A Work in Progress

State of the Reading Pile

I'm trying to merge my current reads pile (one book finished and two new added--probably not what they mean by 'new math') with the mess that was on my night stand.  Especially as we near the end of the first quarter of the year.  And I think I need to do these update posts once a month rather than once a week as maybe real progress can actually be noted rather than the glacial progress that seems to be taking place right now.

Wally Funk’s Race for Space

In 1961, when 22-year-old aviator Mary Wallace ‘Wally’ Funk arrived at an astronaut test centre in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with ten dollars in her pocket, she was determined to become one of the first women in space. Once there, she successfully passed a series of rigorous physical and psychological tests, which included having ice cold water poured into her ears and electric shocks, before becoming one of the Mercury 13 – the collective name for the 13 American women who had passed the Women in Space Program. But just one week before she was due to enter the final phase of training, the programme was abruptly cancelled and Funk was cheated out of her rightful place in space history.

Wally’s story will be published this October by Westbourne Press.  I’m looking forward to yet another slice of women’s history that thus far has remained untold.  Today is the exciting cover reaveal for the story of an amazing woman.

@SaqiBooks

A Suitable Boy Redux: Lata Waits

Remember Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy?  I've not forgotten this book (which I even cut down into five very manageable sections), but which I hit a snag at about page 672 almost a whole year ago.  Lata and her suitors have been waiting patiently in the wings.  I've been thinking a lot lately about what a mess my reading has become and all the growing pile of languishing books (ASB is the sore thumb of the pile).  I feel I should just allow myself two (okay maybe three) books at once and shift a new (as in something else partially read) into the pile as one gets shifted into the finished pile.  Part nine, where I left off was something of a slog of a chapter and so I set it aside.  If I can just make myself read through it . . .

It's Susan Hill who gave me the (notsogentle) nudge to look at my pieces of ASB.  One of the recent essays I read in her book is all about the books we try to read but can't seem to manage.  How can I read Anna Karenina and War and Peace and Don Quixote (for heaven's sake) but not read A Suitable Boy?  Where has my concentration gone off to?  So the third chunk of the book (half way through even) was tucked into my book bag today.

Teaser Tuesday: Susan Hill & Kilvert!

"Kilvert is a real literary discovery", so says A.L. Rowse in his introduction.  And Susan Hill would concur.  I've already mentioned what a gem of a book is Howards End is on the Landing, so no surprise that the more I read the more I like, and the more I am adding new (or rediscovered) titles to my own reading list.  Her reference to the Reverend Francis Kilvert piqued my curiosity.  As it happened the library had a copy of selections from said Rev.'s diary so I thought I might just take a peek since it was so close at hand.  It was meant to only be idle curiosity, but he charmed me, so I had to take it home.

I love reading diaries for much the same reason as Hill.

"I think the greatest satisfaction of reading published diaries is that of being admitted into other people's worlds, of living in their houses, knowing their friends, accompanying them on their travels-and and at the same time being party to their views of it all.  It is like plunging into the imaginary world of a novel and yet satisfying in a rather different way--one I have not quite managed to put my finger on."

She, however, isn't quite so keen on feeling a voyeur when reading about a diarist who is more contemporary and closer to living in our own era.

"I do not feel an intruder into Kilvert's world because both he and those about whom he writes are so very far away, and all of them dead.  And Kilvert is almost always gentle and generous in his portrayal of others, as his Christianity bade him to be.  There is the occasional sigh, the occasional ironic aside, but in general, he is accepting and forgiving even as he portrays people so clearly--and that in itself is no mean feat."

So the copy I have at hand was published in 1947 and covers the years 1870-1879, and then it contains only selections.  His diaries of rural life (he lived in Wiltshire) covered over fifty years.  So from Susan Hill over to Rev. Kilvert.  Shall I share a few entries?

Okay, so this one caught my eye and is one of those occasional ironic asides, but you'll understand his disparaging tone.

Saturday, 17 December [1870]

"That liar and thief of the world Sarah Thomas, Mrs. Challoners' servant, is gone.  The evening she went no one knew what had become of her all the early part of the night.  Probably she passed it under some hedge and not alone.  At a quarter before midnight she asked for a bed, which Mrs. Price very properly refused.  I hope she has cleared out of this village.  Beast."

Ouch.  I wonder if there were extenuating circumstances or she was just taking advantage of a good situation?

Friday, 28 July [1871]

"Gipsy Lizzie was at the School.  Again I am under the influence of that child's extraordinary beauty.  When she is reading and her eyes are bent down upon her book her loveliness if indescribable."

Sunday, 4 March [1872]

"Supper at the Castle and home under the clear sky brilliant flashing moving with quick lights of the stars and bands of Orion, the sweet influences of the Pleiades and Arcturus with his sons."

Wednesday, 16 July [1873]

"As I walked along the field path I stopped to listen to the rustle and solemn night whisper of the wheat, so different to its voice by day.  The corn seemed to be praising God and whispering its evening prayer.  Across the great level meads near Chippenham came the martial music of a drum and fife band, and laughing voices of unseen girls were wafted from farms and hayfields out of the wild dusk."

Quite pleasant, don't you think?  It reminds me of the setting of a Thomas Hardy novel (without all the tragedy Hardy's work elicits).  I might have to just start from the beginning and read my way through.

State of the Reading Pile

Since the actual state of my nightstand is such a mess and is so out of control, I fear I cannot share it in its entirety this week.  You care getting the edited/or rather revamped pile here (which is sort of funny since it is still towering, right?!).  I've gone through and somewhat prioritzed things--books I need to read sooner than later (a book club book, my monthly prompt, a couple of readalong books and my NYRB).  Work has been so busy and it seems to have spilled over into my regular life so I have been feeling more than a bit frazzled, so now seems the moment to step back and reassess.  My posting for the rest of the month is likely to be sporadic, I'm afraid, but I am hoping it gives me a little time to make a dent in my 'current reads' pile.  Still, as out of control as it seems, I think having too many good books is not such a bad predicament to be in, right?

Weekend Reading Notes: April 20

Our local farmer's market begins in a mere two weeks, which is almost hard to imagine since the last few weekends have been miserably winterlike.  But the sun is threatening to shine finally and I am ready to shed my winter coat.  I miss sitting outside in the sunshine on my lunch break, but just maybe I can enjoy it soon.

I'm sorry I've been mostly absent here lately--it's my busy time at work and I have not been able to keep up with everything.  I have saved some interesting things to share, however, and while my reading seems to still be moving at a snail's pace, I hope to write about a few books I finished recently very soon.

Have you seen this?  Amazon is celebrating World Book Day by giving away several Kindle books for free.  You have the next few days to download them, and indeed I found a few to tempt me.

World Book Day is Monday April 23--maybe we need to do something special to celebrate?  (Take the day off and spend it reading?  Or buy a new book?  Or go to the library?--what do you fancy?).  By the way, thank you Catalonia, Spain for starting this and UNESCO for joining in.

I think if I start a new book, it has to be Madeline Miller's Circe since Everyone else seems to be reading it right now, too.  I loved her first book and have been in the mood for some mythology.  My other really need to start book is Meg Wolitzer's The Female Persuasion, if I still plan on taking part in the BN book club read.  Maybe I should take a vacation day soon.

I've only read the first of the Cormoran Strike mysteries by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling), but I have an image in my mind of what he looks like, so it is always interesting to see what the actor looks like who is cast to play the role in the film. 

Ooh, new spy books.  A list of books I am taking special note of--Favorite Myths Reimagined, which is something I am really interested in at the moment!

I really like Natalia Ginzburg and mean to get back to her writing, but in the meantime I want to read this article by Rachel Cusk.  I also want to read this about the obsession with reading about missing girls.

A little something about short stories here.  I plan on reading a short story or two this weekend, you too?  Did you know we are once again in the midst of a Season of Stories (so you can read for free!).

I hope the sun is shining where you are and that your weekend includes some reading time, too.

Teaser Tuesday: Tirra Lirra By the River

My hand hovered over the Sharon McCone mystery, which I thought would be a quick and easy read for the 1977 Club, but then something in me decided to pick up the unexpected.  I have looked at Jessica Andersons's Tirra Lirra by the River so many times but then passed over it in favor of something else.  I feel like reading outside the norm a bit, and after getting a taste of the story and writing in the first few pages, I think I made the right choice.  (I still want to read that Sharon McCone story, but its day will come, too).

I have owned my copy for ages and meant to get to it last summer when I was Wintering Down in Australia, but there were so many books to choose from I didn't get to even half what I had set out for reading choices.  (I wonder where I should virtually/literarily travel to this summer--it has not felt like spring even so to think about summer reading seems crazy, but it is really time to give it some thought!).  It has been reissued by Melville House in their Neversink Library Series, but I have an old Penguin edition. 

Just to orient things a little, the title comes from Tennyson's ballad "The Lady of Shallot" (which per the wikipedia "tells the tale of a female artist who meets a tragic end when she attempts to move beyond artistic isolation"). The story is about Nora Porteous who left Australia and an unhappy marriage for London and in the opening pages of the story sees her return home as a much older woman.  I am curious to see how her reflections back on her life will compare to the Tennyson quote.

A little teaser or two for you to get a taste of her writing.  By the way the novel is written in first person from Nora's perspective.  In the excerpt Nora is arriving at her childhood home being helped by a neighbor with her bags.

"I enter the hall, finding the echoes immediately familiar, and he falls in behind me, coughing rather respectfully.  Through the long mirror of that big hall stand I see a shape of an old woman who began to call herself old before she really was, partly to get in first and partly out of fastidiousness about the word 'elderly', but who is now really old.  She has allowed her shoulders to slump.  I press back my shoulders and make first for the living room."

And thinking back (already) about her London life and the flat she must have shared with other women:

"I am beginning to see our little coterie at number six through other eyes.  We would often say to each other, describing incidents that had happened 'outside', 'oh, he thought me 'quite mad'.  It was our happy assumption that everyone outside world thought us quite mad.  But now I am finding that when one is really outside, and alone, it is less of a burden (and much more private) to be thought quite ordinary.  Besides, I am too tired at present to insist upon my madness.  So I lower my hand, and speak in a reassuring voice." 

I am intrigued by Nora and am looking forward to hearing more about her life.  Although not planned this way, I am also rereading a favorite Judy Blume book, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, which is about a young girl--so on the other end of the age spectrum.  It seems a nice balance, that.  More about both books later!  Are you reading for the 1977 Club, too?

Joining the 1977 Club!

This was in the back of my mind when I first heard mention of it a while ago and then I lost track of time and here it is time for the 1977 Club that Simon has organized and I am only now thinking of what I might read for it. 

Just to get in a few good 1977 reads in the actual week, I have read a number of much loved books published in 1977 and I wrote about them at the time.  Barbara Pym's Quartet in Autumn was just mentioned and under discussion here in the last week.  I read it a couple of years ago and now count it as my favorite Pym novel.

A Time of Gifts was my introduction to Patrick Leigh Fermor, who has to be one of the most erudite and sophisticated writers I have ever had the pleasure to read.  I really need to read the other two travel books that started with his walking adventures that began in Holland and continued across a long lost Europe.

And Ruth Rendell's A Judgement in Stone is classic suspense.  She is hard to beat when it comes to psychological suspense stories.  She can give away the ending of a story right on the first page and still have you utterly spellbound to a story.

So, three novels published in 1977 that I would happily revisit at any time.  But I think I need to add a new one to my pile.  Likely I won't finish reading it by the end of the week (but you never know).  I've tried to keep the list short and hopefully the books are easily accessible on my messy shelves.

Golden Child by Penelope Fitzgerald -- "Penelope Fitzgerald's novel, The Golden Child, combines a deft comedy of manners with a classic mystery set in London's most refined institution—the museum. When the glittering treasure of ancient Garamantia, the golden child, is delivered to the museum, a web of intrigue tightens around its personnel, especially the hapless museum officer Waring Smith. While prowling the halls one night, Waring is nearly strangled. Two suspicious deaths ensue, and only the cryptic hieroglyphics of the Garamantes can bring an end to the mayhem. Fitzgerald has an unerring eye for human nature, and this satirical look at the art world delivers a terrifically witty read."

Tirra Lirra by the River by Jessica Anderson -- "Nora Porteous, a witty, ambitious woman from Brisbane, returns to her childhood home at age seventy. Her life has taken her from a failed marriage in Sydney to freedom in London; she forged a modest career as a seamstress and lived with two dear friends through the happiest years of her adult life.  With grace and humor, Nora recounts her desire to escape, the way her marriage went wrong, the vanity that drove her to get a facelift, and one romantic sea voyage that has kept her afloat during her dark years. Her memory is imperfect, but the strength and resilience she shows over the years is nothing short of extraordinary. A book about the sweetness of escape, and the mix of pain and acceptance that comes with returning home."

Beggar Maid: The Stories of Flo and Rose by Alice Munro -- "In this series of interweaving stories, Munro recreates the evolving bond between two women in the course of almost forty years. One is Flo, practical, suspicious of other people's airs, at times dismayingly vulgar. the other is Rose, Flo's stepdaughter, a clumsy, shy girl who somehow leaves the small town she grew up in to achieve her own equivocal success in the larger world."

Monkey Grip by Helen Garner -- "In this acclaimed first novel, Helen Garner captures the fluid relationships of a community of friends who are living and loving in new ways. Nora falls in love with Javo the junkie, and together they try to make sense of their lives and the choices they have made. But caught in an increasingly ambiguous relationship, they are unable to let go - and the harder they pull away from each other, the tighter the monkey grip."

Edwin of the Iron Shoes by Marcia Muller -- "The book that launched the massively popular series! It's Sharon McCone's first case as staff investigator for All Souls Legal Cooperative. She knows nothing about antiques, yet she has an affection for Salem Street with its charming mix of antique and curio shops. Now elderly dealer Joan Albritton has been found dead, stabbed with an antique dagger. Her neighbors are shocked. Recurring vandalism has them frightened. And McCone's introduction to Lieutenant Gregory Marcus doesn't help matters. Ferreting out the facts will take Sharon from the chaotic jumble of the junk dealer's establishment to a museum where San Francisco's most elegant socialites gather."

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume -- This is a childhood favorite and I am keep to reread it.  "Sally J. Freedman was ten when she made herself a movie star. She would have been happy to reach stardom in New Jersey, but in 1947 her older brother Douglas became ill, so the Freedman family traveled south to spend eight months in the sunshine of Florida. That’s where Sally met her friends Andrea, Barbara, Shelby, Peter, and Georgia Blue Eyes—and her unsuspecting enemy, Adolf Hitler."

Now.  Which to choose!

State of the Nightstand: April(!) 15

Finished my Virago Modern Classic--I forgot how wonderful Rosamund Lehmann is.  I have a biography of her I would love to read soon.  Now comes the pleasure of choosing a new one, or maybe a Persephone title.  I will be seeing the opera Medea next weekend so I am trying to squeeze reading the play in anticipation.  Have added a new read to the mix, can you spot which one (it's in the front--second book down if you need a hint!).  And, not shown is a library book I picked up that I had to return partially read but had to get back in line for-the new Jane Harper mystery.  My reading has been so wonky lately--not much has been budging of late.

A New Books Wish List

I was going to write about my last NYRB that I just finished, but I'm just feeling out of sorts today, so I'll share a few new books I am really looking forward to.  I seem to have an endless list of those!  A few are very recent releases and a few forthcoming. 

No One But You by Tessa Levy and Shelley Cassidy -- " a fictional account of a young girl's extraordinary life, from the post-war East End of London to the high life of America and back again. It portrays Tessa Levy's yearning for adventure and opportunity and ultimately love on both sides of the Atlantic."

Summer of Love by Caro Fraser -- "In the hot summer of 1949, a group of family and friends gather at Harry Denholm's country house in Kent. Meg and Dan Ranscombe, emerging from a scandal of their own making; Dan's godmother, Sonia and her two young girls, Laura and Avril, only one of whom is Sonia's biological daughter. Among the heat, memories, and infatuations, a secret is revealed to Meg's son, Max, and soon a terrible tragedy unfolds that will have consequences for them all. Afterwards, Avril, Laura and Max must come of age in a society still reeling from the war, haunted by the choices of that fateful summer. Cold, entitled Avril will go to any lengths to take what is hers. Beautiful, naive Laura finds refuge and love in the London jazz clubs, but Max, with wealth and unrequited love, has the capacity to undo it all."

Belleweather by Susanna Kearsley -- "It's late summer, war is raging, and families are torn apart by divided loyalties and deadly secrets. In this complex and dangerous time, a young French Canadian lieutenant is captured and billeted with a Long Island family, an unwilling and unwelcome guest. As he begins to pitch in with the never-ending household tasks and farm chores, Jean-Philippe de Sabran finds himself drawn to the daughter of the house. Slowly, Lydia Wilde comes to lean on Jean-Philippe, true soldier and gentleman, until their lives become inextricably intertwined. Legend has it that the forbidden love between Jean-Philippe and Lydia ended tragically, but centuries later, the clues they left behind slowly unveil the true story."

Bryant & May: Hall of Mirrors: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery by Christopher Fowler -- "London, 1969. With the Swinging Sixties under way, Detectives Arthur Bryant and John May find themselves caught in the middle of a good, old-fashioned manor house murder mystery."

In the Distance with You by Carla Guelfenbein -- "Vera Sigall, now eighty years old, has lived a mysterious, ascetic life far from the limelight of literary circles. This powerful character has a profound effect on those around her—Daniel, an architect and her neighbor and friend, unhappy in his marriage and career; Emilia, a Franco-Chilean student who travels to Santiago to write a thesis on the elusive Vera; and Horacio, an acclaimed poet with whom Vera had a tumultuous, passionate affair in her youth."  The author is Brazilian and the book is apparently inspired by Clarice Lispector.

Tango Lessons: A Memoir by Maghan Flaherty -- "Tango was an unlikely choice for Meghan Flaherty. A young woman living with the scars of past trauma, she was terrified of being touched and shied away from real passion. But by her late twenties, she knew something had to change. She dug up an old dream and tried on her dancing shoes.  Written in wry, lyrical prose, and beautifully enriched by the vivid history and culture of the dance, Tango Lessons is a transformative story of conquering your fears, living your dreams, and enjoying the dizzying freedom found in the closest embrace."

A Double Life by Flynn Berry -- I really liked her first book!  "Claire is a hardworking doctor living a simple, quiet life in London. She is also the daughter of the most notorious murder suspect in the country, though no one knows it.  Nearly thirty years ago, while Claire and her infant brother slept upstairs, a brutal crime was committed in her family's townhouse. Her father's car was found abandoned near the English Channel the next morning, with bloodstains on the front seat. Her mother insisted she'd seen him in the house that night, but his powerful, privileged friends maintained his innocence. The first lord accused of murder in more than a century, he has been missing ever since.  When the police tell Claire they've found her father, her carefully calibrated existence begins to fracture. She doesn't know if she's the daughter of a murderer or a wronged man, but Claire will soon learn how far she'll go to finally find the truth."

The Diamond Setter by Moshe Sakal -- "The uneventful life of a jeweler from Tel Aviv changes abruptly in 2011 after Fareed, a handsome young man from Damascus, crosses illegally into Israel and makes his way to the ancient port city of Jaffa in search of his roots. In his pocket is a piece of a famous blue diamond known as "Sabakh." Intending to return the diamond to its rightful owner, Fareed is soon swept up in Tel Aviv's vibrant gay scene, and a turbulent protest movement. He falls in love with both an Israeli soldier and his boyfriend--the narrator of this book--and reveals the story of his family's past: a tale of forbidden love beginning in the 1930s that connects Fareed and the jeweler."

Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History by Keith O'Brien -- "Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi‑day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Well, the men were hailed. Female pilots were more often ridiculed than praised for what the press portrayed as silly efforts to horn in on a manly, and deadly, pursuit. Fly Girls recounts how a cadre of women banded together to break the original glass ceiling: the entrenched prejudice that conspired to keep them out of the sky."

Okay Fine Whatever: The Year I Went from Being Afraid of Everything to Only Being Afraid of Most Things by Courtenay Hameister -- "Refreshing, relatable, and pee-your-pants funny, Okay Fine Whatever is Courtenay's hold-nothing-back account of her adventures on the front lines of Mere Human Woman vs. Fear, reminding us that even the tiniest amount of bravery is still bravery, and that no matter who you are, it's possible to fight complacency and become bold, or at least bold-ish, a little at a time."

So, a few books I am waiting for (most of these I am in line for at the library) thrown in with the serendipity of those unplanned finds.