Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: I Capture the Castle. by Dorothy Gladys, Smith ISBN: 0-316-79954-8 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: January, 1962 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $5.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.76 (170 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: I am Cassandra!
Comment: (I save 10's for Dostoyevsky)
This book is a dear, wonderful tale of life and love and intellectual exploration. It is the story of Cassandra and her sister Rose; their adventures in castle and great house and village of England; touching on London high society, the art world, Druidic rites, and an American dowager who collects creative types.
When it opens, Cassandra and Rose are in dire poverty because their brilliant writer father is going through a long dry spell. Rose makes a wish by kissing a gargoyle 30 feet above their medieval kitchen for something to happen... anything! Of course her wish comes true. Enter Simon and Peter and many exciting events, including Cassandra being stranded penniless in London after midnight, and Rose being mistaken for an escaped circus bear.
Reminiscent of "As You Like It", with its daisy chain of infatuations, and peopled with delightfully real characters from the beautiful, gallant Steven to the bogus artist-model stepmother, this book is a joy to read from start to finish. I'm jealous of you if you haven't read it yet. I wish I could read it again for the first time.
Rating: 4
Summary: "I have just read this journal from the beginning."
Comment: What a wonderful book! Cassandra Mortmain, the young narrator, writes this a journal that takes place over six months, while she works on her writing. But this never feels like a journal, instead it is well-written,and joyful, with all the melodrama one would expect from a teenage girl. The Mortmains have been living in poverty in a castle in England, because after Father was released from a three-month stint in jail, after the "cake-knife incident" in their neigborhood, he wanted to live in the country. They had been living on the profits of his first and famous book, "Jacob Wrestling," but he has a serious case of writer's block, eccentricity, and questions are raised about his sanity. With little income, their home is falling apart, many of their belonging have been sold off for food, we watch their fortunes change when Neil and Simon Cotton move in next door. Cassandras's sister, Rose, her brother, Timothy, stepmother, Topaz, and the lovesick Stephen all live in the castle, interesting people all. Throw in the wealthy Cottons who move in next door, and we add love and engagements, Simon loves Rose, Rose doesn't love Simon, Neil hates Rose, and Cassandra of course, loves Simon. There are many more interesting characters who do not overshadow the plot while we watch Cassandra change during the course of her journal. Fabulous story!
Rating: 4
Summary: Will capture your heart
Comment: Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, an aspiring author, is keeping a journal in which she chronicles her life in a ramshackle old English castle. Life is not easy for the Mortmains. Most of the family's possessions and furnishings have been sold off, they do without electricity, and there is barely enough to eat. In spite of all this, the family keeps a cheerful outlook and manages to get by, thanks in part to the generosity of the wealthy American Cotton family who has inherited the estate upon which the castle sits and who have taken the Mortmains under their wing.
The Mortmains are an offbeat family. Cassandra has flights of fancy and unusual schemes that often have unexpected results. Father, an eccentric and innovative writer, is suffering from severe writer's block and can no longer support the family. He spends his time holed up in the gatehouse reading novels. Stepmother Topaz is a flighty artist's model who enjoys roaming the estate in the buff. Cassandra's older sister Rose is tired of living hand-to-mouth, and she decides to find a way to marry the landlord's wealthy grandson. Handsome Stephen, a hired hand who stays on with the family even though the Mortmains cannot afford to pay him, has difficulty hiding his unrequited love for Cassandra.
First published in 1948 and set in the 1930s, the story has an old-fashioned feel to it, especially on the subject of courtship and marriage. It also highlights the cultural differences at that time between the Americans and the British. Possessing a wisdom and maturity beyond her years, Cassandra spends much time analyzing the people and events that surround her and then recording her observations. "Contemplation," she says, "seems to be about the only luxury that costs nothing." Through her journals, Cassandra's voice is sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, and always endearing as she describes her concerns, her hopes, and her first love. "I capture the Castle" is recommended for both young adults and adults as a warm coming-of-age story.
Eileen Rieback
 |
Title: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons ISBN: 014018869X Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title:I Capture the Castle ASIN: B0000SX9MS Publisher: Columbia Tristar Hom Pub. Date: 23 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.96 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $21.72 |
 |
Title: Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast Pillow Book by Bill Richardson ISBN: 0312171838 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 August, 1997 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
 |
Title: The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate: Two Novels by Nancy Mitford ISBN: 0375718990 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 04 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield, Arthur Watts ISBN: 0897330536 Publisher: Academy Chicago Pub Pub. Date: March, 1991 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
