All Things My Lady Bibliophile

[alba]

Ah, My Lady Bibliophile. A homeschool graduate with remarkably good grammar compared to some of the fundies we snark on, and yet her reading comprehension skills wouldn't pass muster on the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test. She reads and reviews (or sometimes just reviews) all manner of books to guide her followers towards godly fiction and away from dangerous stories.

I'm personally a fan of her Austen reviews, such as this one for Northanger Abbey which fails to mention that Henry Tilney is appalled at the way men in his culture treat women as playthings or this one for Sense and Sensibility  that claims "Jane Austen has been slandered as a great feministic propagandist of the 19th century", while @Showtunesgirl has recently pointed me to this review for The Hunger Games, in which MLB acknowledges she hasn't actually read the books, but she read a synopsis, so that's good enough (SPOILER: It's not good enough. She's totally wrong about parents "entering" their kids in a lottery. There's no choice. Kids are in the lottery, and if you object you all get shot).

Enjoy the rabbit hole here: http://ladybibliophile.blogspot.co.uk/

ETA: Could someone please help me figure out how to tag this topic? I read the instructions in the FAQ and I can't find a tag field :[

[Lurky]

Ahahahahaha, from her "I've never read the books, or seen the film, but I read a review of the film once" on the Hunge Games..

Quote

We're called to judge books first of all by their covers--and if the cover has the appearance of evil, then need we go farther?

I nearly choked to death, laughing so much! OMG, I never knew I'd been getting the common saying wrong all this time!

But her first point, that Katniss should have let Prim by martyred - that's literally the opposite of the Jesus story, right?  I am just a heathen atheist, but I'm pretty sure Jesus died for our sins?  But I'm loving the idea that anyone could read the HG series and come away with the idea that Collins thinks they're a good thing!  When LB complains that the Games reduce the participants to animals, that's the point!

Anyway, for those who want to jump down the rabbithole, some previous threads to get started on (hooray!)

 

[alba]

7 minutes ago, Lurky said:

But her first point, that Katniss should have let Prim by martyred - that's literally the opposite of the Jesus story, right?  I am just a heathen atheist, but I'm pretty sure Jesus died for our sins?

Pretty much. Collins is also far from the first Christian author to write a character who sacrifices herself for her family; Rowling, Tolkien, Lewis, etc. all did so before her.

Interestingly, MLB doesn't mention Gandalf's similar sacrifice in her review of The Fellowship of the Ring. So Gandalf giving himself up to the Balrog to allow the Fellowship to escape is okay, but Katniss giving herself up to the Reaping to allow Prim to live is ... sin?

[hoipolloi]

Wow. Just wow. 

From the review of Dickens' Bleak House:

Quote

Dickens contains a little language here and there, which I use correction tape on. 

@alba - you should have seen the tagging field when creating the thread but here's an FAQ

[alba]

Yes, Dickens does contain language. That's what we call all those words and punctuation I can't even.

(Yeah, I know what she's talking about, but what's the worst word you'll see in Dickens? Damn? For God's sake?)

@hoipolloi Huh. Don't know how I could have missed it! I swear I'm the most technologically challenged software developer on the planet

[hoipolloi]

Bleak House is my favorite of Dickens' major novels -- so complex & rich -- with one of my all-time favorite descriptions, that of the lawyer Mr. Tulkinghorn, "An oyster of the old school whom nobody can open."

 

[alba]

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't actually read Bleak House yet, though I did enjoy the BBC adaptation featuring Carey Mulligan and Gillian Anderson (who always sounds so weird to me when she speaks in an English accent!).

[Lurky]

I would absolutely love to read this novella she's writing btw, as I'm pretty sure the British element will be mangled to death.  Let's start by setting something in the 1940s in the "Lake Country", wherever that is (a secret cousin to the Lake District maybe?), with a hero with a name like "Jaeryn", which is of course perfect for babies born in 2016, but makes no sense for the '40s...

[Loveday]

From her ''About Me:"

Quote

 

Her greatest joy is to seek out literature that tells a good story in accordance with the word of God, and to take every book captive to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

That must be what she's doing when she uses correction tape on 'language.'  

Edited November 19, 2016 by hoipolloi
No idea where that extra, empty quote box came from. Ugh. ETA: Fixed!

[alba]

10 minutes ago, Lurky said:

I would absolutely love to read this novella she's writing btw, as I'm pretty sure the British element will be mangled to death.  Let's start by setting something in the 1940s in the "Lake Country", wherever that is (a secret cousin to the Lake District maybe?), with a hero with a name like "Jaeryn", which is of course perfect for babies born in 2016, but makes no sense for the '40s...

Worse: It's 1913 Britain, not 1940s, which means our dashing hero Jaeryn was named in the Victorian era.

I am actually pleasantly surprised by her ability to string a sentence together. Those snippets wouldn't be out of place in an actual published novel.

[hoipolloi]

18 minutes ago, Lurky said:

Let's start by setting something in the 1940s in the "Lake Country", wherever that is (a secret cousin to the Lake District maybe?), with a hero with a name like "Jaeryn", which is of course perfect for babies born in 2016, but makes no sense for the '40s...

Yes, and the hero will be named Kyle or Jaxon.

[Loveday]

Does anyone know how old LB is? Late teens, early twenties? Older?

[alba]

Does anyone know how old LB is? Late teens, early twenties? Older?

I think early- to mid-twenties. Her Blogger profile says she joined in 2011 and she describes herself as a 20-year-old, so depending on when that was last updated, she's between 20 and 25.

[nickelodeon]

She's also developing some novellas set in the Jazz Age, which boggles my mind. Apparently Gatsby was too scandalous for her blood (though she dutifully read it for "research" purposes) so I doubt there will be much of the Age in them, to say nothing of the Jazz. I imagine it'll be something in the spirit of those VF Wholesome WWI-themed cosplay parties.

Censoring Bleak House is blasphemy imo, that's Dickens' masterpiece. >:(

[Palimpsest]

I'm so glad I brought up Lady B in the other thread and thanks for starting this thread @alba.  

She's not very old.  Early 20s at most but she seems younger.

I have to run but will be back to enjoy the snark later.

 

[VooDooChild]

The hell am I reading?  I don't have time for this rabbit hole.  I'm studying for a test on Monday.  

She needs to take some classes.  She writes like she is telling a story instead of letting the story tell itself, if that makes sense.  History lessons would help too.  Still, she has potential and may have done well outside of fundyism.

[Grimalkin]

   Maybe she is a genius who created this blog as a way to get around her parents strict rules. "I'm reading Fifty Shades for the Lord! Honest!"

       I recently picked up a book at a thrift shop on how to read literature because last time I tried to read Dickens, I had no clue what I read. 

     ETA- I also bought a little pocket grammar book because I don't remember what semi colons are for.      

[VooDooChild]

24 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

   Maybe she is a genius who created this blog as a way to get around her parents strict rules. "I'm reading Fifty Shades for the Lord! Honest!"

       I recently picked up a book at a thrift shop on how to read literature because last time I tried to read Dickens, I had no clue what I read. 

     ETA- I also bought a little pocket grammar book because I don't remember what semi colons are for.      

If only those reference books worked for me.  I tend to look for examples in (what I know to be) good literature.  But I still forget, so....I have no point.  Just I feel ya on the semi colons.

[Loveday]

3 hours ago, alba said:

 

I think early- to mid-twenties. Her Blogger profile says she joined in 2011 and she describes herself as a 20-year-old, so depending on when that was last updated, she's between 20 and 25.

 

Thank you. I really couldn't tell from her photo whether she was 18, 20, or 25! 

[Carm_88]

Quote

After due prayer, deliberation, and discussion with my parents, I have asked and received permission to be controversial.

If that's the way that you start...I'm worried. The Hunger Games isn't that controversial. In terms of dystopian fiction, I would say it's quite tame. Sure there's killing and sacrifice but if there weren't it would just be a love triangle. Not that she would know that because she's never read it. Also I love that she has a picture of Bilbo Baggins on her Unlikely Hero blog but doesn't include him. 

[mango_fandango]

Oh dear Lord. "Jaeryn"??

I love writing stories. Naturally I know plenty of English names that would be appropriate for the time period, but if I wasn't sure I'd do some Googling. I recently started writing a story set in Germany and I googled German surnames and just used 20 of the most common ones (set in a school, wanted to just come up with some classmates for the main character). It's not hard. Where the fuck did she get Jaeryn from? 

Eta I just googled Jaeryn and apparently it's a kind of sandal.

Edited November 19, 2016 by mango_fandango

[Sobeknofret]

My Lady Bibliophile is what Raquel Duarte wishes she was. But they're both silly twits.

[Palimpsest]

3 hours ago, Grimalkin said:

Maybe she is a genius who created this blog as a way to get around her parents strict rules. "I'm reading Fifty Shades for the Lord! Honest!"

I really think it is this (whether she knows it or not.)  And, be still my heart, I can't wait until she reviews 50 Shades of Grey!

I do have a soft spot for My Lady B.  Even when I want to shake her until her teeth rattle.  I so want to send her to college.

I have many more hopes for Lady B than I do for Miss Raquel.

[Carm_88]

I'm impressed that she's read LotR and the Simillarion! Good for her. Totally reading for Jesus.  

Also I'm not impressed that she said that C.S Lewis and Tolkien stopped being friends because Tolkien was Catholic and made remarks. Tolkien wasn't impressed by Narnia. 

[alba]

I'm impressed that she's read LotR and the Simillarion! Good for her. Totally reading for Jesus.  
Also I'm not impressed that she said that C.S Lewis and Tolkien stopped being friends because Tolkien was Catholic and made remarks. Tolkien wasn't impressed by Narnia. 

Tolkien was also very against allegory, which is what Narnia was. He felt allegory was shoving stuff down readers' throats in the guise of giving them a story to enjoy.