Archive for February, 2009

Inkspell by Cornelia Funke

{ February 3, 2009 @ 5:29 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Inkheart had been on my wish list for years and I finally got round to reading it just before the film came out, on the grounds that I can’t see a film based on a book before I’ve read the book. The film was pretty good and I completely loved the book.

I loved Inkspell too. I’m not sure about the ending – it was more like reading the end of a chapter than the end of a book, but it does pretty much guarantee that I’ll read Inkdeath (which isn’t out in paperback until June, dammit!). While the first book was set in our world Inkspell begins with Dustfinger returtning to the Inkworld, and naturally Mo, Meggie, Resa and Farid end up there too. Despite the difference in settings it feels very familiar, probably because of the time spent in Capricorn’s village in Ikheart, and I really enjoyed returning the the characters (particularly Dustfinger, who remains one of my favourite characters ever) and the story. Inkworld is well described and you can understand why, despite the harsh life and the villains, the characters fall in love with it.

I really enjoyed getting list in this.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

{ February 1, 2009 @ 4:21 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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I picked this up because I was going away with work and the book I was reading was not at all practical for packing, being quite a chunky hardback. This was to hand so it came with me.

I imagine everyone’s familiar with the story. Jane Eyre is an orphan living with her aunt and cousins, who basically abuse her, then gets packed off to a fairly unpleasant sounding school, then becomes a governess and finally marries the one for her via a short stint running a school, finding some cousins (one of whom is a bit of an arse), coming into some money and a madwoman in the attice. I’d read it at school but remembered very little about it, I don’t remember enjoying it much (though reading it in small chunks and having to take it in turns to read it aloud won’t have helped) but I wasn’t in a desperate hurry to read it again.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it this time round. I really like Jane as a character, for all she’s a bit prickly, and I was a lot more sympathetic to Mr Rochester this time around. Really didn’t like St John Rivers though, he was a bit of an idiot. The whole finding-her-long-lost-family was a bit contrived but I loved it all the same.

Anyway I’ll be keeping hold of this one and will probably read it again.

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