I've had a very bookish weekend, hooray!
Sunday morning I plopped myself on the couch and watched the last disc of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. I read the book in the summer of 2007 and the movie is a very honest representation of the book. The movie Neverwhere really feels more like a play in look and script then a film, I would recommend it to anyone who has read Neverwhere. I don't know if I would have liked it so much if I hadn't been familiar with the book.
Then, this weekend, I found myself totally immersed in Bleak House. If I could cancel everything in my life and sequester myself away with unlimited coffee and quiet, I would do nothing but read Bleak House. Lady Dedlock is by far the character I find most intriguing; she is at the heart of the story, but Dickens portrays her cold, distance character perfectly by alienating her plot from the other plots (or seemingly so). We know, at least where I'm at in the book, that Lady Dedlock is bored with everything, prone to disdain, and elegant. All of these events and people hinge on Lady Dedlock, but she remains mysterious.
I watched the first DVD of the BBC's Bleak House and Gillian Anderson is PERFECT as Lady Dedlock. I'm holding off on watching the other two DVDs until I get further in the book because I don't want to spoil the surprises that are sure to be in store.
Needless to say I'm cramming in as much Bleak House as I have time for, yesterday at the coffee shop Hope had conveniently forgotten her school reading and was bugging me while I tried to read. We left my tea and everything and popped over to the library around the corner so that Hope could grab a book quickly. While she was checking out Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I browsed the sale books.
Eureka! I found THE COPY of Drake: The man they called a Pirate by Jean Lathem that I checked out obsessively as a girl. Since that is my childhood library and the library only ever had one copy I'm assuming it is the one I checked out twice a year. This is the book that started my crush on Sir Francis Drake and it is now mine. I bought it for ten cents!
So that is my booknerd update for the time being. Expect more, much more, raving about Bleak House in the near future.
3 comments:
I've always wanted to read Dickens but the only book I've managed is Great Expectations. I was so disappointed when they showed Bleak House and I missed it. Looking forward to more Bleak House blogging..
Also, I heart Neil Gaiman! I have such a literary crush on him, especially after reading his blog, but I can't find Neverwhere in the library!
Michelle, email me your addy and I will send you my copy of Neverwhere! amanda.l.addison@gmail.com
I loved it, but we have a copy at the library I work at so I don't really need a home copy.
Isn't the beginning of Bleak House just the best?
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