Books in Primary Colours: Red

In order to succinctly comment on some of the books that I’ve either read before I started blogging or that I feel that I should talk about more often, I decided to write a three-part series of posts about three books whose covers are predominantly yellow, blue or red. Besides their covers being dominated by a primary colour, these books just have one more thing in common – they still have a place on my shelves.

This third and last instalment is all about the colour red. Or it was supposed to be. Unfortunately, when I came up with the idea for this series of posts, I didn’t realise that I had already written in depth about almost all of the books on my shelves whose covers are predominantly red, since they are mostly recent reads. So, as you can see from the picture above, I’m slightly cheating. Two of the books have white covers. But, in my defence, it’s the elements in red that stand out.

 

Amor de Perdição (Love of Perdition) by Camilo Castelo Branco

This is one of the most famous books by the Portuguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco. It was written in the 19th century and is an example of the romanticism movement. The forbidden love between Simão Botelho and Teresa Albuquerque is at the core of this novel and is used to condemn the social impositions of the time when it came to relationships.

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Books in Primary Colours: Blue

In order to briefly comment on some of the books that I’ve either read before I started blogging or that I feel that I should talk about more often, I’m writing a three-part series of posts about three books whose covers are predominantly yellow, blue or red. Besides their covers being dominated by a primary colour, these books just need to have one more thing in common – to still have a place on my shelves.

For the second instalment in this series, I’ve chosen three books whose covers are blue toned. Although I have reviewed the first two books listed below when I first started blogging, I haven’t mentioned them very often since then. The last one, I have read quite a while ago and, despite having liked it, don’t remember much about.

 

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

This is, so far, the only book that I’ve read by Charles Dickens, but I’m sure it will be the first of many. Pip tells us the story of his life since his childhood until the beginning of his adulthood. He was raised by his sister and her husband, Joe Gargery. At first, the tough conditions that he lived in didn’t seem to bother him. His only complaint was the abuse he was subjected to by his sister. That changed when he was chosen to visit Miss Havisham and her adoptive daughter Estella, whom he ended up falling in love with. Pip then started dreaming of a better life. His ambition made him leave behind the people who cared for him. The first and second volumes are slightly monotonous at times, in spite of the fascinating characters. The third volume, on the other hand, is splendid, as all the previous events are connected.

Books in Primary Colours: Yellow

As a means of briefly commenting on some of the books that I’ve either read before I started blogging or that I feel that I should talk about more often, I’m writing a three-part series of posts about three books whose covers are predominantly yellow, blue or red. Besides their covers being dominated by a primary colour, these books only need to have one more thing in common – to still have a place on my shelves.

The first post in this series is devoted to the colour yellow. The following books were penned by authors from different countries and whose writing styles are clearly dissimilar. One I loved, the others not so much.

 

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

The main characters in this novel are Gabriel Oak and Bathsheba Everdene. Gabriel is a young shepherd who has leased and stocked a sheep farm with money from his savings and a loan. He asks Bathsheba in marriage, but she refuses, since her independence is of great importance to her. Although she moves to another village, they end up meeting again. The circumstances have changed, though. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the book as much as I was expecting to. Having really relished the characters, my chief problem was getting bored with the many descriptions about rural life. I kept the book, as it’s a beautiful Penguin English Library edition.