About Her
Elle E. is 24 and teaches in a state overrun by the spawn of yuppies. Therefore she is a full-time heretic much afflicted by spleen.
the colour green, reading, scribes and orators, ruffs, cuffs, Machiavellian villains and vindictive heroes.
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What I'm Reading Now
Dracula's Guest and Other Stories
Bram Stoker
Blurb: In this rich collection of thirteen macabre tales, Bram Stoker, creator of the Gothic masterpiece, Dracula, and one of the greatest exponents of the supernatural narrative, presents us with a weird and chilling variety of unsettling stories.
Reviewed
Book
The Somnambulist
Jonathan Barnes
Rating 
Although the plot withered out before the end, I found it very hard to put down this book. I think I have grasped the reason behind the readability of this book. Barnes' strength lies in his quirky characters, not his ambitious but poorly constructed plot. If you're not given to reading books with many loose ends, don't bother with this one.
On Royalty
Jeremy Paxman
Rating 
I do enjoy my Paxman every once in a while. The subtitle explains it all: "A very polite inquiry into some strangely related families".
Flashman and the Dragon
George MacDonald Fraser
Rating 
Apparently, female readers should be highly offended by
The Flashman Papers. I'm still waiting for that moment when my favourite coward offends my sensibilities. Anyways, in the 8th volume of the series, he lands himself in China during the Taiping Rebellion and gets ravished by Yehonala in the process. Now that's what I'm talking about!
The Boleyn Inheritance
Philippa Gregory
Rating
I'm impressed. Philippa Gregory hasn't lost her touch after all. Perhaps I only say that since Elizabeth doesn't figure in this Tudor Court novel. Hmm. Nevertheless, I like the multiple narratives and the overwrought emotions.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - 12:19 PM
Title: Vile Bodies
Author: Evelyn Waugh
Genre: Fiction, 20th century classics
Publication: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition (3 Feb 2000)
Paperback: 256 pages
ISBN: 0141182873
Endcap: 2.5/5
The good things first. The cover is absolutely stunning. It's an original illustration from Vanity Fair, 1928. The novel starts out funny, quaint jazz age, English upper crust funny. Every English aristocrat knows the other. Miss Runcible is too, too ridiculous. And the minor characters like the Drunk Major and Father Rothschild are usually amusing to the reader. However, the novel's 'protagonist', Adam Symes, and his girlfriend, Nina Blount, are thoroughly boring. I understand that the rich are supposed to be thoroughly bored with their lives but to subject me, the reader, to their boredom is unpardonable. I felt very let down.
Somehow or other, the novel feels extremely dated. I love reading classics and I like history and all that, but as long as it's relevant. I don't think Vile Bodies deserves a spot in the modern classics. It is sometimes a chore to get through a page of inane chatter - I suppose that's the whole point of the book. People had not one thing to do except fall from chandeliers and kill themselves before they turn 30 or pretend sophistication when they're unbelievably wet behind the ears. It's a wonder what Holden Caulfield would do were he unleashed into the society of the Bright Young Things...
