My favorite novel is, and has always been, Jane Eyre. I think it is absolute perfection. I see so much of myself in Jane, it is scary. I consider it to be a personal Bible of sorts and I defend it fiercely. I am going to start a new series, if you will, that will start with quotations from the book and then give an explanation for why they are so important to me. Sounds terribly boring, I know, but it is fun for me!!!
"[W]hereas Lilliput and Brobdignag being, in my creed, solid parts of the earth's surface, I doubted not that I might one day, by taking a long voyage, see with my own eyes the little fields, houses, and trees, the diminutive people, the tiny cows, sheep, and birds, of the one realm; and the corn-fields forest-high, the mighty mastiffs, the monster cats, the tower-like men and women, of the other."
In this quotation, Jane is talking about one of her favorite books, Gulliver's Travels, but it reminds me so much of how I feel about Lord of the Rings. I love to imagine that Hobbits are real and that one day I will go to Hobbiton and see Bag End. I know that you can go see parts of New Zealand where they filmed the movie and I really really hope to go some day. When Craig and I are driving and see a little house with a crazy garden and a little stream, he will always say it looks like a hobbit lives there because he knows how happy I get! I wish those creatures were real, but then of course, orcs would be real, and they scare me.
It also reminds me of Harry Potter, which I am convinced is real. I CANNOT WAIT to go to the Harry Potter section at Universal Studios. Craig says we are going to Disney soon so hopefully we can go there too. I know I will freak out! I just love being so involved in a book that it feels real. It is really a testament to the writing abilities of Tolkien and Rowling that I believe these worlds are real.
So, like Jane Eyre, I too love to get lost in books and imagine visiting the worlds described within them. Maybe some day.....
I read that book in highschool, maybe I should revisit it. I don't think it resonated with me the way it does with you.
ReplyDeleteYou are going to think so less of me after you read this, but I chose to not read the book in high school and instead, read the Cliff Notes in order to write my paper for English class! LOL I quoted right from the Cliff Notes and got caught! My Jane Eyre paper got a 0% F- busted! I'm with Carol- maybe I should revisit it! I have bad memories of that book! Ha!
ReplyDeleteOh you ladies are missing out!! It is a wonderful book, one of my favorites too!
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