Anne of Green Gables - Chapter Eleven

Anne's Impressions of Sunday School

So Marilla has got some dresses for Anne AND WHAT'S THE CHANCE THAT SHE HATES ALL OF THEM???

"'I'll imagine that I like them,' said Anne soberly."

LOLOLOLOLOL I FUCKING LOVE ANNE

Anne wants a 'thrill' in the form of a dress with puffed sleeves, as they're in fashion. Marilla is having none of this because she doesn't believe in 'pampering vanity' and thinks the dresses are perfectly serviceable.

OH NO

Marilla has a headache so can't come with Anne to Sunday School and I COMPLETELY FORGOT that Rachel Lynde runs the Sunday School!

This is also a mild Doctor Who reference!!!

Since at this point I think Rachel is this book's Umbridge I am no longer a happy chappie.

Marilla also gives Anne a cent for collection which was probably like a billion dollars back then and is lol

Everybody is mean to Anne, whose happiness at being able to garnish her hat with flowers is dampened when she finds everyone else has puffed sleeves:

"Anne felt that life was really not worth living without puffed sleeves."

When Anne comes home she kisses Bonny's leaves (Bonny is a germanium as noted here) and proceeds to explain how dreadfully boring Sunday School was. Marilla is angry/anxious BUT THEN

"...some of the things Anne had said...were what [Marilla] herself had really though deep down in her heart for years..."

:D I LOVE ANNE SHE IS THE BEST

Gone - Chapter Two

298 Hours, 38 Minutes

It's counting down...

Kids are wandering all over the shop, lost, dazed, and confused.

""First we see about our parents," Astrid said. "It's not like there aren't any adults anywhere." She didn't seem sure of that, so she amended it. "I mean, it's unlikely there are no adults."

Oh Astrid, you are FABULOUS.

ABSOLUTELY fabulous!

Hermione is personally my favourite Harry Potter character so if Astrid is ANYTHING like her (and she really seems to be) then <3.

Oh dear, their town has a nuclear power plant that had an accident 'ages ago'. Well, there is a 2000% chance that this will be a plot point somehow. Maybs the plant goes into meltdown with no-one to staff it and some kids get crazy mutant powers? I'm sure I read somewhere that some people have powers.

The nickname of their town is 'Fallout Alley' and no-one wants to move there "even though all the radioactive fallout had been cleaned up."

WELL GEE, I WONDER WHY?

Oh no, Quinn's losing his cool :s

"His voice got louder each time he yelled. Louder and faster, and the sob was clearer, harder for Sam and Astrid to pretend not to hear. "

:-( I feel for these kids. They are way to young for something like this to happen to them.

Good old Astrid has flicked the light switch! Dealing with sirius problems by logical rationalising ftw. And now they've decided it's god.

I've read Left Behind, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, which takes the same basic premise, with all Christians suddenly being removed from earth and taken to Heaven. I don't know how the series ends (I only read the one book) but I have a feeling that god isn't responsible here. But we'll see.

""Astrid's house next," Sam said. "She's closest." "You know where I live?"Astrid asked." 

LOL.

Oh Sam you stalker! Following people home is a BIG no-no.

Oh no, Astrid has an autistic brother called Pete and I'm guessing he's younger than her? Which means he's still around somewhere but he's not at the house.

Dun dun dun...

And now we switch to Lana and her Grandpa Luke, who are driving along in a pickup truck and WAIT WHAT'S THIS!?

"Your dad caught you sneaking vodka out of the house for some punk."

AM I THE ONLY PERSON WHO WAS NOT A 14 YEAR OLD ALCOHOLIC?!?

SIRIUSLY!!!!!

Ok, the truck obviously crashed because her grandpa vanished, and she broke her arm ewww. I've broken my arm twice and it's not even fun. At least Patrick, her dog, is alive! Oh wait OMG VULTURES ARGH THE SUSPENSE

Oliver Twist - Book the First, Chapter the Seventh

Oliver continues refractory

Wikipedia's page on 'Refractory' was not particularly helpful to me in trying to understand what Dickens is saying (I'm guessing it's not the sexual meaning) but I'll read on anyway.

Noah runs all the way to the workhouse pausing 'not once for breath', to get Mr Bumble, who 'with a gleam of pleasure in his metallic eyes', is only too ready to listen to Noah. Metallic eyes?

My revised mental image of Mr Bumble.

The gentleman in the white waistcoat, passing, agrees with Noah, remarked that he always thought Oliver would be hung (which he did). They manage to twist (lol) Noah's words enough so that Oliver sounds even worse and send Mr Bumble (which I now hear in my head as talking like a robot) to cane Oliver.

THEN (and this is omg) Mr Bumble explains that Oliver has been overfed and now has 'a artificial spirit'. OKAY, BUMBLE, lets give all the orphans the minimum of gruel so they're too exhausted to challenge the status quo! If he wasn't made of metal I would SO strangle him right now.

You know what this next scene reminded me of? Harry Potter. Oliver and Mrs Sowerberry argue, with Mrsd Sowerberry telling Oliver that his mother 'deserved what [Noah] said, and worse'. Um, Aunt Petunia much? Mr Sowerberry then gives Oliver a 'drubbing'. So Oliver decides to escape.

This is very, very exciting to me. He's soooo brave! And he sees his old friend Dick who is dying :-( and Dick blesses Oliver and Oliver had never heard anyone say that before :((

And now he's off to London!

PS Since Refractory is 'the quality of a material to retain its strength at high temperatures' I'm guessing Dickens is talking about Oliver's steadfastness even while being abused?