Going into this book, I knew of the general controversy surrounding it, but wasn’t really familiar with the specific plot details. But I picked it up in a used book store on a whim because I was overdue for a classic, and I have a thing for Russian authors and literature (although I was disappointed that this didn’t actually take place IN Russia). I’m sure most people know the general gist of this book – middle aged man falls in love with a young girl. […]
Left Behind in a Shack to eat Chicken Soup with Kirk Cameron. Jesus.
There is a pretty good story, here, but it’s lost in the sonorous ramblings of a man too fixated on scenery. Do I need to provide a synopsis? Surely we’ve all seen the movie (not the new one, which I assume is atrocious). In short: it’s a revenge tale, of a first century Jewish man who has his life ruined by a childhood friend, a Roman. Judah Ben Hur spends years as a galley slave, before lucking his way back into wealth and the good […]
An utter bore
Having finished my previous book at the beginning of a long train journey, and being mindful of not spending any more money (and thanking the inventor of the e-reader for letting me carry a virtual library with me everywhere I go), I went for the free and fairly short Castle Rackrent thinking that a quick classic might help the journey to speed by. But, while short, this bored the ass off me, helping make the journey feel like it was three times longer than it […]
Don’t trust generous relatives living in creepy houses
Kate is broke and too young and pretty to work (that was thing). She is an orphan with no siblings and only her old nurse Sarah to turn to. Kate starts to think her only hope is to become a dresser or a seamstress. Sarah decides to write to Kate’s aunt (her father’s estranged half-sister Kate has never met). The aunt instantly appears and declares Kate the daughter she never had. Kate’s problems are over, right? She is whisked away to an old mansion and […]