Tuesday Book Club
This week I reread Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. I read it first when I was 15, and here is what I wrote in the back of the book. Forgive me, but I’m afraid this is an exact quote:
“As with all great stories, I’ve chosen my loved character and become her in every way possible–Catherine Earnshaw, she who loved and hated violently [great role model]. No matter that she died heart-broken and lonely, for I could be her without being her grief. Heathcliff has captured my soul and I love him dearly. All his evil to Catherine Linton and Linton Heathcliff I can forgive. Everything he ever did was for Catherine. Oh, if only I could cause such love in a man [um, no thank you]. I would probably abuse it and test it to its limits, but I would still cherish it deep within me [sweetie, we need to talk]. . .
[Next day] “Read until two thirty o’clock [two thirty o'clock?]. I wish and dream of living in their highland, but I fear it may never come about. I have ten years to make my fortune [oh, really?], but I pray that I may spend part of my life in a house that would love me and in a country that please me. It is so dangerous for me to read books! [No sh--, Sherlock.] Never have I dreaded my own environment and upbringing and family [sorry, Mom] and status than when I have drenched my spirit with the tales of someone else’s life. I wish to be anywhere but here.”
*cough, cough, gag, hack, hork, snort, uck, blech*
Oh, my Lord. I cannot BELIEVE I used to write or talk or think like that. I am so sorry you had to see that.
Especially since now, having reread the book, I have come to the only conclusion possible: Heathcliff was a total whack job. How did that guy get the reputation for being a romantic hero? He’s insane. He’s a bully. He’s vindictive and wicked and heartless. I don’t care if he did love Catherine so much that it drove him mad. Comb your hair, man, and stop taking people prisoner and making your sole entertainment the misery and ruin of others. Get a life, H. You’re pathetic.
But I do love Cathy the daughter in that novel. What spunk. Although how could she ever put up with that sniveling, puling (as Heathcliff keeps calling him) Linton? I would have slapped him within the first half hour. *shudder*
I also read another belly-poking book, but I won’t trouble you with that. Although it was really excellent.
And you? What books did you feast on last week?
Technorati Tags: Tuesday Book Club, Reading Clubs, Book Clubs, Books, Reading, Book Recommendations, Book Reviews
November 27th, 2007 at 5:09 am
Hi Robin! I know it seems as if I have dropped off the commenting world, but…I have spent the past few weeks catching up. Ticking things of my list. And, guess what? It’s working!! Soon I’ll be back in a rhythm and back to commenting at my friends’ virtual places regularly.
Heathcliff IS a total whack job. Only a teenaged girl could appreciate him. Seriously. Love your journals
I’m reading “The Amber Spyglass” for the fourth time, ’cause I’m teaching it. I’m surprised at how it never gets old.
I’m listening to “The Foreskin’s Lament,” which may have the best opening chapter I’ve ever read in a memoir. It’s great.
Happy Tuesday!
November 27th, 2007 at 6:58 am
You read another belly-poking book? Does this mean you have been eating people again?
I saw Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, which was awesome.
November 27th, 2007 at 7:41 am
Oh, god. This is so funny. OK, so have you read Wide Sargasso Sea? You oughta…
I re-read two books of Alice Munro’s short stories this week because I really truly heart Alice Munro. More than Heathcliff…
November 27th, 2007 at 8:24 am
I’m still trying to get through Wuthering Heights. I had to put it down for a while. I think this is the only book I’ve ever had to do that with.
This week I read And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander.
November 27th, 2007 at 8:33 am
You’re brave to share those notes, but I loved reading them. It’s painful to read high school notes, no?
I’m sorry, but I couldn’t even *finish* Wuthering Heights.
I’m reading Spanking Shakespeare, Robin. I know you cracked up over that book. Sara, I got your GoodReads comment. I wish I had known you wanted to read it. I had an extra ARC and sent it to Eisha. Let me know if you want me to mail you my copy when I’m done.
November 27th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Hi, Kelly! I’ve been pretty absent from the blogs myself, so don’t worry about disappearing. I’m still holding your place here. So happy for you that you get to read The Amber Spyglass again. Such a great book! And, um, The Foreskin’s Lament? Hello. That’s a title.
Patrick, that movie looks so creepy! You really liked it?
Liz, I haven’t read Wide Sargasso Sea, but I saw the movie. Haw-awt. Loved it. And yeah, Alice Munro rox. More than Heathcliff for sure.
Kimmy, it’s worth finishing it just to see. Try again. Let’s commiserate.
Jules, tell me when you finish Spanking Shakespeare. I want to know what you think.
November 27th, 2007 at 9:02 am
I didn’t read Wuthering Heights until I was an adult and am not really crazy about it. The writing was excellant but way too much angst(Jane Eyre,however,I read numerous times when I was younger. I’d take Mr. Rochester over Heathcliff any time!).
Funny how rereading a book can change your whole take on it-first time I read Gone With the Wind,I just got wrapped up in the story but on a second reading,my conclusion was that Scarlett was a total b***h.
By the third reread,I was more amendable to Scarlett,who seriously needed Dr. Phil or somebody to set her head straight in the romance dept.
As to what I actually read recently,I finished Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips(which I’m having a giveaway contest for at my blog)and Songs Without Words by Ann Packer. Both books were good,the Packer slowly paced but moving while GBB is a total laugh and a half.
I’m now reading Jim The Boy,since I have an ARC of it’s sequel The Blue Star(coming out next March). Also reading Savages and Riders by Jilly Cooper(total sexy sagas).
November 27th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Sheesh, Lady T, got enough books going right now? Wow! I loved Jane Eyre back in the day, too. I should probably reread that some time. I’ve never read Gone with the Wind–just seen the movie dozens of times. Yeah, she is a little b, isn’t she? Love the idea of siccing Dr. Phil on her.
November 27th, 2007 at 10:03 am
I read “The Hazards of Sleeping Alone” by Elise Juska. An interesting take on mom-daughter relationships and pretty funny too. I also caught up on a bunch of magazines and rented/watched two movies: Borat and Notes on a Scandal. Just love Judi Dench in that-so wonderfully creepy.
November 27th, 2007 at 10:22 am
I’m trying to read Twilight but I got distracted by a sudden desire to re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I have a friend in Scotland who has read the other six books but is refusing to read Deathly Hallows. He’s completely frustrating me.
November 27th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Robin, Robin, I’m so glad you wrote in books and that you kept them! That was magnificent.
And it makes me feel better, because in my old journals, I sound so pompous that I want to slap myself. How can it be that I ever thought “henceforth” and “I shall endeavor” were perfectly good words? I guess I was too busy trying to be a grownup then. Sigh.
I finished The True Meaning of Smekday this week. There’s some seriously great dialogue going on in this book. I could see it as a classic road buddy movie.
I’m also a few stories into White Time, so that means I only have to finish that and read 21 Balloons and my end-of-the-year reading is signed, sealed and delivered. But I also went to the library—only to return a book, I told myself—and walked out with five books. Why don’t they just rename that place The Crack House?
November 27th, 2007 at 11:38 am
LOL That’s awsome Robin! XD I should write more stuff like that so I can go back later and laugh at myself too!
I got Wuthering Hights from the Library but I havn’t read it yet… should get on that… and it’s sad to say but I would probably fall for heathcliff. XD We’ll have to see I guess! Havn’t finished anything that I can think of, but I’ll work on it for next week!
November 27th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Robin - I haven’t seen any of the previews, so I don’t know why it looks creepy. Oliver loved it, too.
It’s rated G, how creepy could it be? Plus it has Jason Bateman. JASON BATEMAN!
November 27th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
I’m still working on A Great and Terrible Beauty, which totally surprised me by being frightening! I misjudged it by its cover, I suppose. I’m loving it.
I had to comment on your post, Robin. The fact that you have words like that to read from your teen years is part of why you’re such a great writer for teens. That melodrama and sappy romantic language seem a bit silly now, sure, but to your 15-year-old self, they were the best way to express your entirely real and serious feelings. If you keep remembering that teens feel so very deeply–and that most sometimes have moments of feeling alone and unheard on an isolated island–you’ll keep reaching them with your books.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
I finished a bunch of stuff - Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff, Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison (one of the must reads for 2007), and finally finished Eat, Pray, Love which was so freakin’ fabulous, I can’t stop talking about it. It was not a fast read - there was too much to learn and soak in, but it was so good, I could start reading it again tonight (if I hadn’t already loaned it to someone else!). And if I didn’t have to finish The Book Thief (which I’m halfway through) by the end of the year!!
And, since people are talking about movies, everyone should go see Darjeeling Limited because it is GREAT. It defines irreverent.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
That is the funniest thing I’ve read in ages! And this from a woman who recently read Spanking Shakespeare. (There’s scary stuff in diaries I wrote when young as well, but it’s related to family and far less entertaining.)
Crazy week, but I finished Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely, though I haven’t written it up yet, and started Clare B. Dunkle’s The Hollow Kingdom. Such a dose of girls being taken, or under threat of being taken, by Faerie! So far, I’d give the vote to Wicked Lovely, which was really gripping. Lots of interesting variations on the theme.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I won’t talk about what I’m reading (it’s at least four books and don’t want to sound completely scatty) but had to say thanks for a great laugh over your Wuthering Heights comments. My diary at that age is very similar in content and tone and I bet I would have had the same reaction to WH had I read it at that age. As it was, I liked it at 17 (those two years made a big difference!) but also recognised the pyschopathic elements of Heathcliffe’s character
November 27th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
The part where I started laughing right out loud when the poor, poor library patron was coming up to the reference desk to ask me for an Internet password was, “I have ten years to make my fortune….” The patron’s just looking at me, and I’m like, “*giggle giggle* I’m not laughing at you. *giggle* Sorry. *giggle* Okay, just give me a minute. *laughs into hands* *makes professional face* Is there something I can help you with?”
That was very brave to share, and I love your commentary. I love Wuthering Heights, which I also first read as a teen, but I always understood about Heathcliff being psycho.
This week I’m reading Schooled by Gordon Korman. I’m not done yet, but I’m enjoying it so far. It’s not as funny as No More Dead Dogs, but it reminds me of Spinelli’s Stargirl in a good way.
Sara, I loved Smekday.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
(I thought it was just me)
November 27th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Robin, I love that you wrote comments in your books. What a great idea! And such a fabulous memory, even if a little painful.
I also reread books this week! The best one was Everything On A Waffle by Polly Horvath. I LOVE that book! So quirky and fun.
On to the new!
November 27th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Deborah, you probably didn’t mean it to sound decadent, but the idea of catching up on magazines? Sigh . . . What a luxury that would be. Maybe that will be my weekend fun. Thanks for planting the seed.
Katie the Sis, what the–? Why won’t he read the last book? Some weird notion of hanging on, not letting the series go? Slap him!
Sara, “henceforth” and “I shall endeavor”? *snort* Good thing we weren’t friends in high school–it would have been too easy to isolate ourselves in our pretend pretentious world. Heavens. As for renaming the library The Crack House, brilliant. You nailed it.
Dylan, I know you’re a Twilight fan (as am I). Try Wuthering Heights and see how it compares.
Patrick, yes, Jason Bateman is worth our time, but I don’t know about that movie. Dustin is just too . . . odd.
Kelley, thanks for what you said about teens. I agree with your assessment about feeling so alone and unheard. I just spent the day at my old high school, and boy, did those feelings come back.
Molly, I’m so glad you finished (and are now pushing) Eat, Pray, Love! That was one of the best of the best this year. I know what you mean about wanting to reread it right after you finished it–I felt exactly the same way (but I, too, lent it out immediately instead).
Lady S, are you saying there’s a wave of Faerie crime? Yow. Glad you finished and had fun with Spanking Shakespeare! Another great book from this year.
Emmaco, you were a mature, level-headed 17-year-old to be able to see through Heathcliff. I swear, all that intensity just hit me–it seemed SO romantic. Now I prefer a guy who’s basically the same every day. Save the drama for my writing.
Adrienne, sorry to jeopardize your professionalism, dude. It had to be done. And you and Sara are pushing me to Smekday. How am I going to read all these?? And they all need to be read!
Suzanne, welcome.
Michelle, I don’t know if it was a good idea or not. Maybe it would have been better not to have the evidence. As for your reading, I’ve never read anything by Polly Horvath. Sounds like I should.
November 27th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I’m still reading Twilight, but have gotten distracted by the sudden desire to re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I have a friend in Scotland that I am trying to convince to read it. He has read the other six books, but is refusing to read DH. He is frustrating me to no end. And I didn’t like Wuthering Heights either.
November 27th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Robin,
I love your fifteen-year-old notes. I was so in love with Heathcliff as a teenager, and if I ever met anyone who was remotely like him as a teenager, I probably would have run away with him. I haven’t read the book since high school, so I’m glad to read that it was probably a good thing I never met anyone like him.
I finished reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and loved it.
Hope your writing is going well!
November 27th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
I always preferred Garfield to Heathcliff, but, really, Odie had the most charm.
November 27th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Ok will do Robin!
Thanks! By the way… Is there anyway I could convince you to come into phoenix and do a writing class for me and some of my friends? We have a couple writers in our homeschool group and I bet we could learn a lot from you! 
However if this would interfer with your writing at all we should totally wait till you take a break!
November 28th, 2007 at 6:25 am
Signing back in to say that Wide Sargasso Sea was based on Rochester not Heathcliff — remembered that on my run this morning!??! Wacky brain. Kind of got my literary creeps mixed up….
November 28th, 2007 at 6:37 am
He won’t read it because he said the others got more boring as he went along. He insists that he’s got better things to read no matter how much I pester him. It’s driving me crazy.
November 28th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Yesterday, I read When Heaven Fell by Carolyn Marsden and started Good Enough by Paula Yoo.
November 28th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
C’mon… You know you want to post something and you’ve done a lot of writing today. It’s ok to post after you do a lot of writing for the day. It is. It really is.
Really!
And if you miss your deadlines, you can always blame it on me. It’s a legitimate excuse in 23 countries.
November 28th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
AAAAG! You’re right, Patrick, I do want to post! So badly! It’s like giving up chocolate or something! It hurts! I went back to my high school yesterday to sit in on classes all day, and I have much to say about it! But if I can’t stick to my reduced schedule for even one week, what good is that? Stop tempting me, you evil man. Shhhhh.
Little Willow, thanks for your report. I always like it when you check in.
Katie the Sis, tell your friend we all say he’s a FREAK and he’s WRONG and we’re all united in this. Peer blog pressure always works. I’m sure he’ll do what we say.
Liz, I laughed when I saw that, because you’re totally right, and I totally forgot that, too. And that is the kind of thing that pops into your head while you’re doing something else, and then you can’t wait to correct yourself.
Dylan, I will teach another teen writing class in the spring, once I finish my work and come up for air. Maybe March? Keep watching the Changing Hands newsletter.
Vivian, isn’t it scary to think about the kind of guy you would have fallen for then versus now? (Actually, I think it’s good to know that’s changed. Our tastes in high school can be so weird.)
November 28th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Good Enough by Paula Yoo is EXCELLENT. Get it in February 2008, people.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Hey All…
I know you’re all just dying to hear about books for boys who don’t like to read… Here are two sure winners:
Crackback, by John Coy. A football story that anyone would love.
Diamonds in the Dust, by Caroline Cooney. Her creepiest work yet: a story about a family that takes in refugees. and,
Jacob’s Ladder, by Brian Keeney. It’s getting mixed reviews, but I loved it. A boy wakes up in what might be heaven, might be hell.
There, now your holiday shopping list is complete.
Btw, the first book I ever loved was A Tale of Two Cities. The second book was Wuthering Heights. Some things are like a fine wine and others are not.
November 29th, 2007 at 4:21 am
It’s ok Robin, we’re taking bets.
November 29th, 2007 at 4:28 am
Robin, look at posting as a healthy therapy…and processing. Writing always helped me in processing what was going on, and of COURSE you need to process your visit to the school in order to use what you saw and learned in your book…
November 29th, 2007 at 5:55 am
Apparently, something’s missing. Look at us. We can’t shut up!
Happy writing, Robin! (:
November 29th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Little Willow, thanks for the early review.
Tim, I love seeing you on the blog! Keep showing up. Thanks for the recommendations, and high five on A Tale of Two Cities. And which one are you saying is like a fine wine–that one, or Wuthering Heights? I know it has to be Dickens. He is the MASTER.
Patrick, if you were within range I would so slap you. And why is it fair that you’re so much funnier than I’ll ever be? Can you explain that?
Judy, I think I’m ready to agree with you on that. I really do use it to process. But if I give in, then you-know-who gets his triumph. Although I like your position on that in the next post. You’re a clever one.
Kelley, I love that you guys can’t shut up! That’s why I miss you!
November 29th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Ok I will!