A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore...

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 perfe...

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 candi...

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!

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?

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 s...

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 ...

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 Vic...