A Work in Progress

Latest Library Loot and Lured by Crime

How's that for a catchy blog post title?  I do like to jazz things up when I can!  I had planned on writing a 'proper' book post today (am trying to keep up with the books I am finishing, which shouldn't be too difficult considering how slowly I seem to be reading lately . . . ), but after having problems with my last book post (I lost or deleted it not once but twice--luckily got most--though not all--of it back both times, which I must say was very frustrating!), and then last night I was gone for most of the evening and not in the mood for or having the energy to think too hard, I decided that sharing a few new books was in order.  I'm always up for reading about new book finds and hope you are too, since this is how I'm going to end the week.

First the library finds.  When I saw Sarah-Kate Lynch's The Wedding Bees: A Novel of Honey, Love & Manners was being compared to Joanne Harris's writing I gave it a second look.  And then was further enticed by the promise of this being a "romp designed to be read for pure pleasure" I was well and truly sold.  This is supposed to be an old-fashioned sort of romance and it includes a "delightfully kind Scotsman".  And there is something decidedly sunny and warm about honey.

The Financial Times has called In the Orchard, the Swallows by Peter Hobbs a "perfectly cut jewel of a book", which certainly makes it sound like a really impressive read.  "A young Pakistani man survives fifteen years in a dreadful prison by clinging on to a single memory of a girl he once met in his family’s beautiful mountainside orchard – with disastrous consequences. Elegant and lyrical but never sentimental, this moving tale of love and redemption is storytelling at its most evocative and compassionate. This is a novel that transcends politics and class, its characters as accessible and intimate as those of universal mythology."  That sounds a little heavy, doesn't it?  But every review I've seen so far has been glowing and as it is a Europa Editions book, I have faith in it (they seem to be a dependably good publisher of exceptional books).

I've been waiting for The Secret of Raven Point by Jennifer Vanderbes to come out and finally . . . here it is.  It's a WWII story about a young woman who lies about her age to become a nurse in Rome where she hopes to find out information about her beloved brother who has gone missing.  I've already started reading it.  Part of the draw is the Italian setting, and of course the story sounds good, too.

Another novel of suspense.  I have been meaning to read more by Lucie Whitehouse.  I really enjoyed her book, The Bed I Made and have been meaning to read more of her work ever since.  Caroline just wrote about Before We Met and now I look forward to giving it a go, too.  Per Booklist--"will hook readers from the first page... A gripping cat-and-mouse read."

And last but not least, something a little bit different.  Different is good sometimes!  M.D Waters's Archetype is classified as a Science Fiction book--a "breathtakingly futuristic suspense debut--the story of one woman who rebels agains everything she is told to believe."

Lots and lots of good books to try out.  And this is just new books--I have lots of great reads in progress at the moment.  I have a longer short story to read in the Weinman this weekend.  Maybe pure suspense, or a little walking?  Deciding what to read is always a good problem to have, right?

And 'lured by crime"?  The Book Depository sent an email/ad noting twenty good February books, and one of them caught my eye, The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith.  "...A gripping, elegant mystery steeped in the atmosphere of London - from the hushed streets of Mayfair, to the backstreet pubs of the East End, to the bustle of Soho - The Cuckoo's Calling is a remarkable debut. Introducing Cormoran Strike, it is a classic crime novel unlike any other book you will read this year."  That sounds pretty good, doesn't it?  Seeing as I am 'reading London' at the moment I liked the idea of a novel steeped in the atmosphere of the city.  Into the cart it went and I pushed the order button and then realized that Robert Galbraith is actually J.K. Rowling.  I really do need to get out more, don't I?  I have nothing against her, only I'm not sure I would have been so keen had I known she was the author.  Can't tell you why I feel that way, and I bet the book is really good.  Now I am very curious to see what a crime novel by J.K. Rowling is like.  I shall find out soon enough! 

As it is going to be a cold and snowy, sleety weekend here (followed by yet more Arctic air) I have every intention of spending as much time as I can curled up with a stack of good books (and maybe an audio book, too). 

Happy weekend everyone.  I hope you get to enjoy a good book(s), too!

In the Dark by Deborah Moggach

I've read some pretty good books so far this year--comforting, entertaining, creative, even compelling.  And then.  Every so often you come across a book where when you turn that last page it isn't just with a contented sigh of of satisfaction.  There's that, too, but you think--wow, now that's really brilliant. Deborah Moggach's In the Dark is for me that rare book where everything comes together just perfectly and reminds me just what it is that I really love about reading--why I spend so much time with so many books in hand and am forever in search of that perfect story. 

All those accolades that appear on the book's jacket by other reviewers?  For once they are all spot on and I will chime in with my own.  This is the best book I've read so far this year and actually the best book I've read in a long while.  The writing, the plotting and pacing, the characters--they all come together in just the right way.  Had I known she was this good, I would never have let the book languish so long in my reading pile.

In the Dark is a story that exudes sex.  Now let me qualify that statement before you get the wrong idea.  It's sexy without being salacious.  It's sophisticated and serious and utterly stylish without talking down to the reader.  It's perfect in its construction and the characterization is so true that I can imagine each and every character living and breathing and inhabiting this fictional space.  Deborah Moggach is a masterful storyteller.  So many emotions swirl around beneath the surface, but at the heart of the story I think Moggach is exploring the nature of love in its many guises.  It's just that the sex is so very obvious.  But it's everything else that I find so interesting and compelling and that makes this such a perfect read.

The setting is a London boarding house during WWI.  It's run by the beautiful widowed Eithne Clay who's left to raise her teenage son alone and try to make ends meet.  Winnie, the serving maid, is her only help and the two have become somewhat close in their shared responsibilities.  There's a handful of lodgers, each with some peculiarity or other, each with some quirk or damaged in some way by the war or just by life in general.  The house and even the residents themselves have all seen better days.  It's a world of genteel poverty weighed down by a lack of everything and by the war which is forever hovering in the background.  And a world that is changing rapidly, as the story rolls out you can feel how subtly, and sometimes not very subtly, life as it has been lived is fading away into a new (and sometimes for some people uncomfortable) normal.

Eithne is a passionate woman.  There are hints that her marriage was less than satisfactory and she's not entirely sad that her husband will never return from the war.  Ralph, her son, is heartsick about it and about the friends he's lost.  He's on the cusp of adulthood with no one to guide him there save the male residents of the boarding house who are none of them especially good role models.  Into their lives walks Mr. Neville Turk, the neighborhood butcher, who can only be described as a manly man, if you'll forgive the cliché.  If the story exudes sex, he absolutely radiates it.  He's completely taken with Eithne and he woos her with the bounty that makes up every aspect of his life.  If the war has made Eithne and her lodgers all the poorer, Neville's life only seems to have improved.

The inevitable happens.  Neville has a certain charisma, and while even Ralph's dog comes to love him and the lodgers appreciate him, not everyone sees him as the altruistic benefactor he appears.  Eithne and Neville marry and the boarding house changes irrevocably.  To give more of the story away would be a pity, since everything builds with such a convincing momentum.  But I have to say something about the construction of the story.  And I am choosing my words carefully--building and constructing, like a house of cards almost, and just one false step will send it all tumbling down.  This is what Moggach does so brilliantly.  For every action there is a reaction.  So, too, in the story there are parallels carefully constructed yet subtly done.  It's no accident that Neville the butcher has managed to stay out of the war, a bloody war being fought across the Channel.  Nor is it an accident that when electricity comes to the boarding house, that the brilliant light is so very illuminating.   

This is another case of a story where you feel like you've been somewhere and thought something substantial by the end.  It feels like London 1916, if you know what I mean.  And the ending is is so very fitting--I only wish I could tell you how it turns out--but best you go and discover it yourself!

If the rest of Deborah Moggach's books are even half as good as this one, and I count seventeen and two short story collections, then they are going to be very good indeed.  And I plan on reading as many of them as I can get my hands on!

Teaser Tuesday: Walk the Lines

I've decided to go on walking tour.  And in one of my very favorite cities--London!  It's been a very, very long time since I traveled to London, but I still remember it vividly.  I am very fortunate to have traveled there not once but twice and the second time I stayed for several weeks with friends.  Un-fortunately an armchair walking tour is about all I can manage these days on my very restricted budget.  Books, though, are always the next best thing--especially if the book is good and your imagination rises to the challenge. 

Cath at Read Warbler suggested Mark Mason's Walk the Lines: The London Underground Overground.  I've been itching for a really good nonfiction read and haven't been able to focus on one in particular (as a matter of fact have yet to finish a single nonfiction read so far this year!).  I'm not even sure what made me reach for this other than picking through a variety of books and the appeal of not only London and spending time walking (I love walking outside and am going a little stir crazy with the incessant cold weather we've been dealing with . . . bring on spring please) was strong enough for me to dip into the book.  Mason hooked me right away. 

The premise--Mason decided to walk the entire length of the London Underground in order to truly 'know the city' and 'own it'.  The catch is he walked each Underground line--overground and passing through each and ever tube station.  To make things a little more interesting and as I always love a good reading project, I have pulled out my set of Penguin Lines.  I love these little Penguin books (I have the Penguin Food boxed set and some of the Penguin English Journeys, too).  They were published last year to celebrate 150 years of the London Underground.

"The city is filled with stories. For the 150th anniversary of the London Underground, twelve writers tell their tales, each inspired by a different Tube line. Some are personal, some are polemical; every one is unique, showing how we are connected, and how the space in which we live shapes us and our imaginations."

When I first discovered them I had to have them, bought each book and then promptly left them to their own devices on my bookshelves.  Time to put them to use, however.  Aren't they pretty?  So, as Mason walks the lines I will follow his adventures and then supplement the reading with my Penguins.  Mason's itinerary: Victoria, Bakerloo, Central, Hammersmith & City, District, Northern, Circle, Piccadilly, Waterloo & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan.  The Penguin series has one additional book--East London, which I am not entirely sure how it fits in with the whole scheme, but I am sure I will figure it out soon enough.

The extracurricular reading may well  diverge drastically from Mason's writing.  I have started reading Mind the Child by Camila Batmanghelidjh and Kids Company.  The Victoria Line--Mind the Child is a play on 'mind the gap', but she takes as her subject the disadvantaged children she works with who have fallen between the cracks of society.  It's been an eye opening and occasionally painful read.  Each author of the Penguin series was able to interpret the theme in their own way, so it should be an interesting read and I am curious how it will all tie together.

As for the Mason.  It's quite humorous and more than a little chatty.  It seems to be chock filled with all sorts of London and London Underground trivia.  I suspect some of it might turn out to be a little over my head as I won't catch all the references, but there should still be plenty of interest to me.  For example (and I swear I'd read this somewhere but had forgotten):

"If you ever want a sense of peace at Victoria, this is the place to come [Victoria Tube Station].  Not because it's especially quiet, but rather because a plaque at the ticket barrier commemorates the arrival of the station's most famous (though nameless) visitor.  At 8.32 p.m. on 10 November 1920, this was the end of the journey from Dover for the train carrying the Unknown Warrior."

I plan on reading each Penguin book in tandem with the corresponding chapter in Walk the Lines, so it may take me a while to get through the book, but I will share my own 'journey' here.  I have also ordered the London A-Z Street Atlas so I can follow Mason's walk.  I think it will be more meaningful to me to 'see' it in some way.  Besides, I love looking at city maps and it will make the reading experience all the more richer. 

I hope the weather is fine in London.  I know I am ready for a good walk!

February 24: Weekend Reading Notes

A weekend of suspense.  Well, reading-wise anyway.  Once again I've been grazing when it comes to books--in a good way and a bad way.  A while back when I saw the title of one of Carl's posts, "I Can't Stop Starting Books", I had to file it away mentally as it describes perfectly how erratic my reading has become of late.  Yes, that is me, too.  It's not that I am not enjoying my books, it's that I am enjoying them too much, I think.  I have this voracious appetite at the moment for really good stories (okay, maybe that is all the time actually), and really good stories right now means 'page-turners'.  Stories that keep me on the edge of my seat and flipping pages as fast as I can go.

I'm cheating.  This photo is actually from the weekend before this last.  I will be writing about Frank Tallis's Vienna Blood in a day or two.  I very much enjoyed it by the way.  And the coffee was as delectable as it looked (cinnamon dolce latte . . . yum . . . an indulgence . . . must keep energy up in this cold weather).

But let me tell you what good things I've been reading over the past weekend.  

After I finished Frank Tallis, I picked up Dark Tide by Elizabeth Haynes.  (Many thanks by the way for the suggestions--they are also filed away for later consumption).  All the blurbs tell me that this is "unputdownable", "tension to unbearable heights", "page-turning" and "gripping suspense", so my expectations are high and to be honest so far Haynes is delivering.  I know her novel Into the Darkest Corner (I have a copy of that, too) is the book that put her on the reading map, but the setting of this one--a houseboat is Kent was too tempting to pass up.  It's written in first person, and with this p.o.v. in a thriller I am always immediately suspicious. 

Genevieve, a Londoner, has fulfilled a dream to buy a houseboat and fix it up.  She saved enough money, quit her job (walked out really), and when the story opens is having a party with her London friends and fellow houseboat dwellers.  It's not an easy mix really.  After the night winds down and she is alone in bed she hears a thumping against her boat and goes to investigate (if this was a movie, at this point we'd all be saying--no, don't go there, right?).  She expects some trash to have gotten caught between her boat and the dock and when she fishes it up it turns out to be the body of a woman.  A woman she knows.  That's the premise and what makes it so suspenseful are all the little details that make the reader realize there is something quite fishy going on--and not just murder.  Oh, I don't want to tell you more--must save it for later when I write about it properly!

Then, for something a little different and perhaps just a little more tame I picked up Simone St. James's An Inquiry into Love and Death.  I really liked her first book, The Haunting of Maddy Clare, and with her next book soon to be published (Silence for the Dead), I thought it was time to catch up.  Her books seem to be firmly in the 'romantic suspense' category and remind me of Mary Stewart and Susanna Kearsley, both authors I like very much.  St. James has her own slant, however, as she does ghost stories.  They are more suspenseful and atmospheric than outright frightening, but I like the way she uses the power of suggestion in her books. 

In this case it is the early 1920s and a young Oxford student is called to tie up the affairs of her uncle who died accidentally.  He had an unusual job, essentially he was a ghost hunter.  She travels down to the English coast believing it will be a quick trip to clear out her uncle's belongings but questions arise as to whether Toby fell accidentally to his death or if he was pushed.  A rather dashing inspector from Scotland Yard is called in.  Like Jillian, an oddity of the times with her independent ways and university education, Drew Merriken is somewhat war damaged, so the two may be an unlikely pair but feel a mutual attraction.  I am thoroughly enjoying this one, too.

Approaching library due dates (every library user's dilemma) means I have once again had to do a book shuffle.  Jennifer McMahon's The Winter People was the victor.  This is a decidedly creepy read. I've only just started reading, so it's too soon to tell how the story will go, but it involves something called "sleepers", or ghosts who walk the earth.  The story is told through diary excerpts in part.  It begins in 1908 Vermont and concerns the death of a woman and her child, but I think it is going to move around in time a bit.  So far I am liking it and finding it very absorbing.

Now I have another little dilemma.  I have a few other 'obligation' reads this week that I need to turn my attention to, and these books call out to me, too.  I think I will have to come up with some sort of reading rotation.  Too bad there isn't a holiday that would open up a little free time for extra reading.  So, I'll be fitting in my reading whenever and wherever I can this week!

Short Story Sunday: The Purple Shroud

If you let yourself be carried away with Joyce Harrington's "The Purple Shroud" it could be a chilling story indeed.  I can't decide which pushed it over the edge for me when it comes to atmosphere--the ending or the cold calculatedness of the main character (most likely a mix of the two), who in this case is Mrs. Arlene Moon, artist and wife of an habitual philanderer.

Yet another new to me author, Joyce Harrington won an Edgar Award in 1973 for "The Purple Shroud" which also happened to be her very first short story, which she published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine the previous year.   Harrington had a variety of jobs before turning to writing full time.  She was an actress, a wife and mother, she worked for a photography magazine and later worked in public relations.  During her career as a writer she was quite prolific publishing many short stories in several mystery magazines like EQMM.  She also wrote three novels though none appear to be in print any longer. 

"Retirement, along with greater fame as a short story writer, may be why Harrington's fiction work hasn't received the attention it deserves.  She was primarily concerned with human behavior and the motives for sliding into nefarious deeds, with twists that disturbed in their quiet intensity.  It's no wonder "The Purple Shroud" fared so well upon publication: its depiction of a toxic marriage and how a subjugated woman finds her way out still resonates today."

And that sums up beautifully how this week's story works out without giving away any plot twists.  I won't give any of them away either.  I will say, though, that the weaving Mrs. Moon so furiously had been working on in the beginning of the story was something of a curiosity to those she knew.  When asked what it was she was weaving, she jokingly replied a shroud.  Okay, maybe really it's just for draperies.  It reminded me, however, of the shroud Penelope ceaselessly weaves when Ulysses is away.

Weaving her purple shroud, an unusual color for Mrs. Moon, is how she passes the time when away at a summer artists' colony where her husband George teaches painting.  A competent artist, he excels at teaching where he molds and bullies his students into producing their best work.  She herself teaches craft therapy at a home for the aged.  And the summer artists colony is both work and relaxation for the two.  Well, certainly for George anyway.  

I won't go into just what George gets into on his summer holidays, or Arlene for that matter, so as not to ruin the story for you.  But Harrington offers some wonderful imagery in the story.  Like the spider in the room where Mrs. Moon works--she on her weaving and the spider on its web.  And there are occasional moments of black humor, too.

If Vera Caspary's "Sugar and Spice" is my favorite story so far in this collection, Joyce Harrington's comes in a close second.  Next up a story by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, who was heralded by Raymond Chandler.  I've been looking forward to trying her work.

**********

This week's New Yorker story (Feb. 17 & 24 issue) is "Come Together" by Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard (translated by Don Bartlett--who by the way has translated quite a lot of Scandinavian crime fiction).  We were all children once, so why does childhood feel like such a distant land--so long ago and in my own mind almost entirely forgotten?  Knausgaard's story is wonderfully evocative.  Maybe I enjoyed it so much, even though we are separated by language, culture and sex--he writes about the period I was growing up, too, and I can see a lot of reality in the telling of it.  The story is a moment in time of an adolescent boy dealing with the pains of growing up and falling in "love" for the first time.

Apparently Knausgaard has written a series of six books, autobiographical in nature though fictionalized, under the blanket title My Struggle.  "Come Together" (Recognize the song title?  Music is very important in the story) is adapted from the third book in the cycle My Struggle: Boyhood, which is forthcoming.  Much like the Harrington story, this is one of my favorites so far from the New Yorker.  I liked it so much that I have already ordered (can't find it in any local libraries) the first book, My Struggle: Book One. 

There is an interesting Q&A with the author here.  As this is a double issue this week, I'll have a chance to do a little catching up with other reading until the next issue comes out March 3. 

More Books for the Wishlist!

Here's a novel idea.  Writing down titles to add to my wishlist rather than buying everything in sight that caught my eye.  I dropped by the bookstore yesterday and knowing I couldn't leave with a stack of books (I was going somewhere after and couldn't lug a bag of books about), I jotted down titles and limited my purchases to just one book and one magazine.  That's all I could fit into the small bookbag I was carrying. 

I have to say I am quite proud of myself to have shown such restraint.  And I am pleased with the lone selections I made, too.  I had looked at Crossbones Yard by Kate Rhodes when it first came out in hardcover.  Now it is out in paper and I brought home a copy.  Louise Penny calls it "an atmosperhic, smart, often terrifying read."  As I am on a mini--thriller/suspense/mystery binge at the moment, it was the perfect fit for my mood.

I also just discovered a British magazine called The Simple Things.  It's already well-thumbed and I like the content so much I am considering subscribing to it.  The January issue offers "the simple things to buy, cook, read and do".  I was especially interested in an article on "living mindfully" which is something I am trying to do right now.  They shared ten books to read and recipes I could happily try.  Will have to share more of the things I discovered in those pages. 

It's been ages since I have visited a bricks and mortar (new books that is) bookstore.  While I didn't browse as long as I might have I still enjoyed looking at all the new releases--or new in paperback releases.  This is the list I came away with to either check out more carefully and order or borrow from the library (some are new and some might be older):

How It All Began by Penelope Lively -- "A vibrant new novel (actually from 2012) from Penelope Lively—a wry, wise story about the surprising ways lives intersect ."

The Last Enchantments by Charles Finch -- "The Last Enchantments is a powerfully moving and lyrically written novel. A young American embarks on a year at Oxford and has an impassioned affair that will change his life forever."

The Rules of Inheritance: A Memoir by Claire Bidwell Smith -- "A powerful and searingly honest memoir about a young woman who loses her family but finds herself in the process."

Rachel's Irish Family Food: 120 Classic Family Recipes from My Home to Yours by Rachel Allen

The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister -- "Mixes gorgeous prose, luscious detail, and heartfelt characters—new friends and old—to reveal just how colorful and warm life in the rainy Pacific Northwest can be."  This is a sequel to The School of Essential Ingredients, so I should probably start there!  I like the sound of the setting.

Adore: A Novella by Doris Lessing -- "Roz and Lil have been best friends since childhood. But their bond stretches beyond familiar bounds when these middle-aged mothers fall in love with each other's teenage sons—taboo-shattering passions that last for years, until the women end them, vowing to have a respectable old age. With Adore, Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, once again proves her unrivaled ability to capture the truth of the human condition."

From Nottinghill With Love . . . Actually by Ali McNamara -- "Movie fanatic Scarlett O'Brien dreams of a life as glamorous and romantic as all the big screen flicks she worships. When a chance house-sitting job in iconic Notting Hill comes along, she knows living in one of her favorite movie settings is an opportunity too good to pass up."

The Lifeboat by Charlottte Rogan -- "The Lifeboat is a page-turning novel of hard choices and survival, narrated by a woman as unforgettable and complex as the events she describes.

Brava Valentina by Adriana Trigiani -- "Award-winning playwright, television writer, and documentary filmmaker Adriana Trigiani returns with Brava, Valentine, continuing the heartwarming and hilarious story of Valentine Roncalli, her family, her love life, and the Angelini Shoe Company. Following on the heels of the New York Times bestseller Very Valentine."  (I think this is the second book of a trilogy--she's a fun comfort read author for me--always good to have one of her books on hand).

An Irish Country Wedding by Patrick Taylor -- "A spirited and compassionate story filled with pastoral Irish imagery, cheerful village life, and heartwarming romance."  I think this is the 7th in the series and I have often looked at these books--they look quite entertaining.  I might have to go back and start with the first.  With March and St. Patrick's Day just around the corner I think I need a good book with an Irish destination.

He's Gone by Deb Caletti -- "From National Book Award finalist Deb Caletti comes an intensely gripping story about love, loss, marriage, and secrets."  Once again, this is set in Seattle--a setting with much appeal for me.

Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon -- "Who is Pietr the Latvian? Is he a gentleman thief? A Russian drinking absinthe in a grimy bar? A married Norwegian sea captain? A twisted corpse in a train bathroom? Or is he all of these men? Inspector Maigret, tracking a mysterious adversary and a trail of bodies, must bide his time before the answer comes into focus."  Have you seen these new editions/translations of the Maigret books?

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling -- "In Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door—not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka."

Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman -- " Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Kerman’s story offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison—why it is we lock so many away and what happens to them when they’re there."  Yes, I am the last person to have discovered this. 

Not Without You by Harriet Evans -- "Sophie Leigh’s real name is Sophie Sykes. But she hasn’t been called that for years, not since she became an A-list movie star. Living in Los Angeles, she can forget all about the life she left behind in England. But she’s lost something of herself in the process, too."

Not that I need help finding more books to read, but I really do need to get out more when it comes to bookstores.  And it is sort of liberating to limit myself to just one book but endless titles on a list--then I can decide at leisure what I really want to read. 

Literary Postcards, Part 7

As promised more literary postcards.  I have a large enough collection now that I can pick and choose which to share (so expect more sometime in the future).  I had to start with this one--I think more than a few of us understand this wintery scene only too well.  That was practically me this morning!  Apparently we are due for a wetter second half of winter.  It's been Artically cold here, but we've not had much snow.  Until now.  As long as it comes in small bursts and melts in between . . .  If it gets really bad I'll be looking for more summery, warm weather reads.

And in honor of the month of February, here's a "Love" card (as in I love books and read--if the card is open to interpretation!).  It looks like a journal, which is fitting since I am keeping a reading journal (of sorts) this year.

Isn't this a great card?  It is a Postcrossing card that came all the way from Russia, from the ancient city of Pskov, which was founded in 903.  I haven't a clue what book the girl has.  A classic maybe?  Anyone read Russian?

Here's something you don't see anymore!  Remember these?  Some of you probably don't!  Yes, the card catalog.  I don't miss them too much--at least not from the perspective of ease of searching online catalogs, but I do think in general the wood card catalog cases are pretty cool.  I could use one for other purposes--like organizing my needlework supplies.  They are not to be had cheaply these days, however.

I never managed to visit Foyles when I was in London (many, many years ago), but it looks like a place I could pass a few hours.  Who out there has been there?

Do you know this man?  Another Postcrossing card from Russia.  If you said Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, you are correct.  I have been 'collecting' all his work and someday I am going to have a very serious Chekhov reading splurge.

I see Louisa May Alcott at the top of the pile but don't recognize any of the other books.  Still, what a pleasant sight.  A stack of books and a cup of tea or coffee.  Just need a cookie or scone and I'd be pretty content.

This is a postcard from Persephone Books.  I know the bookshop is on Lamb's Conduit Street, but is it near Russell Square Station, Bloomsbury?  In any case It's a very cool postcard.

No explanation needed for this childhood classic, I think!  I love postcards of book jackets and magazine covers.  The Puffin collection is wonderful.

And last but not least Katherine Mansfield.  How fitting--another short story writer for my author collection.  That's quite a penetrating look, don't you think?  I would expect no less from such an amazing writer.

For more literary postcards: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6.  Needless to say when I find a card like these (bookish cards are cool, but I am happy with any postcard or letter!), my day is made!

February 19: Listening Notes

Is it just wishful thinking for warmer weather (we are actually being treated to a few milder days this week . . . no worries, though . . . I know it won't last) that I have been cleaning up files on my MP3 player?  I tend to listen to it mostly when I am walking to and from work, but with the frigid temperatures it has not gotten much use of late.  I removed all the holiday music, older audio books that I had finished listening to and now have room for a few new books.  And I am in the mood for a really good audio book or two!

I am a very picky audio book listener.  I will persist much more with a story that I am reading in paper book format.  But audio books?  If the reader is not pleasing to my ear, I think nothing of not finishing listening.  As a matter of fact I read reviews and listen to samples before settling on an audio books.  Then I cross my fingers and hope I have chosen well.  So reader and story are almost on equal footing in my selection.  If I already own a book, I prefer to read it over listening to it.  I am more likely to listen to an audio book that I am not planning on reading.  If the story is one I really want to read, I want to read it, however--not listen to it. 

So with these parameters in mind I go about choosing something to listen to.  It's been very hit or miss with me and audio books.  I belong to Audible and so get a credit each month and am racking up the tokens, so I thought it was time to look for something new and interesting to listen to.  I've got a number of unlistened to audio books in my "library" too. 

I've had really good luck listening to radio dramatisations like the Saint and Perry Mason.  They took me through the summer months, as well as a couple of Agatha Christie novels including And Then There Were None, which I read a few years ago.  I listened to Kafka's The Metamorphoses last fall before reading the novella (and then never got around to writing about either experience!).  I was last listening to Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus before winter and cold weather arrived.  It's been several months, however, since I last listened so the question is do I pick up where I left off and keep going or listen to something new?

After a little browsing and listening I now have four new audio books to choose from.  Three are newly acquired and one was from my last audio book buying binge.  Curious what I have to listen to?

Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City by Russell Shorto - "An endlessly entertaining portrait of the city of Amsterdam and the ideas that make it unique."  My library owns the book so I might borrow it and peruse it alongside the audio.

The People in the Photo by Hélène Gestern - This was already on my wishlist to buy or borrow and read, but I forgot about it (I have a really long wishlist and titles not at the top tend to get lost in the shuffle occasionally).  When I listened to a sample of the audio it clicked with me.  There are alternate narrators and I liked what I heard.  It immediately went to my shopping cart and I think I will begin with this book!  "The chance discovery of a newspaper image from 1971 sets two people on the path to learning the disturbing truth about their parents' pasts."  "Winner of fifteen literary awards, this dark yet touching drama deftly explores the themes of blame and forgiveness, identity and love."

The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood - "A gritty, psychological thriller that asks the question: How well can you know anyone?  Gripping and fast-paced, with an ending that will stay with you long after you’ve read it, The Wicked Girls will appeal to fans of the Academy Award–nominated film Heavenly Creatures and the novels of Rosamund Lupton and Chevy Stevens."

Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now - As Told by Those Who Love it, Hate It, Live It, and Long for It by Craig Taylor - "In Londoners, acclaimed journalist Craig Taylor paints readers an epic portrait of today’s London that is as rich and lively as the city itself. In the style of Studs Terkel (Working, Hard Times, The Good War) and Dave Isay (Listening Is an Act of Love), Londoners offers up  the stories, the gripes, the memories, and the dreams of those in the great and vibrant British metropolis who “love it, hate it, live it, left it, and long for it,” from a West End rickshaw driver to a Soldier of the Guard at Buckingham Palace to a recovering heroin addict seeing Big Ben for the very first time."  This is another audio book with multiple readers--I liked what I heard and think the anecdotal format will be perfect for listening.

I have added Donna Tartt's The Secret History to my Audible wishlist.  I have tried to read it twice now, but I don't seem to have much luck with it (not sure why as it sounds right up my alley and I have heard so very many good things about it).  Maybe listening would work better--am thinking about that one.

I think for now, however, I have a pretty good line-up.  I will have to find some activities indoors where I can listen (cooking?  stitching?), since we are forecast snow on Thursday morning, so I will be wearing ear muffs once again rather than ear buds!  Always curious, I have to ask.  Have you listened to any especially good audio books lately?

The Emperor of Paris by C.S. Richardson

C.S. Richardson's The Emperor of Paris is a slender novel, one that could easily be read in just a very few sittings, but I am glad I took my time with it.  There is a magical quality to it that put me in mind of Joanne Harris's Chocolat and the movie Amelie as I was reading.  It's filled with a cast of quirky characters and what it lacks in heft it makes up in heart.  Richardson takes his time getting to where he's going and he makes things interesting in the route he takes to get there.  It wasn't until I arrived at those last pages that I decided that this is indeed as beautiful a read as the elegant wraps the book comes in.

Paris.  The eighth arrondissement.  That's where so much of the eye catching beauty so familiar to people like me just looking in from the outside and dreaming of the City is found.  The Champs-Élysées, the Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomph.  Even if you have never been there you can see these monuments in your mind.  It's also where the celebrated baker, Émile Notre-Dame has his bakery, known affectionately as the Cake-Slice.  He is the thinnest baker in all of Paris, but don't go by appearances when it comes to his bread.  Baguettes, brioches, croissants, wheat rolls with sweet hidden raisins.  All mouth-watering.

Books, bread, pictures.  Bookstalls, bakeries, and the Louvre.  These are the places the characters of the story inhabit.  Émile and his unlikely, rather taciturn wife (rather more plush than her husband, so, what a pair they are) have one son, Octavio.  Born in the basement of the bakery, he grows up 'word-blind' unable to learn how to read, but he devours the stories his father tells him.  In the opening pages he's out with his books, which he collects according to color starting with red, when what seems to be snow in July rains down from the upper storeys of the Cake-Slice.  The story begins with a fire, but will end with two misfittish people coming together, giving hope that there really is someone for everyone.

The story begins and ends with Octavio but in between the streets of Paris populate, the scenes play out and time moves forward and backwards.  Along with the Cake-Slice is the Atelier Normande, a couture house all about appearances.  It's ironic then that the Pascal and his wife Céleste have a daughter, Isabeau, whose face has been disfigured in an accident.  Forever hiding the scar with locks of her hair or a scarf, she retreats to the Louvre's underworld where she restores paintings.  Book in hand she sits outside away from everyone lost in stories eating her lunch. 

Henri Fournier is a third generation bookseller.  Though his father and grandfather are still involved in the business he is usually left manning the stall alone.  He steps onto a magical book, right foot-recto, left foot-verso in the hopes of feeling the story within like the Fourniers before him.  The book sits on the shelves but is not for sale.  When Jacob, a starving young artist, leaves a drawing of a young woman on consignment, it sets in motion the meeting of our two lovers. 

"She--was a reader."

"He had a library."

So many people make up this story.  War comes, men leave and sometimes come back.  Marriages, children, deaths happen.  The eighth arrondissement is privy to all the drama of it all.  This is the story of a meeting, of two lost souls and how they find love.  There is a quiet simplicity to the telling, and the telling is economically done.  I was afraid it was all a little too thin, but I just had to wait for the dough to rise and ended up with a perfect loaf.

The Emperor of Paris was longlisted for Canada's Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2012.  It's so pretty in the presentation (and fitting the story so very nicely), I had to share a few more photos.  You can't tell from this vantage point, but the feather on the dust jacket is slightly raised for a nice texture.  This was a lovely read, both tactiley--book in hand and visually through the words of the story.  

C.S. Richardson's first book, The End of the Alphabet won the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for the Best First Book.  I'm completely perplexed as to why his books have not been published in the US.  Used copies, however, can be had fairly cheaply.  I had tentatively grabbed Nancy Richler's The Imposter Bride as my next Canadian read, but now I am considering letting The End of the Alphabet cut in line.  I was in dire need of kick starting my Canadian Reading and this was just the ticket.   

The Curious Gardener: February

I feel a little bit of a fraud reading Anna Pavord's The Curious Gardener.  Don't get me wrong, I am thoroughly enjoying my monthly reading.  She has such a chatty, inviting style of writing, and never talks down to the reader.  As a matter of fact it's that chattiness on equal terms that makes me realize how very little I know about 'proper' gardening. 

I have dabbled just a little with container gardening (to less than satisfying results), tried to grow tomatoes, chile peppers, cilantro (some success there), and even one year gave sunflowers a go.  Boy do sunflowers get big.  I planted them on the side of my house where they would get the best light and they were so massive you couldn't even walk down the narrow path.  The heaviness of them meant that they tilted over the sidewalk.  Then again, maybe I should count them as a success since the birds found them delightful.  And so did the squirrels.  I tried to set the flowers with their seeds on the porch to deal with later and the squirrels had no trouble at all finding them.  Greedy animals.  They didn't thank me AND made a mess of the flowers and seeds. 

But I digress.  I am not sure I will ever (attempt to) grow a proper garden--flower or vegetable, but I like thinking about them.  I like visiting them and I very much like reading about them.  That counts surely?  Pavord moves from topic to topic in each chapter.  There is not exactly a unifying theme, though the chapters are tailored to the month and each ends with a checklist of what you should be doing in your garden, which for February is all about preparation--but more about that later.

First.  I shall never look at a red rose in quite the same way, which is where she begins her February musings.  I love roses but I really have not had a lot of desire to get bunches of them, and now I see that's actually a good thing--the desire not to get them, that is.  Had I planned better I would have posted this on Friday, for Valentine's Day.  I was going to treat myself and buy a few tulips, but the price didn't fit in with my budget (priced for Valentine's Day giving perhaps?) and I was afraid they would droop in the cold before I could get them home.

The thing about roses is that February is not their season--at least not in the places where they are given in such massive amounts so must be imported in from warmer climates. 

"I've gone off red roses in a big way since a trip to Ecuador this time last year.  Vast tracts of the country were covered in polythene tunnels filled with bushes of red roses and further tracts of native wild flowers were being bulldozed to prepare for yet more of this rapacious monoculture."

What a sad thought that native plants are being destroyed in order for lovers to send a bouquet when words (or deeds) might well suffice instead.  She goes on to say what the flowers given say about the giver.  Red roses?  "From a lover who feels safest as one of the herd and for whom imagination will never be a strong point."  Carnations are the kiss of death, though maybe chrysanthemums fit that description better since they are more appropriate at funerals.  Tulips are the winners--"wild, irrepressible, wayward, unpredictable, strange, subtle, generous, elegant, tulips are everything you would wish for in a lover."   That would be my own flower of choice and they are coming into season now.

There are lots of basics in February's chapter, and "basics are what gardening is all about" she assures the reader.  Like knowing your soil and climate and planting accordingly.  You need to "know what makes plants grow" otherwise your garden will be littered with corpses.  That is probably where I have gone wrong in my own gardening experiments.  So, start with the soil and work your way up.  Loam is the gardener's nirvana--soil that is somewhere between having just the right ratio of "earth crumbs" to air pockets.  Add humus (surface mulching--I was always lazy about this, too), and then let the earthworms do their work--they drag it all underground making for happy and healthy roots.  I always knew those worms were important.  It's quite a science to learn how it all works together--at what rate and knowing just what sort of mulch to use.

She goes on to talk about pruning and how and when it should be done and why you bother with it--and it's not just to make things neat and tidy (tell that to my neighbor who yearly decimates her hedges when they grow a little too unwieldy).  Pruning and thinning all work towards creating an abundance of blooms and at just the right times. 

For those of us with thumbs that are more brown than green there are lots of other interesting things she touches upon--anecdotes about her travels like to the Villa Lante in Bagnaia Italy--"said by connoisseurs to be the least changed and best preserved of any of the great gardens of the Italian Renaissance."  I'm not sure her travels there were so successful as everywhere she wanted to go seemed to be cordoned off and the fountains were not running until just when she left!  But I certainly enjoyed reading about them.

So for me, this book is an entertaining and useful hybrid of a book.  There are practical tips and advice and surely some of those little nuggets will stay somewhere in my brain for later, but it's the rest of what she writes about that I am finding so good.  Maybe something will rub off on me, and if not, I can at least dream of being outside again (without shivering with cold).  Next month's chapter begins with "Spring is in the air."  Something to look forward to.