Review: Q's Legacy, by Helene Hanff

Pages: 177
Original date of publication: 1985
My edition: 1986 (Penguin)
Why I decided to read: I enjoyed 84, Charing Cross Road
How I acquired my copy: Amazon.com, December 2011

Q’s Legacy is Helene Hanff’s account of how she came to write 84, Charing Cross Road and its sequel, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (so I guess this book is a part of that series). She starts with the day at the Philadelphia Public Library when she discovered Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch’s On the Art of Writing, which led her to begin reading the books he mentioned. That led to Helene collecting those books, which led to her correspondence with Frank Doel at Marks and Co. in London…

Helene talks about the books she read less than I would have expected her to, but what’s undeniable is that she definitely has her own distinctive narrative voice, seen in 84 and The Duchess, and continued in this book. She’s funny, smart, honest, and direct, all of the qualities that I love in her writing. Helene covers a large amount of time in this book; from the day at the Philadelphia library in the 1930s when she was just a student (officially or otherwise), up until the 1980s, when 84 had become a major Broadway production. Helene was a diehard Anglophile, so her trips to England are the highlights of this memoir—including her infamous trip to see Quiller-Couch’s study.

Throughout her trips are sprinkled various anecdotes, some of them not apparently connected with Helene’s story but that display her love for English culture—i.e., rambling about Thomas and Jane Carlyle and their house in Cheyne Row, London. But the tangential rambling are all a part of Hanff’s charm. In all, I enjoyed this memoir, although I would have liked Hanff to have included a reading list or something that tied the title and subject of the book together better. On a side note, as a big Persephone fan, Hanff has connections with two Persephone authors: Diana Athill, who worked with Helene’s publisher, Andre Deutsch; and at one point Helene mentions to Andre that he should publish Judith Viorst’s It’s Hard to be Hip Over Thirty, of which Andre says “it won’t travel.”

Review: They Knew Mr. Knight, by Dorothy Whipple

Pages: 484
Original date of publication: 1934
My edition: 2008 (Persephone)
Why I decided to read: Dorothy Whipple is one of my favorite authors and you knew I was going to get around to this sometime!

How I acquired my copy: the Persephone shop, September 2011

Dorothy Whipple, how do I love thee? They Knew Mr. Knight is the story of a middle-class businessman, Thomas Blake, whose life and work becomes entwined with that of a big-time entrepreneur named Lawrence Knight—a man that the reader can quickly see is full of style but no substance. Everything Mr. Knight does revolves around money—he even looks at Thomas’s modest little house and sees things in terms of financial value. The novel follows the Blake family’s rise and fall, poignantly so in many places.

On the other hand is Thomas’s sensible wife, Celia, who shies away from the constant striving of her husband and Mr. Knight. Although written in the first person, the story is seen through the eyes of Celia Blake, probably the most likeable character in this book due to her practical common sense. Yet she’s painfully gauche at the same time, naive and trusting where maybe she shouldn’t be. So it’s painful to the reader to watch her rise and fall in tandem with her husband (along with their teenage children).

This is a novel about striving, to become bigger/better/whatever than one is, sometimes at the cost of other people. Dorothy Whipple tends to hit her reader over the head with her theme, but the story unravels itself in a very clever way. You know that Something Bad is going to befall some of these characters, but the interesting thing is how it’s all going to happen. Dorothy Whipple’s prose style is very simple and straightforward, which is why I love her books; her books tend to be long(ish) but the story moves swiftly.

This is Persephone No. 19.

the Sunday Salon

Happy Sunday! For someone as anti-social as I am, I was quite busy this week! On Friday evening I had drinks with an old friend from middle and high school, and then yesterday I went to go see My Week With Marilyn, about Marilyn Monroe’s 1956 filming of The Prince and the Showgirl (with Sir Laurence Olivier, played by Kenneth Branaugh in this film). The story focuses on a young third assistant producer/director (aka: gopher) who strikes up a friendship with Marilyn (played by Michele Williams here) on set. I thought it was a really enjoyable film. You may or may not know that Marilyn was actually a great reader, leaving behind a library of 400-plus volumes at the time of her death. There’s a subtle nod to that in the film; Marilyn has a copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses in her dressing room.

In other news, classes began again this week—I’m taking two, one on editing and the other on research strategies for biomedical writers. We had our first “meeting,” i.e., webinar, for the editing class on Wednesday evening, and already I can tell that It’s going to be fun—a lot of hard work, but fun. I’m doing it part-time, because there’s so much to do and I’m working full-time meantime. So I should be about 40 by the time I finish my degree! But I think it’ll be worth it.

Despite the business of everything else, I still had time for some reading; I finished EM Delafield’s Consequences, a bleak novel about what happens to one very socially awkward spinster during the Edwardian period. Oh, man, is it depressing! Certainly a lot different from Diary of a Provincial Lady.

So how was your week? What did you read?

Review: Family History, by Vita Sackville-West

Pages: 315
Original date of publication: 1932
My edition: 1986 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: I like Vita Sackville-West’s books
How I acquired my copy: The Last Word bookshop, Philadelphia, August 2011

Family History is the story of a middle-aged woman’s relationship with a much younger man. Evelyn Jarrold is the mother of a teenage son, and although widowed, is still very much connected to her husband’s aristocratic family. She strikes up a relationship with Miles Vane-Merrick, an up-and-coming politician and writer 15 years her junior. The novel is set in the interwar years; a few characters from The Edwardians play a smaller role in this book (Viola and Leonard Anquetil, and Lady Roehampton).

It’s a flawed relationship, which the reader immediately senses isn’t going to turn out well. I loved how Vita Sackville-West depicts the relationship between Miles and Evelyn and the differences between them. Evelyn has a pretty conservative view of how relationships should be, and she’s never been in love before, so she turns out to be jealous, possessive, and domineering—exactly the wrong kind of woman for a man like Miles, who values independence and freedom above everything. Either way, both of them have very strong personalities. The problems are compounded by the fact that society certainly wouldn’t approve of their relationship, if they were ever open about it, for reasons of the age difference and social status.

You would think that, with the differences and problems between them in age and temperament, they wouldn’t be compatible, but Vita Sackville-West makes her reader understand why they’re attracted to each other. It’s inevitable that the relationship will end, but how will everyone fare, eventually? Sackville-West’s treatment of age is somewhat odd; Miles seems very middle-aged for a man in his twenties, and Dan, Evelyn’s seventeen-year-old son, seems much, much younger than his age. However, I love Vita Sackville-West’s descriptions of the English upper classes; she skewered her peers in The Edwardians and to a lesser extent in Family History.

I was a little confused by Vita Sackville-West’s use of the words “that” and thatt,” until I went back and read the Introduction to the VMC edition. “She attempts in this novel to introduce a spelling reform, writing ‘that’ as ‘thatt’ when it is used as a pronoun, to distinguish it from its other grammatical functions, as in, for example, ‘I fear that thatt will irritate my readers.’”

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
Be sure NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

“She wore a black dress, as always, and very few jewels. Antonio thought it was a pity she was committed, as a widow, to perpetual black, for it did not in his opinion truly accord with her very black hair and Castilian pallor.”

-From That Lady, by Kate O’Brien

Review: The Blank Wall, by Elizabeth Sanxay Holding

Pages: 231
Original date of publication: 1947
My edition: 2003 (Persephone)
Why I decided to read:
How I acquired my copy: the Persephone shop, September 2011

Lucia Holley is a middle-aged housewife, living somewhere in America during WWII. Her husband is away, and she is raising her two teenaged children on the homefront. After her daughter begins dating an unattractive, married man who then turns up dead, Lucia inadvertently becomes involved in the crime when she attempts to cover it up in order to protect the person she thinks killed the boyfriend.

Holding wrote this novel at around the same time that Patricia Highsmith was writing The Talented Mr. Ripley series; and while The Blank Wall isn’t quite as suspenseful as Highsmith’s books, it belongs to the same school of psychological suspense novels. The plot moves quickly, and Holding doesn’t waste her words in order to convey the tension of the plot. The reader really feels Lucia’s inner struggle as she tries to cover up the crime and carry on as usual. It’s interesting that once people start to notice her odd behavior, the attribute it to the completely wrong reasons—but they make complete sense to the people around Lucia because the truth is so bizarre! In that way, I thought this book was well-written.

I was disappointed, however, with the ending of the book, since things seemed to go on as usual without any kind of consequences. I definitely think the ending could have been improved upon. Also, the story line with the mysterious Donnelly is kind of predictable (but sad). A good book, but not my favorite Persephone.

This is Persephone No. 42.

Booking Through Thursday

But enough about interviewing other people. It’s time I interviewed YOU.

1. What’s your favorite time of day to read?
Early in the morning.

2. Do you read during breakfast? (Assuming you eat breakfast.)
It would probably be more true to say that I read during breakfast time, that is to say, I don’t eat breakfast but at that general time of day.

3. What’s your favorite breakfast food? (Noting that breakfast foods can be eaten any time of day.)
Bagels.

4. How many hours a day would you say you read?
About one.

5. Do you read more or less now than you did, say, 10 years ago?
Yes, but I’m becoming much more discriminating in my reading choices and habits.

6. Do you consider yourself a speed reader?
In comparison to other book bloggers, no, but lesser-read people call me that.

7. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Speed-reading. That way I could really all 200-plus book on my TBR pile and not feel any pressure. There's so much to read and too little time to read it in!

8. Do you carry a book with you everywhere you go?
Yes, always!

9. What KIND of book?
Anything I’m reading at the moment; I bought my handbag based on the fact that it can carry pretty much anything.

10. How old were you when you got your first library card?
I can’t remember!

11. What’s the oldest book you have in your collection? (Oldest physical copy? Longest in the collection? Oldest copyright?)
The physically oldest book I have in my collection is a collection of MR James ghost stories that I bought in a Charing Cross Road bookshop in London; the pub. date is 1934. My copy of Margery Sharpe's Brittania Mews is from 1946, and I have a first edition copy of Rebecca West's The Birds Fall Down from 1966.

12. Do you read in bed?
Sometimes.

13. Do you write in your books?
Absolutely not! Horror!

14. If you had one piece of advice to a new reader, what would it be?

15. What question have I NOT asked at BTT that you’d love me to ask? (Actually, leave the answer to this one in the comments on this post, huh? So I can find them when I need inspiration!)

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
Be sure NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

“Sunday, 10 August, 1941:
The last day of our ‘holidays and, what with the weather and two warring temperaments to contend with, I’m not sorry. Cliff and my husband seem to bring the worst out in each other, and I have not the patience and endurance I used to have when Cliff was at home.”

-From Nella Last’s War, by Nella Last

Review: The Camomile, by Catherine Carswell

Pages: 305
Original date of publication: 1922
My edition: 1987 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: It’s on the list of VMCs
How I acquired my copy: bookstore on 10th st., Philadelphia, August 2011

The Camomile is the story of one young woman’s coming of age in 1920s Glasgow. Having just spent several years studying music in Germany, Ellen Carstairs returns to Glasgow to teach, meanwhile realizing her ambition of being an author by keeping a diary of her experiences and writing letters to a friend.

I liked the idea of the novel, but I just wasn’t all that interested in the way the narrator talks about her experiences. She wasn’t compelling enough as a narrator for me to quite like her as much as I wanted to, which was disappointing considering that Carswell based Ellen’s experiences on her own, and held correspondence with many famous people, among them DH Lawrence, Vita Sackville-West, and Rebecca West. Ironically, I think maybe the story might have been better if it hadn’t been written in diary/epistle form, and if Catherine Carswell had done a better job of removing herself from the story she was trying to write.

But as I’ve said, I like the idea for the book, especially since Ellen rents a room especially for writing, a la A Room of One’s Own. I usually like the books that VMC have reprinted, but unfortunately I just wasn’t involved with the story in order to finish the novel.

The Sunday Salon

Happy New Year! I’ve been a bit busy this past week; I began re-watching the first season of Downton Abbey in preparation for the premiere of the second season this evening in the US! I have been geeking out about this all week in the most insane way. I took the Downton Abbey personality quiz and it turns out that I’m Anna Smith, the head housemaid, but I think there’s a certain amount of Edith in there as well.

In reading, I finished They Knew Mr. Knight this week and embarked on Nella Last’s War this weekend. The problem I have at the beginning of the ear always is that there's so much possibility with every book I own that it's tough to decide what to read next!

On a non-book-related note, for the past couple of months I’ve been giving online dating a whirl. It can be so difficult to write a profile that’s meaningful and connects with someone, especially since most dating profiles are mere shadows of who we really are. Like job applications and cover letters, people really only spend a couple of seconds looking at a dating profile, so it’s important to get things right. So many of the profiles I’ve seen are so riddled with clichés that it makes me wonder if these guys really know what they’re about, or if they’re just saying what they think we women want to hear. Some of my favorite clichés and deal breakers include:

1) “I’d like a girl who’s just as comfortable staying in wearing sweats and a tee shirt as they are in a cocktail dress.” Ugh, it hurts my fingers to even type this one.
2) “I’m as comfortable going out as I am staying at home with a movie and a bottle of red.” Ever notice how it’s never a bottle of white?
3) “I’m very sarcastic/spontaneous/laid back/up for anything, etc,” but then they don’t actually give any examples. This goes for any adjective someone uses to describe themselves. As my former English teachers used to say, “show, don’t tell.” And if you have to say that you’re any of these things, you probably aren’t. Jus’ saying’.
4) “I’m a Romeo looking for my Juliet.” Well, a sweet sentiment except for one tiny detail. I don’t know if you’ve ever read or seen the play, but personally I’m not in the habit of committing suicide over my boyfriends’ corpses.
5) “No games.” So what happened in your past that makes you say this? Goes along with the request for “drama free.”
6) Opening with “I was in a relationship for 5 years and just got out 3 months ago.” OK, probably not over his ex, no?
7) Photos of someone shirtless./taking a photo of themselves through a mirror. Don’t get me started on this one.
8) Many guys mention that they like the show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Well, I had to look that one up and found that it’s an incredibly stupid show featuring incredibly stupid people based around a city we happen to live in.
9) “I’m just looking for friends.” Umm, no you’re not; you’re on a DATING website, for crying out loud!
10) People who say they hate writing about themselves. Don’t we all.
11) Saying something like, “so here’s the uninteresting story of my life.” Well, since you’re clearly not interested in your life, why should I be?
12) “My friends and family say that I’m…” I don’t want to hear what your friends and family think about you; I want to hear about what you think of you!
13) “I’m looking for my partner in crime.” Ugh.
14) “I don’t really read all that much.” A deal breaker for yours truly if ever there was one.

As far as any of these clichés go, I just want to close that profile and move on to the next! If you’ve ever tried online dating, what was your experience? Got any stories to tell?

Happy New Year! What are you reading?