A Work in Progress

Colette's The Ripening Seed

With its seaside setting Colette's The Ripening Seed seemed a perfect choice for my current 'beach/seaside' reading.  It's a short novel and a simple coming of age story, perhaps deceptively so, about two young friends whose families have vacationed on the coast of Brittany for the better part of their young lives.  I read that Colette spent her summers there in the early 1920s and she writes as though she has an intimate knowledge of the locale as her descriptions are vivid and lush.

"All that could be seen through the window was the August tide, bringing rain in its wake.  The earth came to an abrupt end out there, at the edge of the sand hills.  One more squall, one more upheaval of the great grey field furrowed with parallel ridges of foam, and the house would surely float away like the ark...but Phil and Vinca knew the August seas of old and their monotonous thunder, as well as the wild, white-capped seas of September.  They knew that this corner of a sandy field would remain impassable, and all through their childhood they had scoffed at the frothy foam-scuds that danced powerlessly up to the edge of man's dominion."

Philippe and Vinca have spent their summers together in close companionship for their annual seaside holidays, but at 16 and 15 they are beginning to put childish ways behind them.  They believe it's not just friendship that binds them together but something stronger and more akin to love though they assume it's not something they'll be able to realistically pursue until they're older.  This change in feelings makes them pettish and quarrelsome this summer, so unlike previous summers.

Their normal routine is disturbed by the arrival of "The Woman in White", Mme Camille Dalleray.  A sophisticated woman in her thirties, she asks Philippe for directions and invites him to visit her.  It's an invitation he'll accept which leads to his seduction by this beautiful older woman.  One night leads to many and he becomes overwhelmed by his affair with her.  He believes his actions have gone unnoticed, but not by Vinca.  As their holiday nears an end, their relationship, too, will undergo a drastic change.

Colette's Chéri and the Last of Chéri, a story about an aging courtesan and her much younger pampered lover, was a favorite read of mine several years back.  In a way the stories are almost the flip sides of the same coin.  Philippe's initiation into adulthood comes at the hands of an older woman.  This is the beginning of a new life for him.  In Chéri Léa's affair marks the end of her sexual prowess.  Each is at a turning point and each must proceed in life according to a different set of rules.  Colette's depiction of these life altering events is unsentimental and quite subtly achieved.

Although The Ripening Seed is a relatively quick read, I suspect there is much more to be mined below the surface.  I have a feeling Colette has played with gender roles here and turned things upside down, perhaps even setting her own mark of femininity down on the stories.  She seems like she was such an interesting and remarkable woman who lived a colorful life--I'd like to know more about her.  I've heard that her French is difficult to translate, though I've also heard that Roger Senhouse is a capable translator.  I wish I could read her in her native language but will have to content myself with translations.  And of course I want to read more.  Any suggestions on what to pick up next?

Teaser Tuesday: The Wapshot Chronicle

So in my quest to read more American literature I've started with two very different authors.  I've just finished Willa Cather's My Antonia, and loved it.  I think my high school English teacher would be proud of me as she constantly urged us to read Willa Cather and in particular My Antonia.  It took a few years and more urges along the way (how many lists of books I want to read did it appear on and how many people told me I would like it?).  It was an easy read, though not without depth.  Why I waited so long to read it is beyond me, but you know how that happens sometimes.  More about it later.

John Cheever's The Wapshot Chronicle was my other choice.  It was a completely random selection based mostly on the fact that I've enjoyed some of his short stories, and I liked the idea of reading about an eccentric New England family ca. 1953.  He's a good writer, but I am finding it a little challenging.  Now, what does 'good' mean?  Can't you just tell when a story flows along unselfconsciously?  His prose style seems very polished, but it's also very dense with lots of descriptive passages and solid paragraphs with not a lot of dialogue.  It's a book that requires time to get into and isn't one I can just read a few pages here and there, I'm finding. 

Although it is ostensibly about the Wapshot family, a family with strong roots and of sailing stock, it is also a character study about the people who reside in the fictional town of St. Botolphs.  Several chapters in and not a lot has happened really and I'm not sure how the plot is going to develop, but I'm curious enough to keep going to see what happens.  I rarely do this, but I had to take a look at what Amazon reviewers made of the book and it seems that readers either love his work or unapologetically deride it.  It's too early to tell which side of the line I'm going to fall, though I want to keep an open mind as I'm reading.  The whole idea is to read a variety of American authors to get a taste of styles and (hopefully) concentrate on those that are considered the 'best of the best' (a rather elastic term I know).

I want to share a snippet, but the snippets are all pretty long and hard to take out of context, so I'll start at the beginning.

"St. Botolphs was an old place, an old river town.  It had been an inland port in the great days of the Massachusetts sailing fleets and now it was left with a factory that manufactured table silver and a few other small industries.  The natives did not consider that it has diminished in size or importance, but the long roster of the Civil War dead, bolted to the cannon on the green, was a reminder of how populous the village had been in the 1860s.  St. Botolphs would never muster as many soldiers again.  The green was shaded by a dew great elms and loosely enclosed by a square of store fronts.  The Cartwright Block, which made the western wall of the square, had along the front of its second story a row of lancet windows, as delicate and reproachful as the windows of a church.  Behind those windows were the offices of the Easter Star, Dr Bulstrode the dentist, the telephone company and the insurance agent.  The smells of these offices--the smell of dental preparations, floor oil, spittoons and coal gas--mingled in the downstairs hallway like an aroma of the past.  In a drilling autumn rain, in a world of much change, the green of St. Botolphs conveyed an impression of the unusual permanence.  On Independence day in the morning, when the parade had begun to form, the place looked prosperous and festive."      

Willa Cather and John Cheever are only two of a list of American authors I want to read.  This is the beginnings of my working list, the majority of which I've never read.  A very few are rereads.  Forgive me for not linking to them.  Obviously this is something to whittle away at over time.  Who am I missing?--I'm looking for 'quintessential' American authors.  In no particular order:

• Wallace Stegner--Crossing to Safety and Angle of Repose
• Philip Roth--American Pastoral
• Sue Miller--The Good Mother
• Anne Tyler--Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Saint Maybe
• Jane Smiley--Thousand Acres
• Don Delillo--White Noise
• Truman Capote--In Cold Blood
• Edith Wharton--The House of Mirth (and other novels as well!)
• Henry James--The Portrait of a Lady
• William Maxwell--They Came Like Swallows and The Chateau
• Thoreau--Walden (have never read the whole thing)
• John Steinbeck--Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath
• Joyce Carol Oates--We Were the Mulvaneys
• Richard Yates--Revolutionary Road (and other novels)
• Maritta Wolff--Whistle Stop and Night Shift
• Kate Chopin--The Awakening
• Edna Ferber--So Big
• Ward Just--An Unfinished Season
• John Updike--Marry Me
• Grace Metalius--Peyton Place
• Ernest Hemingway--The Sun Also Rises (and other novels)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald--The Beautiful and the Damned

Just so you won't think I am a complete lost cause I have read works by a lot of these authors (just different books than I list above)--Capote, Wharton, James, Maxwell, Thoreau, Steinbeck (only short stories), Wolff, Chopin, Updike and Hemingway, and I know I am leaving off lots of classic authors, but I had to start somewhere and these authors/works simply came to mind first.  Seeing a list like this that isn't even complete feels a little insurmountable.  Oh well, one book finished and another in progress and who will be up next? 

Six from the Shelves

Inspired by Stefanie's recent book reorganization I thought I should do the same.  A couple of years ago I gave a peek at my book room, which has in some ways become even more cluttered (books not being the only culprits...other cast offs reside there now as well--including old toys my niece no longer plays with...), so I thought a good cleaning of the room would be a good way to spend an hour or two.  The problem is that my piles have grown somewhat but the room has stayed as small as it ever was and I'm at a loss how to organize my things in a way that would mean I could get to the books easily and see what I have.  So instead I mostly picked through piles and pulled books out that I had forgotten about and spent a little time perusing them. 

Whenever someone sees my books the common question is 'have you read all those books?'  'Well, no, but I am working on it' is the usual reply.  In a way this shifting of piles was comforting given my desire to stop buying books, as it means I have plenty to choose from even if I can't buy something new every week.  The problem is to stop being tempted by all the new shiny releases or worse all the books everyone else happens to be reading a the moment.

I was thinking maybe I could pick out a handful of books now and then and share them.  It might be a way to satiate the need to buy new books by revisiting older purchases that I've not thought about in a (very) long time.  In some cases I've forgotten what I own and some of these might well be out of print now and perhaps the time has come to read them rather than let them languish any longer.  Part of my problem is that I like the acquisition part of the equation, though don't get me wrong as I don't ever purchase anything that doesn't really, really appeal to me and that I don't want to read.  So, here are six books that at one time I was so excited at having acquired and couldn't wait to crack them open and start reading. 

Lost Love: The True Story of Passion, Murder, and Justice in Old New York, George Cooper - Nothing like a little true crime--particularly a crime that happened just after the Civil War.  "In Lost Love, George Cooper expertly weaves period documents into a work of historical imagination with a tragic but vibrant heroine at its center.  This narrative of private passion and public scandal resurrects a vanished America--even as it casts light on the sexual politics of our present age."

Gloria: A Novel, Keith Maillard - I remember coveting this when it was in cloth and even waited until it was released in paper.  It's the story of a 1950s debutante.  "Gloria is a vivid and intimate portrayal of a privileged yet claustrophobic world, where conflicting expectations for women foreshadow an impending revolution."

Plain Language, Barbara Wright - This is set in Depression era Colorado where a woman has come to marry a man ten years her senior who she knows only through two brief meetings and letters.  It sounds like a good drama.

Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich - Since I'm reading about Colonial America at the moment it might be good to read a little history alongside it.  I've heard LTU is a little hard going (maybe should say slow going), but I've always thought her books looked interesting.

One Sweet Quarrel, Deirdre McNamer - This is set in America between the wars and begins in the Midwest.  Three siblings each set off in a different directions hoping to fulfill their hopes and desires.

A Design for Living: Vienna int eh Twenties, Lilliam Langseth-Christensen - This is one I have read and have a vague recollection of.  It's one I knew I wanted to hang on to for both the time period it evokes and the place--Vienna (one of my very favorite places)!  The author traveled there from New York in 1922 to study under Josef Hoffmann.  Absolutely need to reread this one.

Although these days I am a little more particular in what I buy and my tastes have changed slightly, in the past I would buy at whim if the story appealed to me.  I suspect many of these books will have faded from popularity and you may or may not have heard of them (or read them).  But they still look like good reads, and who knows what treasures I might find on my shelves if I dig around a bit.  One week down and not a single new purchase.    

Julia Gregson's East of the Sun

It's always nice to cross a book off my reading list, and while I've been working on Julia Gregson's East of the Sun for longer than I care to admit, the pleasure in reading it was never diminished when I had to temporarily set it aside.  It's an intimate sort of story that covers a fairly short amount of time but a great amount of distance beginning in England in 1928 and ending in India.  The story follows three young women over the course of a year or so, each traveling to one of farthest reaches of the British Empire for different reasons.  This one definitely falls into the comfort read category and would make a great beach or vacation read.

The concept of "The Fishing Fleet" is an interesting one, for in this novel the fishing fleet refers to the women who traveled to India in search of husbands.  Rose Wetherby is only eighteen when she accepts the proposal of a handsome and dashing military man whose regiment is stationed in India.  It's barely even a whirlwind romance before she finds herself engaged and set to travel East for her wedding.  She's accompanied by her best friend Victoria, or Tor, as she is known to her friends.  While Rose is the personification of her name, Tor is beset by weight problems and has no luck in love.  Rose's future seems assured, but for Tor India is her last hope to make a good marriage.  Viva Halloway is hired to act as chaperon though she is not much older than her charges. 

Viva was born in India where she lived until the deaths of her parents and sister.  She had been sent back to England to live with relatives and has had to make her own way in the world.  Far more independent and self-sufficient than the other two young women her reasons for returning to India aren't centered around finding a husband, on the contrary she's somewhat prickly about any overtures by eligible men.  Her dream is to write, but more importantly to go back to the last place her family lived where a trunk awaits her.  She hasn't a clue what's inside the trunk, but her memories of her family are sketchy and shrouded in mystery.  She was so young when she left she's unsure which recollections are real and which are imagined.

For Rose and Tor the voyage out to India is a pleasure--a bit of a last hurrah, but for Viva it is work.  Along with Rose and Tor, she agrees to look after a 16-year old schoolboy who's been expelled and is being sent back to parents he barely remembers.  Guy Glover turns out to be quite a handful.  It's not just spoiled schoolboy antics that he engages in.  The trouble he stirs up will have repercussions later and his irresponsible and erratic behavior means Viva is denied the money she was promised to be paid as blame for his actions falls squarely on her shoulders.

The first third of the novel describes the leisurely voyage to India, but the better part of the book covers the experiences of the three women after they each go their separate ways yet remain friends despite the different paths they follow.  Each finds life not only more difficult than they imagined it, but discover truths within themselves and ultimately some form of contentment.  Although the story is told from the British perspective, events are played out against the exotic Indian backdrop with a nod to the social changes beginning to take place--the unease between two distinctly different cultures, cultures which often clash and chafe against each other.

Quite a lot happens over the course of the year and the narrative moves smoothly between characters.  It's a longish book, and while I enjoyed the manner of storytelling, I did wonder if a little judicious editing might have tightened things up a little.  I think I understand why Guy Glover was included in the story as it gave Gregson an opportunity to focus on the social changes taking place at the time, but it seemed he was more of a distraction than anything else.  I'm not sure how much he added to an already ambitious plot.  I think the author could easily have achieved her ends and maybe explored the other relationships even more without that particular storyline.  Of course that's just personal preference.  I tend to like sprawling stories, but I would have preferred to stick with the stories of the three women.  The 1920s is such a fascinating decade and I've long been curious about what life must have been like for the people (British and Indian) living in this situation.  

All in all an enjoyable read, even if not a perfect one.  I've already got Gregson's other novel, Band of Angels (The Water Horse in the UK) on hand, which is set during the Crimean War.  It looks as though she has a new book, Jasmine Nights, due to be published in the fall.  Check out her website here.

June 25: Reading Notes

I'm in the middle (or have just finished in a couple of cases) some really good reads.  I've strayed a bit from the books on my sidebar, but not too far away.  I've finished L.P.Hartley's The Go-Between, which I thought was an exceptional read (definitely top ten material for me) and am now wondering just how I am going to write about it to do it any justice.  Is the film as good as the book (they rarely are, but I am tempted to watch it anyway)?  Hopefully I'll write about it in the coming week, but I think I need to ruminate a little on it first. 

So, now I get to pick a new classic.  My plan was to pick up the next book in the Forsyte Saga, In Chancery, as I am ready to get back to Soames, Irene, Jolyon et al.  But then I started thinking about my list of books to read this year and I wouldn't mind reading Henry Green's Loving, Living, and Party Going.  The book has three novels in one and I believe the stories are all set around the war years.  I'll have to think about this a little, read a few pages, see which one grabs me.

One of the "strays" I mentioned that I'm reading (finally) is Willa Cather's My Antonia.  Why didn't you tell me it was really good.  Not just good, but really good.  Oh, you did?  Well, why didn't I listen?  I give in too easily to my reading whims and start books without finishing something else first, but in this case I'm very glad I did.  Halfway through and I am already eyeing the other books I own by her, thinking I could read her entire oeuvre and even visit Red Cloud as a little literary field trip.  I never get to take literary field trips. 

I have also started reading John Cheever's The Wapshot Chronicle as I'd like to try and squeeze in more American authors this year.  I tend to read almost exclusively British authors with few books in translation on the side, but very few Americans.  While there is nothing wrong at all with focusing on a particular time or place I feel like I'm missing out and have a very spotty reading record when it comes to American classics (including modern and contemporary works).  I've been working on a list, which I'll have to share soon.  I've just barely started but I've read a few of Cheever's short stories and know his work is very highly regarded.     

It's a good thing I have such a varied selection of library books at close hand as I've signed up for my library's Adult Summer Reading Program.  I'm not entirely sure how long it runs, but for every book you read you get your name dropped in a drawing for an iPad.  As this is the closest I'll get (in the near future anyway) to owning one of these I have to try my luck.  Besides, if I'm going to read library books anyway...Keep your fingers crossed for me.  I never win anything, but you never know.

What I'm not reading?  I've had a reprieve and don't have to finish reading Edith Pargeter's The Brothers Gwynedd.  My copy is an ARE and there was a group of us reading the four novels that make up this edition.  Apparently others were struggling with the book and with so much going on in summer it was decided to call off the last discussions.  I feel bad, but to be honest it is a bit of a relief not to have to finish it.  It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off  my shoulders and aside from a few other AREs (with no specific posting dates, and that I am getting on much better with) I can read at whim--always a nice feeling.  A few people have read the second book and it sounds like the second was better than the first.  Who knows, maybe someday I'll pick it up again, but for now....I think I'll concentrate on a few other things.

One last note as June is speeding towards the end--the Slaves of Golconda will be reading Ivy Compton-Burnett's Manservant and Maidservant for July (discussion to begin at the end of the month--you're welcome to join in of course).  I've seen her name pop up all over the book blogosphere lately, so this seems like good timing.  I'm not at all sure what to expect from her work, so I'm thinking maybe I should begin reading sooner than later. 

And...only a week away from a long weekend, which hopefully means a bit more reading time.  I'm looking forward to it already!

Back to Borrowing

So, if I can't buy I can at least borrow and in a way it helps fill that need for "new books".  This is a couple of library visits worth by the way.  I had wanted to cut down on borrowing, but now that I'm not going to get anything good in the mail, my borrowing is likely to go up.  But it costs nothing and I don't have to find shelf space for them, so it can only be a good thing, right?

Even before I had finished Johan Theorin's The Darkest Room I had requested his first book, Echoes from the Dead.  Once again it is set on the Swedish island of Öland and the connection between the two books is Gerlof Davidsson, who is policewoman Tilda Davidsson's grandfather's brother.  The novel concerns the disappearance of a young boy.  I wonder if it will be as good as his second book was?

The House on Salt Hay Road by Carin Clevidence is set in a Long Island town in the late 1930s.  The big draw for me is the setting--"suffused with a haunting sense of place: salt marshes in the summer, iceboats on the frozen Great South Bay."  I'm still thinking of my beach/seaside reads and this might fit in nicely. 

Rumer Godden is very, very high up on my list of authors I want to read more of this summer.  I keep looking longingly at the titles I have on hand and if I didn't already have a pile of books started at the moment I would nab one right away and start reading.  A good way to sneak a book in is to borrow it from the library.  Those due dates tend to take (right or wrong) precedence over  my other reads.  A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep is the first volume of her autobiography covering the years 1907-1946.  It covers her childhood in India, her marriage and subsequent abandonment by him and her early novels.  

I've got two novels by S.J. Bolton at the moment.  I really liked her first novel, Sacrifice when I read it a couple of years back.  I never got around to reading her second book, Awakening and now her newest has just been released, Blood Harvest.  What a title, eh?  I've already started it as the story really appeals to me.  It sounds very creepy--set in a small village on the moors called Heptonclough where several small children have died in mysterious accidents.  A new family has moved there and built a house close to two very old churches and overlooking a graveyard.  The family's ten year old son is certain someone is watching him.  Awakening, which I hope to read after is also set in a small English village on the Devon coast and features a veterinarian and from what I understand--a lot of snakes.

I requested Nancy Woodruff's My Wife's Affair earlier but then I decided I wasn't in the mood for a story about infidelity so it went back.  I then read reviews of it--all glowing and decided maybe it was worth the time and effort after all. 

And then do you have times where you bring a book home you've requested and then wonder just why it was you requested it?  I'm waiting for John Harvey's new book to come out but thought I'd try one of his others while I was waiting.  Gone to Ground is your basic police procedural, but not what I'd call a cozy.  This seems to follow the grittier side of London's streets.  And any comparison to both P.D. James and Ruth Rendell will make me look again.  Has anyone read Harvey?

I forgot to add this to my stack in the photo, but I also have Sally Gunning's new book, The Rebellion of Jane Clarke, which I've been looking forward to.  I really enjoyed her earlier novel, Bound.  She returns once again to Colonial America and tells the story of a young woman who refuses her father's choice of suitor and must pave a way for her own.  It's set just before the Revolutionary War and I already have a feeling it is going to spark an interest in this period once again (I go in phases with my reading).

Who needs to buy new books when I have all these to choose from, right?

The Darkest Room by Johan Theorin

The best ghost stories are the ones that play out primarily in the mind--it's the uncertainty, the not knowing whether something is really real or not that sends shivers down the spine.  The ghosts in Johan Theorin's The Darkest Mind (Nattfäk) are palpable, but you won't hear them wandering about rattling chains.  These are ghosts that one carries about in their memories wrapped in grief and longing.  Theorin's novel has been very deservedly shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger and combines elements of a traditional mystery with those of a suspenseful thriller tightly wound around a ghost story.

This is a story that grabs you from the first page and doesn't let go, revealing its many intricate secrets slowly.  Theorin has a real knack for creating atmosphere.  Many a time I would set the book down and wonder at the eerie feeling he evokes in great part through this island setting.  A pair of lighthouses built in the mid-1800s and a manor house with an unusual history serve as the focus for the story.  A place built to guide those in distress to safety holds many secrets of past inhabitants whose lives often ended in tragedy (life being in general a messy affair under the best of circumstances), thus the place bears witness to much human suffering perhaps storing up the energy of so many.  Combine place with the natural elements--a forest of trees delineating a boundary on one side and the powerful sea on the other.  Over the course of the story fall turns to winter and a once seemingly peaceful vista turns brutally cold and the sea grows more and more tempestuous.

It's to this place, Eel Point, that the Westin family comes.  Joakim and Katrine, a successful and happily married couple with two young children decide to buy the now dilapidated manor house and leave the hustle and bustle of the big city behind.  After living in a series of homes, renovating each, then selling for a profit, they can afford the manor house and its outbuildings.  It's not a clean break from their former lives, however, as they bring with them emotional baggage and perhaps a certain amount of culpability for events that occurred surrounding the death of a family member, which they'd like to leave behind them.   

The island may appear idyllic, but it's not so far removed from problems that plague big cities.  Öland is a popular destination for summer visitors and many have second homes on the island, which sit empty for the rest of the year.  The contents of the homes are plum pickings for two petty thieves from the mainland who have an inclination to converse with the dead through their Ouija board and a bored islander looking for a little excitement.  The fun always begins with a little intoxication thanks to crystal meth, and while the break-ins are harmless enough at the beginning they quickly escalate into violence.

A police presence is introduced onto the island in the form of rookie cop, Tilda Davidsson, who's trying to create a more amenable situation for a sticky relationship she's involved in.  The island is also home to her grandfather's brother, Gerlof, who resides in a nursing home.  She grew up not knowing her grandfather so she spends afternoons chatting with Gerlof and recording his stories to get a better sense of her family's history.  Gerlof is knowledgeable in the island's history and folklore as well and will prove to be a source of information for Tilda as she tries to discover who is behind the break ins.  She'll need whatever help she can get as she's strapped with a partner who's alternately indifferent and sexist, but she makes a decent go of her work.

As you can see there are several plotlines running at the same time, which at first seem somewhat unrelated but will culminate in a suspenseful ending bringing all the various threads together in ways that aren't always obvious until the final moments of the story.  Interspersed with these different stories is the history of the former residents of the manor house at Eel Point from the builders onward.  The story is complicated yet not confusing.  Theorin is quite clever in how he deals with the themes of grief and loss and guilt.  He wraps everything nicely together and keeps you on the edge of your seat at the same time.

The Darkest Room has won all sorts of awards in Theorin's native Sweden.  Apparently this is the second of a quartet of books that will be loosely related to each other.  I've already borrowed his first, Echoes from the Dead, from the library.  I suspect this is an author that will bear keeping and eye on.  I've tried to be purposely vague about what happens in the story as there is nothing worse than a thriller missing its thrills, but this is one I can easily recommend.  It's definitely more substantial than your run of the mill suspense story thanks to its fine construction.  If you still need a little  more persuasion, take a look at this short film to get a sense of mood.  Of course I haven't a clue what Theorin is saying, but the visuals are stunning and very, very eerie.  It's easy to see where he found inspiration for his story.

Mystery Sampler, Part 1

No teaser this Tuesday, I'm afraid.  I spent more than four hours on the telephone last night with Dell trying to get rid of viruses and malware.  It was not fun and I'm not entirely sure we got everything.  For a while I thought I would have to wipe my hard drive and start from scratch (I will be buying an external hard drive thank you very much), but after  much uninstalling, reinstalling and searching through softare programs and my hard drive the technician was able to hopefully locate all the nasties.  Then lots of removing of bad things with free downloadable programs.  I never want to go through that again.  What I thought was a fairly minor problem turned into something much more when I signed on to my computer--I could barely get it to open and was bombarded with pop ups. 

As I try and work on posts the night before they actually appear, there was no time last night.  It's not recommended that you eat dinner at 11:00 at night!  Instead I am sharing my latest needlework finish--my Blackbird Designs Mystery Sampler.  This is part one of five and they will be sewn together to create one larger sampler.  Left hand side--check.  On to the next section. 

 

Here are my supplies for part two, which I started on Sunday night.  When I actually have something to share I will take a photo.  If you look closely here you can see what I'll be stitching in part two.  This section is smaller so should work up quickly I hope.  Although it is hard to tell (and sorry the photos, especially the top one, are so fuzzy), the linens are all slightly different colors, which will make for an interesting looking sampler when I am finished.  

Back to the books tomorrow!

Have you read . . . ? I haven't (yet anyway)!

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?  So I am going to flatter Stefanie and Iliana by sharing my own list of books that I've yet to read, even though it seems like everyone else in the Western world has already done so.  Now, I'm not really hung up on what everyone else is reading, and feel the need to do so as well unless the book happens to be something that really appeals to me.  Some of these I do plan on reading (someday), and some I feel like I should have read as they are either taught in school or are just so much part of the cultural fabric that not knowing the story means I am missing out on cultural or literary references.  Some are popular novels and some are classics, so some are probably worthy reads and maybe some less so (who's to judge as it is all so personal).  I know it's impossible to read everything, but how widely do you have to read (am guessing pretty widely really) before you can consider yourself "well read"? 

Anyway, here are  my dozen books.

1.  The Secret History, Donna Tartt - I know the premise of this book.  It sounded great when it came out and I even bought a copy in hardcover.  Why I never got around to reading it is beyond me.  I recently bought a nice little paperback copy that I can fit in my purse.  I wonder how many more years will pass before I finally start reading.

2.  Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Anne Tyler - I've not read a single one of her novels.  I'm not trying to avoid her, but I just never seem to be in the right mood for her.  As a matter of fact I tend not to be in the mood for American  authors/settings in general.  I need to rectify things as I've missed out on a whole swathe of contemporary American Lit.

3.  Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley - See #2.  Ditto.

4.  Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel - Okay, so saying everyone has read this may be a vast overgeneralization as this is a pretty hefty tome.  It feels like everyone is reading it and raving about it or wanting to read it.  Include me in the latter sentence.

5.  Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery - Now this is one I know loads of people have read, or attempted to read as I have come across such a vast response to the book.  It's one that is either loved or intensely disliked.  I haven't a clue on which side of the fence I would fall, but I am curious about it.

6.  The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck - I've read very little Steinbeck.  Very.  Little.  Maybe only a few short stories even.  Another case of reaching for Brit Lit over the Americans.  I am going to try and balance things out a bit more.

7.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twin - Can I make a confession here?  I have very little desire to read Mark Twain.  He seems like the epitome of American writing--well, of that period anyway.  Somehow I feel a little blasphemous saying I don't feel like reading him.  Does it count for something that I've read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer? 

8.  Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien - Another admission.  I have even less desire to read Lord of the Rings or any of his other books.  I might be talked into reading more Twain, but I don't think that is going to happen with Tolkien.  Am I going to be missing something really important?

9.  The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger - Now if there is a current/popular novel that I really feel out of the loop with, it is this one.  I really do feel like I am the last person to read it.  The sheer size puts me off and I'm uncertain about the whole time travel thing.   

10.  Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery - I won't even start on how many juvenile and YA books that I missed growing up.  I've always thought I'd like the Anne books even as an adult.   

11.  Hamlet, Shakespeare - If you only read one of Shakespeare's plays, which would it be?  Which is the best of the best or most important (I know, they are all important).  I've read about three plays not counting the one I read in high school, and it wasn't Hamlet, let me tell you. 

12.  Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larsson - I've had this in paperback for quite a while.  Everyone seems to be reading it (or the other two books) except me.  I want to read it, just can't seem to squeeze it in.  I've heard many conflicting things about it, so I'm not sure what I'll make of it, but as crime novels/thrillers go, this one sounds pretty edge of your seat.

I could have made a longer list, but best not to own up to too much.  Which ones should I really not miss?

And the Rest of the New Books

Now I know you've heard me say this before, but I will say it again--I am going to try and not buy any more books for the rest of the summer.  Whew.  Said it.  Now I will add a little fine print.  I do have a few gift cards still from my birthday, which I am trying to milk for all their worth, so if it becomes unbearable I will allow myself a purchase using gift card money.  The thing is I need to get serious about paying off the last chunk of credit card debt that has been weighing me down for a few years now.  Luckily I have only one credit card, so things should be manageable, but you know how it goes.  You make your payment, then you buy a few things, you get slapped with that interest fee and you end up back where you started and never seem to make any progress.  I was doing really well and paid it off by about a third but I have gotten stuck again, so it's time to get serious and finish it off once and for all, even if it means during the next year all extra cash goes towards the Bill rather than other nice things I would rather have. 

My main downfall is books.  I bet you're surprised?  Okay, maybe not.  But this will give me ample opportunity to get down to reading all those books I've been buying over the last few  months.  This is the last really serious stack, which I meant to share weeks ago, but I never got around to posting about.  Library books are completely acceptable, but visits to my own shelves are preferable.  And one of these might just be my next great read!

Shame, Karin Alvtegen - A Swedish crime writer who has been compared to Ruth Rendell.

My Soul to Take, Yrsa Sigurdardottir - I enjoyed her first mystery featuring Thora Gudmunsdottir, a lawyer in Iceland.  She's a very real and likeable heroine.

Sweet Thursday, John Steinbeck - I AM going to read Steinbeck this year, I am!  This is supposed to be a continuation of Cannery Row. 

Frozen Sun, Stan Jones - This is set in Alaska, may be perfect reading for August when I am sure it will be insufferably hot here.

Trace of Smoke, Rebecca Cantrell - This is a Hannah Vogel mystery set in Weimar Berlin.  She has a new book coming out soon, too.

August Folly, Angela Thirkell - Her Barsetshire novels are gentle reads and I am always in the market for those.  For some reason the Moyer Bell editions of these books, at least the earlier titles in the series, are hard to come by.  So when I spotted this one as being in stock at Amazon, into the basket it went.

The Road to Jerusalem, Jan Guillou - I have been eyeing this one since it came out in cloth but made myself wait until it came out in paper.  Don't ask me why a book about the Crusades appeals, but it does.  What can I say?  Guillou is another Swedish author by the way.  

Salvage, Robert Edric - When Litlove wrote about this one earlier in the spring it sounded really good, if in a dystopian sort of way. 

So now I have a nice (fairly) new pile of books to choose from (as well as all the rest of the piles), and surely this will keep me busy for the foreseeable future.  Now if I could just find a way not to be tempted by what everyone else is reading!  Impossible I'm sure, but I will start a list and simply keep adding to it.

By the way, many thanks for all the kind words about my sampler.  It's one of my favorite designs, so I was pleased to get it framed in order to properly display it.  And I'm well into my next project, which I will share soon!

Edited: Computer Advice Please?  I'm not sure what happened exactly, but I have some sort of malicious virus or something on my computer.  It is in the form of web pages being hijacked--I do a search, find what I want, click, but am redirected elsewhere!  This is happening primarily on IE, which I don't use, but others in my household do.  I prefer Mozilla--far fewer problems.  The thing is occasionally I will search on Mozilla, and notice out of the blue a new tab will open with a web page I didn't ask for.  I do have McAfee Security System on my computer.  I've run it and it cannot find any problems.  Then I downloaded AdAware by Lavasoft and it also tells me my computer is clean.  So then I turned to Microsoft and ditto.  I have three different programs telling me none of my programs are infected, but I am still having problems with IE.  I find this completely annoying and am sending the Evil Eye to the little S*** who did this.  I still believe there is a very special level in Dante's hell for spammers and people who do these sorts of malicious things to unsuspecting computer users.  So, any advice?