Bout Of Books Day #6 & #7
For day 6 of Bout-of-books we were told to post a review of something we’d read this week, but I decided instead to clump it together with today’s task instead. My review will be a short one as loads of other people have already said it much better than I ever could, but here’s what I’ve got.
I loved The Importance of Being Ernest so much that I decided to read all of Oscar Wilde’s 9 plays, by today no less, but I’ll get to that later. The play is about mistaken identities and all-the-while pokes fun at the Victorian middle classes.
I enjoyed it from the start, no more than when Lady Bracknell enters the stage. In the audio-version I listened too this part was played by Judi Dench and she was a great representation of the rigidness and immovability of the Victorian middle-classes. She objects to the protagonist, Ernest, marrying her daughter as his history and lineage aren’t in keeping with what she expects.
The real fun begins when Ernest returns to his country home and his friend Algernon turns up and assumes the identity of his brother. This part was ingenious and I had much fun listening to it.
I’ve just read part of a fantastic review for it over on GR that expounds on what each portion represents and where it means to poke fun at Victorian life, so I would recommend you go there for a full dissemination. As it is, I could never do the play as much justice.
Today’s challenge, the final day or Bout-of-books is this:
Stretch Goal
It's the last day of the readathon, so today's challenge is to take a look at the goals you set for the week (if you have them) and decide a) how you can stretch yourself to complete them or b) how you can revise them so you can meet them. Because yes, you can revise your goals! If you didn't set goals for the week, set a small one for yourself today!
At the beginning of the read-a-thon I set myself the ambitious and (I now accept) ludicrous challenge of finishing *all* of the books I’m currently reading. I also thought I’d try and read all 9 of Wilde’s play’s, as well! I had to adapt this hugely! I decided to spend today reading with the goal of finishing *1* book and I’m pleased to say I managed that. I finished Fleishman Is In Trouble and I’m happy I did. I read 1 more of Wilde's play's (a far cry from all 9!), but plan to read another now. I’ve also been beta-reading a novel for someone in the US this week and read roughly half of it, so I definitely read more this week than normal. I’d call that a success. I’m really glad I participated and will do so again.