Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is just super. I have to say, the scene when Dorian lays eyes upon Basil's work and envies the painting profusely is just fantastic. I especially loved it when he said he would kill himself when he shows signs of ageing. Stupid Sir Henry tainting his porous mind ;__;
I also love the Duchess, for some odd reason. The scene at Aunt Agatha's (who I've taken a fast liking to) was simply lovely. I adored how Harry became so enconsced in his own speech that he didn't notice when he just started babbling.
To conclude, I love Dorian, and I love the Duchess. And Sibyl. Why, everyone is just unspeakably lovely. I don't particularly like Henry as a character, but he has some interesting philosophies and he links everyone together beautifully.
I can't wait for Henry and Basil to meet Sibyl at the theatre!
First truly classical book. Huzzah.
4 comments:
The Picture of Dorian Gray ranks high among my best loved classics. Curiously, it was my first truly classic novel as well; my dad recommended it when I was at the height of my Nancy Drew obsession and my parents were in fear for my remaining brain cells. I checked Picture out as soon as I could, and I haven't looked away from classic novels since. Picture is the sole reason I started looking at my writing critically, and striving for something better than B-grade prose and a collection of Mary Sues in place of a quality cast. I loved that book to pieces.
But really, I'm going to have to update my memory with a rereading so I can speak on this magnificent piece of literature with something a little more dignified than fangirlism.
You know, I have the strangest recollection of having nursed a crush on Henry because he dressed well. And yet, at the same time, I didn't like him as a person much, O.o
This is saying a good deal too much about me, xD
Be sure to read something by George Eliot sometime down the road. Her work is genius. And it's classic.
I have to say I've never so much as seen a Nancy Drew book. I had an urge to see the recent film adaptation, but never got round to it.
I wish my parents would recommend things to me. All they ever do is forbid me from reading certain books because they're too mature. You can't do that half-way through a brilliant novel ;__;
You must read Picture again, because then we could chatter about it madly and properly share opinions. It would be super.
I too was actually wooed a little by his propriety, though it was the lush descriptions of his voice and the great attention to things like flowers he gave when writing from Henry's perspective. Plus, he is incredibly interesting :3
I certainly will look into him (I'm assuming 'her' was a typo @__@) some time, after I clear up my bookshelves.
Oh no, George Eliot is properly "her" (or "she". Whatever.) Her real name is Mary Ann Evans, but apparently no one took Serious Literature, as written by a woman, seriously in the 1800s. She consequently took on a masculine pen name, just as the Bronte sisters did when they published their first poems. The Brontes' work (Charlotte's especially) is brilliant as well; I highly recommend all their novels. And their biographies. And their juvenilia. And basically anything Bronte that can be found beneath the sun, xD
What book have you been forbidden from reading? Not Clash of Kings I hope? ;_;
Oh! Stuff like that never even crosses my mind. I probably could have read a George Eliot novel without picking up on that fact.
*Adds Bronte to list of novels etc.*
I look forward to it ^^;
No, they only ever ban a book if someone they know has read it. Most of the time I can proceed unmolested. The book in question was The Pact by Jodi Picoult. I read the first 100 pages in a day, but then it was confiscated. I smuggled it out of the library though, but it got quite dull so I returned it.
If you'll excuse me, I have to go rant to my blog about why Oscar Wilde is going to leave me dead inside ;__;
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