Book 28: Wuthering Heights.

I feel like this is one of those books I should have read a long time ago. I mean, I love Austen and often the Bronte sisters and Austen seem to go hand in hand. However, I never read any Austen until I was in my third year of college, and up until this point, I have never read anything by any of the Bronte sisters.

I am starting to think that my English degree is a joke.

But, I am trying to remedy all of these problems by reading these books now, right?

Back to Wuthering Heights. I'll be honest and say that I have a lot of reservations about this novel. Perhaps it might be that whenever I think about Wuthering Heights recently, I see a few images that have scarred my mind.

I am referring to this:



And this....



That very small part of that is a book snob cringes whenever I see these covers. It is not because the covers are modernized, it is because of how they are being marketed. You see those small little "stickers" on each edition? They both say, "Bella & Edward's Favorite Book." THAT makes me cringe.

I understand the Twilight phenomenon. I mean, I read all 4 books and while I enjoyed them, I would never, never refer to them as great literature. I see many big problems in them, the largest being Edward's insane level of stalkerish tendencies. So I have a really hard time with this Twilight themed brand of marketing. It makes me angry.

In my opinion, you should want to read Wuthering Heights because of its storyline and history. Not because it is Bella and Edward's favorite book. Why do two fictional characters have such an influence on what you read?

I also worry about how so many Twilight fans will interpret Wuthering Heights. In regards to writing style and ability, Bronte and Meyer are worlds apart. They come from different eras and backgrounds. I worry that fans of Twilight will read a few pages of Wuthering Heights and hate it outright, thinking, "This is NOT Twilight!!! I was LIED to!!"

*I feel I should note why I say this. When I first saw these editions in a book store, there were two young girls looking at them. One of them picked up a copy and started reading the first few lines, then set it down saying, "This is so boring. Who would want to read this?" The other girl looked at the book and said, "I think that is one of those old books. You know? One that Mrs. ****** would make us read.*

So yes, I go into reading Wuthering Heights with a lot of hesitation. Again, perhaps this is snobbish of me to be so worked up about new editions. After all, not every person who picks it up is doing it because of a book craze, but because they want to read good literature, like I do.

But I have to wonder, will marketing it this way give it more fans or fewer? Is this a clever way of getting teenagers to read more classics and give them a shot? Or is it simply going to make more readers turn away from classic literature from being mismarketed to? I am curious to find out.

What do you think?

Sunday Salon: February 21, 2010.

Wow. What a week it has been! Matt and I have been busy with a few things around the apartment. Even though we've been here for a few months, it is finally starting to look and feel like home. We have pictures up and it looks a little more relaxing.

I've also been busy learning some new recipes this week. I've been trying to keep us on a food budget so we aren't spending a ton of money on food we won't eat. It is actually pretty easy to do with just the 2 of us and we've found some things that we really like to eat.

I also went to substitute teacher training on Thursday to get readmitted to the system so I can start getting some sub jobs. Only working 2 days/week gets old pretty fast and while I have lots of time on my hands, I don't get a whole lot accomplished. Hopefully I get some steady work and can balance some subbing with the parks job (which goes back to full time hours and more pay at the end of March!).

I managed to sneak away to the bookstore the other night, which was the first time I had been in a bookstore in a long while! I have been trying to avoid going in because I inevitably want to buy something, if not everything. Since it had been a bit, I made sure to walk around and look at everything. There are a lot of new titles out (especially in sci-fi and fantasy) that I want to read RIGHT NOW, but I'll be patient and wait. The YA section was depressing.

Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE YA and I read a lot of it, but I feel like amidst all the good books with original ideas are 50 others that don't do a good job. I get it that vampires and werewolves are "in," but I would love to see something different on the shelves. Granted, I haven't read any new YA in about 6 months, so I don't really know. These are merely my impressions from looking at the shelves.

I was also disappointed to see the following on a big display with Twilight and the vampire books that are booming in popularity:




It really just made my stomach turn. It is not that I am against teens finding these books and loving them as much as Twilight....it is the clear marketing ploy. Granted, it is clever, but I feel it takes away from the value of these great works. Try as I might, I cannot hold Twilight in comparison to Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights, and Pride and Prejudice and call them equal.

Anyway, I hunted through the used section last and found a few more titles on my TBR list that I don't own. I finally picked up one of Graham Greene's novels, The Power and the Glory, as well as the other Hemingway that I need to read, The Sun Also Rises. I also found a great collection of some of the Greek tragedies. I haven't even gone near any of the Greek stuff since The Odyssey, so I thought I should get on that. The last book I found was a really cool edition of The Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison.

I went looking for one of Richardson's two novels on my list: Clarissa and Pamela but found neither-not even in the fiction section! There were also no copies of Gone with the Wind to be found, or some of the Virginia Woolf titles on my list! And while it looks like the store is rearranging, I hope that they restock. I was sorely disappointed, especially since it is my favorite bookstore in the area.

In reading news this week, I finished not only The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot, but also Animal Farm by George Orwell. Orwell's book only took an hour or so since it is so slim, but I enjoyed it anyway. I am in the middle of The Shipping News by Annie Proulx...which is an odd novel and newer than most of the books on my list (it was published in 1993). It stands as one of the "modern" classics I am reading.

I also made some new cosmetic changes to the blog. There are links at the top to an introduction to why I am doing this, the list of books I am going to read, as well as the list (in order) of what I have finished already. In the finished list, I also have the titles linked to my personal favorite post about that book. Enjoy!

I have some great things planned in the coming weeks. There is a giveaway that I am waiting to launch once I hit Book 25! Keep an eye out for it in the next week or so.

This week I am planning on finishing The Shipping News as well as Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, so it should be another good reading week.

Happy reading everyone!

Thursday Treat #3: The Host by Stephenie Meyer.

In honor of the release of New Moon at midnight tonight, I decided to recommend one of Stephenie Meyer’s novels as my third Thursday Treat. However, I’m not recommending one of the Twilight novels, for two reasons.

1. Most of the world has already read the books.
2. The Twilight novels, while lovely, are horribly written and I’m sorry, I can’t stand Edward.
3. Writers become better the more they write, and since Twilight is her first series, I simply can’t recommend it.
4. Again, the writing is HORRIBLE.

With this is mind, I decided to talk about Meyer’s other novel The Host, which I think is underrated and overshadowed by its older sisters. Where the Twilight saga is more young adult and really focuses on the relationship aspect between characters (between completely one dimensional characters), The Host is far more science fiction and really focuses on creating a world.

Meyer basically went from a fantasy land to a science fiction reality between the two series. And in my opinion, she is a much better science fiction writer. Too often fantasy and science fiction are grouped together as one genre. They are completely different. Fantasy doesn’t have to have rules. It doesn’t have to make sense. Magic can just be and things can just happen. Nothing really ahs to be explained and the reader has to take it as it is. That’s where you can get loopholes-because nothing is concrete.

Science fiction is far more set and finite. Things have to be explained with logic and the characters have to follow rules that cannot be broken. Science fiction is much more real than fantasy and the reader can feel the possibility of that reality actually happening.

The Host is a view of a future that can feel very real at times, which is its strength. Unlike Twilight, where things seem to happen and then explanation happens, the world of The Host is already set. While the characters don’t necessarily agree with their world, they fight back, within the parameters of the rules Meyer set. That makes for good science fiction.

The real reason why I like The Host better than the Twilight saga is that Meyer learned to write. She’s not so focused on making a teenage love triangle work, but rather than she display a world and characters that are far more relatable. And while there is still a love triangle, it happens far more naturally and normally than it does in Twilight. Overall, it is simply a much better written novel—far more entertaining, well-written, and touching than her other novels.

It saddens me to think that it was not as well-received as it should have been. For authors like Meyer, they will forever be regarded as the writers of immensely popular fiction. Like J.K. Rowling, Meyer will forever be known for the world she first created. It will be hard for her to break away into writing more serious works, unless The Host is just a warm-up to the novels she has in the works. I hope that she can break away and create more works like this.

I will say, as a negative, that they only thing I did not enjoy about the book was the ending. I really wish Meyer has been brave enough to give the book the ending it deserved. She went there, then took it back. I understand she’s turning The Host into a trilogy, so I get it. I just wish she hadn’t. I believe part of that decision lay with her publisher. A publisher can make more money off a trilogy than a standalone novel.

Anyway, mini-rant aside, if you haven’t given The Host a try yet, either because you hate Twilight or you’re scared to go there—go there. It is a wonderful novel with great characters and an amazing world.

And for those of you also going to the midnight showing—go Team Jacob!


You can find out more information about Stephenie Meyer and her novels at her official site: http://stepheniemeyer.com/

Btw, Stephenie has no idea who I am and I am 100% positive she doesn't care. This is just my own opinion and recommendation.