A Work in Progress

A Suitable Boy: Part 11

Whew.  A few little milestones.  Not only have I finished another section, part 11, but it was one of those slower going parts that was a little bit of a struggle for me to stay on task.  Way back when I was first reading in earnest, lugging such a heavy book around made me want to leave it at home more often than not, so I literally cut the book into more manageable pieces.  I know, I know.  Very destructive behavior.  I am very particular about my books, trust me.  However, in this case it has helped immensely, and it is so much easier to tuck a thin part of the book into my bookbag.  I have also finished reading the third of five 'pieces'.

And just in time, too, as that third chunk was beginning to look a little tattered.  Now that I have moved on to another piece I see that part 12, which I am already into only has about 25 pages left.  Happily I am back with the Mehras and Kapoors.  But first, a little overview of where I have been.

Part 11 focuses mostly on political and religious aspects of the story.  I know these are important events in the story since it encompasses not only the lives of several families but it takes place against the backdrop of post-Partition India, but the action slows a bit for me. 

The drama takes place first in the courtroom.  At stake is the Zamindari Abolition Act.  "If the courts decided for it, it would stand.  If not, it would be as if it never existed."  Zamindars are landowners.  They might control a large area on which peasants live and work the land, and from whom the landowners can collect taxes.  Not a very happy prospect if you happen to be a peasant.  Firoz Khan, good friend of Maan Kapoor (whose brother is married to Lata's sister, and who is having a steamy affair with a courtesan, which if you recall from the last section was the cause for his being sent to the countryside).

It is another drama that had me more engaged in this part.  I  must admit ignorance when it comes to the Hindu religion, but there is an annual (?) pilgrimage that takes place during the New Moon and on a particular day the pilgrims bathe in the Ganga River.  During this Pul Mela there were so many pilgrims, and a bottle neck of people causing a massive stampede resulting in the deaths of many.  It becomes more personal when Maan's sister, Veena becomes separated from her son, Bhaskar.  She is there with a friend and her mother when chaos erupts.  

It is Lata's not so suitable boy who comes to the rescue.  Despite being Muslim, as a student he is called to help in the disaster.  He knows young Bhaskar and spots him in the melee.  It is sheer luck he is able to take him to safety.  The boy, is in shock but not too physically harmed.  So here we have a promising intersection of characters.

My favorite part of the chapter is Lata's mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra's reaction to the knowledge of Lata's suitors (and unfortunate love interest, Kabir) that everyone else except she seems to have.  Why have so many run into the shoe salesman, Haresh, and now Kabir's presence at the Pul Mela, yet she is the very last to know!

Things are starting to come together and I am happy to be back with the Mehra family.  This chunk of book that I am now starting runs from part 12 through part of part 15 and I will soon be passing the page 900 mark.  Onwards.

Midweek Mishmash: Alternate World Ed.

There have been some issues regarding leaving messages here, and I believe it has been going on for some time but has gotten worse of late.  I have gotten a little help from Typepad and it sounds like there is a coding problem occurring behind the scenes in the way I have my comments set up--and how they display on various browsers.  I have turned off the type of commenting which allows me to respond per comment (nesting?), but that should hopefully enable everyone to leave a comment more easily.  If there continue to be problems, please do let me know ([email protected]).  I will just create one comment/response going forward, so you may need to scroll down to find a reply). 

I am contemplating changing my blogging platform.  Aside from needing a fresh look, and wanting to change my URL (Torres went away as my surname a long time ago), I think there must be other places I can blog that will be easier and perhaps more intuitively friendly for what I want to do these days.  If you are a blogger and have any suggestions, I would love to explore the possibilities!

In search of . . .  Yes, I need a grand, good, new reading distraction.  I am becoming increasingly disturbed by the news and what is happening--the total lack of civility and honesty in the way things are going these days.  Living in a pandemic is already challenging, but watching all the shenanigans (ad nauseam) on every channel and news outlet is becoming increasingly toxic, and I can't take anymore in.

Books and movies have long been my release and place to hide away and be part of something better and different (or maybe not better but with a happier outcome).  I am very much enjoying my current stack of books, but I was thinking that maybe a novel in the fantasy genre would be a good outlet for my emotions these days.  I am thinking of an alternate world perhaps, or maybe one not so unlike the one we are living in.  A world ruled by darkness where there seems to be no light, but a hero (or better a heroine) comes along and must fight a battle to overcome the evil that has taken control of the world.  What first came to mind is Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series.  I read Over Sea, Under Stone years ago and bought the second book in the quintet of books but never got around to it.  So I have pulled out Over Sea... and will reread it while I try and track down where I put the second book!

As I am not a regular reader of the fantasy genre, I would appreciate suggestions.  I like the Arthurian tone to the Cooper novels, but it can be anything.  I do have the epic, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, but I think it might be too much to try and read it along with my other books at the moment.  

I've also got some time to think about what to read for the Margaret Atwood Reading Month this coming November.  I have been so out of the loop this year with the virtual reading world that there have been numerous readalongs I am sorry I missed out on, but this is one I can plan for.  Maybe a reread of The Blind Assassin or one of her other earlier novels, or maybe some short stories or essays.  This is the kind of planning and things I want on my mind these days!

Happy news.  I finished another section of A Suitable Boy!  These two sections have been more uphill going and tackling them has been an accomplishment in my reading life (silly as it sounds, but you have to appreciate these small battles, right?).  One section was about a character's banishment to the countryside, and this last section taking place in part in a courtroom.  There were some quite dramatic moments which pulled me in, and I will write about section 11 in the next few days.  However, now I am back with Lata and her mother and sisters and am turning pages quickly and moving right along.  

My other good distraction is movies!  I am looking forward to some new and forthcoming films and series as well as an older movie or two.  I am excited to watch Enola Holmes this weekend.  You can see the trailer here.  I think the film is based on YA books?  But visuals have a lot to offer in this case!  I am hoping to be able to stream Ammonite with Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan (another book adaptation?--already pulled my copy of Tracy Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures).  We are in a weird place now with theatrical releases as some movie theaters are open, but not all.  And I won't be going to the cinema anytime soon as covid cases are on the rise.  But Nest looks fantastic and it seems to be in theaters only?

I'm excited about PBS's forthcoming Flesh and Blood.  And yay, another season of the Great British Baking Show (how they managed to film with the pandemic is amazing).  Optimistically I hope to be able to watch the film adaptation of A Suitable Boy (when I finish reading!), and I have been quietly (in the background) been reading Junichiro Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters (so good, but an undertaking, too).  I can't wait to finally watch the 1983 film adaptation.

So, the world outside might be topsy turvy but inside my own little bubble I can just let in the better things.  I hope you are finding inspiration or distraction from your books and movie watching, too.

New Books on My Radar: A Thursday 13

Fall is naturally the busiest publishing time of year and here we are, but this has been such a wonky year with publishing dates moved back, so I imagine it is going to be an especially busy new book Autumn!  Of course, I have a list going!  (However, some of these will not be out until early 2021).

Invisible Differences, Julie Dachez -- Really looking forward to this forthcoming graphic memoir!!

Trio, William Boyd

Fifty Words for Rain, Asha Lemmie -- Another one right up my alley-"From debut author Asha Lemmie, a sweeping, heartrending coming-of-age novel about a young woman's quest for acceptance in post-World War II Japan."  I think it is out now and just am waiting for a library copy.

The Searcher, Tana French -- It's been ages since I read one of her novels--time to pick up something and her new one sounds good.

Ladies of the House: A Modern Retelling of Sense and Sensibility, Lauren Edmondson

Three, D.A. Mishani -- I have read and enjoyed a few of his mystery novels, but this is a standalone.  I am always on the look out for books set in Israel.

The Lost Manuscript, Cathy Bonidan --Because I love epistolary novels!  And books about books!

Confessions on the 7:45, Lisa Unger -- What is it about mysteries/thrillers set on trains?

Flowers of Darkness, Tatiana de Rosnay -- Almost passed this one up as the author tends to write about WWII and I have not been in the mood for war/Holocaust novels, but this one is about AI (artificial intelligence set in modern Paris).

A Recipe for Daphne, Nektaria Anastasiadou 

Freeman's: Love, edited by John Freeman -- I love this literary journal!

This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing, Jacqueline Winspear -- No Maisie Dobbs mystery this year, but a memoir by the author instead!

The Island Child, Molly Aitken -- "A spellbinding, deeply felt debut novel--soaring and poignant--about passion, freedom, motherhood, and the power to shape our destinies."

What are you looking forward to reading this fall?

Teaser Tuesday: The Godwulf Manuscript

I don't think this is a spoiler to say--while the Godwulf Manuscript is the hook into the mystery, the reason for Spenser to become involved into what appears to be an innocuous case of a missing book, it is sort of just very incidental to what is going to eventually go down.  And it ends up being quite a ride. I thought Kinsey Millhone took a bit of a beating on a regular basis, but Spenser (and that is with an "S"-like the poet) endures more than just a little roughing up by local thugs.  After meeting him in this first foray into the Spenser mystery series, I think it is quite par for the course. 

A wiseacre.  That's what Spenser is.  Wile he might be just a little too "tough guy" for me, I like him and want to see where he goes next.  Granted Kinsey is very independent, quite savvy, an admitted liar, preferred singleton (now, though married twice before), but she has a decided moral code.  She knows her shortcomings and will bend the rules, but only to a point.  The jury is out on Spenser.

They do have some similarities.  They are working in pre-technology America--she in Santa Teresa, California and he in Boston.  She was a cop for a short while.  I am not sure what Spenser's backstory is, but he is a fine cook, drinks a lot of hard liquor (no matter the time of day).  They both pack weapons, both are sleuths of the hardboiled variety, both spend time at the gym.  He is a natty dresser, albeit ca. 1973, while she cuts her own hair with finger scissors and has one black dress for a variety of situations.  

I imagine some readers would pick up this first Spenser mystery and think--this feels a little dated.  Indeed it takes place in 1973 and I think at least one character sported sideburns.  But I prefer to think of the story being steeped in atmosphere.  It is America in the 70s and all the details are true to life, which I like.  I read historical fiction, and this is simply fiction portraying a specific time and place, and I call that authenticity.  And it is a few of those details, clothing-wise, that caught my eye and I want to share, because they are so descriptive.

The novel takes place in part on a college campus.

"The buildings around the university were old red brick.  Many of the windows were boarded, and few of the rest had curtains.  Along the avenue was some of the detritus that gathers at the exterior edge of a big university: used-book shops, cut-rate clothing stores featuring this year's freaky fashions, a porno shop, a school of astrology-reading in a store-front, a term-paper mill, three sub joints, hamburger, pizza, fried chicken joints, and a place selling soft ice cream.  The porno shop was bigger than the bookstore."

Terry Orchard is the student we are most interested in as she is perhaps the one with knowledge of and maybe ownership of the stolen manuscript.

"She looked like students I'd seen before, the real goods, faded Levi jacket and pants, faded and unironed denim shirt, hair pulled back tight in a pigtail like an eighteenth-century British sailor.  No make-up, no jewelry.  On her feet were yellow leather work shoes that laced up over the ankle.  She wasn't built soyou can tell from where I was, but I would have bet my retainer she wouldn't be wearing a bra."

And for the time, Spenser, you natty dresser, you.

"Gray, hard-finished slacks with a medium flare, blue paisley flowered shirt with short sleeves, blue wool socks, mahogany-colored buckle boots with a side zipper, broad mahogany belt with a brass buckle."

Oh, my.  Yes, no doubt the  height of fashion back then!  I want to keep reading the books for the descriptions alone.  I will have to describe Spenser's cooking sometime as well!  I do think, though, it is time for S is for Silence first.  Tag team detective work!

The Weekend Catch-Up in Photos

One of my 'almost the weekend' high points is my walk to the library for curbside pick up of my holds.  I am actually reading Kate Riordan's The Heatwave (set in France!) from last week's haul, so now the added dilemma of which books to try and read sooner than later.  I just found out that some of the branches of my library system will be opening September 21, with the coming week all branches closed in anticipation.  They are continuing with curbside pick up, but it will be nice to go inside again if need be.  All branches will hopefully be open again in the coming months.  Has any one read any of these or heard especially good things about any of the novels?

It was a good mail week.  First up was my BOMC club choice for this month, The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim.  It sounds like a mother-daughter story wrapped in a mystery.  Serendipity as I just came across this article about the author today on CrimeReads!

My friend Smithereens and I have been trading short stories for a few years now.  Unfortunately the pandemic put things on hold for a while, but we have just started back up again and two new stories arrived (along with this week's New Yorker!).  Curiously (or maybe not?) I have never read Curtis Sittenfeld, so this is the perfect introduction.  I'll save Smithereens's post on the collection until after I have read the story.  The Sittenfeld story is joined by one by Frances Towers (which from the sound of it--I am in for a treat).

I just started this memoir, A Bite of the Apple, by Lennie Goodings about her career with Virago beginning in the mid-70s as well as a life in publishing and her experiences over time with the changing face of feminism.  Just a chapter in and I am already immersed in her world and read with a pen and paper in hand (my reading list is going to grow as I read!).

And the ongoing problem.  What to do about the books started but neglected.  Left to languish--mostly through no fault of their own. I occasionally go through the reading pile and decide if the moment has passed and they need to return to their places on the shelves for a later attempt.  In a few cases I absolutely want to get back to them, but it is always a matter of book juggling.  There is only so much time in a day I can spend reading, and I am a slow reader.  My pile is always too big and those new books (and library books) are constantly beckoning.  I feel less bad about a book that I have barely started but others that I am more than halfway through are hard to ignore (well, maybe easier than I think of these piles would not be here).

So, all these photos were posts I had planned to write about during the last couple of weeks (I am cheating by sharing them in one go).  I fully expect to be talking more about the Virago memoir  

I am trying to switch linking from Amazon (who needs no help from me) to Bookshop and other stores.  Unfortunately Typepad has paired with Amazon to provide links and photos on my sidebar, so I must think about how to share my current reads.

Now, I am off to read.  A short story?  One of library books?  Or something from the sidebar (almost finished with that wiseacre Spenser's first case and my prompt for this month, Eva Underground).  Happy reading everyone.

Sept Prompt: Ready for New Beginnings

I am ready for a new beginning.  My September prompt is not in need of any tweaking at all this time around.  I could use a story with characters looking for a new situation or a new path in life or some kind of a new start.  My stack was much larger, but I have managed to whittle it down to a (mere six) novels.  There is a modern classic, some historical fiction, a couple with romantic leanings and one YA.  

Josephine Kamm's Peace, Perfect Peace -- "Set just after World War II, Peace, Perfect Peace is a poignant and humorous tale about women readjusting and rebuilding their lives after the upheavals of war."

Virginia Bailey's The Fourth Shore -- "Liliana is sure she was on the brink of a great adventure, but what awaits her is not the Mediterranean idyll of cocktail parties, smart dances, dashing officers and romantic intrigues she had imagined. Instead she finds a world of persecution, violence, repression, corruption and deceptions both great and small."

Jean Stafford's The Mountain Lion -- "Eight-year-old Molly and her ten-year-old brother Ralph are inseparable, in league with each other against the stodgy and stupid routines of school and daily life; against their prim mother and prissy older sisters; against the world of authority and perhaps the world itself. One summer they are sent from the genteel Los Angeles suburb that is their home to backcountry Colorado, where their uncle Claude has a ranch. There the children encounter an enchanting new world—savage, direct, beautiful, untamed—to which, over the next few years, they will return regularly, enjoying a delicious double life." 

Nicky Pellegrino's Delicious -- "Italy, 1964. Maria Domenica is the eldest daughter in the Carrozza family from the tiny southern village of San Giulio. At 16, Maria's life is limited to the confines of her mother's rural kitchen (where she bakes bread every morning, the way the Carrozza women always have), and the Caffe Angeli, a place of friendship, strong espresso and famous ricotta sfolgliatelle. Her parents have high hopes for their beautiful first-born, but she has other plans."

Rosy Thornton's The Tapestry of Love -- "A rural idyll: that's what Catherine is seeking when she sells her house in England and moves to a tiny hamlet in the Cevennes mountains. With her divorce in the past and her children grown, she is free to make a new start, and her dream is to set up in business as a seamstress." 

Dandi Daley Mackall's Eva Underground -- "The year 1978 has been a pretty good one for Eva Lott. She has a terrific best friend, she's dating the best-looking guy in school, and she just made the varsity swim team. So when her widowed dad says it's time for them to move, she's not exactly thrilled. And when he tells her that he intends to move to Communist Poland to help with a radical underground movement . . . Well, it's all downhill from there. Soon Eva has been transplanted from her comfortable Chicago suburb to a land that doesn't even have meat in its stores, let alone Peter Frampton records."

They all sound good.  Maybe I will choose more than one to make up for a month or two this year where the book sits unread or languishing.  I have mostly thrown up my hands in submission that this year is just an off year for a lot of things (reading included), but that does not mean I can't make the best of what is left and just enjoy the stories that do pull me in!  Fresh books for a fresh month for a hopefully fresh start to the rest of my reading year.