Month: August 2020

A Room with a View

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I. Lucy Honeychurch and her cousin companion, Miss Charlotte Bartlett, travel to Italy where they stay in a British pension with other Brits and want to properly appreciate the sights with other proper tourists. There they meet the Emersons, a father and son who are more free spirited, and thus viewed with mild suspicion by the other tourists. Lucy likes them, though she’s torn between her feelings and her sense of what proper, refined people think and believe. These warring desires are brought to a head by a Slightly Dramatic Event (these are Edwardians, after all; we can’t get too crazy here)….

II. Back in England after her adventure, Lucy has one more chance to decide whether she wants a life based on Societal Expectations (her fiance is a too stuffy for even her own family) or whether she’ll follow desires she’s pushed deep down.

The book meditates on the difference between desires and expectations, and also highlights how in Proper society, emotion is a hindrance and ought to be repressed.

Lucy’s perception of what her family wants and expects is not exactly what they do want for her, and she gets tangled up in her mind trying to fulfill expectations that actually bore her. Her deep desires aren’t even to be a rebel, they just aren’t to be a stuffy society lady, which is what she thinks she ought to want.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it as it is a pretty slim classic, and it’s not a difficult read.

There’s also an excellent 1986 film version with a tiny Helena Bonham-Carter as Lucy. The pace is deliberate, but I think it captures the spirit of the book well; the acting is excellent (Judi Dench! Maggie Smith! Daniel Day-Lewis as THE stuffiest British person you can imagine!) and allows the story to unfold.

★ ★ ★ ★

Next On the List – Classics Club Spin 24

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It’s been so long since I’ve updated here; it was hard to read and focus at the beginning of the pandemic, and while that’s still somewhat the case, human beings are fairly adaptable, and I’ve been able to read a few books over the past couple months. I’ll post separately about what I read the past few months. On to what I’m reading next!

The Classics Club is doing another “spin,” which is basically where you make a list of books you’re thinking about reading next from your list, number them, and they choose a number. That chooses the next book for you. As I’m being indecisive about what classic to pick next, this is perfect. Here’s my list:

  1. Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen
  2. The Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens
  3. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
  4. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, by John le Carre
  5. Many Waters, by Madeline L’Engle
  6. An Acceptable Time, by Madeline L’Engle
  7. Gaudy Night, by Dorothy Sayers
  8. Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope
  9. Richard II, by William Shakespeare
  10. Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
  11. Emma, by Jane Austen
  12. The Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens
  13. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
  14. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, by John le Carre
  15. Many Waters, by Madeline L’Engle
  16. An Acceptable Time, by Madeline L’Engle
  17. Gaudy Night, by Dorothy Sayers
  18. Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope
  19. Richard II, by William Shakespeare
  20. Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius

Yes, I know I listed most of these twice. I have enough books on my classics list to fill the slots, but I’m not ready to dive into a Russian classic just yet (it’s not cold enough!), so this is my list. There are some perks to being an adult and making up some of my own rules….

Update: I’ll be reading #18, Barchester Towers, next. I’m trying to decide if I want to read the physical book or listen to an audiobook version. To be determined (advice welcome)!