f morsie reads

Sunday, May 11, 2008

The Illustrated Jane Eyre

The Illustrated Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë’s sweeping Victorian romance is reborn through the striking illustrations of the inimitable Dame Darcy.

This month my book club will be discussing Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair. What a perfect excuse to read The Illustrated Jane Eyre, which I've had on Mt. TBR since September 2006, and that's exactly what I did this weekend.

First of all, I should say that I'm pretty sure I'd never read Jane Eyre before. I thought I had, way back in high school, but now I think I'd only read Wuthering Heights (by younger sister Emily).

Suffice it to say that I really enjoyed getting to know this classic properly. Dame Darcy's illustrations are a wonderful addition to this addition. Black and white illustrations are peppered throughout the book (encroaching from the margins, forcing the text to wend its way around them) with the less frequent inclusion of full-page illustrations (you can see images of some of the full-page plates in the book on Dame Darcy's color prints and black and white prints pages). Her style seems like a perfect match for Jane Eyre and as I read the novel I found myself eagerly awaiting Darcy's next addition to the text.

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posted by karen! @ 4:34 PM   1 comments

Monday, April 28, 2008

book clubbing in April

This month my book club tackled its first classic,
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

I don't think I'd ever read A Room with a View before (the only Forster I remember reading is A Passage to India). I knew we'd have a good discussion, though, especially after I saw the new film adaption that aired on PBS earlier this month.*

We did indeed have a nice discussion. We talked about the novel as well as the 1985 and 2007 films. We discussed Forster himself, the subtleties and class distinctions in the novel, our feelings about the various characters, the proper pronunciation of "Beebe", and the novel's possible connection to Howards End among other things.

Personally, I enjoyed A Room with a View and I'm thinking of reading more Forster in the relatively near future.


* They changed the ending?! I was shocked and horrified at what they'd do in the name of "modern audiences", but I knew it'd be good discussion fodder.

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posted by karen! @ 1:05 PM   2 comments