The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

On the train to Boston, I finished Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, a book I was reading because I’m planning to write a thesis on Collins, but I’d only actually read The Woman in White. I had heard several people say that of those two they preferred The Moonstone, but I disagree for reasons I will discuss later. The Moonstone, though, was very good indeed.

The basic premise is that of a perfect crime that seems unsolvable: a valuable jewel is stolen the night of a dinner party in the country, and a series of misleading clues, combined with several suspicions persons confuses the investigators. The Moonstone is written sort of like an official report that combines several narratives from different people who were in a position to have witnessed some part of a crime that was committed. For instance, one section is written by the relative of the girl from whom the jewel was stolen, one by a doctor, one by the girl’s lawyer, and oters. The voice of all these characters was fantastic – each was unique and believable. This narrative technique also adds to the sense that the crime is being “investigated,” which I imagine is part of the reason that Collins is credited with writing the first “detective novel.”

Overall the book was engaging and suspenseful. It has some interesting social commentary aspects which might be useful for my thesis . . . I haven’t actually decided what about Collins I want to address.

In comparison to The Woman in White, I have to say I think The Woman in White is far more interesting. The mystery is a lot darker in general, involving truly sinister villains, mental institutions, and an examination of life for Victorian females who, once married, were essentially trapped with no legal or monetary control over their own lives. Not only does it have an engaging mystery, but as a study of people and society I think The Woman in White reaches deeper than The Moonstone.

Next I have a biography of Wilkie Collins and a collection of three novellas: Miss or Mrs?, The Haunted Hotel, and The Guilty River.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

So the last book I read was I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (of The Hundred and One Dalmatians fame). I had bought it on a whim because I heard it mentioned on another message board and then saw it at the bookstore and thought, why not?

The heroine is seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain who lives in a castle with her father, stepmother Topaz, older sister Rose, younger brother Thomas, and Stephen, the good-looking son of their late housekeeper who is completely devoted to Cassandra. The family is living in complete poverty because the father, who was once a writer, now spends all his time reading detective novels, and though Topaz could make some money modeling in London, the cost of living in the city would consume most of her earnings anyway.

Their landlord dies, so enter his American heir Simon, along with his younger brother Neil and their mother. As soon as the two families meet, Rose views Simon as a marriage prospect that could bring her and her family out of the poverty into which they have fallen, and so begins the main thrust of the story.

All the events are recorded by Cassandra in her diary, and so it is her point of view that the reader sees throughout.

One thing I really disliked about the narrative was that at the beginning of every section, Cassandra would write something like “something really exciting happened, but I can’t rush into it so I’m going to write pages of boring stuff before I actually tell you what it is.” Alright, the other stuff wasn’t boring per se, but I think announcing that something interesting would soon occur made me more eager to just get to it instead of wading through the whole buildup first. After a while this just got really frustrating.

Secondly, I won’t really go in depth into this, but let’s just say that my romance reading sensibilities were slightly disappointed *sigh*

Otherwise this was a pretty good read – Cassandra had a great voice which was convincing, if a little mature for a girl who is only 17. The father, Topaz, and Rose were also really well done.



In 2003, the book was made into a film, which I might think about watching when I return to school.

I Capture the Castle

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison

Yesterday I went to the bookstore and finally purchased Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging. I had been aware of this series since high school when a friend on the cross country team was reading it, but only just decided to try it out myself. It’s a YA series by British author Louise Rennison, and it’s written as the diary of Georgia Nicolson, the fourteen-year-old heroine.

Mostly, the book chronicles a school year of Georgia’s life, including her problems with her massive cat Angus, her friends, boy troubles, and family problems, and school. So, life, basically.

What makes the book great is its humor, which is both situational (for instance, the heroine accidentally shaves off her eyebrows), but also just in the writing itself – the character Georgia has a great voice that is funny and realistic. And of course, very British. Thankfully the book was not Americanized, though it does come complete with a Glossary of British slang (although I do wonder how common it is for Brits to refer to a penis as a “how’s your father,” but hey, it’s in there).

There are currently 7 books out in the series, but the volumes are all conveniently numbered, so I don’t feel the need to list them here.

Highly recommended . . . or fabbity fab fab as it were. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard while reading a book.

Jack Jones and the Pirate Curse by Judith Rossell

Jack Jones and the Pirate Curse by Judith Rossell

This was another really fun read that I got to do at work. After the death of his Uncle, Jack Jones learns that he has interited a pirate curse which has been passed down in his family for several generations. Unfortunately, this curse comes along with a talkative parrot called Poll, and causes people around him to randomly turn into fierce pirates! While Jack's mother tries to find a way to fix the curse, Jack must battle 3 frightning pirates and some rather large and hairy tarantulas. Can Jack fix the curse, or whill he be running from pirates the rest of his life?

Highly recommended for young people because it is humorous and adventurous, and also easy to follow.

Misfortune by Wesley Stace

Misfortune by Wesley Stace


A month or so ago I randomly purchased Misfortune by Wesley Stace, having never heard of the book or author before. Of course, this is Stace's first book so I suppose my ignorance can be forgiven. I was interested in it largely because it was set in the Victorian era, and as any of my friends know, I really enjoy 19th century books, or works set in that period.

The hero is Rose Old Loveall, an abandoned child who is discovered and adopted by Lord Loveall. Lord Loveall, traumatized by the childhood death of his beloved sister, is a bit off his rocker and refuses to recognize that Rose is, in fact, a boy. The woman he marries to make the child appear legitimate goes along with the farce of raising Rose as a girl because of her attachment to the philosophy of a particular writer, who believed in the androgynous being who is a blank slate at birth yada yada. Consequently, Rose is raised as a girl.

Obviously this fact could not be hidden forever, either from everyone else, or from Rose himself. Following the death of his father, Rose learns the truth of his gender (through a process too complicated to outline here), and it’s also revealed to his greedy family that he is not Lord Loveall’s biological child, and is thus not the rightful heir. After struggling with the gender conventions demanded by Victorian society, Rose leaves Love Hall. He goes through a long process of self-discovery, and that is as much of the plot as I’ll give away.

This book was entertaining, but in some ways unbalanced, or unexpected I suppose. The whole narrative basically concerns Rose and his discovery of his identity, and the first half obviously focuses on gender. The second half, though, returns the reader to the first chapter when Rose was abandoned, as the characters search for Rose’s biological parents and ancestral identity. This shift was unexpected simply because gender had been the major focus of the previous half, and the two aspects of identify had little to do with each other, excepting that they both dealt with Rose.

At any rate, this story certainly provokes interesting meditations on gender. Finally, in the true Dickensian spirit, the conclusion of the novel involved a bucket load of improbable fortunate coincidence, which never bothers me.

I’m interested to read Stace’s next novel, just to see where on earth he goes from here.