ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

My review of THE WOMAN IN WHITE by Wilkie Collins

Written by: Elisa English (Copyrighted)

I couldn’t recall what prompted me to purchase the book “The Woman in White” by “Wilkie Collins” sixteen years ago.  Maybe I was sold on the deeply discounted price of $1.  This book could have sat on my bookshelf for another eighteen years if not for my son’s meddling with the books on the bookshelf.  He was trying to find a book to read.  This book, like many others, was sitting there alone, quietly, covered with dust.  I have the impulse of buying books whenever I am in a bookstore.  After the purchase, the books will sit on my bookshelves, waiting for my mood to strike.  For this one, it had sat there for over sixteen years before I finally picked it up.  There are still numerous books on the bookshelves waiting for me to devour. 

    I have been putting off reading “The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” by Randy Pausch until now, mainly because I can hardly find any spare time to read. 

    Professor Pausch, a computer science professor from Carnegie Mellon University, was asked to speak at the lecture series: Journeys to share his reflections and insights on his personal and professional journey at the school on September 18, 2007.  This lecture series used to be called the Last Lecture.  Ironically, Professor Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the time, with only 2-5 months of good health left.  This was indeed his last lecture.  Professor Pauch died on July 25, 2008.

Reading a book over 1,000 pages is not easy, let alone writing a book review about it, especially that it is a well known classic.

I have dreaded to write a book review for this book as I do not know how to gather all my thoughts together and to capture the essence of the book.  I am constantly flooded with emotions.  Anyway, instead of calling it a book review, I will just write about my thought of the book. 

The book that I recently read to my son was “C’est ta Faute!” by Evelyne Brisou-Pellen.  The storyline is pretty interesting.

C’est ta faute! 

This is a book read by someone who has been asking English questions in my blog.  Just from the few examples provided by that person, I believe it to be a good book even though I did not read the entire book.

What I like about the book is the concept that it is trying to convey, which is what I have been preaching all along.  

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

When I read the first few lines, I was immediately drawn by the riveting story, captivated by the spellbound storytelling, and intrigued by the vivid characters.  This is a book full of suspense, a story within a story, unfolding themselves into other stories, filled with plots of twists, weaving between past and present, and intertwining stories between Vida Winter and Margaret Lea.  There are secrets, lies, ghosts, violence, betrayal and love.   So rich is the story, by which I was totally swept away.  Compelled, I spent 7 hours reading from 10pm to 5am the next morning.  I had no regrets showing up at work with dark circles under my eyes.  The sense of accomplishment made me feel complete.