| Wednesday, January 21, 2004 |
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Horatio Hornblower
I finally borrowed the book! I think it is the second in the series, though. Lieutenant Hornblower. I wonder why C.S. Forrester thought of this name...when I told my dirty-minded best friend she said it sounded dirty! Lol ok lah I'm also dirty-minded I thought it sounded funny too when Arts Central was advertising the TV series last time. So far the book is really engaging and it takes the prowess of a good writer to engage a modern day reader despite the inability of said reader to understand navy and sea terms like "aft", "capstan", "binnacle" and so on and so forth. Very good character portrayal and development. I'm visualising the TV show in my mind as I read. =)
Ioan Gruffudd!
However, don't like the cheap Penguin cover. I have no objections about the dashing picture of Ioan as Hornblower on the cover, but it says, "THE MAJOR ITV SERIES, HORNBLOWER" right at the top. Makes people think it was a TV series before it was a book, ya know. It was a book first and foremost!! (Even while the TV series was very well-made and definitely classy) Making the whole thing look like some cheap paperback when it's really a classic. A lot of books have cheap-looking paperback covers these days. Like Lord of the Rings. I would have bought all 3 books but all those I've seen are cheap-looking. Sheesh! Packaging is very important! That's one thing I've learnt from working at my mom's. I don't buy books regularly as they're not cheap, so those I buy must be good books (like Roald Dahl's or James Herriot's). And it's a collection, so the covers must be classy. Not cheap-looking. Ok, so I don't really like the covers of the Dahls and the one Herriot I have, but I can't find others that are within my budget locally. So, what to do? At this point, apply: Never judge a book by its cover.
Then again, apply that to all those trashy romance books which are really soft porn, thinly veiled. And I don't think the publishers make much effort to even disguise it. More like advertise it. Couples embracing and kissing and feeling each other on the cover...yuck. I mean, that's just trash! It's appalling. No literary value at all. You want sex, surf the net lah! I mean, I can't believe a library can carry that trash and not have a single Roald Dahl book. There is no literary justice in that! Ok, so call me a prude. Sue me. But all this is just dirty to me. Eek. And for young Christians, traversing the dark choppy waters of the literary sea can be fraught with dangers. Everywhere you turn there is violence and sex. Ok, so a good book with literary value can have violence or sex, perhaps in some cases it is a necessary literary device. But I would rather go for the one with the same value but without sex/violence or just a brief mention without going into details. Which reminds me of Health and Happiness by Diane Johnson which I reviewed in the last Book Report. Ok, it is not that bad (It had a good quote: "The heart has no laws!" How very true!), but I still think the details in that sex scene are redundant.
There'll be another Book Report when I get back....heheh...and I still don't care if I bore you! I love me books! Not the trashy ones of course. xP
Tata!
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posted by esther @ 2:45 PM  |
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