The Content Reader

To celebrate the bicentenary of Jane Austen's death, host to 6 Degrees of Separation, Books are My Favourite and Best starts this month with one of her most popular books; Pride and Prejudice . It also happens to be my favourite book by Austen. My chain starts with my second favourite book of hers which is Northanger Abbey . It has a Gothic theme, which reminded me of The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, who was, more or less, contemporary with Jane Austen. This is a Gothic tale in all its glory. I somehow liked it, although it is rather long and could have been shortened.

It seems that the new trend in book writing is to write a series rather than a single book. There are different kind of series; those where the story continues over a number of books, or, those where the story is finished in each book, but the main character reappears in several books. The last option has been a trend for a long time, especially within the detective story genre. Some of the most famous sleuths belong to this category; Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Sam Spade and others. I think this is a favoured category among readers.

A while ago I read a post somewhere, about how important covers are. How important are they really? Do you choose a book due to the cover, or do you go for title/author? Personally, I think a good cover attracts your attention to a book, but I would not buy it unless it was a book that interested me. The Twilight series and their covers, which I think fits perfectly for these kind of books, has also changed the covers in other books. It seems, like in other areas, to be a trend. One popular book will be followed by covers similar to this book. The other interesting thing with the Twilight series is the interest it has given Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, being the favourite book of Bella. She is identifying herself with Cathy and sees Edward as her Heathcliff. There are several references in the series to Emily's book.  “Hand me that book, will you?” I asked, pointing over his shoulder. His eyebrows pulled together in confusion, but he gave it to me quickly. “This again?” he as...

It has been a little bit quiet on this blog for a while. It is because I have been travelling. We went with friends to wonderful Tuscany in Italy over Easter, to enjoy the landscape, history, food, wine and culture. It is many years since we were there so it was really nice to come back. We flew to Pisa where a rented car took us south to the area of Montalcino. Yes, famous for the Brunello wines! This is the square in Volterra When my husband mentioned that we could pass by Volterra (where we never visited before) I realized that I also had a higher cause for this trip than just enjoying food and wine. That makes it necessary to confess that I am a fan of the Twilight books and movies! I resisted a long time to watch the first movie but when I did I was lost. Probably the romantic in me. Volterra, is the home to the Volturi, the ‘royal family’ of the vampires. As fans know, in the second book, New Moon, Edward goes there on his suicidal mission. It is beautifully filmed, startin...