Its not all bad though- this bump in the road has inspired a blog post! So in order to "go" to Europe when you can't actually "go" to Europe, I've concocted a reading list that gets you pretty close. Europe on an extreeeeeeeme budget.
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
This novel has a special place in my heart, because in its first few chapters, Jake Barnes takes a walk along the Rue Mouffetard in Paris. This lovely and lively street is home to a marketplace, chocolate stores and wine stores and fish stores, cutesy little boutiques, and the best crépes EVER. It is also home to the apartment I stayed in with my mom, brother, and best friend in July of 2009. I read this book for my modernism class the following September, and it brought back all sorts of memories. The book is broken into two parts, the first takes place in Paris, and the second in Spain. The novel mostly follows the character of Jake Barnes and his escapades with Lady Brett Ashley, as well as many of their other expatriate buddies. They drink a lot, go dancing and fishing, and watch some bull fights. Its good stuff. The descriptive passages throughout will certainly take you to a sunlit cafe in Paris, a quiet and peaceful river in the Pyrenees and loud colourful streets in Spain. Think FRIENDS, but in the 1920s and in Europe. Kinda.
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
This novel has a special place in my heart, because in its first few chapters, Jake Barnes takes a walk along the Rue Mouffetard in Paris. This lovely and lively street is home to a marketplace, chocolate stores and wine stores and fish stores, cutesy little boutiques, and the best crépes EVER. It is also home to the apartment I stayed in with my mom, brother, and best friend in July of 2009. I read this book for my modernism class the following September, and it brought back all sorts of memories. The book is broken into two parts, the first takes place in Paris, and the second in Spain. The novel mostly follows the character of Jake Barnes and his escapades with Lady Brett Ashley, as well as many of their other expatriate buddies. They drink a lot, go dancing and fishing, and watch some bull fights. Its good stuff. The descriptive passages throughout will certainly take you to a sunlit cafe in Paris, a quiet and peaceful river in the Pyrenees and loud colourful streets in Spain. Think FRIENDS, but in the 1920s and in Europe. Kinda.
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| This was an amazingly yummy meal. Taken on our last day in Paris, at a little café across the street from the Jardin Des Luxembourg |
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| Authentic Café au Lait my friends. They were delicious. |
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
I think its safe to say this is probably one of Dickens' most well known works. It’s about Pip, an orphaned boy from the country, who receives a mysterious endowment and starts a new life of sorts in London. Just as Pip is thrown right into the bustling city, so too is the reader. Dickens is a big fan of the smoggy London thing, so reading the novel won't give you a big romanticized version of the city, but it will give you a vision that takes you away from real liiiiiiiife! Other highlights include the scary lawyer Jaggers with his fingers/hands obsession, Estella who is a stuck up biotch in my opinion, and Miss Havisham, who no joke stops time when she’s left at the alter – cobwebbed dress, rotting cake, the whole crazy deal.
I think its safe to say this is probably one of Dickens' most well known works. It’s about Pip, an orphaned boy from the country, who receives a mysterious endowment and starts a new life of sorts in London. Just as Pip is thrown right into the bustling city, so too is the reader. Dickens is a big fan of the smoggy London thing, so reading the novel won't give you a big romanticized version of the city, but it will give you a vision that takes you away from real liiiiiiiife! Other highlights include the scary lawyer Jaggers with his fingers/hands obsession, Estella who is a stuck up biotch in my opinion, and Miss Havisham, who no joke stops time when she’s left at the alter – cobwebbed dress, rotting cake, the whole crazy deal.
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| No it isn't the 1800s, but it is London. Taken on the first day of the Surrey Children's and Youth Choir Tour to the UK. |
Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay
This book was one of Heather's (of Chapter's fame) picks a couple years ago. It cuts back and forth between 1942 - during the time of the infamous Tel D'hiv roundup, when countless numbers of Parisian Jews were taken from their homes in the middle of the night, kept for days in a stadium, and then shipped off to concentration camps - and 2002, where journalist Julia Jarmond is doing a story on the 40th anniversary of the terrible event. She ends up focusing on the devastating tale of a young girl who locks her younger brother in a dresser during the raid, thinking she’ll be back in a couple hours- a story that ends up weaving in with Julia’s more than she ever could have guessed. The novel is well written, and touching, but is a bit lacking in its conclusion. Though it gets mixed up in the whole "should there be Holocaust Fiction?" debate, Rosnay's text is very historically accurate, sheds light on a rarely talked about black spot on Paris' past and is worth a read.
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
So if you've read Time Traveler's Wife this book will likely disappoint your expectations. It’s just weird. HOWEVER- a great chunk of it takes place in and around London's Highgate Cemetery, which is very cool. So in terms of travelling to Europe through lit, this book definitely fits. I won’t get too far into details, incase anyone does choose to read this strange tale- but to give you a taste, there are adult twins who dress alike, a cemetery-tour guide, family secrets and someone’s soul in a cat.
This book was one of Heather's (of Chapter's fame) picks a couple years ago. It cuts back and forth between 1942 - during the time of the infamous Tel D'hiv roundup, when countless numbers of Parisian Jews were taken from their homes in the middle of the night, kept for days in a stadium, and then shipped off to concentration camps - and 2002, where journalist Julia Jarmond is doing a story on the 40th anniversary of the terrible event. She ends up focusing on the devastating tale of a young girl who locks her younger brother in a dresser during the raid, thinking she’ll be back in a couple hours- a story that ends up weaving in with Julia’s more than she ever could have guessed. The novel is well written, and touching, but is a bit lacking in its conclusion. Though it gets mixed up in the whole "should there be Holocaust Fiction?" debate, Rosnay's text is very historically accurate, sheds light on a rarely talked about black spot on Paris' past and is worth a read.
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| Dark days. |
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
So if you've read Time Traveler's Wife this book will likely disappoint your expectations. It’s just weird. HOWEVER- a great chunk of it takes place in and around London's Highgate Cemetery, which is very cool. So in terms of travelling to Europe through lit, this book definitely fits. I won’t get too far into details, incase anyone does choose to read this strange tale- but to give you a taste, there are adult twins who dress alike, a cemetery-tour guide, family secrets and someone’s soul in a cat.
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| Cemeteries are kinda cool. |
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| Can you imagine having a piano as your tombstone? SO COOL! |
"Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey Upon Visiting, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye During a Tour, July 13, 1798"
Good old William. Just figured I’d throw a couple poems on this “trip” to break up the lengthy novels. “Tintern Abbey” is one of Wordsworth’s most famous poems, and for good reason. I’m all about the nature imagery in this poem. Check out the references to greenery and water- they are lovely.
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| This is not A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey. But it looks like it could be. Its actually a bird's eye view of Llangollen, the town that hosts the International Eisteddfod every summer. Our choir did pretty great. |
I can't say that I loved Her Fearful Symmetry but I definitely thought it was different and I did enjoy it. I would have preferred a different ending though.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of the others but I like this blog entry, it's a really neat idea :)
Tintern Abbey is one of my favorite poems ever. And I now can't wait to read Sarah's key. I love historical fiction and love France as well! Your blog is definitely going to be good for my brain. It needs a better workout than the chick-lit and parent's magazines I've been reading as of late!
ReplyDeleteI can lend you Sarah's Key if you want Ashley! I'll bring it to tomorrow's rehearsal.
ReplyDeleteEisteddfod is actually every summer. Kathaumixw is every 2.
ReplyDeletenoted.
ReplyDelete