Review: All Passion Spent, by Vita Sackville-West

Pages: 297
Original date of publication: 1931
My edition: 1983
Why I decided to read: read it for All Virago/All August
How I acquired my copy: from a LT user, July 2011

Lady Slane has spent seventy years living in the shadow of her husband, a venerated statesman and former Prime Minister. When Henry, the Earl of Slane, dies, Lady Slane retreats to a country house in Hampstead, much to the constrnation of her children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. There, in the company of her aging maid, landlord, handyman, and an eccentric millionaire, she revisits the her past, in which she harbored a secret ambition to become an artist—abandoned in order to embrace the Victorian ideals of wifehood and motherhood.

It’s a wonderfully whimsical novel; one day Lady Slane buries her husband in Westminster Abbey, then two days later she’s taking the Tube out to Hampstead! I loved the characters in this novel; they’re all so whimsical. I mean, what estate agent would leave a house standing empty for thirty years, waiting for the perfect tenant? What fabulously wealthy millionaire would live like a contestant on Hoaders, squirreling works of art away in his dingy flat? I think in the real world, all of these people would be declared insane, but they’re all lovable and, in the world of this novel, completely normal.

I loved Lady Slane above all, for her immediate willingness to buck convention and do her own thing, seventy years after giving up her dreams. And she does it without caring what other people think of her. I enjoyed watching her real life unfold after the death of her husband. It’s also interesting to watch the budding relationship between Lady Slane and her great-granddaughter Deeborah, engaged but not happy, but also blessed by living in a time when she can make decisions that Lady Slane couldn’t when she was young. I didn’t expect to get as much out of this book as I did; only one or two of the characters are under the age of sixty! Still, the themes of this book are universal enough that everyone can appreciate it. All Passion Spent officially makes Vita Sackville-West one of my favorite authors.

The Sunday Salon

It’s another Sunday! I’ve been busy this weekend, preparing for vacation starting on Friday: cleaning and laundry, and some preliminary packing. My sister and I are going to London and York for ten days, and the more I research, the more excited I get about this trip! We are spending two days in London before we hop on a train to York for three, and then back down to London for the rest of the time. It’ll be fun to get back there and explore: the museums, theater, food (I’ve been craving Indian food all week), and of course book shopping!

I think the first place we’re stopping is the Persephone shop; I can’t wait to get back! I also look forward to getting back to the British Museum, which I visited twice on my last trip and only managed to scratch the surface of. We’re going to be seeing Much Ado About Nothing at the new Globe Theatre—a play I’ve read and seen the movie of, but never actually seen performed. I don’t plan on bringing many books on vacation with me, because I anticipate buying a lot, but I do need to bring (and read) an ARC of a book I need to write a review of before October 1. And I’m also thinking about bringing Helene Hanff’s The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, the account she wrote of traveling to London after her twenty-year correspondence with Frank Doel and his family. Not completely inappropriate, no? And I may want to dig up my copy of Much Ado for a re-read on the plane...

I’ve never been to York before, but with my obsessive interest in medieval history, I’m really excited to be going there. It seems as though everything can be reached on foot, so getting around won’t be a problem. I’m so excited to be going, I can’t even tell you! It’s been a good distraction against the earthquake and hurricane we’ve had here, although the hurricane wasn’t as bad as everyone thought it was going to be! We had the heavy rain last night and strong wind, and the only damage that I saw was a few small tree branches down, so that was good. With regards to the earthquake, I have a good friend who lives only about 30 miles away from where it happened, so I was a little nervous for him. But to be honest, my family lived in Tokyo for many years and we experienced much, much worse; in school we’d have earthquake drills instead of fire drills! So lots of excitement this week, with no serious adverse effects.

How was your week?

Booking Through Thursday

Sometimes I feel like the only person I know who finds reading history fascinating. It’s so full of amazing-yet-true stories of people driven to the edge and how they reacted to it. I keep telling friends that a good history book (as opposed to some of those textbooks in school that are all lists and dates) does everything a good novel does–it grips you with real characters doing amazing things.

Am I REALLY the only person who feels this way? When is the last time you read a history book? Historical biography? You know, something that took place in the past but was REAL.

I read a lot of history! As a former history major, every now and then I’ll read some popular history, or biography. I’m currently reading Letters From Egypt, letters that Lucie Duff Gordon sent home from Egypt in the mid-19th century. I do enjoy reading historical nonfiction, but I probably only read about one such book a month. I also read memoirs; a couple of books ago I read Myself When Young, Daphne Du Maurier’s memoir of her early years. Before that was biography: Pearl Buck of China, by Hilary Spurling; and before that, another memoir, West With the Night. I’m making more of an effort this year to read more nonfiction, and I’m certainly sticking to my goal!

Review: Anne of Green Gables, by LM Montgomery

Pages: 308
Original date of publication: 1908
My edition: 1998 (Bantam)
Why I decided to read: re-red of an old favorite
How I acquired my copy: Amazon, July 2011

Anne of Green Gables is a book that’s obviously a classic. Everyone knows the story of Anne, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, Anne’s “bosom” friend Diana, and Gilbert, and it was a pleasure to re-read this book—inspired by recently reading The Heroine’s Bookshelf, a collection of essays about life lessons learned from fictional characters. The lesson to be leaned from Anne is happiness—despite her circumstance as an unloved, unwanted orphan, she can still use her imagination to see her situation in a positive light. Anne could easily come across as too sugary-sweet for most people, but I think her optimism is refreshing.

What I’d forgotten about the book is how much time passes in the course of the story—Anne is twelve when she arrives at Green Gables, and sixteen or thereabout when she finishes school. So there’s a lot of character development that goes on in this book, with Anne learning to control her temper—and her personality never really changes. Anne still has the same outlook on life at the end of the book as at the beginning.

It intrigued me to learn that Anne of Green Gables was originally written as a book for adults—but it’s the kind of book, and series, that has universal appeal. It was also interesting to learn than Green Gables is actually modeled on a real house in Cavendish, PEI. The author also apparently modeled Anne physically after the model and actress Evelyn Nesbitt, an odd choice considering that Anne is supposed to be ugly and freckled. What I’d also forgotten about the book are the excellent descriptions of Avonlea and Prince Edward Island.

Review: Before Versailles, by Karleen Koen

Pages: 458
Original date of publication: 2011
My edition: 2011 (Crown)
Why I decided to read: I’ve enjoyed the author’s previous books
How I acquired my copy: Amazon, June 2011

Set in the court of Louis XIV, the Sun King, this novel follows the early period of his relationship with Louise del la Baume le Blanc, who comes to court as a teenager. Louis develops a close relationship with his brother’s wife, Henriette (younger sister of Charles II of England!); and to create a decoy and keep scandal from happening, Louise agrees to an affair with the King.

I expected this novel to be primarily about Louise, so I was disappointed in that regard. It’s told from many different points of view: Louis, Philippe, even the story of the Man in the Iron Mask comes into play, which really added nothing to the main story. The author’s depiction of Louis’s character is very story, but I didn’t quite get what we’re supposed to see in Louise. As a character, she didn’t come across as strongly as some of the lesser characters. The author describes the danger and intrigue of Louis’s court well, but the plot of the novel doesn’t unfold quite as organically as I’d hoped. I also expected this novel to be about Louise and her relationship with Louis, but there’s no real attraction between the two until more than halfway through the novel. It was very anticlimactic. It’s a shame; I enjoyed the author’s previous novel much more than this one.

Review: The Land of Spices, by Kate O'Brien

Pages: 285
Original date of publication: 1941
My edition: 1990 (Virago Modern Classics)
Why I decided to read: read it for All Virago/All August
How I acquired my copy: Ebay, June 2010

Set in an Irish convent school in the early years of the 20th century, The Land of Spices is a novel that covers the school career of Anna Murphy, who comes to Compagnie de la Sainte Famille at the ago of six. She attracts the attention of the Reverend Mother, an Englishwoman who watches Anna from afar during the eight or ten years that Anna remains at the school.

I’ve had good luck and bad with Kate O’Brien’s novels; I disliked The Ante Room but loved Mary Lavelle. The Land of Spices falls into the “love” category for me. I wasn’t sure that a novel set in a convent school would be my cup of tea, but the novel in a greater sense is about human relationships, not just religion and spiritually. It’s also obviously a coming of age novel, about how one girl changes and adapts to her surroundings, even though her home life isn’t ideal. There’s an interesting contrast with the life of Reverend Mother, whose past as Helen Archer is revealed bit by bit. They have an unspoken bond with one another, even though Anna doesn’t realize it. There are some really beautiful observations here about the impact that two totally different people can have on one of another.

My only problem with the book is that throughout the book there are excerpts of letters written in French and other languages, which reveal key plot points but are kind of meaningless if you don’t speak those languages. But in all, this is a really powerful book.

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!

“Outside the hen-house (which had been built years long ago for fowls too choice to lodge with the commoner of their species) , the July sun stared hotly down, bringing out the smells of tarred felt and the faint choking incense of the nettles that grew round lush and high. Easter and Evelyn stepped through them cautiously, going single file down the little beaten path that led from this secret spot of theirs back to the more vulgar haunts of man.”

--From Mad Puppetstown, by Molly Keane

Review: I'm Not Complaining, by Ruth Adam

Pages: 346
Original date of publication: 1938
My edition: 1984 (Dial Press)
Why I decided to read: read it for All Virago/All August
How I acquired my copy: the Philly Book Trader, August 2010

I’m Not Complaining is a somewhat ironically-titled novel about a schoolteacher living in a working-class town in the 1930s. Madge Brigson is thirty, yet she calls herself and the other teachers she works with spinsters (ha! What does that make me?). The novel deals with the life of the school, the teachers, pupils, and the bleak, desperately poor town the school serves.

It’s definitely not an uplifting novel, made more depressing by Madge’s bleak outlook on her own situation. Madge is sensible and smart and devoted to her job, but she does have her flaws-cynicism being among them. There’s no sugar-coating any aspect of her life, and she has zero tolerance for foolishness. Madge is the type of character who complains about her lot in life while not trying to change it. It’s as though she enjoys complaining for the sake of complaining!

I did enjoy the author’s descriptions of the other teachers at the school. Jenny is the youngest, beautiful and also rather promiscuous (there’s a scene at the beginning that deals quite candidly with an affair she has that must have been more shocking for a reader when the book was published); Freda the communist; and Miss Jones, a spinster who sweetly dreams about the day when she can be reunited with her “friend” who’s in the Navy. Ruth Adam’s novel is extremely realistic in it’s depiction of a depression-era town, where people are losing their jobs. The author does a fantastic job of balancing the stories of the women who teach at Bronton school with the people of Bronton itself. I thought that the ending of the book happened a little too quickly and came from literally nowhere, but Madge’s decision is pretty true to her character.

The Sunday Salon

It’s raining here where I am, and slightly colder than usual. When it’s raining, why do drivers always find the largest pothole with water in it and them splash whatever pedestrian is walking by on the sidewalk? Well, that ‘s what happened to me today as I was going to the gym. How annoying.

Anyways, this is the kind of day that called for comfort reading, so I naturally turned to Daphne Du Maurier’s Myself When Young, a short memoir based on the diaries she kept from 1920-1932, so from the age of 13 to 25 (when her first novel was written). It’s a great memoir about the making of an author, and I’m really enjoying it.

I’ve made good progress with the All Virago/All August challenge; and I’ve even stumbled across a few in bookstores over the past few weeks. On Wednesday I stopped in to a hole in the wall bookstore near work (so small that I probably have more books in my apartment than in this particular store!) and found four, and then two more at the bookstore closer to my apartment. I told myself I wouldn’t buy any more books until I go on vacation, but I just couldn’t stop myself!

Review: Pearl Buck of China, by Hilary Spurling

Pages: 304
Original date of publication: 2010
My edition: 2010 (Simon and Shuster)
Why I decided to read: found it while browsing in a bookstore in Philadelphia’s 3oth St. Station
How I acquired my copy: July 2011

Before reading this book, the only thing I’d really known about Pearl S. Buck was that she went to the same college as I went to. I’d also read The Good Earth many years ago, but didn’t care for it much (or maybe I didn’t understand it as well as I might otherwise have). Pearl Buck in China isn’t just a biography; it focuses mostly on how Pearl Buck’s childhood and adulthood in China influenced her writing and life.

It’s a very strong, well-organized book that sticks closely to what the author set out to do. The Good Earth is Pearl Buck’s best-known book, but this biography focuses on all of her fiction that deals with China. There are some sketchy places in the book when the author talks about the family dynamic between the Sydenstrickers, and again at the end when describing Pearl Buck’s later life. So many biographies focus on the facts that they forget about the person they’re dealing with; in this book, I really liked how the author managed to convey a sense of Pearl Buck’s personality while at the same time educating her reader on Pearl’s writing. I think Pearl Buck’s story gets overshadowed by the stories of the lives of authors who had more “interesting” lives, so it’s nice to see her getting some attention again. My one irritant about this book is that the author refers to the former Randolph-Macon Woman’s College as Randolph-Macon, when someone more familiar with the school would probably refer to it as R-MWC, for short, to avoid confusion with the college in Ashland, VA. But this is minor.

On a side note that has nothing to do with the author’s theme (but it’s interesting nonetheless): when you take a tour of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (now Randolph College), virtually one of the first things you’re told is that Pearl Buck went there. They are very proud of having her as an alumna, and rightly so. It’s funny to learn from this book that in reality, because Pearl felt like an outsider there, she didn’t enjoy her college experience, and therefore had selective memory about the whole thing. I found myself sympathizing with her when I read that! Authors often write about what they’re most comfortable with, and that was certainly true for Pearl Buck.

Booking Through Thursday

It’s National Book Week. The rules: Grab the closest book to you. Go to page 56. Copy the 5th sentence as your status.

"The white marble columns gleamed nearer among the black trees."

--From Mary Olivier, by May Sinclair

Review: West With the Night, by Beryl Markham

Pages: 294
Original date of publication: 1942
My edition: 1983 (Houghton Mifflin)
Why I decided to read: it’s a Virago title
How I acquired my copy: Philly Book Trader, February 2011

Beryl Markham led a fascinating life. . Born in Britain in 1902, she spent much of her life in Kenya, working as the only female airplane pilot in Africa. She was also a racehorse trainer, and her memoir details her childhood and adulthood in Kenya. Markham had a wide range of friends and acquaintances, among them Karen Blixen and her lover, Denys Finch-Hatton.

All of this should equal a well-written, interesting memoir, right? Well-written this book is, but Markham’s writing isn’t all that engaging and so I was very bored in many places as I was reading this book. I became interested in West With the Night after reading The Virago Book of Women Travellers, which contains an excerpt from it, but other than that excerpt, there’s not much all that interesting about the way that Markham tells her story. Part of the problem with the memoir lies in the fact that the author jumps around a lot in time, telling one anecdote from childhood and then jumping back to the present. This method of writing was confusing and broke up the narrative of the book. I also thought that the book lacked emotional warmth. It’s a pity that I just couldn’t get into this book, since I was looking forward to reading about Markham’s experiences in Kenya; but the way she wrote about them didn’t do much for me.

Review: How Reading Changed My Life, by Anna Quindlen

Pages: 84
Original date of publication: 1998
My edition: 1998 (Ballantine)
Why I decided to read: Re-discovered this one while browsing my bookshelves one afternoon
How I acquired my copy: Borders

…there are letters from readers to attend to, like the one froma girl who had been given one of my books by her mother and began her letter, ‘I guess I am what some would call a bookworm.’ ‘So am I,’ I wrote back.

How Reading Changed My Life is a series of short essays by Anna Quindlen about the impact that reading has had on her life. I read this a number of years ago and decided to pick it up again as a way to pass the time one afternoon. Each essay is headed by a quotation; and the author discusses everything from the books she read as a child to the impact on electronic readers on the public (and this book was published in 1998!).

What I enjoy about Quindlen’s writing is that her style is so lyrical. She writes about books as though they’re her best friends (which, if you’re a reader, they are!). The childhood books she mentions make me want to go back and re-read them, especially something like Girl of the Limberlost or Charlotte’s Web. I think it’s also interesting what she has to say about girls in children’s books being readers; while books aimed towards boys focus on adventure stories, books for girls focus on friendship and reading (think Little Women, or A Tree Grows in Brooklyn). It’s definitely true that girls are readers more than boys, and children’s fiction certainly reflects that.

Quindlen also covers the history of the printed book, the invention of the book group, so pervasive amongst women everywhere in America, and what makes a book a Great Book (totally subjective to every reader!). Quindlen talks about the power that books have, as a means of escape from the reality of our daily lives. I know that was definitely true for me growing up as a socially awkward girl, and true even today as a socially awkward adult. This short book is definitely one to read, even if to reaffirm what we already know and love about reading and books.

The Sunday Salon

Another Sunday, come and gone! I’ve been reading Viragos this past week; Kate O'Brien's The Land of Spices, and now I’m halfway through Vita Sackville-West’s All Passion Spent, which is stunning. I had no idea I’d find a novel about an elderly woman so engaging! I think that Vita Sackville-West is becoming one of my favorite authors; she certainly had an interesting, unusual life.

In other news, my sister and I have booked a trip… to England in September! We’re going to London, then taking the train up to York for three or four days, and then back to London—so about 9 or ten days total. The last time I was there was 2009; and it’s been at least ten or fifteen years since my sister went. I’m really excited to get to York, where I’ve never been; all that medieval history really fascinates me. Obviously, book shopping is on my list of things to do (I’m making a beeline for the Persephone shop right off the plane!), and I want to go see Much Ado About Nothing at the new Globe Theatre. My sister is into art and art galleries, so I’m sure we’ll have a lot to do while we’re over there. Any suggestions on where to go or what to do? We’re also trying to figure out where to eat while we’re there.

So that’s about it for me!

Review: The Heroine's Bookshelf, by Erin Blakemore

Pages: 200
Original date of publication: 2010
My edition: 2010 (Harper Collins)
Why I decided to read: it looked interesting when it was offered on Amazon Vine
How I acquired my copy: Amazon Vine, March 2011

The Heroine’s Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder, is a series of essays on life lessons to be gotten from classic, well-loved novels. For example, we learn to have a sense of self from Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice; we learn about the importance of happiness from Anne of Green Gables. Each essay is short, only about ten pages or so (and this is physically a small book), and gives at the end of each bullet points for when to read the book and characters from other novels who are similar.

As I’ve said, each chapter is short, and there’s not a lot of character analysis (probably purposeful, if the author wanted to only focus on one virtue for each character). The novels are all well known, and the author assumes that her reader has read all of them (personally I’m 10 for 12; The Secret Garden and the Claudine novels are the exceptions). The author’s writing style is engaging and precise, and she gets to her point pretty quickly.

At certain points, however, the lessons to be learned are over-simplified. I also wish that the author had written more about her experience reading these books and how they affected her. However, I liked how the author tied each novel back into the authors of these books. And this book did inspire me to revisit some of my old favorites—currently I’m re-reading Anne of Green Gables, forgotten on my bookshelf for years. You won’t find any literary or in-depth analysis here, but this is a fun book that takes a look at some old classics. It’s a quick read, too; I finished it in only a couple of hours.

Review: The Dark Enquiry, by Deanna Raybourn

Pages: 387
Original date of publication: 2011
My edition: 2011 (Mira)
Why I decided to read: I’m a fan of the Lady Julia Grey series
How acquired my copy: Amazon pre-order, June 2011

I’m always nervous when I embark on reading another book in the Lady Julia Grey series. Will this one be as good as the last? Or, for that matter, the first? I think the appeal of the series lies in the interaction between Julia and Brisbane; I’m always worried that the spark between them won’t be there anymore.

Julia and Brisbane are back in London from their honeymoon, trying to juggle married life and Brisbane’s career as a secret enquiry agent. One of his new clients is Julia’s older brother Belmont, an MP and pillar of the community who’s the last person you’d expect to ask Brisbane for help. Julia, of course, insinuates herself into the case, and her and Brisbane’s enquiries lead them to the Ghost Club and a medium called Madame Seraphine. Murder, arson, blackmail, and grave robbing—these are all present in the case, and it’s a good one.

As usual, Lady Julia is engaging and funny, and her family is entertaining. It seems that several of her siblings or other family members have been involved in some of her cases (as in the case of Silent in the Sanctuary or Dark Road to Darjeeling). Belmont’s not one of the most interesting of Julia’s siblings, but it’s interesting to watch his case unfold. Character development is also strong, even in a series like this with characters I’ve come to know and love. As such, the series gets more and more interesting with each book. One of the strengths of the series is the relationship between Julia and Brisbane; when I read Dark Road to Darjeeling, I initially was worried that their marriage would mean an end to the romance; not so. It just keeps getting stronger and stronger. In all, this is a very strong addition to the Lady Julia Grey series. Can’t wait for more!

Review: A Pin to See the Peepshow, by F Tennyson Jesse

Pages: 401
Original date of publication: 1934
My edition: 1979 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: It’s on the list of Virago Modern Classics
How I acquired my copy: Amazon UK May 2011

A Pin to See the Peepshow is a book I’ve been itching to read for a long while—ever since I read F Tennyson Jesse’s The Lacquer Lady last summer. It’s hard to find copies of this Virago reprint, so I was lucky to find mine online.

A Pin to See the Peepshow is a fictionalization of the Thompson-Bywaters murder case of the 1920s, when a young housewife was accused of being complicit with her lover in the murder of her husband. Edith Thompson is renamed Julia in the novel. The daughter of middle-class clerk, Julia grew up an imaginative, dreamy and romantic child. After school, she took a position in a dressmaker’s shop, where she was promoted several times and even got the opportunity to travel to Paris to buy clothes for the shop. Julia marries a much older man to whom she’s not all that attracted; and has an affair with Leo Carr.

What can I say but that I absolutely loved this novel! F Tennyson Jesse’s prose style is engaging; you really get involved in the story, and not just because of the subject matter. As I’ve said before, F Tennyson Jesse was a crime journalist, so the story is written in the way that newspaper article might be. You get to see the story from Julia’s point of view, even though she’s not really a sympathetic character. It was harder, however, for me to understand Leo’s motivations. As such, I felt detached from his character, unable to see why he does what he does. In all, this was a stunning novel about a woman who couldn’t tell the difference between reality and imagination, and how, when reality intruded, the bottom fell out of the passionate love affair she’d built up in her mind.