A Work in Progress

Reading Notes (Reading on the Sly) - or, What I'm Reading Now

I've been reading a couple of books on the sly and it's starting to get me into trouble.  I have my set pile of books being read (list is on the right sidebar), and this year I really want to try and keep that pile reasonably small.  Granted 'reasonably small' is a relative term.  A couple of things are threatening to derail me, though.  One is too many library books.  The other is reading online.  Generally speaking I don't read books online, but I started reading The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy during a lull while working on a help desk at work and I haven't been able to stop.  I pulled out my lovely Modern Library edition (for when I am at home), and now it has sort of pushed aside Goethe's Elective Affinities, which I was enjoying until Sir Percy came along and grabbed my attention.  Things would be fine if I finished with Sir Percy and returned to Goethe, but I have this overwhelming desire to read Rebecca West's The Fountain Overflows instead.  I keep seeing her name bandied about, and it's always very good things that I hear.  I've never read her and I want to!  I also don't want to get into the habit of just setting books aside, because something else 'newer and shinier" comes along.

As for library books--they are always causing problems no matter how much I love borrowing them.  I'm still working to get my five books in before the end of the month.  I'm hoping to finish Ellen Kushner's Privilege of the Sword this weekend.  It's great fun--how can you not enjoy a female swordsman/woman?!  One blurb calls it a cross between a Georgette Heyer novel and something by Dumas.  Sounds good to me.  I'd say it has a little bawdier feel to it than anything I've read by Heyer though. I'm not entirely sure I'm going to 'feel like' picking up again Mary McCarthy's The Company She Keeps.  Again, I'm not 'in the mood' anymore, which was why I set it aside in the first place and picked up the Eccles's book.  And then I struggled with that one.  What's my problem this year?  At least the Kushner book is keeping my attention, as otherwise I'm just not choosing my library books well otherwise.  Stefanie's recent abandonment post seems fitting right now, though it's not so much that I am not necessarily not enjoying the book (so much that I am dreading reading it), but that I'm just losing interest somewhere in the middle.  So I've picked up Jo Nesbo's thriller, The Redbreast.  This is by a Norwegian author and has received very good reviews.  What I've read I've liked, and as soon as I finish Kushner I'll be dragging it around with me and reading it properly--not in fits and starts.  And then no doubt I'll start reading Manil Suri's book on the sly, too.

Maybe I'm just thinking about this all too much?  I want to keep things simple, but I never can.  But I am still throughly enjoying The People of the Book, which I am happy to get back to after a little lull.  And Margaret Forster's Diary of an Ordinary Woman is pretty good, though I'm not quite sure how I feel about Millie, the main character.  Still, I do look forward to picking it up to read.

On a less confusing note (did you catch all that back there?), I just found out that Half Price Books is opening here in Omaha in just a few weeks (thanks Stefanie).  I had no idea we were getting a new bookstore.  I often hear about the great, cheap books that people find there and always wish we had one--and now we will!  So, the next question--what sort of bookstore is this?  I always assumed it was a store with mostly remaindered books, but from what I read it is a used bookstore as well.  Do they generally have a quality selection (it would seem so from what other's have bought)?  I'll be very curious to check it out!

Just One More Post

I've finished Virginia Nicholson's Singled Out.  I was going to wait to post on it again, but as it is fresh in my mind bear with me just one more time.  Can I give the book another plug?  It is an excellent book, and I heartily recommend it if you have an interest in WWI and the interwar era or women's history.  I know this is a cliche, but the book is immensely readable.  Nicholson does a wonderful job of presenting the stories of these women's lives and tying them all together in a coherent manner and reflecting how historical events impacted their lives and really shaped history thereafter.  In many cases these are very ordinary women, and in some cases extraordinary women.  Their lives, no matter how mundane were fascinating to read about. 

I feel like I've only picked out passages that stress the negative experiences many women had.  Some of what I read was truly heartwrenching, but there were also many very positive stories as well. And despite the tragedy of the War, it probably was the biggest factor in creating new avenues for women to work and excel outside of the home.  The world changed irrevocably after the War, and women's lives have never been the same.       

One woman that Nicholson writes about in great detail, Gertrude Caton-Thompson, was of the wealthier class.  She fell in love with a man a few years younger than she, but of the same social class.  Although they had been good friends, following the conventions of the time she (as well as he) never revealed her true feelings to him.  And then it was too late.  Despite her grief, she continued on.  She never married, but she did study and became a noted and respected archaeologist.  I won't quote everything Nicholson writes about her career but here's a bit:

"In later expeditions Gertrude Caton-Thompson excavated the monumental ruins at Zimbabwe in southern Africa, the Paleolithic remains at the Kharga Oasis in the Egyptian Sahara , and the Moon Temple of Hadramaut in southern Arabia.  Leopards, fevers, fleas, swamps and precipices, storms at sea, floods, cyclones and crocodiles beset her undertakings, but Gertrude's stoical upper-class upbringing and military correctness stood her everywhere in good stead: 'Mercifully I am not easily alarmed,' she wrote. 

"Gertrude Caton-Thompson was twenty-eight when Carlyon Mason-MacFarlane died; she lived nearly another seventy years: they were years of intrepid adventure, intellectual purpose, deep friendship and simple, intense pleasure.  She was admired, loved and widely honored.  A life bled of meaning had been reanimated.  Could anyone describe such a woman as unfulfilled?"

Gertrude Caton-Thompson wrote her memoirs in 1983.  They were published as Mixed Memoirs and I hope to get my hands on a copy.  She's just one of the women Nicholson wrote about in some detail and that really intrigued me.  I've photocopied Nicholson's bibliography as a matter of fact.  She consulted over 200 books in her research.  The bibliography is fairly extensive, and I am looking forward to finding some of the books listed that she discussed in the book. 

I've marked more passages, but I won't bombard you with them this time around.  In the last chapters Nicholson discusses the many accomplishments women of this era achieved and truly there were many.  This was an enjoyable read, and I've already ordered her other book, Among the Bohemians.  It must have been in the back of my mind, but I wasn't really thinking about it, but Virginia Nicholson is Venessa Bell's granddaughter and thus she is the great-niece of Virginia Woolf.  Among the Bohemians is about 1920s Bohemian Bloomsbury, and I can't wait to read it.  I'm splurging and getting it from the UK (nicer edition and Amazon here is out of stock), but that's okay since it is free shipping from The Book Depository!  And I've only ordered the one book, so it won't be too expensive. 

I said before that I thought perhaps I was overdoing it reading so many books about this era, but now I don't think so.  I think I just really didn't get on all that well with the Eccles novel.  The other books I've been reading about this period have kept me fairly glued to them and now I've moved on to Alison Light's Mrs Woolf and the Servants.  I've only started on the introduction and preface, but I am already impressed by it.

"Loathing, anger, shame - and deep affection: Virginia Woolf's relationship with her servants was central to her life. Like thousands of her fellow Britons she relied on live-in domestics for the most intimate of daily tasks. Her cook and parlour maid relieved her of the burden of housework and without them she might never have become a writer. But unlike many of her contemporaries Virginia Woolf was frequently tormented by her dependence on servants. Uniquely, she explored her violent, often vicious, feelings in her diaries, novels and essays. What, the reader might well wonder, was it like for the servants to live with a mistress who so hated giving her orders, and who could be generous and hostile by turns? Through the prism of the writer's life and work, Alison Light explores the volatile, emotional territory which is the hidden history of domestic service. Compared to most employers in Britain between the wars, Leonard and Virginia Woolf were free and easy. Life in the Bloomsbury circle of writers and artists was often fun."

It sounds as though this is as much about domestic service in general as it is about the Woolfs and their servants specifically.  Don't be surprised if I mention this again.  As it is an ILL book, I need to be conscientious about reading it, though I don't think that will be hard.  This will be my third nonfiction book this year already, which is quite good for me.  And I've already got more titles lined up that I want to read.

One more thing (sorry, this has gotten long and that's what I had wanted to avoid), since I am still talking about books about the Edwardian period--can I mention Susan's post about Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben.  I've said before I'm not very good with sad animal stories, though I did manage Call of the Wild pretty well recently.  Lots of good things have been written about it--here and here, so I'm sold.  As it is still in hardcover and only available in the UK, I'm hoping to get it via ILL.  I contemplated ordering it (along with the Nicholson book), but in a very few months it will be out in paper, so I couldn't bring myself to put in the cart.  So I guess I'm still on my Edwardian kick--just not feeling so bogged down anymore. 

I (Heart) Libraries

Did you know that it is Library Lovers' Month?  I didn't until I came across this meme via Library Queue (my public library isn't taking part alas).  As you know I am a great fan of libraries, so I have to answer these questions, too.  Quite frankly I'm not sure what I would do without access to a library. 

How do you plan on celebrating Library Lovers month?  I know I have a book or two about libraries, which I should pull out and read in honor of the celebration, but I'm not sure I'll get to them (my reading card is pretty full this month), but maybe I can fit in a short story or two?  More about that this weekend.

How often do you accidentally spell library as 'libary' when you're in a hurry?  Probably every time I spell it when I'm typing.  I'm a horrible typist and continually have to backspace to fix words or sentences.  And spell check has made me lazy.

What is the most amount of books you've ever had checked out at one time?  Easily upwards of 20 (the limit at my library is 40).  I do try not have more than ten as I know I can't read that many at once and still return them before the due date.  Of course if I can renew books I am very good at juggling--figuratively speaking of course.

What is the longest you've ever gone without visiting the library?  I've always used the library, since I was old enough to have a library card.  However, when I was working full time in a bookstore I probably didn't use it very often--too busy working on creating my own library...Once the bookstore closed I was back to being a regular visitor.

What is the biggest fine you've ever had?  There's a story behind this one.  Never say--'I am absolutely positive I returned that book'.  Well, 99% of the time (at least now) I am sure.  Several years ago, however, I borrowed an Elizabeth George book.  I also borrowed a VHS set of the Inspector Lynley Mysteries when they first came out.  I knew I had returned the book.  I sort of stowed the boxed set of movies behind some magazines and forgot them there.  When the library asked for them back I was vehement that I had returned them.  They accepted my word, and took the fine away.  Lo and behold when I was doing heavy duty cleaning and moving things, I found the tapes.  In my defense I did return them and explain what happened.  I can't remember the fine amount anymore, but it was at least $10.00.  I can't complain--the fines in an academic library can be massive--scholarly books and tapes can be very expensive to replace.  I see what students sometimes pay and shudder.  Be very careful with your library books!

When you go to the library, do you plan ahead and make a list? Or do you browse?  I do both.  I tend to go at least once a week, but browsing doesn't always net many new and exciting books.  These days you really have to get online and request books if you want the really new ones.  Usually a virtual line forms and it never sees the 'new books' shelves until months later.  They do offer 14 day books that can't be renewed, and sometimes I can find something new there, but you have to get it read very promptly.  I do occasionally browse the older books, which are on a different floor, but there are so many ranges of them, there is just too much to look at at once.

Have you ever been shushed by a librarian?  Probably in high school, but not recently.  The public library's main floor can be sort of noisy, which is where the new books are.  I work in an academic library, but I've never shushed anyone, though there are moments when I'd like to.  The third floor is meant for quiet study, but students will still pull out their cell phones make calls, which I find annoying. 

What is the worst (against-the-rules) thing you've ever done in the library?  I can't really think of anything.  I once took an ILL book out of the library though there was a restriction on it that it could only be used in the building.  Does that count?  I only took it home over a weekend (and photocopied most of the needlework charts in it--it was an OOP, very lovely, and hard to find needlework book).  I guess I was doubly bad about that one.   

What's the worst thing you've ever done to a library book?  I'm very careful with my library books.  The worst I ever do is turn down pages where there is a passage I want to 'mark'.  I always turn them back up before I return them.  I've seen some nasty things done to library books, however.  I won't go there--you probably don't want to know! 

Have you ever had a "favorite" librarian?  Not really, though generally I find them all to be helpful.  For a long time in the public library one of the librarians who worked on the fourth floor in the fiction and literature area was very snarky and I would try and avoid asking questions.  Now, however, there is a very nice lady who works in circulation who knows me by name and will pull out the books I have on hold.  I seem to have gotten a reputation. 

If you could change one thing about your library it would be...  Better funding.  I don't think the city's public libraries are very well funded and they've been dealing with budget issues for years now.  I think it shows in their collections.  Also, even though it's undergone some renovation, my branch seems somewhat shabby inside.  Still I always seem to have a stack of library books, so I can't complain too much.  I know they do the best they can with the little money they do get.  Of course when I think about other public libraries, I get a little jealous.  I believe this might just be where a fellow blogger volunteers?   

Please feel free to play along. 

Miscellenea

As the saying goes when it rains it pours.  All it took was a little complaining on my part and the library fairy rustled up a few books that I've been in line for.  I brought home three yesterday and I should have another two to pick up later in the week.  I swear it always happens that way, doesn't it.  All three have waiting lists, so I need to decide quickly which I am going to read.

Manil Suri's The Age of Shiva is the book of choice at the moment (though I do have a couple of other books I need to finish first).  One of the blurbs on the book jacket is by author Kiran Desai and she says, "In The Age of Shiva India's birth as a new nation parallels a woman's complex psychological journey confronting  tradition and modernity.  Exchanging sentimentality for clear vision, Suri reveals an immense humanity and a tenderness for women making their way in a world of men.  Drawn by this compelling narrative, I read this marvelous book in one sitting."  It must be good if she read it in one sitting, as it's a hefty 450 pages!  I don't think I'll be able to manage that, but hopefully three weeks will give me enough time.

I had actually already planned to read Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Painter of Battles next, but after reading Mike B.'s initial response I'm not so sure anymore.  It sounds as though it is somewhat of a departure from his other novels--less literary thriller and more philosophical reflection.  Of course I might end up being pleasantly surprised, so I'll still give it a try at least.

And I've finally gotten Pascal Mercier's Night Train to Lisbon.  It's won all sorts of accolades in Europe, but the response has been more tepid on this side of the Atlantic.  Isabel Allende called it a "treat for the mind, and one of the best books she'd read in a long time."  We'll see what I can squeeze in.

I finished watching the first season of The Tudors.  I'm almost glad to be done with it.  What a nasty bunch of backstabbing, manipulative people.  Even though I say I prefer historical novels over contemporary novels as reading about current events is too fresh, and I know how historical events have turned out--it was almost uncomfortable watching the show.  That said season two is gearing up to start at the end of the next month, and I am contemplating watching the episodes via pay-per-view (since I don't subscribe to any movie channels).  Otherwise I'll have to wait until next year to see what happens.  Not that I don't already know how it all ends, but it's like watching a car crash--you really don't want to look, but you can't help yourself.  Now I'm contemplating doing some Tudor reading as well.

I've started watching The Original Nancy Drew Mystery Movie Collection.  These are hour long B&W movies that must have been made in the 1930s(?) starring the very perky Bonita Granville.  It appears they are only loosely based on the Nancy Drew novels, but they are fun (and certainly wholesome compared to The Tudors!) entertainment. 

I'm very happy to see that Imani is going to keep the  Outmoded Authors blog going.  Perhaps this will give me a better chance to actually get some outmoded authors read.  I didn't get very far with D.H. Lawrence (through no fault of his own--just an overabundance of books on my part), and now I am going to try my hand at a novel by Dawn Powell.  I've heard very good things about her, but I'm not sure how I am going to get on with The Wicked Pavilion.  I'm not entirely sure it has a regular plotline or if it is more a series of vignettes.  I am finding that I tend to be a very plot-driven reader, which I hate to admit to.  I want to like all sorts of books, but I find I struggle with many of them.  Someone please tell me I am going to love The Wicked Pavilion and to just keep going (I really haven't read very far, so I shouldn't be making any sorts of judgements yet).  I hate starting a book and then setting it aside in favor of something in my comfort zone--I've done it a few times already this year and I don't want it to become a habit!

More on Singled Out

I'm still greatly enjoying Virginia Nicholson's Singled Out.  I'm nearly finished and hope to get through the last few chapters by the end of the week.  There's so much here that I'd love to share, so I've picked out a few passages that I marked.  Sorry if they're a bit on the long side, but I couldn't help myself.  I could paraphrase what I've been reading, but as so much of it is quoted directly from the women who lived during this period--their words are far more interesting than mine would be.

Although many women lost out on the opportunity to marry, I'm not entirely sure marriage was such a wonderful choice in every instance.  An example of what one woman living most likely in near poverty had to deal with daily:

"Frances generally worked from 6.30 in the morning till 10.30 at night, on her feet.  Scrubbing, washing and fetching hot water were back-breaking tasks; life was a permanent battle with soot, bugs and coal-dust.  If you had only a distant outside toilet, there was the necessity of emptying chamber-pots; sanitary towels, too, had to be soaked and washed by hand.  Cooking, laundry, dusting and scrubbing were the tyrannical, never-ending reality of the housewife's day.  The unlucky ones also had to endure drunkenness, savagery, abuse and infidelity by their husbands."

And life for a wealthier woman wasn't much better, though I think I would opt for her condition over being poor any day.

"Working class wives were not the only ones condemned to cramped and narrow horizons.  Though not burdened with poverty, middle-class and upper-class wives were, like their poorer sisters, expected to confine their activities to the domestic sphere.  Nobody ever thought to ask a married woman what she did, since everybody knew: her fate was to endure a life of endless and pointless leisure.  'If the fire required poking, one rang for a maid to fulfill this duty.  No lady made any effort', remembered one young lady who had grown up in Edwardian England.  Flowers had to be arranged, of course, the canary fed, and calls paid.  Embroidery must be done and bridge played.  Daughters might also have to be taken to dancing classes, and books changed at libraries, but generally speaking drawing-room life was far from arduous."

In either case life during this era sounds pretty oppressive for a woman.  And do you want to know how men perceived women as possible mates?  The illustrious Charles Darwin's list of pros and cons when considering marriage to Emma Wedgwood:

"Children- (if it Please God) - Constant
companion, (& friend in old age) who
will feel interested in one, - object to be
beloved and played with. - better than a
dog anyhow. - Home, & someone to
take care of house - Charms of music
& female chit-chat. - These things
good for one's health. - but terrible
loss of time...
Only picture to yourself a nice soft
wife on a sofa with good fire, & books
& music perhaps - Compare this vision
with the dingy reality of Grt. Marlboro'
St.
Marry-Marry-Marry Q.E.D."

Oh, how cheering to think that I, as a woman would be a step above the dog to be 'played with'.  Ugh.  It sounds as though he needs a maid.  Although the war was horrific, it actually helped pave the way towards independence for many women.  Although probably not the norm, many women were able to study and work in fields that were not normally open to them. Of course working outside the home wasn't always easy either for the single woman.

"Marjorie Gardiner worked a mere sixty-hour week at a smart Brighton milliner's from 1925 to 1945.  The merchandise ranged from five-shilling felts to ostentatious confections trimmed with mink, ermine tails and birds of paradise.  But there was no luxury for the girls who worked there.  Rules were strict, and they suffered.  In theory they worked ten- or twelve-hour days, but often it was more.  The temperature inside the shop was kept pitilessly low, the door being left open for customers all day long summer and winter.  Marjorie and all the other girls had terrible chilblains.  Warming one's perishing fingers on the one tiny radiator was not permitted, and at lunchtime the girls took it in turns to use the kitchen gas stove: 'Hygiene or no hygiene - we often used to put our feet in the oven to unfreeze them!'  There were no tea or coffee breaks.  Nine times out of ten, if you nipped out to the back to grab a warming cup of tea in the kitchen, a customer would demand attention and it would have to be abandoned.  'Madam', who ran the shop, and arrived in a chauffeur-driven car, was a dragon who often dismissed girls on scanty pretexts when they displeased her,  'No wonder they sometimes ended up in the streets'."

Although women could or in many cases had to work outside the home, once the men returned, their choices were again limited--teaching and nursing still being the professions most open to women.  These were also professions that it was generally assumed that if the woman decided to marry, she would give up her work.  In some cases women made the choice of profession over marriage.  In other cases they had no choice but to work, and it sounds like it was a lonely existence quite often, and single women or spinsters had to deal with poor wages and a fair amount of prejudice.  Thankfully the times have changed.      

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Winifred Watson's Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is an absolutely charming story.  Reading it put me in mind of those old B&W films from the 1930s with handsome leading men and elegant actresses dressed to the nines who manage to get into madcap situations, but it all ends happily.  It's the perfect book for a dreary day or a little pick-me-up.  It's fairy tale for grownups really, and I loved it.

Frumpy and forty, poor Miss Pettigrew is barely getting by.  She's on her last penny and the rent is coming due.  Her last hope is to find work as a governess.  When she's given the name and address of a Miss LaFosse, her world will change forever.  She expects to apply for a job looking after children, but Miss LaFosse is anything but matronly.  She's greeted at the door by a beautiful young woman in a negligee who's in a bit of a tight spot.  There's a young man in her bed, and she needs to get rid of him.  It's all quite shocking for Miss Pettigrew, but she rises to the challenge.  No sooner is one man out the door than another is knocking to come in. 

The story takes place over the course of a day and each chapter covers a few hours.  Miss Pettigrew truly does live for a day.  In a day she'll be transformed from a lonely, middle-aged woman to someone who's beautiful in her own right and no longer alone.  While Guinevere (Miss P.) helps Delysia (Miss L.) juggle her entourage of men, Delysia will take Guinevere under her wing.  Miss Pettigrew had a very conservative upbringing, but she's bright.  It's almost comical how she manages to help Delysia out of scrapes and choose the right man.  And maybe there is even a happy ending for Miss Pettigrew, too.

The book was originally published in 1938 and must have raised a few eyebrows--such decadence.  But it is really a very lovely story and I bet it was very appealing to readers then, too.  Iliana recently posted a few passages from the book, so go check those out.  The book is now published (was rediscovered actually) by Persephone Books.  Happily this is one of the titles they've chosen to reissue as a "Persephone Classic" with new cover designs.  They'll be available in bookstores here in the US (yay--since postage from the UK is rather exorbitant), and already Amazon is selling Miss Pettigrew for the low price of just over $10, so no need to feel guilty being tempted by the book!  And don't forget the upcoming movie version.  You can see the trailer here.  The movie looks as yummy to watch as the book was to read! 

Victorian Love Stories: "Her Last Appearance"

Since it is February already I thought it was time to drag out my copy of Victorian Love Stories: An Oxford Anthology edited by Kate Flint, which I found at the last library sale.  Since I now have a variety of short story anthologies, they are coming in handy for Kate's Short Story Reading Challenge and giving me an excuse to randomly dip into them.  The anthology has an excellent selection of stories by authors from Elizabeth Gaskell to Oscar Wilde.  I opted to read a story by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.  Although I have yet to read any of her novels, I know her reputation, and I was wondering what a short story by her would be like--especially one chosen for an anthology of love stories.

"Her Last Appearance" is very Victorian in nature.  Barbara, young and attractive woman, also a parson's daughter, comes to London to visit an aunt and there meets Jack Stowall--"an actor of small parts at Covent Garden--a cold-hearted rascal with with a fine person, a kind of surface cleverness which had a vast effect on simple people, an ineffable conceit."  He is caught up in Barbara's beauty.  He believes that with such a "Juliet he could not fail as Romeo."

"He loved her as much as his staled and withered heart was capable of loving, and he foresaw his own advantage in marrying her.  So, with a little persuasion, and a great many speeches stolen from the British Drama, he broke down the barriers of duty, and wrung from the tearful, blushing girl a hasty consent to a Fleet marriage, which was solemnized before she had time to repent that weak moment of concession."

It's not until too late (always) that she discovers what he is.  She has taken to the 'boards' as well and with some success.  And she attracts an admirer with whom she falls in love.  "This was Sir Philip Hazlemere, a young man of fashion and fortune--neither fop nor fribble, but a man of cultivated mind and intense feeling."  No matter the circumstances, however, she will not leave her husband--remember the times.  It wasn't done.  I'll let  you ponder whether this story has a happy ending or not.  Of course you only have to consider the times.

The story seemed somewhat formulaic, though still entertaining.  Given the author's reputation there was no shocking twist, though perhaps nothing seemed shocking to my more modern sensibilities, but to a Victorian it might have.  Apparently love "is a constant theme of Victorian short stories, just as it is a staple of the period's longer fiction."  The introduction goes on to say:

"For the Victorians, to write of love almost always meant offering some kind of reflection on the position of women within society."

Now that's what I expect from the Victorians and this story fit perfectly.  Perhaps I'm just jaded, but I wonder if any of these stories are really happy love stories.  I'll have to give a few more of them a try.

New Books, Part 2

I recently mentioned book that I mooched and borrowed.  Here are my recent purchases.  Actually only the top four are Amazon books.  Two were gifts and the other two used books.  I'm a little disappointed as there really should be one more used book that I am hoping will still show up.  It seems to have gone astray in the mail.  From top to bottom my latest goodies:

Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason - I've heard so many raves (first from Carl V. - check out his latest post on the third book which is due out this month) about Colleen's Vampire series that I need to read her soon.  I have the first one, and here is the second one.  I'll be on the look out for the third one as well.

Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu - This looks yummy.  More sensationalist literature--I wonder how many of these I can read this year?  "Le Fanu's shocking novel of sensation is a chilling and groundbreaking psychological thriller."   

Regeneration by Pat Barker - Well, I never did find my copy.  Now that I have a pristine new copy I am sure to find the one I bought a long time ago. 

Goldberg Variations by Gabriel Josipovici - I first heard of him from Imani (too lazy to search for posts), then recently Dorothy wrote about him.  I doubt he would have crossed my path had I not seen him around the blogosphere and had I might have passed him by.  But I'm intrigued by "a brilliant combination of fiction and philosophy"!  Maybe I'll have to listen to some J.S. Bach when I'm reading this.

Good Women by Jane Stevenson - Both this book and the one below are thanks to fellow blogger, Isabel.  She recycles her books and shares, and she was kind enough to share these with me (thanks again!).  You can read her post on this book of novellas here.  I plan on using this for the Short Story Reading Challenge.

Jewels: A secret History by Victoria Finlay - I've wanted this one.  I started reading Finlay's older book on colors, and I love her writing style.  This is a blend of "travel, adventure, history, geology and glamour".

The Convert by Elizabeth Robins - Well, this copy isn't much better than the one I had borrowed from the library.  There are loose pages and it still has the nasty yellowed pages and spotting, but I guess I can at least take my time with it.

Bachelor Girl: The Secret History of Single Women in the Twentieth Century by Betsy Israel - As I am reading Singled Out, I thought it might be interesting to read the American version of the subject.  I think it has a slightly different take on it, however.  I'm curious to see how much overlaps.

Somewhere in the postal system:

The Half Brother by Lars Saabye Christensen - This came recommended by Chihiro.  "Epic yet startlingly contemporary, this massive novel charts 50 years in the life of an unconventional Oslo family, lighted by gleams of the frozen north and the glow of movie screens."  Another Norwegian author (I seem to be collecting them) and award winner as well.

Now this should satiate my desire for new books, but to be honest you know what I feel like doing?  Go to a bookstore.  There's nothing quite like browsing books--picking them up and reading the backs.  I will try and refrain (I know I have more books than I can possibly read, but...).  But, we'll see.

The Shape of Sand

The Shape of Sand by Marjorie Eccles is a wonderful evocation of Edwardian England.  The setting and mores represented in the book mesh very well with how other books I'm reading at the moment portray the era, particularly Virginia Nicholson's Singled Out.  The manner in which the characters behaved rang true to what I imagine life amongst the very wealthy would have been like at that time.  I have to say, however, I did have some reservations about this novel.

The story itself is built around a mystery, though this is not your typical police procedural by any means.  The Jardines are blessed with three lovely daughters and a bright son, and a home and lifestyle becoming to the wealthy class they inhabit.  Charnley, their country house, is the setting for part of the novel.  It's there that Beatrice Jardine is celebrating her birthday amongst her family and friends when the novel opens.  But under this happy facade lies dark secrets and treachery.  By the next morning she'll have disappeared leaving behind in her wake the bashed dreams of her children and husband--none to ever fully recover. 

The plot shifts forwards and backwards in time and moves from England to Egypt and back again.  The story is slow moving, but it's important to pay attention to the action as the details become important later in the story.  Events in Beatrice's life a decade earlier will play an important role in her disappearance.  After suffering a miscarriage she had traveled to Egypt to rest and recover.  The trip is not wholly successful, however, and her stay was cut short.  Everything comes to a head on her birthday, and nothing will be the same after that night.early four decades and two World Wars later Charnley is being renovated, long ago having been vacated by the family.  A mummified body is discovered (no worries--I'm not giving anything away as this was included in the book blurb).  Earlier workmen had found papers and a diary belonging to Beatrice and passed them along to her daughters.  They decide it's time to finally piece together what really happened that night so many years ago.

The writing is very good, but my reservations are more about plot.  Truly this is a slow mover of a story.  I had about given up on it when a third of a way in a crime was finally committed.  Finally things started to move and it all became quite interesting.  The mystery is not solved by the intervening authorities.  In a way there was not really a mystery at all, more of an omission of all the facts by the various characters.  At the time it was thought that Beatrice had run away with another man and no one delved too deeply for fear of creating more of a scandal than necessary.  It's not that no one knew anything, but everyone kept quite mum about the facts.  Eccles certainly deserves kudos for her setting and characterizations, but the pacing felt a little off to me.  There was also a bit of a romance towards the end of the story, but it never seemed to really go anywhere.  That aspect seemed a little awkward or abrupt to me as well.  Of course I could just be a little overly critical as I did admit recently to being a bit in over my head with books with this sort of setting.  Maybe I'm just a little jaded at the moment.

Overall this was an enjoyable read, but perhaps not a perfect sort of read for me.  I do plan, however, on picking up her newer novel/mystery, Shadows & Lies as it sounds promising.  I actually have it checked out from the library, but I might wait a bit before reading it as it has an Edwardian setting to it as well.  No doubt it won't be long until I am in the mood for a book set in this period again.