A Work in Progress

The Kitchen Boy

I am not terribly familiar with the history of the Romanovs (only in the wider sense of world/Russian history) or the details concerning their murders--except of course the speculation over what really happened in 1918 when Tsar Nikolai, Tsarita Aleksandra and their five children were murdered (or were they all killed?).  For me this made the story of The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander a fresh and interesting subject.  It is a combination of historical fact and fiction as well as mystery that Alexander fairly deftly weaves together.

He bases his story on an obscure comment that Aleksandra made in one of her diaries about the kitchen boy who had worked for the family and then left, and she curiously wonders if he will return.  From this one little mention Alexander creates a story of what really happened to the Romanovs.  We are lead to believe that the kitchen boy, many years later is telling his story (he wants to leave a tape with this information) to his granddaughter before he dies.  The first half of the book describes what daily life is like for the Tsar and his family when they have been imprisoned in Ipatiev House in Yekaterinberg after Nikolai abdicated.  It was interesting to get a feel for what Nikolai and Aleksandra might have been like and what they had to endure during their imprisonment.  Daily they hope that the White army will come and save them.  Of course that never happened.  The first half of the book was interesting, but perhaps a tad bit on the slow side.  Once July 17, 1918 comes, however, events start moving at breakneck speed and I couldn't put the book down.  I hadn't even planned on finishing the book (which I did last night) as soon as I did, but I couldn't help myself.  And yes, there is a very good twist at the end, which I didn't expect.  If you are a fan of historical fiction, or are at all interested in the Romanovs, you might give this book a try--I thought it was well done.  And definitely take a look at Alexander's website (be careful that your speakers are not turned up too loud...)!  Now I am wondering about what is fact and what is fiction and want to read more about the Romanovs (one thing always leads to another in my reading!).

On a little side note, I am really getting into David Copperfield! I am just trying to read one chapter a day, but I usually want to just keep reading.  Dickens certainly knew how to create wonderful Characters (I think his characters aren't just characters, they're Characters!).  I don't think I could have chosen a more Victorian book than this!

Just curious...what was your most recent (or current) page turner of a book?

On a more industrious day...

I don't spend every day off as lazily as I did yesterday.  It has been a while since I have shared any of my needlework finishes here, so I thought I would show you a project that I just finished a couple of weeks ago.  This is a needlecase that I stitched and finished entirely (well almost--I did a bit of it with the sewing machine) by hand.  I am rather proud of it, as I had never tried finishing anything quite like this before, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out.  The inside has pieces of felt where stitchers can keep their needles.  Each corner folds in and can be tied to the opposite corner forming a case.

Here is what the back looks like.  The designer (I can't say I am talented enough to stitch my own designs) is Just Nan and the chart is called "Miss Kitty's Dragons".  After seeing the movie Sequins (and following in the footsteps of one of my stitching friends, Vero) I would love to try my hand at embroidery and may have to buy some books to learn from....

A mishmash of the Usual

I took a day off of work today, and I can't say I have a single thing to show for it.  I can never decide if that is the sign of a successful day off or not.  I tend to feel guilty with days like these, though, which I truly hate about myself.  I did watch a movie this afternoon, which I had put off all weekend as it is a French film, and that means having to read subtitles.  I found Sequins (Brodeuses in French) via my friend and fellow needleworker Lelia.  The movie is about a young woman, Claire, who is pregnant and planning to give up the baby for adoption.  It is set in Angouleme, which is gorgeous by the way.  She is a cashier in a supermarket, and the only thing that seems to keep her going is working on her embroideries, which are her passion.  As her pregnancy progresses, which she is trying to hide, she must quit her job.  She begins working for a woman, Mrs. Melikian, who is an embroiderer for haute couture designers.  As with books, if it is a good film, I easily get wrapped up in the story and the reality around me disappears.  Sometimes it is scary how much I allow myself to get drawn into these stories, as coming up for air, so to speak, can be hard when the story is finished.  As I love needlework, I had to see this movie and I wasn't disappointed.  Although I do needlework of a different kind, I loved the embroideries that were shown in the movie--utterly exquisite! 

I also watched Marie Antoinette, which I actually enjoyed.  I know it received lukewarm (maybe even bad?) reviews, but it was so lush visually I couldn't help liking it for that reason alone.  Okay the music was sort of different, but I didn't find it too terribly distracting for the most part.  Talk about disgustingly decadent, the royalty must not have had a clue how the French people even lived.  No wonder they started a revolution.  It makes me want to pull out all my books on Marie Antoinette and this period of French history and start reading them, but I need to try to stay on track with the books I have already started, so they will have to just sit close to the top of the TBR piles.

As for reading I have been dipping into a few different books this weekend.  If Peter Ho Davies writes as well in all his books as he does in The Welsh Girl I am going to have to buy his short story collections as well.  I tell myself just one chapter and then back to work on something else, except I want to keep reading!  I am halfway through Robert Alexander's The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar.  It is a sort of mystery about the last days of the Romanovs as told by the young kitchen boy who witnessed it all and was the only one to survive and tell the tale.  Yet more decadent royals who were out of touch with their subjects.  I have finally started reading Dickens's David Copperfield.  I plan on reading a chapter a day to start, and we'll see what happens when I pick up Tolstoy again.  I'm still enjoying Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido.  Like the Alexander book, it is quite short and if I wasn't reading chapters here and there of other books could finish it pretty quickly.  That's okay, though, it is kind of nice to prolong these sorts of pleasures.  And I am actually happily anticipating restarting War and Peace...maybe I will start dragging it around with me tomorrow!  I guess it is time to drag myself back into reality.   

Edited: I did a bit of editing on this post 3/9--sorry, a bit of sloppy writing!

Books make great scratching posts

We both love books, Chispa and I.  For different reasons, however.  I have two cats--one has claws and one doesn't.  I totally understand people's wishes to either have a cat declawed and alternately not have them declawed.  If you own a cat with claws you will understand what I am talking about, and if you don't own a cat, well, consider yourself lucky in this case.  Stacks of books are quite attractive to Chispa.  Scratch, scratch, scratch....ah...that feels heavenly (yes, she is shredding my books!).  I know I should have learned by now, but obviously my methods of hiding the piles from her are not effective.  Latest victims?  My favorite Clare Chambers' book that was sitting next to my bed and several books by Daphne Du Maurier (lovely new Virago Modern Classics editions no less).  I was astounded by her ability to get to the Chambers book.  It was on the bottom and laying in the farthest pile back--how could she possibly even get to it.  Never underestimate the naughtiness of any cat.  She slithered under the bed and got to it that way.  What is annoying is that this happened a few days ago, which made me finally organize the piles, and take the majority of them down to my bookroom (it is a small room with a door and off limits to all cats).  Then last night she got to the Du Mauriers, which I thought were placed in such a way that she couldn't get to them either.  Needless to say I am disgusted with Chispa today (that doesn't stop her from laying on the softest, warmest blanket on my bed, thankyouverymuch).  I know it is not really her fault--this is completely natural to her, but why does she constantly ignore all the other lovely scratching posts I have bought for her for that exact reason?  They are for cats for heaven's sake, and she snubs her nose at them.  So if anyone has a cat with claws and also piles of books, do you have any advice for keeping cats away from them?  Other than the obvious...not piling them on the floor and keeping them behind closed doors? 

On a happier and less destructive note I finished my library's Adult Winter Reading Program books.  Here is the bookbag we got this year for reading five books--it should come in handy.  I feel a bit of a cheat as three of the five books were actually YA books, but two of them were over 500 pages (which they count as two books at the library), so maybe that will help make up for for my guilt.  I don't think they care at the library and besides quite often YA books can easily be read by adults (for example The Book Thief, which is being read by everyone these days--kids and adults alike).  I even got a coupon for their next library book sale.  I really need to try and go (unfortunately it is never held at my library branch), as I see what great finds everyone else comes across at these sales!

Somewhere in the middle

I am somewhere in between absolutely loving this book (Markus Zusak's The Book Thief), and not really being sure exactly how I feel about it.  I did really like it, don't get me wrong.  Zusak seems to have quite a talent with playing with reader's emotional heart strings, though.  Forty pages from the end of the book, I was sitting on the bus reading it trying to decide whether to just close the book and not finish it, or to persevere no matter how bleak it all felt.  I won't go into the plot really as no doubt you have already heard all about it--WWII story set in a small town outside Munich, narrated by "Death" himself, mostly about a young girl called Leisel--the book thief.  It started out a tad bit slow for me, and there were some lulls in the story, so it felt a bit bumpy at times.  Of course this might have been due to my needing to get it back to the library before the due date (which was yesterday), so I probably was trying to read it faster than I should have.  It's a good story, and it is creatively told and I cared about the characters.  But at times it is hard reading, and considering the time, place and subject matter surely you'll understand why.  Death was occasionally kind and would give the reader glimpses of what was to come, but really it never actually softened the blow once it smacked you in the face when the time came.  I was a little surprised that this is a YA book, but then why should this be sugar coated for teens reading it.  It happened and it was awful and people need to remember it.  I did make it through the last 40 pages...sad or happy ending?  If you are curious enough to know, I better not give anything away, so you will just have to read the book for yourself. 

That's enough of books filled with this type of turmoil (for the moment anyway), I said to myself last night.  So what did I promptly do?  Yes, I picked up Peter Ho Davies's The Welsh Girl.  Round two of WWII reads I guess.  I have only read the first few pages--mostly out of curiosity as I do want to read this next (looks good, sounds good, and I am looking forward to reading it!).  I thought maybe it would be good to squeeze a nice, happy (even if predictable, predictability is sometimes good in my book) book first before the end of the month.  For me comfort reads=Clare Chambers.  However I have it on good advice that if I like Clare Chambers I will love Barbara Trapido.  So I have started in earnest, Brother of the More Famous Jack.  I think I am going to like it.  It feels like a Clare Chambers novel, but sort of different.  This one is sort of literary (not that Clare Chambers isn't, but I mean there is talk of literature and books in the book, which is very appealing to me right now).  So I guess I will be giving a little space between me and the book thief, and let that story swim around in my head a little bit, maybe move it off to one side, and think about it all later.  Until then I have a date with a Barbara Trapido novel! 

Which Translation?

Yesterday someone asked how I choose the best translation when reading a book by a foreign author.  I am not sure I am the best person to ask, so I am putting forth that very question to you.  In the past I really never thought about it, the question of which translation, I just bought whatever was readily available on the bookstore shelf. I think the first time I actually gave it some thought was when I decided to read War and Peace.  As I was reading it with a group there was discussion as to which translation to read.  I decided to set (thanks to Project Gutenberg) different editions of the book side by side and looked for which one seemed to be the best fit for me.  Every reader seemed to have a different opinion, and they raised some questions/issues I hadn't even thought of.  For example with W&P some famous translations of the book are by British rather than American translators and thus the language may not sound as natural to my (American) ears. I did search for other readers opinions as well.  In the end I decided to choose the new Briggs translation.  For myself I am not a scholar or student, so for a first reading of W&P, I just wanted something readable and not clunky.  I think in some cases it comes down to small nuances in a language which I wouldn't necessarily pick up anyway not studying the text in depth.  And not knowing a second language thoroughly enough to be able to read any of it in the original, I can't really say what doesn't sound right.  I do think, though, if something doesn't "read well" and it is a translation, it makes you wonder if it was the same in th original language.

Sometimes I am happy to find any books by certain authors on the shelves at all.  I didn't find a single novel by Colette at the bookstore last time I was there.  Although I think she wrote profusely, I am not sure how much is in print here these days.  I will take what I can get.  My copy of Kristin Lavransdatter is translated by Tiina Nunnally who I have read is an "award winning translator", but I am not sure there are any other translations out there. So I go with what I can find in many cases.  I have heard that Robert Fagles is the way to go with Homer, and Edith Grossman's translation of Don Quixote is supposed to be excellent (I have copies of all of the above).  I have heard Richard Pevear (along with wife Larissa Volokhonsky) translations are also well known (they are also translating W&P slated to be released in 2008).  I'm not sure who else is acclaimed--any particular translators for French novels? 

If you are curious what it is like for the translator to translate from one language to another, there is an interesting article in a recent back issue of WLT-World Literature Today (a magazine I highly recommend, and many of their articles are available online--so go take a look!).  The issue had an extensive set of articles on Orhan Pamuk, including one by one of his translators, Maureen Freely.  She is also a published author and and I like what she says:

"As a novelist, I put great faith in the narrative trance.  If it worked, the reader entered into the fictive world and shut the door behind her.  It the incantation failed, or if the trance was somehow broken, the reader was left looking at the words that blocked the way."

For me a good book does exactly as she describes.  She goes on to say about translating:

"I became responsible not just for the text but for the proper understanding of its context, because the distance between two cultures is as great as the distance between their languages."

Thinking Ahead - Reading Plans

War and Peace is going to be my book of choice next month.  I mentioned this before (or have been thinking about it anyway), that it is time to buckle down and read the rest of this novel properly now, and not in fits and starts.  I have read nearly 500 out of 1,300+ pages.  I made the mistake of setting it down for a while last fall, and there it has sat ever since.  I pick it up occasionally, but at the rate of five pages a week (maybe) it will be years before I finish it. I don't mind taking my time with some books (I do it all the time as you have likely noticed), but this one simply has too many pages, too many characters and too much going on in the story to ignore.  Even reading it through only once (especially in the way I have been reading it), I feel like I am doing a disservice to the novel.

While I will read W&P primarily, I do plan on reading Christine Falls by Benjamin Black as it is a reader's copy.  I might see what other short books (or maybe I should read some short stories?) I can fit in as well.  I think I might approach David Copperfield the same way M-MV is--reading a chapter a day (until I get caught up with my other reading anyway).  Initially my idea was to read only W&P and The Mists of Avalon, but two really big books in one month might be beyond me.  We'll see how it goes.  It's probably better not to be too definite in my plans as they easily go awry.  So, if in March all I seem to talk about is Tolstoy, War and Peace, Tolstoy, War and Peace...please bear with me.  Maybe I will be able to read it faster than I think!  Anyway, if I can manage at least 50 pages a day I might even be able to finish in a couple of weeks....

Now...thinking beyond that...do I pick up another big book afterwards?  Or do I plow my way through what's left on my nightstand?  I have been contemplating reading Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter.  Yesterday I noticed there is a Penguin Classics reading group (via Amazon) that is also reading this (or at least the first of the three books).  (By the way if you start looking around the Penguin store on Amazon and clicking links like this one, you can get yourself into some serious trouble!).  I'm afraid I might not finish another lengthy read before undertaking Don Quixote (not sure when everyone is planning on reading this?).  I could pick up Swann's Way instead (a mere 496 pages).  I suppose I should concentrate on Tolstoy first, perhaps?

Not a single Colette.

Not a single Colette on the bookstore shelves.  Not even one slim little volume.  No von Kleist either, which really didn't surprise me too much.  But for once my list making paid off. I didn't allow myself to browse too much, but I still left with more than I anticipated buying.  I actually found most of what was on my list with a few additions.  Not surprisingly they had lots of copies of The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.  They also had Lady Susan by Jane Austen (my copy also has The Watsons and Sanditon), In Lucia's Eyes by Arthur Japin, and The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe, all of which I wanted.  If you notice on my sidebar there are some book ads and one of the recent titles that has been displayed has been for Sara Gran's novel/mystery Dope.  It is meant to be written in the hard boiled detective style (narrated by a woman though), and while some reviews of it have been less than glowing I thought it looked interesting enough to give it a read.  Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert caught my eye--another younger man in love with an older woman novel by a French author--I couldn't pass it up.  I had not thought of reading more Flaubert after Madame Bovary, but all of a sudden I want to now.  Other bloggers have been reading Proust, and being in my French reading mood, I picked up the first volume, Swann's Way, from In search of Lost Time.  I'm not sure when I will read it, or if I will read all the volumes, but I would at least like to read the first book.  Lastly I had to get one fluffy sort of book, A Rather Lovely Inheritance by C.A. Belmond.  Lately I feel a tad bit guilty reading or buying fluffy sorts of books.  I never would have in the past given any book I chose to read a second thought.  I think seeing what other people are reading is rubbing off on me.  Ultimately I am sure I will still read whatever sounds good.  Why do I agonize over these sorts of questions?  I suppose bigger problems I may not have any control over (so why agonize), but this is one small corner of the world I do have some say in?

Oh, and those books on the side...one is mooched and one was given to me.  I keep hearing about Niall Williams here, so I found a copy of Four Letters of Love on Bookmooch.  I am not sure if this is his best, or the best place to start, but when it is free you go with what you can get.  Isabella has kindly sent to me a copy of Bang Crunch (even signed) by Neil Smith, when I came up with an inspired place name.  I am supposed to be reading more short stories this year.  I have been reading along with A Curious Singularity (but being lazy and not posting about them--just soaking in other reader's observations!), but not doing much other reading.  Now I have more impetus, right?!

Did you notice that long box-like thing on the bottom of the photo?  A friend gave me a box of Jane Austen mint chocolates!  You can click here (you'll need to scroll down a bit and then can click on that photo to enlarge it) to see them.  She found them somewhere locally.  I think they are too nice to eat!  And which to choose first?  Pride and Prejudice, Emma?  They are imported from Britain.  Literary chocolates, what more can you ask for?

One little more note...not sure if you have been having problems adding a comment here.  I have.  I'm not sure what the problem is, but it takes forever to load the comment box and then usually it times out before actually saving the message.  It has been very frustrating and this is the second day I have noticed it.  Very sorry if you are also experiencing this problem.  Hopefully it will get back to normal soon.

A Guiltless Splurge

Piles be damned.  If I have to find home for all those books I mentioned yesterday, surely a few more are not going to make any difference?  I am planning on a little (guiltless as I will be using a gift card from Christmas) splurge today.  I haven't been to a bookstore (that being a new books bookstore) all month and am feeling pangs of withdrawal.  I always have an idea of what I want to find when I go book shopping.  Here is what I want to look for: The film adaptation for Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, which I think looks really good, opens next month.  I would love to read the book. I want to see what is in the offering for books by Colette.  Arthur Japin's In Lucia's Eyes is now in paperback--a fictional tale of Casanova's first love (or conquest anyway) that I first heard about here. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe deserves to finally be bought--how many times have I picked this up and put it back down again?  I am in the mood for it, so I bet the bookstore won't have a copy on their shelves.  I'd like to find The Marquise of O and Other Short Stories by Heinrich von Kleist, that Matt recommended, but I bet they won't have that either (my library owned it, but the copy was falling apart, so I couldn't check it out).  I will also be on the look out for this edition of Lady Susan by Jane Austen (the next Slaves book choice).  List in hand I will go, and I bet I will leave with practically none of these books.  But I might luck out.

By the way, I am reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak at the moment.  Although I sometimes feel like I only acquire books, I do indeed read them, too.  I had a hard time getting into it at first--but that was due to coming out of a Colette high.  The author has an interesting writing style, which I wasn't sure at first if it was just going to be gimmicky, but it really does grow on you.  I'll let you know how things go--with The Book Thief and the book buying excursion.

Feeling Claustrophobic

I'm feeling really claustrophobic.  Even though there is still a week left in February, I am ready for March.  Spring is just around the corner surely?  We are finally experiencing above freezing temperatures, so what's left of the snow and ice is going to melt.  Of course it is going to expose the gray dinginess beneath, but I know it is going to turn green eventually.  I feel a bit like I have been in hibernation--all these dark days and darker nights.  At the first sign of warmth, though (as warm as 45 degrees can feel), I am ready to start pitching things out and ready to begin rearranging other things.  Spring fever?  Spring cleaning! 

Yesterday I was sizing up the numerous piles of things around my house thinking "that has got to go", and "that too, it's got to go".  My book piles, while they are not going anywhere, do need to be organized.  I once again have small stacks of books growing in my book room (much like weeds).  It always starts with just a few books that won't fit in my bookcase--a tiny little overflow, and then eventually they mushroom out into something like this!  I can't even show you what has accumulated by my bed or the stack of books sitting here by my computer.  I need to add new books to Library Thing and then decide what will end up down in the bookroom (yes, to add to those piles you see above) and what can be organized neatly in my bedroom (where my "I want to read this next" book piles are).  What do you do with your overflow of books?  Or are you lucky to have enough shelf space?  Once again it is time for me to come up with some creative book organization!  Now, if I had a library like this one (I have been to the Biltmore and seen this library and yes, it is extraordinary!), I wouldn't be having these minor book problems!