We have two reviews of books that contain genre crossing stories within stories for this week's Reading Challenge post. One book was published over 170 years ago, while the other is brand new - published this year. This month's theme of "Family and Society" is not new, but it's never old...
We have a guest review from community borrower Lydia Sharpe, who is visiting lesser known Bronte sister Anne's book: a fictional diary within an epistolary novel. And Sharon has snaffled Emily Rodda's latest book, which has a fairy tale within a ghost story. Perhaps we should have a book review within a book review...
Remember, if you want to contribute a guest review for our Reading Challenge, send it to us at library@jcu.edu.au. Our favourite books are the ones we have in our collection, but as long as you can borrow them from one of the libraries around the place, we're happy.
Lydia Sharpe read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Bronte.
Anne Bronte was never as famous or as successful as her sisters, Charlotte and Emily. In fact, she's often dismissed as being "the other one". Her books haven't been adapted as often and most people wouldn't be able to name any of her characters (meanwhile, if you say "Rochester", or "Heathcliff", everyone knows exactly which books you're talking about). Her first book, Agnes Grey, was published with Wuthering Heights, and was a completely different beast to both that book and Charlotte's Jane Eyre. While her sisters became the pin-up authors for Gothic Romance, Anne took a more temperate approach. You won't find any ghosts or mysterious voices from the gloom in Anne's books.
You could say that Anne Bronte's biggest problem has always been her sisters. She's simply nothing like them. If you read an Anne Bronte book expecting to find a story like Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, you will be disappointed. Anne had her own take on things like "romance". While Emily and Charlotte both romanticised the Byronic kind of character, Anne took one look at guys like that and recognised them for what they were: jerks.
In The Tennant of Wildfell Hall, Anne presents us an interesting story within a story. A young man (Gilbert Markham) becomes smitten with a new neighbour (Helen Graham) who has moved in to a rambling old house with her young son. She seems unusually wary of her new neighbours and tries to keep him at arm's length, but he eventually wins her confidence and she lends him her diary. In that diary, it is revealed that she has run away from her husband (Arthur Huntingdon), who was a charming rogue who swept her off her feet, and then proceeded to be emotionally and psychologically abusive. She feared for the future of her son (in case he should be turned into an alcoholic, misogynistic monster like his father) and fled to a country town, taking on a false name and trying to eke out a living. Then her jerk of a husband falls ill - does she go back to him?
It's not the wild ride of the Gothic Romances, but it's an oddly satisfying book. I recommend it.
Fiction, 820 BRON(A) 1C TEN
I picked up this book from our Children’s
Book Week display knowing absolutely nothing about it except that Emily Rodda
is an excellent author. Last year I grabbed a copy of Rodda’s The Shop at Hooper’s Bend off the CBW
display as a random choice for Reading Hour, and absolutely loved it (I ended
up buying a copy for myself – something I also intend to do with Walter), so when I saw another book
there by Rodda, I didn’t ask any questions.
We have a guest review from community borrower Lydia Sharpe, who is visiting lesser known Bronte sister Anne's book: a fictional diary within an epistolary novel. And Sharon has snaffled Emily Rodda's latest book, which has a fairy tale within a ghost story. Perhaps we should have a book review within a book review...
Remember, if you want to contribute a guest review for our Reading Challenge, send it to us at library@jcu.edu.au. Our favourite books are the ones we have in our collection, but as long as you can borrow them from one of the libraries around the place, we're happy.
Lydia Sharpe read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Bronte.
Anne Bronte was never as famous or as successful as her sisters, Charlotte and Emily. In fact, she's often dismissed as being "the other one". Her books haven't been adapted as often and most people wouldn't be able to name any of her characters (meanwhile, if you say "Rochester", or "Heathcliff", everyone knows exactly which books you're talking about). Her first book, Agnes Grey, was published with Wuthering Heights, and was a completely different beast to both that book and Charlotte's Jane Eyre. While her sisters became the pin-up authors for Gothic Romance, Anne took a more temperate approach. You won't find any ghosts or mysterious voices from the gloom in Anne's books.You could say that Anne Bronte's biggest problem has always been her sisters. She's simply nothing like them. If you read an Anne Bronte book expecting to find a story like Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, you will be disappointed. Anne had her own take on things like "romance". While Emily and Charlotte both romanticised the Byronic kind of character, Anne took one look at guys like that and recognised them for what they were: jerks.
In The Tennant of Wildfell Hall, Anne presents us an interesting story within a story. A young man (Gilbert Markham) becomes smitten with a new neighbour (Helen Graham) who has moved in to a rambling old house with her young son. She seems unusually wary of her new neighbours and tries to keep him at arm's length, but he eventually wins her confidence and she lends him her diary. In that diary, it is revealed that she has run away from her husband (Arthur Huntingdon), who was a charming rogue who swept her off her feet, and then proceeded to be emotionally and psychologically abusive. She feared for the future of her son (in case he should be turned into an alcoholic, misogynistic monster like his father) and fled to a country town, taking on a false name and trying to eke out a living. Then her jerk of a husband falls ill - does she go back to him?
It's not the wild ride of the Gothic Romances, but it's an oddly satisfying book. I recommend it.
Fiction, 820 BRON(A) 1C TEN
Sharon Bryan read His Name was Walter, by Emily Rodda.
And I think that’s the best way to read
this book – the less you know, the better. The whole thing unfolds quite
pleasingly and you get to see how the pieces fit together without any advanced
warning pushing you to expect one thing or another.
So, writing a book review for a book I
think you should read without any advanced warning is going to be a bit tricky.
I will tell you this: you should read it; it’s awesome.
I’ll also tell you this, although I may be
sharing too much: It’s a fairy tale wrapped in a ghost story woven through a
crime/mystery story. There are school kids who may or may not have powers and
witches that may or may not be true, an orphanage run by bees and a boarding house
run by a hen. There are animals who play the role of people, but the animals
who aren’t obviously people might be people in a different way – or they might
just be animals.
And while the story is amazing and
captivating, the design of the book itself has it’s own kind of magic. The
hardcover book somehow manages to reveal all of the most important plot points
on the cover and end papers, while giving away nothing. As I read the book I
kept flicking back to the cover to see which of the images had just been
revealed. It’s also just a beautiful design – I take my hat off to JessicaCruickshank, the designer; she ought to win an award for this one.
Fiction, Crime (bonus challenge), c. 820.94 ROD
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