A Work in Progress

A Love of Letters: A Thursday Thirteen

It's been a while since I've come up with a Thursday Thirteen (not since last summer!).  I do love a good book list and since tomorrow is February 1st and the official kick off of my Month of Letters, it seemed appropriate to think about letter writing not only in fiction but also books about letter writing and collections of letters (how's that for an all-encompassing list?).  As I am also joining Melwyk's Postal Reading Challenge, I like to have a list of books to draw from.  I'm a great fan of epistolary novels in general (have shared lists before here and here).  But this list is only about letters and letter writing.  If you have any other good titles fiction or nonfiction, please do share!

1.  Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne by John Keats -- I've already mentioned this one.  I'm starting my letter-writing reading here.  This is a slim volume made up of almost as many pages of poetry as love letters, though only of Keats' letters as Fanny Brawne's did not survive.

2.  An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork by Etty Hillesum -- "Hillesum was in her mid-20s at the time of the Holocaust; her diaries consist mainly of musings about the confusion, perplexities, and struggles all around her and mature into a clear philosophy of love of God and all humanity. Her most intimate thoughts are played out at length, but perseverance results in a rewarding view of humanity. The young woman's letters (the second part of the book) reveal a great deal more detail about the day-to-day life at the transit camp of Westerbork (the last stop before Auschwitz). Here, individual people come into view more clearly, and the horrors and atrocities facing the Jews at that time emerge. That Hillesum could rise above hate and generalization in the midst of such horror and evil reveals a tremendous inner strength. Her courage, determination, and faith reveal her amazing spirit."

3.  From A to X by John Berger -- "In the dusty, ramshackle town of Suse lives A’ida. Her insurgent husband Xavier has been imprisoned. Resolute, sensuous and tender, A’ida’s letters to the man she loves tell of daily events in the town, and of its motley collection of inhabitants whose lives flow through hers. But the town is under threat, and as a faceless power inexorably encroaches from outside, so the smallest details and acts of humanity assume for A’ida a life-affirming significance, acts of resistance against the forces that might otherwise extinguish them."

4.  Other People's Mail: An Anthology of Letter Stories edited by Gail Pool -- (I found this one on my library's shelves).  "This collection is unique in that the entire exposition of each piece is conveyed through correspondence of some sort. Editor Pool has selected stories from a remarkably diverse collection of authors, some as well known as Alice Munro and Gail Godwin, and one from author Donna Kline, whose main career is not literature. Some stories are comic, some serious, and some tragic. And despite the diversity of style, theme, period, and ethnic point of view, the volume hangs together very well." (Booklist)

5.  My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams edited by Margaret Hogan -- "In 1762, John Adams penned a flirtatious note to 'Miss Adorable,' the 17-year-old Abigail Smith. In 1801, Abigail wrote to wish her husband John a safe journey as he headed home to Quincy after serving as president of the nation he helped create. The letters that span these nearly forty years form the most significant correspondence--and reveal one of the most intriguing and inspiring partnerships--in American history.

6.  The Letters of Abelard and Heloise edited by Betty Radice -- "This collection of correspondence between medieval scholar Peter Abelard and Heloise, a French nun, chronicles one of the most tragic love affairs in all history. With their letters, the estranged lovers both mourn and reproach their romantic history as they address a variety of scholarly and professional topics common to the medieval period."

7.  Women's Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present edited by Lisa Grunwald -- "Historical events of the last three centuries come alive through these women’s singular correspondences—often their only form of public expression. In 1775, Rachel Revere tries to send financial aid to her husband, Paul, in a note that is confiscated by the British; First Lady Dolley Madison tells her sister about rescuing George Washington’s portrait during the War of 1812; one week after JFK’s assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy pens a heartfelt letter to Nikita Khrushchev; and on September 12, 2001, a schoolgirl writes a note of thanks to a New York City firefighter, asking him, 'Were you afraid?'"

8.  800 Years of Women's Letters edited by Olga Kenyon -- "This inspiring and fascinating book is the first truly comprehensive study of women's letters ever published. Organised by subject matter, and covering a wide range of topics from politics, work and war, to childhood, love and sexual passion."

9.  Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal's Journey from Down Under to All Over by Geraldine Brooks -- "As a young girl in a working-class neighborhood of Sydney, Australia, Geraldine Brooks longed to discover the places where history happens and culture comes from, so she enlisted pen pals who offered her a window on adolescence in the Middle East, Europe, and America. Twenty years later Brooks, an award-winning foreign correspondent, embarked on a human treasure hunt to find her pen friends."

10.  Love Virtually by Daniel Glattauer -- "It's a virtual romance that begins by chance. When Leo mistakenly receives e-mails from a stranger named Emmi, he replies--and Emmi writes back.  Soon, secrets are shared, sparks fly, and erotic tension simmers. Even though Emmi is married, it seems only a matter of time till they meet. But will their feelings survive a real-life encounter?  And, if so-what then?"

11.  A Life in Letters by Anton Chekhov -- "From his teenage years in provincial Russia to his premature death in 1904, Anton Chekhov wrote thousands of letters to a wide range of correspondents. This fascinating new selection tells Chekhov's story as a man and a writer through affectionate bulletins to his family, insightful discussions of literature with publishers and theater directors, and tender love letters to his actress wife. Vividly evoking landscapes, people, and his daily life, the letters offer revealing glimpses into Chekhov's preoccupations-the onset of tuberculosis, his dual careers as doctor and writer, and his ambivalence about his growing reputation as Russia's foremost playwright and author.

12.  The Salt Letters by Christine Balint -- "It is 1854, and with the certainty of land behind her, Sarah flees her home for the uncertainties of life in the new colony. In steerage, she joins the other unmarried women, where the horrors of their close confinement bring an unraveling of secrets no one can control. Sarah endures, longing for her mother's forgiveness and the sweetness of her cousin Richard's breath. As she draws closer to her new land, she becomes increasingly haunted by her own tale and the letter home she cannot write."

13. Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart -- "After deciding that city life as a laundress wasn't for her, Elinore Pruitt, a young widowed mother, accepted an offer to assist with a ranch in Wyoming, work that she found exceedingly more rewarding. In this delightful collection of letters, she describes these experiences to her former employer, Mrs. Coney. Pruitt's charming descriptions of work, travels, neighbors, animals, land and sky have an authentic feel. The West comes alive, and everyday life becomes captivating. Her writing is clear, witty, and entertaining. The 26 letters are brief and tell about her life on the ranch in the early 1900s."

There are endless choices available when it comes to collections of letters. A cursory search in my library's online catalog nets almost 400 results!  I own more collections than I list here, too, but didn't want to make my list too long.  Much like diaries I find reading letters endlessly fascinating and maybe a little voyeuristic, too.  Although I didn't put them in my list I'm also interested in reading letters by the Mitford sisters, as well as Patrick Leigh Fermor, and Katherine Mansfield.  Literary letters are of especial interest but so are letters written by travelers (maybe I'll have to come up with another list?). 

And starting tomorrow I'll be writing my own letters (or more so postcards actually).  I've got a small list of friends I'll be sanding cards and letters to (and a few of you I am long overdue in answering letters!).  Once again I'll mention Postable, a virtual online (and private) address book.  If you'd like to get a card from me in February, feel free to add your name to my address book.  A few of you have already taken me up on that offer, and in honor of a Month of Letters I've even ordered a new stash of postcards!  Oh, and I am happy to send abroad.  It's kind of like a little 'random act of kindness' sending a postcard or letter to someone. 

And hopefully next month I'll be writing (much) more about my letter-writing reading, too!  A little teaser for tomorrow, by the way...please do stop back this weekend for another lost in the stacks post--lots of lovely bookish photos to look at!

Doctor Glas by Hjalmar Soderberg

Doctor Tyko Gabriel Glas of Hjalmar Söderberg's Doctor Glas (Doktor Glas translated from Swedish by Paul Britten Austin) is an interesting character.  He's a conflicted romantic man who looks for beauty in everything around him, yet he he can't quite express it and when he does it takes on a murderous tone and the result is ultimately less than satisfactory.  Published in 1905 the novel caused quite a stir since it dealt with abortion, euthanasia and murder, but it's considered very much a modern novel and was well ahead of its time.  And truly it does read as smoothly and perceptively as any good contemporary psychological crime novel.

"What I set down on these pages isn't a confession.  To whom should I confess?  Nor do I tell the whole truth about myself, only what it pleases me to relate, but nothing that isn't true.  Anyway, I can't exorcise my soul's wretchedness--if it is wretched--by telling lies."

Glas is a physician in turn-of-the-century Stockholm, and much of the story is told through his diary entries and conversations with friends and patients.  My first impression was this is a classic unreliable narrator, but strangely the more I read the more I thought he really was being honest even if he was selective what he shared.  (Though maybe he wasn't being honest with himself?).  Unmarried and over thirty he is still a virgin.  He can only love women who are already in love with others since they exude a radiance about them.  In many ways he's very conservative and certainly is an outwardly respectable member of bourgeois society. 

Glas refuses an abortion to a married woman whose family is already large and who lives in straitened circumstances--"my duty as a doctor, respect for life, even the frailest . . . ", yet he's repulsed by the local pastor, Rev. Gregorius whose beautiful young wife has come to Glas for advice.  Helga Gregorius married him in a fit of what she felt at the time was religious fervor which quickly cooled, and now she cannot stand his amorous advances.  As a matter of fact they are unbearable and despite being an older man, he believes it would be a sin "if they ceased doing what God wished them to do in order to get a child".  So she's stuck.

Glas wants to help Helga.  There's a catch, however.  She is in love with another man, a married man, and they are having a love affair.  Helga has that radiance about her, and so Glas falls for her.  Although he cannot act on his emotions and desires, he tries to separate Gregorius from his wife.  He sends him away on a rest cure for a heart condition, but when Gregorius returns things go back to the way they were before he left.  So Glas begins contemplating the one action that will separate the two permanently.  The impetus is his own, Helga has no idea what he's planning for Glas cannot stand the idea of Gregorius with the lovely Helga.

There is a dreamlike quality to this story.  Glas himself feels like he is living in a dream and wakes from vivid  nightmares.  A guilty conscious?  He has mental conversations with himself as he tries to rationalize his thoughts and actions and he spells it all out in his diary.  With so much going on under the surface and so much repression, Freud is written all over this story. The introduction was written by Margaret Atwood and she notes Söderberg had read Ibsen, Poe and Freud and there are glimpses of influence of each on the story.  It's very atmospheric in its way and carries with it that turn-of-the-century feel in terms of ideals and philosophies.  I'll be curious to hear what the other Slaves thought of the story as they are sure to offer more insight to Doctor Glas.  If you're curious (or if you've read the book) check out the discussion here.  

Hjalmar Söderberg is my first great find of the year!

Cheerful Weather for the Wedding

Not that I need prompting from other readers to pick up a book from my reading pile or anything, but it seems to happen more and more lately.  I have Simon at Stuck in a Book to thank for the (once again) gentle nudge to pick up Julia Strachey's Cheerful Weather for the Wedding.  One of my undeclared goals this year is to read more of the Persephones I have in my TBR pile, and a number of them have I accumulated.  And what better place than to start with a novella (I think this is going to be my year of reading novellas). 

I went into the story knowing next to nothing about either it or Julia Strachey, but seeing the movie trailer brought a smile to my face and raised goosebumps on the back of my neck.  Yes, I do love these sorts of stories.  It has promise I thought.  So it was with much anticipation that I cracked open my copy and began reading.  I must admit, however, that I had been warned that is an unusual story and from the reviews I've seen of the book (and film), it has received very mixed reactions.   

So.  Julia Strachey.  She was married to Lytton Strachey's (of Bloomsbury Group fame) older brother.  She herself was born in India but spent most of her life in England.  She worked as a model, a  photographer and a publisher's reader before she began writing novels, of which there seem to be only a handful.  In the preface to the Persephone edition written by diarist Frances Partridge (who was her good friend), this caught my eye.

"Julia was unfortunately a misfit in life.  She expected a great deal of attention from men and was very flirtatious, yet she was aloof."

*****

"Her behaviour may have been because she was abandoned by her parents.  After she was five she saw her mother only very occasionally; she had a son but Julia only met him once.  There is a story about Julia's father running into her mother, who was called Ruby, and saying 'Oh, Ruby, you've done very well for yourself, how many husbands have you had?  Is it three?'  'Four Oliver, four'."

That goes a small way (for me anyway) for explaining the quirkiness of the story.  It is quirky, and despite being the story of a young woman's wedding, it's bittersweet and slightly melancholic.  The story takes place over the course of only one day, really maybe even a few hours.  For me, though, Strachey perfectly captures the mood of this unusual (maybe they're really not all that unusual) family as they prepare for the ceremony, which happens off stage.  It's what's going on behind the scenes that the story concerns itself with.  And Strachey teases out the little mysteries, hidden emotions and secrets that make the story so memorable with an ending that is something of a shocker. 

After having read the story I can see why it was made into a film (which I am happy to see that Amazon is streaming, so I'll be watching it very soon) as there is a cinematic quality to it.  Strachey so artfully moves from scene to scene, person to person creating a wonderful tableau filled with longing and hopefulness, desire and disorder. All sorts of things some of which you might associate with a wedding and some not.

Cheerful weather for the wedding isn't exactly what you think it is.  Dolly Thatcham, twenty-three, is marrying the Hon. Owen Bingham and directly after they're departing for South America as he is in the Diplomatic Service.  For Mrs. Thatcham cheerful weather doesn't necessarily mean warm and sunny, especially since on this wedding day it seems to be blowing almost a gale, rather cheerful weather is a clear day where you can see all the way into the next county.  The wedding is being held in the Thatcham's country home and it's bedlam.  Dolly's young cousins are chasing each other about arguing over a pair of emerald green socks that the one is wearing to the other's consternation (and great embarrassment if their schoolfriends will see), more than one guest seems to be occupying the same best guest room, the bride is taking nips from a bottle of rum (or a bottle of something anyway), and a young man sits waiting for Dolly with flowers in hand.  The question is--is Dolly making a mistake?  Does she really love Owen or someone else?

I really enjoyed Cheerful Weather for a Wedding. It's filled with wry humor and whimsy even if it's perhaps a little sobering, too.  For me, a perfect little slice of life.  The Persephone group at Goodreads is planning on reading Lady Rose and Mrs. Memmary for February and I am contemplating joining in (have already pulled out my copy).  And now I am wondering if I should look for Julia Strachey's other books as well? 

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

Have you ever played a sort of mental game with yourself, whether in anticipation or maybe even dread of an event, where if you could just do something or avoid doing something everything would turn out okay.  A superstition really, sort of like having a rabbit's foot to ward off bad luck.  In Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds, Privates John Bartle and Daniel Murphy believe that if they can just stay alive longer than the anticipated death of the thousandth soldier they will survive the war.

"Our biggest error was thinking that it mattered what we thought.  It seems absurd now that we saw each death as an affirmation of our lives.  That each one of those deaths belonged to a time and that therefore that time was not ours.  We didn't know the list was limitless.  We didn't think beyond a thousand.  We never considered that we could be among the walking dead as well."

It must weigh heavily on every soldier's mind.  The fear of not coming home, of not surviving a battle.  How does one prepare for it?  Inside the liner of his helmet Murph carries not only a picture of his girlfriend but the card each soldier carries.  The one with name, rank and unit.  And neat boxes to tick off in case of death, capture or wounds received in action as well as the circumstances for each outcome.  Murph is only eighteen.  Befriended, though initially more by chance than anything else, by Bartle he seems ill-suited to be a soldier.  The two discover they're both from Virginia, and though Bartle had already been in the army for a couple of years, they end up in the same battalion preparing to deploy to Iraq.

Bartle never meant to make a promise to Murph's mother to bring him home safely.  He never wanted to be accountable for anyone else.  It wasn't meant flippantly but what do you say to someone's mother who sees you as a friend to her son and who so obviously wants and needs reassurance for his well being.  It was a mistake and one he cannot undo, and not the first mistake he makes in regard to Murph.   Mistakes that will shape Bartle's life and resonate through the years that follow his time spent in Iraq.

As with any novel about war The Yellow Birds is heartbreakingly sad.  Awful things happen in the story, yet turning the last page there is a weightiness to all that occurs but somehow not distressingly so.  There are a few violent and graphic scenes but not to excess.  Perhaps it has to do with the execution of the story, which for a first novel is impressive.  The prose is sharp and often very lyrical, and the narrative is tightly focused.  This is just one man's story and one man's war, however.  You won't find broad sweeping vistas or multiple viewpoints of the same action.  While the focus is narrow, many of the themes are universal.  And for a short novel and with a simple story, it's also has a complexity to its structure. 

The story moves back and forth in time from Iraq to Virginia in 2004 and 2005 concentrating on the battle for the city of Al Tafar.  This is a city that is lost and regained like clockwork and the boys who one day are the recipients of candies from the soldiers will likely be the same men they fight against the next.  Powers foreshadows events and teases the reader enough to prepare for what will follow, so rather than a jarring sense of moving around the story flows in one unstoppable and tragic direction.

John Bartle narrates the story, so the war is seen through his eyes.  He's an observer of events and how both Murph and their Sargeant, a man who could be a poster-boy for the army, reacts to and is affected by the war.  But mostly this is John's story and how all that happens changes him and the disorientation he feels when he returns home and is unable to ease back into normal society.  He may have won medals but they mostly reflect the emptiness he feels by what he's seen and done. 

"I feel like I'm being eaten from the inside out and I can't tell anyone what's going on because everyone is so grateful to me all the time and I'll feel like I'm ungrateful or something.  Or like I'll give away that I don't deserve anyone's gratitude and really they should all hate me for what I've done but everyone loves me for it and it's driving me crazy."

I don't tend read contemporary novels about Iraq or Afghanistan as what's happening in those parts of the world is too fresh and raw.  I already read about them in the newspaper or magazines, so don't want to inhabit those places in my 'novel reading' as well.  Of course I now feel chastened as there is something very visceral about inhabiting not those worlds exactly but the head of a soldier who has been there and has seen such incomprehensible sights while it's easy for America to not be bothered so much by what's going on on the other side of the world.

The Yellow Birds is compelling reading and a fine first novel.  Many thanks to Caroline for the gentle nudge to read it.  This was the first book for her 2013 War and Literature Readalong.  Next up is The Flowers of War by Geling Yan.  

Short Story Sunday: Holiday Group

E.M. Delafield and I have shared what is beginning to be a long acquaintance.  It started back in 2009 when I first read (and loved) her famous Diary of a Provincial Lady (a book that screams to be revisited by the way).  That was followed a year later by a ghost story "Sophy Mason Comes Back".  Although last year we didn't cross paths, the year before I devoured not one but two books by her, Thank Heaven Fasting and Gay Life.  I suppose as with every author who is equally prolific, some books are better than others, but I can't say a moment spent with E.M. Delafield has ever been a wasted one.  With every subsequent meeting I promise myself to read more, and that promise has been renewed once again after this week's Persephone Short Story, "Holiday Group".       

Published in 1926, "Holiday Group" covers some of the same territory as both Thank Heaven Fasting and The Diary of a Provincial Lady.  Perhaps not as humorous or witty as the latter and with a not quite so pessimistic ending as the former (pessimistic being maybe too harsh a word, but an ending where the woman must simply "settle" for the life she's been given), it's a story that has Persephone written all over it.  It's a view into a woman's, more so a wife and mother's world, one who readily and happily inhabits it but who is also maybe just a little under-appreciated.  

Julia and Herbert Cliff-Hay have come into some money.  It's enough to pay back borrowed money as well as pay the premium on their son's educational annuity policy.  Their daughter must content herself with a mere Post Office savings account, as one must "think about education" with boys.  But the best part is they can finally afford a fortnight's holiday at the seaside.  The question subtlety asked is just who benefits from the holiday.

Reminiscent of R.C. Sherriff's The Fortnight in September, Delafield perfectly describes the anticipation but also the frustrations and minor annoyances of preparing for and then traveling to a holiday destination.  There are two small children and a baby to organize and amuse.  Questions are asked repeatedly and assurances given that surely fray a parent's patience and nerves.  And that's just getting there.  Arriving means settling into the bed and breakfast and then getting to the shops before closing to purchase necessary supplies--from sandbuckets and spades to bread and butter.  Endless marches to and from the bathing pools and wet suits to take on and off.  Walks to take and suppers to make. 

It's no wonder that when Herbert first suggested the holiday Julia looked startled.  Even more so when he called it a second honeymoon.  Despite his helpful gestures, and he does help Julia with the children, he doesn't quite understand why she's so tired at the end of the day.  She tactfully blames it on the fresh sea air, which is heavier than that at home. 

"'You won't be quite so tired, I hope, at nights, after a few days' holiday,' said the Reverend Herbert, when he in his turn got into the double bed."

"He tried to make his voice sound only kind, and not resentful, but the effort was wasted upon Julia, who was sleeping like the dead."

I sometimes think that in every woman's life there comes a point where she becomes her mother.  Well, metaphorically speaking anyway.  Amidst the to-ing and fro-ing and the hustle and bustle Julia recalls how harried her own mother was on their holidays and how disappointed she felt when her mother would decline going for long walks.  Now she understands why.  While Herbert knows Julia is busy at home, he expects a seaside holiday to be different.

"He was kind as ever--but he evidently didn't understand it."

Now I understand why I can count on one hand how many family vacations my own took while growing up. 

This story is vintage Delafield.  Now I want to go and pull out one of my Provincial Lady sequels or maybe The Way Things Are, which I have in a Virago edition.

I know it's still early days, but this is a really exceptional collection of stories to dip into.  Each story is such a satisfying little slice of life and impressive in its execution.  It certainly passes the test for me as each story beckons me to read further.  If you like short stories and you haven't already done so, add this one to your wishlist!

Next week another new to me author: Malachi Whitaker and "The Music Box".  (I might just start reading ahead).

Lost in the Stacks Home Edition: Kathy J.

Kathy Johnson is an avid but unorganized reader, frequently reading at whim and amassing huge piles of books to be read at some future, less busy date.  She is a freelance writer based in central Florida, and blogs about books and other happy topics at Catching Happiness. 

(You know the drill--click on photos to enlarge for a closer look).

1.  Describe your library/bookshelves.  Are they randomly placed or do you have them organized in a special way?  Are they confined to one area or are they spread out over your house?

My husband and I are both avid readers, so our books are scattered through most of our house. The main rooms in which our books live are my office, his office, our bedroom and the family room. The books are loosely organized, and I pretty much know where everything is. In the family room, we use the books as decorative elements. We have my collection of Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen novels, Will and Ariel Durant’s The Story of Civilization, some poetry, some decorating/coffee table books, and a few favorite books of various genres (The Poisonwood Bible, A Walk in the Woods, and my childhood copies of Little Women, Little Men and Treasure Island).  The books here are generally attractive in and of themselves or they’re books we think our guests might enjoy flipping through.

My husband’s office, which was our formal living room up until a couple of months ago, has a set of shelves we had built partly to house our ever-growing collection of books. My husband’s collection of Tom Clancy, Leon Uris, and John Grisham books live here, as well as my collections of Dorothy L. Sayers and Josephine Tey. Other authors to be found here include: Bill Bryson, Dave Barry, James Thurber, and Stephen King. I have some poetry collections in here, and two textbooks from a college literature class that I haven’t been able to part with. (And I am going to read from them again someday.) My husband also keeps his stock trading and finance books here.

We turned the closet space in my office, which was originally a bedroom, into shelves and cabinets to house office supplies, books, and so on. I’ve organized the books basically by category: dogs and horses, gardening and household management, memoir/biography, essays, travel, self-help/spirituality, art, women’s/mothers’ issues, and writing reference. I also have my collection of Nancy Drew mysteries, my Little House on the Prairie books, and a few other childhood treasures stashed in here.

Our last and largest bookshelf is in our master bedroom closet. It houses the bulk of our lightest and most fun reading, including all of my Agatha Christie mysteries (I think I have them all, but I’m not absolutely positive), the Anne of Green Gables series, books by Sarah Graves, P.G. Wodehouse, Mary Stewart, Patricia Wentworth, and many, many more. This is where my guilty little secret resides: my enormous and terrifying stash of to be read books.

2.  Do you like to weed and recycle as you read or do you prefer to hold on to all your books?

I weed and recycle as I read, believe it or not, only keeping books that are special to me or that I believe I’ll read again. I periodically weed through those I’ve kept and get rid of ones I’ve not returned to. (In fact, it’s time to do that again.) To dispose of them, I post them on Paperback Swap, take them to a local used bookstore for trade or donate them to my library’s bookstore.

3.  How long has your oldest unread book sat on your shelves?

My oldest unread book I’ve had for an astonishing 12 years! It’s called Creating Your Life Collage, and I purchased it at a Mothers & More convention, where I met the author and had her sign it. I loved the idea of a life “collage” as a metaphor for building a life balanced with work and family. Too bad I never took the time to read the book. I still plan to at least skim it!

4. What is your most treasured book?

I actually have three books that I consider my most treasured books. They are children’s books written by Richard Scarry given to me by my parents. The reason they are most treasured is that I once gave them away, and they came back to me. When I was in my 20s, I worked in an office with many women who became close friends. It nearly broke my heart to leave them when my husband and I moved to Florida. After we moved, one of my friends was going to have a baby, and the other girls planned a shower for her. I sent her my three Richard Scarry books for her to read to her new baby. I forgot all about that gift as time marched on. Eventually, it was my turn to have a baby, and my friend who by this time had moved herself and had another baby, sent me back my Richard Scarry books, because she felt that I should have them to read to my baby. I was thrilled to have them back, and I have them still.

5.  If you could pick one "lost in the stacks/on your bookshelves" book to rediscover and share with other readers, which would it be?

I don’t have very many books that would qualify for "lost in the stacks," but I’ll take this opportunity to put in a plug for the aforementioned Patricia Wentworth. Patricia Wentworth was a British crime writer, who wrote 32 cozy mysteries featuring Miss Maud Silver, a retired governess turned private detective.  Miss Silver is fond of quoting Tennyson, and frequently works with Inspector Frank Abbott of Scotland Yard (who I have a little literary crush on). Miss Wentworth also wrote more than 30 other mystery/detective novels as well as a few historical novels and romances. Her last book, The Girl in the Cellar, was printed during the year of her death (1961). She was 81. I still have many of Miss Wentworth’s books to look forward to, but one of my favorites so far has been The Chinese Shawl, printed in 1943.

**********

I think I need to go straight to my mystery novel stash and pull out my copies of Patricia Wentworth's books--I am sure I have the first one.  I do love a "crush-able" character (and have a few of my own favorites, too).

Many thanks to Kathy for sharing photos of her bookshelves and piles with us.  Check back next Friday for a peek into another reader's library.

A Thursday Mishmash

I know there are colder places in the midwest right now, but it's all relative, and as I bundle up (with many layers of clothing) for my frigid morning and evening walks to and from the bus stop, I am dreaming of warmer climes.  A sunny beach sitting under a parasol (book or stitching in hand) sounds pretty perfect to me right  now.  In keeping with the holiday mood of the postcard above, this is going to be a bullet point post (but without the bullets).  Just a mishmash of things today.

Sarah at Reading the Past has compiled another tempting Downton Abbey readalikes list.  Although a few were already on my wishlist, I've added a few more to it.  I already have a few books from her last list on my reading pile.  Although I don't tire easily of reading about this era, I do like to pace myself and make sure I have plenty of variety interspersed with these sorts of reads.  It doesn't seem to take long however, before I am ready to return to this period.

And as much as I love and am enjoying Downton Abbey (am glued to my TV every Sunday night), I can't resist sharing this spoof.  Have you seen it?   

The Edgar Nominees for the 2013 award have been announced.  The Edgars are awards presented by the Mystery Writers of America in case you're not familiar with them.  I've only read one of the books, but I have a few more on my reading piles and will be investigating a few more.  The winners will be announced early in May.   

Since I am very much into short stories this year I was interested to see the longlist for The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award.  I'm not sure where the stories were originally published (magazines like the New Yorker or collections maybe?), but I am going to try and track them down to read.  I admire people who read all the books on various longlists for prizes like the Booker or Giller, but I don't think I would ever be able to manage it myself.  Now, short stories are an entirely different matter.  The winner will be announced later this spring.

And if you are looking for some literature with an international flare, check out the shortlist for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.  I wouldn't mind expanding my horizons a bit by reading something from that list.  

Did you know yesterday was National Handwriting Day?  I should have celebrated in some way.  My handwriting is pretty atrocious these days, as anyone who receives a card or letter from me can attest.  Any practice or work towards improvement wouldn't be remiss.  That's what happens when you work on a computer all day long.

Athough I missed out on any handwriting celebrations, I have decided that I am going to sign up for the A Month of Letters challenge.  The idea is to send a letter for each mail day (23 days to be exact here in the US--not counting Sundays or one holiday) during the month of February.  You can send letters or postcards--whatever strikes your fancy--and part of the challenge is to answer any letters you get, too.  So, if I have your address, you might just get a card or letter (maybe even a Valentine!) from me next month.  I have Melwyk to thank for introducing me to Postable.  If you send me your mailing info I'll send you a postcard back!  I'll probably chronicle my letter writing odyssey here.  (And it's a good time to brush up on my handwriting, too). 

So, in for a penny, in for a pound.  I might as well make all this correspondence into a little project.  I had already been contemplating joining Melwyk's Postal Reading Challenge anyway, so what better time than now?  The challenge goes all year and I just need to read and write about postal themed books (epistolary novels--or books of letters).  My goal is to read four books, but if I end up reading more, all the better.  I've not yet come up with a list to work from (to follow soon), but I will kick things off with Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which has been sitting on the top of one of my reading piles for a little while now (it's been winking at me, so I have to pick it up).  It's a slim volume, but not only does it have letters but there are poems, too!  Me, Keats, Fanny--and poetry!  A good combination if ever I saw one.      

I'll leave you with just one more very cool item.  This is a cross between books and correspondence.  You might know I belong to Postcrossing (I really need to share more of my bookish postcards with you soon) and they highlight various Postcrossers on their blog.  I think the largest number of Postcrossers per capita happens to be in The Netherlands (or if they aren't at the top, then they are very close), where Postcrossing is huge (they even have their own Postcrossing stamp!).  The Bibliotheek Reuver has started a Postcrossing Bookclub.  You can send them a postcard with the title of a book recommendation on it and they will add it to a display.  They even have a map of the world showing the places they have received postcards/book suggestions from.  You can read about it here.  How cool is that?  I think I might just have to send my own recommendation!  

By the way I hope you'll stop by tomorrow for another Lost in the Stacks guest!  If you have missed any of the posts so far and are curious about taking a peek inside some very cool personal libraries there are links on my left hand sidebar. 

May Day by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Aside from a failed attempt at reading This Side of Paradise, I've loved everything else I've read by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I've not read a lot, a few short stories (am especially fond of Bernice Bobs Her Hair) and multiple reads of The Great Gatsby (alas in pre-blogging days), but now I can add his 1920 novella, May Day, to the list.  For readers who are not fond of historical fiction and the 'padding' of details to give a sense of the period being written about, you can't get a more authentic feel for Jazz Age America than reading Fitzgerald's work.  This is my favorite era to read about and part of my fascination of the Fitzgeralds, both Scott and Zelda, is their colorful and tumultuous relationship.  Actually reading about them can be quite sad as they seem to epitomize the excesses of those years more than just about anyone else I can think of.

None of the characters in May Day are particularly likable or sympathetic, but that doesn't lessen the impact of the story.  Set just after the end of WWI Fitzgerald juxtaposes several different characters, morally and financially bankrupt in some cases, unhappy and directionless in others making a statement on the political and social climate of the times.  Two loose plots run parallel in the story, merging somewhat and playing one off the other. 

The first, and main story, revolves around Gordon Sterrett who has come down in the world.  A former Yale student not long returned to New York City from the war, he has heard an old classmate and friend is in town.  Gordon has seen better days.  He's dressed shabbily and isn't working, though he believes he has enough talent to be an illustrator if he could just buy the right materials.  That's where the money is he tells his friend Philip Dean who obviously has few money worries.  Silk shirts litter his hotel room and ties are draped over chairs.  Philip Dean has a steady income even if it's only doled out by his parents.  When Gorden hits him up for a loan, he's reluctant to give him any money despite being in a comfortable position to do so.  For Gordon it's not just about buying art supplies as he's being blackmailed by a women he met.

Philip talks Gordon into going to a Yale party with him at Delmonico's where Gordon sees Edith Bradin, a debutante with whom he shared one romantic evening before he was shipped off to France.  She's a woman he might have loved and maybe still does but, but she's so obviously out of his league now, she doesn't have time for him.  Superficial at best she's all about appearances and looking out for herself.  She leaves the party in order to visit her brother who works as a journalist just around the corner from Delmonico's.

Fitzgerald smoothly segues from one storyline to the next, introducing one character then another and pushing the plot along as it gains momentum.  It's Henry Bradin's offices, the socialist newspaper where he works, where a pair of soldiers join in what is quickly turning into a riotous mass.  It's May Day and angry words are hurled at the newspaper office and violence breaks out.  The soldiers are working class and are portrayed as uneducated ruffians with few opportunities.  Of the two storylines this latter is the weaker of the two, but it serves to offer another angle to the story and seems to hold up a mirror offering a reflection that's quite dark and contrasting to the lives of those who are perhaps rich in material goods but not in virtues.  

This is a story with no winners and no happy ending.  It's a night where rich and poor, affluent and disenfranchised clash and knock up against each other.  It's an angry, booze-filled night with not an ounce of charity or compassion and Fitzgerald paints a rather desperate picture of everyone involved.  It all comes back to Gordon Sterrett who, despite his privileged beginnings now has nothing and nothing to hope for.  The jacket blurb calls Fitzgerald's plot relentless, and it is.  It's a story that packs a punch and moved me to go and grab a book of short stories by Fitzgerald from my shelves that I hope to dip into this week.  I feel like he must have written hundreds of short stories (he always seemed to be writing stories to make enough cash to get by on), but my collection only has a handful of them. 

I want to read more of his work this year, maybe even give This Side of Paradise another go.  I've also read Bartleby the Scrivener, but I'll save writing about that novella for another day.  I've got my next pair of novellas on my reading pile and am planning on starting with the Baudelaire.

The Neverending Sampler (Finished!)

I was beginning to wonder if I would ever actually finish this or if it would forever be relegated to the Unfinished Objects bin.  In a burst of energy (mostly yesterday afternoon) I finally put in the last stitches on my Prairie Schooler "February" sampler.  As you can see there was more than just white snow to fill in.  I added some backstitching, so now the horse's saddle has stirrups, the cherries have stems, the flag has a handle, the tree has branches and the (very dark and gloomy) sun has rays.

So is it if the groundhog sees his shadow we get six more weeks of winter?  Groundhogs Day is not so far off (here we go moving along at a rapid pace once again) and my fingers are crossed already for an early spring. 

The snow looks good, but it was truly tedious filling in all that white.  Had it not been for that I would have finished this project months (and months and months) ago.  But, it's done now and even in time for February and well before President's Day.  It's a good thing I only stitch the date of completion (and not when I start my projects!). 

I already gave a teaser of this guy.  My Birds of a Feather "Valentine Holiday" is moving along much quicker than "February" did (thankfully).  I'm already more than a third of the way finished with it.  I stitched this once before but I gave it away (in a needlework exchange).  I've always wanted to stitch one for myself, so this one will be mine.  It's a companion piece of sorts as I have a similar Halloween design that I made into a little pillow, which is how I'll finish this one, too.  I'll be looking for some red check fabric as used in the model, but unlike the pillow in the chart photo my pillow won't be quite so fancy.  If I keep working at this pace, I might even have it finished by Valentine's Day.

And because a person can handle only so much red, I needed something a little less vivid but still pleasant and bright to work on.  These are eight-cornered pincushions/Biscornus by Jeannette Douglas called "Spring Stackers".  I like the muted colors and the tiny little animals.  The chart photo doesn't give you a very good view of them, but each design is slightly different.  I love biscornus and they are one of my favorite needlework accessories--I quite like doing the finishing on them even (much prefer doing finishing by hand than working with the sewing machine, which honestly sort of scares me still).

The top and bttom of each pincushion is the same.  First up is "Tiny Birds", then I'll be working on "Tulips" and then "Rabbits".  My only problem with the design is the color choices are so muted on a light color linen which makes for slow stitching, though now that I can see what I've stitched close up in this photo, so far everything seems to be moving along nicely.  The little guy in the left corner is a tiny bird, by the way.  I am missing the floss color for his beak and legs, so it will be easier to identify the motif when I add in those last few stitches.

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I'm excited to be spending time stitching again and am even more excited to have finished a project and be working quickly on another design.  The only bad thing is knowing I might have used the time to read (or, too, I might have wittered away the time online or puttering around the house).  I've gotten quite good at multitasking however.  

The next best thing to reading a book is listening to one on audio.  I've mentioned how picky I am about audio books, and I'm terrible about trying to write about what I've listened to (I'm very visual and details stick in mind better when I've actually seen the words and read them to myself), but I do want to try and record I'm listening to.  I've finished two over the long weekend and am well into a third.  Don't be too impressed however, as one was only two hours in length. 

I finished Judith Kinghorn's The Last Summer, which I very much enjoyed listening to.  I wasn't sure at first how I felt about it.  I think I mentioned that it is more romance than historical fiction--not a criticism just an observation.  While the setting is WWI England, the war felt more like a backdrop than the focus of the story.  Of course a story about an upper class young woman who falls for the son of her family's housekeeper is bound to be tied up in the social mores and conventions of the era.  You can imagine the struggles for two such different lovers to come together and find happiness and their road to happiness was a rocky one.  It might have been somewhat predictable but I still found myself getting caught up in their story.

I'm afraid I didn't get on at all well with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince.  It's not the story, which I've read before (even in French when I was in school) and loved, but the audio version.  I feel a little bit bad for feeling this way, but I honestly couldn't wait to be finished listening to it, and thankfully it was less than two hours long.  I think my problem is not liking adults who speak in a child's voice.  Often it just feels like an awful caricature (generally speaking that is), and this version, although not quite that bad, just grated on me.  I couldn't settle into the story and just enjoy the storytelling but was always aware of the narrator's voice.  Now I feel like I need to reread the book to restore the fond memory of it.  (I told you I was picky about audio books!).

Now, however, I am listening to one that were it a physical book I would say I couldn't put it down.  Unfortunately technology has it's limitations, and the battery ran out so I am now charging my MP3 player so I can listen to it again tomorrow.  I opted for Deborah Blum's The Poisoner's Handbook, and it is fascinating to listen to.  I'm not entirely sure about the accuracy of the science, it's about the birth of modern forensics, but as cultural history there are lots of interesting things that I'd like to learn more about.  Blum is writing about Jazz Age New York City, which I always find interesting.    

So I've got a nice combination of needlework and books, though I must say (now that I think about it), it's a little incongruous to be stitching a Valentine's Day design while listening to an audio book about poison and crime in early twentieth century America!

An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd

I like a story where you feel like you're inhabiting the same world as the characters.  You find it hard to draw yourself away and look forward to getting back into it as soon as you can.  It's an added bonus when the book is one in a series of mysteries revolving around a set of characters that can be revisited, and in the hands of a talented author the characters grow and mature and the world takes on more details with each new instalment.  Aside from the puzzle aspect, I think that is a large part of the attraction for me of mystery novels. 

If there is a heroine/sleuth to rival my favorite, Maisie Dobbs, it's Bess Crawford.  There are similarities between the two, yet each is quite distinct.  Mainly the two share experiences of being WWI nurses, but really the two women are different in personality, temperament and background.  Bess Crawford is right in the thick of things still, as An Impartial Witness, the second book in the series takes place in the summer of 1917.  In this case the impartial witness is Bess herself.  Unlike Maisie who has become an inquiry agent after the end of the war, Bess tends to get snared in some sort of mischief making or other, though her natural curiosity and a sense of duty means she's compelled to see a problem (or in this case, a mystery) through to the end.

After transporting a convoy of wounded soldiers back to England Bess sees a distraught woman speaking to a soldier in a London train station.  It's not an unusual scene, but this one is particularly memorable as the soldier offers the woman no comfort.  He simply boards the train and doesn't look back.  Once back in France Bess reads in a newspaper article that the same woman was murdered later that day, and the police are asking for any information about the woman or witnesses to the crime to come forward.  It's pure chance that Bess sees the newspaper and recalls her.  It's the same face she saw in a photo that one of her patients, a badly burned soldier, had carried with him back from France in that same London convey she just returned from.  Already in fragile health physically, his mental health was equally precarious.  He clung to the photo during his journey.

Bess is allowed to return to London to answer questions at Scotland Yard and discovers her patient committed suicide after learning of the death of his wife. Not surprising considering the seriousness of his wounds.  Bess begins asking questions of her own after she meets the sister of the dead soldier at a country house party.  Perhaps it's the way the murdered woman is seemingly abandoned by everyone that causes Bess to pursue the truth so tenaciously.  It appears that prior to her murder the woman had been caught in an indiscretion, unknown to her husband away at war.  But the indiscretion is bitterly resented by her family, and too many questions means Bess ends up in danger as well.

Bess is an interesting character, one I wouldn't mind knowing more about, and perhaps over time other aspects of her personal life will be revealed (as this is only the second book of four so far published).  She was raised in India, the daughter of a well-regarded and high ranking military man.  She and her mother refer to him fondly as the Colonel Sahib.  Although he's now retired he is often called in by the war office to give advice.  She's close to her parents and it's out of respect for her father that she became a nurse, since there was no son to become a soldier.  The Colonel's former batman in India, Simon Brandon, remains close to the family and seems to have a particular affection for Bess, though it's unclear whether it's a brotherly affection or something more.  Often mysteries are as much about the personal lives of the characters as the crime, but so far the Bess Crawford mysteries fall somewhere in between.  Mostly mystery with just enough detail to orient the reader to the time and place but not overwhelm them.

Not being ready to leave her world, I've already picked up A Bitter Truth, and have already settled comfortably into the story.  I read the first book, A Duty to the Dead, three years ago, so it took a little refreshing at first of prior events, but now I seem to have gained momentum.  I don't often read series books back to back, but I think I like it--the next book feeling simply a continuation of the one last read.  I may even read An Unmarked Grave next, though I don't see another book on the horizon after that (maybe I should pace myself?).  Charles Todd, by the way, is a mother and son writing team, which I find interesting (I wonder how their writing process works).  They've written more than a dozen Inspector Rutledge mysteries, set just after WWI, which I really need to get back to as well.