Rooms with Books

Anna Kavan "I am Lazarus" - Spoiler!

2011-01-06T13:50:00.011+01:00

The short story "The Brother" is another stunner. The narrator talks of being a sickly child, well taken care of by his mother while his brother is hardy and beautiful. He tells us that he has great regret about his treatment of his brother. He was always quarrelsome and hid behind his illnesses to be unkind to his brother and his friends. The brother was kind and always tried to bring a smile to the narrators face, though he was never rewarded with one.

The love the narrator got from his mother, he was entitled to because he needed to be taken care of, being sick often and unable to get around. "I was puny, weak, incapable of tying my own shoelaces without gasping for breath, my complexion was sallow, my hair stringy and dull, my manner lifeless or boorish and petulant (72)". He says he never really noticed the wear and tear his care was taking on his mother. He was entitled to this care, why should he worry how hard it was on his mother.

He gets a bought of flu and gives it to his brother, though he assures us that his brother was only mildly effected by the illness. As they are recouping in study, in the same room which hadn't happened for a long time, his brother initiates a conversation. "...(he was) begging my pardon if he had hurt me in some way, and asking if we could not make an effort to get on better together, if only for mother's sake (75)." The narrator says that he wanted to make amends, that he felt a "softening towards him (75)", but he was suddenly taken with a seizure. The mother wants to go get the medication he needs, they have none in the house, but the brother decides to go. The narrator encourages this plan of action and the brother goes in to the cold winter weather.

The brother gets pneumonia, his mother commands the narrator attend the death bed. The narrator feels she is uncharacteristically sharp with him.

The fearful sound of his breathing was so loud that it seemed to be inside
my head. I had the sensation of participating in the agony of a man being
tortured to death, and my shudders became so uncontrollable that I was
afraid of falling upon him. At last words came; clear, and yet not like
human speech at all, they came from so far away.
It's a pity.
It was like listening to a voice speaking across oceans and continents. And
after a long delay, very softly, so that none of the others heard, followed two more words.

For you. (76)

What does he mean? He pities the narrator, then the truth is revealed when his mother comes in later to see him in the study. He senses that he can no longer rely on her comfort so does not even look at her as she comes in.

The silence between us became intolerable and I stammered something intended
for consolation, saying that at least we still had each other.

Yes, you are all that is left now, she said in a low, grave tone, while
her eyes appeared to be studying me with the same unnatural and dispassionate
consideration that I had bestowed on the tablecloth.

And suddenly, as she stood there looking at me so quietly and steadfastly
in the quiet room...I realized everything, my own blindness, the horror.
It was not I but my brother whom my mother had loved all along. He was the
treasure of which I had robbed her for all these years and of which I had deprived her for ever.
As if she knew what was in my mind she remarked:
You were always stronger then he was, and now you have managed to get rid of him for good (78).

How chilling is that??? All along he thought that because of his frailness he had been able to keep all of the love of his mother. When she asked the brother not to try and make amends with him it wasn't to keep the narrator from getting upset but the opposite. When the narrator would make rude remarks to the brothers friends, she asked him not to bring them around not to appease the narrator, but not to embarrass the brother. He has skewed the whole situation his whole life.

Is this what we do? Do we really know how people feel about us, or do we just see what is convenient. I think the brother all along had been protecting the narrator from knowing the mother's true feelings, and that is why the pity. Now that the brother was dead the narrator was going to know that he wasn't the center of his mother's love and devotion. The theme of this book is how the mind works, and I think that his seizure is timed to keep him from making amends with his brother. His mind wouldn't let him make this move, the move that would have kept the family together. An excellent 15 minute read!

Kavan, Anna. I am Lazarus. London: Peter Owen, 1978.

iPhone helps again

2011-01-06T00:25:00.001+01:00

I'm lying in bed typing away on my phone. Might not be as quick, but if I write that is what is important!

So what am I reading? At the moment I've seperated my reading into daytime and nighttime. I'm reading Gunter Grass's "The Tin Drum" and "The Box" in spurts. "The Tin Drum" is so thought provoking I can only read a chapter a week almost. He writes so lyrical that even if the subject matter can strain, you flow along with it.

I'm also reading "I am Lazaris" by Anna Kavan. She is so good, but again challenging. All of these are work reads. I carry them with me and read when I can process what I'm reading. This book has short stories about the effects of mental health on everyone. Kavan suffered from depression and spent time in an Asylum. She writes so true of the feelings of the sufferers, but not a rose color view. She writes in one of a doctor, in charge of an Asylun of soldiers, who has his own agenda and tries to make all the patients fit his plan. When one patient can not conform he is brought in for a session where he is told to talk and confront what is in his head. The patients mind and body can't take the pain and anguish and he ends up dying on the couch. The doctor has no feelings, saying he thought that might happen and basically shrugs the death away. Her stories highlight how hard it is to be on both sides of the situation, but especially of the misunderstanding of those who have not experenced it. (Kavan was writing in the 1930s on).

Lastly my Mom bought me a Kindle, so I downloaded "A Tiny Bit Marvelous" by Dawn French and "Role Models" by John Waters. These are my bed bed time reading. After reading my last Dervla Murphy book and not sleeping thinking about the worlds problems, i decided I needed something a bit lighter before lights out.

So what are you reading during the day?

Where have I been?

2009-07-29T20:28:00.002+01:00

I was embarrassed by some comments to posts I made a long time ago. I'm sure I've not posted in a year...so it is time to either close the blog or get to writing...so I'm going to get to writing.

I've been reading more books by post-WWII English women writers. I've always like the era around the war both just before and just after (not so much during the war). Elizabeth Cadell and Mrs. Read where writers I've enjoyed in the past. I've written on here about Anna Kavan who I really like, though I need to get on with her next book. But the writer I want to talk about today is Muriel Spark.

I read "Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" a couple years ago. I loved it and decided to read more of Spark. I've read the first two "The Comforters" and "Robinson". The first is a bit awkward, though it was really a good read. I must admit I started it and then put it away for a few months and came back to it. "Robinson" was compelling though. A plane wreck leaves three survivors living with a loner who owns the island. The man disappears and the three survivors then start turning on each other believing that one of them is a murderer.

The book I'm reading at the moment is "Memento Mori". It is about a group of people who are interconnected, though from different classes, dealing with getting old. The main characters are in their 70s and 80s. Spark challenges you with not only how their minds are aging, but also with your misconception that the elderly didn't have a life before. You find out that many of them had affairs in their younger years and they have memories of lost loves. I'm finding it interesting and a bit disturbing. We will see how it goes, I'm about half way through at the moment.

I'm also reading Elizabeth Bowen's "Hotel". I've just started it so no real impressions yet, except that I'm enjoying reading it.

So what did I do on vacation?

2008-08-05T18:59:00.003+01:00

The stack on the right are the books that I read (ok two of them were ones that I wrote a review of only) and the stack on the left is the stack of books that I wanted to read. Only 2 of them I brought with me....the rest I bought on the trip...and truefully I think I bought more then that. Lots of great bookshops in the Peak District.

You may recognize the book "The Behaviour of Moths" by Poppy Adams. I met her at a book talk given by Wenlock Books. She was very interesting and personable. I'm about half way through now....and it is great. I've chosen it for our family book group and one of my sisters sped through it and loved it. I'll have to write a review soon.

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

2008-07-08T16:14:00.001+01:00

Another book I finished ages ago, but haven’t had the time to write about. I decided that since I’m on vacation I was going to do my best to catch up a bit!

Gaskell is one of those people I’ve wanted to read, but had been put off because I’ve been told her work can be very difficult to get through. Most of her books are about the hardness of life in the 1800’s and can be quite dense reading. However, when the BBC made this into a TV drama I thought I would give it a try. I didn’t get a chance to watch the programs, but I feel that I would have missed out a lot of I hadn’t read this book. It is FANTASTIC.....how can it not be when it starts out:

In the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons; all the holders of houses, above a certain rent, are women. If a married couple come to settle in the town, somehow the gentleman disappears; he is either fairly frightened to death by being the only man in the Cranford evening parties, or he is accounted for by being with his regiment, his ship, or closely engaged in business all the week in the great neighbouring commercial town of Drumble, distant only twenty miles on a railroad. In short, whatever does become of the gentlemen, they are not at Cranford. (1)

Now, as a woman, how can you not find that intriguing! Especially when you have been told how little control women had back in that time? It is written from the standpoint of a young lady who visits. I think this was an interesting thing to do, get bored...go stay with someone for a few months. Back when you couldn’t easily go visit for a day, this seems to be the way to do things. She stays with several ladies during the time frame of the book and shows us life in several different living conditions. I enjoyed it, and would suggest it to anyone needing a light and enjoyable read.

I have to admit I enjoyed the book also because it was one of those tiny editions that you could easily see a young lady of the time period putting in her receptacle to pull out and read as she walked in the garden. It is about 3” by 4”, with tiny writing. I love these editions especially that have a large margin at the bottom. I can see someone even more reading these as they walked or sat in a garden, with plenty of room of their fingers to hold the pages open. So as you can see...I am a bibliophile of the extreme. Given an opportunity to read a book in a newer edition or an old one...I always choose the old. I think that it adds to the feel of the time period of the book.

Gaskell, Elizabeth. Cranford. London: Oxford University Press, 1965.

A Stranger Still by Anna Kavan (Helen Ferguson)

2008-07-08T15:49:00.000+01:00

As promised I’ve finished this book, a while ago actually. I’ve found it hard to find the time to sit down and write though, even if I can do it from my bed (see earlier post). Anyway, I read this a month or so ago, but have been trying to think of how to write the review. I think it would be best to be a bit sketchy, because the book is easy to get a hold of new or used.

This book was much easier to read then Let Me Alone. The Kavan character isn’t central to the plot. Instead the plot revolves around the Lewison family. Cedric Lewison owns a department store chain, and has done very well for himself. Kavan, the author, I feel likes to show rot in families. Cedric doesn’t realize that he can’t control his partners anymore then he can control his family. Slowly things begin to change and go further out of his reach. His older son isn’t has business savy as he is and can’t take care of the business when Cedric becomes ill. His other son Martin, isn’t interested in the family business and has married a woman that has brings shame on the family. The daughter falls in love with the man that helps to topple Cedric’s empire. His partners take over the bulk of the shares and he is not longer in control of his business.

The Kavan character is involved only in a small way. We see her has she has left her husband and has moved back to England. She has opened a shop with a school friend, though this isn’t working out very well. Kavan just isn’t interested enough. When she decides to leave she feels that she has had an epiphany:

It was as if on this night of her twenty-fifth birthday someone had suddenly called her to account for herself. The sense of unreality had left her, she felt clear-headed as never before. She stood there in absolute honesty, looking into herself. She was suddenly, objectively, aware of the girl Anna Kavan, an individual human being, alive in the world, alone, without support, without obligations, capable of intelligent thought and responsible for her own destiny. For twenty-five years she had existed fortuitously. Her life had unrolled itself haphazard, without definite aim, direction or method. From laziness, from good nature, from thoughtlessness, from indifference, she had drifted into one meaningless situation after another. She had allowed chance external circumstances to control her life. She had relied vaguely for support on something indefinable and non-existent, on something outside herself. There were, she knew, elaborate systems of thought, philosophies and religions, specially designed to provide external support. But as far as she was concerned she knew they were useless, void. She was completely reliant upon herself, completely independent. She shuddered as she realised her utter freedom and the responsibility it implied. With perfect clearness she saw the futility of her past life; saw that it must be changed. She must change everything. Now, at once she must assume control of her existence. (55-56)

This all sounds great, but she finds that it isn’t that easy. For a woman of that age, she can’t just make her own decisions because she has no financial freedom. Even though she was in business with her friend, she was relying on her friend to make the money and her part had been finance by her Aunt. She was a good saleswoman, but her heart had to be in it, and it often wasn’t. She just wasn’t interested enough. She needed to find something that she could do herself, but that was impossible because she had not been taught skills. She ends up back under her Aunts financial control for awhile until she meets Martin Lewison, Cedric’s son. This is where the two stories collide. Anna and Martin fall madly in love with each other. Finally, you hope that Anna will find happiness. But of course, it isn’t to be. Martin can’t deal with the idea of having someone else relying on him. Germaine was ok as a wife, because she didn’t need him for anything. They got on with their own lives, and only because Cedric insisted did they divorce. But Martin finds it difficult to think that he is responsible for anyone.

There is so much more there, but I don’t want to chat on too long. The book is well worth a read and has themes that Kavan uses in most of her writings. I tried to read Goose Cross, her next book, but found it difficult going. I couldn’t take it home for one thing, because we had to Interlibrary Loan it from a library that made it reference only. I got about half way through so got the flavour of it. I can understand why it didn’t do as well as A Stranger Still, though the themes of not being in charge of your own existence are there.

Kavan, Anna. A Stranger Still. London: Peter Owen, 1995.

Update on Kavan's book " A Stranger Still"

2008-04-15T21:08:00.002+01:00

This book is much better then her last "Let Me Alone". It has the same character in it, Anna Kavan, but she has come in to her own. The writing is much more like her book, "The Dark Sisters". I'm really enjoying it.

I process the orders for the library I work for, and one of the tutors has ordered a few of Kavan's later works and the new biography "A Stranger on Earth" by Jeremy Reed. I've been reading this biography along with the books, to get an insight from someone. There isn't a whole lot of scholarly work out there about Kavan, that I've found yet. I'm going to keep looking though. I just think it is interesting that someone that I've discovered for myself is now going to be taught in a literature course.

I told you having the computer in bed would make it easier for me to write! I wonder how many writers actually write in bed???

The Comforters – Muriel Spark

2008-04-15T21:07:00.000+01:00

I had to take a second stab at this book. I’ve done that twice now with books, and found the second time I could read them. I’m not sure what makes the difference; probably just my mood…but it did this time. I enjoyed this book very much. It was so different then the other books I’ve been reading by Virginia Woolf and Anna Kavan. In this story, people knew or figured out what was going on in others lives. They didn’t just make assumptions on how the other characters were feeling. In this story they try to find out. Even to the extent of being really nosey. I loved it.

Laurence Manders is a snoop and has been his whole life. His grandmother is up to something, she seems to have a “gang” of men that come around to play cards. He wants to find out what is going on, not because he wants to save her from any wrong doing. He just can’t stand not knowing what is going on with people around him. His grandmother is very proud of his ability to snoop and enjoys his attempts at finding out.

Laurence’s girlfriend, Catherine, has become a devote Catholic, and is on retreat when she is introduced to the story. She comes across Mrs. Hogg who was a servant of the Manders. She seems to be very sinister, though a she says a lot about being a devote Catholic. You spend most of the book trying to figure out what her game is. Catherine runs away from the retreat, because Mrs. Hogg upsets her. When she gets home, she starts hearing a typewriter and voices repeating the thought she has had. This part reminded me so much of the movie “Stranger then Fiction” (which I loved). You wonder if Mrs. Hogg has something to do with this.

So what does all this have to do with each other? You find out that each character is living out their own fantasy, but they soon end up all tangled up with the others. It is so much fun to be taken for the ride and to see what piece is going to fit in where.

This is Spark’s first book, and she bit off a bit more then she could handle….I thought with all the different plot lines…. but she handles it really well. At the end you feel that you’ve had a fun ride and all of the questions have been answered for you. Along with the fact, you get a lot of insight into each character.

I’ve found recently reading the writers of this era; they are really good at describing people and giving you a good explanation of the motives of the characters, without using psycho-babble. For instance Laurence’s Dad finally makes an appearance at the end of the book. He was either on one retreat or another.

…he had been given cause to wonder if he did not make his retreats too frequently. Amazing things occurred at home; extraordinary events which he never heard of till later.

‘Why didn’t you inform me at the time, Helena?’

‘You were in retreat, Edwin.’

He had misgivings then, about his retreats. He told his spiritual director, ‘I might have done better to spend the time at home. My family have had to cope with difficulties…my son…my brother…my mother-in-law…one of our old servants…I might have done better had I not made so many retreats.’

‘You might have done worse,’ said the shrewd old priest, and sounded as if he meant it. It was a humiliating thought, which in turn was good for the soul.

‘They managed admirably without me,’ Edwin Manders admitted.

(227)

Edwin has qualms about being out of things at home, but in the end knows that he can’t really handle it. So he is better off in a retreat hiding from the world. I thought Sparks tells us this in a really cunning way, instead of just saying, he can’t handle family problems. Her writing is lovely too. All in all a good read, I mean who could resist a grandmother who runs a gang of thieves!

(Spark, Muriel. The Comforters. London: Macmillian, 1985.)

I have been reading, believe it or not.

2008-04-11T20:58:00.003+01:00

In fact I’ve been reading a lot. I just haven’t felt like sitting in front of the computer at home. I have to do so much of it at work. I’m going to try and use my laptop a bit more, so that I can type in bed where I usually do my reading. I’ll see if that encourages me. Only problem is, I keep hitting the wrong buttons....ugh!!! This keyboard is so different.

So what have I been reading.....I've been trying to get back into some of my mysteries, as well as keep up with my "header" reading. I've also been reading a very good book about depression "Just Shoot the Damn Dog" by Sally Brampton. If you have suffered from depression, or know someone going through it...it is a great book. Makes you know that even though you aren't "sane" you aren't "different" then any other depressive! (Though I have to admit I hate the title.....being a dog lover!)

I've waded through Helen Ferguson/Anna Kavan's "Let Me Alone". I was just working on the review for that, but not sure if I can manage it. It is a bit difficult. There are so many different parts to it. It is autobiographical, the main characters name Anna Kavan, was taken on years later by Ferguson. It describes much of what Ferguson's life must have been like, so you don't really know where fiction and non-fiction meet. There really isn't a plot, you are just going through birth to the early 20's of the main character. Unexplainable things happen to her by other people. For example, her Dad stands her against the barn and shoots her outline with a gun. She doesn't flinch or scream, and you don't really get a sense of why other then he wanted her to be strong, or to hate him. I can't decide. Happiness seems to always be enjoyed for short spurts before people around her effect her life in a negative way. I think in the end of the book, she is finally able to choose how she wants her life to be. Well, I'll find out. I'll be reading the sequel "A Stranger Still" next.

I've also read the charming "Tales of Hill Top Farm" by Susan Wittig Albert. My mom had been bugging me for ages to read any of this series. I have to say I loved it. It helps that I love Beatrix Potter, who is the main character, and love the area the book is set in. I've been fortunate to have vacationed for a week in the Lake District and went to Hill Top Farm. My husband and I bought ourselves a large rustic wood carving of Squirrel Nutkin. The characters are interesting and like Rita Mae Brown's Sneaky Pie books, they talk...but only to each other, not to the humans.

I could go on, but I want to work on a real review....so Happy reading!

The Dark Sisters by Helen Ferguson (Anna Kavan)

2008-01-15T20:11:00.000+01:00

I was so very, very lucky to be able to get this book. I had to Interlibrary Loan it from Dublin. The book is a bit rare because it was only printed once. The book is in great condition though, puts modern printing to shame!

I was really interested to see what Kavan, since that is the name she changed to later I’ll use it here, wrote next after reading The Charmed Circle. Wow is it good. Again we are dealing with family, two sisters, who are inexplicably tied to each other. I just finished Night and Day by Virgina Woolf and I’m finding these books and the last book I reviewed very similar. The books are about what happens when you don’t actually tell people what you are thinking!

Emerald and Karen live in an apartment together. Emerald supports Karen by modelling. This is an excellent description of Karen:

“Karen could be trusted never to do anything efficiently. She had a genius for incompetence that maddened her sister. At times it really drove her almost to madness. But in spite of her resentment and perpetual sense of grievance that it aroused in her she could not resist. Emerald’s soul rebelled always with bitterness against the helplessness in Karen that forced her into every leading role, saddling her for ever with the entire responsibility of their joint lives. The responsibility was nauseous to her and yet unspeakably dear; a sweet torture. She could never forgive Karen for inflicting it. She was passionately devoted to her sister.” (10)

Karen always lives in a dream world, rarely worrying about how she is fed or what will happen from day to day. Instead she is thinking about pixies in the woods and her embroidery.

“In spite of her helplessness there was a certain isolation and self-sufficiency about Karen. With practical things she was unsuccessful because she had no will to succeed. Such things were unreal and unimportant to her. She seemed scarcely alive to reality. Yet she had some vague life of her own, apart and lonely like the sea. And if she was troubled by her sister’s irritation, it as only faintly, superficially, as the sea is troubled. " (11)

Emerald on the other hand is realistic and active:

“Emerald, as the elder, had long assume, half avid, half reluctant, the direction and responsibility of their lives. In her the sound heritage of san-living ancestors battle, successfully in the main, against a dangerous imaginative streak bequeathed by the mother. Mainly, a wholesome zest triumphed. Inaction was distasteful to her. It pleased her to work, to be always doing things. She saw life in terms of action. But psychologically she inclined to extravagance.” (29)

In the course of the book she tries very hard to seduce a man into marriage, because she feels it would be best for them. She knows that she would not be happy with the man and his way of life, but she felt that responsibility to take care of them. This is only one of her schemes. She seems to go from one man to another, depending on who is giving her attention. One moment she is trying to capture Edmond and the next Morgan. Her vanity gets the most of her many times in this book.

The relationship between Edmond and Morgan is interesting. Both have money, though Edmond lives in the country on a great Estate and Morgan in the city. Edmond is big and country like, Morgan slight and cultivated. I’ve never read a book of this age that so clearly shows homosexual love. It is never openly acknowledged. But the love the Morgan has for Edmond is not just friendship. There is a real caring, and Kavan writes about physical contact between them that usually you would read about between man and woman.

“…he laid his hand caressingly on Edmond’s hand that was resting on the table beside him.

Edmond looked down at the hand lying on his own. In the pinkish glow of lamplight, it was wonderfully white and frail, as if refined away, with the blue veins showing their faint tracery. He frowned in bewilderment. He really did not understand his friend; and because he didn’t understand, he must always be on the defensive, a trifle suspicious of him.” (136)

The writing is well done, Edmond never really understands his friend even at the end. But then again, none of them understand each other. That is the problem. This is why relationships never seem to work in this book. The reader knows what each person is thinking, and like most of us the thoughts can be confusing. One moment Karen is delighted that Edmond is paying her attention, the next she can’t stand the fact that he is so big and clumsy. Almost in the same breath these thoughts are expressed by all of the characters in this book. For example Karen thinks this about Edmond:

“There was a certain kindliness about him that was rather touching. He seemed to watch her with an almost fatherly solicitude. It was difficult to withstand his gentle kindliness. Her heart warmed towards him. But then, all at once, she shuddered as though he had thrown a shadow upon her. Again she saw him as a heavy, indifferent man who encroached upon her with his imperceptiveness, inaccessibility, out of her secret world; to force her into contact with him. And this she could not tolerate. There could be no contact between them.” (99)

What changed her feelings towards him? Nothing that actually happens, her thoughts just flow from thinking about his kindness to his indifference.

When considering these reactions to relationship, it seems to me like they are just trying to keep people at arms length. Emerald and Karen neither want to really give in to anyone. So once they start liking someone, or see someone responding to them…they cut them off. They even do it to each other. Because of the way they act, others around them act defensively and have the same thought patterns. If the characters actually told each other about their feelings then she would have to make a definitely decision. Once someone actually tells Emerald that he loves her, she automatically runs. She can’t handle the truth any more then she can handle not knowing.

To let you know a bit more about the plot, the sisters go to Edmond’s for Christmas. Morgan is also there with many rowdy relatives of Edmond’s. Emerald first goes between liking both men to deciding the best thing for her and Karen is to marry Edmond. So she tries to lay her trap, but she can’t quite deny herself and the fact that she doesn’t really like him. He also feels threatened that Karen and Edmond like each other. (Again, if they had just talked she would have seen that Karen had no more liking for Edmond then Emerald did really.) Emerald gets very jealous and angry with Edmonds brother-in-law, who accuses her of doing exactly what she has been trying to do. Emerald can’t take that she has been found out, so she decides to leave. She tells Karen to pack up they are leaving, and Karen decides she doesn’t want to be told what to do. She refuses to leave until the next morning, and the sisters depart very angry with each other. Karen didn’t think that Emerald would really leave, but she does. For the first time you actually see Karen taking in what is going on around her and her own welfare. She crumbles. What is she to do with out Emerald? Edmond comes to see her and he falls in “love” with her. He thinks he is in love, but the reader knows that really he likes to be needed and Karen needs him. He promises to take care of her. Over the next few days he tries desperately to get her to show feeling for him, but she just can’t pretend. She knows she owes him a lot so she makes the right noises, but he can tell she doesn’t really mean it.

While this is going on, Emerald goes back to her life and finds it very difficult not to have Karen around. She finds her life shabby and boring compared to her selective memory of what life was like in the country. Her friend Carew takes her out and ends up confessing his love. She runs saying scathing things to him because she doesn’t know how to deal with true feelings. Morgan comes to her rescue and they make a trip to Edmonds to check on Karen. Morgan talks to Edmond and finds that his friend is very unhappy with the situation with Karen. Though Emerald at first tries to stay in the car, she found herself drawn to the house. She promises herself that if Karen will forgive her for leaving, she will never leave her again. She will take her back to their old life, and will take care of her forever. Karen does forgive her, and twisting the knife in a bit, Edmond tries to convince her to stay. He has decided that he wanted Emerald all the time, not Karen. Fickle, yes, but they all act that way. They are desperate to get on to some life they think is out there. Emerald, remembering the cross she is baring of promising to take Karen back to their old life and take care of her, refuses. They head back into town.

Emerald of course is very bitter…as she was to begin with…with having to take care of Karen. She thought she could go back to the old life, but seeing what life could have been like makes it even harder for her. She finds out that Karen hasn’t been as true to her sister as Emerald has, well Emerald never explained her promise to Karen…so how was Karen to know she was causing so much grief? Karen and Morgan have started to see each other when Emerald has been out. They have found that they are very suited to each other. They are both a bit other worldly and Morgan appreciates her dreaminess and doesn’t see it as a slight to his ego. At the very end, Carew comes back to see Emerald. The book ends with him coming to visit and her unexpectedly and she excepts him into her apartment.

The book ends different then A Charmed Circle, even though Karen and Emerald are still living together, the reader does know that things are in the process of changing. I felt very relieved actually. You hate to see people going round in round in circles and never learning from that what they need.

Over all a great read, and if you can get your hands on a copy…even though I’ve given away the plot etc…you might find it interesting.

Into the Wild the Movie

2008-01-09T22:12:00.000+01:00

Wow. It was good. I'm so glad I saw it on the big screen. The views are stunning and the music was GREAT! I mean Eddie Vedders music and voice was perfect for the film. It was a long one, but I thought it was just long enough to tell the story....it wouldn't have worked shorter. The screen play stuck really close to the book as far as Chris' story. It left out the stuff about Krakauer and other people that he discusses. It sticks right to Chris. But I have to admit I cried most of the movie. I just couldn't help it!

I know people think he was selfish and put his parents through a lot of pain (and others who he met.) The thing is....his parents were selfish. Why should he have acted any different, what kind of role models were they? They didn't agree with how he wanted to live his life, and he didn't like the way they lived theirs. They didn't seem the kind of parents that would just accept what he wanted to do. Sometimes parents have to let their children make their own mistakes. The best thing a parent can do is tell them that they will support them not matter what. I'm not sure if he felt that they were......anyway...enough about that.

Another Anna Kavan book next week...

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

2008-01-05T20:12:00.000+01:00

Recently I was watching the Culture Show, that sounds pretentious but isn’t really. I like it because it covers everything from movies to the theatre, indie music to classical, and today’s art to the classics.

Anyway, they had Sean Penn on talking about his new movie based on this book. I was really intrigued. Penn had spent a lot of time trying to get this movie off of the ground and you could tell that it meant so much to him. The strength of his feeling really compelled me. I have a tendency not to be able to watch movies that have this much feeling…so I thought I would pick up the book and see what I thought.

The author Jon Krakauer is most famous for writing “Into Thin Air”, an account of a 1996 expedition to the summit of Everest, where 8 people died. I remember when this book came out and at the time, couldn’t bring myself to read it. (Another one of those…book is too popular…I’m not going to read it… things I do….which are sometime stupid….but hey! I have my ways!). But the fact that he wrote this book made it more interesting to me. I assumed that it was probably well written, and it was. I decided that if he was so interested in this kid that he wrote a book about him, I would like to know why.

So what made Penn and Krakauer interested in a kid that goes off into the woods of Alaska and dies? Because there is so much mystery to what motivated this kid. His name was Chris McCandless, a newly graduated young man who decided to go off on a wander around the US. He had a mother and father and sister who loved him. He made friends along the way. He kept in contact with many of these friends and one older gentleman felt like he was a son. So he did care about people and they cared about him. Even though he drifted and didn’t want to be found, so stayed clear of the law, he still tried to live a very moral life. When his prize procession a Datsun gets flooded he goes out on foot, burning all identification and money he has, instead of contacting the police for help.

This is one of the mysteries, why did he burn the money? You find out in the book that his last two years of education had been paid for by a friend of the family. The rest of the money he took and donated it to OXFAM. The money he burned amounted to a pitiful sum, just enough for him to live on for a week if he was careful…but he burns it. Of course he then needs money so he ends up hitchhiking and working as he goes. Did he feel that last bit of money he had wasn’t earned?

Part of me understands that he wanted to live an uncluttered life. He wanted to rely only on himself. He didn’t want to live for money. He wanted to live like the characters in his favourite books by Thoreau and Tolstoy. I don’t think he wanted others to rely on him. But why?

Many people Krakauer talked to thought Chris was one more fool that thought that he was indestructible and had the hubris to think he could survive on his own strength and intellect. I don’t think that Chris felt that way at all. In one of his last letters he said:

This is the last you shall hear from me Wayne. Arrived here 2 days ago. It was very difficult to catch rides in the Yukon Territory. But I finally got here.

Please return all mail I receive to the sender. It might be a very long time before I return South.
If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again, I want you to know you’re a great man. I know walk into the wild.
Alex
(70)

He knew that there was a good chance that he wasn’t going to make it, and yet he went.

I find myself wanting to tell you too much about the story. Krakauer writes so well that, if you are interested read the book. Krakauer goes back and forth and tells you the story in a really interesting way, quoting letters and using interviews that he did with people that were touched by Chris’s life. He also gives other examples of men that go off and try to make it living in the wild, even giving examples of his own feelings that run along this same vein. So why do they do it? I’m not sure I still understand. Maybe it is a gender thing, I can respect him for what he did….but as a woman I know that I need others. I know that I don’t want to do everything myself without some help and I like to help others. But maybe it isn’t, maybe it was because of the dirty little secret he found out about his father……that is another mystery…..

I’m not giving anything away when I say that Chris dies in the end alone in a bus abandoned in Alaska. This is the part that I’m worried about when I see the movie. It is easier to read such things sometimes, then to see them. But in a way I really admire him. He did what he wanted to do. You might say he failed…but he kept saying he wanted to try to live off the land in Alaska and he did for awhile…I admire the courage it took to live life the way he wanted to and not let anyone else tell him what his life should be like. That is amazing. How many of us have that courage?

I decided to check and see if the movie was showing in our area. It just so happens, that it is here for three days, today…tomorrow…and Monday. So I’ve booked tickets for Monday evening. I’m a bit apprehensive….but the actors are people that I like and I really want to see what Penn does with the story. It doesn't hurt that the soundtrack was written by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. I’ll have to make another post to let you know what I think after seeing it.

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. Pan Books, 1996.

A Charmed Circle – by Anna Kavan

2007-09-18T19:44:00.000+01:00

I love finding new/old authors. So what do I mean by that? Well, authors that wrote many years ago, but who I’ve never heard off. Many of these have become favourites, such as Barbara Pym. Anna Kavan will be the same I have a feeling, though from what I understand some of her later books are a lot different then her first few.

Anna Kavan wrote this book in 1929. It is a modern book of the time, so you have to get that time period in your head….only if like me you like to picture what is being worn etc. Industry has taken over much of the countryside of Hannington and the vicar moved out of the Old Vicarage and a new family moved in. This family is who we meet in this story. I was taken from the start with the way Anna writes:

In time builders came. They set up houses of a different kind: neat, ugly
little boxes strung together in rows. The rows, too, strung together. Surprisingly, they extended and met, forming mean streets that devoured the unresisting land. Fields were eaten away almost in a night. People went for their yearly holidays and returned four short weeks later to find the landscape strangely altered. Everywhere was an alien and unwelcome activity. Steam-rollers crawled over the endless new roads; workmen swarmed everywhere, combining with the inhabitants of the new houses to overwhelm the natives of the place. The ancient population dwindled and
vanished. A new people took possession of Hannington; a people which
teemed in the poor streets, demanding numberless shops, public-houses and
chapels.
(Kavan, Anna. A Charmed Circle. London: Peter Owen. 1994, p.9.)

You really get a sense of what is going on here…then you meet the family and you see that unlike the progress that is going on around them, this family is stuck. They can’t seem to progress at all even though several of them try.

The reason I think they are stuck is because they don’t communicate with each other. It drives me made how many people I have difficulties with, only because they won’t tell you how they feel. At first you see it with the sisters. You are in their heads a lot and they tell you how they feel. But for some reason they can’t seem to express that then to the other sister and it leads to resentment and misunderstanding. There is a real hatred that flows through all of the inhabitants of the house. None of the family are happy, none of them tell each other how they feel, and they are all stuck together. No matter what they try to do so they can live their own lives….they end up back where they started. The reason is never really explained. I found that interesting. You have to really try and figure it out for yourself. You get the feeling that it could have something to do with the Dad and the illness he had that changed him. Or is it the house that keeps drawing them back. Is this why they can’t communicate to each other?

From what I understand, this book reflects the way Kavan was brought up. I see that with many authors (one of the reasons I like to read their biographies as I’m reading the first book.) A Stranger on the Earth: The Life and Work of Anna Kavan by Jeremy Reed, is the new biography that has been written about her and I’m going to get it soon so I can read it.

It might take you a bit to track down this book, but it is worth it! I interlibrary loaned it and it came quite quickly. In the States, I’m not sure how easy it will be to get.

Friends in High Places by Donna Leon

2007-09-05T19:30:00.000+01:00

When Donna Leon writes about Venice, you feel like you are there. Her description of places and people almost makes you smell the salt of the sea. The opening of this mystery we find Commissario Brunetti told by a representative from the Ufficio Catasto that the apartment that his family live in doesn’t exist. This leads to Leon’s use of the corruption of Venice as a drive for what happens in the book. As the title says, if you know the right people, then little things such as an apartment addition that didn’t go through the proper government channels can be overlooked.

Leon plays with the idea of what is just calling in a few favours and what is letting something slide that is criminal. Brunetti’s father-in-law is called in by Paola to do something about the apartment. His contacts handle the problem very quickly. But Brunetti isn’t happy because he wanted to fix the problem. But does it really matter, would one person’s favour calling be any different then an others?

Corruption is rife in the book. Vice-Questore Patta, Brunetti’s superior, has a son arrested for selling drugs. Brunetti’s trying to figure out where a young man, who died from an overdose, bought the drugs. But Brunetti puts Patta’s son in danger with an planted article in the local newspaper. Patta makes Brunetti call up the paper and say that the problem has now been sorted. So the death of the young man is forgotten so that Patta’s son can walk free.

Another case of corruption is when the representative from the Ufficio Catasto, Rossi, that contacted Brunetti about his apartment, is killed because he was going to tell Brunetti about corruption in his department. Two drug addicts who witness the crime are also killed. All so that one man can be protected from scandal.

This is a very good read. In fact all of her books are very good. Brunetti and his family are very close and intelligently written. You really like them as a couple, they work hard at their marriage. The returning characters are well drawn. The description of Italian food makes me want to go make myself a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad! Definitely give her a try. She is a stunning writer! I would say that each of the books stand alone, though I have enjoyed reading them in order myself.

Death at La Fenice (1992)

Death in a Strange Country (1993)

Dressed for Death (1994)

Death and Judgment (1996)

Acqua Alta (1996)

The Death of Faith (1997)

A Noble Radiance (1998.)

Fatal Remedies (1999)

Friends in High Places (2000)

A Sea of Troubles (2001)

Wilful Behaviour (2002)

Uniform Justice (2003)

Doctored Evidence (2004)

Blood from a Stone (2005)

I’m reading another great book at the moment from Anna Kavan. I can’t wait to introduce you to her….though I must finish the book first and then let you know about her!

So what is beside YOUR bed?

2007-07-25T18:48:00.000+01:00

Sorry this isn't that great a picture, I should have used the flash. This is what is next to my bed to read at the moment. Yes, I did clean up the dirty clothes and tissues...but you don' t want to see the TRUE mess? Right so I'm currently reading...of course Harry Potter. Well.....I didn't want everyone to know what happened and let it slip. Underneath that is Martha Grahams biography by Agnes DeMille which is very good. I don't know much about modern dance, nor do I watch it much. But I love to read about people who are originators and she definitely was! It is a really big book, but I'm enjoying it. I also picked up "Don't you have time to think?" letter written by Richard Feynman. He is one of the best science writers I've ever read. In the past I have read his autobiography and have listened to some of his more technical books on tape. They are so fascinating and I just love hearing or reading about science from someone who loves the topic so much. I mean...this man was learning how to pick locks while he was also helping to build the Atomic Bomb. (Just for the record, he like most on scientist on the team regretted their part in how that was used and campaigned against its use.) You would have thought that he would have been using his brain enough for the real work he was doing, not to be fooling around with locks.

So under that is the Literary Review. I really enjoy reading this. It is like Slightly Foxed, in that you get a good idea of what is out there to read. A lot of times I don't need, or wouldn't read the whole book...but I find the reviews so interesting! Under Slightly Foxed is a new knitting book I bought and next to it is the new Workbasket that came in. Can't forget the crafts.

The last two books have been really setting me alight learning. They are both books by the assassinated Russian Journalist Anna Politkovskaya. I wanted to read the book that was published shortly after (or before) she was killed, but then I found that she had written two others that they had in, so I didn't buy "A Dirty War: a Russian Reporter in Chechnya." I've started with "Putin's Russia". Then of course I couldn't leave it there, so at work I've got a couple books about Russia history in the last decade and also about Politics since Stalin, just to kind of help me. So....what is beside your bed? Leave a link in the comments so everyone can see!

2007-07-10T14:46:00.000+01:00

What is up with me??? I promise I have been reading, but I've had so much studying and stuff to do, I haven't had the time to write. Since I love to write, that means something. I let you in on a little secret, I've had a struggle with my reading. I got Bored...I NEVER GET BORED of reading. But I tried to do something that wasn't very smart for ME (not everyone is like this). I stopped reading what I wanted to read, and took suggestions from too many people. Not so much people in blog land, but more in my personal life. I do better if I really feel passionate about what I'm reading. I read for my moods. If I'm feeling sad and depressed, I'll read a mystery or maybe Barbara Pym. If I'm feeling lazy, I'll read something about a dancer or athlete. If I'm feeling smart I'll read a book about science. I read to learn, to experience new things. So, I'm back to reading from my list of books I want to read.

I will be soon writing a review of: Barbara Pym's "An Unsuitable Attachment" and Martin Cruz Smith's "Wolves Eat Dog". I'm reading at the moment a book about Martha Graham and the letters of Richard Feynman. So I promise to be back soon!

Need to get rid of a few books?

2007-04-25T19:23:00.000+01:00

I've decided that I need to get rid of some of the books that I've bought, but should get rid of. You notice I said SHOULD....because as you all know...it is difficult to part with books! I was frustrated because I like to donate the books, but want to give them to people that actually will read them. Many of my books are mysteries. I use to get these from the Library I worked at in the States, so I didn't have to buy them. But to keep reading them now, I have to purchase them. I tried to get a few friends interested in them, but that didn't really work. Then I tried to give them to my fav second hand shop, but they just didn't go very well. I guess they are just too American. So then I joined a couple online book exchanges. That has been a really good way to give them to people that actually want to read them. I keep thinking I'm going to join Bookcrossing, but I'm not sure about some of my mysteries that way. I will do that soon though.

So what exchanges do I do? Well the most successful has been Bookmooch. It is an international exchange, but you can decide not to send outside of your country if you wish. I've given away two books now and have been sent two books. There are a few I have missed and a few that wouldn't be sent to me because I'm out of the US. But that is ok. They also have a very active forum, to talk about books that are being offered or looked for. The things I like about it:

They use a point system. You get 1/10 of a point for listing a book and full points for both mooching and for being mooched from.
You can put your wishlist on the site. As people but books in their inventory, it will flag that you have it on your wishlist.
You are emailed and you can say whether you want to give the book, how long it might take you to send it, and you can email the person to find out if they are willing to send etc.

The other I do is UK only...Green Metropolis. I've not had quite as much luck with this one for books for myself, but of course I've not used the wishlist like I have for bookmooch...so that is my fault. I have given lots of books away though. With this one:

They use a money system, where you can keep a balance as you sell books so that you can then "purchase" them without actually spending any money! Love that!
The person you send the book to does not get your address. The return address is to Green Metropolis.
5p from all books recycled they donate to the Woodland Trust. You can also chose to spend some of the money you get for your books to them also.
Their focus is on the recycling.
They are strict on when you send the item and how it is sent, but they give you three days...which is usually doable. You can tell the system when you will be on holiday so t hat you aren't notified during those times.

So try these two out if you want. Please leave me comments about any others that you know about. It doesn't hurt to have the books on a couple, as long as you remember to take them off when you have given them away!

Libraries need Librarians....

2007-04-17T15:47:00.000+01:00

the clue is in the name....

I attended something very meaningful yesterday. My first protest. I was a very young person during all the protests of the 60's. I always envisioned myself protesting against the Vietnam war, or against human rights violations. My first protest shouldn't, couldn't have been imagined to be for people that I feel so strongly are so important to this information age. Over the last three years, I've struggled with my calling...and I've always considered being a Librarian my calling. As soon as I stepped into a library, I wanted to work there. When I finally got my chance I proved to myself and overs over and over again that I was good at the work. I was interested in helping others. Interested in the process of finding information, and that only grew when we came into the internet age...not to long ago.......

The Hampshire County Council, (my local government) however, feels the Librarians are not needed. Why pay people who have been trained and have an interest in the field do a job for "all this money".........sorry....I just had to pick myself up off the floor laughing about that one...who has heard of a well paid library staff member????? When we can put library assistants who have no experience and who in most cases (not all cases) are only there to have the job, not because they have a love of information and helping people and pay them less! I was there. I've seen it. Library assistants asked questions that they have not been trained to answer and put on the spot by patrons that have no idea they AREN'T talking to a trained Librarian! It isn't fair to the assistants, the patrons, nor the Librarians! Three years ago when I worked for Hampshire, they had just been through a restructuring where they had replaced almost all of the Library managers with non-library degree staff. All staff member then were trained to manage libraries....I mean really....lets pay a bunch of money to train people...LIBRARIANS COME TO THE JOB TRAINED! Management is a course you take to get your degree!!!! You then would only need to learn the management software and forms that need to be filled out. The management course I took covers human resource, project and money management!

Ok, I'm off the pedestal....but it makes me soooo angry. So I've decided that the best way to fight back, is to get the degree and then market the heck out of Librarians. We are needed. I see that everyday. Students need us to help them with online journals searches. Who else would the go to that has sat down and learned the ins and out of searching on this torturous things? How do you know the information you are pulling off the internet is correct??? Ask a Librarian! What book should I read if I like so and so.....ask a Librarian! Want to have a educational experience for your child during the summer? Ask your children's librarian! Is the stereotype changing? Yes!!! Do we need to change and grow as Librarians? Yes!!! But every job has to do that! The problem is, we are changing...but now one is taking the time to notice!!!

If you would like to read more there are online articles here and here

I promise that I am reading, but I've been trying to study and get things like that done. We are having an early spring, and it is hard to sit here at the computer. I have to admit, that I've hit a bit of a slump. I've picked up several books I couldn't get into, no matter how I tried...and that has been a problem. But I will have another review soon!

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

2007-03-19T13:54:00.000+01:00

I don’t usually read books that people go on and on about. Partly, because you end up knowing so much about the book…there isn’t any adventure to it. Partly, because I like to be individual and shun things that might make it look like I’m conforming…..how self-aware is that statement!!!! Truth is, I don’t usually enjoy highly recommend books, because I find they are usually sad, and I just don’t need to read about the suffering of others. I’m a very sensitive person and being bombarded with my own memories and the lives of those around me is enough…without reading more.

Anyway, I’m discussing this because I’ve gone out on a limb once again and read something that was highly talked about. Unlike Arthur and George (see previous review), I liked this book very much. I did not, however, find it as funny as the blurbs on the book cover made out to be. I found it a very good read and I would recommend it.

The narrator of the book (Nadezhda or Nadia), is the youngest daughter of immigrants to England from the Ukraine. The mother has recently passed away. The father, to the horror of his two girls, has decided to marry a visiting Ukrainian woman. The woman wants to move to England, and obviously is using this frail 80 year old man, to make this happen. You never get a really good feel for Valentina, other than what the narrator tells you. She is a bit stereotypical; she uses the last of the money given to her before moving over to stop along the way and get breast implants. She eats boil-n-bag food and wants a Rolls-Royce, because it is important to have these as western status symbols.

The relationship between Valentina and the father is only secondary really to the story. The important relationships to me are those between the narrator and her father and sister. Nadia and her sister Vera, have a very rocky relationship. Nadia has always been concerned with others. She was involved in the socialist movement of the 60’s and teaches sociology at University. Vera is a survivalist, she thinks of her and her children before anything else. They are polar opposites. As the story goes along you see that having a common enemy has made it possible for these sisters to communicate. Instead of just avoiding each other, they have to work together to help their father. At the end of the book, the narrator has a better understanding of why her sister is who she is. The revelation is stunningly done. Because it isn’t chronological, you get the pieces a bit at a time. I find this wonderful.

I think that Nadia learns a bit more about her father during this book also. There is of course the struggle of a child becoming the caretaker. Both Vera and she have to help their father out of the situation he is in, but they have to learn to understand him a bit more too. Nadia finds out, as we do, that her mother, father and sister’s lives have been shaped by what happened to them in World War II. The things that are revealed about the father show that he is a survivalist like Vera. There aren’t heroic tales of his ability to help others. He did what he had to, to survive. Instead of making Nadia hate him, she realizes that what happens in war is not rational or sane. As she is fighting the “war” with Valentina, she finds her self doing many things that are against her usual ideology. To protect her father she feels that she finds herself torn between trying to understand and befriend Valentina and getting her out of her father’s life. Once Valentina starts to physically abuse him though, she does what she has to, to help him survive, because this time he can’t do it on his own.

So what about the title of the book? Well, the father has decided that he must write the history of tractors. This helps us to understand the history of the area, through tractors instead of through the battles or just the explanation of the politics. It is an interesting way to learn history, not as dry as it sounds. I think it also helps to humanize the father. He isn’t just an old man, who is being taken advantage of. He is also a very intelligent person, who retains lots of information about the topic that has always been important to him.

Skeleton Crew by Beverly Connor

2007-03-13T19:19:00.000+01:00

I’ve been reading through Connor’s work for the last few years, taking my time with them as I try to do with all my mystery series. This one was very good. Lindsay Chamberlain is an archaeologist and forensic anthropologist, which is something I’m strangely interested. I also like the fact that I’ve been on the University of Georgia campus, so I feel that I have a tiny connection.

Lindsay is working on a new site that is actually in the ocean. They have built a cofferdam off the island and sucked out the water so that they can excavate a shipwrecked boat. How they built the dam and maintained it was really interesting. Connor also ties it together with a journal that has been found by the only survivor of the shipwreck. She includes passages from this journal. As the translator is translating the work for the archaeology team, you also get to read in his own words what happened. It adds to the suspense and is well done.

The problems start right away when it is found out that there are treasure hunters watching every move that is being made. There are rumours that there is another shipwreck somewhere with lots of treasure to be had. The island that they are excavating has been under the care of a biology research team who have been shoved to the side by this more “important” work. The biology team aren’t happy and do all they can to cause problems and not be helpful. People start turning up dead and there are too many people that could be blame. Boats become sabotaged and the crews are put into dangerous situations.

Lindsay must figure out: who is doing the present day killings, whom did the 400 year old killings, and at the same time a romance is budding between her and someone she has had a rocky past with. It all culminates in what everyone had feared throughout the book, a hurricane which helps Lindsay solve all the mysteries in one fell swoop. I did not figure this one out at all.

Her book list for this series is:

A Rumor of Bones
Questionable Remains
Dressed To Die
Skeleton Crew
Airtight Case
Kill Site (to be published in 2007)

Book Retreat in Wales

2007-03-03T15:33:00.000+01:00

Sunday, February 25, 2007 12:00

Marion picked me up in Much Wenlock and we had a nice drive down the Welsh coast. We then had trouble finding the B&B, but after a lot frantic calling and direction asking we found the place. The views are staggering and with two lovely dogs and Carole and Alan happy to see us arrive we felt better. We were happy too; to see the lovely soup and quiche’s waiting for us….since we were a bit late!

At lunch Anna read us our first short story. It was Grace Paley’s work “Wants”. It can be found in a copy of the book Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (Virago, 1979). This work was really moving about a woman who runs into her first husband. In the two pages and some, you learn so much about the woman, the man and the type of marriage they both felt they had.

We all had the afternoon free to do what we wanted. Three of us, including me, are staying in a self-catering cottage that belongs to one of Carole and Alan’s neighbors. The house is a lovely three bedroom semi-detached that is on the back of the B&B. The rooms are cozy and there are two bathrooms, which makes it nice for us. The only problem is it has been raining, so after our late night discussion in the fire lit lounge, we had to put on our walking shoes and coats and go out into the cold night!

After we settled in, we all came back to the main house and sat in the lounge, talking, reading or stitching. Slowly everyone who was staying at the main house disappeared to take naps or rest in their rooms while the rest of us read and had a bit of a chat. There is a lovely barn that we have been given the use of for silent time. That is the wonderful thing about this place. We can go where we feel comfortable.

We had a wonderful supper and then gathered for the discussion. Everyone spoke up and told their opinions, which is nice. You feel that you have a very even group then. Carole and Alan also joined us. Alan runs several different reading groups. He didn’t seem to be too intimidated with all the women in the room!

After a good night’s sleep, we made it up to the main house for a lovely breakfast. Anna then read us the second story of the weekend, “Across the Bridge” by Heinrich Boll. Unfortunately, there isn’t any bibliographic information about this work. After this the others went of for a coastal walk and though I was really tempted, feeling a bit of a cold coming on I decided not to go tramping out in the rain. I had promised myself peace and quiet to do some drawing and writing, so I’ve stayed behind at the fire side.

Tonight we are to have a talk by a poet about ways we remember poetry being different then the ways we remember books. It will be an interesting discussion.

Monday 26/Feb/2007 10:30

Last night was fabulous, but I’ll start with where I left off. After a wonderful lunch of soup, bread and cheese, we all went into the lounge for another reading. This time Anna read to us “The Stone” by Tove Jansson that was published in her book A Winter Book. We then went off our separate ways. I didn’t seem to leave the lounge for the whole day really. I enjoyed reading, knitting and doing some drawing. That is what I came for, to relax and take some “me” time. At tea time, we all got together to discuss the two stories we had read. We then had some free time to get ready for the evening.

We were so fortunate to have Gillian Clarke come to have supper with us and give us a poetry and short story reading. Her and her husband regaled us with stories about Wales and India (where they had just visited). We almost didn’t leave the supper table all night, but we did slowly make it into the lounge to have a wonderful reading of three poems and one short story. (Gillian’s poetry books are in print still.) The short story was “Honey” which can be found published in Magpies: Short Stories from Wales edited by Robert Nisbet. Her story was very poetical and rich with images, something that you want to take some time with. She had turned the story into a radio play also, which she has done many times. These have been performed on BBC Radio 4. We were up and captivated until midnight, when we called it a night and let Gillian and her husband leave.

I always find poetry easier to listen to than to read. I read very quickly, and tend to read concepts instead of each individual word. That’s fine for regular fiction or non-fiction reading, but makes it difficult to read poetry or stream of consciousness writing. Having this lyrical story read to you, allows your imagination to be the only thing you are really working with. I guess that is why I have heard it is better to read poetry out loud.

Tuesday February 27. 10:00

This was Ali Smith day. We started at breakfast with a reading of her story “Writ”, which is a limited edition unfortunately. The story is about a woman who is confronted with her 14 year old self, because of an unexpected kiss from an acquaintance. The thought of confronting my 14 year old self was actually something I wish could have happened. As with most things, I think I would have liked to have been reassured that life was going to be better. Many of those gathered; felt that, as in the story, their younger selves wouldn’t have listened to them. But I think I would have. I would have been so relieved to hear how happy I was finally going to be. How little I needed a “Man” in my life and that I would live in England with a wonderful man who loves me for who I am.

Still feeling the cold coming on, I stayed at the house while every else had a walk along the coast. They came back for lunch, where we had another wonderful meal and another story. This one was “Astute Fiery Luxurious”, a Guardian original fiction for 2003. This story is about two people in a very close relationship who receive a package in the mail that has their address on it, but doesn’t say who it is for. The story is very intriguing because Smith keeps so much open for interpretation.

Sue and I then went around some of the local craft sites. I felt the need to get out of the house. After supper we had another discussion about the two stories. Carole joined us for this discussion and was asked about some of her writing. She has a MA in Creative Writing from the University of Wales. She wrote poetry for her dissertation about a noble woman named Nest. She lived in Wales during the Eleventh century. I’ve taken a peek at it this morning and it is really very interesting. Reminds me of Tennyson or Homer, where you are learning history through poetry. Though with Carole’s writing, you know that a woman with a love of her subject and a woman’s understanding has written the poems.

This morning the rest are having a tour of the farm from Carole and then we are going to have another quick walk along the beach and then home. (I didn’t end up going on this walk, which was good because they came home absolutely soaked, but very very happy.)

Even though it has been a short weekend, and most of us did not know each other before. We have enjoyed not only each others insight into the works we have been reading, but also each others company.

Anna asked us at the beginning of the retreat what we hoped to get out of the experience. What I wanted was some peace and quiet. I was able to get that and much more. I wanted to expand both my artistic creative side, but my reading side also. I’ve been able to do both. I’ve met wonderful people, read things that challenge me, and reawakened my need to read more. I also feel that I understand myself a bit better. The ability to say no, I want to stay by myself and not go out with the others all the time, felt good. I fought the need to conform, which has always been a driving force for me. I was able to stay behind. Write, read and craft all day with periods of interesting conversations. I didn’t feel that the others thought that strange or anti-social. It was very freeing for me.

There was an aspect to this retreat that you wouldn’t have had if it had been mixed genders. We were able to discuss things as multi generational women, about our lives. The way we deal with things like where are we going with our careers, family life and use the readings as ways of thinking about our lives as women. I’m not saying it was better for that. I think that if there had been men here it would have been fulfilling also. But I think there was something special about sitting around a room with women who have different experiences that made this retreat very special to me.

Ready Steady Book

2007-02-20T19:59:00.000+01:00

I've come across the coolest new literary site. It is called Ready Steady Book. It is a new site, but it already has a wonderful blog to keep you informed of the literary news. Plus, it has articles...book reviews...poem of the week....today in literature....and a list of a few British literary blogs. They are connected to The Book Depository, which is another find for me this last few weeks. I ordered something from Amazon and it came, new, from this online store. They do free shipping in the UK, so it makes it worth me checking there before relying on Amazon.co.uk all the time! With Amazon, I usually end up buying more books because I want the free shipping. That is OK most of the time....but sometimes you just want to spend the money on ONE book. (Shock Horror I know, but it does happen!)

(edit: Sorry Mark, I should have said...new to me literary site! Well worth a read and do check out his other site at.... http://www.britlitblogs.com/)

Book Retreat

2007-02-20T19:24:00.001+01:00

I'm so excited. This weekend I'm headed to Wales to have a long 4 day weekend at a Book Retreat. The retreat is put on by Anna, who runs the Wenlock Books store that I've talked about before. I don't know anyone who is going except Anna, so that makes me a bit worried....but the whole object is to get some rest really (for me). We are free to roam during the day, but during the evening we are going to be reading short stories and discussing them. That ought to be good fun. Anna hasn't told us what kind of stories she is picking out yet.

I hope to spend some time with my computer typing out reviews that I'm behind! I've written one that I'll post, but I've read around 3 others I think.

So what am I taking to read???

Gillian Tindall
The House by the Thames

An Indian Attachment
Sarah Lloyd

Wolves eat Dogs
Martin Cruz Smith

Barbara Pym
An Unsuitable Attachment

I might sneak something else in too....but that is what I plan on taking....and two blankets I'm making....and well....probably more stuff too.....must remember NOT to take to much!

I tell you all about it when I get back!

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman,

2007-01-23T21:38:00.000+01:00

I've been listening to the Craftlit podcast for a long time. Heather Ordover who has been an English teacher and is very knowledgeable hosts. We started with Pride and Prejudice, and at the moment I'm listening to her short story casts. I know that she eventually does Henry James' Turn of the Screw, which I'm looking forward to listening. Heather has a great voice and does such a good job commenting on the work. There is craft talk, but it isn't the whole cast, so those that don't craft I don't think would mind. She gets the readings from Librivox, or reads some of the short stories herself.

I just had to talk about The Yellow Wallpaper. Where have I been??? Why haven't I read or heard of Charlotte Perkins Gillman??? I mean, I took a course in women's writing in college and I don't remember reading this remarkable work! If you have been like me and have missed it...well you just have to read it. I listen to it and even though I knew what was probably going to happen...it is so well written you are just totally taken in. You want to know whether the girl and the husband where in collusion against the wife...or where they just trying to help. Why would the husband feel that such a place would be appropriate for a woman who was so obviously depressed. I could just go on! I would love to discuss this with someone, so if you read it let me know!!!

I've been working with Anna from Wenlock books on a discussion forum. I'm having a few difficulties with the skin (way the forum looks), but it is up and running. (Very under used though). If you would like to have a look and have read any of the books that are to be discussed, feel free to start them off. Anna is fine with the discussion including more then just the people who are actually going to the groups. She has had such luck with the groups, that they had to turn people away. That is why she is hoping to get this going and see if this can be an extension to her bookstore!

Happy reading...(I'm still 2 books behind reviewing...or is it 3???)

I have been reading....

2007-01-09T06:16:00.000+01:00

honest. I was home for Christmas (to the States) for two weeks and just got home. December was such a whirlwind of stuff do make and do that I didn't get a chance to post! I'm sorry about that. I've read three mysteries, so will be posting about those soon. Thanks for your patience! I hope to catch up with what my favorite bloggers have been up to soon also!

Arthur and George by Julian Barnes

2006-11-30T21:10:00.000+01:00

Well, I won't often post about a book that I didn't finish. But I just couldn't finish this book. It was good and I know that others have really liked it. I just couldn't get past something that kept niggling at me. I thought at first it was that there is a big law court case in the middle and I don't like to read them. They are to stressful and there is always people lying and back stabbing and the person is usually innocent, so you are all stressed out because things go against them. Even if it straightens itself out later, I just can't deal with the stress.

But as I thumbed through to see what else might happen in the book, I realized what was bothering me. All the women were wimps. Arthur's wife is sick, but never complained so she her illness progresses to where she is more or less an invalid. George's mother is complacent to his fathers wishes and the his sisters is an invalid. I'm not saying that women were a bit like that back then, but every woman? Even Arthur's mistress is excepting of everything that happens to her. They are happy with what ever is their lot. I think that it was a mistake reading this after just finishing Virgina Woolf. This is just to much a Mans Man book for me. I can't deal with it. So I'm not saying it was aweful...it just wasn't for me!

So I'm now reading a strong woman again. Beverly Connors "Skelton Crew" is what I'm reading now. I good archaeology mystery. I'm half way through and it is really good....so look for this post soon...

Thanks Heather!

2006-11-30T21:05:00.000+01:00

This surprise package came in today from Canada. Heather is better known as Orange Blossom Goddess. She sent me two mags, soap, two postcards and lovely handstamped card and bookmark.

Your the best, thanks Heather!

The Voyage Out by Virgina Woolf

2006-11-21T21:10:00.000+01:00

This book took me a bit to get through, mostly because I was sick in between but also because it has a lot to it. I can see that Woolf spent a lot of time with this book, it is said that she rewrote this many times. She includes so many ideas and thoughts in this your head spins a bit. It definitely isn’t a book that you read just for pleasure. You have to concentrate and keep characters straight. There are a lot of characters, but they all are very distinctive. I don’t know how she does that. She writes through the eyes of many of the characters.

It is mostly the story of Rachel, a girl who has been very sheltered by her father and Aunts who raised her. She has no real idea what it is like to be in a relationship. She has never really experienced anyone that is in one, her Aunts being unmarried and her mother dying when she is young. She is taken under the wing reluctantly by Aunt Helen, who is married to her father’s brother. Helen convinces Rachel’s father to let her stay in the house they are staying in, instead of accompanying him on his work trip. During the voyage and the time on the island they become very close.

I find this books split into two different stories almost, the first the voyage and the second the time on the island. During the voyage Helen and Rachel feel each other out. They at first don’t like each other much and once Helen sorts out how naïve Rachel is, she decides it is her duty to help her become a woman safely. During the time on the island they are more like friends who really care for each other. The other reason I think the book could have been two, is that during the voyage Rachel has an intimate experience with Mr. Dalloway and there is a bit of a ending there. Then on the island they meet all these different people who expand the view of the novel a lot. I’m still amazed at how much Woolf puts in this book. There are ideas about society, marriage, religion, etc. I will have to read this again sometime. Not right now, but one day when I can really take another look at all she says.

I thought it was interesting that you meet Mr. and Mrs. Dalloway in this book. She wasn’t anything like I expected. I didn’t think of her as a society type person. Of course that is because I haven’t read the book yet, and don’t know anything about it. I only really know Woolf by the story or essay “Room of Ones Own”. So reading her has been very interesting.

I’m reading Arthur and George by Julian Barnes right now. It is a bit disappointing only because I don’t like books were there are court scenes. I find it frustrating because the truth always seems to get twisted and you can never be sure if the person really will get off…in this book I’m sure he doesn’t…though I could be wrong. So I’ll be writing about that once I’ve finished.

Killer cold....

2006-10-24T19:57:00.000+01:00

Good title for a book...but not one I've read...I've lived it! I've had a terrible cold now for more then a week. I haven't even felt like reading.....or crafting....which is SOOO unlike me. I'm half way through Woolf's Voyage Out, so I will have a post for it soon. Just didn't want my faithful readers to think that I had stopped posting.

Independent Bookseller of the Year 2006

2006-10-13T11:36:00.000+01:00

I've been meaning to tell you all about my favorite bookstore! It isn't one of the big chains with expresso machines (which I don't drink anyway) or too many books about stuff I'll never read! It is however the Independent Bookseller of the year for 2006. Where is this lovely store...well it is in my beloved's hometown of Much Wenlock, right in the heart of beautiful Shropshire and is called (appropriately) Wenlock Books. (With a blog at www.wenlockbooks.blogspot.com)

I've been visiting this book store for the last six year or so. Over time the owner, Anna Dreda, and I have developed a friendship that I value very much. She is so enthusiastic about books you can't help be comfortable in the shop. It isn't huge, but it is packed with all kinds of goodness. Upstairs they have good quailty used books. I always go right to the small hardback literature classics first and then to the travel (looking for that Dervla Murphy or Josie Dew I need). Then a peek at religion, biography, fiction, mystery and crafts. Then downstairs to see what is new and if lucky a cup of tea while I sit and browse the childrens department. I always find something for presents for friends, stuff for myself...and the cards....she has some of the most beautiful cards! Tired of those stupid cards with bodily function jokes and ugly pictures?? I even found a great card for my nephew that has cool beetles on it!

Much Wenlock itself is worth a visit. I highly recommend the Copper Kettle tea room, there are two wonderful delis, and a coffee room just off the beaten track a bit. You can easily spend a day just walking down the high street shopping at Twenty Twenty (art gallery) or Rainbows End (a gift shop with great clothes and kids stuff). Or you can visit Wenlock Abbey, the remains of the Abbey torn down by Henry VIII.

Can you tell I love this town?? I want to move back there! Hopefully one day we will.

Email notification...

2006-10-07T17:26:00.000+01:00

I've added Feedblitz email notification in the sidebar. If you would like to know when I add a post, this should email you to let you know. Please let me know if there are any problems. I had some with the other notification I had, but fortunatley I hadn't told many people...so there weren't many already logged into it!

Thanks for reading my blog. I really enjoy writing the reviews and letting you all know about books you might not be aware of.

Silence is Golden – Jeanne M. Dams

2006-10-04T18:44:00.000+01:00

I’ve been reading Dams work for several years now. When I worked at the Valparaiso Indiana library, she was a local author from South Bend. We had her to the library to give a talk and I had supper with her.

She has two mystery series that are set in totally different places and eras. The first series she wrote was the Dorothy Martin series. These are set in modern times mostly in England. The second series, Hilda Johansson, is set in South Bend in the early 1900s. Hilda is a maid working in the grand house of the Studebaker family, a real historical family that is famous for designing and building cars. Hilda and her family have come from Sweden to make their fortunes. In the first few books it is just her, her brother and two sisters. In this book, Silence is Golden, they have been able to have their mother and younger siblings come over to live with them.

The rest of the books in this series have been wonderful. Dams has done her research and knows what it would have been like for servants and their “betters” to relate to each other. She also covers the differences between the different immigrants that were coming over to the new world. Hilda is being courted by an Irish Catholic fireman, Patrick Cavanaugh, and this is a conflict for her Protestant family. You get a good feel for how difficult it was when America was still trying to find its footing with all the new people coming into the country. This book is good, but I did get irritated a bit with Dams forcing the mystery to work.

This book focuses on Hilda and her younger brother Eric who has just arrived from Sweden. Their mother is over protected and he is finding his new surroundings difficult to deal with. Hilda is understandably worried about him. A circus comes to town and his acrobatic friend Fritz, a German boy, goes to see it without permission. He disappears and is found later sexually abused and badly hurt. For some reason, Hilda gets it in her head that Eric is going to try and figure out who did it. There isn’t any indication in the book that he would or did try to find anything out. She also worries and frets that Eric will try to run away to the circus. With what happened to his friend, that wasn’t likely!

About half way through the book Dams finally sorts things out and we do see Eric run off because he is unhappy at this job. He jumps on a orphan train that came through South Bend and he was found and sent back hom. He then is hired to work with horses, a job that he takes to right away. When Patrick and Hilda decide to treat him to the circus and they run across people they think might have hurt his friend, Dams does it again! Eric runs after the people, gets lost in the crowd and Patrick spends the night and part of the next day looking for him. (This is after finding a young boy dead by one of the Circus wagons.) I just can’t see Eric running up to do…what…to this man that might have hurt his friend. Eric is young in the story and would not be able to do anything really, but get himself into trouble. Especially since he has his sister and her beau there also!

Anyway, the end of the story is good, though I had pretty well figured out who was kidnapping and abusing the boys. Do read Dams. She usually writes very well and her books are nice cozy mysteries.

You can find more information about Dams here.

Her Bibliography is:

Dorthy Martin

The Body in the Transept (1995)
Trouble in the Town Hall (1996)
Holy Terror in the Hebrides (1997)
Malice in Miniature (1998)
The Victim in Victoria Station (1999)
Killing Cassidy (2000)
To Perish in Penzance (2001)
Sins Out of School (2003)
Winter of Discontent (2004)

Hilda Johansson
Death in Lacquer Red (1999)
Red, White, and Blue Murder (2000)
Green Grow the Victims (2001)
Silence is Golden (2002)
Crimson Snow (2005)

I'm off target with my reading a bit. I've started reading Virgina Woolf's "The Voyage Out" and I am also reading Barnes' "Arthur and George". I read part of "Gardening with Love" by Elizabeth Lawrence. It was full of latin names for plants and telling of the different plants that she swapped with other in the States. I read the bits about the people's letters she recieved but found the rest a bit difficult to get through, since I'm not into plants like that. Do try it if you are a real gardener!

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

2006-09-25T19:22:00.000+01:00

I was so excited when I heard that Bryson had a new book out. I have to admit, that though I purchased A Short History of Nearly Everything, I’ve not been able to get it read yet….shame, shame on me! This book was so worth waiting for, even though it isn’t his customary travelogue instead he takes us back in time.

He takes us on a journey back to Iowa in the 1950’s when he was a child. The Thunderbolt Kid is his alter ego, which is nicely done. How many of us didn’t think of ourselves as superheroes when we were children? I remember pretending to be Wonder Women a time or to myself. But he doesn’t over do this and make it all about that…no this is a gentle ride through what it was like in the US after World War II. He helps put things into perspective…like the fact that at the same time nuclear bombs were being tested….women were getting their first wringer-less washing machines… That stuck me as so strange the difference in the knowledge and technology being so out of sync with each other.

He also talks about his family life. Both of his parents were journalists working for the local paper, his dad covering sports and his mother home interior. This is where he gets his talent for writing, and he is obviously very proud of them. He is the youngest of three, though he is brought up more as an only child since he siblings are much older. As with most of his work, his humour is gentle and the funny bits are the parts that you can relate too. I found myself reading it all alone in the house and wanting to read parts to someone! I’m from the Midwest, but was a child in the 70s…not much was different when I was growing up…except I don’t remember the circus’s being how he explains it….nor did we do the movies like he did. But the big similarity is the people he talks about. I know those people…had potlucks with lots of Jello….I wore lots of clothes so I could go out in the winter….just so much there that made me smile!

Bryson doesn’t pull any punches though. He talks about the good and the bad, for example racial violence and civil unrest is covered. Bryson though, has a way of making you feel something really strongly, with out being preachy. He has his facts right. As with any era, there are good and bad events and attitudes that he covers. He shows how far we have come, and how far we still need to go.

The only disappointing part of the book is the years of semi-adulthood where her recounts Steven Katz’s stealing and drinking. If you have read Bryon’s other books you know about Steven Katz…however, this does go to explain some of Katz’s attitudes in the other books.

Overall, it is another fine book. A must read for his fans, and a good introduction to his style if you haven’t read him before.

I’m currently reading a Jeanne Dames mystery, so that will be my next review. Hopefully that will be ready next week.

I’ve added a new feature on the sidebar. If you don’t subscribe to something like Bloglines where you can be kept abreast of new postings on weblogs, you can subscribe to an email service. You will receive an email each time I post on to this blog. Hopefully that will be helpful for those that like to read my reviews.

Mysteries!

2006-09-21T12:55:00.000+01:00

Well, it is that time of the year...leaves are falling....chill is in the air...and they mystery writers are releasing their new books! I was looking at the Bookseller today, and I can't believe how many new books are coming out. Of course that is just here, I'm sure they probably have already been out in the States...so excuse me if I'm not telling you anything new....

I won't cover them all....but ones near and dear to me and my Mom's heart I'll mention:

Elizabeth George "What Came Before He Shot Her"
Ruth Rendell "The Water's Lovely"
Lindey Davis "Saturnalia"
Martin Cruz Smith "Stalin's Ghost"
Simon Brett "Death Under the Dryer"
Boris Akunin "Special Asigments"Janet Evanovich "Motor Mouth"
Anne Perry "At Some Disputed Barricade"

Geez...it is going to take me for ever to get caught up at this rate!!! Isn't it great!!!

Next week....Bill Bryson review! I'm almost finished and it is BRILLIANT!!!

Not forgotten....

2006-09-11T11:57:00.000+01:00

As many of my fellow Americans and others around the world,
I don't need to watch the film...
I don't need to watch endless repetitions of what happened.
I may not have been in NY or Washington...
but I was there...
and I won't forget those that were lost
or their families.

Nothing is ever gained by hatred.....
let us love one another.

Fall reading.....

2006-09-10T19:15:00.000+01:00

I decided I really need to get to terms with my reading list. So lets see what I will be reading this fall....

Elizabeth Lawrence
Gardening for Love

Jeanne M. Dams
Silence is golden

Barnes, Julian
Arthur and George

Bill Bryson

The Thunderbolt Kid

Beverly connor
Skeleton Crew

Marina Lewycka
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Sarah Lloyd
An Indian Attachment

Martin Curz Smith
Wolves eat dogs

Barbara Pym
An Unsuitable Attacment

Gillian Tindall
The House by the Thames

I'm reading "Gardening for Love" at the moment. It is one of the books I got from "Slighty Foxed". This is a quarterly that is published in London. I've been getting it since it started in 2004. They aim to reintroduce books to the public that aren't covered in the bestsellers lists of today. I've really enjoyed many of the books that they review, but even if I don't read the books I find the reviews themselves really interesting. They do cover new books that they feel aren't going to get the advertising they deserve.

The Winds of Change – Martha Grimes

2006-08-31T19:15:00.000+01:00

Martha Grimes is a writer that knows her craft. Her characters are fully treated and you get to know how they think and why they act the way they do The main two characters are Richard Jury and Melrose Plant. Richard Jury is with Scotland Yard. His “sidekick” is Wiggins. I say sidekick, because Grimes uses him as a comedic relief to Jury’s seriousness. There is a lot of light and dark in these books. Melrose Plant is a Lord, independently wealthy, who has given up his title and travels around the country helping Jury to solve the crimes. Jury uses him as an “expert” on many different subjects from antique furniture to gardening…usually to very funny effect because he knows nothing about the subjects.

What I want to focus on with Grimes is her use of children. It is amazing how well she writes them. In most mysteries, because of the murder element, children don’t appear at all or are very one dimensional. They are there to add to the story only by being kidnapped, grieving, or just the kids of the adult characters. Grimes doesn’t do that to them. She makes them an integral part of the story. They aren’t always the ones that are in peril…but they do have a way of helping solve the mysteries. Grimes gives them sense and smarts that I’ve seen in children myself. Jury has a very good way with children and they take right too him. Melrose Plant they like to torment because as anyone knows when you get someone that doesn’t like children, children want to bother them. But even then Plant has a way with them, because he treats them as equals. She manages to do the same with pets, but that does happen in other books I read.

The last few of her books have been very dark. This one is about a dead girl and a missing girl. It is suspected that the dead girl has something to do with a house very near where she was killed that might be a house run for pedophiles. The house is owned by the missing girl’s father, who has been divorced by her mother. Could the missing girl be working in this horrible house? Who killed the child? Though this sounds worse then it is, the subject is covered very delicately and I found it a lot better then I thought it would be.

This is the nineteenth of this series all named after pubs…well she has a lot more luck finding pub names then I have. We finally saw an interesting one this weekend called the “Odd Wheel”. Some of these books can be read out of sequence, but if you read them in sequence you get a really good feel for the pub friends of Melrose Plant and Jury, the funniness of Wiggins and the cat Cyril at New Scotland yard, and Jury’s neighbors.

A little aside here….though Grimes is not English and actually lives in Chicago I was interested to see how well she depicted life in England and the English scenery. I must say she does a brilliant job and you can tell that she has visited often and has done her research very well.

She has written other books, Hotel Paradise, springs to mind as another really good book where she uses a girl as the protagonist and does it brilliantly.

This is her website:
http://www.marthagrimes.com/index.html

The Jury Books are in order:

The Man With A Load Of Mischief
The Old Fox Deceiv'd
The Anodyne Necklace
The Dirty Duck
Jerusalem Inn
Deer Leap
Help The Poor Struggler
I Am The Only Running Footman
The Five Bells and Bladebone
The Old Silent
The Old Contemptibles
The Case Has Altered
The Horse You Came In On
Rainbow's End
The Stargazey
The Lamorna Wink
The Blue Last
The Grave Maurice
The Winds of Change
NEW The Old Wine Shades

I’m continuing on with my reading list. I snuck in another Muriel Spark, because I had to get it through Interlibrary Loan. It was The Comforters, which was good but not great. I wouldn’t suggest it as a book to read unless you want to see what Spark is about. You can see her toying with a couple different effects in this novel and she doesn’t really pull them off. I’m reading Gillian Tindall - The House by the Thames at the moment and must get back on track. I just looked and I actually have 4 books still on my list that I’ve seemed to have forgotten about! Oh well. I’ll work on my list and post it for Autumn reading.

Happy Reading!

"Farmers' Market"

2006-08-22T15:52:00.000+01:00

Found an interesting article in Bookseller about a cool new thing, a Farmers' Market set up for independent booksellers. Unfortunately, it is September 1 & 2nd in Manchester, UK in St Ann's Square. I wish I could drop everything and go, but I've already spent a ton of money this month and must be good! It is an interesting premise though. It reminds me of the new markets that are happening in the States for Indie crafts! Read more about it here...

http://www.cids.co.uk/event.asp?f=1&action=view&id=73688

I think I might write and see if I can get some publicity material or something. It would be good to know how to contact some of these publishers.

I already support one independent bookseller, Persephone Books. They republish books, ususally written by women but not all, that they feel should be out there for people to read. I love getting their free quartely newsletter and finding out what new titles they have. They put out about two every few months. I recently purchased a book by Virgina Woolf called "Flush". Check out the titles and more about the publisher:

http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/index.htm

I've been to the store front also, which was just what you would imagine. It was an old building in a old part of London. There were packages to be sent and paperwork here and there, but they had made the front part very comfortable with chairs. They were happy to let you browse away.

One more bit of information I've picked up today...two of my favorite writers have come out with new books. Michael Palin, of Monty Python fame, is releasing some of his diaries. The book is called "Diaries 1969-1979: the Python Years". The topic is self-explained I believe.

The other writer is my most favorite non-fiction/travel writer Bill Bryson. He is coming out with a Fiction book this time. It will be interesting to see how this goes. "The Life and Time of the Thunderbolt Kid" has gone on my wish list!

Happy Reading...I promise to post a review soon. I've finished a Martha Grimes book and I need to get the time to do a review for it. I'm reading another Muriel Sparks at the moment "The Comforters". I have to get it done, because I had to interlibrary loan it.

Email trouble (cross posted)

2006-08-10T13:28:00.000+01:00

I'm having trouble with my yahoo email account. If you get an email from dlam_1999@yahoo.com DON'T open it. I cannot get Yahoo to help me at all! I can't get into the account and I'm trying to get them to cancel it, but they don't seem to be able to. If you have IM and get a messaging saying that your account has been used for unauthorized purposes and you need to click on an URL to clear up the problem DON'T do it! That is what happen to me.

I am hoping to get a new address soon, maybe gmail...we will see. If you want to write me, please write dlao_1967 at yahoo dot com dot uk.....

Thanks

Guilty pleasure......

2006-08-08T19:32:00.000+01:00

I have to admit that during very down times in my life I like to read....don't tell anyone....Miss Read. Who, I hear you ask, is Miss Read? Well, she was the name used by Dora Saint for her English country novels. She has written too many to recount here, it would take the whole page. I did find a really good website for them though:

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/miss-read/

I would call these 1950's chicklit. Or maybe farmgirl-lit..... They recall an innocent time, when communities knew everything about everybody. She wrote two series, one set in Fairacre and the other in the neightboring Thrush Green. Fairacre centers around the Miss Read character who is a teacher in a two room school house. You learn all about the lives of the children she teaches. It is all roses either, there is a grumpy cleaner and evidence of child abuse. But it is done in such a way that you understand that this is what real life is like! Thrush Green covers all of the people that live there and doesn't settle on any one person or household.

So why are these guilty pleasures? Well, when I was married to my first husband and we were having problems,I would close myself off into my bedroom and read of a distant place. A place where a woman, Miss Read, often talked about how glad she was she wasn't married. A place where everyone knew the other and supported them in times of trouble, and celebrated in times of triumph. I spent many a happy hour reading each and everyone of Miss Read's books, becoming one of the neighbors. Living in a place I didn't even think I would visit, the Cotswolds. I enjoy them as much now...in fact when I was so worried about my nephew, who was having breathing difficulties after birth, I got back out one I haven't read in ages, and it helped me to unwind.

So what are your guilty pleasures? What book is it that you unearth whenever you need a lift of the spirit?

A Ride in the Neon Sun – Josie Dew

2006-07-30T21:05:00.000+01:00

I love reading travel writing. I especially like those where the writer actually interacts with the people of the country on a very personal level. Josie Dew is one who puts caution to the wind and just goes out and sees what happens. If you like Bill Bryson you will like Josie Dew, she has the same sense of the absurd and sees the characters around her. She writes very well and keeps you interested. Sometimes travel books have a down time, when the person has been on the road so long they are getting a bit tired of it. Josie never gets to that point. She seems to have boundless energy.

In this book she is traveling by bicycle in Japan...accidentally. She was heading to New Zealand and ended up in Japan. She doesn't know any Japanese and she is planning on tent camping...though she isn't sure if this is allowed. She makes her way through the south before she is called back home. She is deluged with gifts from everyone, including children. She travels through typhoons and the rainy season, staying with families or sweating the night away in her tent.

She starts in Tokyo, travels down around the Okinawa islands and then back. Her biggest obstacles where the tunnels, because some of them were very long, very dark, and didn’t have any extra room for bikes. Also, the many habu, which is a deadly poisonous snake…well actually she mostly sees them dead laying on the road. She stays with many families and describes what modern Japanese households are like, a mixture of the modern and traditional in one.

Probably the funniest time was one night when she wanted to find somewhere to camp. She stopped at a house to see if the person knew of a place she could put her tent. She was invited in and allowed to bath and was fed by a lovely couple. They were disappointed when she insists on camping. The man rides with her to a local park where he leaves her to set up the tent. As she is getting settled for the night she hears sounds outside the tent that worried her, it turned out to be three men. The men were sent by the couple to check on her, let her know that it is supposed to rain and they all had gifts. Then the couple show up with supper. The rain starts very late in the night and she is visited again by one of the men from early trying to get her to come to his family home so that she doesn’t have to get so wet. She refuses as kindly has she can. In the morning she is awaken again by someone with her breakfast. Her description of this one night is so funny; you can’t help but laugh out loud.

She includes some history, but not too much. She also has a really nice glossary in the back, a very small index, and a complete list of the equipment that she took with her. She also includes a chronology of Japanese history to help you place time periods she talks about. The illustrator does a good job with the maps which carry on the fun theme; the drawings are very funny interpretations of what happens to her.

This is Dews third book. In her first, The Wind in My Wheels, she writes a compilation of different trips she took on her bike, with or without other people. In her second, Travels in a Strange State she visited the United States, though she writes mostly about Hawaii. She also has three other books since, in the next Sun in My Eyes she returns to Japan. She has a very good website where you can get a better sense of the places she has visited in her books, http://www.josiedew.co.uk/index.htm. She also has a forum where you can post messages, which I think is a nice touch. She does reply if you post a question.

Titles of all her books in order of publication:

Wind in My Wheels

Travels in a Strange State

Ride in the Neon Sun

Sun in My Eyes

Slow Coast Home

Saddled at Sea

I’m now going to read a mystery by Martha Grimes, The Winds of Change. I’ve been holding off on this a bit, only because I can tell it is going to be a bit dark and I’ve not really wanted to read anything very dark. But I’m going to give it a go now. I’m also reading Proust’s Swann’s Way at work, and will be starting a mystery by Beverly Connor Dressed to Die which fits very well in my purse.

“A Taint in the Blood” by Dana Stabenow

2006-07-20T17:37:00.000+01:00

Stabenow is one author I am never disappointed with. Her books are set in Alaska, she has a great way of writing characters, and there is a real mystery in each book. Some series become just about the characters, but her books are true mysteries that happen to be a series. She doesn’t just write one series though; she has two along with lots of different editing jobs and short stories. Her website is www.stabenow.com where she has a blog and information about her writing and Alaska.

Her longest running series is about Kate Shugak who is an Aleut. She lives in a national park where she grew up. Her grandmother is a very important Aleut leader, which causes her some problems. Her grandmother is always after her to take up the reigns of leadership and Kate doesn’t want to. Kate went to college and worked as an investigator for the Anchorage D.A. She was investigating child abuse cases. We find out in the first book that she quit and moved back to the park when she was hurt badly during an investigation. Confronting a child abuser she ended up with her neck slashed. She ends up with both a scar on the outside, a rough voice and a bigger scar on her emotions. She hides out at her homestead and is brought back out by her lover who knows her skills are too important for her not to use them. She then goes on to investigate many crimes in the park and outside of it, but always in Alaska. The series characters are all wonderful. They are all believable with both good and bad characteristics. You learn about the modern native way of live and also the history and politics of Alaska.

This book takes Kate out of the park and into Anchorage. Charlotte Muravieff asks her to investigate a murder that happened 31 years before. Her mother was convicted of setting fire to the family home, killing one of her sons while the other escaped with a leg injury. Charlotte has found out her mother is dying and wants her to be released. She is convinced that her mother did not do the crime, even though her mother has confessed. Why did she confess and why doesn’t she want to talk to Kate about it? What is it about Kate investigating that has upset this powerful family? We get an interesting look into what the past of Alaska might have been, and also a look into the politics there.
Stabenow is one author I am never disappointed with. Her books are set in Alaska, she has a great way of writing characters, and there is a real mystery in each book. Some series become just about the characters, but her books are true mysteries that happen to be a series. She doesn’t just write one series

The series in order of publication:

A Cold Day for Murder
A Fatal Thaw
Dead in the Water
A Cold-Blooded Business
Play with Fire
Blood Will Tell
Breakup
Killing Grounds
Hunter’s Moon
Midnight Come Again
The Singing of the Dead
A Fine and Bitter Snow
A Grave Denied
A Taint in the Blood
A Deeper Sleep

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

2006-07-13T20:38:00.000+01:00

This book totally surprised me! I have never seen the movie or read any of Sparks work. Something intrigued me when a few people had this book on their Summer Challenge reading list. http://summerreadingchallenge200.phpbbnow.com/viewforum.php?f=1

I pulled it of the shelf at work, and it wasn’t very big and it was paperback…so I thought it might make a good vacation read. I was right, but I had no idea that I wouldn’t read it once but twice…in a row! I’ve never, ever done that. Even if I had to write on a book in college, I never read the whole thing again. But I had to this one. It wasn’t just that it was a good read. Spark has an interesting way of writing. I’ve not decided if she tried to write this in the way a child would have written it, or this is just how she writes. (I’ll have to read more of her books to sort that out.) She goes back and forth between the present and the future. I knew when I finished I had to reread to catch the little pieces that I missed the first time to put the whole puzzle together. I still haven’t totally. I actually went and looked at criticism book just to get someone else’s opinion.

I know that some people doing the challenge quit reading the book because they found the writing aggravating. I think that with all writing pre-WWII you have to keep in mind what was going on in history. Especially when it comes to the way women lived. Jean Brodie is one of the many thousands of women who lost their men in the WWI. Jean lost her true love she was sure she would have married. Since most of the men were either killed in the war, or where horribly traumatized and hurt, there weren’t enough men to go around to all the women of marriageable age. This lead too many women living the life of spinsters, so what were they suppose to do with their time? They had no husband or children to take care of, no household to maintain. Muriel Spark, unfortunately I think, waits until the middle of the book to explain what life was like for them. The start of chapter three she explains:

It is not to be supposed that Miss Brodie was unique at this point of her prime; or that (since such things are relative) she was in any way off her head, She was alone, merely, in the she taught in a school like Marcia Blain’s. There were legions of her kind during the nineteen-thirties, women from the age of thirty and upward, who crowded their war-bereaved spinsterhood with voyages of discovery into new ideas and energetic practices in art or social welfare, education or religion... she was not out of place amongst her own kind, the vigorous daughters of dead or enfeebled merchants, or ministers of religion, University professors, doctors, big warehouse owners of the past, or the owners of fisheries who had endowed these daughters with shrewd wits, high-coloured cheeks, constitutions like horses, logical educations, hearty spirits and private means. (42)

So what is it that Brodie gets up to at this school that is different then the other spinsters of her age? Well she tries to manipulate the lives of a few select girls in her class. These girls become the “Brodie Set” and are given lots of extra attention by Miss Brodie. As the book plays out, in the end the one girl that she had the most effect on betrays her. The head of the school had for years tried to get rid of Brodie. She had been trying on moral grounds, but one of the girls steers her in another direction. A direction that leads to Brodie’s downfall (historically this brought about the downfall of many of the aristocracy of that time). I leave you to find out what this was, and which girl finally brings an end to Brodie’s meddling in the lives of her students.

I’m still left with one question…and if you figure it out please write me! Why does the character Sandy become a Nun? I know the explanation that is given in book, but it doesn’t quite sit right. Especially, when it is said that she was not calm and controlled like other nuns when people come to visit, she hasn’t totally found peace. She also writes a book about psychology. I would love to have been given a glimpse at some of the contents, because I’m a bit confused by the title that is given. I’m sure that if I understood that better I would be able to puzzle more together!

Muriel Spark has been very prolific in her writing. I include a list of the novels she has written. If you go to http://www.nls.uk/murielspark/ you will be connected to her archive in Scotland. They have a full bibliography listing and also some information of the archive they have of her writing and letters. I guess she kept all of her papers at some point in her career and they have been given to the National Library of Scotland.

1957 The Comforters

1958 Robinson

1959 Memento Mori

1960 The Ballad of Peckham Rye

The Bachelors

1961 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

1963 The Girls of Slender Means

1965 The Mandelbaum Gate

1968 The Public Image

1970 The Driver's Seat

1971 Not to Disturb

1973 The Hothouse by the East River

1974 The Abbess of Crewe

1976 The Takeover

1979 Territorial Rights

1981 Loitering with Intent

1984 The Only Problem

1988 A Far Cry from Kensington

1990 Symposium

1996 Reality and Dreams

2000 Aiding and Abetting

2004 The Finishing School

Spark, Muriel. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. London: Penguin Books (2000).

I'm now reading Josie Dews book about traveling in Japan. I will be posting next week about Dana Stabenow though. I finished one of her books over my vacation, but I just had to write this review first.

Happy Reading

Added July 20th. My husband and I watched the movie "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" this weekend. It was very good and I can see why Maggie Smith one an Oscar. There is only area I was really disappointed. I knew it would be different to the book and it was. There was one area I thought they could have done and that was the hats. In the book there are 6 girls and each wears her hat in a different way. They are all suppose to wear them the perscribed way that the school set, but Spark makes a point of saying that these girls each wore theirs different. This was to show that even though they were wearing uniforms they were set aside from the rest of the girls. Unfortuantley, even though there were only 4 of the girls, they didn't each have their hat a different way, most even had them like the rest of the school girls.

I wasn't surprise that the end was different, though I did think it was interesting that they have a confrontation between Brodie and the girl that betrays. It made a powerful ending a suppose, but I thought the whole idea of Sandy becoming a Nun was an important fact in the book...where this wasn't touched at all. Anyway, it was a good movie and I did enjoy it.

Vacation pics part 2

2006-07-08T20:03:00.000+01:00

This is a really cool bird we saw the day we went birding. I've been wanting to see for all the years we've been here and we saw tons this time!

Enjoying the windy day!
We decided that I should live in this town since I enjoy sleeping so much! That is our car also..I'm in there but you can't see me very well.
This is a juvenile Morhen. It got really excited and came running towards us when we first came up to the lake. I couldn't believe it would eat out of my hand.

These are the lovely beach huts along the coast. They are really expensive (more then a car) and they are only a glorified sheds! They do brighten up the coast line though!

Well there are your pictures, enjoy!

Vacation pics

2006-07-08T17:59:00.000+01:00

We aren't very good about taking pictures...but I thought I would show you a few things we saw on our vacation! Firs is the Shire horse we saw ... there are several different breeds and this place has them all. It was really cool to see them. This was Rich's chose of places to go for his birthday!
This horse is the biggest of all the Shire horses. He was funny because the whole time he was in his pen he stood with his back to everyone peeking in!
Here is Rich smartly in the middle of the boat on our way to see the seals!
As you can see I got soaked!!!!

Sorry this is all the pictures that will fit at the moment....

A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow by Tim Brookes

2006-07-03T19:23:00.000+01:00

I was a bit surprised by this book. As with most funny titles, I really should know better then to think that it means the book will be funny too…. The book has it’s moments, instead there is a real sense of what

America

is like. Not just the fast food, over eating, fake side that most books written by non-American’s talk about. Brookes finds the adventurous, proud, kind side that I remember and miss!

I picked up the book at my favorite new/used book store. I was feeling very homesick for the US at the time, so I was happy to pick up this book about hitchhiking around the country. Tim is commissioned by National Geographic to travel around the States in 1998 like he had when he was 20 in 1973. A photographer also traveled around by car, sometimes with Brookes and sometimes on his own, taking pictures for the magazine article. This is not a picture book, however there are a few pages in the middle.

What struck me most about this book was his discussion toward the end about letting go of control. Many people we know need to have complete control of all situations. They don’t like to be alone, or try new things without someone being with them. I have found in my life that these are the moments when I learn the greatest things about myself and my fellow human beings. Brookes talks to the photographer, Tomasz, about this:

I couldn’t shake a very strong sense that giving up control exerts some kind of attraction that is, in the language of quantum physics, “non-local”: It affects people and even objects in ways and at distances that it shouldn’t. It doesn’t seem to have much to do with the conscious mind; in fact, our conscious mind seems mostly to get in the way, by second-guessing and worrying too much. Every time I’ve stated worrying about whether I’ll get a ride, I told him, it has done me no good… (238-239)

If you never like to do new things where you aren’t in control of the situation…you never learn that you don’t NEED to be in control. Things will work out on their own, if you let them. When I flew on my own for the first time I found it so exhilarating and very scarey! But I found that no matter what problems might creep up, I learned that I could handle the issue with an inner strength that I didn’t know I had. I use this often now when I need to travel on my own. If you don’t have a car to control you have to allow others to get you from A to B. All you can do is plan the route to your best ability and then trust that if for some reason something happens that doesn’t go to your plan, you can still work through what you need to do to get there.

Brookes also talks about strangers:

Many of the people who bring about the greatest changes in our lives are strangers, and, by the same token, many of the most important events seem to arise by sheer coincidence (239).

I’ve been amazed at how people react to you if you are traveling on your own. I’ve had such friendly interesting conversation with people that I wouldn’t have had if I was with someone. Sometimes these are the times when you get not only an insight into yourself, but also to what people are really like. Recently I’ve started doing crafts again. I never stopped really, but I haven’t been going at it with such ferver as before. I’ve let some strangers into my life that have changed me. People have challenged my view of arts and crafts, who have made me learn new skills. Sometimes you just have to be open to it, or stagnate and become someone who is unhappy because life can’t be controlled. Things are going to happen. I have faith that a positive outlook on life and my ability to face trails will actually not let terrible things happen. If I hadn’t married Rich and moved clear across the globe, would I be as happy…no…but I trusted him and me and felt that we could make it. Four years on, we are still happy and thriving in our life. This books really made me see that more then I had before. Sometimes books just do that!

So I’ve rattled on, I would suggest you read this book if you are interested in travel books. He meets very interesting people and learns a bit about himself and society along the way. He has a positive experience and sees

America

as the many parts it is, instead of one society. Many people I deal with here in the UK don’t get that. They think we are all the same, Brookes reveals that we aren’t.

Now that I've been such a bore with my review...I thought I would offer the book to anyone who is interested. If I get more then one reply I'll have a drawing for the book! I've been thinking about this and feel that I really want to make sure these books get recycled to others that might enjoy them! It is a hardback copy in really good condition. Drawing will happen on July 15th......

One book down!

2006-06-21T17:45:00.000+01:00

I finished the Tim Brookes book... Hell of a place to lose a cow. It was very good and I've prepared a good review of it for when I get home. I can't take to much time here at the library because they only give you an hour and I've got other things to do. But I did finish it.

Other literature news, I went to the chapel of the first women known to have written a book. She was St. Juliane (sp) and I bought her book and also a bio of her. So I'll have to post how that goes. Again when I have more time.

Plus, I picked up two autographed copies of Josi Dew books (travel writer) at a new books store.

And the best part...walked by a used book store and just walked in to see what they had and I got not only a first edition copy of a Dervla Murphy book....but a autographed copy of one of Miss Read's last books. I was thrilled ! They are so hard to come by! (Both actually.)

Vacation...

2006-06-15T16:14:00.000+01:00

I will be on vacation from June 17th through July 2nd. I plan on still posting, but it might be once or twice a week. I hope to be able to write up lots of reviews when I'm vacation though...taking the laptop! I want to get through several of the books on my list over the two weeks! Ahhh....two weeks of bliss!

Anyway, I will probably post a bit about my vacation and how it is going too....pics will have to follow though.....

An interesting Challenge

2006-06-14T11:52:00.000+01:00

I like to go to the website 52 Projects for ideas to enhance my creativity. Today's project is a good one for readers and might be something you might want to try. The idea is to contact a few authors that you really like, find out how to contact them, and write them a letter about how their work makes you feel. He continues on saying you could ask if you could interview them for your book blog either in person, by phone, or through email. That part I might not do...but the rest really sounds like a good idea. I have contacted authors from their websites before and been pleasantly surprised when they respond back with a REAL reply...not just something from a assistant!

Website is:

http://www.52projects.com/52_projects/

Let me know how you get on if you do this!

Thanks.....

2006-06-13T11:45:00.000+01:00

Wanted to say thanks to everyone who has written such nice comments and added me to their list of blogs to read! I really have missed writing reviews and feel a bit rusty...but you have all given me much confidence!

Summer Reading Challenge

2006-06-13T11:24:00.000+01:00

Here are the books I'm trying to read this summer....

Martin Davies - The Conjuror's bird - Finished June 11th VERY GOOD READ!
Tim Brookes - A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow - Finished... good
Dana Stabenow - A Taint in the Blood - Finished...VERY VERY GOOD
Jasper Fforde - The Eyre Affair
Josie Dew - A Ride in the Neon Sun
Martha Grimes - The Winds of Change
Barbara Pym - An Unsuitable attachment
Gillian Tindall - The House by the Thames
Jeanne M. Dams - Silence is Golden
Julian Barnes - Arthur and George

If you are familiar with these books at all you might see a pattern. I have to admit that I have to force myself to be a bit more rounded. I love non-fiction (even science stuff!), but if I had my way I would read nothing my mysteries. That would get tedious and boring. I like to read books in some kind of order anyway. I've not figured out why I can be so regimented, when most of my life I want to be free to do what I want. I suppose we all need a bit of order every now and again.

So have you spotted the pattern? Mystery, Fiction and then Non-Fiction. I usually have other books hidden here and there I'm reading....but this is kind of my hour before bed reading!

The Conjuror's Bird by Martin Davies

2006-06-12T17:20:00.000+01:00

Wow, finished with my first book of the Summer Challenge! This was an excellent book. It had a mystery element without being a murder mystery, and had a really interesting historical backdrop to it.

It looks like this was Martin Davies first book. I'm impressed! He had done his homework about the historical elements and talks about them at the back of the book. The chapters go back and forth between the modern times story of Fitz and the historical times of Joseph Banks.

Modern times story line:

Fitz is a tutor and leading expert in the field of extinct birds. He is contacted by a long lost love, Gabreilla, to help an important backer of her work, find the stuffed Mysterious Bird of Ulieta. This bird was found on one of Cook's exploration trips and when returned to England was given to the famous explorer Joseph Banks. Then it disappeared. The man that wants to find it, Karl Anderson, thinks that since Fitz has studied these extinct birds he might know something about it....but Fitz is clueless but his interest has now been raised. With the help of Katya, the girl that rents a room in his house, he sets off to find the bird. What Fitz can't understand is why the man is willing to pay for finding a bird that if it existed still would likely be in tatters and not worth much? Who and why has his house been burglarized, since he doesn't know anything special about the bird? What is the relationship between Fitz and Gabriella?

Historical story line:
The second half of the story follows the lives of Joseph Banks and a mysterious young girl who he meets in the woods near his childhood home. Joseph is set to leave on his first exhibition with Cook and finds his young girl who can draw and paint beautiful pictures of nature, which is his passion. She isn't from a respectable family, her father has always been an outcast, hence the reason we aren't given her name, and he is slowly dying. I won't give much away about this, because Davies does a good job of each chapter building on the story line from past to present. So the least said the better.

Conclusion:
I found this book really enjoyable. I was never able to come up with an answer for the mystery, and I liked that. I also liked how one chapter built on the other. Many times I wanted to skip the modern chapter to go on to the next historical and vice versa when I had finished the other! But you would miss so much out of the story if you did that!

Next Book:
Anyway....happy reading! Tonight I'll start reading Tim Brookes "A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow", which is a travel book about traveling around rural USA. I bought the book because I was really homesick at that moment standing in a bookstore in Much Wenlock, my hubby's place of birth and hoped it would be a really good, funny travel read about my home country!

Lauren Henderson

2006-06-06T19:52:00.000+01:00

I just finished reading Strawberry Tattoo by Lauren Henderson. I’ve read most of her books, see titles below, and have enjoyed them. (You might actually now Lauren for her recently book about Jane Austen’s Guide to Dating.) Most of them are set in London, England. The lead character Sam Jones is an artist who makes large metal mobiles. She is definitely NOT the normal cosy amateur detective. She is part of the Tart Noir movement (don’t know if that is actually what it should be called..but anyway….)

http://www.tartcity.com/tart2.html which is a good website if you want to check it out. There are other authors that are part of this website that I have read and might talk about later. Sparkle Hayter is one of them…but she hasn’t had anything new out recently…which is too bad because I loved her books.

A bit of a caution here….if recreational drug taking and drink to access will bother you then you might not want to read these books. I was a bit taken back myself. Now I’m not a total prude, but I have to admit that most drugs in books are seen as BAD, but in these books they are just part of her life. It makes it interesting, but I can’t say I am totally comfortable with. But the mysteries are good.

In this book, Sam has gone to New York to have her mobiles part of a Young British Art exhibition at a gallery. She goes over early because she knows someone whose house she can stay in. When she gets there it isn’t to long for her to find herself in the middle of a mess at the gallery. First, one of the girls that worked at the gallery turns up dead. Secondly, the same night someone uses a key and code to get into the gallery and throw red paint all over the current exhibition. These paintings are works from a lady who has made her enemies. There are a lot of different people that could be the perpetrator. Could it be the other British artist that just happens to be early to New York without telling anyone? Or, the lover of the deceased gallery worker? The long lost friend of Sam’s who turns out to be the estranged daughter of the painter’s husband? Is it an inside job? Sam will keep on picking at the problem until she solves it!

Her books do have reoccurring characters, but since this is set in New York and not London you can read this out of order if you want.

The other books by Lauren Henderson in order of publication oldest first:

Dead White Female

Too Many Blondes

Black Rubber Dress

Freeze My Margarita

Strawberry Tattoo

Chained

Pretty Boy

Here I am....

2006-06-06T18:20:00.000+01:00

I've been thinking about this for awhile and I decided that since I'm doing the Summer Reading Challenge it was time to go ahead. There are several different blogs I read, so I'll talk about those. I also am a big series mystery reader and I will talk about that a bit and include some of the research I've done over the years regarding them and other books. I tend to be a bit anal and I read things in order that they were written. I think that gives me a good idea how the author grew and since I like series it makes since to see how the characters grow over time.

Anyway, will post again in a bit...just wanted to get this in the works so that if anyone comes by from the Summer Reading Challenge there was something here!