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Howards End is on the Landing – Susan Hill

Dec 30th, 2009 by admin

howardsendisonlanding

I picked this book up from here while looking for a Christmas present for my Sister in Law (I don’t think I did very well on the christmas present).

Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on my shelves, I encountered dozens of others that I had never read, or forgotten I owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired me to embark on a year-long voyage through my books, forsaking new purchases in order to get to know my own collection again. A book which is left on a shelf for a decade is a dead thing, but it is also a chrysalis, packed with the potential to burst into new life. Wandering through her house that day, my eyes were opened to how much of that life was stored in my home, neglected for years. Howard’s End is on the Landing charts the journey as I revisit the conversations, libraries and bookshelves of the past that have informed a lifetime of reading and writing.

It’s written in a conversational style and Ms Hill has charming anecdotes about authors she has met. She writes about what was happening in her life when she read certain books and what she thinks of them (and the author’s technique and style). This is definitely a book for readers and it makes me want to take a journey through my own book shelves – I know there is a heap of books I haven’t read and others that I didn’t read properly the first time.

As an Australian and an Austen fan, I should be outraged (she dismisses both Canadian and Australian literature – how can anyone discard Margaret Atwood? and ‘doesn’t get’ Austen) but really it didn’t matter. It made me think about reading and being a reader and what they means.

http://bookbath.blogspot.com/2009/12/howards-end-is-on-landing-susan-hill.html

http://dovegreyreader.typepad.com/dovegreyreader_scribbles/2009/09/howards-end-is-on-the-landing-by-susan-hill.html

http://books-snob.blogspot.com/2009/10/howards-end-is-on-landing-by-susan-hill.html

Posted in Non-Fiction, Recommended | No Comments »

The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Muriel Barbery

Dec 29th, 2009 by admin

elegancehegehog

I think I bought this book based solely on the title. Here is the blurb …

Renee is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building on the Left Bank. To the residents she is honest, reliable and uncultivated – an ideal concierge. But Renee has a secret. Beneath this conventional facade she is passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many ways than her self-important employers.

Down in her lodge, Renee is resigned to living a lie; meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid a predictably bourgeois future, and plans to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday.

But the death of one of their privileged neighbours will bring dramatic change to number 7, Rue de Grenelle, altering the course of both their lives forever.

By turn moving and hilarious, this unusual and insightful novel is now an international publishing sensation, with sales of over 2.5 million copies.

I found this novel to be quite difficult to read and very slow going. It required concentration, which is in short supply in December in a house with two small children. I had to force myself to read it rather than move onto something easier.

It was a slow moving novel – the neighbour (mentioned in the blurb) doesn’t die until half way through, so that’s a lot of scene setting. Having said that I did enjoy it (except the ending – but I won’t ruin it for anyone). This is a book that should be read slowly and savoured. Not read like I did between Christmas shopping and watching swimming lessons.

Here are more thoughtful reviews …

http://reviewsbylola.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/book-review-the-elegance-of-the-hedgehog/

http://scatteredpaper.blogspot.com/2009/12/elegance-of-hedgehog.html

http://bookishlyfabulous.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/the-elegance-of-the-hedgehog/

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Posted in Fiction - Light, Recommended | No Comments »

The Blythes are Quoted – L M Montgomery

Dec 14th, 2009 by admin

theblythes

I’m a keen L M Montgomery fan – so keen I’ve travelled from Australia to Prince Edward Island. When this book was released I wasn’t entirely convinced I wanted to read it – I had already read The Road to Yesterday which I believed contained all of the stories, but I read a review on the Kindred Spirits email list which convinced me I should read it. As it’s not available in Australia yet, I bought my copy from the Canadian Amazon and it arrived within a week!

It’s a book of short stories with poetry bits in between (attributed to Anne and Walter) and conversations with the Blythes. It is spilt into two parts; the first contains stories set before World War 1 and the second stories set after. There is a forward by Elizabeth Epperly and an afterward by Benjamin Lefebvre.

Here’s the description from Amazon …

Adultery, illegitimacy, misogyny, revenge, murder, despair, bitterness, hatred, and death—usually not the first terms associated with L.M. Montgomery. But in The Blythes Are Quoted, completed shortly before her death and never before published in its entirety, Montgomery brought these topics to the forefront in what she intended to be the ninth volume in her bestselling series featuring her beloved heroine Anne. Divided into two sections, one set before and one after the Great War of 1914—1918, The Blythes Are Quoted contains fifteen episodes that include an adult Anne and her family. Binding these short stories, Montgomery inserted sketches featuring Anne and Gilbert Blythe discussing poems by Anne and their middle son, Walter, who dies as a soldier in the war. By blending poetry, prose, and dialogue, Montgomery was experimenting with storytelling methods in ways she had never before attempted. The Blythes Are Quoted marks the final word of a writer whose work continues to fascinate readers all over the world.

I must confess that I don’t really like Montgomery’s poetry so I tended to skip those bits. I did like the conversations with the family members it gave you a feel for how their lives continued after Rilla of Ingleside.

I haven’t compared each story with how it appeared in the Road to Yesterday, but it seems to me that there are more Blythe references in this version (and not all positive).  To me it contained the essence of all Montgomery novels and I want to go back and read them all again. If you’re hesitating about reading this novel because you’ve read all of the stories before, I would encourage you to give it a go.

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The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark

Dec 12th, 2009 by admin

theprimejeanbrodie

I bought this book years ago while on holiday in Sydney. I was quite keen to read it again when it was suggested at book club. Plus it’s the perfect read in the lead up to the busy Christmas season (short).

Here is the stuff from the back …

At the staid Marcia Blaine School for Girls, in Edinburgh, Scotland, teacher extraordinaire Miss Jean Brodie is unmistakably, and outspokenly, in her prime. She is passionate in the application of her unorthodox teaching methods, in her attraction to the married art master, Teddy Lloyd, in her affair with the bachelor music master, Gordon Lowther, and—most important—in her dedication to “her girls,” the students she selects to be her crème de la crème. Fanatically devoted, each member of the Brodie set—Eunice, Jenny, Mary, Monica, Rose, and Sandy—is “famous for something,” and Miss Brodie strives to bring out the best in each one. Determined to instill in them independence, passion, and ambition, Miss Brodie advises her girls, “Safety does not come first. Goodness, Truth, and Beauty come first. Follow me.”

And they do. But one of them will betray her.

I enjoyed reading this – I liked the descriptive asides about the girls … ‘Rose Stanley was famous for sex’ and ‘Eunice Gardiner [...] famous for her spritely gymnastics and glorious swimming’.

It did make me think of all of the women who would have been left spinsters after World War 1 – what would they have done with themselves? They would still have been limited to ‘feminine professions’ like teaching and nursing.

I liked the writing style it was economical and yet managed to say a lot. I thought Miss Brodie was a bit sad – she had no real friends (adults that is) and she seemed to try to control the girls.

Here are some other reviews …

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/s2686642.htm

http://www.bibliographing.com/2009/10/12/emthe-prime-jean-brodieem-muriel-spark/

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My Antonia – Willa Cather

Nov 26th, 2009 by admin

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 I bought this book from my local second hand book store. Cather was one of those authors I felt I should read, but hadn’t yet got around to it.

An enduring literary masterpiece first published in 1918, this hauntingly eloquent classic is an inspiring reminder of the rich past we have inherited. Willa Cather’s lustrous prose, infused with a passion for the land, summons forth the hard scrabble days of the immigrant pioneer women on the Nebraska plains, while etching a deeply moving portrait of an entire community. As Jim Burden, revisits his childhood friendship with the free-spirited Antonia Shimerda, we come to understand the sheer fortitude of homesteaders on the prairie, the steadfast bonds cultivated there, and the abiding memories that such vast expanses inspire. Holding the pastoral society’s heart, of course, is the bewitching Antonia, whose unfailing industry and infectious enthusiasm for life exemplify the triumphant vitality of an era.

I haven’t read much American Literature – Canadian yes – but not American. I’m also quite ignorant of American history, so from that point of view this book was very enlightening. I enjoyed reading about life on the prairie – all of the details about cooking, gardening, keeping warm in winter etc. However, I did struggle to read this book and I don’t think I’ll be reading anything else by Cather.

Here are some other reviews …

http://www.shhhimreading.com/2009/06/review-my-antonia-by-willa-cather.html

http://readingthebest100novels.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-antonia.html

http://iditis.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-antonia-willa-cathers-sensitive.html

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A Wreath of Roses – Elizabeth Taylor

Nov 15th, 2009 by admin

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I found this book in a second hand book store while on holiday. I do like Elizabeth Taylor novels – such understated, character driven stories.

“Spending the holiday with friends, as she has for many years, Camilla finds that their private absorptions – Frances with he painting and Liz with her baby – seem to exclude her from the gossipy intimacies of previous summers. Anxious that she will remain encased in her solitary life as a school secretary, Camilla steps into an unlikely liaison with Richard Elton, a handsome, assured – and dangerous – liar. Replete with the subtle wit that is her hallmark, and a tender and perfectly evoked portrait of friendship between women, A Wreath of Roses is nonetheless Elizabeth Taylor’s darkest novel: an astute exploration of the fear of loneliness and its emotional armour.”

This novel is dark. For me it was about the choices women make in their lives and where those choices have taken them.  Frances, an elderly solitary woman, is finally able to concentrate on her painting after a lifetime of working as a governess. From the outside her life might look lonely and confined, but she feels she has truly lived and her art provides her with all of her emotional needs. And there is Liz recently married and newly a mother. She complains about her husband and is very anxious about her son. It doesn’t seem a particularly successful marriage, however, when Arthur enters the scene it all seems better and I’m sure with time everything will be fine. And then there is Camilla. She is definitely lonely and thinks she has missed all her opportunity to meet a man. She meets the mysterious Richard Elton and begins a somewhat clandestine affair. She seems drawn to him despite understanding that he really is not her ‘type’. He is a bit sinister and we the reader have insights into his character that Camilla does not. Will she make a terrible mistake?

I really enjoyed this novel – I loved how Richard seemed menacing even though everything he did was ordinary. I also enjoyed Frances inner thoughts about her art…

Then, one day, when she was a young woman, she suddenly and as if by chance, related her talent to her genius. She cast away the dressing up clothes and willed herself into what she painted. She threw away her personality and it changed. The nervous effort was extreme, for the difference was the distance between charades at parties and Sarah Bernhardt as Phedre.

I think this book is beautiful, well written and thought provoking.

I can only find one other review …

http://smithereens.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/elizabeth-taylor-a-wreath-of-roses-1949%E2%80%A6-and-a-trip-to-the-library/

 

 

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Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger

Nov 4th, 2009 by admin

herfearfulsymmetry

I’m not sure why I picked this one – I have read The Time Traveller’s Wife but I wouldn’t have thought enough to buy her next book. Perhaps I got caught up in the hype?

Anyway I have read it. This is the information from the publisher …

Audrey Niffenegger’s spectacularly compelling second novel opens with a letter that alters the fate of every character. Julia and Valentina Poole are semi-normal American twenty-year-olds with seemingly little interest in college or finding jobs. Their attachment to one another is intense. One morning the mailman delivers a thick envelope to their house in the suburbs of Chicago. From a London solicitor, the enclosed letter informs Valentina and Julia that their English aunt Elspeth Noblin, whom they never knew, has died of cancer and left them her London apartment. There are two conditions to this inheritance: that they live in it for a year before they sell it and that their parents not enter it. Julia and Valentina are twins. So were the estranged Elspeth and Edie, their mother.

The girls move to Elspeth’s flat, which borders the vast and ornate Highgate Cemetery, where Christina Rossetti, George Eliot, Radclyffe Hall, Stella Gibbons and Karl Marx are buried. Julia and Valentina come to know the living residents of their building. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword-puzzle setter suffering from crippling obsessive compulsive disorder; Marijke, Martin’s devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth’s elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt’s neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including — perhaps — their aunt.

Author of one of the most beloved first novels in recent years, Niffenegger returns with an unnerving, unforgettable and enchanting ghost story, a novel about love and identity, secrets and sisterhood and the tenacity of life — even after death.

Once again Ms Niffenegger has been very creative. I thought her characters were realistic and compelling. Having said that I found this book creepy and depressing and I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

Here are some other reviews …

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65339359

http://sumthinblue.com/her-fearful-symmetry/

http://imbookingit.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/her-fearful-symmetry-2/

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The Year of the Flood – Margaret Atwood

Oct 27th, 2009 by admin

yearoftheflood

I’m a keen Margaret Atwood fan so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this week. Being slightly more organised that normal, I re-read Oryx and Crake (although I think The Year of the Flood can be read without having first read Oryx and Crake).

The way Atwood uses language is breath taking – it must be the poet in her. The name of the companies are fabulous, i.e  HelthWyzer and the genetic splices (lion and lamb, raccoon and skunk).

It is much easier to feel sympathy for the characters in this novel. Let’s face it – Snowman and Crake were very unpleasant.

Adam One, the kindly leader of the God’s Gardeners – a religion devoted to the melding of science, religion, and nature – has long predicted a disaster. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women remain: Ren, a young dancer locked away in a high-end sex club, and Toby, a former God’s Gardener, who barricades herself inside a luxurious spa. Have others survived? Ren’s bio-artist friend Amanda? Zeb, her eco-fighter stepfather? Her onetime lover, Jimmy? Or the murderous Painballers? Not to mention the CorpSeCorps, the shadowy policing force of the ruling powers… As Adam One and his beleaguered followers regroup, Ren and Toby emerge into an altered world, where nothing – including the animal life – is predictable.

 Atwood has created a (scarily) realistic world where commerce reigns supreme. I think it is very easy to see how we get from here (where we are now) to there. This novel is a bit more hopeful than Oryx and Crake or perhaps I should say less bleak. The survivors might just be able to stay alive and start a new civilization although I’m a bit worried about the torch bearers at the end.

In all honesty I do have to say that I liked her earlier works better.

http://dovegreyreader.typepad.com/dovegreyreader_scribbles/2009/09/the-event.html

http://shelf-monkey.blogspot.com/2009/10/monkey-droppings-year-of-flood-by.html

http://overbookedlibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/the-year-of-the-flood-by-margaret-atwood/

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Posted in Recommended, Serious | 1 Comment »

Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler

Oct 26th, 2009 by admin

breathinglessons

I’ve been making an effort to get books from the library and this is one I found while browsing (I was looking for Sarah Waters). It one the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

I liked this one – Maggie is so annoying. She interferes with the best of intentions and then just makes every thing worse. The characters are fabulous and the situations so believable. Ms Tyler works on a small canvas – not many characters and people don’t move far from their hometown. A bit like Austen’s ‘three or four families in a country village’.

Here is the blurb …

Maggie and Ira Moran have been married for twenty-eight years–and it shows: in their quarrels, in their routines, in their ability to tolerate with affection each other’s eccentricities. Maggie, a kooky, lovable meddler and an irrepressible optimist, wants nothing more than to fix her son’s broken marriage. Ira is infuriatingly practical, a man “who should have married Ann Landers.” And what begins as a day trip to a funeral becomes an adventure in the unexpected. As Maggie and Ira navigate the riotous twists and turns, they intersect with an assorted cast of eccentrics–and rediscover the magic of the road called life and the joy of having somebody next to you to share the ride . . . bumps and all.
This is a novel for people (like me) who don’t need a lot of action, but like to see the plot slowly unfold and reveal more and more about the characters.
Here are some other sites that might be of interest.
http://www.enotes.com/breathing-lessons
http://www.thingsmeanalot.com/2009/02/breathing-lessons-by-anne-tyler.html#
http://literaturecrazy.blogspot.com/2009/04/book-review-breathing-lessons.html

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Sixty Lights – Gail Jones

Oct 16th, 2009 by admin

sixtylights

My book club chose this book because the author is Western Australian and it was reviewed as being one of the ‘must reads’.

It had a lovely visual quality and the writing was simple, but eloquent.

Here is the publisher’s blurb …

‘Photography has without doubt made her a seer; she is a woman of the future, someone leaning into time, beyond others, precarious, unafraid to fall…’

This is the story of Lucy Strange, a photographer, while the art is in its infancy, in the 1870s, who exists in an extraordinarily heightened state of seeing and imagining. Her tale is told in sixty illuminated parts – using candlelight, flames, lightning, gas-lamps, mirrors, magic lanterns and, most mysteriously, lit faces and bodies. In a contracted, almost modernist form, SIXTY LIGHTS tracks Lucy’s life from her childhood in Australia, to her stormy adolescence in England and India and finally to her death in London at the age of twenty-three. It is a life abbreviated, but not a life diminished: she is a remarkable character, forthright, gifted, passionate and canny. SIXTY LIGHTS plays powerfully with Victorian tropes and texts – orphans, inheritances, Great Expectations – setting them against the technological revolution in seeing that is inspired by photography. Written with astute imagistic precision, the story is deeply layered, fluctuating between past, present and future. This is an impressive UK debut from a prize-winning Australian author.

There are sixty chapters – hence the title Sixty Lights – each chapter is like a photograph or still life – little snippets from Lucy’s life, which together make a compelling and interesting story.

I’ll definitely be looking for more of her work.

Here are some other reviews …

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/18/1092765003194.html?from=storyrhs

http://www.culturewars.org.uk/2004-02/sixty.htm

http://kimbofo.typepad.com/readingmatters/2006/05/sixty_lights_by.html

Here is an interview with Gail Jones

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/bwriting/stories/s1330197.htm

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