January reviews
Jan. 27th, 2010 09:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearWhat with the return to full-time working and every weekend in January away or busy, reviews have dropped down the list of "things to do when I have a moment to spare". So, I have a few stacked up:
Exam - film two in my "going to see things I normally wouldn't even though they look good" plan was much more successful than film one. There was nothing that freaked me out (much), and it turned out to be a taut and interesting thriller. Certain aspects of it (the background to the company, for instance) took me by surprise, I was in reasonable suspense all the way through as to what would happen next, and the conclusion was relatively satisfying. Viewers who spend more of a film trying to work things out than I do may well figure out some of the surprises where I didn't, but I still think it's worth watching.
The Canterbury Tales - prologue, knight, miller - reading "Who's Afraid of Jane Austen?" made me want to re-read The Canterbury Tales, so I took it down off the shelf and added it to my pile. Rather than reading it all the way through, I'm sampling tales in between other books, and thoroughly enjoying it. My Middle English is still good enough not to struggle with the vocabulary (though I do cheat in some instances as my edition has some of the tougher translations in the margin) and Chaucer's style is very entertaining. The descriptions of the characters in the prologue are largely genius, the Knight's Tale was far less dull than I'd remembered, and the Miller's gives a refreshing change of tone from courtly love to fart gags. The best thing is, there's plenty left to come!
Silas Marner - a Christmas present from my Amazon wish list, I approached my third George Eliot with some trepidation. I really enjoyed Middlemarch, though it was a little overlong and a bit dense in places, but The Mill On The Floss ended on such a downer that I really wished I hadn't started it. Luckily, Silas Marner turned out to be light, short, and thoroughly pleasing - a lovely story about interesting and likeable characters, and with a very satisfying ending. A joy to read.
The Philosopher And The Wolf - another Christmas present from my wish list, and a much more recent addition, being a recommendation from Prospect a few months ago. This tells the true story of the relationship between Mark Rowlands, a philosphy lecturer, and Brenin, the wolf he buys as a cub. Interspersed between the highly entertaining and often affecting anecdotes about their life together are chapters of quite challenging philosophy, inspired by the author's experiences with the wolf. It made my brain hurt in places, but in a good way, and the wolf stood out as a very strong and appealing character.
Exam - film two in my "going to see things I normally wouldn't even though they look good" plan was much more successful than film one. There was nothing that freaked me out (much), and it turned out to be a taut and interesting thriller. Certain aspects of it (the background to the company, for instance) took me by surprise, I was in reasonable suspense all the way through as to what would happen next, and the conclusion was relatively satisfying. Viewers who spend more of a film trying to work things out than I do may well figure out some of the surprises where I didn't, but I still think it's worth watching.
The Canterbury Tales - prologue, knight, miller - reading "Who's Afraid of Jane Austen?" made me want to re-read The Canterbury Tales, so I took it down off the shelf and added it to my pile. Rather than reading it all the way through, I'm sampling tales in between other books, and thoroughly enjoying it. My Middle English is still good enough not to struggle with the vocabulary (though I do cheat in some instances as my edition has some of the tougher translations in the margin) and Chaucer's style is very entertaining. The descriptions of the characters in the prologue are largely genius, the Knight's Tale was far less dull than I'd remembered, and the Miller's gives a refreshing change of tone from courtly love to fart gags. The best thing is, there's plenty left to come!
Silas Marner - a Christmas present from my Amazon wish list, I approached my third George Eliot with some trepidation. I really enjoyed Middlemarch, though it was a little overlong and a bit dense in places, but The Mill On The Floss ended on such a downer that I really wished I hadn't started it. Luckily, Silas Marner turned out to be light, short, and thoroughly pleasing - a lovely story about interesting and likeable characters, and with a very satisfying ending. A joy to read.
The Philosopher And The Wolf - another Christmas present from my wish list, and a much more recent addition, being a recommendation from Prospect a few months ago. This tells the true story of the relationship between Mark Rowlands, a philosphy lecturer, and Brenin, the wolf he buys as a cub. Interspersed between the highly entertaining and often affecting anecdotes about their life together are chapters of quite challenging philosophy, inspired by the author's experiences with the wolf. It made my brain hurt in places, but in a good way, and the wolf stood out as a very strong and appealing character.
