The Literary Traveler and more on Wild Swans

Wouldn't this be fun? A Literary Tour! I like the title of these two: Mystery and Manners in Savannah and Wigs and Words: Dickens' London.

An article about H.P. Lovecraft; one of many articles on the above site.

At first, Wild Swans was reading very quickly. Not that even in the beginning, you can avoid being grateful not to have lived in that time and place where women have little or no value. Now, however, the horror of events under the Japanese (although I've read much on this before) has slowed the reading down because contemplating what man can do to his fellow men can only be taken in small doses.

Although the Japanese Occupation was only a small part of this film, Farewell My Concubine is a fascinating look into the Peking Opera and the lives of two boys who also lived through this period and much of the chaos that followed with the Cultural Revolution. Informative and visually stunning. A friend from my Tai Chi class lends me Chinese movies, and I watched this one several months ago. Thanks again, J. L.

Referrals and recs

From checking other reading blogs, I've made a long list of books I would like to read. Here are some of them:

Frances Burney's Journals and Letters - Of Books and Bicycles
Angela Carter's The Magic Toy Shop - Aurora's Books
The China Garden by Liz Berry - Booklogged (Cheya didn't give it the highest marks, but I still want to read it- has a mythological bent)
Sixty Lights by Gail Jones - Reading Matters
Buzzbee's The Yellow-Lighted Book Shop - A Work in Progress

Currently reading:

• Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs
• Wild Swans by Jung Chang (thanks to Booklogged)
• Falling in Love with Natassia by Anna Monardo.

Delay

I've been quite frustrated by my latest Amazon order which didn't arrive and didn't arrive; checked on it and discovered I'd checked deliver all of them together. Evidently, at least one of the books was not immediately available. On order: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, The Haunted Bookshop and Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley, and The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. They were supposed to be my bonus R.I.P. reads, but I may not get them in time for the October deadline. Not a huge problem as November is also a good month for Gothic...

Anyway, after a visit to The Library Ladder, I saw that my problem isn't unique.

Reading Itineraries

While visiting Book Lust , I was reminded of the way we move from one book to another and started thinking about it.

All readers talk about the surprising places one book can take them. I read Brief Gaudy Hour (one of Mother's Book of the Month choices - a novel about Anne Boyleyn) when I was in maybe the 5th or 6th grade. It led to many, many books about the Tudor family and about the time period-- both fiction and non-fiction, including Sir Walter Scott's Kenilworth (which led to many more of Scott's novels and a digressive path toward Vikings as well). Of course, other side trips along the way covered Elizabeth, Mary (Elizabeth's sister and Protestant Burner), Lady Jane Grey (tears for this poor, brief queen), Mary (Elizabeth's cousin and Queen of Scotland) and more. Most recently, mystery series by Fiona Buckley, Kathy Lynn Emerson, Karen Harper, Simon Hawke, and Edward Marston and the excellent non-fiction, The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser.

I love Book Lust's idea of charting the paths reading can lead a reader down; branching out and out and taking you in directions that can't necessarily be predicted. Any good book can take you to other books by the same author, to books on the same subject, and to any interesting detail that you notice in the book.

What are some of the books that have taken you on unexpected journeys? If you decide to creat a book itinerary, please leave me a comment. I'd love to see some of the journeys you've taken.



The paintings of Anne Boleyn come from The Anne Boleyn Gallery.

Finished Black Swan Green - my favorite book this year!

Another Chinese Detective...

Those of you who were interested in Qiu Xiaolong's mysteries might also enjoy Eliot Pattison's novels The Skull Mantra, Bone Mountain, and Water Touching Stone which are excellent. A former Chinese investigator who looked too closely at situations he should have overlooked in Beijing has been exiled to a "gulag" in Tibet where he becomes influenced by the Buddhist Monks who are also imprisoned and condemned to a labor force. For Shan Tao Yun, watching the Buddhist monks leads to a search for a higher morality. These novels are long and involved, the characters are well-developed, the situations tense, sometimes horrifying, and based on the oppression of native peoples in Tibet as China attempts to eliminate cultural differences and religious beliefs.

When Red Is Black

I've read and enjoyed Qiu Xiaolong's novels, and I think he has a new one out that I haven't read yet. Recently an NPR interview with Qiu says that his novels "are gaining a faithful following, as much for their whodunit storylines as for their portrait of China in transition."

Another excerpt from the interview:

"Qiu's hero, the poetry-loving Chief Inspector Chen, pounds the pavement as he pursues murderers, triad members and corrupt officials.
Qiu is an accidental writer of thrillers. He originally made a name for himself translating T.S. Eliot's poetry and William Faulkner's novels. When he started writing his first Inspector Chen book, he didn't even realize he was writing a mystery until he'd finished."

His intention was to write a novel about contemporary China, a China in transition, and he certainly did, but the novel turned into a mystery with a detective who is caught in the midst of the changing attitudes. Qiu's own father was a victim of his own success when the Cultural Revolution was in full swing; now China celebrates business success. An irony that is not lost on Qiu who now lives in St. Louis, but who regularly visits Shanghai.

These mysteries are revealing and frightening. I simply cannot imagine the mental dexterity required in dealing with the changing political attitudes that China has undergone.

Librarian Costume

Librarian Avengers lets us know that Target sells these "incredibly accurate" Halloween costumes for only $59.99!

I didn't like Ghostwritten by David Mitchell; in fact, after reading over 3/4 of the book , when my 2 week library time was up, I returned it without regret. When I started reading blog entries about Black Swan Green, I shrugged and thought, "Nope, not for me." However, the entries in various blogs sounded as if BSG was a completely different style from Ghostwritten, and when it showed up on the library shelf the other day, I cautiously included it in my bag. I began reading last night after finishing The Sea by Banville, and found myself immediately captured by Jason and his world. I didn't get a chance to read tonight, because I was watching Netflix and finishing up another Halloween quilt, but I'm looking forward to continuing tomorrow.

he must go down to the sea again... (updated)

Started reading Banville's The Sea last night. His prose is beautiful (I've jotted the page numbers of somany pages where a sentence or a paragraph seemed so absolutely right), but this kind of remembrance and self-examination is usually a tool leading to an unpleasant revelation of some kind. So I can read for 15-20 minutes before the tension gets the better of me, and I put it down for awhile. I remember Danielle saying that Max Mordent was not a particularly likable character and several passages of his childhood behaviors do give pause. Are they foreshadowing of some kind? Thinking about his name - Mordent - I went from morbid to mordant. A mordant is a fixative when dyeing cloth, and as many quilters dye their own cloth these days, I hear it frequently. But mordant can also mean critical or caustic.

The attention to detail is remarkable and beautifully recorded. I should pull passages to quote, but the visual image Banville created of the picnic is so vivid and complete that it will probably remain as the most memorable portion of the book for me. Since the book is so short, I should finish tonight if I can force myself to read the last little bit. At this point, all of the characters are ghosts in several senses of the word.

---
I did finish. And was surprised and not surprised. The writing is marvelous, Banville's language often a joy, but caring about any of the characters was difficult. I will go back over some passages before returning the book to the library, just to read some of those sentences once again, but although I sympathized with Max at times, not one character claimed much emotional attachment.

More on censorship

Well, sometimes I'm not fully informed. Here is another article about the opera Indemeneo. Kimball is also unhappy about the cancellation of the opera, but evidently this production has little left of Mozart's version.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Poor Mozart. Mr. Neuenfels is one of those directors more interested in nurturing his own pathologies than in offering a faithful presentation of the geniuses with whose work he has been entrusted.

In the best of all possible worlds, we wouldn't be treated to such artistic desecrations. But in this world, such productions are business as usual. And Deutsche Oper's decision to cancel the production because some Muslims might not like it is both craven and shortsighted.
Not, I hasten to add, that Deutsche Oper was wrong in its calculation that the opera will offend those Muslims who are eagerly waiting to be offended.

Read the entire article. It is excellent and raises the questions we need to be asking ourselves about censorship and self-censorship. While Kimball finds this version of the opera offensive (another subject worthy of discussion), he also contemplates the cost of freedom and freedom of speech.

Forgery and Censorship

Finished The Lambs of London Friday afternoon and found it interesting. Not what I expected, but interesting. I was not familiar with William Henry Ireland, but from the beginning was making connections with Thomas Chatterton, whose name eventually came up in the novel. Since I've loved Charles Lamb's essays for a number of years, I was disappointed that his character in the novel becomes something of a foil and not a particularly charming one. Ireland, with his discoveries, proves the most interesting character (surprisingly, more interesting than Mary) . As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ireland went on to write Gothic novels which fits in nicely with the October Gothic-ness many of us have been enjoying.

Finished North by Northanger (a Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mystery) by Carrie Bebris and found it charming. Bebris develops characters that retain the flavor of Austen's originals in a more economical style and in the less formal setting of a newly married couple. A light read that provides a little extension into the lives of the Darcys and their associates. Another bit of Gothic connection since Austen's Northanger Abbey was meant to parody Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho.

On another note, the opera Idomeneo (music by Mozart) has been cancelled in Munich because of one scene. That. Might. Offend. And create a security threat. The opera has been performed countless times all over the world since its premiere in 1781. Now, I have to wonder if it will ever be performed again... I am offended by this censorship (even though I can certainly understand the fear of repercussions) and have to wonder where it will lead.

One Thing Leads to Another

I've spent a delightful several days with our eldest daughter and our grandchildren. I have been reading this week, but most of what I've read has had illustrations...wonderful illustrations in many cases. Judgements have been made once again on the quality of various books: Clarice Bean is a poor knock-off of the ever charming and sharply funny Eloise. Not only is C.B. a poor imitation, it is (at times) mean-spirited. Olivia by Ian Falconer also takes Eloise as a model, but is sweet and funny and for a younger audience. C.B. might appeal to those who have never had the pleasure of meeting Eloise, but I think the book's popularity is mainly driven by hype.

Speaking of hype...in a better way. Carl recently mentioned the influence of blogs on book sales and posted a link to this article that reveals a remarkable increase in sales for The Thirteenth Tale in the U.S. as a result of blog recommendations. Also, many of us involved in the R.I.P. challenge have ordered and posted about Gothic novels. I've noticed comments on non-book blogs lately mentioning or referring to Dracula, The Woman in White, and other novels in this genre. Some of these comments are, no doubt, a direct result of R.I.P. readers posting about their current reading.

I finished The Wyvern Mystery and have drafted a review which I will hold on to until I see some other reviews on the title. Now, I'm nearly finished with The Lamb's of London, a strange little book, and have not yet determined my opinion. Fact and fiction are intermingled here and I'm carefully watching Mary's behavior. Also interesting is that (synchronicity at work again) William Ireland wrote several Gothic novels: The Abbess: A Romance; Rimauldo: Or, The Castle of Badajos; and Gondez the Monk: A Romance of the Thirteenth Century.

I'm really behind in my own blog reading (and novel reading) and trying to catch up.

Visitors and Books

Erin, Mila, and Max are here for a few days. :)

I have a stack of library books to get through and books on the way from Amazon. Have almost finished The Wyvern Mystery, and eager to start some of my library books. Have already started
The Lambs of London by Peter Ackroyd, a fictional look at Charles and Mary Lamb. I've always loved Lamb's essays, so this one practically jumped into my hands. However, most reading will be suspended for a few days while I gloat over grandchildren.

Bonus R.I.P.

Still reading my last R.I.P. challenge, The Wyvern Mystery, and it has gotten better.

Went to the library Saturday afternoon and got (among other books) A Coldness in the Blood, a modern Dracula version. Lurid cover, don't you think? It was a quick read, but not that great. Saberhagen is a PROLIFIC writer, and this is the 8th in this series (he has 4 different series, as well as some that are classified as "other"). I may look for the first in the series because it was a quick read and the earlier ones sound better.

Black and White and Read All Over

I'm going to have to keep a list of where I find new possibilities. I visit so many blogs, write down prospective titles, and later don't remember where I found that particular title. At any rate, I just ordered several books:

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and since I've seen it reviewed on several blogs, I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, which I've read before, but so many years ago, I only remember that I like it. Makes a nice contrast to the Susan Hill novel, eh?

Parnassus on Wheels and The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley, and I don't remember who had these on her R.I.P. list.

A Map of Glass - Jane Urquhart

"He is an older man walking in winter. And he knows this. There is white everywhere and a peculiar, almost acidic smell that those who have passed through childhood in a northern country associate with new, freshly fallen snow. He recognizes the smell but cannot bring to mind the word acidic. Snow, walking, and winter are the best he can come up with..."

"It might have been more than an hour ago that he remembered, and then forgot, the word island. But even now, even thoughtthe word for island has gone, he believes he is walking toward a known place."

This is a novel about ecology. The relationship of man and place, the topography of a landscape, the result that occurs when an aspect of the landscape is destroyed through the gradual and residual effects of greed.

It is a novel of memory. The mining of memory for nuggets of joy or understanding, the turning from and denial of memory, the relentless loss of memory through disease.

The three main characters in the first and last sections are each concerned with landscape and changes in landscape, the structures man creates, the abandonment and decay of structures...but each approaches the landscape from a different perspective. Artist, historian, lover.

And all three are involved in the various aspects of memory, again from different perspectives, but at least two of the perspectives begin to merge and encompass each other, breaking out of their original strictures.

The middle section is a history - of place and of family - told through the journals of Andrew Woodman. This is the section that most reviews have called the heart of the novel, and it is interesting and important because Andrew's journals contain the stories of several generations.

For me, however, the first and last sections were equally, perhaps more, important ...because of the emphasis on the different aspects of memory and because of Andrew's loss of memory.

The book is not a fast read. I don't think the novel should be rushed, nor do I think it will appeal to everyone, but it is a timely novel for me. I will be looking for Urquhart's other novels.

(Jerome, the conceptual artist, has great admiration for Robert Smithson's Map of Glass)

Old Dark Houses and Sheridan Le Fanu

Finished A Map of Glass and liked it very much. Will review it later when I have more time. Have been a bit overwhelmed lately and very tired.

Started The Wyvern Mystery by Le Fanu, but although it initially looked to be a fast-moving read, things have definitely slowed down. The Aussie's made the movie in 1999 and PBS has a version.

Old Dark Houses is an essay that discusses the "old dark house genre" to which the novel belongs. An excellent essay for lovers of Gothic that takes you from earlier "old dark house" versions to more current ones. I love the conclusion:

Even after some 150 years, you can still find mysteries that echo back to the days of Sheridan Le Fanu and The Wyvern Mystery. By now, though, you'd think young women would know enough to stay away from houses with names.

Some people never learn! Fortunately for those of us who enjoy the genre...

Name Game

How important are names in life and literature?

Movies influence so much in popular culture, but books do as well. This is an interesting post about a passage in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and the Damned and popular choices in children's names.

I've noticed more and more young people turning to old-fashioned names and the article mentioned Sophie and Max. My new grandson is named Max (after his great uncle) and friends of Erin and Eric have a little girl named Sophie.

I especially like animals named for characters in books - or even animals in books - Laura in Lolly Willowes names her cat Vinegar,and a friend in New Orleans years ago had two kittens named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

A literary trick that I enjoy is giving characters names that relate to their character, situation, behavior, etc. Dickens did this in a very obvious manner, and we certainly tend to remember these characters. Other authors are more subtle, and only after getting to know the character do we realize how much the name reveals.

Who are some literary characters whose names have made it into popular culture? Who knows animals who have a literary connection? What examples of literary names can you think of that have the Dicken's "twist"?

R.I.P. #4 The Haunted Hotel

First published in 1879 in Belgravia Magazine, The Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venice is set in 1860. At only 127 pages, the blurb says it is "perhaps [Collins'] last lucid effort (before ill health and opium drained his powers)." It is a fast-paced little novel that may have been based on an actual French crime. Collins' version has a mysterious countess, a murder, a secret room, a dungeon converted to a chemistry lab, a ghost, and a love story.

Definitely not a feminist novel, both the heroine and the villainess ask forgiveness for their feminine frailties on more than one occasion. Although Collins may really have intended to create frail and sensitive women, both the heroine and villainess exhibit a good deal more strength of will than do their male counterparts, they just make sure to request patience with the weaknesses of their gender. A good book for a "dark and stormy night." Gothic and Victorian and fun.

I had no idea when I chose my books that 3 of them would be so short.
The Le Fanu novel is longer, I think. Having so many that are such quick reads means I can start considering which "bonus" books to read in the R.I.P. vein.

Interesting posts & links; A Map of Glass

A review of the book Artist of Wonderland: The Life, Political Cartoons, and Illustrations of Tenniel arouses my interest.

Bibliotherapy...great post that introduces a cure for so many things. Seems to have worked for SoManyBooks.

Dorothy W. commenting about Courtney's post on review styles. When do reviews get too scholarly?

This link (BBC) is full of fascinating stuff about books, poetry, and a project called "Telling Lives."

I am still so in love with A Map of Glass by Jane Urquhart. What lovely prose, what a fascinating journey into the lives of the characters. I read it slowly-- almost like nonfiction-- because, unlike many books where the plot encourages rapid reading, Urquhart's sentences and paragraphs slow me down and encourage me to ponder characters, settings, history, memory. I find myself wanting to linger, not rush to a conclusion.

Will finish The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins today. Really more of a long short story or novella than a full length novel. All the important Gothic elements here AND a Gothic sensibility. Fun, fast reading.

September Reading

Ackroyd, Peter. The Lambs of London. Interesting, although the novel changes (without sufficient reason in at least one instance) some historical facts. The "discovery" of Shakesperian artifacts and a never-before published play provide the basis of this story. Described as a "romp," the novel has little to do with humor.

LeFanu, J. Sheridan. The Wyvern Mystery. First published in 1869. Neither spooky nor suspenseful. Characters are not sympathetic. Drags. The Brontes and Wilkie Collins offer much more, but Le Fanu was tremendously popular in his own time period. Uncle Silas and Carmilla may be better examples of his ability.

Ironside, Elizabeth. Death in the Garden. Review is here.

Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Lolly Willowes. My review is here.

Meltzer, Brad. The First Counsel. Not impressed with the writing, the characters, or the plot.

Hodgson, William Hope. The House on the Borderland. I reviewed this here.

Marrs, Suzanne. Eudora Welty: A Biography. I ended up really appreciating this biography, warts and all. Although thoroughly researched and documented, the biography is terribly uneven. It could have been cut to half the length (the "datebook effect") and would have been much more entertaining and still informative. Eudora's close friends included Elizabeth Bowen, Katherine Ann Porter, Reynolds Price, V. S. Pritchett, Robert Penn Warren; she was acquainted with nearly everyone on the writing scene from the 1940's forward... Cleanth Brooks, Ann Tyler, Truman Capote, William Faulkner, S. J. Perlman, and on and on. Even in her closest relationships, however, little is revealed. This may change when certain letters that were sealed in her Will are made available in 2021.

What is revealed is that Welty was not the sheltered, stay-at-home spinster that some have thought. She was widely traveled (an exhausting travel schedule), interested in all areas of the arts, and a generous friend and mentor. I especially enjoyed her lectures and literary criticism.

Awards: Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, eight O. Henry Awards, the National Medal of Literature, and the Medal of Freedom. She recieved 39 Honorary Degrees from various colleges and universities.

She loved two men, but never married. Her first love, John Robinson, vacillated between courtship and distance until realizing/admitting he preferred men. Her second love, Ken Millar (Ross MacDonald) was married. Their relationship was very strong, despite being conducted mostly in letters of deep friendship.

Near the end of her life, Eudora tells of a letter from an old friend: "She said, 'I'm 90 years old now, and I feel like there's somebody else living inside my skin and not a friend.' I loved that! Isn't that wonderful? I know what she means. I understand. I guess she feels her body is not obeying her. She didn't mean an enemy but not a friend.

Walters, Minnette. The Devil's Feather. Strangely, although the subject matter is as dark as usual, the novel didn't seem as dark as most Walters' novels. Connie Burns is a war correspondent who makes connections about the brutal murders of five women in Sierra Leone, and the appearance of a frightening mercenary who appears later in Baghdad. Her suspicions and inquiries lead to several invasions of her hotel room. Frightened she decides to leave Baghdad, but is kidnapped on her way to the airport and held captive for three days. On release, Connie refuses to talk and returns to England damaged and seeking seclusion.
Eventually, she rents a house in a remote area where, as she regains some stability, she begins researching the suspected murderer again...
An engrossing read that I found difficult to put down.

Thurlo, David and Aimee. Prey for a Miracle. Quick little mystery about a former journalist, now a nun, who solves mysteries. Sister Agatha is an extern nun who helps protect eight-year-old Natalie whose mother had been forced off the road and badly injured. Natalie manages to escape before the attacker can catch her. Another motorist arrives on the scene and the attacker escapes. Natalie claims she has a guardian angel, and Agatha's convent provides shelter until the villain can be identified and caught. Not much to it, but a fast read.

more on science fiction

After looking over the science fiction list posted below, I've been thinking about The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey which I read probably 15 years ago. It belongs in the science fiction genre, although many of McCaffrey's works are fantasy.

Here are the first few paragraphs from the short story McCaffrey later developed into the novel:

She was born a thing and as such would be condemned if she failed to pass the encephalograph test required of all newborn babies. There was always the possibility that though the limbs were twisted, the mind was not; that though the ears would hear only dimly, the eyes see vaguely, the mind behind them was receptive and alert.
The electro-encephalogram was entirely favorable, unexpectedly so, and the news was brought to the waiting, grieving parents. There was the final, harsh decision: to give their child euthanasia or permit it to become an encapsulated "brain," a guiding mechanism in any one of a number of curious professions. As such, their offspring would suffer no pain, live a comfortable existence in a metal shell for several centuries, performing unusual service to Central Worlds.

She lived and was given a name, Helva... More here

Helva becomes a "brain ship" (those who have read Robin Hobbs' Live Ship Traders trilogy will note some similarities); Helva is a space ship whose brain manages all details of flight and operation, an advanced and human instrument with "the voice of an angel."

I'm about to abandon Golden Boy since I will only read a few pages at a time. I'm really enjoying the beautifully written A Map of Glass.

R.I.P. # 3 Death in the Garden

Elizabeth Ironside's Death in the Garden was a pleasure to read. Danielle, didn't you read this earlier this year? I really enjoyed Ironside's prose, and the two narratives, one in 1925 and one in current time.

Interesting that there are some similarities here with Lolly Willowes. The idea of a woman's place being at home in servitude to house and home and a self-righteous, domineering male are present in both. The differences in the novels are huge, for example, Laura's brother is domineering and conventional, but not in any way violent or verbally abuse as is George Pollexfen when crossed.

George's view that his wife should not have a career provides a catalyst for Death in the Garden.The story opens with Diana Pollexfen's unexpected acquittal of her husband's murder. No one is more surprised than she.... The story then quickly moves to the days preceding George Pollexfen's death and the arrival of various friend's for Diana's birthday.

Part III introduces Helena, a London solicitor, and her life in contemporary London. When her Great-Aunt Fox dies, Helena must go to Inglethorpe where she discovers that 67 years ago, her Great-aunt had been accused of the murder of her husband. When Helena realizes that she has inherited Inglethorpe, she decides she needs to know whether or not her Great-aunt was really guilty. Reading old journals, Helen realizes that she knows very little about her Aunt's life and sets about learning more in the hopes of proving her innocent.

Helen's life has its own complications that need to be resolved, but she is committed to her project, and aided by her cousin Simon and his wife Marta, she begins unraveling relationships in the past.

She often does not know what to make of the journals: "...as she read the extracts from different decades, Helena could not decide whether she was reading an honest account meant for no eyes but the writer's, a work of fiction, or a self-deception. Did anyone keep a diary meaning no one else to read it? She doubted it. It might be written as therapy, a means of objectifying one's life for one's self, but the act of writing, however secret, implied a reader, known or unknown, one day, sooner or later" (213).

Elizabeth Ironside (Lady Catherine Manning) is an author I want to read again, although I may have to search to find copies of her earlier books.
Here is a link to an interview on American University Radio. The interviewer's voice is ... well, annoying.

Interesting List

List of books for feminist science fiction, fantasy

I had only read 5 from that long list:

Octavia Butler. Wild Seed.
Leonora Carrington. The Hearing Trumpet
Charlotte Perkins Gilman. "The Yellow Wallpaper"
Mary Shelley. Frankenstein
Sylvia Townsend Warner. Lolly Willowes, or, The Loving Huntsman (1925)

A number of the titles listed sounded quite interesting, a few were familiar, but most were absolutely new to me.

the keep

I'm evidently one of the few unimpressed by Jennifer Egan's The Keep. The style has been compared to Chuck Pahlahniuk's, and perhaps that is a key; certainly not one of my favorite styles. A few gothic elements do not a real Gothic Novel make, she said disappointedly. Obviously, the novel did have an influence, she said wryly.

There are elements I like:

• the incident that changes life for Howard and Danny, sending them in separate directions. The "loser" becomes a winner and the "winner" becomes a loser, trying to forget the role he played and punishing himself. This psychological twist is interesting and believable.
• the Gothic elements that are (as it turns out) only partially developed. There are scenes, incidents, characters in this portion that aroused my interest, but were never fully fleshed.
• the story within the story, as Ray writes the story of Danny and Howard is a good concept, I think. I t has an intriguing aspect as the reader debates the role Ray plays/played.

But overall, the novel wasn't satisfying and was often annoying. When quotations marks and tags are deleted and more than two voices are taking part, the narrative is slowed down. Egan has received some acclaim for breaking rules, I just don't feel that the rules she breaks (for example, the dialogue) are beneficial, stimulating, or thought provoking.

Close to the end, my interest mounted, but I still felt dissatisfied. And then there was another ending...

The Loving Huntsman (or "a room of her own")

Interesting tid bit:
1926 - The Book-of-the-Month Club in New York City chose as its first selection, "Lolly Willowes" or "The Loving Huntsman" by Sylvia Townsend as the offering to its 4,750 members.

I didn't realize that the Book-of-the-Month club started in 1926. Wonder how many members it has now, 80 years later...

Finished Lolly Willowes, a strange little book; another short one -- only 222 pages. Approximately the first 100 pages cover LauraWillowe's life as first daughter, living at home until nearly 30, then maiden aunt, living in the small spare room in her brother's home.

At home with her father, Laura is content with reading and botany and her father's brewery. She is interested in neither marriage nor an active social life. Her life is not exciting, but pleasant.

On the death of her father, Laura finds herself taken over by her elder brother Henry's family who move her to London to live with them. Their intentions may have been good, but after trying and failing to set Laura up with a suitable mate, they begin to rely on her as a sort of nanny for their children. This portion of the novel is deadly slow and reveals the 20 years that "Aunt Lolly" lives a stagnant life without questioning it. Her sister-in-law Caroline "was a good woman and a good wife. She was slightly self-righteous, and fairly rightly so, but she yielded to Henry's judgment in every dispute, she bowed her good sense to his will and blinkered her wider views in obedience to his prejudices" (50-51).

Laura thinks that "the law had done a great deal to spoil Henry. It had changed his natural sturdy stupidity into a browbeating indifference to other people's point of view. He seemed to consider himself briefed by his Creator to turn into ridicule the opinions of those who disagreed with, and to attribute dishonesty, idiocy, or a base motive to every one who supported a better case than he. This did not often appear in his private life, Henry was kindly disposed to those who did not thwart him by word or deed. His household had been well schooled by Caroline in yielding gracefully, and she was careful not to invite guests who were not of her husband's way of thinking" (51).

Laura, however, after 20 years of occupying this empty existence decides to make a change. She announces her intention to move to Great Mop, and despite being forbidden to do so, she follows through with her plan.

At his point, the supernatural elements begin to make a gradual entrance, and Laura discovers she is a witch by avocation.

The novel depicts a woman's struggle for independence, in a time that still views women only in circumscribed and conventional roles. Laura becomes a witch to escape this role and "to have a life of one's own, not an existence doled out ...by others..."

The devil appears, but not the demon we might expect. Not the "Wild Huntsman" of myth, but "The Loving Huntsman" who protects his own. Laura is not a typical witch, but a woman whose decision to take control of her own life could only have been achieved with supernatural help.

Information about The Wild Huntsman and the Wild Hunt can be found here. (I'm always gonna' go with folklore and myth.)

And this source: In other places the Hunter was not a God, but the leader of the fairies, such as Gwyn ap Nudd who was seen as the leader of the Welsh fairies (the Tylwyth Teg) and who led the Hunt in Wales and the West of England. [3] Toward the end of the middle ages, however, the Wild Hunt became more and more associated with witchcraft. Instead of saying that the Hunt was led by a spirit of God and featured many other spirits, it began to be said that witches participated in the Hunt and that their leader was either Satan himself or a demonic spirit. This belief also seems to have become muddled up with the idea that Witches rode in procession to Sabbats upon animals, or flew in the sky, and this idea became one of the major charges used in European witch hunts.
...
The Wild Hunt is a popular and very long lasting myth, perhaps arising out of the pre-Christian Pagan religions of Europe, and it is remarkable that it managed to survive being associated with Witchcraft during the witch mania. Herne and his counterparts have rightly been rescued from children's tales and brought back to be a positive male image in Paganism, which sometimes seems in danger of being unbalanced by an over-concentration on the female aspects of the Divine.

So Sylvia Townsend Warner has managed to associate a woman's independence with Satan (how dare a woman assert herself...unless the devil made her do it), and has chosen the Loving Huntsman as a means to remove Laura from a controlling, conventional family.

Mark Haddon and Eudora Welty

First: I guess no wanted a copy of House on the Borderland; the only response was Carl, who offered to mail his copy as well! Maybe my review was discouraging... However, the offer still stands, if anyone is interested.

I really loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and was pleased to see that he had a new novel out, A Spot of Bother. The reviews have been quite good, and then on my favorite NPR, an interview with Haddon! He also writes poetry.

In my long list of books I want to read is Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings. Tedious as much of the biography was, I found some sections so interesting that I want more. Welty's lectures were the most vivid parts of the book for me, and I find myself thinking about them even now. The lectures were part of a series and are a form of personal and literary memoir.

Free

Who would like my copy of The House on the Borderland? Let me know, and I'll send you my email address --so you can send your mailing address privately.

"It was a dark and stormy night..."

I know most of you are familiar with The Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest, but just in case you want to participate...you can follow the above link. Fits in with the current R.I.P. theme, doesn't it? How utterly familiar is the phrase "...a dark and stormy night..." ?

Finished the Welty biography; it certainly increased my admiration of Eudora as author and woman, although the slow spots were really slow. Will review later.

I've started 2 more books-- Lolly Willowes from the R.I.P list and one by Brad Meltzer because I heard him interviewed on NPR. Here is a link to the NPR site; click on the "Listen" if you'd like to hear the interview. I didn't hear the whole thing and plan to listen to it later, but the fact that Meltzer was invited to a think tank to help flesh out information on possible terrorist attacks caught my attention.

I'm reading Meltzer's The First Counsel, and while I find certain details about the White House interesting, I'm not much impressed with his characters. Doesn't mean I don't want to know what happens!

One Down

Finished The House on the Borderland and will point you to Carl's review of this short novel. My favorite character was Pepper, the dog. From what I've read about H.P. Lovecraft, it is not surprising that he was drawn to this short, strange work, considering it a classic. I didn't find it frightening, really, but strange and strangely disconnected. At only 137 pages, it was a quick read, and I'm glad I read it for the sense of putting it in a chronology of the genre. In spite of the many Gothic elements (brooding protagonist, supernatural occurrences, ruined Gothic architecture, terror, mystery, subterranean passages, etc.) the book seems more at home with science fiction. Frankenstein also walks this line between Gothic/science fiction. Lovecraft spoke of his work as "cosmic horror," and I think that must have been what attracted him to The House on the Borderland.

Conclusion: Although I didn't really like the book much, I did find it interesting--especially given the time of publication (1908). The novel seems to be part of the development of a sub-genre. Shelley's Frankenstein led to H.G. Wells, to Hodgson and eventually to Lovecraft...a kind of Gothic science fiction.

My R.I.P. books are here...

They arrived yesterday! I started House on the Borderland last night, and as it is very short, I should work my way through pretty quickly. I skipped Carl's review because I wanted to read the novel before getting any more details.

One interest I have in this novel is that it was an influence on Lovecraft (who had a huge influence on many authors). I've never read anything by Lovecraft, but his name surfaces all the time. He was a character in The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril which I reviewed here -- Blackstone the Magician is another name that I frequently come across in other reading; in fact, Eudora Welty mentions having seen him perform when she was a child.

Speaking of Welty, I'm almost through with the biography. I did try skimming some of the "datebook" type paragraphs, but wasn't very successful. I've come to admire Welty as a person and, although the biography has many dull spots, the research is impeccable and thorough.

Golden Boy has taken a back seat as I've waded through Welty's life and digressed to fiction, but as soon as I finish Welty, I'll return to it.

Yesterday, on Bayou Quilts, I wrote about Self-University and think a self-directed study of the Gothic novel might be fun since I'm involved with the R.I.P. challenge and have several appropriate books at my fingertips. Also, reading blog entries on the challenge provide another kind of research, don't you think?

Since I taught Dracula, at one time I did some reading in this area. In fact, the background reading and critical analyses on the novel were almost more interesting than the novel itself, adding so much about the historical aspects and the Stoker's contemporary Victorian culture. I despised the most recent film version which took WAY to many liberties, altering the original concept.

Those who are reading Dracula, I'd love to read your reviews since I don't need to worry about pre-reading influence.

On Children's Literature and a disturbing trend

In today's world, childhood is a very brief episode that too quickly slides into "pre-adult." There are too many (and many too obvious) examples to mention concerning the curtailing of childhood and the headlong rush into adult clothing and activities.

In Let Sleeping Beauties Lie an article by Dorothea Israel Wolfson for The Claremont Institute, Wolfson reviews the The Norton Anthology of Children's Literature: The Traditions in English and castigates the editors who have opted for current political correctness in assembling the works for this anthology. According to Wolfson, "It is not so much an anthology as a postmodernist manifesto."

And more of Wolfson's legitimately outraged review:

As the editors declare in the preface, "In our choice of texts and in our introductions, we have paid close attention to…perceptions of race, class, and gender, among other topics, in shaping children's literature and childhood itself." Practically every text and every author (save for the "emergent") is subjected to a wicked scolding from the editors for its racism, sexism, and elitism. Forget about ogres, witches, monsters, and evil stepmoms; today's villains are gender stereotypes, white males, the middle class, and the traditional family. Retrograde literature must therefore be replaced by a new one, one that is, as it were, beyond good and evil: "In our postmodern age, in which absolute judgments of 'good' and 'evil' are no longer easily made, the distinction between heroes and villains is often blurred."

The editors herald this as a great advance, one they wish to promote by burying the stories under a ton of commentary. To read a children's story out of context, say the editors, is so passé (so childish?): "Discourses such as reader-response theory, poststructuralism, semiotics, feminist theory, and postcolonial theory have proven to be valuable in analyzing children's books." Thus the editors introduce Fun with Dick and Jane by noting that the "world of Dick and Jane was the idealized image of white, middle-class America." The introduction to the chapter on "Legends," which includes The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood and King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, warns that "history has generally been written by the victors and the elites, who tend to view those like themselves—white males, for the most part—as heroes."

In the chapter on "Classical Myths," the editors ponder whether myths are being "kept alive" "by unreflective adults." After all, myths are prone to "strong gender stereotyping—females are passive, males are active.... The protagonists are devoted to a ruthless elimination of the 'other' and to a savagery that is scarcely tolerated" in other children's literature. The genre of domestic fiction—which includes works like Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and The Bobbsey Twins—"showcased white middle- or upper-class families." But the editors are happy to report that "the genre has come to reflect ethnic, racial and class diversity." Nor are they above offering advice to would-be authors: "still more change would be welcome here."

And yet more:
Fairy tales, which have always dealt with dysfunctional families, especially wicked stepmothers, now take on a hard modern edge by tackling perhaps the last taboo, incest. The Norton Anthology contains ten versions of Little Red Riding Hood, beginning with Charles Perrault's classic and ending with Francesca Lia Block's Wolf (1998). Block, unlike Perrault, isn't satisfied with the sexual undertones and imagery of the original; her heroine is the victim of rape at the hands of her mother's boyfriend ("he held me under the crush of his putrid skanky body") whom she kills with a shotgun at her grandma's house. The editors tell us that this "story shows how a young girl can take charge of her life, while at the same time exposing the sado-masochistic ties that exist in many dysfunctional families."
Well, perhaps, but is this really a story for children? "Once upon a time" used to be a gateway to a land that was inviting precisely because it was timeless, like the stories it introduced and their ageless lessons about the human condition. But this invitation must now apparently read, "Once upon a time when women were powerless and exploited and white male hegemony ruled the world, and when the sky was dark…."
In a strange way, completely unappreciated by the anthology's editors, we have returned to the pre-Lockean age of children's literature. Locke wished to scrub stories clean of horrific images and premonitions of death—not because he was a naïf or a utopian, but because he believed it possible to build a more rational, humane world. The Norton editors break with him on this central issue. They do not believe in the possibility of a more rational world, or even, it would seem, in childhood itself. And so they have more in common with the New England Primer than they dare to admit. They, too, are obsessed with death and the apocalypse, only they don't believe in redemption.

I know...I quoted an awful lot--and still provided a link-- :) You could have and still can go directly to the article and read for yourself, but this trend in children's literature bothered me when my children were young and bothers me even more today. Not that this anthology is intended for children, but it influences those who will teach them...

Talking to your books?

Interesting article on marginalia in John Adam's books.

What he most dislikes is breezy confidence; the pieties of both left and right set him off. Adams read Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Discourse on Inequality” in translation. “Savages are not bad,” Rousseau wrote of the state of nature, for “the calmness of their passions and their ignorance of vice . . . prevents them from doing ill.” Adams: “Calmness of the passions of savages! ha! ha! ha!”

:) Ha! Ha! Ha! Centuries don't much change human nature, but thinking of John Adams adding the "ha! ha! ha!" makes me laugh.

Centuries after the invention of printing, millenniums after the invention of writing, literature still has many of the features of an oral/aural experience. We read books aloud, or listen to them on tape. John Adams talked to his books, ideas and authors becoming characters in a continuing free-for-all in his head. We don’t know if he spoke to himself as he made his jottings, but it’s hard to imagine him (“foolish woman”) writing in perfect silence.

Dovegreyreader scribbles recently posted on the topic of marginalia...who does, who doesn't, and why.

Still working on my biographies, but with typical interruptions for two mysteries: Prey for a Miracle and The Devil's Feather. Reviews are here.

On book covers and book choices

An interesting post over at Carl V.'s blog on book covers. I've mentioned before that both covers and titles are important to my book choices, and this post illustrates the differences in opinions. Ruth and Booklogged seem to have expressed some of my own views on covers, and it's interesting to see those whose opinions are quite different. You really can't judge a book by its cover, but we all do a good bit of choosing or rejecting a book by its cover.

R.I.P. Challenge

Thanks to Danielle and Ex Libris, I found my way to the R.I.P. challenge sponsored by Carl V....which of course, I can't resist.


Possibilities (garnered from other lists):

Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Lolly Willowes.
Hodgson, William Hope. The House on the Borderland.
Stoker, Bram. The Mystery of the Sea.
La Fanu, J. Sheridan. Wyvern Mystery.
Leroux, Gaston. The Mystery of the Yellow Room.
Webber, Mina. The Reluctant Miss Van Helsing.

Haven't read The Woman in White or The Moonstone in years and do think either one would be a fun re-read. In an earlier post, I said I rarely re-read, but since perusing so many book blogs, favorites from the distant past have been calling to me.
-----
O.K. - Final Answer -
Have ordered:

The Haunted Hotel - Wilkie Collins
The Wyvern Mystery - J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Lolly Willowes: Or the Loving Huntsman -Sylvia Townsend Warner
The House on the Borderland - William Hope Hodgson
Death in the Garden - Elizabeth Ironside

And there are several others that I'm interested in and will look into later.

Hot or Not? No cleavage, but...

Geoffrey, who hath a blog, has requested votes for himself, and even though he was deemed unsuitable for the site, I voted for him anyway. Looks aren't everything, and Chaucer is definitely Hot in my book.

from dull to fascinating

Much of the first of the Welty biography reads like this:

"She saw a new exhibition of work by her Yaddo pal Karnig Nalbandian, longing to buy some of the beautiful pieces, then dined with him at Nona Balakian's. She spent one weekend with the Russells and another visiting the Robert Penn Warrens and the Cleanth Brooks in New Haven. She attended the opening of Lehman Engel's Mikado and went to a party at his apartment" (221).

Lots of names, no real personalities. Even her letters are accounts of who and what with no real commentary or introspection.

But, finally, an excerpt from one of her lectures shimmers with genuine Welty:

"...that Southerners do write--probably they must write. It is the way they are: born readers and reciters, great document holders, diary keepers, letter exchangers and savers, history tracers--and, outstaying the rest, great talkers. Emphasis in talk is on the narrative form and the verbatim conversation, for which time is needed. Children who grow up listening through rewarding stretches of unhurried time, reading in big lonely rooms, dwelling in the confidence of slow-changing places, are naturally more prone than other children to be entertained from the first by life and to feel free, encouraged, and then in no time compelled to pass their pleasure on. They cannot help being impressed by a world around them where history has happened in the yard or come into the house, where all round the countryside big things happened and monuments stand to the memory of fiery deeds still to be heard from the lips of grandparents, the columns in the field or the familiar cedar avenue leading uphill to nothing, where such-and-such a house once stood. At least one version of an inextinguishable history of everybody and his grandfather is a community possession, not for a moment to be forgotten--just added to, with due care, mostly. The individual is much too cherished as such for his importance ever to grow diminished in a story. The rarity in a man is what is appreciated and encouraged" (240-41).

And "...place must have something to do with this fury of writing with which the South is charged. If one thing stands out in these writers, all quite different from another, it is that each feels passionately about Place. And not merely in the historical and prideful meaning of the word, but in the sensory meaning, the breathing world of sight and smell and sound, in its earth and water and sky, its time and its seasons" (241).

Isn't that wonderful prose? Engaging, informative, and imaginative. I love it.

Just when I was about to close the book and move on, I find what I was looking for. From here on out, I will skim the itinerary and date book accounts and search for these lovely nuggets. Her letters improve at this point, too, seeming more thoughtful and personal--less saw ___, dined at ___, met with ___.

Ironically, golden boy is less engaging now.

lists--long and longer

My "to be read" list grows at a frightening speed. Here are some of the latest additions:

Some from the Booker Prize long list:

Mark Haddon's new A Spot of Bother: A Novel. Bluestalking Reader's review intensified my interest in this one.

The Secret River by Kate Grenville also piques my interest and Bluestalking's review makes it a must read.

The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud got a great review from dovegreyreader scribbles.

Some of the books on the Booker long list are difficult to get hold of right now, but I'm in no particular hurry. My "tbr" list is long, and I also pull from the shelves at the library while browsing.

On the Cultural Revolution in China (I'm interested in all things Chinoise), I've added these recommendations from booklogged: Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang and Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang. Both of these look fascinating- thanks, booklogged.

A Work in Progress expressed an interest in reading or re-reading some classics. For some reason when I re-read Cather a few years ago, I didn't enjoy them as much as I did originally. I've re-read Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein, and Turn of the Screw several times while teaching so they get a pass for awhile. Robinson Crusoe, however, I do want to re-read...I'm not telling how many years ago my last reading was. And Alcott, not just Little Women, but Jo's Boys, and several others have been added to the re-read list.

about a life...

I'm currently reading Eudora Welty: a Biography by Suzanne Marrs. Welty resisted autobiographical and biographical works for years, but in 1998 gave Marrs permission to write an account of her life. While I find the work interesting in many ways--Welty was not the provincial, staid, sheltered individual she is often thought to have been--somehow the biography still manages to maintain a dry distance around this complicated woman. "Just the facts, ma'm" is the way it reads. Not that the facts aren't interesting, but they don't reverberate, don't resonate the lively way I imagine the woman herself did. I'm only on page 189 and the book is nearly 600 pages, so I'm hoping for more in the pages to come.

Also reading golden boy: Memories of a Hong Kong Childhood by Martin Booth. Here is a link to his obituary in The Guardian. Already enchanted by the Author's Note and few pages I've read so far.

As many of you do, I enjoy biographies and memoirs. Favorites include May Sarton's various journals and Doris Grumbach's Coming into the Endzone. I read these several years ago and was fascinated with the way these women dealt with aging.

Have always loved historical characters and their biographies. The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser is a favorite.

Which "real" people do you enjoy reading about? What biographies and memoirs call to you?

August Reading (updated)

Flawless Hand Quilting from Rodale's Quilting Library. I wrote about this and the following book several weeks ago and have kept them both handy ever since. Lots of good tips in this one.

Moran, Freddy, and Gwen Marston. Collaborative Quilting. Wonderful pictures, creative approaches, interesting glimpses into the lives, styles, and techniques of these two creative women. This was a joy, and I'm still going back to it frequently for inspiration and pleasure.

Benoit, Charles. Out of Order. I really thought I'd like this one because the setting is India. The premise was good--theft of a computer program and sabotage--but the result was poor. Characters were not believable, plot unecessarily complicated with ambiguity and less than logical behavior, love interest questionable (falling in love with a pathological liar has drawbacks).

Elkins, Aaron. Unnatural Selection. Gideon Oliver is a forensics professor often called in to study old bones. While attending consortium held on the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall with his wife, Oliver is asked to examine some bones that had been discovered by a dog digging on a beach. From the few recovered examples, he determines that they were indeed human and that the body had been dismembered.

Piercy, Marge. The Third Child. I love Piercy's poetry, but wasn't impressed by this novel.

Asensi, Matilde. The Last Cato. Don't bother. A really bad example of The DaVinci Code take offs. Really bad example.

Robinson, Peter. Piece of My Heart. Detective Chief Inspector Banks is caught up in the murder of a journalist that leads back to a murder at a rock concert in 1969. I always enjoy Peter Robinson.

Lescroart, John. The Second Chair. Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky and their San Francisco associates are involved in two separate murders that merge. When Dismas steps in to second chair Amy Wu as a result of her misguided attempts to keep a murder suspect in juvenile court, Abe is busy with a suspected serial killer who is behaving like an executioner. As always, Lescroart's characters are wonderfully drawn and believable.

James, P.D. The Lighthouse. The Baroness of Holland Park never fails to please. Commander Adam Dalgliesh investigates a suspected murder on the small island of Combe off the Cornish coast. The island confines and isolates the complex characters when a further event isolates them even further. The rather cool relationship of DI Kate Miskin and Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith develops as they are forced to work together.

Fairstein, Linda. Death Dance. Fairstein was the chief prosecutor in the Manhatten district Attorney's Office Sex Crimes Unit for twenty-five years and is now a media consultant for several networks. This is the eighth novel featuring Alexandra Cooper, who is, coincidentally, a prosecutor for the Special Victims Unit. Cooper and her long-time team of Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace investigate the death of a prima ballerina who disappears backstage during a performance at the Met. I like the camaraderie that exists among the trio of Cooper, Wallace, and Chapman and always find her novels interesting.

Eriksson, Kjell. The Princess of Burundi. The novel was named Best Swedish Crime Novel in 2002. The main character Inspector Ann Lindell is on maternity leave from the Uppsala police force when Little John, a family man and tropical fish expert is murdered. Because she has dealt with the murdered man's career criminal brother and because she misses the action of her job, Lindell finds herself drawn into the investigation. Neither particularly good or bad...

Kerley, Jack. A Garden of Vipers. A pair of detectives --Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus--are caught up in a bizarre case in Mobile, Alabama. Involving a wealthy, influential family (but a result of Faulknerian inbreeding...or something) that has produced superficially handsome if internally twisted scions, Nautilus and Ryder find themselves in danger as they begin putting things together. This is the third novel in this series, and I will be looking for the previous two.

Tuttle, Lisa. The Silver Bough. A modern fantasy relying largely on myth. I knew within a few pages that we were dealing with a Selkie (well, coast of Scotland and all), but interestingly, not even close to the end did the word appear, although everything else was filled in. One thing I did not realize is that the word Avalon means island of apples; nor was I familiar with the mythic Kelpie. Apples play a large part in this novel and the various apple-related myths are woven throughout. A light, fun read with old myths and new takes.

Off to Florida

Amelia is getting married in Key West. :)

Gender differences in book choice and impact on publishing

So many blogs have posted a meme that asks for the title of a book "that has changed your life." Thinking about this topic is too labor intensive for me, and as I read various choices listed, I agree first with one, then another.

Here, however, is an interesting article from the Sydney Morning Herald that asked that very question of men and of women in separate surveys.

The article begins with this statement: "The novel that means most to men is about indifference, alienation and lack of emotional response. The novel that means most to women is about deeply held feelings and a struggle to overcome circumstances and passion."

Hard to disagree with that; at least to me, that seems a logical result. The article gives both lists.

I've read 13 on the men's list and 13 on the women's list (Heart of Darkness and Catch-22 appear on both lists), but don't know that any one of them changed my life. Each had an effect, but they all broadened my experience in a different way.

While the conclusions often seem logical, I nevertheless found them fascinating. For example: "Most of the men cited books they had read as teenagers, and many of them stopped reading fiction while young adults, only returning to it in late middle age." It doesn't surprise me, but I had never really thought about looking at it that way--and that this fact should have a great deal of influence on the book trade.

Julia Cameron and Rainer Maria Rilke???

The Case for Literature is made in this article, What Good Are the Arts.

Letters To A Young Artist by Julia Cameron strikes me as arrogant and facile. I'm about half way through this little book and am not impressed. I read The Artist's Way 4 or 5 years ago and found it interesting, although I didn't do the exercises. This little book (loosely, very loosely based on Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet is aggressive, not contemplative. More than aggressive, it is insulting. Several chapters in (with no previous hint) one discovers that the persona is a crotchety old man, not even Cameron. I've discovered two sentences so far that I like:

"You complain of being blocked, but a block is really just the ego's resistance to working 'badly.'"

"I hope you aren't one of those artists who considers 'craft' a dirty word."

Most of the rest I find slightly offensive or trivial. The criticism of the "young poet's" decor leaves me wondering about Cameron's attitude as well as that of the "old artist" who writes the letters. All that are included are the response to the young poet, so we only see one side of the correspondence.

Just finished Piece of My Heart by Peter Robinson and as usual, I enjoyed the latest adventures of Detective Chief Inspector Banks.

Science, Seance, and Love...

‘Ghost Hunters’: Seeking Science in Séance by Patricia Cohen is going on my list. I've been interested in this phenomenon that involved believers and non-believers among such interesting characters as Arthur Conan Doyle, Yeats, Houdini, and William James for many years. This New York Times review sounds fascinating.

And instead of Schrodinger's Cat, this time it's Schrodinger's Ball by Richard Eder and also reviewed in The New York Times.

Beowulf adaptations

I found this article about the new run of Beowulf movies at Brandywine Books. One version features Angelina Joli as Grendel's mother. Hmmm.

I love Beowulf not for the story but for the language, for wergild, for the merging of pagan and Christian theology, for the embedded cultural information, for the kennings.

Michael Crichton used much from the Beowulf story in Eaters of the Dead, a very short novel which was the source of the movie The 13th Warrior with Antonio Banderas. Not a huge success, but I, of course, had to see the movie to see how it followed the book and, years earlier, had to read the book to see the connection to the epic poem.

Grendel by John Gardner is also very short, and I loved it! The story told from Grendel's viewpoint is both funny and sad. Using the same style and rhythm as the original, Grendel's version is definitely worth a read even for those who hated Beowulf. Although Gardner used prose, notice the similarity to the original: "Such are the tiresome memories of a shadow-shooter, earth-rim-roamer, walker of the world's weird wall."

I also liked Larry Niven's Legacy of Heorot and see that there is a sequel, Beowulf's Children. Need to re-read the first and look for the second.

There are even Beowulf comic books, operas, and children's books. Here is a link to various re-tellings in several genres.

And this is one I'd really like to read:

Bryher. Beowulf. New York: Pantheon Books Inc., 1956.[Beowulf is a fairly obscure Modernist novel by Bryher, the pen name of Annie Winifred Ellerman (1894-1983). The story is set during the London Blitz of World War II, and the characters are residents of a London neighborhood that is under constant threat of German bombardment; their "mascot" is a plaster bulldog named Beowulf. Symbolically, the neighbors represent the denizens of Heorot, while the German bombers--striking at night with invincible force and wreaking massive destruction--stand for Grendel.]

reading...

Have just finished The Second Chair by John Lescroart, an author I very much enjoy, and will review it later in August Reading.

Currently reading: Into the Mist: When Someone You Love Has Alzheimer's Disease by Deborah Uetz with Dr. Anne Lindsay and Elder Rage-or-Take My Father...Please!: How to Survive Caring For Aging Parents by Jacqueline Marcell. Both have some excellent information and the second is decidedly humorous in a situation that requires you to keep some sense of humor. ."

My antidote is to keep my recently re-acquired Anne books and dose myself with L.M. Montgomery every once in awhile. And, of course, my mysteries and other purely escapist literature.

the ubiquitous book meme

I've seen this meme on several blogs and finally decided to import it and give it a go. How many of you have this on your blogs? I enjoy seeing the differences in what we read.

Look at the list of books below. Highlight in red the ones you’ve read, highlight in green the ones you might read, leave the ones you won’t read in black, italicize the ones on your book shelf, and (place parentheses around the ones you’ve never even heard of.)

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audry Niffenegger
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
(The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1984 by George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaba by J.K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Crytonomicon by Neal Stephenson
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Atonement by Ian McEwan
(The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zago)
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Dune by Frank Herbert
The History of Love by Nichole Krauss

I hesitate on the green because I have passed some of them over time and time again. I love Atwood, but have failed for years to read The Handmaid's Tale, maybe because I heard so much about it when it was first published that I didn't feel I needed to actually read it.

Although I do still have a couple of these books on my shelves, I am no longer a book collector and rarely keep fiction even when I buy it. I've given away boxes and boxes and have more boxes in storage. But I so rarely re-read that those in storage should be disposed of as well. I've read 96 books so far this year...I have neither the money nor the room to keep what I won't read again. Now non-fiction does threaten to take over my house, but fiction comes mostly from the library or friends. What would I do without a library?

OMG

Lloyd the Llibrary LLama sings the Blogga song.

and another...

Book List, this one is from Australia and posted by Shelley at Reading Matters.

I'm still perusing Collaborative Quilting and loving the free and easy style developed by Gwen Marston and Freddie Moran.

In addition, I have this one that has so much helpful information and has become a wonderful reference book, full of tips and illustrations.

a tropical heat wave...

I just can't resist this passage about Chaucer's problems with the heat wave:

By night, ich busyede myself with wrytynge of my Tales of Canterburye. And yet methinketh that the somer hete did even then overwhelme my fantasie, for alle of the tales ich enditede dide involve snowe and watir and plesaunte coolinge pass-tymes. In the Knightes Tale, ich wrote that Theseus did constructe a grete swimminge poole in which Arcite and Palamon wolde pleye of marco polo for the winninge of Emilye. The Nonnes Preestes tale was of a penguin ycleped Chanticleer.

He goes on: Alas! Yt semeth that ich muste crosse ovt much of this werke and starte ayein from the beginninge. Yet peraventure ich shal lete stande the Squires tale of Frostie the Snowman and how he was drawen limbe from limbe by Cambyuskan the grete kinge of Tartarye for to be putte in coolinge drinkes, and how aftir, Cambyuskan’s doghter Canacee did fynde the corne-cobbe pipe and button nose and knewe of hir fadires crueltee.