A Work in Progress

The Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton

Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden is a very clever take on Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, though it is much darker in parts, a much more circuitous and complex story and a much much longer tale.  A secret garden for grownups, if you will.  It takes a while for the garden to appear and then when it does it is not just hidden but indeed it has been forgotten to the point of being completely closed off and overgrown.  You might not even know it was there unless you were curious to the point of nosiness.  The garden is in Cornwall, and while the story begins in London, Australia is really both the jumping off point and home to the women in this novel.

This is a story with multiple storylines set in three different periods, there are three main narrators and a full cast of characters otherwise.  If it sounds sort of boxy, perhaps a little unwieldy, and maybe a little confusing, that's because it is.  All those things and more really as it is rich in detail and texture and literally a story within a story (and sometimes within another story).  Set in part just at the tail end of the Victorian era, this has all the trademarks of a big, juicy Victorian novel.  It even starts with a  mystery.

London, 1913.  A little girl is left alone aboard ship bound for Australia.  She has a suitcase in hand, an envelope with a little cash and a book of fairy tales.  Coming from a world steeped in stories and fantasy, it's not such a stretch that the girl thinks this is a game.  One where she must not tell her name, must not tell where she comes from.  The lady, who seems to have disappeared after telling her to wait, that she will be back, is known only as the Authoress.  But she never does come back and the girl lands in Australia alone and accepting, but unable to tell the harbormaster who she is or why she is there.   He tries to find her family, but in the end she seems abandoned.  As he and his wife are childless with bounties of love to give, they take her in.  It's a bit hush hush, but their intentions are good.

She becomes Nell, a girl with a new family but no past, no history, and no real family.  Flashing forward to 2005, Nell's granddaughter Cassandra sits by her bedside in hospital.  We meet the little girl all grown up, her life lived and nearing the end.  Nell has more or less raised Cassandra.  Nell as an adult is rather prickly, and perhaps with good reason.  Her own daughter left Cassandra with her to raise and since 1975 the two have created a family of their own in Brisbane.  Just the two of them.  A few of the secrets have been uncovered, but Nell still doesn't know who her family was or why she ended up alone in Australia.  At her death she knows a little of her history but not all the secrets have been uncovered and it will be up to Cassandra to finish the search and understand where Nell and ultimately she herself came from.

It takes such a chunky book to unravel all the secrets, to understand all the stories that make Nell who she is.  The novel moves around from place to place and through different periods.  The reader is taken behind the scenes at times to see lives lived out, but it is all really a complicated puzzle to sort through.  It took some time initially to become comfortable with the story and understand who was who and how they are related.  As in any good Victorian novel there is plenty of drama.  There were admirable characters and sympathetic characters and plenty who were wicked and utterly odious.  There is a secret brooch hidden away with its own story that will be as dangerous as it is valuable.  Interspersed throughout the book are short fairy tales penned by the Authoress that start the search.  Who was she?  To find out her identity and the story behind the stories will be to solve the mystery of Nell's life and her uncertain journey.

Kate Morton has written a number of historical dramas; I read her first, The House at Riverton, ages ago and she had me hooked in that story from the very start.  This was lush and intricate every inch a Victorian melodrama.  I very much enjoyed it, though if I have one quibble it is that perhaps it does get a little unwieldy at times.  If it had been edited down a bit I would not have minded as I ran out of steam part way through and had to take a breather, but I do admire how Morton tied this story in with the children's classic and Hodgson Burnett herself even makes an appearance.

This was my May prompt, and it also fit in well with my summer Australian Lit reading.  I've already got my list of August books in mind and hope to share my prompt with you this week.  As for my reading destination, Australia will still feature through the month as well, though I am ready to move on to other locales as fall nears.  I have a few ideas in mind, but maybe the rest of the year will just see me wandering wherever the books take me (one book has a way of leading to another as you know).

July 28: Weekend Reading Notes

I am ready for July to be over.  This month has felt like it has been dragging on and on.  I didn't read nearly as much as I wanted to this month, or rather I should say I have finished a very paltry few books, but as one of them is the chunky The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, I should be pleased (and I am actually).  I have a couple of books to write about (actually a couple of recent books but a number of older books that I wonder if I will be able to write about properly now since ever day puts more distance between it and my memory), which I hope to do next week.

This weekend will be more Aussie reading with Nevil Shute's A Town Like Alice and a new acquisition, Kirsten Tranter's The Legacy.  I am not sure how I happened upon her, but I am very much intrigued by but it is a slow burner of a book and I am still figuring out relationships.  It is set in Australia as well as NYC.  I also have been reading Emily Bitto's excellent (Stella Award-winning) The Strays set in 1930s Australia about an artistic and very bohemian family who seem to take into their home various sundry others.  I fear something bad or at least unhappy is going to occur.  I want to wrap up my Australian reading in August (maybe I will dig out some postcards I have gotten from there for a few visuals, too), but I might see if I can squeeze in one or two other books first.  Maybe another book by Nevil Shute or a crime novel?  I have amassed quite a selection now.

Now that I have gotten through the door stopper Morton novel, I have a few other new books in mind, but I feel, too, like I need to keep that momentum going and focus on that reading pile (rather than adding to it).  But there is plenty of variety.  I think I might spend some time in Corsica and get back to Saudi Arabia.   And if I do start a new book I have a couple of strong contenders (well, more than a couple, but the books on the top of the pile at the moment . . . ) out from the library.  One is Mary Lovell's The Riviera Set: 1920-1960: The Golden Years of Glamour and Excess, which sounds like the perfect vacation read for those who cannot afford to go on vacation.  If I can't be one of those glamorous visitors to the Riviera, it would certainly be fun to read about them.  The other book is by Joshua Cohen, who I have never read but I have been hearing very good things about his Moving Kings. 

And then there is the Booker Prize longlist to think about.  I have a couple of books on my pile and am a bit curious about a few others, but I want to just read the one or two that appeals most (they all look pretty highbrow and maybe more intense than I can manage at the moment).

Plenty of reading material but maybe not so much free reading time this weekend.  I will squeeze in as much as I possibly can, however!

***

And now I have to share some fun links and bit and bobs that I have come across this week!

I am an absolute sucker for a nicely designed book, and had I not already owned many of these (or already read) I would want them all.  Aren't they pretty?

I am a Great Fan of beach reads (both of the literal and figurative sort), but there is a whole genre of them going by one of the display tables at a local B&N and this list!  The Lovell book might be my beach read, but it is always fun to look and see what is new (or old).

It looks like Murder on the Orient Express is not the only Agatha Christie novel to be adapted (or re-adapted) to the big screen once again, Amazon is going to produce a further seven more!

Recently I bought Jo Nesbo's The Snowman in anticipation of seeing the movie, which is out in October.  You can see the trailer here.  The movie looks quite creepy, so I wonder how the book will read.  I have only read one Harry Hole mystery, though I have always meant to go back and read more as I was sort of taken with him when we first met. 

Whenever friends tell me they will read a book or story aloud to each other, I think that is very cool and wish I was in a situation where I could do that as well.  Anyway, as you can see here, they are on to something!  I think reading aloud or oral storytelling is a very long tradition.

The intersection of art and literature (two of my most favorite things in life).  I am going to watch for these!  I'm not sure when they are coming out but they are on my list.

Happy reading everyone. 

The Child by Fiona Barton

I really enjoy a good thriller.  I love mysteries, but I think of novels of suspense slightly differently--like a mystery story but with a little added spice since often there is that edge of your seat, must find out what happens next, turn the pages furiously element to the story that a mystery may not quite have in the same way.  Mysteries might be slightly more cerebral.  They might be a slow burner of a puzzle to be worked out over time (though sometimes quickly, too).  But there is a fine line (to my way of thinking) between the two.  

I will almost always try a mystery someone recommends or be more apt to pick up a mystery that just 'sounds good', but for some reason I am feeling a bit jaded when it comes to thrillers or novels of suspense.  I'm sorry, I know I harp on this far too much lately, but there is just a sameyness sometimes to books that fall into this category.  Why is it the covers all look the same?  And the stories all feel the same.  And the blurbs on the cover all read the same--you know, the inevitable comparisons.  'If you liked . . . (and we all know which books are the standard) "X" you will love this'.  I might very well love it, but I am always looking for the book that does its own thing, thank you very much.  I realize that authors usually have little control over these elements of book design and promotion, but I cannot tell you how many books I have picked up and then set down for these reasons.

So, Fiona Barton's The Child.  I read a library copy that was returned overdue because I had to finish and couldn't bear the idea of returning the book on time and getting back in line only to lose the thread (as the line at the library is so long) and I simply had to find out what happened.  Getting the superficialities out of the way first.  I love the cover (and notice that not a single comparison is at least on the jacket front), which is simple and a little mysterious.  There is no 'girl' in the title (though there are several in the story) and no running person shown with their back to us and their face turned slightly to the side.  It has a somber tone yet the colors are not dark.  It is inviting in a fresh and subtle way.

I really enjoyed this story which is a nice mix of mystery and suspense with several very strong women protagonists (most over a 'certain age', which I also like), several not entirely likable people, yet still with an element of sympathy to their personalities and of course the requisite smarmy bad guys who maybe aren't exactly who you think they are initially.  The body of a baby is found buried under a huge urn during the excavation and removal of a building that is being torn down.  It's pure chance really that such small remains were discovered and considering the age of the building they might well have been there for a very very long time.  

There is a nice vagueness to the story at first as the reader tries to make sense of the story.  We know the mystery (which to begin with may or may not be a proper murder mystery), but as the story is narrated by three different women (with a few other threads popping up occasionally as well), it takes a little time to understand their relationship to each other and how they might possibly cross paths.  

The strongest thread is that of Kate Waters a journalist who senses a story in this discovery.  It might simply be a good human interest story, but she has enough years behind her and experience to know how to work the story and flesh it out.  Actually the deeper she digs the more she realizes that there are more secrets buried with the baby than she first realized.  Kate has grown children, a husband who supports her but an independent spirit, which I really liked and appreciated.  She is paired with a junior reporter (is that what they're called?)--a young man new to the journalism business and it was amusing to see the 'clash' of generations, though the two worked well in tandem.

The other two main threads are narrated by Angela, a mother whose baby was stolen from the hospital just after she was born and Emma, a younger woman (and sometimes her mother), who has had issues with depression and difficulties with her family.  What is their connection with the remains of the baby?  It does take a bit of effort to get the ball rolling and the characters sorted, but the puzzling out of the details is part of the enjoyment of the story, and once things become more clear the ball begins to roll ever more quickly.

Fiona Barton has worked as a journalist and it is apparent in the way she tells this story.  I could imagine (and would quite like it) Kate Waters showing up in another book.  The story has some nice twists and turns that you may or may not see coming.  I had sussed out the solution three quarters of the way through but it was fun watching the characters put it all together.  The author has written another book, The Widow, and it sounds as though she is working on a new book (enviably from her home in the south-west of France).  If you are looking for a good thriller this summer, The Child is a winner.

The State of the Night Table - July 2017

I dabble a lot in books, can you tell?  Most of the books here are (at least the pile in the front) the books I am currently reading.  Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden is good, but I swear it has taken me Forever to get through it.  As much as I am enjoying the story now, I wonder if it could have been cut down just a bit without losing any of the drama (and there is plenty of drama).  I AM going to finish it this month.  Mostly I seem to be spending time with my Australian authors this month. 

The pile in the back are books I started and was enjoying, but when you have two piles like these to choose from something has to end up on the back burner.  The Kate Summerscale book is an intended read . . . as in it came my way as a reader's copy and while I am excited to get to it, I admit I am trying to finish a few other things as I am sure it is going to require a little concentration at least initially to get into the story (I know it is nonfiction, but Summerscale has a good knack for writing really riveting books).

Oh, poor Jane Smiley.  Last book of the trilogy and I have even been in the mood of late to get back to it (must finish it this year so it stays firmly planted in that pile).  But I can only manage one chunkster (the Morton) at once.  I had gotten about 80 pages into it, but upon recent reflection (I picked it up to look at and see if I could dive back in) I see I will need to go back to the beginning and start again (or do very serious skimming).  The Thien is also really good (still want to pick up a few books from the Baileys list . . .) and it is a must finish as well.

I do have a stack of library books (maybe will share them another day).  Some of them are only 'dipping-into' books, trying out a new author, that sort of thing.  But I do have several that I really really really do want to get to.  But it's summer and oppressively hot and my concentration levels are low (and to be honest my blogging levels even lower at the moment), so I think I do need to try and be kind to myself and allow the bar to be set lower than I like and just be happy with what I can manage and not disappointed that some books must be set aside or returned or simply abandoned until later (or maybe in a few cases indefinitely).

Which brings me to this pile of books I really do want to finish reading.  Most are from this year at least.  I admit that the N. Scott Momaday is good, but I was not enjoying it for some reason.  The edition of the Thirkell I have has so many typographical errors in the text as to be annoying and distracting even though the reading is easy.  A few books were just recently picked up and might just be returned quietly to the shelves as I hadn't really invested all that much time in them.  Nonfiction is always my challenge.  I want to read them all and they are all so good, but sometimes they are just so dense or long and I read nonfiction ever so slowly and then I get greedy and want something else.  Hence this problem with so many unfinished nonfiction books.

I talk about bedside book piles sometimes.  Here they are.  The books are often changing.  Either they are recent purchases or books I am so very tempted to start sooner than later (I try and resist until I Finish something else, but keeping them close by gives me a sense of security and knowledge that I can just reach over and pick one up . . .).

And for comparison's sake here is last year pile that I was working on at just about this time in July.  A few did end up back in their spots in the shelves but I, at least, managed to finish more than I put back. 

So, midyear clean up begins.  I will be "reading Australia" through August and maybe spending August trying to finish books rather than start new ones.  (Why does that sound so very difficult?). I keep telling myself pick up ONE book, and read it until you finish and then pick up another and surely this method will see me finishing all those books, but it might take a while.  I have so much will power sometimes, but never when it comes to books.

I wonder who is willing to share their reading piles?  If you do, let me know (and I won't feel so very alone!).

A Few Bits and Bobs for the Weekend

Just a few things that caught my eye over the course of the week.  It's been a toasty warm week and I am hoping for cooler days.  Needless to say they will be spent indoors and hopefully with a book(s) in hand.

Doesn't this book sound great?  The stories in this collection (just in time for RIP-reading in September) were inspired by England's scariest locales.  I already have it on my wishlist.

This is my kind of infographic!  Have you seen it already?  Finland is the most literate country on the planet.  The country that reads the most hours per week?  India.  The US is #7 in terms of literacy and we fall pretty low on the list for hours a week spent reading.  A mere 5.7.  Heck, 5.7 is how much time I would spend a day reading, if I could.  And I guess if I want to surround myself with other readers, I need to move to Seattle (I knew there was a reason I wanted to visit there).

I printed this article out, The Literature of Solitude.  It is right up my alley and I must investigate the books mentioned further.  I see a reading project in the making already.

And yay for a list of books with badass middle-aged heroines.  More books to add to my wishlist (and thank you for featuring books with strong older women).

In case you want to know the proper names for all the parts of the books you have in hand.  Here you go.

I really, really need to read Rebecca Solnit.  I think we surely must have a lot in common.

I have read Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood at least three times now.  Here is the trailer for the adaptation, which I look forward to seeing.

This sounds like a fun read.  I know I have heard of garden historians, but I have never come across a culinary historian.  If you can learn about a person by the shoes they wear or the clothes they choose or the books they read, why not the food they eat?

You know I always like to share a list, so here is a list of writers to watch for this fall.  I have actually already read one of the books and have another on my reading list.

I have library books to pick up and I might just squeeze in a visit to my favorite used bookstore.  And then there are a few books I am hoping to finish or make serious progress in.

Have a great weekend and happy reading everyone.

Ten New Mysteries to Watch For

Thanks to FictFact I was alerted to the newest forthcoming Maisie Dobbs mystery due out next Spring!  It seems such a very long way away, next March, doesn't it?  But it is always nice to have good things (good books) to look forward to, and having a new Maisie Dobbs book out there on the horizon always makes me happy.  I could use a little brightness in my life at the moment.  So Maisie made me think about all the other new mysteries I will be looking forward to read in the upcoming months.  Here are ten of them I plan on looking for (with Maisie at the top, of course).

To Die But Once: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear -- Alas, no cover art as yet or content description, but no worries.  Whatever Maisie's next adventure entails I am up for it!

See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt -- This one is not exactly a straightforward mystery per se, but it sounds quite intriguing.  A story of Lizzie Borden.  "As the police search for clues, Emma comforts an increasingly distraught Lizzie whose memories of that morning flash in scattered fragments. Had she been in the barn or the pear arbor to escape the stifling heat of the house? When did she last speak to her stepmother? Were they really gone and would everything be better now? Shifting among the perspectives of the unreliable Lizzie, her older sister Emma, the housemaid Bridget, and the enigmatic stranger Benjamin, the events of that fateful day are slowly revealed through a high-wire feat of storytelling."  And this one is due out in just a very few weeks, August 1.

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey -- This is a new series by Massey.  She turns her attention from contemporary Japan to 1920s India featuring one of the first women lawyers.  "Inspired in part by a real woman who made history by becoming India’s first female lawyer, The Widows of Malabar Hill is a richly wrought story of multicultural 1920s Bombay as well as the debut of a sharp and promising new sleuth, Perveen Mistry." I actually had this on my tablet as an eGalley, but they only allow a very short reading time (and it will disappear in a day or two) that I just couldn't manage to do more than dip into the story a tiny bit.  Such a pity as it does look promising, but now I will have to wait until January to read it in earnest.

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn -- "Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.  Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, mother, their teenaged son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble?and its shocking secrets are laid bare.  What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.  Twisty and powerful, ingenious, and moving, The Woman in the Window is a smart, sophisticated novel of psychological suspense that recalls the best of Hitchcock."  I'm all for twisty turny and love anything Hitchcock inspired!

Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton -- I love Sharon Bolton's books and there was a time when I was on top of all that she had published, but now I have fallen behind, in particular with her Lacey Flint series.  But her newest looks like a standalone.  Just in time for fall, this is being released early in September.  "In Dead Woman Walking, from master of suspense Sharon Bolton, the sole survivor of a hot-air balloon crash witnesses a murder as the balloon is falling.  Just before dawn in the hills near the Scottish border, a man murders a young woman. At the same time, a hot-air balloon crashes out of the sky. There’s just one survivor. She’s seen the killer’s face – but he’s also seen hers. And he won’t rest until he’s eliminated the only witness to his crime. Alone, scared, trusting no one, she’s running to where she feels safe – but it could be the most dangerous place of all..."

Force of Nature by Jane Harper -- Yay.  She is one of my great new finds this year, and while her second book will be out in October in Australia, we'll see it here in the US early in 2018.  "Five women pick up their backpacks and start walking along a muddy track. Only four come out on the other side.  The hike through the rugged Giralang Ranges is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone. At least that's what the corporate retreat website advertises.  Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a particularly keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing bushwalker. Alice Russell is the whistleblower in his latest case – and Alice knew secrets. About the company she worked for and the people she worked with.  Far from the hike encouraging teamwork, the women tell Falk a tale of suspicion, violence and disintegrating trust. And as he delves into the disappearance, it seems some dangers may run far deeper than anyone knew."

Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys -- This one is coming out shortly in paperback in the UK (and will be published in hardcover here in the US in January . . . you know which copy I will be ordering . .  .).  "Sparkling cocktails, poisonous secrets ... 1939, Europe on the brink of war. Lily Shepherd leaves England on an ocean liner for Australia, escaping her life of drudgery for new horizons. She is instantly seduced by the world onboard: cocktails, black-tie balls and beautiful sunsets. Suddenly, Lily finds herself mingling with people who would otherwise never give her the time of day. But soon she realizes her glamorous new friends are not what they seem. The rich and hedonistic Max and Eliza Campbell, mysterious and flirtatious Edward, and fascist George are all running away from tragedy and scandal even greater than her own. By the time the ship docks, two passengers are dead, war has been declared, and life will never be the same again."

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James -- A reminder I am behind,too, in Simone's books.  (Writing this post makes me want to walk over to my stacks and pick up a book by Simone and Sharon Bolton . . .).  This newest is not out until next March so maybe I have time to catch up?  "Vermont, 1950. There's a place for the girls whom no one wants--the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the too smart for their own good. It's called Idlewild Hall. And in the small town where it's located, there are rumors that the boarding school is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, their budding friendship blossoming--until one of them mysteriously disappears. . . .  Vermont, 2014. As much as she's tried, journalist Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her older sister's death. Twenty years ago, her body was found lying in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. And though her sister's boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can't shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case.

The Unquiet Grave by Sharon McCrumb -- I have never read any of Sharon McCrumb's books, but I think I really should (I tend not to read many US mystery crime writers for some odd reason . . .).  This one sounds especially good.  "From New York Times bestselling author Sharyn McCrumb comes a finely wrought novel set in nineteenth-century West Virginia, based on the true story of one of the strangest murder trials in American history—the case of the Greenbrier Ghost."  I guess Seprember 12 isn't too long to wait.

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan -- And last one, by an author you might not think of as a mystery writer!  "Mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful, with the pace and atmosphere of a noir thriller, Egan’s first historical novel is a masterpiece, a deft, startling, intimate exploration of a transformative moment in the lives of women and men, America and the world. Manhattan Beach is a spectacular novel by one of the greatest writers of our time."  Due in early October it might make for a very good, very different RIP read!

And you?  Looking forward to a good mystery or crime novel coming out soon?

Last Year This Week

So, last year this week, it was hot much like it is this week now!  I was just starting the Jane Smiley Last Hundred Years trilogy.  I still need to read that last book.

I was reading a book of short stories by Sylvia Townsend Warner.  I am reading a book of short stories by an Australian writer this year (though my short story reading is wonky in general at the moment), which I will be writing about as soon as I finish the last few stories.

I had just finished that epic Ken Follett drama, Fall of Giants, and curiously I have lately been thinking of picking up the second book of the trilogy now.

Lucky me as I was thinking and planning for my trip to Colorado, which I will not unfortunately be making this summer (staycation-city for me . . . I will have to depend on my reading for a change of scenery).

My library finds are still as generous this year as they were last (I see only one book of that pile which I have since read . . .).

Hmm.  I was feeling restless and as though life was quite lackluster then.  I still feel it today, but here I am plodding along.  Not quite feeling as pressured perhaps as last year.  Maybe just more resigned to life as it is at the moment (or more likely just drained by the oppressive heat and humidity) but that restlessness is still in the back of my mind.

Maybe it is time to think of the second half of the year as this month is speeding along?  Dare I take a photo of my current reads on my nightstand right now?  (And dare I tell you how many of those books went back to the shelves unread?).  Must be the July/midyear/tired of the heat doldrums.  An annual event it would seem.

Teaser Tuesday: Hend and the Soldiers

If yesterday I was wondering how accurate the portrayal of life in contemporary Saudi Arabia was in Zoe Ferraris's Finding Nouf, today I am reading a book (gotten via ILL and serendipitously it arrived just in time to start when I finished the mystery) written by a Saudi Arabian novelist.  Badriah Albeshr is an established writer, journalist and academic who has written several novels, Hend and the Soldiers is her first to be translated from Arabic into English.  It is part of the Modern Middle East Literatures in Translation Series that is published by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.  I am curious to see how much the stories in the novels overlap, rather how much the portrayal of contemporary life as lived by Saudi women overlaps.   I was thrilled when I came across it as there does not seem to be a lot of literature readily available in English by authors from this country.

"The novel appeared at a time [it was originally published in Beirut in 2006] when Saudi writers had recently started to speak openly about social issues their predecessors usually preferred to leave alone out of fear of retribution or reverence for social values.  Not surprisingly, it was admired by all those who embraced its frankness, its liberal views, and light humorous tone; but it was equally attacked by religious groups and those who frowned upon seeing old traditions scoffed at  or challenged."

The introduction is written by the novel's translator, Sanna Dhahir, and she notes the themes of the passages that caused a stir, which include references to God "in terms perceived as unprecented in a Saudi novel" as well depictions of female sexuality as well as unflattering references to religious police.  However, it was never banned in Saudi Arabia.  This book is apparently the most popular of her published works.  Albeshr was born in Riyadh and has published newspaper columns, books of short stories, nonfiction as well as three novels.  She has taught at university but now is a full time author, and hopefully more of her work will be translated into English.

I was interested in what the translator had to say about why the book was chosen for translation as well as the challenges it presented.  As there is a dearth of books by Saudi writers . . . "It spans several decades of Saudi history and culture, all vividly portrayed through the eyes of a passionate insider.  It would dispel a number of fixed judgments about a people and many aspects of their lives in a place imperfectly understood by other cultures."  It's not just outside perceptions of women's lives that she writes about but of men as well.

As for the actual translation, English and Arabic have vastly different structures and as she says the languages represent very different cultures.  How can a translator make it all come together to convey the sense of the story and storyteller accurately to a very different audience?

"To render a readable and interesting target text, I set out to domesticate the translation in all parts that required idiomatic, clear English.  At the same time, I strived to preserve the source text's local color, as in passages with religious sayings, salutations, and specific mannerisms."

Happily she has used footnotes to further explain cultural or linguistic references that may not be obvious to the reader.  I get the sense that Arabic is a very difficult language to learn, but it must be quite beautiful and lyrical if this translation is anything to go by, which you will see in my teaser below!

"The histories of this household's women are tales woven around coffee.  Each woman has a story living in the heart of her cup.  If not given to her by fate, the woman herself creates a story to sweeten the acrid taste of life, and she relishes her own narrative over the bitter coffee.  Each woman's tale emerges from the womb of a long cardamom pod, where her story had been growing."

That passage really struck me when I read it, it seems so evocative and lovely.  I like the idea of every woman having her own narrative hidden away.

Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris

Although I shudder at the thought, I have a fascination with a place that is so hot that a woman's shoe literally melds into the concrete surface as she is walking across a parking lot.  This is what happens at one point in the novel Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris, which is set mostly in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia is a place I have a curiosity about, but it seems a place filled with exoticism and contradictions.  I have ideas of what it might be like, but I am not sure how accurate they are (some probably true others stereotypes).  I have this idea that it is not a place I would like to live as a woman, but I still want to read more about.  It's not a place that, I think, it is easy for Westerners to travel to (and I am not sure I would even want to), but I found the mystery Finding Nouf by turns maddening, intriguing, and very gripping.   

The author is American and lived in Saudi Arabia after the first Gulf War with her husband at the time who was a Saudi-Palestinian Bedouin and who no doubt inspired the character (and sleuth) Nayir al-Sharqi.  The author now lives in the US and has written a further two more mysteries set in Saudi Arabia and featuring Nayir and Miss Katya Hijazi, a pairing which gives a peek at the lives of both women and a man who is more akin with the Arabian deserts than the pampered lifestyles of the elite.  It is a relationship that begins with mistrust and misunderstandings, comes with lots of assumptions (and not always true ones), but over time turns into a friendship and perhaps in the other books maybe even something more.  The set up of the story is certainly a good way to show a bit of Saudi society to western eyes.

Nouf is one of several daughters of large, wealthy Saudi family who is found dead in the desert outside of Jeddah.  Her brother Othman has asked Nayir, who is a family friend, to look into her disappearance and later her death as there are many unanswered questions surrounding Nouf.  Nayir knows the desert, it is in his blood and he has served as a guide to the Shrawi family in the past.  When they find Nouf, it is not the outcome they had hoped for.  It appears she drowned from a sudden flash flood, but more questions are raised.  Why was she out there alone?  Why would a young woman, just sixteen and soon to be wed, be without her guide in such an inhospitable place? 

Othman's fiancé, Katya Hijazi, is somewhat of an anomaly.  She works at a lab in the coroner's office.  She is lucky in her relationship with Othman as she is almost a spinster by Saudi standards--the ripe age of twenty-eight.  She has been known to bare her face in public and she relishes her work.  She studied hard to get her education and has worked against the wishes at times of her father (her mother having passed away).  She is not really Othman's equal, not being of a wealthy class, yet he seems a good man and they have intentions to marry.  Despite his position in society, and perhaps because he was adopted into the Shrawi family himself, he seems open to Katya's more progressive/open ideas.  Of course that is not to say that Katya breaks all of society's rules, she just knows how to live within them and bend them slightly in order to work outside the home.  There are times in the story when she seems exhausted and it's easy to see why.

Both Katya and Nayir inevitably get involved in the search for answers to Nouf's death, which looks less and less like a simple accident.  What is most intriguing about this story, and I have to admit at times utterly exasperating is how Nayir looks at Katya, how little they understand each other yet must try and work together, interact and communicate.  Nayir is especially pious, and as a single man with little family and no sisters he finds Katya's behavior at times inappropriate.  He refuses to look at her face and will barely make eye contact with her even when she's veiled.  It's not just Nayir's reaction to Katya, but the restrictions that are placed on her movements and the difficulties she has working. 

It seems such a fine line she walks between living a life as a working woman where everything--her dress, her attitudes, her movements are scrutinized in ways that men's are not.  And then Nayir's assumptions on top of that.  Of course, that said, sometimes Katya had assumptions of her own that were not correct.  Maybe not surprising there is often little understanding and less sympathy for others when there is so little interaction between men and women in a culture like this. 

I could happily have tipped Nayir over the side of his boat (he lives alone in a houseboat) on more than one occasion, but I will admit by the story's end he had come around somewhat in how he interacts with Katya and his understanding of what women's lives are like.  Why someone like Nouf, who seemingly had everything she could possibly ever want still ended up alone in the desert and ultimately paid for her "crimes".  I've got Ferraris's other two mysteries set in Saudi Arabia and look forward to picking up the next one soon. 

There doesn't seem to be a lot of contemporary literature that comes out of Saudi Arabia (certainly compared to other countries in the region like Egypt or Turkey), and even less by women.  I am waiting in line for a library copy of Manal al-Sharif's Daring to Drive: A Saudi Women's Awakening (she now lives in Australia).  Several years back I read a novel by a young Saudi woman, Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea, but I have never seen another book by her released.  I am always interested in books by women from this part of the world, so any suggestions are always welcome. 

As hot as it is here right now (this week might well see actual temperatures breaking 100F for several days running), it sounds much hotter in Saudi Arabia.  I am traveling somewhere cold now, literally and figuratively, as my mystery read is set in Cold War era East Berlin, David Young's Stasi Child, which is last year's CWA Endeavor Historical Dagger winner.

Reading Notes: Book to Screen

There are a whole slew of movies that are coming out (or that I have recently seen or am currently watching) that have been adapted to the big and small screen.  As I want to see the movies and like to read the books first (in most cases) I feel like I need to start incorporating the books into my current reading.

I recently saw, not once but twice as I was so intrigued by it, Sophia Coppola's The Beguiled.  It's not the first time the book has been made into a movie.  In 1971 Clint Eastwood starred in it.  Initially I just saw it out of curiosity but with no real desire to compare it to the older film or read the book, but now I want to do both.  I have bought Thomas Cullinan's 1966 novel The Beguiled.

A number of years ago I watched the entire run of Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren (who I think is a most amazing actor).  I was totally riveted to the show and as a coworker was also watching the DVDs we would chat about the episodes at length.  Now PBS is airing Prime Suspect: Tennison, which I am finding equally as good.  The show is about Jane Tennison's early days, so of course I have ordered Tennison: 1973 from the Book Depository as well as the first book in the Prime Suspect series.  I'm not sure where to start with my reading.  I like the show mostly because it is just a well done crime drama, but also because I love a show with a strong and smart female character and as weird as it may sound I like reading about the 1970s (my own kind of nostalgia, I guess).

Is My Cousin Rachel out yet?  I am not sure it will ever come to Omaha, but if it does I plan on seeing it if it does.  Otherwise . . . Netflix.  I have read the book twice already, though I wouldn't mind reading it again I like Daphne du Maurier's books so much. 

Same with Tulip Fever (the book by Deborah Moggach, who I love and want to read all her work), and The Zookeeper's Wife (the book by Diane Ackerman, who I have also read and enjoyed).  I have a feeling the movies came and went (maybe not here where I live but to theaters in general?), but I still want to read both books.

And I have already had Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express out and in my reading pile.  The movie is due out in the fall and it looks like it could be good.  Granted M. Poirot's (Kenneth Branagh's) bushy moustache does absolutely nothing for me, I know that is how it is described in the book. 

Next month I am going to have the chance to see Orlando on the big screen.  As I had wanted to read Virginia Woolf earlier in the year (and my classic reading has been abysmal so far this year), I have to find my copy of the book.  As part of the same film series, I plan on seeing Carol in September.  There is Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt, which is the book the film is based on, to read, and wouldn't it be perfect to pair it with Jill Dawson's The Crime Writer?!

And I guess now I will be bumping up my copy of Invisible City by Julia Dahl to the top of my reading pile since it looks like the story is being turned into a (TV? or cable?) series.  This mystery series is set in contemporary NYC in an Hasidic neighborhood and the sleuth is a journalist whose mother is part of that same community.  I've heard good things about the books.

I still want to reread Tracks by Robyn Davidson and conveniently the film is streaming right now.  I recently had the book in my hand and had started to read, but you know how it goes with so many books calling your name.

What am I missing?  I think there must be loads of movies coming out that started as books.  And then PBS's Masterpiece Theater is always good for adaptations.  Not that I need any help finding books to read, of course.  For now, I think I need to look for my copy of Orlando this weekend.  It has a certain appeal (as I type anyway).  I have plenty on my reading pile that I'll be dipping into, and I'll be watching the Liza Minnelli version of Cabaret and a very curious-sounding foreign film called Let the Right One In, on the big screen this weekend.  (I've already read Cabaret and seen the Broadway production, and if I feel the desire after the fact I can read John Ajvide Lindqvist's book later, too--though whenever I would pick it up it always looked really creepy).

Have a great weekend and enjoy whatever you'll be reading (or watching)!