Quotations Weblog

I decided to turn to a favorite author for my next book, The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham. I have talked about W. Somerset Maugham before here:

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » Quotes of the Week: W. Somerset Maugham

• Pick Me! » Resurrection

• Pick Me! » Temptation

I hadn’t read The Painted Veil before I saw the movie with Ed Norton and Naomi Watts. I wouldn’t normally see a movie like that, but it was based on the book by Maugham, so I bent my rules and watched it. The movie was stunning, so the next time I chose a book to read, I jumped at The Painted Veil.

I wasn’t disappointed. It was the typical W. Somerset Maugham storyline. Kitty Fane married Walter out of desperation, not love. The young and promising doctor was returning to China to work and she jumped at a chance to escape her mother and the life in London. In Hong Kong, however, she met the handsome Charlie Townsend and fell head over heels in love. When Walter discovered her adultery, he gave her the ultimatum: either face divorce, shame and return to her mother’s home or accompany him to Mei-tan-fu, the cholera-infested town suffering from the worst epidemic in years. Given no other choice, Kitty faces Mei-tan-fu and almost certain death.

Here are my favorite quotes from the book:

Although very faithful to the book, there is a primary difference between the movie and the original work. The movie focuses on this quotation as its primary theme:

In the book and in the movie, Kitty says it jokingly, but in the movie, we are shown Walter, enjoying their conversation.

The whole focus of the movie is that one thought, whereas, W. Somerset Maugham had a very different focus for the book. He said as much in the preface he wrote in 1952. He conceived of the story on a trip in Italy. He boarded with a woman and her daughter:

Her daughter gave me an Italian lesson every day. She seemed to me then of mature age, but I do not suppose that she was more than twenty-six. She had had trouble. Her betrothed, an officer, had been killed in Abyssinia and she was consecrated to virginity. It was an understood thing that on her mother’s death Ersilia would enter religion.

The Painted Veil is as much about the French nuns and their vision of peace as it is about Kitty Fane. Here are the quotations that deal with those concepts:

At the end of the book, which is completely missing in the movie, Kitty Fane decides to live a life dedicated to this precept of the nuns:

The only philosophical mention that the nuns get in the movie is a quick retort from Walter:

They also go to young mothers in their homes. They ask them to give their babies to the convent. They offer them money to support their families and persuade them to do it. They’re not just here to run an orphanage, your nuns. They’re turning those children into little Catholics. None of us are in China without a reason.

Considering his leanings toward religion, this quote sounds as if W. Somerset Maugham himself wrote it, but he didn’t. The Painted Veil was written as a much more respectful and loving painting of religion and Catholicism in general.

What the movie cut from the religious aspect of the book, they added to regarding the relationship between Walter and the Colonel Ye. Showing Walter’s good works and influence on the town and the abating epidemic is far more powerful than just hearing second hand about his good works.

The final difference between the book and movie involves a spoiler, so if you wish to encounter the story without a surprise, read no further. Read the rest of this entry »

So Yesterday is one of the few books by Scott Westerfeld that isn’t part of a series. Self-contained and beautiful on its own, it another perfect read.

Shoes. Not just any shoes, but the coolest, most awesome shoes that you have ever seen in your life. These are just the kind of shoes that Hunter Braque is looking for. His job is to find the coolest trends on the street and he has found them in a pair of athletic shoes. Jen has found them too, however, and it’s a race (and eventually a collaboration) to get to them, but will they be able to get the shipment before the corporate goons do?

I thought this book was going to be stupid. I bought it because it was written by Scott Westerfeld, but I just let it sit on my shelf until I was out of all other books. I should have trusted Westerfeld to give me a great adventure, despite the object in peril being a shipment of athletic shoes.

Here’s the only quote I got from the book:

I’m sure there must be a ton of other quotes that I could have gotten from the book if I hadn’t gotten so into the story.

I am forever grateful to this book for the “Missing Black Woman” theory that he postulated. I see the Missing Black Woman everywhere now and I wonder why the advertising industry hasn’t noticed her yet.

Confused? Read the book and you won’t be!

The Darcy Connection is the fifth book in the Darcy series by Elizabeth Aston. Here are reviews of the previous four:

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » Mr. Darcy’s Daughters by Elizabeth Aston

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy by Elizabeth Aston

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » The True Darcy Spirit by Elizabeth Aston

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » The Second Mrs. Darcy by Elizabeth Aston

You MUST read the previous books to understand anything that is happening in this book. By now, every chapter is filled with inside jokes and old friends, but if you haven’t read the series in order, I fear the book’s enticements might suffer.

When Mr. Collins married Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth Bennett was shocked, but Charlotte assured her that she would be happy in this life with a silly man. Now, we join the Collins’ daughters on their first journey to London. Although Mr. Collins is now a bishop, he isn’t a rich man. He hasn’t inherited Longbourne, and it appears that he may never do so. The only way he can advance is if he has family connections and the only daughter who can do that for him is Charlotte, his eldest. She is an icy beauty and she is whisked away to London with her godmother and sister, Eliza, in tow. Eliza isn’t entranced by the season in London. She is in love with a squire’s son back in Yorkshire and nothing can attract her eye, not even the insulting Mr. Bruton.

I only found two quotes from this novel:

George Warren is the bad guy again, and by this time, I’m wishing someone would just run him through. Mr. Darcy, would be a good candidate, but the opportunity was lost. I became disgusted with the book at the point when there is a duel. A DUEL! That was just too much for me and I realized that I’m just reading a romance novel. I preferred the adventures of the other Darcy women to these Collins girls. And, once again, there were too many marriages at the end of the book. In fact, there were characters who were never allowed to utter a word on page that were married off. Was that really necessary?

Ironically, I can’t wait until the next book comes out. How long do I have to wait?

The Second Mrs. Darcy is the fourth book in the Darcy series by Elizabeth Aston. Here are reviews for the first three:

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » Mr. Darcy’s Daughters by Elizabeth Aston

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy by Elizabeth Aston

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » The True Darcy Spirit by Elizabeth Aston

If you haven’t read the first three of these books, you will be totally lost in The Second Mrs. Darcy, so make sure you read the series in order.

Octavia Darcy is a widow. Her husband was the impoverished younger son, Captain Darcy, who made a living for himself in India. Although he had an estate, all of his money went to the repairs and it was entailed to his cousin, George Warren. Months after his death, she comes to the knowledge that an unknown aunt has bequeathed her estate to Octavia. She must travel to London to receive her inheritance and bear the efforts of her half brother and sisters to marry her off.

Here are the quotes that I found in this book:

Once again, there are far too many marriages at the end of this book for it to be to my liking. And by now, I’m a little sick of George Warren being the bad guy. Other than that, I loved the revenge fantasy of the unloved half sister who suddenly finds herself very, very rich.

The True Darcy Spiritis the third book in the Darcy series by Elizabeth Aston. You can see reviews from the first two books here:

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » Mr. Darcy’s Daughters by Elizabeth Aston

• Quotations Weblog » Archive » The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy by Elizabeth Aston

You’d do well to read these two books before embarking on The True Darcy Spirit, if only to understand the implications of some of the finer points of the plot. This book was a fun read.

Miss Cassandra Darcy is the granddaughter of the venerable Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Cassandra has made a drastic mistake. After running off with James Eyre, she has found herself disowned by her mother, Anne de Bourgh, and her stepfather. She was fortunate enough to train with a master painter when she was a child, so she tries to make her way as a painter. The characters that she comes into contact in this shadowy world of women who earn their own living threaten her character, reputation and her very life.

Here are the quotes I gleaned from this book:

I really loved the storyline of this book and I won’t spoil it for you. I just wish that there didn’t have to be so many marriages at the end of each of these books. Honestly, Cassandra didn’t need a marriage to live happily ever after in this book. And did she have to be married off to the first male we encounter?! Other than the “romance,” this book is an excellent read.