Holiday Reading List

My exams are over and done with and I can finally relax. I'm going to get back into reading as much as I used to, which really was quite a lot. I've got loads of good ones lined up, because I never seem to be able to stop myself from buying books (or anything really).

1. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackery

At the moment I am in the middle of this and it is absolutely fantastic. Thackery has a friendly narrative style and I love the way he points out the situations of the characters as if he's tapping you on the shoulder and whispering "Look over there, isn't this hilarious?" I've been watching the film on youtube with Reese Witherspoon in it, but it just doesn't compare to the book. I don't really think the film gets the true wit and Becky is far too nice! Another annoying thing about the film; Jonathan Rhys Meyer's hair. As much as I love him, people did not wear hair gel in the 19th century.

2. Hons and Rebels - Jessica Mitford
This is one of my 'just-for-a-laugh' books, and I am really looking forward to it. It looks hilariously funny and I've become really interested in the Mitford family; their lives were so glamourous and they were always in the press involved in scandals. I've also got "The Pursuit of Love" - Nancy Mitford lined up.


3. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
I've been meaning to read this for absolutely ages. And after seeing the Baz Lurhmann film trailer and listening to my english teacher talking about the "exquisite writing," I've decided I need to read it before the it comes out in December. I really hate seeing films at the cinema before reading the actual book, although Carey Mulligan does look fantastic and, of course, the clothes are so glamourous!


4. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë 
I have read Jane Eyre before, and it is one of my favourite books of all time without a doubt. I love the Brontë sisters and really want to visit Haworth, where they lived. And of course there is the new film that I still haven't seen but desperately need to rent. I want to see what Mia Wasikowska is like as Jane, and if her northen accent is as good as everyone says it is. I read the Guardian review here where Peter Bradshaw brilliantly describes "Mr Rochester, that extraordinary creation who is ancestor of Daphne Du Maurier's Maxim De Winter and second cousin to Count Dracula."  


5. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
I've been really interested in this over the past few weeks, it was Flaubert's first published novel and is about a doctor's wife who has affairs and spends too much money. I would of course like to read it in french to really get my french up to par for university interviews and to read it without all the little translation changes, as it was written, but for now I think I'll just stick to reading small books like "Le Petit Prince" and Harry Potter in french to make myself more confident.