ooc :: happy birthday, neji.
Jul. 3rd, 2009 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
turn_a_blindeyeA set of books arrive in the Hyuuga Household Main House kitchen tied together by pale blue ribbon and with a big white bow (one of those wrapping bows you buy with the adhesive on the underside) on the top. The books come in varying degrees of wear and use, some better than others, and it's clear that they were all found items (Kakashi found them by exploring the school--see map). He read/skimmed them all over before giving them to Neji, since none of these actually exist in his own world so Kakashi's never read them before coming to Adstringendum and wanted to be sure they were good. There is no note on the books, save a single piece of paper which reads:
To Neji. Happy Birthday.
I tried to only pick books I had personally read, but...well...I haven't actually read Sense & Sensibility--you'll have to forgive me on that one. But the film version with Emma Thompson is lovely. The books chosen are as follows:
"Romance"...because every housewife needs chick-lit
Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen
- Kakashi liked this one for the "I hate you, I love you" romance. It's kind of fun. The build up between Darcy and Elizabeth is still pretty classic no matter what era or culture you're in; kind of Belle and the Beast, or what Bridget Jones' Diary was based upon.
-- Neji's edition is a hardback with this cover (released shortly after the very popular A&E film version came out). The dust cover is worn at the edges and contains a fancy bookplate inside indicating it was once from the library of a "Joe Fox."
Sense & Sensibility, by Jane Austen
- This one seems a bit more...girly because, well, it's more about feelings than social rules and such (unlike Pride & Prejudice, which is essentially social satire), but I did a toss up and Emma wasn't a Neji type, and Kakashi wouldn't have liked Emma much. He did like Sense & Sensibility's sisters, Elinor and Marianne, and their different philosophies on romance/life in general.
-- Neji's edition is a paperback with a typical-of-Austen-novels cover: 19th century art of some woman or women or social setting (like this one, which is actually for an audio book, something which would be worthless in a house without a radio or...hm, electricity).
Adventure...because sometimes we need to escape our own adventure
The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas
- Kakashi skimmed this one and decided it just looked like fun: sex, sword-fights, and scandals. Oooo! (He might borrow it later). Perhaps the brotherhood of the Musketeers might have appealed to him too, though the historical tie-ins and overall French-ness are lost on him. The humor and adventure is universal, though, I think, and should translate well to a fun read.
-- Neji's edition is a paperback (this cover sums it up nicely) in very used condition, obviously well-loved. Pages are bent at the corners (dog-eared by the previous owner) and yellowing. The cover is slightly creased.
Thinking Books...because, well, it's Neji
Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
- Although it's about Africa, it's about a tribe and changes it undergoes (within and out). I think Neji would relate to a few of the characters and their uneasy situations as things ...fall apart around them, and as they fail to be understood by each other, sometimes, and certainly by the Imperialists. That, and it's a modern Greek tragedy, so the themes are universal.
-- Neji's edition is a paperback with the standard Things Fall Apart cover. It contains minimal pencil marks in the first chapter (underlines, circling of words that are in the short glossary in the back), but the pencil marks die out after the first few pages of chapter two, as if the original owner gave up on the book. There is a sticker on the reverse, over the UPC code, that indicates it was once sold at an American university bookstore, and was afterward turned in, to be resold as a "used" copy.
The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger
- The quintessential teenager-in-modern-troubled-times book. To make a long story short...just read the book. Or follow the link to wiki, I guess. It's Holden's personal "adventure," per se, but meanwhile, his unreliable narrative reveals how this kid, who thinks he is so grown up, is really not as mature as he thinks he is.
-- Neji's edition is a hardback with the plain white and rainbow cover (as opposed to the carousel horse cover) and is in reasonably good condition, though the pages are yellowing and the paper attached to the front blank page still contains the due-date stamps from a library.
To Neji. Happy Birthday.
I tried to only pick books I had personally read, but...well...I haven't actually read Sense & Sensibility--you'll have to forgive me on that one. But the film version with Emma Thompson is lovely. The books chosen are as follows:
"Romance"...because every housewife needs chick-lit
Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen
- Kakashi liked this one for the "I hate you, I love you" romance. It's kind of fun. The build up between Darcy and Elizabeth is still pretty classic no matter what era or culture you're in; kind of Belle and the Beast, or what Bridget Jones' Diary was based upon.
-- Neji's edition is a hardback with this cover (released shortly after the very popular A&E film version came out). The dust cover is worn at the edges and contains a fancy bookplate inside indicating it was once from the library of a "Joe Fox."
Sense & Sensibility, by Jane Austen
- This one seems a bit more...girly because, well, it's more about feelings than social rules and such (unlike Pride & Prejudice, which is essentially social satire), but I did a toss up and Emma wasn't a Neji type, and Kakashi wouldn't have liked Emma much. He did like Sense & Sensibility's sisters, Elinor and Marianne, and their different philosophies on romance/life in general.
-- Neji's edition is a paperback with a typical-of-Austen-novels cover: 19th century art of some woman or women or social setting (like this one, which is actually for an audio book, something which would be worthless in a house without a radio or...hm, electricity).
Adventure...because sometimes we need to escape our own adventure
The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas
- Kakashi skimmed this one and decided it just looked like fun: sex, sword-fights, and scandals. Oooo! (He might borrow it later). Perhaps the brotherhood of the Musketeers might have appealed to him too, though the historical tie-ins and overall French-ness are lost on him. The humor and adventure is universal, though, I think, and should translate well to a fun read.
-- Neji's edition is a paperback (this cover sums it up nicely) in very used condition, obviously well-loved. Pages are bent at the corners (dog-eared by the previous owner) and yellowing. The cover is slightly creased.
Thinking Books...because, well, it's Neji
Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
- Although it's about Africa, it's about a tribe and changes it undergoes (within and out). I think Neji would relate to a few of the characters and their uneasy situations as things ...fall apart around them, and as they fail to be understood by each other, sometimes, and certainly by the Imperialists. That, and it's a modern Greek tragedy, so the themes are universal.
-- Neji's edition is a paperback with the standard Things Fall Apart cover. It contains minimal pencil marks in the first chapter (underlines, circling of words that are in the short glossary in the back), but the pencil marks die out after the first few pages of chapter two, as if the original owner gave up on the book. There is a sticker on the reverse, over the UPC code, that indicates it was once sold at an American university bookstore, and was afterward turned in, to be resold as a "used" copy.
The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger
- The quintessential teenager-in-modern-troubled-times book. To make a long story short...just read the book. Or follow the link to wiki, I guess. It's Holden's personal "adventure," per se, but meanwhile, his unreliable narrative reveals how this kid, who thinks he is so grown up, is really not as mature as he thinks he is.
-- Neji's edition is a hardback with the plain white and rainbow cover (as opposed to the carousel horse cover) and is in reasonably good condition, though the pages are yellowing and the paper attached to the front blank page still contains the due-date stamps from a library.
