Hi guys!
First off, thanks so much for sharing all your awesome quirks with me for my last post. I had such a great time reading them (I replied to all your comments here) that I decided that I’d pick one quirky person to win one of these mini travel reading lights that I have here.
So the winner is, Rebecca Knight. Rebecca, please send me your addy! For those of you who missed it, here’s Rebecca’s hilariously awesome quirk:
Sometimes when I’m nodding off to sleep, thinking about how cozy and happy I am to be in bed makes me kind of chuckle in a contented way. Well, I didn’t know that I actually did this out loud until my husband told me I do this creepy laugh thing in the darkness that haunts his nightmares. Poor husband.
Cracked me up so bad. I could totally picture this. Thanks to everyone for sharing!
Anyway, these days I’m reading Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, which is an amazing, mind-blowing, beautiful book—and I hope the Gods of Word Processing will see fit to grant me one eighth of Wharton’s talent someday.
When I was in the bookstore, I had the choice between two editions: one a beautiful hardcover, the other a flimsy and beat-up trade paper. The latter had something the first didn’t: in-depth notations to enhance reading—along with pictures of New York from the late 19th century to really drive the realities home. I’ve never been so thrilled to buy a beat up book in my life.
This is one of those instances when the movie actually does come close to matching the book. I loved Daniel Day Lewis and Michele Pfeiffer—and Winona Ryder’s cloying portrayal of the ideal of female innocence is grating, but dead on.
Wharton also wrote The House of Mirth (I LOVE the heroine Lily Bart) and Ethan Frome (which admittedly, I do not love at all—since I was forced to read it in high school, and it felt like being told I had to eat a tub of gruel made of asparagus and licorice).
What I love about the edition of The Age of Innocence that I’m reading is the footnotes. For example:
Madison Square: “On 23rd street between Broadway and Madison Avenue, by the middle of the nineteenth century, the area around this square become a center for fashionable society chosen by the newly wealthy as a place to build their magnificent mansions.”
and
“Aigrettes: sprays of egret feathers, diamonds, or other decorations worn as hair ornaments; glacé, Literally, ‘iced’ in French, here used to describe glossy gloves of kid leather that men put on just before beginning a dance.”
Reading these little footnotes to give some historical perspective definitely slows down the reading a bit. I stop and start. The story is all broken up. But I LOVE how much richer the books seems for it. I eat footnotes right up!
LOVE TO READERS: What’s your feeling on footnotes? Do you skip ‘em? Read ‘em? And what’s your feeling on Wharton or her movie spinoffs?
Best wishes!!
Lisa Dale
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
I LOVE descriptive footnotes. Academic citation footnotes are okay to read, a bitch to write.
Hi Lisa,
First of all, I want to say that I LOVED your book (It Happened One Night). I seriously couldn’t put it down. I was always saying, just one more page and I ended up reading it all! I recommend it to everyone! Amazing story! I look foward to reading Simple Wishes.
Now for the footnotes, sometimes I read them and sometimes I just skip them. If it’s too long, I won’t read it. I sometimes just look at it quickly to see if it interests me. I’m usually so into the book that I don’t even realize there’s a footnote!
Melanie
I adore House of Mirth. Glad you reminded me–surely it must be time for a reread!
Hi Lisa,
Thank you so much for sending me the mini book marks. I gave one to my mom and she loved it!
I like reading footnotes, most times they can be really interesting.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for reminding me of this fantastic book/movie. I read/saw both when I was in College, a good dozen years ago. I don’t think I have the book still around. I’ll probably have to buy a new copy soon… with footnotes of course (especially when english is not your mother tongue that’s very helpful).
Have a great week
WOO HOO! I’m glad you enjoyed my quirk
. Thanks for the love!
One of my favorite books is JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL, which is chock full of footnotes. I absolutely loved them and thought they added considerable flavor to the story, but my friend hates that same book because the footnotes drove her crazy. I suspect it’s a “love it or hate it” type of thing.
Great post!
I always read footnotes. I find them particulary helpful in historic novels, I ntroduce historical novels as often as I can in both my english literature and history classes. The insight that the footnotes offer students is invaluable.
enyl(at)inbox(dot)com
@radmama, “Academic citation footnotes are okay to read, a bitch to write.” Well said.
@Melanie, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!! So glad you liked It Happened One Night!!!!!! (Am I using enough exclamation points to get my point across??!?) Or perhaps an interrobang is in order.
@Rfp: House of Mirth is easily in my top five. I wish to everything I could have known Wharton.
@Mary, so glad you liked the bookmarks! They came out cute, I thought!
@Emmanuelle, You are a truly impressive reader, hon! Wharton is challenging in native English!!
@Rebecca, I thought about picking up Jonathan Strange, but honestly, I couldn’t get past the size of it. I mean, that book is huuuuuuuge!
@enyl, ah–a teacher. You’re right–footnotes are especially good for historical. I’m reading this book veeeery slowly and digging all this obscure Victorian decorative arts stuff!
Jonathan Strange truly is a doorstop of a novel
. I consider that a “value sized” book. Lol.
@Rebecca, I like that argument.
Thank you for your article, Lisa.
Like you, I go for footnotes. I appreciate anything that helps me gain a richer, deeper understanding of a complex, challenging work. That includes critical writings on the piece and the author’s biography.
If reading footnotes slows down my reading, I’d hardly notice it. I’m pretty slow anyhow, especially when I’m reading something worth savoring.
The period of “The Age of Innocence” is one of my favorites. Maybe someday there will be more Victorian romances when the major publishers of historical romances decide to get off the current Regency bandwagon.
I’m looking forward to more of your blog and website, and especially to your publications. Keep up the good work!
I have yet to read a Wharton novel, so I can’t comment on that. But, I do read footnotes if they don’t distract from the story. If they add something or explain something that could be confusing, I find them useful. I really don’t like it when a text cites a “footnote” but you have to turn to the end of the book to read them. In my creative writing classes we sometimes wonder about footnotes, especially now if someone is writing something in a different language, to explain themselves. Seems like everyone has their own preference.
Lisa, I’ve just received my super cute bookmarks. Thank you !! I’m tempted to keep both though, but no worries, I’ll share
I have yet to read a Wharton novel, so I can’t comment on that. Footnote reading depends on my mood I’d say. I have been known to read them.
I do read footnotes sometimes, I guess it depends on my mood or how much time I have to read. Most of the time I do read them.
Footnotes and end notes are the only way I got thru Beowulf and Chaucer
I seriously love all your books so dont ask me to pick just one. Keep up the good work cause I am counting on you to get me thru this cold snowy winter.
Hi guys! I’d answered these days ago but apparently my blog wasn’t allowing for any updates! Sorry!
@Mary Anne, “The period of “The Age of Innocence” is one of my favorites. Maybe someday there will be more Victorian romances when the major publishers of historical romances decide to get off the current Regency bandwagon.” AMEN! FYI, I just bought Wharton’s biography–hundreds of pages! But can’t wait to start reading! She is fascinating!
@Sara, I guess it’s all about placement. A good editor will know when a footnote is helpful and when one is just a distraction. The editor of the editing of AOI that I read did a great job.
@Emmanuelle, So glad you like them!! Thank you!
@RobynL, Hope you got the journal okay!
@QuiltLady, True. They are pretty easy to overlook depending on mood-though sometimes I get this little pang of guilt if I don’t read them!
@Carol, Beowulf, Chaucer, and romances. You are a woman after my own heart!