City Travel Guides > Books > 16th to 18th Century

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.Robinson Crusoe (Penguin Popular Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > 16th to 18th Century
by: Daniel Defoe

January 13, 1994
We all know about Robinson Crusoe, or at least we think we do. We know about the shipwreck and the years alone on the island and the footprint in the sand and "Man Friday".

Reading the book for the first time, after years of receiving it via the TV and the cinema, in heavily abridged or heavily revised versions, I was amazed to discover how much more there is to find.

The first joy is Defoe's prose, written with all the urgency and precision of a lifelong pamphleteer. Defoe never leaves any doubt as to what his character is trying to say or why he is trying to say it.
The second joy is the pacing. In the brief sections before and after his time on the island, Crusoe undergoes multiple shipwrecks, capture by ... Read More:
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.Gulliver's Travels (Penguin Popular Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > 16th to 18th Century
by: Jonathan Swift

May 26, 1994
It has been suggested that only one reader in ten thousand can appreciate the full merit of Gulliver’s Travels as it is a satire on forgotten politics. Do not be misled, this is a timeless classic. The absolute relation to the past whether to politics or otherwise is not an essential premise for one’s amusement of this book. The novel operates on many levels and the reader can easily make a rudimentary guess (without but usually with the aid of notes) at the satire. Political history has a reoccurring theme and much of what Swift wrote three hundred years ago resoundingly rings true today. We can plainly identify repeating general patterns and specific examples of events from the last three hundred years which mirror exactly what ... Read More:
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.Moll Flanders (Oxford World's Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > 16th to 18th Century
by: Daniel Defoe

March 05, 1998
Having avoided watching various TV adaptations and never reading the book before, I was hesitant to read this book. Whilst working abroad the book was a last option on the book shop shelf. I was very much wrong in my assumption regarding the book. It is a marvelous account of live at the rough end during the 17th century. The story moves between London and Virginia and steps from one drama to the next throughout. I was captivated throughout by the trials and tribulations of Moll and her many aborted marriages and criminal capers. I was torn between feeling sympathy for Moll and being incredulous at just how many scrapes one woman could get into and escape from. As stated by others this is also a great account of live during Molls time and also of traditions, ... Read More:
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.Don Quixote (Wordsworth Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > 16th to 18th Century
by: Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra

May 01, 1992
Alonso Quixone is a big fan of books on knights and chivalry before losing his sense and becoming convinced he is the knight Don Quixote de la Mancha. He had a thing for a country lass called Aldonza Lorenzo who he renames the Lady Dulcinea del Toboso, as every knight needs a lady to do great deeds for. He sets out to seek adventure, taking along the dense local Sancho Panca as his squire.

His exploits include the famous incident where Don Quixote tilts against windmills mistaking them for giants, seeing many an inn as a castle, rescuing damsels in distress and righting wrongs. Part one sees Don Quixote seeing things not as they seem and introducing the idea of enchantments against him. At the end of it they return home (after being tricked by some ... Read More:
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.Pride and Prejudice
City Travel Guides > Books > 16th to 18th Century
by: Jane Austen

May 15, 2006
Oh wow. I can't believe just how my feelings for this book turned round. I went from feeling so indifferent to it at the start that I kept finding excuses not to read to wanting to read it slowly in order to make it last.

I wanted to slap some of the female characters hard to start with. My head could tell me that the ladies would have behaved that way in 1813 when the novel was first published, but my heart couldn't stand the way they were so pathetic! However, I soon got over that and warmed to them.

I especially loved the characters of Lizzy, Mr Darcy (despite never having seen P&P on the TV, I still pictured Darcy as Colin Firth - which is no bad thing!) and Mr Bennet. Oh, and Jane.

I wanted to slap Lydia for being so selfish, ... Read More:
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.Monkey (Penguin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > 16th to 18th Century
by: Wu Ch'eng-En

March 29, 1973
Damon Albarn of Gorillaz and Blur has turned this book into an opera so I thought I should read it before I saw the show. The structure is something like the Iliad or Finn McCool. Each chapter is a new adventure but linked together they become the road story of bringing the Buddhist scripture from India to China. The central character is the human priest Tripitaka but his three disciples - Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy - are magical beings. Along the way and back to India they face 81 problems, ogres, monsters and so on, with the action flowing fast and furious, but not much narrative. It's rather like a chinese chopsocky movie with constant action and set pieces but not much subtlety or character development. It ends up being historically important but not really compelling. Lots ... Read More:
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.Moll Flanders
City Travel Guides > Books > 16th to 18th Century
by: Daniel Defoe

February 24, 1994
Having avoided watching various TV adaptations and never reading the book before, I was hesitant to read this book. Whilst working abroad the book was a last option on the book shop shelf. I was very much wrong in my assumption regarding the book. It is a marvelous account of live at the rough end during the 17th century. The story moves between London and Virginia and steps from one drama to the next throughout. I was captivated throughout by the trials and tribulations of Moll and her many aborted marriages and criminal capers. I was torn between feeling sympathy for Moll and being incredulous at just how many scrapes one woman could get into and escape from. As stated by others this is also a great account of live during Molls time and also of traditions, morals and customs of the ... Read More:
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.Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded (Oxford World's Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > 16th to 18th Century
by: Samuel Richardson

June 07, 2001
I was so excited before I read this book. It was my first year at university and I was eager to discover the gems of 18th century literature. This is not one of them.

Both characters are revolting. The 'hero' is a failed raper of very low IQ (I blame the intramarriages of the ruling classes) as he cannot succeed to rape an unprotected 15 year old when she is in his sole care.

Pamela on the other hand seems to be considered either virtuous (by the 18th century reader) or oppressed but in my mind she only seemed as a calculating little wrench who is all too aware that in this environment her virginity is the only thing she has to invest on climbing the social ladder and she is using it ingeniously on simple minded Mr B. And that would be all wonderful (who doesn't ... Read More:
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.Oroonoko the Rover and Other Works (Penguin Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > 16th to 18th Century
by: Aphra Behn

November 28, 2005
This book brought out strong emotions which are always best accompanied with chocolate. I thoughally enjoyed this strange book.
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.Evelina: Or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World (Oxford World's Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > 16th to 18th Century
by: Frances Burney

April 18, 2002
This book brought out strong emotions which are always best accompanied with chocolate. I thoughally enjoyed this strange book.
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