Hey!

My name is Sophia and these are some the books I read in may, June July
august and September. I divided this video into two parts, because I don’t want to
sacrifice quality of the reviews for brevity.

Some of the books, I’ll cover in this part, are the most atmospheric ones I read
recently, meaning that I appreciated them for the mood, rather than the plot the
characters, and the others are the darkest ones, so this might serve as an inspiration
for your autumn and winter reading.

Let’s start with the one I’ve wanted to read for a long time, and which intimidated
me with its size, The Forsyte saga by John Galsworthy, is comprised of three
novels and two novellas, or interludes. If you want to travel to the end of the
Victorian era and the beginning of Edwardian era, this might be interesting.

The author won the nobel prize, in case you care about prizes, and this is his
magnum opus. It seems to be more popular outside the UK, judging from the
reviews, at least.

This woman, Irene, is supposed to be the person everyone falls in love with and
she’s supposed to be the victim of her terrible husband who treats her like his
property and doesn’t see her as she is.

Tre problem is that we can’t do that either, because despite the length of this saga,
we don’t get to know her.

Unlike with other novels with a similar premise, that is a rich husband has a pretty
wife and everyone loves his wife and their marriage is an unhappy one,we get
complex heroines,

when it comes to irene the author didn’t give us much room for thought. You could
pick three adjectives and they would summarize what he tried to do for hundreds
of pages. We see her only through the eyes of others, how she affects others.

At least Soames, the husband, is a fleshed-out character, you can understand his
perspective from the first book and you feel like you know this man. Some readers
like him more than irene simply because he’s familiar, we see him as he is, for
better or worse.

On the other hand, the people who are on irene’s side, are simply so digusted with
Soames that even a mysterious character you know very little about, is better than
that him.

“Her power of attraction he regarded as part of her value as his property […]”
“The morning after a certain night on which Soames at last asserted his rights and
acted like a man, he breakfasted alone.”

Phrases like this don’t paint him in the best light, especially the acted like a man
part, but he’s alive, he’s present, and we get to see him. Later the narrator mentions
Soames’s feelings of remorse and shame after the terrible thing he did, but it’s
impossible to root for Soames after this.

I haven’t read many family sagas, so my expectations form this where so different
from what I got. I thought we would get to know at least 3 generations pretty
intimately, that we would spend some time with each character, so I was really
excited when Galsworthy attacked me with a bunch of names: this is the uncle, this
is the cousin, this is some other member.

I thought wow I’ll get to know all these characters and you have big plans for
everyone. That’s impressive. And then he didn’t deliver. He focused on the things
that interested me the least.

Most of the characters are calculated and, being a part of the new rich, it’s like
they’re trying to prove that they’re just as worthy as the aristocracy.

There are glimpses of humanity, though, and as a human, I appreciated those

moments, most of them had to do with the thigs children do for their parents and
vice-versa.
Some parts were entertaining. For example the social commentary parts and the
descriptions of rich people, dressed in fancy clothes who spend time in the most
beautiful rooms.

I realy enjoyed the part where, and this is not a spoiler, queen Victoria dies and
Soames things something along the line of “things will never be the same without
old Viccy.” The ceremony is described as a tribute of an age to its own death.

Overall, the pov was strange, because at times Galworthy was like “he might have
thought about that”, or we don’t know what he felt, or it was said that.., but then in
other places he’s literally describing what the character thought and felt.

It’s as if he couldn’t decide if he should remain outside the character’s mind, and
pretend that he’s only heard some rummours, or if he should go inside, so he chose
the most convenient option on a case by case basis.

I watched the 2002 adaptation and I was pleasantly surprised. It lacks some of the
author’s humor and some subplots, but the characters, especially the female
characters are so much better. Irine verges on being an actual human being. The
cast, the music and the decorations are perfect.

The book was fine, nothing spectacular, but I don’t want to read the entire Forsyte
Chronicles. I’m not that invested, even after about 900 pages, and I don’t think my
opinion will change. It’s too shallow for me.

I’m still glad I read it, though, because I still felt like most of the characters were
real, even though the narrator was a bit distant, and the other ones were parodies.
There were a few touching moments that are going to stay with me for a long time.

if the slow pace doesn’t bother you, and if you are ok with a bit of nostalgia and
family drama, then maybe you’ll enjoy it. Don’t judge it by the first novel, though,
it gets better.
The next book is a collection of short stories, The Inimitable Jeeves by
P.G.Wodehouse, I think they should be read in one or two sittings, because this
way, the connection between the stories will be more obvious.

Woodehouse and I we have a history. My translation professor used to give us

excerpts from his works, because one of the most difficult things to translate is the
humor, the comedy, so Wodehouse was an amazing choice for that.

I spent way too much time being frustrated that I couldn’t convey what he was
trying to say, that I didn’t have much left for enjoying his work. Obviously I was a
bit reluctant to pick up his works, after, I believe, two semesters of torture.

But then the lockdown happened, and I wanted something to watch, something
amusing and relaxing, and I picked the TV series Jeeves and Wooster with hugh
laurie and Stephen fry, which has its flaws, but I still think it was the best choice
for me at the time.

It was so funny and aesthetically pleasing that it erased most of my previous

memories related to the book series.

I read these short stories in June I believe, and I loved them. They’re about Bertie
Wooster, a young man who’s rich, and his gentleman’s gentlemen, jeeves, who’s
really smart, who knows everything about everyone and who can get his gentleman
out of any trouble if he wants to, that is.

Against all expectations, Bertie is the one who gets most of the catchphrases while
jeeves is the more refined one. And guess who’s the narrator.

There are also a few reoccurring characters like aunt Agatha who’s bertie’s worst
nightmare. She controls him, and he can’t say no to her, or most people for that
matter.
There’s also Bingo Little, bertie’s friend, not to be confused with the elder mr little
his uncle. He falls inlove very easily, and asks for help. He uses the fact that they
attended the same school as an argument.

Surely he can’t refuse him, they attended the same school, that’s like brothers for
life, right? Most of the time it works with bertie, he really needs to work on his
boundaries.

I’m going to give you an example. In one of the stories, Bingo falls in love with a
waitress, and since he depends on his uncle, he needs Bertie’s help to convince him
that she’s good match for Bingo.

Jeeves advocates for a method that advertisers called direct suggestion. You know
when you get exposed to a product again and again you become more fond of it.

Apparently this was used a lot in in the propaganda for world war 1.

The idea was to expose the elder mr little to a series of narratives in wich marriage
to a person of an inferior social status was framed as admirable, he would be
prepared to hear the news.

Not, only do they use this tactic, but Bertie even pretends to be the author of the
said books. It’s hilarious.

Honnestly I envy woodhouse’s eloquence, I wish I could express my thoughts in

English, or any language for that matter. My ineptitude is killing me sometimes.

This is a truly wonderful collection, even if you’ve heard the stories before, or you
watched the adaptation, it’s still worth your time. It’s entertaining rather than
intellectually stimulating, but I wouldn’t call this a flaw.

The trouble is, even if I try to describe a few episodes, you won’t find them
amusing, because they sort of loose their charm when they’re taken out of context.
But to give you a taste of it: you know when you’re approaching a delicate subject
with someone, like a crazy uncle or something, well, berty descirbes this like so;

“We were peeping to the family cupboard and having a look at the good old
skeleton.”

Skeleton in the closet, so original, but the way it’s phrased, the way aunt Agatha
eyes him with a good deal of solemnity and he takes a grave sip of coffee

Or you know, when you have to meet someone and let’s just say it’s more like an
obligation rather than a friendly lunch. Bertie concludes that the less you want a
fellow, the more punctual he’s bound to be. The entire collection is Murphy’s law
at play.

Or when, bingo needs bertie’s help once again, and he reminds him that they were
at school together and that they’ve been pals for 15 years, his response is It wasn’t
my fault. It’s going to take me the rest of my life to live it down.

As I said, they lose their charm when they’re out of context, but the stories are
comforting, because you know that by the end of them you know that they’re
going to come up with some sort of solution, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed,
but it doesn’t usually work like that in real life.

Since this year I discovered how much Dostoevsky loved Ann Radcliffe, especially
when he was young, I decided to read one of her novels, Attention! Wrote that The
italian is good.

Honestly, I expected it to be slow and way too melodramatic for me, but it turned
out to be one of the most entertaining books I read this year.

I put it to the ultimate test, I tried to read it before sleep just to see if I would
adormi fall, but I didn’t. It kept me up for hours. I was too into it. Everything was
so intense.
Don’t get me wrong, you can probably predict most of the tropes it will use from
the first few chapters, but the way they’re used is just flawless, especially the plot-
twist in the second half of the novel.

The book is about two lovers, Vincenzio Vivaldi and ellena di Rosalba, who can’t
be together because of the class difference. They’re both classic romantic
characters: brave and pure and all that, and they have to fight for their love.

Their names might have been inspired from 2 famous Italians, the composer
Antonio viladi, and the artist Rosalba Carriera, I’m not sure if there’s any reason
behind that, aside from the fact that the names would sound familiar to the English
ear.

But the novel itself opens with an Englishman seeing an assassin in a church. To
his surprise, criminals can find shelter in churches, because crime is so common in
Italy.

The action is set during the Italian inquisition, so there are nuns, monks and priests
involved, they’re the most mysterious characters. The other characters are much
more interesting than the protagonists. When 2 villains are planning to murder
someone, there’s this awkard scene where they don’t know how to phrase things.

They both understand that this is the only solution to their problem, and they trust
each other, but at the same time, there’s the natural fear that the other will
condemn them for such thoughts, because their both respectable, or even worse,
betray them.

Their hints become more and more clear and embarrassing as the scene
progresses, and because they’re Christians they have all these doubts, like killing is
bad, but we do it for the greater good.

Even though they fit into different stereotypes, the characters display some
unexpected feelings. They have doubts that would be ignored in any other novel of
this kind.
Their personalities are more contradictory than they would seem at first, although
even when they confirm your assumptions, they take things to the extreme.

There’s an episode where someone proves to be undeniably evil, but another

character is so pure that they’re unable to recognize this, and they even try to find
excuses for them.

The characters aren’t the novel’s strength though. most of them are static, the most
important thing is, the author’s ability to create this special vibe. Each chapter has
a beautiful epigraph, then there are so many references to other works, especially
shakespeare’s, and the rumours and the legends make this book stand out from the
other gothic novels I read.

If you like gothic fiction, if you like mystery, hiden identities, schemes, and
adventures, and obviously beautiful buildings, and if you have developed a
tolerance for sentimentality and credulity, then you’re welcome. It’s a really
dynamic book for all ages.

Although there were a few tense scenes, don’t expect this novel to be scary. If
you’re looking for realism, look elsewhere, because this one contains way too
many concidences. Certain things were unintentionally funny, like the logic of
some characters was beyond me.

I can see why someone would hate it, because it has elements I disliked in other
books, but the way they are executed made me ignore all the book’s flaws.

I used to think there can be nothing interesting for me in this sort of novels, I can’t
enjoy them anymore, but no, apparently I can.

The next book, the leopard, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa is a historical

novel set during the Italian unification, or Risorgimento, in the 19th century. It’s
about the decline of nobility and rise of the middle-class.
The title character is a Sicilian prince, don Fabrizio. His nephew, Tancredi follows
Garibaldi, and don Fabrizio’s daughter is in love with him, but life intervenes, and
I feel like I can’t tell you more about the plot itself, without spoilers. Don Fabrizio
accepts the changes, he can’t fight the people who come into power.

I enjoyed the melancholy of the book, the beauty and the richness of the language,
even in translation, some of the dialogues and symbolism, but I felt like it lacked
something. I wish we got more history and more time to get to know the characters
more intimately.

In case I’ve heard about the movie adaptation of this, directed by Visconti, please
find the largest screen available, because it’s one of the movies that deserve it, or
rather, need it.

The story is bittersweet, but I feel like it was too short for what the author was
trying to do, so the impact wasn’t as big in my case, but maybe some of you will
like it. It was a bestseller for a reason.

One of the most memorable lines is:

“We were the Leopards, the Lions; those who'll take our place will be little jackals,
hyenas; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on
thinking ourselves the salt of the earth.”