Weekend Quote #17

“What! I have been first, the most wretched of men, and then the most unhappy, and I have traversed sixty years of life on my knees, I have suffered everything that man can suffer, I have grown old without having been young, I have lived without a family, without relatives, without friends, without life, without children, I have left my blood on every stone, on every bramble, on every mile-post, along every wall, I have been gentle, though others have been hard to me, and kind, although others have been malicious, I have become an honest man once more, in spite of everything, I have repented of the evil that I have done and have forgiven the evil that has been done to me, and at the moment when I receive my recompense, at the moment when it is all over, at the moment when I am just touching the goal, at the moment when I have what I desire, it is well, it is good, I have paid, I have earned it, all this is to take flight, all this will vanish, and I shall lose Cosette, and I shall lose my life, my joy, my soul.”

Another long quote from Hugo's Les Miserables. The quote quite explains itself. It's (again) about the stormy feelings in Jean's heart when he feels something threatens his joyful life with Cosette. He has suffered much. He has sacrificed much. And now, he thinks, a guy will just come and take Cosette away from him. He cannot even stand the thought of it.

What's really touching about this quote, more than the fact that Jean is (as some dads are) a bit too possessive, is that it brings back all the memories of the earlier volumes. Jean being a convict, Jean coming to Bishop D's place, Jean promising Fantine that he would take care of Cosette, Jean becoming a convict once more, all those episodes flashing back in my mind. If I hadn't read it in public place, I would have cried.

Now that's my Weekend Quote. What's yours?

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Weekend Quote is hosted by Half-Filled Attic. Feel free to join. You can:

• Give the context of the quote
• Give your opinion whether you agree or disagree with it
• Share your experience related to the quote
• Share similar quotes you remember
• Or anything else. Just have fun with the quote.

LRP November Meme: Character

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them.” - Twelft Night, William Shakespeare.

Hi, people! This month is the first month of our year of reading plays. Some of us (probably most) have been very excited about it. I too, am very excited about reading plays, especially Shakespeare's. He's one of my favourite poet and playwright, and none can deny that he has grand influence over English language and literature.

This month's theme is Shakespeare's Tragedy. Have you enjoyed reading Othello or Hamlet or Julius Caesar or Romeo and Juliet? If so, you must have noticed how interesting Shakespeare's characters are. That's exactly our meme theme this month.

I'd like to list some questions that might help us all to describe the character of our choices. You may or may not use these questions in your post. They are just guidelines. Feel free to add or remove anything you see fit or not fit.

• Who is this character?
• Why is he/she significant?
• How is his/her personality?
• What is so interesting about this character?

By the way, Fanda also has her weekly meme called Character Thursday. You may participate as well, combining the post for this meme and Fanda's Character Thursday. I'll be waiting for your characters. Enjoy the play.

(Please use this format when you submit: Play - Character (Blog name), e.g. Julius Caesar - Portia (Half-Filled Attic). Thanks.)

Character Thursday: Telemachus

Why now? You know I have finished Odyssey last month and have also put the review somewhere in the blog. So, why now? The reason is simple. I've been very busy and it was so hard for me to find the time to write about it. So, here we go.

Telemachus is the only child of Odysseus, the main hero of the story. He was a baby when Odysseus went for the Trojan war 20 years ago, but now he has grown up – or not yet. Being the only child in the family, growing up without a father's guidance, he doesn't really know what he should do with all things that happen in his house.

The goddess Athena, for the love she has for Odysseus, takes the child on a journey to learn what a Greek prince should be like. She brings him to Phylos and Sparta to meet Nestor and Menelaus, both are great warriors who fought side by side with his father. There he learns about many things, one of them being the story of Orestes, a prince his age who acts bravely against the killer of his father.

The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis by Jacques Louis David

As the story develops, Telemachus becomes more and more mature. He begins to take leadership in his house, instead of just sitting idly while his mother's suitors take advantage of his father's absence. He begins to object the suitors behaviour, he begins to take initiative upon matters, and most importantly, he takes responsibility as the Prince of Ithaca by helping his father getting rid of the suitors.

Although Odyssey is mostly about the father, it's amazing to see Telemachus' character development throughout the epic.

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Character Thursday

Adalah book blog hop di mana setiap blog memposting tokoh pilihan dalam buku yang sedang atau telah dibaca selama seminggu terakhir (judul atau genre buku bebas).

- Kalian bisa menjelaskan mengapa kalian suka/benci tokoh itu, sekilas kepribadian si tokoh, atau peranannya dalam keseluruhan kisah.

- Jangan lupa mencantumkan juga cover buku yang tokohnya kalian ambil.

- Kalau buku itu sudah difilmkan, kalian juga bisa mencantumkan foto si tokoh dalam film, atau foto aktor/aktris yang kalian anggap cocok dengan kepribadian si tokoh.

Syarat Mengikuti :

1. Follow blog Fanda Classiclit sebagai host, bisa lewat Google Friend Connect (GFC) atau sign up via e-mail (ada di sidebar paling kanan). Dengan follow blog ini, kalian akan selalu tahu setiap kali blog ini mengadakan Character Thursday Blog Hop.

2. Letakkan button Character Thursday Blog Hop di posting kalian atau di sidebar blog, supaya follower kalian juga bisa menemukan blog hop ini. Kodenya bisa diambil di kotak di button.

3. Buat posting dengan menyertakan copy-paste “Character Thursday” dan “Syarat Mengikuti” ke dalam postingmu.

3. Isikan link (URL) posting kalian ke Linky di bawah ini. Cantumkan nama dengan format: Nama blogger @ nama blog, misalnya: Fanda @ Fanda Classiclit.

4. Jangan lupa kunjungi blog-blog peserta lain, dan temukan tokoh-tokoh pilihan mereka. Dengan begini, wawasan kita akan bertambah juga dengan buku-buku baru yang menarik

Proudly a Member of BBI

This post is all about me being a member of BBI, a community of book blogger in Indonesia. I will write in Bahasa Indonesia for this post.

Sebagai blogger baru dan anggota baru BBI, belum banyak yang bisa saya ceritakan tentang komunitas ini. Hmm. Gimana mulainya ya?

Pada bulan Mei yang lalu, saya memutuskan untuk mulai menulis blog. Alasannya sederhana. Saya kehabisan orang yang mau mendengarkan curhat-curhat saya yang mulai membosankan (karena itu-itu saja) tentang buku-buku klasik. Apalagi curhat saya beragam, mulai dari menceritakan seluruh kisah sambil melampiaskan berbagai hasil analisis yang ruwet hingga kalimat sederhana seperti, “Opa William (Shakespeare) keren deh. Coba aku digombalin sama dia,” atau “Athos ganteng. Kenapa coba dia ga bener-bener hidup?” Sebelumnya, diari sempat menjadi pelampiasan. Namun karena diari saya sudah terlalu banyak dihantui hal-hal tidak penting, saya jadi ragu kalau menuliskan tentang bagaimana Milton dengan berani ngotot bahwa pemerintah tidak berhak melarang suatu buku terbit atau bagaimana Shakespeare membuat karakter-karakter wanita yang begitu berani, diukur dari standar umum di zamannya di diari saya. Satu-satunya cara: Blog.

Karena pada dasarnya senang berbagi pendapat dengan orang lain, saya mulai bongkar-bongkar mbah Google untuk mencari komunitas blogger buku. Eh, ternyata di Indonesia sudah ada, yaitu BBI ini. Saya langsung tanya Mas Tanzil apa boleh saya bergabung. Begitulah ceritanya hingga saya bisa bergabung dengan BBI ini.

Sebenarnya banyak manfaat saya peroleh. Misalnya jadi kenal sesama blogger buku di Indonesia seperti Mbak Fanda, Alvian, Melissa, trus Bzee Why juga. Walaupun kenalan saya belum terlalu banyak di BBI, setidaknya jadi ada teman lah. :p

Makasih banyak ya BBI, mudah-mudahan semakin banyak blogger yang peduli buku dan mau membagikan pengalaman dan manfaat yang didapat dari membaca. 

Les Miserables, Vol. III: The Known, the Unknown

Third volume of Les Miserables, two more to go. But that's not the point. I know. I'd like to share what I have experienced by reading Marius' story, because the third volume is mostly about him.

As usual, the volume starts with loads and loads of description. We see Marius at first as an ungrateful child. Knowing nothing about his father but mere gossips and misleading information from the grandpa, he concludes that his father is merely nothing. But things changes. After his father dies, Marius falls in love with his father and his ideology, no matter how old and outdated it may seem. His grandpa banishes him from him, but not without concern. But the proud little being waves the money his grandfather offers him and falls into misery.

Aside from Marius, we meet other new actors on the stage as well – Enjolras and his friends. Those youths are intelligent and idealistic, but not in line with Marius'. I like the description of these people, how they truly live to what they believe in – at least from Enjolras, and how they unite together with their similarities and differences. But that's all from them this far. More will be told of Enjolras and his friend in later volume.

Well, now we meet our old friends. By the grace or curse of chance, Marius falls in love with a young lady who usually walks with her father. Marius is madly in love with her, to the point of self-destruction. This lady is Cosette. And the father? Why, Jean of course.

As if fate had not been cruel enough, we meet other people as well – the corrupt Thernadier. He now lives a miserable life with his wife and daughters. But his misery doesn't make him humble as it does Jean, or make him wise as it does Marius. It makes him grow even more sinister. Why, he tries to rob Jean and almost kills him. I was really furious when I read that chapter.

There is also Javert. He's still there, lingering, still a good hand of the law. But not much is told about him, so I think it is not yet the time.

Reading this volume, I just pray for a happy ending. Is it possible? Is there any way to make them all happy? Jean, Cosette, Marius and Javert especially. Is there any chance for them to be happy at the end of the story?

The story is getting closer to its end. The gaps are filled. We are waiting for something to explode, a climax. I can't wait to read how things will end in Volume IV and V.  

Weekend Quote #16

“There is no Mystery so great as Misery.“

So short? Yes, but it's based upon so many paragraphs that I ave read from Hugo's Les Miserables. It seems that I haven't gotten over the thing yet, right? Yes, I haven't. Hugo seems to find satisfaction in describing every facet of human suffering – political instability, poverty, family problem, world's system, name them all. And at the end of these descriptions, I come to the point where everything becomes blurred, where the world is a sphere with no way out. Truly, misery becomes a great mystery. How to solve everything? Hugo doesn't answer that question satisfactorily. Only God knows exactly what to be done with all these things happening in the world.

Now I am neglecting my responsibility as a good quoter. This week's quote is taken from Oscar Wilde's short story – heartbreaking short story – “The Happy Prince”, which is not so happy. The Prince has been anonymously giving nearly everything he has to the people in the town, but he is eager to give more and more. So he asks the swallow his friend to tell him how's the town folk doing rather than telling beautiful stories from all around the world.

I think misery becomes so mysterious because most of those who suffer do not really know the why they suffer and how they can get out of their suffering. Another reason, misery is also, as stated above, something very hard to solve. And aren't mysteries things hard to solve?

Anything you want to share?

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Weekend Quote is hosted by Half-Filled Attic. Feel free to join. You can:

• Give the context of the quote
• Give your opinion whether you agree or disagree with it
• Share your experience related to the quote
• Share similar quotes you remember
• Or anything else. Just have fun with the quote.

Classic Club October Meme: Why are you reading the classics?

This month's question, I think, is a difficult one to answer. It's like being asked by someone you love, "Why do you love me?". How could one answer that kind of question and be correct?

Why, I will try to answer that anyway. I've been reading the classics since I knew English, or even before. When I was little, I amuse myself with historical stories, reading about great historical events such as the World War and about great people such as Alexander the Great. I heard the name Milton and Shakespeare every now and then, but I was not very good with English, and therefore I wasn't able to read any of those works.

One day, I went to a friend's house and she lent me a simplified version of Ivanhoe. That's the first contact I remember with classics. The next was Sherlock Holmes, being the first classic I read in not simplified or abridged version.

One thing led to another. Before I knew I'd been reading Rabindranath Tagore, Agatha Christie, jane Austen, and others. In high school, I read Shakespeare for the first time. The more I read the classic, the more I love it.

Actually I have tried to read novels other than classic. But maybe there are reasons for my prefering the classic to the others. Let's figure that out.

• I love history. I love mythology. Classics are full of that. Through the classics, I can imagine how life was in certain places and times in history. Also, the classics mention more mythology. The more I read, the more I know. I love to link new knowledge with old ones, and reading the classics give me just the right material to do so.
• I always think that it needs more than just 'good' to be able to survive for decades or even centuries. I believe that there must be something in the classics that makes people read them again and again.
• The deep philosophy inside those book always makes me happy. It broadens my mind and makes me see the world in different point of view. I can understand people's thoughts without being obliged to agree with them. I can see what lies beyond people's conducts, that not all bad deeds are bad by nature, that sometimes people just can't find the right way to do something, that sometimes tragedy is just an outcome of differences in opinions. Those book teach me respect towards people and their choices.
• The language is another matter. The vast vocabulary in classic novels captivates my heart. That's why I love poetry, that's why I love Shakespeare. I love to read how great people of the past make use of words in magnificent ways.

Even all those words cannot describe my motive in reading classics. I just simply love them. Love doesn't always need reasons. Perhaps it's just like Pablo Neruda's poem:

"I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way than this."