The Prisoner of Zenda

tags: fantasy, historical fiction, satire

⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

Best known for his political fairy tale, The Prisoner of Zenda, which saw four major screen adaptations, including the acclaimed 1937 incarnation starring Ronald Colman, Anthony Hope was one of the few novelists to achieve wide popular and critical admiration during his lifetime. Regarded by many critics as the finest adventure story ever written -- and certainly one of the most popular -- The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) tells the story of Rudolf Rassendyl, a dashing English gentleman who bears an uncanny resemblance to the ruler of the fictional kingdom of Ruritania. Rassendyl masquerades as the king in order to save the country from a treacherous plot and secures the release of the wronged prisoner. In the process he wins the heart of the beautiful princess Flavia, but ultimately surrenders the crown and the hand of his beloved princess to the rightful ruler. Full of swash-buckling feats of heroism as well as witty irony, these adventure tales are also wonderfully executed satires on late nineteenth-century European politics.

I liked the novelette's swashbuckling with plenty of dead men, evil half brother, and a bit of romance. Highly recommended. 

I'm currently watching the 1987 series available on Amazon streaming and it looks accurate to the book.

Three Men And A Maid

tags: classics, humor, romance

from GoodReads

Hi-jinks and fun ensue when three men and a woman find themselves together on an ocean liner sailing for England. When another woman enters the picture, we only know one thing: five is not divisible by two.

Lately I couldn't find new novels that are appealing so I've been reading old classics, short ones for almost instant gratification. P. G. Wodehouse wrote many novelettes sans Wooster, Jeeves, Blandings, etc.  I like his humor and writing style. Most of his books are available free from the web and our library and I'm reading them one after the other. I have also several of Nikolai Gogol's books on my reading list. 

Three men all got engaged to the same girl in a matter of days and a little over a week. The red-haired girl also falls in love as quickly as falling out of love for 2 of the men; one is foisted upon her by her father but she agrees to marry him anyway regardless of the man being a coward, a pushover, and ugly. She's too wishy-washy. The 3 young men are not desirable either. P. G. Wodehouse wrote a LOL funny novelette with the most absurd characters for a love pentagon. 

  

900 Page Books Worth Reading

I rarely read books that are more than 500 pages with the exception of these 900+page books. I highly recommend them.

    
Middlemarch - George Eliot
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Ana Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Complete Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke

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I'm still contemplating if I should start reading these 1000+page tomes. I have started and abandoned several times Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. I'll read them when I'm in the right mood.

War And Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Clarissa, or The History of A Young Lady - Samuel Richardson