A Work in Progress

Just in Time for Summer ~ a Bee Skep!

Just in time for summer I've had my "No Bees No Honey, No Work No Money" sampler framed.  I am quite pleased with how it turned out and the lovely folks at Ginger's Hang Up here in town did a marvelous job on it.  They stretched it perfectly, which I can tell you is really hard to do (at least when I do it on my own small projects I find it more than challenging).  And they also helped me decide on a frame, which I am pretty hopeless at doing myself!

 

I have to share a close up of the frame itself.  I love the little detailing on the edge--very subtle but makes it looks just a little more interesting.  And the color works nicely with the brown shades in the wording.

 

See how nice and taut it is?  It really is stretched perfectly.  And to think of all the slight creases in it when I dropped it off (even after ironing it).  There is a slight padding behind the fabric, so it is cushioned.  Unfortunately you can't tell from the photo, but the linen is hand-dyed and there is a lovely variegation to the color of the linen.  It looks a bit more taupe/brown here, but the color of the linen is really much warmer and not at all washed out looking as it appears here.

I mentioned a while back that I might need to take some time off from blogging to take care of things with the house and now I am going to have to make good on my words.  I am going to be offline for a week or so, but will hopefully be back very soon.  Do please check back in a bit, but I am sure you'll have plenty to read in the meantime.  I at least wanted to leave you with something nice to look at if you happen by in the interim!  Happy reading everyone!

My Cousin Rachel

The now defunct Common Reader (a wonderful by mail book company) called Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel a 'thumping good read' and I heartily concur with that description.  I tend to be sympathetic towards female protagonists, or if not sympathetic at least I can find some common ground on which to relate to them, but I was very skeptical of Rachel, Countess Sangalletti, as I was reading.  All the way to the end I had uncertainties about her as well as young Philip Ashley, the narrator of the story.  I should know by now an author is unlikely to let the reader off the hook when they can get away with clouding the story in order to give it nice edges and dark corners, though really I should put it down to the skill of Daphne du Maurier to keep the reader wondering and indecisive about intentions and motivations of the characters.  Much is left up to the reader to decide and interpret, but I should really start at the beginning.

Orphaned at a young age Philip Ashley was raised by his uncle Ambrose, a confirmed and somewhat curmudgeonly bachelor.  The two are quite content to live in their all-male domain, dogs trailing after them, no heed paid to muddy boots, and evenings spent in the library with pipes in hand.  But an illness made worse by the harsh Cornish weather compels Ambrose to seek a warmer and more conducive environment where he can recuperate, so he chooses Italy where he can also search for plants to bring home to his garden. 

The unthinkable occurs when Ambrose writes that he has married.  In Florence he met a distant relative, a cousin of Italian-Cornish ancestry, who has been widowed.  Rachel has a shared love of gardens and is knowledgeable in herbs and plants and their various cures.  Philip is shocked by the news and imagines Rachel as plain and homely or possibly something even monstrous in appearance and personality.  Letters arrive from Florence only intermittently and over time become stranger and stranger as Ambrose is struck down by an illness, which causes him to react violently and lose all sensibility.  There's talk of a tumor resulting in madness that runs through the Ashley family, but in his letters Ambrose accuses Rachel of poisoning him and begs Philip to come to his aid.  Upon arriving in Florence, the Sangalletti Villa is closed, Rachel has only just left the day before for parts unknown, and Ambrose is dead and buried in the Protestant cemetery.   

It's with heavy heart that Philip returns home, the new master of Ashley Hall and its environs.  Already disturbed by what he's learned about Ambrose's death he discovers his cousin Rachel is in England and intends to visit.  Rachel is nothing like Philip has imagined.  He's shocked by how small and slight she is.

"She was dressed in deep black, which took the colour from her face, ans there was lace at her throat and at her wrists.  Her hair was brown, parted in the centre with a low knot behind, her features neat and regular.  The only things large about her were the eyes, which at first sight of me widened in sudden recognition, startled, like the eyes of a deer, and from recognition to bewilderment to pain, almost to apprehension.  I saw the colour come into her face and go again, and I think I was as great a shock to her as she was to me.  It would be hazardous to say which of us was the more nervous, which the more ill at ease."        

His impression of her is far from what he imagined and rather than slighting and snubbing her, he finds himself quite taken with her.  Beautiful and sophisticated, she's quite unlike anyone he knows.  Considering his upbringing Philip is perhaps naive in the ways of women and often petulant in his actions and expectations.  Rachel arrives in England with little money and many debts, as Ambrose never wrote a final will including her.  Philip was intent on making sure she was kept excluded and planned on sending her away, but instead finds himself infatuated with her.  As a matter of fact he ends up spending as much time with her as he can, as well everyone on the estate is impressed by her gentleness and concern and abilities with medicines.  Philip's twenty-fifth birthday nears when he will finally come of age and have total control of the family money and estate,all of which he fully intends to give to Rachel.  Perhaps that was what she wanted all along.   

This is such a gripping read, one that continually turns in on itself as more and more questions are raised, and always there is doubt.  Are Rachel's intentions pure?  There is talk later of a profligate lifestyle in Italy and her first husband's death in a duel.  Daphne du Maurier is never as easy as she appears.  At face value is this a tale of a seductress?  A woman after the Ashley money and willing to poison to get it?  Or is it something else entirely?  You wonder at the end just who is manipulating who.  It is indeed a sinister tale and du Maurier leaves it up to the reader to decide who is victim and who is the perpetrator.  As it was reviewed in the Guardian in 1951--"a consummate piece of story-telling."  Indeed!

A Room with a View

I love, love E.M. Forster's A Room with a View.  I love it so much I've found it too hard to try and write about it as I know I can't really do it justice.  I finished it ages ago and I still think about it.  The novel intertwines in my mind with the very excellent Merchant Ivory film adaptation.  I know it was remade not so very long ago, but I can't bring myself to watch the newer version as Helena Bonham-Carter, Julian Sands and Maggie Smith are so firmly entrenched in my mind as Lucy Honeychurch, George Emerson, and Charlotte Bartlett.  Actually the whole cast felt spot on to me.  This was a reread and I think I could quite happily go right now and pick up the book yet again, turn to the first page and start all over. 

So what is it about this novel?  The story is about many things but for me it is at its most basic a young woman's awakening to life and love and learning how to grasp them passionately and wholeheartedly.  Lucy Honeychurch is from a respectable, middle class Edwardian family.  A young woman who has traveled to Italy as a tourist with her aunt Charlotte she will have her first taste of real life in all its passion.  There is a line from the book that gives me goosebumps when I read it.  First to set the scene:

"A very wet afternoon at the Bertolini permitted her to do the thing she really liked, and after lunch she opened the little draped piano.  A few people lingered around and praised her playing, but finding that she made no reply, dispersed to their rooms to write up their diaries or to sleep.  She took no notice of Mr. Emerson looking for his son, nor of Miss Bartlett looking for Miss Lavish looking for her cigarette-case.  Like every true performer, she was intoxicated by the mere feel of the notes; they were fingers caressing her own; and by touch, not by sound alone, did she come to her desire."

"If Miss Honeychurch ever takes to live as she plays, it will be very exciting for both us and her."  (As spoken by the Reverend Mr. Beebe).

Music plays a large role in this novel and it almost seems to be a metaphor (can music be a metaphor?) for the feelings that Lucy has, which she doesn't necessarily understand or even more likely suppresses in the beginning.

The novel begins with Lucy and Charlotte at the Pensione Bertolini where they've been promised two rooms close together and with views when in reality they're recipients of two rooms far apart and overlooking a courtyard.  An unforgivable act, particularly as the proprietor is an Englishwoman to boot.  When a well intentioned but rather bohemian older man offers to switch his and his son's rooms for the ladies' rooms Charlotte is aghast and immediately refuses for fear of being under obligation to the gentlemen.  Charlotte is a model of unreserved propriety.  Lucy and Charlotte are two perfect examples of the English abroad with Baedekers firmly planted in hand, which makes me think that Forster has something to say about that, too.

Miss Eleanor Lavish, a lady novelist, who is also staying at the pension declares that Charlotte is going to have an adventure, but in the end it is Lucy whose good name is nearly compromised.  A drive in the Tuscan counstryside organized by the local vicar results in Lucy coming upon George in a field of flowers where he takes her in an ardent embrace and kisses her thoroughly.  Charlotte whisks her away in a furor.

Italy seems to be all about unrestrained emotions, but back in England feelings are kept tightly under wraps.  Lucy's uncertainty about George Emerson has been tucked away and replaced with an engagement to Cecil Vyse, a sophisticated Londoner and pretentious snob who inadvertently introduces the Emersons into the country society of Windy Corners and back into Lucy's life.

In the end Lucy must decide whether she'll settle for society dictating her future or whether she'll live according to her own passions and desires.  This novel is a wonderful exploration of love and freedom and how one young woman learns to follow her own path in life.  There are so many reasons why I love this book apart from the story itself.  Forster's prose is gorgeous and often witty and his characters are interesting and develop as the story progresses.  Maybe I'm just remembering the lushness of the film, but the story has a certain lushness, too.  Easily this is one of my top ten favorite novels.

This Week's Library Finds

I'm afraid I don't have much to share in the way of new library finds, but maybe that's a good thing and in keeping with my desire to try and keep things a little more under control.  I don't even have many books requested at the moment, though I tend to make up for it by borrowing books from the library where I work or requesting books from our interlibrary loan department.  What would I do without ILL?  I'm guessing most libraries both public and academic offer some sort of interlibrary loan service (another reason to love your library), so patrons literally have any book at their fingertips as many libraries are willing to loan out materials to other libraries.  I'm lucky as my library will borrow books from other libraries and won't charge for them (unless something is not returned, of course).

If you're wondering just what's out there and how to find those books not close at hand, take a look at Worldcat, one of my favorite online book catalogs.  You don't need to log in, just type in a title or author and you'll see which libraries worldwide own the book--it's very cool.  At the moment I'm on a Dorothy Whipple kick.  Between thoroughly enjoying Someone at a Distance and Rachel's enthusiasm for her work in general (and Greenbanks specifically) I decided to go further afield in looking for her books.  Persephone Books has published four novels and a collection of short stories, and I even own two more that I can easily pick up and read, but I wanted the book Rachel raved about, so ILL it was.  I've been reading Greenbanks and am finding it a lovely, gentle sort of read reminiscent of Richmal Crompton's The Family Roundabout (my very favorite Persephone title).  Although I loved Someone at a Distance it was emotionally draining to read it, and I am finding this one much warmer and easier to spend prolonged periods of time within its pages.  It has its own drama, too, but of a different sort than Someone at a Distance.  Being in a particularly gluttonous mood, I put in a request yesterday for Whipple's first novel, Young Anne, though I think my chances of getting a copy through ILL are slim as there are so very few US libraries that own it (unless my ILL department has some tricks up their sleeves).  Fingers crossed though.

I also recently brought home William Maxwell's They Came Like Swallows.  I knew I wanted to read more of his work when I read The Folded Leaf, which I thought was such an eloquently written story (he was a longtime editor of The New Yorker by the way).  I believe this is actually a sort of prequel to The Folded Leaf (and I will have to follow up later with The Chateau as well).  I've been meaning to read more American authors (which I am sure I'll write about later), and Maxwell is high on my list.

As for my public library finds--more crime/mystery novels.  I'm finding Johan Theorin's The Darkest Room an edge-of-your-seat type read and very, very creepy.  It would be perfect for a dark, stormy evening.  Theorin's first book, Echoes of the Dead is again set on an island facing the Baltic sea off the coast of Sweden and it is calling my name.  I don't usually read an author's books back to back, but lately I've been making lots of exceptions.  Evil Intent by Kate Charles has come highly recommended and is a contemporary crime novel that features a female curate.  

Even though I only have four new books, they seem like a nice mix of things.  Maybe with so few I have an actual chance of getting them all read, too.

Revisiting: Books for 2010

Every year for the last few years I've made a list of books that I'd like to read in the new year.  Although I'm always excited about my list and enjoy the anticipation of 'giving myself the excuse' to read books I've been meaning to read, I tend to neglect the list once the new year has begun.  You know how it goes.  New books come out, prize lists are announced and then others write about books they've been reading that I want to not just add to my reading list, but start reading right now.  I get distracted and in no time at all I get off track and then the list is forgotten. 

But after seeing how well Dorothy is doing reading from her list for TBR Challenge I thought I should revisit my own list and try and make an attempt to salvage things since we're at the midpoint of the year (already).  I have read two, and am in the process of reading two more ( those two in progress books are books that I am hoping to finally finish this month, which I think is going to be my 'catch up' month).  So surely there is still time to make a dent in the list, even if I don't finish all of them. 

Here's what appealed to me at the time I made my list.  They still appeal (some more than others perhaps) and many have been on my TBR pile for ages. 

1. No Name, Wilkie Collins
2. Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
3. Mark of the Lion: A Jade del Cameron Mystery, Suzanne Arruda
4. The Go-Between, L.P. Hartley
5. A Room with a View, E.M. Forster
6. Loving; Living; Party Going, Henry Green
7. East of the Sun, Julia Gregson
   
8. Daphne, Justine Picardie
9. He She It, Marge Piercy
10. Ross Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall, Winston Graham
11. Harnassing Peacocks, Mary Wesley- In Progress
12. 1939: The Last Season, Anne de Courcy
13. Ripe for the Picking, Annie Hawes

I'm passed the midpoint in both books that I'm in the process of reading.  And I'm already contemplating what I am going to pick up next.  Mary Wesley seems like a good summer read, but then I've been meaning to read Suite Francaise since it first came out.  Isn't it nice thinking about what book you're going to start reading next? 

Teaser Tuesday: A Time for Gifts

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I am in a postal reading group.  Each person in the group chooses a book that everyone else will read and then the books make their way round the group so each member has a chance to read it.  Each book comes with a notebook of some sort so that comments can be left and when all is said and done and the books have completed the round the owner ends up with her (or his) book and a notebook with everyone else's thoughts compiled in one place.  We're nearly at the end of the round and I've enjoyed participating very much.   

There were a couple of books I didn't finish unfortunately.  One of the last books I received was Patrick Leigh Fermor's A Time of Gifts, which was written in the 1970s but covers a period just before WWII when the author set off on his own to walk from the hook of Holland to Constantinople.  I love this book and it's one that (for me anyway) is best read slowly to savor his gorgeous prose.  As we're so close to the end I think it is safe to mention it here finally.  This is the first of what is meant to be three books, but only two have been published.  I believe the author is still working on the third and I sincerely hope it gets published as I want to see him make it to Constantinople (strange thought really as he set off in the 1930s and did indeed make it to his destination).

Leigh Fermor's travels took place when he was just a young man, and even though Hitler was already in power at the time of his travels, there is something magical about his journey.  As a student he was welcomed into homes so graciously and without any sort of suspicion.  He writes about a world that has (in many ways) very sadly vanished.  I don't think such an adventure could be undertaken anymore in the way he did it--the world has changed far too much.  The beauty of the story is that Leigh Fermor wrote the book much later and from the vantage point of adulthood and after a world war, and while there is a sophistication and understanding about his travels there is still a freshness to them as well.  I can't recall now where I read this, but I believe these books are considered classic travel narratives and I can easily see why and agree wholeheartedly.    

I started out reading a copy of the book that one of the postal group members sent, so I didn't mark any passages, but when I had to mail it on, I bought this and the next book, Between the Woods and the Water (will also mention these are lovely NYRB editions as well!) as they are books I want to keep.  I'm just going to randomly choose a passage to share as my teaser today, since I have nothing special marked.

"Except for the snow-covered landscape and the clouds and the tree-bordered flow of the Merwede, the next two days have left little behind them but the names of the towns I slept in.  I must have made a late start from Dordrecht: Sliedrecht, my next halting place, is only a few miles on, and Gorinchem, the next after that, is not much more.  Some old walls stick in my memory, cobbled streets and a barbican and barges moored along the river, but clearest of all, the town lock-up.  Somebody told me that humble travellers in Holland could doss down in the police stations, and it was true.  A constable showed me to a cell without a word, and I slept, rugged up to the ears, on a wooden plank hinged to the wall and secured on two chains under a forest of raffish murals and graffiti.  They even gave me a bowl of coffee and a quarter loaf before I set off.  Thank God I had put 'student' in my passport: it was an amulet and an Open Sesame.  In European tradition, the word suggested a youthful, needy, and earnest figure, spurred along the highways of the West by a thirst for learning--thus, notwithstanding high spirits and a proneness to dog-Latin drinking songs, a fit candidate for succour."

Another book I am pleased to return to this month.  He started in Holland and works his way along the Rhine through Germany and is nearing Austria, which I can't wait to read about.  I know I am still reading and I hope to write about it properly when I finish, but even in the middle of things, I think I can safely say this is a book to share with friends.

June 7: Reading Notes

 

May was a busy reading month for me, filled with lots of obligation reads (pretty much self-imposed, but you know how that adds just the tiniest bit of stress to life), but I made it through them all with the exception of Daphne du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel.  I was tempted to read it again as Cornflower chose it for her book group.  I think I'll finish it this week, a little tardy but I expect no one minds as it was really just for my own pleasure (though I will check in on her discussion to see how other readers fared with it).

I do have one obligation for June, which is to read the second book, Dragon at Noonday, in The Brothers of Gwynedd quartet.  I admit to eyeing it a little warily on my nightstand.  It's the sort of book that if I give myself a chunk of reading time (as if I can just give myself uninterrupted reading time) to get into the story I find I will enjoy what I am reading.  But I also am finding that I just don't have the energy to pick it up and start reading, which I need to do soon as I am supposed to be posting on it at the end of the month.  Normally I love historical fiction, but I put my lackluster feelings down to mood and timing.  There are other readers who love it and swear by her writing--so there you go--the fickleness of readers (me being the fickle one in this instance). 

Although I've not posted lately on Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, I am still reading it!  I didn't get to spend as much time on it last month as I wanted, but I think I'll be back on track again this month.  I'll let you know how it's going after I finish part three. 

I've started listening to an audio book and am finding it helps pass my morning and evening walks to and from the bus stop.  I am a very picky audio book listener.  I will only pick certain books to listen to, and am very particular about the reader's style--if the voice at all grates on me, it gets deleted from my MP3 player without any hesitation (I can download books for free from my library by the way).  At the moment I am listening to Minette Walters's The Chameleon's Shadow, which I wasn't sure I wanted to read, but am enjoying it in audio form.  It's about a British soldier who lives through a horrific bombing in Iraq and suffers terrible facial injuries and trauma to the brain.  Lt. Acland is an interesting character and not especially likable considering that he has a chip on his shoulder the size of a boulder when it comes to women.  The story opens with two murders, so the reader is left wondering what other injuries he suffered and whether Acland has anything to do with the crimes.  I've read Walters before and forgot how good she is when it comes to the psychological aspect of murder mysteries.

Other than these books, I don't really have any specific plans except to try and finish a few books that I started reading earlier but had to be put on hold last month, and I also want to keep reading from my Beach Reads pile.  (By the way, the photo is what I have on my night table at the moment...so there is lots to choose from).   

Oh, and I'm waiting impatiently for season three of MI-5/Spooks to become available from the library.  I watched the last episode of the second season over the weekend and at the end could only think--ugh, oh lord, and then drat.  A little spoiler warning here...I can't believe they left things hanging like that.  I don't watch much TV these days, so I have forgotten about those cliffhanger endings!  How could Tom Quin shoot his boss.  Is he dead?  And where has Tom gone?  Is he dead?  Talk about complete cast upheaval!  I could go online and find episode synopses, but that would be cheating.  It's probably already cheating to look at the cover of the next DVD set and see which characters are shown.  The thing is my library only has one set circulating at the moment (someone lost one set and the other is being mended) and I am third on the waiting list.  So keeping in mind check out times, how long materials can sit on the hold shelf--and this is with the expectation that the other patrons are going to return it in a timely manner, I am looking at eight weeks lag before I can get my hands on the next season.  Do I just break down and buy it?  Maybe I should join Netflix again?  Eight weeks seems such a long time to wait...

I think this is going to be a long summer in more ways than one.

But, it's for a good cause . . . (Library Sale!)

It's been quite a while since I've been to one of my public library book sales.  I skipped the last two or three but decided it was time to go see what was new, and I'm so glad I did.  I came away with 29 books at a cost of $48.00, which sounds like a lot at first until you consider it averages out to roughly $1.65 a book.  Quite a few of them are in pristine condition, so I consider my haul quite a bargain.  Besides the money goes to a good cause, so I'm not feeling too greedy.  Someone donates/recycles a lot of mysteries, and I found quite a few books by authors I've been reading or meaning to try.

The Secret History, Donna Tartt - I actually own a BOMC hardcover of this (somewhere), but I've been finding it hard to lug around cloth books while I'm also reading Anna Karenina.  A nice little paperback is the ticket--something I can tuck into my purse.  I'd like to read it this summer.  I think I must be the last person who likes to read that has not yet read it.

The Man in the Brown Suit, Agatha Christie - There were loads of Agatha Christie mysteries in various states of disrepair.  There was only one that was still in fairly good condition (must say some of the older editions have some very seedy, pulpy covers--I was almost tempted to buy a few for entertainment purposes).

English Country House Murders: Classic Crime Fiction of Britain's Upper Crust, edited by Thomas Godfrey - This sounds like fun--short stories by writers from Agatha Christie to Ruth Rendell.

Come Along With Me, Shirley Jackson - Unfortunately this edition was published in 1968 and it is starting to fall apart, but I think I can manage at least one read from it.  It contains her last unfinished novel, a dozen or so short stories, and three lectures.     

The China Garden, Liz Berry

The Cold Dish and Kindness Goes Unpunished, Craig Johnson - Mysteries set is Wyoming--this author was recommended to me a while back so am glad to have found a couple of his books.

The Wrong Mother, Sophie Hannah - I wonder if it matters if Hannah's books are not read in order?  Her thrillers really appeal to me.

A Talent for Destruction, Sheila Radley - "May ruin your ideas of what a small English market town should be like, but you're certain to keep reading" --Chicago Tribune.

Dancers in Mourning, Margery Allingham - An Albert Campion mystery.

Office of the Dead, Andrew Taylor - The third in the Roth trilogy--don't worry, I plan on reading them in order and already have the first book.

The Maul and the Pear Tree, P.D. James - This is not an Adam Dalgliesh mystery, rather it is a true crime account of murders that occurred in 1811near the London Docks.

Innocent Blood, P.D. James - Another standalone novel.

The Draining Lake, Ardaldur Indridason - I've yet to read him (hanging head in shame as I've had his first novel for ages), but I couldn't pass up this more recent mystery by him.  He's a popular Icelandic author in case you've not come across him yet.

 

I found a number of novels as well.

The Aunt's Story, Patrick White - I love the cover of this older edition published in 1948 by Viking Press.  White is an Australian author who won the Nobel in 1973.

Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance, Lloyd Jones - "In the tango, there are no wrong turns.  But every dance begins with a backward step."

Night Crossing, Don J. Snyder - "A tale of political intrique set in 1998 that is reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock thriller."

A Death in the Family, James Agee - Agee won the Pulitzer Prize for this novel.

The Commoner, John Burnham Schwartz

The Love of the Last Tycoon, F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Red and the Green, Irish Murdoch - I've never read Irish Murdoch, but this novel set in Dublin in the week before the 1916 uprising sounds interesting.

One of Ours, Willa Cather - "In One of Ours Willa Cather explores the destiny of a grandchild of the pioneers, a young Nebraskan whose yearnings impel him toward a frontier bloodier and more distant than the one that vanished before his birth.  In doing so, she creates a canny and extraordinarily vital portrait of an American psyche at once skeptical and romantic, restless and heroic." 

Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson - I read this when it came out in English and loved it.  I read a library copy, however, and am happy to have a copy of my own, which I can easily see rereading at some point.

Flashman, George MacDonald Fraser - I've always been curious about these Flashman novels, but never enough to buy any of them new.  There were a stack of them at the library sale, but thought I would just start with the first book to see if they're my thing. 

China Court, Rumer Godden - This was a happy find as I want to read more of Godden's work.  My library has this particular title and more than once I have pulled it from the shelf, but it's nice to have my own copy.  

 

You know it's a good library sale when I come away with a Virago or two, but I'm feeling especially fortunate as I also came across a Persephone Classic, which I snapped off the shelf.  I have never seen a Persephone novel, let alone a used one anywhere locally.  How could someone give up their lovely copy of Monica Dickens's Mariana?  Other than a cracked spine (ouch--I try and avoid doing this to my books!), it is in near fine condition.  It's complete greed on my part, as I have not only read this one (one of my favorite Persephone titles), but I own a copy with the dove grey cover.  And to think it must have sat on the shelf the night before and all morning and into the afternoon on Friday...just waiting for me to come for it!

Part of the reason I stopped going to the sales is I wasn't finding things I really wanted, like any Viragos, so I was happy to find three, though I already own two of these (more greediness on my part).  The thing is my copy of Antonia White's Frost in May has been mangled by my cat--she loves to hone her nails on piles of books, so I have to be careful where I leave them!  I was sick when I saw what she had done to it, but now I have a nice copy once again and in good condition considering its age.  I have Mary Webb's Gone to Earth, but it has a different cover illustration.  Viragos are investments, right?  However, Catherine Carswell's Open the Door is completely new to me.  It was published in 1920 and is "an enlightened novel that powerfully evokes the image of a young woman ensnared by, and yet ultimately released through, her own capacity for emotion." 

I'm quite pleased with my haul of books.  I could have brought even more home, but I had to stop somewhere.  Usually I take my library bookbag and when it is filled I stop shopping, but this time around I filled it and one smaller bag as well.  It was an especially long walk home on Friday, but well worth it in the end. 

Whenever I have a new stack of books I get itchy fingers and want to start reading one of them.  Any favorites?  I think I'm going to enjoy looking through all these before finding homes for them on shelves, in piles and in storage bins! 

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

I can see why fans of Agatha Christie like to reread her mysteries.  First you read for the pleasure of finding out who committed the crime.  Then you read again to see how Christie pulled it off.  Murder at the Vicarage is Agatha Christie's first Miss Jane Marple mystery which was written in 1930.  She had previously appeared in the short story, "The Tuesday Night Club".  While I was expecting to enjoy the story, I wasn't really expecting to be floored by the solution.  I've been suitably chastened.  She pulled the rug right out from under my feet, but I can't say I mind when it comes to mysteries.

St. Mary Mead seems an idyllic little English village, not a place you would expect to find strong passions simmering below the surface.  Not only is one of the more respectable and upstanding citizens murdered, he is ruthlessly shot in the back of the head in the vicar's study.  Apparently he wasn't so well respected after all.  As a matter of fact it turns out that nearly everyone either disliked him or held a grudge against him.

The tricky thing with quaint little villages--everyone seems to live in everyone else's pocket.  News travels fast and there's little that goes unnoticed, particularly with the very observant Miss Marple.  So how is it that no one hears the fatal gunshot or notices anything suspicious about the vicarage at the time of the murder?  Conveniently for the local police inspector, the murderer willingly gives himself up.  It's never that easy, though, is it?  Especially when a second person comes forward admitting guilt.  To complicate matters the two happen to be having an affair and one is the victim's wife.  Yes, the plot thickens.

It must be signature Agatha Christie style, as there is a full cast of characters to keep track of along with timetables of comings and goings, mysterious phone calls, lost hats, found earrings and a suitcase buried in the woods.  I contemplated making a flow chart, but it was more enjoyable to just hang on for the ride and see where the story took me.

And I have to say, as gray-haired spinsters go, Miss Marple rocks.  She's a keen student of human nature and the residents of St. Mary Mead provide plenty of examples of bad behavior that reveal their minds' inner workings.  Combine that with general cleverness and a centrally located house and garden (with a good view of the vicarage and easy access to the well trafficked lane) and you have the makings of a top notch armchair detective.  According to the Wikipedia Miss Marple's character has changed somewhat over time.

"This early version of Miss Marple is a gleeful gossip and not an especially nice woman.  The citizens of St. Mary Mead like her but are often tired by her nosy nature and how she seems to expect the worst of everyone.  In later books she becomes more modern and a kinder person."

I'm not sure I entirely agree with that depiction, but this is only my first Miss Marple mystery.  Certainly she is nosy and a gossip, but I didn't find that she wasn't nice.  Of course when even the vicar dreads chatting with her then perhaps that's a sign.  Interestingly the story is narrated in the first person by the vicar, and while Miss Marple unravels the truth of the crime, she doesn't exactly take an active role in the actual detecting of clues (St. Mary Mead has an especially active grapevine that I'd say Miss Marple makes good use of, as she is the first to know things).  Inspector Slack, who was anything but (slack that is), is the local policeman whose feathers are ruffled by Miss Marple's suggestions and interpretations of the facts, but you can't fault her as she is always spot on.  Even the vicar notes that despite her fragile appearance Miss Marple is capable of holding her own with any policeman or chief constable in existence.

I enjoyed this immensely and see Agatha Christie's books as not only wonderful little intellectual puzzles but also comfort reads.  There is something so appealing about this period--lawn parties with tennis games and tea at the manor house and the ladies in glamorous clothes and the men looking sharp.  It's a way of life that has completely faded away, yet it's easily imagined within the pages of one of Christie's novels. I've already returned to St Mary Mead as I'm now reading The Thirteen Problems, which is a collection of stories including "The Tuesday Night Club".  A while back I wanted to find a mystery series I could follow straight through from the first book to the last but couldn't decide which character I wanted to spend my time with, but I think I've found her now.  There are thirteen novels and two short story collections, and since I've started at the beginning I might as well keep going.  I may intersperse my reading with some Tommy and Tuppence novels as there are only a very few and we'll see about M. Poirot later.  Christie was extremely prolific, so I'll have enough to keep me busy for months. 

As usual I am a little late to the party as I know many readers have already had the pleasure of reading Agatha Christie, and in some cases when they were  much younger, but better late than never, right.  Anyway, for me the timing seems to be perfect for mysterious doings in the quaint village of St. Mary Mead.   

Chilly Reads for the Heat of Summer: A Thursday Thirteen

Although I am in full swing with my Beach/Seaside reads now that the weather has turned warmer, someone mentioned how they like to pick up books with cold settings when summer really heats up.  Actually on those really sweltering days (that I am already dreading) I often think a book with an icy northern wind and a snowstorm sound sort of appealing (how quick I am to forget days like this!).  This prompted me to think of a few possible reads come those muggy July and August days when just standing outside doing nothing at all feels completely oppressive.  Here are a few books that came to mind when scanning my shelves.  Feel free to share a favorite chilly title, too!

1.  The Siege, Helen Dunmore - I've not read this book yet, but I have read about the Siege of Leningrad when the Nazis tried to starve the city.  Imagine having to eat wallpaper paste!  The blockade lasted through several winters.

2.  Outlander, Gil Adamson - Another book I've got on my pile that has received many positive reviews.  After a woman murders her husband she must flee his brothers who are seeking retribution.  They chase her across snowy Montana and Idaho.

3.  Sashenka, Simon Montefiore - Another yet to be read book, but I'm guessing with a Russian setting there is sure (?) to be snowy winters.

4. Child 44, Tom Rob Smith - This was literally a heart stopping book.  Set in the days of Stalin, there is a serial killer on the loose, but in Soviet Russia where there is no crime, and one man is determined to find out who is killing the children.  There was more than one chase scene through the snowy countryside that left me on the very edge of my seat.   

5. Gorky Park, Martin Cruz Smith - This is a classic murder mystery, again set in Soviet Russia that I read years ago (and am due for a reread I think).  Three bodies with their faces and fingers removed are found buried in the snow in Gorky Park and it is up to Arkady Renko to discover who they were and why they were killed.

6.  The Tenderness of Wolves, Stef Penny - I loved this book.  It's set in the 19th century Canadian frontier.  When a young man disappears at the same time a fur trapper is murdered suspicion falls on him, and his mother goes in search of him and the truth.  Reading the parts where she must trek through newly fallen snow, and not just a dusting mind you, left me gasping.  I know what it's like to try and trudge through snow, and it isn't easy, and she didn't even have decent footware!   

7. Smilla's Sense of Snow, Peter Hoeg - Another classic mystery.  Maybe this was the start of the present wave of popular crime novels coming out of Scandinavia?  Smilla is half Danish and half Greenlander and when a small boy falls from the roof of her apartment complex she gets caught up in trying to discover who did it.  I read this twice and eventually gave the book away--now I wish I hadn't as I wouldn't mind reading it yet again.

8.  Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak - I tried reading this once, but I think I was too young and the timing was wrong (I struggled with the history/political aspects of the novel that begins the action.  I've never seen the movie, but I still have images of horse drawn snow sleds.

9.  Call of the Wild, Jack London - Had it not been for the one book/one city program that my  library takes part in, I would never have picked this book up, though I am glad I did.  The story (rather violent actually) is told from a dog's perspective as it moves from domesticated animal (it was stolen from it's owners to be used as a sled dog in the Alaskan Klondike) back to it's wild state.  Fairly heartwrenching as animal stories go--can also be read on several levels, not just an adventure story.

10. The Hollow Man, John Dickson Carr - This is a closed door type mystery.  Someone is murdered, left in the snow, yet there are no footprints surrounding the body.  Another writer who was working during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

11. Mystery at Huntings End, Mignon Eberhart - I just read this one recently.  Eberhart writes very much in the vein of Agatha Christie.  This is a cozy mystery set in the Nebraska Sand Hills where a group of individuals have ostensibly been invited to an out of the way lodge for hunting, but in reality it is to discover who murdered the lodge's owner five years earlier.  The party becomes hostage to a blizzard, which shows no signs of letting up and then another murder occurs.  Wonderfully atmospheric.

12. The Solitude of Thomas Cave, Georgina Harding - Set in the 17th century, a sailor takes a bet to stay alone though the winter on an island in the Arctic.  Another survival story--in more ways than one.

13. My Soul to Take, Yrsa Sigurdardottir - I had to have at least one book set in Iceland, though I'm not sure this one takes place in winter (still, it's Iceland, so it's a safe bet there will be snow somewhere).  I've read her first novel featuring Thóra Gudmundsdóttir and am looking forward to reading this one, too.

Brr.  Thinking about these makes me feel cold already.  I'll try not to complain when it's nearing 100F, and pick one of these up instead.