These days I do most of my reading online. Blogs, random articles, yes, but also novels enjoyed through various free online libraries. I’ve always been a reader, excited to get home after a day at school to curl up with a book, but lately I don’t turn many physical, literal book pages. I’m making an effort to change that though, to spend more time away from my computer enjoying a good book in my actual hands. For August my book reading goals are simple; two novels with a possible third once I finish the first two. It’s funny in high school I used to read whole novels in a single day, barely stepping away from the pages to eat or breathe! Now I’m more easily distracted and not as willing to make time for fictional world when the demands of the real one seem all too pertinent. But I know it's all about prioritizing, making time for the things that matter and I'd like to be a little less glued to my screens! So here's my start of a new tradition; I'll try to share a few books every month I'm planning on reading and you can join in if you like.
The Hound of Baskervilles: I picked this book somewhat randomly; I mean I'm familiar with the stories through movies and television, but I haven't read any of the Sherlock Holmes books before and I wanted to read something more classic than the scifi kick I've been on lately. I'm about halfway through and it's funny how perfect this one was to get me hooked on the series--I mean mystery in the countryside? Local lore and legend? Perfect fit for me. I'm tempted to read another in the series next month, or at least sometime this autumn. Autumn seems a perfect fit for a moody British crime novel.
Anne of Green Gables: This is a re-read for me since I really enjoyed this series when I was younger. I decided to go back to this book this summer as a sort of knee-jerk reaction to the Netflix series Anne with an E…I have so many feelings about that series and none of them are positive! I think it would be great to do an updated Anne of Green Gables; either one that closely follows the books but more cinematic than the 80s version, or an actually updated twist the way Clueless retold Jane Austen’s Emma in the form of valley girls—I think Anne would be perfect for a playful adaptation like that. But Anne with an E is neither of those, it’s a story that drifts far from the original destroying so much of the beauty of the story in the process (in my view at least). One of the beauty of Anne’s story is how it depicts small town life, the reboot makes everything in Avonlea seem dark and despairing. And (spoilers!) key characters are changed; kindred spirits (like Reverend Allen) become enemies in the new version so that Anne can battle misogyny, non-orphans in the books become orphans, and don't even get me started on what they did to poor Matthew. The thing is Anne doesn't have to be reimagined to be a feminist character, nor do her relationships--in the books she's already surrounded by smart, educated women and Gilbert is attracted to her intellect, she transforms and challenges him. The new version is ham-fisted in its attempt to update a story that is considered classic for many reasons...Rant over; I'm looking forward to enjoying the original story soon.
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