Favourite Fictional Couples

With Valentines Day just gone, I thought it would be nice to go through some of my favourite fictional couples. I crowd sourced a couple of these from Movellas users as well.

Mr Darcy & Elizabeth Bennett - Suggested by @Sanguine on Movellas
Of course, the long reigning king and queen of the list. I grew up with Pride and Prejudice in my house, and I loved the story of these lovers growing to understand each other. One of the most 'real' couples on the list I think, and that's why they deserve pride of place.

Jamie & Claire Fraser
As I write I am watching the Starz series of Outlander. I've read all of the books so far so I am not just a series hound. I can't wait for the next book to find out the next chapter in this epic couple's life. Even in times of peace on the Ridge there was drama, tied to the history of the time.

Ma & Pa Ingles
Fantastic couple. They went through some hard times let me tell you. Anyone who hasn't read the Laura Ingles Wilder series, should seriously consider it. Nostalgic look at the American trail blazers that settled the prairies and west of America. This little family makes it through and the love that the parents have for each other, keeps the whole family going. Truly heart warming.

Romeo & Juliet - Suggested by @Madouc on Movellas
The classics. They're pretty far down my list because they are one of the most impossible couples. first of all, they're children. Even in the context of the time her father is a little weary about marrying her off so soon. and then Romeo is just looking to be in love and rashly launches himself at her. Its a brilliant story and they pay the ultimate price. doomed love, it's a dark one to have on the list, but you can't miss out the greatest love story there is.

Mr & Mrs Weasley
While researching this list Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione came up a couple times as potentials. But that got me thinking, the real fictional couple we have to look at here is Mr & Mrs Weasley, the ultimate parents. Not only are they intent on keeping their family safe and together, they're still fighting the darkest powers there are. and Mrs W still has time to knit a Christmas jumper for all of them. Go team Weasley.

Bonus:
Rose and Jack
Throwing this couple in for funsies. Many of the couples on this list are also immortalized on screen as well as in as book, but these two will always be Kate and Leo for so many people. I think they're special because even though their relationship was brief, he inspired her to change her life.

Who are your favourites?

January Reviews

Sea of Poppies
Amitav Ghosh
4/5
John Murray 16/4/2009 Paperback
Christmas Haul
One of a trilogy, which does make it a little different. I will not be reading any of the other books in this series BUT as you can see from the ranking, that doesn't suggest I didn't enjoy Sea of Poppies. The main take away is the characters. They are all brilliant and nuanced and I thought they interacted really well. The characters developed and changed as we went along. It was important that there were a number of story lines to tie together.
Another reason I absolutely loved the book is because it centres around opium. Opium was my specialist subject at Uni and I try to extend the interest now. From the cultivation and effects to the start of the opium wars, it's all in there.
The only reason it doesn't get full marks is the ending. It doesn't hold up as a stand alone book enough for me. I've decided not to carry on the series because I've warned off the other books that aren't so good as the first one, and it then leaves me with a slightly jarring ending. But it's definitely worth a read if you're interested in India or opium, or a jolly good read!




Umbrella
Will Self
/
Bloomsbury 16/8/12 Paperback
Christmas Haul
Gutted that I had to give up. I want to return to this Will Self book once I have time to get lost in it. I have been too busy to appreciate it though. I heard Will Self read an excerpt from Umbrella at a reading once and so I know that you have to read it in the same way that you approach Ulysses, dramatically, full throttle, letting the language flow over you and catching at characters as they jump around in time.
I WILL read it. I haven't given it a score yet because I think that would be unfair.
For anyone thinking of picking up Umbrella, I must suggest that you consider saving it for curling up in a corner in a pub for hours rather than a commuters book. You can't be absorbing the delicate details of the writing while someone else's actual umbrella presses wetly against your work trousers.

All of my reviews from 2015

HUGE review round up available all in one place, you lucky dawgs. < wrote dawgs to be less derogatory perhaps? Any way, indulge yourselves with a romp through all of the books I read in 2015. Go. Enjoy.

January
The Miniaturist and How to Win Friends and Influence People

February
An Echo in the Bone, Maggot Moon, The Secret Garden

March
Written in My Own Heart's Blood, Smoke and Mirrors, Rasputin

April

May
The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year, Pride and Prejudice, Trigger Warning

June
The Architect's Apprentice, Birds without Wings

July
Chickenhawk

August
The Moor's Account

September
The Life I Left Behind, Burnt Paper Sky, The Chimes

October
Orlando, Vathek

November
The Bone Clocks

December
Sense and Sensibility, The Mistress Contract, The Poet's Wives

Favourite Blog Posts

Following my month of retrospective looks at 2015, I've compiled a link list of my most popular blog posts of 2015, and a few which were my favourite to write for people to revisit.

100 Things I did this year
My favourite blog! A huge collection of all of my adventures that I had this year.

100 Best Books in the English Language
Mini reviews for the books that I've read on this list.

Being Undervalued
My rant regarding leaving my previous job.

Books About Dancing
I'm still desperately hoping to flesh out this list. If anyone has any recommendations I'd love to hear them.

Books Before Marriage
Get to know me through the books that sum me up. Like the list? Put a ring on it.

Christmas Books
All the classics to read at Christmas time.

Job Jealousy
Sad blog, wishing I worked in publishing!

June Reviews - Revisiting Turkey
The Architects Apprentice, Birds Without Wings reviews that were both set in Turkey.

Man Booker Prediction
My shortlist prediction did really well, even though I was completely wrong!

November Novels
The Bone Clocks review.

September Reviews
All of the books I reviews with the Underground Bookclub

Secret Life of a Book Blogger
My first blogger tag game!

December 2016 Reviews

Sense and Sensibility
Jane Austen
Wordsworth Classics 1811 hardback
5/5
School Library
I am semi-ashamed to say that I took this book from an unofficial book exchange at my boarding school. It was so many years ago that this hardback has been part of my collection and was just blindly absorbed onto my shelves. So I forgot that I stole it until I saw a notation on the front cover. Anyway, it took me a while to finally pick up this book, and as you can see by the rating, I loved it. As with Pride and Prejudice, my childhood knowledge of the story from the adaptation, was expanded, and whole swathes of the story were new and exciting. I loved reading this book and getting to know the base forms of the characters portrayed on screen. Some confusing elements of the plot were smoothed out, eg: Lucy Steele's little snippets are far more biting in the book, which admittedly would be hard to portray. It's definitely worth picking up an Austen, I am slowly working through the collection. Just four more to go! *adds collection to Amazon wish list*. I can't wait for the next one, probably Emma.

Read my review of Pride and Prejudice here.


The Mistress Contract
He & She
Serpent's Tail 2013 hardback
1/5
Internship Haul
The only reason this book gets a point at all is that I finished it. I had faith that it would get better. It didn't. I think the main problem is the protagonists are old, so there is a strange social barrier of a book about sex written by people who have such different views to people of my age group. On the other hand it was readable, I can't fault the writing, but the bone dry approach was its main down fall.
The couple write a contract for an exchange of income and household for mistress services and the book is all about the conversations they had about their relationship status. The book has been made into a play, and I wonder if that will have a more fictionalised element because the conversations gave so little insight into their lives, sexual or otherwise that it was almost entirely pointless.
Even the more interesting discussions about feminism and sexual preferences were titillatingly dealt with in conversations that meandered to no where, as most do, with neither partner changing their mind or challenging the other. One to abandon on the tube to disappoint someone else I think.

The Poet's Wives
David Park
Bloomsbury 2015 paperback
2/5
Internship Haul
Another book I will never finish. There is no particular reason why I lost interest in The Poet's Wives, just that I could see it stretching out in front of me and couldn't care less about the outcome. The concept is a three part book, written by the wives of three poets, two real and one fictional. Perhaps the final section ties everything up in a beautiful and poignant bow, but as far as I got it was looking pretty dire.
I actually got pretty far along with it though, the first two parts were fairly interesting, and it was very nicely written, showcasing Park's changing writing styles between characters. But I just gradually lost interest. If it's taking me three weeks or more to finish a book, I'm unlikely to finish it. I wouldn't recommend this as a must read, but it's an easy read, if anyone finishes it, let me know if it was worth it.

Reading Resolutions

1. Beat my last record of 35 books in 12 months. (May-May)

2. Read for at least an hour every day.

3. Read all of the unread books on my shelves.

4. Give away those books I'll never read again. Keepsakes get a box in the loft.

5. Join a library. DONE


I think those are fairly achievable. I don't want to set anything too mad and I'm very keen to beat my last record!

Other resolutions:

1. Lose 5kg.

2. Improve Cantonese to small talk level.

3. Place in a Ceroc competition.



Happy New Year everyone.

Christmas Haul

What did you all get for Christmas? Share your #ChristmasHaul on Twitter and let me know! I'm loving some of these titles and these will probably last until next year. I can't wait to start reading all of these, it was so hard to decide which one to open first, but I've decided on Sea of Poppies to start the New Year.

Lean in - Sheryl Sandberg, and Nell Scovell

Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

Armada - Ernest Cline

Lila - Marilynne Robertson

Box of Delights - John Masefield

Queen of Shadows -  Sarah J Maas

The Woman in Black and Other Stories - Susan Hill