All the books I bought today

... or, how I felt like I just robbed a bookshop.

The bookshop near here, which sells used books, had a sale today - lots of books for half price. I bought 11 books, and boyfriend bought 6. For this lovely pile up here I paid 18 euros, which explains how I felt a bit like a criminal - most of these look like new or are in an extremely good condition.

From the top:

* Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger - I don't have Holden-hate in me, and I devoured Salinger's Franny and Zooey, so continuing with his works is a natural progress. Love his Glass family dynamics and characters.
* The Turn of the Screw/Daisy Miller by Henry James - first of them is for my Classics Club list. This book is tiny! Perfect to carry around.
* A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - there has been so much positive fuzz around it lately in the book blogs.
* A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - I haven't read anything by him and probably would never had purchased those books for full price; on the other hand, for 2 euros each, I figured I might look into this phenomenon.
* Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather - I haven't read any Cather so far, so I grabbed this slim volume.
* North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - it's a Penguin Classics edition that looks brand new and I've wanted to read it anyway.
* The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
* The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - oh, so long have I wanted to get my hands on this book, and now I did, for a ridiculous sum of money. Lovely edition.
* Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett - I want to read this! Leaving my cover whore out now, I have to say it's the prettiest of all the books I got today.
* Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James - it might just happen that I read this book before Pride and Prejudice :)
* Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy - this is a lovely hardcover edition, with illustrations - and it cost me 2 euros. Blasphemy :)

It was a successful day.

Top Ten Troubled Women in Classic Novels

 



Top Ten Tuesday is one of my favourite weekly list-y things to read. It is hosted by the people over at The Broke and the Bookish and today's topic is "Top Ten favourite characters in [whatever genre you choose]". So I decided to go with my Top Ten Troubled Women in Classic Novels. It does not mean that I like and admire all those women, but rather that I found their characters and development interesting to observe. Some I like more than others; some I despise and some I symphatise with. Okay, here goes:

 

1. Anna Karenina from "Anna Karenina" (Leo Tolstoy) - one of the most famous female characters out there, Anna has trouble finding her place in society and finding balance between the wishes of her heart and the unforgiving social norms.
2. Emma Bovary from "Madame Bovary" (Gustave Flaubert) - both Anna and Emma have always been strongly associated in my mind, as Emma too would prefer life away from "boring" husband and decides to follow the whims of her heart.
3. Rebecca Sharp from "Vanity Fair" (William Makepeace Thackeray) - there is a woman that can send shivers of anger and despise right through your body. Probably one of the most famous climbers of the social ladder in literature.
4. Margarita from "The Master and Margarita" (Mikhail Bulgakov) - Margarita is a character who also knows that she is married to a wrong man, but unlike the previous three characters, she is portrayed as strong and courageous woman instead. She is so certain she is doing the right thing that readers are drawn to rather admire her.
5. Sarah Woodruff from "French Lieutenant's Woman" (John Knowles) -  nicknamed "Tragedy", Sarah is a really complicated character, mayhaps a little ahead of her time. She spends many of her days gazing out at the sea, and it is commonly thought that she is waiting for the French Lieutenant.
6. Daisy Buchanan from "The Great Gatsby" (F. Scott Fitzgerald) - a spoiled brat (excuse the expression); a woman so shallow she has hard time figuring out what it is that she wants.
7. Frances "Franny" from "Franny and Zooey" (J. D. Salinger) - one of the members of Salinger's Glass family, featured in many of his stories. Being a 20-year old college student, Franny is searching for her spiritual self and it is not easy for her to find.
8. Charlotte Haze from Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) - Lolita's mother. The woman forces Humbert Humbert into marriage while refusing/incapable to see how he despises her; she is also unable or unwilling to see her husband's interest into her teenage daughter.
9. Arwen Undómiel from "The Lord of the Rings" (J. R. R. Tolkien) - elf Arwen has a tough decision to make - she loves a man; the problem is, elves' lifespan goes tens and tens of times beyond that of men. Arwen feels pressure from her father to be "sensible" and take a ship away from Middle-Earth, and remain immortal.
10. An honourary mention - The Madwoman in the Attic from "Jane Eyre" (Charlottë Bronte) -  no comments needed here. She is clearly very troubled :)