Sunday Brunch: Benedict Cumberbatch

Sometimes you just need a different kind of book...and sometimes you just find something with Benedict's face on it...

A few months back as I walked into my local library, I decided to check out the 'New In' section. And can you imagine my surprise when I saw this lovely book! Obviously I did not waste another minute and immediately got it, the first person in the library to get her hands on it! Undoubtedly,  Being Benedict Cumberbatch is the ultimate Sunday book for every (excuse my language) Cumberbitch.

It is full of pictures of our favourite actor (more than 85 of them to be exact) plus some interesting trivia from his life. It is also pretty up-to-date as it was released earlier this year. Not only does it include facts dating back to when he was just a Cumberbaby, but the style of the writer (Joanna Benecke) is quite laid-back and humourous. It is not your traditional biography, written with a tiny font, consisting of a lot of chapters, discussing its subject's inner struggles with a serious tone. On the contrary, it reminds me a bit of a magazine - with shiny photographs and witty remarks; it does not take itself too seriously, which is a breath of fresh air. It is also a book that is obviously targeting Benedict's fangirls - so if you are one of them, this is the book for you.

Personally, I found this to be the perfect book for me between my reads - I was reading some serious novels at the time, so a light read like that one was the perfect balance in my day and in my reading routine. It is also a fast read, so you can go through all 140 pages quite quickly. Basically, if you are a Cumberbitch - you will like it a lot.

It is not an official biography but is hugely enjoyable and I am sure all fellow admirers of him would like reading it, as it offers a good insights into Benedict's life. You can find it here.

What do you think? Would you read something like that?

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Love, according to your favourite classic heroes

Mr Darcy. Mr Thornton. Mr Rochester. I could think of a lot other "misters" that come from classic period pieces and have turned into the ultimate literature heroes. They are the original leading men, who have made women around the world fall in love with them decades before films were invented and the Hollywood leading man was introduced.

And as we know, they still make a lot of us swoon and wish we could go back in time just to find one of the original English gentlemen, standing at the end of the ball room, tall and proud…unsuspecting of the fact that he is about to be smitten by our grace, and will have no other choice but to admit to his feelings in a reserved, yet charming way, as he asks us to marry him…

Anyway.  

Without these literary characters we wouldn’t have enjoyed Colin Firth’s or Matthew MacFadyen’s wonderful performances as Mr Darcy. Or even worse…without Elizabeth Gaskell’s beautiful North and South, we would never have witnessed the perfection that is Richard Armitage in the skin of a 19^th century mill owner.

So, without further ado, let’s look at what made those men so inhumanly perfect. This is not a post describing their ideal features (although I would not mind reflecting on that some time, too). Instead, here is a look at some of the loveliest lines from classic period literature – thoughts from men, so hopelessly in love, they turn into the definition of a romantic hero.

North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell. Mr Thornton:

“He could not forget the touch of her arms around his neck, impatiently felt as it had been at the time; but now the recollection of her clinging defence of him, seemed to thrill him through and through,—to melt away every resolution, all power of self-control, as if it were wax before a fire.”

“One word more. You look as if you thought it tainted you to be loved by me. You cannot avoid it. Nay, I, if I would, cannot cleanse you from it. But I would not, if I could. I have never loved any woman before: my life has been too busy, my thoughts too much absorbed with other things. Now I love, and will love. But do not be afraid of too much expression on my part.”

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen. Mr Darcy:

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

“You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged; but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.”

Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë. Heathcliff: 

“Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you--haunt me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe--I know that ghosts have wandered the earth. Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad. Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”

“If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn't love as much in eighty years as I could in a day.”

Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy. Levin:

“He stepped down, trying not to look long at her, as if she were the sun, yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking.”  

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë. Mr Rochester:

“I have little left in myself -- I must have you. The world may laugh -- may call me absurd, selfish -- but it does not signify. My very soul demands you: it will be satisfied, or it will take deadly vengeance on its frame.”

“You — you strange — you almost unearthly thing! — I love as my own flesh. You — poor and obscure, and small and plain as you are — I entreat to accept me as a husband.”

The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton. Newland Archer:

“Each time you happen to me all over again.”

“He simply felt that if he could carry away the vision of the spot of earth she walked on, and the way the sky and sea enclosed it, the rest of the world might seem less empty.”

Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy. Angel: 

“How very lovable her face was to him. Yet there was nothing ethereal about it; all was real vitality, real warmth, real incarnation. And it was in her mouth that this culminated. Eyes almost as deep and speaking he had seen before, and cheeks perhaps as fair; brows as arched, a chin and throat almost as shapely; her mouth he had seen nothing to equal on the face of the earth. To a young man with the least fire in him that little upward lift in the middle of her red top lip was distracting, infatuating, maddening. He had never before seen a woman’s lips and teeth which forced upon his mind with such persistent iteration the old Elizabethan simile of roses filled with snow.

Perfect, he, as a lover, might have called them off-hand. But no — they were not perfect. And it was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity.”

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Autumnal Mood

Ah, October! Hot pumpkin spice lattes, warm blankets, cardigan weather, falling leaves and everything orange! It is hard not to get in the Autumn mood especially if you live in England as I currently do - for is there a country that brings more fall feelings then the ultimate rainy state?

"It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life. The rich colours of grass and earth were intensified by the mellow light of a sun almost warm enough for spring..."

- A Taste of Death, P.D. James

Some  see in Autumn, much like in Spring, the beginning of a new life. 'Crisp' is what comes to mind to many of us when describing this beautiful season:

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."

- The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The Morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple."

-  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K.Rowling

...Then there is Hemingway, whose vision is a bit more different, but immensely beautiful:

“You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintery light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person died for no reason.” 

- A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway

However, it seems like Autumn is one of the most inspiring seasons when it comes to period drama (which is why, I thoroughly recommend some classic English period pieces as the perfect fall reads):

"I am so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

- Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery

“There was a filmy veil of soft dull mist obscuring, but not hiding, all objects, giving them a lilac hue, for the sun had not yet fully set; a robin was singing ... The leaves were more gorgeous than ever; the first touch of frost would lay them all low to the ground. Already one or two kept constantly floating down, amber and golden in the low slanting sun-rays.” 

- North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell

"Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn - that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness - that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling."

- Persuasion, Jane Austen

...Speaking of poetry:

I Remember You As You Were

 I remember you as you were in the last autumn.

You were the grey beret and the still heart.
In your eyes the flames of the twilight fought on.
And the leaves fell in the water of your soul.

Clasping my arms like a climbing plant

the leaves garnered your voice, that was slow and at peace.

Bonfire of awe in which my thirst was burning.

Sweet blue hyacinth twisted over my soul.

I feel your eyes traveling, and the autumn is far off:

Grey beret, voice of a bird, heart like a house

Towards which my deep longings migrated

And my kisses fell, happy as embers.

Sky from a ship. Field from the hills:

Your memory is made of light, of smoke, of a still pond!

Beyond your eyes, farther on, the evenings were blazing.

Dry autumn leaves revolved in your soul.

 Pablo Neruda

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5 best: Quotes from Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens. His humour has proven timeless just as his books - some of the most loved ones in English literature. He is the brilliant writer who has left us with such endearing characters such as David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickelby. In this post, I have decided to share with you five of his best quotes (as there are so many good quotes from his work, choosing just five was a struggle, but you have to begin from somewhere).

1.  'Love, however, is very materially assisted by a warm and active imagination which has a long memory, and will thrive, for a considerable time, on very slight and sparing food.'

     - Nicholas Nickelby 

2. '...we know, Mr Weller - we, who are men of the world - that a good uniform must work its way with the women, sooner or later.'

    - 'The Gentleman in Blue' The Pickwick Papers

3. '... although a skillful flatterer is a most delightful companion, if you can keep him all to yourself, his taste becomes very doubtful when he takes to complementing other people.'

     - Nicholas Nickelby

4. 'No one who can read, ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot.'

    - Our Mutual Friend

5. 'Tell Mrs Gamp to come up-stairs,' said Mould. 'Now Mrs Gamp, what's your news?'

 The lady in question was by this time in the doorway, curtseying to Mrs Mould. At the same moment a peculiar fragrance was borne upon the breeze, as if a passing fairy had hiccoughed, and had previously been to a wine-vault.'

   - Martin Chuzzlewit

So, what are some of your favourite quotes from Dickens?

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The 13th Juror: Review

Author: John Lescroart

Type: Crime drama

Originally published in: 1994

A court drama that will keep you guessing till the very end.

You might have already heard of John Lescroart as he is a New York Times bestselling author. For the rest of you: his crime novels have been quite popular ever since he wrote Sunburn in 1981. So, I am quite happy I stumbled upon him as I was looking through my mum’s books – I can see why his work turns into an instant bestseller, and here is why.

The 13th Juror is the story of a woman, Jennifer Witt, who is accused of murdering her husband, her son, as well as her first husband, some nine years earlier. Dismas Hardy is the lawyer who takes on her case with the heavy task of proving her innocent when all evidence are against her. But the hardest task is to convince the 13^th juror – the judge.

Now, The 13^th Juror is the fourth book including Dismas Hardy as a main character, but this does not mean you need to be familiar with the first three books in order to understand this one. On the contrary – I would not even guess there were other books with him till after I finished this one, and I researched the author. This is, if you do not have the time to read a series of books, you could easily just pick up on of them, and your reading experience will not suffer. Or if you really like it, then there are 15 books with Dismas as the main protagonist, waiting for you.

The 13^th Juror is a page turner. There is no other way to say it – it is an easy read, and thanks to Lescroat’s understanding of the legal system, everything is well described and explained. As a result, even if your knowledge of American laws and court practise is not so good, you will still understand all the processes followed in the book.

However, why I thoroughly recommend this book, is due to the delicate subject it touches – domestic abuse. The 13^th Juror is a gripping story of a woman, who has been physically abused by both her husbands. This book goes deeper than just describing her sufferings – it examines her mental stability, her very nature. It does not just show the consequences of abuse on a person’s mind, but also how Jennifer has grown up, and what could be the long-term effects of growing up in an abusive home on a young girl’s mind.

Give this one a read if you are on the hunt of a good crime thriller.

Have you read any of the John Lescroart’s novels?

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Happiness through Books

There are a lot of things that can make people happy - a hug from a loved one, listening to a favourite piece of music, getting the keys to a new house...the list is endless. But then there is those of us that can find happiness just as easily in the smell of a new book...or of an old favourite.

“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy."

The perfect morning: The Great Gatsby and a cup of hot coffee

I can find happiness in reading The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald's classic story of the man who wants to relive the past, can be considered quite a sad read, but there is a beauty in those kind of books that cannot be conveyed in other types of literature. I am utterly in love with Jay Gatsby, I feel his longing for the past, and I want to go back in time and live in the roaring twenties. However, although this read always brings me some nostalgic feelings (and quite a lot of anger during the end of it), I also feel happy. And this is the kind of happiness that only a great book can bring you - for as sad as it may be, it still makes you read it again and again, and again.

“Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” 

Another American classic, The Catcher in the Rye, is one more book that makes me happy. The humour, Holden Caufield, the language - there is nothing not to make you smile. This, of course, does not mean that this is the most cheerful book - truth is, in the right hands, it could be quite thought-provoking. Salinger is an author with such a unique style, he makes Holden sound not only believable, but as if everything he thinks, comes from the reader himself. Definitely a book, every young person should read at least once. And then re-read when they are older, for suddenly, the book has a new meaning, that you did not quite grasp the first time round. And it is a different meaning to every one.

So, what about you? Which books make you happy?

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Italian Summer

While travelling across Italy and indulging into such traditional pleasures as drinking wine under the sun in Tuscany, or shopping on the streets of Florence, I couldn't help but remember all the various films set in that beautiful country. Films that make you wish you could immediately teleport yourself to the gorgeous scenery you see on the screen.

And what about books? I remember reading Astrid Lindgren's Katy in Italy years ago, when I was a young girl, wishing I could visit the same places, see the same things. Basically, wishing I could be Katy, freely enjoying my time in sunny Florence.

Fast forwards to a few months ago, when I first noticed Nicky Pellegrino's books in my local library, and this feeling was instantly revived. When in Rome and The Food of Love Cookery School turned into instant favourites. The way she describes life in Italy is warm and lively just like her stories. The characters are engaging, but it is the ancient city of Rome or the marvellous island of Sicily, that creates that gorgeous atmosphere - that feeling that you want to visit every little place mentioned.

I recall reading about the Italian wonders briefly in The Count of Monte Cristo -  a marvellous description of the mystery of Italian streets. 

What about you? What books situated in Italy would you recommend? 

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