A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

Pages: 207 Original date of publication: 1898 My edition: 1985 (Virago) Why I decided to read: AV/AA How I acquired my copy: September 2011, London I’ve had Elizabeth and Her German Garden on Mount TBR since last September, and it came to my attention recently while watching the second season of Downton Abbey , when two characters talk about the book briefly in passing. The novel is a kind of diary that our heroine keeps in order to record her thoughts about motherhood, marriage, life—and, of course, her garden, in which she spends most of her time in order to get away from the stresses of daily life. Her husband, the Man of Wrath, doesn’t understand it, but Elizabeth’s situation will probably resonate with a lot of fellow introverts—she likes having the space in order to recharge. Yes, there’s a fair amount in the book about gardening. But you don’t have to be a gardener necessarily in order to enjoy the book (in fact, in an early review, a reviewer was disappoin...

Pages: 405 Original date of publication: 2010 My edition: 2010 (Random House) Why I decided to read: it was offered as a part of the Amazon Vine program How I acquired my copy: Amazon Vine, November 2010 Clara and Mr. Tiffany tells the story of Clara Driscoll, the creative impetus behind the iconic Tiffany lamps. She was also the head of the women’s division at Tiffany Studios in the 1890s and 1900s, and had a close working relationship with Louis Comfort Tiffany himself. Clara Driscoll’s work made her more or less at the center of the Decorative Arts movement of the late 19 th century, although her work was never fully acknowledged in her lifetime (even today, we call them Tiffany Lamps, not Driscoll Lamps!). The story opens in 1893, when Clara, newly widowed, rejoins Tiffany Studios. The story follows her over the next fifteen years or so. The novel is the story of how Clara struggled to balance her love life with her work life (since married women were not perm...

Pages: 361 Original date of publication: 1922 My edition: 1993 (Virago) Why I decided to read: I participated in All Viragos All August How I acquired my copy: Ebay, May 2010 In The Enchanted April , three Englishwomen—strangers to one another—impulsively decide to rent a medieval house in Italy after seeing an ad in a newspaper addressed to “those who appreciate wistaria and sunshine.” There are Mrs. Wilkins, a housewife wanting a break from the rainy monotony of London; Mrs. Arbuthnot; Lady Caroline Dester, young and fickle; and Mrs. Fisher, older than the rest but also in need of a break. Elizabeth Von Arnim’s descriptions of Italy, and the castle’s gardens, are superb; you actually feel as though you’re in Italy with the women as they enjoy their holiday. But the women never seem to lave San Salvatore, and so the action of the novel seems a bit stagnant at times; I felt while reading this that the characters were running around in circles. You get lots of descri...

Pages: 724 Original date of publication: 2000 My edition: 2006 (Headline) Why I decided to read: came across this book browsing in a bookshop in 2000 How I acquired my copy: Waterstones, Piccadilly, London, September 2009 No Angel is the first in a trilogy about Lytton’s publishing house, especially Celia, a young girl who marries into the family in 1905 by getting herself pregnant. This particular book covers the Edwardian period up until the 1920s. It’s a great story, with some great characters, not the least of which is Celia herself. She’s not the most likeable character; indeed, sometimes I found myself wishing she wasn’t so headstrong, so spoiled, so determined to get what she wants no matter what. But you also have to admire a woman like Celia, despite her faults. The author’s descriptions of the publishing industry are very detailed, though I thought at times that she was describing the modern publishing industry rather than that of the 1920s. The plot...

It’s the early 1990s, and Ivor Tesham, Tory MP, is in the middle of an affair with Hebe Furnal, a glamorous housewife who shares his taste for S&M. When the car Ivor’s arranged to kidnap Hebe crashes and she dies, Ivor decides to hide his involvement in the affair from the police. Over the ten years or so, as Ivor’s fortunes rise and fall, he is terrified that things will come to light and his political career will be over. The story is told from two points of view: Ivor’s brother-in-law Robyn; and Hebe’s best friend Jane, a sad, pathetic, obsessive, and mostly deluded librarian (she’s a classic Vine character) who provides Hebe with an alibi while she’s out at her trysts with Ivor. Jane is easily the best character of the bunch; at once, you feel sorry for her and revulsion at the things she thinks and says. The real strength of the novel, however, lies in the psychological suspense, which kept me interested the whole way through. There are a couple of things that seemed anachroni...

The Toss of a Lemon opens up in India at the turn of the nineteenth century, when Sivakami, the youngest daughter of a Brahmin family, is ten. Married to Hanumarathnam, a healer, she learns that, upon the birth of a son, he will die two years after. Sivakami has two children: Thangam, the beloved “golden child,” whose life follows a more traditional path, and Vairum, who embraces the traditions of the west as he grows older. As the twentieth century progresses, the two children have families of their own, and Sivakami becomes a respected matriarch in their village. Attached to this family is their servant, Muchami, who comes to them at age 13 and becomes almost a part of the family—even though he is from a different caste. This book is very much about the power that family plays in each character’s life. The underlying theme of this book, however, is fate, and the title reflects this: lemons are seen as an innocuous instrument of a person's fate (I'm paraphrasing the author her...

Barbara Vine (also known as Ruth Rendell) is one of my favorite authors, at least in the area of suspense. I first read The House of Stairs many years ago and loved it, and upon re-reading this book, it hasn’t changed much for me. In fact, it may just be Vine’s best book. I’m very much intrigued by stories of people and their psychological relationships with one another, and I’m especially intrigued when there’s a bunch of deep, dark secrets that are involved. It also doesn't hurt if there's a big, old, mysterious house, too. Luckily for me, The House of Stairs contains all three. The mystery is an unusual one: the murderer is revealed before the crime unfolds. The main character, Elizabeth, goes to the House of Stairs, a boarding house, to live. There she meets Mark and Belle, two people who come to have a significant impact on her life. Barbara Vine is a master at this kind of suspense, weaving together memories of the narrator's past with that of the narrator's pre...

The Minotaur is the story of a family, the Cosways, as seen through the eyes of a young Swedish woman hired as a nurse, Kirsten (pronounced Shashtan) Kvist. She keeps a diary of the people she meets at Lydstep Old Hall, a house that remains locked in the Victorian period. The family consists of Mrs. Cosway, a cantankerous elderly woman who has nothing nice to say about anyone; Winnifred, set to marry the village rector; Ella, a teacher who is in love with an artist who lives in the village and befriends the narrator; Ida, whose place in the novel is is that of housekeeper and all-round do-gooder; Zorah, the only one of the Cosway sisters to ever get married; and John, their brother, who has autism but was incorrectly disnosed as schizophrenic. John is the most tragic character and really the only one that the reader will feel sympathy for--aside from Kisten, who is the most perceptive person living in Lydstep Old Hall. He is brilliant, but hopelessly misunderstood. He spends much of hi...

Luncheon of the Boating Party is a truly excellent book. Set in the Summer of 1880 in Paris and Chatou, the novel follows the story of the famous painting by Auguste Renoir, now in the Phillips Collection in DC. Egged on by an article written by Emile Zola, Renoir begins painting an idyllic scene on the balcony of the Maison Fournaise, of thirteen friends. The story is intriguing because it’s told from the point of view not just of Renoir, but the models in the painting. We’re introduced, for example, to Augustine Fournaise, daughter of the owner of the restaurant, and Gustave Caillebotte the artist. We also meet Aline Charigot, the seamstress who later married Renoir. The iconic painting represents a mingling of classes as they devote a Sunday to the pursuit of leisure. In all of this, Vreeland creates a beautiful novel that combines the realistic with the idealistic. We’re also introduced to the fascinating artistic process Renoir’s mind went through. It’s a well-written and researc...