A Work in Progress

New Books for Summer, Part 2

 

Summer has (for me anyway) officially arrived.  Reasons why:

1.  When I left the lovely, air conditioned library yesterday I was met by a blast of hot air (just like an oven!).  Hot, Humid air.
2.  When the bus arrived it had no air conditioning (or more likely it wasn't working).  This particular style bus has tiny windows that only open at the top meaning not a single tiny gust of air enters the bus.  If you want to feel what the word oppressive means....come with me on the bus sometime.  It was 92 (with a high dewpoint) and it felt much cooler outside when my ride came to a (thankful) end.
3.  On my walk home from downtown (I had to stop by the library to pick up a stack--of course--of books) there were several sets of traffic lights out.  Hmm.  No electricity.  Cars don't like to stop when the lights are out.  I was fearing for my life as I raced across several intersections sure that at any moment a large SUV or maybe a bus (no doubt without air conditioning) would roll over me. 
4.  Arrive home safely and guess what.  We had no electricity either.  No treadmill.  No computer.  No air conditioning.  I collapsed onto the bed and contemplated reading.  Tried to read, but oppressive air was once more pressing down on me.  Was unable to rally enough to drag myself outside where there was a breath (but only a small one) of air.  Just as I was about to drift off to sleep the lights come back on. 

Aaah.  Summer in the midwest.  I know you're jealous.  And gee, the great thing is--I get to endure enjoy a good three or four more months of this.  And I have every confidence that it will get even warmer. 

(Can you tell I wish I lived somewhere a bit more temperate?)

To make it more bearable I have another stack of new books to share with you (any excuse to share a stack of books).  Before you think I'm an awful spendthrift, I used my last gift cards for these.  It was a serious splurge, but I've wanted these for a while.  I think I paid about $11 for the lot, so I'm actually feeling pretty pleased with myself.  I want to start at least one of these right now.  What I got?

East of the Sun, Julia Gregson (I can't wait to read this one).

The Circular Staircase, Mary Roberts Rinehart

Day, A.L. Kennedy

Scottsboro, Ellen Feldman 

Likeness, Tana French

Poor Miss Finch, Wilkie Collins (yay, more Wilkie Collins).

Stealing Athena, Karen Essex (historical fiction--about the Elgin Marbles).       

The New York Stories of Edith Wharton, edited by Roxana Robinson (a lovely NYRB Classic--and a hefty one, too).

Kitchen Essays, Agnes Jekyll (yes, B&N has some Persephone Classics!).  

The Amazing Interlude, Mary Roberts Rinheart (total impulse buy--something I read somewhere sounded good, though now I'm not sure what I'm in for).

Not too shabby, eh?  A little bit of everything.   

More Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea

All right, this is something new to me, but when someone from The Friday Project (part of HarperCollins) approached me about hosting the PDF of a book here, I was intrigued.  They had just sent me a copy of More Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea by Tom Reynolds, a follow up to his bestselling first book--both about his experiences as an emergency  medical technician/ambulance driver in London, which I'm looking forward to reading.  Per the press release that came with the book:

"Tom has worked for the NHS since he was 23 and is specialized as an A&E nurse.  He's been keeping tabs on the hilarious targets the state sets and has ruefully been shaking his head at the madness of the general misconception of his job since he started his critically acclaimed blog Random Acts of Reality in 2003."

The blog came first and then the book (not the first time a blogger has successfully gone from one format to another--or should I say from one media to another?), but what's interesting is that he's also made the material available free online through a Creative Commons Licence (am I getting my terminology right?).  Working in an academic library I see daily how much print content is now available digitally (in some cases only digitally), although not generally free of charge.  While I'll never willingly give up my paper books, I can see some benefits from having them (them being not just books, but other content) accessible in a variety of formats, and well, like it or not, this is simply the direction things are moving in.  I came across this case study via the Open Rights Group, which discusses Tom's book, The Friday Project and his decision to make the book available as a free download.  I'll be curious to read more.  

Now, if I can do this correctly you, too, will have access here to Tom's book.

 

Open publication - Free publishing - More tea

The Painter from Shanghai

Jennifer Cody Epstein's The Painter from Shanghai is the story of one woman's artistic awakening during the tumultuous beginnings of the twentieth century.  Epstein's sensuous prose reflects the exoticism of her subject, and her reimagining of the life of Chinese Post-Impressionist painter, Pan Yuliang, is as lush as the paintings Yuliang created.  This is a novel best read slowly and savored as it is rich in detail and atmosphere.

The daughter of a talented embroiderer, Xiuqing is orphaned at a young age and raised by her opium-addict uncle.  Although he offers her an uneven education, comprised mostly of learning classical poetry, his familial loyalty runs out when he can no longer pay for his habit.  Xiuqing believes she's being taken to enter a workshop to become an embroiderer like her mother, instead she's sold into a brothel ironically named The Hall of Eternal Splendor.  At only fourteen she must quickly learn to adapt in order to survive.  This will be the first of her transformations.  Her innocence lost, Xiuqing becomes Yuliang, or Good Jade.

The life of a prostitute is a dire one, made only slightly more bearable by Jinling, the brothel's top girl.  Beautiful and optimistic that she can buy her way out, she takes Yuliang under her wing.  It's Jinling's beauty that inspires Yuliang to make her first drawing, which is confiscated by the brothel owner.  Jinling's image will haunt her long after she leaves the brothel.  Few escape, but Yuliang catches the eye of a government official who buys her freedom.  Pan Zanhua is a decent man.  His interest in the brothel isn't of a lascivious nature, rather his desire is to put a stop to corruption perpetrated by other government officials and the merchant class.  Zanhua is progressive in his beliefs, and an ardent follower of revolutionary ideals.  He makes Yuliang first his concubine, and then to prevent a scandal takes her as his second wife.  She becomes Pan Yuliang and moves to Shanghai, while he remains behind to continue his work.  Unlike his first arranged marriage, his relationship with Yuliang is based on love and respect.  He teaches her to read and exposes her to revolutionary literature, which is changing the political face of China.

With Panhua's help Yuliang is accepted to the Shanghai Art Academy, one of the few women taken on as a student.  Basing their instruction on western methods, female nudes are often the subject of the student's studies, which are considered controversial in China's still conservative society.  Controversy, however, will continue to dog Pan Yuliang's long career as she often chooses to paint nudes, sometimes even making studies of herself for lack of willing models, which is considered vulgar and shocking.  Her artistic education is continued when she receives a scholarship to study in France.  As she adapts her art and way of living towards the modern West, she finds it still clashes with her beloved country despite its progressive revolutionary leanings.  Like so many other artists and women especially, she eventually must choose between her love for painting and her love for her country and for Zanhua.        

I've given you only the briefest outline of the story, but Yuliang's life spanned three quarters of the twentieth century, so it's impossible to go into any great detail without ruining the plot.  I'm also a little shaky on Chinese history and the many reverses politically that occurred during the upheaval of the early part of the century.  This is a story you'll want to explore on your own without knowing all the details, as Yuliang  lived a full and dramatic life, so this is a story that opens out before you begging for your complete attention.  The author notes that while the book is based on Pan Yuliang and her art as described in the few available sources, the rest is based on what she imagined her life to be like.  "The characters, events, and places depicted are like the paintings that inspired them--impressionistic portraits."  As a work of literary fiction, I thought Epstein created a wonderful story of a woman of great depth and character.  Hers was a life not without certain paradoxes, but then how often is life straightforward.    

This is a bittersweet story, and it's impossible not to feel sympathetic towards Yuliang in her search to find out who she really is and express herself through her art, and to understand what she had to give up to do what she loved.  I think it was not so much as just loving what you do, but feeling empty and lost when you're not doing it and then having to make heartbreaking decisions in order to feel fulfilled.  Before reading The Painter from Shanghai, I had never heard of Pan Yuliang.  I've yet to find a book of her work, though you can view some of her many paintings here.  I'm curious to learn more about her and see where she and her work fits into the scheme of things.  I find it amazing how her early life experiences helped shape her artistic life, though it was a past that in the end she could not escape from.  Highly recommended. 

Be sure to check out Jennifer Cody Epstein's website here.

Two Bookish Things (maybe three)

First bookish item:  Do you recall that this year Persephone Books celebrated their tenth birthday?  I'm on their mailing list and received this offer in my email inbox today:

Also, for this week only there is a special offer of three books for the price of two ie if you buy two books you may have a third free of charge. This applies in the shop on Thursday only but on the website all this week. 

This applies to international orders, too.  I wish I could join their in shop celebration later this week, but I don't think I can wish myself over to London no matter how hard I try.  I didn't order from them this spring as I had planned, so you know I am going to have to take advantage of this offer.  Now, how do I narrow the list of books I want down to just three?

On a related note check out Persephone Post for some very cool, nostalgic photos!

Second bookish item:  Over the weekend I watched Lost in Austen.  Have you heard of it, or seen it?  When it comes to certain books or authors, just give me the original and I'm happy.  I prefer not to mess with the story or read modern-day sequels (actually this is true in most cases when I really love a book).  Some stories are just too good to be messed with, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I was pleasantly surprised and very amused by this film, however.  Amanda Price is a twenty-first century woman obsessed with Jane Austen and in particular Pride and Prejudice.  One day she hears a tapping on her bathroom wall, and out pops Elizabeth Benet.  They do a sort of time travel flip--each ending up in the other's life.  It was cleverly done--true to the story yet tipping it on its ear.   I must say the actor to play Mr. Darcy certainly gave Colin Firth a run for his money when it comes to the lake scene--you know where he swims and walks out of the water...I've pulled out my copy of Pride and Prejudice.  Must reread.      

One more bookish note:  Lately I've been saying 'must reread' or 'must read' in reply to a suggestion from another reader and the pile of books by my bedside is starting to lean worse than the tower in Pisa!  As I read I keep thinking of other books I want to read, and some of them I dig out and they end up in the bedside pile.  Wishful thinking.  Am I the only one to do this?  Reason #27 why I always have so many books started.   

New Books for Summer, Part 1

 

Yes, there is going to be a part 2!  I've been so bad lately when it comes to new (or at least new to me) books that I have to separate this post into two.  These are books that I got with my most recent Amazon credit.  I know I complain about Amazon sometimes, but I have to say I do like their associates program.  If someone clicks through my blog to their site and buys a book (or anything really), I get a small credit at the end of the month.  Usually it's enough to buy one or two books, and then I end up buying one or two more. Maybe that's not such a good thing, as it just gets me to order from them on a regular basis.  I can't say no to a free book, though. 

I've never read P.G. Wodehouse (well, have read one short story) though I have often thought of reading him and imagine I would enjoy his work.  When I was looking for comfort reads recently someone suggested that I pick up one of his books, which sent me off to Bookmooch, but there was not even one book of his there to mooch.  So then I went off to Amazon and perused the long list of titles.  I don't know where to start with his books, so I just randomly selected two novels.  They are not his Jeeves and Wooster books, but they sound like fun.  Normally I wouldn't choose to order cloth books, but these were actually cheaper than the paperbacks.  Apparently they are (or were) reissuing the books in these nice cloth editions. 

A Damsel in Distress - "The Earl of Mashmoreston's lively daughter--the damsel of the title--thinks she is in love with one Geoffrey Raymond, but a cheerful American song-writer called George Bevan knows better.  After one meeting with her, when she climbs into his passing cab to escape from his pomous brother in London, George is dazzled.  He pursues her to the family seat in Hampshire and does battle for her hand with her brother, their snobbish aunt and a father who will do anything for a quiet life.  Love triumphs in the end with the unwitting help of a sporting butler, and a page boy with golden curls and no conscience, making this one of Wodehouse's most charming early comedies."  

Jill the Reckless - "When Jill Mariner is arrested for fighting over a parrot and then loses all her money on the same day, she is abandoned by her pompous fiancé and goes to stay with her rich relations on Long Island.  Uncel Elmer is delighted to see her--until he finds out that Jill is penniless.  Heading for New York, she ends up in the chorus of a musical comedy on Broadway where she eventually finds the man of her dreams.  A light romantic comedy in Wodehouse's most charming manner." 

The other two books are from my beach book list, which I'm hoping to read from over the course of the summer.  

The Sea House by Esther Freud - "The Sea House is the story of the village of Steerborough and the marshes and the sea beyond.  It is the story of one generation living in the footprints of another; of a landscape shaped by lives, and lives shaped by landscape."  This may have to be my next beach read.

Beach Music by Pat Conroy - "Spanning three generations and two continents, from the contemporary ruins of the American South to the ancient ruins of Rome, from the unutterable horrors of the Holocaust to the lingering trauma of Vietnam, Beach Music sings with life's pain and glory."  This novel is a nice, long sprawling sort of novel with close to 800 pages.  I may have to save it for the sunny, hot days of July when I'll be escaping from the humidity in the air conditioning!   

Reading Notes

I've finished three of the seven books I hoped to read in June.  I'm nearing the end of the fourth.  I'll be posting about Jennifer Epstein Cody's The Painter from Shanghai on Wednesday (part of a virtual blog tour).  I really liked it by the way.  If you enjoy historical fiction, this is the best I've read in a long time but will share more in a couple of days.

I'm nearing the end of Georgette Heyer's Cousin Kate.  It's been an interesting read--different than her other books.  I wasn't sure what I thought at first but the more I read the more I like it.  As soon as I'm done I'll be reading The Corinthian, which should be more traditional Heyer fare.  It's also much shorter than the last two books I've read (both over or close to 400 pages).  Once I've finished it will be a sigh of relief as there is no 'due date' for writing about the rest of the books on my pile.  As much as I love reading the books, due dates stress me out.  I still have review copies to work my way through, but I plan on reading them over the course of the summer in a more leisurely manner (and have been doing my best not to add to said pile).       

Alas, it's not all work and no play. Often when I know I have to read a book, I look longingly at my TBR pile or get it in my head I want to read a certain type of story.  Returning to a story I know I've enjoyed also seems to be something I'm doing more of this year.  I've been rereading Chandra Prasad's On Borrowed Wings on the sly.  I've been rationing it out, as given the chance I would happily sit down and just work my way through it without thought for any other book.  Set in the 1930s it's about a young woman who enters Yale at a time when women weren't allowed.  She enters under the guise of her brother who was supposed to attend but died in a tragic accident.  I loved it the first time I read it and am enjoying it equally as much this time around.  

My current 'beach read' (since I have such a great list to work from) is Sasha Troyan's The Forgotten Island.  I'm not very far into it yet, but it's set on an island off the coast of Italy in the 1970s.  The island sounds lush and lovely (almost so much that I could wish myself there) except there is something menacing about this story.  I don't expect it to be a nice, cozy sort of read, but then I was thinking I needed a story that was on the edgy side.  

I'm in the mood to read a really good Gothic novel that's chilling and atmospheric (though haven't given much thought to a book that would fit the bill) as well as a mystery and would love to get back to Nicola Upson's An Expert in Murder (or maybe even something else...).  I've been mostly reading one book at a time in order to make sure I do actually get through my June stack of books, but it reminds me how much I prefer dipping into a few different stories every day.      

Also, the choices for the next Slaves of Golconda read are now posted.  Please consider reading along with us.  The discussion won't be until the end of August, so you'll have the whole summer to get a copy of the book and read it!  You can vote through Friday. 

And Now the Answers

1. D.  I had to start with an easy one.  I think everyone got this one right.  I did work at an independent bookstore at one time, however.  And I also worked in an elementary school with first graders, though I admit I didn't last long there.  I do like kids, but not so many and not all at once.
2. B.  Another easy one.  I could happily subsist on mystery novels, crime novels and thrillers.  I tend to go in phases with them, however.  If I go too long without having one on the go I tend to get fidgety.  When I was younger I went through a little phase of readng romance novels (even the ones with cheesy covers), but I can't really take them now (unless it's a novel that happens to have romance thrown in--or something by Georgette Heyer--that's okay, too--as long as it's low key).  I've yet to try a Robert Ludlum novel, but who knows, I might like him.  Self help?  I could probably use one but, no, I tend to pass on those.
3. A.  I spent a year living and working in Wr. Neustadt, Austria right after I graduated from college.  I loved it there.  It's so clean and beautiful with loads of museums and gorgeous architecture.  And they have the best public transportation system I have ever come across and even back in the early 90s they were totally Green (even schools recycled).  I was able to travel when I was in Austria and one of the places I visited was Zlin, Czechoslovakia (I wen to meet a penpal I had).  At the time it was a perfect example of an (almost post-Communist) city.  All very, very grey, with concrete buildings lacking in any sort of personality (though I will say Prague was entirely different--again, gorgeous).  Zlin was famous for two things: a shoe museum (which I visited) and being the birthplace of Ivana Trump.  I also travelled to Hungary that year.  I spent two summers in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and loved it there too.  It's the one place I literally cried when I had to go home.  I would love nothing better than to go back to Europe.  
4. D.  I've never learned to knit.  Well, that's not entirely true.  When I was in Ireland, the ladies I stayed with helped me knit a pair of bright blue mittens, but I could never pull that feat off again.  I have taken quilting classes, and have dabbled in paper arts.  And of course you know I love needlework.  Someday I would like to learn to knit, but I should stop looking for expensive hobbies, I think. 
5. C.  I wish I could appreciate poetry more.  Or maybe even at all.  It's my one major stumbling block.  I will say I do very much like Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson.  I think maybe I try too hard.  I love novels and essays (would love to read more of them), and even plays I've come to enjoy.
6. B.  Oh yes, send me to the seaside, please.  I have a small fixation with seasides.  It's a pity I pretty much live smack dab in the middle of the U.S. and about as far away as you can get from any major body of water.  I have tried to ski (in Austria, but not the Alps!), and I'm sorry to say I have no aptitude for it.  I might like river rafting, or I might be terrified, not sure.  I would certainly love to go to NYC, though, (does being in the airport count?  I thought not).  Aside from all the great museums and bookstores, I could finally meet some fellow bloggers!
7. A.  Art History.  I actually have a degree in Journalism as well, which is where I started in my college studies.  I changed my mind halfway through, but I had earned so many credit hours that I went ahead and completed the coursework.  I contemplated English, but loved Art History more at the time.  I also took International Studies classes thinking I might like to try and work for the foreign service in an embassy somewhere.  Sigh.  Don't you wonder sometimes how your life might have differed had I chosen a slightly different path earlier in life?
8. C.  I don't own a car, and I don't want one.  I only wish my city were better planned for people who choose not to drive.  This is not a pedestrian-friendly city.  I think I could easily live without a TV.  Having an MP3 player is nice, but I don't think I would willingly give up my computer!
9. D.  I've never gotten into Westerns.  I'm not even sure I've ever read one.  I might like them given the chance, but there are just some stories I'm not drawn to, and that's one type.  Who knows I might pick one up later and binge on them.  
10. A.  I didn't mean to trick you on this one.  I was being lazy by putting "all of the above".  I just couldn't think up another example.  Cell phones in general are my biggest pet peeve and the behavior I find most irritating is people talking on them in public restrooms.  I wouldn't do that at home and certainly not in public.  As much as cell phones make life easier, I do sometimes think people forget their manners when they use them.  Where did those days of having phone booths go (and private conversations)?  I've yet to give in and buy one.  I really don't like noisy neighbors (and I have some of those unfortunately), but cell phones at the moment trump noisiness.  I don't mind seeing writing in books.  As long as it is in pencil.  Never in ink or worse yellow highlighting.  

So, there you have it.  My life in ten questions.

Library Loot: Only Three

 

Only three library books this week.  That seems like a nice, round number, doesn't it?  While I'm making slow but steady progress on these books (well, at least in roughly the order I need to read them in) and am enjoying them, I'm feeling in the mood for something just a tad bit edgier than the books I've got going at the moment.  Any of these three would probably fit the bill nicely.

 Back to the Coast, Saskia Noort - Another European crime novel.  Noort is a bestselling author in her native Netherlands.  This sounds like a good pychological thriller and is even set on the coast of the Netherlands!

The German Woman,  Paul Griner - "This riveting story introduces up to beautiful Kate Zweig, the English widow of a German surgeon, and Claus Murphy, an exiled American with Irish and German roots--two lovers with complicated loyalties."

Every Man Dies Alone, Hans Fallada - This is a never before translated masterpiece.  "In a richly detailed portrait of life in Berlin under the Nazis, it tells the sweeping saga of one working-class couple's decision to take a stand when their only son is killed at the front."  Before the war Fallada's novels were bestsellers.  It was originally published in the late 1940s.   

Tomorrow--the answers to these questions.  Hopefully will also get caught up on blog reading (am very, very behind) and emails.   

Actual Progress . . .

 

This is a totally lazy post, but I'm actually excited to share progress on a needlework project and I couldn't wait until the weekend to do so.  This is where I started about a week ago.

 

Now I realize this probably doesn't look like much so far, but for me and how little I've been stitching lately (and how slowly I usually stitch), I'm zipping right along on this one.  I think I have finally found a good design to settle in with and might actually be able to finish it by the end of the summer (or even sooner).  I like the colors and the design and especially I like the feel of the fabric (which I starched the heck out of to make nice and stiff to work on).  Most importantly I like the way my stitches are turning out--nice and straight.  I've been trying to add a little bit each night even if I only stitch for fifteen minutes (and work longer on it on the weekends).  It'll measure about 7" x 8" when I finish, so it's even a somewhat substantial size design, too.  Much like just the right book, I'm finding this very comforting to work on!  

I'll share more later on.  And I'm going to be good and only work on this one project until I finish it! 

Jill McCorkle's Ferris Beach

Jill McCorkle's Ferris Beach was just the book I needed right now.  A coming of age story set in South Carolina and spanning the mid-60s to the mid-70s, it's narrated by Mary Katherine Burns who we meet at the age of five and follow through to her high school days.  As would be expected it's about the pains and complexities of growing up, about family and friends and relationships, but it's never trite or clichéd.  I found myself completely absorbed by the story, racing all the way to the end, yet sad to turn the last page with the realization that there was no more.  Although this was a complete comfort read for me, I'm hesitant to give it that label as it somehow seems to diminish the quality of storytelling, and this is an excellent story (named a Notable Book by The New York Times Book Review ), well written and deftly told. 

For Kate, Ferris Beach represents everything her small hometown does not--glamor and excitement.  When she first meets her seemingly sophisticated older cousin, Angela, who lives in Ferris Beach, she's taken with her and ever after constructs a secret fantasy life far more romantic than Angela's reality.  She's too young to see beyond the glitter she imagines.  There's an underlying tension in her family when it comes to Angela that it will take Kate years to understand.   

It's when Misty Rhodes and her family move from Ferris Beach to the house across the street that she finally gets a tangible taste of the world beyond her tiny neighborhood.  They become instant friends dealing with all the ups and downs life has to dish out no matter how their lives might diverge as they grow up.  Misty's mother, Mo, is so unlike her own, and to a young girl attractive in a way your own mom can never be.  She causes quite a stir when she puts a rock garden in her front yard instead of grass and paints her shutters a bright "peacock" blue.  She's almost more a friend than a mom, cool and hip with her faded cropped jeans and painted pink toenails. 

Kate's parents are an unlikely pair--she compares them to Jack Sprat and his wife.  Tall and fleshy, Cleva comes from a conservative Boston family but has made her life with Alfred ("Fred") Tennyson Burns who's lovable but eccentric.  While Kate's always close to her father, she feels a distance from her mother that's hard to overcome.  It'll take tragic events to make Kate realize that what's behind the glitter isn't always solid and true.     

I had been wondering where Jill McCorkle had disappeared to, since I never seem to hear about her (Ferris Beach was published in 1990), but I'm happy to see she has a new collection of short stories coming out this fall, Going Away Shoes (her first in eight years).  Ferris Beach is also being reissued (though I'm not sure what to think of the cover design as it doesn't seem to capture the feel of the story at all).  I highly recommend her.  Ferris Beach is a wonderful story that's hard to put down.  She knows how to tell a good story, with what felt to me, fully realized characters.  Even those people not entirely likable still seemed to have some endearing quality to them.  Though not at all complicated the story is nicely sophisticated and nuanced yet flows in an organic way.  Some of my enthusiasm might come from the fact that this was a nostalgic sort of read as I could imagine the time and situations.  Kate and Misty would have been older than me, but I still remember the days of shag carpet and matching appliances in the 'avocado' color scheme.  I don't think I would ever want to go back, but it was nice revisiting!  Ferris Beach will definitely be a book I pick up again.