A Work in Progress

March 31: Reading Notes

Many thanks for the suggestions on which book(s) to choose for Once Upon a Time.  I've narrowed the stack down and plan on starting with Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones.  So many people recommended her books in general and that one specifically I decided to start there (sadly it seems to be out of print, but my library had it), though I'm very tempted by a number of other books.  So I think I'll keep the stack close by (just in case) for a while with Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell on top.  I don't want to take on too much, but I like being optimistic about my reading.

I'm very excited about a library book I brought home this week.  I had to request it through interlibrary loan and there aren't many copies out there, so I was pleased that a library was willing to loan it to me.  It's Early Stories by Daphne du Maurier.  According to the preface all the stories were written between 1927-1930 before her first novel was published.  She was not yet twenty-three when she wrote these, so they should be very interesting.  The book is a Bantam Books edition published in1949.  Just in case there are any DdM fans out there that might be interested it contains the following stories: Panic, La Sainte-Vierge, A Difference in Temperament, And Now to God the Father, Adieu Sagesse, Frustration, Piccadilly, Tame Cat, Mazie, The Supreme Artist, Angels and Archangels, Indiscretion, Fairy Tale, The Closing Door, The Lover, Leading Lady, Nothing Hurts for Long and Week-End.  I'll be putting this collection on the back burner temporarily while I read her Early Stories.  Although some of the stories have since been republished in other collections, most are new to me.  This will be a teaser for the new Virago collection, The Doll, coming out in May.

I finished The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham yesterday and was quite bowled over by it.  I think I'm going to rank Maugham up there as a favorite author.  His prose reminds me of William Maxwell and Wallace Stegner--beautiful, simple yet sophisticated and very polished.  I need to ponder this one for a few days before trying to write about it.  I decided to pick up E.M. Forster's (whose prose I also love) Maurice next.  Although the Maugham was quite satisfying, I'm not sure I'd call it a really happy ending (need to think on it), and I want to read a classic with an (assured) happy ending, which I am told Maurice has.  Also I just really want to read more of Forster's books.   I know I should be thinking about this year's book list (which I tell myself I am determined to actually read ALL of), that has a number of classics, but I'm just not "there" at the moment.  I keep telling myself there is Plenty of time yet, as April begins tomorrow!

I was excited to see that Virago is going to be reissuing more of Winifred Holtby's books.  I was lucky enough to win a copy of South Riding not too long ago.  I've got it on hand and am going to try and read it before it airs on Masterpiece Theatre early in May.  As a side note I had been watching the original Upstairs Downstairs productions from 1971-1975, but I had better step things up as the remake will be airing in April (watch the trailer here).  

I rarely get excited about TV, but along with all the Masterpiece productions that I can't wait to watch I'm also very curious about the AMC remake of the Danish show The Killing, which begins this weekend.  I would greatly prefer to see the Hugely Successful original, but apparently we aren't getting it over here.  I can't decide whether it's a matter of the powers that be thinking Americans just won't read subtitles (maybe they won't?) or thinking they can possibly improve on it (which I'm sort of doubtful, though I might be proven wrong), but I'm willing to give it a try.  Maybe the episodes are available online somewhere??

And one last thing.  I was very excited to discover that I have won a Library Thing early review copy of S.J. Bolton's Now You See Me.  I've been a great fan of her work since she published her first book.  When I saw it on the list of new review copies I had to put my name in the drawing, but I didn't expect to get one.  It's been ages since I've tried, so this was a pleasant surprise.  And the best thing is I won't have to wait until June to read it.  I hope to see it in the mailbox soon.  

Since I have lots of reading lined up, I had better go get to it! 

A Lesson in Secrets

Every year about this time I look forward to a new Maisie Dobbs mystery.  Maisie is one of the few fictional sleuths that I follow faithfully (though I dip into quite a few other mystery series).  Jacqueline Winspear is very good about publishing her books regularly and not letting too much time pass before a new instalment is released, the latest being A Lesson in Secrets.  What I like most about these books, aside from the characters and interwar setting, is that she never lets the storyline go stale.  It's not just Maisie Dobbs solving a new mystery, but her life and the lives of those around her are constantly changing with the times.  Of course the mystery aspect is interesting but it's also the other myriad details of life in the 1930s and the interplay between characters that I enjoy so much and draws me back to these books again and again.

Once again Winspear moves in a new direction and the story has gotten slightly more complex than previous books.  Although I won't give away spoilers, I will be mentioning a few details from the last book, The Mapping of Love and Death, which you might not want to know if you've not yet read it, so a bit of a heads up here.  As each book seems to build upon the last it's hard to talk about them without letting something important slip. 

With the death of her former mentor and associate Maurice Blanche, Maisie finds herself in more comfortable circumstances having inherited the Dower House from Maurice along with a healthy savings account.  With her business doing well despite the country falling into a depression and many out of work, several new opportunities come Maisie's way.  Maurice was a great influence on her and she continues to feel his presence in her life, so when she's asked to take on an assignment with the British Secret Service, it seems a natural step forward to her.  It was only in recent years that Maisie learned of Maurice's own work with Special Branch, particularly during the war years.  There's a growing concern about the activities of a man who has established a small, private college in Cambridge.  As many members of the staff and student body are foreign born, Maisie is asked to take on a job as a lecturer in philosophy in order to observe the inner workings of the college and try and suss out if any of their activities are against the interests of the government.

Greville Liddicote, the college's founder, is found dead shortly after Maisie's arrival, which makes things messy.  Her brief does not include trying to find Liddicote's murderer, but his life's work seems inextricably tied up with the work at the college and possibly became the motive for his murder.  Liddicote is a famed author of children's books, the latter few with strong pacifist messages, and there is rumor the books were the cause of an embarrassment to the British government during the war, which was subsequently hushed up.  It's not in Maisie's character to not seek the truth in the matters she's investigating, so finds herself mixed up in inquiries on several fronts.

Billy Beale, Maisie's assistant is asked to take care of the day to day cases in London and is joined by a young woman who was also in service with the Compton family but left to marry.  When her husband is unexpectedly killed in an accident Maisie takes her under her wing and offers her a job in the office.  Sandra proves to be a good worker but is convinced her husband's death was not accidental, and ends up in trouble when she starts doing a little snooping of her own on the side.

There are a number of different threads to this latest Maisie Dobbs mystery.  While the situation she finds herself in is new, working for the Secret Service, there is still the element of mystery solving to the story.  By branching out into the area of national security Winspear is opening the storyline up to many new elements that I expect she'll flesh out in upcoming novels.  Maisie is a very rational, analytical character who through her training as a nurse and then later at Cambridge and with Maurice Blanche has received a perhaps unique but practical background for this sort of work.  She still does all the legwork and questioning you would expect of a inquiry agent and will occasionally work closely with detectives at the Met, but she also uses the science of psychology in finding the solution to the cases she works on.  

As Maisie's professional life progresses, so too her personal life has developed and she's grown and matured over the course of the novels.  And there is again the whisper of a romantic side to Maisie, though that is largely on the back burner this time around.  What Winspear does begin exploring is the rising tide of Nazism, thought at the time to be benign and maybe even somewhat positive in some circles.  Given Maisie's past experiences, it's not a political movement she finds encouraging.  As always I am curious to see which direction Winspear takes Maisie next.   Quite often the stories reach back to events during the First World War, but we all know the turmoil that Maisie and so many others will soon be confronting.

I'm sure I say this about every new Maisie Dobbs mystery I read, but this is my favorite so far.  And as expected it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.  My copy was courtesy of Harpercollins and Netgalley.

Teaser Tuesday: The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers

I think you already know what a pushover I am for library books.  I always have far too many on hand to choose from and am constantly juggling them in order to read them before their due dates.  More often than not I fail and have to return them unread (or partially read--not sure which is worse), in which case I either get back in line or jot down the title for later.  If the book doesn't come home with me again a second time, but it was something I was particularly interested in I will occasionally break down and buy it when it comes out in paperback.  As a matter of fact my most recent book order had not one but two books that I discovered at the library, and now I get to take all the time with in the world at home as these are my very own copies.

More often than not new books will sit by my bed for a while until they get moved around to new homes on bookshelves or stacks in various rooms, and so the saga continues until some day it finally gets chosen to be read.  Oh, happy day.  I sort of hate it when that happens, though.  Since I am always in the middle of other books new books get pushed aside even if I have been eagerly awaiting a box of them in the mail.  And that's how this happens!  Piles of books in my house are like weeds.  Just when I have them all safely tucked away and everything looks nice and neat another new one springs up.

So, all this to say, that I decided I was going to pick a book to read right now from my new box of books rather than waiting until some unspecified date in the future.  Throwing all caution to the wind and averting my gaze from the books already sitting on my night stand I reached out a shaky hand and pulled a book to my chest with giddy excitement.  Now this is living dangerously!

With a title like The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers I should not have been surprised when Thomas Mullen had his characters rise up off their gurneys in the first few pages, touch the bullet holes in their chests and promptly walk out of the morgue.  This might just turn out to be quite a wild ride!  Perhaps a little willing suspension of disbelief is required here--please check your critical eye at the door before proceeding.  The Firefly brothers are bank robbers much akin to the likes of John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde.  Hated by the banks and cops but appreciated by the common guy so their crimes take on a life of their own.  A little background before I share my teaser--it's 1934 and America is in a deep depression.  The Firesons, or Firefly Brothers, have become almost celebrities thanks to their crimes and narrow escapes.  "...they were a tiny piece of magic, an otherworldly glow, misplaced in our dark and mundane world."

"But what was magic, and what mundane, in those insane times?  Jobs you'd worked for two decades vanished.  Factories that had stood tall for lifetimes went vacant, were scavenged for scrap, and collapsed.  Life savings evaporated, sometimes in a single day.  In our once fertile heartland, dry winds blew with the power and rage of untold stories accidentally left out of ancient texts, returning with a vengeance, demanding to be heard.  Men disappeared, some scribbling sad notes to their wives, others leaving behind nothing, as if they'd never lived there at all.  The reality we'd all believed in, so fervently and vividly, was revealed to be nothing but a trick of our imagination, or someone else's, some collective mirage whose power to entrance us had suddenly and irrevocably failed."

I like the larger than life quality of the story.  I don't mind if it goes well outside the boundaries of what is realistic, since it seems to fit so well with the type of story Mullen is setting out to tell.  And I've been curious about depression era America for a while, so I am naturally drawn to this book.  A few of the adjectives thrown about on the cover--"complex brain-teaser", "pulp fantasy", "magic noirism" means I have set my expectations high.  I do hope the rest of the story lives up to its promise!

Once Upon a Time V

Since I by and large do really poorly when it comes to reading challenges I tend to avoid them (it's not a good thing to stress out over reading, which I find myself doing occasionally), but I can't say no to Carl's two annual reading challenges--the first being Once Upon a Time V.  Since he notes that the word challenge can be off-putting, I think I will simply think of it as 'reading along' and as he suggests just take pleasure in reading rather than trying to reach some goal.  And I plan on reading just one book.  And you probably already know by now I am all for pleasure reading, so no problems on that count.  I think I can manage that between now and June 20.  Whether I succeed or not is going to depend on the book I choose, and I have a small pile set aside at the moment to ponder.  The shorter the better, but I do have a couple really hefty books I've heard much about and have had on hand for some time that I might make an attempt at.

At the moment I am leaning heavily towards A.S. Byatt's The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye: Five Fairy Stories.  I've been wanting to read this for a while.  The title story is about a "world renowned scholar in the art of storytelling" who finds a mysterious bottle in an Istanbul bazaar that contains a "marvelous being".  I'd like to read more of Byatt's fiction, and a book of stories seems a good way to start.

Some time ago someone suggested Peter Beagle's A Fine and Private Place to me as a good fantasy book.  It's set in a large cemetery where a romance blooms between two ghosts.  I do love the sound of this one.

For a previous Once Upon a Time I read a book of short stories (retellings of fables and folk tales) by Angela Carter.  I have a few of her books on hand and thought The Bloody Chamber might be a possibility.  This is another short book with ten stories.  Again these are retellings of famous legends and fairy tales--Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss-in-Boots, Beauty and the Beast among others.  I like Angela Carter, but her writing is definitely on the quirky side and I have to be in the right mood for it.  Will have to test the waters with this one.

The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany is another book I acquired for a previous challenge.  Dunsany was a famous Victorian author and this is a classic fantasy novel from what I understand about a marriage between a mortal man and an elf princess.

So all these books are totally manageable and well under three hundred pages.  I think I could get on well with any of them and maybe would even be able to read more than one.  But when I was scanning my bookshelves I pulled down two others.  These are very hefty books and would definitely take lots of time and effort.  Do I even want to attempt either of them now? 

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson is the first of three books called the Baroque Cycle.  According to Stephenson's website it is "history, adventure, science, truth, invention, sex, absurdity, piracy, madness, death, and alchemy. It sweeps across continents and decades with the power of a roaring tornado, upending kings, armies, religious beliefs, and all expectations".  It weighs in at 916 pages with not particularly large type.

Do you remember when everyone seemed to be reading Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell?  I do.  I wasn't reading it but I bought it.  Does it count that I read her book of short stories (again for another of Carl's challenges)?  This is "an epic tale of nineteenth century England and two very different magicians--teacher and pupil--who emerge to change history."  It's 846 pages and similar type that fills the pages edge to edge though it comes with the odd illustration.

If I was practical I would choose one of the books from above.  If I end up being unpractical I'll pick one of the latter two and probably end up finishing the book sometime well into 2012!

So, are you reading along?  Which book(s) have you chosen?  Have you read any of these?  Maybe I shouldn't be afraid of those door stoppers of books and will find them so totally absorbing that once I start I won't be able to set it down.  I'll be contemplating this for the next few days, but I'm looking forward to reading something!

Return of the Soldier (Revisited)

If you had to choose between telling someone the truth about their life and bringing back a recollection of unhappiness and the possibility of being sent back to a battlefield, or leaving them be with only half a memory but in a state of contentment, which would you choose?  That's the moral dilemma presented in Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier, an extremely impressive debut novel written when she was only twenty-four in 1918.  I read this two years ago realizing at the time that it was a beautifully written story and one that deserved more than one quick read, so was happy to revisit it now for Caroline's readalong.  My copy is a mere 82 pages, but it's a complex story that looks at the inner lives of three women who await the return of a soldier of the Great War.

The soldier of the story is Chris Baldry, a victim of shell shock, who is suffering from amnesia and returns home to recuperate.  The life he recalls is one of a more bucolic time, happy and pleasant that occurred fifteen years earlier.  He doesn't remember his pretty, aristocratic wife, Kitty.  He doesn't remember his country estate.  At least not the country estate with so many changes and improvements to the décor.  But he does remember his cousin, Jenny, who narrates the story.  She's a spinster now, a confidante of sorts to Kitty, but she and Chris were once close friends.  It's his first love, Margaret Allington, the daughter of a innkeeper, whom he thinks he's coming back to.  These are the women who "helped shape his life" and it's only through these three distinctly different women he might find his way back.

Although the war has caused Chris's amnesia, it takes a backseat to the rest of the story.  It looms in the far distance as a place he might return to when he's cured, but it does press upon the dreams of Jenny who is quite disturbed by it.  It's obvious she has a great affection for her cousin who she has known her entire life and is quite close to.  So close that she has remained on the estate with Kitty while he is away fighting.  The two women are companionable enough, but their lives are thrown into an upheaval when they receive a visit from a woman not of their class who seems to have information about Chris.  They believe she's there to extort money from them, as they've had no news from the war office that Chris has been wounded or is in any other way ill.  They're ready to send her on her way when she produces a telegram that was sent to her from a French hospital.  She mentions a further letter but is so emotionally distraught she won't or can't give it to them and dashes from the house.

To Kitty, the telegram and what's inside it is an affront.  She doesn't understand why she was never told about this former lover and has little sympathy for the state her husband appears to be in.  She can't bear to think of her splendid husband being mad.  Whereas Kitty is cold and hard, self-centered and probably a bit of a snob, Margaret is all goodness despite her difficult situation.  When Chris does return home he's bewildered by these two women--Kitty and Jenny, one he seemingly doesn't know and the other aged almost beyond his recollection.  He's all propriety and good manners but he's lost in this strange world.  In the end he asks to see Margaret again, knowing the pain it will cause, but unable to deal with his circumstances otherwise. 

It's left to Jenny to act as a sort of go-between for Chris between Kitty and Margaret.  She's embarrassed by Margaret's poor living conditions, which are almost squalid compared to Baldry Court but in time sees Margaret not as someone lacking due to her poverty but rich with an inner beauty and generosity of spirit.  In time she is drawn to her as well and understands Chris's attraction.  Jenny learns of Chris's youthful romance with Margaret in part through a letter from a relative and later Margaret shares the rest.  Monkey Island in the reminiscences of Chris and Margaret is almost a magical state rather than a place, but the inn on the island where Margaret lived and worked with her father was where the two met.  Their romance was brief and idyllic until a silly argument drove them apart.  Much like the letter that was shoved under the carpet rather than just under the door in Tess of the D'Urbervilles, letters that should have found their recipient but did not meant an entirely different ending for the two lovers until this unusual meeting.  

As I was reading I thought how every sentence was weighty and full of meaning, so I wasn't surprised when I cam to the introduction and found that West believed "a novel should have no empty sentences".  This is a story where not much happens, yet is filled to the brim with ideas and thoughtfulness and lots of imagery.  It isn't just about war but about class and love and dignity and choosing between what's right and what's just convenient.  There's lots going on under the surface of this story, so don't be deceived by it's size.  Although this was West's first novel, she was already a published author and was raising a child.  This is a story influenced by the times and reflects the burgeoning science of psychology.  The first time I read this I said I would read more of West's work, but I have not yet done so, something I need to remedy soon.

Thanks to Caroline for the gentle push to read The Return of the Soldier again.  Do read her very perceptive post and the discussion taking place in the comments section.  Next up in April is The Winter of the World by Carol Ann Lee, which I already have sitting on my night table.

Lost in the Stacks: Cluny Brown

I have Oolookitty to thank for my discovery of Margery Sharp.  Although I was familiar with her books for children, The Rescuers as well as a number of sequels to it, I didn't know who Margery Sharp was or that she also wrote novels for adults.  My library has ten of her books, though three are for children.  They were just sitting there all unassuming in the stacks and ready to be (re)discovered.  I wasn't sure which to choose, being unfamiliar with the sort of story she writes, but I liked the sound of Cluny Brown.  There are a few very favorable Amazon reviews of the book and it seems the story centers around a young woman in pre-WWII England and her romantic (mis)adventures.  

The New York Times had some very good things to say about it as well in 1944.

"Miss Sharp has told her light and ingratiating story with deft skill and genial humor.  Cluny Brown is gossamer stuff that a mere ghost of a breeze could easily blow away.  It bears a pleasant generic kinship to the works of Angela Thirkell.  But it has a neat wit, and ingenuity of plot and a delicate satiric edge that are all its own.  The satire is restrained and gentle.  Miss Sharp isn't mad at anybody.  She has a tolerant affection for all her characters.  She smiles at ancient conventions, meaningless prejudices and human obtuseness and folly, but she does not rant or scoff."

The review goes on to say that it's the sort of story you might call "frolicsome" and a perfect read to escape from the ills of the modern world.  There is a blog devoted to Margery Sharp's works and Virago has even published one of her books.  Per the Virago website, a bit about Sharp:

"Born Clara Margery Melita Sharp in Wiltshire, England in 1905, Margery Sharp attended school in Malta and in Streatham. She completed college studies in 1928, thereafter attending Westminster Art School, where she was very successful. She began her writing career at the age of twenty-one as a contributor to Punch, with pieces in the Saturday Evening Post, Strand magazine, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Harper’s, as well as many other magazines and papers. In 1938 she married Major Geoffrey Castle, an aeronautical engineer. A number of Sharp’s stories and novels became popular films, but she remains most famous as the author of the children’s series, The Rescuers, animated by Disney. She died in 1991." 

Sounds like quite a find, don't you think?  I'll be looking for the Virago title and I wouldn't even mind reading her children's books.  First Cluny, though. 

Recent Library Finds

I think it's been a little while since I've shared library finds (aside from my lost in the stacks books, of course), but it's not for a lack of having them sitting around.  As a matter of fact I have a much larger pile of library books than shown here, but these are the books I am most likely to read (given due dates and such).  This is a combination of public library books and books from the library where I work.  Between the two places I think I can check out something like 60 books.  Imagine that.  Not that I check that many out at once, of course.

I think I must be one of the last readers to pick up Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader, which I hear is a really delightful story.  I've read a number of reviews of it, mostly recently Annie at The Senior Common Room wrote about it.  I'm very much looking forward to this one, and it has the added benefit of appearing to be a nice, quick read.  Considering how slowly I've been moving along lately it will be a nice change of pace to finish a book in a timely manner.

Robert Goddard's Found Wanting was a book I came across when I was browsing the new books shelves.  I had never heard of the book or author previously, but he seems to have garnered high praise.  One blurb calls him "one of Britain's finest thriller writers".  I'm always up for a good thriller, so will see how this one measures up.  Has anyone read him?

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin is one of the Orange Prize longlist titles.  I really didn't know much about it before requesting it, and I might not have picked this one up otherwise, but after reading the description it sounds like an interesting read.  It's about Baba Segi, "a plump, vain, prosperous middle-aged man of robust appetites" and his four wives.   

I'm very much looking forward to Mary Renault's The Friendly Young Ladies, which is set in 1930s London.  It is a "romantic comedy of off-Bloomsbury bohemia".  I don't remember now exactly where I saw this book mentioned--in relation to something else I suspect, but it's yet another book from that era I've been so curious about for a while now.

I hadn't planned on picking up Kate Mosse's The Winter Ghosts until a coworker recommended it to me.  It's another book set in the 1930s but moves back in time to WWI.  Mosse, you might know, is one of the founders of the Orange Prize. 

I've read a few of Susan Vreeland's novels, which are always about artists, and I love books about art.  As I have a couple of her books on my shelves unread I hadn't planned on reading her newest for a while, but someone in an online reading group I belong to raved about it, so I decided not to wait.  Clara and Mr. Tiffany is about the Louis Comfort Tiffany workshop and is filled with lots of artsy and historical details.

I do love library books, but my current library read, Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson, may have to go back to the library unfinished as I can't renew it (I can only renew books that no one else is waiting to read).  I have enjoyed what little I've read but I don't want to incur more library fines (as well as the wrath of the person next in line after me), so I will have to get back in line again. 

The up side is, I guess I can pick one of these books to read in its place!

March 23: Reading Notes

Although I've been complaining about not making progress in my reading pile, I've actually finished two books recently that I won't be writing proper posts on.  One book is for my postal reading group that I have mentioned here before.  I don't like to write about those books as part of the excitement is not knowing what you're going to get in the mail until it actually arrives.  So I don't want to spoil anyone's fun who might happen along and inadvertently see one of the books.  However I will mention a few things about it.  So, if you happen to be in the postal reading group, please skip the next paragraph!

This is the first book I've received in the newest round of postal books.  It's a cozy mystery set in Ireland during WWII and gardens and gardening feature heavily in the story.  The sleuth is a maiden aunt who gets involved in the death of a new neighbor.  It's a very gentle read and one I very much enjoyed as much for the detecting aspect as for the setting and references to the war.  You can see more about the author here.  From what I understand the mysteries are complete in themselves and they needn't be read in any particular order.  I'm not even sure the characters are recurring.  I was hoping my library might have some of the books but unfortunately we don't.  I'll be keeping these in mind as I love a good cozy mystery.

I've already mentioned the other book I recently read.  My niece brought home Chasing Alliecat by Rebecca Fjelland Davis after I said it sounded like a fun read.  She had been completely immersed in it and I was so happy to see her excited about reading a book that I couldn't not read along when she went to the trouble of finding an extra copy for me.  Every night she wanted to talk about it and sit and read together.  For a YA novel it tackles some difficult issues, but Davis is very matter of fact about the things she writes about--not passing judgment or moralizing to the reader.  A few bad things happen in the book, but it's a story wrapped up in a mystery and once it grabs you it doesn't let go until the very end, so there is a balance between the more anxious moments and the pure adrenaline ride that the story becomes.  I read very little YA literature, but I was impressed by the book.  My niece, who is in sixth grade, told me it is her favorite book so far.  She liked the mystery aspect of it and I can't think of another time I have ever seen her so intensely absorbed in something she was reading.  I do hope she finds another book that will engage her so well. 

I've been spending most of my reading time with Jacqueline Winspear's newest Maisie Dobbs' novel, A Lesson in Secrets, which I hope to finish tonight (and will write properly about very soon).  Once again Winspear takes Maisie off in a new direction and I'm happy to see her grow as a character.  This is perhaps my favorite book in the series yet.  I've also been working on Shirley Hazzard's The Transit of Venus, which I am finding slightly challenging but very, very good.  I'm glad I decided to start a little early rather than waiting until the last minute as I find it takes me twice as long to get through a few pages as I do any other book.  Still, it's well worth the effort and a perfect book to read along with a group of other readers.  We won't be discussing it for another week in case you might be tempted to read along.   I've also just started a reread of Rebecca West's The Return of the Soldier, which is a very slim novel that I hope to finish in another day or so (also for discussion).

So this just leaves Carl's fifth annual Once Upon a Time Challenge.  I don't really do challenges anymore per se, but it's hard to pass up Carl's reading challenges, or reading journeys as he calls them.  I was thinking this would give me a good excuse to maybe read something by Angela Carter?  I'd have to think about which book or maybe something else entirely.  But I would just choose one book to read between now and June 20.  Surely I could manage that, right?  Are you reading along?  Any suggestions?

Teaser Tuesday: The Painted Veil

Have I already said how much I am enjoying W. Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil?  I think I have, but I want to mention it again.  It was published in 1925, but what strikes me is how fresh the story, or at least the storytelling, feels.  There are cultural markers that set it firmly in that era, but at the same time it doesn't feel outdated.  The language feels almost contemporary and human behavior has certainly not changed much in the last ninety or so years.

I know a number of people have already read the book or seen the movie (which I plan on watching when I finish), but if you don't know the story, it's about a young woman who marries a scientist (bacteriologist to be specific) who is living in Hong Kong.  He's a shy, introverted man and she's a beautiful socialite who begins an affair with a local government official.  The affair is discovered, which is where I am at in the book.  I know from the blurb that the husband will force her to come with him to a part of the country that is being ravaged by cholera, which is going to be a life altering experience.  Can a story like this possibly end happily?  Don't tell me, I'm going to find out for myself soon enough.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Kitty, the wife, has spent a whole chapter rationalizing her affair as well as the knowledge that she has probably been found out. It's actually not very pretty and I'm not really liking her too much at the moment, but I suspect these feelings are pretty human and I might just be thinking the same things in the same situation.

"Walter was such a gentleman, she would do him the justice to acknowledge that, and he loved her; he would do the right thing and allow her to divorce him.  They had made a mistake and the lucky thing was that they had found it out before it was too late.  She made up her mind exactly what she was going to say to him and how she would treat him.  She would be kind, smiling, and firm.  There was no need for them to quarrel.  Later on she would always be glad to see him.  She hoped honestly that the two years they had spent together would remain with him as a priceless memory."

"It was all very simple and everything could be managed without scandal or ill-feeling.  And then she and Charlie could marry.  Kitty drew a long sigh.  They would be very happy.  It was worth going through a certain amount of bother to achieve that.  Confusedly, one picture jostling another, she thought of the life they would lead together, of the fun they would have and the little journeys they would take together, the house they would live in, the positions he would rise to, and the help she would be to him.  He would be very proud of her and she, she adored him."

I think she is deluding herself somewhat.  It's never as easy as all that, but we'll see what happens.  The biographical information notes that Maugham was a one of the twentieth century's most popular novelists.  He was also a secret agent during World War I.  I'm afraid I really don't know anything about him, but if the rest of the book reads as well as the first part I think I might just have to indulge in a Maugham reading-fest.  I have about eight of his books including one volume of short stories, so plenty to keep me busy.

Agatha Christie at Home

A really lovely book crossed my desk at work recently.  The nice thing about working in the acquisitions department of a library is being able to see nearly all the new materials that are going to be added to the collection and actually having a hand in searching for them and making sure they are ordered and paid for in a timely manner.  And then getting to check them out as long as no one else has already requested them.  My latest find is not a brand new book, though it is new to me, Agatha Christie at Home, which is edited by Hilary Macaskill and published by Frances Lincoln Publishers.  I believe it was released at about the same time Agatha Christie's residence in Devon, Greenaway, was renovated and opened to the public as part of the National Trust.  Christie and her second husband bought the 15th century estate in 1938 and it served as a summer home for the couple.

Agatha Christie was born in Torquay, and had connections with Devonshire her entire life.  Apparently Devon was often a setting in her mystery novels.  Later in life Greenaway was where she would retire after a book was written.  It was her reward where she could relax according to her grandson, Mathew Prichard.  In his foreword to the book he writes:

"Now that the book was finished, she could sit in her boathouse with her grandson and watch the tourist boats go by; she could enjoy picnics on Dartmoor; she could swim in the sea or even occasionally in the river Dart; she could eat lashings of Devonshire cream!"

This is a lavishly illustrated book with lots of text.  It not only shows Greenaway but the surrounding countryside and towns that would have been familiar to Christie.  There are also a smattering of photos of Christie throughout her life.  Hopefully I won't be stepping on any toes, but I thought I'd give a little peek inside the pages of this book.

This is Greenaway overlooking the village of Torbay.  Quite nicely situated, don't you think?

Apparently Agatha Christie trained as a concert pianist, though she never publicly performed. You can see her Steinway in the Drawing Room at Greenaway.  And below is Agatha learning to dance.  She is in the middle.

Doesn't that look like a nice, cushy sofa that you could happily sink into to read a book?  This is the library at Greenaway.  I'd love to read the titles on the spines of the books.  I imagine all of Agatha's books are there.

I love this photo.  The caption reads "Agatha at Winterbrook.  Though she usually employed a cook, she closely supervised menus and, at Greenaway, would insist on making the mayonnaise herself."

Okay, so Greenaway is a really gorgeous estate, but I think almost like this little boathouse even more.  It has a balcony and arched windows that overlook the river Dart.  It looks like a perfect little hideaway.

Now that I've browsed all the photos I'm off to start reading the text.  I wouldn't mind owning this one, so it might just end up in one of my future book orders.  And it reminds me I really need to get back to Tommy and Tuppence.