Brief Book Review: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

I have had a request for more book reviews, so here's a quickie one for another late evening.

My book club just finished reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë. Here are a few of my thoughts. (I apologize in advance that these thoughts do not form a coherent review.)

*I was surprised that the titular tenant is, in fact, a woman. Having heard the title of this book for some years without knowing anything of what it was about, I had always envisioned said tenant as being male for some reason. Male and brooding and probably much too old for the heroine. Not sure why.

*Oh, wait, yes I am sure why. See: the author's last name.

*I was also surprised how much I enjoyed this book given the amount of time I spent being annoyed with the two main characters.

*Seriously, not since Edmund of Mansfield Park have I wanted to slap a character upside the head so badly. This is including Katniss Everdeen, folks. (And they're supposed to be the good guys!)

*I do not include Bella Swan on that list because that goes WAYYY beyond needing a slap upside the head.

*But no, if I had been reading Tenant in paperback form instead of on my Kindle, the antics of Gilbert and Helen would have merited a session of throwing the book against the wall in disgust. (Literary characters take note: putting your fingers in your ears and saying "Lalalalalala I can't HEAR you!" is NOT an effective coping mechanism.)

*Don't worry. The bad guys need a slap upside the head, too. But you expect that in a novel.

*Brontë sisters take note: NOT EVERYTHING IN LIFE IS WEIRD AND BEYOND DEPRESSING. You need to get away from those moors, yo. And I'm not talking about Othello. Or a place to tie boats.

*I'm pretty sure Anne didn't quite know how to end the book because her characters kept being stupid and not cooperating to come to some sort of resolution for the story. (See: slap upside the head.) So she had to end the story by sheer force of will, and it kind of shows. We're not quite into deus ex machina territory here, but I bet if you'd made Anne spend one more week writing this book it would have come to that.

*Literary characters take another note: Hitting someone over the head, knocking them off their horse and leaving him on the side of the road in the rain when they (understandably) refuse your offer of assistance (remember, you're the reason they need assistance in the first place) is also NOT an effective coping mechanism. Hanging out with people who do this is also a bad plan. (Victorian heroines, are you listening?)

*Brontë sisters take note again: Seriously, have you NEVER met a normal happy couple? Wow.

*Book club members take note: This was a lot of fun. Have I mentioned how much I like you folks?

To sum up: I liked this book but it was not my favorite Brontë book ever (Jane Eyre), nor do I think it is the best-written of the Brontë books (I have to admit that award goes to Wuthering Heights, as weird and depressing as it is). But definitely worth picking up; once you start reading it you want to keep reading it until the end.



I know you're probably sick of me mentioning what day we've reached in my NaBloPoMo blogging streak. But being able to give myself a virtual high-five everyday like this is what has gotten me to day 15 (halfway there!); it's kind of like the little pick-me-up you get when you cross an item off your to-do list.

OH MY STINKING HECK I ACTUALLY PASSED.

And best of all, so did Shallow Man!

WE BOTH PASSED THE BAR, YO!

(Our poor kid officially will have two lawyers for parents. Maybe you should pray for him. . . .)

It's Over!

We have finally reached that mythical period of which our family has been dreaming for months:

AFTER THE BAR.

(It's been said so often in our house the last few weeks that we were about to get it embroidered on our towels, like a family crest.)

And my brain is a puddle of goo which is taking its dear sweet time reconstituting, so here's a quick summary to tide you over until I can get this blog back to its regularly scheduled snark.

Taking the Bar: Icky.

Sleep schedule: Shot.

Chairs at the Bar: Eeeeeeevil! (I mean, at least they were padded, but they were still folding chairs which meant zero back support which means me=miserable after the first three hours. And then there were four and a half more hours. And seven more the next day. . . .)

Number of Pens of Mine Which Mysteriously Vanished, Possibly with the Participation of Bar Exam Proctors: Two. (One black, one blue.)

Our attitude after the essay exam: Deep relief.

Our attitude after the first half of the multiple choice exam: Cautious optimism.

Our attitude after the second half of the multiple choice exam: Exhausted. But it's over. Slightly-more-cautious-than-before optimism.

Amount of time before I have to think about this exam in any detail again: 8 to 10 weeks.

New family motto: It's Over!

Number of guilt-free naps I have taken since yesterday: Three.

Baby's take on the entire experience: KICK THE BLADDER!!!!!

Ah, well. At least some things stay consistent. (In other news, we are officially in the third trimester and now I can FINALLY start getting ready for this kid. Wahoo!)

Is there a doctor in the house?

No, there is not a doctor in the house.

Because actually, there are now TWO doctors in the house.

That's right. Shallow Man and I have both officially graduated from law school and are the proud owners of shiny new initials after our names: J.D. Juris Doctor. (Dr. Scritchy, I presume?)

Yeah, except nobody really calls lawyers "Dr." Except right after convocation while we're all still giddy and saying "Wahoo!"

But still. Those initials are still there. And even though a juris doctor is the red-headed stepchild of the doctorate degree family, I still technically am a doctor.

Wahoo!



P.S. Also, in even-bigger-wahoo-type-news, today was the first day in longer than I care to count that I haven't had to take any anti-nausea medication. Figures that the morning sickness would ease up right as soon as I have no classes to miss. :) I've only been in the second trimester for about three days and I'm loving it already.

An update, because I promised.

Well, I refused to take any guff from that take-home final.

I gave my final project what-for.

And I took my final paper out into the back field and beat it severely, like that scene with the printer in Office Space.

Yeah, this is what I did to my finals:



And now they're dead done. And I slept in today until 1:00 and I'm writing this in my pajamas and I'M NOT SORRY. In fact, this is the best I've felt since school started in August. So join me in a great sigh of contentment: *ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.*


And now, less than a week before Christmas, I finally have time to put up the tree. I'm looking forward to next December when I will actually be able to start the Christmas festivities at the beginning of the month, rather than three weeks in.

I just have to brag for a minute.

How many people do you know who can not only fit an entire set of dishes for 12 plus a week's worth of clothing and toiletries and a bunch of touristy souvenirs into two small carry-on suitcases, one large-ish checked suitcase and a plastic bag full of a new down comforter, but also arrive at home across the country after three flights, two ridiculously long layovers, and an hour's drive home for a total of 13 hours traveling without breaking a single dish out of the 65-piece set?

Well, if you're reading this, you now know at least one.

Yeah, I'm* awesome.



*Okay, so technically it should say "we're" because Shallow Man was a part of the enterprise. But it's still my blog.

As another small side note, the plastic comforter bag even burst open at some point between the time it was checked and when it slid down the ramp at the baggage claim, and we still didn't lose any of the random miscellany we'd tucked in there with the comforter. Pretty awesome considering that our packing efforts were the floor show at Shallow Man's family's house the night before. They didn't think we'd even fit everything in, let alone make it home unscathed. Hence the gloating.

Aren't you glad you know someone so awesome?

They wanted to use my real name but I insisted on maintaining my anonymity. I think it adds to my mystique.

Now, if you can still manage to sing that song, I'll be impressed.


In other news, I am now officially halfway done with law school. Wahoo!

Happy something; or, slightly unsettling

So, hey, last post was number 100 (woohoo for me, I kept a blog going this long and actually have slightly more than seven readers, who also get woohoos for sticking around this long) which makes this number 101 and since I didn't commemorate the last one, I'm commemorating this one. Um. Yeah, that was the commemoration right there. (We keep things pretty simple over here at the Scritchy Nib -- which, now that I think about it, sounds like some sort of Dickensian pub -- not to mention I HAVE NO TIME even though it's been freakin' PLACEMENT BREAK for goodness sake and I still didn't get a break. Stinkin' two jobs, gosh!)

But I digress.

Mostly what I wanted to say was that I managed somehow (no, I really don't know how) to get a paper cut on the tip of my right middle finger the other day. This happens to be my mouse/trackpad finger. It doesn't hurt at all now, but it's at that slight paper cut healing stage where there's still a definite groove or bump, so when I use the trackpad or, to a lesser extent, type, it feels like I've got a small piece of grit or a crumb or something stuck to my finger. Which is slightly unsettling. And when I try to get it off it doesn't come off (which also is slightly unsettling) because it's a convalescent paper cut. Am I the only one these kinds of things happen to? And if so, is it because I'm slightly more klutzy than the next person, or is it because my life is unentertaining enough that this sort of thing becomes fascinating in comparison (read: this is the most exciting thing that's happened to me for several days), making me more likely to notice it than someone who's got more excitement in their life anyway? Inquiring minds want to know. Well, I want to know at any rate.

Okay, so I lied a little bit. The gritty paper cut thing is NOT the most exciting thing. The most exciting thing is that I finally got my ring re-plated and cleaned and all that jazz for the first time in almost two years and it is SO SHINY. And we all know how much I like shiny stuff.