Well, this took some thought. And then I settled on two – though one might not be classified as a novel and the other might not want to be classified as a romance...I'm not sure.
The first one, definitely a novel, is Gone With the Wind. I first saw the movie when I was six or seven – well, parts of the movie – I was at my grandma's house and she was watching it for the twenty eighth time or something and she kept turning it off and then turning it back on. So I wouldn't see things like Bonnie (that's her name, right?) falling off her horse. And then I saw parts of the movie many times over the next few years. It's a long movie and I wasn't up to sitting through it. I'm not sure when I first saw the whole thing – maybe when I had a retreat at Chez Piltz in 2002? Possibly when I had my wisdom teeth out, but anything I watched then doesn’t count.
But the book, I have read the book! When I moved to London there was an extensive library where I was living, made up mostly of books that were donated or left behind by travellers or staff who were moving on. I was there for six months and there wasn't a lot of time for reading, but I decided that I'd try to read Gone With the Wind because I should be able to do it in that amount of time! I know it took me a while because I was in one room for the first three months and another rood for the last three and I have memories of reading it in both rooms.
Part of me loves reading epics – they tend to last longer than other books and that makes me happy. Part of me hates reading epics – they tend to last longer than other books and that can be frustrating. With this book, I was happy. I knew the story fairly well and I really enjoyed reading it. Scarlett drove me nuts sometimes because she was so self-centered, but she evolved and while she could still be very self-centered, she became a stronger person. Rhett just drove me nuts. Ashley and Melanie were a bit whiny, but overall, I really did just like reading it.
So, what did you think about Gone With the Wind (I know there's at least one differing opinion out there!)?
The second romance I mentioned is Pioneer Woman's story of how she met her husband, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. I couldn’t stop reading it. It's broken up into blog posts and I had to limit myself to three a day or I would have just wasted all my time with Alex and J and all of my time at work to reading it as quickly as possible. Not a good use of my time...Check it out! And I think I heard she has expanded it and it's coming out in book form.
So – does that count as a novel? What is your favourite romance??
I can't comment on the book Gone With the Wind because I've never read it, but the movie... grrrrr.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I would like the book because one of my problems with the movie was all these characters that were introduced for one or two scenes and then you never see them again. Perhaps they crop up again in the book or their disappearance is explained.
I did actually cheer in the movie when it got to the "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." line. I thought Scarlett deserved to have him leave after the way she had mistreated and abused others. Also, it meant that the movie was almost over so YAY!!