Friday Fifteen
July 27, 2012 § 75 Comments
Happy Friday! Welcome to this week’s edition of the Friday Fifteen, in which I review five books in fifteen words or less. Since today marks the start of the 2012 Olympics, here’s a special UK-themed edition:
1. The Boggart by Susan Cooper
Charming MG novel mixing mythical creatures and modernity. Boggarts were cool before Harry Potter.
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Sisters, snobs, and misunderstandings. Austen’s characters deal with issues we tackle today. See also LBD.
3. Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake
The Decemberists could probably make a great album out of these poems.
4. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Sara Crewe keeps calm and carries on.
5. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Sometimes it’s worth risking death to score some tasty veg.
I’ve always loved The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
Congrats of freshly pressed!
Thanks so much! Doing major happy dances.
Thank you
I’ll have to look into these now. I love Beatrix Potter. 
Beatrix Potter’s stories are so lovely and timeless.
Fabulously pertinent. Thanks. Congrats on FP. Lovely sense of humor.
Thank you!
I love this! And you’re right, Austen’s characters do deal with issues we tackle today…just with a better sense of humor.
SO true! Austen says it better than anyone.
Number 5 = spot on.
Interesting – it won’t let me like this post but I can comment. What a wonderful literary exercise! We should all practice the “15 words or less” approach. It really sorts out the point of it all, doesn’t it?
Congrats on freshly pressed. Loved this (still giggling)! Love Pride & Prejudice
LOVE!! Especially number 5!
Nice choices, nice summaries.
Great Post!
I love Jane Austen! And I am a Pride and Prejudice addict. I am that person who has watched the movie(keira knightly version–haven’t seen any others) a million times and has memorized the funniest lines like “she is the biggest flirt that ever made her family ridiculous”.
I am a big fan of European (greek, british, etc) literature, and I have tried to tackle it a little bit. Come visit my blog (thescribblerarchive) and see if you can stomach my attempts.
Congrats on being freshly pressed!
I loved The Boggart–so glad to see it on a list!!!
Pride and prejudice, oh, Im currently reading it
Congratsz on being FP! 
Congrats on being freshly pressed. I love Beatrix Potter and my kids do too. Jane Austen is just a brilliant writer isn’t she? – don’t think anyone does humor better, well maybe with the exception of Bernard Shaw. I have not read numbers 1 and 3, will definitely do.
I’m probably the only one who can’t stand the original Peter Rabbit. I much prefer your version. Would make bedtime so much quicker!
Hahaha what a great concept! I’ve only read two of these so far, though
Hahaha, this made me chuckle, esp Peter Rabbit. Congrats on FP!
Pride & Prejudice is one of my favourite classics ever. Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed.
Good idea of reviews. Congrats on FP!
Pride & Prejudice really spot on!
Brilliant!!
Brilliant, quick way of reviewing books
Made me smile
Pride and Prejudice one of my FAVORITES!!
Now do some in ten
Pride and prejudice is an excellent book, and the film adaptation is actually enjoyable, usually film adaptations are terrible!
Peter rabbit was also a childhood favourite!
Loved the KCCO reference in #4.
Great blog, very entertaining and concise post. Keep calm and chive on!
One of the best reasons for a list like this — and hopefully part of your motivation — is the sharing / discovery of writers / works previously unknown to your visitors. So I am off to explore Boggarts!
really creative idea!! i like it
I love this idea!
…lol @ The Decemberists
Awesome selection and great descriptions (esp Peter Rabbit.) I love Susan Cooper, but I haven’t read that one, so I’ll have to go hunt it down now.
Congrats. on Freshly Pressed status!–you definitely fill a niche in the reviewing community. I write much longer reviews myself, but I’m alive to the issue of how little time people–especially young adults–sometimes have as the globe seems to shink and expand at the same time, and time available to read with it. For those too rushed to read longer excerpts and reviews, you supply a felt need for a quick means of choosing amongst what books to read next.
I’ve read three of the five. I’ll have to check out the other two. Perfect lengths. You can even squeeze these onto Twitter!
I love your review of A Little Princess, haha!
Reblogged this on Live and Love.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen… Its really boring,
For your reader who found Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice really boring, it’s helpful to imagine yourself shipped off for the day to your maiden aunt’s, by your parents, who never take you anywhere; you’re anticipating a dull and embarrassing visit, but after serving you tea, your maiden aunt gets a little chirpier, and starts relating family scandals you haven’t been privy to previously, not excluding ones about (even) your parents and grandparents. And when your parents are there to take you home, apparently relieved that you aren’t ready to slay them in their tracks for leaving you with a previously distant aunt for the day, the last you see of your aunt’s face is when she gives you a wry little smile and a wink, letting you know that if you aren’t going to tell your parents about the two of you “letting your hair down together,” as the saying goes, then she certainly isn’t going to be so tactless either. This is Jane Austen’s voice, wry, ironic, even sometimes a little scathing, and if you miss HOW she tells the stories in her novels, the WHAT can seem, I realize, a little tedious. I hope this helps. If it really doesn’t, then she may just not be for you. But I hope you’ll give her another chance, anyway.
Hahaha, straight to the point! I like it! Sadly, the only book I’ve sorta read is Jane Austen.
[...] Annie Cardi does book summaries in 15 words or less. Summing up your own book in one or two sentences is quite hard (or maybe it’s just hard for me). So I thought I’d play around with some options. Feel free to comment on my choices or, even better, do the same for your book in the comments below. [...]
Elizabeth Bennett is my most favored heroine in all of English Literature
This is such an awesome idea, I’m so glad I came across your blog on “Freshly Pressed” (congratulations). I write book reviews on my blog and they tend to be a lengthy — I should take a page out of your book and shoot for fifteen words or less! After all, “Brevity is the soul of wit,” right?
“Pride and Prejudice” will always be on my list of favorite books. Enjoyed this post. Congrats on being freshly pressed!
Thank you! Wonderful Post! Love your blog!
Fantastic list. I love how you included The Boggart. It introduced me to one of Shakespeare’s more obscure plays, “Cymbeline”.
Number four made me laugh out loud. Brilliant!
Excellent!
Love Beatrix Potter’s tasty veg reference. So true. Congrats on the FP’d. Great list and lovely reviews.
Cheers,
iRuniBreathe
Do you do this all the time or was this just a whim? I think it would be awesome for like every book in the universe. It is often done with Movie tag lines that go in the TV guide function on modern televisions.
Reblogged this on Celeste Holmes and commented:
I wish all book reviews were this straight forward. Nice work.
I reblogged this. Loved it
Interesting idea. I might have to try this sometime.
Pride & Prejudice is definitely a must read. Thank you for putting it up here…Such a wonderful book!
Loving everything about this post right now. Awesome FP.
xoxo,
-E
I managed to re-read The Tale Of Peter Rabbit recently…been one of my favorites!
Numbers 2, 4, and 5 were always my favorites growing up.
Beatrice Potter infused my imagination that much more as a child. A must for all children! My Mom has the whole lot of her books! congrats by the way
what a sweet idea!
Ohhh Annie!!! Congratulations on getting FP! That’s so awesome!
Thanks so much!
So glad to have readers like you who have been here since pretty much the beginning.
You’re welcome love! Enjoy the ride!
[...] ist Dienstag. Inspiriert durch Annie Cardi, welche jeden Freitag fünf Bücher in fünfzehn Wörtern oder weniger vorstellt, werde ich nun [...]
Great choice of books indeed!
I really like this concept! Awesome selection as well!
Cool. Loved the Little Princess!
[...] • Friday Fifteen [...]
Good collection.
Love number four, the Little Princess!
Hi Annie,
Great writing. What use are words without color? Wonderful blog!
What theme are you using?
Robert R.
Super cool! everybodyplays is a street theatre group from Hyderabad, India!!New on wordpress!
We gave you a likey!
http://everybodyplays.wordpress.com/
It’s quite an art, reviewing books in so few words. I thought I used to do well when I had a regular magazine column and did them in 50: I bow to your awesome abilities.
Songs of Innocence and Experience. I studied these at school, college and university. Seems I cannot escape the Blake. Congrats!
Awesome!
xoxo
The Clarences
Great list of books! Will definitely check them all out