Space Station Mir

47. Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery When I got home for Thanksgiving, I didn't intend to fully reread this childhood favorite, but between last night and this afternoon, I did. Obviously, I'm not the one making the meal! I remembered the charming characters and events and wanted to revisit those passages that bore resemblance to my own experience at college. I'm afraid my social life has not quite lived up to Anne's, but it hasn't fallen too short either. I haven't received so many proposals yet, but that contributes more to my relief than anything else. Anne of the Island chronicles the college experience of Anne Shirley, formerly of Green Gables. Montgomery expresses many timeless sentiments through Anne and her "chums" and their house mother, Aunt Jamesina. They experience the pressures of studies and social lives, along with the rarely mentioned but present tension of being among few female students. Anne reflects on turning twenty, and ...

46. The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox What if Don Quixote's peculiarity were transported across the European continent and English Channel, from the beginning of the seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth, into the person of a young noble woman? Charlotte Lennox, a female novelist making her way in an England only beginning to respect her profession in men, and still somewhat disdaining fiction in favor of history, tried to answer this question. Yet, her use of Cervantes' form and style is to comment on the absurdities of her own society and perhaps particularly the position of women. Arabella, the Female Quixote, is addicted to romances as the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance was to his novels of chivalry. She is raised in isolation, and only introduced into society at age eighteen, after the death of her father. Her uncle is appointed her guardian, and her male cousin Mr. Glanville falls in love with her, as her female cousin Miss Glanville envies her for he...

It is nearing the year's end, and I still have nine books to go. As I declared when I read The Ultimate Hitchhikers' Guide and counted it as one, I am not ashamed to go back and count those books as five. Accordingly, at this time, I am officially increasing my total to 45, in order to appropriately acknowledge that massive effort. I would also like to announce, lest anyone suggest I am shirking, that I am currently in the midst of; Northanger Abbey, Mrs. Dalloway, The Female Quixote, Brisingr, and The Famished Road. So, if I finish all of those, or the other book I'm scheduled to read before the end of the semester i.e. The Castle of Oltranto, or any other work, of course, I will have reached my goal. Support? Snaps? Something?

41. Pamela; Or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson This eighteenth century classic barely dignifies notice. This is over five hundred pages, in the eponymous character's letters, of expostulation on the proper behavior of a servant whose master wishes to rape her. Worse, Richardson is in dead earnest. Oh, sure, social commentary on the contemporary relationship between rich and poor, and Victorian ideals for women can be found here, but the popular conduct manuals of the time are probably comparatively fascinating. Pamela is an insufferable heroine, obsessed with her Virtue, and yet not possessed of the sense not to marry a man who several times attempted to rape her. The would-be rapist, Mr. B, is a wimp as a villain, as he never actually commits his intended crime, and yet he expects the (albeit complying) Pamela to yield to his every wish the instant he presents her with the coveted ring. A single passage from this novel is enough to confirm its subject, any historical or liter...

40. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson The idea behind Jekyll and Hyde, that every person actually has dual, or multiple selves, always interested me. Though Stevenson uses this premise to divide humans, or specifically men, as there are no female characters to speak of (though that itself adds to discussion), into moral opposites, I would like to take the theory in a more complicated direction. I don't believe most people contain two innate selves, a good and a bad, but rather that people do have slightly differentiated personalities within them (and the degree of separation depends on the person), that have different motivations and temperaments, none of which are necessarily good or evil. I think Stevenson foresaw this way of thinking, and the story does tell us that most people are not quite so morally binary as Jekyll. The protagonist Mr. Utterson, in fact, from whose point of view proceeds the first part of the story, for those not familiar ...

39. The Lifted Veil and Brother Jacob by George Eliot These are two separate novellas included in an Oxford World Classics edition. The first could be categorized as a nineteenth century prototype for a genre that would become science fiction. The main character Latimer reminded me strongly of Mary Shelley's Victor Frankenstein and there are similar themes. For those of you not familiar with her, George Eliot was also a woman. Latimer, in rich prose, describes his tragic transformation into a clairvoyant, a reader of the future and other peoples' minds. He discovers the petty motivations, negativity, or emptiness of all those around him and internalizes it. He is a romantic poetic type, but notably without the ability to create art. The object of his affection and subsequent horror is Bertha Grant, at first the only one immune to his powers. The Lifted Veil, and Brother Jacob as well, boast gorgeous language and keen, though pessimistic, insight into human society and behavior....

I dote on movies like Juno and Little Miss Sunshine. Juno especially spoke to me, as it reminded me of my own "quirky", "ironic" set of friends. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/10/AR2008101000728.html The Washington Post legitimately comments on the counterintuitive popular trend of "indie" movies, but I was surprised that there was not so much focus on the generational context. "Indie" movies appeal to the current high school, college, and young adult crowds. Instead of criticizing Hollywood and filmmakers for being hypocritical or trying to capitalize on public opinion, why not call it out as a new trend that will inform the future of Hollywood? Maybe it's not really "indie," but it sure as hell is a lot better than "300." I, for one, could deal with many more snarky comments on pop culture for years to come.

38. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe Probably the most shocking element of this eighteenth century pseudo-biography is the lack of chapter divisions. The title page reads like that of a wanted poster or freak show advertisement of the era, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders Who was Born in NEWGATE (famous London prison) blah blah blah Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother) twelve Year a Thief etc. I'm sure the book was exciting and 'novel' at the time (there's still some debate as to whether it is a novel or not), but now it's fairly tame, there are no explicit sex scenes, no excessive drink or drugs, just a woman very determined never to work for a living, no matter how she manages it. I can appreciate that Moll is a very complex character, with many motivations (though primarily monetary), and that Defoe represents many crucial themes of his time including capitalism and moral responsibility. It also might be fu...