Books Love Me – Reviews

Don’t you just love the cover of this book? I have a thing for clouds and blue sky but the scene of the father running with his two daughters underneath a bright blue sky is totally endearing. It’s the cover of Dodie Smith’s first novel, I Capture the Castle.

The story is narrated through journal writing by 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain. She intends to capture everything and everyone around her by writing about them in her journal. Her family is poor and they live in an old, rented but fascinating castle called Godsend in the county of Suffolk. Cassandra hopes to improve her writing by jotting down her thoughts and observations religiously in her journal.

Her family is an interesting mix of characters. Cassandra’s father, James Mortmain had a one hit wonder of a book but has ceased writing ever since. Now his family can only wonder if he’s trying to write anything else. Topaz, their stepmother, is described as a stunning woman who loves to play the lute and indulges in nudism to commune with nature. Cassandra has a beautiful older sister, Rose and a younger brother, Thomas. Stephen, the handsome, sensible servant-boy also lives with them and is utterly devoted to Cassandra. He takes extra care of her and showers her with small gifts every now and then.

Cassandra also compares her family’s situation with the Bennet family from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. She wonders if their luck would be as fortunate as the Bennet sisters whose marriage to men from rich families had helped them rise to a better social status.

When two American brothers arrived unexpectedly at the castle one night, the Mortmain family had hopes that it could bring a good change for them. The Americans who are the Cottons also owned Godsend Castle and thus are the Mortmains’ landlords. Desperate to capture the hearts of the wealthy brothers, Rose behaves in a silly way during their first few encounters. But after a turn of events, they learnt more of one another and became friends.

It was the ultimate good news when Simon Cotton made a marriage proposal to Rose. She accepted it readily as she thought she was in love with him. Cassandra and almost everyone were happy for the newly-engaged couple. But she was puzzled when the other brother, Neil Cotton did not share their joyful sentiments. He pointed out that Rose was only marrying Simon for the money.

However, Simon kisses Cassandra when he visited for a Midsummer Eve family ritual. With it being her first kiss and because she enjoyed being in Simon’s company, she believes to be in love with him. Knowing that the man she loves would be married to her sister, Cassandra carries around with her the heavy weight of her love struck and shattered heart.

The first person point of view is used to narrate the story and by that, the reader sees everything that’s happening from Cassandra’s eyes and can only understand from what she can mentally absorb. She ought to get credit because she has an eye for detail and manages to describe almost everything in the most creative manner. She tends to ramble at times but that’s part of the point of having a journal.

I admit that the book was a slow start for me. It was alright in Chapter One but the pace went slightly downhill after that. It got better with the appearance of the Cotton brothers. They were “fresh” characters who brought life to the story. Meanwhile, Stephen is just so sweet that you couldn’t help but want to knock some sense into Cassandra and tell her that he’s the one for her.

Cassandra’s father is a mystery in the beginning. You would think that it’s sheer laziness as he hasn’t made the effort to do anything to improve the living conditions of his family who are already stuck in poverty. I thought it was ironic that the servant (Stephen) had to take up a second job elsewhere to bring money in. But then he’s already considered as part of the family so that can be overlooked.

All in all, this coming of age novel is beautifully-written and you’ll just bask in the vividness of the descriptions. Follow Cassandra’s journey as she learns about love, life, the people around her and herself. There is also a 2003 movie of the same name, which is based on the book and stars Romola Garai, Rose Byrne and Henry Cavill.

Pssst…..did you know that Dodie Smith also wrote The Hundred and One Dalmatians? I loved that cartoon!

Other reviews: Bending Bookshelf, Things Mean a Lot, ImpishIdea, The Roof is on Phire, The Literary Pursuit

Wouldn’t you like to own a pair of shoes that fit like it was made for you? Ah, how nice that would be! Coriander Hobie is one lucky kid. She receives a pair of silver shoes and they fit her perfectly. But then, there is another story altogether behind those pretty shoes.

In this book, Coriander tells her tale in seven parts. She also lights seven candles to represent each part and blows them off one by one as she finishes one part after another. Now this candle-blowing thing is really intriguing but I don’t understand what it means.

First, Coriander introduces herself (she was born in 1643) and her parents. Where they lived, how her parents met, how her mother could ‘cure’ the neighbours by recommending them to take some of her homemade remedies. Some people secretly called her mother a witch or a cunning woman but they still flock to her home to be treated.

Now one day, a package arrives for Coriander and what does she find in there? Why, it’s the pair of silver shoes that fit her so darn well. Unfortunately, her mother doesn’t allow her to wear them. Six-year-old Coriander who has fallen in love with the shoes just couldn’t understand why she wasn’t allowed to wear them. She knew that the shoes were made especially for her.

Unable to resist not being able to have those shoes, Coriander sneaks into her father’s room and discreetly wears them. She panics when she couldn’t take them off, as if they wouldn’t come off. Well, it was only temporary. The shoes acted normally after that and Coriander’s parents let her wear them freely.

After a while, something odd happened to Coriander’s mother. She died not much later and the family’s broken-hearted. To make matters worse, Coriander’s father is advised to take on a Puritan wife so that he can keep his properties. Mr. Hobie was supportive of the Royalist cause and the Royalists had lost the English Civil War.

Mr. Hobie’s new wife, Maud, is like the wife/step-mother from hell. She finds fault with almost everything and is set on making the house more Godly by removing and changing many things which she considers to be linked to witchcraft. She also brings a preacher, Arise Fell home and insists that he stay with them.

Arise Fell is definitely one person whom I would never like to meet! He’s an extremist, heartless, cunning, and just a really hated character in this book. I felt angry and sympathetic towards Coriander and the others who had to suffer from Arise Fell’s ‘hand of wrath’. He even forces Coriander to change her name to ‘Ann’ because Coriander is not a suitable name for a God-fearing person. Ridiculous!

You’ll enjoy reading I, Coriander as it’s magical and beautifully-written. The parts with Arise Fell were quite disturbing because he just seemed so cruel! He’s quite remarkable because he can influence people with what he preaches but things go too far when he takes matters into his own hands. For example, the part where he and Maud deliberately kill an old, defenseless woman while other people just stood by watching.

I should like to see this book turned into a movie. It would be quite fascinating to watch Coriander, Arise Fell, Tycho (Coriander’s love), and other characters on screen.

Other Reviews: Jenne, Jen Robinson, Casey

This is Book 2 in the Song of the Lioness series. Check out my review of Book 1, Alanna: The First Adventure.

Alanna is still pretending to be a boy at the King’s court and is now Prince Jonathan’s squire. So far, only a few people know about her secret. One night, Alanna meets a stranger in the middle of the night while she’s travelling back to the palace. The stranger happens to be a Goddess and she kind of advises Alanna to face her fears.

Then, Alanna is also cautious of Jonathan’s cousin, Duke Roger of Conte. She suspects of the duke’s intentions to wipe out the whole of the royal family and other important knights so that HE can be the King of Tortall. When there was war between Tortall and Tusaine, Alanna was captured by the Tusaines. The Duke knows that Alanna is against him and plans to get rid of ‘him’. He thinks Alanna is a boy.

Besides being worried about the Duke of Conte, Alanna also has to deal with George Cooper and Jonathan who are trying to win her heart. This makes Alanna pretty confused and she always says that love is not important to her at all. All she wants to do is be a knight and have many great adventures. Anyway, she’s also trying to act like a girl at times, for example wearing girls’ dresses and receiving lessons from George’s mother on how to act like a proper lady.

After Alanna’s eighteenth birthday, she has to go through the Ordeal of Knighthood. A few years ago, Jonathan and her other friends went through it and after the ordeal, they came out looking like they went through the worst in their lives. Therefore, she’s quite worried about passing the Ordeal and finally getting her shield.

There was one part where Alanna was not very bright. In the war with Tusaine, Duke Gareth, the queen’s brother, was ‘accidentally’ injured. Duke Gareth was supposed to lead the army against the Tusaine fighters. But then, Duke Roger was chosen instead to take over Duke Gareth’s place as leader of the army. It’s quite clear that Duke Roger had something to do with Duke Gareth’s accident and since Alanna was always suspecting that Duke Roger was up to no good, it’s quite surprising that she doesn’t know why he’s the army’s leader now. George had to explain it all to her.

Anyway, two more Song of the Lioness books to go!