austen, byatt, and eckhart tolle

I thought I'd jot (type?) down some thoughts regarding some books I finished recently.

As a Jane Austen fan, I'm embarrassed to admit that I never read Persuasion until last month. I really enjoyed this book (much better than Mansfield Park), although I couldn't help being reminded that Jane Austen tends to use the same themes and character types in her novels. Sir Walter Elliot as the silly and ridiculous parent = Mrs. Bennett (Pride and Prejudice). Anne as the demure and sensible heroine = a mixture of Fanny (Mansfield Park) and Jane (P&P). Mr. Walter Elliot is exposed to be a man whose character is less-than-admirable, which = Mr. Wickham (P&P), Mr. Willoughby (Sense and Sensibility), and perhaps Mr. Crawford (Mansfield Park) too. And Lady Russell seems like a combination of Mrs. Weston (Emma) with a little of Lady Catherine De Bourgh's (P&P) pride.

I thought it was interesting to see Austen's own feminist sentiment reveal itself at the end of the novel. Anne and Captain Harville are debating whether men or women have the capacity to truly fall in love. Harville comments that all prose and poetry contain references to women being fickle, but then recognizes that these were all written by men. Anne agrees, "Yes, if you please, no reference to examples in books. Men have had advantage to us in telling their own story...the pen has been in their hands." I think that Austen was expressing her own frustration as a female writer through this conversation.

I don't think I would have read A New Earth on my own volition, but this was the book chosen for my book club. It took a while for me to get into this book, perhaps because I felt that Tolle's writing was sometimes laced with a slightly condescending tone. I did think he had some interesting points, though. For example, he argued that people get attached to material possessions because they project part of their personality or image onto those things. For example, I am attached to a really cute red purse. According to Tolle (and I agree with him), I am attached to this purse because I think it's cute, and thereby I consider myself to be cute when I'm using the purse. This point made me rethink my attachment to material goods - including all of my purses and shoes! There were several other interesting points in this book, but I don't know if I would ever read it again or recommend it to someone else.

I really enjoyed Byatt's Possession a lot, although a handful of things bothered me. This book is about two scholars of 19th century poetry who stumble upon love letters between two poets. One of these scholars, Maud Bailey, is a feminist professor who is a specialist of the poet Christabel La Motte. Roland Mitchell is the other scholar, who specializes in the poetry of Randolph Henry Ash. The book follows the discovery and research regarding these found letters, and it's absolutely fascinating. In regards to the unfolding of plot, climax, and resolution, I think this is one of the best books that I have read in a long time. Plus, the past year and a half of my life has been spent doing intensive research for my thesis, and I get excited when others make exciting discoveries in their research.

I really loved the last chapter of the book, but I had one issue with the second to last chapter (which involves most of the resolution of the plot). The two scholars, Roland and Maud, have begun to form an attachment to each other. In this chapter they are deciding what to do about their relationship, now that their adventure is ending. Roland says, "I'll take care of you, Maud." And, basically, that's the end of their story. I was kind of mad - doesn't Roland know that that phrase ("I'll take care of you") is the absolute last thing that a feminist scholar would like to hear a male say? I kept on reading, hoping that Maud would get mad too, but nothing else is written. Perhaps Maud wasn't the true feminist that her character seemed to be during the previous 400 pages?

Next books on the reading docket: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
The Genius in the Design: Bernini, Borromini, and the Rivalry that Transformed Rome by Jake Morrissey.
Mila 18 by Leon Uris (I know nothing about this book - it's this month's choice for book club).
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Douglass' famous autobiography).