A Work in Progress

Have Books, Will Travel: I'm Off . . .

I'm off to my work conference today.  I'll be back at the weekend and will likely be offline for the next several days.  I'm afraid I completely ran out of time last night finishing last minute tasks getting ready for my trip (why do I feel like I have forgotten something . . . ?), so I apologize for unanswered emails, comments that have been left hanging (though all read and much appreciated) and an unfinished post on the last book I read that I had so hoped would be ready to post while I was away.  I will catch up very soon.  One of the tasks I had to take care of was choosing books (and needlework--see below) for traveling.  The top two in the above photo are 'in progress' books and the bottom a complete impulse buy over the weekend (why buy food at the supermarket?).

And I really need a proper mystery, too, but at the time of taking this photo I was undecided as you can see.  So one of these books was tucked away in my backpack as well.

And needlework?  It's alphabet city with the needlework as you can see.  Three small projects that all fit into one ziploc bag.  Fingers crossed my needles and small embroidery scissors have made it through airport security!  I have several hours of waiting for flights in airports to fill.  Sometimes I have a hard time concentrating on my book if it is too noisy or there are too many people around (I don't read well with loads of distractions).  So, hopefully air travel will be filled with reading, and airport sitting with needlework. 

And in between I have a class to take, and a conference to attend.  Hopefully lots will be learned and new people will be met and I might just get to see a little something of Fort Worth while I am at it.  I'll fill you in when I get back.

Have a great week while I'm gone everyone!

April 28: Reading Notes

Unlikable characters.  Does it bother you when you are reading a book when you come across unlikable characters?  Or not necessarily unlikable but characters who are difficult to warm up to?  It's nice, of course when you like the protagonist, or feel sympathetic towards them.  It's nice feeling a connection with someone you spend so much time, and often I feel like I am inhabiting their heads or their lives.  So what happens when the person you are reading about feels a little inexplicable.  When they are unlikable or you don't quite understand their motivations?

I actually don't mind unlikable characters (well, most of the time anyway).  As a matter of fact it often makes for an interesting read when the protagonist is unlike myself, or even not especially nice.  I then tend to feel as though I am on the outside looking in and the person is a little bit of a curiosity.  It can make, too, for an unsettling read.  It's been on my mind, these 'unlikable' characters, because I seem to be reading a string of books at the moment where I am not entirely sure how I feel about them.  Depsite my uncertainty I find I am enjoying these books very much.  Maybe the characters just have a complexity about them that makes me think about them more?

I've been slowly making my way through Honoré de Balzac's Pere Goriot.  Now there are characters that are unlikable because they are or verge on the villainous.  And then there are characters like Eugene de Rastignac who I think is just weak of character.  He succumbs to his longings for money and position in Society, using what little money his family has in order to attempt to achieve a better position.  Now there are other characters in the book who are even more unworthy than Eugene, though only one who seems to embody true goodness or selflessness.  I'm only at about the halfway mark, however, so perhaps Eugene will surprise me?  I know Balzac writes in the Realist vein and this book is just one in a vast cycle of novels of the 'panorama of French Society', so, 'uplifting'--this story might not be.  A morality tale, perhaps?  I'm nearly midway through and have very mixed feelings about our young law student.

And then there is Elinor Brooke in Pat Barker's Toby's Room, which I am nearly finished reading and hope I can still write about this week even though I will be mostly offline until the weekend.  I'm not sure what I think about Elinor.  She's a little opaque to me at the moment.  It's not that she's self-absorbed.  She seems a little cold and emotionless.  The story is set during WWI, so she has reason to be acting the way she does--which is for her own interest really.  Hmm.  This is a little vague I realize, but I want to write about it, so I will save my thoughts for later.

I really like Simone St. James, you know.  And I am very much enjoying her most recent book, Silence fot the Dead.  I don't dislike Kitty Weekes, the main character, at all.  I am not even sure I would call her unlikable, but she is most certainly prickly.  And secretive.  As a matter of fact whatever she is hiding is likely to be at the heart of the story.  She comes to Portis House, a convalescent home for soldiers of the Great War, under false pretenses.  She pretends to be a nurse and is only allowed to remain (her nursing skills leave much to be desired) as the home is so far out of the way and it is difficult keeping staff.  If Kitty has something to hide, then so, too, does Portis House.  There are strange noises and unexplained occurrances involving mold coming up in the pipes and awful smells.  It's a darker, moodier story than St. James's previous books--darker in tone and atmosphere.  It does make for compelling reading, I must say.  Though St. James tends to write stories of a Gothic persuasion and with similar set-ups, her heroines have all been very different

And one more.  I've been struggling a little with Josephine Tey's The Man in the Queue.  This is the first Inspector Grant mystery and I find him a very interesting character.  He's intriguing, intelligent, and maybe even a little bit of a snob?  What I am finding a little off-putting is, in a way, perhaps unfair.  The book, like so many others written in a different era when different (and sometimes mis-or un-informed) attitudes were prevalent, is really a product of its times. And so, too, is Inspector Grant.  The thing is, he has formed in his mind who the murderer is, and he assumes, based on the sort of weapon used to kill 'the man in the queue' that the killer is a foreigner.  Someone of Latin origin.  And he keeps referring to him as 'the Dago'.  Normally I can look past these sorts of references considering the context.  But for some reason this has been a little grating.  I want to finish and I will finish reading, and I like Inspector Grant otherwise, and most particularly this won't stop me from picking up the next book (I've read Tey before and like her very much), but I do wish Inspector Grant would stop referring to the murderer this way.  Maybe in the end, Grant will be proved wrong and the killer will be a proper English gentleman?  Well, if I could just focus and finish reading I could tell you for sure!

If all characters were upstanding and forthright and nice, it would probably make for boring-going sometimes, don't you think?  Flawed characters seem much more real and complex, though lots of them seem to be peppering my reading at the moment.

Short Story Sunday: The Adventure of the German Student

Having a good short story anthology to look forward to each weekend is like having a favorite, comfy chair to settle into when reading.  I think Fifty Great American Short Stories, edited by Milton Crane, is going to be just such a collection.  It was a lucky find and glancing at the table of contents I see lots of familiar names (authors I've read and enjoyed before or have wanted to read) but not a single short story that I have read before.  My only complaint, and I am sure it is a common one, is that there are far too few female authors represented.  I always make up for that in the end, however, by tending to choose more books (and even story collections) by women then men.   

It looks as though the stories are organized chronologically, and I think I will follow along and read in order and perhaps will see how the American short story has developed over time--and indeed the editor notes the stories progress in just such a way that they mirror the development of the genre in American literature.  Unfortunately there is only a very brief introduction but there is a nice bibliography at the end of the book listing other works by each author.  I'm always curious to know how an editor goes about selecting the stories to include and hope to learn something more about an author or simply something more about this genre that I so enjoy.

"It has frequently been observed that the modern short story is to a striking degree an American creation.  Certainly the first important writers in this newest (and also, quite conceivably, oldest) form of fiction were Americans, and the critic who gained  a worldwide reputation for his own stories, was the American Edgar Allen Poe."

I'll soon see the veracity of that statement with next week's story, which is by Poe.  This week, however, Washington Irving's story "The Adventure of the German Student" opens the collection.  Crane mentions in his introduction that he tried in this anthology to give the reader "a comprehensive and representative view of the ways in which Americans have written short stories from the days of Washington Irving to the present."  And a variety of prose works (he doesn't try to argue a particular definition of just 'what is a short story') is included--some exactly as you would expect and others that you might not think would be part of a story collection.  Happily Crane has chosen stories that are not often anthologized and in some cases have never been reprinted since they were first published. 

I've read Washington Irving before, but on both occasions I've read the story most readers are likely best familiar with--"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", which I think is a brilliant and evocative story.  "The Adventure of the German Student", while not as good as his classic, is quite atmospheric.  This week's short stories are both in the "American Gothic" vein between Washington Irving and the New Yorker story, which is by Shirley Jackson.  Actually I am not entirely sure Irving would be considered someone who wrote in that style, but of the few stories I've read by him they always are on the atmospheric side.

"The Adventure of the German Student" is set in the Paris of the Revolutionary years, specifically during the Reign of Terror.  You might call what happened to the German student an adventure, but it's not the sort one looks forward to having.  Rather it is closer to a misadventure and by story's end when you get to that Ah-Ha moment there is a decidedly creepy tone to poor Gottfried's story.  He is a student from Germany, too intense and introspective all altogether too serious. 

"He had been indulging in fanciful speculations on spiritual essences, until, like Swedenborg, he had an ideal world of his own around him.  He took up a notion, I don not know from what cause, that there was an evil influence hanging over him; an evil genius or spirit seeking to ensnare him and ensure his perdition."

So, off to Paris his family sends him to divert his melancholy.  But bad timing as he is sent off on his travels on the eve of the Revolution.  Not so good for his "ardent" temperament.  He begins having dreams of a young woman of "transcendent beauty".  And then he finds a young woman sitting on the steps of the scaffold of M. Guillotine, and the strangest thing is her face is the same one he sees while sleeping.  I'll leave the rest up to your imagination and will just say this is a story of the uncanny!

* * * * *

And there is nothing like finding and reading an unpublished story by the inimitable Shirley Jackson.  It has whetted my appetite to read more now!  (Note to self, as soon as possible pull out those recent Penguin reissues you bought not so long ago).  This week's New Yorker story is "The Man in the Woods" and has Shirley Jackson's trademark crystal prose with an unsettling meaning.  There's lots of innuendo but not a lot of explication and it sounds as though she crafted her work very carefully that way.  The story has mythological and fairy tale undertones. 

In the story a young student walking in the woods comes upon a little cottage where two woman and a man live.  They are an unusual group, buried so deep in the woods, wearing their long green robes tied at the waist.  It's unclear why they're there, or what they are perhaps gaurding, but there is going to be a battle of sorts, the outcome unsure, but Jackson drops hints.  It's quite spooky and I'm not sure what it all means, but she is always fascinating to read and ruminate on.

There is a wonderful Q&A with her son about the story.  He has some interesting things to say about her:

"Shirley wrote in a wide variety of styles and voices. In “The Man in the Woods” she has created a story grounded in mythology, told like a fairy tale, with her typical hanging ending, though in this case the clues suggest pretty clearly how it will end. Shirley was very interested in mythology, and she was naturally drawn into the study of myth and ritual, which my father, Stanley Edgar Hyman, became so passionate about, refining his theories with Kenneth Burke and others at Bennington College, in the forties and fifties. In the midst of that, of course, Shirley wrote “The Lottery,” in 1948, bringing ancient ritual shockingly into the modern day."

* * *

"Mythology and folklore were often part of the fabric of family conversation, along with just about everything else. Both of my parents knew a lot about many mythologies, and I can remember as a child being given books of Greek, Roman, Norse, and American-Indian myths. My parents read and wrote constantly, and we would often hear long, passionate literary discussions with guests in the evenings."

I've not read much about her but now I am keen to know more.  She was the sort of writer who expected the reader to be an active participant in the work, bringing their knowledge along and not allowing them to be spoon fed.  She leaves a lot up to the reader's imagination and interpretation and apparently didn't explain her stories, replying only that "it's only a story".  Isn't she great?  You can read the Q& A here.  Happily, you can also read the story online, too.

Next week: Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown".

A Week of Stitches: Bee Sampler

More needlework so soon?  Can you believe it?  After not having picked up a needle in (almost literally) years, look at the steady progress I am making on my bee sampler!  I think Typepad is finally up and back in business and as I spent my evening last night cleaning things up and responding to comments (many thanks for your patience--a first step towards catching up), so there was no time left over for writing about books.  It's nice to have my needlework to fall back on.  And I even made progress on other stitching projects, but I will save those for another day.

I've got almost the entire right hand side of the sampler finished--you can see how long it will be as the right bottom border (I love the honeycomb pattern) reaches top to bottom.  It's always a sigh of relief to know that the sampler will fit the linen with more than enough extra linen left over for framing.

I made a counting mistake on Mr. Bear, but I think you can't tell where?  The other (inside) medallions are finished (will have two more to add on the left hand side), but I still need to keep adding the swarming bees as greedy Mr. Bear indulges in a little honey.

I must admit to a little fondness myself for honey, but I am less adventursome and will stick to a plain jar of local honey.

I've caught up just in time to get ready to go out of town for a work conference on Tuesday, so things will once again go quiet here later next week.  If I am as industrious this weekend as I am hoping I might have a few bookish posts that will appear when I am away (I have some catching up to do on talking about books).  And if not, they'll wait until I get back.

But I will be back on Sunday for my weekly weekend short story reading.

The Curious Gardener: April

I'm getting in my gardening reading/post just under the gun, aren't I?  Yet another month flying by, but in terms of gardening things are only now beginning to get interesting.  Actually Anna Pavord's The Curious Gardener: A Year in the Garden seems to have interesting things to say even when you think not much at all is happening in your garden.  Spring seems to finally have arrived in Omaha and green is beginning to appear.  My bushes have blooms, green blades of grass are poking their heads up in the lawn and the weeds are simply thriving.  No, its freedom lawn, right?  Interspersed with cool, rainy days (which I am not going to complain about anymore--cool in April is nothing like cold in January) have been some blissfully sunny and warm days. 

Once again there's a bit of a hodgepodge of subject matter in the Pavord book.  It's almost all plants and flowers, but an occasional 'something else' thrown in.  I do like the focus on the garden, but this is a very different sort of nature book than Roger Deakin's Notes from Walnut Tree Farm, which I really adored (and could happily reread right now as a matter of fact).  I feel a little bit like an outsider looking in with Pavord, but with Deakin I felt like I could use his diary entries as inspiration for my own life and ways to look at nature.  Not just look at nature but really see it.  In its way the Pavord is more practical almost, at least what she writes about could be put to very practical use.  And who knows, I might just be able to put some of it to use this summer.  (See photo above!).

Let's see.  She begins (remember each month/chapter is made up of short essay-like pieces about different topics all neatly linked together) with 'Spring in New York' and a visit to a elegant store called Takashimaya, a designer store (now closed it appears) formerly located on 54th Street and Fifth Avenue.  Isn't it funny how it's all in a name?  If Takashimaya says pale pink quince blossoms are the thing, then people will pay $40 for a branch of them.  Oh, but they are pretty, though, don't you think?  When Pavord inquired about the price the shop assistant coolly assessed her and gave her a look that said--these aren't for you.

"No, they are not, because I have plenty of quince in the garden.  I was rather staggered, given that the blossom was fracturing and falling with each customer that jiggled against it, that there were people who would actually shell out such fortunes for this stuff.  You'd need at least eight branches to make a decent show."

I need to bring my camera with me on my walks and snap a few photos of the trees I pass by each day that are finally in bloom, or at least beginning to bud.  Some of them are so lovely that I watch each year for them to open up and send forth their delicious smell.  I almost think I would rather have an orchard than a vegetable garden, if I were going to attempt a garden at all.  But I like, too, the idea of a garden--vegetable or flower--that blooms in succession.  She writes about 'successional sowing' in order to have "full salad bowls, an endless conveyor belt of salad vegetables, seamlessly presenting themselves in perfect condition, each crop neatly dovetailing with the next."  It sounds nice but in reality there are so many variables that would throw the harvest off.  So many variables to get them all to grow even.  But doesn't this sound good?

"'Babyleaf' salads may include amaranth, chop suey and choy sum, spinach, the black cabbage called 'Nero de Toscana', bull's blood beet, rhubarb chard, land cress and Greek cress, red perilla, purslane and texsel greens.  Italian mixtures often use rocket with various lettuce's, chicory and black kale.  Provence salads may have a slower-growing blend of sorrel, corn salad, lettuce and chervil.  With baby leaves, you can eat your way round the whole world."

As a salad connoisseur, I like that idea!  It's reading books like this that I realize what I am missing.  There is just not much variety in local chain supermarkets.  I guess when you have your own garden the world is at your fingers (as long as the plant in question can flourish in your soil and climate).  She goes on to write about Magnolia trees (after several tries she manages to grow seven species--"lustily"), what a modern "Renaissance man" really needs in order to survive (not just be able to slaughter a pig but "cure the flitches, make brawn and prepare the intestines for sausage skins--I wonder if she has a non-meat eater's list of survival skills?).

But I am most impressed by the fact that she managed to grow church full of flowers for her daughter's wedding.  Not just grow them but get the timing just right--even with warmer than normal weather prompting them to open sooner than needed.  In the biographical blurb Pavord has been described as someone who has lived and gardened in Dorset for more than forty years.  Now that is experience.  Somehow that makes my own simple plans sound a little feeble.  (See again photo at the top of the post).

Stefanie, who's own gardening adventures I enjoy following, has inspired me to do a little container gardening.  She suggested growing herbs, which is something I had never thought of doing.  I am probably going at this the wrong way, but I have bought a few packets of seeds and now need to do a little investigating and planning.  Am I too late to start growing from seed?  I know they are all plants that can be grow in containers and on a sunny, south facing porch.  I bought common chives, sweet basil, cilantro, lavender and convolvulus.  I'm hoping I will have better luck with herbs than with my normal pest-prone petunias that the insects delight in devouring around mid-summer.  And I couldn't pass up Country Gardens Container Gardens or Porches & Gardens for a little visual stimulation.  If you have ever flipped through either magazine you'll know the potential small container gardens have.  I am starting very, very small, but it's always nice to see what's possible (with time and experience).

Of course, any helpful hints and advice for simple container gardening is most welcome.  This little project will hopefully kick off when I come back from Texas the first week of May.  

A Bullet-Point Post Sort of a Day!

Some days just call for Bullet Point posts, don't they?  This has been one of them.

• You may or may not know that Typepad (which hosts my blog) has been up and down for almost a week due to a denial of service attack.  Apparently it has been a severe hacking job.
• I’ve actually been pretty lucky as I have managed to log in at odd times and compose posts and they seem mostly to be appearing when they are supposed to.
• Unfortunately I couldn’t get in last night and so composed my post in Word and hopefully was able to cut and paste and voila, here you see my Wednesday post.
• I’m sorry I’ve not been able to respond to comments.  While my blog seemed to be ‘up’ last night, no comments were appearing and there wasn’t an option to leave or reply to posts in the comment area.  As always thanks for comments and I will reply to them as soon as I can.
• But more importantly—on to more Bookish items.
• In one week I will be in Texas.  It’s finally feeling like spring here—mid-70s and a few sunny days scattered amongst some rainy some days, too.
• When I looked last it was 90F in Forth Worth.  Was I just complaining about the cold?  I’m happy to go somewhere warm, but I must admit, 90F is perhaps a little toastier for me than I like.  But I promise not to complain about the warmth.
• You should see my list of potential reads I am going to take on my ‘travels’.
• You would think I am getting ready for a six month around-the-world cruise or something.  The list is long and I keep wavering between choosing new reads and sticking with ‘in progress’ books.
• I am going to try hard to only take (only . . .yes, I know) three books.  Especially if they are ‘in progress’ books.  Maybe only two if they are new.  I always think big when it comes to books and then never have the time I think I will to actually relax and read them.
• Reading is perfect for traveling, don’t you think?  You are essentially a captive audience.  I am, however, a reader who is easily distracted in loud, busy places. 
• Along with my books I am going to take a needlework project or two.  Something that only requires a little concentration, and  I can listen to my audio book while stitching.
• I’m still listening to The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood, which is very good and the reader is really excellent at distinguishing the voices of various characters. 
• Had I been able to create a proper post last night I was going to write about diaries.  My poor diary project has gone a little by the wayside and I really must remedy that.  I am in need of one that is really gripping.  I could pick a fictional diary to read or maybe one from this pile or one from this list.  I could read (finally Anne Morrow Lindbergh or Barbara Pym or more May Sarton).  Maybe you’ve come across something lately?  Do share if you have one that is particularly good. 
• I could take a diary with me to Texas as a matter of fact.  Not to finish but to dip into.  There I go getting all ambitious again when I am going to be away for less than a week.
• I am reading my April Chapter from Anna Pavord’s The Curious Gardener now.  I hope Typepad comes back up before I leave so I can write about it!
• And I have not forgotten about my London Underground books. 
• Oh so many good books I have been dipping into lately.  I promise a run down soon.
• There are four books I read this year that I have not yet written about but that I hope to soon.  It is one of my smaller goals this year to write about all the books I read.  Considering how slowly I am reading this year and how many fewer I seem to be finishing compared to previous years maybe that is a goal I can actually reach?
• After I get back from my work conference and have caught up at work the semester will be winding down and things will be quiet in the library again.  I plan on taking some much needed vacation time—though it will be staycation time.  I will fill those days with lots of books, lots of stitching and lots of blog visiting.
• It’s good to have something nice to look forward to, isn’t it? 
• And lastly.  I feel completely disjointed with the Typepad issues that have been occurring and generaly busy-ness and not keeping up lately on blog reading (hope to remedy that last one soon).  So, please tell me, what have you been doing?  Reading something good?  Going somewhere nice?  Working in your garden?  Enjoy lovely spring weather?  Do share!

Teaser Tuesday: My Life

Some book posts write themselves.  I'm thinking here of proper posts about books I've finished reading rather than the general chattiness about 'in progress' books that I have no problem writing.  If I really liked a book and am feeling especially enthusiastic about it, words just flow from my pen (or keyboard in this case), and I usually discover I have more to say about it than I anticipated.

And then there are books like Henry James's The Lesson of the Master, which took me forever to read despite being a mere 122 pages.  It was my last Art of the Novella book, which came with James Joyce's The Dead (one of my favorite novellas ever I think).  I am going to write about the James novella, though not today.  It ended up being a good story and I am glad I persisted with it, but it took its time getting to its destination.  I'll take most of the blame as I have been easily distracted of late, and the James novella is best read in one or only a very few sittings.  I tend to drag stories out sometimes.  But I have been thinking of what I want to say about it and contemplating how I will compose my post and mostly am coming up with a blank page.  So I guess I will continue to ruminate on that one.

My most recent Art of the Novella package arrived last week (there was a mix up--I hadn't realized I needed to renew after a year passed, so I missed the February and March books and will have to order them separately).  It contained Anton Chekhov's My Life and Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of Pointed Firs, both books I am greatly looking forward to reading.  As I have not yet read a single book in translation so far this year (how did that happen?), I decided Chekhov could go first.

Happily I am getting on well with the Chekhov novella.  Perhaps that is not surprising since I have read him before and been suitably impressed by his work--so much so that I have been slowly collecting his entire oeuvre thinking I am going to eventually have a serious Chekhov reading binge (maybe this will be the start of it?).

My Life isn't really about Chekhov's life, though maybe there are autobiographical influences.  The blurb also mentions the novella is partly a "commentary on Tolstoyan philosophy".  I'm going to make a confession here which is probably going to sound really awful.  I (mostly) love Tolstoy's work and the books and novellas I have read by him have been really amazing.  But.  (There's is always a 'but', isn' there?), I sort of don't like him.  In fairness I have never really read anything in great detail about his life and philosophy.  What I have read and what sticks with me are more of the quirky things about the ma and how poorly he treated his wife Sofia.  To say he lived a somewhat paradoxical life is maybe an accurate statement?  (Sorry about the digression). 

So I am very curious to see what Chekhov (who I have immense respect for) thought about Tolstoy's philosophy.   My Life is about a young man who is "disgusted" by bourgeois society.  He decides to live and work among the working class but finds it is not exactly what he expected it to be either.  The novella is described as displaying all his strengths--"vivid characters, restrained  but telling details, and brilliant psychological observation."  Now that I should read slowly I am finding I want to reach more often for the novella than other books on my reading pile. 

The story is narrated by Misail Poloznev who, despite being over 25, is on occasion beaten by his father.  His sister is also disappointed in him that he is making a poor showing by his inability to hold a proper and respected job.  My teaser is actually a description given by Misail of the daughter of a family of wealthy landowners who like to put on amateur theatricals.    

"Dolzhikov's daughter came in, a plump, fair beauty, dressed as people said, in everything from Paris.  She did not act, but a chair was set for heron the stage at the rehearsals, and the performances never began till she had appeared in the front row, dazzling and astounding everyone with her fine clothes.  As a product of the capital she was allowed to make remarks during the rehearsals; and she did so with a sweet indulgent smile, and one could see that she looked upon our performance as a childish amusement.  It was said she had studied singing at the Petersburg Conservatoire, and even sang for a whole winter in a private opera.  I thought her very charming, and I usually watched her through the rehearsals and performances without taking my eyes off her."

I'm wondering whether the two will connect and how it will work out if they do seeing as Misail is ready to denounce the very things she seems to stand for.  As I seem to reach for this book so often I am hoping to make fast and steady progress with it.  Certainly better progress than with the James novella.

* * * * *

Typepad is still experiencing issues, so this page may or may not load.  If you have tried to leave a comment or found that your comment has disappeared or posted multiple times I apologize.  Hopefully the Typepad folks are getting things sorted out and things will become stable again soon.  I had meant to tweak the previous two posts but as I have not been able to access the back end of things easily, I'm spending most of my time getting my post ready before things go down again.  I'll catch up with comments soon.

The Bliss of New Books: Bought & Borrowed

Weekends go by far too quickly, don't they?  And I had a weird weekend on top of it all.  Beginning last Thursday Typepad, which is my blog platform was hacked and so access to it has been intermittent at best.  I think things are back up and running as normal again, but if you tried to visit over the weekend and were not able to click in, you can thank hackers.  I am once again having my own internet connectivity issues as well, so I was doubly cut off.  I have learned the hard way--when composing posts--save, save, save.

Therefore, I think something nice and easy is called for today.  It's been ages since I have shared any new (bought or borrowed) books here.  As you can see there has been plenty of new acquisitions have passed through my door, so here are a few highlights. 

Philip Mould's The Art Detective: Adventures of an Antiques Roadshow Appraiser is something I came across in my local museum's gift ship.  He was part of the original Antiques Roadshow cast.  There are six works of art in the book and he shares his expertise by "unmasking" the identity of each.

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan caught my eye when it first came out.  I'd never heard of Oak Ridge, Tennessee in the Appalachian Mountains, which was a secret city during the war.  This sounds like a fascinating bit of social history.

How many Booker Prize winners do I add to my pile with such good intentions to read them right away.  Now I am adding to it, Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries.  I have heard mostly good things about this book.  Another chunky story but as the blurbs call it "dazzling", "irresistible", "masterful" and "compelling" I hope I am in for a treat.

Many thanks to Linda Y. for sending The Stillmeadow Road by Gladys Tabor my way.  It was published in 1959 and chronicles life in her Connecticut farmhouse over the course of the year.  I love books like this that follow the rhythms of the seasons and I have long wanted to read Gladys Tabor, so another treat of of a book.

I'd never heard of Judy Bolton mysteries before, but she is akin to Nancy Drew.  Margaret Sutton wrote this series between 1932 and 1967.  Judy ages over the years and I am looking forward to making her acquaintance.  My library has a small sale area of donated books that are not added to the collection (we already have these two), so I was lucky to find the first two in the series; The Vanishing Shadow, and The Haunted Attic.

And a book suggestions that I couldn't pas up, Otto Penzler's The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries: The Most Complete Collection of Yuletide Whodunits Ever Assembled.  I have read a number of stories in the Ghost Stories collection and can't wait to dip into this one, too.

Look what I found on the Daedalus sale book website?  Score!  I have odds and ends when it comes to Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire books, which I started reading a few years ago and must get back to.  For some reason some of them are hard to find, so I was really pleased to find them discounted!  If you are curious about the individual stories, you can get a complete run down here.  Added to my collection is:

High Rising, Miss Bunting, Private Enterprise, The Duke's Daughter, Happy Returns, Jutland Cottage, Enter Sir Robert and Three Score and Ten.

After returning a string of library books late and paying fines on them I have been trying to keep my library stacks on the shorter side, but I always have a few to choose from.  I just brought home:

All the Birds Singing by Evie Wyld -- I'm not sure about this one.  The story doesn't appeal to me as much as others--a survival tale, but it has received such stellar reviews I thought it was worth taking a look at.

The Venetian Bargain by Marina Fiorato -- ""Fiorato's passion for the Italian Renaissance, and Venice in particular, shines in her latest imaginative and colorful tale. The historical details, which will have you believing you are seeing the building of a church and hearing the plague victims' cries, merge with a cross-cultural love story that is touching and relevant to today's reader." —Romantic Times.  I've read Fiorato before (though it was several years ago now) and recall liking her very much.  It's hard to resist a story set in Venice and I have been in the mood for a good historical novel, too.

The Story of Color in Textiles by Susan Kay-Williams -- As weird as it sounds I sort of collect books about colors!  "This book is an introduction to a broad, diverse and fascinating subject of how and why people coloured textiles. A fresh review of this topic, this book brings previous scholars' work to light, alongside new discoveries and research."

Dear Abigail: The Intimate Lives of Revolutionary Ideas of Abigail Adams and Her Two Remarkable Sisters by Diane Jacobs -- I'm looking for a new nonfiction read (I am buying lots of nonfiction at the moment) and this one looks really promising.  "This engaging narrative traces the sisters’ lives from their childhood sibling rivalries to their eyewitness roles during the American Revolution and their adulthood as outspoken wives and mothers. They were women ahead of their time who believed in intellectual and educational equality between the sexes. Drawing from newly discovered correspondence, never-before-published diaries, and archival research, Dear Abigail is a fascinating front-row seat to history—and to the lives of three exceptional women who were influential during a time when our nation’s democracy was just taking hold."

I will be going to Texas in just a week and am still contemplating which books to take with me (likely a mystery or suspense story, a novel and a nonfiction.  Maybe one of these books will be traveling with me.

Short Story Sunday: Fordwych Castle Myst.

Baroness Emmuska Orczy is best known for her novel The Scarlet Pimpernel (I had fun reading it several years back) as well as a number of sequels which followed (which I haven't read, but may someday).  But did you know she also wrote mysteries?  She even created more than one sleuth, though I think she only wrote short stories and not full length novels (I could be wrong on this count).  Lady Molly of Scotland Yard is an interesting creation.  How could I pass up the story, "The Fordwych Castle Mystery" when I read this description?

"Lady Molly is one of the great female rivals of Sherlock Holmes, a formidable  figure who never fails her reader."

"The ornate descriptions and perfumed Victorian sentiment are a reminder of popular Romantic literature, while the feminist spirit of the Lady herself looks across generations."

The story concerns the death of a servant freshly arrived from India with her young mistress who has come to England to be with her sister and aunt.  There are hints of a sibling rivalry, one being dark and swarthy and the other a pale English rose, one slight and petite and the other athletic and indifferent.  One sister is set to inherit the family title and property while the other lays claim to it.  Red herrings abound.  It's all set in a country house where the mischief has caused gossip and innuendo amongst the villagers.

An inquest is held, statements are given, questions asked.  The verdict returned by the jury is "wilful murder against some person or persons unknown."  But for all that Scotland Yard is unable to crack the case and catch the murderer, so Lady Molly is called in.  Much like Sherlock Holmes its through deductive reasoning that she points her finger in the right direction.  The "clues" such as they are, are all there though there isn't really anything in the way of actual sleuthing as the reader of the classic detective story knows it. 

"Surely the Fordwych Castle Mystery, as it was universally called, was a case which more than any other required feminine tact, intuition, and all those qualities of which my dear lady possessed more than her usual share."

"With the exception of Mr. McKinley, the lawyer, and young Jack d'Alboukirk, there were only women connected with the case."

But just who is Lady Molly, is what I want to know, and how exactly did she do it--find the killer?  Halfway through the story it dawned on me I had missed reference to the narrator.  So, not just who is Lady Molly, but who is telling the story.  Lady Molly's trusty sidekick is, Mary.  There is a bit of the divide and conquer between the two women and the suspects.  There is a lot of setting the scene and explaining the lineage of the Duplessis family.  Some confusion from Lady Molly's male colleagues but then she swoops in and saves the day.  And the killer might just be someone you don't expect. 

The story is part of the collection by Baroness Orczy called Lady Molly of Scotland Yard: The Complete Collection, which is hailed by the publisher as "unforgettable armchair mysteries".  They reminded me a little, too, of Miss Marple who is often absent during much of the story but she always sorts it out in the end.  In her case it is all down to human nature, of course.  I suspect that reading more stories featuring Lady Molly must help paint a broader picture of who she is.  The story was published in 1910, and I am guessing the period is meant to be roughly contemporary.  It's all a bit of a tease to be honest.  I enjoyed the telling, but the mystery of just who she is is almost of more interest to me than who murdered poor Roonah!  I may have to 'investigate' Lady Molly further at some point.

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This week's New Yorker story is by yet another writer who I am familiar with but have never read, Thomas McGaune.  "Hubcaps" is a fairly short short story.  More about this to follow . . .

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And finally, I have a little direction of where I want to go with my short story reading for the foreseeable future, and maybe even through the rest of the year.  Last week I had to stop by the university bookstore and had to take a peek at the popular reading section.  It's actually fairly small but they do have a couple of bookcases with classics displayed.  Fifty Great American Short Stories edited by Milton Crane caught my eye.  I already own a number of anthologies like this which I have plumbed on a number of occasions, so my hopes were not high that the volume would contain much that was new to me (though I have lots left to read in what I already own).  I was happily surprised to see that while the list of authors is as you would expect (with far, far too few women I might add . . . and this is common sadly in these collections) the stories are not the same ones you find in every other collection.  So, more about it next weekend.

Have you read a short story lately?  Nudge, nudge.  You should!

The Week That Was: Needlework

Another drum roll, please.  A mere two weeks ago I shared a few new needlework projects.  I've already finished one of them, and now I have a progress report on another.  A real progress report--not just a few rows of stitches, but the design is coming to life as you can see.  

Prairie Schooler's "Where There are Bees" is the chart I am working from and I already have one medallion stitched and two more nearly finished.  This design, happily, is stitching up very quickly.   And the best part is I am really enjoying working on it.  It is providing just the right sort of distraction I need at the moment. 

The design calls for only four colors, but it doesn't really seem like such a limited color palette, does it?  The colors are nice and quite pleasing I think.  You can't see them from this angle, but I  like the honeycomb pattern on the upper right hand of the design.

I didn't share this last time but I was contemplating stitching it.  It is a much smaller design--you can see the chart just peeking out from under my linen--I am working on the upper right hand corner alphabet.  I plan on stitching something (perhaps a flower bouquet that is also on the chart) for the back and finishing it into a pincushion like these.  And no worries, I haven't forgotten about the seasonal samplers I mentioned last time.

And this is so typical of me.  Just like with books and reading.  I might be enjoying whatever is in hand immensely, but I am always thinking just a little bit about which book will come next.  You guessed it--I am the same when it comes to stitching.  I was going through my stash, and came across this design called "L'Autome" by Birds of a Feather (sadly the company is now defunct).  So I ordered the floss and linen and it is sitting at the ready.  There are actually four charts--one for each season, but the autumn design appeals to me most at the moment.

I'm not really sure what I've gotten myself into, though.  Look at this!  Just look at the size of the linen!  It is cut larger than the design (an extra three inches on each side), but it ended up being cheaper to get a fat half (half a yard) cut--36" x 27".  The design will measure something like 18" x 24" when it is finished.  I didn't realize it was such a big design.  I think it wil be the largest needlework project I will have worked on--finished, I hope.

It's meant to be my next big project after I finish my Bees, but I couldn't resist putting in the first stitches.  So few--they are lost in all that linen, though hopefully that will quickly change when I begin stitching in earnest. 

I have a few more new projects 'up my sleeves' by the way, but more about those later.  I still spend more time reading, but it's nice to add a few motifs each day to my needlework projects, too. 

I am planning on filling the wekend (will be so much more quiet than last weekend) with lots and lots of reading and stitching.  Hope your weekend is a good one, too, with whatever you fill it with!