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A Room with a View by E.M. Forster: Favorite Passages

"By an odd chance-unless we believe in a presiding genius of place-the statues that relieve its severity suggest, not the innocence of childhood nor the glorious bewilderment of youth, but the conscious achievements of maturity. Perseus and Judith, Hercules and Thusnelda, they have done or suffered something, and, though they are immortal, immortality has come to them after experience, not before. Here, not only in the solitude of Nature, might a hero meet a goddess, or a heroine a god."

"George had turned at the sound of her arrival. For a moment he contemplated her, as one who had fallen out of heaven. He saw radiant joy in her face, he saw the flowers beat against her dress in blue waves. The bushes above them closed. He stepped quickly forward and kissed her."

"She reminded him of a Leonardo more than ever; her sunburnt features were shadowed by fantastic rocks; at his words she had turned and stood between him and the light with immeasurable plains behind her."

"I only wish poets would say this too: that love is of the body; not the body, but of the body. Ah! the misery that would be saved if we confessed that! Ah for a little directness to liberate the soul!"

Currently Reading

Can't wait to get these...

The Sandman Cometh!

I am on a mission to read the entire Sandman series by Neil Gaiman by the end of the year. So far so good, but I have to say it was painful waiting three months for volume 3 as a greedy library patron seemed to have kept a magical hold on it for that long. I've requested volumes 4 and 5 that way I can read them back to back.

I am thoroughly enjoying this series. Dream Country, volume three of the series, was wonderful. I particularly enjoyed "Dream of a Thousand Cats." Now I love me some Shakespeare, but it was not my favorite of the four stories. My favorite line out of the four stories though is from "A Midsummer Night's Dream": "Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot." Spoken by the man of the hour, Dream or Sandman, whatever you'd like to call him, they're all the same. He's a minor character in these stories considering the series is named after him. I think Neil Gaiman is really hitting his stride here in incorporating mythology and folklore into the Sandman stories. I hope this trend continues through the rest of the series.

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

I started reading The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford last Friday and am fascinated by it at the moment. I haven't finished the novel yet, but I'm about half way through. It's pretty brilliant although it took me a bit to get used to the author's style. I've had this on my TBR shelf forever it seems, but it called out to me now to be read. It's funny how that happens.

Quirky Romantic Comedies are my Favorite

I cannot wait to see both of these films. The nerdy romantic in me can't believe her luck.