A Work in Progress

New Books: Borrowed and Bought

Gosh I have been so bad lately when it comes to "new" (or at least new to me) books.  Of course by phrasing it that way, it sort of implies that I am ever good.  Which I think I am not.  Not really.  I give in far too easily to whim and fancy, but at least with library books I can always take them back.  There isn't really such a thing as "too many books" since I don't have to pay for them or find homes for them on bookshelves (or piles on the floor).  Well, space is provided on a temporary basis.  I like to think of them as welcome visitors.  This week, my visitors include a variety of stories!

1914 by Jean Echenoz - "With the delicacy of a miniaturist and with an irony that is both witty and clear-eyed, Echenoz offers us an intimate epic . . . "  As you can tell by the title and cover, this is a WWI story. 

Long Quiet Highway by Natalie Goldberg - I think she is known for her books on writing, but this is a memoir.  ". . . Goldberg takes us on her own wonderful journey of awakening from the profound sleep of a suburban childhood."

That Part Was True by Deborah McKinlay - "This is a beautifully crafted, delightfully delicious story involving food, letters, and love--my favorite combination.  The characters and the ending, which I though was perfect, have stayed with me long after closing the book."  Mary Simses, author of The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe.

The Ghost of the Mary Celeste by Valerie Martin - "The Ghost of the Mary Celeste is a spellbinding exploration of love, nature, and the fictions that pass as truth."

Where Monsters Dwell by Jorgen Brekke - "A murder at the Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia bears a close resemblance to one in a library in Trondheim, Norway.  The corpse of the museum curator in Virginia is found--beheaded and flayed--in his office.  The corpse of an archivist in Norway is found inside a locked vault in the library used to store the rarest and most delicate books in their collection."  Detectives on both sides of the Atlantic pair up to untangle the mysteries--like the sound of this one (well, not the gruesome aspects, but the way the story is set up).

You have probably already heard about a number of these books--they are either older and have been around a while or new and in the news and popular reads at the moment!

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty - "Yvonne Carmichael has a high-flying career, a beautiful home and a good marriage.  But when she meets a stranger she is drawn into a passionate affair.  Keeping the two halves of her life separate seems easy at first.  But she can't control what happens next."

The King Must Die by Mary Renault - This is a retelling of the Greek Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.  Quite looking forward to this one.

Little Black Book of Stories by A.S. Byatt - "Like Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, Isak Dinesen and Angela Carter, A.S. Byatt knows that fairy tales are for grown-ups.  And in this ravishing collection she breathes new life into the form."  Perhaps this will be a follow up to the Angela Carter stories I am reading now.

A True Novel by Minae Mizumura - Oops--this one is upside down in the pile. It's a gorgeous set of books!  Quite hefty and heavy, however.  "A passionate reimagining of the romantic classic Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte."  La Nacion (Argentina).  I was intrigued by this one!

My Struggle: Book One by Karl Ove Knausgaard - Another Norwegian author!  I was suitably impressed by the short story by Knausgaard that appeared in a recent New Yorker issue to buy this first book of his trilogy. 

Longbourn by Jo Baker - Have you read this one already?  I feel like I am the last person to finally read it.  It is a reimagining of Pride and Prejudice as told from the servants point of view.  Can't wait to read this one (well, all of them really)!

I'm afraid this is only a sampling of new books.  I know.  I am spoiled for choice.

Short Story Sunday: Three by Angela Carter

Wow.  Such exquisite, exquisite prose!  I've read Angela Carter before, you know.  Far too long ago and was suitably impressed then.  Why has it taken me so long to pick up another of her books?  Thanks for the gentle nudge as Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces is likely going to be one of my best reads of the year I suspect.  Angela Carter was born in 1940 and died far too young when she was only 51.  What an immense loss to literature.  I know I've not read much by her but what little I have read I can see is really amazing, and I am not sure if I can explain why I think so.  It's not just the writing, though that's a big part of it, it is the way she makes you think and feel, which is quite often a little unbalanced or even downright uncomfortable. 

Where to start.  Fireworks is a slim book of nine works.  I hesitate to call them short stories exactly and after reading the afterword (yes, I have jumped ahead a bit, as I was curious), she didn't really consider them so, either.  I read three of the works and that was just enough.  Slim the book may be, but deceptively so as there is nothing slender about the pieces.  Such lush and vivid 'storytelling'.   The stories are dark and at times even a little disturbing.  They really do throw you off balance and I think she does so purposely.

Carter wrote these works while living in Japan and you can see the influence of her surroundings on them.  She had only a few years previously separated from her first husband (in 1970).  The book was published in 1974. 

In the first story, "Souvenir of Japan", an Englishwoman laments an affair with her Japanese lover knowing it is doomed.  ". . . try as we might to possess the essence of each others's otherness, we would inevitably fail."  Mirrors and reflections weigh heavily in her work.  I'm not entirely sure what it signifies, though in her afterword she talks about the "imagery of the unconscious".  Perhaps it is a way of looking inside oneself?  A portal to another dimension?  I think there is something of the fantastic about her writing--even in a story as seemingly straightforward as this first one. 

All through the summer, every evening there would be fireworks. 

". . . once we rode the train out of Shinjuku for an hour to watch one of the public displays which are held over rivers so that the dark water multiplies the reflections."

There are all sorts of reflections in this story--at least figuratively.  This is less a story about lovers than a character study--not just the lovers, the Englishwoman's lover especially, but also culturally.  I don't 'know' Japan, but somehow I feel like I have gotten a peek inside at Japanese sensibilities.  The idea of the importance of 'appearance' in Japanese Society is very strong in this story.  And Carter always seems to inject into her stories with magic, with a fairy tale feel to them.  The narrator likens her lover to a character from a Japanese story---Momotaro, who was born from a peach.

"Before my eyes, the paper peach split open and there was the baby, where the stone should have been.  He, too had the inhuman sweetness of a child born from something other than a mother, a passive, cruel sweetness I did not immediately understand, for it was that of the repressed masochism which, in my country, is usually confined to women."

I love the imagery of that--instead of a stone, there is a baby inside.  This image she has of her lover is as much what is inside her as what she physically sees.  She believes that she invents him as she goes along, though he is palpably real.  Whatever perceptions each has of the other, and maybe because what they are seeing is at least in part invention, it is not enough to sustain their love. 

"The Executioner's Beautiful Daughter" is also something of a character study.  It is an uncomfortable read being unapologetically about incest.  In a mountain village the dwellers gather to watch a public execution--"the only entertainment the country offers".  The executioner executes his only son for having committed the crime of incest upon his sister.  He is forever masked, as you would expect an executioner to be, and who would ever know him otherwise?  And while a brother's incestuous crime results in death, the executioner can perpetrate the same crime without fear of retribution, for who else would wield the axe.  No one is safe and nothing is sacred it would seem.

"The Loves of Lady Purple" is another wonderfully descriptive story Gothic in tone--dark and a little depraved.  The magic in Carter's stories never brings happiness.  There is no lightness.  Lady Purple is a marionette.  Again there is a play on reality .

"The puppet-master is always dusted with a little darkness.  In direct relation to his skill, he propagates the most bewildering enigmas, for the more lifelike his marionettes, the more godlike his manipulations and the more radical the symbiosis between inarticulate doll and articulating fingers."

The prose in this story is sumptuous, as is Lady Purple--at once doll and real woman.  The puppeteer is creator of this depraved woman.  And he is obsessed with his creation.

"She must have been the masterpiece of a long-dead, anonymous artisan and yet she was nothing but a curious structure until the Professor touched her strings, for it was he who filled her with necromantic vigor."

The story behind the doll, the story the puppeteer tells and enacts over and over is not a pleasant one as it is the story of a prostitute--she is a plague and bane to her lovers as she no sooner finishes with them than she dispatches them.  And however lovingly the puppeteer treats his beautiful marionette, nothing can save him from her murderous intentions.   

These are not really 'stories', though I have called them so, rather Carter calls them 'tales'--something that makes "few pretenses at the imitation of life" (thankfully--I'd hate to think of life bing much like what happens in these stories).  They provoke unease she says.  Certainly these stories do that!  Next week, three more.

Once Upon a Town by Bob Greene

If Bob Greene's Once Upon a Town was a movie it would be one of those Hallmark Hall of Fame made for TV movies where there may be heartache and loss but you know going into it that all will end well and nothing will be too utterly devastating.  It is not often that I can say that about a book about a war--especially a book about WWII.  Whenever I think about that period and the massive upheaval of people, the suffering and loss of life and the general inhumanity, I truly find it all mind boggling.  Along with the stories of the hopelessness and despair that people endured, the war also brought out the good in so many people, too.  Sometimes it is the worst moments in life that you see just what people are capable of--good and bad.  Once Upon a Time is all about the good.

I'm not sure how I managed to miss this book.  It was originally published in 2002 and was a New York Times besteller.  It's not something I would ordinarily have gone in search of--until, that is, I decided I need to read more Nebraska authors, more stories set here and more books about Nebraska--history, nature, diaries--whatever piques my curiosity and catches my eye.  I came across Once Upon a Town on the very last day of 2013 in a museum gift shop.  The museum is local, a place I often walk past and occasionally visit.  It's only fitting that a book that has as its setting a train station station, be sold in a train station.

"On Interstate 80, three or four hours into the long westward drive across Nebraska, with the sun hovering mercilessly in the midsummer sky on a cloudless and broiling July afternoon, there were moments when I thought there was no way I'd ever find what I had come here to seek":

"The best America there ever was.  Or at least whatever might be left of it."

What Greene was in search of was that elusive quality that makes a country great--a generosity of spirit and goodness just because it is the right thing to do.  Watching the nightly news or reading the newspaper it is easy to lose confidence in your neighbors.  Greene had heard a story about this sort of selflessness that occurred in a tiny little town somewhere in the Midwest during WWII, and he was hoping to find a trace of it.  His destination?  North Platte, Nebraska.

"One Christmas Day in 1941, it began.  A troop train rolled in--and the surprised soldiers on board were greeted by North Platte residents with welcoming words, heartfelt smiles and baskets of food and treats."

"What happened in the years that followed was nothing short of amazing--some would say a miracle.  The railroad depot on Front Street was turned into the North Platte Canteen.  Every day of the year--from 5 A.M. until he last troop train of the night had passed through after midnight--the Canteen was open.  The troop trains were scheduled to stop in North Platte for only ten minutes at a time before resuming their journey.  The people of North Platte made those ten minutes count."

Once Upon a Town is the sort of social history I like reading about best--it is anecdotal in nature filled in with bits of interesting history by Greene as well as descriptions of his travels and time in North Platte.  Greene may narrate what happened, he paints a slightly broader picture, but it is the people who lived it that tell their stories, tell the story of what happened so many years ago in the little town of North Platte.  It's these stories, in first person that are so very important I think--literally, living history.  As each year takes us further and further away from the war, events and reactions are reinterpreted and perceptions sometimes shift.  It's so very important to take note of these happenings, to listen to the people who lived then. 

According to Greene six million soldiers criss crossed the US moving towards the war or returning from it.  Many of them passed through North Platte.  They would not normally have been able to disembark from the train after their journey began until they had arrived at their destination, but they were allowed ten minutes in North Platte.  The people from the town and surrounding communities volunteered their time and offered whatever food they could to make the soldiers moments there count.  They knew they were going to be shipped overseas, some not to return, and they wanted to give them whatever support they could to show their appreciation.  As the area was (is) mostly agricultural, the farms had much to give despite rationing.  Sometimes they simply used their own rations to provide food and treats.  Nearly every day someone would bake a cake--as almost always one of the soldiers would be celebrating a birthday.

The stories Greene shares, he interviewed many residents as well as soldiers, are fascinating.  It's interesting to think of the country as it was then, the living conditions and society.  There was no air conditioning on the trains, and troops were moved back and forth only on trains.  There were no paper recyclables--the men would take cups and plates and leave them at the next depot to be ferried back by a returning train.

There were a number of instances of matches being made that almost always resulted in many, many years of marriage.  Many of the young women would agree to write letters.  One of the local schools put names and addresses in popcorn balls and the soldiers would write back.  Often a young soldier was simply homesick and to see these people who were so welcoming made an impact on them.  Word got around of what was happening--of the food and magazines that the soldiers could look forward to.  Wives and mothers sometimes had their own husbands or sons off fighting and this was their way to offer support and encouragement. 

Here are a few of their 'voices':

"Oh! The different accents, the different colors of skin . . . the men in khaki, the boys in Navy blue, the Air Corpsmen, the Marines, the dogfaces, the ninety-day wonders, and those with ribboned chests.  And all of this for just ten minutes at a time!  I think it was the beginning of opening my eyes to a bigger world."

* * *

"We're seeing more people out on the platform--from what I recall, there was a wide area out there.  We're asking them why they're doing this, and they're telling us that they meet every train, every day, every night . . . and I remember how much I appreciated it, and especially I remember that the sandwiches were so good."

"I found out later that it was pheasant--these delicious pheasant sandwiches, with mayonnaise.  I can still taste it.  Can you imagine that?  Ladies coming onto your train, and they're giving you pheasant sandwiches?"

* * *

"We never ran into anything like that before, or after."

* * *

"That first night, the soldiers on the train were so amazed--way out there in the boonies at eleven o'clock on Christmas night . . . they were quiet as they looked out of the train at us.  We carried the bushel baskets out to the train, gave the men the apples and the candy, wished them a Merry Christmas, and the train left."

Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen was a really lovely read--easy and undemanding and a reminder that good things do happen.  I don't often read 'feel-good' sorts of books, and maybe I should seek them out more often.  This one sort of fell into my lap and was a perfect Nebraska book to kick off my reading year.  I loved Bess Streeter Aldrich, and while they are not Nebraska books per se (am happy to read Western/Plains Lit this year, too), the Little House books are wonderful.  I'm thinking of what to pick up next.  With so many good choices it is a hard decision, but I'll let you know what I settle on!

Purportedly Unputdownable: A Thursday 13

Remember a while back I was looking for books that were literally unputdownable?  I've been reading a few really excellent stories (will have to tell you about them soon, but I am nearly finished with one, midway through another and making steady progress on a third)--am caught up in the moment each time I crack open the books and thought what a great idea "unputdownable" stories would make for a Thursday Thirteen list.  I had quite a fun time sifting through my piles and reading the blurbs on the jackets trying to tempt and entice me into the stories . . .

Die for You by Lisa Unger -- "This is NOT a book you can put down easily . . . It's a GREAT Ride." Tampa Tribune.

The Sleeper by Emily Barr -- "This twist-and-turn-packed novel of suspense is unbearably good." Closer.

Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes -- "Utterly unputdownable." S.J. Watson author of Before I Go to Sleep.

The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder -- "A real page-turner, full of suspense, with a terrifying, gritty edge that turns the blood cold."

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon -- "An edge-of-your-seat story [that] yanks you from one page to the next by expertly weaving the past and the present." Heather Gudenhauf, author of The Weight of Silence.  I am reading this one now and boy is it creepy!  I am going to be tardy in returning it to the library as a matter of fact, so I guess it really is unputdownable . . .

The English Girl by Daniel Silva -- "Will Keep you awake at night." USA Today.

Shatter by Michael Robotham -- "You will be turning the pages compulsively, desperate to get to the end, but not daring to miss a word." The Times.  I've read him before and he really is good.

The Sister by Rosamund Lupton -- "A compulsive thriller with genuine originality.  Very clever, very surprising." Louise Candlish.

Prime Time by Liza Marklund -- "Liza Marklund is the next great Nordic export for fans of crime fiction to discover.  Her books deliver edge-of-your-seat suspense, sophisticated plotting, complex characterization, and unique locales.  Enjoy!" Harlan Coben.  I've read several of Liza marklund's books, too, and she is another reliably good read . . .this one is next up by her for me.

Caught in the Light by Robert Goddard -- "When it comes to duplicity and intrigue, Goddard is second to none.  He is a master of manipulation . . . A hypnotic, unputdownable thriller."  Daily Mail.

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty -- "Realised I'd been holding my breath for the last forty pages.  Gripping.  Val McDermid.  "Once you start you can't stop reading.  Terrific."  Helen Dunmore.

Little Face by Sophie Hannah -- "I couldn't put this book down until I 'd finished the last page."  Tana French, author of In the Woods.

Like this, For Ever by Sharon Bolton (in the US the title is Lost) -- "Like This, For Ever is a twisty, addictive, up-all-night thriller from a writer who loves nothing more then to play with your mind."

I think I am going to have to pick my next (edge-of-your-seat) thriller from this list and see if the book is everything the reviewers claim it to be!

Dare I ask?  What's the most unputdownable book you've read lately (or not so lately but that is still memorable)?  It doesn't have to be a thriller or mystery, just a good engaging story.  I'm always in need of an unputdownable sort of bok!

Teaser Tuesday: Little House on the Prairie

Isn't this a wonderful sculpture?  I am a little remiss in not having looked for and noted down the name of the piece and the artist.  This is one of the sculptures in the garden outside a local museum.  We had such gorgeous weather on Sunday (don't be deceived by the brown grass . . . only a week ago it was frigidly cold here . . . things will green up in time) that I had to take a walk and soak up the sunshine and warmth. 

We've had such miserably cold weather that I couldn't possibly stay inside and as there is no proper garden nearby to walk through I always like to have some interesting destination in mind.  That is a problem when you live in an urban setting, sometimes there is nothing pretty to look at when walking.  I live close to the museum (as a matter of fact I wait outside it every morning for my bus to work), so another visit to see Poseidon seemed in order.  After checking out my my favorite pieces of the exhibit, I took a stroll outside. 

This pioneer woman (her corn cob pipe always elicits a chuckle out of me) in her covered wagon reminded me too much time has passed since I last read one of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I barely finished Little House in the Big Woods before I was ready to read about Almanzo's adventures in Farmer Boy.  The next instalment is Little House on the Prairie.  Do you see a resemblance between the cover illustration of my book and the sculpture?  It seemed fitting to pair the two here. 

This is the first of what I believe will be a number of moves for the Ingalls family.  Their cozy little cabin in the Wisconsin woods is no longer unique.  There are too many people living in the Big Woods now and it is time for the family to move on to greener pastures and more opportunities, so they have set off for Indian country.  As the saying goes, it is Westward ho!  And they are leaving at the very end of winter.  If they wait any longer they won't be able to cross the ice covered Mississippi.  Finally--a reason why the cold and snow and ice might come in handy!

From Wisconsin to Minnesota they travel--it's a long way to Indian Territory.  They cross the Missouri on a river raft--covered wagon and all.  My teaser is from their westward journey.  They are now in Kansas not far from their final destination. 

"Kansas was an endless flat land covered with tall grass blowing in the wind.  Day after day they traveled in Kansas, and saw nothing but the rippling grass and enormous sky.  In a perfect circle the sky curved down to the level land, and the wagon was in the circle's exact middle."

"All day long Pet and Patty went forward trotting and walking and trotting again, but they couldn't get out of the middle of that circle.  When the sun went down, the circle was still around them and the edge of the sky was pink.  Then slowly the land became black.  The wind made a lonely sound in the grass.  The camp fire was small and lost in so much space.  But large stars hung from the sky, glittering so near that Laura could almost touch them."

"Next day was the same, the sky was the same, the circle did not change.  Laura and mary were tired of them all.  There was nothing new to look at."

(Sounds like Nebraska, too).  They are almost there and then the real adventure will begin.  I am hoping that steady reading this week will mean I can move on to On the Banks of Plum Creek next week!   I recently finished another Nebraska/Plains-related book and hope to write about this week.  So  now I am ready for another book to fill that slot (I'm still planning on reading more books of local interest) and am contemplating picking up Mollie: The Journal of Mollie Dorsey Sanford in Nebraska & Colorado Territories, 1857-1866.  As I am between diaries at the moment, it would be the perfect choice.  I think the journal covers approximately the same period as Little House on the Prairie--I do love companion reads.  You know how it goes--one book always leads to another.

In Search of Good Stories

More often than not I have a book in mind to read next before I even finish one that is in progress.  Of course when I start browsing books on my shelves looking for 'just the right book' problems arise.  I think I know what I want but matching the book with my mood can be challenging.  Then it is a matter of looking, tasting, and testing.  Now I have to start a pile and am faced with a dilemma.  A good dilemma, of course.  I want to continue on with my short story Sundays, so the book must be something I will want to return to week after week for the next month or two.  The other part of the equation is that you get to hear about them, so I will let you in on the process.

Here are my choices.  Maybe a little teaser to help things along?  The first lines of the first stories.

Strangers by Antonia White -- I was all set to pick this up next.  Nine stories and a poem written between 1928-1964.  The first story is "The Moment of Truth".  "On the stone floor inlaid with coats of arms, only a few couples were dancing, yet the hall was filled with the lisping of feet.  The music was as insistent as the band striking up when a man falls from a trapeze."

Infinite Riches: Classic Stories by Twentieth-Century Women Writers edited by Lynn Knight -- This is an anthology with a diverse list of women writers from Jane Bowles, to Colette to Grace Paley to Rebecca West.  Sylvia Townsend Warner's "An Act of Reparation" opens the collection.  "So much of the list had been scratched off that this remainder would have made cheerful reading if it had not been for the last item."

Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces by Angela Carter -- "Nine darkly inventive takes of desire, slaughter, and hideous knowledge in the tradition of E.T.A. Hoffmann and Edgar Allen Poe.  Now here is a worthy follower of a book with the title Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives!  First story is "A Souvenir of Japan" which starts "When I went outside to see if he was coming home, some children dressed ready for bed in cotton nightgowns were playing with sparklers in the vacant lot on the corner."

A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman: Complete Short Stories by Margaret Drabble -- I've never read her before.  One jacket blurb reads "Perfectly turned works . . . A grand feat, and something to smile about."  I'm all for smiling when it comes to books.  Fourteen stories.  First is "Les Liaisons Dangereuses".  "It was the kind of party at which nobody got introduced."

The Rose Garden by Maeve Brennan -- In honor of March and St. Patrick's Day?  Brennan wrote for the New Yorker and I tend to like very much New Yorker authors.  Lots of stories--some set in Dublin and some in New York.  "The View from the Kitchen" begins "Herbert's Retreat is a snug community of forty or so houses that cluster together on the east bank of the Hudson thirty miles above New York City."

The Best American Short Stories 2013 edited by Elizabeth Strout -- I was so elated to get these best of books, and have not done a thing about them since.  At least there will be some male authors.  The first story is by Daniel Alarcon called "The Provincials".  It starts "I'd been out of the conservatory for about a year when my great-uncle Raul died."

Flipping through the books almost makes the decision harder.  Now I will have to mull it over.  Shall a surprise you next Sunday?  Maybe I should draw straws?  Maybe I should pick two?  (That's just pure greed). 

Short Story Sunday: Troubled Daughters

The suspense (not quite literally) was too much. I had to finish the last of the stories in Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives.  I've been enjoying my reading but I am ready to move on to some other short stories.  With only a handful left (a mere five), I settled myself in this weekend to a little short story reading extravaganza.  I don't want to give short shrift to anyone, so here is a little run down of the last of the stories.

So many of these authors seem to have been well-known and award winning writers yet they have disappeared from publisher backlists and bookstore shelves.  Hopefully this Weinman collection will give them a little well-deserved attention.  Charlotte Armstrong was quite prominent in the 1950s and 60s apparently.  She won an Edgar for one of her novels and several of her short stories were nominated for the award as well.  Marilyn Monroe starred in the movie Don't Bother to Knock which was based on Armstrong's novel Mischief.  In "Splintered Monday" (1966) the not entirely unexpected death of a woman prompts her sister to do a little detective work.  In a seemingly happy household there is resentment bubbling below the surface and what appears to have been simply an accident turns out to be far more sinister.

Dorothy Salisbury Davis is the lone living author in this collection of stories.  Sarah Paretsky has certainly "called" Davis's work correctly.  " . . . [she has] an awareness of how easy it is for ordinary people to do nasty  or wicked deeds . . . She lived among bootleggers, immigrants, sharecroppers, and itinerant workers in her early years, and there is a richness to her understanding of the human condition that is missing from most contemporary crime fiction."  The 1971 story "Lost Generation" is an unhappy and unnerving story.  It's a story of vigilante justice perpetrated by the very men who are meant to protect us.  It's what happens when someone speaks their mind, and their political orientation is different than that of others.  What is most chilling about it is the ending where a total innocent falls victim to their ruthlessness and I am undecided whether it was intentional or not. Every mother's nightmare.

Margaret Millar probably got tired of always being known as the wife of crime novelist Ross Macdonald.  She was a well respected and award winning mystery writer in her own right.  She wrote more than two dozen books, most of them crime stories (and I have a few on my own reading pile myself).  "The People of the Canyon" (1962) is the freakiest story in the collection.  Chilling in a way that is unexpected.  There are subtle jibes at American society, at least I saw them as such.  This is a story worth looking for (especially good in October for Carl's RIP reading event in case you want to store away the knowledge for later), so I won't give too much away.  The Bortons moved outside the city to get away from people so when new houses begin springing up, they are understandably disappointed.  Their only daughter takes a shine to their newest and nearest neighbors across the canyon--young, attractive and quite appealing to her eyes.  I will just say this--very, very, creepy.

Miriam Deford sounds like such an interesting woman.  She wrote not only mysteries, but science fiction and fantasy as well as true crime.  How she ever found the time to do everything else is beyond me.  She was heavily into campaigning for women's rights--most notably for disseminating information about birth control.  Interestingly she did research into paranormal activity, was one of the first female insurance claims adjusters, and was active in civil rights organizations such as the ACLU.  Her novels often (unsurprisingly) dealt with the themes of alienation and changing sexual roles.  In "Mortmain" (1944) a nurse caring for a wealthy, ill, older man offers her a temptation that she can't quite resist.  This is a case of you had better be careful of what you wish for.  The ending comes with a twist that I didn't quite seem coming.

The last story is by Celia Fremlin who was in domestic service for a while as well as was involved in Britain's Mass Observation Project polling ordinary people about their lives during the war years.  Her experiences gave her the impetus to begin writing.  Her first published novel won an Edgar and she went on to publish fifteen more suspense novels.  In "A Case of Maximum Need" (1977) elderly Miss Emmeline Fosdyke would rather take her chances than have a phone installed in her home.  She suffers from a number of health issues and none can be cured.  Her welfare worker doesn't understand her hesitation and forces the phone upon her even with Miss Fosdyke's remonstrations.  "NO, NO telephone, thank you.  It's too dangerous."  If she can't be cured it is no matter whether a doctor can come to her aid or not.  And besides she has her reasons for wanting to keep the phone as far away as possible.  Perhaps it's peace she wants.  It's three months before the phone rings.  On the other end someone is only breathing in the line.  Just what Miss Fosdyke wanted to avoid.  The welfare worker should have listened!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories in this collection.  Certainly some stories clicked better with me than others, but I can't thing of a single misstep amongst them.  If you like your crime on the vintage side, and with a domestic slant, do check this one out.  I know I will be exploring the work of many of the authors I've read!

* * * * *

How has Yiyun Li escaped my notice?  "A Sheltered Woman" is this week's New Yorker short story set in the Bay Area about a Chinese immigrant who is a baby nurse.  She stays with her nursing mothers only one month in order to get them started on a healthy regime and not to become too attached herself.  Easy perhaps since she is not a mother?  But what happens when neither parent is especially interested in the baby?  Li grew up in Beijing but has lived in the US since 1996.  She has published two story collections and several novels--her most recent came out last month, Kinder than Solitude.  Another new author to add to my ever growing list.  You can read a Q&A with Li here.

Walking (& Reading) the Victoria Line

The Victoria Line of the London Underground.  Let's see, that's 13 miles long, 16 tube stations--all but one of which connect with other Underground lines.  It's walkable in one day, and author Mark Mason managed it in roughly seven and a half hours.  It took me far less time to read about it but I spread my 'armchair' journey out over several sittings.  I almost feel a little guilty that I sat relaxing and reading about it while he did all the work!  So, one line down and nine more to go!

Reading Mark Mason's Walk the Lines: The London Underground, Overground is morphing into something of an enjoyable, and adventurous reading project for me.  First it was a matter of just reading about his experiences, then I added to it the series of books Penguin issued last year celebrating the Underground's 150 year anniversary (you can see my pile of books here).  What better reading pairing?  Each author 'interprets' the Underground line in their own way, telling a story of the city of London with the Underground as their inspiration.  It's a marvelous idea.  And even if my own travels to London took place so very many years ago, the Tube is famous.  I have vague recollections of traveling on it, and recall vividly some of my own adventures in the city. 

I wasn't sure whether the stories he was going to tell, the places he would talk about and the situations that he found himself in would be so far outside my own world knowledge that it might be a little meaningless to me.  I needn't have worried.  Isn't this why we read anyway?  You don't need to have traveled to Mars to appreciate a story set there.  Reading is a way to broaden horizons and bring the faraway world closer to home.  At least that is in part why I love reading so much.  I let my imagination fill in as many blanks as possible and let the writer do his job.  So even if I don't know all the references Mason makes, and if he is a good writer it won't matter, there is enough to appreciate in the telling to make the journey worthwhile.  And I am always happy to learn new things.  I think I am going to learn a lot with this read.

I really do have a good imagination, but a few extra visuals never go amiss.  As I was reading and Mason was walking and talking about the route he was taking--the streets, the people, the places began filling in, but maybe there was a way to bring it even closer?  He had mentioned using the London A-Z Atlas.  Genius.  Why not order a copy myself?  It came a few days ago, so I was only able to use it for the tail end of the chapter, but what a difference it makes to read and follow along the map.  (And I love maps in any case).  And then I can always google the other references--the Wikipedia has photos of all the Tube stations and I can always search out other references as they pique my curiosity.  Now I feel like I am almost there with him.  I can see as many of the references as I like (handy now to have that iPad along with me as I make my way through the book).

And the Victoria Line (I fear I am going to scrimp on the actual chapter but will be better about them in the future)?  All but one of the lines that make it up is literally underground.  It starts at Brixton station and ends at Walthamstow Central.  There are all sorts of interesting bits, but a few to share?  His walk took him past "every architectural style of the last 150 years (Victorian, Edwardian, 1960s brutalist concrete).  He calls London not just a city, but a "collection of villages" and notes that with the coming of the railway "nothing could put the brakes on suburban sprawl".  I already mentioned Victoria station's most famous visitor.  But Victoria station is nearby another famous Londoner.  Any guesses who?  I probably would have made a short detour to the Royal Mews Shop for a peek around.  He walked by the outer wall of the Queen's bedroom and related the story of her unwanted visitor a few years back.

It's amazing to think of all the history that Mason just walked right by.  He shares lots of bits of knowledge--things that make sense but I would not have thought of.

". . . we should remember that Mayfair got its name from an annual fair (guess which month it was held in) that had to be banned in 1764 for being too rowdy."

And imagine walking down the road (in this case Broad Lane) and seeing a small green where Henry VIII came to hunt deer.  There is lots of history, but Mason reflects too on the social and economic aspects of the city--at least how it makes itself felt in this part of it. 

* * * * *

It's the social aspect of London, social as in societal ills, that the author takes as her topic for Mind the Child: The Victoria Line by Camila Batmanghelidjh and Kids Company.  It's tourist London that I remember so clearly, but what about the real London?  Mind the Child was an eye-opening and sometimes harrowing read about a portion of society that should be cherished and cared for, but is all too often abused and neglected--children.

Batmanghelidjh begins her narrative with the story of her own sister who jumped in front of a train but fell between the rails and only injured her leg (she later subsequently had better luck in committing suicide).

"Since then, each time someone jumps on the tracks, bringing the station to a halt, I find myseld preoccupied with the discprepant journeys we all take in life: the parallel existences of the destination-driven crowd, who move rapidly to complete a task, and the destination-despondent, who decide life is no longer worth pursuing."

It wasn't the loss of her sister that prompted Batmanghelidjh to work with children.  It was a love of helping others.  And it was a family trait handed down from earlier generations--this desire to serve others.  ". . . some of the richest cultures put care-giving at the forefront of their agenda, and see it as an expression of refinement rather than failure or weakness."

"We tend to look at the Tube map only when we have a destination in mind.  Take the Victoria Line: its sky-blue snakes clearly through the tangle of other lines, from Brixton in south London all the way to Walthamstow in the northeast.  In this book, I want us to take a less direct route.  I want to introduce you to some of the extraordinary kids struggling daily with the dichotomy of living and dying, who I have met through my work at Kids Company and, prior to that, through a range of other settings."

Mind the children--much like mind the gap--these are the children we don't see or demonize if we do, the ones who fall between the cracks.  Mind the Child is a combination of personal narrative by the children themselves, Batmanghelidjh's experiences working with them, and many statistics about crime and violence.  The numbers however aren't empty and meaningless as numbers usually are.  Hearing the voices of these children, who don't seem to ever be quite visible to politicians puts faces on the numbers.  Each child speaks in their own voice, some pulling themselves out of poverty and bad situations and others mired in it no matter how hard they try and lift themselves out.  The author also explains the neuroscience of battered children--how living in abusive households affects them and stunts them.  I had no idea what to expect when I picked up this book.  Victoria Line?  It was her inspiration and it is certainly a journey.  It's reading books like this that put life and the world into sharp perspective.  It was not an easy read at times, but it was such a good read and I am happy that I was finally prompted to pick it up.

Next up I will be joining Mason on his walk of the Bakerloo Line and reading Paul Morely's Earthbound as an accompaniment.  And, of course, mapping my progress in the London A-Z.  I'll tell you all about my adventures when I finish.

The iPad Learning Curve

This could be dangerous.  I now have an iPad at work that I can can also use at home.  We are allowed to have a personal iTunes account and download apps (within reason of course).  I don't want to use it for too much personal activity, but I think anything that is fairly general and bookish in nature will be okay (since I work in a library it's good to know how to use the technology and know what resources are out there and how to access them, right?).

I have downloaded the Nook and Kindle apps (I have a Nook so it syncs with my account and I can get to my Nookbooks via the iPad now, too).  Maybe I will be better at reading my Nookbooks now. 

I'm excited, too, that now I can get an occasional Kindle book.  I prefer not to read longer works on my desktop computer (I sit at a computer too much as it is), so this will make it easier to connect to the internet and read books or magazines online in comfort.  The shortlist for The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award 2014 has been announced and they always make the stories available digitally.  Now I can read all six (hopefully before the winner is announced). 

And with the Nook you can (and maybe with other eReaders?) download magazines for a free two-week trial.  This might be a little dangerous, but for the sake of science (ahem) and learning new things, I have downloaded the most recent issue of The Cottage Journal as it is so pretty and having something so lush and colorful to look at does wonders for the mental psychology.  It's almost therapeutic really.

I suspect the novelty will wear off soon and then I'll see how I can use this to enhance my reading and general 'online life'.  I just don't want to find that I am spending even more time online and have it take away from my book reading and real world life. 

Any helps, hints, tools I should know?  Any wonderful apps I should download?  I have already downloaded the New Yorker app so I can get access to their current issues and archives and will likely do the same with my other subscriptions.

Welcome to the 21st century, eh!

A Must Read Writer: Fay Weldon

How does that saying go?  Well-behaved women seldom make history?  Fay Weldon has long been hovering on the periphery of my mind as someone I want to read, and from what I've read about her, she isn't exactly a 'well-behaved' woman.  Back when it was just released I had to have Kehua!, which I believe must have been published in the UK several years ago and has only recently (last fall) been published by Europa Editions here in the US.  In the most recent issue of The New York Review of Books there is a most interesting article by Alison Lurie about Weldon and some of her more recent books, including Kehua!.  Needless to say I have pulled my own copy off the shelf for closer inspection.

Fay Weldon has had an interesting life, and she seems both unapologetic and irreverent about things.  I like her.  She was born in Britain but spent the first fourteen or so years of her life in New Zealand.  Kehua! by the way is "a warmly exuberant story of Maori spirits".  It seems as though her work has come into and gone out of vogue more than once and her range of writing seems to vary widely--from literary fiction to potboilers--at least that is what her trilogy of works, The Habit of the House, is referred to as.  I'm sort of curious about them all.

I get the feeling that Weldon has not only had her cake but eaten it, too, which is apparently a no-no in the world if literature.  "In a patriarchal world, she has managed to share power with men and make them and herself happy."  She's been married multiple times, sometimes happily and sometimes not.  In one case her husband was getting ready to divorce her having had an affair with another woman, but before doing so he dropped dead and made her a rich woman.  Why do I feel a little like there is some divine justice in that?

She seems to have committed the crime of writing for money not just for the sake of art.  And seems fairly defiant about this (and I don't blame her).

"I have always had . . . what others see as low tastes.  I like blockbusters out of Hollywood, thrillers, gold taps, country music . . . and Coca-Cola."

Interestingly Weldon often writes metafiction.  Lurie quotes Finuala Dowling:

"Weldon herself conflates autobiography, biography, and literary criticism."

In her novels she will address the reader directly, which is what happens in Kehua!.  I think I chose wisely when I bought my copy.  Lurie certainly makes the book sound quite promising. 

"Kehua! is not only a good story and lot of fun to read, it is a remarkable account of what it's like to write a novel by someone who's been doing this for over fifty years.  Of course, Your Writer is not really Fay Weldon, but another metafictional invention, whose house and husband have different names from those of the author."

The article on Fay Weldon is well worth reading if you can get your hands on a copy of the NYRB--there is so much more that is fascinating to read about Weldon in it.  As for what Kehua! is about?

"The chief delight of this generous and wonderfully humorous book is the running commentary of 'your writer,' working on her computer downstairs and chatting with us about the strange and beguiling goings-on upstairs.  And here the author invites the reader into the life of a writer: the romantic allusions, the sobering truths and the spirited triumph, both inside the novel and out."

So, all of this is really a shameful excuse for me to start reading a new book!  I've been reading about her and she has been on my mind so I had to share a little here.  I shouldn't start anymore books but I think I am going to.  It's time to give Fay Weldon's work a try.  A tale of murder, adultery, incest, ghosts, redemption and remorse and all set in a comfortable house in Highgate?  I'm there! 

Have you read her?  Have a favorite book?