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#Movie2BookRecs @Klou
Movie: Rebecca

Read this for #Dominica for #ReadingTheAmericas2023 but it can also be read for #Jamaica.

This was a very atmospherically written book and ideal for people who wanted to know some of Bertha‘s back story from Jane Eyre. I found it a very sad story, with little hope or lightness in it. The writing style really wasn‘t for me and can‘t say I particularly enjoyed the book, but I‘m sure I‘m not the intended audience. Just not my genre or style.

The thing that I found so striking as I read this was how subtle the writing is and how much breath flows through its 171 pages. The themes of power/control/hatred/safety are prominent. Much can also be said about the feeling of being in-between (colonial generations, nationalities, race, etc.) A lot to ponder, and definitely something I will want to reread in the future.
#ReadingtheAmericas2023 #Dominica

Three beautiful things. Book, coffee and pastel de nata.

#Islandvibes Image of my hotel room on Waiheke Island last week.

Oh man this book. I loved Antoinette (the child who grows up to be Bertha in Jane Eyre). Rhys‘ writing is beautiful and although there is violence and tension around Antoinette, I revelled in her survival. And then we spend some time in Rochester‘s head and he made me So Angry. I loved this reading experience and at the same time I want to wring some necks!

Thank you so much @Caroline2 - i love it. I recently added this to an online shopping basket (not such a beautiful copy) but had managed to resist it so far. So I was delighted to get it today from you.

This is only my second one of these beautiful hardbacks - it's a bit dangerous. One is a one off, two is perilously close to starting a collection. ♥️💜♥️💜

My pick for #TitlesandTunes #Islandvibes is Wide Sargasso Sea which I‘ve been meaning to read for ages (I‘m on a Jean Rhys kick at the moment). It‘s set in Jamaica and so I chose a song that was written by a Jamaican to go with it. Cherry Oh Baby was written by Eric Donaldson but I grew up listening to the UB40 version. I‘m sure the song and the book have VERY different vibes!

It‘s not often that a retelling becomes a classic in its own right. There‘s so much packed into this short, meandering, atmospheric whirlwind that I think I‘d have to reread it to really take it all in the way I often do with poetry. Will I? Not immediately, but maybe someday.

It‘s easy to forget the phrase “a well read book” started as a physical thing. How many times do you think a volume has to be read before it becomes this? It‘s something we rarely see these days now that books are infinitely more affordable than they once were. Even library books rarely come to me like this. I love the reminder of how many people have read this before me. Kind of like reading the names off the old circulation cards.

They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did. #FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

I have looked forward to reading this classic for years. I love Jane Eyre and wantes to know Bertha's back story. The writing style was not for me. The obvious symbolism and opaque writting did not work for me. 2 🌟 #52bookclub23 #Caribbeanauthor @LauraReads @KarenUK @britt_brooke @CarolynM @Smarkies @LeeRHarry @Clwojick @BookBelle84 @jennifer80 @Librarybelle @triplem80 @AshleyHoss820 @Read4life @Bluebird @squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB @ravenlee

This is a short novel, but there‘s a lot to consider, especially about culture and names. The Caribbean setting was vibrant, yet the feeling of conflict was ever present. There were shifting perspectives and it always felt a bit disjointed, reflecting how the characters never find a way to trust or communicate clearly. It‘s definitely an interesting companion read for Jane Eyre.

#ReadingTheAmericas2023 #Dominica #1001books

This book has been on my TBR list for quite a while and I‘m excited to finally reading it.

#ReadAndEat #1001books #ReadingTheAmericas2023 #Dominica

Told in 3 parts, we see the childhood, early adulthood, and some time shortly thereafter of Antoinette, a white Creole/Englishwoman born in the West Indies. I liked the depiction of the societal tension between former white colonialists and black islanders descended from former slaves. I did find the writing a little odd. Soft pick for me.

#ReadingAmericas2023 #Dominica

Well, this is cool! The copy I‘m reading has been in circulation at my library for over 55 years.

I‘ve finished my Christmas cooking for today and been out to feed the calves, so I have a few quiet hours before church. This seemed the perfect time to open my Jolabokaflod package. I‘ve been wanting to read this book for a few years but couldn‘t easily borrow a copy, and it will work for #ReadingTheAmericas2023! I opened the chocolates and they‘re delicious. Thanks so much Johanna! Merry Christmas Eve! 📚🎄

#Jolabokaflod #JolabokaflodSwap

I love the humanity behind this novel and the many good reasons that Jean Rhys had for writing this story.

#literature

I first picked up Jane Eyre for a uni course, and I wish we had to read this book as part of it too.

It gave me so much to think about, and while it is a different style and tone to Brontë, I think it helps make the story and the characters of Rochester and “Bertha” that much more interesting.

Finished in a day too, so that‘s a bonus!

#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #penguin #widesargassosea #brontë #jeanrhys #janeeyre #readinaday

I liked but didn‘t love this. The first part, Antoinette‘s perspective, was my favorite, but I didn‘t much care for the unnamed groom‘s (Rochester) POV. The last part came very abruptly, and it was disjunct and weird - but it works because we‘re inside the mind of a madwoman. I wish there had been a bit more to the whole story.

“I do not like what I have seen of this honourable gentleman (Mr. Rochester). Stiff. Hard as a board and stupid as a foot, in my opinion, except where his own interests are concerned.”

Pretty much my opinion of Mr. Rochester, too. My MIL and SIL swear eternal devotion to Jane Eyre and the cult of Rochester, and I‘ve never understood why. I find him repugnant.

I love Jane Eyre and have been meaning to read this for ages. It is fascinating to read this imagined backstory of the mad woman in the attic. And it certainly challenges you to rethink Rochester. While enthralling to a point, the prose was sometimes so ethereal and wandering that I felt a bit lost. But well worth reading.

Antoinette Cosway moves from a traumatic childhood of loss and pain to an arranged marriage with a man who cares more about her money than her.

Made me think of The Yellow Wallpaper. A fascinating exploration of of the expectations of a woman with wealth, and what happens when she brushes those expectations aside. Also, very lush descriptions.

This felt very disjointed, and I feel it actually suffered by switching POV multiple times. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Home again, home again, jiggity jig. With three blood clots and a prescription for blood thinners. Fun times.

Going to move to a different book. Reading about the beginnings of the UK‘s NHS is not what I want right now after spending last night in the emergency room.

This was my #LittleChristmasSwap from @iread2much and I‘m so excited to get started!

Sunday evening flight home and starting a new title. Miss my girls already. Glad for returning to the warmth of home.

I'm reminded I should reread this masterpiece, Rhys's imaginative take on the madwoman in the #attic from Charlotte Brontë‘s Jane Eyre. Pic of Mobile Bay off the Gulf of Mexico, which Google tells me is a "sea" of the Atlantic Ocean. #SavvySettings @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Some good finds at the thrift shop today 📚🎉

I forgot to post it last night, but I opened my #LittleChristmasSwap from @iread2much and I am absolutely delighted! And the card made me laugh out loud! 😆

I shared the candies around my family and they were thoroughly appreciated! ❤️

Beautiful language, and the story I really wanted to know about from Jane Eyre.

I‘m reading this book all like “I knew it. I fucking knew it! That motherfucker!”

Now I‘m gonna hear this shit from the perspective of the bitch in the attic!

“Only the magic and the dream are true — all the rest's a lie.”

Remembering Jean Rhys on her birthday.

As a Jane Eyre fan I‘ve been hesitant to pick this up, but glad I finally read it. This origin story of Mr. Rochester‘s first wife elevates her from “madwoman” to “woman driven to madness”—an important distinction. Unaccepted by her home country, her family, and finally her husband, Antoinette Cosway‘s only loyal companion is excruciating alienation. So heart wrenching!🔸#julyreads2021

This is the background to “Bertha” the wife of Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre. I love and have re-read Jane Eyre several times. The story around Antoinette Cosway has always intrigued me. This feels like a gothic tale…it‘s sad..I don‘t want to ruin it if you haven‘t read Jane Eyre..is there such a reader out there😂😂
Next for me is a book that‘s been on the bedside pile for a while The Family Doctor.
Happy reading everyone 😘😘

One of my favorites! Prequel to Jane Eyre but you don‘t need to read Jane Eyre to understand.

My #bookspin book for #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

I was supposed to have read this years ago when I was working on my masters‘s degree in Comparative Lit. Unfortunately, there was not enough time in any day to both read all the books I was assigned and write all the papers, and I had to skip a couple. This was one of those, and it has been glaring at me from a shelf ever since. 😅 ⬇️

Thankyou so much @Birdsong28 for this book ... it has opened doors in my mind ... Rhys‘ writing is a gift. Her obsession/ fascination with Antionette Cosway , inspired by Jane Eyre... I never knew that was the subject of this book. From hauntingly beautiful Jamaica to the attic in Thornfield Hall .. lots of red , passion , madness. It will be awhile before this settles in my mind. Brilliant.

#BuddyRead

It was a beautiful place - wild, untouched, above all untouched, with an alien, disturbing, secret loveliness. And it kept its secret. I‘d find myself thinking, ‘ What I see is nothing - I want what it hides - that is not nothing. ‘

One morning soon after we arrived, the row of tall trees outside my window was covered with small pale flowers too fragile to resist the wind. They fell in a day, and looked like snow on the rough grass- snow with a faint sweet smell. Then they were blown away.

This book ❤️. The writing is brilliant .. this book is deeply disturbing in a good way.. bearing the weight of history .. the back story of Rochesters wife in Jane Eyre

Good. Loved seeing how two of the characters of a much loved book Jane Eyre started out. It does add to the story as you can see how Mr Rochester and his first wife got to the situation they do in the classic book and shows why he did what he did.

Looking forward to seeing your opinions on this @Cathythoughts #buddyread

Such lovely weather to start my #buddyread with @Cathythoughts and it might actually make me believe I am in Jamaica with the sun shining so bright. 🌅🏝️

Thanks so much Victoria for this lovely gift ! I love this notebook 💕 and I would like nothing more than to buddy read this book with you. You‘re very good. Let‘s set a date later .. when would suit you ? @Birdsong28 ThanksXXX Cathy.

This #TBR stack is entirely the fault of literary hub‘s “50 books under 200 pages” list.
Thanks.

#sarcasm #womenshistorymonth #blackhistorymonth #nativeamericanliterature #mountTBR

#faveshortbook #ShowSomeLove @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Can someone tell me where I can find an audiobook for Wide Sargasso Sea ? I don't have libby, because I have no library card (I'm from Egypt, and the choices are limited for me on there anyway)

#ShowSomeLove Day 28: For this year, this will probably make my #FaveShortBook, thus far.

1. Visiting my uncle.
2. No, I wish I had a dog.
3. That's a tough one... I think I would take the Harry Potter series if I can take the whole series, but if not I'd take any Colleen Hoover novel.

#motivationalmonday @Cupcake12

#bookcupidswap Thank you sooooooooooooo much! The book and the candy and the postcards made me so happy! I am now convinced that I need to collect a wooden bookmark from each state! I have North Carolina and Indiana! I hope you have a wonderful day! I am going to keep listening to your song offerings all day! #keepgoingon

Thank you so much for setting everything up, @candority !