A Work in Progress

Stitching Progress

I buy very little in the way of new needlework designs these days.  Aside from the fact that I'm not stitching quite as much as I'd like, I also have so much needlework stash that it's more than I could ever finish even if I devoted all my free time to it for the next decade!  Unlike with books I am pretty good at knowing when to say when!  One of my favorite needlework shops offers a birthday discount, which I took advantage of in February, however (it's hard to say no totally).  A couple of the designs hadn't been released yet, so this week I finally had a nice surprise in the mail!

The two designs on the left are by Chessie & Me.  The chart on the top is "Miss Chessie's Tuffet" and the bottom chart is "Busy Bee Tuffet".  A tuffet (also called a biscornu in French) is a pin cushion with eight corners (four pointing up and four down).  They are my favorite accessory to finish.  I've made lots of them, but I've only ever kept one for myself.  Both these charts have tuffets and fobs.  I ordered the fabric to go along with the charts, but the photo of the bottom one looks distinctly blue, but the chart calls for a color called putty.  Hmm.

The designs on the right are by one of my favorite designers, Just Nan.  If anyone knows how to market her designs, Just Nan does!  They're so clever, and very tempting, and also pretty expensive.  She's designing a series of four of these little tins with stitched lids and fobs to hang on your scissors.  "Hop" is the first one.  It's too bad this didn't come out before Easter, as I'm not sure I'm in the mood to stitch rabbits!  It's a small project at least.

What am I working on?  I've finished what's going to be a pincushion.  This is a freebie design that Carriage House Samplings offered several years ago.  This is another very favorite designer.  Her designs are very American folkish.  I'm a very lazy finisher and I should have sewed this ages ago.  I thought I might finish it as a mattress pincushion.  I've never tried this, and it doesn't look particularly hard, but it does look time consuming.  I tend to be a lazy finisher, so I might just sew a nice piece of fabric to the back and call it finished.

I did start this one well before Easter, but it's been languishing.  It is  by designer Drawn Thread (I have lots of her stuff, too).  This is a another series of designs, one for each season, that are finished as little cushions.  This is the "Spring Spot" and really I should be pulling out the "Summer Spot" soon, since it's getting so warm.  Like books I always have more than one project on the go.  Unlike reading I don't feel too guilty to set a project aside (I hate to admit how long some have sat waiting for me), but it's nice completing something.  Especially something small, which really shouldn't take all that long to stitch anyway.

And my most recent new project?  Little House Needleworks also makes very folksy American types of designs.  I have lots of her charts, but I've yet to actually finish any of them (unlike the other designers that I've mentioned).  This is called "ABC123".  It's not very large, just a tad over 4" 4".  I think I will try and finish this as a mattress pincushion.  I like small projects as they usually give me the satisfaction of working on something and finishing it relatively quickly.  I've been in the mood for a larger project as well, though I can't seem to settle on one thing.  I used to stitch in the mornings before work, but lately I've been spending the time reading.  This means stitching just on the weekends usually when I am watching a movie.  And I've really not even done much of that lately either.  I wonder how other people do it...reading, working, and maybe some other small hobby.  Do you do something more than read?  Hopefully I can work on one of these this weekend (and finish a book--I'm still being optimistic!).         

Friday Mishmash

I've not been feeling terribly inspired lately.  I feel like I'm not really accomplishing much, though I've been reading lots.  It's my own fault for reading so many books at once.  I never quite know what to post about, since I've got such a variety of things floating around in my head.  I don't like to talk too much about a book (a novel at least) until I finish it, but I'm not finishing anything at all these days.  Perhaps a day or afternoon off soon is what's needed (so I can just sit and read).  And I need to choose one book to concentrate on this weekend.  Why does finishing a good book feel so satisfying?  Not that the reading process isn't just as satisfying.  I guess it's nice to work through an entire story and know how things turn out, though. 

Since my thoughts have been wandering lately, today is just going to be a bit of a mishmash of things.  I'm finally seriously looking at computers now.  I've decided to buy a Dell.  I've heard good things about them, and they are also what my university buys.  And a determining factor--since I am a university employee I can get a discount.  Always a good thing to save money.  My HP Pavilion is dying a slow and agonizing death.  I don't think I can watch it suffer much longer.  It's slow, and my internet connection keeps failing.  It has all sort of bugs.  It's really not a pretty picture.  I'm just trying to figure out what model I want and what configuration I need.  I'm only dreading the switchover.  So much software is going to need to be reloaded and all my files transferred.  It'll be worth it, though.  I can't even watch a news video or movie trailer on my computer, it's so old.  I hate to think it has become such a necessity, but I've really become quite dependent on it.

I've been very bad about buying books lately.  Ordering books to be precise.  I've decided I want to fill out my collection of Elizabeth Taylor's works.  Some are readily available through Virago Press, but many are out of print.  It's probably silly, but I think some older Virago titles are getting rather scarce, and I want to get them while I can still find inexpensive copies.  I don't want to pay an outrageous amount of money for older paperbacks.  So, I've ordered five of her novels, but I can't find two short story collections.  Virago has just published one of her older, out-of-print novels, which I'm planning on buying eventually.  And then it will be time for an Elizabeth Taylor reading fest!  Do you know, as much as I love Virago, I never look at any of their new books (only those lovely bottle green cover editions).  I guess I see so many of their books are by authors like Margaret Atwood and Willa Cather and Edith Wharton--books I can already get so easily here--that I've been pretty dismissive of current authors.  I was looking at some of their unknown-to-me authors, and many of them look really interesting...This could be dangerous. 

My recent new book purchases:

The Dead Secret - Because you really can never own enough books by Wilkie Collins.  I've already decided that when I finish Lady Audley's Secret, I'm going to read one of his novels.  He's another author whose novels that are still in print I am trying to collect.

A Sicilian Romance, Ann Radcliffe - "This early novel explores the cavernous landscapes and labyrinthine
passages of Sicily's castles and convents to reveal the shameful secrets of its all-powerful aristocracy."

A Foreign Affair, Caro Peacock - A Victorian setting, a heroine called Liberty Lane, a little mystery...what's not to like.  Thanks to Tara for the heads up on this one!  It sounds like something I'd enjoy.

Chez Moi, Agnes Desarthe - A contemporary French novel translated into English!  "At forty-three, Myriam has been a wife, mother, and lover—but never a restaurateur. When she opens Chez Moi in a quiet neighborhood in Paris, she has no idea how to run a business, but armed only with her love of cooking, she is determined to try. Barely able to pay the rent, Myriam secretly sleeps in the dining room and bathes in the kitchen sink, while struggling to come to terms with the painful memories of her past. But soon enough her delectable cuisine brings her many neighbors to Chez Moi, and Myriam finds that she may get a second chance at life and love. Redolent with the sights, smells, and tastes of Paris."  I could use a little Paris right now.

I should mention a couple of books I just picked up from the library, too:

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective, Kate Summerscale - This sounds good!  "The Victorians made a romance of detection. In a newly uncertain world, a detective seemed to offer science, conviction, stories that could organise chaos. He turned brutal crimes—the vestiges of the beast in man—into intellectual puzzles. He was a secular substitute for a prophet or a priest. Yet the Victorians also made a fetish of privacy, and many felt that the investigation at Road Hill amounted to a violation of the middle-class home. Mr Whicher exposed the corruptions within the household: sexual transgression, emotional cruelty, scheming servants, wayward children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing. The scene he uncovered aroused fear (and excitement) at the thought of what might be hiding behind the closed doors of other respectable houses. His conclusions helped to create an era of voyeurism and suspicion, in which the detective was a shadowy figure, a demon as well as a demigod."  Apparently this case inspired Wilkie Collins to write The Moonstone.  I've already cleared away my pile of nonfiction reads temporarily as I know I want to read this.  There's a line of 16 people waiting for the book, so no renewals!

The Gentle Art of Domesticity, Jane Brocket - I read about this book last Fall when it came out in the UK.  I had no idea that my library had copies of it, but I happened upon it and requested it.  It's being published here later in the year.  It's a lovely book--in the vein of Martha Stewart's books, but more laid back and homey (perhaps not quite so perfect).  She even features books published by Persephone Books and Virago Press.  Paging through it makes me want to bake and knit and quilt, and be generally domestic.  Well, maybe just read about it anyway.

Nefertiti

Since I've been reading Michelle Moran's Nefertiti, I thought I would look and see what other books I might own about this period that could be used as supplemental reading (or browsing). I thought I might create a Thursday Thirteen.  Only I couldn't find enough books on my shelves to make a list!  I knew this was a period I hadn't read much about, but apparently I've also not bought many books about it either.  There is more information on Nefertiti found on Michelle's blog, which will be useful as I finish reading the book.  I especially like seeing what the characters (like the narrator of the story, Nefertiti's sister, Mutnodjmet) looked like.  It's always nice having some sort of visual in mind as I read.

As for the few books I do have: Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley -- I bought this ages and ages ago and must have started reading it at some point as I discovered a bookmark in it about a 100 pages in.  It's a survey of what a typical and perhaps not so typical Egyptian woman's life was like in ancient times.  Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber -- This is definitely on my list to read this year.  I'm especially interested in this book on textiles and women's roles in the manufacturing (perhaps not the best word to use when textiles were woven solely by hand) of them.  Uppity Women of Ancient Times by Vicki Leon -- There's a whole series of these books and granted they are on the irreverent side, but they do give just a tiny peek at a variety of women you may or may not have heard of.  What Life Was Like on the Banks of the Nile (Egypt 3050-30BC) -- This is one of those glossy, illustrated Time-Life books, and they're sort of hokey sometimes, but there are lots of nice pictures, like what a pair of sandals looked like or an ancient cosmetic case!

Michelle Moran also suggested Joyce Tyldesley's biography Nefertiti: Unlocking the Mystery Surrounding Egypt's Most Famous and Beautiful Queen as a good resource to learn more about her.  The famous bust of Nefertiti is found in the Alte Museum in Berlin.  Click here to see more representations of Nefertiti and Akhenaton. 

Since I couldn't come up with a list of books about Ancient Egypt (or the ancient world in general), any good reading suggestions?  Fiction or nonfiction.  Now that I've gotten a little taste, I'd like to read more.   

One Book Always Leads to Another

Although I like to have some sort of reading plan, I quickly get off track as one book  always leads to another.  I've started reading a very unusual novel.  I had heard about it before, but I was recently reminded that I wanted to find a copy.  Since there is no way I am going to pay upwards of $50-60 for a used copy of Rachel Ferguson's The Brontes Went to Woolworths, I resorted to my oft-used and very reliable ILL department to find a copy I can at least read, if not own.  I'll still be watching for a copy (and if anyone happens upon any less expensive copies anywhere, I'd be appreciative to be pointed in the right direction).  No doubt I'll happen upon a copy when I'm not looking for one.

I've only read the first few chapters, but it is incredibly eccentric and highly imaginative.  I may have to reread it in order to sort out what's real and what's fantasy. 

"The Carne girls--Diedre, Katrine, and Sheil--live with their mother and Sheil's governess.  Dierdre is a journalist.  She once declined a proposal of marriage, being in love with Sherlock Holmes at the time.  Katrine is at dramatic school, elocuting Shakespearian indecencies. They live like other middle-class London families in the 1920s, except that mealtimes are attended by a cloud of witnesses.  There's Ironface the doll who converses in French; the pierrot Dion Saffyn; Pipson, a music-hall comic, and a ballet troupe, 'The Kensington Palace Girls'.  And Judge Toddington, with his jam-tart yawn and small pomposities, is quite the most delectable thing.  Then one day Diedre goes to a charity bazaar, to be opened by none other than Lady Mildred, Toddy's real-life wife..."

A little strange, eh?  I'm saving the introduction by A.S. Byatt for later, but I did have to take a little peek at what she wrote about it.  She said she read it "when I was far too young--or just the right age", which I got a kick out of.  She calls it whimsical and fey, "but that doesn't seem to matter too badly".   I'll let you know how it turns out.  And don't you love the cover?

So, when I said one book leads to another...when I read about the Ferguson book, another tempting title was mentioned that I was lucky enough to find on the shelves at work.  The Feminine Middlebrow Novel, 1920s to 1950s: Class, Domesticity, and Bohemianism by Nicola Humble looks chalk full of interesting information, much along the lines of Nicola Beauman's A Very Great Profession: The Woman's Novel, 1914-39.  Rachel Ferguson is mentioned in both books.  I've started on the introduction and it makes for fascinating reading.  I even relish reading the footnotes, if that tells you anything, and I need to keep pen and paper handy for more reading ideas (while reading both books!).

I also spotted on the shelf a two-volume set edited by Harold Bloom, British Women Fiction Writers: 1900-1960.  This may or may not prove to be useful.  He covers only a handful of authors.  Each section starts with a short biography, and includes a bibliography.  The main purpose of the book is to give excerpts of literary criticism on each author's work.  It might serve as a nice jumping off place if I find something especially informative.  I can always go and look for the original source of criticism.  I'm particularly interested in the sections on Daphne du Maurier and Elizabeth Taylor, though all the authors sound interesting.  Can I mention one more resource I recently discovered?  (Yes, I've been busy...just how many books can I read at once...?).  Elaine Showalter's A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing.  Apparently the founders of Virago Press were guided by this hugely influential text.  Not a single one of these books are mine, but I want to own them all, of course.  There is all sorts of books on this period of women's writing in terms of British authors, but I wonder what their American counterparts were up to?  I'm a bit one-sided in my reading, but there doesn't seem to be the same sort of effort made over here when it comes to women authors from that period.  Or am I just not looking in the right places.  Perhaps that will be my next big project. 

Inspector Alleyn -- A Man Lay Dead

I've finished reading my first mystery by Ngaio Marsh, called A Man Lay Dead.  Ngaio Marsh, along with Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Dorothy L. Sayers constituted the "Queens of Crime".  They wrote mysteries during the 1920s and 30s, which is considered the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.  I love mysteries, and why I've not read more (or in a couple of cases anything at all) by these authors is beyond me.  I've been in the mood lately for a really traditional type of murder mystery and this fit the bill perfectly.  Marsh wrote 32 mystery novels, and this is the first introducing Inspector Roderick Alleyn.

A Man Lay Dead is a classic murder mystery.  Five guests have been invited to the country house of Sir Hubert Handesley, where they are going to take part in a parlor game called "Murder".  Nearly all are of the British upper crust and wealthy, and maybe a few have one or two secrets they'd prefer to keep under wraps.  What begins as an entertaining weekend filled with a bit of (pretend) murder and mayhem ends quickly in the death of Handesley's good friend, Charles Rankin.  Although Rankin was nearing middle age, he was still quite handsome, rather wealthy and a bit of a womanizer, burning the candle at both ends even at this weekend party.  And he made the mistake of bringing with him an unusual Russian dagger that the murderer will use to dispatch him.  Conveniently (well not for him anyway) more than one house guest has something to gain by his death. 

Of course Scotland Yard is called in and we are introduced to Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn.  I always like to get a good handle on my sleuths.  Marsh was very careful not to reveal too much, too soon, and I still don't feel like I really know him.  Handesley's niece, Angela, remarks:

"Alleyn did not resemble a plain-clothes policeman she felt sure, nor was he in the romantic manner--white-faced and gimlet-eyed.  He looked like one of her uncle Hubert's friends, the sort that they knew would 'do' for house-parties.  He was very tall, and lean, his hair was dark, and his eyes grey with corners that turned down. They looked as if they would smile easily but his mouth didn't."

He seems to have a very dry sense of humor and has this self-deprecating manner.  You feel from his words that maybe he's not entirely in control, but his actions put that idea to rest.  Quite often in mystery novels the detective is an everyday sort of guy, but you get the feeling that Alleyn is equally as distinguished as the guests at Handesley's house party with his 'cultured voice', and he's most certainly a bright fellow and well-educated.  He's a gentleman detective, but he most certainly doesn't play up any of these facts.

I've never been very good at figuring out who the culprit is, and this story was no exception.  Marsh gave me every chance, leaving clues to follow or maybe to trip me up.  On a couple of occasions when a detail was revealed I know I mentally uttered an "oh, so that's what happened, why didn't I figure it out".  She did have a couple of twists that took the story onto an entirely different track, throwing in a little international intrigue along with simple run of the mill murder.  All in all this was a very satisfying read.  I've already ordered or am mooching the next couple of Inspector Alleyn mysteries, Enter a Murderer and The Nursing Home Murder, but it appears that some of her books have gone out of print.  I guess I'll be looking be keeping an eye out for them used.  I'd also like to read more Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, and I've yet to even try Margery Allingham.

In the meantime, however, I have Elizabeth George's new mystery Careless in Red.  It's been at least three years since the last Inspector Lynley mystery, and I'm curious to see where she takes the story after killing off one of the main characters last time around!  Lynley is another posh detective, titled and all, and I am completely addicted to the series.  It's one of the few that I've read each and every installment since the very beginning.  Some of the last few have been a bit uneven, but I still can't help myself and will read them irregardless.  I'm disappointed that the BBC canceled the TV series, but at least I still have the books!         

What I'm Reading Now

I'm feeling just the tiniest bit bogged down at the moment with Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.  I'm slowly nearing the end of the second section, but he does tend to go off on these tangents.  Now I like details, and I love losing myself in the story, and no doubt this is all going to be tied together at some point, but really, do I need to know so much about French convents?  Things were moving along quickly, Jean Valjean made a narrow escape with little Cosette, as Javert was hot on their trail.  He scaled a wall, managing to bring Cosette with him and he landed in the garden of a convent.  And what happens?  Things come to an abrupt standstill as he spends the next 40 or so pages talking about the convent.  It makes me a little leery when I read:

"Since we are engaged in giving details as to what the convent of the Petit-Picpus was in former times, and since we have ventured to open a window on that discreet retreat, the reader will permit us one other little digression, utterly foreign to this book, but characteristic and useful, since it shows that the cloister even has its original figures."

Okay, I will indeed permit you these little digressions, but please can I find out what happens to Cosette soon? 

I decided to start with Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility for my 1% Challenge.  I know for many Austen fans this is not their favorite book of hers, but so far I am enjoying it.  Certainly that sparkling Austen wit is present.  No doubt you already know the story of Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters who lose their home when Mr. Dashwood dies leaving nearly everything to John Dashwood, their half-brother.  John's wife is that certain Austen type--greedy and unfriendly behind that genteel facade.  She manages to talk her husband down from giving the Dashwood girls three thousand pounds to just the china, and then nothing at all.  The whole scene is just wonderful, but here's the tail end.

"That is a material consideration undoubtedly.  A valuable legacy indeed! And yet some of the plate would have been a very pleasant addition to our own stock here."

"Yes; and the set of breakfast china is twice as handsome as what belongs to this house.  A great deal too handsome, in my opinion, for any place THEY can ever afford to live in.  But, however, so it is.  Your father thought only of THEM.  And I must say this: that you owe no particular gratitude to him, nor attention to his wishes; for we very well know that if he could, he would have left almost everything in the world to THEM."

This argument was irresistible.  It gave to his intentions whatever of decision was wanting before; and he finally resolved, that it would be absolutely unnecessary, if not highly indecorous, to do more for the widow and children of his father, than such kind of neighbourly acts as his own wife pointed out.

She's quite the dissembler!  I don't think anyone does a scene like this better than Jane Austen!

And for something completely different I've been reading Michelle Moran's Nefertiti.  It is coming out in paperback later this month, and she has a new book, The Heretic Queen, coming out in the Fall.  Although I love historical fiction, I don't read many books set so far back in history.  The only book I can think of is Anita Diamont's biblically set The Red Tent, which I was very hesitant to read (it was for a book club), but surprised myself by enjoying much more than I expected.  I guess this period is outside my comfort zone, since I know so little about the time.  I've been enjoying the book, however.  I love the the descriptions--like how they used gold dust to powder over their bodies.  Or the beaded wigs that the women wore.  It's so hard to imagine the people and how they lived or what they thought and dreamed.  Perhaps I need to find some other book about Nefertiti to get more of a mental imange.  Of course this tast of another culture is why I love historical fiction so much!

Methinks he doth protest too much...

Once again I chose this week's short story from American Short Story Masterpieces, edited by Raymond Carver and Tom Jenks.  Many of the authors included in this anthology are completely new to me, so I've been flipping through the volume and choosing the stories at random.  Although I've only read a couple I think it is proving to be an excellent selection of stories and 'masterpieces' is probably not an exaggeration.

I've never read any of Mark Helprin's work, but I was drawn to his story, "Letters from the Samantha", because it is told in the format of letters from the ship's captain.  A story told via letters and taking place on a ship, this should be a nice adventure, I thought.  Perfect Sunday reading.  I suppose it could be read as just an tale of adventure, but there was most definitely more to it.  Stories like this scream to be read in a group and discussed, but it'll give me something to think about over the course of the week.

The story consists of six letters written by Samson Low between August 20, 1909 and September 3, 1909.  The reader is told:

"These letters were recovered in good condition from the vault of the sunken Samantha, an iron-hulled sailing ship of one thousand tons, built in Scotland in 1879 and wrecked during the First World War in the Persian Gulf off Basra." 

Samson Low details his experiences, which began off the coast of Madagascar, and the decisions he makes after surviving a monsoon intact, decisions which he will come to regret.  The crew sighted a tornado on land, which quickly veered off to sea.  It was exciting for the crew to be so close to such a fierce spectacle of nature.  Even Low himself said, "I confess that I have wished to be completely taken up by such a thing, to be lifted into the clouds, arms and legs pinned in the stream".  It is feared that the ship will indeed be picked up by the wind, but in the end it will change directions, missing them.  When the storm was over, and they were piloting themselves through the mess, they spot a clump of vegetation and "floating upon it was a large monkey, bolt upright and dignified".  Impulsively Low offers the end of a boat hook and brings the animal on board.  Although he instantly regrets his action, "this creature we have today removed from the sea is like a man".

Spoiler alert from here on out, in case you've not read this yet.   

The monkey climbs up to the top of the rigging and stays there.  The captain considers throwing him overboard, but he won't come down, as the ship sails farther and farther away from its island.  Eventually a raft is designed, and the crew splits into two--one group wanting to send him off in the raft when they get close enough to land, and the rest wishing to shoot him down from the rigging, as the screeching noises the animal makes unnerves the men and terrifies them.  Low sides with the group who wishes to cast him afloat, knowing he would have to be the one to shoot the animal and has no desire to do so.  Eventually hunger will tempt the animal down, somehow he's much less fearsome, hunched down, walking nearly on all four limbs, half the men's heights and "no more frightening than a hound".  He becomes almost docile and a bit of a plaything to the crew who all stroll about with him on deck.  As the days pass the novelty of having such an animal in close quarters wears off, as the men are returning home.  Two of the crew will remove the manacles from the animal and dump the raft overboard, not wanting to set the ape adrift to what appears to be an inhospitable land.  The captain is angered and decides at some point he can just throw the ape overboard.  The men's attitudes quickly change.  They forget about the ape, who sits listlessly in the heat and "looks like an old man, neutral to the world".  The captain thinks only of keeping the crew under control.  In the end he strangles the animal and pitches him over the side, "where he quickly sank".    

I tried to look for some literary criticism about this story, but I didn't really come up with much online.  One reviewer compared Helprin's story to the work of Melville and Conrad, two authors I've not read since high school (and then only shorter works).  This makes me think the story must be full of symbolism or perhaps the author is trying to make a point about Empire/colonialism, or at the very least man's guilt and his inhumanity towards others (and I hesitate to just limit it to animals, since over and over the ape is compared to a man).  It's rather telling that the story ends thus:

"Some of the crew have begun to talk about him as if he were about to be canonized.  Others see him as evil.  I assembled them as the coasts began to close on Suez and the top of the sea was white and still.  I made my views clear, for in years of command and a life on the sea I have leaned much.  I felt confident of what I told them."

"He is not a symbol.  He stands neither for innocence nor for evil.  There is no parable and no lesson in his coming and going.  I was neither right nor wrong in bringing him aboard (though it was indeed incorrect) or in what I later did.  We must get on with the ship's business.  He does not stand for man.  He stands for nothing.  He was an ape, simian and lean, half sensible.  He came on board, and now he is gone."

I think Samson Low protests too much.  Or he's trying to convince himself?  Low says it himself, though, when it comes to ship's business, not much else matters.  Perhaps that's the biggest truth of the story. 

Reading Notes: Mollie Panter-Downes

I never really realized how much a book's cover illustration and jacket description makes an impression on me.  I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but you can still glean all sorts of things about its contents (accurate or not) by what you see and read on the outside.  So what happens when you get a book published in the 1920s, with no jacket, and no description (or very little)?  I really enjoyed reading Mollie Panter-Downes's One Fine Day, and had to look for her other novels.  She only published a few, and it seemed easiest to just borrow them via my library's ILL service.  So now I have two.  One has no description at all and the other just the vaguest.  Strangely, it's the tiniest bit disorienting.  I don't have a lot of experience just reading an author without knowing about the contents of their books.  But that's sort of what's happening now.

The Storm Bird was published in 1930 by G.P. Putnam's Sons and all I can tell you (I've only read the first three or so pages) is it seems to be about a man who's been recently widowed.  The title page has a quote by Swinburne, "...the storm birds of passion, that ruffle Wild wings in a wind of desire".  Hmm.  Any guesses on what the plot of this one will look like?  I've set this one temporarily aside, since I have a copy of The Shoreless Sea as well (and I can't renew it, so I need to read it first).  This one came from one of California's university libraries, but it was previously owned by 'The Booklovers Library of Los Angeles--Established 1892' according to the plate inserted in the back of the book.  The description it gives (someone was kind enough to type in this information on the plate...thank you): Time-1921-4, Place-England, Gen'l Character-Triangle Romance, Subject Matter-Romantic adventures of a young girl, who marries to escape her unhappy home-environment: and afterwards, renews an intercepted passion of her earlier youth.  I love looking at these old books and imagining who might have read it and when.  This was published in 1924 also by G.P. Putnam's Sons.  It's in a very fragile condition and I'm amazed that it was loaned out to us (and probably why they won't allow it to be renewed).  This book also has not one but two quotes, "Fate is a sea without a shore," also by Swinburne (I like that).  And from The Song of Solomon, "Many waters cannot quench Love, neither can the floods drown it...For Love is strong as Death--".  I know where we're headed with this one, however.

The nice thing about Virago Modern Classics (which is the edition I have for One Fine Day) is the wonderful introductions they include.  My curiosity was piqued when I read:

"Mollie Panter-Downes's first novel, The Shoreless Sea, was published by John Murray when she was just seventeen and went into eight editions in the course of a year and a half, helped, no doubt, by the Daily Mirror's purchase of second serial rights and the slogan on the side of London Buses saying 'read The Shoreless Sea'.  (The writer Elizabeth Jenkins who was then eighteen remembers 'devouring' the instalments as they appeared).  Even today the novel has quite enough distinction to set it apart from the conventional love story, its tone and attitudes(though not its theme) being more than a little reminiscent of Rosamund Lehmann's The Dusty Answer which was published four years later." (1985)

I plan on reading Rosamund Lehmann's The Dusty Answer when I finish Elizabeth von Arnim's The Enchanted April.  The thing with reading Viragos is I read an author and love the book and then want to read all their books.  Or I read a book and the introduction mentions another book or author and then I have to read that!  So many of these older Viragos were books published originally in the 20s and 30s it seems or one author was an influence on another author from a later generation that they all fit so well together. Since I'm curious about this period, one book quickly leads to the next!

As for The Shoreless Sea, I'm reading it very carefully (fearful the pages are going to come detached from the spine), but I've gotten about 50 pages in.  While I don't think it's as well done as One Fine Day, I'm still very impressed that it is a first novel by a seventeen-year-old woman (and am enjoying it nonetheless)!  It will be interesting to see how it anticipates Lehmann's later novel, and then how many novels did Rosamund Lehmann write?  I'll be curious about all her books as well.  It's only a pity that so many of these books are out of print and hard to find.  I can't say this enough, but thank heavens for libraries and even more so for ILL!

Six Random Things

A nice meme seems like the perfect sort of post for the perfectly frivolous sort of day that I am having.  Conveniently I've been tagged by Tricia and Juxtabook to share six random things about myself.  I'm pretty sure I've done this before, so I'll try to think of six things I've not mentioned here before.

1. This is going to sound strange, but I want to start composting!  Everyone in my house is pretty good about recycling (I'm even known to dig out soda cans from the garbage if some unsuspecting visitor is foolish enough to pitch them), but I want to do more.  I've threatened to do this now for several years, but I think this is going to be the year. 
2. I love chocolate.  Preferably dark chocolate.  The darker the better.  I usually will bring a couple of those small Dove dark chocolate squares to work with me, or I'll ration out a candy bar during the week.  My current favorites: Green & Black's Organic (I've never looked at their website before...I had no idea they had so many flavors), and Lindt's Dark Chocolate with mousse filling.  And I love trying new chocolate flavors like dark chocolate with chili peppers or ginger or some other exotic spice.  Yum.
3. I am completely addicted to walking on my treadmill.  Even if I walk outside or go to the gym, I'll still walk at home on my treadmill even if it is only for 20-30 minutes.  I have to be really ill to take a day off, though some days I just don't feel like it, I still walk.  Part of the attraction is being able to read a book while walking.
4. I have a hard time reading if it isn't quiet.  I get easily distracted when people are talking loudly on the bus or the TV is on.  I've gotten pretty good at reading while using the stationary bicycle at the gym even though there is background music.  Usually radio is tuned to a generic rock station, but occasionally someone will turn it to a hard rock station and it grates on me.  Loud, screechy noises are not very conducive for me towards reading and enjoying (let alone understanding) what I'm reading.
5. I'm terrible at giving people directions.  I can usually work out just fine how to get someplace myself, but the second I need to verbally explain to someone, I will get them lost.  Undoubtedly the second I've given directions and the person is on their way I'll think of a much better route.
6. Cell phones annoy me.  I have nothing against them, but sometimes I think people forget their manners when using them.  They talk on them loudly on the bus and about private matters, or they talk on them on the quiet floor of my library, and the thing that annoys me the most--they bring them into public restrooms and have their conversations there.  I don't understand this behavior, but maybe it just happens in libraries?  Ick.

Here are the rules:

• Link to the person that tagged you
• Post the rules somewhere in your meme
• Write the six random things
• Tag six people in your post
• Let the tagees know they’ve been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog
• Let the tagger know your entry is post

I don't usually tag people for memes, but I think I will this time.  And if I didn't tag you, but you feel the inclination, please feel free to meme-away!

Writing, Life and the Universe

Random Field Notes

A Guy's Moleskine Notebook

Books and Cooks

Booknotes by Lisa

Sibylle's Kitchen Sink

Needlework Inspiration: A Thursday Thirteen

Yesterday someone was kind enough to link to me, mentioning that I was a crafter and a reader.  Lately I've only been a reader and not much of a crafter, or in my case, needleworker.  I had thought I would share some of my recent projects today (in case anyone clicked through hoping to see something creative), but as I am not far enough along in any of them to  make a very interesting post, I thought instead I would share some of my favorite needlework books.

I've got a small but very nice collection of needlework books.  Many are now out of print, and these all happen to be of the coffee table variety mostly.  I would love to collect more, but they can be very pricey (which is why it's better to get them when they're first published rather than OOP).  Either they are small print runs (and generally very nice, lavish volumes) or they're foreign (primarily French), which means I need to be very selective.  Since I've not been stitching much, I've not been visiting any online stores to tempt me with new designs and new books. I'm afraid to go look and see what's new (and I'm missing out on!).  It's always nice revisiting the books I already own, though. 

My books tend to concentrate mostly on samplers, since that is my favorite type of design to stitch, but I like most types of needlework as well as anything on textiles and needlework tools.

1. Sampler & Antique Needlework Volume II. -- Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly is my favorite needlework magazine.  They published two wonderful books of designs that are full of gorgeous charts you can stitch.  Volume I is impossible to find, but I lucked out and found a remaindered copy of Volume II.
2. Samplers from the Victoria and Albert Museum, Clare Browne. -- If you live in London, I'm envious.  I actually went to the V&A a long time ago.  It was before I was seriously into stitching, though, and I never bothered to look at their fine textile collection.  So, if you happen by there, please go take a peek at Jane Bostocke's sampler for me!
3. Embroideries and Patterns from 19th Century Vienna, Raffaella Serena. -- Needlework from the Biedermeier Period.
4. Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, Betty Ring. -- If you are a serious needleworker (of samplers) this is THE book (actually it is a set of two) to own.  It's absolutely gorgeous with lots of text--the essential history of American samplers.
5. The Embroiderer's Story: Needlework from the Renaissance to the Present Day, Thomasina Beck. -- Another history of.
6. The Embroiderer's Garden, Thomasina Beck. -- Embroidery--and lovely gardens.
7. Gardening with Silk and Gold, Thomasina Beck. -- More embroidery.
8. British Embroidery: Curious Works from the Seventeenth Century, Kathleen Epstein. -- Another lavishly illustrated volume.
9. Sampler Motifs and Symbolism, Patricia Andrle. -- Did you know that often all the various motifs in samplers are chock full of symbolism?  This is a nice guide to understand what's what.
10. Quaker School Girl Samplers from Ackworth, Carol Humphrey. -- The Ackworth School samplers are quite famous now.  The school was founded in the late 1700s by the Quakers, and part of a girls education was to learn needlework.  Quaker samplers have a very distinct look (generally geometric medallions).  I think they're lovely and would like to stitch something in this style.
11. Common Thread/Common Ground: A Collection of Essays on Early Samplers and Historic Needlework, Marsha Van Valin. -- An excellent reference resource.
12. Samplers from A to Z (Museum of Fine Arts Boston), Pamela Parmal. -- Thin little volume, but with lovely samplers.
13. Du Point de Marque au Point de Croix: Catalogue de l'Exposition--Nancy 2000, Régine Deforges. -- I have a small collection of French needlework books, this is one with illustrations of samplers and other stitching that was part of an exhibition.

This makes me want to set my books aside (just for a little while) and stitch.