Farnoosh's New Blog: ProlificLiving.com/blog

To my loyal and random readers:
While I have not stopped reading, I have stopped blogging here. It has been long since time to move on from Blogger, though it has been good to me, and to establish my own website and blog. I am almost done, and plan to launch before spring 2009. Do come and visit.
http://www.prolificliving.com/blog/
Best,
Farnoosh

Jane Austen: "Pride and Prejudice"

Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice, is an epic novel, and no review or praise of this book, including mine, will yield it justice, and that is why you must read Austen to feel the experience first hand. Let me start by saying the best adaptation of this classic is the 1995 movie with Colin Firth as the ultimate Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet. The 2-part long movie and most excellent choice of actors for the main characters create a lovely cinematic experience. The breathtaking characters and dialogue from the movie filled me with an urge to read the book. Jane Austen portrays characters that have clearly withstood the test of time, and through them, she shows us her powerful understanding of the complexities of the human heart and soul.

There have been countless reviews of Jane Austen’s writing style and masterpiece. What else can I say that has not been said already? Perhaps if we are as complex and unique as Austen’s characters, so is the imprint of her book on our heart and soul, and so here is mine.

The recurring themes in Pride and Prejudice, so carefully depicted by Austen, transport you ever so delicately into the world of 1813. These themes, the need for validation and identity for men and women alike, the obsession with honorable deeds and actions, the preservation of character through integrity, weaved perfectly through her flawless prose, create some of the best writing you shall ever read. The language of Austen combined with the perfectly proper use of English at the time makes me long for living in a time and age when such was still the way of speaking.

It is nauseating to tolerate the insufferable characters: Mrs. Bennet, Lydia, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Miss Bingley, and the infamous Mr. Wickham. Yet it is a small price to pay to take a seat and listen to the symphony of dialogues between Lizzy and Mr. Darcy.

The mistaken impression of the pride of Mr. Darcy character draws ever so much drama in the Bennet family and all their relatives and friends as to make you think he has committed a felony or a serious offense to society. To have pride and to be proud of whom you are and what you possess, in this time and age, was at odds with being a good human being, and considered a character flaw.

The enormous patience, compassion and forgiveness built into the heart and soul of Ms. Jane Bennet, the sweet older sister of Lizzy, is a thing to awe. The patience to withhold any display of emotion, anger, sadness, frustration, loneliness, depression, even in the face of dishonesty, betrayal and poor judgment. Jane has her reasons, and Lizzy argues with them. Lizzy is outspoken and courageous, and yet, even her bravery has to be moderated in a society that values above all things the appearances, manners and one’s designated place within it. Opposites in this regard they may be, Lizzy and Jane can only confide and be intimate with one another as the drama of their lives unfolds before them.

The vivacious heroine of Pride and Prejudice is Elizabeth Bennet, or Lizzy. In Austen’s words, Elizabeth is “as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print”, and alas, I have to agree. Elizabeth is a woman born years before her time for her intellect, perception and judgment. Yet, you cannot help but worship her for finding the delicate balance between defying all who place boundaries on her dreams and politely obeying and playing by all the rules. She is magnificent with her tongue; the English language bows before her, and she makes words dance, sing, and perform remarkably well on the stage of her speeches. She brings Mr. Darcy to his knees at times and sends him off with a rage he has never experienced at other times. She is neither ashamed nor proud of her average class family and yet she refuses to believe that her ties limit her chances of connecting with higher classes of society. She values a genuinely good character above all else, and holds herself to the same standard. At one point, it is this very value that causes her much pain when she realizes how unjustly she had treated Mr. Darcy in his first proposal of marriage. Her indignation of his conduct, after careful study, seemed a bit harsh, and her vexation towards him turns into compassion for him and anger for self. “Til this moment”, Elizabeth utters, “I never knew myself.” The articulation of these beautiful journeys of the heart and soul are the timeless accomplishments of Austen in print.

There are countless sections of the book that I have read several times, some slow, some fast, some out loud, some in a whisper. It would be impossible to write all my favorite passages here from the 61 delightful chapters. Instead of reciting every word, let us start at the end, and end this review with a hopeful beginning for a return to preservation of grace, dignity and beauty in our love affairs in life.

Chapter Sixty: Dialogue between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, moments after they are engaged to be married.
Elizabeth: “…but what could set you off in the first place?”
Mr. Darcy: “I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew I had begun.”

Mr. Darcy: “….and afterwards dined here? Why, especially, when you called, did you look as if you did not care about me?”
“Because you were grave and silent, and gave me no encouragement.”
“But I was embarrassed.”
“And so was I.”
“You might have talked to me more when you came to dinner.”
“A man who had felt less might.”

Michael Crichton: "Timeline"

If Crichton were to write about the dull story of a fish's life at the bottom of a bottomless ocean in a corner of the world where nothing of consequence happens, I would want to read it. Simply because Crichton wrote it. The first 4 books which I happened to read, in no particular order on Crichton's account, were brilliantly written, and kept me intrigued to the last page.
Not a usual history buff, aside from some recent interesting reading, I have no idea now why I picked up this book and I am very happy I did. I read the first 50pg. two months ago, forgot all about it, and then picked it up to keep me company on some long flights.
A story of the present going to the past - the good old concept of time machine renewed yet again with a different angle - in this version, Crichton's masterpiece mind, Robert Doniger, has created a machine to send people back....back to the infamous date of 1357. The theory is quite interesting - and truly impossible: We do not live in a "universe", we live in a "multiverse" - Many many other universeS exist at the same time we do, in a different dimension in space, representing different TIMES, including the past which cannot exist in the present except that it does. The true brilliance is not in this fictional theory itself, but in accessing these other universes from our very own - my favorite example is how they simplify the concept to sending a human fax. The science fiction bit aside, when our professor character is lost in 1357 and needs to be rescued, his loyal students, Marek, Kate and Chris, go back to find him. And that is where fiction ends for the most part, and Crichton's brilliant account of the world of 1357 takes you back to a time where, if you did not know better, you would really think it to be more than mere few hundred years ago. Just how far we have come in civilization, technology, medicine, science and general knowledge of the world.
With all kudos to Crichton for his in-depth anal descriptions of the war lords, the castles, the customs, the fortresses, the soldiers, the knights, the swordsmanship, the languages (from Occitan to Latin to old English and very old French), and the endless adventures which came upon our time travelers, he lost me, he lost me in the bottomless pit of his vocabulary and I was very frustrated for knowing so little about history and the past.
I loved the story - not one of my favorite books but an especially good read which I highly recommend for the patient reader ;)! I was more than surprised to find myself thinking about 1357 for weeks after I had read the last page.....I am ever so happy to be born during the time period that I were!

Natalia Rose: "Raw Food Life Force Energy"

My last blog was about Natalia's first book, and I just finished reading most of the sections from the second book, "Raw Food Life Force Energy", which is very similar to the first. If you have the first book, you most likely do not need this second book; they offer roughly the same material except for the recipe section. This second book also covers a new concept around vibrations of matter, and vibrations of the food we eat, as she draws her connection between the two. I think that the scientific references were more fluff than fact, yet on a sub-conscious level, it makes for a good mental image that can be very motivating to the readers of this book. There is also a 21-day plan with pre-set menus taking into account the right food combinations which she is very big on. There is a much better index in this book. I am very curious about certain foods and how they rank in her "chart", and the index does a decent job of mentioning them. I still cannot find any references to rice milk! It is also important to note that this is not a diet of eating all raw foods, and not all raw food means uncooked food. These subtle differences between wrong and right understanding of this way of eating could be what makes or breaks it for you, so it does pay to read the books. I have to admit some of this really works, and I am really happy to have come across Natalia Rose.