Saga Saturday IV

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RebeccaI am currently reading this novel and thoroughly enjoying it.
Oddly enough I had forgotten that I already read it, when I began it. It was a bit odd because I kept feeling a sense of déjà vu, but it took me about 5 chapters to realize I had read it. I can’t quite decide how I feel about that…
On one hand I do read a lot of books, and it must have been a very long time ago, but I can’t help feeling a bit ashamed that I have read a book, and forgotten it so completely. I guess it was bound to happen eventually, after reading so much. At least now I get to read it again and experience it for a second time, I’ll look at the bright side.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

The unnamed narrator, a naïve young woman in her early 20s, becomes acquainted with a wealthy Englishman, Maximilian (Maxim) de Winter, a widower aged 42. After a fortnight of courtship, she agrees to marry him and, after the wedding and honeymoon, accompanies him to his mansion in Cornwall, the beautiful West Country estate Manderley.

The second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she started a new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. In every corner and room of the isolated gray stone mansion were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten.
An eerie past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house’s current occupants.
Sinyard_Rebecca_Danvers-e1361723009755A ghostly aura silhouettes her heart, as the second Mrs. de Winter walks in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor. She lives cautiously, yet compelled to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim’s first wife; the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.

Rated 4.4 on amazon.com

“And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea”

Earl-grey-tea-latte-web-2 - Edited
Book Bean: Pale Moon
Earl grey tea steeped dense or pulled, white chocolate swirl, steamed/frothed milk, sprinkled with nutmeg.

 

Have you read Rebecca, or any other such hauntingly mysterious books?

46 thoughts on “Saga Saturday IV”

  7. As Darlene said, when we re-read a book, it is as a new reader seeing events and characters from the perspective and experience we’re currently at in our life. A book can seem familiar but still be different enough due to the reader’s journey through it at a different stage in life that will make it a new read.

    I have not read Rebecca but have seen the movie-a long time ago. Maybe I need to read it now. Considering it.

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  9. I’m totally going to have to read this now, it sounds haunting and beautiful, two of my favorite things to look for in a book. (P.S. I’ve done that, started a book I’ve read before and experienced that same feeling of vague familiarity, kind of like seeing someone and not sure if you know them or not). Happy weekend.

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  11. One of my favourite books – and not simply because it holds my name as the title page. I was 15 when I came to Manderlay. I started in the late afternoon and ended up reading until 3 am. A marvelous read.

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  12. I remember having a copy of this as part of a collection of classics when I was a kid. For some reason when I was younger they never seemed all that interesting but these days I’m tempted to go back and actually read them. Oh, and I don’t think it’s so bad to forget the odd book here and there, especially when you read so much 🙂

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  13. I remember I had to read this in high school. I didn’t like it at first. It seemed to much like a “chick book” for me to relate to the narrator. Then there was a twist I didn’t see coming, and from then on I could barely put it down. So I would recommend it. If you are a teenage boy like I was, be patient. It will get good.

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  14. One of my favourites from my teen years, along with her book “Jamaica Inn.” Two other authors who have written books inspired by “Rebecca” are Sally Beauman who wrote “Rebecca’s Tale” and Justine Picardie who wrote “Daphne.” Have you read any of Kate Morton’s books? “The Forgotten Garden” has a similar setting and is another of my favourites.

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  19. Nice little near-coincidence, that. I re-purchased Rebecca only about 2 weeks ago when it appeared on the sale shelf at my local public library (in rather good condition, previously read at most once). It currently sits on my Waiting Shelf — my next re-reading of it was to have started after I finish a Nicholas Sparks book I’m reading along with my other current regulars . . . unless your reading of Rebecca here eggs me into adding it to my Current Reading Shelf now, instead of waiting . . . yeah, why not . . . thanks!

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  20. This is one of my all-time favorites. If you ever visit Cornwall (and you should!), the estate Menabilly, near Fowey, is the home on which Manderley was based. You can visit a nearby church, where du Maurier was married.

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  22. Daphne du Maurier was one of those mid-level writers who wrote good prose, good stories and sold well. Like Pearl Buck and Irwin Shaw, they just fell short of greatness. Today we no longer have those kind of writers. In the mid-twentieth century, there were quite a few writers like that. Today we have a lot of writers who hit the bestseller lists and have a good story. But their prose is atrocious. Many of these writers started out as journalist or came from literary families. They all told great stories but they wrote well.

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