A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

Review: Nella Last's War, by Nella Last

2012-02-01T05:01:00.000-05:00

Pages: 320
Original date of publication:
My edition: 2006 (Profile Books)
Why I decided to read: Amazon.com recommendation
How I acquired my copy: Waterstones, Piccadilly, London, September 2011

Nella Last’s War is a compilation of diary entries that Nella Last, a middle-aged housewife, write for the Mass Observation Project during WWII. In her diary, which she later continued on after the war and into the 1950s, Nella chronicles her everyday life, living in Barrow-in-Furness. The diary starts in September 1939 and continues through VE Day.

Although Nella meticulously describes the minutiae of her every day life, her story never gets boring. I think one of the hallmarks of good writing in personal nonfiction (diaries, letters, memoirs, etc.) is finding one’s voice, and Nella certainly did in her diary. She’s an optimistic woman and very, very sweet—although slightly neurotic. She takes pleasure in the small things, even with shortages of food and everything else. One thing that comes across abundantly in Nella’s personality is her love for her family, especially her younger son Cliff—because you see him from her point of view, you almost end up falling in love with him, too.

There are more diary entries from the beginning of the war, and I wish that the editor of this collection had included more from 1943, ’44, and ’45. However, I did like the fact that there are little historical notes scattered here and there so that the reader who might not know much about WWII can keep up with whatever Nella mentions in her diary. There are also photos included of Nella and her family from the war years. In all, this is an excellent first-hand account of one housewife’s experiences living through WWII.

Review: Q's Legacy, by Helene Hanff

2012-01-28T12:08:00.003-05:00

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

2012-01-24T11:25:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-22T17:42:00.005-05:00

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

2012-01-20T15:51:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-17T06:35:00.002-05:00

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

2012-01-14T12:29:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-12T18:04:00.003-05:00

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

2012-01-10T16:13:00.002-05:00

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

2012-01-09T11:29:00.002-05:00

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

2012-01-08T18:23:00.005-05:00

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?

Review: The Loving Spirit, by Daphne Du Maurier

2012-01-05T11:13:00.000-05:00

Pages: 404
Original date of publication: 1931
My edition: 2003 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: I’m a huge Daphne Du Maurier fan
How I acquired my copy: the Strand bookstore, New York, July 2011

The Loving Spirit is the story of four generations of a shipbuilding family in 19th and early 20th century Cornwall. More specifically, the focus is one four members of the family: Janet, who’s story covers the period between 1830 and 1863; her son, Joseph (1863-1900); his son Christopher (1888-1912); and his daughter, Jennifer (1912-1930).

From the bleak Cornwelian landscape to London and back to Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier weaves a fascinating story, heralding some of the novels that later made her famous. What I love about Du Maurier’s novels is that she really knew how to tell a compelling story.

While I didn’t quite buy the spiritual connection between Janet and her son Joseph (which supposedly also connects Christopher and Jennifer but gets dropped partway through the novel), I did enjoy the development of these characters over time. I love great family sagas, and only wish that this book had been longer and some of the characters more developed, particularly Jennifer, whose story got a bit rushed at the end. Also, the villain character was a little too stereotypical for my taste.

But otherwise, I really enjoyed this novel, particularly the author’s descriptions of Cornwall in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The plot moves swiftly, and Du Maurier does a fantastic story of contrasting the lives of the Coombe family against greater social and political events. Although not her best novel, this one is definitely a must for anyone who’s read Du Marier’s more famous novels, such as Rebecca and Jamaica Inn.

Teaser Tuesdays

2012-01-03T04:03:00.001-05:00

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!

“Coggy had a thin, pale brown face and bright blue eyes which gazed out of windows and into corners for a long time at a stretch. Freda didn’t know why, but he made her feel as if she wanted to laugh.”

--From They Knew Mr. Knight, by Dorothy Whipple

2012 Reading

2012-01-01T16:53:00.025-05:00

January:

1. They Knew Mr. Knight, by Dorothy Whipple

2. Nella Last's War, by Nella Last

3. Q's Legacy, by Helene Hanff

4. That Lady, by Kate O'Brien

5. Consequences, by EM Delafield

6. Tun-Huang, by Yasushi Inoue

7. The Strangers in the House, by Georges Simenon

8. A Month in the Country, by JL Carr

February:

1. The New York Stories of Edith Wharton

The 2012 A to Z Challenge

2012-01-01T16:53:00.023-05:00

I’m doing it again: the A to Z challenge, in which I’m trying to read alphabetically from A t0 Z, authors and titles. I don’t know if there’s an official challenge out there, but I’ve done it in past years. I sadly fell off the wagon in 2011, so hopefully I’ll do better this year! I hate making lists because I can never stick to them, so I’m going to add to this as I go along.

Authors:
A
B
C
Delafield, EM: Consequences
E
F
G
H
Inohue, Yasushi: Tun-Huang
J
K
Last, Nella: Nella Last's War
M
N
O'Brien, Kate: That Lady
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
Whipple, Dorothy: They Knew Mr. Knight
X
Y
Z

Titles:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
A Month in the Country, by JL Carr
The New York Stories of Edith Wharton
O
P
Q's Legacy, by Helene Hanff
R
The Strangers in the House, by Georges Simenon
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

The Sunday Salon: Happy New Year, and a Blogoversary!!

2012-01-01T11:12:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! I guess it’s time for the ubiquitous end of year reading wrap up. This year I read a lot less, due to a number of reasons. I finished 93 books in 2011, which is a lot less than my usual 140-plus books in 2010, 2009, and 2008. It’s been a good year for reading, though. I read a large number of Persephones and Virago Modern Classics. I read a few historical fiction and historical nonfiction books, though the number has definitely decreased in comparison to previous years. But I also read a lot more nonfiction, and a lot more new-to-me authors. On the other hand, I still unintentionally focus on female authors over male more in my reading habits. The full list of books I read in 2011 can be found here. Hopefully in 2012 I can get back to reading earnest, but it might get put on the back burner this year as I continue working on my degree.

Today is actually my blogoversary; today this blog turns 4! Hard to believe that I’ve been doing this so long and I’m still keeping it up. Thinking back on it, my reading habits have changed a bit since I started this blog; I’m still interested in historical fiction, but I have a much smaller interest in reviewing ARCs. In fact, it’s probably been about a year since I reviewed an ARC or accepted one for review! I began collecting and reading Persephones at the beginning of 2009, and VMCs in 2010, so that’s probably contributed to the decline in review copies around my apartment.

Personally, a lot has changed for me, too: I’ve moved twice and had two jobs (both within the same company) in the past four years. I started this blog when I was 24, living in New York City, and unemployed. I’m now 28, living back in Philly (where I grew up), happily and luckily employed, and working on my career goals by working on my graduate degree. I also lost about 20 pounds, and had a major breakthrough in 2008, which has contributed a lot towards my personal growth. So a lot has happened to me, almost all of it good!

End of year meme

2011-12-31T13:03:00.005-05:00

I can’t believe it’s the end of 2011! I think I always breathe a sigh of relief once Christmas is over. Last weekend in observation of Christmas we had a 3-day weekend, and this week in observation of the New Year, we had another 3-day weekend, so it’s been nice to have a bit of a break, even if I couldn’t take a full vacation this week as I was originally planning. I’ve been busy with stuff at work and school, and it feels good to finish the year off strong. I stole this from Verity at Cardigangirlverity!

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

Moved in to my new apartment in January! Started working on my Master’s degree in biomedical writing.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t typically make (or keep) New Year’s resolutions, but this year I think I’d like to keep up an effort to clean house more often. Literally clean house, I’m often very lazy about that kind of thing! I’d also like to be more social and reach out to people more, especially at work.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
England!!!

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?A boyfriend might be nice!

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Nothing stands out.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Being accepted into grad school, finishing this semester with a B+! Initiating a major project at work.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Communication, in particular failing to communicate with someone about how I truly felt until it was too late.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I would say my condo, but since it was officially a 2010 purchase, it doesn’t really count (but I moved in in 2011).

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

14. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage, vacation in September.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My trip to London and York with my sister in September!

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? 
About the same!
b) thinner or fatter?
About the same!
c) richer or poorer? 
Poorer due to mortgage and vacation.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Communicate, socialize more, read more (93 books completed this year in comparison to 140-plus in previous years), worry less and obsess less about things I can't control.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Watch TV.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
At my parent’s house in the Philly suburbs, with family. Christmas Eve church and dinner at a friend’s house, Christmas Day opening presents and having roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?
Twice, unfortunately. Still single!

22. How many one-night stands?
None.

23. What was your favourite TV program?
Went to the UK and got hooked on a show called Don’t Tell the Bride. Also fell in love with Downton Abbey.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Don’t hate anyone!

25. What was the best book you read?
Any of the Persephones or Virago Modern Classics I read this year. Also re-read a few favorites, including Jane Eyre and Anne of Green Gables.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I re-discovered the Corrs, a group I loved when I was a teenager.

27. What did you want and get?
Rainboots for Christmas (I swear, sometimes I think I’m secretly 5 years old!).

28. What did you want and not get?
Nothing.

29. What was your favourite film of this year?
Jane Eyre.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
In September I was 28 and I spent it at work, then had dinner with my parents.

31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
It was mostly satisfying, except in the area of my love life.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Generally speaking, on any given day I wear something that’s black. Around this time of year I’m into wearing lots of skirts and dresses, paired with a chunky sweater, tights, and my favorite boots. I’m also kind of obsessed with this new pair of Mary Jane heels that I’ve been planning outfits around!

33. What kept you sane?
Family.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Don’t like politics and try not to take sides.

35. Whom did you miss?
My best friend from high school.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Didn’t really meet many new people…

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011:
It sounds cheesy, but I learned that you should always take advantage of every opportunity you get. And I learned to speak up more.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

39. So in as few words as possible, how would you sum up your year?
Pretty satisfying!

Booking Through Thursday

2011-12-29T18:05:00.005-05:00

What were your favorite books of 2011?

1. A Woman’s Place, by Ruth Adam
Wonderful social history of women in Britain from WWI to 1975.

2. The Du Mauriers, by Daphne Du Maurier
Du Maurier’s account of a few generations of her family, in particular her grandfather, George Du Maurier, author of a popular Victorian children’s book.

3. Few Eggs and No Oranges, by Vere Hodgson
A diary that the author kept during WWII. I loved her sense of humor, even though she went through something horrific.

4. Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, by Isabella Bird
A fantastic travelogue, written by a fearless woman who became the first Western woman to travel in the hinterlands of Japan.

5. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte (re-read)
One of my favorite books of all time!

6. Anderby Wold, by Winifred Holtby
I love all of Winifred Holtby’s novels, and although this was only her first, I love the way that she depicts Yorkshire life.

7. The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton
Another classic, and on that I should have read many years ago.

8. The Diary of a Provincial Lady, by EM Delafield
Hysterically funny “diary” of an English housewife.

9. A Pin to See the Peepshow, by F Tennyson Jesse
Novel based on a famous Victorian murder trial. The author was a journalist, and it shows in this book!

10. Anne of Green Gables, by LM Montgomery (re-read)
An all-time favorite!

11. All Passion Spent, by Vita Sackville-West
I love the way that Vita Sackville-West skewers the English upper classes, mercifully so in this novel.

12. Myself When Young, by Daphne Du Maurier
Thought-provoking account of the author’s childhood, based on the diaries she kept at the time.

13. Cindie, by Jean Devanny
Wonderful novel about a woman manager on a colonial plantation.

14. The Loving Spirit, by Daphne Du Maurier
Daphne Du Maurier’s first novel, focusing on four generations of a shipbuilding family in Cornwall. Fabulous!

15. The Winds of Heaven, by Monica Dickens
A novel about an ‘aging” woman who gets shunted around between her three daughters.

Review: Bricks and Mortar, by Helen Ashton

2011-12-29T12:17:00.000-05:00

Pages: 304
Original date of publication: 1933
My edition: 2004 (Persephone)
Why I decided to read: Persephone catalogue

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

In Bricks and Mortar, a young architect meets and marries a young woman named Letty, mostly through the finagling of her mother. Unhappy in his home life, over the next thirty years, Martin Lovell looses himself in his work, moving houses every now and then. He also takes comfort in his relationship with his daughter Stacy.

Although not written in the first person, we see everything from Martin’s point of view, so, for example, in the opening scene when he arrives in Rome, the first thing that’s described is the city’s buildings. Ashton’s descriptions of architecture are truly beautiful. Poor Martin gets trodden on right from the first, but he takes comfort in the work he’s passionate about, and in the daughter who possesses a fiery spirit and a passion almost equal to his own. It’s a beautifully written book, contrasting Martin and Stacy against Letty and his son Aubrey (like his mother, weak and useless to Martin). Then there’s Stacy’s interesting relationship with Martin’s young associate, Oliver… we know where that story line goes, but it’s interesting to watch how all of that unfolds.

Martin is a great hero, not in the over sense, but in a quiet, understated way. He knows that his marriage is a mistake and that Letty isn’t quite on his intellectual level, but he tries to make the best of things. As such, the end of the book is truly heartbreaking.
This is Persephone no. 49.

Review: The Winds of Heaven, by Monica Dickens

2011-12-21T11:46:00.000-05:00

Pages: 320
Original date of publication: 1955
My edition: 2010 (Persephone)
Why I decided to read: It’s a Persephone reprint
How I acquired my copy: Persephone subscription, April 2011

In The Winds of Heaven, a woman in late middle age is left nearly destitute when her husband dies. Forced to live off her three daughters, Louise spends her time going back and forth between the three of them. One is married to a successful attorney; another to a rural farmer; and the third works as an actress in London, having an affair with a married man.

It’s a bittersweet little story; Louise is treated as elderly, although she’s only 57, and treated as though she’s yesterday’s trash by her daughters and their husbands. On the other hand, she begins a friendship with a man who works in the mattress section of a large department store, offering her some kind of companionship in her “old age.” Dudley is the only one who treats Louise really well, not expecting anything back from her, but it’s not until it’s nearly too late that she realizes what a good friend he is. The other touching part of the story is Louise’s relationship with her young granddaughter, another person who doesn’t expect much from her.

I love Monica Dickens’s descriptions of the characters; although everyone seems to blend together at first, each of the three daughters quickly becomes delineated. They are all completely different, but similar in their indifference towards their mother. This book reminds me a lot of Vita Sackville-West’s All Passion Spent, a novel about a widow’s struggle to assert her own independence after her children have grown up and her husband has passed away. The story also reminds me a lot of Dorothy Whipple’s They Were Sisters, a story that’s mostly about the relationship between three sisters, but similar in describing the lives of very different people.
This is Persephone no. 90.

Teaser Tuesdays

2011-12-20T06:30:00.002-05:00

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 stayed out late, deliberately, in order to keep Miles waiting. With her return t London she had regained something of her feminine self-assurance.”

--From Family History, by Vita Sackville-West

Review: Ordinary Families, by E. Arnot Robertson

2011-12-19T11:22:00.001-05:00

Pages: 331
Original date of publication: 1933
My edition: 1986 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: It’s on the list of VMCs
How I acquired my copy: Charing Cross Road bookshop, London, September 2011

Ordinary Families is the story of an English family living in the small village of Pin Mill. Lallie is one of four children to a former adventurer, and they spend their days boating and hunting in Suffolk.

This is one of those classic coming of age stories in which one girl struggles to figure out her place in a large family, overshadowed as she is by her beautiful older sister. I liked Robertson’s descriptions of the family, especially Lallie and her father, but I also thought her descriptions of the family’s boating excursions were a bit, er, overboard at times. Robertson is good at character development and exploring the relationships between the various family members. It’s also very frank, for the 1930s, about various aspects of growing up. Because the plot moves along at a very slow pace, it’s very hard to follow at times.

The Sunday Salon

2011-12-18T16:14:00.003-05:00

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is just a week away, and that the end of the year is two weeks away! I’ve spent the past couple of weeks doing the usual Christmassy things: buying gifts, etc. There doesn’t seem to be much point in actually decorating my apartment for Christmas, since it’s just one person. But it’s been fun seeing all the Christmas trees go up in the windows of the apartments in my apartment complex, and seeing the Christmas decorations down in the lobby. I also re-watched Love Actually, which is my favorite Christmas movie. So I’ve {kind of) gotten into the spirit of Christmas this year!

As for reading, I’ve just not done very much of it this year in comparison to other years. Usually I can read about 150 books per year, but this year I’m drastically down, with only 93 books finished (realistically only one or two more will be finished before the end of the year). Part of it is that I’ve been busy with school; and with me officially starting work on my Master’s degree in biomedical writing this spring, it looks as though I won’t get much more free time to read in the near future! We’ll see. I’m currently reading Vita Sackville-West’s Family Histories, which I’m loving but have been reading for over a week.

Happy holidays!

Persephone Secret Santa: Revealed!

2011-12-16T04:52:00.002-05:00

About a week ago, I received a package in the mail with the telltale Persephone postmark on it, and yesterday I finally opened it to find… Marghanita Laski’s Little Boy Lost, which was given by Allie at A Literary Odyssey. A couple of years ago I read The Victorian Chaise Lounge and enjoyed it, so I’m eager to read this one as well. Thank you so much! I gave a copy of Someone at a Distance to Colleen at Colreads. I make no secret of the fact that Dorothy Whipple is one of my favorite Persephone authors, so when I saw this was on her wish list, this was a no-brainer. Interestingly enough, we live in the same state (Pennsylvania)!Happy Persephone Secret Santa! What did you give or receive, if you participated?

Review: Aspergirls, by Rudy Simone

2011-12-14T11:14:00.003-05:00

Pages: 231
Original date of publication: 2010
My edition: 2010 (Jessica Kingsley Publishers)
Why I decided to read: I was on Amazon looking for books on Asperger’s to read
How I acquired my copy: Amazon, September 2001

I'm not usually into reading books about Asperger's, but I picked this book up because I recently disclosed it to my supervisor at work (after experiencing sensory processing problems), who told me he thought it was "just a label." This book more or less confirms everything I've ever known about Asperger's, but it's tailored to women and girls, which makes it much more relevant, at least to me. For some reason, research on autism and Asperger's focuses more on the male experience, so I thought that this book was refreshing in that aspect.

The book is divided into chapters that focus on all the challenges that girls and women with AS experience: self-taught reading skills, sensory problems, gender roles, puberty, dating and relationships, friendships, employment, having children, having temper meltdowns, rituals and routine, and getting older on the spectrum, just to name a few. Nearly all the things discussed in the book describe me life completely, so it was interesting to me to read that many of us have gastrointestinal trouble, connected to stress. I've had it all my life, but I'd never connected it to AS (which I didn't find out I have until I was 25). Another thing I thought was interesting, and totally on, was the chapter on AS in the workplace, and the importance of having obsessions to keep us focused on our careers (I always thought that having obsessions were bad for me).

Rudy Simone's approach is hands-on, and her writing style is easy to read. The chapters are short and give good tips to women and girls with AS and the people closest to them. I don't know that I believe all the holistic stuff, but I think this book should be required reading for women and girls who have been diagnosed with AS.

Review: The Bookshop, by Penelope Fitzgerald

2011-12-12T14:49:00.001-05:00

Pages: 123
Original date of publication: 1978
My edition: 1997 (Houghton Mifflin)
Why I decided to read: LibraryThing recommendation
How I acquired my copy: The Strand, NYC, April 2011

In 1959, Florence Green opens a bookshop in the seaside town of Hardborough, a quintessential small village in which everyone knows everyone else’s business—and many people are resistant to change. Flying in the face of opposition, Florence opens her shop, which is popular at first—and then various interfering busybodies in Hardborough try to shut her down.

I thought that Florence as a character was a little bit flat and she tends to take back seat to some of the more interesting characters such as Christine, Florence’s assistant, or even the small-minded Violet Gamart. Florence doesn’t seem to be much of a reader; for example, when she reads the reviews that Lolita has gotten, she asks Milo to read it instead of reading it herself. She doesn’t even seem to care too much when the townspeople try to shut the bookshop down. As an avid book reader, I obviously see how the possible closing of the bookshop is tragic, but since Florence doesn’t care all that much about her fate and that of the bookshop, why should the reader? As a result, the emotional impact of the ending of the book wasn’t as great for me as it could have been.

However, the narrative flow of the book is good, and you as the reader find yourself wishing that the bookshop will succeed. Speaking from the bibliophilic point of view, the tone of this short novel is sad; how can so many people be so small-minded about something so innocuous as a bookshop? The people in Hardborough are certainly resistant to change. Aside from my major problems with the main character, I really did enjoy this book about books. There’s even a poltergeist to keep things interesting.

Review: One Fine Day, by Mollie Panter-Downes

2011-12-09T17:01:00.002-05:00

Pages: 184
Original date of publication: 1946
My edition: 1985 (Virago Modern Classics)
Why I decided to read: It’s on the list of Virago Modern Classics
How I acquired my copy: The Last Word bookshop, Philadelphia

Set in the summer of 1946, One Fine Day is a novel about the inhabitants of one town as they try to regain some semblance of normal lives after WWII. Laura Marshall is the focal point of the story, but other characters meander in and out throughout the book. Even the dogs have personality.

Things are clearly changing; Laura, for example, tries to make do without household help, and the Cranmers leave the Manor after their family had been there for hundreds of years. Yet people are still forced to use ration books. The tone of the novel is bittersweet, a kind of wistful yearning for a way of life that can’t go on post-war: “it was too idiotic, but there she was all the time, down in her house in Wealding, struggling to keep up a life which had really ended.” Things are different for everyone, yet Laura and Stephen Marshall try to go on as they were before.

There’s not much “action,” as such; in fact this novel is written more as a group of character sketches. Mollie Panter-Downes writes beautifully; you can feel the breeze of a hot summer day up on Barrow Down. It’s a slow-moving, meandering book (much like the hot summer weather described in the book), and it takes a while to get into it. But once you do, this book is well worth it.

Review: The World My Wilderness, by Rose Macaulay

2011-12-05T15:44:00.000-05:00

Pages: 254
Original date of publication: 1950
My edition: 1992 (Virago Modern Classics
Why I decided to read: it’s on the list of Virago Modern Classics
How I acquired my copy: the Philadelphia Book Trader, August 2011

The World My Wilderness is the story of Barbara Denison (or Barbary), a teenage girl who used to live with her Bohemian mother and French stepfather in France during WWII. All her experience is with the French Resistance, running free to do as she liked. When her stepfather drowns, Barbary is sent back to her father, a distinguished lawyer, and to London, still ruined from the Blitz and very much resembling a ghost town.

On the surface, The World My Wilderness is a coming of age story, set at a time when things had changed drastically. Macaulay uses the theme of wilderness and jungle over and over to illustrate the way that Barbary feels. She’s torn between the two halves of her family, belonging no place and lost. The World My Wilderness is one of Rose Macaulay’s most complicated novels, and Barbary is a complicated character because there are two sides to her. She’s frequently described as a small, slight girl, but she’s experienced enough in her life that she seems more mature beyond her years. The feeling of being lost that Barbary has is mirrored in the London landscape, which is why Barbary and her friends are so drawn to the ruins around St. Paul’s. It’s a stunning, well-written novel.

So men’s will to recovery strove against the drifting wilderness and tame it; but the wilderness might slip from their hands, from their spades and trowels and measuring rods, slip darkly away from them, seeking the primeval chaos and old night which had been before Londinium was, which would be when cities were ghosts haunting the ancestral dreams of memory.

The Sunday Salon

2011-12-04T10:25:00.003-05:00

Another Sunday again! I’ve been spending my weekend a number of ways: yesterday my sister came down to Philly from New York, so I met her and a few of her friends for some shopping at Anthropologie and brunch, and then more shopping on Pine Street, where there are a few consignment shops where you can get designer fashion for really, really cheap! That’s how I found a fantastic camel-colored DKNY coat for $55! I love finding hidden gems like that, don’t you?

Today I am back at the grindstone, as I had several assignments to revise for class that are due tomorrow. Friday is the last day of class, so I have a break for a bit before the spring. I’ve finished everything but my final paper, which I haven’t gotten back from the instructor yet; thank goodness she gave us an extension for revisions on that!

I am always surprised at this time of year how close Christmas is. Only a little over 3 weeks away! I am never very good at shopping for Christmas gifts, because I’m very, very bad at figuring out what people want or need. I am not a theory of mind person! I also don’t like crowded, noisy stores (they usually have the music blasting, making the shopping experience doubly irritating to my sensory issues, and doubly unpleasant), so I usually end up frustrated and panicky when I go shopping. So, basically my worst nightmare realized. As you can tell, I haven't had much time for reading, but maybe once the semester is over, I'll have more time for it. I'm currently reading a VMC: Catherine Carswell's The Camomile, which is only about 300 pages and would normally only take a day or two to read, but I've been reading this for over a week and have only gotten through about 100 pages so far!

Have a great Sunday!

Review: Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons

2011-12-03T15:12:00.002-05:00

Pages: 233
Original date of publication: 1932
My edition: 2006 (Penguin)
Why I decided to read: It’s on the list of 1001 books to read before you die
How I acquired my copy: Waterstone’s, Piccadilly, London, September 2011

A tongue-in-cheek satire, Cold Comfort Farm is a novel about a young woman named Flora Poste, who goes to live with her cousins, the Starkadder family, on their farm in Sussex. It’s a cast of characters, to be sure: Judith and Amos, and their children, Seth, Reuben, and Elfine; and a host of others, including the reclusive Aunt Ada Doom, who hasn’t left her room in 20 years because she saw something nasty in the woodshed when she was a child. One by one, Flora takes on each member of the family, acting as a sort of fairy godmother, especially to Elfine.

It’s a funny novel, but not overtly so. For example, I loved the part where Mr Mybug (not really his name, but no matter) regales Flora with his theory about Branwell Bronte being the author of Wuthering Heights. In this way Stella Gibbons parodies the classic Victorian novels, as well as many of the women’s novels of the 1930s (many of which were reprinted by Virago Modern Classics, so I kind of have a point of reference). As with most satirical novels, it’s over the top, but so over the top that it becomes unbelievable. But it’s an odd book, nonetheless, especially since Gibbons set it sometime in the future (from 1932). But we don’t know exactly what year it’s supposed to be, so the events in this novel take place in a kind of vacuum. It’s bizarre, but bizarre in a good way!

Where my two college majors collide

2011-12-02T05:43:00.000-05:00

… or, where history meets literature. Isn’t it interesting how off the wall documents like library records can tell you so much about someone? What will our descendants be inferring about us from our reading habits 100 years from now?

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/11/the_wondrous_database_that_reveals_what_books_americans_checked_out_of_the_library_a_century_ago_.html

Review: The Rose Garden, by Susanna Kearsley

2011-12-01T14:45:00.001-05:00

Pages: 429
Original date of publication: 2011
My edition: 2011 (Sourcebooks)
Why I decided to read: It was offered to be for review
How I acquired my copy: review copy from the publisher, July 2011

Warning: spoilers below!

The Rose Garden is Susanna Kearsley at her best. Eva Ward is a publicist who comes to the Cornish coast to scatter the ashes of her recently-deceased sister. A house called Trelowarth was once the home of smugglers, and Eva finds herself drawn back into the 18th century where she meets a man named Daniel Butler and becomes associated with Jacobean plots.

Daniel Butler is kind of a mystery as a character, because we only get to see him for short snatches of time. But I can definitely see how appealing he is as a hero. But other than that, the character development of this novel is good. Better than that, though, is the writing. Kearsley’s writing is smooth, and the romance aspect of the novel is neatly woven in—it’s not too strong, but we know where Eva’s heart lies.

The plot is strong, too—Eva and the reader in the 21st century know what’s going to happen to the Jacobeans, but she is stuck in a hard place—does she say something to Daniel to stop him from becoming involved? Or does she say nothing and allow history to unfold itself? That is the underlying theme of this book, and one that Kearsley explores so well.

Teaser Tuesdays

2011-11-29T05:23:00.001-05:00

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!

“Sept. 24—Laura interrupted my journalizing the afternoon by coming in to consult me about my dress for her wedding. I am to be her chief bridesmaid and have not decided on the colour I want, but as she is not to be married till February I can’t see what the hurry is.”

--From The Camomile, by Catherine Carswell

Review: Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

2011-11-26T14:22:00.002-05:00

Pages: 315
Original date of publication: 1847
My edition: 1981 (Bantam Classics)
Why I decided to read: Re-read; first read summer 2002
How I acquired my copy: Barnes and Noble, summer 2002

I first read this in 2002, when I did an internship in Chicago and went on a classics reading kick that summer, and this book was one of them (Vanity Fair and Bleak House were two of the “loose baggy monsters” I read that summer). Although I’d read Charlotte’s Jane Eyre several times in school, Wuthering Heights was, for some reason, never on any of the syllabi for any of the classes I took (and English was my major!).

Wuthering Heights is a complicated novel, and it probably says a lot about Emily Bronte herself. The novel is melodramatic at times, and it contains two narrators: an old former family servant and a near neighbor, neither of whom is an observant or reliable narrator (at the beginning of the book, Mr. Lockwood thinks that a pile of dead rabbits is a cat). Emily Bronte had a wildly vivid imagination, as evidenced by the metaphysical and supernatural elements in this novel. Emily Bronte lived in a world of fantasy most of the time, and I think that this novel is an extension of that. Although I prefer Emily’s sister Charlotte’s Jane Eyre to Wuthering Heights, I can identify much more with Emily as a person, and I can see where she comes from. But to someone else, Emily’s writing is startling in its intensity.

The novel is hard to follow at times—there are narrators inside of narrators, and narrators inside of those, so sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between them. One of the most striking elements of the book is how obsessive the characters are, particularly Heathcliff. As a result, the love that he and Cathy have is startling in its intensity, especially after Cathy dies. I can see how many people might not like this book; there’s not a lot to like about the main characters. But the tale that Emily Bronte tells, about love, obsession, jealousy, and happiness, is pretty powerful.

Review: Round About a Pound a Week, by Maud Pember Reeves

2011-11-22T13:51:00.004-05:00

Pages: 217
Original date of publication: 1913
My edition: 2008 (Persephone)
Why I decided to read: I was in the mood for reading another Persephone
How I acquired my copy: the Persephone shop, September 2011

In 1909, Maud Pember Reeves and the Fabian Society conducted a social experiment in one of London’s poorer neighborhoods (in Lambeth Walk) to explore the daily lives and living conditions of those people. Round About a Pound a Week is a report of that venture, in which Pember Reeves outlines what she and her coworkers found. They focused on poor, working-class families, but she is quick to point out that the subjects of her study weren’t the poorest in London.

The book is divided into chapters that explore in (sometimes excruciating detail) housing, furniture, budgets, food, children, and attitudes to marriage. For example, Pember Reeves gives the exact breakdown of several families’ budgets. Interesting to note is how much these families spent on burial insurance. Pember Reeves does proselytize a little bit in her conclusions, but many of her observations are very astute and foresee the rise of child welfare and minimum wage laws.

In the introduction, Polly Toynbee compares the wages of the average manual laborer in Lambeth Walk in 1913 to their contemporaries today, and finds that not much has changed in 100 years—many people still live far below the official poverty line. Round About a Pound a Week is a fascinating social history; despite the minute breakdown that Pember Reeves gives on budgets and expenditures for her subjects, I really thought this book was really fascinating.

The Sunday Salon

2011-11-20T07:22:00.002-05:00

I’ve had a busy week! It’s always nice to have the weekend to rest and rejuvenate and get ready for the week ahead. Thank goodness this upcoming workweek is only three days! I have a new major project at work that I’m eager to get cracking on, though, and my schoolwork is going well. I spent a good part of the weekend editing assignments and working on a new one. I’ve applied for the MS program, so I hope to hear back on whether or not I was accepted before Christmas.

I’ve also started a new project that I’m excited about. I don’t talk about my personal life much on this blog, and maybe only a few of the people who read this (if any) know that I have Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism. I decided to write about my experience with it—fewer women are diagnosed with AS than men, and there are fewer books out there that focus on the female experience with AS. Plus, it seems to be a very popular topic right now in the world of publishing. I am less affected by Asperger’s, but I’m affected enough that sometimes I run into problems, and I’d like to help other women in my position by sharing my story.

I’m currently reading Monica Dickens (great-granddaughter of Charles, in case you were wondering about the name)’s Winds of Heaven, a newer Persephone reprint that reminds me a lot of another Persephone, Dorothy Whipple’s They Were Sisters. It’s the story of a woman in late middle age (who’s treated as though she’s elderly) whose husband leaves her with nothing, so she must live alternately with her three very different daughters. I enjoy Monica Dickens’s books very much; I wish that Persephone would consider reprinting One Pair of Hands, her memoir of being a 1930s debutante who decides to go and find a job as a cook.

How was your week?

Review: The Closed Door and Other Stories, by Dorothy Whipple

2011-11-17T13:43:00.006-05:00

Pages: 229
Original date of publication: 1930s
My edition: 2010 (Persephone)
Why I decided to read: Dorothy Whipple is one of my favorite authors

How I acquired my copy: Persephone subscription, May 2011

The Closed Door and Other Stories is a collection of 10 short stories. Dorothy Whipple is skilled at describing the relationships between people: parents and their children, husbands and wives, young girls experiencing the thrill of their first potential romance. The stories are less plot-driven, but character development is strong, even though some of these stories are very short. The title story, The Closed Door, is more like a short novel than a short story, and it tells the story of a young girl as she grows up and gets married to get out from under the thumb of her repressive parents. As such, it skips over a lot of stuff, and I think this story might have been good as a longer novel. Other than that, though, I really loved the stories in this collection; some of them have a very strong emotional impact on the reader.

The Sunday Salon

2011-11-13T05:35:00.002-05:00

I’m back! I’ve had a busy few weeks, therefore not much time for blogging. However, I spent most of my afternoon yesterday writing—first a CME proposal for class and then eight, yes eight reviews! So you’ll start to see them pop up here over the next few weeks.

I’ve had a lot going on in my life recently, so I’ve been reading a lot more than usual (probably as an escape from reality). I’m back on a Virago Modern Classics binge; now I’m reading Ordinary Families, by E. Arnot Robinson, a novel about a quintessential English family between the wars. So far this month I’ve finished The World My Wilderness (Rose Macaulay) and One Fine Day (Mollie Panter-Downes). This week I also read Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop, about a woman who opens a bookshop in a small English seaside town, despite opposition from the locals. Sublime!

What have you been reading?

Review: Reuben Sachs, by Amy Levy

2011-11-12T13:34:00.006-05:00

Pages: 148
Original date of publication: 1888
My edition: 2001 (Persephone)
Why I decided to read: it was the book that was being read for Persephone’s September Thursday teatime reading group

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

Reuben Sachs is the story of a young man living in the heart of a large, conservative Jewish family in 19th century London. This was the book that was discussed at the September teatime reading group, and I didn’t expect to like it all that much. I don’t read very much Jewish fiction, so this book was a little out of my comfort zone; but I enjoyed Amy Levy’s descriptions of the family and Reuben’s relationship with Judith, a childhood friend he’s in love with but can’t marry. I thought Amy Levy was a little harsh on Jewish culture and traditions, and she was a little heavy-handed with the “tribe” theme. But in all, I thought this was a really interesting look into one family in 19th century London. Amy Levy was on 27 when she wrote this, and committed suicide just the year after, so you really wonder what she was thinking when she wrote this.

The Sunday Salon

2011-10-30T18:17:00.002-04:00

Why does the weekend go by so quickly? I’ve been a bit busy; I had a webinar for class yesterday afternoon. Obviously, the big news on the East Coast was the freak “snowtober” we got yesterday, as well as the cold, so I spent all of yesterday indoors (with a brief 5-minute jaunt outside to go pick up my dry cleaning). I spent most of today indoors as well, working on an assignment for class, reading, and cleaning my apartment. The days are getting much, much shorter here, so I’m going to be thankful next week when we “fall back!” That way, I won't be walking to work in practical darkness!

I’ve read more than the usual this month: Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain; The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton; Company Parade, by Storm Jameson; Aspergirls, by Rudy Simone; The Way I See It, by Temple Grandin; Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons; Thinking in Pictures, by Temple Grandin; and Round About a Pound A Week, by Maud Pember Reeves.

I’m currently re-reading Wuthering Heights; a perfect book for this time of year. I recently met someone who absolutely hated it, but it’s a much more complicated novel than meets the eye. I’ve also been reading up a little bit on the Bronte sisters, and the more I read of what little was known of them, the more I see similarities between Emily and myself. The reclusiveness, the lack of friends, the long walks on the Yorkshire moors (though I’ve replaced Yorkshire with Philadelphia), the obsessiveness over a certain topics, and the fondness for animals—sister from another century?

Short reviews

2011-10-22T15:37:00.007-04:00

I’m really, really behind on review-writing, so I thought I’d write a few short reviews instead to get caught up...

Miss Mole, by EH Young
Pages: 288
Original date of publication: 1930
My edition: 1984 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: it’s on the list of Virago Modern Classics
How I acquired my copy: The Strand, New York, April 2011

The story of a middle-aged nanny/companion/nurse/housekeeper. Set in EH Young’s fictional city of Radstowe (based on Bristol), Miss Mole’s sharp tongue keeps getting her into trouble. A very witty novel, but not my favorite by this author, because the pace of the book is rather slow at times. 3 stars.

The Group, by Mary McCarthy
Pages: 437
Original date of publication: 1963
My edition: 2009 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: it’s on the list of Virago Modern Classics
How I acquired my copy: Waterstone’s, Piccadilly, September 2011

The Group is the story of eight roommates from Vassar living in New York City in the 1930s. Although the author is extremely candid about topics such as sex, marriage, and other “forbidden” subjects, I felt that at times the author was merely trying to be provocative, without actually adding much to the story line. Because there are so many main characters, it’s also hard to keep track of them at times, and I felt that several of their stories didn’t wrap up so well at the end (or they were too well wrapped up). That said, I thought that McCarthy’s depiction of recent college graduates living in the “big city” was right on (even though I did it 70 years later, things haven’t changed much!). 3 stars.

Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain
Pages: 661
Original date of publication: 1933
My edition: 1999 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: it’s on the list of Virago Modern Classics and 1001 Books to Read Before You Die.
How I acquired my copy: South Bank Book Market, London, September 2011

Testament of Youth is Vera Brittain’s extremely in-depth autobiography of her childhood, years spent as a volunteer nurse during WWI, and the years spent afterwards as a student at Oxford. It covers her relationship with Roland and burgeoning friendship with Winifred Holtby (towards whom, interestingly enough, Brittain felt antagonistic when they first met!) Although Brittain conveys to her reader the sadness and pointlessness of war, I felt that the book could have benefitted by being about 100-200 pages shorter. 4 stars.

The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton
Pages: 270
Original date of publication: 1973 (this selection)
My edition: 2006 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: it’s on the list of Virago Modern Classics
How I acquired my copy: London Review Bookshop, September 2011

The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton is a collection of 11 stories that are not so much traditional ghost stories as supernatural-themed ones. I didn’t know what to expect going into it, because they’re definitely a departure from the two Edith Wharton books I’ve read, The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence. Despite that, I enjoyed these stories—perfect reading for fall and Halloween! 4 stars.

Company Parade, by Storm Jameson
Pages: 345
Original date of publication: 1934
My edition: 1985 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: it’s on the list of VMCs
How I acquired my copy: 10th St. bookstore, August 2011

Set in the years just after WWI, Company Parade is about a young writer, Hervey Russell, who comes to London to work as an advertising copywriter. Her husband is in the Air Force still, and her young son is still in Yorkshire. This is a novel with good characterization, although I thought Hervey was a little hypocritical; she doesn’t feel guilty about her relationship with Jess Gage, but she’s really hurt when she finds out that her husband has had an affair… but I did love the author’s descriptions of London, especially the Piccadilly area. 4 stars.

Booking Through Thursday

2011-10-13T18:43:00.002-04:00

If you could get a sequel for any book, what would it be?

One of my all-time favorite books is Kathleen Winsor’s Forever Amber, a delightfully romance-y read set in Restoration England. When it was published in the 1940s, it was a bestseller, akin to Gone With the Wind, but although it was reprinted in 2000, Forever Amber has mostly become forgotten. It’s the story of a fictional mistress of Charles II (SPOILER ALERT BELOW, highlight to reveal):

who has a relationship with a Cavalier who uses and then dumps her. But because Amber is one of the dumbest people in fiction, she falls for a story that Bruce is still in love with her, and she runs off to join him in America.

Although Amber is one of the most frustrating, obtuse characters you’ll ever run into, I always wonder what happened to her after that (especially since she wasn’t exactly welcome). What was Bruce’s reaction? For that matter, what was his new wife’s? SOMEONE needs to write the sequel to this book!

The Sunday Salon

2011-10-02T18:26:00.005-04:00

It’s another Sunday! Hard to believe that the week passes by so fast. Not much to say, except I’ve spent most of the weekend working on a 15-page midterm paper (due Oct. 21), cleaning my apartment, and working out—so basically the usual. The weather finally feels like fall, so I've been enjoying the colder weather. You have no idea how much I've been fantasizing about my winter sweaters and favorite boots!

I'm still plowing my way through Testament of Youth, which is fantastic but it's taking me a long time to read. I’m also trying to get up the motivation to write reviews of books I read over a month ago! How do you motivate to write reviews?

Review: The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, by Helene Hanff

2011-09-26T19:32:00.005-04:00

Pages: 137
Original date of publication: 1973
My edition: 1976
Why I decided to read: it seemed like the perfect thing to bring on the plane when I went on vacation to England
How I acquired my copy: Amazon UK, January 2010

You decide to stop using the word “anachronism” when a seventeenth-century carriage drives through the gates of Buckingham Palace carrying twentieth-century Russian or African diplomats to be welcomed by a queen. “Anachronism” implies something long dead, and nothing is dead here. History, as they say, is alive and well and living in London (p. 82)

In 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff collected the letters she and Frank Doel, a bookseller in London’s famous Charing Cross Road, exchanged for twenty years, from just after WWII up until his death. Helene Hanff had always wanted to travel to England, but until the summer of June 1971, after 84 Charing Cross Road had been published and she went on tour to publicize the book, she had never had the opportunity to do so. This short book is a diary that Helene kept for the three weeks that she was in London and environs, meeting Frank Doel’s family and some of the many people who enjoyed 84, Charing Cross Road.

I went on vacation to London (and York) for a week at the beginning of the month, so I thought this would be the perfect book to get me in the mood for the trip. It’s a short book; I finished it in a couple of hours on the plane ride. Helene Hanff went everywhere and did everything, it seems: Bloomsbury (personally, my favorite part of London), the site of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (which hadn’t yet been reconstructed by Sam Wannamaker), Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London. Some of those were places I went, too, so it was fun for me to read about what she saw and did. Helene even got so see some of the sights outside London: Eton and Oxford (only Helene could have a hissy fit in the middle of Wadham Yard!).

The same funny, witty tone of voice she used in 84, Charing Cross Road comes right across in this novel, and I enjoyed reading some of her insights into England and the English (some of them ironic, as in):

I find the treatment of royalty distinctly peculiar. The royal family lives in palaces heavily screened from prying eyes by fences, grounds, gates, guards, all designed to ensure the family absolute privacy. And every newspaper in London carried headlines announcing PRINCESS ANNE HAS OVARIAN CYST REMOVED. I mean you’re a young girl reared in heavily guarded seclusion and every beer drinker in every pub knows the pricese state of your ovaries (p. 77-78).

I must admit that I have a soft spot for Helene Hanff; we both have a Philadelphia connection, plus we are/were massive Anglophiles (and she incidentally has the same birthday as my sister). I love the blunt, direct way that she addresses her readers, almost as if she’s telling her story to you in person. She also has some great insights into London: how you can tell a city’s character based on its parks:

All the parks here are every serene, very gentle… lying in peaceful St. James’s, I realize how much a city’s parks reflect the character of its people. The parks here are tranquil, quiet, a bit reserved, and I love them. But on a long-term basis I would sorely miss the noisy exuberance of Central Park (pp54-56).

The Sunday Salon

2011-09-25T17:01:00.004-04:00

It’s been a busy week and weekend. I spent a good deal of my free time working on this ten-page paper I had due on Friday. The course I’m taking is an online course that has three webinars over the course of the semester. Yesterday was the second webinar, but since the professor had trouble logging on, we (the students) hung around for about an hour waiting for her. Frustrating considering that this was the webinar where she was going to explain our long final paper to us! Hopefully, though, we’ll make it up somehow.

I spent a good deal of time this week organizing—mostly organizing the documents on my computer and flash drive so that I can find them more easily. For example, I now have a folder for my book-related documents, one for the class I’m taking, and one for things like resumes and cover letters. What I haven’t been good at is writing reviews, so I’m going to try to get to those at some point this week.

So I’m trying to cut back on sugar. Anyone who knows me know I LOVE sweet stuff, but my consumption of sugar contributes to this very small health issue I’m having. Cutting back hasn’t been easy; I still find myself putting sugar in my coffee, or helping myself to chocolate. It’s tough. How do you give up an addiction like that?

Coming up this week: my birthday tomorrow (I’m planning on going out to dinner with my parents), and then more work stuff the rest of the week. I’m currently nearly at the halfway point of Testament of Youth (see photo from my previous Sunday Salon post), which is probably one of my favorite reads so far this year. The way that Vera Brittain wrote about WWI and her reaction to it is just incredible.

How have you all been? Reading anything good?

Review: Cindie, by Jean Devanny

2011-09-21T18:53:00.001-04:00

Pages: 332
Original date of publication: 1949
My edition: 1986 (Virago Modern Classics)
Why I decided to read: I read it for All Virago/All August
How I acquired my copy: found it in a secondhand bookshop near work

Cindie tells the story of a young woman who goes to Queensland, Australia, to work for Randolph Biddow, who owns a sugar plantation, his wife, Blanche, and their two young children. Cindie thrives in her new environment, and she rises to become manager on the estate. Sharply in contrast to her is Blanche, who complains ceaselessly about her new life and feels bitter and jealous towards her former maid.

It’s a beautiful story, made even more vivid by the lush way in which Jean Devanny describes North Queensland and the people who inhabit it. She highlights beautifully the differences between whites, Aborigines, and Kanakas, set against a real historical event: the creation of the Commonwealth Bill in the 1890s, under which Australia’s Constitution was made legal by Queen Victoria. There’s a distinct difference between the whites and the natives, and it’s interesting to see how such a major turning point in Australia’s history influenced them. I loved Jean Devanny’s description of the place in which the novel is set; I do love it when a place becomes a character on its own.

But the star of the show is, of course, Cindie, who proves herself to be a likeable character, despite the fact that she can seem distant sometimes. She’s hard-working and industrious, and doesn’t take the way she’s treated by Blanche lying down. She’s not afraid to say what’s on her mind; nor is she afraid to assert her independence by not marrying. In direct contrast to Cindie, of course, is her employer Blanche, who dislikes Cindie once she begins to take on more responsibility around the plantation. She’s suspicious and distrustful of how much trust Randolph places in Cindie, but sometimes I think Blanche goes overboard in her behavior. Despite my problems with Blanche’s character, I really enjoyed this novel.

The Sunday Salon

2011-09-18T12:13:00.005-04:00

Happy Sunday! So much has gone on around here in the past few weeks that I don’t even know where to start! Last Sunday my sister and I came back from a 10-days vacation to London and York where we saw positively everything! We got there on Friday the 2nd, late at night, and on Saturday, we went to the British Museum, which has to be my favorite London museum. They’ve got an exhibition on right now on medieval relics and reliquaries that had me drooling—reliquaries and manuscripts and other devotional objects, one of which was the MS of Matthew Paris’s Chronica Majora! Stunning. Then we went to the Persephone shop, where I picked up a copy of Reuben Sachs. In the afternoon we went to Regent Street and Piccadilly. Went to the enormous Waterstone's there, where I went to the fiction section while my sister went to look at the art books. She came back 15 minutes later to find me with an enormous stack of books in hand! They just don't make books in the US like they do in the UK.

On Sunday the 4th we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Harrod’s, and then some shopping in the Kings Road. I picked up a beautiful, albeit expensive, jacquard skirt at Jigsaw, which is now one of my favorite clothing stores!

On Monday my sister and I took the train to York, where we did York Minster in the afternoon and explored some of the shops in Stonegate.

On Tuesday we went to several of the many museums in York, including the York Art Gallery (very random collection, but interesting), the Yorkshire Museum and Museum Gardens, and then we had tea at Betty’s, which does in fact make you feel as though you’re sitting in a fishbowl! But the tea and fruit scones were delicious. Walked on the old Roman walls, and then back up through Micklegate back into the center of town.

On Wednesday we went to Jorvik Viking Center… then we climed to the top of Clifford’s Tower and went to the York Castle Museum, which was also a bit random in its collection but fun, and then Fairfax House, which is an 18th century house which had a display on on post-Revolutionary fashion. Did some more shopping. York is a neat little tow, and I think we could have done it in just two days instead of the three we gave it.

On Thursday my sister and I took to the train back down to London, where we split up for a while—she did a ton of walking while I went to the Persephone shop for the teatime book group discussion of Reuben Sachs. It’s a group that meets once a month to discuss the books in number order, and they all kind of knew each other. So I was a little bit startled when Nicola asked me to cut the cake! But the discussion was fun and interesting, and I definitely think I’d go again if I ever had the chance. I also got a great deal of book shopping in: I found a lode of VMCs in a secondhand shop called Skoob Books, not too far from the Persephone shop.

On Friday we did a ton of walking: we went to Buckingham Palace (where THE famous wedding dress is on display until the beginning of next month); then we walked down past Westminster, over Westminster Bridge, and along the South Bank, where of course I had to stop at the South Bank Book Market. We stopped for lunch, and then on to the new Globe Theatre to see Much Ado About Nothing, which was FABULOUS. Then we walked back across to St. Paul’s and took the tube to the National Gallery, where we saw an exhibition on medieval altarpieces, had dinner in the café in the crypt at St. Martin’s in the Fields, and went to the National portrait Gallery. Whew!

On Saturday we went to Portobello Road, which was A LOT crowded than I thought it would be; I mean, by the time we left at 11, people were STREAMING in! I’m glad we got there early. Large crowds send my sensory integration issues into overdrive, so it was a bit stressful. In the afternoon we did some more shopping, including another trip back to Piccadilly, where I went to Hatchard’s—quite possibly one of my favorite London bookshops, I can never leave there emptyhanded!

And then we left on Sunday… sadly… but it was a fantastic trip! I went a little bit overboard on the book shopping; grand total was 34 books! Pictures TK…

This week I was thrown back in at work, and I’ve also been catching up on schoolwork, so I’ve been quite busy. This weekend I’m still unpacking, logging my books, and uploading pictures from the trip—my sister has already posted hers on Facebook, so here’s one of me at the South Bank Book Market on Friday. FYI, I had no idea I'm such a hunchback! I also did laundry, worked out, and wrote six pages of a ten-page paper I have to write for school—so weird that I’m technically back in school again, even though the class is online!

How have you all been?

Review: Mad Puppetstown, by Molly Keane

2011-09-15T08:54:00.000-04:00

Pages: 304
Original date of publication: 1931
My edition: 1990 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: Read it for All Virago/All August
How I acquired my copy: Ebay, Augst 2010

Mad Puppetstown contains all the hallmarks of a Molly Keane novel; a large, rambling estate in Ireland; a slightly dysfunctional family; and, of course, house-parties in which hunting is featured. Easter, Evelyn (male, so I’m assuming it’s pronounced like Evelyn Waugh), and Basil are cousins who grow up together at Puppetstown. The novel opens in 1908 and takes the cousins through the Great War and, more importantly, the Easter Rising, during which the cousins must flee to England. They harbor hopes, however, that they will return to Puppetstown and restore it to its former glory.

The novel starts off slowly, idyllically; this is the point in the novel at which the reader is supposed to feel the magic of Puppetstown and why the cousins are so attached to it. After all, it’s where Easter, Evelyn and Basil grew up, if only for a short time. In this way, the estate itself becomes a character in the book. Molly Keane does this often in her books, and she does it very well; inanimate objects and houses take on lives of their own.

Molly Keane is also skilled at character development. The novel opens in 1908 or thereabouts, when the cousins are young children; it closes about ten years later, when the cousins have entered into society. Easter is the focal point of the group, and Keane captures her growth through adolescence marvelously—right down to her frustrated unrequited love for her cousin. It’s very poignant and true-to-life; what young girl hasn’t experienced something like that? There are a couple of overly-described hunting scenes that kind of lost me for a while, but all in all, this is another really strong novel from a favorite author.

Review: Myself When Young, by Daphne Du Maurier

2011-09-11T08:16:00.000-04:00

Pages: 176
Original date of publication: 1973
My edition: Virago (2004)
Why I decided to read: I’m a huge fan of anything by Daphne Du Maurier
How I acquired my copy: Awesomebooks website, February 2011

I feel as though I can never go wrong with Daphne Du Maurier’s books. Fiction, nonfiction, I haven’t run into a bad one yet. Myself When Young is a memoir based on the diaries that Du Maurier kept from 1920-1932, or from ages 13 to 25, when her first novel The Loving Spirit, was published. It’s a short book, but covers a lot of ground, from her early years living in the shadow of her father Gerald Du Maurier, her schooling in Paris, and her early years as a writer.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was how Daphne talked about the inspiration for some of her writing—specifically Rebecca, The Loving Spirit, and some of her earliest short stories. I also liked seeing how certain places (Menabily especially, which was in the inspiration for Manderley in Rebecca and became the setting of The King’s General) helped inspire and inform Daphne’s novels. I also enjoyed seeing how her family’s history played a role in some of her books. I also didn’t know how much of a role Peter Pan played in Daphne’s earlier years; I knew about her relationship with the Llewellyn-Davies boys, but I didn’t know how pervasive the book was as Daphne grew up.

This book was written in the seventies, when Daphne was in her sixties, so there’s a very nostalgic quality to this memoir. All authors write about what they know, and Daphne was no exception. But she wrote about what she knew very well, even eloquently. There are some beautiful passages in this book about growing up. Daphne draws heavily from her diaries, sometimes even quoting from them. But through those diary excerpts, you can see the germination of a truly great writer.

Review: Mary Oliver, by May Sinclair

2011-09-07T17:08:00.001-04:00

Pages: 380
Original date of publications: 1919
My edition: 1980 (Dial)
Why I decided to read: read it for All Virago/All August
How I acquired my copy: the Philadelphia Book Trader, February 2011

Man, how I wanted to like this book! The only other May Sinclair novel I’ve read is The Three Sisters, which I loved, so I expected to love this book just as much. I found Mary Olivier to be a tough slog, the kind of book where I was putting it down to read something else.

Mary Olivier is the youngest child and only girl in a large Victorian family. She grows up in the shadow of her brothers, father, and overbearing mother. The story follows Mary’s point of view from early childhood in the 1860s up through middle age in the first decade of the twentieth century. The story is told from the sensibility of the child, but the author’s handling of this style of writing is clunky. A skilled author can tell a story from the point of view of a child and tell us exactly what happened, even though the child might not understand it. The way that May Sinclair wrote this story, she left the reader in the dark in many places.

The story improves a little bit when Mary reaches adolescence, but not by much. Mary is a dreamy, romantic teenager and has a fondness for poetry. She seems to drift through the rest of her life, allowing things to happen to her rather than take charge of her own life. She also allows her mother to bully her, and she never stand up for herself. This was what made Mary so unappealing as a character, and why I had difficulty continuing with the novel past page 200. It’s a bleak novel, and it has some very profound things to say about a woman’s plight in 19th century England, but May Sinclair didn’t handle the writing of the story well.

Review: Lady of the English, by Elizabeth Chadwick

2011-09-03T16:02:00.000-04:00

Pages: 511
Original date of publication: 2011
My edition: 2011 (Sourcebooks)
Why I decided to read: I’m a huge Elizabeth Chadwick fan
How I acquired my copy: review copy from publisher, June 2011

Lady of the English tells the story of Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I. Although Henry made his barons promise to uphold Matilda’s claim to the English throne, his barons aren’t ready for a female ruler. The novel follows Matilda’s struggle to uphold her claim, pitting her against her father’s cousin, Stephen. The story is told alternately between Matilda’s point of view and that of her stepmother, Adeliza, from 1125 to 1149.

With the civil war between Matilda and Stephen, I always got the impression that Stephen was the kind of guy you’d invite over for dinner, and Matilda was more ice queen. It’s true that Matilda has been portrayed in historical chronicles as somewhat of a virago, so I was interested to see how Elizabeth Chadwick would vindicate her. I liked how she handled her character; Matilda is headstrong and doesn’t suffer fools gladly, although she was unable to take advice from those around her. In her author’s note at the end of the book, Chadwick poses an interesting theory that Matilda suffered from strong pre-menstrual tension, which might have accounted for some of her shark behavior. Matilda never became a crowned queen herself, but she was the mother of a future King, Henry II, who appears as a young boy in this novel.

On the other hand, there is Adeliza, the widow of Henry I and Matilda’s stepmother. When Henry dies, Adeliza retires to a nunnery; but she quickly forms an attachment to Willaim d’Albini, a character who’s a William-Mash type. Adeliza, however, is a weaker character than Matilda is, and I was less interested in her story. But I love how Elizabeth Chadwick manages to interweave historical details into her fiction. I always know I’m going to get a well-researched, entertaining story, as I did with this novel.

Review: All Passion Spent, by Vita Sackville-West

2011-08-31T16:51:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-28T16:32:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-25T17:07:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-25T15:52:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-22T11:32:00.001-04:00

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

2011-08-18T11:14:00.001-04:00

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

2011-08-16T06:02:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-15T10:48:00.001-04:00

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

2011-08-14T15:31:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-12T16:07:00.001-04:00

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

2011-08-11T18:16:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-10T15:24:00.004-04:00

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

2011-08-08T16:08:00.000-04:00

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

2011-08-07T18:48:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-05T15:38:00.004-04:00

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

2011-08-02T15:16:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-01T11:01:00.002-04:00

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.

The Sunday Salon

2011-07-31T15:44:00.005-04:00

August is nearly here and therefore the end of summer! Where does time go? July was a slow reading month for me; I only finished five books: Before Versailles, by Karleen Koen; a re-read of Anne of Green Gables, by LM Montgomery; Pearl Buck in China, by Hilary Spurling; I’m Not Complaining, by Ruth Adam; and Lady of the English, by Elizabeth Chadwick. All of these were mostly or very enjoyable, so it was a successful moth in terms of finding things to read that I liked or loved. It’s been years and years since I read Anne of Green Gables last, so it was great to get back into a book I loved when I was younger.

I’ve been looking forward to August for a while now; a bunch of people in the Virago Modern Classics group on LibraryThing is doing All Virago/ All August. I did it last year and in the process discovered F Tennyson Jesse’s novels, as well as I Capture the Castle (a highlight of 2010), Winifred Holtby, Vita Sackville-West, and Kate O’Brien, so I’m looking forward to participating this year. I don’t think I’ll be able to read all Viragos this upcoming month, but I have a number to choose from. First on the list is the Land of Spices, by Kate O’Brien, which has been lying on my shelves unread for over a year. I’m kind of cheating because I started reading it this morning! Expect to see a review of a VMC tomorrow to kick off the month.

What are you looking forward to in August?

Teaser Tuesdays

2011-07-26T17:46:00.002-04:00

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!

“In the morning, Will bore his new son to Arundel’s chapel and had him baptized and christened Godfrey, for Adeliza’s father. Her kinswoman Melisande and her husband Robert stood ad godparents.”

--From Lady of the English, by Elizabeth Chadwick

Review: Cassandra at the Wedding, by Dorothy Baker

2011-07-20T06:15:00.000-04:00

Pages: 241
Original date of publication: 1962
My edition: 2004 (NYRB Classics)
Why I decided to read: found it through the VMC list
How I acquired my copy: Barnes and Noble, April 2011

Cassandra Edwards is a French literature graduate student at Berkeley, who returns to her childhood home for her twin sister’s wedding. She loves her sister Judth fiercely, and although she’s never met her fiancée, Cassandra is determined to stop the wedding from happening.

This is a very difficult novel to explain, because although short, and taking place over the course of a couple of days, there’s a lot going on. Cassandra is one of the oddest people I’ve run into in literature in a long time; although the book is told mostly in the first person from her point of view, I’ve never seen a character who is less self-aware. There are also a number of contradictions to Cassandra’s personality, which makes her an intriguing character. For example, if she loves her sister so much, then why is she hell-bent on ruining her happiness? Judging from what happens on the day of the wedding, it’s clear that Cassandra is an incredibly selfish person too, which should make it easy for the reader to dislike her; instead, I get a feeling of pathos when I read Cassandra’s side of the story. The novel is also told from the point of view of Judith, who is a far less interesting character, but she has a number of insights into Cassandra’s character that we wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. As I’ve said before, Cassandra is incredible unself-aware; it’s amazing how the author can tell us things about Cassandra that she isn’t aware of herself. I won’t get into details for fear of spoiling things, but there’s a major bombshell about Cassandra that’s revealed towards the end that I thought was really well done (although this book was written in the ‘60s, so it’s not explicitly said).

The family itself is also very interesting—besides Judith there’s their father, a perpetually drunk philosophy professor; the grandmother; and Judith’s fiancée, the ideal Jack Finch. Also present, but not physically, is the twins’ mother, who has died a couple of years before this novel takes place. If you’re expecting lots of plot, there isn’t much, so part of the strength of this book lies in the characters and how dysfunctional they all seem sometimes.

Teaser Tuesdays

2011-07-19T06:09:00.001-04:00

Review: There Were No Windows, by Norah Hoult

2011-07-18T13:53:00.000-04:00

Pages: 341
Original date of publication: 1944My edition: 2005 (Persephone)
Why I decided to read: heard about this through Persephone’s catalogue
How I acquired my copy: Persephone subscription, October 2010

“She was all alone now in the darkness, now that to please Mr Mills she had left her torch turned off. There were no windows. Everyone was shut in upon themselves.” (p. 245).

There Were No Windows is the story of Claire Temple, an eighty-plus woman who has lost her memory. At one point in her life she was a well-known author with numerous love affairs; but now she lives alone, with only her servants to care for her. Set in London at the height of WWII, this novel chronicles the downfall of a woman who attempted, in her life, to be an individual, when the reader discovers that in the end, all of that doesn’t matter—because we all end up in some form or another like Claire (scary thought).

It’s a brilliant book, albeit with a difficult subject. How does an author get into the mindset of an elderly woman who is losing her memory? Norah Hoult does it in a real, believable way. There’s a certain irony to Claire’s story, how at one time she was a celebrated author in her own right, making her own decisions about her life and living more freely than her Victorian contemporaries; but that in the end, shocked by her behavior, her family have given up on her and all she has left are a couple of servants who don’t care for her and talk about her nastily behind her back.

Watching Claire Temple’s descent is fascinating: she’s frustrating because she constantly repeats herself and makes up stories (probably because she doesn’t remember what really happened, so her mind fills in the gaps), and says mean things without thinking; but you really feel sorry for her—she even forgets that there’s a major war going on, literally right outside her windows. Her recollections of the past are therefore unreliable; is she lying about whether she was really married to Wallace Temple? (is Claire’s last name therefore really Temple?)

Norah Hoult based this novel closely on the life of Violet Hunt, who at the height of her career had salons at her home, which were attended by everyone from Rebecca West to DH Lawrence; it was rumored that as a young woman she was even proposed to by Oscar Wilde. It’s interesting to see the parallels between fact and fiction.

Review: Don't Look Now, by Daphne Du Maurier

2011-07-13T14:30:00.003-04:00

Pages: 346
Original date of publication: 1952-1980
My edition: 2008 (NYRB Classics)
Why I decided to read: it’s on the list of NYRB Classics
How I acquired my copy: Borders, April 2011

Don’t Look Now is a collection of nine short stories that Daphne Du Maurier published between 1952 and 1980. Daphne Du Maurier’s writing runs the gamut from straight historical to suspense/thriller, so I was intrigued to see what her stories would be like.

These stories cover much of Du Maurier’s career, and they’re all stunning. She takes what are seemingly ordinary people and subjects and turns the story into something far more sinister. From the arresting opening story, in which a couple are grieving the loss of their child and take a holiday to Venice, to a story in which England’s birds attack the human population, to a story in which a woman has eye surgery and wakes to view the inner beast in humans, these stories are amazing and contain a lot of significance, even though some of them are a couple of pages long. Any one of these stories could have been made into an Alfred Hitchcock film; and I’d swear that M. Night Shyamalan used “Split Second” as inspiration for The Sixth Sense. The collection itself is great because all of these stories connect in some way to the others. My personal favorite story in this collection is the titular “Don’t Look Now”—Daphne Du Maurier at her best. This is a collection not to be missed if you’re a fan of the author like I am, or like short stories.

Teaser Tuesdays

2011-07-12T06:04:00.000-04:00

Review: Saraband, by Eliot Bliss

2011-07-11T11:01:00.001-04:00

Pages: 316
Original date of publication: 1931
My edition: 1987 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: found this while browsing the shelves at the Philadelphia Book Trader
How I acquired my copy: The Philly Book Trader, March 2011

Saraband is one of Virago Modern Classics’s lesser-known reprints, and therefore often overlooked. I didn’t even know about it until I accidentally stumbled across a copy in a local bookstore. I'm glad i did, because I thought that this novel was wonderful. The story of this book follows the childhood and young adulthood of Louie, an intensely imaginative young girl who lives with her grandmother in the years leading up to WWI. When her cousin Tim comes to stay, Louie imagines that she’ll hate him; but instead, they become very dear friends. Their friendship sustains them through Louie’s time at convent school and secretarial college.

At heart this is one of those coming-of-age stories; Eliot Bliss’s style is very similar to that of Antonia White, who wrote about many of the same subjects (convent school and all of that). Saraband focuses on descriptions of places and people, which can bog the plot down a bit. Everything we see while reading the novel is through the eyes of Louie, an observer rather than a player in the drama of her life.

Louie’s sensitive nature is completely at odds with the attitude exhibited at the secretarial school she attends, which is hell-bent on turning students out in the least amount of time. Even the death of another student causes little comment in the school; but it has a profound effect on Louie, who learns through the experience that it’s accidents like this that most upset one’s sense of well-being. I love that Eliot Bliss gets her point across in a poignant and subtle way. It’s a very slow-moving book, much like the “saraband” of the title, but well-written, sometimes lyrical in style. It’s hard to believe that the author was just my age, 28, when this book was published; and that she only wrote one other novel.

Review: The Daughter of Siena, by Marina Fiorato

2011-07-06T06:32:00.004-04:00

Pages: 387
Original date of publication: 2011
My edition: 2011 (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Why I decided to read: I enjoyed Marina Fiorato’s other books and thought I’d give this a go
How I acquired my copy: Amazon Vine, May 2011

Set amidst the danger and excitement of early 18th-century Siena, the plot of this novel centers on an event to which the Sienese look forward to eagerly: the Palio, a traditional horse race that takes place twice, in July and August. Pia of the Tolomei is descended from Cleopatra and the daughter of a wealthy patrician. He marries her to a member of a family from an opposing ward in the city, despite tradition. When her future husband is killed in the Julia Palio, Pia is married to his brother. Over the course of the next month or so, she develops a relationship with a horse rider, and the two of them work (in conjunction with Violante de’ Medici, who has governed the city for ten years) to fight a plot to take over Siena, led by the Nine—leaders from each section of Siena.

If it sounds clichéd, it definitely is. There’s nothing really fresh or original about the plot or the characters of this one. All of the good guys are really, really good, and all of the bad guys are really, really bad. There’s no nuance to any of them, with the exception of Violante, so she’s really the only character who really leapt off the page for me. Also, I found myself rolling my eyes at the clichéd phrases the author uses to describes her characters. Her two main protagonists are of course very good looking, and Pia has raven-black hair. The reader is also told over and over again that she’s intelligent, but we never get proof of this.

I thought the idea for the novel was interesting; to my knowledge, not many novels I’ve read focus on the history and culture of Siena, and so I was excited to read a novel that focuses on this beautiful city. But the author’s descriptions of the place in which her novel is set are so wooden that it really didn’t come to life for me. Also, the novel could have taken place at any time in history, for all the historical detail we get (we get the occasional mention of wigs and breeches, though). I really wanted to like this novel, but didn’t, sorry to say.

Review: Touch Not the Cat, by Mary Stewart

2011-07-02T11:13:00.001-04:00

Pages: 276
Original date of publication: 1976
My edition: 1976 (William Morrow and Company)
Why I decided to read: Mary Stewart is one of my favorite authors!
How I acquired my copy: from Susanna Kearsley, December 2009

Mary Stewart is one of my favorite authors, and Touch Not the Cat reminds me of why I love her novels so much: she infuses her novels with romance, suspense, and a hint of the supernatural. Her novels usually take place in an exotic location, so I was a bit surprised to learn that Touch Not the Cat is set in England. It’s a lot more mature than some of her other books.

Bryony Ashley grew up at Ashley Court, ancestral home of a family that dates back to Norman times. When her father is killed in a hit-and-run accident, she returns to England from her temporary home in Madeira. She has a “relationship” with a spirit who speaks to her in a kind of psychic way. I rolled my eyes at the opening line of the novel (“My lover came to me on the last night of April, with a message and a warning that sent me home to him”), thinking that the novel was going to go overboard on the psychic thing; but Mary Stewart makes her reader feel as though this psychic element is completely normal. I like how we don’t know for certain who this “friend” is, and are left guessing at his identity throughout the book.

No Mary Stewart novel would be complete without a mystery; part of the mystery lies in the supernatural aspect of the story, while another mystery lies in the truth behind Bryony’s father’s death, and the mysterious warning he left behind him. It’s very cleverly done and not at all expected. I’m glad I saved Touch Not the Cat for nearly last among Mary Stewart’s novels to read; in my opinion it’s one of her best.

Review: The Five Red Herrings, by Dorothy L. Sayers

2011-06-30T05:54:00.003-04:00

Pages: 354
Original date of publication: 1931
My edition: 2006 (Harper Torch)
Why I decided to read: I’m trying to read all of the Lord Peter mysteries in order of publication date

I enjoy Dorothy Sayers’s mysteries, I really do; but with the last couple that I’ve read, I just haven’t liked them quite as much as, say, Murder Must Advertise or The Nine Tailors (her two best, in my opinion, so reading them first was kind of like eating desert before dimmer).

The Five Red Herrings takes place in an artists’ community of Scotland, where Lord Peter is conveniently at hand to investigate the murder of an unpopular (of course) artist. All of the suspects in the case are artists; the key to this mystery is discovering who, since the culprit leads the detectives on the case on a wild goose chase half the time. I have to admit that I kind of got bored about halfway through; the mystery deals endlessly with timetables. Usually, I’m all about the small details that make up a really good murder; but the endless theorizing about who did what where and when got really, really tiring after a while.

Character development isn’t all that strong, either. In the last book, we met Harriet Vane, so I would have thought that she’d at least be mentioned—not so much in this book. Lord Peter Wimsey, however, is a shadow of his former self, and he fades into the background most of the time. And Bunter, his faithful sidekick, only gets a brief scene. To be honest, I just didn’t care all that much about the mystery or who committed the crime, so much so that I bailed on this book about 300 pages in.

Teaser Tuesdays

2011-06-28T15:33:00.002-04:00

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!

“The wind in the wires is like the tearing of soft silk under the blended drone of engine and propeller. Time and distance together slip smoothly pas the tips of my wings without sound, without return, as I peer downward over the night-shadowed hollows of the Rift Valley and wonder if Woody, the lost pilot, could be there, a small human pinpoint of hope and of hopelessness listening to the low, unconcerned song of the Avian—flying elsewhere.”

--From West With the Night, by Beryl Markham

Review: Flush: A Biography, by Virginia Woolf

2011-06-27T07:12:00.005-04:00

Pages: 118
Original date of publication: 1933
My edition: 2005 (Persephone)

Why I decided to read: Persephone catalogue
How I acquired my copy: Persephone subscription, March 2011

I have no idea how to categorize Flush: a Biography. Flush is a “biography” of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s devoted spaniel, which is fictional and imaginative, so it’s basically a cross-genre book. The novella covers Flush’s long lifespan and highlights major event in his life, starting with his arrival at the Wimpole Street house in 1842. We also get to see Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s life through Flush’s eyes, from her courtship with Robert Browning to their elopement to Italy and beyond.

I expected this novella (for it’s not really a biography in the traditional sense) to be more in the style of Virginia Woolf’s other novels, so I was a little bit apprehensive about Flush. But I was pleasantly surprised. Flush is an easy, enjoyable read, mostly because of the subject matter, but also because it’s an extremely playful and sometimes funny read. Virginia Woolf infuses Flush with warmth and life and makes him a likeable character. He is extremely snobbish and has a really defined sense of class and his own place in the world—a small-scale reflection of what’s going on in Victorian London. He can be a bit boorish at times, but he is still lovable. Woolf really gets you into Flush’s head without making the story or subject matter seem too twee. I especially liked the way Woolf dealt with the birth of the Brownings’ son, and how confused poor Flush was! Flush is one of Virginia Woolf’s lesser-known works, but it’s a very clever novel nonetheless.

This is Persephone no. 55. Endpaper below:

The Sunday Salon

2011-06-26T11:06:00.003-04:00

It recently occurred to me that I haven’t written one of these Sunday Salon posts in a while! I thought, therefore, that it might be a good idea to organize my reading and do some sort of mid-year roundup. So far this year, I’ve read much less than I did last year or in 2009; right now I’ve finished reading 52 books, with Deanna Raybourn’s The Dark Enquiry currently in progress (a nice bit of escapist summer reading).

This year I’ve been reading more nonfiction; 11 books this year. I’m still going strong with reading Virago Modern Classics and Persephones; 26 and 7 books, respectively. I’ve had the good luck of enjoying most of the books I’ve read this year; the best read so far is F Tennyson Jesse’s A Pin to See the Peepshow, sadly out of print but a really interesting fictional take on a famous 1920s murder trial. F Tennyson Jesse was a crime journalist, and this novel reads like sensationalist fiction sometimes, but I absolutely loved it. Review TC. Other good reads for the first half of the year were a re-read of Jane Eyre, Diary of a Provincial Lady (why haven’t I read this book before now?) by EM Delafield, Few Eggs and No Oranges, by Vere Hodgson, Anderby Wold, by Winifred Holtby, and The Three Sister, by May Sinclair.

I’m trying, surprisingly successfully, to cut down on the number of books I acquire. When I moved in to my new apartment in January, I culled a number of unwanted books from my collection; but space is still limited around here. In Mary, April, and May I really went overboard on book buying, so I’m pleased to say that I only acquired four books in June—and two of them were review copies. Speaking of which, by the way, I’m not accepting quite as many any more—not because I’m being more discriminating but because I simply don’t have much interest in modern fiction any more, especially since I’ve been going back to the classics.

It occurred to me that I think anyone looking at my library on LibraryThing would think I’m absolutely nuts! I have almost a mania for organizing my books on there through tags. It’s especially important for organizing my to be read list—books I own, books I’m interested in and might check out later. It sounds weird, but I also keep an excel spreadsheet on my computer of the books I own—just so that I can remember when and where I got the book, and how I heard about it in the first place. I’ve probably talked about this before, but I go a little overboard when organizing my books electronically—not so much the physical books! How do you organize your books?

Review: The Virago Book of Women Travellers, ed. by Mary Morris

2011-06-22T06:20:00.007-04:00

Pages: 438
Original date of publication: 1993
My edition: 1999 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: heard about it through LibraryThing
How I acquired my copy: Awesomebooks, February 2011

The Virago Book of Women Travellers is a collection of excerpts of writing from women traveler, from the seventeenth century through the twentieth. Many, many authors are represented here, from Flora Tristan (who I learned was the grandmother of Paul Gaugin) to Isabella Bird to Beryl Markham, and includes a number of authors who I knew through their fiction but wrote about their travels as well: Vita Sackville-West or Edith Wharton, for example, or Kate O’Brien, who had a lifelong love for Spain that you see in her novels, but experience her love for the country firsthand through her travel writing.

These women represent a number of nationalities, traveled pretty much everywhere, and experienced pretty much everything. Especially prior to the twentieth century, women (particularly single women) used travel as a means of escaping the confined lives they led. It’s interesting to note, from the author lifespans that are given above each excerpt, how long many of these women travelers lived; many lived well into their nineties and spent a good chunk of their lives exploring and having adventures. Even Isabelle Eberhardt, who died penniless at the age of 28 in a flash flood, led a remarkable life. Each and every one of them was or is truly unique and remarkable.

Some of the stories they tell are priceless, too, and very enjoyable. Each of these women had a distinct point of view, which comes across through each of the excerpts chosen for inclusion in this collection. My favorite was probably the one from Emily Hahn, whose excerpt from Times and Places begins,

Though I had always wanted to be an opium addict, I can’t claim that as the reason I went to China. The opium ambition dates back to that obscure period of childhood when I wanted to be a lot of other things, too—the greatest expert on ghosts, the world’s best ice skater, the champion lion tamer, you know the kind of thing. But by the time I went to China I was grown up, and all those dreams were forgotten.

If that’s truly the first line of this work, then that’s truly a great, eye-catching first line!

I do wish that the editor of this collection had included dates of publication for the excerpts; I think it might have given more a context for the work and writer. A writer I wish had been included was Emily Eden, who wrote extensively about her travels in colonial India in the 19th century. But in all, I think this is very strong collection of writing, great for dipping into here and there as the mood strikes.

Teaser Tuesdays

2011-06-21T17:41:00.002-04:00

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!

“Surely marriage, love, whatever you liked to call it, was the greatest experience of life? How could it leave Marian as calm, cool, and amused as before?”

--From A Pin to See the Peepshow, by F Tennyson Jesse

Review: Troy Chimneys, by Margaret Kennedy

2011-06-18T05:53:00.003-04:00

Pages: 245
Original date of publication: 1952
My edition: 1985 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: LT recommendation
How I acquired my copy: the Philadelphia Book Trader, October 2010

Margaret Kennedy’s 1953 novel tells the history of Miles Lufton, a self-made MP from a large family and the owner of Troy Chimneys, an estate in Wiltshire. Although the house’s name is the title of the novel, the focus is on Miles and his rise to prominence in the early 19th century. The book follows Miles’s political career less than it does his personal life, told in a series of letters and “memoir” entries, paired with letters from Miles’s Victorian descendants, who are rather horrified at his behavior.

Margaret Kennedy’s novel has a very Jane Austen feeling to it, since she focuses mostly on what goes on the drawing room, so to speak; there’s this lovely, idyllic, and pastoral quality to Troy Chimneys that you just don’t find in the world of politics that Miles moves in. Miles buys the house as a means of security against the day when he retires from politics; yet the great irony of the situation is that he does before he has a chance to enjoy it.

Our hero has two different personae in this novel: Miles, the upright, correct politician; and Pronto, a gambling, flirt who lives on the wild side, so to speak. They are constantly at odds with one another, as you might imagine. At first, while I was reading this, I was confused by these two sides to Miles’s character, but the more I read, the more I began to see what Pronto represented in Miles’s life; Pronto is the side of Miles that gets to do all the things that Miles dreams of but can’t bring himself to do or be.

Review: The Three Miss Kings, by Ada Cambridge

2011-06-16T06:33:00.000-04:00

Pages: 314
Original date of publication:1891
My edition: 1987 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: LibraryThing recommendation
How I acquired my copy: Awesomebooks, February 2011

The Three Miss Kings of the title are Elizabeth, Patty and Eleanor, three young women from provincial Victoria, Australia. After their parents die, the three sisters move to Melbourne, chaperoned by one of society’s matrons, who, having no children of her own, adopts the girls as her own. While in Melbourne, the sisters become acquainted with Paul Brion, a newspaperman towards whom Patty instantly develops antagonism. The novel follows the girls through a year in their lives as they deal with the ins and outs of Melbourne society—developing, as they do so, romantic interests.

It’s a novel based on the classic Victorian sensationalist format; these books invariably have a case of hidden identity, a thorny legal problem, and a “will they or won’t they get together?” romantic storyline. This novel has all three of them, including a family mystery. Ada Cambridge’s style is less refined than, say, Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s, but she’s a good storyteller, and even though I thought I knew in the back of my mind what was going to happen, I was still a bit surprised. Still, there was a bit of predictablility to the plot; anyone can see from a mile away that Paul and Patty will end up together. Also, everything is wrapped up nice and neatly at the end; almost too nicely and neatly. The ending is typically Victorian, too; not many women today would make the exact same choices that the King sisters do (or they would make them for different reasons).

Cambridge is skilled at drawing characters; there’s a strong delineation between the three sisters, although poor Eleanor gets short-changed in favor of her more interesting sisters. Amonst the love interests, I thought Kingscote Yelverton was a bit of a bore. Paul Brion is the real hero of the story, and his relationship with Patty is the most interesting of the three romances in this book. Another favorite character of mine was Mrs. Duff-Scott, the society matron who adopts the King sisters, a true mother even if she has no children of her own to lavish affection on. The novel was interesting to me also as an example of Australian literature, and how Melbourne society tried to hard to emulate European ideals and interests; sometimes while reading the book, I forgot that it was set in Australia! This is an enjoyable novel, but rather quaint.

Teaser Tuesdays

2011-06-14T05:45:00.001-04:00

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!

“I kept thinking of her all the time. There was nothing else, only her face in front of me as I walked.”

--From Don’t Look Now: Stories by Daphne Du Maurier (“Kiss Me Again, Stranger”)

Review: The Perfect Summer, by Juliet Nicolson

2011-06-08T06:09:00.002-04:00

Pages: 290
Original date of publication: 2006
My edition: 2006 (Grove Press)
Why I decided to read: Amazon recommendation
How I acquired my copy: borders, July 2010

The Perfect Summer chronicles the summer of 1911—one of the hottest summers of the 20th century in England. The coronation of George V took place in June 1911, and the summer was characterized by multiple strikes. It was one of the last few summers before WWI, one of the last summers of the Edwardian period, and a summer in which everything seemed idyllic.

The book is arranged chronologically, from May to September 1911, and tells the story from the point of view of many different people—from queens to choirboys. Because of this method of organizing the book, it sometimes seems a little disorganized; there’s no central theme to any of the chapters (which are divided into the months of summer) and as a result they seem a bit unfocused. The book covers a lot of ground, too, from political events to social goings-on and beyond. I did like how Nicolson focused on the stories of various movers and shakers of the summer, among them May of Teck, Virginia Stephen and Leonard Woolf, Winston Churchill, and the bestselling novelist Elinor Glyn.

The content itself is interesting, and I learned a lot about the social niceties of the period, but there didn’t seem to be a theory or theme to this book. Because the author has a personal attachment to the story (she’s the granddaughter of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson), she manages somehow to insert her ancestors’ names and ancestral home repeatedly into her narrative (despite the fact that Vita Sackville-West was only a teenager in the summer of 1911), so that was a bit jarring for me. I thought the idea behind the book was interesting, especially since it’s been exactly a hundred years since the events in the book took place. I just wish the author’s execution of it had been better!

Teaser Tuesdays

2011-06-07T18:00:00.002-04:00

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!

“’It’s such a recreation to be disobedient sometimes, isn’t it?’ Tim was saying, as if they were both being disobedient together, and he was taking some of the responsibility off her shoulders. Barty laughed.”

--From Saraband, by Eliot Bliss

Booking Through Thursday

2011-06-02T17:47:00.001-04:00

Do you read book reviews? Whose do you trust? Do they affect your reading habits? Your buying habits?

I frequently read book reviews—often if I’m reading something, I’ll stop and read reviews on Amazon or LibraryThing to see how other people feel about the book. I do read reviews of books before I read them, but not quite as often—I’m trying to limit my TBR list for the moment. I don’t go and buy the book right away, but I’ll let it stew on my TBR list for a while on LibraryThing before I take the plunge.

What I’ve found with reviews is that often it’s the three-star reviews that are the best—they talk about both the good and bad aspects of a book, instead of simply raving about it or having an ax to grind about it. I also pay close attention to reviews if the book I’m looking at isn’t quite so well-known or widely read.

Review: The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer

2011-06-02T15:28:00.000-04:00

Pages: 748
Original date of publication: 2010
My edition: 2011 (Vintage)
Why I decided to read: found this one while browsing in a bookstore
How I acquired my copy: 30th St. station bookstore, Philadelphia, May 2011

I totally picked this book up on a whim as I was waiting for a train in 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. I had about three other books in my suitcase (for an overnight trip!), but this was one of those books that sits on display right at the front of the store. And since I was in the mood for a big, long saga, this one seemed like it would be right up my alley.

There are two distinctive parts to this novel. The first part begins in 1937 when Andras Levi, a young, gauche Hungarian-Jewish man, comes to Paris to study architecture. He meets and falls in love with Klara, a woman nine years his senior. So far, so good. But with war on the horizon, things don’t remain calm for long, and Andras and Klara are forced to move back to Hungary. This novel covers a lot of ground, literally, from Paris to Budapest and the work camps of the Carpathians.

If you know anything about history, you know that things can’t turn out well for everyone, but you continue to read this book anyways. It’s a stunning panorama of WWII, as told from the point of view of a handful of normal, real people (based on the author’s family members’ experience). There are some heartbreaking, very real moments in the book, and I loved how the author described them.

There’s a point in the middle of the book where things get repetitive; Andras is drafted into the work camps, then returns home, then goes back to the work camps, etc. The author tends to skim over some of the more painful stories in the book (i.e., Klara’s past, which, despite the tragedy to it, I thought was remarkable). And in the second half of the book, Andras and Klara’s relationship fades into the background—as do their personalities. Be warned that this is an extremely intense book, but I literally couldn’t put it down—even though I usually find books on or set during WWII extremely depressing. You’d think that a novel on the holocaust might not be the best choice for this time of year (when I’m looking for beach reads), but I thought this book was excellent.

Review: The Diary of a Provincial Lady, by EM Delafield

2011-05-27T17:06:00.000-04:00

Pages: 529
Original date of publication: (1930-40)
My edition: 2003 (Virago)
Why I decided to read: through the VMC group on LT
How I acquired my copy: Awesomebooks, March 2011

My copy of Diary of a Provincial Lady consists of The Diary of a Provincial Lady and its three sequels: The Provincial Lady Goes Further, The Provincial Lady in America, and The Provincial Lady in Wartime. The Provincial Lady (hereafter the PL, since she’s unnamed in the book) is a housewife, mother, and writer, happily ensconced in her country home in Devon. We meet her patient, complacent husband Robert and her two children, Robin and Vicky, as they get older (Vicky is six in the first book, so she must be about sixteen in the last). The PL satirizes the society in which she lives, while patiently dealing with her family and career as a novelist.

The series is a combination of Bridget Jones’s Diary (surely Helen Fielding had the PL also in mind while writing her book?), Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, and Henrietta’s War; but the PL is unique unto herself, maintaining her self-effacing wit even as she goes on book tour to America and deals with the early years of WWII. I loved watching her deal with the demands of country life, and I enjoyed watching her children grow up. Because she was a lady of leisure, the PL had a lot of time for reading; and she mentions a lot of books (including a few favorite Persephone authors, as in:

Ella Wheelwright joins us. She now has on a black ensemble, and hair done in quite a new way--and we talk about books. I say that I have enjoyed nothing so much as Flush, but Miss Paterson again disconcerts me by muttering that to write a whole book about a dog is Simply Morbid.

Or:

...What, I enquire in order to gain time, does Mrs. Peacock like in the way of books?

In times such as these, she replies very apologetically indeed, she thinks a novel is practically the only thing. Not a detective novel, not a novel about politics, nor about the unemployed, nothing to do with sex, and above all not a novel about life under Nazi regime in Germany.

Inspiration immediately descends upon me and I tell her without hesitation to read a delightful novel called The Priory by Dorothy Whipple, which answers all requirements, and has a happy ending into the bargain.

What I also enjoyed about the Diary of a Provincial Lady books is that they’re so relevant to what was going on in the 1930s; mention is made of current events, and books and movies that had come out about that time. Highly recommended!

Teaser Tuesdays

2011-05-24T17:50:00.003-04:00

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!

“One day after work I found the Douse family all sitting round on the floor. In the centre of the group was Lizzie.”

--From The Virago Book of Women Travellers (excerpt from Emily Carr’s Klee Wyck)

Review: The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton

2011-05-23T15:37:00.001-04:00

Pages: 366
Original date of publication: 1920
My edition: 1992 (Collier)
Why I decided to read: the 1001 Books to Read Before you Die list
How I acquired my copy: the Philadelphia Book Trader, March 2011

“In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done of even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs…” (Ch. 6).

Newland Archer is a member of upper-crust, Gilded Age New York Society, about to marry May Welland, a naive heiress. He becomes attracted to May’s cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska, back in New York after disgracing herself. Part of her attraction for Newland is the fact that she is so free-spirited, and so a struggle ensues: will Newland choose the conventional path with May, or will he flaunt society’s expectations of him and choose the Countess?

Edith Wharton’s observations of Gilded Age New York are extremely incisive; although she was a part of the society she wrote about, she was nevertheless able to see the forest for the trees, so to speak. The society she writes about was limiting, in which everyone did more or less the same things over and over again, day after day; so it’s easy to see why Newland finds the Countess Olenska so fascinating. I think he’s not so much in love with her as he is with the lifestyle she represents. It’s also easy to see, conversely, how New York society sees her as a threat, too. The Age of Innocence was written in 1920, nearly fifty years after it’s set; and so the novel is not so much a polemic about an ongoing issue. But it’s a fascinating look into the way that things were; and, maybe, still are in upper-crust New York society. I love Edith Wharton’s prose style, too; it’s not sophisticated, but she gets her point across succinctly.

Review: The Mirage, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

2011-05-20T10:59:00.002-04:00

Pages: 500

Original date of publication: 1999

My edition: 2009 (Sphere)

Why I decided to read: I’m reading through the Morland Dynasty series

How I acquired my copy: Amazon UK, July 2010

#22: Covers 1870-1874

The Mirage continues the story of the Morland family, but it focuses on the next generation. Benedict Morland dies of a fever in Egypt, and his son, George, remains at Morland Place to carry on the family name. He marries Alfreda Turlingham, an older woman with skeletons in her closet and a profligate brother. George’s sister, Henrietta is rushed into a marriage with a much older man; and Charlotte’s daughter Venetia begins her quest to become a doctor, despite the fact that all of society is opposed to it.

This is another very strong installment to the series, although the history of the era takes a backseat to what’s going on within the family circle. There’s the usual quota of shady characters in this book (what Morland Dynasty book would be complete without one?), but I found Venetia’s story much more gripping. What’s wonderful about this series is how Cynthia Harrod-Eagles manages to interweave the history of the period with the stories of the family, creating compelling, interesting characters as she does so. Venetia is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters of the series, especially of this generation.

Review: The Curate's Wife, by EH Young

2011-05-16T15:45:00.000-04:00

Pages: 336

Original date of publication: 1934

My edition: 1985 (Virago)

Why I decided to read: it’s on the list of Virago Modern Classics

How I acquired my copy: the Philadelphia Book Trader, December 2010

EH Young is one of the authors I never would have heard about if it hadn’t been for Virago. Her novels are for the most part set in a town she calls Upper Radstowe, based upon Bristol. The heroine of this story is Dahlia, a young, nonconformist woman married to the curate of Upper Radsowe, Cecil Sproat. The pair have only known each other for eight months and been married for only three weeks, and so they are still getting to know one another. Dahlia comes from a rather checkered past; her mother Louisa is re-married to a man with whom she probably had an adulterous affair; and her sister Jenny (the main character of Jenny Wren, to which this book is a sequel) has run off with Louisa’s lodger. Then there are the Vicar, Mr. Doubleday, and his wife, whose marriage serves as a contrast to that of the Sproats.

This is a novel that centers on the theme of marriage; Dahlia is still coming to terms with what it means to be a wife, whereas Mrs. Doubleday, who has been married for thirty years and has a grown son, has become accustomed to it. Much more satisfactory is Louisa’s marriage to a local farmer, with whom she’s found perfect happiness. Louisa has found a way to be herself, whereas I think Dahlia conforms to what she thinks a curate’s wife should be like, and Mrs. Doubleday, because of the kind of domineering, selfish person she is, can’t find a way to be happy. Therefore, the only marriage with romance in it is Louisa’s. There is a constant, exhausting power struggle in the Doubleday and Sproat marriages that is absent in the Grimshaws’.

EH Young tends to focus her stories on character creation and development, and it’s interesting to watch Dahlia’s growth in the early months of her marriage. There’s little in the way of plot, in fact, not much happens, but the details of the ways that people behave when married are very good. I’m not married and therefore can’t sympathize with these characters in that way; but the novel is no less powerful for that.

Review: The Falcons of Montabard, by Elizabeth Chadwick

2011-05-11T13:54:00.002-04:00

Pages: 473

Original date of publication: 2003

My edition: 2008 (Sphere)

Why I decided to read: I needed a good comfort read

How I acquired my copy: Amazon UK, May 2009

After reading the harrowing Wish Her Safe at Home, I needed a book that was going to be comfort reading, and so I turned to a sure thing: Elizabeth Chadwick’s The Falcons of Montabard, a book that’s been sitting on my bookshelves for ages but was waiting for the right time to be read.

The story opens on November 25, 1120, the eve of the sinking of the White Ship. Sabin Fitzsimon is a young knight who, having seduced one of the mistresses of the king and murdered a man, is put into the service of Edmund Strongfist. Strongfist takes his entourage to the Holy Land, taking with him his daughter, Annais. Sabin is strongly sttracted to Annais, but he has promised his employer, and himself, that he’ll stay away from her. True to form, however, they keep being thrown together, and the result is almost predictable. But getting to that end result is the fun of the novel, for there are many twists and turns before Sabin and Annais can be united.

Whenever I read one of Elizabeth Chadwick’s novels, I always wonder, “how does she do that?” over and over again. The period details of her books are always exquisite, and she truly gets the reader to know her characters intimately. There is wonderful character development in this novel, too. I never get the sense that these are modern people dressed in 12^th century clothing, and I always wonder how Elizabeth Chadwick gets to know her period so well—maybe it’s an innate thing by this point? I wish that all authors of historical fiction could write like this!

Teaser Tuesdays

2011-05-10T07:05:00.003-04:00

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!

“Everyone knew where the officers’ mess hall was. It was the only place at Banhida from which the smell of real food issued.”

--From The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer

Review: In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson

2011-05-09T16:31:00.001-04:00

Pages: 434

Original date of publication: 2011

My edition: 2011 (Crown)

Why I decided to read: It was offered on Amazon Vine

How I acquired my copy: Amazon Vine, March 2011

I’ve read Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City twice, and also Thunderstruck; so when this book was offered on Amazon Vine, I jumped at the chance to read it. Devil in the White City and Thunderstruck are books that deal with crime; In the Garden of Beasts is a little bit different. In this one, Larson traces the story of the Nazis’ rise to power, from the point of view of an American diplomat and his daughter. William Dodd spent four years in Berlin, but this book focuses on the first year. In reality, the whole family went over to Berlin; but it’s the stories of William and Martha Dodd that are much more interesting.

Dodd was an odd choice for the role of Ambassador; a former college professor, he was more interested in American history and getting his book written than in foreign policy. He wasn’t even Roosevelt’s first choice for the job! But Dodd was a very quiet, unassuming man, and his humility is what makes him so likeable. On the other hand, you have Martha, who, apparently, was quite promiscuous; a good chunk of the book deals with her romances with various men—not to mention the fact that she had a husband at home! There’s a tone of disapproval when Larson talks about her affairs, especially since many of them were with various members of the Nazi party. I think Martha was simply looking for affection and attention anywhere she could get it; and when a woman (or man) sleeps around the way that Martha did, there’s usually a deep-seated reason for it. It would have been interesting if Larson had explored that subject more, including the relationship between Dodd and his daughter.

However, the main focus of the book is the Nazi rise to power, as seen through the eyes of someone who was actually there. Larson bit off a lot when tackling his subject matter, especially since it’s still so controversial, and he tells his story is great detail, which is impressive. I learned a lot about 1933 Berlin that I didn’t know. It’s an informative book, but I wasn’t quite as attached to the main players in the story as I might have been.

The Sunday Salon

2011-05-08T16:01:00.003-04:00

A good chunk of this weekend was spent visiting a good friend, who lives in Virginia. It was mostly good: we went to see a concert of a favorite band of ours, and then on Saturday we went to the Richmond Museum of Art to see the traveling Picasso exhibition, which was fantastic. The only thing that really married the weekend was the fact that my friend had to deal with a family emergency, necessitating him leaving at 2:30 am. But otherwise, I had a lot of fun.

I’m a little too exhausted, and lazy, to really do a Sunday Salon post, so I’m taking this meme from Simon:

1. The book I’m currently reading:

The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer. Set in 1930s Paris, this is the story of a young Jewish Hungarian man who comes to Paris to study architecture—and falls in love with an older woman. About halfway through right now, and it gets to WWII, the book promises to get much darker.

2. The last book I finished:

The Diary of a Provincial Lady, by EM Delafield. This is the Virago Omnibus edition, and I enjoyed it immensely. It’s a mix of Bridget Jones’s Diary, Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, and Henrietta’s War. The book had me laughing out loud in many, many places, and I loved how the Provincial Lady is a reader, too.

3. The next book I want to read:

I’ve got a bunch of Persephones on my to be read shelves that are begging to be read: how about There Were No Windows? Or Flush? Or The Mystery of Mrs. Blencarrow? Or Consequences (also an EM Delafield)? Or The Winds of Heaven?

4. The last book I bought:

The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer, bought at 30^th Street Station in Philadelphia right before I boarded the train to go down to Virginia on Friday.

5. The last book I was given:

Technically, The Winds of Heaven, which is a part of the Persephone subscription I received for Christmas from my mom.