Oh Margaret, Margaret!!

My Editor Ponders my Literary Skills

I don’t know ~ there’s something about those young women back in the 1800’s.  In novels anyway…. they beat around the bush and cannot see what is staring them right in the face!!  Look at Jane Eyre, she drove me nuts!  Now Margaret is pushing away John Thornton who loves her, and is offended when he proposes to her.  How haughty can you get, she needs a good slap!  She didn’t even say much at the dinner party which really annoyed me, but she did get a pebble in the head trying to protect John Thornton from the striking rabble at the mill and yet she still reckons she doesn’t love him. Now old Mrs Thornton says she hates Margaret for breaking her son’s heart and John says this only makes him love her more. Cripes!! 

Poor Bessy died, it was consumption, brought on by the harsh working conditions in the cotton mill when she was younger.  She was the same age as Margaret, and adored her.  Her dying wish was to be buried in something of Margaret’s.

Mrs Hale, Margaret’s mother is close to death’s door and John Thornton brought her a basket of fruit as the doctor said it would help ease her suffering.  When he delivered it he ignored Margaret completely as she sat sewing.  Margaret thinks that he just didn’t see her. Oh, the games they play..... I'm loving it!

Somewhere in Time

I’ve also started Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson.  The protagonist is dying from a brain tumour, and he is dictating thoughts onto a Dictaphone whilst travelling.  Taking a detour from his planned destination he stays at an old hotel where there is a small museum dedicated to the famous people that have stayed there.  He sees a photo of an actress who was born at the end of the nineteenth century and immediately falls in love with her.  Recognising the obsession but not being able to do anything about it he buys a heap of books that have some information on her – there isn’t much.  She was outgoing, then she became introverted and then reclusive.  He doesn’t like some of the photos but the one that he saw in the museum still attracts him greatly.  That’s as far as I have got.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – yes, I’m still listening to this on and off.  I actually forgot about it for a few days whilst I was really busy but listened to some on the way to work this morning.  I see that Harry’s starting to get a bit of an attitude – must be his age.  He’s had his first kiss though, and he and his friends are getting ready for Christmas with his uncle.  Hermione is pretty funny in this one; I think I prefer her in the novels rather than the movies.  The actress, in my opinion, isn’t particularly good.  In the books she’s a bit of a giggle, though impossibly bossy.  Ron’s good too, he’s pretty dim but a loyal friend – a bit like Frodo's friend Sam.

I’ve read some more of Flatland.  It’s not a novel you would pick up to enjoy for a quick read, even though it’s only a 100 pages or so long.  It’s more like a geometry lesson, but it is very clever.  It’s hard to explain all, but we’ve just gone through the Colour Revolution and how it was mishandled and abused – a bit like our Insulation Scheme debarcle…..?!