Book Blogger Appreciation Week - Day 4 - Pimp that Book!

One of the best parts about book blogging is the exposure to books and authors you might never have heard of before. Pimp the book you think needs more recognition on this day

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
published 1949
303 pages

Synopsis from publisher:

I Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry, she has "captured the castle"-- and the heart of the reader-- in one of literature's most enchanting entertainments.

My thoughts:

This is one of my very favorite books. If I had read this as a young girl, I would have imagined myself as Cassandra in the same way I imagined myself as Anne-with-an-E.
She is one of the great heroines - funny and smart, with insights beyond her years. This novel is considered a classic, but so few people have actually read it that it's usually forgotten. Rather than try to convince you to read it, I will let Cassandra speak for herself.

"I write this sitting in the kitchen sink."

"Was I the only woman in the world who, at my age - and after a lifetime of quite rampant independence - still did not quite feel grown up?"

"Why is summer mist romantic and autumn mist just sad?"

"I am a restlessness inside a stillness inside a restlessness."

"I have noticed that rooms which are extra clean feel extra cold."

"How I wish I lived in a Jane Austen novel!"



I can't encourage you enough to find a copy of this truly wonderful novel. I think you will be glad you did!