A Work in Progress

New and Forthcoming Books

Midway through summer and I am already looking forward to fall.  Besides cooler temperatures, fewer mosquitoes, and the return of students at the university (though they might not be looking forward to it), lots of new books are published.  Even though I'm not buying new books at the moment I am still looking and writing down titles I want to keep an eye out for.  If I'm lucky I'll find a fair few number of them at my library and can get in line for them.  This is what my list looks like so far.

The Dragonfly Summer, Eva Rice - I was so excited when I saw this listed earlier this year at The Book Depository.  I even pre-ordered it, but April came and went and no book appeared.  Apparently this has been in the works for years and this is not the first time a release date has been set (had I only known I wouldn't have had such high hopes).  Headline Publishing Group is due to be publishing it.  Please, when is it going to actually happen?  I loved The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets.  Am I doomed to simply reread The Lost Art...?   

Dangerous to Know, Tasha Alexander - This is her newest Lady Emily mystery.  I still have her previous novel to read, so I'll be digging it out of my piles sometime before the end of October.  The cover looks a little Georgette Heyer-ish, doesn't it?  I do wish headless ladies would fall out of popularity when it comes to cover illustrations, but as long as the story is good I guess I can live with it.

Dark Road to Darjeeling - Deanna Raybourn - And a new Lady Julia Grey novel.  Ditto on this one--I still  need to read her most recent Lady Julia mystery.  What about this cover?  Rather in the Twilight vein?  I don't think a single vampire will appear in the story, however (which is fine by me). 

Miss Dimple Disappears, Mignon Ballard - This is a 1940s mystery set in Elderberry, Georgia (and if you click though on the title, I'm thinking the last few Maisie Dobbs's mysteries provided inspiration for this cover illustration).  

Fallen Grace, Mary Hooper - This is a UK release that's already available.  It's set in Victorian London--it's said to have a pacy and thrilling plot.

The Bed I Made, Lucie Whitehouse - While I'm waiting for this to be published here in the US, I can read her earlier novel, The House at Midnight, which is a Gothic tale.  I've heard so-so things about it, but as I have it and not the other, I know which I'll be reading first.

Distant Hours, Kate Morton - I really liked The House at Riverton, and have The Forgotten Garden on hand to read next.  I've yet to find a description of the plot, but I suspect it will be in the same vein as the first two. 

Revolution, Jennifer Donnelly - One of her previous YA novels, A Northern Light, was excellent.  Revolution moves between contemporary Brooklyn and Revolution-era Paris.  Donnelly has also written novels for adults.

An Impartial Witness, Charles Todd - Yay, a new Bess Crawford novel, and so soon.  It seems like I just read A Duty to the Dead and now his second mystery is due out in August!  This new series is similar to the Maisie Dobbs books, but still it has its own spin.  Maisie will always be my favorite, but I am still  looking forward to this new installment.

I Curse the River of Time, Per Petterson - I love Petterson's writing and am hoping my library orders his new book.  I've put in a request for it, but I see no listing yet.  Publishers Weekly has given this one a starred review.

The Pindar Diamond, Katie Hickman - “Masks, courtesans, nefarious plots, plague—Hickman’s panorama of early-17th-century Venice has it all.” –Kirkus

Ashes to Dust, Yrsa Sigurdardottir - The latest Thora Gudmunsdottir mystery set in Iceland is just out in the UK--not sure when it will be released here.  Thora is a wonderful character and will keep me coming back to these books.

The Opposite of Falling, Jennie Rooney - I'm not sure this author has been published in the US yet (she has at least one other book), but this one sounds good--"In this billowing love story, told with tender wit and a distinctive turn of phrase, Rooney's indomitable characters are lifted by small acts of bravery to find - surprised and heartened - that what once seemed terrifying is in fact just the opposite..."  

Inheritance, Nicholas Shakespeare - Another UK title.  It is "an entertaining and poignant story of betrayal and redemption."  Love the cover.

Villain: A Novel, Shuichi Yoshida - "The first novel to be translated into English from one of Japan’s rising literary stars; a tale of murder and desperation set in a desolate seaside town, in online chat rooms and love hotels—with a cast of characters all pushed to the razor’s edge."

Wrong Blood, Manuel de Lope - This is a Spanish Civil War saga.  It's the author's first work to appear in English.

Shadow Sister, Simone van der Vlugt - Unfortunately I don't think she has been published here in the US.  I really liked her previous novel, The Reunion.  Her newest will be due out at the end of the year in the UK.  Maybe by then I can allow myself a few book buying splurges?

I can usually get US publications either at the library of via interlibrary loan, but UK titles are harder to come by.  I think I may try and set a monthly spending limit at some point later in the year and can then buy a few books at a time.  So far, I've actually been very good.

What new books are you looking forward to? 

Needlework Update: Band Samplers

It was my intention to do more essay reading today, but after spending the early part of my afternoon working in the yard with the (very hot) sun beating down on me, I am finding I lack the necessary energy to think too deeply at the moment.  I did flip through my anthologies looking for something on reading or nature, I think I've read most of the essays falling into those categories.  Everything else just felt a little too "meh" (not the essays fault I assure you, my own fault for getting too much sun).

What I really want to do this afternoon and for the rest of my evening is watch more MI-5 episodes and work on a new needlework project.  I've just started season four, but after last season's rather graphic finale, I thought I might not be able to take much more.  But here I am, glued to the TV once again.  Maybe I do better with mysteries.  Even though there is a certain amount of violence you can be reasonably sure that the sleuth will come out of their case with barely a scrape on them.  But these poor MI-5 agents are just dropping like flies left and right.  I think there is hardly an actor left from the first season.  I do like edge-of-your-seat sorts of stories, but there is no certainty of a happy ending here.  Oh, well, I guess I need my adrenaline fix, what can I say?

 

I rarely just watch TV. I usually have to have something else in hand as well, which means working on needlework projects.  I may not get a whole lot done, but I do make progress.  I decided I wanted something more traditional to work on, so I've started stitching a band sampler.  I found the design in Brenda Keyes's Traditional Samplers.  You can see what the finished design will look like in the top photo, and here is my progress so far.

 

These initial bands are not especially exciting, but the repetitive nature of them means I can easily watch TV and still work on my stitching.  Band samplers were quite popular in the seventeenth century (known as the golden age of sampler making) and they consist of rows of border patterns, alphabets, and sometimes verse or poem.  Needlework was a very marketable skill at this time.  Women would use these designs on their household linens, and a more skilled needleworker would have a large repertoire of designs under her belt.  The samplers would be used a sort of reference tool as well, hence the various bands of patterns.  As the sampler progresses the patterns and stitches become more complicated and fancy.   

This is a design by Brenda Keyes in the style of the period rather than an actual reproduction, but I would love to find a design that is based on an actual work (there are several companies that create charts from actual samplers).  So, you can see what I'll be working on tonight.  And we'll see how many episodes of MI-5 I can get through tonight. 

July 16: Reading Notes

Whenever I have a lot of library books on hand (which I do at the moment), it's always hard deciding which one to read first.  I could go with the one that appeals the most, though usually more than one appeals, so it becomes a small dilemma.  I've created a sort of mental algorithm to help me choose.  It goes something like this.  Is there a line for the book or can I renew it?  Just when is the due date compared with all my other books, which have different due dates.  Is it a quick read or a not so quick read.  Page number may come into play, but sometimes the longest book takes the least amount of time to read and vice versa a short book may go slowly.  If I return the book and get back in line how many people will I be waiting behind until I get another copy.  It helps to know how to work the library system, too.  Like waiting the full number of days a book can be held (and my library grants a whopping ten days on their hold shelf) to go pick it up in order to have more time to read what I have on hand.  I know, I'm bad.  And to think that Eudora Welty could only check out two books at a time!  

This is a long way of saying my current library read is Isabel Wolff's A Vintage Affair.  There was a sufficiently long line of people waiting for it to make me pick it up sooner than later.  It also seems to be a nice, light read just right for my gym visits or general summer reading.  I feel mildly guilty about it (which is silly really) as I am really enjoying it.  The thing is it could be classified as chicklit as it features a 30-something heroine who's between relationships and I suspect relationships will feature heavily in this story--I thought I had moved beyond this type of story.  I'm thinking it might rise above its contemporaries as the writing is very good, it is going to have an interesting subplot reaching back to WWII, and I love the descriptions of vintage clothing (even though I'm a jeans and tennis shoes sort of person myself).  How can you not be curious about bustle skirts and cupcake dresses!  I do wonder about the fact Phoebe (our heroine) decided to date the man her best friend was obviously smitten with, but its early days and I don't yet know the whole story.

I had forgotten that Tana French is such a marvelous writer.  Not just good, but really good with her snappy dialogue and page turning quality to her stories.  The Likeness might require a little suspension of disbelief, but I think in her case I am willing to grant it.  She knows how to reel her reader in and I'm so interested and curious about the case Cassie Maddox is involved I don't want to put the book down.  I'm reading this in anticipation of her new book, which was just released, Faithful Place.  I'm in the first round of library books that are being cataloged and processed even as I type.  Working the system here...if I let the book I'll be getting sit on the hold shelf a few days as I am finishing this one, I should get the book and have ample time to read her new one before it needs to be returned.  There are far too many people waiting for it to not read it right away.

I'm having an extended weekend (I liked the last one over the Fourth so much I decided another one was in order), so I'll  be working on these books along with Manservant and Maidservant by Ivy Compton-Burnett.  The Slaves discussion is looming at the end of the month and considering how slow of a reader I can be I had better make a start of it.  Has anyone read this?  I've wondered about her for a long time now and hope I get on well with her. 

You might have noticed the two books above?  They are new and just came in the mail this past week.  Oh, how I love getting books in the mail.  Since I am still officially on the wagon, not getting any new books is something I am resigning myself to.  In the case of Irene Nemirovsky's Jezebel, it was a book I pre-ordered from the Book Depository ages ago and has just been released.  The nice thing about these pre-orders is they have already been paid for, so I can just sit back and enjoy getting the odd arrival.  The bad thing is I only have two or three left to receive and two have release dates that are months and months away.  Lorcan Roche's The Companion came as a surprise from the kind folks at Europa Editions.  If you've not treated yourself to a book from Europa Editions I highly recommend it.  Not only are the books beautifully designed (complete with french flaps),  but they publish many talented authors whose work is very high quality.  I've read a few of their authors (books I've bought or borrowed) and at least one of the books (by Elena Ferrante) ranked as a favorite read of the year.  I  might just have to start a new book this weekend...

By the way, I've read (read four and listened to one) my five library books for my library's summer reading program.  I think I mentioned they are giving away an iPad.  My chances of winning are probably pretty slim, but I just discovered on my last library visit that participants will get an umbrella.  It looked pretty cool and it's a nice alternative to a book bag (though you can never have too many book bags in my estimation).

Happy reading everyone.  I plan on getting in as much reading time over my long weekend as I can!

This Week's Library Loot

I don't have much in the way of library books to share this week, which is probably a good thing after sharing my last very large stack not too long ago.  I'm thinking most of the big summer releases might have been published by now, so perhaps things will slow down a little until the mad rush of fall books begins (I always loved that time of year when I worked at a bookstore--so many great new books). 

If there is nothing to tempt me in the way of new books at the public library, I can almost always find some older books at the library where I work.  It's sort of fun sometimes to just browse the "P" call numbers where the fiction is located and see what I can discover.  You'd be amazed what treasures are sitting patiently up on those shelves.  I knew what I wanted this week, however.

I wasn't quite ready to move on to a new author after reading My Antonia by Willa Cather (still need to write about her), and ss several people recommended I pick up The Professor's House I brought home a lovely, though somewhat tattered edition published by Virago.  There are four full due date slips stuck one on top of the other, which means this has been a heavily used/read book.  Always a nice feeling.  Unfortunately at least one person felt the need to underline and leave margin notes.  Okay in a book you own, but I hate it when people do that to library books.

I loved L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between and as The Shrimp and the Anemone was suggested I found an older copy of Eustace and Hilda: A Trilogy.  It's been reissued in a lovely NYRB edition, but as I am keeping on the 'no book buying wagon' I borrowed it from the library instead.  Has anyone read all three books in the trilogy?  Is it worth reading them all?  Or should I just stick with the first book of the trilogy, a mere 193 pages?  I thought it was funny that I had just read this post when I turned to the introduction and started reading:

"Critics often say that literature today is in a decline.  They said the same thing in the past, in the days of George III and Queen Victoria.  It was not true then: I doubt if it is true now.  A chief reason for my doubts is the book to which this is an introduction and which in any age and by any standard is a masterpiece."

And the critics are still saying it, so not much changes, does it.   

Virginia Woolf's Orlando was an impulse as it is not a novel I had thought of reading (though I have several by her I do want to read).  This came across my desk as a replacement copy for one that was borrowed and never returned.  I started looking it over and thought it sounded intriguing--Orlando first appears as a sixteen-year-old boy poet at the court of Elizabeth I and at the novel's end is a married woman in 1928.  It's supposed to be a "fantastical biography" and according to the blurb is one of her most "popular and entertaining works".  It certainly caught my eye.

The last book is mostly a curiosity for me.  I was reading about it and thought it might be worth a try.  Helen Oyeyemi's White is for Witching is a Gothic tale of four generations of women living in Dover.  It sounds as though the house itself is as much a character as the women. 

One other library note.  My public library has a new director and I've noticed lots of new little changes.  On my last visit as I was browsing the new books shelves I came across a display of books called "Bestseller Express".  Apparently these are the hottest new releases that can be "rented" for $1.  You get the book for a week, cannot renew it and they can't be requested online.  The same titles are available as normal checkouts, but as they are the most popular titles they usually have a long list of readers waiting for them.  I guess this is a way to give readers an option to read a popular new release without having to wait in line for it and hopefully there will be a larger selection of new books on the shelves to browse and borrow.  The money they make off the books will be used to fund the program, so new bestseller express books will be bought with the profits.  Apparently other libraries in the US are doing this as well.  I'll be curious to see how it works out.  I might be tempted to "rent" a book if I know it will take weeks for me to get it to read, though I try and be patient.  Is your library doing this? 

Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton

S.J. Bolton's Blood Harvest is a book best read on a dark and stormy night for maximum chills and thrills.  She does 'creepy' better than just about any other author I've read lately.  What makes her stories so good is that they are plausible even while bordering on the unbelievable.  Unbelievable in that Bolton likes to make use of legends and folklore that deal with the darker side of life that brings to mind the supernatural, yet the twists to her stories are rarely so simple or easily explained.  But maybe the less said about that the better, so you can find out for yourself?

Instead let me tell you about Heptonclough, a little village in northern England surrounded by moors.  Heptonclough is a strange little village, though you probably won't be surprised to hear that.  It's steeped in ancient traditions that the locals adhere to quite closely.  Stepping foot in Heptonclough means the real world rolls away.  Lots of old buildings line twisty, cobblestone streets, and there are two churches--one very old and in ruins, and the other just old.  It seems idyllic enough for the Fletcher family who bought a patch of land and built a new home practically arms' reach from the shell of the ancient tower of the ruined church, though their welcome isn't exactly a warm one.  For the Fletcher children, particularly ten-year-old Tom and six-year-old Joe, an old cemetery proves an adventure-laden playground.  The Fletcher home overlooks the cemetery, but adventure quickly turns to something else.

Tom begins to feel as though someone is watching him and his family.  When he and Joe play in the cemetery he's sure they're not alone and begins catching glimpses of a young girl with a strange appearance, though Joe doesn't seem the least worried.  Even the new vicar, Harry Laycock, who's just arrived to open up the church, which had been sitting unused for years hears strange noises coming from the nave.  Heptonclough may not be as idyllic as it appears.  A disproportionate number of accidents seem to have occurred in such a small village over the years.  A very young girl fell to her death from the choir in the church.  Another went missing never to be found.  And yet another died in a house fire, though her mother, Gillian, feels certain someone took her, and for years she's walked  the moors searching for her.  Although all are seemingly unrelated events, Tom begins to wonder if the strange little girl is going to try and grab his little sister, Millie.  He hears whisperings in the dark and his parents begin wondering if there isn't something wrong with him. 

As the village prepares for the annual harvest fete, strange things happen to unnerve the Fletcher family.  This is a village that takes it's harvest rites seriously.  The villagers perform a mixture of pagan rites sanctioned by the church to see out the old harvest and ensure a fruitful new one.  It's an odd combination between church services, a ritualistic slaughtering of animals and then a bonfire complete with "bone people".  As nervous as Tom has been his mother worries that the bone people, scattered throughout the ruined church facing their home will only make him more upset, but he finds them sort of cool.  Each family in the village makes one.  They're stuffed with natural materials--straw, hay, corn, old vegetables, paper, anything organic--in order to get rid of the year's rubbish.  All very innocuous until they seem to be moving about the ruins.  And then another child goes missing. 

Much of the story is narrated by the new vicar who's actually fairly young and even a little hip, while at the same time being thoughtful and caring.  How many vicars do you come across wearing shorts and Crocs (or did I just imagine that part?) and liking to run and go climbing?  He's sensible except in matters of the heart as he loses his to Dr. Evi Oliver, a psychiatrist who's treating both Tom and Gillian.  Things become complicated when Gillian fixes her sights on Harry, and even more complicated when she catches Harry and Evi snogging.  So much for professional distance? 

As you can see there are several different plotlines being juggled, but they mesh nicely with Harry adding just a little light relief to the story even while searching the dark and dusty and very shadow-filled crypt below the church for missing children.  But don't get me wrong, this is an atmospheric and suspenseful story through and through complete with a very dark denouement (maybe just a tad too over the top, but as long as you are willing to suspend belief just a little you won't mind--I didn't--the rest of the story was too good).  S.J. Bolton seems to have cornered the market on creepy, edge of your seat stories that come with a heavy dose of the eerie.  Save this one for Carl's RIP Challenge, if you dare! 

As a little side note I had no idea where the word "bonfire" came from.  It came from "bone fire".  Apparently in the Middle Ages the bones of animals would have been burned--hence bone fire/bonfire.  In this story a charnel house would have adjoined the church and every thirty years or so the graves were dug up and the bones were placed in the charnel house and burned.  There's a little Halloween trivia for you a few months early.

This is S.J. Bolton's third novel.  I was hooked early on when I read Sacrifice, a story completely different than Blood Harvest but with the same dark, heavy atmosphere and suspenseful pace.  I've got a copy of Awakening on hand, which is set in another small English village with a snake problem.  Check out the author's website here, and her blog here.      

Teaser Tuesday: Greenbanks

It may have taken me a while to pick up a novel by Dorothy Whipple, but since I finally had a taste I think I might just have to make my way through the rest of her books--at least the books I can get my hands on.  Although I have The Priory and High Wages (the latter a fairly recent acquisition--part of my last hurrah of book purchasing before I sealed away my credit card), I, of course, wanted to start with a book that I don't own and that is out of print.  Is it just me, or is there some strange pleasure to be gotten out of the hunt for hard to find books?  Unfortunately some of Dorothy Whipple's books really are going to be hard to find, and I've already had to admit defeat in locating a copy of her first novel, Young Anne.  I can find no library in the US that owns and is willing to loan a copy of it.  Maybe Persephone Books will choose to reissue it? 

I easily found a copy of Greenbanks, however, and it was even at a library close to home.  Published in 1932 it is very much a family drama.  Although perhaps not the same caliber as Someone at a Distance, it's still a fine story with excellent characterization.  It's the sort of story where not a lot happens yet life happens full of happiness and disappointments--maybe especially the disappointments.  I think Rachel was spot on when she said Whipple "is realistic about the often thankless task of having children; of the disappointment many of us face when our real lives don't live up to the dreams we had; of the pain of marriages that are held together by habit rather than love, peppered with bitterness and resentment."  I hope she won't mind me quoting from her post on the book as I don't think I could have said it better than she did.

As I still have a third of the book yet to read (am now reading in earnest as it is due back to the library at the end of the week) I'll save my thoughts on it for later, but I did want to share a little teaser.  I read this earlier today and was struck by the feelings one of the characters had, which was so true to life and so heart wrenching.  I think there often comes a time when youth has passed and a person has lived enough of life to start looking back and wonders about the choices they've made.  In this case one of the married daughters of the family is reflecting on her life in light of the fact one of her sisters has left her rather staid husband she is not in love with, to run away with a man she does love.      

"No, she has never seen anyone she wanted to go off with.  When she thought of going, it was never with a man.  Once she had indulged in wild dreams.  For years after she was married she felt that someone would one day come, someone she could love with all her heart, with that high, free elation and that deep satisfaction she could imagine.  She would be able to share everything with him; her fears in the night about loneliness, death, the end of things.  He would understand, she felt, but he would not explain, for after all there is no explanation.  He would laugh, too, at what she laughed at; he would enjoy shop incidents, tram incidents, street incidents--all the queer, funny things that go on to make up every day.  Letty felt, for years, that someone like this would come before it was too late."

And she goes on,

"But the years went on and now she was over forty and looked for nobody to rescue her as if she was a damsel in distress.  She no longer expected to be loved by any man.  Men wanted youth and beauty; no matter how old and ugly they were themselves, they felt entitled to youth and beauty in women.  She had missed the great love she had dreamed of as a girl, but she thought about it no more.  Her wishes had changed as she grew older; she now only wanted to get away by herself, to enjoy life in her own way."

I felt infinitely sad when I read this, but I think Whipple is right in her depiction of this woman who is no longer in her first flush of youth when anything is possible.  With age comes experience as well as disappointments, but it doesn't always mean dreams are dashed but there is perhaps a more realistic expectation from life.  Not everyone gets the picture perfect ending, but there might still be a happily ever after of sorts.  

I've still a bit more to read, WWI has just started and there are more problems to work out and growing up to do.  I think I'll be a little sad when I turn the last page on this family, but there are still more works by Dorothy Whipple to explore.

The Rebellion of Jane Clarke

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading Sally Gunning's The Rebellion of Jane Clarke, her most recent foray into Colonial-era America.  Two years ago I read, Bound, a novel about an indentured servant, which was at times heart-wrenching yet gripping.  Although an equally tumultuous Boston forms the backdrop of The Rebellion of Jane Clarke, this is in many ways a gentler read as it follows the inner turmoils of a young woman who must balance loyalty to family, a family divided by political allegiances, with a conscious burdened by moral expediencies.  After reading Bound I had every intention of going back and reading Gunning's first novel, The Widow's War.  Unsurprisingly I was distracted and two years later it is still sitting unread, but I've already pulled it off the shelf once again and will be rectifying the situation soon.

Although each novel has a distinct and separate story, some of the same characters are interwoven and all books are set in Boston and Satucket, Cape Cod, so there is a familiarity of time and place.  Twenty-two year old Jane Clarke is living with her family in Satucket in 1769 leading a simple but happy life.  The eldest daughter of a brood of children, mostly step-brothers and sisters, she tends to her father's wishes and gets on reasonably well with her stepmother, Mehitable.  In her free time she works with the village midwife nursing the sick and learning to mix poultices and brew decoctions in exchange for an ointment or tincture for her stepmother, who always seems to be ailing.

While Satucket seems a sleepy enough village, so near the coast yet far away from the problems of any larger city, it is not without its own troubles.  Jane's father is a successful mill owner, but are his business practices just savviness or shady dealings.  Jane wonders as she encounters gossip over something rather unsavory her father may have done.  Who's to be believed and who can she possibly ask?  An ongoing feud between her father and another mill owner results in constant court cases over real and imagined transgressions, which colors the way the other residents of the village look upon the family.  Jane's father is a staunch loyalist to British Crown, but so many niggling uncertainties mean Jane begins questioning her father's beliefs and practices and her own response to them. 

When Jane refuses the marriage proposal of Phinnie Paine, the man chosen by her father as not only her future husband but as partner in the mill, Jane is sent off to Boston in disgrace to nurse her ailing aunt instead.  Phinnie Paine was an agreeable man, but "she was no longer quite so willing to take the unknown parts of Phinnie on trust as she might have a month ago."  As a matter of fact she is not so willing to take on trust many things she hears anymore.  When in Satucket the newspapers from Boston were filled with harrowing stories of crimes the British troops committed against the citizens of Boston.  Once in Boston Jane can see for herself what is real and what is embellishment, and hopefully she can once again have proper contact with her beloved yet inconsistent brother who is clerking with lawyer John Adams.

Aunt Gill is a trial.  She lives alone in a household served by a housekeeper/cook and a former slave, whose work ethics Jane comes to question.  Aunt Gill can do little by herself and requires help in dressing and moving from room to room.  Though she doesn't require much real nursing, Jane finds she is needed by her aunt and over time she comes to see the old lady less as a burden, and as someone who needs not only her care but deserves her concern.  So Jane makes a life for herself of sorts on Royal Exchange Lane not far away from the Custom House outside which stands a British sentry keeping watch.  And now Jane can see for herself first hand just which crimes the British military are guilty of and how much is made up to rouse the colonists.  In Boston Jane is able to do as she pleases as long as she has her aunt's approval and is befriended by bookshop owner, Henry Knox, who helps open her eyes to the political situation.

Gunning's stories seem to be centered around some historical fact or event, and in the case of The Rebellion of Jane Clarke, the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770 is the pivotal moment in Jane's life, where she must seek truth over the fervor of the rebels who wish to finally break away from British rule.  Sympathetic to the soldiers who must maintain control without stirring up the populace, Jane finds it is often the populace who are trying to stir up conflict to set fire to their rebellion.  But nothing is ever black and white, both sides are are guilty of crimes, and she must determine where the truth really lies.

What was both a little surprising yet also refreshing in a tale of Colonial America is Jane begins her journey as the daughter of a loyalist, and while she questions what she sees, she also looks for real truths no matter that they fly in the face of popular thinking.  Although the Revolutionary War is still some five years away it's easy to see the conviction with which the average person lives their life and what they're willing to do to acquire freedom and self-rule.  Yet this burning desire is also tempered with a wish, particularly by people like Patriot John Adams who would rather see justice served even at a cost to their cause rather than sully it with lies.  For Jane, these revelations serve her not only in matters of the conscience but also of the heart. 

This is a richly told tale and Jane is a likable heroine who is faced with difficulties she must work her way through.  Gunning does an excellent job of setting the right tone and pace of the story, following the inner workings of Jane's mind as she comes to realize just how her life should be lived, yet never falling into the trap of bestowing upon an 18th-century woman the sensibilities of a modern one.  Lyddie and Eben Freeman are the characters who link Gunning's three books.  In this case they are Jane's grandparents and who become models for Jane and aid in the choices she must make.  I'm not ready to leave Colonial America and am glad that I still have one of Sally Gunning's books still to read.  I may have to see what else I have on my list to choose from.  You can read more about the author here.    

A Sweet Devouring by Eudora Welty

I set out this year to read an essay a week and hopefully write about it, but I've done a poor job of doing so in the past few months.  A few years ago I read a short story a week and managed to stick to my plan the entire  year.  I read some really wonderful stories and many of them have stuck with me.  Maybe I just enjoy stories more than essays?  Or maybe this year is just not the year for reading plans.  In any case it would be nice to try and still read an essay or two each month with no set plan on when or what I read.  Part of my problem is having only two anthologies to choose from even though they are both excellent books.  Both are hefty and not really the sort of book to read while walking on a treadmill or lugging with me to work.  I may have to see what the library has to offer for more selection. 

But today I do feel like spending a quiet hour reading an essay by Eudora Welty, an author I have not yet gotten around to reading.  I've discovered, though, that often a good introduction to a new author is by reading an essay or short story by them.  Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1909 and lived there for nearly her entire life. During the Depression Welty worked for the WPA taking photographs.  The Smithsonian magazine wrote about her one woman show in one of their issues last year.  You can read about it here (make sure you check out the photo and video galleries).  Though Welty is known more for her fiction, she also wrote essays and criticism.  Welty won many awards including the Pulitzer. 

I love the way her essay, "Sweet Devouring" begins.

"When I used to ask my mother which were were, rich or poor, she refused to tell me.  I was then nine years old and of course what I was dying to hear was that we were poor."

She wanted to be poor, but not just poor, but poor enough.  She had been reading a book called The Five Little Peppers about a poor family with many troubles yet their house was always filled with joy.  Sweet devouring is what she calls reading, for which she had a passion.  Sound familiar? 

"Trouble, the backbone of literature, was still to me the original property of the fairy tale, and as long as there was plenty of trouble for everybody and the rewards for it were falling in the right spots, reading was all smooth sailing.  At that age a child reads with higher appetite and gratification, and with those two stars sailing closer together, than ever again in his growing up."

Choosing books from her shelves at home she would find she would read a story, and then "snap" it was over.  She liked reading the book--except that she finished it.  It was through her visits to the public library that she discovered the Series Books. 

"There were many of everything, generations of everybody, instead of one.  I wasn't coming to the end of reading, after all--I was saved."

"Sweet Devourings" is about one young reader's beginnings and development, and she writes about her library visits with affection.

"All that summer I used to put on a second petticoat (our librarian wouldn't let you in the front door if she could see through you), ride my bicycle up the hill and 'through the Capitol' (shortcut) to the library with my two read books in the basket (two was the limit you could take out at one time when you were a child and also as long as you lived), and tiptoe ('Silence') and exchange them for two more in two minutes.  Selection was no object.  I coasted with the two new books home, jumped out of my petticoat, read (I supposed I ate and bathed and answered questions put to me), then in all hope put my petticoat back on and rode those two books back to the library to get my next two."

Age and experience change a reader.  Over time she discovered the later books in a series were never as good as the first.  As long as the series was kept going nothing really bad could really happen.  She called this "one grand prevention."  So a young reader turns into a more mature reader.  It happens to us all.

"And then I went again to the home shelves and my lucky hand reached and found Mark Twain--twenty-four volumes, not a series, and good all the way through."

What an excellent way to spend an hour.  If you can get your hands on a copy of this essay, I think it's one you might appreciate!

July 9: Reading Notes

Whenever I finish a book or two I have the pleasure of choosing something new to read.  Okay, so I usually end up picking two new books for every one I finish--I'll just call it advanced math and leave it at that.  Lately I've been spending far too much down time thinking about books I want to read--books I'm in the mood to read.  Some days I walk out of work with a little list of books that I know I own and plan on digging around for--sometimes I know exactly where the books are, and sometimes it requires lots of shifting, in which case I end up finding another book or two to add to the pile.  This can be a vicious cycle.  It's sort of like being hungry, but not sure what you're hungry for.  Any number of foods would fill that empty stomach, but what will really satisfy?

The problem is my mood seems to change every day.  But I'm contemplating several different books at the moment.  I've given in and just started reading Georgette Heyer's Venetia.  It seems to have already gone back out of print (at least here in the US), so I'm glad I found a used copy a while back.  Heyer's books can be somewhat predictable, but in a way that's good.  I know I want a story that is light and frothy and will end happily, and I am sure Heyer will be happy to accommodate my wishes.  Venetia is a playful story--spinsterish sister is left taking care of younger, sickly brother.  She never had a chance to be presented at Court and has been stuck in the countryside, but she's no worse the wear for it.  Enter dark, handsome neighbor--a complete rogue, but surely misunderstood.  The two meet, clash and instantly a spark is lit.  Formulaic?  Maybe.  Entertaining?  Definitely.   

I need to get to work on some AREs that I have on hand.  Although I've been declining any new review copies in order to read from my own stacks, I do have a nice little pile that I need to turn my attention to.  I think I might start with Rina Frank's Every House Needs a Balcony, which has been translated into English from the Hebrew.  I can't think of another book I've read, at least in the recent past, by an Israeli author.  This is set in the 1950s in Haifa and Barcelona.  "Rina Frank weaves together a moving, heartbreaking tale about the deepest meanings of home."

At work yesterday I was thinking about a book that would be a good story that I could sink my teeth into.  Something well written, maybe historical, complex but entertaining (perhaps to even out the Heyer?), and I've decided on Iain Pears's Stone's Fall.  I've had his earlier novel, An Instance of the Fingerpost, ever since it came out in paperback, but I've never gotten around to picking it up.  I have read a book or two from his Italian mystery series, however.  I've heard Instance is something of a conundrum and would love to tackle it at some point, but I think Stone's Fall will be a better place to start.  As a matter of fact I've already been reading and he's hooked me from the first page.

And it's time to choose a new library book as I am nearing the end of S.J. Bolton's Blood Harvest, a book which would make a perfect Halloween read.  I'm wavering between two as they are books I can't renew.  I've already mentioned Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons, but I also just brought home A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff, which sounds like another fluffy sort of read, but it also involves vintage clothes, a London/Paris setting and a mystery.  I expect this weekend I'll be reading the first few pages of each and seeing which grabs me more.

What will you be reading this weekend?

L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between

I've been thinking a lot lately about L.P. Hartley's novel, The Go-Between, a brilliant evocation of the loss of childhood innocence.  It's a story that works well on so many levels.  It's elegantly written with layers of meaning, and a story best left to simmer once read as there is so much to think about.  Certainly this is one of the finest novels I've read in a very long time. 

After coming across a long forgotten journal Leo Colston looks back on a long hot summer in 1900 when as a schoolboy he spent several weeks at the country house of a classmate.  Leo is an only child who lives with his widowed mother in a style far less grand than his wealthy friend Marcus.  Leo is in awe of the Maudsley family and perhaps a bit snobbish in his wish to emulate them, though it's obvious his presence is a somewhat uneasy one.  As a schoolboy who lives by a strictly codified set of rules he's only partially able to navigate this strange new world.  Marcus he understands, the adults not so much.  Marcus's beautiful older sister, Marian, takes him under her wing and he soon develops a crush on her.

When Marcus becomes ill and is confined to his room Leo is at loose ends.  The Maudsley family and their guests partake of all the pleasures a country house has to offer, but Leo is only peripherally involved.  He's caught by a local farmer sliding down his haystacks.  Anger leads to opportunity when Ted Burgess realizes Leo is a guest at Brandham Hall.  Ted asks him to deliver a note to Marian, and eager to please and occupy himself, Leo readily accepts, though he doesn't understand the true nature of their relationship.  Although it's not been formally announced, Leo is privy to the secret that Marion is going to marry a viscount, Lord Trimingham.  Hugh Trimingham is one of the few adults that treats Leo with some modicum of respect without condescending to him, and Leo admires him in turn.

Dubbed 'The Postman' by Ted, Leo happily serves as a go-between between him and Marian--the only way the two have to communicate, but an indiscretion reveals something of what the two are up.  Schoolboy rules allow that an open envelope means the letter inside can be read.  As precocious as Leo is, and nearing his thirteenth birthday, he's still naive to the subtleties of adult love and intimacy.  He likes Ted, but Marian is going to marry Lord Trimingham.  This is the way things are meant to be.  Confused by what he's learned and feeling party to a deception he wants no part of and doesn't really understand, he thinks he can conjure up magic to extricate himself and set to rights Marian and Hugh.  He's had success in school with his spells, so he devises a plan that will separate the two, which in the end leads to tragic consequences.

What's especially sad about this story isn't just a schoolboy's loss of innocence in becoming wise to the ways adult world but the way in which he's initiated, so to speak.  He loses not only his innocence but his ability to form any meaningful relationship of his own later in life, so startling is the revelation he is to have about Marian and Ted.  Leo tells his story from the perspective of a life more than half lived looking back on these forgotten events that he begins to recall with the aid of his journal.  It's only later that he fully comes to the realization of what that long, hot summer meant.  This is a story not just about a loss of innocence but of deception and betrayal and manipulation.   

The novel is filled with nostalgia, a longing for a simpler way of life when things were more certain.  Surely at the end of the Victorian era and the beginning of the Edwardian moral choices must have been easier, or were at least not as open to interpretation.  The Boer War was in the background, and the two world conflicts were still far off on the horizon, but perhaps a loss of cultural innocence was coming as well.  Life was simpler.  But as Leo's life changes, so too does the world.

I've read this is Hartley's best work and it is worthy of being reread (I expect I would see far more on another go around or two), but I'm still curious to read more.  My library has several of his other novels and I have Simonetta Perkins on hand.  The Go-Between is highly recommended and is almost assured a spot on my top ten reads list at the end of the year!