Favorite things about of Oliver Twist:
The first thing I like about the book were the constant plot twists. From introducing new characters to revealing characters' pasts, it just never stops!
Following shortly after that, are the characters themselves. They have well-written motives. From Fagin's want for money to Mr. Brownlow recognizing Oliver's features, this makes all of the characters are fairly believable.
Most importantly, however, is the happy ending. It wouldn't have been any fun at all to see Oliver go though all of his trials and tribulations only to be finally corrupted or killed at the end. Who would enjoy that?
As for the cast, uh...
Turns out I don't have to do it! Hooray!
Now that I no longer need to read books from the list, on to Shadowmarch! Written by the author of my favorite trilogy (including 5-book trilogies), Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, I have high hopes for this one.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Fun Quote!
Time for a fun quote (for a given value of "fun")
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;/Or close the wall up with our English dead./In peace there's nothing so becomes a man/As modest stillness and humility:/But when the blast of war blows in our ears,/Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,/Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;/Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;/Let pry through the portage of the head/Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it/As fearfully as doth a galled rock/O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,/Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean./Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,/Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit/To his full height. On, on, you noblest English./Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!/Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,/Have in these parts from morn till even foughtAnd sheathed their swords for lack of argument:Dishonour not your mothers; now attest/That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you./Be copy now to men of grosser blood,/And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,/Whose limbs were made in England, show us here/The mettle of your pasture; let us swear/That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;/For there is none of you so mean and base,/That hath not noble lustre in your eyes./I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,/Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:/Follow your spirit, and upon this charge/Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'
From Shakepear's "Henry V"
(I know this has nothing to do with anything, but still, it's a fun quote).
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;/Or close the wall up with our English dead./In peace there's nothing so becomes a man/As modest stillness and humility:/But when the blast of war blows in our ears,/Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,/Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;/Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;/Let pry through the portage of the head/Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it/As fearfully as doth a galled rock/O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,/Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean./Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,/Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit/To his full height. On, on, you noblest English./Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!/Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,/Have in these parts from morn till even foughtAnd sheathed their swords for lack of argument:Dishonour not your mothers; now attest/That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you./Be copy now to men of grosser blood,/And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,/Whose limbs were made in England, show us here/The mettle of your pasture; let us swear/That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;/For there is none of you so mean and base,/That hath not noble lustre in your eyes./I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,/Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:/Follow your spirit, and upon this charge/Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'
From Shakepear's "Henry V"
(I know this has nothing to do with anything, but still, it's a fun quote).
New Post
I guess I really need a new post at this point so...
After much abuse, Oliver runs away from the coffin-maker's house (they are told they have fed him too much (they fed him on scraps) after he punches another of the coffin-maker's underlings for making fun of his dead mother). On the road to London, he meets a "young gentleman" who takes him on a carriage to London to be housed at his master's home.
In London, Oliver somehow misses the fact that the other boys at the house are being trained as thieves (their games consist of pulling items out of their master's poket-with his knowlege-without him feeling it). When he witnesses them stealing from a man at a book stand, he stands like a deer in headlights, causing himself to be caught.
After the gentleman (who does not believe Oliver was the thief) gets him away from the police- chief, he takes Oliver (who is by now very sick and near dying, likely from malnourishment) to his home, where things start to look up.
However, the thieves seem to be planning to steal him away, so he cannot tell their secrets.
Opinions:
Still a rather boring book, and I'm glad I didn't read too much on the bus, or else a book by Tad Williams (who wrote one of my favorite trilogies, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn) would have pulled be away from it yet again. I should probably look for a different one on Monday.
As far as Oliver goes, I can understand that he is rather deprived of experience, but really, they were practicing pickpocketing. What did he think they were doing?
After much abuse, Oliver runs away from the coffin-maker's house (they are told they have fed him too much (they fed him on scraps) after he punches another of the coffin-maker's underlings for making fun of his dead mother). On the road to London, he meets a "young gentleman" who takes him on a carriage to London to be housed at his master's home.
In London, Oliver somehow misses the fact that the other boys at the house are being trained as thieves (their games consist of pulling items out of their master's poket-with his knowlege-without him feeling it). When he witnesses them stealing from a man at a book stand, he stands like a deer in headlights, causing himself to be caught.
After the gentleman (who does not believe Oliver was the thief) gets him away from the police- chief, he takes Oliver (who is by now very sick and near dying, likely from malnourishment) to his home, where things start to look up.
However, the thieves seem to be planning to steal him away, so he cannot tell their secrets.
Opinions:
Still a rather boring book, and I'm glad I didn't read too much on the bus, or else a book by Tad Williams (who wrote one of my favorite trilogies, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn) would have pulled be away from it yet again. I should probably look for a different one on Monday.
As far as Oliver goes, I can understand that he is rather deprived of experience, but really, they were practicing pickpocketing. What did he think they were doing?
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