My usual policy is not to spend too much time on reviewing books that have a squillion reviews on Goodreads. So, if you want the nitty-gritty on Dodie Smith’s classic, I Capture the Castle, head over there to browse the 10,000+ reviews.

And instead of a review, I’ll share quotes that relate to the themes I enjoyed most about this novel:

Place and landscape

A mist is rolling over the fields. Why is summer mist romantic and autumn mist just sad?

So many of the loveliest things in England are melancholy.

Rose doesn’t like the flat country, but I always did – flat country seems to give the sky such a chance.

Writing and imagination

When I read a book, I put in all the imagination I can, so that it is almost like writing the book as well as reading it – or rather, it is like living it. It makes reading so much more exciting, but I don’t suppose many people try to do it.

Even a broken heart doesn’t warrant a waste of good paper.

Love

Perhaps watching someone you love suffer can teach you even more than suffering yourself can.

…perhaps it is loving that counts, not the being loved in return- that perhaps true loving can never know anything but happiness.

That evening of the row was our lowest depths; miserable people cannot afford to dislike each other. Cruel blows of fate call for extreme kindness in the family circle.

Wisdom that we can apply to everyday life

Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.

Truthfulness so often goes with ruthlessness.

I shouldn’t think even millionaires could eat anything nicer than new bread and real butter and honey for tea.

Humour

The one Bach piece I learnt made me feel I was being repeatedly hit on the head with a teaspoon

Doing things for others gives you a lovely glow.”
“So does port,” I said cynically.”

And no bathroom on earth will make up for marrying a bearded man you hate.

3.5/5

…I felt very sorry for him, so I told him there were potato cakes for tea. As it turned out, the potato cakes were spoiled because while we were eating them, we had one of those family rows which are so funny in books and on the pictures. They aren’t funny in real life, particularly when they happen at meals, as they so often do.