. It is to God either that Celie addressed most of her letters. And that quote showed us that in the loneliness of life, we will never walk alone, God will walk with us, we will ‘get somebody along’ just as Celie felt.

So, what’s your favorite quote of this weekend? Share with us in Weekend Quote meme:

The idea is to pick a quote from a book or author you read, like, or hate, and write your comment about it. You can post the “Weekend Quote” article every weekend (Saturday or Sunday), or at any weekend suits you best.

Here are the rules:

• You have to pick one quote and comment about it. It may be the reason why you agree or don't agree with it, or why it is interesting for you. I can also be your experience that reminds you of that quote. Feel free to use your imagination. :D
• Please put the picture of “Weekend Quote” on either your blog sidebar or everytime you post the quote. (It helps people to know what we are doing).
• Please give a link back to Listra’s blog at your post.

Sherlock Holmes on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Character Thursday (12)

Character Thursday is a weekly meme that requires you to post on every Thursday, your character choice from the book you are reading or you have finished with. It can be the protagonist or the antagonist, characters that you love the most or hate the most. You can pick any book of any genre as you like. Please  feel free to grab the button below and paste it in your post. Last but not least, please add URL of your post in the linky at the bottom of this post.

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So, this is my Character Thursday of this week:

Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes is one of detective figures who became the forerunner of other detective figures in the next era. He is a chemist (besides criminalist) with high analysis and deduction skills which helped him in settling many unsolved cases. Realizing his high expertise, Holmes became a man with high self-esteem and excessively high ego. In one of his records, Watson has written about Holmes:

"I was repelled by the egotism which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my friend's singular character."

When examining Watson’s writing about their cases, Holmes criticized Watson for writing a few cases with more emphasis on the sensationality of the case rather than the sharpness of deduction of Holmes himself. It showed very much of his high ego.

Holmes has a very 'Victorian' personage, with a high appreciation on nobility. He preferred to deal with cases of the nobles and respectable people, or dealing with an opponent who has the elegance in their actions. He has a little regret when he was more often dealt with cases of ordinary people.

"The days of the great cases are past. Man, or at least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched bottom at last. "

I think Holmes is someone with more logic than passionate feeling. When he helped a client, it is mostly for the challenge in the case Itself that he did it, rather than for offering a help. When he failed to prevent his client from a murder, Holmes was sad not for failing to save the life of a human being, but for his own failure in the first place.

"That hurts my pride, Watson. It is a petty feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. "

The only woman Holmes has ever give a certain attention is Irene Adler, the female protagonist who  ever paralleled Holmes. Read what Watson has written about Holmes and his connection to women:

“He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position.” 

Sherlock Holmes is famous mostly for his intelligence and also his uniqueness in conducting his jobs. Other than that, his unique marks of personality (using magnifying glass, lighting his pipe every time he does his thinking, his skill of undercover), are the aspects that have set his fortune throughout the world. Other than that, I think, he is not such interesting as a person.

So…who is your Character Thursday this week?

The Classics Club Project: Progress #1

It’s been two months since I started The Classics Club Project, hosted by Jillian, of which I’m proudly announce that I have read six of 100 books from the list, and right now am in the middle of the seventh. Yayyy!!

On March, 8^th I posted my original list of 100 classics for five years reading. However on the progress, I can’t help to—somehow—add more and more books to the original list. The expanded list has now reached thirteen. At this moment I won’t change the original list yet, and will just add any books I find interesting to the expanded list time to time. When the expanded list should reach 50, then I will update the original list. So far, this is my progress report:

March

The first book I read after joining the project was L’Assommoir (The Drunkard) by Emile Zola. I spent two whole weeks to finish it, and that’s why I only read one book that month. L’Assommoir has been shockingly affected me, that I could not turn into any other classics for sometime. I only grabbed some light readings until April came…

April

The second book for the project was The Great Gatsby. Although it’s only 200 something pages, I really enjoyed it that it took me a week or so to finish it. I often re-read a paragraph that I didn’t quite get the meaning or I just loved the scene. Overall, The Great Gatsby has been the most enjoyable reading for the project so far.

After that I read A Midsummer Night’s Dream of Shakespeare, which—I must confess—I didn’t quite enjoy. It’s been the first Shakespeare I read, and I have mistakenly picked the comedy one while I know I never quite fond of comedy or satire.

End of April I went into Alexandre Dumas’ The Man In The Iron Mask. Despite so many obstacles to read it, I found the book quite enjoyable.

May

This month I managed to finish two more books: Nobody’s Boy by Hector Malot and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Actually I have expected quite much from Nobody’s Boy, I thought it would be quite emotionally, however I’m quite disappointed that Malot seemed to write it for children or pre-teen. The story is good, but I cannot deeply moved by it.

I have a personal habit of posting my classics book review on the birthday of the author. It’s like my personal gift for those great authors. For May, I read TheAdventures of Sherlock Holmes for an event I have hosted together with Melisa for Indonesian classics reading community (Baca Klasik). And as Arthur Conan Doyle’s birthday is on 22 May, I will post my review only on that date, although I have finished the book last week.

Right now I am in the middle of The Color Purple, participating in the readalong hosted by Bettina. As the readalong will end on May 31^st, I will surely finish this book by this month. So far I like it, not as shockingly as L’Assommoir perhaps, but very touching.

Well, that’s it. Six books for two months, and if I can keep up the pace, I’ll finish my 100 books list by three years! That’s why an expanded list seems reasonable, no?

Weigh in Wednesday (3): Love Triangles vs Insta-Love

It’s Wednesday again, and for the third times I am joining the Weigh in Wednesday meme hosted by Lauren. 

This week’s topic is quite interesting:

Love Triangles Vs. Insta-love

As I never believe on such instant love or love at first sight, I vote for love triangles. At least love triangles in books provide more complex conflicts, you know…first A is attracted to B, but B turns up to be the antagonist, while C who at first neglected by A becomes the hero…or things like that. Love triangles also involve deeper personal characters and emotion. When A must choose between B and C, then the author must dig each B’s and C’s personality to give a background for the conflict.

So, what is yours? love triangles or insta-love?

And don’t forget, every Thursday, I host another meme: Character Thursday. Feel free to join if you like.. :)