A Work in Progress

Weekend Reading Notes: June 22

Before the calendar flips over to July (July!  Can you believe it?), I am hoping to finish a few books this weekend and then maybe a couple more next week.  And then as soon as July comes I think it is time once again for a night-table-books-in-progress-reading-pile assessment.  I am hoping that these (last time I checked in) will be well and truly cleared!

For this weekend, however, I think I have my reading plans fairly well laid out.  I am nearing the end of the most delightful Miss Buncle's Book.  It seems like it would make a great movie--a madcap romcom that would be fun to watch.  I wonder if the sequel is as good?  I do have it on my TBR pile somewhere as well as another of her books, though I think I won't be able to get to either in the very near future. 

The other 'must-finish' is actually a romance novel, a genre I am not one to reach for very often.  I don't mind a nice bit of romance in my regular reading--mysteries or fiction, but I rarely pick up a book that would be shelved in a bookstore's romance section.  I have nothing against the genre, but I tend to like a story that is less about the romance and more about other things as the main focus.  That said, I was tempted by one of Book Riot's contributor's reading suggestion of Lucy Parker's novel Act Like It.  It's a common trope--two characters are thrown together who don't exactly like each other, but need to pretend to have a romance--in this case two actors in a theater production.  The man is fairly odious on the surface and his reputation needs a little softening, so one of the cast members who is a funny, lovable sort of woman agrees to play his love interest.  Well, you know what is going to happen, right?  They are going to fall for each other.  But I have to say it is all really nicely done and most enjoyable.  I love the smart repartee and it's not in any way too over the top.  As a matter of fact I am enjoying it so much I have ordered her second book and look forward to the third which is forthcoming in July!  Since I am fond of the theater, I love this series, The London Celebrities Series--so please, keep the stories coming. 

I've also got two forthcoming graphic novels loaded on my ipad that I was lucky enough to get egalley copies of.  One expires in the coming week so I have been dipping into it regularly.  Green Almonds: Letters from Palestine by Anaele Hermans and illustrated by Delphine Hermans chronicles the sisters correspondence.  Anaele travels to Palestine while her sister is left behind in Liege, Belgium.  I am really enjoying it and love this different perspective on a part of the world I am really interested in.  Also I love that the sisters worked together to create the story/illustrations.  It's definitely one to watch for if you enjoy graphic novels.

The other graphic novel I can finish at a more leisurely pace as it does not expire for a bit yet.  Nora Krug's Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home is coming out in the Fall.  She both wrote the text and did the illustrations.  Although she was born decades after the war she writes about the sense of guilt even now she feels and experiences about the legacy of the Holocaust.  It's well done and I have long wondered (but would be afraid to ask any of my German friends) about this very dark moment of history and how later generations deal with it.

I should also mention two new 'starts' as well.  I have picked up Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, which is the next selection for the book club I recently joined.  I have barely started but it seems like it will be a fun read--certainly Eleanor seems very quirky and I am curious about her!  And since I finished Charlotte Bingham's memoir it was time to choose a new nonfiction read and William J. Mann's Edgar Award winning Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood fairly leapt out at me when I was perusing my stacks.  It seems to be a perfect choice as I was immediately drawn into the world of the Silent Film era and this unsolved murder mystery. 

Perfect weekend reading for me as I have nothing else planned (other than household chores . . .)!  What is on your reading agenda this weekend?

Mini Persephone Readathon: June 1-3

I tend to shy away from readathons and readalongs in general as I am hopeless at actually achieving the goal of reading straight through for 24 hours or in a timely manner if it is a weeklong or monthlong event.  I love the idea of reading with others in tandem--it does help me stay focused.  Unfortunately I am a really slow reader and a haphazard one, too.  I tend to read according to whim and mood, which is a good thing but lately I more often just dip into books rather than pick one up and read straight to the end.  It's become a bad habit, which I am trying to break myself of (at least to the crazy degree I have let it go).  

That said, one of the things I wanted to do this year was read more Viragos and more Persephones.  So, this is a perfect kick start.  Jessie at Dwell in Possibility is hosting a Mini Persephone Readathon June 1-3.  I have read one Persephone and two Viragos so far this year.  A little thin for what I had hoped for, but there is still time and while I am not likely to read an entire Persephone novel in one weekend, I can choose one now and read along in spirit.  If I start reading in earnest now I might manage a good chunk next weekend.  So, now is the task pleasure of picking a Persephone to read.

I had a quick look at my Persephone piles and thought I would pick five that jumped out at me (only five?  I know!).  I may change my mind but here are the five I am thinking about and must now decide on just one.

Heat Lightning by Helen Hull -- "The plot is simple: Amy Norton comes home for a week’s visit to her hometown in Michigan (the town is unnamed but must owe a lot to Albion, where Helen Hull grew up): ‘Now that she was back in the town of her childhood, standing on a corner across from the village triangle of green, a small pyramid of luggage at her feet, Amy’s one clear thought, over the fluttering of unimportant recognitions, was “Why on earth have I come?'"

Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson -- "Barbara Buncle, who is unmarried and perhaps in her late 30s, lives in a small village and writes a novel about it in order to try and supplement her meagre income.  ...mostly this is an entirely light-hearted, easy read, which can be recommended unreservedly to anyone looking for something undemanding, fun and absorbing that is also well-written and intelligent."

Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins -- "Harriet is based on the 1877 'Penge Murder Mystery’, the death by starvation of a wealthy young woman called Harriet Richardson, who had led a protected life because her very limited intelligence meant that her mother kept her at home in the belief that she would never be able to lead a normal existence. But one day she has the misfortune to meet an attractive, unscrupulous young man who decides to marry her for her money."

House-Bound by Winifred Peck -- "The story never moves out of middle-class Edinburgh; the satire on genteel living, though, is always kept in relation to the vast severance and waste of the war beyond."

Saplings by Noel Streatfeild -- "...her tenth book for adults, is also about children: a family with four of them, to whom we are first introduced in all their secure Englishness in the summer of 1939. 'Her purpose is to take a happy, successful, middle-class pre-war family - and then track in miserable detail the disintegration and devastation which war brought to tens of thousands of such families,' writes the psychiatrist Dr Jeremy Holmes in his Afterword."

They all sound good, but choosing is always so hard.  So, the inevitable questions.  Have you read any of these?  Will you be joining in and if so, which Persephone are you going to read?

A London Child of the 1870s, Molly Hughes

The world as seen through the eyes of a child is always an interesting one, and memoirs written from that perspective even if written from the vantage point of adulthood are amongst my favorites.  A London Child of the 1870s  by Molly Hughes is as delightful as you might imagine.  It never wanders into the realm of either sentimentality or bleakness and the memoir is not an exercise in naval gazing.  Somehow she manages to get it all just right which is an accomplishment indeed. 

"None of the characters in this book are fictitious.  The incidents, if not dramatic, are at least genuine memories.  Expressions of jollity and enjoyment of life are understatements rather than overstatements.  We were just an ordinary, suburban, Victorian family, undistinguished in ourselves and unacquainted with distinguished people."

Molly's world may have been of the ordinary variety, but it was never lacking in love or familial adventure.  Maybe it was due to having very grounded and optimistic parents, or maybe because she was the youngest of five children and the only girl.  Having my idea of what it means to be of the Victorian era formed by literature, I was almost surprised that it was so ordinary, though certainly her stories are of a very insular nature.  They are memories and stories of a childhood surely typical of the time, but she goes beyond the clichés of Victorian literature to present the colorful reality.  Her family life was not without its share of sadness, though neither was this a household where the children were only seen and not heard. 

Her memoirs begin with an introduction to her family, and from her perspective having four elder brothers and parents who "knew how to laugh at both jokes and disasters" was to be born under a lucky star.  One of the things that struck me most was how close her family was and the fact that her parents took so much of the children's, shall we call it, youthful effervescence, in stride.  Not only the hijnks but the disasters, too.  The book is made up of a series of what seem like vignettes and covers a period of 1870-1879, which then come to an abrupt end, and if you read the book you'll understand why.

But those years, when the family moved into a "big house in Canonbury" (the book comes complete with photo of the home and I wish there had also been photos of the family, too) were mostly happy ones, and as Molly says, not dull in the least.  I think she moves about through time without ever explicitly telling when events occurred as each chapter is presented around a theme or activity.  The memoirs, at least as they made an impression on my, were bookended by happy scenes of Christmas, and maybe I will save those bits for later in the year to come back to.  All the other moments were just as colorful and pleasing to read about. 

Nearly a century and a half later, life in the contemporary world at times seems to bear few similarities to the world as Molly knew it, which makes for fascinating reading.  Unlike her brothers she was not educated outside the home, at least not until she was older.  When she did finally get to go to school it was a disappointment being a girls' education and not much like what her brother received.  She was educated mostly by her mother, which was not such a bad thing as she "had had a richly varied and adventurous life". 

Mostly she had to make do with what was at hand for educational and entertainment purposes.  Imagine such a world now.  She had few toys but never felt lacking.  I had to laugh when she said, "when young ladies were invited out to tea they were set down to a meal of thick bread and butter before starting, in order that their appetites should appear elegant.  They were commanded to leave something on their plate, however pleasing the dish."  She was lucky in her mother, who taught her so well and shared her own stories with Molly, as she rarely seemed in a foul mood or especially critical even over less than proper behavior.

My favorite parts of the book were about her travels to Cornwall from which her mother came and where she loved to visit and about the "family club" they devised.  If you think women did not have independent lives, Molly's aunt Tony certainly broke the mold.  She managed a household and its inhabitants and took on the role of many in her daily tasks.  Child through she was and seeing life and the lives around her through those naive eyes, she also has many moments of clarity of what it means, too, to be a woman in a time like the Victorian era where everything had to be so properly done or your good name might be ruined. 

Especially heartening for readers, and as it comes at the end of the book so on a happy note, is reading about the "family club" they created, which was essentially a library.  The funds for buying books came from fines from breaking rules.  Broken rules meant barred entry into the "family club" which was agony for the children as that is where most of the family life took place.  Fines were paid and entrance gained once again, but to not have the funds to pay the fines . . . excruciating.  The money was put to good use, however, as books were added, and happy day when a "new" book could be bought.  (And thinking of my own book spending habits, that was a very different world indeed).

Apparently Molly wrote two further books of memoirs which I am curious about.  I have heard this is the best of the bunch and it is a eminently readable book, perfect for dipping into and enjoying.  It actually works well with my February prompt, too.  A book I can easily press into another reader's hands and one I plan on revisiting once again at holidaytime.

Teaser Tuesday: London Child of the 1870s

In keeping a weekly eye on my reading pile, it's meant to keep track of what I have on the go but also rein in too much readerly exuberance in starting new books faster than I am finishing ongoing books.  So, while I started dipping into Maxine Hong Kingston's wonderful The Woman Warrior (she's a very poetic storyteller--it almost feels tinged with magical realism to me), another glance at the pile and Molly Hughes caught my eye.  A London Child of the 1870s has been waiting patiently since before the holidays, so no cutting in line.  Seeing as it is not only a memoir, and a slender one at that, but also a Persephone Books title (which I am determined to read more of this year), I pulled it out and plan on spending time with it this week.  I might even manage to finish it before the month is out.

No better way of whipping up interest and enthusiasm but to share a little teaser of it today.  I started reading the introduction when I initially pulled it from my shelves, but while it was there I discovered it was only the first of three memoirs, Adam Gopnik was giving away a few too many details for my liking.  Sometimes introductions are best saved for later!

It starts:

"A girl with four brothers older than herself is born under a lucky star.  To be brought up in London, in the eighteen-seventies, by parents who knew how to laugh at both jokes and disasters, was to be under the influence of Jupiter himself."

I was curious about the Jupiter reference and had to look it up.  It quite literally means to be born under a lucky star.  Apparently Jupiter's sign is Sagittarius, which is the sign of "optimism, faith and growing through risks others wouldn't dare take."  So that sets a nice tone and we are off to a good start made even better by this teaser (because readers always love bookish references, right?).  I guess when it comes to Victorians I tend to think of Dickens and it is always the poor, eccentric characters he created that come to mind.  But surely not all Victorians had drab, difficult lives?

"We were rich in another way, richer, so far as I can observe, than the average children of today.  Our parents had accumulated a large number of books, which we were allowed to browse in as much as we liked.  Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, Lamb, George Eliot, Tennyson, Byron, Coleridge, Disraeli, these were not 'taught' at school, or set as holiday tasks but became part of our lives.  The elder ones discussed them at table, and quoted from them, till the Micawbers and Becky Sharp and Lamb appeared to my childish mind as some former friends of mother's, whom I recognized with delight later on when I read the books for myself.  Rawdon was my eldest brother's favorite, and I new 'same which I shot Captain Marker' long before I had the faintest notion of its meaning."

Any book that references a family who likes to read is going to be a good one.  Even better when I learn more than a few things about the time, place, people and literary references along the way!  That reference, by the way, is from the Thackeray novel, Vanity Fair, and is about a duel, which had become a household word.

Now I need to go to my library find/illustrated omnibus editions and compare--well, mostly peruse all the pictures and put it all into context!

Because I can't Help Myself (Library Loot)

Oooh, such a pretty stack of books, don't you think?  My most recent Persephone Biannually just came in the mail in the last week or so and it was a nice reminder that I really need to pick up a Persephone Book soon.  Maybe sooner rather than later now, as you can see. 

It's been a while since I've read one of their books and every year I say I am going to read more.  I had a good look at the book blurbs which are included in the Biannually and realized how many new books have come out since my last purchase.  I had forgotten that my public library ordered in the whole backlist a few years back and wondered if they were continuing to order in each new seasons releases and was so pleased to discover that indeed they are.   So, yes, I went a little crazy requesting the newer titles (and I still have a few more that are in transit to my branch that should be arriving in the next day or so).  I know I will not read them all (not all right now that is), but I thought how nice it would be so take a really good look at them before choosing one to read (and it is time really for me to order one, too, so I stay on their mailing list).

A few other books came home with me as well.  So, from top to bottom here are the library books that have my attention at the moment.

Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong -- I came across this book on one of Book Riot's abundant book lists, in particular a list about mystery novels from around the world.  It piqued my curiosity, a detective novel set in 1990 Shanghai, and as luck would have it it was on the library's shelves.  NPR said "it does what detective fiction can do best: It captures the details, the grit of everyday life . . . a matchless pearl."  Sold!

The Godwits Fly by Robin Hyde -- "A semi-autobiographical novel spanning the years 1910–28, The Godwits Fly is in some senses a bildungsroman: the story of Eliza Hannay growing up in a suburb of Wellington."

Long Live Great Bardfield: The Autobiography of Tirzah Garwood -- "Time and the honesty of Tirzah’s words have made this an immensely important document and it is a valuable primary record of a woman who was at the centre of an important group of artists, and who was herself a very good artist in her own right."

Every Good Deed and Other Stories by Dorothy Whipple -- Ten stories--this is the companion book to a previous story collection published by Persephone Books.  Maybe this will help jump start my short story reading.

The Happy Tree by Rosalind Murray -- "This 1926 novel begins with the death of a young man during the war, flashes back to his happy childhood shared with the young woman who is the narrator, and then describes how the war – inevitably – took them unawares, destroyed their happiness and has left her, the young woman, emotionally maimed."  Sounds a bit dire, doesn't it, but apparently it doesn't read that way. 

In This Grave Hour by Jacqueline Winspear -- I had an egalley copy of this which I didn't finish before it expired.  I have been in line for a library copy for so long I think I might have to just start from the beginning again. It's 1939 so we're just at the start of WWII.  Maisie's newest case (and we're getting back to Maisie as an investigator rather than a spy for which I am actually rather grateful) is "to find the killer of a man who escaped occupied Belgium as a boy, some twenty-three years earlier during the Great War."  I recall that I was enjoying this one very much before I was interrupted.

Cairo: A Graphic Novel by G. Willow Wilson -- I don't recall where I came across this one, but I like the sound of it: "a stolen hookah, a spiritual underworld, and a genie on the run change the lives of five strangers forever on the streets of the Middle East's largest metropolis."  I have also gotten away from my graphic novel reading and hope this will also start (re-start anyway) the reading trend.  It is all illustrated in B&W and sepia tones, so I am very curious if it will really grab me. 

And as always I have a healthy stack of in progress reads that I will tell you about soon and am thinking about my "summer reading" (because you know I love a good plan and a good book lists to go along with it), especially since today it is topping out at 90F.  I knew we would go straight from winter to summer. 

Teaser Tuesday: Which Persephone?

I have a small confession to make.  This weekend I ordered books (yes, plural) from Persephone Books.  It has been a very long time since I have ordered from them and I seemed to be having a Persephone sort of moment (it came about through my thinking and writing about suffragettes--I know there are a couple novels on the Persephone backlist dealing with suffragettes--see how my mind works?).  I was just going to get one, but you know when you order three you get a discount, and I am a sucker for a good deal.  So, I'll share my new Persephones when they arrive in the mail later this month. 

In the interim I think it is high time to get back to my Persephone piles (I have two healthy piles of Persephone titles sitting next to my Virago bookshelf) and choose an unread book.  Curiously, I did have a book dealing with suffragettes but then thought it might be overkill to read another novel about them--maybe three is too much at once?  I always tend to overdo, so maybe picking something entirely different will mean a better chance at successfully finishing it (the year of languishing books is 2015 at my house). 

I didn't let myself browse too much as then the stack to choose from would be much larger than three, so I had a few particular titles in mind and have narrowed them down and now can't decide.  In order of which book I think I most want to read--here are a few teasers.

Heat Lightning by Helen Hull was published in 1932 about a married woman who returns home to try and figure out why she is so unhappy in her life. 

"Now that she was back in the town of her childhood, standing on a corner across from the village triangle of green, a small pyramid of luggage at her feet, Amy's one clear thought, over the fluttering of unimportant recognitions, was, 'Why on earth have I come?'  The interurban bus which had deposited her along with the bags at the curb had already bumped its noisy elephantine way out of sigh up the slight incline of the main street.  She had forgotten, during all the years when her only visit home had been n winter, how summer felt in this middle western land, spread smoothly over town and country, tucked in at the horizon inescapably.  Her coming had been a kind of flight, what she had run from had been far clearer than her goal."

Patience by John Coates sounds like it could be great fun since it is "funny, touching and risqué".  What more can you ask for in a summer read? 

"It was odd, thought Patience, that surprises never came singly, and that the day she asked herself whether she was going to have another baby, poor Lionel should have asked himself to tea."

"If course she didn't want to be uncharitable, and she was very sorry for poor Lionel (who was her only brother) because of what Peggy had done.  Peggy had run away and joined not a proper order--being married to Lionel she could hardly do that, even an Irish one--but a sort of Retreat, where poor Lionel, or any other man for that matter, wasn't allowed inside."

Saplings by Noel Streatfeild has long been on my pile and I often reach for it but I must admit that it tends to get overlooked as I have read some very tepid reviews by book bloggers I follow so am always hesitant over this one.  Silly, I know, since maybe I will read it and love it.  I do love how it begins:

"As the outgoing tide uncovered the little stretch of sand amongst the pebbles, the children took possession of it, marking it as their own with their spades, pails, shrimping nets and their mother's camp stool."

"It was early and the beach was almost deserted.  There were a few bathers of the sort that swam for exercise, but the majority of the bathing machines and tents were empty.  The sea was grey-blue spangled with gold dancing specks.  Far out the raft bobbed."

Each in its own way has a summery feel to it--either setting or style.  Maybe I should close my eyes, shuffle the three books about and then point and that will be the one I read.  Any favorites amongst the three?  The last Persephone book I read (last year) was purely on whim and I loved it.  Of course I want this choice to be equally as good. 

Teaser Tuesday: The Making of a Marchioness

How's this for a perfect February read?  Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Making of a Marchioness?  Actually I picked it up specifically for the 1901 slot of my Century of Books project.  Every so often I do a little update, think of some way to fill in more blanks, ask for suggestions and then get distracted by some other book.  The poor first decade of the 20th century is far too neglected and needs a little attention, however, so no distractions for the short term.  Besides I am in the mood for something along the lines of a comfort read.  It's more a matter of chance that I noticed one of the blurbs on the back of the book which promises a, "wildly romantic tale whose hero and heroine are totally unromantic".  Sounds like just my sort of 'romantic' February read.

Have you ever heard of the "hot-water bottle genre of fiction"?  I hadn't before I started skimming the preface (the age old dilemma of whether to read the intro before the novel or wait until I've finished--solved here by skimming just a bit as a teaser to get an idea of what I am in for).  I actually have another "February" read all picked out, but I hope to still get to it as well this month.  Actually the (and I plan on adopting this phrase as my own now) 'hot-water bottle' reference comes from a quote from the introduction a novel I read and loved a few years back, Mariana by Monica Dickens.  (A book I have been wanting to reread by the way).  It is referenced in the Burnett.

"It possesses the same bespoke qualities that make Dusty Answer, I Capture the Castle, Rebecca and The Pursuit of Love (I've read all four books!  And loved them all!) such thrilling, absorbing, galloping reads.  A whole world is conjured up quite effortlessly . . .  In other words, Mariana belongs, quite triumphantly, to the hot-water bottle genre of fiction."

It would seem that The Making of a Marchioness can fall tidily into that category (and I bet I could add a few more titles of my own to that list . . . and maybe before the week is out I might just do so), too.  The author is best known for her children's classics, The Secret Garden (which I only read as an adult a few years ago), The Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy.  The Making of a Marchioness, however entertaining it was known to be, fell out of print and was largely forgotten until (am guessing) Persephone Books came along and rescued it.

It is, like her other novels, a story of class and one woman's entry into the upper classes.  All very Edwardian.  The heroine is Emily Fox-Seton who is living in genteel poverty.  She must work for her keep, but is savvy in looking after herself.  She is also thirty-four and likely suffers no illusions of what the world is really like or her place in it.  My teaser is a description of Emily--best to get to know her since I'll be spending the next 300 or so pages with her.

"She was a big woman but carried herself well, and having solved the problem of obtaining, through marvels of energy and management, one good dress a year, wore it so well, and changed her old ones so dexterously, that she always looked rather smartly dressed.  She had nice round fresh cheeks and nice big honest eyes, plenty of mouse-brown hair and a short straight nose.  She was strikingly and well-bred looking, and her plenitude of good-natured interest in everybody, and her pleasure in everything out of which pleasure could be wrested, gave her big eyes a fresh look which made her seem rather like a nice overgrown girl than a mature woman whose life was a continuous struggle with the narrowest of mean fortunes." 

She seems quite practical, don't you think?  Imagine just one good dress a year?  I might even learn a little bit about frugality from her.  I'm hoping to finish by Valentine's Day (so I can fit in my other February read in the second half of the month) so Emily will be tucked away in my bookbag this week.  I have lots of really good books on the go at the moment.  If I can get organized, I'll be telling you all about them this week. 

Every Eye by Isobel English

Serendipity!  Have you ever reached for a book purely on whim, started to read, not been able to put it down (or simply been drawn to it again and again) and when you turned that last page realized what a hidden treasure you had sitting there on your bookshelf so very unobtrusively?  Do you know what motivated me to pick up Isobel English's Every Eye?  Earlier this month when I was thinking about my Century of Books progress and contemplating potential reads to fill in empty slots, I turned my gaze to a stack of Persephones sitting next to  my bookcase.  A pile of perfect contenders of Twentieth Century literature, surely.  On the top sat the English.  A slim book that when I first ordered it I was excited to begin reading no doubt.  Ages ago, of course.  But I sort of forgot what it was about the story that made me buy it.  Pull it off the pile, turn to the first page, begin reading.

"I heard today that Cynthia died, last Friday afternoon at the Ipswich County Hospital, just after a cup of tea."

"This news has affected me in a way that I did not expect.  One minute I was all set with my resentments close-knit and compressed, and the next it was as if a great wave had suddenly crashed shorewards undercutting and breaking into the very foundations of my life."

Have you noticed that Persephone books don't tend to have very detailed story descriptions on the jacket?  There may be something about the response to the book when originally published (in this case--John Betjeman's quote, "Sometimes, but not often, a novel comes along which makes the rest one has to review seem commonplace.  Such a novel is Every Eye.") or an excerpt from the text, but often you don't necessarily know much about the plot going into it--(which honestly I sort of prefer). 

I only knew that Isobel English used an unusual technique in her writing.  Not so unusual is moving from one period to another using parallel voices, but in this case the main protagonist is the narrator of both sections (alternately told) but using both present and past tenses.  I found it not only intriguing but engaging as well.  Reading the same voice both living in the moment and looking back at events in her earlier life had a pleasing rhythm for me.  Of course it all comes together at the end and meets up in a climatic revelation.  That 'aha!'  moment that you wait for and is so satisfying.  I could easily turn back to the first page and begin reading again and likely it would be an even richer read than the first go and equally enjoyable.  So typical of a Persephone novel (shaking head at the thought of how critics have dismissed so much of women's writing--always so perplexing to me in the face of stories such as this one), this is a story that has hidden depths belied by the slimness of the book.

In Every Eye, Hatty Latterly spends her youth dealing with a lazy eye.  As a young woman it is her older lover who pays for her to have an operation so it can be corrected.  She cannot see the world straight on but always at a slant.  Despite having the problem fixed she feels she carries the infirmity with her always.  Maybe not so curious that it's Hatty who finally sees the hidden lives of those around her by story's end.  I like the play on seeing yet not being able to see perfectly.  There are a number of striking and creative juxtapositions in this novel. 

In the present, Hatty has recently married a much younger man, and is soon off to Ibiza on her honeymoon when she gets news that her uncle's wife, Cynthia, has passed away.  It's Cynthia who first told Hatty about the place she will shortly be traveling to.  This news about a woman she had not seen for six years begins her reminiscences of the past.  Cynthia will have a huge impact on Hatty's life and leave an indelible mark.  It's through Cynthia and her uncle that she meets Jasper with whom she has that first love affair.  Jasper is a man whose life is surrounded by mystery.  Ultimately the two part ways leaving Hatty to age on her own, and it is not until much later when Hatty is nearing dreaded spinsterhood that she meets and marries a much younger man.  There is something circular about this story, things move in parallel casting light on present and past depending which Hatty is speaking--the youthful or more experienced.  It's almost as if parts are told in B&W and others in vivid color so rich are some of the descriptions--some observations clearer than others. 

Every Eye is such a beautifully crafted story and written with real elegance.  Tone, description and style all play off each other nicely making this one of my great finds of the year.  Surely she wrote more novels than just this one, but according to the biographic information she wrote only three books between 1954-1960. 

After all that my 1956 slot, when this book was published, had already been taken, but I don't mind a bit.  In search of my next (serendipitously) good read . . .   

DIY . . . Before & After

A few weeks ago I shared a few teasers as I began shifting things about in my room in preparation for some new furniture.  The shifting is mostly finished, though the redecorating is still a work in progress.  There are some small things I want to update and some big things that I hope to take on as DIY projects--mostly as money allows.  First a few before photos--furniture and things that I liked well enough when I was younger, but I have long been ready to pass on to someone else as my tastes have changed considerably.

So, an old jewelry chest that has turned into a catch-all of things.  My little space heater for those cold wintry months and far too many unread or partially read magazines.

You saw this photo already.  When I talk about my bedside book piles . . .  I loathed that quilt.  The design was pretty, but it was a full size bed and it seems quilts are made for full/queen size beds, so it hung far too long over the sides.  I would turn the edge under every day and it always annoyed me.

Another corner of my bedroom filled with more piles of books.  The decor leaves much to be desired, don't you think?  Well, I thought so.  Blech.  The carpeting and curtains came new with the house--the previous owners had done a little refurbishing of their own at the time.  Fine for then, but I am ready for a change.

And ta da, a few after photos!  No more full size bed and no more annoyingly overlarge quilt.  I now have a daybed, which is quite comfy as I invested in a nice mattress.  Hidden in the corner are some book piles.  A few got shuffled down to my bookroom, but you would be surprised how many are squeezed into that corner without looking too cluttered.

I had a print on the wall by Diego Rivera and it has been moved downstairs and now I have Edward Hopper to look at.  I need a little table for my alarm clock and a few books, but until I find something suitable, I have this poor wicker chest.  It's looking a little battered on the corners.  You can thank my cat Chispa.  She quite enjoyed sharpening her nails on the wicker.  There is lots of storage space under the bed by the way.

You remember that jewelry chest?  It's gone, my night table has been moved along with a little stool/table and I now have a lovely new rocking chair that is also very comfy.  The little doll was made by a French friend who is a superb stitcher and seamstress.  Isn't she lovely?  I've never been able to display her properly until now.  Both tables are slated to be repainted--an off white with a distressed look--a reddish color peeking under the white (well, that's the plan anyway).  I have the supplies, and I just need the time to begin my project.  I'll start with the smaller table and see how it looks before refinishing the night table.  My rocker sits just to the right of the daybed and door.

And without the glaring overhead light on and just the lamp--it makes my little 'reading nook' so much cozier.  I love the little footstool I found.  I thought it would match the chair well and as it turns out they do seem to complement each other.  My night table still groans with books, but nowhere near as bad as before.

I didn't share this corner of my room before--it is diagonally opposite from the doorway (which is to the left of my night table).  I don't use the wood burning stove--it would need to be cleaned but I am a little afraid of having a fire going in it.  Maybe someday.  This is where the overflow of books has gone.  It is meant to be temporary, but already two weeks later and they seem to have moved right in and made themselves at home.  I hope eventually to invest in another bookcase, but I want to keep the room as open as possible.  The shelf holds some of my stitched projects as well as some of my Melville House novellas and a few of my NYRBs (recent subscription books).  I'd like to invest in some sort of stand for a few plants to sit in front of the window.  It is still looking a little 'full' but I want to display some of my stitching somehow and for now this seems to work okay, though I would like to find something to make the area a little 'neater' and feel less cluttered.

And the new bookcase!  Yay, all my Viragos now sit together in alphabetical order.  I thought I would have loads of space and be able to add my Persphones, too, but it is amazing how quickly the space filled up.  Aside from the very bottom shelf they are not double stacked, though I do have some sitting lengthwise on top of the books on the shelves.  The green apple is real and not for display--apples are my favorites and I just happened to have an extra close at hand.  How fitting, eh, that it sits with all those Viragos.  And those are the majority of my Persephones on the left of the bookcase.

Now I feel like reading lots of Viragos from my shelves!  Itchy fingers--I am ready to choose one now!  I still have improvements I want to make.  I hate the carpeting and want to pull it up as the floor underneath is wood (the house was built in the 1870s).  I'm not sure what condition it is in, but wood is much more preferable to me.  Also the walls are in dire need of a good paint job, which is something I think can be managed sooner rather than later.  But what color now?  And new curtains, too. 

But I think it is a vast improvement.  It is a much more comfortable and pleasing space, which is good as I spend a lot of time in my room.  It's hard to tell from the photos, but there is lots of space in the middle, which I like. 

It will be nice and cozy here in the fall and winter.  A good place to sit and read in peace and quiet.  It's still a little toasty warm with the summer heat, but I'm happy with how it looks now.  This is my favorite reading place now.  Where is yours?

Teaser Tuesday: The Wise Virgins

My Virginia Woolf reading experiences have been piecemeal.  Do you know the very first Woolf novel I read was thanks to a crush on a guy when I was in college?  (His mother was an English professor and he was a self-confessed fan of all things Virginia Woolf).  The guy was promptly discarded, but I kept Virginia Woolf (definitely the best deal).  I've read (though in most cases not written about properly) a number of her books: The Voyage Out, To the Lighthouse (the "crush" book), Mrs. Dalloway (twice), Night and Day, some of her essays and short stories and most recently Jacob's Room. 

I think she will forever intimidate me (just a little bit anyway), though Flush ended up being a very easy read and quite delightful (though certainly had more to it than first meets the eye).  I add to my knowledge various facets of her life and personality from a variety of sources, so it seems only fitting that now I am getting an entirely different view of her through a novel written by her husband Leonard Woolf, The Wise Virgins.

I'm just preparing to begin reading but have decided it might not be amiss to read the preface before diving in.  It often enriches the reading experience knowing just a little bit more (at least with classics--sometimes I prefer not knowing anything at all about a story before starting).  In this case the book is somewhat biographical as Camilla, the protagonist, is meant to be a portrait of Virginia whom Leonard had recently married.  He began writing the novel while on their honeymoon in Spain in 1912. 

"Harry, studying art meets Camilla in a London studio, and Camilla consents to sit for a portrait.  Harry's pursuit of her elusive character awakens him to a kind of love he has never known.  How should he reconcile this romantic love with a man's sexual nature?"

**********

"Would sexual union and other demands of marriage damage the possibilities of a gifted woman's singleness and freedom?"

What I know about the Woolfs's marriage is sketchy, but it seems that I read they had a very close and nurturing relationship (as I read through the preface perhaps more light will be shed on it).  The questions and observations that Lyndall Gordon raises in her introduction (both quotes above are from the preface) certainly help put things in perspective--setting the scene and putting the novel into just the right historical and social framework. 

As I've not started reading the story yet, I am going to use one of the excerpts Gordon provides in her introduction for a taste of things to come:

"There's so much marriage from which I recoil [Camilla tells Harry].  It seems to shut women up and out.  I won't be tied to the pettiness and the conventionalities of life.  There must be some way out.  One must live one's own life . . . "

I'm looking forward to reading this and have been thinking that it might be fun to choose yet another companion read (to keep the momentum going).  So I wonder which book by Woolf I should pick up next that would make a good pairing with Leonard's book?  A first read or reread (as she is someone I could easily reread and surely get more out of with each go).  I would love to begin reading her diaries, too, but I have toyed with that idea for ages.  Any suggestions?  And would anyone like to read along with me (to help keep on task?).