Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare

I’ve always wanted to read Shakespeare. Don’t get me wrong, I read Macbeth in school and watched quite a few productions, but actually reading a play without somebody setting essays about what the Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow soliloquy means sounds like fun. After being scarred for life from The End of the Affair I figured I’d go for something I knew had a happy ending. Enter Beatrice...

Aaahhh Beatrice, how I love you... She is the perfect combination of sarcasm and cruelty. You just have to give her credit for that. And I know how everyone says Beatrice and Benedick are equally matched but let us make something clear now: they’re not- Beatrice can make Benedick cry any day of the week. And she does it beautifully. I like Benedick as well, I mean, yes he is a chauvinistic pig, but compared to the rest of them he is a vast improvement.

On the other hand: Hero and Claudio. Hate them. Seriously, I want bad things to happen to them! Claudio is a horrible human being who rejoices at the misfortune of others! He is rude, arrogant and ridiculously gullible! And Hero is a doormat. Can’t believe she married the bloke in the end...

My favourite character from the whole play however has to be Dogberry. The person who manages to report like this:

“Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves.”

earns my eternal admiration....

Up next: Richard III

Enjoyed it: Very much.

Read Again: Absolutely.

247 days remaining - 23 books down, 1 unfinished, 77 left.

The End of the Affair - Graham Greene

When was the last time I mentioned I am a moron? Well, let me re-iterate: I am a complete and utter moron who deserved what she got. No, really, I did. So I finished In Cold Blood and that left me with a bit of a bitter taste so I thought I’d go for something a bit lighter. So I looked at the piles of books that people have kindly donated towards my challenge and thought: “Graham Greene! I know him! I read Travels with my Aunt ages ago and that was fun. I’ll go for that!”

Poor deluded moron.

The End of the Affair is most certainly not fun. It is upsetting and tough and a tiny bit claustrophobic. It is the story of a love triangle between Sarah, Henry her husband and the narrator, Bendrix. Both men love Sarah, Sarah loves Bendrix, Bendrix hates Henry, Henry is confused and voila - Love triangle galore. This is the part that I point out how amazed I am by Greene’s skill - he managed to write a story where I did want to know what happened next even though it was populated by seriously unpleasant characters. That takes some skill. Bendrix had the most annoying mental voice since Bella Swan (sorry Twilight fans, Bella annoys me). He played all tough and mighty and what-have-you but the bottom line is he spent most of the book whining! And when he wasn’t whining or feeling sorry for himself he could teach Draco Malfoy a thing or two about smugness (Check me out and my Young Adult references!). So that’s Bendrix out of the way, now for Henry: By far the least annoying of the lot, with very few redeeming qualities other than the fact his heart is in the right place. He needs a spine transplant asap.

And last but certainly not least: Sarah. I don’t know what to say about Sarah. I mean, a Freudian would have a field day about her. I didn’t have to read her father’s abandonement to know she had daddy issues! But that’s really as far as I can tell you about her. There is nothing to her. I didn’t see any character. Nothing that made her Sarah - neither good or bad! Just nothing! If I had been told that in her free time she hunted puppies for sport and made coats out of them I would have been a bit more sympathetic. She would have some personality then! By not having a personality she makes both Bendrix and Henry look like complete fools - I can’t for the life of me tell you what it is they loved about her...

I think the whole point of this was not really the story of Henry/Bendrix/Sarah but Greene’s issues with the Catholic faith. And boy is he sore about it... Bendrix presents such exceptional anger against religion he sort of looks like a caricature. His anger, mixed with serious confusion about what respect for others is, makes him act like he is on the verge of nervous breakdown. Here be spoilers: The bottom line is: Bendrix, who has drilled it into our head how much he loves Sarah, chooses to disregard her last wishes because he thinks he has a score to settle with God. Hmmmm....

Up next: Much Ado About Nothing

Enjoyed it: I don’t know, it made me think.

Read Again: No, not really.

247 days remaining - 22 books down, 1 unfinished, 78 left.

In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

You know, I can’t say I didn’t expect this to be hard going, I knew it was going to be a tough read. I mean it is called in Cold Blood for a reason. And I did know the story, I knew it was not going to be pretty. I entered Capote’s realm with my eyes open.

HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

For those of you who don’t know what In Cold Blood is about then let me give you the cliff notes version: the book is based on the true events following the multiple murder of the Clutter family in 1959. It gives a background to the family, the last people to see them alive, the suspects and the perpetrators. It follows the events from before the crime till after the execution of the prisoners.

As I said already, I knew the plot so I wasn’t surprised by the events. What is surprising is even though I knew what was coming, I kept hoping it would somehow be avoided. I really did hope Smith and Hickock would change their minds and that somehow everyone would survive. But that most certainly didn’t happen. And following the murders, I was so worried that they wouldn’t get caught! I suppose it goes to show how amazing Capote’ story telling was, it made me feel very involved.

I am not going to lie, it was a tough read. Although beautifully written and non-judgemental, you had to take it slowly, you just couldn’t sit  down and read it in one afternoon, at least I couldn’t. I really enjoyed it but I found it tough.

The pleasant surprise was that even though I thought that as I grew up as a proud member of the X-files generation nothing could horrify me, this did manage to horrify me. That was a bonus!

Next up: The End of the Affair

Enjoyed it: It was beautifully written. Not exactly entertainment though...

Read again: Probably.

247 days remaining - 21 books down, 1 unfinished, 79 left.