under the loggia
last night i was at barnes and noble and i bought two books, two of my favorite love stories, north & south by elizabeth gaskell and room with a view by e.m. forster. i also love the tv show and movie adaptations. i've read a room with a view but i confess i haven't read north and south.
i have watched the tv adapation and overall the premise of the story is two people from different circumstances learning about each other and growing their world view which eventually results in their love for each other, despite others' opinions. there's a big political/industrial theme to the book as well. but hey, i'm just a girl. actually, in wikipedia i read this: A scathing unsigned review of North and South in The Leader accused Gaskell of making errors about Lancashire which a resident of Manchester would not make and said that a woman (or clergymen and women) could not "understand industrial problems", would "know too little about the cotton industry" and had no "right to add to the confusion by writing about it". so i kind of want to read the book to see if she really got it so wrong after all. not that i would notice. anyway, the tv show is very poignant about showing the hardships of the workers and their quarrel with their masters. i can write more singular thoughts about it after i read the book.
“i wish I could tell you how lonely I am. how cold and harsh it is here. everywhere there is conflict and unkindness. I think God has forsaken this place. i believe I have seen hell and it's white, it's snow-white.” !
also, how beautiful is daniela danbey-ashe?
i love the characters! i love margaret hale's personality. she is stubborn, head strong. what she is lacking in empathy she makes up in... her fortitude? john thorton, who margaret describes as "not quite a gentleman," has a rigid, inflexible personality but can show kindness and warmth at times to certain people. he is 'the man.' actually, they are a bit similar i think.
a room with a view is... on the surface just about a girl and her chaperone galivanting about italy. then when she goes home she gets engaged to a most particular person, a person who is right in all the edwardian ways and realizes at the end that she loves the man she met in italy, a free-thinker (!!!!!!) god forbid. my favorite scene in that book is when they are reading the poppy field scene from miss lavish's novel!!! i'll have to find it to inscribe it here! julian sands laying on the grass while daniel day-lewis reads the passage out loud to them!
but first: you don't mean you're going to marry that man. . . . he wants you for a possession. . . . i love you. I want you to have your own thoughts and ideas and feelings, even when i hold you in my arms....do you understand how lucky people are when they find what's right for them? this tremendous thing has happened between us...you have to understand that. my ultimate favorite quote from a movie. julian sands delivers it so well.
my coworker lended me a book called the housemaid and it was surprisingly good. even though i don't normally read that genre. i also mailed that book to someone maureen follows on instagram for the book exchange maureen had me do. i recommend it.