Why Do You Hate Me? – Top Ten Mean Girls In Books

This is a great idea for a list. The Broke and The Bookish present, The Top Ten Mean Girls In Books. This was a fun, but difficult list. It was a stretch for me to get to ten. Because of a couple of the girls I chose there might be minor spoilers while describing them, but hopefully none of them give away too much. In no particular order…

1. Galinda from Wicked. Galinda at first is the typical popular girl and school who makes life difficult for Elphaba, the girl who doesn’t fit in. I really like Galinda, however. She learns real life lessons from her time with Elphaba.

2. Serena Joy from The Handmaid’s Tale. Serena Joy fought for a world that has now subjugated her; taken away all her power and recognition. She fought for a world that has made her into little more than an object. How could she do that to herself and to every woman?

3. Lucy Steele from Sense and Sensibility. I think most people who have read S&S love to hate Lucy Steele. She manipulative and cunning. She’s so mean to Elinor, who doesn’t deserve it.

4. Kitty Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. I almost couldn’t decide between Kitty and Caroline Bingley. Caroline at least wasn’t Lizzy & Jane’s sister! Kitty is self-centred and is constantly looking at herself as better than her sisters, when it clearly isn’t the case.

5. Bernice from The Year Of The Flood. I know Ren and Amanda did a bad thing to her family, but Bernice was never a really good friend to Ren. She pushed Ren around a lot, controlled her, then got jealous when Amanda came along. I thought Bernice’s behaviour was terrible, but there was obviously no parental guidance. Maybe I wouldn’t dislike her so much if she had just let Ren apologize or something when they met again later in life. I almost didn’t include her, but she was definitely a mean girl.

6. Cuckoo from The Good Earth. I always wonder why people in the lower classes try to best each other instead of working together.

7. Prince Ronald from The Paper Bag Princess. Okay, I know he’s not a mean girl. He’s a mean boy. Princess Elizabeth goes through all the trouble of rescuing him and he turns out to be entirely superficial. The Paper Bag Princess was on my list of books I want to see turn into movies, but I can see why they haven’t made this into a movie. Not everyone will want to see the male lead be a loser in the end.

8. Arlene from the Southern Vampire Mysteries. This probably only makes sense if you’ve read up to at least the eighth book, but you would especially need to read the ninth. If you’ve never read the books and only watched the television series, you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about. Let’s just say, if you were Sookie, you’d want to do more than punch Arlene.

9. The Seeker/Lacey from The Host. Stephenie Meyer has a knack for creating really annoying female characters. The Seeker is supposed to help Wanderer. Instead she just infuriates her. By the end you wonder if it was really The Seeker’s personality coming through or Lacey’s annoying behaviour that drove The Seeker crazy.

10. Elinor Sherman from Shopaholic Ties The Knot. Elinor Sherman isn’t a mean girl, she’s a mean adult. She is a nightmarish mother/mother-in-law. Elinor Sherman wants her son, Luke Brandon, to be more like her and is constantly on the watch, wondering if loveable Becky Bloomwood is just in it for the money. You’d cross your fingers that your boyfriend/husband wasn’t into spending a lot of time with his mother.

I enjoy and author who can create such hated characters. These girls definitely deserve a good punch.

Who are your favourite mean girls?

Top Ten Tuesdays: Top Ten Couples in Literature

I’ve decided to again join in The Broke and The Bookish’s Top Ten Tuesdays. The first five couples came to mind easily. The rest took a little thought. Once I had the first four down, I decided to expand and include favourite couples from different genres.



1. Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy – Lizzy and Darcy are the staring couple in Pride and Prejudice. They are probably number one on a lot of lists.


2. Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars – Sense and Sensibility was Austen’s first published work. Though in love, Elinor and Edward never let their “sensibilities” overtake them. They use their “sense” instead.


3. Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester – The madwoman in the attic won’t keep this couple apart! Jane Eyre made me love classic literature.


4. Romeo and Juliet – Unlike the first four couples, Romeo and Juliet doesn’t have a happy ending. However, they’ve influenced countless stories about star-crossed lovers.


5. Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane – There is no comic couple that has endured the way Lois and Clark have. Their story has been written and re-written countless times. There have been comics, novels, television shows and movies, where even if it isn’t obvious, their love is always there.


6. Wesley and Buttercup – Okay, I haven’t actually read The Princess Bride, but I’ve seen the movie. A lot. My husband has read the book and he says the movie is pretty close. (I will read it eventually.) Wesley and Buttercup are cute and sweet. They fight the bad guy and live happily-ever-after.


7. O-Lan and Wang Lung – I recently read and reviewed The Good Earth. I still can’t even get over what an amazing novel it is. Thought not really in love, they are a partnership.


8. Drizzt and Cattie-Brie – They are a couple that began in 1988 with the Forgotten Realms novel, The Crystal Shard. No matter what genre I read, I appreciate strong female characters. Though Drizzt is the hero of these books, Cattie-Brie provides balance (and she can kick butt in a fight).


9. Arthur Dent and Trillian – They’re not your typical couple. They don’t live happily ever after. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy takes them everywhere, but they end up back at home. (I have read the five books by Douglas Adams. I have not read the new one by Eoin Colfer. I’m scared to.)


10. Aragorn and Arwen – He’s the rugged hero of The Lord Of The Rings, she’s the beautiful elven princess. There’s no real logic to why they are one of my favourites. Maybe the movie influenced me. I don’t care. They make me happy. (I thought of replacing them with Sam and Frodo. I know they weren’t a “couple”, but they were together more than any other pair in the books.)


That’s it! I considered Odysseus and Penelope, but all that waiting and they didn’t give me the same good feelings. I also considered Layla and Mariam from A Thousand Splendid Suns, but like Frodo and Sam they’re not a real couple. They were more like sister-wives (Big Love/polygamy reference). Anne and Gilbert also came to mind, but I never finished the Anne series, so I don’t know how they end up. There was also Sookie and Bill or Sookie and Eric, but I don’t know which couple I prefer.


I thought this was going to be difficult, but then I ended up with so many options!


Who are your favourite literary couples?

Book Blogger Hop!

I really like this week’s question. Link to a review that you wrote in the last three months. For me, that would have to by my post about Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth. This was a novel that went beyond my expectations. It reached me on an emotional level that I am reminded of whenever I glance at the book on my shelf. I could read it again right now and be so happy.

Thanks for stopping by. Please, leave a comment below and/or a comment on The Good Earth.

The Good Earth

Wang Lung works to give his family a better life. He has a love of the land that his sons never grasp. Did the better life he created also create a distance between the sons and their heritage? Was that the nature of family life in China?

Pearl S. Buck grew up in China. Her parents were missionaries, who only returned to America to have her. When she was three months old, they returned to China. Buck then only left China to go to university. She was forced to permanently leave in 1933 because of war. A short biography of her life can be read on Wikipedia. There is also more information about her and the foundation she started at the foundation’s website.

I did not expect to be so thoroughly engrossed in The Good Earth. It was fantastic! I connected with these characters more than I expected. Their world is so different from the one I inhabit. Their emotions feel so real; it is that deep emotional connection that pulls you into the story.

Buck's life was deeply connected to China, its people and culture. She writes about the farmer, Wang Lung with a true realism. She even says that she writes about China because that’s all she knows. The Good Earth really reflects that. The story reads as though it was someone close to Wang Lung who wrote it.

One of the first things that struck me on a personal level was the treatment of women in Chinese society in the early 20th century. When a girl child is born, it’s called a “slave”. The child is raised essentially to leave the family and be some man’s wife. Once they are married, there is likely no more contact with parents or siblings. Boys are what they hope and pray for. Boys carry the family forward and take care of aging parents. O-Lan is a slave Wang Lung’s father buys to be his son’s wife. She is not pretty, but she is strong. Though for a time he forgets, Wang Lung knows that he would not be where he is in life without the quiet O-Lan. Wang Lung is good to the women in his life, though within the confines of the society he is born into.

The Good Earth is set during pre-revolutionary China, though there is always some far off war happening. By the end of the novel, the edges of war has come through Wang Lung’s home. War is ever growing closer. It makes me wonder what will happen to the life that Wang Lung has created for his family. His sons also smile behind his back. It makes me wonder what they will do to the legacy as well.

Something I learned, as I read a bit about Pearl S. Buck was that The Good Earth is part of a trilogy. Though I had often heard of this book, I’d never heard of its sequels. Sons is the second book and A House Divided is the third. As much as I want to know what happens to Wang Lung’s family, I’m hesitant to read these two books. It’s difficult to even find them.

One thing I do know, The Good Earth is worth reading. It might be one of those rare books I read twice. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope everyone who reads it loves it as much as I do.

Book Blogger Hop

This is my first time participating in the Book Blogger Hop hosted by Crazy for Books. It’s a great way to discover new book blogs and new book people. I ready a little of everything. I just enjoy books.

In answer to this weeks question, I’m currently reading The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. It’s amazing! I’m about 200 pages in. I’m having a hard time putting it down. I’m mad at the main character, but in that good way where I can’t wait to see what happens next. What does the future hold for Wang Lung and his family.

These are blogs I’ve visited through the Hop this week:

The Lost Entwife
http://thelostentwife.net/

Love To Read For Fun
http://www.lovetoreadforfun.com/2010/07/book-blogger-hop-and-follow-friday.html?zx=779d7a7bc4d4af1

Teadevotee
http://teadevotee.com/

One Book At A Time
http://onebooktime.blogspot.com/2010/07/book-blogger-hop-and-follow-my-book_23.html

If you’re stopping by because of the hop, leave a comment below and I’ll talk to you soon.

Word of the Week!

I am starting a feature on my blog. I’ve decided to highlight any news word that I’ve discovered in the previous week and share them. They will include regional terms, colloquialisms and in the case of this week, food. They will hopefully be fun and interesting. What is the best of the new words of the week? We’ll have to look at each one and find out.

The following three are all from Ali Smith’s Girl meets boy

Borhani: A specialty Bangladeshi drink. It is served during celebrations and is most often paired with Biryani. Recipes for Borhani can be found here:
http://khauwardol.blogspot.com/2008/08/borhani-for-your-biryani.html
http://khanapinaa.com/rapidrecipe/borhani.html.html

Epithalamioned: Epithalamion (or Epithalamium) is a form of poem specifically written to a bride. It is made into a verb by Anthea on her wedding day.
Wikipedia gives a detailed explanation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithalamium

Shavey: So I actually couldn’t find the meaning of this word. The term kept popping up in the novel. Anthea keeps referring to her coworkers as ‘shavey’. What does it mean? If anyone knows, could you tell me? Speculation: does it mean clean-shaven, cookie-cutter worker? That’s my best guess.

From Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth

Gourmand: Describes a person who takes pleasure in food. It is different from gourmet, which denotes a person of refined palate. A gourmand just likes to eat.
Wikipedia gives a brief history of the word.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gourmand

Which word do I like the best? Well, I’ll eliminate shavey right now, since I don’t even know if I’m pronouncing it right. All the other words are interesting. I’m tempted to actually try and make Borhani with some Biryani. Of the three, the one I think I might actually use in real life is gourmand. For example, “Look at all the gourmands at the Mandarin tonight.” Or, “Jason is a real gourmand. He’s totally enjoying those wings.”

Hope you’ve enjoyed! If you’ve learned any new words this week, please share them.