Kathy's (kac522) Reading in 2021

Discussão75 Books Challenge for 2021

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Kathy's (kac522) Reading in 2021

1kac522
Editado: Fev 23, 2021, 1:03 am



Welcome to another year of reading in 2021. On this thread I'll be keeping track of my books in order as I read them, and hoping to get to 75 books by the end of the year.

In addition to 75 total books, my goal will be to read at least 50 books that are on my shelves as of Jan 1, 2021, or "Roots". I'll be keeping track of these TBRs here:



And again this year I'm embarking on a number of personal "projects", which include reading books of favorite authors and series. I've found a cool "Classics Challenge" to try. I'll dip in and out of the British Author Challenge (BAC), Reading Through Time Challenge and 75ers Nonfiction Challenge. Plus I'm keeping track of books read by year and set on either side of the pond. My progress on these projects are tracked on my Challenge Thread:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/327747

I have a "decade by decade" thread (now in its third year) in the Read It, Track It! Group here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/303114#
I have a "separated by a pond" thread (books set in English-speaking states and counties):
https://www.librarything.com/topic/327764
And my 2021 Big Fat Books are here:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/328309#

So a big Welcome to 2021....and a quick look back at the best of 2020....

2kac522
Editado: Jan 4, 2021, 10:44 am

Favorite reads of 2020:

Fiction(in order read)

Howards End, E. M. Forster
The Pastor's Wife, Elizabeth von Arnim
The Gate of Angels, Penelope Fitzgerald
Barnaby Rudge, Charles Dickens
One Fine Day, Mollie Panter-Downes
Elizabeth and her German Garden, Elizabeth von Arnim
North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell; audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson
Rachel Ray, Anthony Trollope

and finally my comfort re-reads of all Jane Austen throughout the year (except Emma)

Honorable Mentions--fiction:

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks
Orley Farm, Anthony Trollope
The Misses Mallett, E. H. Young
The Moorland Cottage, Elizabeth Gaskell

Best Nonfiction (in order read)

The Light of the World, Elizabeth Alexander, memoir
They Called Us Enemy, George Takei, graphic memoir
Lincoln Reconsidered, David Herbert Donald, essays on Abraham Lincoln
Young Men and Fire, Norman Maclean, forest fire fighters in Montana, 1949
A Tale of Beatrix Potter, Margaret Lane, biography
The Wright Brothers, David McCullough, biography
The Education of a British-Protected Child, Chinua Achebe, essays

Honorable Mentions--Nonfiction:
My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor, memoir
Bach: Essays on His Life and Music, Christoph Wolff, essays
Hiroshima, John Hersey, journalism
Fighting France, Edith Wharton, memoir
The Johnstown Flood, David McCullough, history

3kac522
Editado: Jul 8, 2021, 10:13 pm

2021 Reading: January through June (♥ = Loved it!)

January

♥ 1. Look Back with Love: a Manchester Childhood, Dodie Smith (1974).
♥ 2. His Excellency: George Washington, Joseph Ellis (2004); Root from 2011
3. Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances Hodgson Burnett (1886); Root from 2015
4. Lanterns & Lances, James Thurber (1961); Root from before 2009
5. Tales from Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb (1807); Root from 2016
6. The Tempest, William Shakespeare (1610); Root from 2017
♥ 7. Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood (2016); Root from 2019
♥ 8. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith (1948); Root from 2006

February

9. Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie (1934); Root from 2016
10. Rochester's Wife, D. E. Stevenson (1940)
11. The Hills is Lonely, Lillian Beckwith (1959)
12. Country Bunch, Miss Read (1963); Root from 2018
13. Where Angels Fear To Tread, E. M. Forster (1905); Root from 2019
14. The 39 Steps, John Buchan (1915)

March

15. Olive, Dinah Mulock Craik (1850)
16. The Address Book, Deirdre Mask (2020)
17. Parker Pyne Investigates, Agatha Christie (1934)
18. Hidden in Plain View, Jacqueline Tobin & Raymond Dobard (1999); Root from 2016
19. The Shawl, Cynthia Ozick (1980 & 1983, published in one volume 1989); Root from 2014
20. The Other Bennet Sister, Janice Hadlow (2020)
21. Begin Again, Ursula Orange (1936)
22. An Irish Country Village, Patrick Taylor (2008); Root from 2017
♥ 23. Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens (1857); Root from 2012; audiobook re-read, read by SImon Vance
24. Out on a Limerick by Bennet Cerf (1960)
25. The Way Things Are, E. M. Delafield (1927); Root from 2020
26. Tom Tiddler's Ground, Ursula Orange (1941)

April

27. Changes at Fairacre, Miss Read (1991); Root from 2017
♥ 28. Miss Mackenzie, Anthony Trollope (1865); Root from 2017
29. My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin (1901); Root from 2020
30. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, audiobook read by Emilia Fox; (1813); Root from 2013
♥ 31. Adam Bede, George Eliot (1859); Root from before 2008; re-read
32. Yorkshire: Regional Archaeologies, Ian Longworth (1965); Root from 2019
33. The Golden Ball and Other Stories, Agatha Christie (collected 1971; originally from 1920s and 1930s)
34. My Cousin Rachel, Daphne du Maurier (1951); library ebook
♥ 35. My Own Words, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (2016); audiobook

May
36. The Touchstone, Edith Wharton (1900); Root from 2018
♥ 37. Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther, Eliz von Arnim (1907); Root from 2020
38. A Room with a View, E. M. Forster (1908); Root from 2011; re-read
39. Jenny, Sigrid Undset (1911); translated from the Norwegian by Tiina Nunnally; Root from 2016
40. Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson (1919); Root from 2015
♥ 41. The Crowded Street, Winifred Holtby (1924); Root from 2020
♥ 42. William, E. H. Young (1925); Root from 2020
43. Death in the Air, Agatha Christie (1935); Root from 2019
♥ 44. Letter from England, Mollie Panter-Downes (1940)
45. Private Lives, Noel Coward (1930); Root from before 2009
46. The English Air, D. E. Stevenson (1940)
47. The Doctor's Family and Other Stories, Margaret Oliphant (1861); re-read
♥ 48. Silas Marner, George Eliot, audiobook read by Margaret Hilton (1861); Root from 2015; re-read

June

49. Tiny Tales, Alexander McCall Smith (2021)
♥ 50. The Belton Estate, Anthony Trollope (1866); Root from 2016
51. Farewell to Fairacre, Miss Read (1993); Root from 2017
52. The Romance of a Shop, Amy Levy (1888)
53. Shirley, Charlotte Bronte (1849); Root from 2015
54. Margaret Oliphant's Carlingford Series, Birgit Kamper (2001)
55. Salem Chapel, Margaret Oliphant (1863); Root from 2017
56. Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger (1951); Root from before 2009; re-read
♥ 57. Cousin Phillis and Other Tales, Elizabeth Gaskell (1864); Root from 2017
58. Mrs Robinson's Disgrace, Kate Summerscale (2012); Root from 2019
59. A Child's Garden of Verses, R. L. Stevenson, illus Jessie Willcox Smith (1905); Root from before 2009 (re-read)
60. The Lifted Veil and Brother Jacob, George Eliot (1859 & 1864); Root from 2014; re-read
♥ 61. Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens (1865); audiobook read by Simon Vance

4kac522
Editado: Dez 29, 2021, 2:44 am

2021 Reading: July through December

July

62. Miss Austen, Gill Hornby (2020)
63. A Peaceful Retirement, Miss Read. (1996); Root from 2018
64. Lady Susan, Jane Austen (1794; publ 1871); audiobook Root from 2016
65. The Railway Children, E. Nesbit (1906)
66. The Struggles of Brown, Jones and Robinson, Anthony Trollope (1862); re-read; Root from 2015
♥ 67. The Solitary Summer, Elizabeth von Arnim (1899); Root from 2020
68. Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel, transl. by Thomas & Carol Christensen (1989); Re-read and Root from 1994
♥ 69. Jane Austen: The World of her Novels, Deirdre Le Faye (2002); Root from 2014
70. Northanger Abbey: An Annotated Edition, Jane Austen, annotated by Susan J Wolfson (1817; 2014); Root from 2014
♥ 71. Persuasion, Jane Austen (1817); re-read; audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson; Root from 2016

August

72. Pianos and Flowers, Alexander McCall Smith, short stories (2019)
73. London: a History, A. N. Wilson (2004); Root from 2014
♥ 74. Witness for the Prosecution, Agatha Christie (1948); Root from 2018; short stories
75. Women in the Kitchen, Anne Willan (2020)
76. The Wild Geese, Bridget Boland (1938); Root from 2015
77. The Summer Book, Tove Jansson, translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal (1972), with illustrations by the author
78. Thrush Green, Miss Read (1959); Root from 2017
♥ 79. The Artful Dickens, John Mullan (2020)
80. The Land of Green Ginger, Winifred Holtby (1927); Root from 2015
81. The Vicar's Daughter, E. H. Young (1927)

September

82. All-of-A-Kind Family, Sydney Taylor (1951)
83. Period Piece, Gwen Raverat (1952)
84. Winter at Thrush Green, Miss Read (1961); Root from 2017
85. Staggerford, Jon Hassler (1977); Root from 2017
86. Barnaby Rudge, Charles Dickens (1841); audiobook read by Simon Vance; Root from 2015
♥ 87. The Pioneers, David McCullough (2019); Root from 2021
88. Joseph Banks: A Life, Patrick O'Brian (1987); Root from 2013
89. Open Secrets, Alice Munro (1994); short stories; Root from 2017
90. The A. B. C. Murders, Agatha Christie (1936); Root from 2017

October
♥ 91. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (1847); re-read; Root from before 2009
♥ 92. The Claverings, Anthony Trollope (1867); Root from 2017
93. Reuben Sachs, Amy Levy (1889); Root from 2021
♥ 94. Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell (1851); audiobook read by Davina Porter; Root from 2021
95. The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Charles Dickens (1870); Root from 2011
96. Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier (1938); re-read
97. Desperate Remedies, Thomas Hardy (1871); Root from 2005
♥ 98. 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff (1970); re-read; Root from 2021; audiobook with multiple readers
99. London Crimes, Charles Dickens (originally published in Household Words, 1851); collected and edited by Nadya Aisenberg, 1982; Root from 2014
♥ 100. Mr Harrison's Confessions (1851) and My Lady Ludlow (1859), two novellas by Elizabeth Gaskell, included in The Cranford Chronicles; Root from 2016
101. Gothic Tales, Elizabeth Gaskell (1851-61); short stories; Root from 2017

November
102. Our Malady, Timothy Snyder (2020)
103. Murder in Mesopotamia, Agatha Christie (1936); Root from 2018
104. News from Thrush Green, Miss Read (1970); Root from 2017
105. Spring Magic, D. E. Stevenson (1942)
♥ 106. Passing, Nella Larsen (1929); Root from 2018; re-read
107. Nina Balatka, Anthony Trollope (1867); Root from 2019
108. A Game of Hide and Seek, Elizabeth Taylor (1951); Root from 2013
♥ 109. Now in November, Josephine Johnson (1934)

December

110. Diary of a Provincial Lady, E. M. Delafied (1930); re-read; Root from 2016
♥ 111. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (1813); audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson, re-read
112. Chicago in 50 Objects, Joseph Gustaitis (2021)
♥ 113. A Christmas Carol and other Christmas Writings, Charles Dickens (1843); re-read; Root from 2010; and the audiobook, read by Jim Dale https://www.librarything.com/work/1549/edit/209645958
♥ 114. Rachel Ray, Anthony Trollope; (1863); re-read; Root from 2015
115. The Country Child, Alison Uttley (1931)
116. An Unsocial Socialist, G. Bernard Shaw (1884); Root from 2019
117. Dumb Witness, Agatha Christie (1937); Root from 2019

5kac522
Editado: Out 20, 2021, 10:00 pm



2021 CLASSICS CHALLENGE

Found on Birgit's thread, who copied it from Leslie's thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/326386 I'm all in for this challenge!! Thank you Leslie & Birgit!!

All books MUST have been published at least 50 years ago to qualify (so for this year, 1971 and earlier). The only exception is books written at least 50 years ago, but published later, such as posthumous publications.

1. A 19th century classic - any book published between 1800 and 1899.
MAR: Olive, Dinah Mulock Craik, (1850)
APR: Miss Mackenzie, Anthony Trollope, (1865)
MAY: The Belton Estate, Anthony Trollope (1866)
JUN: Salem Chapel, Margaret Oliphant (1863)
JUN: The Lifted Veil and Brother Jacob, George Eliot (1859 & 1864)
JUL: The Struggles of Brown, Jones and Robinson, Trollope (1862)
OCT: The Claverings, Trollope (1867)

2. A 20th century classic - any book published between 1900 and 1971.
JAN: Lanterns & Lances, James Thurber, essays, (1961)
FEB: Country Bunch, Miss Read, (1963)
FEB: Where Angels Fear To Tread, E. M. Forster, (1905)
MAY: Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther, Eliz von Arnim, (1907)
MAY: Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson, (1919)
MAY: Private Lives, Noel Coward (play) (1930)
JUN: Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger (1951)
AUG: Witness for the Prosecution, Agatha Christie (1948); short stories

3. A classic by a woman author
JAN: Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances Hodgson Burnett (1886)
FEB: Rochester's Wife, D. E. Stevenson (1940)
MAR: The Way Things Are, E. M. Delafield (1927)
MAR: Tom Tiddler's Ground, Ursula Orange (1941)
APR: My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin (1901)
MAY: The Touchstone, Edith Wharton (1900)
MAY: The Crowded Street, Winifred Holtby (1924)
JUN: The Romance of a Shop,Amy Levy (1888)
JUL: The Solitary Summer, Elizabeth von Arnim (1899)
OCT: Reuben Sachs, Amy Levy (1889)

4. A classic in translation. Any book originally written published in a language other than your native language. Feel free to read the book in your language or the original language. (You can also read books in translation for any of the other categories). Modern translations are acceptable as long as the original work fits the guidelines for publications as explained in the challenge rules.
MAY: Jenny, Sigrid Undset (1911); 2001 translation from the Norwegian by Tiina Nunnally

5. A children's classic. Indulge your inner child and read that classic that you somehow missed years ago. Short stories are fine, but it must be a complete volume. Young adult and picture books don't count.
JAN: Tales from Shakespeare, Charles & Mary Lamb (1807)
JUN: A Child's Garden of Verses, R. L. Stevenson, illustrated Jessie Willcox Smith (1905)
JUL: The Railway Children, E. Nesbit (1906)
SEP: All-of-A-Kind Family, Sydney Taylor (1951)

6. A classic crime story, fiction or non-fiction. This can be a true crime story, mystery, detective novel, spy novel, etc., as long as a crime is an integral part of the story and it was published at least 50 years ago. Examples include The 39 Steps, Strangers on a Train, In Cold Blood, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, etc. The Haycraft-Queen Cornerstones list is an excellent source for suggestions.
FEB: Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie (1934)
MAR: Parker Pyne Investigates, Agatha Christie (1934)
APR: My Cousin Rachel, Daphne du Maurier (1951)
SEP: The A. B. C. Murders, Agatha Christie (1936)
OCT: The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Charles Dickens (1870)

7. A classic travel or journey narrative, fiction or non-fiction. The journey itself must be the major plot point -- not just the destination. Good examples include The Hobbit, Around the World in 80 Days, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, Kon-Tiki, Travels with Charley, etc.

8. A classic with a single-word title. No articles please! Proper names are fine -- Emma, Germinal, Middlemarch, Kidnapped, etc.
MAY: William, E. H. Young (1925)
JUN: Shirley, Charlotte Bronte (1849)

9. A classic with a color in the title. The Woman in White; Anne of Green Gables; The Red and the Black, and so on. (Silver, gold, etc. are acceptable. Basically, if it's a color in a Crayola box of crayons, it's fine!)
APR: The Golden Ball and other stories, Agatha Christie; collected 1971; all stories originally from the 1920s and 1930s)

10. A classic by an author that's new to you. Choose an author you've never read before.
FEB: The Hills is Lonely, Lillian Beckwith (1959)
FEB: The 39 Steps, John Buchan (1915)
MAR: Begin Again, Ursula Orange (1936)

11. A classic that scares you. Is there a classic you've been putting off forever? A really long book which intimidates you because of its sheer length? Now's the time to read it, and hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised!

12. Re-read a favorite classic.
JAN: I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith (1948), first read in 2006
JAN: The Tempest, Shakespeare (1610)
MAR: Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens (1857); audiobook re-read, read by Simon Vance; read in 1990 and 2009 (print), 2012 (audiobook)
APR: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (1813); audiobook re-read, read by Emilia Fox; read in 2013
APR: Adam Bede, George Eliot (1859); first read in 2008
MAY: A Room with a View, E. M. Forster (1908); first read in 1992
MAY: Silas Marner, George Eliot, audiobook read by Margaret Hilton (1861); first read in 2005
JUN: Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens, audiobook read by Simon Vance (1865); first read in 2013
JUL: Lady Susan, Jane Austen, (1794; publ. 1871); audiobook re-read
JUL: Northanger Abbey: an annotated edition, Jane Austen, annotated by Susan J. Wolfson (1817; 2014)
JUL: Persuasion, Jane Austen (1817); audiobook re-read
OCT: Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (1847)
OCT: Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell (1851); audiobook re-read
OCT: Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier, (1938)

MISC CLASSICS that don't fit in any of the above challenges:

6kac522
Editado: Fev 2, 2021, 6:31 pm

Currently Reading:

DONE: Look Back with Love: a Manchester Childhood, Dodie Smith, memoir by the author of I Capture the Castle
DONE His Excellency: George Washington, Joseph Ellis; for 75ers Nonfiction: January: Prizewinners
Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens, audiobook read by Simon Vance

Other Reading Plans for January:

--Murder on the Orient Express; fits Classics Challenge #6
--Country Bunch, Miss Read stories
--Rochester's Wife, D. E. Stevenson
--Miss Mackenzie, Trollope
DONE for the BAC: children's classics: Little Lord Fauntleroy, Burnett and/or I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith; also fits Classics Challenge #5
DONE: for RandomCAT: humor: Lanterns & Lances, James Thurber, essays
DONE: for Reading through Time: Shakespeare re-tellings: Hag-seed, Margaret Atwood

Lots of comfort reading to make it through until Inauguration Day, when IMHO, the new year really begins.

7thornton37814
Jan 3, 2021, 7:05 pm

Hope you have a great year of reading!

8drneutron
Jan 3, 2021, 9:41 pm

Welcome back!

9FAMeulstee
Jan 4, 2021, 7:21 am

Happy reading in 2021, Kathy!

10PaulCranswick
Editado: Jan 21, 2021, 3:57 am



And keep up with my friends here, Kathy. Have a great 2021.

11jessibud2
Jan 4, 2021, 9:22 am

Happy new thread and happy new year, Kathy!

12jnwelch
Jan 4, 2021, 9:27 am

Happy New Year, Kathy!

I was glad to see Young Men and Fire among your NF favorites from last year. I feel like that one deserves a wider readership. I got to it because of A River Runs Through It, but it stands up very well on its own.

13kac522
Jan 4, 2021, 11:07 am

>7 thornton37814: Thank you, >8 drneutron: thank you and >9 FAMeulstee: thank you again! I had a good reading year last year, with a few "fits", but ended strong. Hope to start strong and stay smooth.

>10 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. Although I didn't do any real traveling in 2020, I took long drives to far away grocery stores, just to have some time out of the house. And of course, with an audiobook playing while driving.

>11 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley. Remember--the new year down here doesn't start until 1/20/2021 (it's a palindrome, so it must be good luck!)

>12 jnwelch: Right, Joe, it was a great book--amazing writing. I found it purely by accident while browsing at a Goodwill on Touhy. I have a collection of his essays and other writings around here somewhere: The Norman Maclean Reader, also published after his death. This year is probably the year to read that one.

14lyzard
Jan 20, 2021, 4:11 pm

Found you!

Hi, Kathy - best wishes for the New Reading Year! :)

>5 kac522:

Hmm... I don't need any more challenges but that looks awfully tempting...

15kac522
Editado: Jan 20, 2021, 10:48 pm

>14 lyzard: Thanks for stopping by, Liz. Now that we have sanity in Washington, we're all letting out a huge collective sigh of relief, and I can get back to the business of reading.

16PaulCranswick
Jan 21, 2021, 3:57 am

>15 kac522: Amen to that, Kathy!

17kac522
Editado: Fev 2, 2021, 6:26 pm

January Reading


♥ 1. Look Back with Love: a Manchester Childhood, Dodie Smith
Year Published: 1974
Type: nonfiction, memoir
Acquired: Interlibrary loan
Project: book bullet from booktube

The first book in a four volume series of the memoirs of Dodie Smith. Smith was born in 1896 and this first book covers her childhood years until age 14, when she left her beloved Manchester for London. Smith was the lone child living with her mother, grandmother, and maternal aunts and uncles--her father had died when she was 18 months old. This book is just brimming with remembrances of childhood and relatives, streets and people, homes and schools, music and theatricals, toys and pets. About a third of the way in the book, Smith starts Chapter VII with "I had a happy childhood but I was not a happy child, and I was aware of this from a very early age." She relates her thrilling times, her woeful times, and her adult-like sense as a child, but also her extreme innocence. It is a wonderful look at life in turn of the 20th century Manchester: houses, streets, theaters, the first electric lights, her first long-distance motorcar trip. If you like books that give the very essence of a child's life in a specific time and place, you will love this book. I did.


♥ 2. His Excellency: George Washington, Joseph Ellis; Root from 2011
Year Published: 2004
Type: nonfiction, biography, history
Acquired: paperback on my TBR
Project: 75ers NF January Challenge--Prizewinners

This was a concise volume on Washington's life, work and legacy, without getting into a lot of details, which Ellis notes has been done many times over. Ellis sets up the purpose of his book in the preface:
It seemed to me that Benjamin Franklin was wiser than Washington; Alexander Hamilton was more brilliant; John Adams was better read; Thomas Jefferson was more intellectually sophisticated; James Madison was more politically astute. Yet each and all of these prominent figures acknowledged that Washington was their unquestioned superior....Why was that?

Suffice to say that Ellis does an excellent job in under 300 pages answering this question. This was the right book to read at this time: to get back to the founding principles of these United States. Great book and a great read about a great man.


3. Little Lord Fauntleroy, Frances Hodgson Burnett; Root from 2015
Year Published: 1886
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback on my TBR
Project: BAC January Challenge: Children's Classics; my Classics Challenge

This was quite a disappointment, since I loved The Secret Garden. My Little Lord is an annoyingly good child. However I must admit the writing was very good, and the gradual change of heart of his grandfather was well done. But the kid was totally unbelievable.


4. Lanterns & Lances, James Thurber; Root from before 2009
Year Published: 1961
Type: nonfiction, essays, humor
Acquired: paperback on my TBR
Project: RandomCAT January Challenge: humor; my Classics Challenge

This collection of essays, first published in various magazines from 1953-1961, was the last collection published before he died. Mostly funny, there are essays on language, words, and 1950s life. Several allusions to the McCarthy-era tensions among writers. Many of his essays seem anti-female: it's always a woman who asks or makes nonsensical comments.
There are two mostly serious essays (with humor): one in defense of Henry James, and the last essay "The Duchess and the Bugs": on the state of humor writing in America. These were the 2 best for me.

18kac522
Editado: Fev 2, 2021, 6:28 pm

January Reading continued


5. Tales from Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb; Root from 2016
Year Published: 1807
Type: fiction re-telling
Acquired: paperback from my TBR
Project: BAC January Challenge: Children's Classics; my Classics Challenge

I don't know how children would find this interesting. I had to push myself to finish, and I know most of the stories. Boring and disappointing; way more entertaining to read the actual plays.


6. The Tempest, William Shakespeare; Root from 2017
Year Published: 1610
Type: drama
Acquired: paperback re-read from my shelves
Project: Preparation for Hag-Seed

I read this in 2017 for my book club. I didn't remember much. It was OK; got more of a sense of "colonialism" this read. This re-read was to prepare me for Margaret Atwood's Hag-Seed.


♥ 7. Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood; Root from 2019
Year Published: 2016
Type: fiction re-telling
Acquired: paperback from my TBR
Project: Reading Through Time January: Shakespeare's Children

When I re-read The Tempest this month, I remembered very little of the play from 2017. After Hag-Seed, I'm going to remember the play for a long time. Atwood brings so many layers to this play of prisons and revenge that it's hard to forget. Set in a modern-day Ontario prison, Atwood uses the play-within-a-play-within-a-play idea. By having the prisoners learn about the play, we learn, too. As always Atwood throws in her sharp witty lines, but also manages to quote the Bard quite often within the context of the story. Some stuff seemed a bit silly or over the top, but then so was Shakespeare. Really well done to get readers to understand the various threads in the play.


♥ 8. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith; Root from 2006
Year Published: 1948
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback re-read
Project: BAC January Challenge: Children's Classics; my Classics Challenge

Had forgotten a lot of this, but just remembered the good feelings I was left with after finishing. Just as good, maybe better, after having read Smith's childhood memoir, which I read earlier this month.

Set in 1930s Suffolk, the first person narrator is Cassandra, a 17 year old, who is writing in her journal about her family and the run-down castle that they live in. Very funny coming of age and finding love story. Lots of elements of warmth and humor, suspense and surprise. A comforting favorite.

19kac522
Editado: Mar 1, 2021, 10:24 pm

I'm really happy with my January reading; I read 4 really great books that helped me get through this month.

Currently reading:
*Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens, audiobook read by Simon Vance (re-read)
*DONE Country Bunch, Miss Read, for my Miss Read project

February reading plans:

*DONE Rochester's Wife, D. E. Stevenson, my Stevenson Project; left-over from last month
*DONE Murder on the Orient Express, Christie, another left-over from last month
*Olive, Dinah Craik, for RandomCAT February challenge: Fruits & Veggies
*DONE Where Angels Fear to Tread, E. M. Forster; BAC February Challenge; LGBTQ+ authors
Hidden in Plain View, Jacqueline Tobin; 75ers NF Challenge: Minorities
My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante; Reading Through Time February challenge: Fashion (shoemaker in the story)
*Adam Bede, George Eliot re-read
*DONE The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan, for RL Book Club via Zoom

*these all fit a category in my Classics Challenge

20thornton37814
Fev 2, 2021, 8:49 pm

>18 kac522: I think Hag-Seed may be my favorite in that series--at least of the ones I read.

21kac522
Fev 2, 2021, 11:16 pm

>20 thornton37814: This is my first read in the series, and frankly New Boy is the only one that mildly interests me.

22kac522
Mar 3, 2021, 4:47 pm

February Reading

Not a particular stellar month, but a few good 'uns:


9. Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie; Root from 2016
Year Published: 1934
Type: mystery
Acquired: paperback from my TBR
Project: my Christie and Classics Challenges

Enjoyed this Poirot classic; as always, I was pretty much fooled, except for one minor plot point. Very appropriate to read on a snowed-in evening with temps near 0F. I followed up with a viewing of the adaptation starring David Suchet, with excellent supporting performances by Samuel West, Eileen Atkins and David Morrissey (to name a few). This will be one of my favorite Christies, along with And Then There Were None and the short story "Witness for the Prosecution."


10. Rochester's Wife, D. E. Stevenson;
Year Published: 1940
Type: fiction
Acquired: CPL library hardcover
Project: My Stevenson and Classics Challenges

This next entry in my quest to read D. E. Stevenson's novels (in order) is a bit of a play on Jane Eyre that doesn't really work. In this case Mr & Mrs Rochester live a quiet small town life. The story is told from the viewpoint of the town doctor, Kit Stone, who falls in live with Mrs Rochester. Mr. Rochester appears to be having mental health issues and his wife attempts to keep life together. He suddenly disappears, but returns six months later "cured" after an episode of amnesia. Lots of weird psychobabble which is dated and almost embarrassing. On the positive side, there are wonderful portraits of small town life, rural Scotland and delightful children characters. As usual, Stevenson has one 100% evil character, Ethel, and this feature in her novels has become annoying.


11. The Hills is Lonely, Lillian Beckwith;
Year Published: 1959
Type: fictionalized memoir
Acquired: CPL library hardcover
Project: Classics Challenge

Fictionalized memoir of Beckwith's real-life moving to the Hebrides in Scotland in the 1930s to escape urban life. This is funny, with some sharp humor, both about the islanders' "ways" as well as about the narrator's struggle to adapt her citified prejudices. Some have found fault with Beckwith's portrayal of the island characters; when the book was first released, some people were able to identify themselves in the book, and were not pleased. To me, as a city person, I understood the book and it seemed to me by the end there was much more love for these people and their way of life.


12. Country Bunch, chosen and edited by Miss Read; Root from 2018
Year Published: 1963
Type: collection of essays, fiction extracts and poetry about country life
Acquired: paperback TBR
Project: My Miss Read and Classics Challenges

An anthology of the countryside, comprised of essays, fiction and poetry. Includes sections on country people, places, seasons, remedies and recipes, and occasions. Most date from the 18th and 19th centuries, with many extracts from Flora Thompson's Lark Rise to Candleford, which I read some years ago. Fun, light, and easy to pick up and put down.


13. Where Angels Fear to Tread, E. M. Forster; Root from 2019
Year Published: 1905
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my TBR
Project: BAC February Challenge and my Classics Challenge

I'm not sure how I feel about this novel, E. M. Forster's first. It starts out very much as a tale of manners, specifically British manners vs. Italian, and the characters felt very distant, very stylized. We watch the characters as "fools" rushing in. ("Fools rush in, where angels fear to tread."--Alexander Pope.) But then late in the book Forster hits us hard with a tragic event, and suddenly the characters seem so real (rather like the fate of poor Leonard Bast in Howards End). Lots of quotable lines; here are two:
--about the English in Sawston, their home town: 'I hated the idleness, the stupidity, the respectability, the petty unselfishness....every one here spent their lives in making little sacrifices for objects they didn't care for, to please people they didn't love; that they never learnt to be sincere--and what's as bad, never learnt how to enjoy themselves.' --Caroline Abbott
--on parenting: For a wonderful physical tie binds the parents to the children; and--by some sad, strange irony--it does not bind us children to our parents. For if it did, if we could answer their love not with gratitude but with equal love, life would lose much of its pathos and much of its squalor, and we might be wonderfully happy.

This is complex and definitely requires a re-read--perhaps I'll like it more the second time through.


14. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan;
Year Published: 1915
Type: fiction
Acquired: CPL Library paperback
Project: My RL/Zoom book club and Classics Challenge

Billed as the first classic "man on the run" thriller, this was engaging and fun. Buchan wrote this at the start of WWI, and the German spy theme (and stereotypes) and chase scenes through Buchan's native Scotland set the tone of the book. A bit complicated to follow, but a quick enjoyable read. Watched the Hitchcock film, which is almost entirely different, except for the name of the main character, and that he's chased through Scotland.

23kac522
Editado: Abr 1, 2021, 1:17 am

March plans:

Mostly I hope to read more than a dismal 6 books:

Finished: (woo-hoo!)
*--Olive by Dinah Mulock Craik

Currently Reading:
DONE--The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth and Power by Deirdre Mask (library book due today!)
*--George Eliot's Life as Related in her Letters and Journals, edited by her husband J. W. Cross; plan to continue reading 15-20 pages per day for the month of March
*DONE: Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens, audiobook read by Simon Vance (re-read)

Possible books in March:
*DONE--my Christie Project: Parker Pyne Investigates
--my Miss Read Project: Changes at Fairacre
*--my E. Taylor Project: A Game of Hide and Seek
*--my Trollope Project: Miss Mackenzie
DONE Library book: The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow
*DONE. March RandomCAT: The Way Things Are E. M. Delafield
DNF March Reading through Time: Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
DONE for St. Patrick's Day: An Irish Country Village, Patrick Taylor

*these fit into my Classics Challenge categories

24kac522
Editado: Abr 1, 2021, 4:22 pm

March Reading

Well, did lots of reading (12 books) this month--let's get right in:


15. Olive, Dinah Mulock Craik
Year Published: 1850
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library (CPL)
Project: Classics Challenge

Written on the heels of Jane Eyre, Olive is the story of a "deformed" daughter, born to a proud Scottish father and a weak orphaned mother. The book has many worthwhile themes: like Jane Eyre, Olive develops a strong character, despite her disability and her slim chances of finding love; like Rochester, her father has an affair with a mixed race Jamaican, but unlike Rochester he is not portrayed as the "victim" but rather is remorseful and atones somewhat for his sin. Olive comes to adore Harold, a curate who has lost his faith, and the book explores his struggle with religion. All worthwhile and important ideas, but the overall book is so melodramatic and Olive is so good in the face of strife that it is quite unbelievable. Craik's racial stereotypes (the hot-blood Creole, the stubborn Scot, the weak Englishman) is uncomfortable at best. Craik was a popular novelist in her day; 3 stars for her attempts to grapple with real-life themes. I chose not to read the additional story in this book "The Half-Caste."


16. The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power, by Deirdre Mask
Year Published: 2020
Type: nonfiction, geography, sociology
Acquired: CPL library hardcover
Project: March 75ers NF Challenge (comfort reading)

I was hoping to enjoy this book, but I had a hard time getting through. I was disappointed in the lack of focus--it was more like a series of journal articles about cities, addresses, streets, etc., that sometimes wandered far afield. That said, there were some interesting bits, like the lack of street names in Tokyo, what it means economically to live on Martin Luther King Drive, lack of addresses for people in the slums of India or the homeless in New Haven, how Paris got street numbers, how money influences addresses in New York, controversies over naming streets after historic figures, etc. But the book never lived up to the subtitle: "What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth and Power" because the author never pulled all of these disparate tales together into a cohesive whole. Plus I think I'm starting to be annoyed with the type of nonfiction book that's more like a magazine article, where the author inserts himself/herself into the story.


17. Parker Pyne Investigates, Agatha Christie
Year Published: 1934 (original)
Type: mystery, stories
Acquired: CPL library paperback
Project: Classics Challenge; my Christie Project

I know I'm in the minority, but I always enjoy Christie's short stories perhaps more than the full-length novels. This group of stories feature Mr. Parker Pyne, who has a perennial ad in the newspaper "Are you happy? If not, consult Mr. Parker Pyne". Mr. Parker Pyne has a keen sense of human nature and finds (usually) the right cure for the unhappiness of his clients. I found this collection delightful, and apparently many were written after Christie's travels on the Orient Express and to the Middle East, as they feature locations such as Stamboul, Shiraz and Greece, to name a few. The original collection was published in 1934; my edition added 3 more Parker Pyne stories that were published in the latter 1930s. Also two of the stories, "Death on the Nile" and "The Regatta Mystery", were completely re-written in later years featuring Poirot. I haven't read the Poirot versions yet.


18. Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad, Jacqueline Tobin and Raymond Dobard
Year Published: 1999
Type: nonfiction, African American history, quilting
Acquired: paperback TBR
Project: February 75ers NF Challenge (minorities); Root from 2016

I went into this book with lots of skepticism, as more recent African American scholarship concludes that there is no evidence to back up the basic claim of this book--that quilts were used to direct travelers on the Underground Railroad. On the positive side, the book gives a basic overview of African cultural symbols, music and traditions brought to America, as well as background in African American quilt-making. However, the authors' premise that quilts were sewn in a "code" is based on the testimony of one South Carolina quilter, and there appears to be no other corroboration to her stories. There are lots of sentences in this book that begin "We think...", "We assume" "could be used...", "It is our conjecture...", etc. There were just too many leaps of faith to make the book credible, which is sad, since the background material is quite interesting.


19. The Shawl, Cynthia Ozick
Year Published: 1989
Type: fiction, short story and novella
Acquired: hardcover from my TBR
Project: Feb Reading through Time (Fashion); Root from 2014

The volume contains 2 related pieces: the short story "The Shawl" and the novella "Rosa."

"The Shawl" is a brief (6 pages), yet powerful, story about Rosa, a young mother in a concentration camp, who hides her baby in her shawl, for if the baby is found it is certain death. "Rosa" (about 60 pages) is set almost 40 years later, and Rosa has recently moved to Miami from New York. She is slowly slipping into fits of mental illness, with memories of her life before the war, of her baby and of the shawl. Both stories are told in Ozick's tough, gritty, dark style and packed with symbolism. In fact, it occurred to me that the shawl in the story might, in some ways, allude to a tallit, a Jewish prayer shawl.


20. The Other Bennet Sister, Janice Hadlow
Year Published: 2020
Type: fiction
Acquired: CPL Library hardcover
Project: none

I really wanted to love this book. This is a re-telling of Pride & Prejudice which focuses on the middle "plain" Bennet sister, Mary, and then takes us into Mary's life two years after P & P ends. I had a hard time getting into the book. It was slow for me and certainly the first third of the book seemed overwhelmingly depressing--I wasn't sure why I should continue to read about Mary. But the book turned around for me when the Gardiners came into the story. I became caught up in Mary's gradual change in character, the tempo picked up and I raced to the end. On the plus side: great writing, very much a la Austen, with much dialogue (especially in the beginning) pulled directly from the original. On the minus side: I had trouble with Hadlow's expansion/re-interpretation of the characters of Charlotte (very conniving/plotting), Mrs Bennet (downright nasty) and Mr. Collins completely unbelievable, IMHO). And it was just too long for me, by about 100 pages. Most JA fans love this book, so I'm a bit of an outlier. The book ends with a satisfying conclusion, so overall it left me feeling good, and wanting to get back into the text to pull out the bits about Mary.

25kac522
Editado: Abr 1, 2021, 3:58 pm

March Reading, part 2


21. Begin Again, Ursula Orange
Year Published: 1936
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library (CPL) via interlibrary loan
Project: my Classics Challenge

I borrowed 2 Ursula Orange paperbacks from the library that are Furrowed Middlebrow/Dean Street Press reprints. Begin Again tells the story of 4 twenty-something young women in mid-1930's England. Each seems mildly to severely dissatisfied with the way their lives are going. One living in the country with her parents envies her working friends sharing a flat in London. One of the flat-mates hates her job and longs for a decent country life. As the story progresses, each woman finds a way to begin a new life. This was enjoyable, light and witty.


22. An Irish Country Village, by Patrick Taylor
Year Published: 2008
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my TBR; Root from 2017
Project: continue the Irish country series

Second book in the series about young Dr Barry Laverty who is apprenticed to Dr Fingal O'Reilly. Lovely scenes of Northern Irish village life and medical practice in the 1960s. A comforting read.


23. Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens; audiobook read by Simon Vance
Year Published: 1857
Type: novel
Acquired: my audiobook TBR; Root from 2012
Project: Classics Challenge

A Dickens favorite re-read on audiobook. I love Simon Vance's voice characterizations. In particular his readings of a few passages in the second half were absolutely brilliant: 1) William Dorrit being visited by Young John after Mr Dorrit, being released from the Marshalsea, returns to London after a tour of Europe; Vance's reading brought me to tears; 2) Young John and Arthur Clennam in the Marshalsea after Clennam's arrest; 3) Mrs Clennam's recounting of her own story when pressed by Blandois/Rigaud near the end of the book. And Dickens' portrayal of the fall of Mr Merdle and the fall of the House of Clennam are always brilliant, no matter how many times I re-visit.


24. Bennett Cerf's Out on a Limerick: A Collection of over 300 of the World's Best Printable Limericks: Assembled, Revised, Dry-cleaned and Annotated, Bennet Cerf
Year Published: 1960
Type: nonfiction, humor
Acquired: hardcover TBR
Project: March 75ers NF Challenge: comfort reading.

For a break between other books, I picked up this little volume at a library used book sale shelf; the full title says it all. A sample (no groaning, please):

A quiet young lady called Snookie
At betting was quite a smart cookie.
Before every race
She went home to her place
And curled up with a very good bookie.



25. The Way Things Are, E. M. Delafield
Year Published: 1927
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my TBR
Project: March RandomCAT: Surprise!; Root from 2020

Laura Temple is a middle-class wife, mother of 2 boys, sister and sometime short story writer who feels something is missing in her life. Her husband is buried in his newspaper, her children whine and she can't manage the servants or the expenses of the large family house in the country they have inherited. But her life takes a turn when her sister brings friends down to visit. By the author of The Diary of a Provincial Lady, I was expecting more humor and less melancholy. It is still witty and ironic and worth the read, but the Provincial Lady is lighter, funnier, while dealing with many of the same issues of a woman trapped in everyday married life.


26. Tom Tiddler's Ground, Ursula Orange
Year Published: 1941
Type: fiction
Acquired: CPL Library paperback via interlibrary loan
Project: none

Another Furrowed Middlebrow/Dean Street Press reprint. It is early in WWII; Caroline and her toddler daughter are encouraged by her solicitor husband to evacuate London to a small Kentish village where a school chum has a large house. Caroline provides a witty, ironic look at people and life in a village and to amuse herself by writing a play about them. But slowly she comes round to view them as (gasp!) real human beings. Lots of fun, but lots of insights, too; even more engaging than Begin Again. This is Orange's most popular and successful novel.

26kac522
Editado: Abr 28, 2021, 9:58 pm

April bookish plans/hopes/dreams:

Still slowly making my way through:

--George Eliot's Life (her letters and journals), edited by J. W. Cross
--George Eliot, biography by Jenny Uglow

For LT Challenges:
DONE: BAC--Love: Miss Mackenzie, Anthony Trollope (also fits my Trollope Project)
DONE: Reading through Time--British Empire: My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin
DONE: 75ers NonFiction--Yorkshire: Regional Archaeologies, Longworth
--RandomCAT--another LTers library: probably Mr Mac and Me, Esther Freud

For my bookclub:
DONE A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry (re-read)

Virago/LT group read with lyzard:
DONE Mrs Oliphant stories (re-read)

For my other challenges:
DONE Adam Bede, re-read for George Eliot Project
DONE The Golden Ball and other stories, Agatha Christie Project
DONE Changes at Fairacre, Miss Read Project
--A Game of Hide and Seek, Elizabeth Taylor Project

off we go....

27kac522
Editado: Maio 21, 2021, 2:01 am

I've been following Katie of Books and Things on youtube, and she's sponsoring a 1900-1950 Reading Challenge for May (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCu0QEvzt0k).

Her Challenge is to read books published between 1900-1950 and that:

1) author is from your own country
2) author is from a country other than your own
3) is a classic in its genre (mystery, sci-fi, play, etc.)
4) is NOT a novel (nonfiction, plays, short stories, poetry, etc.)
5) is about, set during or references WWI or WWII

and a Bonus Challenge: Read a book from each decade (1900s, 1910s, 1920s, etc.)

I thought this would be a great way to get some books off the shelves and out the door. I've gone through my TBRs and have come up with a potential of 19 books--my goal is to read at least 10 of these, and to hit each of the challenges above. Here are my choices:

1900 The Touchstone, Edith Wharton (USA)
1907 Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther, Elizabeth von Arnim (Australia/England/Germany)
1908 A Room with a View, E. M. Forster (England)
1911 Jenny, Sigrid Undset (Norway)
1915 The Song of the Lark, Willa Cather (USA)
1919 Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson (USA)
1922 Loyalties, John Galsworthy (England) -- play
1924 The Crowded Street, Winifred Holtby (England) WWI
1925 William, E. H. Young (England)
1927 The Hotel, Elizabeth Bowen (England)
1930 High Wages, Dorothy Whipple (England)
1930 Private Lives, Noel Coward (England) -- classic play
1932 Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (England) -- classic sci-fi/dystopian
1935 Death in the Air, Agatha Christie (England) -- classic mystery
1940 Letter From England, Mollie Panter-Downes (England) essays/articles; WWII
1940 The English Air, D. E. Stevenson (Scotland); WW II
1945 The Little Company, Eleanor Dark (Australia); WW II
1949 Cindie, Jean Devany (NZ)
1950 The World My Wilderness, Rose Macaulay (England) WW II

Except for 2 library books, all of these are on my shelves now. I love this period of literature, and glad that I could find mostly women authors, too--can't wait to get started!

28PaulCranswick
Abr 27, 2021, 6:25 pm

>27 kac522: Oh no, a challenge that will definitely suck me in!

I might see if I can do a few of those. Let me think how I can combine some of my own challenges to suit this one. Interesting!

29PaulCranswick
Abr 27, 2021, 6:26 pm

Great to see you back posting by the way. x

30kac522
Abr 27, 2021, 6:38 pm

>28 PaulCranswick: I know, I know! Another challenge! But I love this girl on booktube (Katie); she lives in London and works for a publishing firm. She reads for work AND pleasure, so she knows books. She talks very fast, but that doesn't bother me at all. She loves the Victorians (especially your own favorite Chuckles) and sponsors a challenge in October-- "#Victober", in which people try to read as many Victorian works as they can during the month.

I've become quite the lurker of various booktubers; most of them are on GoodReads, where I have an account, but never use it. Too many ads and annoying prompts to buy from Amazon.

>29 PaulCranswick: Generally I post once a month here (and in the Category Challenge group), with the round-up of my reading for the month. And I still follow you and a few others, as well as some challenges. But I guess I'm a person who would rather be reading than posting, such is my quieter nature.

31PaulCranswick
Abr 27, 2021, 7:09 pm

>30 kac522: Just mentioned to Anita that I generally post more when I am reading more which does seem a little bit illogical doesn't it?

I will go and look for this booktube thingy!

32kac522
Editado: Abr 27, 2021, 7:21 pm

>31 PaulCranswick: It's mostly young people recording on their phones, but there are few ancient folks like me that have channels. If you go to youtube and put in #booktube or even #Victober, you'll get some hits. Lots of people watch "Shawn the Book Maniac" (a Canadian living in Tokyo). I like "Hannah's Books" (Hannah from Washington, D.C. area) and "Middle of the Book March" (Kim from New Hampshire), who both read seriously, diversely and have thoughtful reviews.

33ebeeb
Abr 27, 2021, 7:22 pm

>27 kac522: I'd always heard of Noel Coward, but didn't know anything about him. That play sounds hilarious! I've just added it to my wishlist. Let us know what you think of it once you've read it!

(I'm relatively new around here, by the way, I don't think I've posted here before -- I'm Elizabeth and I don't read nearly as many books as most on this forum, but I like reading about what everyone else is up to. Thank you for all the great book ideas.)

34kac522
Editado: Abr 27, 2021, 7:34 pm

>33 ebeeb: Welcome, Elizabeth! The 75ers are a great group! Be sure to check out our big posters, like PaulCranswick (above); jnwelch (Joe); msf59 (Mark, a huge birder), and from these you'll find lots of other people in the group. Also check out the British Author Challenge https://www.librarything.com/topic/327699 and the American Author Challenge https://www.librarything.com/topic/327669. And lots more on the 75ers Wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Groups:75booksin2021

Many years ago I think I saw a filmed version of Private Lives, but don't remember much, except that it is a classic from the era. I found it in an anthology I have of 20th century British plays, so seemed a good choice for this challenge.

35PaulCranswick
Abr 27, 2021, 7:41 pm

>34 kac522: Thanks for putting me in very good company there, Kathy!

I would also recommend their threads, Elizabeth and >33 ebeeb: don't worry about how many books you read. x

36kac522
Abr 27, 2021, 7:51 pm

>33 ebeeb:, >35 PaulCranswick: Oh yeah, Elizabeth, don't let numbers get you--it's about the reading. I'm only reading as many books as I am right now because I'm retired. Back in my working days and raising kids, I was lucky to read a book a month, if that much. Not all of us are like >35 PaulCranswick:, the human book devourer!

37ebeeb
Abr 28, 2021, 12:28 am

>34 kac522: Thank you for all those links, it's good to know who's around and I've been wondering where everyone finds those challenges!

>36 kac522: Yes, a book a month, that's about my pace! I'm going even slower right now because the book I'm reading now (Penguin Island) is starting to really drag. I insist on very rarely putting down books because if they sag in the middle after a promising beginning, my experience is they usually get better near the end. But those middle sections really can be painful.

38kac522
Editado: Abr 30, 2021, 3:43 pm

I think it's time to call it a month--not in the mood to squeeze in another book for April.

April Reading


27. Changes at Fairacre, Miss Read
Year Published: 1991
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover from my shelves; Root from 2017
Project: my Miss Read Project; Classics Challenge

I enjoyed this next in the Fairacre series, which conveniently starts in Spring and ends the following Spring. Miss Read loses a friend, moves house, a hurricane strikes, and worries continue about the fate of her school. Sometimes Miss Read can be a bit "same old, same old", but this was a well-rounded installment, with happy, sad, worrisome and humorous events, and a lovely way to begin April.


28. Miss Mackenzie, by Anthony Trollope
Year Published: 1865
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my TBR; Root from 2017
Project: my Trollope Project; Classics Challenge

Miss Mackenzie is a middle-aged spinster who has spent her life caring for her elderly father and an invalid brother. At age 35 she becomes an heiress and suddenly becomes the object of 3 different suitors. Trollope creates one of his funniest stories that include his standard elements of courtship, clerics and lawyers. Littlebath residents Miss Todd and Miss Baker from The Bertrams are featured, and for Palliser fans, Lady Glencora makes a cameo appearance. I thought the last quarter of the book was a bit drawn out, but overall I enjoyed this book, with some laugh-aloud moments.


29. My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin
Year Published: 1901
Type: novel
Acquired: paperback; Root from 2020
Project: my Virago Project; Classics Challenge

I had mixed feelings about this book. The narrator is a 16 year old girl living in the 1890s Australian bush. Franklin was 16 when she wrote this, so quite an accomplishment. There are brilliant descriptions of the bush and the hard life on the farms: the floods, the droughts, the heat, the dust. The narration and dialogue give a good feel for Australian slang and expressions. The heroine expresses unorthodox (for the time) views of a woman's place in society and marriage. However, there is blatant racist references, a very unlikeable heroine (rude, self-absorbed, and always feeling sorry for herself) and rather a tedious story. I think overall the book is an important work by a young Australian woman writer in the 1890s, but only an average work of literature.


30. Pride and Prejudice from Jane Austen - The Complete Novels (Complete Classics), Jane Austen; audiobook, read by Emilia Fox
Year Published: 1813
Type: fiction
Acquired: audio CDs
Project: Classics Challenge

As many times as I've read P&P, I've never listened to it on audio. Emilia Fox played Georgiana in the 1995 Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle movie. Fox's narration passages were the best. I did not like her voices for men, and Mrs Bennet's voice was patterned on the 1995 film portrayal by Alison Steadman. Next re-read will be the book!


31. Adam Bede, George Eliot; re-read from 2008
Year Published: 1859
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my TBR; Root from 2008
Project: my Eliot Project; Classics Challenge

On this re-reading, it didn't take me as long to get into the book, but it did drag in the middle. However at the half-way point things picked up, and I finished quickly. Without even looking at my old comments, I had the same reaction upon finishing--that there were no "evil" characters--that it was all "nobody's fault"--to quote Dickens in Little Dorrit. A sad human tragedy. There were more humorous bits than I remembered. The religious characters (Dinah and Mr. Irwine) were exceedingly good without being overly religious. A different portrait of the religious than Austen (think Mr Collins and Mr Elton) or even Trollope. Without spoiling, I found some aspects of the ending a bit hard to believe.


32. Yorkshire: Regional Archaeologies, Ian Longworth
Year Published: 1965
Type: nonfiction; archeology
Acquired: hardcover from TBR shelves; Root from 2019
Project: 75ers Nonfiction--April

Bought this at a used book store in Wisconsin on Lake Superior. Gives an overview of the Paleolithic through Roman eras, focusing on sites in Yorkshire, articles found, people who lived there, possible lifestyles, etc. Also includes a list of all major sites and a list of museums in Yorkshire with archeological specimens.


33. The Golden Ball and Other Stories, Agatha Christie
Year Published: 1971, all stories published originally in the 1920s and 1930s
Type: fiction, mystery, short stories
Acquired: paperback from CPL library
Project: my Christie Project; Classics Challenge

As always, I find Christie's stories more fun than the novels. They are quirky and entertaining for the most part. I particularly like the "Walter Mitty" type stories, where people feel their life is so boring and then get involved in a surprise adventure.


34. My Cousin Rachel, Daphne du Maurier
Year Published: 1951
Type: fiction
Acquired: ebook from Chicago Public Library
Project: LT April Monthly Author Challenge; Classics Challenge

Not quite as suspenseful as Rebecca, but still kept me turning pages. Du Maurier has a great talent for putting the reader completely in the mind of the main character, even when we completely distrust their judgement. And for ambiguous endings. One thing that bothered me at first was that the time frame was unclear--probably mid to late 19th century. She did not always convince me of that. However, by the end, it felt as if it could have been from any time period.


35. My Own Words, Ruth Bader Ginsburg; audiobook, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Linda Lavin
Year Published: 2016
Type: nonfiction; speeches, lectures, writings, decisions
Acquired: Chicago Public Library
Project: none

This is a collection published in 2016 of Ginsburg's writings, lectures, speeches and court opinions, interspersed with background information. About half of the selections were recordings of Ginsburg herself; the other half were read by the narrator. I am not a legal person by any means, yet Ginsburg's clear and precise language made difficult legal concepts accessible. Other parts were personal, and brought me to tears. If you're interested in this sort of book, I would highly recommend the audiobook, just to hear RBG delivering her own historic judicial opinions.
My absolute favorite read of the month.

39kac522
Editado: Maio 7, 2021, 1:49 am

I'm anxious to start the 1900-1950 Challenge (see >27 kac522:), and I may start tonight.

I'm going to try to read at least 10 of the books on the list, and to read them in chronological order, starting with The Touchstone by Edith Wharton. I'll probably read Letter from England throughout the month, as it is a series of articles/essays she wrote from 1939 through 1940.

Ready or not, here I come....

40jessibud2
Abr 30, 2021, 3:54 pm

>38 kac522: - I read the Ginsburg one, Kathy, and also, on audio. Linda Lavin narrated most of it, on the version I listened to though there were segments where Ginsburg's readings were in her own voice. It was a good one.

41kac522
Editado: Abr 30, 2021, 4:00 pm

>40 jessibud2: Lavin certainly talks more, because she does the narration bits between selections, but it seemed like there was a significant amount of actual recordings of RBG. Maybe I paid more attention to RBG's voice, so it seemed just as long ;)

I actually liked the way Ginsburg talked slowly and deliberately; it helped me absorb the concepts better.

42kac522
Maio 1, 2021, 2:36 pm

I started my May 1900-1950 Challenge (>27 kac522:). For the most part, I hope to read in chronological order, and I plan to update my progress here as I start and complete each book.

First up: Edith Wharton's The Touchstone (1900), a novella (about 90 pages), about the publication of letters of a deceased famous writer, and the ethical implications.

I've also started a book which I'll read throughout the month, and that is Letter from England by Mollie Panter-Downes, published in October 1940. This is a collection of essays ("letters", if you will) written for the New Yorker during World War II, with updates on the everyday (or not-so-everyday) life in England. Letter from England covers the articles written from September 1939 through September 1940. Panter-Downes continued to write articles through the end of the war; all the New Yorker articles, from 1939 - 1945 were published in one volume: London War Notes. I decided on the earlier book, just because it was half the size (about 250 pages).

I read the first entries for September 1939. Here's an excerpt about children and the new gas masks that everyone carried:

London, September 10, 1939
...How to accustom children to a war which at any moment may come right into the nursery is something that exercises everybody. The juvenile genius for accepting new conditions has already, however, reconciled many a family to a father unaccountably vanished and a mother who in a tone of determined gaiety proposes a game of Mickey Mouse in one of these amusing new mask things. The most comforting "reaction" so far reported was the remark of the little girl who countered parental whimsy with a stern "It's all right, Mummie. I know what it is. It's a gas mask and we put it on when they bomb us."

43kac522
Editado: Maio 4, 2021, 3:39 pm

Reading Update: 1900-1950 Challenge for May 2021

Completed:

36. The Touchstone, Edith Wharton (USA)--from my country
Year Published: 1900
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves

The influence of Henry James is evident in this novella of ethics, conscience and silences between partners. The wording is a bit difficult to navigate sometimes, but the plot is compelling and the characters are intense, all with an overtone of ironic wit that is Wharton's own.

Started: Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther, Elizabeth von Arnim (1907)

44PaulCranswick
Maio 2, 2021, 10:55 am

>43 kac522: Great start, Kathy.

45kac522
Maio 2, 2021, 10:29 pm

>44 PaulCranswick: Thanks....just hoping I can keep up the enthusiasm.

46kac522
Editado: Maio 5, 2021, 1:42 am

Reading Update: 1900-1950 Challenge for May 2021

Book #2 Completed:

37. Fraulein Schmidt And Mr Anstruther: Being the Letters of an Independent Woman, Elizabeth von Arnim (Australia/England/Germany)--not from my country
Year Published: 1907
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2020

This is a book of letters from "Independent Woman" Rose-Marie Schmidt, an English-German of 25, living with her father in a small German village, to Roger Anstruther, an Englishman and former student of Rose-Marie's father. We only read one side of a love affair that does not go smooth. Rose-Marie passionately shares daily life, interesting characters, and the beauty of nature around her. I am not sure why I love von Arnim's writing so much, but I do. I can see how others may find it over-the-top and almost smothering, but I love the sensuality of it. Nearly every letter has some mention of a poet, writer or musician. Although a little long, and a little slow in the middle, Rose-Marie surprises us a bit in the end. It is said that von Arnim disguised herself as an English governess to be employed in a lower-middle class German household to observe and record how real people managed their lives from day to day.

Started Book #3: A Room with a View, E. M. Forster (1908), a re-read.

47kac522
Editado: Maio 10, 2021, 6:01 pm

Reading Update: 1900-1950 Challenge for May 2021

Book #3 Completed:

38. A Room with a View, E. M. Forster;(England)--not from my country
Year Published: 1908
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2011; re-read, originally read 1992 and 2011

Well, the third time was the charm--although not my favorite Forster, I can say that I did enjoy this re-read. I liked this a bit better this time, perhaps because I've recently re-read Howard's End and Where Angels Fear to Tread. So I was used to the Forster's style and manners, and the passion seemed more genuine. But it does still read like a play to me.

I have now completed my books for the 1900s decade:
1900--The Touchstone, Wharton
1907--Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther, von Arnim
1908--A Room with a View, E. M. Forster
**Interesting factoid: E. M. Forster was a tutor for von Arnim's children, but I haven't been able to figure out exactly which years. But interesting that they had books come out within a year of each other, and it's interesting to comtemplate what literary effect they had on each other.

Now on to the 1910s:
Currently reading: Jenny by Sigrid Undset (1911).

48kac522
Maio 10, 2021, 5:58 pm

Also still reading, bit by bit, Mollie Panter-Downes' Letter from England, and have read through the January, 1940 articles for the New Yorker.

Here's this week's interesting excerpt from October 29, 1939:
The Week* publishes a tart account of the seizing by British authorities of a quantity of documents brought back by a lady after a business trip to New York. It seems that someone had reported that a sinister book, translated from the Russian and obviously Communist in feeling, was among her effects. It was a copy of Tolstoy's "War and Peace," and it was immediately confiscated, together with a highly incriminating souvenir program of a visit to the Statue of Liberty.


*A mimeographed newsheet published by Claud Cockburn from Victoria Street.

49kac522
Editado: Maio 10, 2021, 7:12 pm

My ship(ment) has come in!

A few weeks ago I placed orders for books at my favorite local independent bookstore, Seminary Co-op, Chicago and from the British Library Women Writers series. And today, all of my titles arrived:

from the British Library Women Writers series (3 for the price of 2!):
My Husband Simon, Mollie Panter-Downes
Tea is So Intoxicating, Mary Essex
Father, Elizabeth von Arnim

from Seminary Co-op:
A Chelsea Concerto, Frances Faviell (Dean Street Press)
Vera, Elizabeth von Arnim
The Vicar's Daughter, E. H. Young

Lovely new books!

50kac522
Editado: Maio 15, 2021, 9:39 pm

Reading Update: 1900-1950 Challenge for May 2021

Book #4 Completed:


Jenny by Sigrid Undset (1911)
This was a tough one, and I'm still processing my feelings about it. Will sum up later.

Now reading:
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (1919)

51kac522
Maio 17, 2021, 6:37 pm

Reading Update: 1900-1950 Challenge for May 2021

Book #4 Completed:


Jenny by Sigrid Undset
Year Published: 1911
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2016

This is a brutally realistic look at the life of a woman artist in the early 20th century. Jenny is a painter who has left her native Oslo for Rome and has joined a group of Scandinavian ex-pat artists and writers. The book follows Jenny's relationships with some of her group, both male and female. Throughout the book, Jenny's male friends seem to know exactly what she should or should not be doing as an artist, while Jenny herself in unsure of her path in life. She loves her art, but she is afraid of any intimate relationships with men, and yet still longs for someone to love, and maybe even a child someday. Undset (author of Kristin Lavransdatter and Nobel winner) herself lived in Rome as a writer under similar circumstances, and eventually married a Norwegian painter she met in Italy. From the first page, I felt a certain inevitable tragedy from the first pages of the book. Jenny struggles to live her life on her own terms, without the interference of men, and yet still longing to be loved for herself. It's a difficult book to read, but an important look at early 20th century female artists, and the struggles they faced in becoming both an artist and a fulfilled woman.

Book #5 Completed:


Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Year Published: 1919
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2015; re-read from high school

What a difference a half-century makes. This was one of the few books I recall liking from required high school reading, and I have always wanted to re-read it. Whew! glad that's over with! Published in 1919, this is a collection of vignettes (called "Tales") on various people in the small town of Winesburg, Ohio around 1900. The central figure is George Willard, an employee of the local newspaper. In each of these tales the featured citizen somehow encounters George. The Tales have titles like "Hands", "Godliness", "The Thinker", "Drink", "Death", etc. Each person has a "truth"--a basic tenet or point of view about life. Anderson portrays only unhappy, dissatisfied marriages; sad, lonely and disconnected individuals; and there's not a decent, positive woman in sight, except for the Madonna-like Helen White. The one thing I took away from this book was the basic values and simple thinking of small-town rural Americans, and how some of that still permeates to this day.

With these two books, I've finished the 1910s. These were both difficult books. I may take a break before I plunge into the 1920s.

Once I do resume, my next book will be The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby (1924).

52kac522
Editado: Jun 3, 2021, 2:10 am

Mid-month update: 1900-1950 Challenge for May 2021

Here's my progress:

1900 The Touchstone, Edith Wharton (USA)
1907 Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther, Elizabeth von Arnim (Australia/England/Germany)
1908 A Room with a View, E. M. Forster (England)
1911 Jenny, Sigrid Undset (Norway)
1915 The Song of the Lark, Willa Cather (USA)
1919 Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson (USA)
1922 Loyalties, John Galsworthy (England) -- play
1924 The Crowded Street, Winifred Holtby (England) -- WWI
1925 William, E. H. Young (England)
1925 Juno and the Paycock, Sean O'Casey (Ireland) -- play -- replaces Loyalties
1927 The Hotel, Elizabeth Bowen (England)
1930 High Wages, Dorothy Whipple (England)
1930 Private Lives, Noel Coward (England) -- classic play
1932 Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (England) -- classic sci-fi/dystopian
1935 Death in the Air, Agatha Christie (England) -- classic mystery
1940 Letter From England, Mollie Panter-Downes (England) essays/articles; WWII
1940 The English Air, D. E. Stevenson (Scotland); WW II
1945 The Little Company, Eleanor Dark (Australia); WWII
1949 Cindie, Jean Devany (NZ)
1950 The World My Wilderness, Rose Macaulay (England) WW II

So at mid-month I've finished 5. I've eliminated books I know I won't get to this month, plus I replaced one play (Loyalties) with another play (Juno and the Paycock), which happens to be this month's selection for my RL book club.

I know I'm not going to get to all of these, but I going to give it my damnedest.

Next up: The Crowded Street, Winifred Holtby (1924), which I think features a main character who we follow during WWI and beyond, so fits the WW challenge.

53kac522
Editado: Maio 25, 2021, 6:09 pm

Reading Update: 1900-1950 Challenge for May 2021

I finished 2 books in the 1920s, and what a difference a decade makes! I loved both of these books published by Virago.

Book #5 Completed:


The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby
Year Published: 1924
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2020

This is the story of Muriel Hammond, who is shy, awkward and failing in all the attributes to attract a young man. We follow her from age 11 at the turn of the 20th century, through the Great War and up to 1920. The dynamics of Yorkshire society and the family and Muriel's place within these realms are well done. Throughout most of the novel, Muriel feels it is her "duty" as a single daughter with no prospects to take care of her parents, but the influence of a friend and post-war Britain bring out a slow but decided change in Muriel. Well done. Particularly moving is the beginning, with Muriel's first "party" at age 11, which sets the stage for the rest of the novel.

Book #6 Completed:


William by E. H. Young
Year Published: 1925
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2020

I really enjoyed this novel about a family during the first decade of the 20th century. Published in 1925, the setting is Radstowe, based on Bristol, where E. H. Young lived for some years. William is the patriarch of a family of five grown-up children; 4 are married, one is still at home with her parents. The family dynamics, trials and tribulations are seen through William's eyes and contrasted with the reactions of his wife, Kate. Young has a wonderful dry humor that keeps the novel from getting too melodramatic, yet still with much to say about families and grown-up children. Young's style reminds me most of Barbara Pym and I loved it.

Not much time left in May to get through to the 1940s, but I'll do my best.

54kac522
Editado: Jun 3, 2021, 11:39 am

Reading Update: 1900-1950 Challenge for May 2021

Here are the final books/selections I finished for the Challenge:

Book/Selection #8 Completed:


Private Lives by Noel Coward
Year Published: 1930
Type: drama--fits Challenges "not a novel" and classic in its genre
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from before 2008

This is a fast-paced comedy about 2 people, previously divorced from each other, who find themselves at the same hotel on honeymoon with their new spouses. I did not like any of the characters, and although the dialogue was witty, the exchanges seemed mostly brutal. I didn't care about any of them.

Book #9 Completed:


Death in the Air by Agatha Christie
Year Published: 1935
Type: mystery--fits Challenge classic in its genre
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2019

Agatha had me fooled 100%! It's an interesting setting--a murder occurs on a flight from Paris to London in 1935. Just interesting to read about passenger flights in those early days.

Book #10 Completed:
(No image available)

Letter from England by Mollie Panter-Downes
Year Published: September, 1940
Type: non-fiction; essays/articles; fits Challenge "not a novel" and WWII
Acquired: library book

This is a collection of articles Panter-Downes wrote for the New Yorker from September 1939 through September 1940, covering the everyday person during the war in London. Sort of a modern-day "human-interest" journalism, although she never names anyone specifically. She covers a Londoner's every day life: going to the shops, adjusting to gas masks, air-raids, going to the movies, listening to updates on the radio, and the general mood each week of average Londoners. It was interesting to feel the mood changes as they were happening. These articles end as London is being bombed nearly every night in September 1940.

There is an expanded collection, called London War Notes, which covers 1939 through 1945, with the best articles from each year.

Book #11 Completed:


The English Air by D. E. Stevenson
Year Published: 1940
Type: fiction; fits Challenge WWII
Acquired: library book

I normally love D. E. Stevenson, but this was essentially a book of war propaganda. It is 1938; a young German comes to England to meet and visit his English cousins for the first time. I was completely uncomfortable with the portrayal of the young German, what his thoughts and motivations were--how would Stevenson, who lived in Scotland most of her life, have any clue about the values and internal thinking of a young man, son of a Nazi officer? Plus the portrayal of England and the English seemed too rosey for reality. There was no nuance in this book. Stevenson actually dated the last page as she finished it on 29 Feb 1940.

55kac522
Editado: Jun 3, 2021, 11:42 am

Final Wrap-up: 1900-1950 Challenge for May 2021

I ended up reading 11 selections, and here's how they met the Challenges:

1) author is from your own country -- 2 books:
--The Touchstone by Edith Wharton
--Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson

2) author is from a country other than your own -- 9 selections:
--Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther, Elizabeth von Arnim (Australia)
--A Room with a View, E. M. Forster (England)
--Jenny, Sigrid Undset (Norway)
--The Crowded Street, Winifred Holtby (England)
--William, E. H. Young (England)
--Private Lives, Noel Coward (England)
--Death in the Air, Agatha Christie (England)
--Letter from England, Mollie Panter-Downes (England)
--The English Air, D. E. Stevenson (Scotland)

3) is a classic in its genre (mystery, sci-fi, play, etc.) -- 2 selections:
--Private Lives, Noel Coward--classic comic play
--Death in the Air, Agatha Christie--classic mystery

4) is NOT a novel (nonfiction, plays, short stories, poetry, etc.) -- 2 selections:
--Private Lives, Noel Coward--play
--Letter from England, Mollie Panter-Downes--essays/articles

5) is about, set during or references WWI or WWII -- 3 selections
--The Crowded Street, Winifred Holtby -- WWI
--Letter from England, Mollie Panter-Downes--WWII
--The English Air, D. E. Stevenson--WWII

Finally: Read a book from each decade (1900s, 1910s, 1920s, etc.)
1900s:
--1900 The Touchstone
--1907 Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther
--1908 A Room with a View

1910s
--1911 Jenny
--1919 Winesburg, Ohio

1920s
--1924 The Crowded Street
--1925 William

1930s
--1930 Private Lives
--1935 Death in the Air

1940s
--1940 Letter from England
--1940 The English Air

Overall, I'm very glad I participated in this challenge, even though I found several of my selections quite disappointing.
My favorites were:
Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther
The Crowded Street
William
Letter from England

I also think reading the books in publication order, especially in the 1900-1930 range, was particularly beneficial, as I could see the authors struggling with themes of individualism and becoming your own person. The earlier books showed the struggles of making one's own way in life; the later books reflected characters who made their own choices with positive outcomes.

56kac522
Editado: Jul 1, 2021, 10:24 am

So....on to June....

I'm a little behind because I got sick in the last week of May and had surgery on May 29. But I'm very much on the mend now, but just getting a late start to this month's plans, which include:

June BAC--the Victoria Era -- lots of possibilities for this one! I'm sure I won't get to them all:
✓--Our Mutual Friend, Dickens, on audiobook
✓--The Belton Estate, Trollope
--Reuben Sachs or ✓--The Romance of the Shop, by Amy Levy
✓--Salem Chapel, Margaret Oliphant
✓--Shirley, Charlotte Bronte
✓--Cranford (a re-read) or Ruth Cousin Phillis, by Elizabeth Gaskell

and two nonfiction books about the Victorians:
--The Artful Dickens, John Mullan
✓--Mrs Robinson's Disgrace, Kate Summerscale (for June Reading through Time)

Other possible books this month:
✓--Tiny Tales, Alexander McCall Smith
✓--Farewell to Fairacre, Miss Read
--Ladies of the House: a Modern Retelling of Sense and Sensibility, Lauren Edmondson Miss Austen, Gill Hornby (for June RandomCAT)

and for my RL/zoom book club:
✓--Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (a re-read from high school--we'll see how THAT goes...)

57jessibud2
Jun 3, 2021, 12:04 pm

Hope you are feeling better now, Kathy. Great roundup!

58kac522
Jun 3, 2021, 12:13 pm

>57 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley. Yes, I'm fine--it was laparoscopic surgery, so the surgery was Saturday morning and I was home Saturday night. I just had to be in hospital the couple days prior while they took tests and fit me into the schedules. Biggest bother was that I only brought 1 book with me and I finished it in record time!

But I'm all set now.

59kac522
Editado: Jul 1, 2021, 10:26 am

It's Jane Austen July on booktube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScOkULZa3vw and the Goodreads discussion:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/976576-jane-austen-july-2021

(I've only participated in GR for these booktube challenges--too many ads to seriously use it for recording books)

Here are the Challenges, and what I'm planning to read:

1. Read one of Jane Austen’s six novels
I'll be reading Northanger Abbey: An Annotated Edition; I plan to read the annotations while I'm listening to the audio read by Juliet Stevenson. NA is not new to me, but I haven't read this edition, with annotations by Susan J. Wolfson.

2. Read something by Jane Austen that is not one of her main six novels
I'll be (re-)listening to Lady Susan on audiobook.

3. Read a non-fiction work about Jane Austen or her time
My selection is Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels by Deirdre Le Faye

4. Read a retelling of a Jane Austen book
Ladies of the House by Lauren Edmondson--Read 10 pages of this and it is not for me.
Replacing with Miss Austen by Gill Hornby

5. Read a book by a contemporary of Jane Austen
Probably Evelina by Fanny Burney--it will go well with Northanger Abbey, as some of her works are mentioned in NA.

6. Watch a direct screen adaptation of a Jane Austen book
Definitely time for a re-watch of 1995 P&P; I may watch Love & Friendship, too.

7. Watch a modern screen adaptation of a Jane Austen book
Probably Bridget Jones's Diary--haven't watched that in a long time.

Looking forward to a lovely JA July!

60kac522
Editado: Jul 1, 2021, 10:21 am

Some mid-year stats:

Books read: 61
"Roots" read: 40
Library books: 20
ebooks: 1
Audiobooks: 5
Re-reads (in all formats): 13

Male authors: 18
Female authors: 42
Multiple authors: 1

Fiction: 47
Non-fiction: 12
Play: 1
Poetry: 1

Breakdown by centuries:

17th c.: 1
19th c.: 17
20th c.: 34
21st c.: 9

61kac522
Jul 1, 2021, 10:17 am

Favorite reads so far in 2021:

Fiction:

Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens (audiobook, read by Simon Vance); re-read
Miss Mackenzie, Anthony Trollope
The Crowded Street, Winifred Holtby
William, E. H. Young
Cousin Phillis, Elizabeth Gaskell

Non-fiction:

Look Back With Love: a Manchester Childhood, Dodie Smith (memoir)
His Excellency: George Washington, Joseph Ellis
My Own Words, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (audiobook)

62kac522
Editado: Jul 2, 2021, 4:23 pm

MAY: Catching up. I have a couple of books I read in May that weren't part of the 1900-1950 Challenge, so we'll start there. They were both re-reads:


47. The Doctor's Family and Other Stories, Margaret Oliphant
Year Published: 1861
Type: fiction; short stories/novella
Acquired: paperback from CPL;
Project: Virago chronological read with Liz; re-read

I enjoyed these stories even more this second reading. Our discussion really helped with my appreciation of Oliphant. I'm committed to finishing the entire Carlingford series.


48. Silas Marner, by George Eliot
Year Published: 1861
Type: fiction
Acquired: audiobook, read by Margaret Hilton; re-read
Project: my Eliot Project; Classics Challenge

This was as good as I remember--the audiobook added to the "fable" quality. I'm trying hard to read as much Eliot as I can this year, and I'm slowly making my way through a biography by Jenny Uglow as I read each novel in order.

63kac522
Editado: Jul 2, 2021, 5:13 pm

June Reading, part 1

Most of my reading this month was Victorian for the BAC June Challenge.


49. Tiny Tales, Alexander McCall Smith
Year Published: 2021
Type: fiction tales
Acquired: hardcover from CPL

Short and sweet tales with cartoons to start the month.


50. The Belton Estate, Anthony Trollope
Year Published: 1866
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves, Root from 2016
Project: my Trollope Challenge, BAC June

This is relatively short (for Trollope) and is the story of Clara Amedroz, in her mid-twenties, who must choose between two suitors. Interestingly there is a will and inheritance involved, but Clara is in the position of the Bennet sisters in Pride and Prejudice: when her father dies, because of the entail the estate will go to a distant cousin, and Clara will be left homeless and penniless. But Clara is a bit proud and wants no part of "charity", and several times complains that if she were a man, she would be allowed to earn her own living.

It's typical Trollope, and although completely predictable, I did love it. But I'm a sucker for Trollope, especially Trollope without hunting or horse-racing. There's even a decent lawyer in this one, which is rare. And only a smidgen of politics.


51. Farewell to Fairacre, Miss Read
Year Published: 1993
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my TBR; Root from 2017
Project: my Miss Read Project

Miss Read decides it's time to retire, and I think she does so with sense, grace and humor.


52. The Romance of a Shop, Amy Levy
Year Published: 1888
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from CPL--novel included in Complete Novels and Selected Writings of Amy Levy
Project: BAC June; Classics Challenge

Amy Levy (1861-1889) was born in London to a Reform Jewish family. She was the first Jewish woman at Cambridge and one of the first women to attend Newnham College, Cambridge. She wrote 3 short novels, many poems and published essays in various periodicals, including Oscar Wilde's magazine "The Woman's World." Levy suffered from depression and increasing deafness, and died by suicide just before her 28th birthday.

The Romance of a Shop centers around 4 sisters, ages 17-30, who are left with next to nothing to live on after their father's death. Two of the sisters have experience in the new technology of photography, and the sisters decide to open a photography shop in London to support themselves. The eldest sister keeps house and cares for the frail and sickly youngest sister, while the 2 middle sisters run the business. The novel, mostly told from middle sister Gertrude's point of view, explores the very practical struggles and prejudices they face as young women pursuing an independent living. The sisters lose many friends as they "lower" their social status to become shop owners and flaunt conventions for young women. Along the way they keep a few loyal friends, acquire new supporters and meet various men, both good and not-so-good, who enter their lives.

I enjoyed this book until about the last quarter of the novel, when Levy rather melodramatically ties up the ends of the 4 sisters' lives. Overall I am very glad I read this novel, which gives a glimpse of the very real challenges young women faced in the Victorian era to support themselves and be free from dependence on men.

I plan to read her other major novel, Reuben Sachs during Victober.


53. Shirley, Charlotte Bronte
Year Published: 1849
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2015
Project: my Bronte Project; Classics Challenge; BAC June

This started out so promising, but ended up being just good, and not great. It will never, ever be as good as Jane Eyre for me. It's set in 1811-12 Yorkshire, and there's a fair amount of discussion of Napoleonic era politics, war and religion--certainly more than any other Bronte novel I've read. However, there is still a very clear class distinction. Although it involves factories and workers, only 1 worker is even faintly portrayed, and the struggles between workers and masters is nothing compared to Gaskell's North and South. I liked Caroline's story so much more than Shirley's story. And the hundreds of literary and biblical references and narration language made it less accessible. There are some protests at women's ability to be useful and do something of worth, but it never clearly works out. In her own way, even Jane Eyre took more initiative than either Caroline or Shirley.

With this book, I've finished my Bronte Project: reading all of the major novels of the Bronte sisters.


54. Margaret Oliphant's Carlingford Series, Birgit Kamper
Year Published: 2001
Type: nonfiction, literary criticism, PhD thesis
Acquired: Interlibrary loan through Chicago Public Library

This is a PhD thesis, so not particularly readable. It was organized by themes: how Oliphant handles religion, class and gender in her Carlingford series. I skimmed about half because it contained lots of examples (i.e., spoilers) from the books which I have not yet read. It's very exhaustive, but best to read after completing the series. Overall it did give me a better understanding of Oliphant, and the notes I made will be helpful as I move through the series...see my next book....


55. Salem Chapel, Margaret Oliphant
Year Published: 1863
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2017
Project: Virago reads; BAC June

Salem Chapel is the 4th installment (after 3 stories) in her Carlingford Chronicles, which has been compared to Trollope's Barsetshire series. It focuses on small town life in the city of Carlingford, loosely based on the real town of Birkenhead. In Salem Chapel we follow Arthur Vincent, recently graduated from theological school, who has come to Carlingford to be minister at Salem Chapel, a Dissenter congregation. We meet the many middle-class congregants, mostly shopkeepers, and how their realistic expectations of a minister differ from Mr Vincent's idealistic expectations of his role. Unfortunately for me, Oliphant sneaks in a "sensation" plot, complete with abduction, attempted murder, and mad dashes on trains across England. I became exasperated with Arthur, but I loved his mother, Mrs Vincent, who seems to have the most sense and good nature of anyone in the book.

Much of what Kamper talks about in her PhD thesis is on display in Salem Chapel. For me, Oliphant is at her best when describing all the members of the community, their homes, their shops, their manners, their speech, their dress and how they fit into this middle-class society. I plan to continue with the series and I'm hoping the rest of the books (3 more) will be more focused on the people and their relationships, and less on wild sensational plot twists.

64kac522
Editado: Jul 2, 2021, 5:58 pm

June Reading, part 2


56. Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
Year Published: 1951
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from before 1980; re-read
Project: Read for my real-life Book Club

I read this in high school (on my own--not for class) more than 50 years ago, and didn't like it much except for the parts with sister Phoebe at the end. Liked it even less this time. Holden is just insufferable and I don't feel sorry for him one bit. Even his kindness toward sister Phoebe at the end doesn't make up for the 250+ pages of crap before.


57. Cousin Phillis and Other Tales, Elizabeth Gaskell
Year Published: 186e
Type: fiction; novella/short story
Acquired: paperback from my shelves, Root from 2017
Project: BAC June; Classics Challenge

I only read "Cousin Phillis" from this collection, but it was memorable. It is a bittersweet tale, set in pastoral 1840s. Paul Manning, the narrator, begins his first job away from home building new railroads and visits his farming relations, the Holmans, who live in the area. Phillis, 16, and Paul become good friends; Phillis is a book-reader in contrast to Paul's engineering expertise, but she is unusual because she, like her father, shows great interest in the railroads as well. Paul brings his world-savvy co-worker Mr Holdsworth to visit the family and Phillis is smitten. The story is a coming of age for Paul, for Phillis and for her parents. It is about a simple life that will be forever changed--by railroads, by technology and by relationships. This is the last full work Gaskell wrote before Wives and Daughters. A lot packed into 95 pages. I hope to read the rest of the stories very soon.


58. Mrs Robinson's Disgrace, Kate Summerscale
Year Published: 2012
Type: nonfiction, biography, social history
Acquired: hardcover from my TBR; Root from 2019
Project: supplement to BAC June

I was hoping that a 21st century look at divorce in the 19th century would provide some new insight. Unfortunately I found this book fell short. Mrs. Robinson kept a diary for many years, recording all of her thoughts and movements, which her husband discovered. He sued for divorce in 1858, based on her alleged adultery, only months after Britain had passed a new Divorce Act, making it somewhat easier (for men) to file for divorce.

Summerscale goes into great detail--in fact, detail about people and events that are only marginally involved with the case--yet, she provides no analysis, no overall summary nor any historical context for the impact of the case, one of the first of its type in Britain. I was expecting some illumination, but essentially this is just a regurgitation of letters, court documents, diary entries and some newspaper accounts. Disappointing....it could have been so much more. I should say that many reviewers on LT liked this book, so I am an outlier on this...perhaps it was my unrealistic expectations of some broader meaning and context.


59. A Child's Garden of Verses, Robert Louis Stevenson, with illustrations by Jessie Wilcox Smith
Year Published: 1888 (verses), 1905 (illustrations)
Type: children's poetry
Acquired: hardcover from my shelves; Root from before 2009
Project: BAC June; Classics Challenge

I remember many of these from childhood; the original edition with Jesse Willcox Smith's superb illustrations was published in 1905. My favorite is:





60. The Lifted Veil and Brother Jacob, George Eliot
Year Published: 1859 and 1864
Type: fiction, short stories/novella
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2014
Project: my Eliot; Classics Challenge; BAC June

Two stories by George Eliot: both stories are about truth. In "The Lifted Veil" (1859), a man has the ability to read most people's minds and has visions of events in the future. This ability drives him almost to insanity. In the light-hearted "Brother Jacob" (1864) a man fakes his disappearance, but eventually the "truth" is revealed and he pays the consequences. These were re-reads and I enjoyed them both, as I move along in my reading of Eliot in 2021.


61. Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens; audiobook read by Simon Vance
Year Published: 1865
Type: fiction
Acquired: audiobook from CPL; re-read via audio book
Projects: my Dickens Project; BAC June

I read the physical book 8 years ago and was a bit confused with all the characters and sub-plots. Mostly all I remembered was creepy Bradley Headstone. With the basic story in the deep recesses of my memory as a guide, after this listening I had a much clearer understanding of where Dickens was going with all the various plots. His jabs at "society" and the Poor Laws are things to be remembered. Two characters, Eugene Wrayburn and Bella Wilfer, show an amazing gradual change in character, which Dickens accomplishes so well here. All the various threads came together this time for me. I've come to the conclusion that I need a minimum of two readings of a Dickens' novel to pull all the pieces together and appreciate what he's trying to do. This won't be my favorite Dickens, but it is probably among my top 5.

65jessibud2
Jul 2, 2021, 6:29 pm

>64 kac522: - Kathy, your book #59 is a favourite of mine, too. I actually have my mother's school days copy, hard cover, water-damaged red cover, with her own childish printing inside, with her home address and phone number (only 2 letters and 4 numbers!!) There is no publication date on this copy but the illustrator is Myrtle Sheldon and only a few are in colour; most are pen and ink. I just looked through it and I am shocked to find one particular poem that today, would NEVER be published, it is so politically incorrect. I never noticed it, when I read it as a child, but it's called *Foreign Children* and let's just say, I'd be surprised to find someone today who would NOT find it offensive! I haven't gone back to read all the poems, just skimmed. My favourite remains *My Shadow*,,,

66kac522
Jul 2, 2021, 6:59 pm

>65 jessibud2: We had this as children, too, Shelley, although I think our edition didn't have all the poems. And yes, "Foreign Children" would not be included today!
"My Shadow" is one of my favorites, along with "The Swing": "up in the air so blue."

My father read these to us, and we got the impression his favorite was:

WHOLE DUTY OF CHILDREN:
A child should always say what's true
And speak when he is spoken to,
And behave mannerly at table;
At least as far as he is able.

Seems to me we had this recited to us at the dinner table on occasion.

67jessibud2
Jul 2, 2021, 7:09 pm

My mother read the poems to me when I was small. I also have her childhood copy of Peter Pan, which I loved.

In today's silly *cancel culture* mentality, I would not want to reprint "Foreign Children" because you just know that if the media (or *someone* out there) got hold of it, Stevenson would be pulled from libraries and what a backlash would follow. Look what happened to Dr. Seuss for lesser offenses. Sheesh. This was of its day and was probably not written with the intent to offend, at the time. It's history, and I think as long as we recognize it as such now, it's ok to leave it where it was.

68kac522
Editado: Jul 29, 2021, 10:23 am

Lots of potential reading for July:

for JaneAusten July:
✓--Miss Austen, Gill Hornby
✓--Northanger Abbey: an Annotated edition, JA
✓--Lady Susan, JA, on audiobook
✓--Jane Austen: the world of her novels, Deirdre LeFaye
--possibly Evelina by Fanny Burney or Waverley by Sir Walter Scott

and other books for challenges, etc.:
✓--The Struggles of Brown, Jones and Robinson, Trollope; for Liz's group read
--Pianos and Flowers, Alexander McCall Smith, just because it was on the library's new books shelf
--The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams
--The Artful Dickens, John Mullan
✓--Solitary Summer, Elizabeth von Arnim (July RandomCAT)
✓--The Railway Children, E. M. Nesbit (July BAC)
✓--A Peaceful Retirement, Miss Read
--London: a History, by A. N. Wilson; July 75ers Nonfiction Challenge
✓--Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel; for my RL book club (re-read)

and very maybe one or two of these:
--The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot (re-read)
--A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (re-read)
--To Serve Them all My Days, R. L. Delderfield (July BAC)
--Witness for the Prosecution and other stories, Agatha Christie

69kac522
Editado: Jul 7, 2021, 4:37 pm

Just reviewing my Classics Challenge in >5 kac522: and I have two challenges that are unmet:

7. A classic travel or journey narrative
and
11. A classic that scares you

I have several ideas for the "scary" classics--Evelina, Romola, The Count of Monte Cristo,Waverley and anything by Dostoyevsky. I have a few more in mind, including a re-read of War and Peace.

I'm completely unsure about the travel narrative--I have Gulliver's Travels on the shelf, but that could count for a classic that scares you 😧

If anyone has a classic travel/journey narrative that they would like to recommend, I'll take any and all suggestions. Anything but The Hobbit--not for me--I tried and failed at that.

70kac522
Editado: Ago 5, 2021, 4:28 pm

Hmmm…well, it’s nearly the end of the first week of August, so time for:
July Reading
Most of my reading was for Jane Austen July, but I snuck in a few other books:


62. Miss Austen, Gill Hornby
Year Published: 2020
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
Project: JA July
This is a fictional account of the later years of Cassandra Austen, Jane Austen's sister. History tells us that Cassandra inexplicably burned many of Jane Austen's letters, and this historical fiction novel attempts to come up with some possible reasons why. Many people loved this book, but it didn't grab me. I'm not very good with Austen re-tellings or re-imaginings, so that is probably my problem, not the book's.


63. A Peaceful Retirement, Miss Read
Year Published: 1996
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover from my shelves, Root from 2018
Project: Miss Read
The Fairacre series ends with Miss Read's first year of retirement, which turns out busier than expected. A splendid way to end the series, with positive vibes for the future. Now I’m all set to start the Thrush Green books.


64. Lady Susan, Jane Austen
Year Published: written 1794; first published 1871
Type: fiction
Acquired: audiobook, read by multiple actors, Root from 2016
Project: JA July; BAC July (book and movie)

Austen’s early epistolary short work--always entertaining, with the two of the funniest lines in Austen:
"My dear Alicia, of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a man of his age!--just old enough to be formal, ungovernable & to have the Gout--too old to be agreeable, & too young to die." topped only by:
"Facts are such horrid things!"
This was for JA July and the BAC “book and movie” theme; watched “Love and Friendship”, which is quite true to the novel, and very funny.


65. The Railway Children, E. Nesbit
Year Published: 1906
Type: children’s fiction
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library
Project: BAC July (book and movie)

I enjoyed this little book, which was my first reading. The Afterword by Peter Glassman explains that Nesbit loosely based Father's story on the Dreyfus Affair, which was happening at that time (1906). And that the "Russian gentleman" was probably based on writers Sergius Stepniak and/or Peter Kropotkin, critics of the czar who escaped Russia and re-settled in Britain. Movie was good, too, with a very young Jenny Agutter (better known recently from Call the Midwife).


66. The Struggles of Brown, Jones and Robinson, Anthony Trollope
Year Published: 1862
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2015
Project: my Trollope; re-read from 2020
This is Trollope's attempt at a satirical look at advertising. Didn't like this the first time, and a second reading did not improve. Re-read for the Trollope Group Read with Liz, which made it at least tolerable.


67. The Solitary Summer, Elizabeth von Arnim
Year Published: 1899
Type: fiction
Acquired: Virago paperback from shelves; Roots from 2020
Projects: Virago project, July RandomCAT: Summer
It's hard to categorize this book--someone called it an "autobiographical novel", and is a follow-up of sorts to Elizabeth and her German Garden. In a series of entries marked May, June, July, August and September, Elizabeth muses about her garden, flowers, her children, books, life and longing for solitude. At the outset, she requests of her husband (The Man of Wrath) that they have no visitors this summer--that she be allowed a "solitary summer." Each month is a mini diary/memoir: one topic slides into another, as if you were spending a lazy afternoon with her in the garden. Books are important: mornings are spent with Thoreau, afternoons with Goethe, evenings with Whitman. This is only a taste of this little book, but it was a wonderful summer respite for me.


68. Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel, translated from the Spanish by Thomas and Carol Christensen
Year Published: 1989
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from before 1994; re-read from 1994
Project: Read for my real-life Book Club
Structured around the months of the year and recipes for each month, Esquivel tells the magical tale of Tita, one family's heart and soul and cook. A wonderful loving book with a touch of magical realism, salt, and sweetness. This re-read was even better than I expected, and we had a wonderful (and animated) book club discussion.


69. Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels, Deirdre Le Faye
Year Published: 2002
Type: nonfiction; biography, social history, literary criticism
Acquired: paperback from my shelves, Root from 2014
Project: JA July
An excellent introduction to Austen, the Regency world, and her novels. In the first half of the book, Le Faye pulls in just about every aspect of JA's world and life during her times, with specific examples from the novels, Austen's letters, and other contemporary citations. Everything from politics to fashion to cosmetics to entertainment, as well as education, social rank, manners and beyond are all discussed, with specific examples from the novels. The second half summarizes the plots of the novels, putting each book in context to her world and other Austen works. I've read lots of books about Austen, but I still learned quite a few new bits in this 300 page book (with lots of illustrations).


70. Northanger Abbey: an Annotated Edition, Jane Austen, annotated by Susan J. Wolfson
Year Published: 2014
Type: fiction, with numerous annotations
Acquired: hardcover from my TBR; Root from 2014
Project: JA July; BAC book & movie
The book's annotations were a bit too detailed and long, and seemed to get away from the text. Oftentimes, the annotations were longer than the page of text. These annotated editions are really beautiful and have amazing pictures. I love NA, but I found this editor's annotations almost took away from the pleasure of the book. Watched the 2007 movie with Felicity Jones and just love her performance; she’s a perfect Catherine Morland for me.


71. Persuasion, Jane Austen, audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson
Year Published: 1817
Type: fiction
Acquired: audiobook; re-read; Root from 2016;
Project: JA July; BAC book & movie
My second-favorite Austen novel, read by Juliet Stevenson with just the right touch of melancholy. Paired with my favorite Austen movie adaptation (1995, Ciaran Hinds & Amanda Root). A great way to end the month!

71kac522
Editado: Set 4, 2021, 11:50 am

I'm fairly pleased that I finished all but one of my goals for JA July--I didn't read a contemporary of Jane Austen. But I completed the other 6 challenges.

I've finished one book in August so far: Pianos and Flowers, stories by Alexander McCall Smith.

I don't normally have a lot of books on the go at one time, but right now is an exception. I'm in the middle of these 3 books:

✓--London: A History, by A. N. Wilson--rather quirky
✓--Witness for the Prosecution, Agatha Christie
✓--The Artful Dickens, John Mullan--absolutely loving this.

Additional August plans include reading several Virago published books for All Virago/All August (https://www.librarything.com/topic/333824):

✓--The Wild Geese, Bridget Boland
✓--The Vicar's Daughter by E. H. Young (sadly, my copy is not the Virago edition)
✓--The Land of Green Ginger by Winifred Holtby
--Good Daughters by Mary Hocking
and maybe:
--The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant
--High Wages by Dorothy Whipple (Persephone)

and a few other books:
--Lost on the Lady Elgin, Valerie van Heest, for 75ers NonFiction August--transportation and RandomCAT August Travel theme
✓--Women in the Kitchen, Anne Willan; a selection of cookbook writers through history, for the Reading through Time August Food theme

and if I have time:
--The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot (re-read)
✓--Thrush Green, Miss Read

✓ Finally, I'm leading my book club's August discussion and I chose I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, which I re-read in January. I hope my group likes it.

72kac522
Editado: Ago 20, 2021, 6:05 pm

In May I did a 1900-1950 Challenge, reading at least 1 book from each decade.

I've decided to do a similar challenge for September, for the years 1950-1999. My goal is to read 1 book from each decade:

1950s:
1951 A Game of Hide and Seek, Elizabeth Taylor
1960s:
1961 Winter in Thrush Green, Miss Read --OR--
1965 Stoner, John Williams
1970s:
1971 The Book of Daniel, E. L. Doctorow --OR--
1977 Staggerford, Jon Hassler
1980s:
1984 Good Daughters, Mary Hocking --OR--
1988 The Cape Ann, Faith Sullivan
1990s:
1993 Montana 1948, Larry Watson --OR--
1994 Open Secrets, Alice Munro (stories)

Some of these books have been hanging around for quite some time, so I look forward to reading from the last half of the 20th century.

73kac522
Editado: Set 9, 2021, 11:58 pm

August Reading

Not a spectacular month of reading, but there are a few good 'uns:


72. Pianos and Flowers, Alexander McCall Smith
Year Published: 2019
Type: fiction, short stories
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
Project: none

The ideas for these short stories came from archival newspaper photographs, mostly from the early 20th century. The photograph is reproduced before each story. Most of these were OK; it was more an interesting concept than great stories. I would have liked to know the place and year of each photograph, to put the story in context, but McCall Smith leaves all that up to your imagination.


73. London: A History, A. N. Wilson
Year Published: 2004
Type: nonfiction; history
Acquired: hardcover from my shelves, Root from 2014
Project: 75ers Nonfiction--July theme: Cities

200 pages of haphazard anecdotes and opinions covering 2000+ years of city history can only lead to a disappointing outcome. Wilson spends the last 50 pages complaining about post-war London. It's hard to understand why he lives there at all. Skip it.


74. Witness for the Prosecution and other stories, Agatha Christie
Year Published: 1948; although the stories were written from the 1920s through 1940s
Type: fiction, short stories
Acquired: paperback, Root from 2018
Project: My Christie Project

Unlike most people, I love Agatha Christie's stories--always the right amount of mystery for me. Some of these had me completely baffled, a couple I figured out, one was terrifying and a couple all in good fun. A nicely balance collection, dating from 1924 to 1948.


75. Women in the Kitchen, Anne Willan
Year Published: 2020
Type: nonfiction; history of cookbooks; women's history
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
Project: Reading through Time--August: Food

Portrayal of 12 women cookbook authors (in English) from England and America, covering 1661 to the present day. Each author gets about 8-10 pages of biography and the significance of her cookbook(s). This is followed by several recipes in the cookbooks: first the originals and then an updated (modern) version by the author. Some of the later cookbook authors I recognized were Fannie Farmer, Irma Rombauer (Joy of Cooking) and Julia Child. The earliest authors were the most interesting to me. Only one of the authors, Alice Waters, is still alive today. I think I would have liked more authors and less recipes (perhaps only 2 from each), but I'm not much of a cook, so the personal story and food history was more important for me than preparing the food (I'd be great at tasting, though). And certainly the most recent authors' recipes did not need "updated" recipes, but Willan provided them anyway.


76. The Wild Geese, Bridget Boland
Year Published: 1938
Type: fiction
Acquired: Virago paperback from my shelves; Root from 2015
Project: All Virago/All August

This is set in County Kerry, Ireland and is a novel in letters from 1733 to 1746. The "Wild Geese" (Ge Fiana) were Irish Catholics with Jacobite sympathies who fought with various European armies in the 17th and 18th centuries when Irish Catholics were prohibited from joining English armies. This was new history for me, and Boland tells an interesting story of one fighter and his family's lot back in County Kerry, the restrictions Irish Catholics suffered in these times and the division between families by religion, fortune and class. This was a good story, and would make a great movie.


77. The Summer Book, Tove Jansson, translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal, with illustrations by the author
Year Published: 1972
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library
Projects: August "Women in Translation" month challenge

For Women in Translation month. This is a tale of six-year-old Sophia and her aging curmudgeonly Grandmother, who spend their summers on an island in the Gulf of Finland. Grandmother can be abrupt but is often wise; Sophia is independent, but sometimes fearful. Sophia's father is with them, but he is a minor character in their lives together. The book is 22 chapters of adventures during the summer months on the island. Tove Jansson was an ethnic Swede who lived in Finland in a small Swedish community, and spent many years on a similar island in the Gulf of Finland. The book is as much about island life and its natural world as it is about the relationship between Sophia and Grandmother. A lovely summer read.


78. Thrush Green, Miss Read
Year Published: 1959
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2017
Project: My Miss Read Project

The first in the Thrush Green series by Miss Read. This first book introduces some of the characters in the Cotswold village of Thrush Green. So far I don't feel the same intimacy with the characters as in Fairacre, as this book is written in third person. It also didn't seem to have the same level of humor, but I'll continue on--perhaps if I get to know them, they'll be as dear to me as the people of Fairacre.


79. The Artful Dickens: The Tricks and Ploys of the Great Novelist, John Mullan
Year Published: 2020
Type: nonfiction; literary criticism
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
Project: 75ers Nonfiction: Creativity

My top read of the month. Mullan provides a brilliant survey of various creative literary devices and themes common in the work of Charles Dickens. Each chapter is about a different "trick and ploy" found throughout his novels. Topics include the use of present vs. past tense, foreshadowing ("foreseeing"), humor, speech, names, ghosts, drowning, and what Mullan calls "fantasizing"--the "as ifs" and "as thoughs" found everywhere in the novels. He cites specific examples from the texts. Just one of the many facts was how Dickens as a young adult was fascinated by a London performer named Charles Mathews, who was a brilliant imitator. Dickens himself loved to imitate and mimic types of people, and worked hard to make the speech and details of his characters immediately recognizable and discernable from other characters. This was so wonderful, I tried to read it slowly, but in the end I couldn't stop myself from devouring it.


80. The Land of Green Ginger, Winifred Holtby
Year Published: 1927
Type: fiction
Acquired: Virago paperback from my shelves; Root from 2015
Project: All Virago/All August

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It centers around a married couple (Joanna and Ted) who run a farm in a small, isolated community in North Yorkshire. The couple are not suited to farming life and even less suited to each other, but carry on regardless. I didn't relate to either of them, and yet Holtby gets us to feel sympathetic for each in certain ways.

Joanna day-dreams of travels to far-off lands, and at first it's hard to separate her fantasizing from real life. Some political and religious references I didn't understand made it less accessible. But the ending pulls the book together and lets in a glimmer of hope. I'm thinking a re-read at some point might give me a more favorable opinion.


81. The Vicar's Daughter, E. H. Young
Year Published: 1927
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from shelves
Project: All Virago/All August (Virago book, but my copy is not a Virago edition)
What can I say? This was just tedious. Internal thoughts of people I didn't like or care about, with little plot. I'm not averse to these types of books (heck, I've read all of Anita Brookner), but these people just weren't interesting. The last 50 pages or so had some movement. This was so disappointing, as I enjoyed the 2 previous books I read by E. H. Young.

In fact, this last book I finished yesterday, but I've added it to my August books, just to start September reading on a clean slate!

I also re-read and led my RL book club in a discussion of I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (1948). Most people loved the book and we had a great discussion. I'm not counting it in my total of books read, since I read this back in January of this year.

74kac522
Editado: Set 27, 2021, 12:04 am

September Reading possibilities:

As I mentioned in >72 kac522:, I've set up a personal challenge this month to read one book from each decade 1950-1999. I've already made some changes (no surprise!), so my current list is:

✓ 1950s: Period Piece, Gwen Raverat (1952)--a memoir by the granddaughter of Charles Darwin; All-of-a-Kind Family, Sydney Taylor (1951)
✓ 1960s: Winter in Thrush Green, Miss Read (1961)
✓ 1970s: Staggerford, Jon Hassler (1977)
✓ 1980s: Joseph Banks: A Life, Patrick O'Brian (1987) also for Sept BAC (Science)
✓ 1990s: Open Secrets: Stories, Alice Munro (1994)

Nonfiction:
The Pioneers, David McCullough, for my RL book club
Lost on the Lady Elgin, Valerie van Heest (carryover from last month)

and any of these fiction books that I fancy:

--Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte--a re-read
--Becoming Jane Eyre, Sheila Kohler -- fictionalized version about the writing of Jane Eyre
--My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante
--Spring Magic or Crooked Adam, D. E. Stevenson

also will be re-reading bits of Salem Chapel by Margaret Oliphant for Liz's group read (https://www.librarything.com/topic/334971)

75drneutron
Set 4, 2021, 7:24 pm

Congrats on blowing past the goal!

76kac522
Set 4, 2021, 7:40 pm

>75 drneutron: Thanks--I didn't even realize it until I put this together!

77FAMeulstee
Set 5, 2021, 4:18 pm

>73 kac522: Congratulations on reaching 75, Kathy!

78kac522
Set 5, 2021, 4:42 pm

>77 FAMeulstee: Thank you! It's been a year conducive to reading, I guess.

79kac522
Editado: Out 24, 2021, 1:33 am

I'm firming up my Victober (Victorian October) reads. There are 5 challenges and a Group Read. Here are my plans:

1. Sensation novel: Desperate Remedies by Thomas Hardy
2. Set in the city and/ or country: Reuben Sachs by Amy Levy (London) and The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens (country/small town)
3. Female main character: The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot (a re-read)
4. Popular in its time, but not today: The Claverings, Anthony Trollope
5. Audiobook: Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell; I just finished Barnaby Rudge (Dickens), too.

Group Read: plan to read Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell with the group.

Finally, a few other possibilities if I finish all of the above:
--Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte (re-read)
--An Unsocial Socialist, G. Bernard Shaw (Virago edition); novel
and three nonfiction books:
--The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, Mary Seacole (memoir)
--Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Margaret Fuller (1845); essays
--Benjamin Disraeli, Adam Kirsch (2008), biography of the Victorian era politician and author

I might read one or two books from the era by authors outside of Great Britain. My choices would be Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables or Three Tales by Flaubert.

80kac522
Editado: Set 30, 2021, 5:37 pm

I'm in the middle of listening to Gaskell's Cranford (audiobook re-read) and re-reading Jane Eyre in print; both of these are "warm-ups" to Victober. I consider my September reading as completed--it was a fairly good batch of books--so time to wrap-up.

September Reading

I was successful in completing my "1950-1999" challenge, although one book just took ages to finish. So without further ado:


82. All-of-a-Kind Family, Sydney Taylor
Year Published: 1951
Type: children's fiction
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library
Project: my 1950-1999 challenge

This children's series was new to me, but apparently is a much-loved favorite. Loved the portrayal of a Jewish family on the Lower East side in 1912-1913, with reminders of how different (and yet the same) life was back then. Interesting how scarlet fever in the children required a quarantine sign on their door, fumigation when they recovered and an inspection from the Board of Health. And people today complain about masks! My understanding is that the series is based on Sydney Taylor's own family. A new biography has just come out: From Sarah to Sydney by June Cummins, and I just got it from the library. Hope to read it soon.


83. Period Piece, Gwen Raverat
Year Published: 1952
Type: memoir
Acquired: library hardcover from CPL
Project: my 1950-1999 challenge

Gwen Darwin Raverat (1885-1957) was a granddaughter of Charles Darwin. Raverat was a respected artist and wood engraver in her own right. This memoir, published when she was 72, looks back at her childhood until about age 16. It is a detailed look at her young life in Cambridge and filled with portrayals of her parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. She was born after her famous grandfather died, but his presence can be felt throughout the book. The book is structured, as she tells us, "like the spokes of a wheel from the hub", so it is more like vignettes, rather than chronological. It worked for me, although I did have to refer at times to the family chart in the front of the book. It's also peppered with Raverat's own illustrations. I am so envious of people who have such vivid and specific memories of their childhood, since my memories are vague and distant. Overall this was a wonderful read, but there are some uncomfortable racist bits, which only reinforces how institutionalized racism has become over the centuries.


84. Winter at Thrush Green, Miss Read
Year Published: 1961
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback, Root from 2017
Project: My Miss Read Project; my 1950-1999 challenge

This was a satisfactory improvement over the first book in the Thrush Green series, set in a 1950s English village. The characters are better developed, the book has a story line (robberies in Thrush Green and honoring a famous resident), and there were a few funny lines, too. Also, it starts in autumn and moves through winter, so it was perfect for September reading.


85. Staggerford, John Hassler
Year Published: 1977
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback Root from 2017
Project: my 1950-1999 challenge

Nine days in the life of Miles Pruitt, a high school English teacher in a small Minnesota town, circa 1970s. Some of this was really funny, but the end took a weird turn. I was uncomfortable with the stereotyping of Native Americans in this book, although probably at the time it was considered sympathetic.


86. Barnaby Rudge, Charles Dickens, audiobook read by Simon Vance
Year Published: 1841
Type: fiction
Acquired: audiobook Root from 2015
Project: my Dickens project

This is an early and lesser known historical fiction novel by Dickens. Set during the 1780 Gordon riots, it tells the story of growing popular sentiment against Catholics and the subsequent riots and storming of Parliament. I first read this last summer in print, but since the Jan 6 riots, it hits much closer to home, particularly the scenes of storming Parliament. Dickens excels in describing the riots and the atmosphere of London during riots. It's not a popular Dickens, and doesn't have a particularly convincing romantic plot, but it is mysterious and a page turner. And the essential Dickens plot twist: a character's secret biological parent is revealed near the end. Although the side stories and rivalries sometimes get in the way, the main story of the riots and how simple folks get caught up in crowd action has much to say to us today.


87. The Pioneers, David McCullough
Year Published: 2019
Type: nonfiction, American history
Acquired: hardcover Root from 2021
Projects: my RL book club

McCullough's latest book is about the settling of the Northwest Territory--specifically Marietta, Ohio on the Ohio River. Using primary sources (letters, journals, diaries) McCullough brings life to several early Ohio families. Their diligence kept Ohio a free state, even under pressure from the likes of President Jefferson. McCullough is always a joy to read because he admires the people he writes about. I flew through these 300 pages.


88. Joseph Banks: A Life, Patrick O'Brian
Year Published: 1987
Type: nonfiction, biography, science
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2013
Project: BAC September; my 1950-1999 challenge

Joseph Banks (1743-1820) was a landowner/farmer, botanist, explorer, founder of the gardens at Kew, president of the Royal Society for 40+ years, and was friends with such diverse people as Capt James Cook, Linnaeus, Samuel Johnson and even King George III. He is best remembered for his voyage on the Endeavor with Cook to Tahiti, New Zealand and eastern Australia, where he gathered literally thousands of plant specimens (and some animals) not known in the northern hemisphere. He is responsible for the enlargement and collection of specimens at Kew Gardens, making it into a world-class home for plants from all over the world. He patronized many young explorers and botanists over his lifetime. Many of his collections are at the British Museum and other repositories throughout the world.

O'Brian, better known for his Master and Commander series, has a dense writing style, rather like the 18th century where he spends his time. O'Brian uses many excerpts from the thousands of letters to and from Banks, and these are the most entertaining bits of the book. The first half of this book, about Banks's youth and voyage on the Endeavor were fascinating. The second half of the book, perhaps rather like Banks' own life, slowed down, and O'Brian goes off on tangents which seem only slightly about Banks, particularly during the Napoleonic wars.

Overall, Banks is a fascinating historical figure, and I found the first half, especially his voyages, very interesting, but the last half of the book drags quite a bit because it is mired in too much irrelevant detail that O'Brian seemed compelled to include. And I couldn't help comparing this book (which took me over 2 weeks to read) to the McCullough book I just finished--also about explorers, used primary sources, and was about the same length, but took 3 days to finish!


89. Open Secrets, Alice Munro
Year Published: 1994
Type: short stories
Acquired: paperback Root from 2017
Project: my 1950-1999 challenge

This was an uneven collection for me. I enjoyed a couple stories, ("Carried Away" and "A Wilderness Station"); hated "Vandals"; and the rest were OK. Munro is a fantastic writer, but I think it was a bit too much of the Canadian dark in one volume for me.


90. The A. B. C. Murders, Agatha Christie
Year Published: 1936
Type: fiction, mystery
Acquired: paperback Root from 2017
Project: my Agatha Christie project

Murders of people with names beginning with A, B and C stump Poirot and Hastings. I like the story being told from Hastings' point of view. This was one I half-way figured out--and I thought it was cleverly structured.

81kac522
Editado: Nov 1, 2021, 4:07 pm

Victober is here!

I've gotten a head-start and am currently reading: an audiobook re-read of Cranford and a print re-read of Jane Eyre.

And my list hasn't changed much:

✓ 1. Sensation novel: Desperate Remedies by Thomas Hardy (his first published novel)
✓ 2. Set in the city and/ or country: Reuben Sachs by Amy Levy (London) and
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens (country/small town)
✓ 3. Female main character: Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (re-read)
✓ 4. Popular in its time, but not today: The Claverings, Anthony Trollope
✓ 5. Audiobook: Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell; I just finished Barnaby Rudge (Dickens), too.

✓ Group Read: Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell

Finally, a few other possibilities if I finish all of the above:
--Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
--An Unsocial Socialist, G. Bernard Shaw (Virago edition)
and two nonfiction books:
--Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Margaret Fuller (1845)
--Benjamin Disraeli, Adam Kirsch (2008), biography of the Victorian era politician and author

More info about Victober is here on Kate Howe's channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYcb5d3pBeY

82kac522
Editado: Nov 1, 2021, 4:06 pm

I've finished Jane Eyre to kick off Victober, but will hold off on any reviews until the end of the month. As I said, I've re-read it many times in my life, but not (in print) within the last 10 years, so different things struck me with this reading.

Just to celebrate and compare, I've decided to watch throughout Victober, 6 7 8 different filmed versions of Jane Eyre:

✓ 1943 with Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles
✓ 1949 TV drama with Charlton Heston
✓ 1970 with Susannah York and George C Scott
✓ 1973 with Sorcha Cusack and Michael Jayston
✓ 1983 with Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton -- I own this one, and have watched several times.
✓ 1997 with Ciaran Hinds and Samantha Morton
✓ 2006 with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens
✓ 2011 with Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender

This should be interesting, and I plan to watch in chronological order. I have skipped any versions that are too short to include most of the plot. I have not seen the 1949, 1970, 1973 or 2011 versions.

Any favorites here? Any you despise?

83kac522
Out 25, 2021, 1:06 am

UPDATE:
With Victober into the final stretch, here's an update on my progress:

✓: 1. Sensation novel: Desperate Remedies by Thomas Hardy (his first published novel 1871)
✓ ✓ 2. Set in the city and/ or country: Reuben Sachs by Amy Levy (London) and The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens (country/small town)
✓ 3. Female main character: Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (re-read)
✓ 4. Popular in its time, but not today: The Claverings, Anthony Trollope
✓ 5. Audiobook: Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell; I just finished Barnaby Rudge (Dickens), too.

Currently reading: Group Read: Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell with the group.

Finally, a few other possibilities if I finish all of the above, and I should get to at least one, maybe two of these this week:
--Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
--An Unsocial Socialist, G. Bernard Shaw (Virago edition)
and three nonfiction books:
--The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands, Mary Seacole (memoir)
--Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Margaret Fuller (1845); essays
--Benjamin Disraeli, Adam Kirsch (2008), biography of the Victorian era politician and author

Plus I re-read DuMaurier's Rebecca for my RL (ok, zoom) book club. And I'm currently listening to 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, which is a lot of fun.

84jessibud2
Out 25, 2021, 6:50 am

Kathy.is this your first time with Helene Hanff? 84 Charing Cross Road and its sequel, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street have been made into a film starring Anne Bancroft as Helene and Anthony Hopkins as Frank and it's one of my all-time faves. Perfect casting and a film adaptation that truly does justice to the books.

85kac522
Out 25, 2021, 9:58 am

>84 jessibud2: You know, I read it years ago, but I don't think I've seen the movie, nor read the sequel. Will have to do both--thanks! But I can say that the audiobook is a delight.

86kac522
Editado: Out 27, 2021, 1:35 am

>84 jessibud2: Shelley, just looked at my LT books, and apparently I read Duchess in 2004--who knew?? LT says I own it, but I can't find it anywhere and haven't seen it in years, so I assume I donated it when we moved in 2010. I may pick it up from the library, just to re-read what I don't remember ;)

87PaulCranswick
Out 27, 2021, 2:11 am

>82 kac522: I saw the 1970 version, Kathy and remember liking it. I used to fancy Susannah York!

88kac522
Editado: Out 27, 2021, 3:05 pm

>87 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, thanks for stopping by. Adding my condolences on your mum, as I haven't gotten around to the threads much in the last few months. Took a while for me to let go when my mother died in 2004, and we had a huge house to dismantle. I still have lots of her books (mostly about England or English authors!) and her brochures from all her visits to the UK (she went almost every year from 1980-2000). My brother took all her Playbills from the many plays she attended at the National Theatre and other London venues. Her things still mean a lot to me. I hope your family will be able to put aside a few of your mum's things for you.

Anyway, about the 1970 version of Jane Eyre: York did a credible job, although it's hard to see her as "poor, plain, obscure and little" (Jane's own self-description). And I could only see George C. Scott as Patton, especially when he was throwing stuff across the drawing room. But the cinematography of Yorkshire was outstanding in the opening scenes and the best part was the wonderful musical score by John Williams (of "Star Wars" fame). He won an Emmy for the Jane Eyre score--from what I've read, here in the U.S. the film was shown as a television movie, and was never released in theaters.

89kac522
Editado: Nov 1, 2021, 6:28 pm

October Reading, Part I

I accomplished most of my Victorian reading goals this month, so without further ado:


91. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Year Published: 1847
Type: fiction
Acquired: Penguin paperback from my shelves; re-read; Root from 2021
Project: Victober2021

I have re-read Jane Eyre many times throughout my life, but it has been some years since my last print reading--I have listened to it on audiobook a couple of times within the last 10 years. My prior editions have all been old--usually I read my mother's old copy, without notes and without French translations. So this time I picked up a Penguin edition, with lots of notes, all phrases translated and edited by Stevie Davies.

I was taken in again right away by young Jane's story and passion, which is what has continued to draw me in all these years. I was struck by how detailed all of the descriptions are--especially of clothing, interiors (the Red Room, Lowood school, Thornfield), people (Aunt Reed, Miss Temple, Helen Burns, Mrs Fairfax and of course Rochester) and nature. And through these descriptions we feel what Jane feels (positive/negative/ambivalent) about these details.

I was struck by Bronte's use of phrenology to describe characters. I shouldn't have been surprised by this, but this was not something that I particularly paid attention to when reading in my younger years. Of course, the entire "madwoman in the attic" theme, racial stereotypes and all the very problematic symbols of Bertha Mason have been dealt with by others, that I can hardly do it justice. Suffice it to say that one must read this portion as an enraging, yet sad, portrait of its time.

But I was quite startled at the last parts of the book (despite knowing the plot by heart), when Jane flees Thornfield without a plan or destination--on this reading I found this action out of character. Then when she approaches Moor House, she spends time gazing in at the window, and clearly determines by dress and manner who is the "servant" (Hannah) and who are the "mistresses" (Diana and Mary). Several days after she has been recovering in Moor House, Jane has a conversation with Hannah that is supposed to "reconcile" their differences, but to me it was clearly Jane affirming her superior class rank over Hannah. Where is the "poor, obscure, plain and little" Jane?

I was still swept away by the entire book--I read it in 3 days, well into the wee hours of the morning--but these class distinctions were troubling, particularly when the book purports to show that a lowly governess can be an equal to anyone.

As a Victober project, I watched 8 different adaptations of Jane Eyre, and hope to have my reactions posted in a few days.


92. The Claverings, Anthony Trollope
Year Published: 1867
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Roots from 2017
Project: Victober2021

I was looking forward to this book and I was not disappointed. It is quintessential Trollope. The main story is about a love triangle in which young Harry Clavering, our "hero" (although even Trollope is hesitant to label him as such), is torn between an old love and a new love. Harry has decided against the career of his father (the Church) for the expanding and demanding career of engineering--building the new railroads, bridges and roads of the 1860s. As always, Trollope provides side stories of career/marriage choices, inheritance, terrible marriages, good marriages and even a possible Russian spy. Great fun.


93. Reuben Sachs, Amy Levy
Year Published: 1889
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2021
Projects: Victober2021

Only 100 pages long, Reuben Sachs: a sketch is a snapshot of middle-class Jewish family and relationships in Victorian England. It is thought to have been a response to George Eliot's idealized portrait of Jews in Daniel Deronda. Reuben Sachs is a young man with a great future, and the book explores his relationship with the extended Sachs family, and in particular his poorer cousin Judith Quixano. Complex and nuanced, Levy's portrait remains highly controversial, with sometimes unflattering takes on London's Jews. My edition was edited by Susan David Bernstein and includes a 30 page introduction and a wealth of additional material, including shorter works of Levy, contemporary reviews of the book, and contemporary views on Jews and women in the Victorian era. Earlier this year I read Levy's other novella, The Romance of a Shop, which is a better story, but Reuben Sachs is the tighter, more focused work. Amy Levy died in London in 1889 at age 28 having only produced two novellas and some shorter works.


94. Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell, audiobook read by Davina Porter
Year Published: 1851
Type: fiction
Acquired: re-read via audiobook acquired 2021
Project: Victober2021

This was a re-read via audiobook, which was wonderfully read by Davina Porter. I had forgotten how disconnected the chapters were, and yet mostly made sense. I will always have a soft spot for dear Miss Matty and all the ladies of Cranford.


95. The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Charles Dickens
Year Published: 1870
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback Root from 2011
Project: Victober2021; my Dickens Project

Very atmospheric and dark. Edwin Drood, a young man in the care of his guardian John Jasper, disappears on Christmas Eve. There is little comic relief in this Dickens tale that was only half-completed at his death. It seems clear that Dickens intended to focus on the downward spiral of the murderer. There are many notes, and phrases have double and triple meanings. This will not be a favorite Dickens, and even if it had been completed, I doubt if I would feel much differently.


96. Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier
Year Published: 1938
Type: fiction, mystery
Acquired: paperback from Chicago Public Library, re-read
Project: for my RL Book Club

This generated a lot of good discussion with my Book Club. On this re-read, I don't feel our un-named narrator knows enough about Maxim to stay with him, and I don't think I would have made the same choices. Reminded me of Trollope's Orley Farm, in that the guilty person gets off, but I think Trollope did a more convincing job for me to feel empathy for the guilty party.

90kac522
Editado: Nov 1, 2021, 6:27 pm

October Reading, Part II


97. Desperate Remedies, Thomas Hardy
Year Published: 1871
Type: fiction
Acquired: hardcover from my shelves; Root from 2005
Project: Victober2021

This was Hardy's first published novel, and he throws in lots of sensation elements, including murder, false identities, mysterious past stories, etc. A young woman, in love with a man pledged to another, is forced to become a lady's companion to earn her living, and becomes the fascination of both her employer and the suspicious Aeneas Manston. The story moves on from there, but still incorporating Hardy's wonderful descriptions of the countryside and a look at the world of the architect. It's quite the page-turner, with a happy ending, but the plot twists and turns are sometimes not completely resolved.


98. 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff; audiobook read by various readers
Year Published: 1970
Type: memoir, letters
Acquired: audiobook from CPL; re-read
Project: none

Read this years ago and it was fun to re-visit via audiobook. Delightfully read in 2 CDs, and surprisingly moving at the end.


99. London Crimes, Charles Dickens, ed. by Nadya Aisenberg
Year Published: originally published 1849-1851; collected by Aisenberg 1982
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; Root from 2014
Projects: Victober2021

These are 6 Detective and London Police pieces that appeared in Household Words, most by Dickens, and one additional piece by Thomas Waters from his book "Recollections of a London Policeman." It's unclear how much fact and how much fiction is included in the Household Words pieces. Inspector "Wield" appears in some of these, and he is based on a real detective, Inspector Field, who was the inspiration for Inspector Bucket in Bleak House. I found two pieces the most interesting: one, in which Dickens accompanies Inspector Wield on his night rounds to the poorest and saddest clusters of homeless in London, and the other chronicling a 72-hour period at a London Police Station. Very revealing about the real lives of these policemen and the wide range of characters they encountered. Dickens uses these pieces effectively to show how children, in particular, deserved better care and treatment, not just sent to the workhouse for an evening while a parent was locked up.


100. Mr Harrison's Confessions and My Lady Ludlow, Elizabeth Gaskell
Year Published: 1851 and 1859
Type: fiction: novellas included in The Cranford Chronicles
Acquired: paperback from 2016
Project: Victober2021

This edition includes Cranford, plus two novellas. Mr Harrison's Confessions is pure fun; My Lady Ludlow is a bit tedious, especially the French Revolution diversion in the center of the story.


101. Gothic Tales, Elizabeth Gaskell
Year Published: originally published 1851-1861
Type: fiction; short stories
Acquired: paperback Root from 2017
Project: Victober2021

Collected scary and gothic stories by Elizabeth Gaskell, published between 1851 and 1861. All were good, but I particularly appreciated "Lois the Witch" in which Gaskell based much of the story on real people and events, and documentation during the Salem Witch trials.

91kac522
Editado: Nov 5, 2021, 3:42 pm

As I mentioned in >82 kac522:, I decided to watch 8 different versions of Jane Eyre during Victober.

As I started watching these films, I realized that my idea of the book and what I wanted out of a filmed version, included the following:
--Showing Jane in childhood--at her Aunt Reed's (Gateshead) and then Lowood school--to understand how her life began, how she was treated, and how she found a few friends, support and competence;
--Showing Jane at Thornfield, to see her growth in self-esteem, independence and equality with Rochester, as well as how she was both loved and manipulated by him;
--Showing Jane at Moor House (St John Rivers and his sisters), showing Jane treated as an equal, as well as finding family, another marriage proposal, competence in starting a school, and acquiring an inheritance to relieve her of financial dependence on others;
--Showing Jane returning to Rochester as an independent woman of moderate means and no longer alone in the world.

So this is asking a lot, I know, and most people probably don't need all these points to enjoy a film about the book. But for me, I wanted to see a filmed version that acknowledges Bronte's vision of Jane's growth, from abused child to competent adult woman. I don't need every scene from the book, or every plot point or character, or every piece of dialogue--but I do need these changes in Jane to be prominent and be emphasized. I didn't always find these in some of the versions I watched.

I'll also say that I was going in with a major prejudice: I own the 1983 BBC version (Clarke/Dalton) and I have watched it numerous times. I had previously seen both the 1997 version (Morton/Hinds) and the 2006 version (Wilson/Stephens) one time each. The others I don't believe I had viewed before, or if I did, I had no memory of them.

Also, I know nothing about film reviewing; my observations here are strictly as a Jane Eyre lover and how the film brought the book across to me. There is a more detailed review of all of these versions, plus several others, by a more competent film critic at JaneEyre.net. I read these online pieces after viewing the films myself, and most times I agreed, but sometimes disagreed, with the opinions expressed. This writer has a helpful "Pros and Cons" summary, too.

Here's his website: http://www.janeeyre.net/index.html

Apologies in advance for a couple of very LONG posts ahead….

92kac522
Editado: Nov 5, 2021, 3:57 pm

Filmed versions of Jane Eyre

Feel free to skip to the "Summaries" of each film

Part 1

1943 – feature film, 96 minutes; starring Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles.
This black and white feature film version is a favorite of many and I had high hopes for this film. It starts out well, with dramatic music, sweeping camera shots, dramatic camera angles and lots of use of shadow and light. Given its shorter length, this film understandably skips many parts of the book, and begins at Lowood Institution. I felt that even though this beginning left out a lot, it provided the dramatic feel of the book and the restricted life of the girls.

However, once Jane leaves Lowood and we encounter our adult stars (Welles and Fontaine), the film, in my opinion, is no longer Jane Eyre. It should have been entitled “Mr Rochester”, as Welles dominates the screen, the dialogue and the energy of the film until the end. For every 10 lines of Rochester, we get only a “No, sir” or “Yes, sir” from Jane, or a long shot at Jane’s eyes filling with tears. For her part, Fontaine does an admirable job with the few lines she is allowed to speak. Jane has no agency and certainly is never viewed as independent. Rochester is magnificently done by Welles, but at the cost of a real portrayal of Jane Eyre.

Most egregious for me was the complete elimination of Jane’s time at Moor House with the Rivers family. Therefore we never see Jane inhering a fortune, refusing a marriage proposal from St John, and most importantly, finding a loving family. In this film version Jane returns to Mr Rochester just as “poor, obscure, plain and little” as she left him. She is never his equal in any way. This film, in my opinion, has entirely missed the point of the book.

Another irritating feature, although minor, was using shots of what is supposed to be the text of the book, narrated by Jane. But these “quotes” are not from the book at all and are completely made-up.

Overall the mood, atmosphere and cinematography of this film is outstanding, Welles gives a commanding performance as Rochester, but the trade-off is that we lose Charlotte Bronte’s Jane. The all-male script team + Welles have completely misunderstood Jane Eyre.

1943 SUMMARY: classic Orson Welles dramatic performance with amazing camera work, but Jane feels like a minor character; film’s emphasis on Rochester completely leaves out Jane’s growth and independence.

1949—Westinghouse Studio One TV program starring Charlton Heston and Mary Sinclair (black & white, 55 minutes, plus Westinghouse commercials) available on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX-jjMZN-Ho

In 55 minutes, it’s impossible to do Jane Eyre justice. This presentation is interesting for its surprisingly commendable performance by Charlton Heston as Rochester. Most of Heston’s lines are taken from the book, and he portrays a credible Mr Rochester. As in the Welles-Fontaine film, Jane is mostly relegated to “Yes, sir”/“No, sir” and she has little other dialogue. Mary Sinclair looks like she’s stepped out of one of the Westinghouse commercials that are included in the program, and so do the simple sets.

Much of the book’s plot is skipped, including the all-important (to me) Moor House section. For Heston fans, this is surely an interesting performance, but if you are looking for Jane Eyre, you would best look elsewhere.

1949 SUMMARY: for Charlton Heston fans; 1 hour TV program that leaves out most of the book, but has some amusing early TV commercials in the middle.

1970—feature film made in the UK, and broadcast as a TV movie in the USA, 108 minutes; starring Susannah York and George C. Scott

This film, like the 1943 film, starts out well. It is in full color and was shot mostly in Yorkshire. It begins with breath-taking shots of the countryside, accompanied by a wonderful score by John Williams (composer of such memorable film scores as “Star Wars” and “Schindler’s List”). The atmosphere is not as dark as the 1943 film (we get some sunshine and flowers). The film skips Gateshead and begins with Lowood, and we get a stronger picture of Jane’s relationship to Helen Burns, and the injustices that Jane observes.

Although greatly abbreviated, the film manages to include major details from the book, especially in the Thornfield Hall scenes. Jane and Rochester have actual conversations, and Jane gets to express her independent views. This filmed version includes Jane’s time at Moor House with the Rivers family. She successfully starts the girls’ school and refuses St John’s proposal, but there is nothing about being related to the Rivers family or any inheritance.

The biggest problems for me with this version are the two stars, Scott and York. They seem completely out of place, as if they were plucked out of Hollywood and dropped into the set, playing themselves in 19th century costume. Scott goes in and out of his American accent, and is almost violent at times, smashing wine glasses and needless loud outbursts. York seems too old (she was 31 at filming), portrays a cool and aloof demeanor, and is hardly “obscure, plain and little.” There are multiple invented scenes and dialogue exchanges. To the scriptwriter’s credit, however, Jane is given sufficient dialogue and action to help us feel that she comes back to Rochester as somewhat independent, even without a fortune.

1970 SUMMARY: feature film with sweeping color cinematography of Yorkshire, with wonderful musical score; but Jane & Rochester are ill-cast.

1973—BBC TV miniseries, 4 hours, 8 minutes in 5 episodes; starring Sorcha Cusack and Michael Jayston

During the 1970s and 1980s the BBC produced many of these miniseries of well-known classics, including the novels of Dickens, Jane Austen, the Poldark saga, and the wildly successful “Upstairs, Downstairs.” Outdoor scenes were kept to a minimum and indoor shots were closely staged, with performers remaining stiffly in place. Still, there are many detailed and faithful renditions of beloved classics. This miniseries of Jane Eyre is such a presentation.

Nearly every major scene and character are included in this version, and for the most part, in the order of the book. Many speeches by Jane and Rochester are directly taken from the pages of Jane Eyre. Voice-over narration by Jane interspersed throughout the episodes adds details of her thoughts from the text. Only a few minor characters and scenes are not included, and these are not crucial to the plot. Here we have a full picture of life at Gateshead, Lowood, Thornfield Hall, and Moor House. The sets and costumes have an authentic and detailed Victorian era feel.

In this version we have all the instances of Jane being treated unjustly, her observance of other injustices, long conversations with Rochester and her independent views. We hear Rochester praise Jane for her work with Adele and her artwork, and his admiration of her ability to keep up her end of an argument. And (finally!) we get a full telling of life at Moor House: her relationship with the Rivers siblings; her school; and the all-important legacy of her uncle and the discovery of her cousins. Jane comes back to Rochester not as a dependent, but as an independent woman of means who has been successful in her field, found supportive and loving relations and has made the choice to return to Thornfield.

Both the main actors, Sorcha Cusack and Michael Jayston, give credible performances, but, for lack of a better term, seem to be missing “chemistry” or perhaps a kind of on-stage charisma. By the ending scenes, I didn’t feel convinced that they were really in love, although I could feel Rochester’s bitterness and Jane’s tenderness. Overall this is a production of Jane Eyre that is true to Charlotte Bronte, if lacking in inspiring performances.

1973 SUMMARY: Most faithful to the book of all the versions I watched, but uninspired performances of Jane & Rochester are stiffly staged

93kac522
Editado: Nov 5, 2021, 3:44 pm

Filmed versions of Jane Eyre

Part 2

1983—BBC TV miniseries in 11 episodes of 30 minutes each; starring Zelah Clarke and Timothy Dalton

This production is staged similarly to the 1973 miniseries, although there are more outside shots and scenes. This is the longest of the 8 versions I watched, is cut-up into 11 episodes and therefore involves a bit of binge-watching commitment. Like the 1973 version, this includes almost all of the most important plot-points, scenes, characters and important dialogue from the book. It is the only version that begins with Jane’s voice-over speaking the first line of the book: “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.” The Gateshead and Lowood sections include most of the details from the book (right down to the Lowood girls’ uniforms with a “work bag”), and we feel these scenes from Jane’s perspective.

Much of the conversations between Jane and Rochester are pulled directly from the text, and we get a fuller picture of Jane being treated as an intellectual equal with Rochester. Moor House scenes for the most part are true to the book, and Jane comes back with an income and a family. Jane’s return to Rochester again uses much of the dialogue directly from the book, and we see Jane return as confident, assured and independent.

Zelah Clarke’s performance is very good. In my opinion Timothy Dalton is the best Rochester of all the versions. He is gruff and sarcastic without being violent, and we see how manipulative he can be; he has a slight smirk on his face underneath almost all his lines, particularly when he speaks to Jane about Blanche Ingram. Clarke and Dalton take time with their lines: they are not rushed and we feel the impact of every line. When Jane returns to Thornfield at the end, we feel Jane gets some justice in the way she is almost as manipulative with Rochester as he has been with her in the past. We feel that she can leave Rochester, if she so chooses. She is no longer poor and obscure.

1983 SUMMARY: Very faithful to the book, although long; best Rochester (Timothy Dalton) and a very good Jane (Zelah Clarke); best overall film version for me.

1997—A&E feature film, 108 minutes; starring Samantha Morton and Ciaran Hinds

It’s very difficult to do Jane Eyre justice in under 2 hours, and this movie is a prime example. There are so many skipped and invented scenes that it’s hard to find the book in this production. Many of Rochester’s lines, which are not from Bronte, are spoken by Hinds in a rushed, over-bearing, sometimes screaming, fashion. Morton does a credible job with Jane, and seems to have more actual (or probable) dialogue from the book.

On the positive side, the film has a cinematic feel, has lovely settings and costumes, and feels authentic to the 19th century. However, Jane’s discoveries of herself at Moor House (that the Rivers are her relations and her inheritance), are completely left out. Jane comes back almost as dependent as she left, except that she has had another offer of marriage. Just another version that misses the point of Bronte’s novel.

1997 SUMMARY: Many invented scenes and dialogue; my least favorite of the feature film versions.

2006—BBC/Masterpiece TV series, in 4 hours (2 episodes); starring Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens

In this production, the cinematography is wonderful and the film felt dramatic and atmospheric like the 1943 Welles/Fontaine film. The Gateshead, Lowood and Moor House sections are abbreviated, and the scenes at Thornfield are expanded and drawn out. I think we get enough of Jane’s years before Thornfield to understand her background, and I didn’t feel that I was missing essential parts of the book.

However, Jane’s journey to Moor House includes flashback scenes that would have been confusing if I didn’t know the book as well as I do. There are many questionable changes/inventions to the story--biology lessons? ouija board? meeting Blanche Ingram in town? a hired gypsy? an ending with a family portrait?--these all seemed puzzling and unnecessary to those who know the text.

What makes this film is Ruth Wilson’s performance, and the camera shots that record her every movement and reaction. She is clearly the best Jane that I watched; she has subtle facial expressions that tell worlds about her feelings. Her demeanor and manner are appropriate to Jane, and her lines were delivered with precision and felt authentic. Her “poor, obscure, plain and little” speech is brilliantly done. I didn’t feel the same way about Toby Stephens; he seemed uncomfortable in his role, and not quite sure how to portray Rochester. It also seemed like he had more invented dialogue than Jane, or at least dialogue that did not feel in Bronte’s style. Overall I think those who love Jane Eyre will want to experience Wilson’s performance, but will need to overlook a lot of made-up scenes and dialogue with an uninspiring Rochester.

2006 SUMMARY: Generally faithful to the book (with a few questionable invented scenes), best Jane (Ruth Wilson) along with a true cinematic experience; worth watching just for Wilson’s brilliant and nuanced performance.

2011—feature film 121 minutes; starring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender

I’ve heard a lot of younger people enjoyed this film—even the DVD cover says it’s “Jane Eyre for a New Generation.” The film starts out with Jane’s journey to Moor House, and then proceeds to tell her early story through flashbacks. This worked surprisingly well for me, since we can easily shift focus between Jane as a child and Jane as a woman. The Gateshead and Lowood scenes are abbreviated, but I felt the film gave a good sense of Jane’s background. Once Jane gets to Thornfield, Jane and Rochester appear to have an equal relationship, and I thought the dialogue and acting brought this out well. In 2 hours, of course, much is condensed, and one critical dramatic plot point that was left out was Jane’s suspicion of Grace Poole. The Moor House scenes were again condensed, but gave the overall feel of the book. Missing entirely (again) is Jane being related to the Rivers family, although she does inherit a fortune and receives a proposal from Rivers.

Up to this point, I was enjoying the film, albeit missing lots of detail. Wasikowska is a very good Jane; to me Fassbender doesn’t seem bitter enough (or old enough) for Rochester. But they do have good exchanges of Bronte dialogue, where we feel Jane holds her own. Judi Dench as Mrs Fairfax steals the show, IMHO. She has an expanded role, and her speeches fill in some of the plot points left out. The production is lovingly filmed, and costumes and scenery were exquisite. The lighting is particularly well-done, and we feel the Gothic quality to the story.

The biggest disappointment was the ending: Jane returns to Rochester, but there is little verbal exchange between the two, and the movie just ends! The all-important ending dialogue between them (showing Rochester's bitterness and Jane's independence) is non-existent. Once again, Bronte’s vision of the return of an independent Jane Eyre is left on the cutting-room floor.

2011 SUMMARY: Dramatic feature-film length version, with Gothic feel; best version for those unfamiliar with the book, since much of the story is preserved in a condensed 2 hour film; Judi Dench as Mrs Fairfax steals the show.

94amanda4242
Editado: Nov 5, 2021, 6:00 pm

>92 kac522: & >93 kac522: It's for posts like these that I wish LT had thumbs up in talk. Well done!

95kac522
Nov 5, 2021, 6:31 pm

>94 amanda4242: Thanks! and this is trimmed...I had so much to say! But now I really have to re-read it (this time on audiobook, I think) so I don't get the different versions confused with the real thing.

96fuzzi
Nov 6, 2021, 9:56 pm

>93 kac522: nice summaries. I also love the Clarke/Dalton version best of the three I've seen.

97kac522
Nov 6, 2021, 10:33 pm

>96 fuzzi: Thanks, it was a fun project, especially with so many versions to choose from. Aside from Shakespeare, I can't think of another classic that's been brought to the screen in so many ways.

98kac522
Editado: Nov 12, 2021, 3:07 pm

Well, now that November is one-third over, I suppose I should lay out my plans for this month:

I've already completed:
Our Malady, Timothy Snyder, (2020) (non-fiction; personal reflections on U.S. medical system)
Murder in Mesopotamia, Agatha Christie (1936); sorry, Agatha, can't believe that ending
News from Thrush Green, Miss Read (1970); comforting village affairs
Spring Magic, D. E. Stevenson (1942)

Currently reading: Passing, Nella Larsen (1929)--a re-read. I am leading this month's discussion of this book in my RL book club and borrowed the Norton Critical Edition from my library, so will be reading a lot of extra material in this edition to come up with some good discussion questions.

Next up:
--Nina Balatka, Trollope (1867)
--A Game of Hide and Seek, Elizabeth Taylor (1951)
--Diary of a Provincial Lady, E. M. Delafield (1931) (re-read)
--Now in November, Josephine Johnson, (1934) Pulitzer Prize winner 1935

and if there's time:
--Angel, Elizabeth Taylor (1957)
--Crooked Adam, D. E. Stevenson (1942)

99PaulCranswick
Nov 10, 2021, 2:13 am

There is some lovely reading going on here, Kathy.

I am amazed at your stamina watching all those versions of Ms Bronte's masterpiece.

Also thank you for your kind words about my mum. Made me gulp down a sob to be honest. xx

100kac522
Nov 10, 2021, 3:24 pm

>99 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. Every month could be Victorian reading month for me, with a little time off with Miss Read and Agatha Christie. I actually enjoyed watching all the versions, although near the end they were all muddling in my brain with the actual book.

Yes, mothers are something, aren't they? My mom is in every Trollope I read--she loved Trollope and I was too obstinate while she was alive to try him. So about a year after she died I felt I owed it to her to at least read The Warden, and I've been hooked ever since. What kills me is that in my ignorance after she died, I donated all of her Trollope volumes (saved all the Austen, Dickens and Hardy, though!). I would give anything to have those Trollope copies back.

101PaulCranswick
Nov 25, 2021, 6:34 am

A Thanksgiving to Friends (Lighting the Way)

In difficult times
a friend is there to light the way
to lighten the load,
to show the path,
to smooth the road

At the darkest hour
a friend, with a word of truth
points to light
and the encroaching dawn
is in the plainest sight.

Kathy, to a friend in books and more this Thanksgiving

102kac522
Nov 25, 2021, 11:28 pm

Thanks, Paul. Thanksgiving is one of the better North American holidays: just family and good food. And (for the lucky ones) a 4-day weekend.

103jessibud2
Nov 26, 2021, 8:59 am

Happy Thanksgiving, a day late, Kathy. Hope it was a good one!

104kac522
Nov 26, 2021, 12:51 pm

>103 jessibud2: Thanks, Shelley, we had a nice but quiet day with one of my brothers & his wife. Our younger son will come over on Sunday and we'll do it again.

105kac522
Editado: Nov 30, 2021, 5:32 pm

November Reading

Slowed down in the middle, but a decent reading month:


102. Our Malady, Timothy Snyder
Year Published: 2020
Type: nonfiction, US medical system
Acquired: hardcover from Chicago Public Library
Project: 75ers NonFiction November

Snyder is an historian known for his research in Holocaust studies and his recent book On Tyranny. In this book, published in Summer 2020, Snyder uses his own disastrous experiences with the U.S. health care system in late 2019 (pre-pandemic) to point up the system's major flaws and how Americans are at the mercy of a for-profit system. Insurance companies determine what gets paid for and in turn, hospitals and doctors make decisions (what gets treated, who gets treated, how long a patient can stay in the hospital, etc.) based on what makes these providers profitable, with implications for equitable health access, healthcare policy, and the right to a healthy life. He compares our system to the treatment his family received while living in Vienna. It's a powerful little book (146 pages), although it sometimes wanders from topic to topic, and can get repetitive. Still, some vital gems in the book, such as this:
...hospitals as institutions have an incentive to get you out the door when the revenue stream declines, which is not the same thing as an incentive to return you to health. Insurance companies have an incentive not to pay for your tests and treatment. Every time you are seen by a doctor or a nurse, every time a test is run, the algorithms of the hospital duel with the algorithms of the insurance company to see who will make how much money. p. 124



103. Murder in Mesopotamia, Agatha Christie
Year Published: 1936
Type: fiction, mystery
Acquired: paperback from shelves
Project: my Agatha project; Root from 2018

Seemed overly complicated; the story is told by a nurse who has been employed by the lead archaeologist and Christie's prose is convincing from this point of view. Poirot does little investigating in the story, until the end. The revelation of who the murderer is just defies belief. Sorry Agatha! The idea that a woman would re-marry the same person and not recognize him seems highly unlikely to me. Even if there are physical changes over 20 years, there's still the voice, speech patterns and mannerisms that would stand out.


104. News from Thrush Green, Miss Read
Year Published: 1970
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
Project: My Miss Read Project; Root from 2017

This follows a new resident, Phil Prior, and the reactions of the village. To me this series has been less humorous than the Fairacre books--Miss Read as narrator always brought a wry, deprecating sense of humor, and we'd see the characters from her point of view. But the Thrush Green series is more objective and the characters are perhaps a little more well-developed.


105. Spring Magic, D. E. Stevenson
Year Published: 1942
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from CPL
Project: my Stevenson project

Enjoyed this book more than some of her others that I have read recently (I am reading in order of publication). This book is set in Spring 1941 and follows Frances Field, age 25, an orphan raised by her aunt & uncle in London. Her life has been very restricted. When bombing begins in London, Frances decides it's time for her to strike out on her own, and takes a long holiday in a tiny sea-side village in northwest Scotland. But just as she arrives, so does a whole campful of soldiers, and Frances becomes friends with a small group of officer's wives. The plot includes lots of references to the lives of military wives, some mentions of the current war (thus we can figure out it's 1941) and Frances's love of the Scottish countryside and seaside. I thought in general this book was done well, except that the last few chapters are more from other peoples' points of view about Frances, rather than what Frances was feeling herself, and the last chapter seemed a "rally the troops" message.


106. Passing, Nella Larsen
Year Published: 1929
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; re-read
Project: for my RL Book Club; Root from 2018

This is a complex look at race, sexuality and marriage in the 1920s. Larsen builds a tension in the book to the final crisis, which I found compelling--I read the book in one evening. The main character is Irene, a light-skinned Negro (it's 1927), who has married a successful black Harlem physician. After many years Irene bumps into childhood friend Clare, also light-skinned, who has married a wealthy white businessman that does not know his wife Clare is black, and he is a virulent racist. The book is told from Irene's point of view and she is not always a reliable narrator. Larsen explores all the types of "passing", both conscious and not so conscious. I was most surprised at the book's look at marriage, which was a larger part of the story than I anticipated. This is a powerful little book--every sentence has meaning. This was my choice for my real life Book Club and it generated lots of excellent discussion.


107. Nina Balatka, Anthony Trollope
Year Published: 1867
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
Projects: my Trollope project; Root from 2019

Set in Prague, this is the love story of Nina Balatka, a Catholic, and Anton Trendellsohn, a Jew, and their struggles with family and society because of their different faiths. Published anonymously, along with his next novel Linda Tressel, Trollope provides some detailed descriptions of Prague, which he had visited. The writing style is simple, and is almost exclusively from Nina's point of view. The characters are typical Trollope, although Trendellsohn is portrayed with some stereotyped Jewish characteristics. But Trollope has sympathy for both his hero and heroine, so the ending was satisfactory.


108. A Game of Hide and Seek, Elizabeth Taylor
Year Published: 1951
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves
Project: BAC November; my E. Taylor challenge; Root from 2013

Two teenagers, Harriet and Vesey, fall in love, drift apart, and are re-united by chance about 20 years later. Harriet is well-married with a child; Vesey is now an actor and just barely making ends meet. I found the love story believable as children, but much less so as adults. Taylor drifts from character to character, and we are briefly but intensely in that person's mental space. Always interesting, but sometimes I wanted the main story, and I would forget the minor characters from day to day.

Elizabeth Taylor has a dense writing style that requires full attention when reading each line. I found it hard to read more than 30 or 40 pages at a time, and the book did not call to me to pick up and continue, but I did persevere in the end. This is a book I will need to re-read to fully appreciate all that's going on here, as many consider this to be Taylor's finest novel.


109. Now in November, Josephine Johnson
Year Published: 1934
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from CPL
Project: RTT November

Published in 1934, this won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1935 for Johnson, who was only 24 years old. Now in November tells the story of a family farm in an unnamed place in the American heartland, during the Depression and Dust Bowl years. Told as first person narrative by the middle girl of 3 daughters, this is the story of the love/hate relationship with the farm and the land and each other. The father is harsh, the mother is often silent, the eldest daughter is difficult and the youngest daughter is ever the optimist. Our narrator Marget describes the landscape and animals with a fierce love, even as her father sees it only as his livelihood, and a struggling one at that, for the farm is highly mortgaged and the drought years are taking their toll.

This is a sad and desperate little book, but is brilliantly written and relays a harsh reality about farming life in the Depression years.

106kac522
Editado: Dez 20, 2021, 2:58 am

December reading possibilities:

Some nonfiction, some winter/Christmas themes, some re-reads are all on the TBR for this month:

Diary of a Provincial Lady, E. M. Delafield--re-read, left-over from November
--An Unsocial Socialist, Bernard Shaw--one of Shaw's few novels
--Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton--re-read, set in Winter
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens--re-read
✓ The Santa Claus Club", Julian Symons; short story for Book Club
--The Children's Blizzard, David Laskin--about the 1888 blizzard in the Dakota territory.
Chicago in 50 Objects, Joseph Gustaitis--Chicago history through objects
Rachel Ray, Anthony Trollope; re-read for Liz's group Trollope group read
The Country Child, Alison Uttley; country comfort read with booktuber Miranda Mills
--Crooked Adam, D. E. Stevenson; next in my Stevenson project
--Dumb Witness, Agatha Christie; next in my Christie project
--Pictures from Italy, Charles Dickens; for my Classics Challenge

and should I make it through all of these, I have selected some slim books (under 200 pages) to fill in gaps of time and to help clear the shelves a bit.

107PaulCranswick
Dez 24, 2021, 8:24 pm



Have a lovely holiday, Kathy.

108PaulCranswick
Jan 1, 2022, 3:03 am



Forget your stresses and strains
As the old year wanes;
All that now remains
Is to bring you good cheer
With wine, liquor or beer
And wish you a special new year.

Happy New Year, Kathy.

109kac522
Jan 1, 2022, 2:25 pm

Thanks for the holiday wishes, Paul. Been a bit stressful over here, as after a couple of very small holiday gatherings, my spouse has tested positive for Covid, but curiously I am (currently) negative. He's got a cough, but so far not very sick. We are both vaxxed and boosted so we should be able to weather this.

110kac522
Editado: Jan 1, 2022, 5:21 pm

Here are my favorite reads of 2021:

Fiction (in order read):

Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood, 2016
The Other Bennet Sister, Janice Hadlow, 2020
Miss Mackenzie, Anthony Trollope, 1865
William, E. H. Young, 1925
The Solitary Summer, Elizabeth von Arnim, 1899
The Claverings, Anthony Trollope, 1867
Cousin Phillis, 1864 and Mr Harrison’s Confession, 1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, short stories
Now in November, Josephine Johnson, 1934

Re-reading fiction is my greatest comfort; I re-read 32 novels this year, most by audiobook. Books that were even more wonderful on re-reading were (in order read):

Little Dorrit, Dickens
Our Mutual Friend, Dickens
Jane Eyre, Bronte
84, Charing Cross Road, Hanff
Passing, Larsen
Diary of a Provincial Lady, Delafield
Rachel Ray, Trollope

Nonfiction (in order read):

Look Back With Love, Dodie Smith, 1974; memoir
His Excellency: George Washington, Joseph Ellis, 2004; biography
My Own Words, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2016; essays, speeches, judicial decisions
Letter from England, Mollie Panter-Downes, 1939-40; magazine articles during WWII
Jane Austen: The World of her Novels, Deirdre Le Faye, 2002; Austen and her times
The Artful Dickens, John Mullan, 2020; literary styles and themes in his novels
The Pioneers, David McCullough, 2019; history of the settlers of the Ohio Territory

I'll be back soon with my reviews for December.

111kac522
Jan 1, 2022, 6:47 pm

December Reading

These are going to be short and sweet:


110. Diary of a Provincial Lady, E. M. Delafield, 1930
Type: fiction, re-read
Acquired: Root from my shelves

Just as funny as the first time I read it some years ago. Reminds me of an English 1930s Erma Bombeck, for those who remember her column.


111. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, 1813, re-read via audiobook, read by Juliet Stevenson
Type: fiction
Acquired: audiobook

My umpteenth re-read of my favorite book, this time on audiobook with my favorite reader: Juliet Stevenson. This version just came out earlier this year, and it is delightful.


112. Chicago in 50 Objects, Joseph Gustaitis, 2021
Type: nonfiction, history through objects
Acquired: from the library

This is a fun book--photographs of interesting objects from Chicago history are paired with a 3-4 page historical background. Items include a Potawatomi War Club to Regalia worn by a Abraham Lincoln pallbearer to a Marshall Field's Christmas Box to Illinois Central Timetable to a Chicago Bungalow stained glass window to Chicago Bears Super Bowl Shuffle audio cassette tape. Some things I knew, some were completely new and others I had a vague notion. Certainly not a thorough history, but a fun way to learn bits of it.


113. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, 1843, re-read;
Type: fiction
Acquired: from my shelves

I re-read the story, then listened to it performed by Jim Dale on audiobook, and watched the 1951 film with Alastair Sim. A little darker than I remember and I recognized more references by Dickens to current ills in London society.


114. Rachel Ray, Anthony Trollope, 1863; re-read
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves; re-read

This is a very sweet story about young Rachel Ray, of a small village, who falls in love with Luke Rowan, but as usual, true love does not run smooth (or we wouldn't have a Trollope novel, would we?). And it was just as wonderful as a re-read, and enjoyed the discussion thread led by Liz (lyzard).


115. The Country Child, Alison Uttley, 1931
Type: fiction
Acquired: from the library

A year in the life on a Derbyshire farm from the perspective of a 9 year old; many wonderful nature descriptions, but a bit lacking in plot. This is apparently a fictionalized version of the author's memories of her country childhood.


116. An Unsocial Socialist, George Bernard Shaw, 1884
Type: fiction
Acquired: paperback from my shelves

Shaw wrote 5 novels; this was his last and he then turned to reviewing and drama. It's very satirical, and actually would have worked out better as a play. I'm not sure what to take away from it, but there are some long socialist speeches that are idealistic and reflect the age (1884). As with much of Shaw, traditional love relationships between men and women are questioned.


117. Dumb Witness, Agatha Christie, 1937
Type: fiction, Poirot mystery
Acquired: paperback from my shelves

I thought this a diverting Poirot--mostly unlikeable suspects and Bob the dog take up the brain cells of Hastings and Hercule. Some uncomfortable stereotyped comments lowered my enjoyment, but overall Agatha had me fooled.

112kac522
Editado: Jan 1, 2022, 7:46 pm

Some end-of-year stats for 2021:

Total books read: 117

"Roots" read: 80
Library books: 34
ebooks: 1
Re-reads: 27
Translated: 2

Male authors: 36
Female authors: 80
Multiple authors: 1

Fiction: 94
Non-fiction: 21
Other: 1 play, 1 poetry

Breakdown by years published:

before 1800: 1
1800-1849: 9
1850-1899: 27
1900-1949: 37
1950-1999: 25
2000-2021: 18

That's it!

Come join me in 2022 here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/338230#