A Work in Progress

Small Presses

I am finding I really like books published by small or independent presses.  First Virago Press, then Persephone Books and now I have found a new one--Hesperus Press (via Simon).  Actually I had heard of Hesperus before, but that was back in my pre-(free shipping) Book Depository days!  Now that I have rediscovered them, I plan on giving some of their books a try.  Hesperus is another press devoted to neglected or forgotten classics (so glad publishers are willing to find and republish these!). 

"The reader will be encouraged to discover the greatest European and American writers through short significant works, each around 100 pages in length.  Notes will be kept to a minimum and pruned of all intrusive critical content.  Great care will also be taken over the look of each book, from the cover to the paper, and from the printing to the binding."

I have not yet ordered any of these titles (that will likely change soon), but at the top of my list are Simonetta Perkins by L.P. Hartley (set in Venice, the writing is compared to Henry James), Transformation by Mary Shelley (a macabre, sinister and supernatural tale), Mugby Junction by Charles Dickens (tales ranging from horror to a realistic portrayal of life around a bustling Victorian railway station), Love and Friendship by Jane Austen (a series of letters to the daughter of a friend, Love and Friendship tells of a young girl’s path to betrayal, by way of a seemingly ecstatic marriage), The Lost Stradivarius by J. Meade Falkner (chilling in the extreme, a tale of the supernatural).  Well, I have only skimmed the surface when it comes to looking.  I am sure there are loads more books I will find when I get a proper chance to browse their catalog.  (Edited--Per Susan--Hesperus titles are available in US bookstores.  Although I have not spotted them in my local bookstores, I see a list on Amazon and the titles are discounted).

Surely there are US publishers also printing these types of books (neglected/forgotten)?  It seems as though every time I find these types of books, they are published by British publishers.  Am I missing them over here?  I know many small publishers exist in the US, though it seems as though they are all very specialized.  Any suggestions?  Although it may seem that books are only published by conglomerates, I know that can't be true.  Perhaps this is another niche that needs to be satisfied by some savvy entrepreneur?  Another dream job!

Should I or Shouldn't I?

If I actually made a plan and stuck to it, I could accomplish quite a lot.  My problem is I am easily distracted.  Occasionally I will set my mind to doing something, and I will actually do it.  But other times I am not as successful in my endeavors--usually this has to do with challenges.  They sound so wonderful at the outset, but then I let other books get in the way.  So when I see another tempting challenge it is hard to resist--the opportunity to read more books or at least plan to read more books.  Last year Amanda organized a great reading challenge--the first I ever participated in.  I listed ten classic mystery novels that I wanted to read (my goal was to read eight and two books were bonuses), and I read five of them, which I thought was actually pretty good.  So do I join this year knowing I will likely get distracted?  If I incorporate other books I am already planning on reading maybe that is the solution to sticking to it?  So, I guess I am going to join in.  I am going to be a little general in my choices, so I have more wiggle room later on.  I will once again choose ten books/or types of books and if I get six read this year, I will be happy. 

1. One Virago from this list.
2. One Persephone from this list.
3. Armadale by Wilkie Collins from this list (I haven't forgotten about that list!)
4. A book by Colette.
5. One new fiction book published in the last year--see stack of books in photo above.
6. A nice short book from this list!
7. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor (for Southern Reading Challenge--I don't think I will get three read, but I will try and read one at least!)
8. In Lucia's Eyes by Arthur Japin or maybe Lady's Maid by Margaret Forster or maybe both!!
9. One seafaring tale (maybe another Horatio Hornblower adventure or a Patrick O'Brien book?)
10. Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life by Claire Tomalin

Bonus:  One miscellaneous classic book (from any number of lists I have made in the past).

Since I am continually making lists of books I want to read, maybe this is one way of reading a book or two from those lists--and actually accomplishing something.  I realize I am being very optimistic, but you never know.  This might just be the challenge I actually finish!

Required Reading

I'm having a hard time settling down with a book.  I just finished The Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander.  It was an enjoyable read--definitely better than the initial book by Alexander.  It's easy to read easy books.  By easy I don't mean that the book is in any way simplistic, just a page turner.  It was easy for me, once I got into the story, to just lose myself.  So now I need to decide what to concentrate on.  I know I am notorious for having lots of books started, but in actuality I do like to have just a couple that I am reading in earnest--otherwise I really would never finish anything.

I think I need to work on my "required reading".  The next Slaves of Golconda group read is Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier, which we will be discussing May 31.  I have been having uncertain feelings while reading this book.  One thing is for certain, I think this is definitely a book that is going to have to be read twice.  I am only a third of the way into the story, but it is not being told in a traditional manner.  The narrator, John Dowell, is telling us what occurred between him, his wife (both Americans) and a British couple during their years vacationing together in the German spa town of Bad Nauheim before the First World War. 

The story is not coming out in a linear fashion.  I am wondering if Dowell can be considered an unreliable narrator?  I do think he is telling us the truth (at least at the moment), but it seems as though his interpretation of events might just be colored by his relationship with the other characters.  I'm not sure--I'll have to see how things go.  I'm afraid to read any criticism before finishing the book, as I don't want the end to be spoiled, though I do sort of already know how things are going to turn out.  I'm also wondering if anyone else gets to tell their side of the story?  I can say that I like this style of writing very much even if I am having second thoughts about John Dowell.  I'm not entirely sure I like any of the characters, but it is unfair to judge them when I am only seeing them though the eyes of one man.  I think this is an excellent example of a novel that is very character driven--I am getting a sense particularly of what "the good soldier", Edward Ashburnam was like.  I did read that "It is generally agreed that Ford's The Good Soldier is one of the masterpieces of modernism, a major experimental novel of enormous historical and artistic interest."

I am also trying to salvage my challenge reading.  I have only finished one book for Carl's Once Upon a Time challenge, though I did finally start Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad.  It's been a long time since I have read anything by her--how could I have forgotten what a great author she is?  There is only about a month left.  Can I fit in three more books (even if they are short?) and one play?  And then there is the Reading Matters book choice for June that I really want to read, Peter Carey's Theft: A Love Story!  Maybe after this summer the only challenge I will do is one I set for myself--read the books on my own bookshelves, and in no particular order!   

Guess How Much These Books Weigh?

Actually I am not entirely sure, but I can tell you that they felt like they weighed a ton on my walk home from the library last night.  Yes, I dragged all six home from the library--walking!  I just tried to think of them as free weights and what an extra good workout I was getting!  It's my own fault.  This is what happens when you're bored and look through the 'new books' lists in the online library catalog.  And of course everyone knows they all show up at once on the holds shelf!  Now the next trick--which ones will I be able to read before they are due back? By the way--I used to be able to renew a book that no one else was waiting for right away.  A three week check out could turn into a six week check out right from the get go.  Well, the library has wised up, I guess.  Now you can renew, but the renewal is not tacked on after the initial check out.  No.  Now you get three more weeks from the time you renew--meaning it is best to wait until you are close to the due date so you can get maximum check out time.  So much for working the system.  I was quite good at juggling books.  Anyway, the books, from top to bottom, left to right:

Sheer Abandon by Penny Vincenzi.  I loved her Lytton family books, and am happy to see more is being published by her on this side of the Atlantic finally.  This is a story that has been done before--three young women meet, one has abandoned her baby.  Said baby grows up and looks for her mother--which woman is it?  If I can renew this one a few times it may just have a chance of being read (its on the long side).  It looks like the perfect summer beach book.

The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay.  A coworker is reading this at the moment.  She told me it makes her want to reread Melville's Moby Dick and Shakespeare's The Tempest.  I think she is enjoying it, but the verdict is still out.  I was tempted to buy it--it looks like a book lovers sort of book (the protagonist works in a bookstore much like NYC's The Strand), but wasn't sure if it was too good to be true.  Has anyone read this one yet?  Good, bad, indifferent?

City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-Century London by Vic Gatrell.  I'm not entirely sure what possessed me to request this one.  I was bored at the time and lots of books looked intriguing.  A warning if this one looks good to you--it literally must weigh ten pounds.  Well, five at least.  No, maybe ten.  It feels heavier than my cats!!  It is filled with lots of illustrations of 18th-century prints.  I will probably just skim this one and look at the pictures.  Very highbrow of me, eh (but then considering the subject matter...).

Imposture by Benjamin Markovits.  This one looks like fun.  A young woman (sheltered, bookish and passionate apparently) meets Lord Byron outside his publisher and arranges to meet him in secret.  Or was it him?  Could it have been a look--like?  Perhaps John Polidori who once toured Europe with Byron as his doctor?  One of the blurbs said it was "a delicious novel that lingers in memory."

Agatha Christie: A Reader's Companion by Vanessa Wagstaff.  Another book I won't be reading as it is more of a reference book.  It is chock full of photos of Christie and her books.  I haven't read much of her work, but this should be a good introduction!  Another one with interesting and entertaining illustrations.

The Dowry: A Novel of Ireland by Walter Keady.  Some years ago I read Keady's Mary McGreevy and recollect enjoying it.  I saw someone called this a "charming Celtic comedy of manners", so I had to get it.  This looks like quite a promising read!

So now I need to be creative about which ones get read first (or at all).  This is the sort of thing that messes up my reading plans. 

My Favorite Kind of Mysteries

I am reading two really good mysteries at the moment (actually more of one than the other--but I will get back to it soon).  I had not intended to have two on the go at once.  After I finished Consequences of Sin by Clare Langley-Hawthorne recently, I couldn't simply be patient and wait for my turn for a library copy of Tasha Alexander's next Lady Ashton mystery, A Poisoned Season.  I thought I might be able to squeeze in a shorter mystery, so I started Kerry Greenwood's Cocaine Blues.  Halfway through the Greenwood, what happens?   Yes, a library book nudges its way into the queue, so now  I have a library book (with a due date--and it can't be renewed as there's a queue) to work on as well.  I'm afraid books with due dates get precedence over books I own (unfair though it may be).

It shouldn't take me long to read the Tasha Alexander book.  I enjoyed her first novel, though I felt a tad bit tepid about some elements of the story.  Halfway through her second I don't have any reservations thus far.  I am thoroughly enjoying the story.  Once again Lady Ashton, a young widow, has gotten herself embroiled in a little murder and theft.  This time around items that once belonged to the "ill-fated" Queen Marie Antoinette have been stolen.  To make things even more complicated a gentleman purporting to be the descendant of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette is stirring up trouble.

I think this is going to turn out to be a fun mystery series to read.  Lady Ashton is unconventional to say the least.  She's not what you would expect from a proper Victorian widow. She reads Homer (in the original Greek), prefers to stay at home and read rather than attend balls, and takes port after dinner with the gentlemen (instead of retiring to another room with the ladies).  I like sassy heroines.  She is not without her charms or without her admirers--including one Colin Hargreaves (of course he's terribly handsome).  There is lots of witty repartee, which keeps the story moving along quite nicely.  And, no, her mother does not approve of Emily's "eccentric" habits.

"Mother--"

"And this is as good a time as any to point out that your odd reading habits are beginning to disconcert people."

"My reading habits are not--"

"We all understand that it was terribly shocking for you to lose your husband.  Mourning is a dreadful time.  But now it is over and there is no need to persist in this morbid habit of reading tedious books.  Lady Elliott told me that she saw you with a copy of the Odyssey in the park."

"Do you have a particular objection to Homer, or are you against all ancient texts?"

"There is no need to speak to me like that, Emily.  I cannot imagine what possessed you to bring a book to the park."

"The weather was fine and I wanted to sit outside.  A shocking concept. I agree."

"Well, open a window, or if you must be outdoors, stay on your own property.  There's no need to flaunt your eccentricities in front of all of London."  She removed a pair of spectacles from her reticule, put them on, and peered at my face.  "I do believe you are getting freckles."  She thrust her parasol over me.

I like Emily.  While she reads Homer in Greek, she is not above reading popular novels, too.  Later in the book she talks about reading Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret as well as Mount Royal.  What fun.  She's the sort of character I wouldn't mind meeting in real life.

I'll save Kerry Greenwood's Cocaine Blues for another post.  Phryne Fisher is somewhat similar to Emily Ashton, though the setting is Melbourne in the 1920s.  I like all sorts of mysteries, but I have a particular fondness for independent and intelligent heroines/sleuths.  I have found some great new (or at least new to me) authors recently to fit the bill well.  Check out their websites: Tasha Alexander, Kerry Greenwood, Clare Langley-Hawthorne, Deanna Raybourne and the wonderful Jacqueline Winspear!  My only request....that they please write faster (that's the problem with finding a new author who's publishing their first book)!  And if I have missed anyone writing in the same vein, please let me know! 

Eight Random Things About Me

Sylvia and Iliana have tagged me for the eight random facts meme.  The idea is to share eight unknown facts about myself.

So here goes:

1. I don't own a car or a cell phone. Considering the expense of both, I don't mind.  I feel progressive enough just owning an answering machine and a computer (and I plan on buying an iPod).
2. I don't like mayonnaise.  I know, that sounds weird, but I have never liked it. 
3. I don't like wearing high heels.  As a matter of fact I never wear them.  I prefer my feet firmly planted on the ground.  Besides, I walk too much and they would be completely impractical.
4. I don't like to cook and am totally unimaginative when trying new dishes.  I have a repertoire of about half a dozen meals that I feel comfortable making.  I don't mind baking, though.
5. I have two older sisters and no brothers.  I have always wondered what it would be like to have a brother.
6. I'd like to live in Europe again.  I'd also like to live near a large body of water.  I would be quite happy combining the two!
7. Sometimes I flip to the back of the book I'm reading to sneak a peek at the outcome.  I try not to do this, but sometimes I can't resist.  Is that terrible?
8. When I was in middle and high school I had lots of pen pals.  I actually met five of them (they were from Ireland, Britain, former Czechoslovakia, former East Germany, and Finland).  Unfortunately I lost contact with all of them, which is a pity really--I am curious what their lives are like now!

The instructions are to tag eight more people, but as I have been noticing this meme popping up all over the place, consider yourself tagged if you haven't already shared your eight facts! 

Mariana

Mariana by Monica Dickens is a 'curl up on the sofa with a warm fuzzy blanket and a hot cup of cocoa sort of book'.  It is the sort of book that you finish and feel happy and contented having read.  Granted the last couple of days here have been hot and sunny, so no blanket or cocoa were required, but you get my meaning.  It is the sort of comfort read I love to come back to again and again.

Mariana was Monica Dickens's second novel written when she was only twenty-four, and it is based on "her childhood and growing up".  It begins with Mary (Mariana is actually the title of a poem by Tennyson, which Mary has the "pleasure" of reciting in drama school) staying in the countryside in a lonely cottage with just her dog, Bingo.  Set during WWII, her husband is away fighting in the War.  She tunes into the wireless only to discover the British destroyer her husband was on was sunk, and she has no idea whether he has survived.  The story then flashes back to her childhood and adolescence.  Beginning somewhere around age eleven we follow Mary to the countryside to her family's country home, Charbury, where she spends idyllic summers, and onwards to school, drama school and later to Paris where she learns to be a dressmaker.

It says in the introduction that critics were dismissive of the book due to its subject matter--"crushes, horses, school, raffish uncles, frocks, inconsequential jobs, love affairs."  Personally this is what drew me to the book in the first place.  Is it bad to want to read a book like this?  It is like reading about a slice of life that no longer exists.  I thought it quite charming and nostalgic.  Mariana has been compared to Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith--the latter three I have read (and loved) and wouldn't mind rereading, and the first I have and am looking forward to reading.  And yes, I would like to read more of Monica Dickens's work.

You have probably already guessed that Monica was Charles Dickens's granddaughter.  He was not the only author in the family.  Monica's first book One Pair of Hands was based on her experiences as a cook-general in wealthy British households in the 1930s.  She went on to write something like 30 books, and was outsold only by Daphne Du Maurier at the time.  It is curious that she started out as a debutante and was presented at court, but later ended up in a variety of professions--probably not entirely suited to her family's situation and station in life.  Can you imagine what they must have thought?  In any case, I am pleased she wrote about her experiences, because they are a delight to read.

This is my second Persephone Books selection.  Earlier this year I read Marghanita Laski's very creepy The Victorian Chaise Longue.  And while I am itching to choose another title from my growing collection of Persephones, I am going to try and resist and finish one of my other books first.  We'll see how long I can hold out.

Just How Many Books *Can* You Read at Once? (the age old question)

Just one?  Two?  Six?  An even dozen?  No, don't worry, I'm not actually asking the question again--I know we've gone down this road before and the answers vary just as readers vary.  Even though I may have half a dozen books started and happen to be enjoying them thoroughly, why is it that I can think of half a dozen more books that sound equally as tempting that I want to read rightnow as well?  And why am I not concentrating on the book before me rather than thinking about the newest one in the pile?  This is, of course, nothing new (surely you've heard me lamenting this fact if you've happened by here before), and I'm afraid I am not likely to change my ways.

I feel like there are all these great stories just screaming for attention.  And so many of them are appealing.  Either they are new and I am excited about reading them, or I have had them for ages and I keep looking at them longingly, or I come across them in other places--most notably via other book bloggers.  So, which books are distracting me (this week)?  Some are obvious since I seem to be talking about them all the time even if I am not reading them yet, and others keep showing up on my lists of books I want to read.

Victoria gave a rave review of Sarah Bower's The Needle in the Blood and then followed up this past weekend with an interview with the author.  It seems like a sign that today my copy came in the mail from The Book Depository.  The novel tells the story of the making of the Bayeux tapestry.  One blurb calls it "a powerful tale of sex,lies and embroidery."  How often do you see that combination?  From the first mention of it, I knew I had to have this one.  A story of an 11th century needleworker!

My interest in Katherine Mansfield has been piqued, and now I want to read her short stories as well as a biography of her.  Guess what else came in the mail today (the rest of my TBD order) The Collected Stories (I'm wondering if this contains all her stories?) as well as Claire Tomalin's biography Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life.  I'd love to read the biography and read the corresponding stories.  (And I still want to read more about Virginia Woolf and more about Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley).

Can I mention Susan Vreeland's new book?  It has been at least 24 hours since I last said something about The Luncheon of the Boating Party.  Renoir, Renoir, Renoir.  Don't ask me why but this makes me want to read Emile Zola's Therese Raquin (am I imagining this or did I read somewhere that Zola criticized Renoir's work?). 

I came very close over the weekend to picking up and starting Wilkie Collins's Armadale.  I want something juicy and mysterious.  Wilkie Collins just seems to be the perfect choice.  But if it is a classic I choose, I also want to pick up Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence.  Like Thomas Hardy's works, I have never read any Lawrence, and I want to (though am currently rectifying the never read Hardy situation).

I want to read more of my Persephones and more of my Viragos. 

Can you see why it is nearly impossible to control these book urges?!  And then there are all those reading challenges...

When Reading and Life Intersect

I have been tagged by Isabel to answer a meme--how does your reading and your life intersect.  I recently posted about art and literature.  It seems as though art in my life and books I am reading are intersecting at the moment.  Sometimes it is serendipitous how reading can intersect with other aspects of my life, and other times one book leads to another and I follow a sort of meandering path as each book leads me to the next.  It is probably not too surprising that I read certain types of books as they reflect things in my life that I like and take an interest in.  I can trace art/fiction books back (this year anyway) to Vanora Bennett's Portrait of an Unknown Woman (in part about Hans Holbein), which lead eventually to Elizabeth Hickey's The Wayward Muse (still must look for books about the Pre-Raphaelites and would love to find a photo of Jane Burden), leading to my museum visit to see an exhibit of Impressionist paintings, and culminating with my planned read of Susan Vreeland's Luncheon of the Boating Party.  The painting is by Renoir and I saw several of his paintings at the exhibit (it's a pity the Luncheon painting was not one of them!). 

While not exactly the same, I think it is interesting when books intersect with each other in an entirely unplanned way.  I have started reading Shakespeare, and now am reading Cervantes.  Both lived and wrote at about the same time, and both died on April 23, 1616.  I wonder if they read each other's works?  Both are iconic figures in literature. I have been trying to learn more about Shakespeare extracurricularly from my reading (mostly through documentaries).  Recently I finished Virginia Woolf's Night and Day.  I have also started reading Katherine Mansfield's Journal.  From what little I have read about Mansfield she was particularly affected by WWI and wrote scathingly of Woolf's novel, which dealt with Edwardian society yet did not mention the War at all.  I just started reading Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier.  It turns out that Ford Madox Brown, a Pre-Raphaelite painter mentioned in The Wayward Muse was Ford Madox Ford's grandfather.  Poor David Copperfield (who I have been unintentionally ignoring) was written by Charles Dickens who happens to be Monica Dickens's grandfather.  I am nearly finished reading her Mariana.  And in Mariana, Gerald Du Maurier is mentioned, who was Daphne Du Maurier's father (and was an actor), and I am reading about the Du Mauriers in Margaret Forster's biography. 

Should I go on?  I think I have exhausted the crossed paths more or less.  This is what you get when you read a certain types of books over and over, I guess.  After a while they all connect in some strange and not so strange ways.

Collecting the Impressionists

Yesterday I spent part of the morning seeing Collecting the Impressionists, an exhibit of twelve Impressionist paintings from the The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (the exhibit was supplemented with other works from the Joslyn's collections), which is being held at my local museum, The Joslyn (the museum is about a 15 minute walk from my house, and this is actually where I wait for my bus every morning going to work).  Imagine having the kind of money that enables you to buy contemporary artwork!  Sterling Clark, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune, started collecting Impressionist works in the 20s and amassed something like 300 works of art (if I am remembering the number correctly).  Impressionist paintings were a bit of a shock to the art world at first, so I suppose Clark was able to procure the works at prices nowhere near what an Impressionist masterpiece would sell for today.  I really love museums and there is nothing like seeing a work of art up close (well relatively so) and in person.  While I was happy to see the exhibit was quite busy (it ends today), it isn't always conducive to a leisurely stroll through the museum admiring the art while fighting crowds.  Of course that's what I get for waiting until the end!  My favorite painting by the way was by Renoir called A Girl Crocheting, which was the first painting Sterling acquired (and the link is nothing like the original as you might guess).

While I couldn't take any photos in any of the galleries, I was able to take a photo in the atrium.  A sculpture by Dale Chihuly called Inside Out hangs above their cafe.  Of course my photo doesn't do it justice.  On the opposite end there is even a more spectacular chandelier by Chihuly, but I didn't want to walk through the food court to take a photo.      

Of course I had to stop in the gift shop and look through the books and postcards before leaving.  I somehow managed to miss the exhibition catalog in the crush of people, but I found an interesting book by Sue Roe called The Private Lives of the Impressionists, which I am really looking forward to reading.  I have been in the mood lately to read about art and artists, so the timing is perfect.  By the way I finished Elizabeth Hickey's The Wayward Muse (very enjoyable, post to follow soon), and now I think it would be fitting to start Susan Vreeland's The Luncheon of the Boating Party (Clark more paintings by Renoir than any of the other Impressionists by the way!).  Oh, and they had very cool (though a tad bit pricey) canvas bookmarks!  Yes, I had to splurge and buy one.  It was a hard choice, but I opted for Degas' Four Ballerinas.