Persuasion by Jane Austen

I recently asked my Facebook friends which book I should read - I'd just bought Persuasion and Northanger Abbey - and Persuasion was regarded as the book I should opt for first.

So I did.

But I didn't like it.

And then I thought that maybe there was something wrong with me, because I didn't like it.

As you're no doubt aware, I love Pride and Prejudice. But apart from Sense and Sensibility, I'd never read any other Austen novel. I aways thought this was remiss, especially as they are spoken about with such warmth, so I snapped them up when I saw them in a sale. But whereas the characters of Elizabeth, Mr Darcy, Mr and Mrs Bennett - even Mr Collins - jump off the page, I did not feel the same about Anne Elliot or Captain Wentworth. In fact, regarding the latter, I had absolutely no clue about him at all from the first half of the novel; I certainly didn't know - and didn't care - why Anne Elliot found him so attractive.

Mr Darcy is appealing from the very first aloof glance - even if you don't like him, his character is established well, you get a sense of who he is and why Lizzie might like him. Lizzie, too, talks, is listened to, has contact with Darcy so the reader can see the state of their relationship from the start.

None of these things is apparent between the two main characters in Persuasion, indeed it took a while to work out what the story was! Anne Elliot herself seems so content to sit back and listen to the other characters talking around her that it seems almost wrong to call her a main character at all!

Many people like this novel a lot, so my question (without any flippancy or sarcasm) is: why? What am I missing? Should I read it again, and will I be swayed towards a different opinion if I do? Have you read this novel? Did you love it or hate it?

Please help!

the first person and other stories by Ali Smith

Goodreads link

I love, love, love short stories. I love writing them; I love reading them. Over the years, I've had a few published, although they are probably all long forgotten now :-(

It's not quite so easy to find good collections to read, though. As a result I grab them wherever I can and hope for the best. When I picked up this Ali Smith collection, I hadn't read her novels but I knew her name.

These stories are an experiment in viewpoint - many of them are written in the second person, which is why I picked it for today's recommendation. (If you don't know, I'm highlighting books which have influenced me in some way - these posts are not intended to be book reviews.)

The second person viewpoint interested me because I'd already had my story That Sadie Thing published - a story written partly in second person. It's a viewpoint that challenges the writer - fingers crossed that I got it right, then! As with anything, when done well you hardly notice that the story is being written in an unconventional way; when done badly, it's the only thing you notice!

Have you read Ali Smith's short stories or novels? Have you written a story is second person? Do you enjoy reading stories written in second?

Love, Actually

Internet Movie Database entry

I stumbled on today's post a little bit, because I'm feeling a bit burnt-out - not from blogging, just in general. So I thought I'd share one of my favourite feel-good films.

I love this film for so many reasons. It's British. It's set at Christmas time. It's got a cute child in it.

It's also got Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson and Alan Rickman.

It's got eight (possibly nine... ten...?) interlinked stories. It's got Hugh Grant's dance. It's got a great musical number at a wedding.

I can watch this film at any time of the year, curled up with a glass of wine and a big box of chocolates. And even writing about it is making me feel better.

What's your feel-good film?

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Find this book on Goodreads

I just want to say a quick apology for not visiting many blogs recently. Lots of stuff going on, not enough time to do it! Hopefully, normal service will return shortly. In the meantime, thank you for visiting me!

My Monday blogs are not designed to be book reviews. Instead they highlight books (and sometimes films or music) which hold a particular meaning for me, or influenced me, or just made me think. I hope you enjoy!


For those of you who are relatively new to my blog, you probably missed my mentions of this book. For those who've been around for a while, you probably couldn't avoid them!

I loved this book. I told everyone about this book. I wanted to have written this book.

If you've never heard of it, it tells the story of Rose who finds that she experiences the feelings of the person who made the food she's eating. In the case of manufactured food, she can even tell the area the food was made. She makes this discovery when she eats a slice of lemon cake her mother has made - her mother is not a happy woman.

From then on, Rose learns a lot about her mother she'd rather not know, and with the help of a friend, she searches for the most factory-produced foods she can find - the food without feeling. Later in the book, we learn Rose isn't the only person in her family to be afflicted with a strange gift.

What I loved more than anything about this book is that at no time did Bender try to explain why this was happening to Rose. It just was. I've written short stories where I've dropped readers into something and not given an explanation, but I was never sure whether it would work in a full-length novel.

That, though, is the point which seems to divide the reviewers on Goodreads. Some people love the fact it's a quirky read and makes you do some of the work - you have to make a few decisions yourself as to what you think is going on. Others hate it because there's no explanation, and to some extent no ending - they feel cheated that the story isn't fully opened out, and doesn't fit into the world they already know.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Is there a book you'd recommend for being slightly abnormal?