Guest writer Achala Srivatsa writes about a classic…
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classic
I have hazy recollection of onscreen adaptations of The Wind in the Willows where furry rodents in warm fuzzy coats sat on wicker chairs in open grassy river banks. Kenneth Grahame’s book featuring talking animals, their friendships and a cozy natural habitat is a children’s classic. I read and found out why this straightforward story continues to remain a favourite. The simple storytelling, pristine wilderness and beautifully thought out characters prepare us for what’s to come in life. Here are my favourite stories…
Finally succumbing to all the rave reviews by Poldark lovers, I watched Season 1 of the popular PBS show. The hero, Ross Poldark, played to perfection by Aiden Turner, is a Byronic fantasy come alive. Ross Poldark is complicated, scarred, hot-tempered, passionate. The best part about him and the story are how unpredictable and dark situations and characters can get. **Poldark Season 1 Spoilers Ahead ** Had to come here to write about my favourite moments in Poldark Season…
I usually know from the start of a book, if soon enough, late into the hours after midnight, I am going to invariably end up quietly shedding happy tears, tucked into my cosy quilt. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think I cry particularly easily, except at the end of every good book. “Because when you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worth while.” But, Anne of Green Gable, by Lucy Montgomery, was not a book I was…
First things first – What have they done to Classic book covers these days? I had to wade back through time to find the book covers that gave the impression that at least someone involved with the books wanted to tempt readers and not bore them away. Rant over. Let’s talk about Northanger Abbey. “To look almost pretty is an acquisition of higher delight to a girl who has been looking plain the first fifteen years of her life than…
Lord of The Flies, by William Golding, forces you to look around and question everything you thought true to human nature. Perhaps, you will not agree to what William Golding shows us. Probably, you will vehemently disagree, but, it is likely that you will surrender to the possibility. The tale revolves around a group of young boys who are stranded on a deserted island during the World War. The boys are barely hitting their teens, some way younger. Alone on…
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy was one of the first ‘grown up’ novels I had read. Picked up from a dusty book case in my grandparents house, this was a book that did not have a murder mystery, nor was it a science fiction nor a Bildungsroman. Mayor of Casterbridge, another Hardy novel, follows in much the same vein. These stories had adults in tough situations, making even tougher choices and more often being unable to make any…
I have just finished the last page of Jane Eyre and am writing this review while I am still reeling from the impact of the book. It has been a few years since the last time I read Jane Eyre. I choose to believe I have seen more of the world and formed stronger opinions about everything, in these past few years. Does that mean the hold of the book on me has diminished? Far from it. I feel young and naive, and completely enthralled…
Wuthering perhaps isn’t even a real word. Yet, I can picture the stormy moors, the desolate land, the wild winds. I can picture the dark night against which stands the lonely manor where the two doomed lovers live. For their bodies might be buried, but their tumultuous, destructing, indestructible love is alive. Running rampant through all time. The book was first published in 1847. A reticent cloistered girl had written a novel of passion and feelings that broke all…
What is astonishing is that at different stages of one’s life the same books retain the familiar feel and continue to unlock something new each read. I sometimes wonder what lies within these books that their memory lingers years after I read them. In fact, I have never really kept them aside, but carried them within me, and now given the slightest chance I read, re-read and write to share with you. Today, I attempt to write about Rebacca by Daphne Du Maurier. An…