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Ladies of Grace Adieu and Mansfield Park
Dec. 21st, 2007 10:06 amThe ladies of Grace Adieu is a book of short stories that Susanna Clarke wrote in between times while working on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. They all deal with humans interacting with the fairy realm. They are clever and well-written and slightly disturbing, and definitely not my cup of tea. The only thing I didn't like about Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was the storyline involving the gentleman with the thistledown hair, because I can't bear characters who are deliberately or naturally irrational. Since these short stories deal almost exlcusively with fairy characters, I didn't really enjoy them at all. Classic example of a book that's good, but I don't like.
In the last couple of weeks, my reading has been scattered and distracted. I've found it difficult to settle into books or focus on the story during train journeys, which has resulted in me picking up a series of books that I've discarded after only a few pages. In order to rectify this appalling lack of concentration, I picked Mansfield Park off the shelf and am now happily engrossed. What's interesting is that Mansfield was always by far my least favourite of Austen's books growing up - but now, I think it's just as good as all the others, and currently perhaps better for being less familiar. It has certainly solved my concentration problem, since it's a crime of the worst order to skim Austen.
In the last couple of weeks, my reading has been scattered and distracted. I've found it difficult to settle into books or focus on the story during train journeys, which has resulted in me picking up a series of books that I've discarded after only a few pages. In order to rectify this appalling lack of concentration, I picked Mansfield Park off the shelf and am now happily engrossed. What's interesting is that Mansfield was always by far my least favourite of Austen's books growing up - but now, I think it's just as good as all the others, and currently perhaps better for being less familiar. It has certainly solved my concentration problem, since it's a crime of the worst order to skim Austen.
