Just to convince you that I have not only been watching movies, I will now mention some books I’ve read of late.

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray – Boy was this novel fun. Much like Dickens’ it was written for 60 pounds per chapter, and it shows. Where I was annoyed by Dickens’ constant prattling about misery, riches and what not, Thackeray’s odes to vanity are only slightly worn. I suppose the endless paragraphs about the silliness of the upper classes and wannabies were controversial and exciting at the time they were written, but to someone educated at the tail end of 20th century, by communists none the less, they are hackneyed. To the novel’s credit the main storyline is fun, exciting and well worth the read.

Povratak Filipa Latinovicza by Miroslav Krleza – Anyone who has had the pleasure of being entertained by my husband in our living room *cough*library*cough* knows how heavily our collection leans towards the British. In this tea stained environment I sometimes feel a bit homesick. I am ever so lucky that some of Krleza works have been trasfered to e-books. I really enjoyed “Povratak Filipa Latinovicza”. There is nothing like constant and tender references to mud to make a girl with inferiority complex feel better.

Here is a paragraph that really struck me:

“Ogenj!” Ta stara, zaboravljena rije? probudila je u Filipu jaki osje?aj panonske podloge. On ni sam nije znao zašto, ali u taj tren osjetio je neobi?no jako neku subjektivnu elementarnu pripadnost toj podlozi: osjetio se doma.

Or translated by my inexperienced hand:

“Fire!” That old, forgotten word awakened in Philip a strong sense of Panonian base. He himself did not know why, but in that moment he felt uncommonly strong subjective elementary belonging to that base: he felt at home.

The word for fire “ogenj” I did not translate exactly. It means fire but it is not commonly used in modern Croatian. Where used in the novel it is peasant slang. The word also connotates fireplace and, by extension, household and family. In the novel Philip returns to his hometown after spending most of his life in England and Western Europe. I sometimes get the exact feeling described in above paragraph when I hear words that have long been absent from my dialogue.

I’ve recently read “The English Patient” by Michael Ondaatje. Even though I really liked “In the skin of a lion” I can’t say the same thing about this one. I don’t mean to say anything bad about it. It is probably a good book. What this does show is that it is generally a good idea that I did not do a literature degree. I find that books either speak to me or don’t. This may or may not have anything to do with the quality of book. I can read a perfectly excellent book such as “Jane Eyre” and be annoyed at it. Or I can read strips on Spamusement and think it a poignant reflection of our times. But, let’s return to the “English Patient”. It is a romantic book. As such it set the mood and developed characters really well. I wish I could have enjoyed it more but my practical nature would not have allowed it.

As I might have mentioned previously, I have been reading quite a bit lately. I finished ‘The Colony of Unrequited Dreams’ and I must say that I enjoyed it. Very much like ‘In the Skin of the Lion’ this books takes a piece of Canadian history and attaches a story to it.

Partially because of the hype and curiosity inspired by recent cinematic overtures, and partially for change of pace, I have decided to take a short break from Canadian fiction and picked up Jane Austen’s ‘Mansfield Park’. I’ve seen the movie few years ago so I wanted to compare the two. Though movie did add a few juicy details about minor characters not detected in the book, it was otherwise spot on. I read book quickly enough to judge it enjoyable so I just might read a few more of Austen’s works.