The Sunday Salon

Well, it’s been cold here this weekend, with a healthy dose of snow yesterday. Good thing I got my errands in yesterday before it all started! I spent much of the weekend indoors, reading and watching TV. This week I finished reading The Love Knot; read The Victory, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (the 12th book in the Morland Dynasty series); and yesterday afternoon I finished an ARC of Heresy, by SJ Parris, which came to me courtesy of the Vine.

Also reading intermittently this week (and probably well into this next) was the 800-page-plus collection of Mitford letters, edited by Charlotte Mosley (The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters. I'm using it for the A to Z Challenge, and cheating just a bit; I'm taking the X from the word six and using the book as my X title). It’s been my bedside book this past week, and I’ve been reading a bit at a time before bed. Currently about halfway through and enjoying it immensely. This compilation is only about 5% of the total collection of 12,000 letters, and it’s really fascinating to read the Mitford story through the unique voices of the six sisters (Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica, and Deborah). I think when I review the book, I’m going to focus on the collection itself, not necessarily analyze the sisters themselves—one could go on for days about the controversial and not-so-controversial things the girls did during their lifetimes. It’s a very good collection of letters, spanning the course of the twentieth century and slightly beyond.

More blog maintenance this weekend; I realized I needed to get some of my bookmarks sorted out. What I do is, whenever one of my fellow bloggers reviews something I have, I bookmark it, to later link to the review in my own. I realized that I have four months’ worth of bookmarks to link! I think it was somewhere in the realm of 150 posts. So I’ve been busy with that, although I’m still not done yet. This week I also wrote a few reviews, to be published at a later date.

On to the ubiquitous reading wrap-up for January. 11 books read this month, with two in progress (the Mitford book, plus Dorothy Whipple’s Someone at a Distance). Alphabetically by author:

Within the Hollow Crown, by Margaret Campbell Barnes
The Love Knot, by Elizabeth Chadwick
Twilight of Avalon, by Anna Elliott
Fidelity, by Susan Glaspell
The Road to Jerusalem, by Jan Guillou
The Queen’s Governess, by Karen Harper
The Victory, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
The Carlyles at Home, by Thea Holme
The Splendour Falls, by Susanna Kearsley
O Juliet, by Robin Maxwell
Heresy, by SJ Parris

The best of these were the Susanna Kearsley, as well as the Holme (I gave both five stars). Coming in close behind were the Elliott, Chadwick, and Glaspell books, with 4.5 each. Least favorite read of the month was the Robin Maxwell, which earned two. Given that I tend to be on the harsh side when it comes to ratings, it’s been a good month! One of my goals for this year is to read more nonfiction (since only 8% of what I read last year was nonfic, down from 17% in 2008); and I've definitely been keeping up with that so far. Hope to keep up my good reading streak in February...

How was your weekend?

Weekly Geeks

For this week's Weekly Geeks, share with us the books which call out to you during the cold, wintry months. Are there genres which appeal to you most? Why do you think you are drawn to these types of books during winter? Do you have some book recommendations for other readers who are looking for some escape from the blustery weather? Give us some of your favorites and tell us why you recommend them.

As "extra credit" why not share some photos of what the weather looks like outside your home...or where you curl up to read when 'the weather outside is frightening.'

Seasonal reading: what a great topic! Especially since it’s 18 degrees F here in southeastern Pennsylvania. I frequently gravitate towards chunksters in the winter; a great read towards this end is Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour, or MM Kaye’s The Far Pavilions. I also recommend anything by Dorothy Whipple as a good winter read by the fire.

I also tend to go for books with a darker theme, such as The Meaning of Night, by Michael Cox, or its sequel, The Glass of Time. Then again, a great book for chasing away the winter blues is DE Stvenson’s Miss Buncle’s Book!

If you want weather-appropriate settings, Try Robert Goolrick’s A Reliable Wife (which I didn’t like, but I can see why some people might like it); or Wintering, by Kate Moses (a novel about Sylvia Plath). What are your top winter reads?

Update, 2:10 pm: it's snowing....

Friday Finds

I haven’t done these is a while, have I? Here’s a selection fo books I’ve heard about recently:

Spooky Little Girl, by Laurie Notaro. Her latest book, which is coming out in April. Don’t know too much about it, except that the subtitle is “a novel,” which is a departure from her usual collection of humor essays (though she’s written another novel as well).

Testament, by Alis Hawkins. Timeslip novel that goes back and forth between the present day and the 14th century.

Heresy, by SJ Parris. Historical novel that I’m receiving through the Amazon Vine program

The Sheen on the Silk, by Anne Perry. A stand-alone novel set in 13th-century Constantinople; another Vine item.

Hangman Blind, by Cassandra Clark. Mystery set in 14th century York. Same time period as Candace Robb’s Owen Archer series, but a totally different “detective.”

The Creation of Eve, by Lynne Cullen. I’ve recently heard that I’ll be receiving an ARC of this.

What have you heard about this week?

Review: Twilight of Avalon, by Anna Elliott

Pages: 448
Original publication date: 2009
My edition: 2009 (Touchstone)
Why I decided to read: Vague interest in Arthurian legends/early medieval history.
How I acquired my copy: bought with a giftcard at Barnes & Noble.
I have to say right off the bat that this book wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I was expecting (and maybe dreading, a bit) a fantasy-ish retelling of the Trystan and Isolde story. But what Anna Elliott does here, to my delighted surprise, is combine elements of the legends with what is known about the early Middle Ages—in this case, the invasions of the Saxons in the 5th and 6th centuries. Most of the Trystan and Isolde stories are based on those written down in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, and are therefore done in the tradition of courtly romances. Anna Elliott’s rendition is much more realistic.

The story opens just after the death of Isolde’s husband Constantine, the High King of Britain. Immediately, Lord Marche begins jockeying for power, quickly becoming the High King. Isolde escapes marriage with him; becoming acquainted with a prisoner named Trystan. At first he called himself , or stranger, is an appropriate description; he’ half-Briton and half-Saxon, yet neither at the same time. The novel, which is the first in a trilogy, is told primarily from the point of view of Isolde, but I suspect further books in the series will tell the story from Trystan’s side, too. This book is not a straight romance, as the relationship between Isolde and Tystan is just beginning to evolve here. I expect much more to happen in further books.

As I’ve said before, I went into the reading of the book as a skeptic—not only because I thought it would be more fantasy, but also because I was skeptical of the idea of the whole healer aspect. I also thought that there would be a lot more magic here, and there isn’t—Isolde has lost her powers, but they’re really still there, hiding underneath the surface. I was a bit out of my comfort zone; I don’t usually read novels based on the Arthurian legends. But this book was a completely unique one. It’s interesting how the author managed to use written versions of the Trytan and Isolde story in order to return it to the way the stories were originally told—orally. I loved how the author incorporated the historical elements into the story, grounding it in reality while at the same time stay more or less true to the oral tradition of storytelling (which is a major theme of this novel).

Not only is the setting very real, but the characters are, too. For a trilogy to work properly, you have to make it so that the reader is drawn into the lives of the characters enough so that they want to read on. I definitely will be reading more in this trilogy; the next book, Dark Moon of Avalon, comes out in May, and I can’t wait! All in all, a really strong start to what promises to be an exciting trilogy.

Also reviewed by: The Literate Housewife Review

Cover Deja-Vu# 19

This is the Dover Thrift edition of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, which shares a cover image with these covers right here.

Reaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:

--Grab your current read
--Let the book open to a random page.
--Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
--You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

“Lucy delayed writing to Weston about the baby until she had heard from Chetwyn, and so when the Nemesis put into Torbay, on New Year’s Eve, there was no news for him. The fleet remained at anchor only one day, before returning to station, but further westerly gales followed, at at the end of January the fleet was forced again to run for shelter to Torbay.”

--From The Victory, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Review: Fidelity, by Susan Glaspell

Pages: 442
Original pulication date: 1915
My edition: 2009 (Persephone)
Why I decided to read: Browse on the Persephone website
How I acquired my copy: Persephone subscription received for Christmas
Fidelity is set in Freeport, a small Midwestern town that, ironically, is neither a “port” nor “free.” Ruth Holland shocks the town by running away with a married man. Eleven years later, as her father is dying, she comes back to Freeport, and faces the censure of the townspeople.

The novel, published in 1915, is the story of what happens when a young woman chooses her own happiness over that of other people. The novel asks, which is more important, “society?” Or the need for an individual to be “free?” It’s not until after Ruth returns to Freeport that she realizes the effect her actions have had upon the rest of the town—and that she starts to feel remorse for how much she has hurt them. Unusually, this is a novel about marital infidelity that is told from the point of view of “the other woman.”

One of the main themes of the novel is love—not necessarily romantic love, but love for family and friends. It’s remarkable how many friends Ruth still has in Freeport, despite all she has done. Most remarkable of all is Deane Franklin, Ruth’s old friend, who seems to be the only one in the town who can view her situation objectively. The title refers not to marital fidelity, or the lack of it, but a fidelity to a certain set of principles. And, ultimately, this book is about Ruth’s search for identity in a society in which her life would have been circumscribed had she not made the decisions she made.

This is Persephone #4 (endpaper below)

The Sunday Salon

Happy Sunday, everyone!

I spent most of yesterday working on the blog—I wrote a few reviews (I’ve scheduled them to be posted within the next few weeks or so), and I worked on my review database. I’ve decided that, in addition to categorizing them alphabetically by author, I’m going to organize them alphabetically by title as well. I’ve created each of the posts in my separate blog for review links; now I just have to do all the linking! The review data base can be found under the header of the main blog, if you’re reading this post through a feed reader. I'm still working on how to organize it on the page, so please let me know what you think of it! I'd love to make tabs at the top like I've seen other bloggers do, but I don't know how to do it with Blogger. Anyone know how? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

I’ve also done a bit of reading this week. I finished Within the Hollow Crown, which is an advance copy of a reprint of one of Margaret Campbell Barnes’s books (this one is about Richard II). I then read The Splendour Falls, by Susanna Kearsley; and I’m now most of the way through The Love Knot by Elizabeth Chadwick, set during the civil war between Stephen and Matilda. I’ve realized that Chadwick’s novels are a bit formulaic, but they’re good comfort reads as well (especially so considering I had a cold this week and wanted something that wasn’t too demanding). I’d like to finish it today, since I’d like to start with something fresh tomorrow morning (Monday and all that), but since I’ve got 150 pages left, we’ll have to see about that.

Speaking of Elizabeth Chadwick, this week I pre-ordered a copy of To Defy a King, but I don’t know if I should cancel the order or not. On one hand, there’s instant gratification, and Elizabeth Chadwick's books are the few that I'll buy in hardcover when they come out. On the other hand, reason is telling me that I should wait until September, when I go back to England for vacation; and reason is also reminding me that I have piles and piles of unread books lying on my bedroom floor right now! It's not as though I really “need” any more. What to do, what to do? LOL.

Review: The Queen's Governess, by Karen Harper

Pages: 368
Original publication date: 2010
My edition: 2010 (Putnam)
Why I decided to read: I've enjoyed Karen Harper's other books in the past
How I acquired my copy: ARC sent via the publisher
The Queen’s Governess is the story of Kat Ashley (nee Champernowne), governess to Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth I. Kat, like the Tudors and Boleyns (and Thomas Cromwell, for that matter), literally came from nowhere, plucked from obscurity by Thomas Cromwell and placed in the household of Anne Boleyn. The Tudor court was full of self-made men and women, and Kat became one of those who fought for her reputation in a place when one’s position there was uncertain. Kat Ashley became the Princess’s governess in 1537, eventually becoming one of Elizabeth’s closest confidants and First Lady of the Bedchamber. The novel opens when Kat is a young girl and meets Thomas Cromwell by fortuitous chance, and closes when Elizabeth becomes Queen.

I wanted to like this novel better than I did. Karen Harper certainly knows her period—the 16th century—and her dialogue and characters seem mostly authentic (the exception being Thomas Seymour, who comes across as a lot worse than I think he really was, and Kat herelf, which I’ll explain in a bit). Unfortunately, this didn’t really translate into a really good story for me. It’s sort of hard for me to see what the focus of the novel is—is it Kat, whose life wasn’t really all that interesting (even her romance with John Ashley is underplayed), or is it the story of Elizabeth, who doesn’t get all that much on-screen time?

Sometimes I felt as though this novel read like a recitation of facts, not fiction based upon facts; and I felt that the novel jumped around a lot in time. Maybe, if the novel had been a bit longer, it might have allowed the author to go more in depth with the plot. Also, I didn’t really buy the idea that Thomas Cromwell used Kat Ashley as one of his spies—though, of course, knowing what Cromwell was like, it could very likely have happened as not. The novel portray Kat Ashley as a bit of an innocent, but I believe that she must not have been entirely scrupulous, as it took a certain amount of wiliness to survive in the Tudor court. In comparison with some of Harper’s other books, I would rate this slightly below Mistress Shakespeare. It’s not Karen Harper’s best novel, but as usual, she’s definitely done her research.

Review: The Book of Fires, by Jane Borodale

Pages: 368
Original publication date: 2010
My edition: 2010 (Viking)
How I acquired my copy: ARC sent via the publisher
The Book of Fires is the story of Agnes Trussel, a teenage girl from the country who becomes pregnant and, stealing coins from her dead neighbor, runs away to London, where she obtains a job as assistant to a fireworks maker, John Blacklock. The novel covers the course of Agnes's pregnancy, from late 1752 to early 1753.

I both like and dislike this novel, which I know is a contradiction—much like the character of Agnes Trussell. I think my biggest problem with this novel is that I didn’t totally believe her as a narrator—she’s an uneducated teenager from the country, yet she speaks in this upper class voice. On one hand, she’s intelligent, but on the other, she’s so incredibly stupid about human nature. Did she really think that nobody in John Blacklock’s house would notice that she was pregnant? Did she really think that her plan regarding Cornelius Soul would work out? How could she not figure out from the get-go what Lettice Talbot’s profession is? Is she really that ignorant of The Facts of Life? Agnes is unfortunately not the most compelling of narrators (like Bessy from The Observations, for example), and I think the book would have been better served if the narrator had been omniscient. In fact, some of the other characters in the book, specifically Blacklock, turned out to be far more interesting to me.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed the plot of this novel. It’s unique and interesting, and it held my interest right from the first sentence to the last. The twist at the end is quite good, too. Jane Borodale is clearly a good writer, and she certainly has a poetic way with words. If she’d worked a little more on her narrator, this book would be excellent.

Also reviewed by: Reading the Past, Hey Lady! Whatcha Reading?

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:

--Grab your current read
--Let the book open to a random page.
--Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
--You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

“The man at the Clos des Cloches picked up the phone on the second ring. It wasn’t Armand Valcourt.”

--From The Splendour Falls, by Susanna Kearsley

Review: Small Wars, by Sadie Jones

Pages: 384
Original publication date: 2009
My edition: 2010 (Harper)
How I acquired my copy: ARC through the Amazon Vine program
Set in 1956 in Cyprus during one of the “small wars” that the British fought after World War II, this novel focuses on the story of Hal Treherne, a major in the British army who is posted to Cyprus. His wife and their two small daughters join him there. Amid the violence and fighting against EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kypriou Agonistou), Hal and Clara find that their relationship suffers.

It’s very difficult to review a novel such as this one. Small Wars is a character-driven novel. It’s an intriguing look at the war a war, even a small one, can have such a strong psychological impact on someone who is conditioned to withstand it. The novel is often bleak; danger and even death are imminent in this novel. And yet the military action is such a strong contrast to the activities of the British colonists (their club in Nicosia and life on the military base, for example). This novel is a beautiful evocation of a time and place. It’s an emotionally draining read; and while I would have liked for the ending of the book to be less drawn-out, I really enjoyed this novel. I’m looking forward to reading more from Sadie Jones, especially her first novel, The Outcast.

At the end of the book, Sadie Jones lists a website on the “small wars” that the British fought in the last half of the 20th century: britainssmallwars.com. It’s an excellent introduction to the time period for someone who doesn’t know much about it.

Also reviewed by: An Adventure in Reading, S. Krishna's Books

Review: Wildfire at Midnight, by Mary Stewart

Pages: 336
Original publication date: 1956
My edition: 2003 (Harper Torch)
How I acquired my copy: bought used at a local bookstore
Mary Stewart’s novels are always good comfort reads. There’s definitely a formula to them—they always take place in an exotic location, and feature a smart, somewhat skeptical heroince (who’s usually in her mid to late twenties). Throw in some romance and suspense, and you have the recipe for a really fun, atmospheric read. Wildfire at Midnight is no exception to this.

Giannetta Drury is a model, who decides to take a break from London to visit the Island of Skye, up in the Hebrides. She stays at a local hotel, but is perturbed when her ex husband, Nicholas, is also one of the guests there--ouch, how awkward! As Giannetta becomes more familiar with the other guests at the hotel, she learns the story of the murder of a young local girl, whose throat was brutally cut. But as events unfold, it turns out that the murderer hasn’t yet finished their work…

Wildfire at Midnight is more of a mystery than some of Mary Stewart’s other books, and the suspense is right up there as some of the best that she’s ever offered. There are several truly bone-chilling scenes in this novel, especially the one in the fog towards the end! I feel that character development is weaker here (for example, I felt that Dougal Macrae seemed rather undisturbed by the murder of his daughter, two and a half weeks prior to the events in the book). But I enjoyed the romance aspect—it’s there all along, though Giannetta doesn’t realize it until the end. Giannetta also seems to be less skeptical than some of Stewart’s other heroines, but that more or less works in her favor this time. Again, another strong novel from Mary Stewart.

The Sunday Salon

It’s a quiet Sunday here; a usual week at work, too. I’ve spent most of the weekend watching episodes of Are You Being Served? and Upstairs, Downstairs (again!).

In terms of reading, not much has been going on in that department; I read O, Juliet, by Robin Maxwell, and The Road to Jerusalem, by Jan Guillou. The latter book, although only 380-ish pages, took me the better part of the week to read.

I’m currently reading, and enjoying, another Persephone: The Carlyles at Home, by Thea Holme. It’s nonfiction (the first nonfiction from Persephone that I’ve read), about Thomas and Jane Carlyle and the home they rented at 5 Cheyne Row, London, for over thirty years (1830s-60s; coincidentally, Jane's 209th birthday was on this past Thursday). The book is not so much about their stormy relationship as it is about their domestic arrangements, from clothing to the Servant Problem to the wacky, noisy neighbors next door at number 6. The book draws heavily from the massive correspondence between Carlyle and Jane. Highly recommended for anyone who likes reading about daily life in Victorian England.

How was your week?

Review: Fire From Heaven, by Mary Renault

Fire From Heaven is the story of Alexander the Great, the legendary fourth-century BC king and emperor who succeeded after his father was killed. He had a short lifespan (he died at the age to 32), but he had an incredible life and career, which Mary Renault attempts to recreate in this novel.

Alexander in this novel seems much older than he really is; but that’s because he’s precocious. Alexander’s a fascinating man, made even more fascinating my all that he accomplished in 33 years. Alexander is pretty much legendary, so Mary Renault was a bit ambitious in the writing of this novel.

I have to admit that I’m a bit out of my element here in terms of the historical period, since I don’t read much fiction set in ancient Greece. But the historical detail is deeply evocative; King Phillip’s court is beautifully rendered here. It’s clear that Mary Renault really, really researched her subject matter before writing, and that she has a deep understanding of, and empathy for, Alexander. But most of the time the novel is very hard to read, and it took me a while to finish it.
I also have to admit that it took me a little while to get into this book; and Renault’s prose style is a little unusual. In terms of the story, she does tend to jump around a lot, but not so much that it’s glaringly obvious after a while. This is not my favorite work of historical fiction, but I’m willing to read more by Mary Renault at a later date, as I’ve heard her novels are fabulous.

Review: Nanny Returns, by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Nanny Returns, the sequel to The Nanny Diaries, is a rather disappointing novel. Twelve years after the disastrous end to Nanny’s employment with the Xs, Nanny is back in New York after a number of years living overseas with her husband, Ryan (previously known as the Harvard Hottie). Now she’s an educational consultant, called in to help the Jarndyce Academy with their staffing issues. One day, Nanny’s former charge, Grayer, ends up on her doorstep, and Nanny finds herself one again thrust into the world of the Manhattan elite and their children.

Well, I felt a little bit let down by this novel. Well, really, a lot. The Nanny Diaries had charm and wit; this book simply fell flat for me. One-dimensional, stereotypical characters abound; the prose is over overwritten, and the people-don’t-talk-like-this-in-real-life dialogue really got to me after a while. In The Nanny Diaries, I found myself emotionally invested in Nanny and HH’s budding relationship; but since he’s not really present in the book (he’s away dealing with a grain shortage or something), I found that I didn’t care about him all that much. Nanny’s character was also frustrating at times; she kept seeing that things were wrong (eg, a teenager nearly OD’ing on Xanax and alcohol, and nobody seemed to think anything was unusual in that), but she never seemed to do anything about it. In fact, for most of the book, she was simply an observer, not a vital part of the action. In the end, as with HH, I simply couldn’t find it within myself to care much about what happened to her.

I frequently found myself having to re-read parts of the book, because often the authors never really made it clear exactly what was going on. The authors make a stab at humor, in Nanny’s little “asides” every now and then, but I didn’t find this book funny ay all. Grayer gets a bit of character development in this book, but his younger brother, Stilton, is basically a mini-version of Grayer in the Nanny Diaries, without the same kind of emotional pull. I enjoyed The Nanny Diaries, and I’m sad to say that this doesn’t live up to it.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:

--Grab your current read
--Let the book open to a random page.
--Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
--You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

“The monk explained that as far as he understood it was a question of cleaning and drying out the sores. Boiled and consecrated water for washing, then clean air and sunshine, should clean out the abscesses in about a week.”

--From The Road to Jerusalem, by Jan Guillou

Review: Alice I Have Been, by Melanie Benjamin

Alice I Have Been is the story of Alice Liddell, the “real” Alice in Wonderland. She met Charles Dodgson at the age of seven, and helped inspire his classic children’s novel. Later, she supposedly had a relationship with Price Leopold, one of Queen Victoria’s sons (never definitively proved; the author gives it much more importance than it might actually have been), married an English country gentleman, and had three sons.

I have mixed feelings about Alice I Have Been. On the one hand, it’s a well-written and evocative story of a young woman’s growth to adulthood. It kept me engaged all the way through, and the book had almost a magical tone to it. On the other, I felt that there definitely were some weaknesses.

The author takes a lot of liberty with the known historical facts. First, it is still debated about what really happened to cause the break between Dodgson and the Liddells. Melanie Benjamin attempts to fill in the blanks; and while she makes an admirable effort, I didn’t, in the end believe it all. I also thought it odd (but this may have simply been a Victorian thing) that nobody thought that there was anything strange about Alice’s relationship with Dodgson—even after the now-famous beggar girl photograph was taken (though it really is a haunting photograph).

The parts of the novel where things are purely fictional (as with Alice’s supposed relationship with Prince Leopold, or the scenes with John Ruskin, who comes across as a lecherous, mad old buffoon here) are weaker, while the stuff that’s based purely on fact is much, much better. When Alice meets Peter Llewellyn Davies in America, I felt that the author gave too much of a fatalistic importance to the meeting.

I enjoyed Melanie Bejamin’s writing style immensely, but she has a habit of repeating herself in places (in once scene towards the end she mentions no fewer than three times that it’s May!), and she suffers from bad word choice sometimes (as in, “me legs were as numb as my other senses.” Maybe that’s true, if ones legs are now the sixth sense…), and she uses Americanisms in several places. In addition, the author tends to hit her reader over the head with her theme of growing up, or the lack thereof. This is a novel that shows a lot of great promise, but in my opinion needed a better editor.

Also reviewed by: Devourer of Books, S. Krishna's Books, A Reader's Journal

Review: The Swan Thieves, by Elizabeth Kostova

Disclaimer: I couldn't finish this book. I barely made it past page 100, where I knew I had to stop.

I had such high hopes for this novel. I really enjoyed The Historian, so I thought I couldn’t go wrong with Kostova’s second book, a novel about Impressionism and psychology. I’m afraid she suffered a little bit from second-novel-itis this time, as she’s written a novel that left me scratching my head quite a bit. I loved the premise: psychology and art are two things that you don’t usually see thrown in together in a novel. It’s a different subject matter altogether from The Historian, but I was hopeful nonetheless. Oh, how it falls short of expectations. I found that I was struggling to work my way through this sleeper of a novel. And the fact that I just described this book as “work” should tell you a lot about what I thought. Novels should be pleasure, not work.

First, the author gives a lot of detail. A lot. Excruciatingly, extraneously so. Need directions from Washington, D.C. to Greenville, North Carolina? This book can get you there! In many novels, lots of detail can be good, if it's used in the right way, but here it was distracting—Kostova gives us the background stories of even the most minor characters! Even for the major characters, details of their backgrounds are casually thrown in, sometimes simply because it is convenient to the story. For example, Andrew Marlowe goes down to North Carolina to visit Kate, and he says that the reason he knows the Virginia area so well is that he was at UVA. Then he never really follows up on that. Many of the characters and their motives simply aren’t believable: in one scene, she has Kate walk into Lord & Taylor in New York City for a Christmas gift for her mother, only to tell her reader in the next breath that a) Kate can’t afford the merchandise and b) her mother hates Lord & Taylor! So why go in there in the first place? Oh, yes, because that’s where she happens to meet Robert—another advance-the-plot mechanism that just didn’t work for me.

Another problem I had was with the lack of tonality. All of the characters’ narrations sound exactly the same. In fact, had I not known from the get-go that Marlow was a man, I could have sworn that his character was female!

There are also some consistency issues and repetition: Andrew Marlowe tells us early on that he never does research on the internet, and then twenty pages on he says something to the effect of, “I should probably tell you now that I don’t like doing research on the internet.” But wait, didn’t he tell us that before? And all of the examples I’ve cited above are only from the first hundred pages or so; there are probably more examples of how ineptly this novel is written and presented to the reader.

This book lacks that “je ne se quois” that The Historian has. In this book, the art bits are well-written and descriptive, but this book lacked that “something else” that made me want to keep turning pages. I couldn't get emotionally involved in the story the way I did with The Historian; the book is nearly 600 pages, and for that length a book should be compelling enough to make me want to read on. This book sadly just wasn’t that for me. It's expecially disappointing considering that I had such high hopes for this book--after all, we've waited five years for it! I’m sure my opinion won’t be popular, but that’s just the way I see this book.

Also reviewed by: A Garden Carried in the Pocket, A Reader's Journal, The Book Lady's Blog, Bermuda Onion's Weblog, S. Krishna's Books

The Sunday Salon

Happy Sunday! This weekend has been eventful; last night was the annual holiday party for work downtown. It’s a huge event—apparently, there were about 700 people there (employees plus guests plus other assorted people connected to the company who were invited). It was a semi-formal event, and people got pretty dressed up for it. It was pretty good—we’re a company with eleven different locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, so it was good to see people I haven’t seen in a long time. Regarding what I wore, I hate shopping, so what my mom did on Friday afternoon was go shopping for me! She basically bought a few options, had me try them on at home, and then returned what I didn't want. I eventually settled on a cocktail dress with black velvet sleves, with the rest blue satin. It turns out that I've lost a lot of weight recently, so it was amazing that she got my new size right. And I'm tinier than I thought I was!

At work, due to the holidays this week was the first five-day week we’ve had in a long time, and it was a bit hard to get back into the swing of things—it’s been very busy lately, too.

In terms of reading, I completed Fidelity, by Susan Glaspell (a Persephone) and The Queen’s Governess, by Karen Harper (coming out on the 21st). I’m now most of the way through Twilight of Avalon, by Anna Elliott. At first, I thought it was going to be more fantasy-oriented, but I’m pleasantly surprised that it’s not.

Coming up this week is the publication of Elizabeth Kostova’s new book, The Swan Thieves. I’m still puzzling over the fact that the author of such a great book as The Historian could have published something as awful as her new one (which, by the way, I couldn't finish). I really sort of struggled over whether or not to write a review of the book. But I'd like to be known for being honest. My review will be up this week, but I warn you it won’t be pretty. What about you? If you hate a book, do you post a review? Or are you one of those people who, if you have nothing nice to say, you say nothing at all? I’ll also post a review of Alice I Have Been, by Melanie Benjamin, which is also coming out this week. I also have a few other reviews scheduled for this week.

How was your week?

Cover Deja-Vu #18

Here are three covers that are close enough to one another. I mentioned in a post about a year ago that the over of Northanger Abbey and Tasha Alexander's Only to Deceive were similar; here's the cover of Laura Joh Rowland's forthcoming book, Bedlam: The Further Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte, coming out in May (only the image here is obviously reversed). My review of The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte can be found here.

Review: Little Bird of Heaven, by Joyce Carol Oates

I first discovered Joyce Carol Oates about ten years ago, when I read one of her short stories (“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” It’s a MUST read, by the way). I fell in love with her stories and novels because of the subject matter; Oates’s novels usually deal with obsession usually of the sexual kind (them is a perfect example of this). Oates’s novels are always dark and gritty, never easy reading but somehow satisfying nonetheless. Little Bird of Heaven is Oates at her best.

The setting is a working-class town in upstate New York (typical Oates) in the 1980s. The story isn’t told linearly, but unfolds gradually over time. Some of the information we’re given is repeated, but each time the story is told from a different point of view. Krista Diehl is the daughter of Eddy Diehl, suspected of but never charged with the murder of a local singer named Zoe Kruller, with whom he was romantically involved. On the other side of the coin is Aaron Kruller, the woman’s son. Both he and Krista become obsessed with the murder of his mother—and, by extension, with each other, in a weird way. The first half of the book is told from Krista’s perspective, the second from Aaron’s.

Part of the beauty of Oates’s novels is a common theme that runs throughout: obsession. Krista and Aaron are of course obsessed with Zoe Kruller’s murder; Eddy Diehl is obsessed with clearing his name and having his life returned to normal. Another thing I loved about this book is the not-knowing; the reader never really knows until the end for sure who killed Zoe Kruller, and that’s part of what kept me turning the pages. And yet Eddy Diehl certainly does keep acting guilty, doesn’t he? I certainly think he does feel guilt, in a way, but maybe he didn’t really do it?

Another thing I love about Oates’s novels is her prose. I’m pretty sure that, if you plugged one of her sentences into Microsoft Word, it would flag that sentence as a run on; but Joce Carol Oates’s writing is pure poetry. She breaks the rules of writing in a way that only she can. Sure, she does use a fair bit of profanity, which can be a bit disturbing. It’s also exhausting at times to read, but well worth the effort of doing so. The only thing I didn’t really get was Aaron Kruller’s voice, especially as a child; I doubt that a boy of eleven, especially one with a bad reputation, would call his parents “Mommy” and “Daddy.” Also, Oates goes a little bit overboard on the Elvis comparisons (it seems that a lot of people in Sparta, New York look like him!) But other than that, I highly recommend this book.

Review: Remarkable Creatures, by Tracy Chevalier

Remarkable Creatures is the “remarkable” story of Elizabeth Philpot and Mary Anning, two female paleontologists living in 1810s and ‘20s Lyme Regis, England. They were two different women: one a lady who moves to the seaside in light of her spinster status (at age 25, which made me laugh); and the other a working-class girl, twenty years apart in age but drawn together by their love of fossils.

I read this book in one sitting—sitting in the backseat of a car driving across Pennsylvania, within the space of four hours or so. I’m lucky that this was one of the books I brought along on my trip; this is the kind of story that really draws the reader in. What I love of Tracy Chevalier’s novels, both this one and her previous ones, is that she’s so versatile. She really gets to know her subject matter, researching it thoroughly. Paleontology is not my thing, but Tracy Chevalier makes it interesting for even the lay person to read about.

And yet, this book isn’t solely about paleontology; it’s also the story of a lifelong friendship. Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot had nearly nothing in common, except for a lifelong interest in the fossils they found upon the beach at Lyme Regis. The novel is told alternately from the points of view of the two main characters; each has a unique voice (right down to Mary’s rather endearing habit of calling vertebrae “verteberries.”). Elizabeth’s obsession with her spinster status got a bit on my nerves at time, and I enjoyed reading the story from Mary’s point of view much better than Elizabeth’s. Still, I loved the story and historical setting, both of which are highly engaging. In comparison with some of Chevalier’s other books (Girl With a Pearl Earring, Falling Angels, and The Lady and the Unicorn are my favorites), this book ranks up there with her best. This is an enduring story about the unlikely friendship between two women, one of which apparently inspired the tongue twister “she sells sea shells by the sea shore.”

Also reviewed by: S. Krishna's Books, A Garden Carried in the Pocket

Review: The Lady in the Tower, by Alison Weir

The Lady in the Tower is the story Anne Boleyn—or, really, the story of her downfall, focusing specifically on the last four months of her life in 1536. It opens on the day of that now-famous joust, and continues through the executions of Anne and her supposed lovers, and gives a “what happened later” about some of the major players from one of the most infamous judicial trials of English history.

It’s a pretty solid book, in which Alison Weir examines closely the primary source material in order to draw her own conclusions about what happened. In my case, she’s really preaching to the choir about Anne’s innocence in the charges laid against her (as Weir says, her highest ambition was to become Queen, so why would she have several meaningless affairs, without anyone knowing, in a court where secrets weren’t kept for long?). Although the story of Anne Boleyn has been told over and over again, in fiction and nonfiction books as well as film, Weir manages to make it interesting again. It’s not quite as groundbreaking as Alison Weir claims, but it’s excellent nonetheless.

When I first started reading this book, I wondered how anyone could possibly write a 350-page book about such a short time period? That’s where Weir’s famous attention to detail comes into play: she really does examine the evidence thoroughly. People like Thomas Cromwell and Jane Seymour, as well as Anne’s family, don’t come off well in this book, but Henry VIII is treated rather compassionately, all things considered. I’ve always thought of Henry in the traditional, tyrannical sense, and Weir’s spin on Henry’s actions and reactions really made me think about things for a bit. For someone looking for a general biography of Anne Boleyn, they might be disappointed by this book; but otherwise it’s an excellent, in-depth look at the last days of one of Europe’s most famous queens.

Also reviewed by: Tanzanite's Shelf

The Sunday Salon: first of 2010

It’s been a long, lazy weekend; I had Friday off work, and I’ve spent the weekend doing pretty much nothing but lay around! I meant to get to the gym this weekend, but never really made it off the couch. New Year’s Eve was spent watching movies (we’ve been on a James Bond kick, watching all the Sean Connery ones), then on New Year’s day went to see The Young Victoria, which is EXCELLENT, going far beyond the old good acting and costumes thing. It’s a really beautiful film, and one you must see if you haven’t already.

As for books, the year has started out slowly. I’ve been reading less than usual lately, mostly because I’ve been re-watching Upstairs, Downstairs—I’m on the first disc of the second season, where Sarah has come back to cause more trouble, Thomas is hired as manservant, and Elizabeth (not one of my favorite characters, as she seemed a bit hypocritical to me at times) is beginning married life. It’s a wonderful series, and I could watch it over and over again (the transfer to DVD, however, isn’t all that great).

For Christmas I received a Persephone subscription, where you receive one book a month for twelve months from them ( on the order page, you get to specify which books you’re like to receive and in which order). On New Year’s Eve, I received my first, Fidelity, by Susan Glaspell, and I’m now about 200 pages into it. It’s the story of a young woman named Ruth, who escapes the conventions of the small Iowa town she lives in to run off with a married man. The novel begs the question, what is more important: personal happiness or the good of “society?” It’s not until the young woman returns, eleven years later, that she realizes what kind of effect her running off had had on the people who love her. It’s an excellent read, and I’m glad to say that reading-wise my year has started off very well indeed.

How was your New Year? Do anything special?

Review: Saplings, by Noel Streatfeild

Noel Streatfeild is better known for her children’s books, particularly the Shoe books, but she also wrote novels for adults, especially one about children for adults, Saplings. In it, the children in question are the Wiltshires, Laurel, Tony, Kim, and Tueday. The novel opens with an idyllic seaside holiday trip that quickly becomes overshadowed by the war, which over the course of the novel will have a strong effect on all of the Wiltshire family, adults and children alike.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read any of the Shoe books, but I do remember, and what is apparent here, is that Streatfeild excels at writing from the perspective of children and adolescents (though of course here the subject matter is a lot darker). The war has a mostly adverse effect on the Wiltshire children, and the author captures brilliantly the uncertainty and danger of both the war and of growing up—which in and of itself can be a bit like the war at times!

The novel was published in 1945, and this story of the dissolution of a family must have been a bit more shocking back then—even though from a more modern perspective, it’s quite devastating.

This is Persephone #16 (endpaper below)

2009: the year in review

Oh, goodness, is it really 2010 already? Happy new year! Though, technically, the new decade doesn’t start until next year. It seems like yesterday I was standing in some stranger’s backyard in London watching fireworks in celebration of Y2K (my family had been vacationing in Egypt for Christmas—in a mostly Muslim country, go figure—and we stopped in London on our way back to the States). That was the year that Robbie Martin’s “Millennium” was playing, over and over again! I wasn’t keeping a reading journal or keeping track of what I read back then, but I do remember what I read in December or January of that year. Death on the Nile was one, as was One Hundred Years of Solitude (I was on a Gabriel Garcia Marquez kick that fall and winter, and read everything I could get my hands on by him). I also read a fair bit of Judith Tarr that winter.

As for five years ago, this time last fall and winter, I read books like I Am Charlotte Simmons (memorable because it was awful), a bit of Jean Plaidy, a lot of David Liss, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, The Master, by Colm Toibin, and The Egyptologist, by Arthur Phillips. I’d just started reviewing books on Amazon.com, and that’s why I can better remember some of these books.

This time last year, when I’d been blogging for about a year, I read books like A Foreign Affair, Niccolo Rising, Drood, and Bleeding Heart Square.

As for more recently, this year I finished a total of 141 books (the full list can be found here), which is actually one more than I finished last year! I was introduced to some new great authors, including Susanna Kearsley and Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, and I became more familiar with the novels of Elizabeth Chadwick, Mary Stewart, and others. Prior to this year, I’d only read one of Persephone’s titles; but after reading The Priory in March and visiting London in September, where I went to the incomparable Persephone Bookshop in Lambs Conduit Street (twice), I’ve now read four more, am currently read Susan Glaspell's Fidelity, and have a number of others on my TBR pile.

I also returned to a lot of authors: 28 of the authors I read this year were second-time-arounders, and countless others I’ve now read three or more of their books. I read 59 new-to-me authors.

I seemed to read a lot of historical fiction this year, and “traveled” to: England, Scotland, United States, Italy, Egypt, France, Spain, Russia, Ireland, Wales, Turkey, Mexico, China, Canada, Japan, Norway, and Greece. In time, I’ve traveled everywhen from ancient Egypt to present-day. To be sure, I read some duds this year, but they seemed to be fewer and far between—maybe I’m getting better at picking books I’ll like?

I went back to my reading list for 2008, to see what my goals were for 2009—to reduce my TBR pile “to a more manageable size.” Ha! At the end of last year, my list was about 100 books—now it’s nearly double that size, about 190 (not all of which are books I own, but I’m rather indiscriminate about the books I add to my TBR!).

The stats:

Number of books read: 141
Number of re-reads: 1
Number of distinct authors: 110
Male authors: 19
Female authors: 91
Most frequent author: Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (11)
New-to-me authors: 69
Second-time around authors: 28
Longest book completed: New York: The Novel (Ballantine; 860 pages)
Shortest book completed: The Victorian Chaise-Lounge (Persephone; 99 pages)
Most productive month: May, August, November, December (14 books each)
Least productive month: February (6 books)
Books first published in 2009 (my edition):
Reviews posted in 2009: 49

Genres (some may overlap):
Fiction: 131
Chick lit: 4
Historical fiction: 94
Classics: 7
Mystery: 14
YA: 0
Short Stories: 0
Other:
Nonfiction: 10
History: 8
Biography: 2
Memoir: 2
Women’s Studies:
Essays: 2
Other:

Books from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list: 1
Author nationalities: US, UK, Canadian, Spanish, Dutch, New Zealand, Italy, Norway
Settings (country): England, Scotland, United States, Italy, Egypt, France, Spain, Russia, Ireland, Wales, Turkey, Mexico, China, Canada, Japan, Norway, Greece, Netherlands
Settings (US states): New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa, Washington

Favorite books of 2009:
Everything by Elizabeth Chadwick
Sophia’s Secret
The Priory
The Last Queen
The Angels Game
The Jewel Box
The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte
In a Dark Wood Wandering
Cleopatra’s Daughter
anything by Mary Stewart
The Street Philosopher
The King’s Mistress
The Making of a Marchioness
Miss Buncle’s Book
The Lacuna
Little Bird of Heaven

Least favorite books of 2009:
The Reliable Wife
The Russian Concubine
The Dud Avocado
The Traitor’s Wife
Silk
The Swan Thieves

Review: Tulip Fever, by Deborah Moggach

Set in Amsterdam in 1636, Tulip Fever is a novel of passion and deception in Amsterdam, right as the craze for tulips occurs, at a time when the Dutch were some of the wealthiest people in the early modern world. Sophia is the wife of Cornelis Sandvoort, a prosperous merchant who commissions a portrait to be painted of him and his wife. In the process, Sophia falls in love with the painter, Jan van Loos. Their relationship is carried on with the complicity of the maid, Maria, and has consequences for everyone, both in the house and outside it.

I was a little put off by the present-tense narration, and the fact that the point of view kept changing so often. But the more I read, the more I enjoyed this book. The book is sad in tone, and skimps on characterization. But the books excels in terms of plot and setting—every little nuance of 17th-century Amsterdam is described in deep detail. It’s a well-written novel, but the story is simply told at the same time.

There are a few unlikely coincidences and ironic plot twists in this novel, which I won’t go into for fear of spoiling the plot. Suffice it to say that I didn’t really believe it as a plot device. And the metaphors sometimes got a bit out of control (comparing a lute hanging on the wall to a pregnant woman, for example). And the author didn’t really delve all that deeply into the tulip madness—though I know this is a nvel, and she probably didn’t have time or space for that kind of exposition. But I actually did, in a strange way, enjoy this novel of passion that proves that greed corrupts us all. An excellent work of nonfiction about the tulip obsession is Tulipomania, by Mike Dash.

2010 Books

January:
1. Fidelity, by Susan Glaspell
2. The Queen’s Governess, by Karen Harper
3. Twilight of Avalon, by Anna Elliott*
4. O Juliet, by Robin Maxwell
5. Road to Jerusalem, by Jan Guillou*
6. The Carlyles at Home, by Thea Holme
7. Within the Hollow Crown, by Margaret Campbell Barnes
8. The Splendour Falls, by Susanna Kearsley
9. The Love Knot, by Elizabeth Chadwick
10. The Victory, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles*
11. Heresy, by SJ Parris

February:
1. The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters, ed. by Charlotte Mosley
2. Someone at a Distance, by Dorothy Whipple
3. The Unquiet Bones, by Melvin Starr*
4. Brigid of Kildare, by Heather Terrell
5. A Hollow Crown, by Helen Hollick
6. The Regency, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles*
7. Island of Ghosts, by Gillian Bradshaw
8. The Dead Travel Fast, by Deanna Raybourn*
9. The Brontes Went to Woolworths, by Rachel Ferguson
10. Wild Romance, by Chloe Schama
11. The Sheen on the Silk, by Anne Perry
12. The Lute Player, by Norah Lofts
13. Mister Slaughter, by Robert McCammon*

March:
1. Fitzempress' Law, by Diana Norman
2. The Love Knot, by Vanessa Alexander
3. Of the Ring of Earls, by Juliet Dymoke
4. The Creation of Eve, by Lynn Cullen
5. 31 Bond Street, by Ellen Horan
6. Hester, by Paula Reed
7. Miss Marjoribanks, by Margaret Oliphant
8. The Queen's Pawn, by Christy English
9. The Far Cry, by Emma Smith
10. The Lady Tree, by Christie Dickason
11. A Corpse at St. Andrew's Chapel, by Melvin Starr*
12. High Rising, by Angela Thirkell*
13. The Marsh King's Daughter, by Elizabeth Chadwick

14. My Brother Michael, by Mary Stewart

15. Paths of Exile, by Carla Nayland

April:

1. Mistress of Rome, by Kate Quinn

2. The Expendable Man, by Dorothy Hughes

3. The Peacock and the Pearl, by Jennifer Lang

4. Spooky Little Girl, by Laurie Notaro

5. The Royal Griffin, by Juliet Dymoke*

6. The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, by CW Gortner

7. Gildenford, by Valerie Anand*

8. My Fair Lazy, by Jen Lancaster

9. The Brothers of Gwynedd: Sunrise in the West, by Edith Pargeter*

10. The Campaigners, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles*

11. Clouds of Witness, by Dorothy L. Sayers*

12. The Young Pretenders, by Edith Henrietta Fowler

13. Jerusalem, by Cecelia Holland

May:

1. Every Last One, by Anna Quindlen

2. The Tulip Virus, by Danielle Hermans

3. They Were Sisters, by Dorothy Whipple

4. A London Child of the 1870s, by Molly Hughes

5. Still Missing, by Beth Gutcheon

6. The Circular Staircase, by Mary Roberts Rinehart*

7. Flapper, by Joshua Zeitz

8. How Did You Get This Number, by Sloane Crosley

9. Shadow Princess, by Indu Sundaresan

10. No Angel, by Penny Vincenzi*

11. Legacy, by Susan Kay

12. The Reckoning, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles*

13. Airs Above the Ground, by Mary Stewart

June:

1. Frost in May, by Antonia White

2. The Crowded Street, by Winifred Holtby

3. Child of the Morning, by Pauline Gedge

4. Dracula, My Love, by Syrie James

5. Invitation to the Waltz, by Rosamond Lehmann

6. The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno, by Ellen Bryson

7. Brothers of Gwynedd II: Dragon at Noonday, by Edith Pargeter*

8. The King's General, by Daphne Du Maurier

9. Good Evening Mrs. Craven, by Mollie Panter-Downs

10. Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, by DE Stevenson

11. Howards End is On the Landing, by Susan Hill

12. Nightingale Wood, by Stella Gibbons

13. Love's Shadow, by Ada Leverson

14. Unnatural Death, by Dorothy L. Sayers*

15. Poison, by Sarah Poole

July:

1. Chatterton Square, by EH Young

2. Great Maria, by Cecelia Holland

3. The Sixth Surrender, by Hana Samek Norton

4. The Devil's Horse, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles*

5. Henrietta's War: News From the Home Front 1939-1942, by Joyce Dennys

6. The Rector's Daughter, by FM Mayor

7. Lord of the Far Island, by Victoria Holt

8. Shinju, by Laura Joh Rowland*

9. To Defy a King, by Elizabeth Chadwick

10. Bright Young People, by DJ Taylor

11. The Rising Tide, by Molly Keane

12. Into the Wilderness, by Sara Donati*

August:

1. The Enchanted April, by Elizabeth Von Arnim

2. I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith

3. The Lacquer Lady, by F Tennyson Jesse

4. South Riding, by Winifred Holtby

5. Mrs. Ames, by EF Benson

6. The Ante-Room, by Kate O'Brien

7. Diana of the Crossways, by George Meredith

8. The Edwardians, by Vita Sackville-West

9. The Orchid House, by Phyllis Shand Allfrey

10. Jane and Prudence, by Barbara Pym

11. High Wages, by Dorothy Whipple

12. The Pindar Diamond, by Katie Hickman*

13. Henry of the High Rock, by Juliet Dymoke*

September:

1. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, by Dorothy L. Sayers*

2. The King's Daughter, by Penny Ingham

3. Taking Chances, by Molly Keane

4. The Poison Tree, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles*

5. Every Secret Thing, by Emma Cole

6. William: An Englishman, by Cicely Hamilton

7. Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris/Mrs. Harris Goes to New York, by Paul Gallico

8. The Tortoise and the Hare, by Elizabeth Jenkins

9. City of Light, by Lauren Belfer

10. This Rough Magic, by Mary Stewart

11. Told By an Idiot, by Rose Macaulay

12. Mini-Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella*

October:

1. The Countess, by Rebecca Johns

2. Penmarric, by Susan Howatch*

3. The Abyss, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles*

4. Cranford, by Elizabeth Gaskell

5. Vile Bodies, by Evelyn Waugh

6. Making Conversation, by Christine Longford

7. Mary Lavelle, by Kate O'Brien

8. The Gentlewomen, by Laura Talbot

9. Dimanche and Other Stories, by Irene Nemirovsky

10. Dark Road to Darjeeling, by Deanna Raybourn*

November:

1. Lords of the White Castle, by Elizabeth Chadwick

2. American Rose, by Karen Abbott

3. The Land of Green Ginger, by Winifred Holtby

4. The King's Daughter, by Christie Dickason

5. The Distant Hours, by Kate Morton

6. Some Tame Gazelle, by Barbara Pym

7. The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough

8. Amberwell, by DE Stevenson

December:

1. The Anatomy of Ghosts, by Andrew Taylor

2. The Hidden Shore, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

3. The Ladies of Lyndon, by Margaret Kennedy

4. Strong Poison, by Dorothy L. Sayers

5. Tell it to a Stranger, by Elizabeth Berridge

6. Loving Without Tears, by Molly Keane

7. The Saracen Blade, by Frank Yerby

8. Clara and Mr. Tiffany, by Susan Vreeland

9. Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, by Elizabeth Taylor

10. Lady Rose and Mrs. Memmary, by Ruby Ferguson

11. The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters