31 Days of Books: Tale of Two Cities

Title:  Tale of Two Cities

Author:  Charles Dickens

Published:  1854

Year I read it:  2004, 2006

One sentence summary:  The classic novel of the French Revolution; of doppelgangers; of family devotion, betrayal, and shame; and of the relation of two cities: London and Paris.

Interesting fact:  Dickens's only historical fiction novel. 

Three reasons to read it:

• If you, like me, think Dickens is a bit heavy-handed in his symbolism and caricatures and length, etc... Let me assure you, this book is better than most.  [It's like Spielberg's Lincoln - he seems to have stepped back enough to let the characters breathe and fill the space he's created.]
• Sydney Carton.  No, I'm not just fangirling.  I may have a thing for complex, quasi-scoundrelly protagonists.  But it's not just that.  Sydney is genuinely amazing.  He's brilliant creation and he makes the rest of this story work.
• This is one of those books that you have to trust that the author is weaving a web of plots and that they will somehow connect in the end.  Dickens does a fabulous job of bringing all his threads together for a spectacular climax - no loose ends, no characters wasted. 

One reason you maybe shouldn't:

• Being that it's Dickens, there are still (in my opinion) the issue of the weak-or-evil-female conundrum. 

Great quotes:

“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.” 

“I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul.” 

"Oh, you will let me hold your brave hand, stranger?""Hush! Yes, my poor sister; to the last.”

31 days of Books: The Woman in White

Title:  The Woman in White

Author:  Wilkie Collins

Published: 1860

Year I read it:  2012

One sentence summary:  In the (arguably) first ever English mystery novel, Collins explores class and family through the lens of artist and perfect gentleman, Walter Hartright, loving, losing, and learning about one family's strange past and how they could possibly connected to the woman in white.

Interesting fact:  Dickens published it as a serial in his publication All the Year Round.

Three reasons to read it:

• It's a 700 page, Victorian page-turner.  This mystery is so much more than "whodunnit."  The characters, the motives, the psychology - they're all so riveting.
• Collins far exceeds his friend Dickens when it comes to female characters (and, in my opinion, his prose in general... but I don't want to offend).  I remember thinking I was reading a cross between Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte.
• Looking back on this book I remember and cherish it not for its resolution, but for itself.  The process is a beautiful one.

One reason you maybe shouldn't:

• Although I applaud Collins advance of the female character, I felt he gave into the trope of women who were either beautiful & helpless or ugly & active.  Why not a woman who both has agency and is desirable?  [There were times I almost wished Walter had fallen for the active Mariann rather than the stunning Laura.  But only almost.]

Great quote:

“I have always held the old-fashioned opinion that the primary object of work of fiction should be to tell a story.” 

“Women can resist a man's love, a man's fame, a man's personal appearance, and a man's money, but they cannot resist a man's tongue when he knows how to talk to them.”  

“This is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and what a Man's resolution can achieve.” 

Still slowly recoverring from being sick.  Last week Bob was calling me "Typhoid Samara" and I had lots of people telling me I looked "tired" or "not so well" [read: awful].  But this week my energy is up and the tissue consumption is down, but the best sign of recovery came just now in the form of a compliment from Bob:

Well, you look better...  I knew you were too young to die.  You know, you don't want to become one of those tragic figures in a Victorian novel.

Thank you, Bob, you just articulated one of my life goals :)

Sincerely,
Still silently cracking up at my desk