Another reading resolution...& tangentially-related swooning

I chose one of the easiest of the resolutions discussed earlier: "I will reread a book I loved as a child."

I remember finding Knight's Castle in the North Stewart Elementary library in . . . 5th grade, maybe? Our librarian never made recommendations, but she let us browse freely, so I'm sure I found it by scanning the shelves.

The first page grabbed me instantly:

It happened just the other day, to a boy named Roger.

Most of it happened to his sister Ann, too, but she was a girl and didn't count, or at least that's what Roger thought, or at least he thought that in the beginning.

Part of it happened to his cousins Jack and Eliza, too, but they didn't come into it till later.

Roger and Ann lived with their mother and father in a pleasant small house in a pleasant small city, and until the blow fell life was very pleasant.

Isn't that marvelous? It gets even better when the kids magically enter the world of Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.

I had read a highly condensed, kid-friendly version of Ivanhoe before encountering this book, so I was familiar with the characters. And I remember being so delighted that Roger, Ann, Jack and Eliza were as opposed to Rowena as I was. If you always wished silly Wilfred would get a clue and choose Rebecca, you'll like Knight's Castle, too.

(Here is where I start to ramble.) In 8th grade, a related magical thing happened. Anthony Andrews starred in a TV adapatation of Ivanhoe, and this was when I first learned what it meant to SWOON. Rowena swooned, Wilfred of Ivanhoe swooned, and most of all, I swooned. But you know who stole the show by surprising me with his swoon-worthiness? Sam Neill as Brian de Bois-Gilbert. This might be the first story that helped me understand romantic obsession, and it certainly showed me that bad guys could be sexy and tragic even if you knew it was wrong for them to get the girl. Oh my!

(Bois-Gilbert makes a good showing in Knight's Castle, by the way. Edward Eager understood!)

I know for a fact I went back to the library and checked out Knight's Castle again after watching the TV movie, only I had to be stealthy about it because it was a "kid's book." The second reading was even more rewarding! And years later, after reading the full text of Ivanhoe AND teaching it to Orthodox Jewish girls (what?), I used my indie-bookstore-employee magic (these were pre-Amazon days) to track down a copy of Knight's Castle along with four other Edward Eager books. YAY! (Half Magic is just as good as Knight's Castle, by the way, and the kids in that one actually become the parents in KC, which is cool.)

So . . . in case it isn't clear, I had a great time re-reading Knight's Castle over the past couple of days. I found it as charming as ever and laughed aloud several times while reading. If you've never read anything by Edward Eager, treat yourself! His books should appeal especially to fans of E. Nesbit and/or Jeanne Birdsall's Penderwick series.

[Cross-posted at Livejournal]

Friday Favorites: I CAPTURE THE CASTLE and journaling

My hardcover edition

Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle ranks among my top ten favorite books. Along with brilliant writing, it features the sort of characters and plot elements that make me giddy:

-- a brainy, bookish girl who wants to be a writer
-- a ramshackle castle setting
-- an eccentric, artsy family
-- a pair of handsome, rich American boys as landlords and love interests.
-- kissing and dancing
-- yearning and heartbreak, but also PLENTY of laughter.
-- English countryside, English manners, English vicars
-- did I mention THE CASTLE?

Cassandra and Simon--this scene always makes me cry!

I rewatched the 2003 film adaptation this past weekend, and it sent me into swoons of ecstasy. Yes, in most cases the book is better than the film, but I have to give this screenplay credit for condensing the plot without sacrificing the emotional core of the story. And the cast! Romola Garai is perfection, as always, but in addition there are admirable performances from Bill Nighy, Tara Fitzgerald, Henry Cavill (so innocent prior to all that rutting about in The Tudors), and even Sinéad Cusack (Mrs. Thornton!) as wealthy, straight-talking (and vulgarly American) Mrs. Cotton. Still not quite sure about Henry Thomas as Simon Cotton, but this doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the film. The point of it all is Cassie, and Garai nails it.

Bonus wonderful thing -- while watching I wondered if the gorgeous soundtrack could possibly be available on iTunes. It is! And it was composed by Dario Marianelli, who also brought us the lush soundtracks for Pride and Prejudice (2005), Atonement, and Jane Eyre (2011), among others. Oh, and how fitting that Marianelli is rather handsome in a thinky and soulful way, which has nothing to do with anything except that I like to swoon.

Cassandra, her journal, and her castle

Best of all (and don't laugh at me), watching this film has renewed my zeal for journaling. And by that I mean actual writing in an actual bound journal, where I can say anything because it's meant only for me. After watching, I was just itching to write, but my current journal did not inspire. I bought it a few years ago at a lovely shop in New Orleans (Papier Plume), and it's charmingly compact and leather-bound, but I NEVER WANT TO WRITE IN IT. My hand doesn't fit! The lines are too narrow. I've only managed to write insipid stuff in this little book, which is an insult to the careful, loving way in which it was crafted. I'd promised myself that I wouldn't start a new journal until this one was filled, but when I looked at the long, long gaps between entries, I decided enough was enough. The little leather book has been put away, and now I am writing each day in my teNeus CoolNotes journal. It fits me! My thoughts spill forth onto its creamy, wide-ruled pages!

(I'm too old, however, to write in it while sitting in the sink.)

Are you a fan of I Capture the Castle--book and/or film? Do you keep a paper journal? If so, tell me all about it!

[Cross-posted to Livejournal]