A post on trains

I don't know about the USA and Australia and all you guys' places, but here in Belgium students like me take the train to go to university every day. At first that kind of freaked me out because trains are risky things.

10 reasons why trains are risky things

1. You're stuffed into a narrow, metal snake with people you have never met before. That's the basic explanation of a train. And it does not necessarily sound very attractive.

2. This can therefore include being seated next to a potential murderer or drug dealer.

3. You could get your handbag nicked. A handbag contains important cards and passports and in the case of some stories, babies. (Little Importance of Being Earnest reference there; before you get wierded out.)

4. You can miss your train. Think of how stressful it is; you have to get in that thing before it whizzes away again - and if you don't it won't care; you'll just have to wait fifteen minutes or more for the next metal snake.  It does not care about your feelings. 

5. There is a small gap between the train and the platform. This is ok, but just don't fall. Death may occur and that death may be yours.

6. Sometimes trains are very stuffed. I have been on two trains today - one so stuffy a man was standing right in front of my face, a girl was sitting next to me, another girl was standing next to me, another man was sitting right behind the man standing in front of me; a lady sitting right next to the man standing in front of me (I was trying to concentrate on C.S.Lewis' The Problem of Pain) - and another nice and calm one where I had a little table and bench to myself and I could edit my story in peace. The latter is somewhat more of a rare specimen in school hours, let's just say that.

7. You can accidentally sit in the 1st class passengers and get a ticking off from the conductor.

8. You can accidentally lose your train ticket and get a ticking off from the conductor (+fine.)

9. You can accidentally get on the wrong train and find yourself landing in some weird-sounding place you have never heard of. Guys, train timetables are the most complicated dang things there are. Just make sure you have your phone with you so you can phone Mum whilst weeping. Like, there's 23 platforms. How am I supposed to know which one might potentially have a train that will bring me closer to my home?

10. Underground train stations are super creepy. Forget about the Matthew and Mary romantic train station scene in Downton Abbey. I'm talking black walls with graffiti.

... basically, my life is a play between life and death.

All right, I am obviously being overly pessimistic for dramatic reasons (;-P) and I have to say, I have already noticed some of its positive sides. I did not think I would find a lot of them, but I have found that travelling by train has its quaint, storybook sides. 

Such as:

1. Yesterday I was walking in the big grand train station, and outside there was this jazz band playing on the pavement - with saxophones and everything. As I went inside, and down the steps into the underground world of train platforms, the jolly jazzy sound intermingled with the sound of trains, announcements, and endless footsteps of people rushed to get on with their own life. With all those sounds drowning into each other, I felt like I was in one of those slow motion, soundtrack-y scenes in a movie. You know, one of those scenes where the main character feels all numb and struck and where he or she is reanalysing life and everything about it? YOU know. Anyway. I felt like I was in that kind of scene for a few minutes and it was cool. :-P

2. When there's a sunset shining through the train windows. Guys. Purty.

3. When I spot someone reading a book I like. Ok, that hasn't happened yet, but I'm happy to say that people are still reading books. Granted, more people are on their phones, but I have spotted many noses between book covers and that makes me happy.

4. Some of the landscapes I pass are very picturesque indeed.

5. Sometimes there are good looking people on the train. There was a guy dressed like Wooster this morning. And a girl with a nice handbag. There is always something to observe.

6. The rattle of the train is quite satisfying - not a bad sound.

7. Now and then us cold Belgian strangers will dare smile to each other. But never longer than half a second. Oh no; heaven forbid. That is far to familiar.

There was my little anecdote on trains. I'm training myself to get used to them. You'd better keep track of my process and station assignments on my way so I can improve. I'll keep a to-do list with boxes of things I have to do to improve, so that when I get the things done I can ticket.

(SEE WHAT I DID THERE. FOUR PUNS. ONE PARAGRAPH. *hi-fives self*)

4 fictional characters that may have like 2 things in common with me.

First, here are three random facts I want to share with you: 1. I discovered Jack Johnson yesterday on Spotify and I just love his songs. Better Together is my favourite and I want to dance to it on my potential future wedding because I love it that much right now. 2. My grandma is friends with the film producer of Sherlock. (No seriously.) So my grandma practically hangs out with Benedict Cumberbatch. Guys, beat me. My grandma is the coolest. 3. I was in Scotland for a grand 15 minutes on Saturday. I walked in Glasgow and spotted four men in kilts. I have no pictures to prove it, so you'll have to rely on my word.

(Two sisters. Two very different personalities. I seem to be an odd mixture of both. Although I think more Elinor.)

My dear friend Eva tagged me with the four fictional characters tag (thank you!) and I've been wanting to do this thing for a while now, so here I am. Here I am, I hasten to add, before I start another busy week - this time less merrily occupied; replace spending time with fun-loving Christians with cleaning tables and emptying plates of breakfast in an old people's home - life is life, I shall refuse to complain! - I don't even know what this sentence is; let's just do the merry old tag, shall we. (I don't know why I say 'we' when I am writing this alone. You should not get any of the credit! :-P)

Okay, I thought this would be an easy job, but finding four characters that 'are very much like myself' is no easy feat for me. I told you in this blog post, I am a confusing human being. Extroverted one week; relishing in silence and just-me-and-wifi-and-notebooks-and-my-Bible-in-bed the other. Fond of poetical metaphors and nostalgic whimsies one week, mocking them in a Marilla-Cuthbert-no-nonsense-fiddlesticks way the other. However, of course, some things are generally and all-around Naomi traits (even though even those can differ and disappear for an odd hour or two), so okay. I'll try. But bear with me. I'll probably read this again next week and be like meh NO. :-P

Number Uno! The first that came to mind, in fact...

Jerusha Abbott in Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster

I remember when I read this first I was 100% sure I had found my fictional twin. Of course, Judy is way cooler than I'll ever be and her letters are way more entertaining than mine will ever be, but yah, we doodle odd stuff and we pop random thoughts in random places and we like reading and stuff. Just yeah, she reminds me of me. She's quirky and I want to be quirky. (She probably reminds me of the me I wish I was.)

Secondly, the gal I see myself in muchly is, and has to be, the main character from Lynn Austin's Wonderland Creek. There's reasons my blog is named so, after all.

Alice Grace Ripley from Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

We're both book lovers. (Although, I have to be honest! I haven't been reading much lately. Eh. I still love it though, okay.) We're both not exactly animal people. We both love the idea of adventure but when it comes to sitting on a horse eh nope that's disgusting no. We both like a bath. We both love seeing people happy. Just... Alice and I are two of the same kind of peas in the same kind of pods. (Only, I'm not blonde. Although I was as a 3-year-old. There's a little tidbit about me.)

Thirdly, my friends, I must slight Celia Garth by suggesting that we have some common traits.

Celia Garth in Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow

I MUST REREAD THIS; it's been way too long, but one thing I can remember is that I wished I was like Celia Garth. Well, I'll never be like Celia Garth. But maybe we have some things in common - maybe the sense of humour, the love of being teased. Also, the things she thinks and says I really, really relate to. Maybe in a wishful way. I don't know. I'm adding her to this list anyways. I flatter myself.

And fourthly, and this is the one I had to brainstorm for for ages - I thought of Elizabeth Bennet (but I'd never go for a quiet guy and oh, I wish I was as well-spoken as Lizzy!) - I thought of Anne Shirley (but I don't talk that much and I'm not that poetical sorry) - I thought of every Montgomery heroine because I feel like I relate to ALL of them - and then I thought, well let's just be boring and go with Jo March because I like writing and... yeah, I like reading. (Lame.)

No. That will not do. I must be original.

Valancy Snaith/Stirling in The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery

I alllmost did Rilla of Ingleside but I think I just did that because that book just wrenches the life outta me (I don't relate to Rilla that much actually), but you know what Valancy and I like the same guy. Barney. Kay, enough. (Also, we appreciate nice clothes and quirky outings and views and cosy houses. And we both enjoy a good joke and a tease. I think this gives us enough in common.) (Of course, our situations are very different, so it's hard to weigh.)

Done.

*phew*

This'll have to do. (Maybe I should have said Elizabeth Bennet. We do have the same personality type, according to the Meyes-Briggs Personality test.) (Never mind.)

For those of you who know me better, do you think I chose a good sample of characters to represent me? Who would you have picked? Also. How are you doing, my friends? Tell me something about life. It's so funny, when you grow up, life seems to get harder and harder and better and better. That's because life is super super complex and every day we learn something more about its complex-ness. There, was was your philosophy session.

(Should I tag people? Okay, I tag any of my readers that I've met in real life and that have a blog. Emma, Sadie, Hannah... that's bout it, I think. (And you, Sarah, if you've got your blog yet!))

PS!! Oh, I just thought of a character that I relate to so much! Barbara in Call the Midwife. (Too late. Let's just click publish.)

nostalgia

nostalgia // noun // a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past.

I love nostalgia. It's weird and beautiful and melancholy and perceptive and heart-warming. It's wistful and sentimental. It's happy and sad. I love that you can't have nostalgia for bad memories - and I love that nostalgia isn't really about memories, it's more about past aspects - like a particular smell, or a smile, or a book, or a room. I love that nostalgia can dawn suddenly, unexpectedly, and make you think, pause; remember, reminisce about the good days past. I love that it reminds us that life has been good and that life is good - because one day we'll be filled with nostalgia for now.

I love nostalgia. It's a nice word too; it sounds nice and it has a twist to it - it's a clever word. It's a word that every individual interprets differently - a word so personal and intimate that no-one can describe quite what nostalgia feels for themselves.

Cows in pastures makes me nostalgic; mainly because we used to live across the road to fields with cows (also chickens; although not in the same field) and I walked there plenty of times. Also, every year we'd go to this farm in Switzerland and yep, you guessed it, cows with bells around their necks - chewing their hearts out on the dewy morning grass - were always part of our stay there.

Newborn babies make me nostalgic. Their crazy small fingers; toenails; ears... their innocence, their pure perfection; their delicate, gorgeous, gorgeous beauty. I love their eyes - looking at things without knowing things, looking at faces and trusting people without knowing a thing. I love their little noses and their kissable feet and wrinkly fingers and ugh goshdarnit they're so terribly adorable. Even if they're ugly and wrinkled, they have tear-drop-worthy gorgeousness about their beings. You get it if you stare at one long enough.

A friend from Church recently had a little boy and I got to hold him (yeahhh for like, five minutes) and his black eyes peering at me from his teensy face just UGH IT'S LIKE MAGIC I TELL YOU.

I guess newborns make me nostalgic because I've so many memories of newborn siblings - going to the hospital and fighting for a turn to hold said new sibling. So many memories of sorting out baby clothes and smelling baby shampoo (best . smell . ever . Can I have an amen?) and feeling those small fingers cling around one of mine. Holding a new sibling always sort of felt like holding part of me... part of my blood; in my young arms - a freakin' human being with a life ahead. Blank pages to fill.

Ladybird books make me nostalgic. (For anyone who doesn't know, Ladybird books aren't books about insects... they're about all sorts of things. They were made in Britain, I believe, to learn kids how to read.) Whenever I was ill, I would take all of them (and we have a lot of ladybird books) and I would read them all in my bed. I loved reading about Peter and Jane and the dolls and the horses and the cookies and the beach and Punch and Judy and just yes I loved it. I personally think the stories are stupid now, but yeah speak about nostalgia.

The Cinderella Ladybird book pictured above makes me so so nostalgic because I have such a vivid memory of discovering it between some boring French grammar books at Grandma and Granddad's house and yes lil' seven-year-old me was like ahhhh this book is the best book ever. I put it back there and every time we revisited, I would go back and reread it. I still kinda want Cinderella's dresses. Obviously mainly the pink one on the cover.

Banana shaped moons make me nostalgic. Now I love full moons; glorious and cunning and smart in the dark sky - but spiky banana moons remind me of when I was little and I would freak out and point at it because IT'S SO EXCITING. LOOK MAMA THERE'S THE MOOOON.

Astrid Lingdren's stories make me nostalgic. I used to be such an Astrid Lingdren fan. I had no idea she was a Swedish author; for me she was the author of 'Madieke en Liesbet' and I thought she lived in Belgium and I felt like she wrote them right to me. 

I luuurved reading about Madieke (I think; Margaret in English? Not sure. I read 'em in Dutch and it doesn't feel right in any other language, haha) and her adventures in her red house with her sister Liesbet. I wanted to throw meatballs from the roof and have an Easter chocolate man and all that. I wanted to be like Lisa in 'The Children of Noisy Village' (the English title sounds so wrong; but I shall use it for my dear readers. Appreciate all I do.) and have an attic room and collect pictures and own a lamb. And have the perfectest life. :-)

Basically, I wanted to live in an Astrid Lingdren book. And the gorgeous, full-colour picture books that I found in the library (see picture above) didn't really help. (Seriously when I found that picture on Pinterest a whole GUST (no, WIND) of nostalgia swept over me.) (#personalfeels)

Seagulls make me nostalgic because I remember being so excited to see them on what-felt-like-the-longest-journey-ever to England. Seeing seagulls meant we were in Calais which meant we were going to board on the ferry, which meant we were going to see the White Cliffs of Dover (ugh yes the White Cliffs of Dover give me such nostalgia... please; don't get me started!), which meant we were going to be in England. I love seagulls. Also the sound of them... nothing screams more beach and coast. It's a beautiful sound.

Library cards make me so nostalgic. The stamps marking the history of the travels of a book, the library ladies stamping new stamps on the card (I always wanted to do it because it sounded like so much fun to do)... I miss the library card days, guys. 

So. Many. Library memories. I'm so glad that libraries hadn't yet 'fully developed' into computer-generated libraries in my childhood. I'm so glad I associate stamps and library cards with books. I'm so glad that when I visit a library now I still expect the crunch of the stamp to interrupt the bookish silence in the air. I'm sad that it doesn't. I don't care about the efficiency of computer-technology-look-it-up libraries; I WISH LIBRARY CARDS WERE STILL A THING.

I miss the tiny library that lived near the local church before it disappeared and joined the big, modern one. Just thinking about that adorable library makes me nostalgic because it was literally the cutest place in the world and I always wanted to go there when Mama went. I would come home with BAGS of books (frequently the same ones over and over) and it was the bomb. (*whisper* I know you have no idea what I'm talking about but please, allow me to have my trip down memory lane.)

Pettson and Findus books make me nostalgic. I got these from frequent library visits (and haven't read one in aaages) and my word, so much nostalgia. They're basically books about this old man and his cat (the cat is the coolest kid ever) and the pictures are just gold - filled with adorable detail; little weird creatures peeping from rugs and corners, little bits and bobs... I poured myself into these books. I want to reread them all so badly right now. (If I have kids, these are on my to-buy-for-their-birthdays list; for sure.)

Tapes make me nostalgic. REMEMBER THESE??? When you could put them in CARS? (Sheesh, I'm only eighteen. I should not be feeling this old.) My favourite childhood tape was one my dad made of my older brother singing Nursery Rhymes and Christmas songs. Oh, and there was one tape of annoying Nursery Rhyme songs that my sister Hannah and my brother Daniel ALWAYS listened to - I was so sick of it I hid it in the garden with my older brother. (Still good memories.)

The Martine/Tiny books give me nostalgia. I'm sorry to - once again - talk about books none of you probably know about, but the Tiny (not a word meaning small; it's a name. Don't laugh. Her name is Tiny. It's from the name Martine.) books basically are my childhood. They're MINE. None of my sisters like them much and I can't see why because I when I look back at my childhood I see Tiny books Tiny books Tiny books. 

We still have almost all of them - all 50-something. Tiny was this girl with the perfect life and the pictures are perfect and it's so unrealistic and I LOVED THEM SO MUCH... *goes downstairs to reread them all*

Film rolls make me nostalgic. The old camera has now long been buried and been replaced by a sporty grey lil' pocket-sized thing, and I miss the film roll days, readers. I always wanted to have it after the pictures had been developed... I always had a fascination for it, I guess. I mean, how on earth was my face on this brown see-through object?

There you go... some stuff that makes me wistful and sentimental and nostalgic. 

For some reason, so does a frying pan filled with eggs, but I have no idea why. So do the Little House on the Prairie books of course - I didn't dare even mention those because you'd all be like: "UGHH I KNOW SHHH DON'T SAY IT AGAIN." :-P 

Now, if you read all of this, consider yourself my friend. (I realise it might have been boring for some people. That's okay. Nostalgia is different for different people; I told you in the early realms of this post, if you've been paying any attention.) Does any of the things I listed make you nostalgic? If so, consider yourself my friend as well. Tell me about all the personal feels in the comment section; I'm all ears.

On Internet Bios

Alone in a crowd.

Inspired in the woods.

Fascinated by strangers.

That would make a good bio/about me thing, don't you think? I love reading bios - I love reading how original and creative some of them are, and how dead boring some are and how so many are SO THE SAME. 

Writing bios however, is a different thing. HOW DO I DO THIS THING. How do I explain this complicated crazy and confusing person that is me?! I have about a kabiligion different sides, moods and passions. I always want my bio to say that I'm a Christian (which is sometimes hard to weave into it because I want my bios to be wacky and funny) and I want to say that I'm a bookworm and a writer and a homeschooler and a pluviophile (lover of rain, ha) and .... BEEP BEEP TOO MANY WORDS. No-one reads the 1000-words bios. I want to keep it snappy and fresh and I want to make people click on the Wonderland Creek link and read my stupid posts. I don't want my bios to be you know, like: 'I am this and I am this and I am this and fin.' That's dead boring. I want to it be like, one simple sentence which encapsulates who I am... which is impossible, ha.

I know it's not important at all. ;-P But still.

Here are some short and simple bios of random-people-I-came-across that I love:

" I'm probably barefoot and shooting photos of a sunset right now." (Mary)

"One does not simply write an Instagram bio." (Katie Davis)

"small paychecks | big memories" (Rachel Coker)

"The girliest 1/3 of @blimeycow" (Kelli Taylor)

"a simple farmgirl with her nose in a book" (Emma Jane)

"I write books and eat ice cream." (Hayden Wand)

"My name is S.M. Olson. I'm a secret agent. Maybe. Christ is my life." (Susanna)

I like these. They're simple and only give a tiny snippit of who these people really are, which makes people want to know more about them. I also love long bios, but something really attracts me to short, snappy ones. I have to get over the thing of, 'Ohhh but I need to mention that I love doing THIS and THAT' because I do that the whooole time. :-P

(Okay, that was me rambling randomly about internet bios on a Sunday morning. I knew I was weird.)

Lynn Austin and her novels.

All the Lynn Austin books in our house. (Minus a Dutch version of Hidden Places and another copy of Candlelight in the Darkness, which I've currently lent to twin friends at Church. Woe if they don't love it.)

I... I... I just* finished reading Hidden Places. (For the fifth time or something.) It was even more amazing than I had recalled. I cried and cried over Betty and Lydia, and my heart broke for Luke and Gabriel-when-he-was-a-boy. I turned over the pages just like it was the first time I was reading it; I was riveted and just in awe. I spent the whole morning curled in my bed trying to hide my face in the folds of the cushions and my pullover, so no one entering in my room would see all the melodrama I was experiencing, and when I finished it, I felt like a terrible writer, (which admittedly is the only downside about this book.)

*I wrote the first sentence of this post in the morning, but the rest in the evening. I felt a tad overwhelmed after finishing Hidden Places, to be honest, and wasn't capable of much good-post-writing. :-) It took me ages to write my Goodreads review, but I just about managed that.

Basically, Hidden Places is an amazing book, and Lynn Austin is an AMAZING writer. Message of April 30th, 2016. Lynn Austin's writing never ceases to surprise and amaze me. Almost every one of her books make me read and read for hours in one go, and almost all her books have a big personal value to me.

I suppose we could go way back to when I was about nine or ten or eleven, when my mum read them. She got most of them from her sister, my aunt, who gave them to her for her birthdays or she borrowed them from friends. Now and then a thick, beautiful-covered book would sit on her bedside table, next to her blue pot of Nivea cream and her lamp, and she would tell me it was 'really good' and that 'one day I could read them.' Well, really, I loved them already before I read them. It's like me with Pride and Prejudice 1995 - I loved that before I watched it; I loved it just by looking at the covers and rereading the blurb at the back. Especially the cover of Until we Reach Home, with the three girls looking at the Statue of Liberty in New York really captured my imagination. I looked at the pretty dresses of the four ladies on the cover of A Woman's Place and chose which one was the prettiest. I remember my mum 'fangirling' over them with some of her friends who read them as well, and how the Lynn Austin books kind of travelled around the circle of friends. Oh, and I remember asking several times if I could read them, and Mum said, 'Not quite yet.' (Which, now, I do understand, because it's not really a book for kids of pre-teens, but I did have to wait for these.)

And then I read my first Lynn Austin book, when I was twelve. It was While We're Far Apart, and I loved it. I remember telling Mama, "Lynn Austin's my favourite author too." And she was like, "You've only read one!" Turns out that I didn't really change my mind, ever, because she still is one of my favourite authors ever. I have only ever read one book of hers that I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about.

You know, a lot of contemporary books nowadays are kind of fluffy and... shallow. This includes about 90% of Christian Fiction, sadly enough. But Lynn Austin doesn't do fluffy - she goes to the deep, important, sometimes-gritty, sad, interestingly passionate stuff. Her characters are alive with colours, and her books all create this inner world in my brain which I always want to return to. Her books really are WORLDS. That's how I think about them, and I don't think that about a lot of books, really. There are many books I love as books, but I don't love Lynn Austin's books as books - I love them as... I don't know... whole scopes, whole scents, whole worlds.

Hidden Places and Eve's Daughters are my two favourite of her novels. Both of them kind of tear my heart to pieces - it's ridiculous and terribly wicked of Lynn Austin to do this to me, but oh well, I shouldn't have reread them in the first place, should I? The story of Aunt Batty, with her beautiful and flighty sister Lydia, and her lover, the darling Walter who is dying but who she loves so much she doesn't care. And then the story of Emma and Grace, and the kind-hearted pastor, Patrick O'Duggan. And then we have the stories of Alice Grace Ripley and Violet Rose Hayes, mysterious and romantic mixed with excellent pinches humour. I won't even START talking about The Refiner's Fire Series, because it'll take hours - I love that trilogy a ridiculous amount.

And do you know what else is good about her novels? They are always better when rereading them. I remember loving them on my first re-reads, like a world was opening, and like I just met a good friend. But now when I reread them it's like reuniting with a good friend - and reuniting is better than meeting.

This following month, I'm going to reread a lot of Lynn Austin books. Go through the old favourites, and all that jazz. Feel free to join me on my Lynn Austin marathon, and converse about her books in the comment section anytime! Because they're fun to talk about ammirite?

If Lynn Austin ever ends up reading this (firstly, I'm HONOURED, thank you for reading!) - I would like to thank her for her marvellous stories. I'm not like Matthew Wyatt, who had a terribly depressive life and needed an 'escape' through books - I have a happy family, and good siblings and parents who strongly approve of fictional books (ha!) - but your books have simply given me such inspiration for my own writing, such joy, and such a good view of things. Also, they have given me a nickname - Alice Grace Ripley - and the title for my blog! So thank you. :-)

PS. I hope you don't mind that I stole the name Wonderland Creek for my blog name, by the way. If you do I will change it, as a token of gratitude.

You might be a literary spirit if...

... You prefer the book Gone with the Wind to the movie because the movie doesn't have Will Benteen in it. And Will Benteen is the bestest ever.

... You read bits in books where the characters talk about books with a biiiig grin on your face.

... The mere mention of Walter Blythe makes you weep incoherently.

... even at the age of ten, you were pointing out ALL differences between the Little House books and the Little House movies.

... You have a best friend who is a literary spirit. Because literary spirits have besties who are also literary spirits. It's a thing.

... Captain Wentworth's letter is your favourite part in Persuasion.

... every Sunday after Church, you've at least had two conversations about a book (or a hundred.) And of course with recommendations in between.

... You don't want to watch the third Anne of Green Gables movie because there should have been a Rilla of Ingleside movie in the place of it.

... You have a hard time writing five-star reviews on Goodreads because you LOVE THE BOOK so much that you "can't even."

... You miss your books when you lend them out. (Oh, cousin, give me Violins of Autumn back! I miss you, darling, and I want to read you again.)

... You know that Mr Collins is actually tall.

... people ask you, "what are you reading NOW"?

... You still plan to read Les Miserables one day. Despite the 20-chapter description about the Bishop's head cushion.

... You sometimes go on Goodreads to read mean 1-star reviews of your favourite books and either laugh at their ridiculous opinions or start ranting in front of the screen.

... Max in The Book Thief has several of your favourite quotes.

... it annoys you that Melanie Wilkes read David Coppefield instead of Les Miserables in the movie of GWTW.

... You know that Catherine Moorland was originally called Susan and that Northanger Abbey was originally going to be called Susan, too.

... You know there's never going to be a good movie of Emily of the New Moon because there are no actresses with purple eyes.

... Your favourite social media is Goodreads.

... if you would like another of these kind of posts! :-D

Seven Things that BOTHER me - in books

Now and then one must grumble and complain and let it allll go out. :-D I suppose you could call this my book-peeves-post. Some things a lot of people are bothered about - such as dog-earing books - I don't really mind. Also, many people, I've heard, don't like it when books about movie-covers, but I rather like it. Also, even love-triangles. I don't really hate THOSE. :-)

But there are other things which bother me. 

A lot.

Of course, there are obvious things I don't like - I don't like books which have tons of swearing in it - I don't like books in which witchery or other stuff are encouraged - I don't like books which make romance un-holy and un-special. So I'm not going to rant about that today. Today it's the other stuff. :-/ Yeahhh.

1. When there's no book blurb on the back.

Only quotes. No blurb. 

Sure, 'The New York Times' tells us it's 'thrilling and life-changing.' Sure, there's Markus Zusak with words of encouragement. But I STILL don't know what the story is about. This drives me flipping nuts. I need to know a BIT about the story, right? I need to have SOME kind of idea? Is it about zombies? Or princesses? What? Luckily, I have Goodreads which gives me a book blurb, but when I'm in a real book store, this peeve can pop up.

No thanks.

2. When the character pictured on the cover is different than s/he is (so clearly) described in the book.

For instance, I've read books where the character is blonde - this physical feature is so often mentioned in the book - and then bam, the front cover features a brunette. This is just weird. I hope they make a rule that all cover-designers MUST read the book. Or does the author not care that this is done? Must she not contact the cover-designer for approval?

Anyway. I find this very annoying.

3. When a book starts with a looooong description.

Don't get me wrong, I'm one of those literary spirits who actually enjoys reading description. (As long as it's not ten chapters in succession. I'm looking at you, Victor Hugo.) But when a book starts with a three-page elaborate detailed structure about a flower patch or a sunny atmosphere of a summer's day, I kind of get discouraged. That's why I quit reading Les Miserables. I had enough about the Bishop's bedroom. I didn't care a jot.

I like a story that starts good. Description is welcome, but not as the first thing on the doorstep. Thanks.

4. When a lot of the chapters end the same way.

Or, when authors try to use good page-turning-tricks at the end of chapters.

I haven't had this too much, but now and then I've encountered such books and it's starting to become a serious pet peeve. For instance, I just finished a book which was rather good, but - seriously, every chapter ended with two really short choppy sentences. It just became weird. I also don't like it when a lot of chapters end with several dots. Like this...

They think it's a good page-turn-trick. It's not.

5. When introverted heroines are clumsy.

Seriously? Why is this a thing? Introverted people aren't clumsy. I mean, SOME might be, but not fifty percent of them! Actually, it's not only introverted heroines that are clumsy, it's just heroines in general. Because when heroines are clumsy they accidentally bump into a handsome gentlemen. Or they fall in a puddle and a random potential future husband helps her up and gets reeeeaaal close to her. Or they drop their teacup on the toe of a prince. Love at first drop. 

Blehhhhhhhhhh.

6. When you can't take off those stickers on the cover (!!!!!)

THIS ANNOYS ME SOOO MUCH. Seriously, where to start my epic mini-rant.

In the first place, why do they put stickers on the cover? WHY. Sure, the book may be promoted. Sure, it's a best-seller. But WHY do you have to mention that via un-managable-to-get-off stickers? Why do you ruin entire beautiful covers by flashy yellow circled stickers?!!!

And fine, if I were able to take them off easily, like one is able to easily slide off some kinds of washi-tape, I wouldn't complain. But half of the time YOU CAN'T GET THEM OFF. Or you can start to peel them off, and the half of it kind of half remains and my whole cover is spooooilt. This can make me frustrated to TEARS. Arghhhhhh. (Seriously, once I used a wet hanky to rub all the sticker bits off. I was that desperate to remove the wretched objects.)

7. When the cover features a scene which isn't even in the book.

This one is pretty similar to number (*goes up to have a look which number it is*) two, but I've got to mention it anyway.

For example, I once read a book (yes, I actually DID. I know. I know. Amazing, right.) which had a couple in an embrace, standing in front of a flying machine. Areoplane, call it what you want. And in the book yes, they do embrace, and yes there are scenes with planes in them - but they don't actually embrace in front of a plane. And suddenly, on the cover, they do. 

It just annoys me. :-P

Okay. Those were seven of my book botherations. I have more, of course. :-) But I'll leave those others to other blog posts. I can't over-swamp you with complaints; that's a bit inconsiderate, you know. Anyway. 

Do these things annoy you? 

Do you have any particular book peeves?

You might be a writer if...

 

~ You wake up in the middle of the night with a story idea and can't go back to sleep unless you've written it down somewhere. On your hand, on a piece of tissue paper - it doesn't matter where - it just has to be written down, in case you forget.

 

~ You'd rather spend a day writing than going to parties. It's common for writers to be decided introverts. While I am rather social, I definitely prefer reading to parties.

 

~ You involuntary pray for your characters when they are in trouble. God understands.

 

~ You fall in love with your characters and think they make the best hero there ever was. Like, the hero's I create are millions times better than any Mr Darcy. For me. They are mine. :-)

 

~  You write/type until your fingers are tired and stiff. And then, when you lean back, yawn and stretch your fingers, you feel ever so proud of having stiff fingers. Because that means you're real writer. :-)

 

~ You can't get to sleep because there's this scene you find hard to tackle. Bothersome, that.

 

~ Your day is a good one when you've thought of a brilliant idea, or written more words than the norm. I tell, you such a good feeling to go to bed with - if you're a writer, you should understand.

 

~ You see people in a totally different light once you know they've written a book. Fellow writers share so many of the same aspects - it's delightful.

 

~ You think of the fact that you are a writer when you're upset, or had a bad day - the feeling makes you proud - it makes you happy. I am so proud to be a writer. I'm so proud of my books and stories. It may sound really horrid, but I am. This doesn't mean I'm saying my things I write are really good - I'm just proud of my accomplishments and of the fact that I am a writer.

 

According to these rules - are you a true writer?

 

 

In which I tell you how it all began

 

It must have started somewhere, my complete craze for Period Drama. It did, I tell you. This all had a beginning. If something wouldn't have happened I wouldn't be here now writing a Period-Drama-related post in a Period-Drama-related blog with zillibillions of Period-Drama-related pictures and Period Drama eye candy.

 

 

Here, readers is my story: How it all began.

 

When I was a youngster ('bout eight, seven) the only period drama's I had any knowledge of were Heidi (I re and re-watched that one continuously), The Sound of Music (like every reader, this is needless to say), Mary Poppins and my beloved Little House on the Prairie which I devoured.

 

Since I had no Downton Abbey, Wives and Daughters, Sense and Sensibilty and Pride and Prejudice to rave and fangirl over, I had to be happy with what I had, and I became a Little House on the Prairie addict. I still like 'the Little House on the P.... this is such a long title, from now on I'm going to shorten it, okay?' but I'm not a fan now. Nope. I have far better things to swoon over.

Anyway, I loved those four movies and I didn't even know Pride and Prejudice existed. It's amazing I'm still alive, I know- but I survived. But then one day- I was eleven years old- my mother bought 'Pride and Prejudice 1995' on Amazon on DVD. My mother had seen it before, and whilst a sudden remembrance of how good it had been, she had been tempted to buy it again and had. (Forgive that last sentence- it was horribly phrased.)

And this....

.... Came in the letterbox.

Don't laugh at me as I say the following, please. I fell in love with the movie even before watching it. I fell in love with the cover, the far-too-small pictures at the back which I studied as closely as I could, and the story summarised in such a painfully short and byzantine (a new favourite word of mine- means 'complicated') way at the back.

I loved- adored Elizabeth's face and hairstyle and thought Darcy's cravat was the handsomest men's wear I had ever set eyes on. I loved Elizabeth's high-waist dress and studied the cover endlessly and enthusiastically.

 

 

I admit I was rather disappointed when my mother told me kindly that she and Daddy wanted to see it first, because they didn't remember how suitable it was for children.

 

After every episode they watched I literally plagued and peppered them with unending questions. 'Mother, what does Jane look like?' 'What's Elizabeth like?' 'What's their house like?' 'Who shares bedrooms with who?' 'Who's your favourite girl?' and so on and on. My mother answered them all as well as she could, quite enthusiastically- because she was loving it.

I already "lived" in P&P before watching it. I imagined a story of the Regency Bennet sisters. Don't ask me why, but Jane was the main character (and yes, she wasn't very much like Susannah Harker) and she fell in love with a mysterious man who hid in the garden, behind a bush, whilst her younger sister recited poetry in the parlour. It was a stupid story, but I knew no better.

And then, the following year I watched it. I was so amazed at its goodness. I loved it so much. It was simply perfect in every way. I must admit I didn't understand anything about the Wickham-Darcy-Georgiana and the Darcy-Jane plot line, but I didn't care a mite. Immediately this film was marked as my all-time favourite movie.

Lydia was my favourite character at that point. I loved her giggles and I just thought she was a lovely character... not good of me I know, but I kinda copied her. I still snort a lot, but that's where my snorts began. :-)

I watched Pride and Prejudice on every birthday of mine that followed. (Our family tradition is that the birthday girl/boy may choose a movie to watch). I watched it on my thirteenth and loved it even more because I understood everything. I had, by that time, also read the book, of course. I watched it for my fourteenth birthday, loved it to pieces.

By that time I had, of course, realised Jane Austen had written other books. I had read Sense and Sensibility and I had loved it. My aunt coincidentally gave me a dvd copy of the Emma Thompson version of S&S and I was wild of excitement when I watched because I loved it dearly. Not as much as P&P (that's not really possible, is it?) but almost.

That same year, we received the Elizabeth Gaskell movies from our neighbours. I enjoyed them so much... it was then that I officially became a Period Drama nut. I had also, by that time, watched some Dickens films, Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna and Downton Abbey had delightfully introduced me to a new series of swoons and dreamy sighs.

I still have a great deal of Period Dramas I feel I must quickly! watch. For example, I haven't watched Little Dorrit, or The Scarlett Pimpernel or Les Miserables. Shocking? I know. But nevertheless, one cannot deny that- despite missing out on quite a few movies- I am  and always will be a Period Drama fan.

I love Period Dramas. They are so inspirational and dreamy and amazing and... I don't know. It's ridiculously fun to spot double actors, choose your favourite dress, quote your favourite lines, pretend you are one of the characters, make up your 'what if' stories and copy the character's poise and hairstyles. Period Dramas are just ridiculously fun.

Absurdly so.

 

Period Drama confessions

The nuns make their confession :D

~I like Cynthia Kirkpatrick. Although I certainly not agree with everything she does and says, I like her and definitely do not consider her a villain!

~I watched Pride and Prejudice before I read it. (But not with Sense and Sensibility, I can say that!)

~Laurie Laurence from 'Little Women' drives me crazy. I just don't like him! (But still, I think Jo should have ended with him.)

~I used to like Mr Bingley better than Mr Darcy (not anymore!!!) (Wow, I confessed this!)

~I think it's terribly unfair that sixteen-year-old Liesl has to go to bed at the same time as five-year-old Gretl.

~In the 'Little house on the Prairie' my favourite scenes are the ones in the Olesons house.

~The scenes with Mr Holbrook in Cranford bore me a little. Just a little.

~Although I love Marianne Dashwood, I think she should listen to her sisters when they tell her it's going to rain.

~I think Keira Knightley only became an actress because she's so beautiful. Ahem.

~My favourite character in North and South is Fanny Thornton. What! I didn't really say that, did I?

~I think that Barbara Spooner (in Amazing Grace)'s wedding dress is far less pretty than her first two costumes. One would assume that her wedding dress would be her prettiest one.

~I love Lydia Bennet, even though I find her totally annoying. Weird, but it's so.

~Jane Bennet is SO good that it almost goes too far.

~In the first series, Edith was my favourite Crawley sister. (In the second it was Sybil, and now it's Mary:)

~I think it's so strange that most of the Cranford ladies have blondish hair- it should be grey or white, shouldn't it?

~My feelings towards the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice are not at all cordial-- but you know that, and that's not a confession, it's a fact.

~I always cry when the Banks family (Mary Poppins) are a happy family at the end of the movie.

~I love the Fiddler on the Roof, but I hate the ending. Movies should have happy endings.

~I don't like the Narnia movies.

~My favourite Gaskell hero is not Mr Thornton, it's Roger Hamely.

~I don't like the North and South ending. Sorry, people. I want a wedding!!!

~There are more confessions, but I shan't go on, because twould be embarrassing for me, hehe.


Do you have Period Drama confessions to make?