Just Readin'

I came to this wonderful book in a convoluted way. A few months ago, I set a google alert for Downton Abbey , because, let's be honest, who doesn't want to see who Mary Crowley marries? Anyway, the alert turned up a lot of interesting articles about the show, but it also turned up a few articles about Jessica Brown Findlay. Findlay played Sibyl Crowley on the show, but she left in season three to explore other acting opportunities. I'm so glad she did. A little while ago, I read an article about Jessica Brown Findlay's new role in BBC One's TV series,  Jamaica Inn . I was like, 'hm, that sounds interesting', and proceeded to look up the show on Wikipedia, whereupon I learned that Jamaica Inn was actually based on a book of the same title. I have since read that book and let me just say: It was amazing. Maybe it's just that I haven't read a book for pleasure in a while, but I can honestly say that Jamaica Inn was one of the best written, ...

I was first introduced to The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff by the movie version of the book, The Eagle . The Eagle was a great movie, mostly because it involved face paint and Channing Tatum. So, after I saw it, I decided to read the book, and, after I read the book, I hated the movie, because the book was so much better. The Eagle of the Ninth tells the story of a Roman centurion, Marcus, stationed in Roman Britain. Marcus comes from a long line of soldiers. His father marched with the Ninth Legion, which disappeared in the old Roman province of Valentia. Marcus is haunted by the memory of his father's legion and longs to lift this shame from his family's name. After Marcus is injured in battle and forced to leave the army, he decides to journey north of Hadrian's wall to try to recover the lost Eagle of his father's legion. What follows is a stunning adventure that spans the length of Britain. The story is that the author actually based the book o...

So, I think everyone in the world can agree that The Scottish Play is top-shelf bard. To my understanding, it is the play against which all other tragedies and histories (you could make the argument that Macbeth is a history, don't fight me on this) are measured (except for Richard III , nothing beats Richard III ). There are a lot of reasons why The Scottish Play is the classic that it is, a lot of reasons that scholars love to analyze it. But my favorite thing about Macbeth is that it's so, so, very weird (as in strange, not as in the Weird Sisters - hang on, we're getting there). Seriously; it's bizarre! I know that in a world that contains alligator hot dogs, the vampire birth scene in Breaking Dawn , and the English system, everything else seems fairly normal, but, it you consider it, Macbeth is a really strange play. There are apparitions, witches, and ghosts; at various times in the play, horses eat each other and chimneys are blown down by the force of one...

So, today I saw the new The Great Gatsby movie, to which I say "eh". I love the novel, but the movie version of The Great Gatsby sort of disappointed me. Sure, the movie was really cool from a visual standpoint, but it wasn't The Great Gatsby as it was written. They really took the substance out of the story and made it one long frat party, set to hip-hop music. Which didn't make a lot of sense to me, given that The Great Gatsby is supposed to be set in the 1920s. Apparently, no one told Baz Luhrmann. The problem with his adaptation is that Luhrmann was so heavy handed with the story. I mean, if the metaphors were any more obvious, they would jump out of the screen and beat you over the head with a herring. However, all those things are forgivable. What was not forgivable was the casting of Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway. I say that not because his acting was bad, but because there is no place for Spider-Man in The Great Gatsby. Seriously, that was practicall...