My last thread was here:
Tiffin 75 for 2009 Take TwoJust a note that I have those glitter graphics blocked. They flash up through the graduated lenses on my glasses in a way that makes me feel car sick.
BOOKS READ
TOTAL PAGES
READING GOALS 2009
1. Read and review more Canadian Lit.
2. Read five unread classics this year.
3. Reread some classics I read so long ago that I can't remember them.
4. Continue to explore literature in translation from other cultures
5. Don't worry one iota if I don't reach 75; it's what I read and how much I enjoy it which really matters.
6. It isn't a competition, it's an exploration. Some books need time to settle into me, their impact and message staying with me for days after I read them. Diving right into another book doesn't work for me while I still have the tendrils of the previous one wrapped around my grey matter.
7. Reviews: review more frequently and in more depth.
JANUARY
1. Embers by Sandor Marai (a forgotten late December read){goal #4}
2. Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell
3. Un Lun Dun by China Miéville
4. When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
5. The Shortest Way to Hades by Sarah Caudwell
6. The Sirens Sang of Murder by Sarah Caudwell
7. The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
??. Love's Civil War by Victoria Glendinning - partially readJanuary: 1904 total pages read PLUS Nigella Lawson's new cookbook read fairly thoroughly PLUS 286 pages read of the ARC "Love's Civil War" to review it but the latter is heavy slogging because I find the love male interest to be a bit of a prat so far and the female love interest is incomprehensibly (to this reader, at any rate) head over heels about him. Lots of online reading of reviews and articles, too numerous to mention and impossible to tally. If I had finished the ARC, I would have been on target for this month. Hello, February!
FEBRUARY
8. Kate's Klassics by Kate Camp
9. The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins
10. Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct by P.M. Forni
11. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
12. Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
13. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
14. Inside the Whale by Jennie Rooney
15. The Road Home by Rose TremainMARCH
16. John Lennon: the Life by Philip Norman
17. The Pendragon Legend by Antal Szerb {goal #4}
18. Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
19. The Sibyl in Her Grave by Sarah Caudwell
20. The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon
21. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
22. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
APRIL
23. The Arrival by Shaun Tan
24. The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan {goal #1}
25. The Great Crash 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith {goal #1}
26. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
27. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf {goal #3}
28. Designer Plant Combinations by Scott Calhoun
29. Mayo Clinic: The Essential Diabetes Book
30. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
31. Du Fu: A Life in Poetry by Du Fu, Translated by David Young {goal # 4}
32. Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer
33. Don't Tell Alfred by Nancy Mitford
MAY
34. Souvenir of Canada by Douglas Coupland {goal #1}
35. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman
36. Will You Take Me As I Am, Joni Mitchell's Blue Period by Michelle Mercer
37. Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols
38. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
39. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey
JUNE
40. The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys {goal #1}
41. The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
42. Acqua Alta by Donna Leon
43. Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse
44. The Perfect Summer by Juliet Nicolson
45. The Morville Hours by Katherine Swift
46. Selected Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
JULY
47. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
48. Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
49. Love's Civil War by Victoria Glendinning
AUGUST
50. Novel on Yellow Paper by Stevie Smith
51. Crewe Train by Rose Macaulay
52. Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson
53. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling {post-movie reread}
54. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling {reread, because one thing led to another}
55. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, translated by David Hinton
56. Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching, A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way by Ursula K. Le Guin
57. The Common Reader Vol. I by Virginia Woolf
58. The Observations by Jane Harris
SEPTEMBER
59. Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym
60. The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
61. The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim
62. At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon {this actually belongs in July...another one I forgot to add}
OCTOBER
63. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
64. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
NOVEMBER
65. Rose by Li-Young Lee
66. The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
67. Thank Heaven Fasting by E.M. Delafield
68. The Blessing by Nancy Mitford
69. Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon
70. Frost in May by Antonia White
DECEMBER
71. The Lais of Marie de France, trans. Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante
72. Sunlight on the Lawn by Beverley Nichols
73. The Lost Traveller by Antonia White
74. The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
Message edited by its author, Dec 18, 2009, 8:37pm.
OK, got you starred again Tui!
If you were hoping to lose me in the LT jungle, you did not.
Found you - and nice review of
The Perfect Summer! I've added it to my mooching wishlist (rather optimistically I think...)
Last thing on my mind, Charlie McBrain! Thanks, Cushla. It's a period I find fascinating and the light, almost snapshot, effect was perfect for summer reading. Hah, that was an unconscious play on words there!
Message edited by its author, Jun 26, 2009, 7:25pm.
*starred*
Aha, found ya and gotcha:
Starred you too...
I'm going to look like that girl who got all the stars tattoed on her face!
#10 But were you drugged while we were giving you the stars?
Tiffin
Congratulations on your hot review!
Way to Go!!!
45. The Morville Hours by Katherine Swift
A beautiful book. Knocked my socks off. Review to follow soon.
#14: Any book that knocks your socks off is one I have to find, Tui. I am on the hunt already.
46. Carol Ann Duffy Selected Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
The new poet laureate of England does not disappoint. Quirky, unique voice. I particularly enjoyed the selections from
The World's Wife.
Message edited by its author, Jul 4, 2009, 11:32pm.
Hi Tui
I've added
The Morville Hours to my ever growing tbr pile. I like your description, and I love the cover!
I've added
The Morville Hours to the wishlist simply because the description makes it sound like something I would enjoy. I'm looking forward to your review. Thanks for the rec!
Whisp and Lorie, it was such a powerful and meaningful book for me that I'm taking my time in writing the review so that I can do it justice. As a gardener, she struck deep chords that way but it was also her sense of history, her connection to the village and its people, the deep sense of finding a true home after a nomadic childhood which resonated with me so much. There were times when the writing seemed to come out of my own mind, a very rare and uncanny experience in reading. I have no objectivity about this book, as I experienced it entirely subjectively.
47. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
A lovely, quiet book about love, mathematics and baseball. If I were a star giving person, I'd give this 4.5
I'm way behind with reviews. In the throes of a bathroom reno here, among other things. May not catch up for a while.
Message edited by its author, Jul 28, 2009, 12:13pm.
48. Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
Quick read picked up at a library sale.
Message edited by its author, Jul 28, 2009, 1:41pm.
#20: I am fixing to do a bathroom renovation myself, Tui, so I empathasize!
I have had that one on Planet TBR for a while now. I need to track down a copy. Thanks for the reminder.
#21: I love Mary Stewart's books. She is just a good storyteller, IMO.
#21 I think that's a Mary Stewart I've never read! I didn't know there were any of those.
>20: If I were a star giving person, I'd give this 4.5 But I thought you WERE a star-giving person! And here I've been giving you credit on my profile for inspiring my own star system !
Somewhere on LT
Phyllis A. Whitney was compared to Mary Stewart, so I have mooched two of her books from Bookmooch. Have you read any, Tui?
touchstone?
Message edited by its author, Jul 28, 2009, 6:22pm.
I'll take the credit and you can keep the stars. ;) hehe
I don't know if I have, Pam. I'll have to see what kind of stuff she has written.
ETA: No, haven't read anything by her.
Message edited by its author, Jul 28, 2009, 6:50pm.
Interesting reads, Tui. Your enthusiastic endorsement of the Morville book is hard to pass up, and I am slowly reading down my TBRs to the Ogawa book. More TBRs piling up, again.
...and you don't need stars to light up your LT threads, Tui (*chorkle*)
>25: I've read some Whitney and I'd say that, yes, they are similar in vein to Stewart's books.
>#20:
>#22:
tiffin and alcottacre;
I am very frightened for you both. My hubby started a reno on our bath 17 years ago; tub out/shower stall in (more room you know), knock out wall/move back 6 inches (more room you know), can't quite decide on the flooring so lets put these three down and check them out for a while until we can choose/17 yrs later---they do not make that flooring any longer!~!~! Still have 3 different floorings in the bath. Damn, I luv my man!~! LOL
Message edited by its author, Jul 30, 2009, 4:03pm.
Hey Tiffin, I like your goals for 2009 especially numbers 5 & 6. Perhaps because I'm only on number 24! But it's enjoyable none the less and the posters are so sweet and offer so many great recommendations.
#30: Thankfully we are not knocking down any walls!
Thanks, Carmenere. You realise with 24 you've read 21 more books than the average person reads in a year? (I think the average is 3...)
Amen, Stasia! Although the bathroom is gutted TO the walls at the moment. Nanny, I'm the designer and my husband is the doer. I think up the plan/design scheme and he tells me if it's possible. No tri-coloured floor in our bathroom!
Karen, I think you will like the Ogawa.
tiffin;
Just popped by to see if you were still going to do the "all Virago/all August" thing?
I am still on task for it. Just have about 180 pages more to read in my current book,
The Black Fawn, and I will have that kicked by midnight so I'm good to go.
catch ya later ladies,
belva
Message edited by its author, Aug 1, 2009, 12:03am.
Belva, yes, but I have a couple of Must Reviews to get out of the way first. I should be able to start in 4 or 5 days. These are reviews I've put off for one reason or another and are quite overdue, so they are a must.
Yes, that is important. I let some stack up until I had 5 or 6 to do and I practically had to reread a couple of them in order to do the reviews.
I started a thread over there and believe it or not, we have company. I think it will be great, especially for a novice like myself. It will give me a chance to acquaint myself with several authors and make me feel more a part of the group. It was a great idea you had and thank you.
See you there.
belva
49. Love's Civil War: Elizabeth Bowen and Charles Ritchie, Letters and Diaries by Victoria Glendinning
Advanced Reader Copy
Elizabeth Bowen (Anglo-Irish, 1899-1973) was the author of at least eleven major novels, and umpteen short stories. Charles Ritchie (1906-1995) was a Canadian career diplomat who worked with the UN from its inception, was involved in NATO and was the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Love’s Civil War is an edited collection of Bowen’s letters and Ritchie’s diary entries, the documentation of a complex and at times incomprehensible love affair.
Reading this book through to the end became an effort of will, an almost Herculean task requiring both fortitude and grit. I picked it up and put it down several times and would cheerfully have ditched it, if it hadn’t been for a commitment as an early reviewer. The struggle wasn’t with their writing. Bowen writes beautifully in her letters, with little masterpieces of description and characterisation; Ritchie less so but his were diary entries. No, the struggle was with the relationship itself and its effect on their lives. There were times when I wanted to hurl the book in frustration with both of them - particularly with her. A brilliant, articulate, fun-loving and fun woman, she nonetheless seemed to abase herself at Ritchie’s feet, submersed in a love for him which would never develop into a life together because he wouldn’t let it. Her moaned “oh Charles, Charles, Charles” or “dear beautiful, I love you, I love you” at the end of many of her letters had me gritting my teeth. “Give him the boot!”, I wanted to yell back through time, “Expend your energy on someone who will love you fully in the way you need and deserve!” But it wasn’t to be.
My Full Review HereMessage edited by its author, Aug 3, 2009, 6:21pm.
Glad to see that you have finished the tome, Tui. I think your review is superb. I found the letters very frustrating as well. Getting an ARC that is a slog can be infuriating, 'cos you cannot ditch it. Congrats on finishing.
Tiffin
I agree with Karen, your review is great! You deserve credit for finishing the book.
Thanks, Karen. I worried that I was a little TOO frank about it but another reviewer felt very much the same way (although said it much more succintly!). Just have
Little Bee to read and review, and my conscience will be clear.
Message edited by its author, Aug 4, 2009, 11:08am.
Thanks Whisp...that's odd, your review wasn't there when I started posting and it suddenly popped up! It was the oddest feeling to like the letters and think the editor did a splendid job but not to particularly like one of the personalities involved.
Hi, I answered your question on my thread with a long reply! I did like the book but was amazed at the behaviour! My big question-when did Ritchie find the time for his career, mistresses and wife?
This message has been deleted by its author.
Go to Tui and just get 'er done. I am hearing really good things about
Little Bee. Can't wait to read that one myself so I will be anxiously awaiting your review.
Then it's on to Virago!~! Whoo Hoo!~!
I am in the midst of
Frost in May and I have to say that I am really enjoying it. And somewhere I heard that there are three others of the same vein by
White so I will be seeking those out.
happy dayz,
belva
OK, you have convinced me, Tui. Skipping the Glendinning book - whew, one I do not have to add to Planet TBR.
#47: Well, since you are happily recommending it, I am happily putting it on Planet TBR.
I thought Stevie Smith was just a poet - interesting to see she wrote novels.
The voice of Pompey Casmilus is one of the most unique narrative voices I’ve read in a long time. A personal secretary working for Sir Phoebus Ullwater, Pompey throws her thoughts down on yellow paper “because often sometimes I am typing it in my room at my office, and the paper I use for Sir Phoebus’s letters is blue paper with his name across the the corner ‘Sir Phoebus Ullwater, Bt.’ and those letters of Sir Phoebus’s go out to all over the world.” So behind the stream of consciousness babble and flow that is Pompey’s voice, we divine that there is a very smart and sensible young woman at work. And indeed, there is.
For the full review:
My Review of Novel on Yellow PaperMessage edited by its author, Sep 1, 2009, 12:48pm.
Found you and starred you. Your reviews are great and even better, helpful. I love poetry and Carol Ann Duffy is now on my "to buy" list.
The Housekeeper and the Professor has been requested from the library--I'm number 2. Unfortunately
Morville Hours is not available to me, but I'll be on the lookout for it. You rea great stuff!
I loved
Novel on Yellow Paper when I read it many years ago. I'd like to reread it but unfortunately my copy didn't make it to California. :-( So few people read Stevie Smith now--what a shame.
Thank you very much, Carolyn. How good to find another reader of poetry.
51. Crewe Train by Rose Macaulay
Funny in a wry way, poignant, with dead-eye social commentary. As the introduction informs us, the Crewe train title comes from a song:
Oh, Mr. Porter, whatever shall I do?
I want to go to Birmingham, but they've sent me on to Crewe!Review to follow but in the meantime, a really good read.
Message edited by its author, Aug 18, 2009, 12:04am.
#54: Another one for me to add to the Planet!
I love Macaulay's writing--and that's a good one. I look forward to your review, tiffin.
>54: I'm going to be interested to see your review. I can't get a sense of the book from the reviews here or on Amazon and can see it either being totally my type of book or totally not.
LOL
Tad--that was exactly my reaction!
Tui, we are depending on you to set us on the right path. :-)
Thank you, Tymfos.
Tad & Carolyn, I will try to get at that this evening.
Crewe Train Review:
In the first few pages of Crewe Train, we meet Mr. Dobie, a failed pastor, who doesn’t like to talk, doesn’t give a fig about other people (which is why he was such a lousy pastor) and is staunchly antisocial yet who somehow managed to fall in love with and marry a beautiful woman from a good family who was his polar opposite. They had one child, Denham. Eventually Mrs. Dobie died. So Mr. Dobie searched for a place to move where he didn’t have to relate to anyone: off he went with Denham to Mallorca. This worked well until Mallorca was discovered by droves of English tourists, so he dove inland to Andorra.
Here, for some inexplicable reason, Mr. Dobie married again, a native Andorran, and produced four more offspring, all of whom love to talk. Denham alone is his true child for she doesn’t like talking, socialising or being around other people, so spends vast amounts of time in the hills or communing with nature and not doing much of anything else. But then Mr. Dobie himself dies, leaving Denham seeming to need to be rescued by the first Mrs. Dobie’s sister, Aunt Evelyn Gresham.
And here the novel really takes off. Denham is scooped off to London and plunked smack dab into a loquacious family of people who not only talk but write, publish books, read, discuss everything going on in the world and who love to socialise, where they talk some more. By contrast, she appears lumpen, leaden, stupid, almost an earth elemental. Her family of Aunt Evelyn, Uncle Peter, and various cousins do their tolerant best to instruct her in matters of dress, comportment, how to carry on a conversation at the dinner table, etc., but Denham just doesn’t get it, doesn’t want to get it.
“Denham sometimes dreamed of a life in which one took practically no trouble at all. One would be alone; one would have no standards; there would be a warm climate and few clothes, and all food off the same plate, if a plate at all. And no conversation....”Nonetheless she makes an effort to fit in but is such a profoundly antisocial being that she commits gaucheries (discussing dog skin diseases at the dinner table in an effort to make conversation or taking people so literally that all nuance and metaphor is wasted on her). And so it would seem to go on but Macaulay is going to throw some interesting curves onto the road before the journey is over.
Initially our sympathy lies with the Greshams and their ilk because we understand them: people who follow the accepted norms. Denham, the misfit, the gauche dullard, is not a sympathetic character. But by the end of the book Macaulay turns this all on its head. With clever writing she makes all the bright conversation sound like tinsel, thin and artificial for all its glitter. And Denham's questions no longer sound as dumb.
“ “It’s such rot,” Denham protested, “doing things we don’t like doing because some one (sic) else does them.” Thus casually she uttered her complete, disintegrating and shattering philosophy of living.” Why DO we persist in making square pegs try to fit into round holes, Macaulay has us asking by the end of the book, leaving us feeling a wry sympathy for Denham and a faintly uncomfortable feeling about almost everyone else (Noel and Arnold finish up well).
I wouldn't call this a heavy or deep read but it was certainly worth the time spent reading it.
Tired, so apologies for odd verb tenses and wonky grammar.
ETA: Tad & Carolyn, this is a Virago Modern Classic, so some might think that is chick lit but I think the social commentary here is universal...AND very British. If you like that kind of thing, you'd likely be ok. It isn't whack you over the head writing or pierce your heart to its core but it does make you go "hmmmm".
Message edited by its author, Aug 19, 2009, 4:31pm.
Glad you liked
Crewe Train, tiffin. My sympathy was with Denham from the beginning.
#62: good on yer, mate! I was slower on the uptake, although I have it tidily rationalised that Macaulay wrote it that way rather than admit that I'm slow. hehe I thought it was excellent the way she revealed the character of Aunt Evelyn, in particular. Denham stayed herself throughout. It was the reader who changed the most and that's good writing when that happens.
Great review, Tui! How can we give it a thumbs up if you don't post it? It does sound like a book I would enjoy--I like character driven books. And I've often felt like a "square peg!" :-)
Tui, yet another great review and recommendation.
Thanks. I'm adding
Crewe Train to be tbr mountain.
Sorry you are tired. I hope you got some rest.
#64: Carolyn, it needs a bit of editing.
#65: Whisp, it was an 'staying up too late' tired. I'm a 'hit the hay, 8 hours away' kind of gal. The days are long gone when I could burn the candle at both ends. I think back to student days when I would do all nighters, writing and letting the creative juices flow. Now the creative juices dry up and turn into pumpkins by midnight.
Enjoyed your review of
Crewe Train. It sounds like my kind of book, and I'm adding it to my list. Thanks.
Message edited by its author, Aug 20, 2009, 7:57pm.
It sounds worth a try, Tui. Thanks.
52. Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson
Gerald Samper, Englishman, has bought a house in Camaoire, Italy, seeking warmer weather and peace and quiet in which to write. His neighbour, Marta from Voynovia somewhere in the former USSR, has bought the neighbouring house in order to write the musical score for a film being shot by the famous director Pacini. The story alternates back and forth between the two. Alternates? Richochets, more accurately.
Full Review HereMessage edited by its author, Aug 31, 2009, 10:35pm.
Nice review, Tui. After your & Richard's comments, this is moving to the top of my wish list.
Thanks, Darryl! I'm a bit behind with posting books here so thought I'd start with the funniest to see if that got me going. ;)
After consulting with others here, I'm adding two rereads into the count but no reviews. Went to see the new Harry Potter movie and came home wondering what they'd left out. Next thing I knew I'd read the whole thing through again, AND reread the last book, so will add them into the counts for August. Bathroom reno: needed something I didn't have to think about.
53. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
which led to
54. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
ETA: I did read some really solid new stuff in August, honest!
Message edited by its author, Sep 1, 2009, 12:36pm.
I always love visiting your thread as the reviews are so entertaining. I have the Hamilton-Paterson book unread but it is moving up the list. Truthfully - never read a Potter book but probably should just so I can pass judgement.
Karen, I wouldn't say the Potters are normally worth the time spent on a reread when there is so much great stuff unread out there but I suspected great chunks were left out for the movie (and the books are worth reading once because it's a cracking good tale if you like that genre). Just realised I forgot to put in the actual movie book. ETA: there, fixed. Well, I read the one in a day and just kind of dove mindlessly into the next one.
What struck me about James Hamilton-Paterson is how much he resembles E.F. Benson in appearance AND that his writing style is like Benson updated to the 00s (Benson on acid? no, wait, that would be the 70s). Although he can get a bit slapstick, it is done in a particularly English dry way, which I quite liked.
Message edited by its author, Sep 1, 2009, 4:09pm.
Catching up some of the missing August reads before recording September.
55. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, translated by David HintonNo touchstones as I couldn't see one with Hinton as the translator. As far as this non-Chinese speaking reader can tell, this is a very fine translation.
56. Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching, A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way by Ursula K. Le Guin
An interesting way of going about interpreting the Tao Te Ching by a non-Chinese reader, Le Guin.
I was interested in comparing different editions after having reread my old battered copy earlier in the year, so hopped back and forth between these while glancing at my old edition. Some very different angles on things. I think I prefer Hinton's the best.
57. The Common Reader by Virginia Woolf, Vol. I
In 1925 Virginia Woolf published this collection of essays which had appeared in various other publications, a collection she had worked on assembling for a number of years. She would have been in her early 40s when this came out. I dipped in and out of this throughout August, finding the essays excellent, quiet before sleep reading although some were more inclined to get the grey matter fired up with thought than to act as a soporofic. A pleasant pick up, put down read. Volume II awaits.
August is now caught up.
Message edited by its author, Sep 5, 2009, 10:28pm.
59. Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym
Two middle-aged spinster sisters, Belinda and Harriet Bede, share a home together in a small village in England where their church and the goings-on of the village inhabitants form the nucleus of their lives. Despite Harriet's more extraverted personality, it is Belinda and her thoughts which form the centre of the book.
Harriet has fashion sense, a certain élan, plump good looks, which attract men to her but it is the collecting of young curates which forms Harriet's fascination with the opposite sex. The regular proposals of marriage by the Count are as comforting as a well roasted chicken but her delight comes from the acquisition of a new, young curate when he arrives in the village. Belinda is a shy, university educated, intelligent, daydreamer who can accurately name poets when their poetry is quoted (sometimes at the wrong moment, to great humorous effect). Both sisters have an excellent sense of humour. They have a comfortable, genteel life, as well as a tremendous amount of independence, simply because they have personal means and no husband to cater to.
Belinda has loved the Archdeacon, Henry Hoccleve, for thirty years with an undiminished love (if slightly modified passion) but Henry, alas, married Agatha. When her loyalty allows her to, Belinda is able to see that it might not be such an "alas" after all as Henry might just be a little difficult to live with. Poor ambitious Agatha didn't necessarily capture the golden prize, particularly when we see her face pinched with anger or looking far better when she returns from a month's holiday away from him. We see Henry as the pompous, egocentric windbag that he is. In fact, few of the men in the book come off particularly well although Pym doesn't trash them as much as she reveals them with terrific humour.
The idea that women can have fulfilled and happy lives without being married formed part of the core of the book for me. Pym doesn't resort to male bashing. Indeed, her female characters can and do have plenty of foibles themselves. What she does do is soundly dismiss the notion that a woman can only have an identity, a purpose or a context when she is married. Nonsense, says Pym. But the paradox, and perhaps the true heart of the story, is that whether we marry or not, we all need to love. Does this love have to be returned to serve its purpose? I sensed a real struggle with this, on Pym's part.
This was the last Pym I hadn't read, so it was a bit bittersweet because from now on it will just be rereading her books rather than the delight of discovering her for the first time. However I will reread her many times in the years to come, I suspect, as I absolutely love her writing. It was a super way to start the Autumn.
ETA a word and a thought
Message edited by its author, Sep 25, 2009, 9:54pm.
Great Review! Thanks to Angela I now have all the Barbara Pym books--she sent me the one I'd hadn't been able to find. I discovered her several years ago and loved the two I read. Since then I've been trying to get them all because I'd like to read them in order. I plan to start that project at the end of this year--and take my time enjoying them!
ETA You didn't post your review! I wanted to give it a thumbs up! :-(
Message edited by its author, Sep 5, 2009, 11:45pm.
I have splashed out on the folio edition of
Excellent Women - so have this to look forward to. All your wonderful Pym reviews have made me push this upwards on the pile. Have you explored Muriel Spark now that all the Pyms are done?
I found first (battered) edition copies of the Common Reader 1 and 2 in a used book story this summer - so also have those to look forward to.
Message edited by its author, Sep 6, 2009, 12:25am.
#78:
Some Tame Gazelle was my introduction to Pym, so it brings back fond memories. I have since read two of her others. I am taking them slowly because I know the supply of her books is limited.
Excellent review! I haven't read this one yet; looks wonderful.
Thanks, all. I had neglected to put in the very important point which I felt was the focus of the book for Pym, that she is saying that everyone needs someone to love, whether this love gets realised or not. It is the act of loving which is important. But I sensed a real struggle with this in the story.
****SPOILER*****
None of the loves is two sided or all-consuming, so there isn't a full love for any of the characters. Everyone is either mourning a lost (dead) love, is involved with a very unsatisfactory love, is absorbed by self love or loves one-sidedly. And yet their lives manage to be happy and to continue to have purpose. Lots to think about in this one.
Message edited by its author, Sep 6, 2009, 4:45pm.
Thanks to all the inviting talk about Barbara Pym, I have been on a quest for her books in used bookstores because our local library has none. I finally found a copy of
Excellent Women so now I can join the Pym Fan Club.
Donna, I agree with lindsacl.
Excellent Women was my first Barbara Pym and started my passion for her.
okay damn it, you've done t. I'm adding Excellent Women to my wishlist as well. (third book I've added because of LT recommendations today, stop it!!!)
Thanks to all of you my Barbara Pym omnibus is calling (loudly) to me from the TBR shelves!! I've only read one and it was quietly gripping. And comforting.
You have been reading interesting stuff! I'm adding Some Time Gazelle to the TBR, as well.
Good place to start, Donna and GunderG. "Comforting" is the perfect word, amwm. Thanks, Caut!
I just received 8
Pyms in the post today and I already had one. So I feel pretty set for the winter. I think I will grab one when I finish
The Eyre Affair tonight or tomorrow.
Then; Yikes............I have 8 reviews to do to catch up "with myself". Sometimes I hate those damned things. (to do, not to read)
hugs to all,
g'nite.
belva
R.I.P Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul and Mary. Thanks for the tunes which warmed the 60s. Thanks too for being so brave about speaking up for civil rights when other musicians were shying away from that, playing it safe. I admired you greatly for that.
Mary Travers died at 72 of leukemia.
92: great review!!! and love the site!
tiffin
Thanks for the news and the nice comments about Mary Travers. I don't know why neither of the newspapers I read had any mention of it. I'll be shedding some tears today but I'm glad to know.
Thanks, GunderG - I think for a first issue it's fantastic and it can only grow.
It made me sad too, Carolyn. Too young, really.
PP&M are great favorites of mine. I saw them live every chance I got, and one summer in the 80s Mary was doing a solo act at San Diego's Wild Animal Park. It was super hot and she asked if anyone had a barrette so she could put her hair up off her neck--and I had a extra one and got to go up and meet her afterwards to get it back. Their music and their passions both touched me to the heart, and I am so sad that I will never see them together again.
tiffin
message #92....I love the site!
And, I appreciate your comments regarding Mary Travers. I saw here in concert about ten years ago. She introduced herself as "the woman with lusty lungs." She had gained weight and seemed very comfortable in her body. I liked that about her.
60. The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
The great houses with their Anglo-Irish baronets and ladies are still having their lawn and tennis parties, dancing to gramophones in evening dresses while fugitives and rebels hide in derelict mills and old barns in 1920s Ireland. The Troubles are brewing and yet the gentry pay scant heed. Bowen builds a sense of faint foreboding, of danger in the hedgerows and with the strange listlessness in the life of the privileged.
Against the broader panorama of the nation as a troubled whole, she zooms in on the intimate lives of the family at Danielstown, one of the Great Houses, inspecting with wry humour and satire the relatively useless lives of Lady and Sir Richard Naylor, their house guests, and niece Lois and nephew Laurence. Love bumbles along in this story and is ultimately doomed or disappointing. Nobody seems to know quite what to do with themselves, living effete and useless lives interlaced with gossip and interference. Bowen writes beautifully, even when her characters annoy.
Message edited by its author, Sep 25, 2009, 9:53pm.
I have only read one of Bowen's books, Tui. I was expecting a more mainstream style, so her more experimental, plot-less style of the mid-century took me by surprise. I think it was Eva Trout that I read, but truthfully I cannot remember.
Hey, I found book I read in July/August, which I forgot to record. The house is a disaster area because we're doing a bit of renovating, so it was buried in a pile.
So out of sequence:
58. The Observations by Jane Harris
Set in the mid 1800s in Scotland, the story follows the escape from Glasgow of one Bessy (real name Daisy) Buckley, who has been whored out by her mother (a prostitute) to be the "housekeeper" of a Mr. Levy. Bessy is guessed to be between 14 to 16 but says she's 18. With Mr. Levy's death, Bessy is thrown out into the streets with only the inappropriate bright yellow and red silk dress of her sexual plaything station. Dressed like a dolly, she heads out to Edinburgh to find work, not wanting to go back to her mother and that foul lifestyle.
She ends up working at a place called Castle Haivers, a great house outside of Edinburgh, for a lady by the name of Arabella. Immature, with a spiteful streak, Bessy plays a practical joke which drastically alters all their lives. Part mystery, part period piece, with dollops of mental illness, murder and psychoanalysis, it is a story of redemptive power of love and friendship, if not quite with the fairy tale ending one might imagine. A bit quirky, it isn't a heavy read and has moments of pawkish humour in it. "Haivers (or havers)", for example, is nonsense, to talk havers is to talk nonsense. Castle Haivers is anything but a castle and a lot of nonsense does seem to go on in it.
ETA: I'm reading
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel right now. It's just blowing my socks off! Now THIS is a historical novel!
Message edited by its author, Oct 7, 2009, 8:34pm.
I read
The Observations last year - and now I cannot remember too much about it. I remember thinking it was flawed, but cannot remember why?
Karen, I found the whole thing somehow shambling and rambling, with pastiches of psychology trying to be the mortar holding it all together. At one point I thought Harris was going to make a point about women forced unwillingly into marriages but that was just insinuated, not developed.
ETA: to be more fair, it wasn't poorly written. I guess it just wasn't my kind of story in the first place and it didn't hold my interest.
Message edited by its author, Sep 27, 2009, 10:47am.
*bump* for Ruth
Not much reading happening here because of reno throes. Reading
Wolf Hall and loving it, however.
This message has been deleted by its author.
61. The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim
Elizabeth von Arnim wanted to be alone in her garden, without visitors, interruptions, or commitments. She wanted time to think, to restore her soul, as she put it. So from May through September she got her wish, despite the Man of Wrath (her husband) predicting that she would be bored and clammering for company. But with her garden itself, her duties as the other head of the household and her three babies, April, May and June, she is anything but bored. In her desire for independence and her expression of the worth of women, von Arnim shows glimmers of an early feminism in her strong voice. A quick pleasant read.
Message edited by its author, Oct 7, 2009, 8:33pm.
>106 - Tui -
The "bump" was/is very helpful in finding your thread. Now, I am able to take time very soon to peruse your thread and your list of reads for this year.
I am shortly to get
Wolf Hall from reserve at the library myself, and cannot wait to read it after Darryl's review. Sounds as though you are very much enjoying it also.
With love,
Ruth/womansheart
Von Armin is one author that I have wanted to explore. Do you think she is similar to Muriel Spark and Barbara Pym, Tui?
Tiffin
You read such incredibly interesting books. Like Ruth, I'm on a list at my local library and await
Wolf Hall. I'm anxious to read your comments when you are finished.
Karen, von Arnim is much lighter than either Spark or Pym. There is also the fact of her privilege, although she isn't obnoxious with it. She has a commonsense asperity which peeps out now and then, which I quite like. But I wouldn't put her in the same class as Spark and certainly not of Pym.
Linda, I'm loving it so far and I'm only about 200 pages in.
>103/104 I thought
The Observations got very silly towards the end - I did enjoy it, but it's one I've since swapped out.
At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
Another one I forgot from the summer, back in July! The frequent insertion of a particular view of Christianity interfered with the story for me as I couldn't escape the sensation of being preached at with a touch heavier than my comfort level would tolerate. It felt as though the author was evangalising, even given the fact that the main character is a rector. A dear friend sent this to me at a time when she knew I needed something light to read so I feel badly for not being able to get past this aspect of it to fully like it.
Message edited by its author, Oct 23, 2009, 12:40pm.
Not to worry...that's six or seven other books (in the series) that you won't have to read now, reducing your TBR total to something under 12 billion. ;>)
63. Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Laura Willowes, Aunt Lolly to her nieces and nephew, lives an unquestioning, exemplary life as the dutiful sister who gets dragged into her middle-class lawyer brother Henry's life after the death of her father. She is given the not-quite-best spare room in Henry and Caroline's home, goes to church with them every Sunday, follows the ordered and orderly rhythm of their lives, from summer seashore to winter London.
A beautiful novel of one woman's progress to individuation, the full coming of self, all the more delightful when that self is a witch. I haven't enjoyed a book as much in a long time. Beautiful writing, full of wry wit slipped in so slyly that two sentences later it hits you and you double back for a reread, feeling your face slide into a smile. This is not the witchery of riding broomsticks, vicious curses or eating children, but the witchcraft of experiencing and celebrating one's full womanhood. Highly recommended.
*moving it up up up the pile* I just love the name "Lolly"--seems like you'd have to love any person who carried it.
Tui, I also recently read
Lolly Willowes (as did Karen), and I loved it too -- just so wickedly delightful it almost made me want to sell my soul to the devil, if I could do it the way Lolly did!
Great review tiffin. I'm adding that one to the wishlist - it sounds so good.
Rebecca, you (pl) are who inspired me to read it, as you both enjoyed it so much. I tend to trust your (pl) taste.
Thanks, VB.
Linda, I think you would like it too. So would a certain bright daughter, I think.
Message edited by its author, Oct 24, 2009, 1:11pm.
I bet you ladies don't know that my middle name is Lolly.
Tui - glad you liked the Warner book. I was surprised she had not hit my radar sooner. I would like to explore some of her other books - the other one in our library is the collected writings/essays from the New Yorker so you would perhaps need an interest in the early 20th century English world.
Rebecca and I played 'snap' with this reading (and actually quite a few others too).
Adding to wishlist...
Ditto what Rachael said!
Thanks you two. I think we have enough for a coven now, except for that suspicious Lolly at #122.
Did someone say oven?
Signed, Lolly
#122----Cholly Lolly Callahan??
#128. Yes, of course. My confirmation name is Polly (after the famous St. Polly), and I have a dog named Molly. And about ten minutes ago I picked up a new Google follower named Volly (I'm serious).
Notice how we drove every one else away? I have a tendency to do that.
Sorry, Tui, but your thread is now officially dead.
Notice how we drove every one else away?
Yes, but I'll bet they had a jolly laugh before they hopped the trolley.
*voice from the crypt*
It ain't over *wheeze* until the fat lady *creaaaak* sings, Lolly Polly Cholly.
Aruba, I see that there are several books by Warner out there, so something to hunt down and look forward to!
tiffin, I am so glad you liked
Lolly Willowes, one of my favorites! Her short stories are very good, too.
Message edited by its author, Oct 25, 2009, 7:36pm.
This message has been deleted by its author.
64. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
There isn’t much I can add to the splendid reviews already given for Wolf Hall - especially Citizenkelly’s article in the webzine Belletrista - but as it is likely my number one read for the year, I can’t let it go by without saying something.
First and foremost is the delight of discovering a new (to me) writer who writes so beautifully. I want to read everything she has written. Bravo Hilary Mantel, for your art, your vision, your courage in breathing life into Thomas Cromwell.
There was also the delight in a new angle on an era which has been explored extensively, especially putting a new spin on the character of Thomas More. How refreshing to have the mystique stripped away from a man who has been sanctified to show how his blisteringly narrow view of Christianity caused the deaths of hundreds of people. I loved Mantel’s portrayal of him as a sanctimonious tight arse and wept for the good men and women whose deaths he caused.
She made Anne Boleyn come to life for me. I could see those slightly protuberant, snapping black eyes, feel the sensuality she was able to generate even though she wasn’t classically beautiful. I liked her crafting of Henry VIII as a man wielding tremendous power and yet vain, susceptible to flattery and suasion, smart and yet vulnerable to those who were more clever.
But best of all, I loved the telling of the tale itself. I could taste, see, smell, hear Cromwell’s England and Europe through her words. The kitchens bustled, the homes were alive with sights and sounds, the people themselves had dimension and reality. None of her characters were flat but walked with air and movement around them, so real that I felt I was the ghostly presence in the room, unseen by them, that theirs was the reality while I was reading.
There is danger almost always present. If you speak or write the wrong way, you could be burned or have your head gracing the Tower Bridge. Mantel makes this danger palpable, not only shading in the feudal lords as a shadowy menace behind the modern Cromwell and his innovations but in the daily life of the people of Tudor England itself.
Cromwell was no saint and Mantel didn’t portray him as one. She did, however, make me like him a good deal in this book and wish that the end of the tale could have been otherwise. I am very eager to read where she takes all of this next, in the concluding book. It's like the Titanic: we know how it ends. But the journey with this writer feels fresh, new, uncharted. To be able to do this with history that is almost hackneyed, well, this is one Booker Prize win which I feel was royally deserved.
Message edited by its author, Nov 14, 2009, 6:42pm.
65. Rose by Li-Young Lee
A beautiful book of poems by Li-Young Lee, an immigrant to America with his father (who had been a political prisoner in Indonesia under Sukarno's regime). Many of the poems address Li-Young's deep love for his father. He is a master of mood, particularly one of contemplation tinging on sadness. He writes with simplicity, purity. Remarkable work for someone whose first language was not English. Recommended.
The new issue of Belletrista is out. Of special note and brilliantly good is Carolyn Kelly's article about Hilary Mantel winning the Booker:
http://www.belletrista.com/2009/issue2/i...I'm going to savour the reviews this afternoon with a cup of tea!
I have
Rose (wrong touchstone) on my list of poetry reads for 2010. Thanks to your great review I'm going to make sure I read it near the start of the year.
#137: I loved the Carolyn Kelly article. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Tui.
I'm excited because my number finally came up and I now have a copy of
Wolf Hall in my hands..fresh from the library today! I haven't heard one bad comment about this book, and since I love reading about the Tudor period of history, I cannot wait to start reading it tomorrow.
Numbers 64 and 65 look like books I need to get my hands on. I'll be on the lookout for them and thanks for the recs.
66. The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
It was ok, I guess. As a character, I found Isabel Dalhousie nosy without that sparkle of curiosity which makes the nosiness acceptable. The mystery itself was somewhat meh. And the moral ethics which imbued the book, while interesting, were somewhat wishy washy and slightly suspect as they pertained to the conclusion, leaving me wondering what moral ethicists make of the morality of taking responsibility for one's actions, which seemed to be missing. I think A.M. Smith was focusing on forgiveness, meself, so responsibilty seemed to fall in the ditch.
Message edited by its author, Nov 7, 2009, 11:27am.
I just picked up my first AMS at a booksale simply because the cover begs to be admired and opened.
I love Alexander McCall Smith's books, but Sunday Philosophy Club was one of the two that I enjoyed least. The next in the series
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate I thought wasn't much better, and then after that the series really took off for me. The characters got stronger, there was less philosophizing, and I liked Isobel Dalhousie more.
Have you tried the 44 Scotland Street books yet? I personally prefer those to the Isabel Dalhousie books, but I know others have taken the opposite view.
Caty, I've read the whole 44 Scotland Street series in the newspaper online and have then gone on to buy the books. When A.M.S. was the keynote speaker at the Benson group meet up in Rye, I got one of the Bertie books autographed! I'm enjoying his latest group of instalments here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books...I admit that I ran out of steam with the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series after #4. But I did like his
Portuguese Irregular Verbs series. He's a lovely man, in person, with a sparkling sense of humour.
Hopefully your next read will be more inspiring. Congratulations on readng 66 books thus far!
67. Thank Heaven Fasting by E.M. Delafield
Written between the wars, Thank Heaven Fasting is a tongue-in-cheek look at the lives of young women in upper crust English society who have no purpose in life except as a wife and, if luck should follow them, as a mother (preferably to a son). Daughters are burdens, to be married off but suitably, to the right man who is "quite, quite...".
Monica Ingram has every advantage: wealth, the right connections, and good looks of the pretty sort, as well as intelligence. She is also relatively uneducated and completely untrained for anything except for the role society has designated for her. She is only required to not make a misstep to ford the river from maidenhood to her purpose in life: marriage and motherhood. Even the slightest placing of a foot wrong will toss her into the river of dismissal, washed away to lonely (and useless) spinsterhood. Tongue-in-cheek, yes, but with tremendous social commentary on the privileged classes clinging to their Victorian way of life.
Delafield is really asking why women can't work, can't have a purpose other than the one prescribed to them by society's mores and their own biology but she does so behind a fan held coyly in front of the face of her intentions. The men she places in the field from which Monica can make a selection are weak, limp, damp, old or cads. The truly good men, men who have intellect and values, are just not "quite, quite..." according to the stifling guidelines of the Victorian upper crust.
It is a wonderful little book, full of things like Victorian hysteria beautifully portrayed in the sisters Fricky and Cecily Marlowe, with their male counterpart, Carol Anderson, with his steamroller sensitivities. The society portrayed will make you gasp with relief that we no longer live in it. The ending left me with a wry, lopsided half smile on my face. I couldn't put the book down, once I started it. Not a heavy read but a satisfying one.
Message edited by its author, Nov 11, 2009, 1:38pm.
This sounds like a fun read!
I have
Thank Heaven Fasting on my wishlist; after reading that review I may have to bump it up nearer to the top. It sounds excellent.
68. The Blessing by Nancy MitfordPlain navy cover with fleur de lis on it. Not worth posting.
The last two Mitford books I've read haven't done a thing for me. I seem to have gone off her, which is a pity, because I loved
The Pursuit of Love and
Love in a Cold Climate. I poked at, picked up and put down, read for a bit, set aside for days but never really engaged and got into this story.
Now, other people have described this book as light, witty, and all that good frothy stuff. I found the characters superficial, faintly boring, not particularly witty - oh there were moments - and mostly annoying. Especially the child, Sigismund, a manipulative little liar.
Gack. Or at best, meh. Maybe I'll try it again in my 80s. Or not.
Message edited by its author, Nov 11, 2009, 1:32pm.
Thanks, Whisp and Caty. As a Pymist, Caty, I think you would like it, and Whisp, judging from your readings, I think you would too.
Would I like it, Tui?
Charlie, I'd like to think you would, for the social commentary and insight into the era. Do you think you could handle having a man described as having slightly protuberant prawnlike eyes? I've only seen dead prawn so am trying to imagine what these are like...shiny beady black?
Message edited by its author, Nov 11, 2009, 4:24pm.
I have still to read any Nancy Mitford, but the only volume I own is an 'omnibus' of
The Pursuit of Love and
Love in a Cold Climate (actually, I think it comes up as the default book for the touchstone!). Clearly I have lucked out.
#153 Not an appealing look for a man, I'm thinking:
Howling with laughter here!
Adding
Thank Heaven Fasting to the BlackHole, Tui. Thanks for the recommendation!
#155: Great gif there, Linda :)
#155. I asked you very nicely, Linda, not to show that photo I sent you but nooooooooo.
#153. Tui, I don't have a problem with slightly protuberant prawnlike eyes, thanks to Mrs. 155.
69. Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon
Another good Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery set in Venice, featuring two of the seven deadly sins.
Wolf Hall review finally posted up at post # 135. Here the link as well:
My ReviewMessage edited by its author, Nov 15, 2009, 1:32pm.
I recently read
Wolf Hall. What a great review! I totally agree with your comments regarding the way Anne Boleyn was portrayed. It is a wonderful book!
Thanks, Whisp! I was editing while you were writing here...it always looks so different once it's up on the screen, doesn't it.
#69 You tore through that one, didn't you? I'm avoiding all reviews of
Wolf Hall until I've read it myself. I have a couple other things going at the moment, but it's next on the list when I'm ready to start something new.
I sure did, lw3. It was JUST what the doctor ordered: bed, tea, a good mystery. Re "Wolf Hall", I tried not to have any spoilers in my review but I did have a definite bias in favour of it.
Message edited by its author, Nov 15, 2009, 1:34pm.
Excellent review of
Wolf Hall! Have you heard when the next volume will be published? I am sooo looking forward to reading it and more by Mantel.
marise.
next volume??? Wow! Do you know the subject matter?
Congratulations on your HOT review--it convinced me to read the book.
And thanks for mentioning me in it. You know, the sanctimonious tight arse--Martha's been calling me that for years.
OK, I read your review. Excellent, and no spoilers. I thumbed it, too, to keep the ball rolling, as it were. Charlie, you're so vain.
>169 Whisper, Mantel has always said it will be a two-book series: the second book, according to a
Guardian report on the Booker announcement, will be called The Mirror And The Light. I'm sure I've read more about it than is in that article, but can't lay my hands on it right now... you may be able to tickle Google more successfully than I can currently manage :-)
#171. "Charlie, you're so vain."
I know, isn't it great? I'm proud of my humility, too.
LOL, I'm another one who is avoiding all Wolf Hall reviews until I can read it myself. But I'm sure your review was awesome!
hehe thanks Caut. That's funny.
Charlie & Linda: You've got "you're so vain, you probably think this review is about you" stuck in my head now, playing around with the words..."he walked into LibraryThing like he was walking on board a yacht". Help!
Thanks, Darryl...I think lindsacl had the best review and that there was no way I could top it, so I just went for impressions.
>177: pshaw. Lovely review.
ditto 176 and 178! Your review is great.
Darryl, I'm not sure, but I think you are the one who started the
Wolf Hall parade. I first heard of this book on your thread, and now so many of us either read or are reading it!
Thanks again!
I think I was the first 75er to read and review it, although a few other LTers had posted reviews before me. I'm just glad that so many others have enjoyed it, too. My group's practice manager has my copy, and is raving about it, and the head of my group is impatiently waiting for Mary to finish it.
I have to give credit to Citizenkelly, who read it last summer and told me about it. I just didn't get around to actually reading it until this autumn.
For any UK 75ers that are tempted, Wolf Hall is Waterstones' Deal of the Day today - £5.99, think it ends at midnight...
I suspect my local Waterstone's is not open that late...
@iansales - online though, and you can get it delivered free to the store (if you don't mind waiting a few days). Hurry, there's still 25 minutes left!
70. Frost in May by Antonia White
Although I was alternately fascinated and enchanted by this story, at the same time it faintly terrified me. A sensitive young girl, Nanda Grey, is taken to the Convent of the Five Wounds by her father at the tender age of eight. Having recently converted to Catholicism himself, her father deems this the right thing to do with his daughter.
What follows is a story of young girls forming bonds and friendships but bound tightly with the regulations of the convent and of the religion itself. The control and rigidity appalled me but the character of Nanda Grey herself, and that of her friends, kept me reading. The first of a fairly autobiographical trilogy by Antonia White, I have already picked up the second book to find out what is going to happen next. I was also appalled by the end of the story, particularly by the character of the father and am intensely curious to know what kind of resolution is going to be made, if any.
Message edited by its author, Nov 19, 2009, 9:43pm.
My mother, who lapsed as soon as she possibly could, on observing the next door neighbours going to Mass for the second time that Sunday said, "Converts are the worst."
Message edited by its author, Nov 20, 2009, 5:33am.
I've not heard of Antonia White before Tiffin - thanks for the review. I'm actually going to look up
Frost in May, my aunt lived in a convent many years ago and had some interesting stories about the regulations and chores put upon the young girls, still, many of them, like my aunt, became nuns.
I bought
Frost in May a while ago and had pretty much forgotten about it, but now I think it's going to move up in the TBR pile!
I think the Frost in May books are a quartet, aren't they? Annoyingly I have the first, and nos 3 & 4, but not no. 2 (
The Lost Traveller) so have been putting off starting.
I believe
Frost in May was the first-ever book published as a Virago Modern Classic - there was a big piece in the Guardian on Virago's anniversary, which led to me putting
Frost in May on my list.
Oh Rachel, is there a fourth? I have 1, 2, 3 in Virago Modern Classics. Yes, Frost in May was the first VMC published. What is the 4th title, please and thanks?
I read
Frost in May about 5 years ago. I never made it to the other books in the series, though, so maybe it is about time!
Thanks so much, Linda. I've begun "The Lost Traveller".
Another book on my TBR list which is waiting for me. Your review has me captivated, Tui.
Tui
Frost in May is on my tbr pile. Thanks for your great comments! And, by the way, can you provide guidance re. where I can obtain Virago Modern Classics?
Hi Whisp: 2nd hand bookshops are a good resource. I also have a permanent search set on EBay for them but they tend to be a bit pricier there unless you get a free shipping bookseller.
Thanks for the info.
Whisper1, you can also try Amazon.com and other online used book sites like Alibris. Half the fun of Virago Modern Classics is "the hunt" !
I just checked an online bookstore I use quite often and they have used VMC starting at $1.99.
www.seashellbooks.com - please try and save some for me! ;)
Message edited by its author, Nov 27, 2009, 7:52am.
Well now, just added those 4 books to the TBR list... I'd never heard of them before, they sound very interesting (and tricky to track down)...
#199 and 200...Thanks for the information! I'll wait until after Christmas to check this out...I fear I overspent on the bookcloseouts.com 50% off fiction, free shipping sale.
71. The Lais of Marie de France Trans. by Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante
I hadn't read this since university days, a good 35 years ago, and just idly reached out (because it's sitting in the shelves just to the left of me) and started reading. Well, the next thing I knew a couple of hours had gone by and I had read them all again. Marie de France is a bit of a mystery as little is known about her except for her writings and that she wrote for the English court which was French speaking as a result of the Norman conquest. The lais were likely written sometime beween 1160 to 1199.
Her lais are a fascinating look at love in many of its variations and permutations but she also wrote clever philosophical allegories. She was ironic, wise, humorous, and provides us with a fascinating insight into the mores and values of the 12th century feudal world. She reworked fables, French and Celtic legends, making them fresh and her own. I must revisit these again one day.
Message edited by its author, Dec 8, 2009, 9:10pm.
This sounds like a fascinating book!
72. Sunlight on the Lawn by Beverley Nichols
Another easy comfort read for the last thing at night, a gardener's mind candy. Balustrades get put up, fraudsters get theirs for abusing a sweet little old lady, Doric columns are erected for a folly, disputing neighbours get put to rights by the erudite Marius and wonderful gardening tips get woven throughout, particularly with regards to growing rhododendrons and dealing with lime soil. Timber Press has done a wonderful job of reissuing the Nichols books and I'm doing a wonderful job of collecting all of them.
Message edited by its author, Dec 8, 2009, 11:16pm.
Whisp, it took me a bit of effort to dredge up the allegorical symbolism from the depths of the middle aged brain. Without that background, I wondered if the lais might seem simplistic to someone reading them today. It WAS fascinating to me to reread them but I spent a few years dabbling around with this stuff and it did start to come back as I continued to read.
73. The Lost Traveller by Antonia White
Well, I battled with this book. Not because the writing wasn't good: it was. Not because the story didn't hold my interest: it did. But I writhed under two enormous influences of the story: religion and the personality of Clara's father.
As Roman Catholicism is represented in this book, it is a repressive, controlling, insiders' club whose rules one could play fast and loose with if you were a family whose membership went back several hundred years but who had to cool your heels in the foyer of its confines, if you were a recent convert, never quite admitted into the inner sanctum of acceptance, yet required to adhere to the most minute of its dictates.
Clara's father has converted to Catholicism and so, of course, must Clara. She tries, really she does, memorising, getting spectacular grades, praying her little heart out but some free part of her creative imagination cannot be confined by its rules and mistakes get made. Antonia White made me ache for this child, for the suppression of her spirit and the constant reshaping and directing of her imagination. It seemed the worst travesty to do this to a child and left me profoundly disturbed by what I was reading. And, at times, furiously angry. So it wasn't an easy read for me.
The other profoundly disturbing factor was Clara's father and her relationship with him. There was almost an incestuous aspect to his manipulation of her at times. She worshipped him, was terrified of him, tied herself into knots trying to please him. He was arrogant, had a ferocious temper, said the most cruel and slashing of things to her, was controlling and yet, in some way, was very pathetic and insecure. Having come from relatively humble (although not working class) means, he had become a successful academic who had married slightly above him and yearned to be rich, privileged. This reader suspects this is what really motivated his conversion to Catholicism, this yearning to be accepted, to be an insider in something ancient and with meaning. His conversion actually cost him advancement in the world of academia, where he really could have shone and made a real success of himself.
Clara never could please him, a man so ill pleased with himself and his position. She couldn't connect with her mother, however that woman strove to make a link with her daughter. Intellectually very capable and yet emotionally cruelly stunted, poor Clara strove to please everyone and could please no one, least of all her self. In the end it became the story of a slow unravelling of the personality of a girl and that was a hard, sad read for me. "Lost traveller" indeed.
Apparently there were many autobiographical elements for Antonia White in the four books which make up this series. I know that White herself suffered a serious mental breakdown, so I don't know if I am going to read the 3rd or 4th books. Not just yet, at any rate.
Message edited by its author, Dec 19, 2009, 11:44am.
#207:
The Hearing Trumpet looks pretty good. I will see if I can find a copy of it. Thanks for the mention, Tui!
Stasia, it might just be tied for my top read of the year, beside
Wolf Hall. I'll let you know!
#209: Oh, I am looking forward to that review!
74. The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
Leonara Carrington was one of the surrealists painting between the wars. What wars, the human race is always at war...between WWI and WWII. But she was also writing and this wonderful fantastical tale is one of her longer works.
The edition I have features one of her paintings on the cover, details from "The Giantess" but the paintings throughout the book were done by Pablo Weisz Carrington, her son.
The story itself begins straightforwardly enough: an elderly woman, Marian, lives in Mexico in the home of her son, Galahad, and his not particularly nice wife, Muriel, and even nastier grandson, Robert. She is quite deaf and keeps to herself, spending hours sitting in the garden with her beloved cats and a little red hen, where she dreams of going to Lapland. She will occasionally venture out to visit her friend, Carmella. On one of these visits, Carmella presents her with a large hearing trumpet, an ornate object she found in one of her excursions to an antique shop. Miraculously, Marian can hear spectacularly clearly using this ancient device.
Marian comes out with wonderful lines:
My memory is full of all sorts of stuff which is not, perhaps, in chronological order, but there is a lot of it. So I pride myself on having an excellent faculty of miscellaneous recall.When the son and his wife decide to put her into an old age home, everything changes wildly. The institution run by the Well of Light Brotherhood is unlike any old age home one could imagine, with its buildings shaped like toadstools, Swiss chalets, railway carriages, a mummy, a boot and the main building shaped like a castle.
The book is a surreal painting come to life but with a very wise and observant mind directing the action. If you send a group of old women off on a grail quest, something wonderful is bound to happen and indeed, it does.
This book ties with Wolf Hall for my favourite read of the year - and they couldn't be more unalike. I absolutely loved
The Hearing Trumpet and thank LolaWalser with all my heart for recommending it.
Message edited by its author, Dec 19, 2009, 11:43am.
Message 205
Tiffin, heck I would read this book merely for the beautiful cover, and your comments add to the fact that it is now on the tbr pile.
opps..I forgot to mention that I loved your description of
The Hearing Trumpet and added that one as well.
Brilliant review of
The Lost Traveller. And I'm always amazed at the way books affect different people. I agree with everything you said, but the suppression aspect didn't hit me as hard as it did you. I did find the parental relationships sad but again her maternal relationship was more difficult for me than the paternal. Although I agree, that one's kinda weird, too.
Beyond the Glass is good, but sad (although less focused on religion and parents) ... so I agree with your idea of putting space between books.
#211: I put it in the BlackHole before your review - now I just have to find a copy! It sounds wonderful.
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