Some of my textbooks have been less than intriguing, so I decided to mix it up with books I actually want to read. I only really thought of this when a facebook "note" was circulated which listed the BBC's top 100 books to read list. I (ashamedly) had only completed a third of the list. So yesterday I stopped by the library after class and picked up the following:1. The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)
2. Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert)
3. The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins)
I finished the Bell Jar and would definitely recommend it-----to anyone not contemplating suicide. The character, Esther Greenwood, has a lot going on in her head and doesn't necessarily handle difficult situations, or even not so difficult situation very well. That combined with a bottle full of sleeping pills and an afternoon unsupervised gets her in some deep doo doo. Promptly after finishing the book I jumped on Wikipedia to find out "What was up with this author!" I was surprised to find that the author's personal history read almost identical to the plot and action of the book. SO spoiler alert--don't read about Mrs. Plath before you read about Ms. Greenwood. I did laugh out loud during several parts of the book--but that's all lost amidst the thoughts of death, the attempts at death, and the actual deaths.
Overall it's a quick read, and you can feel good about finally having some Plath under your belt!
3 comments:
I'm so glad you discovered Ms. Plath--"The Bell Jar" is a great book. There were also times I laughed out loud or other moments during reading when I would think to myself, "That's not so strange," and then immediately was scared at what I'd just thought. Her poetry is awesome too. Let me know how those other two books are. I have "Madame Bovary" though I've not yet read it, and I did see "The Woman in White" on-stage but haven't read that either. Happy reading!
sylvia plath committe suicide by putting her head in the oven, but she did write a book called ariel :)
i was going to put a lengthy story hear about my former job, and sylvia plath, but i'll just blog it.
I'm half way through madame bovary...drags on! Glad to see you are going to keep me on my toes with this competition!
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