Pride and Prejudice; Beastly; and The Ironwood Tree

MID-FEB

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, 1813
I enjoyed rereading this book while I’ve been watching the PBS Masterpiece Classics special covering all her works. I also have watched Keira Knightley’s version several times. I felt that maybe I have been born in the wrong century and continent, until I learned that they had bugs living in their hair, that they would pee in the grand staircases during balls, and that they very rarely took baths. Add to this the fact that most people living in England during Austin’s lifetime were peasants and not gentlefolk, and I am much better off having my life than one back then.


Beastly by Alex Flinn, 2007
Kyle Kingsbury is a class A jerk: stuck up, selfish, even mean and spiteful. With a famous personality dad, lots of money, and great looks, he never thinks of others. But that all begins to change when one night, after a prom dance at his private New York City school, a witch changes him into a beast. Banished to live with just a tutor and maid, he manages to capture a girl who lives with him and eventually helps him break the curse.

All the classic elements of the Beauty and the Beast story are there in a realistic (for a fantasy) way in the New York City setting. Very enjoyable.

Some memory-jogging tags: Beauty and the Beast. Famous dads. Tutors. Freedom. Love. Selflessness. Shakespeare’s sonnets. Enjoyment of books. Roses. Gardening. School dances.

MS Rating: Great.


The Ironwood Tree (The Spiderwick Chronicles, bk 4) by Tony DiTerlizzi, 2004
During a fencing match, Jared spies someone going through Mallory’s bag. When he then sees his brother Simon rifling through her bag, but also sitting up on the stands, he knows he is dealing with someone, or something after the field guide. But then Mulgarath, the ogre trying to get the field guide, shape-shifts into a little boy and makes it seem that Jared has pulled a knife on a helpless child. While he is trying to clear it up with his mom and the principal, Mulgarath kidnaps Mallory. Jared and Simon set off to find her, which they do under the quarry in the dwarfs’ kingdom. Master builders, they have mechanical dogs, birds, and iron trees, but they are in the service of Mulgarath. Jared tricks them by handing over a wrapped book in place of the field guide, and through the help of a stone-speaker, makes their escape.

Some memory-jogging tags: Metalwork. Dwarfs. Caves. Ogre. Shape-shifter.

MS Rating: Great.