Victorian Celebration: Wrap Up

I am really sorry. What I did this past two months is so little it can hardle be called a wrap up. The work out of town, and the school stuff, and other silly activities, added to my procrastinating spirit and easily distracted mind made it difficult to read anything Victorian.

I will make a very honest confession. These are the Victorian things I managed to read:

• Treasure Island by R L Stevenson
• The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe (it's just a short story, I know)
• The Adventure of the Dying Detective by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (another short story)
• The Young King by Oscar Wilde (I hate to repeat this again and again, but it's also a short story)

I read short stories for the Shorty July too, and find it very fun and lighter to read them. I don't feel much obligated to read them because they actually for one-time reading, instead of weeks of marathon.

I still have much on my list for Classic Club's Project, so I guess there is a huge homework waiting for me. But I will try to do the readalongs with people from the Classic Club seriously in the future, as much as my schedule permits it.  

Victorian Celebration: Treasure Island

It needed a full month (or more) to finish it because of loads and loads of things that distracted me from finishing it. But at last, voila! I did it.

My first contact with Treasure Island was actually a Disney animation called Treasure Planet, with more or less the same story, which actually really moved me to tears. I was thinking, “It's just a kid's movie, why do I cry?” But it happened.

So it has been a postponed desire of mine to read the novel, and I just did. The story is about a boy named Jim Hawkins who gets a map from an old sailor Billy Bones, that will bring him to Captain Flint's treasure: a treasure that many pirates are willing to find. So he sails to find the treasure, along with his friends Dr. Livesey, Captain Smollet, and Squire Trelawney to find the treasure.

Once they get to the island, Long John Silver, one of the crew and the ex-member of Flint's own crews, takes over the ship and wins over most of the crews on his side, planning to take the treasure for him and his people alone. Jim must find a way to get him and his friends out of the danger of the pirates, and if possible, bring the treasure home with him.

Jim and Silver in Treasure Planet

I have to say that I don't find the story as interesting as the Disney movie, which I like better. In the movie, Jim is portrayed as a more rebellious boy but a very talented one, and Silver as a cruel man who is actually soft and kind inside. I like it better that way. Needless to say, I also like the ending of the movie better than the novel.

Storywise, I also find it less thrilling than the other adventures stories I read, like Captain Blood, for example. But then those “more thrilling” stories are not for children, and I think Treasure Island is intended for less mature audience.

That's all from me. If you also read Treasure Island, I'd like to hear your opinion as well.

June: A Victorian Celebration

So this month will be a start of 2 months journey of Victorian adventures through literature. I have always loved Victorian Era and all the elegance, mystery, and even the darkness of the era. I love the fashion, the language, the sarcasm in the language, the history, everything.

That's why I decided to join the celebration held by A Literary Odyssey and in this post I'd like to mention some of the books that I'll read during the next 2 months. I won't list too much, since I am not sure whether I can finish all of those, but if I can manage to finish the list before the end of July I'll add more to the list. Here they are:

• Carroll, Lewis – Alice's Adventure in Wonderland
• Dickens, Charles – The Tale of Two Cities
• James, Henry – Portrait of a Lady
• Stevenson, Robert Louis – Treasure Island
• Thackeray, William – Vanity Fair
• Wilde, Oscar – The Importance of Being Earnest

I plan to re-read some Sherlock Holmes too, but I won't put them on the list yet. So, happy Victorian reading for those who celebrate it.