Iraq...and many..many books

Well, it has been close to a month since I last posted here. Wow, time really flies. Life has been going on pretty much as usual. My husband has received his deployment order for Iraq and will leave here on May 6th. Consequently, I may not be around too much in the coming weeks, as I will be spending time with him! It looks like it will be a 6 month deployment. I shall miss him a lot, but I guess it will leave more time for reading!

I have leisurely perused a significant pile of books off my TBR shelf in recent weeks. We took an extended long weekend for Easter and didn't do much so I had plenty of time to read. Also, we have had train chaos on my commute this past week with trips taking an extra half hour - again, not half so bad if you have a good book with you - or as I always do...two.

So, what have I read.....

Quite a few mysteries...grouping loosely.....

• Devil's Food by Kerry Greenwood
• Heavenly Pleasures by Kerry Greenwood
• Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet by M.C. Beaton
• The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn
• Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn
• Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

I particularly enjoyed the two books by Carola Dunn. They are about the Hon. Daisy Dalrymple, a writer, and set in the 1920s. The standard plot seems to involve her going to a country house to write about its history and architecture and there being a murder which she then solves. I guess in truth they are just fluff, but fun fluff!

I read Doctor at Sea by Richard Gordon. I hadn't heard of him before but judging by the circulation claims on the back of my 1954 edition he was very popular! In this episode he escapes an undesirable engagement by going to sea as the doctor on a Merchant Navy ship. Of course, he has lots of unexpected adventures as the ship makes its way from Britain to South America, and back. Most enjoyable.

My Mum left me Further Tales from a Country Practice by Arthur Jackson last time she was over this side of the country. I was a little dubious to begin with, but this is a lovely book and I shall be keeping my eye out for other books Jackson has written. It is a semi-autobiographical story of a country doctor in the 1950s. As a young (ish) doctor, Jackson was married with four children when he bought a dilapidated manor house he couldn't afford. Not one to shirk from a challenge he later decided to buy the fruit farm next door - again, which he couldn't really afford. This purchase and his service as the country doctor give him the material for this book. It reminded me somewhat of the BBC program Born and Bred, which I loved. I highly recommend it.

I anyone still hanging around... this is a long post!

I also read The Bridges of Madison Country by Robert James Waller, recommended to me by my best friend. We have been good friends since we were 13 and usually our tastes in books are pretty well aligned. However, in this case while I would class this as readable, it was not that special. Has anyone seen the movie?

I love Margery Sharp's writing. I picked up a copy of Britannia Mews last year on a discard shelf at a second hand bookshelf, sadly a shelf located in the sun meaning my copy is quite damaged. Nonetheless I thoroughly enjoyed this, it reminds me somewhat of Monica Dicken's The Angel in the Corner - as in a young girl from well-to-do family makes unsuitable marriage, but (dare I say it) I thought this was better. From the cover.....

Britannia Mews describes quietly and competently the evolution of character and customs in England from Victoria to World War II. Its effect is comparable to the depth of a full orchestra contrasted to jive on the piano, and makes on think, wistfully and in turning-the-clock-back moode perhaps, thank heaven for the Victorians, for the George Eliots, the Austens and the Brontes, who had the leisure and the wit to write a fully rounded tales. And one more thing....in all its pages there is not a single dull or turgid moment.....Its them is a study of the victory of an individual, and the triumph of personality over curcumstance....It is written by an artist who knows the use of incident, of fine, flowing narrative and delightful exposition.... Miss Sharp had made all her gallery of character almost distrubingly alive.

High praise indeed.

Finally, and I'll need a tea break after this effort.... I read Following the Drum: The Lives of Army Wives and Daughters Past and Present by Annabel Venning. I think anyone who read the opening paragraph of this blog would know why this book jumped off the shelf at me. This is Venning's first book and it is excellent. I read it in 2 days over the Easter weekend. Quite an achievement for me as I am a slow reader of non-fiction and it speaks volumes of how well this is written (or perhaps my strong personal interest in its subject matter).

Basically, Venning follows the lives of British military wives from the 17th century to the present (2004). Originally, very few soldiers and officers were allowed to marry. My husband still wouldn't be married...at only 23 and an officer we would have had to wait another 7 years from now, as 30 was the decreed marrying age for officers.

Another interesting fact was that until the Crimean War women and, sometimes children, would go to war with their husband - termed being "on the strength". Women received half rations, and their children quarter rations. It was the cost of supporting these additional bodies when food resources were scarce that led to the Army setting limits on how many of its men could marry and bring their wives along. Ballots were held as the ship sailed to select which women could accompany their husbands. Those that were not selected would be supported by the parish - essentially sent to the workhouse. And, they often wouldn't hear from the husband's again until they got back to England...up to 7 years later.

Wow, it makes me grateful, despite the army's many foibles, to be a military wife in the 21st century and not the 19th!

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death

Did anyone else watch Hamish Macbeth in the old days of the late 1990s? If you did, you may or may not know that the author of the books that series was based on is M.C. Beaton (I wonder what those initials stand for?) Anyway, I have just discovered a series of books she has written - 18 in total according to the inside of my book cover - about a public relations star, Agatha Raisin, who has taken early retirement and moved into a picture -perfect Cotswold village.

To improve her standing with the locals (who don't like newcomers) she decides to enter a local quiche baking competition. Only thing is, she doesn't know how to bake and so purchases her quiche at her favourite London deli. When she doesn't win, being a mite competitive our Agatha, she goes off in a strop leaving her quiche behind. That evening one of the competition's judges dies after eating her leftover quiche - it is revealed as a poisoning. Agatha becomes a murder suspect and must confess the quiche's source to the village. Then, to clear her name she sets out to find the real murderer, becoming a much improved individual along the way.

The Miracles of Santo Fico

I picked up this novel at a book sale last year having been attracted to it because of its setting in Tuscany. However, I became slightly dubious when I picked it off the bookshelf recently and realised that it was a withdrawn library book that had never been borrowed. Well, all I can say is that those City of Sydney Library borrowers missed out on a really great read; I loved it!

Santo Fico is a tiny, forgotten village in Tuscany. Leo Pizzola has recently returned there after spending 20 years in America - he can't wait to leave again, but has no money. As a child he used to show visiting tourists a brilliant fresco in the church (a quite lucrative occupation). Serendipitously, shortly after his return a busload of lost tourists turn up in the town and he reprises his role. Soon, other tourists start to detour to Santo Fico to see the fresco and Leo is making money fast. Unfortunately a severe earthquake hits, partially destroying the church and in the chaos Leo, and his old childhood friend Topo strip the fresco off the wall and hide it.

The resident parish priest is Father Elio, a very disheartened fellow because most of his flock seem to have abandoned their faith, is so distressed by the disappearance of the fresco that he has a crisis of faith. He believes God is punishing him for something (we are not told what until later in the novel). He decides to do penance by fasting. His niece Marta observed Leo and Topo stealing the picture and tells them she will go to the police unless they produce a miracle that restores her Uncle's faith (and stops him fasting himself to death). Leo and Topo are forced to orchestrate a series of man-made miracles, each more botched than the last, but the end results are miraculous:

"His life stretched out before him and for the first time he realised it had all been a miracle - everything - every day - every accident - every coincidence - every disappointment - every joy - all of it"

This is a beautiful novel. The author D.L. Smith has done a truly sterling job.

They Came Like Swallows

I have just finished reading They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell for Cornflower’s reading group. The title comes from a W.B. Yeats poem
They came like swallows and like swallows went,
And yet a woman’s powerful character
Could keep a swallow at its first intent;
And half a dozen in formation there,
That seem to whirl upon a compass-point,
Found certainty upon the dreaming air…

The story is set in a small, mid western US town in 1918, where Spanish influenza has just broken out. Elizabeth is the centre of the story, mother to Bunny and Robert and wife to James. She has found herself pregnant for a third time and is desperately hoping to give birth to a girl. The story is broken into three parts, each with a different narrator (Bunny, Robert and James) who gives their perspective on their life, the unfolding drama and their relationship with Elizabeth.

Bunny is 8 years old and a shy, gentle and somewhat aloof boy. He would prefer to be in the house with his mother, having her read to him or, painting or reading by himself than outside running around with his peers. He is the first in the family to succumb to the flu, coming down with it on Armistice Day. To Bunny, his mother is his protector who defends him, to an extent, from the bullyings of his father, older brother and class mates. For Bunny, his mother is someone who “gets him”.

Weekdays he came straight home from school so that he could have his mother all to himself. At quarter after four Sophie wheeled in the teacart and there was a party: little cakes with white icing on them, a glass of milk for him and tea for his mother. Then he sat on her lap while she read to him from Toinette’s Philip or from The Hollow Tree and Deep Woods Book……..When his mother read to him, her voice fell softly from above. It turned with flames. Like the flames it was full of shadows. (p. 42)

After learning his mother is pregnant, Robert sees her as someone he needs to protect. He blames himself when Elizabeth develops the flu (which becomes double pneumonia) because he accidentally let her go into Bunny’s room when Bunny was sick, despite the Doctor saying she was not to. Robert was badly injured in a cart accident when he was younger and lost half a leg. He wants to be treated as a normal kid despite his ‘affliction’. His mother does that:

So far as his mother was concerned, there wasn’t anything the matter with him. If they were out fishing and had to crawl through a barbed-wire fence, his father looked back sometimes. Or called over his shoulder, Can you make it, sport?... But his mother went right on……And the same way with games. His mother took it for granted that he would learn to swim and dive, so he did. (p. 95)

James depends on his wife, and she on him.

For it was Elizabeth who had determined the shape that his life should take, from the very first morning he saw her. And she had altered that shape daily by the sound of her voice, and by her hair, and by her eyes which were so large and dark. And by her wisdom and by her love. (p. 173).

And…

He could not believe that Elizabeth had lain awake at his side, planning and arranging things for a time when she would not be there. With other people she sometimes covered up her true feelings, though not with him. Nobody had any idea, for instance, how deeply she still felt about Robert’s accident; how at night she had turned into his arms and wept. (p. 158-159)

They have reached that point in their marriage where they have a deep understanding of each other.

In this fashion they communicated with each other, out of knowledge and experience inaccessible to Bunny. By nods and silences. By a tired curve of his mother’s mouth. By his father’s measuring glance over the top of his spectacles. (p. 48-49)

This is a truly moving book. Maxwell’s writing is engaging and warm. It will be discussed on Cornflower’s forum on the 15th of February, and I can’t wait to hear the views of others.

A Lengthy Proposition.... and Jane Eyre

Well, long time no post. My apologies, but I have been caught up in life so to speak! Last weekend was our first wedding anniversary and we were busy celebrating that - but for the bulk of my absence I blame the ABC that waited until the end of the year to put all the good TV shows on.....The Vicar of Dibley, Monarchy, Beau Brummel, The Wind in the Willows have all been calling my name, leaving less time for reading and blogging. And tonight one of my absolute favourites - the Edinburgh Military Tattoo is on at 8:30....I just hope we get home from church in time.

Anyway, I have read a few books in the last couple of weeks which I want to briefly comment on. I saw Debs at War by Anne De Courcy yonks ago in a bookshop in Leura in the Blue Mountains. I was very tempted to buy it then, but held off - finally succumbing and buying it off the Book Depository. I am glad I did, because I enjoyed it. It is part of my pledge to my husband to read more non-fiction.

De Courcy starts off looking at what growing up in a privileged household was like in the 1920s, then how the girls made their debut into polite society. Then she looks at the options of war work available to the young women....the land army, the waafs, the Fany's, the ATS and factory work. I agreed with the sentiment of the girls that joined the waafs because of their nice uniform. I could see myself doing the same......the land army and ATS would definitely be out because I hate to get dirty. I found Debs at War a valuable read because it has provided me with an historical background for the many novels I read that are set in WW2. I will be on the look out for more of De Courcy's writing in the future.

Another non-fiction read was John Waller's The Real Oliver Twist - Robert Blincoe: A Life that Illuminates a Violent Age. I have had a newspaper cutting about The Real Oliver Twist pinned to my pin-up board since it was reviewed in The Australian last year. Still, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading it. I am gradually coming to the conclusion that I enjoy reading history books as long as they are domestic or social in nature.

Robert Blincoe was an orphan abandoned to St Pancreas Workhouse in the late 1790s. In an effort to cut down the cost of maintaining all the children in the workhouse, its governors started apprenticing them to trades - chimney sweeps and factory work. At age 7, Robert was apprenticed to a cotton mill in the north of England (when the original one closed he was indentured to another close by) . There he was physically abused, malnourished and worked half to death in very dangerous conditions. At age 21, with virtually no skills and a body twisted and deformed from the hard labour and poor food he was sent out into the world. What makes Robert an unusual parish apprentice is that he succeeded to make something of himself - rising to be solidly middle class. Yet, he did not forget those less fortunate than himself. He championed the rights of the young children working in factories... lobbying for ten hour days and educational rights. And, he saw his son go to Cambridge and become an Anglican rector....not many parish apprentices achieved that!

Another read (a very quick one) was Gerald Durrell's Golden Bats and Pink Pigeons. This is about his adventures in Mauritius trying to capture endangered species including skinks and pink pigeons. Durrell, as always, writes in a fun, witty style which means you just rollick through enjoying the story. I managed to pick this up in St Vinnie's for 20c....so I am sure you could find a copy at a charity shop without a problem.

Finally......and I have saved the best for last! How could I not have read this before? I am in complete horror that we didn't have this as a set text in high school - at a girls' school too. I have just read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I was inspired to read it because ABC was showing the film adaptation and I always like to read the book before I watch the film. It is just brilliant. I think Jane is a spunky, inspiring heroine. This is definitely going down as one of my favourite reads ever!

Well, that wraps up my reading reports here. I can start posting afresh in the new year. I will be taking a break for a week as we are off to the Blue Mountains to relax in a cottage for a week. We are taking our darling dogs with us....so that relaxing descriptor might not be the most accurate.

Anyhow, I want to take this opportunity to wish my readers a wonderful and blessed Christmas. Travel safely if you are going away and I hope to hear from you in the new year.

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

All Passion Spent

I have finished reading All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West. I don't want to say too much here as I am keen to join in the discussion over on Cornflower on the 15th of December. The book is wonderful and I would encourage anyone who hasn't read it to scout out a copy. The plot is basic - 90 year old Lady Slane's husband dies and, for the first time in her life she decides to do exactly what she wants to do, and retires to a tiny house in Hampstead. She is surrounded by a cast of wonderful characters: her bossy and disaproving offspring, her French maid (Genoux), her landlord (Bucktrout) and an eccentric millionaire who loved her when she was young (Mr FitzGeorge). Oh, but the writing is beautiful and Sackville-West captures human frailty so well. One passage that appealed to me (probably because I often find myself in precisely this situation at work):

She had always taken an enormous amount of trouble to disguise her ignorance from Henry. In the end she had learnt to succeed quite well, and he would disburdern himself of his political perplexities wiithout the slightest suspicion that his wife had long since lost the basis of his argument. She was secretly and bitterly ashamed of her insufficiency. But what was to be done about it? She could not, no, she simply could not, remember why Mr. Asquith disliked Mr. Lloyd George, or what exactly were the aims of Labour, that new and alarming Party. The most that she could do was to conceal her ignorance, while she scrambled round frenziedly in her brain for some recollected scrap of associated information that would enable her to make some adequate reply.

I also did some cooking during the week. I made MommyCoddle's granola recipe. The second time I have done so. It is just delicious. I like having it with greek yoghurt and fresh berries. It makes a great start to the day.

As I mentioned in my last post, we have decorated the house for Christmas. I thought I would share a picture of our Christmas tree.




















And, because we finally got a picture of our dogs TOGETHER (very difficult) I will share that too. Abby is the one on my lap and Monty is seated in front - looking a little stunned!

Well, I am off to have lunch and then indulge in a lazy afternoon with my latest read Debs at War by Anne De Courcy. I am about half way through and it is brilliant (my kind of history book). But, more on that later.

Weekend Ramblings

We had a brilliant weekend here, though not much reading got done. We had a theatrical bonanza on Saturday. First we went to see the Sydney Symphony perform the film music of John Williams. The first half of the programme featured music from, inter alia, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Jurrasic Park and E.T.. I loved the violin solo from Schindler's List, and now I really want to see the movie. The second half was solely music from the Star Wars films.

Then in the evening we went to see the Australian Ballet perform The Nutcracker. The Australian Ballet has purchased the rights to the coreography, sets and costumes from the Birmingham Royal Ballet. I absolutely loved the ballet, and if the whole season wasn't sold out would be going to see it again. The costumes were amazing, and the sets sumptuous. And, of course, the dancing brilliant. I might be biased (as she is a fellow West Australian), but I thought Madeline Eastoe as the Sugar Plum Fairy was amazing!

We also got into the festive spirit and put up our Christmas tree, nativity scene and christmas candles. I love Christmas!! I know that you technically are supposed to put up the tree on Christmas Eve and take it down on Epiphany, but 12 days of decorations aren't enough for me; so I favour putting it up at the start of Advent!

I have finished reading the final Maisie Dobbs - Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear. As I have come to expect it was a good read. Maisie investigates the murder of artist Nick Bassington-Hope - well known for painting provocative scenes of real people.

I am now reading All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West for Cornflower's book group. I am about half way through and it is brilliant! Can't wait to join the forum to discuss it.

An Open Book...

And, finally, though I know that three postings in one night are a little excessive, but I do like to be on top of my read books pile! Anyway, I haven’t posted in over a week so I am in deficit overall! I have just finished An Open Book – the autobiography of Monica Dickens. If you have visited this blog before then you probably know that I love Monica’s writing. This is written in the same easy style. It traces her life from her parent’s home in London, to school at St Paul’s, her time as a Cook General, wartime service as a Nurse and in factory work, a five year period where she lived alone in the country, and finally her marriage and new life in America with her US navy husband, Roy.

Monica’s family seem to feature the same cast of eccentric characters as inhabit her books. Consequently, I found this a really quick, enjoyable read. There were lots of references to her work, providing context as to why she had written about a particular setting, or a particular theme. I kept yelping while I read because she would tell a story and I would be sure I knew in which book it appeared! And, as an interesting aside, she wrote One Pair of Hands in the space of three weeks. How’s that for speed writing.

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont

I saw Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont last year when it came out in the cinemas. The first thing that appealed to me about the film was its title – I went to school in a suburb called Claremont! Anyway, I found the film just delightful and, when I discovered the book of the same name, I was keen to read it. Fast forward a year, and my copy arrives from Book Depository. I dived straight in.

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont was written by Elizabeth Taylor. (oh, and I note another of her books has been made into a film and is showing now – Angel ). Mrs Palfrey moves to a hotel in London – The Claremont – when her husband dies. At the hotel are a number of other long term elderly residents. The outlook from hotel is bleak, the quality of the company questionable and the food is awful – there does not seem to be much for Mrs Palfrey to look forward to. That is, until she takes a tumble outside the door of Ludo’s basement flat. Ludo is an aspiring writer who becomes her surrogate grandson; invited to meals at the Claremont and doted on. The relationship is cemented to such an extent that, Mrs Palfrey having introduced Ludo to the other Claremont residents as her grandson, when Mrs Palfrey’s real grandson visits the Claremont the other residents turf him out as an impostor!

The book is just beautiful; sad in parts, but poignantly happy in others. Elizabeth Taylor is an exquisite writer and I definitely plan to read more of her work. Still, the novel left me thinking about what old age means when you are alone and I was reminded of a quote from the 1960s film The Trouble with Angels which stared Haley Mills. After visiting an old people’s home at Christmas the young Haley Mill’s character says to Mother Superior “I want to die young, and very, very wealthy”. Well I don’t want to die young, but I am not sure being the last one standing is all that desirable either!

Hester's Story

My Mum bought me Hester’s Story by Adele Geras when we went to a recent trash and treasure in a nearby village. She thought I would enjoy it because it is about a ballet dancer; and I do ballet. My enforced absence from my blog over the last week and a bit has actually been because of ballet – as I was very busy in the lead up to my ballet school’s concert. Hester’s story oscillates between two time periods: Hester’s youth in the 1930s/1940s and the mid 1980s. Hester (real name Estelle) was born in France where her mother, a ballet dancer, died giving birth to her. Her Father despised her, blaming her for her mother’s death. She did, however, have a very treasured relationship with her Grandmother – who raised her.

At age 6 her Father sends her to live in England with her Mother’s cousin, who has a daughter of a similar age. She is very unhappy there, until a strange Russian woman moves into an old house on the village edge. It turns out that the woman is ballet teacher and, after discovering Hester’s innate talent, commits to teaching her free of charge. Eventually, when she is 14 Madame Olga gets Hester a placement at a London ballet company, where she rises to be a principal. Her achievements are compromised when she begins an affair with a married patron of the ballet company and falls pregnant.

Fast forward to the 1980s and Hester is now retired and running an annual ballet festival (in Madame Olga’s old house). Each Christmas one choreographer is invited to come and stage a work. This year it is Hugo Carradine and his company. He is involved with Claudia, his prima ballerina; though their relationship is fraught. Actually, Claudia is a singularly nasty piece of work and behaves appallingly towards her daughter – who has accompanied her. It soon becomes clear that the past and present are very strongly intertwined. And there I must stop or I will give away the ending!

An Uncommon Reader

Another book I picked up from The Book Depository was Alan Bennet’s The Uncommon Reader. I was going to ask for this for a Christmas present but the rave reviews it has been getting over the blogosphere meant I couldn’t wait another 6 weeks to read it. I took it on the train on Friday, after being chastised by my Military Man for not finishing Mrs Beeton first, and finished it by half way through the trip home. I don’t think there is much point giving a lengthy plot summary here since the story is reasonably well known. In essence, the Queen stumbles across a visiting library van in the palace grounds, borrows a book (to be polite), gets bitten by the reading bug and then, much to the concern of those around her, neglects her royal duties because they interfere with her desire to read. The Uncommon Reader is a novella; brief and to the point, but oh so utterly charming.

Continuing with the Alan Bennet theme we went to see Talking Heads last night. This followed a very busy day….a dress rehearsal for my ballet concert started at 8am and didn’t finish until 2pm, then a rush to the North Shore for a cocktail party to celebrate my old school’s centenary, followed by an apologetic early departure to speed into town for Talking Heads. This version of Talking Heads comprised two monologues: Her Big Chance and Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet. Sigrid Thornton (of SeaChange and The Man From Snowy River) starred in Her Big Chance which is about a woman, Lesley, who clings to the memory of being a glorified extra in a Polanski film while becoming deeply involved in the adult porn industry. English actress Brenda Blethyn starred in Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet - which was just brilliant! She played a spinster who has an unusual relationship with her chiropodist, Mr Dunderdale. Her comic timing was fantastic; such a privilege to be in the audience.

The Provincial Lady

Well I have completed my reading of all four of E.M. Delafield's Provincial Lady's books and have enjoyed them. They provide a very witty social commentary of the times. Doing a bit of research today on the internet I discovered (if wikipedia is correct) that Delafield died in 1942 only two years after writing The Provincial Lady in Wartime. It is sad to think that she never got to see peace in her homeland again.

Diary of A Provincial Lady
Written in first person in quaint style. Tells the minutia of Delafield's life in country Britain in the early 1930s. She lives in a large house with her husband, Robert, and two children, Robin and Vicky. Mademoiselle, Vicky's governess, is a prominent character in this story. She is a French woman with very fraught nerves (Note to Self: working French knowledge would be valuable in understanding her dialogue).

The family is always struggling to make ends meet - the are constantly having communications from the bank on their overdraft. This has necessitated, much to Delafield's distress, the pawning of her Great Aunt's ring. Delafield finds herself in all sorts of awkward social situations. She often feels dowdy in her 'dated' clothes and is regularly introduced as "fabulously literary" - upon which most new acquaintences rapidly absent themselves from her company.

The Provincial Lady Goes Further
Delafield has published a successful novel and the family finances are consequently somewhat improved. At the urging of her friend Rose, she decides to take a flat in London to focus on her writing. Unfortunately she tends to become busy with social obligations and, at other times, takes people watching walks in the city. Most of these social obligations are literary parties, which Delafield does not seem to enjoy, but is unable to decline.

Mademoiselle is moved on in this story as Vicky has gone to boarding school. As such, when the family take a trup to France for the holidays they appoint a tutor, Casabianca (fabulous name). Humorous anecdotes on life in France follow: the children refuse to eat anything French and Robert is very disaproving of the concept of a continental breakfast.

The Provincial Lady in America
Delafield takes a six month trip to America to promote her books. She is very sea sick on the journey over but finds America itself delightful. She very much enjoys the warm hospitality to extended to her by the Americans she meets. There is a wonderful story about her wanting to visit Allcott's house but being denied by her publisher; he later reneges when a prominent book reviewer asks her to comment on the place. It is the highlight of her trip. Nonetheless, she remains homesick for her family throughout and cannot wait to be reunited with them.

The Provincial Lady in Wartime
War has been declared in Britain. Delafield opens her house to evacuees - two children and their Nanny. With Robert busy acting as an ARP and her children back at school. Delafield installs Robert's Aunt Blanche as housekeeper and takes herself off to London to volunteer her services for the war effort. Unfortunately she can't find anyone who wants them and is told to 'Stand By'. She becomes good friends with Serena, an acquaintance of Aunt Blanche, who finds her a voluntary position at the underground Adelphi Canteen. Delafield undertakes to see the rest of the phony war out there until her skills are recognised and her services required.

And, finally, a line I found terribly amusing from The Provincial Lady in Wartime.
"Am sorry to note that abuse and condemnation of a common acquaintance often constitutes very strong bond of union between otherwise uncongenial spirits." p. 139

Miss Garnet's Angel

Sorry for not posting for a while. There has only been limited reading going on here. I had a bit of a shock over the weekend. My husband informed me that he has a 6 month deployment to Iraq next year. I realise that as a wife of a soldier I should be ready for this; but it is a different thing to know in theory they may go overseas, and to experience it in reality. Anyway, the news somewhat upset my equilibrium and tears (for several days) insued. Reading made difficult by sore, red eyes; and continuous drip onto page. Anyway, I am now somewhat recovered and am trying to see the positives in it. Still early days for seeing many; but one I can concieve is a 2 week reunion in Italy in the middle. This is pertinent because the novel I have been reading and loving is set in Venice - Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers - and my husband's means of breaking the news was to tell me he would take me to visit there...

When Miss Julia Garnet's friend, and 30 year live-in (platonic) companion, Harriet, dies she decides to rent out her apartment and spend 6 months living in Venice. When she leaves England she is a straight-laced individual, somewhat of a loner and, furthermore, a life-long committed Communist. However, Venice gently transforms her. First of all she is befriended by an American couple - the Cutforths. Then she falls in love with the suave Italian Carlo. She is disappointed, later, when she learns that he merely sees her as a means of getting at Nicco: a young boy to whom Julia is teaching English.

Julia also meets 'the twins' - Toby and Sarah who are restoring the Chapel-of-the-Plague. It is they who show her a panel representing the story of Tobias and the angel, Raphael; a tale from the Jewish bible - the Apocrypha. She becomes entraced with the story which unfolds simultaneously with Miss Garnet's experiences in Venice. She begins to envisage the angel and this frees her spirit, allowing her to embrace life like she never has before.

This is a beautiful story and fascinating with its links to the geography and history of Venice; and is made even more so because of the tie-in with the tale of Tobias and the Angel, Raphael.

Salley quotes John Ruskin in the end papers

"If some people really see angels, where others see empty space, let them paint the angels..."

I Capture the Castle

I Capture the Castle is one of my favourite movies. Therefore, when I saw that Simon had said that it was one of three books - with Rebecca and Jane Eyre - that was essential reading; I thought I should expedite it up the reading pile. At this point, I might mention my acute embarassment that I had in fact read none of these books. Oh well, I am one-third of the way there now. And what a joy it was! Reading I Capture the Castle was a blissfully enjoyable experience. It is a real curl-up-on-the-couch-with-a-cup-of-tea kind of book. I was completely absorbed by the atmosphere Dodie Smith created. It has to have one of the best opening lines ever: "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink".

I Capture the Castle is told in the first person by Cassandra Mortmain - a 17 year old aspiring writer. She lives in a rundown castle with her father, eccentric stepmother (Topaz), sister (Rose), brother (Thomas) and family friend (Stephen). Her father was once a well known author - having published a novel called Jacob Wrestling which did particularly well in the US. Unfortunately, he has written nothing since. Consequently, the family lives in less than genteel poverty.

Rose and Cassandra dream of wealth. They would like to live in a Jane Austen novel (well 50 per cent Jane and 50 per cent Charlotte). Following a wish on a gargoyle (on the roof of the castle), two wealthy American brothers, Simon and Neil, arrive on their doorstep. Rose pursues Simon - with success. As the story unfolds Cassandra becomes increasingly disillusioned. She is in love with Simon, but he only has eyes for Rose. Cassandra copes with this until she learns that Rose does not love Simon only his money.

I thought it was particularly interesting the number of references to literature that were made in I Capture the Castle. One which struck me was La Belle Dame Sans Merci - the John Keats poem. I recall learning this at school, though I only remember the first line " What can ail thee Knight-at-arms".

A thoroughly enjoyable read. Thanks for recommending it Simon. I commend I Capture the Castle to all.

Half of a Yellow Sun

I picked up Half of Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in a Borders 3 for 2 deal. I was keen to read it after I heard it had won the Orange Prize for Fiction this year. I read a previous Orange Prize winner (Small Island by Andrea Levy) earlier in the year and enjoyed it; ergo, I thought the Prize might be a sound indicator for a good read.

I found the novel interesting. Owing to my birth being in the mid 1980s, I wasn’t around in the 1960s to have been aware of the civil war in Nigeria during that period. Consequently, this was educational – not just a ‘fiction’ read. I must admit I struggled initially to get into Half of a Yellow Sun but my perseverance was rewarded and it proved itself a really worthwhile read.

Half of a Yellow Sun tells the story of three lives intersecting during the Nigeria – Biafra civil war. Ugwu is a poor boy who works as a houseboy for a university lecturer, Odenigbo (or Master as Ugwu refers to him when he is the narrator), and his wife, Olanna. Olanna has a twin sister, Kainene who is involved with a shy Englishman, Richard. Obviously, with the exception of Ugwu, they are all used to a fairly high standard of living.

All four Nigerian characters are part of the Igbo racial minority (Christians). First there is coup by Igbo members of the Nigerian Army, then they themselves are overthrown by the majority Muslim racial groups. There is widespread slaughter of the Igbo population in the north of the country. They retreat to the south establishing the independent state of Biafra. Civil war ensues and the characters, with the rest of the populace, struggle to survive (battling starvation). Relationships are tested and as Biafra’s demise becomes more evident they try to cope with their displacement to the bottom of the Nigerian social order.

More Maisie Dobbs

I have recently read two more Maisie Dobbs novels, and I have the fourth (and latest) one in the series dangling tantalisingly ahead of me. My darling husband brought it back for me from his last work trip away – and in the American hardback version!

If you would like to more about the character of Maisie Dobbs please see an earlier post of the 24th of August. Owing to time constraints this evening, I am just going to give a brief summary of the plots here. First, Birds of a Feather. Maisie is asked by Joseph Waite, a well-to-do food merchant, to find his daughter Charlotte who has run away from home. I should mention that Charlotte is a 30 year old woman. Maisie becomes concerned for her safety when she discovers that a growing number of the female friends of Charlotte’s youth have died in suspicious circumstances. Each time, a small white feather is found at the death scene. I can’t really say anymore without giving away the ending but, given that these books are set after WW1 I picked up on the significance of the white feather fairly early!

The third in the series is Pardonable Lies. Sir Cedric Lawton made a promise to his dying wife that he would find their son Ralph; shot down on a flying mission in France in 1917. His wife had always believed Ralph was alive, Sir Cedric asks Maisie to prove he is dead. Maisie’s good friend from her Cambridge days, Priscilla, also makes a personal request that Maisie find out what happened to her brother Peter Everndon who was reported missing, presumed dead. Shortly after her investigations commence, Maisie has attempts made on her life. Undeterred, she travels to France and soon realises that her two cases are interlinked…. Again, in the interests of not spoiling the ending for someone who might chance on this blog and decide to read the book; I say no more.

I love these books. They are gentle and imminently readable. They are the sort of book you look forward to work finishing for the day for; so you can be enveloped, once again, in a slowly unravelling yarn. On that note, I am taking my latest Maisie Dobbs and I am off to read…

The Foolish Gentlewoman

I picked up The Foolish Gentlewoman when the cover attracted my attention. I didn’t know the author – Margery Sharp – but have since discovered that she wrote the children’s book called The Rescuers. I think I may have read it as a child as it seems familiar. The Foolish Gentlewoman is just gorgeous, blissful reading.

Again, this story is set at the end of WW2. Isabel Brocken, a childless widow, lives at Chipping Lodge a Victorian manor on the outskirts of London. She offers a home to her conservative elder brother-in-law while his home is rebuilt (it having been bombed in the blitz). Also sharing the house is Jacqueline, a former ATS, who acts as Isabel’s companion, and Isabel’s young, recently demobilised, nephew Humphrey. All is going well until Isabel’s rector gives a sermon on the “passage of time not making a base action any less base”. Isabel is filled with remorse about something she did to her cousin/cum-companion, Tilly Cuff, in their youth. To make amends for this she asks Tilly to come and stay; and decides to give her all her money. No-one, least of all Simon, can convince her to do otherwise. Tilly takes up the invitation and is tiresome in the extreme. A gentle tale unfolds as Isabel tries to ‘like Tilly’; while the others try to survive her/ get rid of her.

A favourite passage:
On Mr Brocken (Simon) – “It was his habit to avoid people whenever possible, in case they became a nuisance. For Simon was profoundly convinced that all people became a nuisance sooner or later: logic and arithmetic informed him that the fewer people one became involved with, the less danger one ran of being annoyed. Carrying his inviolability like a precious cup of water, Mr Brocken returned up the hill to Chipping Lodge”.

The Happy Prisoner

You may have gathered that I love Monica Dickens’ writing! So, here is a review of the latest one I have read. I took The Happy Prisoner on our trip and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have an old penguin copy that I picked up at a second hand bookshop.

The Happy Prisoner is set at the close of WW2 and is taken from the point of view of Oliver. Oliver is a former soldier confined to bed; having had his leg amputated following an injury suffered in France. He observes his family’s antics from there. The characters are classics! His sister Vi is a tomboy, incapable of elegance – the family is horrified when she decides to marry Fred Williams, their tenant farmer. Heather, the other sister, is dissatisfied with life. Even the return of her husband John from a Japanese POW camp doesn’t cheer her up. Mrs North, their mother, just tries to keep the peace.

Another favourite character for me was Muffet, John’s mother, who comes to stay while her apartment is renovated. She is a kleptomaniac who steals particularly enthusiastically from those she doesn’t like!

Mistress of the Art of Death

I had read about the Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin on a book blog. I read quite a few in my down time at work and I don’t know which one this was on. Anyway, I saw it for $7 at QBD books and decided to give it a go.

Mistress of the Art of Death is set in medieval Cambridge. Several Christian children have been killed and the Jews of the city are being blamed. The King recruits a doctor who specialises in dead people from the School of Medicine in Salerno (relying on a favour from his friend, the King of Sicily). She (in the 12th century?) travels to the city and slowly deduces that (WARNING-possible spoiler) the killer must have been a crusader - and hence solves the mystery. I have mixed feelings about this book. The plot was interesting but it was too bloody in its descriptions for my liking. I like ‘clean murders’ where the emphasis is on the mystery rather than the death.

The Kite Runner

Well, I have so many books to post on as I have been rather remiss of late in keeping this blog updated. Anyway as my husband is away AGAIN this week I am going to post on the 6 books that I have read in recent weeks but haven’t posted on. I think I will do it as a gradual process though over the next few days.

I have been meaning to read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini for several years; ever since I printed off Rory’s Reading List – I am a huge Gilmore Girls fan. For those who are not familiar with the programme, Rory was avid reader and there were regular references to literary classics and contemporary fiction. The book list compiled all those books which were referenced in the show. I have all 6 seasons on DVD, and one of the only positives I can see of my husband being away so much is that I can watch episodes without complaints!

Anyway, to the book! I enjoyed it. Amir grows up in Afghanistan. His mother died when he was born, and he and his father live with their servants Ali and Hassan (his son). From a young age Amir can sense that his father (Baba) disapproves of him. He is determined to win the annual kite fight to gain Baba’s approval. He succeeds and Hassan promises to run for the kite so Amir can present it to his father.

Having retrieved the kite, Hassan is caught by the local bullies who demand that he give it to them. Hassan will not and they rape him as punishment (also, in part, because Hassan is racially a Hazara -considered inferior by the dominant Pashtuns). Amir witnesses this but does not intervene. The rest of the story deals with how this lack of action affects him (mostly through the intense guilt) and the other characters in the story.

As a side issue, I read in the NYT last week that The Kite Runner has been made into a movie. It was filmed in Afghanistan. Apparently racial tensions are so heated between the Hazaras and Pashtuns that it is feared that the ‘rape scene’ is inflammatory enough that it might risk the lives of the young actors and their families. They are going to be relocated out of the country before the film is released!