Review: Penguin Little Black Classics + Giveaway

Some of you may remember that I posted a press release recently about Penguin Little Black Classics, these awesome little pocket sized books that are 64 pages each, and just $1.99 each. Penguin Books Australia was kind enough to send me a few of these books to review, and a few more to give away. Anyway, I've had a great time reading a few of these titles--it has proved to be a great way to reconnect with some favourite classics and to wet my appetite for the authors that I knew little about. 


The Wife of Bath by Geoffrey Chaucer
Penguin Little Black Classics No. 28

The first classic I dipped in to was The Wife of Bath by Geoffrey Chaucer, which, of course, is part of the Canterbury Tales. I remember studying some of the Canterbury Tales as a young adult, and being a little intrigued by these occasionally sordid tales. The Wife of Bath, or The Wife of Bath's Tale is a tale of sex, attraction and monogamy, while also examining the role of women during medieval times. Or, to be more specific about it, the role of women within a marriage. The introduction is longer than the tale itself, though the story is entertaining enough.

Sindbad the Sailor
Penguin Little Black Classics No. 54

Easily my favourite of the little black classics that I have read so far, Sindbad the Sailor was taken from One Thousand and One Nights (often known as Arabian Nights,) and tells the surprising adventures that Sindbad the Sailor had whilst on his travels--from meeting giants, to accumulating riches, to being buried alive with his dead wife. Although his travels are unpredictable and fraught with danger, Sindbad seems to make it out okay. I enjoyed this one so much that I ended up buying a copy of One Thousand and One Nights.  

On the Beach Alone At Night
Penguin Little Black Classics No.10

A lovely collection of verse from American poet Walt Whitman.

Giveaway! 

I have a number of Penguin Little Black Classics to give away to one lucky reader. To enter, comment below and tell me the name of your favourite classic. Competition closes Sunday June 21. Competition is open to residents of Australia only. (Sorry.) 

Winners chosen by randomresult.com


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Peppermint Patty: I Cried and Cried and Cried

Image
Unrequited love is a common theme in the Peanuts Comics and is one that I have previously explored on this blog. We know that Lucy loves Schroeder, Sally loves Linus and Charlie Brown has a crush on the unseen, unnamed and utterly unattainable Little Redhaired Girl. But perhaps the saddest unrequited love stories from the comic is that which ran in late June 1972. It was the series of strips where the usually self-confident Peppermint Patty came face-to-face with the Little Redhaired Girl with the intention of thumping her and then something surprising happened: Here we have a usually self-confident girl, who is funny, unashamedly herself and talented at sports reduced to tears by the realisation of who she is not and never can be. I really feel for her in this series of comic strips. She knows that Charlie Brown can never love her, when he is so hung up over a girl who represents a supposedly ideal feminine beauty. Fortunately Linus, the most spiritual member of the Pean
Read more

Charlie Brown, Lucy Van Pelt and the Football

Image
One of the longest, and arguably, most infuriating, running gags in Charles Schulz's otherwise brilliant Peanuts comic strip, is where Lucy promises to hold a football for Charlie Brown and then pulls it away at the last minute, causing Charlie Brown to fall flat on his back. A typical strip looks like this: Source: Go Comics The gag is one of the darker themes in the strip. It works on the concept that every year, Lucy promises to hold a football for Charlie Brown. Every year, Charlie Brown is initially filled with doubt but is eventually pushed on by a kind of optimism that perhaps, this time, Lucy might just let him kick it after all. As a metaphor for life, it is pretty simple. It talks of the moments when we choose to put our trust in people who have let us down only to be taken by surprise when they let us down, again. Lucy is, arguably, one of the crueller characters in the comic. Described as crabby by the other characters, she is often selfish, takes delight in wilfully hu
Read more

Phrases and Idioms: Tickets on Himself

To have tickets on himself: (Australian slang.) To be conceited or vain. To have an overinflated opinion of oneself.  He's got tickets on himself if he thinks that any woman would fall for that. I was thinking about this particular bit of Australian slang the other day, after my boss said, "He's got tickets on himself," to describe the actions of a particular individual. At the time, I smiled, knowing exactly what the boss meant. Later on, I started to ponder on this unusual phrase and wondered where it might have come from. A search on google helped me find the definition, but that was about all. There are no references to it being used in pop culture or literature (if you find one, let me know,) and at the time of writing this post, Tickets on Himself was not listed on Urban Dictionary. (I tried to add it, but the fuckers rejected my definition. They probably think I have tickets on myself or something for trying to add a relatively common piece of A
Read more