Evelina by Frances Burney

♦️ Evelina, or A Young Lady's Entrance into the World is the complete title of this epistolary novel by a 18th century female British author: Frances Burney. This is my first time reading Burney, and I guess I'd like to read more of her. Though, like any other 18th century literature, Burney's flowery sentences often overwhelmed me, I enjoyed her witty satire very much.

♦️ Evelina can be considered a "half" orphaned girl. Or what would you call a girl whose mother has been denied by her husband (Sir Bellmont), and who then died after giving birth to her (the girl); while the father has never owned her, and so she was raised and educated by a village Reverend?

♦️ This story starts when Evelina's grandmother (her mother's mother) came to claim her. She brought Evelina - until then being sequestered under the Reverend's protection - out in the society; the opera, dinner parties, and what not. You can imagine how she made foolish blunders after blunders, especially in handling young men's attentions.

♦️ There are two particular young men who would take an important influence on Evelina - and kind of shape her future. The one is Sir Clement Willoughby, a boisterous, impertinent young nobleman who pesters Evelina wherever she goes, and forces her to love him. The other is Lord Orville, a charming, polite, and a truly gentleman, whom Evelina sees as a perfect character. And of course, it is this young lord who steals Evelina's gentle and kind heart.

♦️ Most of the chapters seem to be dedicated to tell us how the smitten Evelina, a high educated young woman, is ashamed of the shallow people with whom she is forced to associate with, and tries hard to conceal it from Lord Orville. But circumstances always plunge her to the worst incidents, right when Lord Orville is around to witness it. And that's what make the story more interesting.

♦️ These series of blunders was at first felt tedious to me, but along the way I quite enjoyed the hilarious comical scenes, particularly when I have got used to the tedious sentences.

♦️ It is interesting to learn about society mechanism in 18th century. I was confused, particularly, by the letter from Lord Orville that Evelina thought is impertinent, that she feels thoroughly insulted. I read it twice, and found nothing's wrong. I thought it's over-sensitivity on Evelina, but later on the Reverend has also the same opinion. I guess written communications are more intriguing because we can't hear the "tone", and just have to "read between the lines" to measure the exact sentiment that the writer means to convey. One thing I would've loved to keep from the 18th century is the art of correspondence!

♦️ Overall this is a very enjoyable novel, but only when you read slowly, savoring every passage. Otherwise, it's be just a bunch of tedious letters.

Rating: 4 / 5

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather

👒 The lady suggested by the title is a Mrs. Marian Forrester, wife of Captain Forrester, a noble pioneer of a prairie town called Sweet Water. She is an exceptional woman with elegant beauty and lively spirits; gracious, warm, and kind. People respect the couple, and the boys, in particular, always praises Mrs. Forrester.

👒 One of the boys who grows up idolizing Mrs. Forrester is Niel Herbert. It is from his point of view that we witness her gradual social decline, which, at the same time represents that of the American West frontier, amidst the rising of industrial capitalism.

👒 At first I thought Niel is falling in love with Mrs. Forrester, but it turns out that it is only what she represents that charmed him: elegance, dignity, and nobleness of a lady. How sad he becomes when first witnessing Mrs. Forrester's love affair with Frank Ellinger, and later on, Ivy Peters, the coarse, vulgar businessman.

👒 Mrs. Forrester wants to reach the glorious past which she missed, and to achieve that, she is ready to sacrifice her own self. Morality, dignity, are not important anymore, but that vague and glittering thing - the American Dream!

👒 And that's essentially what this novel (novella?) is about. It is a dreamy, poetic, and charming story of the glorious past, on the brink of modernization. It has the similar quality of The Great Gatsby - in fact, Fitzgerald himself owned that this book was his great inspiration for The Great Gatsby.

👒 As always, Cather never disappoints me; her writing is calming and beautiful. It's another of my favorites.

Rating: 5 / 5

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

🖤 I don't think this is a book which many of you will be interested to read what I thought about. It seems that at some points, everyone has read this one of Christie's masterpieces, at least once. Or have you never read it? Then you should! If you only plan to read only a few from Christie, pick this as one of them.

🖤 As for myself, this is probably my fourth reading, so I doubt I could add anything new to write, but as I always write about what I read..., here we go...

🖤 I won't put a proper synopsis here, for most of you might have known the story already. But for those who haven't, it's about ten strangers who are invited to spend holidays in a deserted island (Indian Island), where one by one was mysteriously murdered, to the last person standing.

🖤 It seems like a usual crime story, but what makes it outstanding, is how Christie crafted it in a dark, superstitious, looming-danger atmosphere, that will send chills down your spine during the entire reading. That aspect, perhaps, is what makes it so beloved by fans, and gives it title as one of the best mystery novels ever written.

🖤 As I have read it many times before, the whodunnit aspect gave me less thrill than for first time reader. I didn't care whether the murderer is one of the ten, or perhaps an 'invisible' stranger on the island. I know who the murderer is, I know who would die next, and how. This time I was focusing more on the psychological aspect of each character, and more importantly, how Christie crafted her ingenious plot without, for once, revealing the murderer. Considering the motive - which was revealed on the guests' first night on the spot - we should have easily guessed which one has the most interest, and therefore, the most probable murderer. But I bet many of you, like me, can't! 🤭 And that only highlighted Christie's admirable genius.

🖤 I believe this might be my last reading of this book, as I have feeling that this book's charm will keep fading on every further rereads I'd do in the future. And hence this post/review. Let me just remember Christie's genius which, years ago, has once given me one of the best reading experiences I'd ever had in my life.

Rating: 4,5 / 5

May Wrap-Up, What's Next for June

First of all, I would like to thank all of you who have left encouraging comments to my last month post. I've read every single one of them, and I'm really, deeply touched by your attention and support! I'm sorry I couldn't make myself responding to your comments, but I really appreciate it. Thanks! 💐

How am I doing now, you might wonder? Apparently, May has brought new challenge for our family. On top of my father's Parkinson's and osteoporotic spinal pains, he has caught a Herpes Zooster. It's a terrible blow, not only on my father, but also my mother and me. But we have to keep going, right?

I was so afraid of going down the mental exhaustion again, that I must find ways to numb my mind and emotion whenever I was idle. Reading didn't give me the expected result, so I turned to Netflix. It worked! I've binge-watched The Good Doctor (5 seasons), Heartland (seasons 14 and 15), Downton Abbey (re-watching the whole 6 seasons, anticipating its rumored of leaving Netflix soon), and re-watching season 6 of When Calls the Heart. I have also been watching season 13 of Masterchef Australia on youtube. Reading? Of course I still read, but not much.

Now I'm looking forward to June. This is always my favorite month of the year, because the air will be cooler, but not too windy. Time to do reading by the window again! (that's the picture of me reading, above).

📚 What I've Read in May

Following your advises in the comments, I have finished my slowl reading of Cather's A Lost Lady (❤ it!). I'm also having been through half of Frances Burney's Evelina (quite enjoyable, though sometimes boring). Reviews will follow soon.

What about you? How's your May reading? Were you having fun?


Statistics

📊 Total books read: 12
📊 Challenge progress:
* 2022 TBR Pile Challenge: 5
* Back to the Classics Challenge 2022: 8
* 2022 Chunkster Challenge: 1

And so, I am now ready to face the new month!


📚 What's happening in June

I will continue on reading the last half of Evelina, of course.

And I think I will keep #JazzAgeJune going, though I can't make my mind on what to read yet. I don't feel like having too much Fitzgerald's short stories right now. Maybe I'd pick Wharton's Twilight Sleep instead. And combine it later with a few of Fitzie's shorties? Hmm...

By the way, you are welcomed to join me in #JazzAgeJune if you want to.

After that I'd perhaps need a play for a change. A Chekhov's would be nice. The Seagull perhaps?

What about you? Do you have plans for June reading?

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

✍🏼 This book is probably the best non-fiction-feel-like-fiction books I've ever read so far. In the middle of the reading, I had actually googled it to make sure that the story had really happened in real life, and not a fictional account of a historical event. And it surely is 100% real.

✍🏼 Helene Hanff is an American aspiring writer who loved to read classics or rare books. In 1949, four years after World War II ended, access to rare books was limited. In this condition, Helene wrote a letter of purchase order to a British out-of-print book store: Marks & Co., located in 84, Charing Cross Road, London - a correspondence which lasted in twenty years.

✍🏼 And so this book is a compilation of these correspondences, consisting of Helene's and the bookstores staffs' letters, for over twenty years. And what is amazing and beautiful about it, is that those letters were not only of business issues; they also developed into a warm friendship, not only between Helene and Frank Doel, the corresponding staff, but also with other staffs.

✍🏼 The friendship was even far exceeding the literary matters, which, along the way, felt less and less important. They started telling stories about themselves, sometimes funny, but often touching. Learning about food shortages in Britain as the aftermath of WWII, Helene sent Frank Doel and other staffs food parcels, often during special occasions like Christmas, which delighted them very much.

✍🏼 During those twenty years, everyone became good friends, and we, as readers, witness the most touching and inspiring acts of humanity, only by reading their letters.

✍🏼 It's really a wholesome book to read - light but at the same time, deep. And of course, there are tons of literary discussions and classic books mentions, which are equally delightful for classics fans like me.

Rating: 5 / 5

Zoladdiction 2022 & April Wrap Up, Reading Plans for May

For me personally, April seems to come and go in one swing. I got quite a severe mental exhaustion during the first half of the month. I didn't know what it was at first, but lately I had been easily irritated, which then grew into cynicism and violent thoughts. I was pretty scared for my health, so I googled it, and found that they are symptoms of mental exhaustion.

While removing the cause (as suggested by some articles) is impossible, I have resolved to make some changes to make my current life more balanced. The long and short of it is that I decided to pick only cozy readings and losen my reading challenges for a while. First step is to discard Zola's L'Assommoir (I know the ending too well, and it's not good for me at this moment) which I've intended for #Zoladdiction2022, and replace it with some light and comfort books; books that I really want to read.

Second step, I'm reducing my blogging time, and only focusing on what matters most: my fulltime work, caring for my Parkinson's father, and the never-ending household stuffs. I thank you all who have joined me in #Zoladdiction2022. I have done my best to retweet or tweet your posts, but I might not be able to read them, let alone leaving comments. Please don't feel me rude if I don't respond to some of your comments on this blog. I would love to keep reading your comments, though (I'd feel less stressful to know that there're people out there who still care for me 😊), but I also understand that some of you might feel unproductive to comment on inactive blog. It's perfectly understandable, don't worry about me. I wish I could say how long this will happen, but I can't, and so, for the time being I'll just read for leisure, and blog about it whenever I feel like it. (Painting: Woman Reading on Couch by Michael Shane Neal, 1968)


📚 What I've Read in April

For a Night of Love is my first (and only) book for #Zoladdiction2022. I read it right before the mental exhaustion took over me. It's so-so, but short story has never been my cup of tea anyway.

While cancelling off L'Assommoir, I've been thinking what book should I read next, when I stumbled upon this book on Twitter: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. I googled it, and the premises of an elderly club in a senior house investigating murder, intrigued me right away, that I immediately bought an e-copy, and read it. It was entertaining - a little humorous, but a little sentimental too.

Next I picked a newly arrived book order - another warm and cozy read which I enjoyed very much: 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (review will follow soon). And it is perfect to replace Bhagavad Gita, which I've picked earlier for Non Fiction entry for Back to the Classics 2022. Splendid!

My last April read is: Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (review will also follow). It's my third of fourth read, so there's not much I can add, other than Christie's neat and genius plot (which, I'm sure, many of you have realized too).

What about you? How's your April reading? Were you having fun?


Statistics

📊 Total books read: 11
📊 Challenge progress:
* 2022 TBR Pile Challenge: 5
* Back to the Classics Challenge 2022: 7
* 2022 Chunkster Challenge: 1

And so, I am now ready to face the new month!


📚 What's happening in May

I've decided to keep my seasonal reading of Willa Cather or #CatherInMay on. A Lost Lady is my pick.

I will also keep my original plan of 18th century reading for 2022, and am now reading: Frances Burney's Evelina, or, A Young Lady's Entrance into the World. I love it so far, a comical satire of inexperienced young girl among the English society.

I think both books will be enough to amuse me during the whole month.

Do you have plans for May reading?

For a Night of Love by Émile Zola

💜 For a Night of Love is a collection of three stories with one similar theme: love. But, this is from Zola, so don't expect anything romantic - it's far from it! 😄

💜 Title of this collection is lent by the first story, which is also the longest - it might have been between short story and novella: For a Night of Love (Pour une nuit d’amour). It tells a story of a shy and unattractive young post office clerk, Julien, who lives in a small flat, and loves to play tunes in his flute. Opposite his flat is a large building occupied by a wealthy family with a beautiful daughter. Julien often watches her from his window, plays his flute for her, and eventually falls in love with the girl. But the girl, Thérèse, usually ignores him. One day she throws him kisses from her window, and summons him to come; not out of love, apparently, but to help her getting rid of the dead body of her lover.

💜 This first story sets the tone of the whole book - or at least the first two stories - which is the excessive crave to be loved.

💜 Nantas is the title of the second story, but also the name of its protagonist. He's a poor but intelligent young man with huge ambition, who comes to Paris to reach his dream, but desperately unsuccessful. On the brink of committing suicide, someone offers him a huge sum of money to marry a prominent young girl who is pregnant from a married man. He accepts the "business proposal", makes himself the most powerful man in France, but is unhappy because his wife doesn't return the love he eventually comes to feel for her. This one is my favorite from the the three stories. It is written superbly, and the ending is quite unpredictable.

💜 The last story is rather anticlimactic and rather out of theme. Fasting is about religion hypocrisies. In a church, a baroness seems to be fascinated while listening to her favorite priest's sermon about fasting - except that she is struggling to stay awake. The priest, on the other hand, seems to be preaching earnestly about fasting - except that all he's thinking all the while is going to a concert and having dinner with a countess. It's rather a funny satire, which talks nothing of love. Or, maybe, this whole thing is not meant to be about romantic love after all, but more about unsatiable desire, Zola's main topic in most of his other books.

💜 I am never a fan of short stories, as I always find them lacking of depth. They are usually sharp, yes, but it's like when a thorn is pricking your finger - you definitely feel the pain, but an hour later you won't feel anything, and would completely forget the incident. Though I appreciate Zola's brilliant writing in this collection, I still think his novels are much better.

Rating: 3,5 / 5