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My May PBT Trim the TBR #24Tag #Beautiful
Horizons Culture #Tuscany
336 Pages
The Tuscan Child by Rhys BowenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
'Christmas was almost upon them. Sofia reported that Cosimo had shot a wild boar in the forest.
"We have to keep it a secret," she said, "because we are not allowed to own weapons and if the Germans found the boar, they would take it from us. They love their meat. But our men will cut it up in the forest and deliver a portion to each family in San Salvatori, so we can each have some meat for the holiday. And guess what I will do? I will make a wild boar ragout! The tin you gave me contained tomatoes! I'm so excited! And I'll make a chestnut cake! A real holiday feast!"
After she had gone Hugo pictured her face, her joy.
"She finds happiness in such small things," he thought.
It is December 1944 and bomber pilot Captain Hugo Langley's Blenheim Bomber is shot down by German Messerschmitt over occupied Italian countryside and he is forced to parachute into enemy territory. He discovers that he has landed in Tuscany, near a remote hillside village called San Salvatori. The retreating German army is fortified along what is known as the 'German Gothic Line', north of Lucca, and is near enough to make frequent descents upon the village for food and supplies. Convoys of German troops were frequently bombed by American and British aircraft as they retreated through the Tuscan hillsides towards the north. This was further complicated by the activities of the local underground Partisan members (Italian Resistance) to sabotage, inhibit and fight the Germans who occupied their country. This created a very real and present danger. Reprisals for this activity were inflicted on whole villages, including men, women and children. Within the mountainous regions of Italy, an estimated 15 000 Italian citizens were killed by German soldiers in a series of whole village massacres during 1944. The lovely Sofia, a local village woman, discovers Hugo hiding in the rubble of a Monastery and undertakes to care for and feed him secretly, and a beautiful friendship of mutual care and trust unfolds.
Meanwhile, we are also taken into the future of June 1973, to learn the story of Joanna Langley, who has come back home to sort through the details following the death of her father, Hugo. While searching for the necessary legal documents her father may have left behind, she comes across a box of treasures that he put away after the war ended, including a love letter to a woman, Sofia, living in San Salvatori in Tuscany which was returned, unopened, 'no longer at this address'. Joanna has no knowledge of many aspects of her father's past, a man she found cold, distant and difficult. She decides to take herself, broken by much recent grief in her own life, on a journey to find out about the man she never knew: the warm and vibrant Hugo of the letter, and to try and discover what really happened to her father during the war.
This is a most beautiful book. The story, the characters, the Tuscan countryside and it's people, the journeys of discovery that Hugo, in 1944, and his daughter Joanna, in 1973, take to find both themselves and the true joy and meaning that has been missing from both of their lives. The food! After reading this book I am so desperate to pull out my Italian cooking book and try some of the authentic Tuscan recipes described. Rhys Bowen wrote in her personal notes on Goodreads,
'I wanted the theme of both stories to be healing through food. Hugo is kept alive by Sofia bringing him food, and Joanna is healed of her traumas and loss by being fed by Paola.
I can only say, as a passionate lover of good food, cooking and books that describe authentic cultural cooking, "Thank You!"
The plot makes for compulsive reading. It combines mystery, nail biting tension, beauty, romance and the integrity of realistic human experience, during times that really happened to those who lived through the war and those who were raised by that 'silent' generation, that was largely broken by it in some form. I really enjoyed the journey I took through the perception of the two main characters, Hugo and Joanna Langley, with the emotive poignancy of Hugo and Sofia's story and winding through the unravelling of both narratives.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge the masterly narrations of the Audible audiobook edition, which I adored listening to, by Jonaton Keeble (Hugo's Story) and Katy Soby (Joanna's Story). The choice to have the two different character's stories, which are clearly marked by chapter and title in the text edition, acted by two different narrators, made the understanding and remembering of various details in each story easy. Listening was an immersive and enjoyable experience. I also wish to acknowledge the beautiful cover art by Shasti O'Leary Soudant, for compelling me to try a book by an author whose previous more light- hearted serial works, I had not enjoyed. This sat on my TBR, actually impulsively purchased already on my phone, but constantly put off as I was nervous of disappointment. Finally, it's number came up on one of my Goodread Groups TBR challenge, I drew a deep breath and plunged in. The beautiful Tuscan scene depicted on the cover art had initially made me take a second look at the blurb, and subsequently, eventually discover a serious, stand alone work that has now made it into 'My 5 Star Reads' Hall of Fame.
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Horizons Culture = INDIA (PARSI and MUSLIM CULTURE)Tag #Beautiful
The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata MasseyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Inspired in part by the woman who made history as India's first female attorney, The Widows of Malabar Hill is a richly wrought story of multicultural 1920s Bombay as well as the debut of a sharp and promising new sleuth."
Book Blurb.
It is 1921 and Perveen Mistry, a brilliant young Parsi woman, is working as a solicitor at her father's law firm as the first woman solicitor in India. Newly qualified with her degree from Oxford, Perveen is passionately invested in her new career and in particular, in protecting the rights of women whose circumstances come within her influence. The firm's long term client, Omar Farid, has recently passed away, leaving three wives and several children, all who live on his estate in full Purdah Nashin. Perveen notices some unusual discrepancies in the legal document she is sent, signing away their inheritances to the family charity and hopes that her gender will allow her to meet and discuss the private legal matters with the three women, who have no other access to independent legal advice.
'The Widows of Malabar Hill' was named a Best Mystery/Thriller of 2018 and won the Bruce Alexander Best Historical Mystery Award. It is nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark award for women's mysteries and the Agatha award for best historical novel. This book is a reflection of the multicultural society of India in the early part of the 20th century. It depicts with authentic intimacy, the Parsi family and society cultural customs and beliefs as well as describing what the life of a Purdah Nishin woman and life in the Indian Muslim community would have been like. Aspects of British colonial culture are also explored, through Perveen's English friend, who is the daughter of an important advisor to the ruling British Governor in Bombay. Elements of current day plot are alternated with the uncovering of the mystery of Perveen's own past and the reasons why and how she has come to be in the unique position she is in now. Her story is raw and difficult and has influenced her with great compassion for people who have no voice, no ability legally for self determination, as is the case for many women in her world.
Patience is required as the murder mystery around which the core of the book is set is very slow to develop. It is made tolerable by the fascinatingly vivid details, descriptions and stories related of characters past and present, who are important to Perveen's India and personal history. Once the murder is out, however, the story moves along at a good pace, both in detailing the past and present mysteries we are learning about. Because of the pacing, this book verges on the feel of a thriller, rather than just a detective/legal 'who dunnit', as we become personally invested in Perveen and her story and come to care greatly for her well-being, and those of her new friends. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and plan to read the next instalment, The Satapur Moonstone, when it becomes available this year.
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PBT Tag #BEAUTIFUL 2PBT Horizons culture: NEW ENGLAND/MASSACHUSETTS (1730-1800)
pp. 320
- I'm Australian so definitely a different culture for me.
(There and so many references in this book to "The culture of New England and Massachusetts" by the author in describing the comparative culture shocks that Abigail and John Adams sustained during their diplomatic services to Paris, Le Havre and London, that I feel it is fitting to submit this under a culture tag. Explanations of precisely what this culture meant as an identity (to Abigail Adams in particular) in her letters to family members when away from home, or even when discussing the differences between living at home and living in the cities of New York, Philadelphia and Washington. It was their strong cultural identity and they were extremely proud of it.
First Family: Abigail and John Adams by Joseph J. EllisMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
"I never wanted you more in my life. The times are critical and dangerous and I must have you here to assist me....You must leave our farm to the mercy of the winds....I can do nothing without you."
Letters to Abigail Adams from John Adams, newly inaugurated president, March 1797.
This biography was written by Joseph J. Ellis, based mostly on the thousands of letters exchanged between husband and wife political team, John and Abigail Adams, over the course of their lives together. Abigail Adams was an unusually well educated and independent thinking woman for the New England, Massachusetts culture of the time and formed a complementary partnership with her politically ambitious lawyer husband, John Adams, such that she became his best advisor, friend, consoler and confidante while he performed on the world stage as one of the most pivotal founding fathers of the fledgling republic of the United States of America.
In his writing Ellis acknowledges the irony that most is known of the couples private thoughts and ideals when they were separated from each other, as during the times where they were living together, limited correspondence between the couple is available. To fill in these gaps, Ellis has sourced other historical documents, letters and facts, which are well cited, to inform us of their experiences during these times. Fortunately, for the purposes of this biography, many years were spent apart while Abigail stayed at home to manage their New England farm and raise their four children, while John served in Philadelphia, Paris and Le Havre in various government and diplomatic positions.
I found parts of this biography quite a slog to get through, but large sections held my interest irresistibly. I am a newcomer to the stories that make up the historical development of the United States, with a basic understanding, but little in-depth knowledge. I read a biography of Jefferson recently, told from the perspective of his daughter's experiences of growing up in a young America, Jefferson's Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America, and this biography has further enlightened me on areas not well covered in that story, particularly the deeper whys and hows of the political climate of the time. Although well referenced and researched, Ellis' biography is by no means dry. A strong sense of affection for the Adams family pervades his writing and the personalities and temperaments, virtues and faults of all of its members are given life on the page.
My favourite story about John and Abigail Adams occurs early in their lives together. In 1770, John took a highly unpopular, personally and politically dangerous decision to defend in court the British soldiers who had fired on and killed six members of a Boston mob that was harassing them with taunts and snowballs:
"John agreed to take the case for two reasons: first, he believed that it was important to demonstrate that even the vilified “Lobsterbacks” could get fair treatment in Massachusetts, despite the highly politicised atmosphere; second, he thought that the so-called massacre had been manipulated by Samuel Adams and the leadership of the Sons of Liberty for political purposes.He claimed that the Boston Massacre was “planned by designing Men” and that the real victims were the British soldiers. This was obviously an unpopular posture. With Abigail’s support and they agreed that John’s choice to defend in court was the virtuous course regardless of the political fallout.
Abigail and John's fear that John’s success in defending these British Soldiers would create implacable and dangerous enemies was proved wrong. John’s political credentials were subsequently considered by his founding peers as beyond reproach and his reputation as the epitome of the "passionate patriot with inviolate personal integrity" was established.
Overall, the approach Ellis used to create this biography paint a picture of an essentially important time in modern history and a man who walked in the centre of it all, his wife behind and beside him, who attempted to conduct himself (while treading the mired maze) with dignity and a strong sense of moral rectitude, in spite of his impulsive and passionate personality traits. Adams revealed throughout his letters, that he was personally aware that his life would be scrutinised for virtue and achievement by the coming generations. He was very conscious of his personal role in the history making epoch during which he lived and served. He was also humorously self aware enough to acknowledge his inevitable egoism, without which no man could have survived this tumultuous era in American politics.
John’s words to Abigail, in a letter written from the as yet unfinished presidential mansion in Washington, November 1800, later transcribed into the mantel of the fireplace in the White House:
“May none but honest and wise Men rule under this roof”
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Horizons culture =BRAZILBeautiful Tag = Yes
pp. 480
The Seven Sisters by Lucinda RileyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The premise of this story was like a fairy story. I was so sure that there would be magic in this book somewhere....
Pa Salt is the adoptive father of six daughters, from many far flung corners of the globe. Each little girl in turn was brought back to grow up in his beautiful but remote home in Switzerland, called Atlantis. Brought up in the security of privilege and love, each girl is named in turn after one of the stars belonging to the Seven Sister Constellation. The oldest, Maia, is shortly joined by Alcyone (Ally), Asterope (Star), Celaeno (CeCe), Taygete (Tiggy) and Electra. Yes that is part of the mystery...seven stars and only six sisters. When Maia dared to ask her father why their seventh sister (Merope) never joined them, Pa Salt replied that he had never 'found' her and seemed distressed. Each girl is unique and different from each other, from firebrand Electra, dreamer Tiggy, shy, insecure Star, overbearing and dominant CeCe, confident, practical Ally to reclusive, private, caring and beautiful Maia - the eldest, the sister who never left home. This first book in the Seven Sisters Series and it is Maia's story.
Maia is taking a short holiday with an old school friend when she receives a distressed phone call from her substitute mother and the housekeeper of Pa Salt's home, Marina, to inform her of her father's death. On returning home she finds that on her father's strict orders, he has already been buried at sea, his study door is locked, and has left important information for each of his daughters with his lawyer. As her distressed siblings arrive home, Maia is on hand, despite her private grief and exhaustion to care for and comfort them and to break the difficult news to each in turn. Once the lawyer arrives, the girls are shown an 'armillary sphere' which is engraved with each of their names and a set of coordinates following, as well as an inscription in Greek. These as well as a personal letter given to each girl, are the final bequests of Pa Salt.
The coordinates are discovered to correspond to a location on Earth, where each girl was born. Maia is confronted with this unsolicited information about her origins, about which she has never troubled before. Her experiences in life have led Maia to seek safety and isolation, to shun closeness and intimacy with other humans and to avoid entangling herself with personal feelings. Pa Salt had given her clues and opportunities to know more of her heritage, but always, she had chosen not to seek more knowledge. However, a phone call from a man she has not set eyes on for fourteen years, has the power to send her on a headlong flight of avoidance all the way to Rio de Janeiro, the city of her birth.
Maia's story is told alongside the story of her Great Grandmother, Izabela Bonifacio, a famous beauty who lived as a young debutante in Rio de Janeiro and Paris in the late 1920s. Through discovering this story, we learn about what life was like for a dutiful daughter of rich immigrant parents, whose life is mapped out and planned for by her father, her fiance and finally her husband. Yet, Izabella has a strong streak of rebellion, alongside a passionate ability to love, and her choices lead to consequences that she must negotiate on her path to find happiness. Alongside discovering Izabella's story, we learn the history and the story behind the planning and building of Rio de Janeiro's most famous landmark,
the 'Cristo Redentor'.
After I was a couple of chapters into this story, I stopped at my local bookstore to see if I could purchase myself a hard copy of the book, as I had been enjoying the story through the narrative talents of Emily Lucienne on Audible download. I found that I wanted a text copy to check some of the Greek, Portugese and French spellings of words that I was unfamiliar with, to help my comprehension of the plot. Unfortunately, the last copy had been sold, so I came away empty handed, but the book shop owner and I had a conversation about how the writing style was reminiscent of the mystical quality I encountered when I first read the works of Francis Hodgson Burnett, as if I was reading 'A Secret Garden', but written for the adult reader, with all of the tragic backstory alluded to, but never revealed in detail, about the adults in that story. Once I got home, I chose to download a copy onto my Kindle, and enjoyed the benefits of 'Whispersync' for the first time.
As for my favourite parts: the mysteries! Pa Salt must surely be a magical being of some sort? A time traveller? An omniscient being temporarily on earth? Or is he truly just an amazing old man with a gift for discovering the truth? To be honest, I still am not at all sure, and that is the joy and the true magic of this book. Fortunately, this is the first instalment in a series, so I hope eventually to get answers to the many questions I have as I read further on. With every question answered in this book, another has raised its questing head. As a huge fan of trope that involves an overarching mystery yet to be solved, as well as a lover of historical fiction, this book (which has caused me to spend way too many hours contemplating the what ifs and whys) is an obvious 5 star read for me.
"Never let fear decide your destiny.”
― Lucinda R
(Pa Salt's advice to Maia)
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Horizons Culture: Greece320 Pages
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald DurrellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
'This is the story of a five-year sojourn that I and my family made on the Greek island of Corfu. It was originally intended to be a mildly nostalgic account of the natural history of the island, but I made a grave mistake by introducing my family into the book in the first few pages. Having got themselves on paper, they then proceeded to establish themselves and invite various friends to share the chapters. It was only with the greatest difficulty, and by exercising considerable cunning, that I managed to retain a few pages here and there which I could devote exclusively to animals.'
One of my all time favourites. A childhood spent in Corfu with a unique and whacky family of older siblings and an endlessly patient mother, Gerald Durrell found himself in the perfect environment to enrich his famously lifelong study of animals in their natural habitats and his ability to connect with and keep unusual pets. His stories about his family and their Corfu friends are endlessly quirky and amusing, his descriptions of the Corfu countryside lyrical and engaging. The fascinating animal stories contained within this book are the smallest part of interest as his family, as Gerry warns in his introduction, keep taking over centre stage and refusing to leave it. Hilarious and laugh out loud funny, even on a multiple reread.
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June TBR #30Monthly Tag - Yes
210 Pages
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling5 Stars
I was under the impression that I had never read these books, but somewhere in my childhood, at least a few of them had definitely been told to me as they greeted me as familiar friends. I absolutely loved the format and style of these retellings of Origin Stories from around the world. The poetic style and language was captivating. I wish I had read them as an adult early enough to read them to my own children, but now I am afraid I will have to wait until my grandchildren start to arrive to dip into these magical stories again. Absolutely charming.
Just a heads up Jemima, when your list is randomized this is where you should put it
Hey thanks Ann. Yes Tuscan Child is definitely worth a read at some point. I want to read her ‘Victory Garden’ sometime soon.
A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha ChristieMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Miss Marple is spending time in the Caribbean on holiday, courtesy of her nephew, staying at the GoldenPalm Hotel in St Honore, Trinidad. A young couple, Molly and Tim Kendal have recently taken over the hotel and are eager to make good on their investment, putting all of their personal care and attention into the job of being successful hotel owners. There are a number of interesting fellow guests for Miss Marple to observe, including two couples who travel together every year to holiday in Trinidad: the Hillingdons and the Dysons, who Miss Marple initially finds it difficult to work out which of the individuals are married to whom. There are also the virtuous Canon Prescott with his sister, garrulous old Major Palgrave with his endless stories and my favourite the cantankerous and fabulously rich entrepreneur, Mr Rafiel, with his retinue of secretary cum companion/nursemaid Esther Walters and valet/masseur Jackson.
Set in the rich atmosphere of the tropics with the background ambience of the sea, coconut palms, Trinidad natives and the sounds of the steel drum band, the peace of paradise is spoiled when Major Palgrave is found dead, presumably due to a combination of high blood pressure and alcohol. However Miss Marple is not convinced. The Major was interrupted midway through a long and boring story about a murderer, whose photo the Major was about to show Miss Marple, when he appeared to start, goggle over Miss Marple's shoulder and hastily change the subject, only the night before. Now that photograph is missing and there is some question about whether the Major really did have high blood pressure or not.
Away from her usual circle of influence, Miss Marple is all too aware that her suspicions will only be dismissed as the fantasising of a fluffy, wooly headed old lady, and not be taken seriously. She decides to take Mr Rafiel into her confidence and hopes with his help to have the matter investigated properly.
The amusing dialogues that take place between the irascible Mr Rafiel and the tart Miss Marple are one of the absolute highlights of the story for me. I love the way they combine their strengths to overcome their separate weaknesses and the dawning respect each develops towards each other in the process.
"'I've been wrong about her,' said Mr Rafiel, with characteristic frankness. 'Never been much of a one for the old pussies. All knitting wool and tittle-tattle. But this one's got something. Eyes and ears, and she uses them.'
Ester Walters looked apologetically at Miss Marple, but Miss Marple did not appear to take offence.
'That's really meant to be a compliment, you know,' Esther explained.
'I quite realise that,' said Miss Marple. 'I realise, too, that Mr Rafiel is privileged, or thinks he is.'
'What do you mean - privileged?' asked Mr Rafiel.
'To be rude if you want to be rude,' said Miss Marple.
'Have I been rude?' Said Mr Rafiel, surprised. 'I'm sorry if I offended you.'
'You haven't offended me,' said Miss Marple, 'I make allowances.'
'Now don't be nasty.....'"
The plot is imaginative and the suspects multiply as Miss Marple discovers all too soon that the story she heard was only one of a number that the Major told anyone he could pin down long enough to listen, about suspected murderers of whom he knew. Miss Marple's finest moment comes when she realises that only action will save the day, and that only she, with the help of Mr Rafiel, can act to save the life of an innocent person, who stands between the murderer and what he or she has set their heart on obtaining. 'A Caribbean Mystery' is an absolute gem in the annuls of Agatha Christie's works.
"He was taken by the shoulders and shaken violently.
'Eh - what - what the devil's this?'
'It's me,' said Miss Marple, for once ungrammatical, 'though I should put it a little more strongly than that. The Greeks, I believe, had a word for it. Nemesis, if I am not wrong.'
Mr Rafiel raised himself on his pillows as far as he could. He stared at her. Miss Marple, standing there in the moonlight, her head encased in a fluffy scarf of pale pink wool, looked as unlike a figure of Nemesis as it was possible to imagine.
'So you're Nemesis, are you?' said Mr Rafiel after a momentary pause.
'I hope to be - with your help...........We must go at once.'
'It's all very well to talk like that,' said Mr Rafiel. 'We, you say? What do you think I can do about it? I can't even walk without help. How can you and I set about preventing a murder? You're about a hundred and I'm a broken-up old crock.'"
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Claiming as an extra PBT - Horizons Culture as i am still one behindCulture = Florence (Renaissance Italy)
Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo by Stephanie StoreyMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
A four year period 1501-1505 has been chosen by Stephanie Storey to base her portrayal of the two giants of Renaissance, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. Set mainly in Florence, at a time when the city struggled for independence and the right to self rule, despite the threats of the recently deposed Medici family, the rapacious depredations of Cesare Borgia, son of the Pope and the ever present invasion threats from nearby Pisa. Leonardo, a revered master artist in his mid fifties is affronted by the appointment of a young, unknown, upstart sculptor in his early twenties, being awarded over him the commission to sculpt the infamous 'Duccio' stone that has laid abandoned, outside in the Cathedral Workshop, for nearly half a century. The book is based around the rivalry that existed between these two men and the creation of two of the most famous pieces of art in the entire world, Leonardo's 'Mona Lisa' and Michelangelo's 'David'. Here is more than enough material to create a work of historical fiction that fans of this genre would find hard to put down. Add into the mix the characters of Machiavelli, the Borgias, the Medicis, an elderly Botticelli and it is difficult to see where one could possibly go wrong. Sticking to the concrete facts without any embellishment would make for an exciting read.
Unfortunately, this was not an enjoyable read for me. With the best will in the world to invest heavily in the lives of Leonardo and Michelangelo and their Renaissance Republic of Florence, I was brought up short constantly by repetitive phrases that were overly colloquial and modernised, and endless, meaningless explorations of the angst between the two artists, which was portrayed in such a manner as to make it hardly creditable. The two main characters were two dimensional and failed to step out of the initial character profiles that were introduced at the beginning. This resulted in my inability to engage with or care much about either. Leonardo was portrayed as so small minded and petty, Michelangelo as so rough, bull headed and unreasonable that the plot which centred around the rivalry of the two men became difficult to credit. The dialogue was endlessly banal and repetitive. I have no doubt that both were men of extreme egoism - most amazing artists necessarily were and are, but if you look at the works of art in question, the soul and beauty and depth of their portrayal of mankind, it is difficult to credit them to the entirely adolescent characters portrayed in this story.
The only positive I gained was a better appreciation for the work of both Michelangelo and Leonardo, as the author competently describes the process and difficulties both faced in creating such amazing works of art in a time before invention reduced some of the difficulties both faced. Having introduced the characters of the Borgias, the Medicis and Macchiavelli, I would have loved for the author to use more of the fictional license of the book describing incidents involving these characters and in describing the re-emerging political fight to retain Florence's republic status.
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PBT Horizons - Australia280 Pages
My Brilliant Career by Miles FranklinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was very conflicted by this story. On one side, the humour, the wonderful, authentic caricatures of Australian rural culture, the gorgeous, deeply understood descriptions of the Australian landscapes, created a story of joy and deep resonance within myself. Written by a young woman of sixteen, who knew the rural culture of the Australian Bush first hand, it is the story of a young girl, Sybylla, who has grown up eldest in a family that has fallen from wealthy landowners to hardscrabble dairying, through the imprudence and carelessness of her Father. Born to wealth, culture and education, Sybylla is deeply angry at the depths her circumstances have fallen to, responsible for the upbringing of numerous siblings, the recovery of her Father from his latest drinking spree in town, working dawn to dusk on her family's small holdings in the middle of a serious drought, and baring the brunt of all of her bitter mother's unhappy reproaches and disappointments. She is deeply unloved, unvalued and unwanted. She is strong, passionate, wild and fiercely rebellious.
Through a set of circumstances, she is sent to live with her maternal grandmother, her aunt and her uncle on their wealthy land holding near to the beloved place where she was born. Here she experiences for the first time in her life care, deep affection, guidance and friendship. She is loved and valued for herself. But within Sybylla is a deep hurt, a core belief unloveableness and ugliness that no friend or family member's love can seem to reach or wash away. She shies from touch and avoids the sense of belonging that could be waiting for her, if she would only reach out and accept it. More than anything else, she mistrusts men and the prospect that marriage could hold any happiness for her, requiring as it does in late 19th century society, the complete submission of the woman to the legal ownership of the man, no matter how caring or could his intentions, she has seen too much of what such a union can bring a woman of education and culture to, in the person of her own mother.
So the other side of this story, for me was deeply difficult to read. It was the story of a girl, brought up in a world of deep emotional neglect and serious psychological abuse. Others write admiringly of her strong-willed passionate temperament, her declaration of wishing a career, the right to choose her own destiny. She spoke these words, it is true, but her actions in no way verified their significance. I saw only a frightened girl who, despite her deep longing to truly belong to someone, could not allow herself to have her heart further scarred by submitting to stay long enough to care deeply for any of the significant persons in her life, excusing her hurtful behaviour with the inner conviction that it would be better for them in the long run to endure a shorter pain than a lifelong endurance of her company. I believe that she is a young woman who loves passionately and devotedly, but can never find the love she gives to others to bestow upon herself.
'Our greatest heart-treasure is a knowledge that there is in creation an individual to whom our existence is necessary - some one who is part of our life as we are part of theirs, some one in whose life we feel assured our death would leave a gap for a day or two.'
With such inner conflict and deep hurt, it is hard to believe that Sybylla could ever break free of the emotional tragedy her young life has laid upon her. It is an amazing book, deeply felt with such conflict at its core. I laughed and cried at many points in the story. Often I wanted to shake Sybylla, but besides feeling sorry for her ongoing, inner pain (often self-inflicted), I also felt deep empathy for the other significant characters who suffered in this story. It is an exceptional writer who can write such diverse characters, each drawn with sensitivity to their essential human frailty as well as their amazing strengths.
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PBT Horizons Culture = Australia
3-4 Stars for the Short Stories listed below as favourites, 1-2 Stars for all of the rest, which were irritating and frequently yawn worthy.
229 Pages
The Penguin Henry Lawson: Short Stories by Henry LawsonI chose (perhaps unwisely) to investigate an author whose works have been hummed in my ears since early childhood, a man who wrote for the common man, the average Australian at the end and beginning of the turn of the last century. Of course his views were entirely based on the stories and plights of white, mostly British migrants to Australia, with occasional acknowledgements of other European migrants. The derogatory references to the first Australians, the Aboriginal peoples, and also the Chinese migrants who came at the time of the gold rushes and were despised by the white settlers were at all times unsettling to me. His writings reflected the POV of peoples at the time, but I found them disturbing and unacceptable, although expected.
Most of the Short stories and Poems were quite boring, but there were some special exceptions. I loved the stories The Drover's Wife and Wanted by the Police for the portrayal of people of the bush, doing their best for each other in difficult circumstances, and found 'Mateship in Shakespeare's Rome' quite amusing if a little more in need of a good editor than otherwise.
I formed an opinion that Henry Lawson was quite an arrogant man (he was famed for his newspaper articles in Sydney) who did not take much trouble in editing his ego when writing to educated and inform the lesser man about the issues of the day. Certainly in my mind, he is no author in comparison to Banjo Patterson, with whom he ran an ongoing rivalry in their day.
Everyone is reading some interesting stuff this August. You Ladies can keep your scary stuff to yourselves however, LOL. I wish you would stop adding so much bulk to my already overflowing TBR list. In revenge, I'm hoping to add a few items to yours.I've had a great month of reading but very little computer access this month, so I thought I might give a quick summary in case anyone is curious about any of the books I have read. I made some amazing discoveries this month - quite a few 5 stars and a number of 4s (Plus a couple that absolutely bombed for me).
1. Started off with Leonardo Da Vinci and his sidekick Michelangelo:
Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo by Stephanie StoreyThe premise was great but sadly bombed for me with the author's unwillingness to get outside an angsty, repetitive box with their relationship. I was super disappointed because I wanted to learn and know so much more about the world they lived in. - 2 Stars
My Review Here
2. Next was
Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds This was a solid 5 Star read for me because it hooked me in hard, boggled my mind and made me laugh and cry all at the same time. I also thoroughly appreciated the social diversity and the eternal what ifs it raised.I am so way behind on my reviews so I can only recommend you to the author's page or other's reviews of the book if you are curious.
My PBT TBR #16:
3.
Charming the Prince by Teresa Medeiros 4 Stars was literally a charming retelling of a Cinderella (with a good dash of Beauty and the Beast lore thrown in) retelling. Set in medieval England, it was fun and different and lighthearted and it made me laugh out loud so many times. The Hero can meet any enemy with courage, face any hardship, but he has one secret, abiding fear: his children. He is desperate to find a woman who can tame them and take them in charge, but who does not have any appeal to him at all so that he is not further tortured by any more new babies, destined to terrorise him.4.
Murder at Archly Manor by Sara Rosett 3 Stars Was lighthearted and fun: A murder mystery takes place during a country house party set in the roaring 20s, with a female detective at the helm. My Review Here5.
The Woman on the Orient Express by Lindsay Jayne Ashford 4 StarsA delicious work of alternate historical fiction, extremely loosely based on the facts of Agatha Christie's life. If you love Agatha Christie and don't mind the complete departure from her biography, this is a great little book. I enjoyed getting to know the reclusive author through the eyes of another author's imagination.
6.
Beauty and the Beast by Jenni James 1 Star This book earned my belongs on the fire, on my One Star Onder List which rarely earns an entry. Basically don't read anything this author has read. It is literary trash in my opinion. No plot, no characters, and boring as hell. I flip read most of the last half, hoping for better. That was a waste of time.7.
America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray 4 StarsThis little gem turned out to be a great read. I was worried about the strong pro-Jeffersonian bias through the first quarter, but as the story was told from the POV of his young daughter, it was understandable. It was well balanced later in the narrative by the more mature and balanced POV of an older and more critical thinking, although no less loving woman.
8.
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang 3 StarsIf I could have halved the explicit sex scenes in this book it would have been an amazing read. To be honest in the end, it seriously detracted from the extremely interesting premise of the book, the idea that a highly intelligent, socially clueless person could 'learn' to have a relationship by taking lessons from a male escort was brilliant. If you add in that the girl has Aspergers but is ashamed and worried about her label, and that the guy concerned has some big hearted motivations for his choice of occupation, you have a great read. I just would have preferred more non-physical communication, to back up my enjoyment of getting to know the complex characters involved in this story. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy it. It's just that it would not be everyone's cup of tea, and I definitely have to be in the right mood. My hope that this debut book is followed by a slightly more balanced pacing style book. I'm willing to give the author's new book
a go on this premise.9.
A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer 5 Stars A reread of a favourite author of mine. I hated this book when I was younger for its lack of pie in the sky, happily ever after romance. The strong injection of reality and practicality and maybe-love, based on learned respect and friendship, despite the glaring flaws in both hero and heroine was not one I was able to embrace in my teens. Younger me missed the beauty and depths of the characters - portrayed against the dramatic background of the Napoleonic wars. I absolutely love this book now.10.
Becoming by Michelle Obama 5 StarsOh my goodness. This is the best biography I can ever remember reading. It spoke to me on so many levels. As a non-American, i was able to read it with a certain level of political detachment, but many of the issues raised were issues I understand and am passionately interested in. This is one seriously amazing lady, regardless of your political POV. Incredibly readable, I actually listened on Audible, with Michelle Obama's own narration, which added to my personal opinion of her authenticity.
11.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer 5 Stars I just finished this this morning. To be honest, I feel a little like I did when i first read Pride and Prejudice- a compliment of no mean order i assure you. I was put off initially as the book is written in the format of letters, a style of storytelling that I don't generally enjoy, as it often seems to make the characters too detached from each other. Once I had worked out who was who and what was what, I started meeting the curious and unique, warm hearted characters from the Isle of Guernsey, members of the Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in the year 1946. I listened to their personal recounts of stories from the recent German occupation of their island, during WW2, and I fell completely in love with the whole lot of them. If you haven't read this book, please consider it. It is hauntingly beautiful and has so much hope, humour and humanity in its story. An amazing piece of literature.
My PBT Challenges for September:TBR #3:
Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love, & Baking Biscuits by Reese WitherspoonThis beautiful, coffee table style book was a lovely mix of biographical stories of her childhood, growing up in the South and current life, explanations of unusual and quirky southern customs and culture, as well as beautiful photographs and covet worthy traditional recipes.PBT HORIZONS - Culture = Egypt
Nefertiti byMichelle MoranCulture-Egypt
Read ‘Nefertiti’ by Michelle Moran. I’m off grid so a brief mobile app update is all I can manage. A 4 Star read for me. I knew very little about actual culture and life in Ancient Egypt. I learned so much. Did heaps of extra looking up and learning as I went. This was a pleasant journey into another world, told from the perspective of Nefertiti’s younger sister and so avoiding the first person biographical style of Historical Fiction that I loathe. It is much nicer to get a balanced viewpoint from the outside perspective of a legend like Nefertiti. It allows you to make up your own mind, I encumbered by strong author bias. I would read other Michelle Moran books, I will be looking at what is available. Her understanding of Ancient Egypt is brilliant, her word painting of the world absorbing.
PBT Challenges October:TBR #32
Shoes Were For Sunday by Molly WeirTrim the TBR #32
224 Pages
Does not fit TAG
Molly Weir was a successful Scottish actor who grew up on the backstreets of Glasgow. Born in 1910, she lived through two world wars and learned survival the hard way, growing up in a poverty stricken household, in a neighbourhood where that was the norm. This is her autobiography of that childhood and is told with acceptance and candour, with a refreshing lack of self pity. It was an amusing and interesting read of a very different childhood from my own experiences, and I enjoyed the stories which seemed to lack any true relevance to the significant political and social events of the time, as if unfelt and normalised by the children growing up at this time. A quick and enjoyable read, this has sat on my TBR for way too long.
PBT HORIZONS - Culture = SPAIN!
Isabella: The Warrior Queen by Kirstin Downey520 Pages, Does not fit the TAG
3.5 Stars
This well researched, historical biography is really interesting and well written, but drove me nuts to follow at times because the author has not written it in chronological order but chosen to bounce around anywhere during the period from before Isabella's birth in 1451 to after her death in 1504, depending on what subject she is discussing, so I keep getting the people involved mixed up.
Some interesting points I learned: the Borgias were Spanish not Italian. Isabella's daughter Juana (Joanna) was probably not mad but a victim of male psychological and physical abuse by her Father and Husband and was publicly portrayed as such for their wish to control her politically and personally. Nearly everyone in Spain during this period is called Juan, Juana or Isabella or Alfonso which makes it very difficult to work out who is who. Christopher Columbus was not a nice man, did some really nasty stuff and sulked A LOT. Never trust a Pope, especially if he is a Borgia and has a slew of healthy children he is proud of and is trying to further the careers of. Burning someone at the stake is one of the nicer ways you can kill someone. EEEk so much violence in this era!
I feel like a whole lot of loose jigsaw pieces have been fitted in for me with this book. I had heard bits about the Spanish Inquisition, the Moorish history of Spain, the Borgias, the stories of King Henry 7th and his children and Katherine of Aragon, but I had never put it all together with the life of this compelling, intelligent and fierce Queen Her extensive influence was written upon world events of the 15th and 16th centuries and effected the Renaissance, the religious reformations, the role of women in power, world explorations, military tactics and the colonisations of the New World and it’s outcomes when exposed to Spanish rule, culture and politics.
PBT Challenges November:November TAG = AMERICAN HISTORY
FITS TAGS planned NOV reads so far:
The Texan's Wager by Jodi Thomas(finished Nov 11th)
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (Finished 14th November)
The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin (Finished Nov 4th)PBT Trim the TBR Challlenge November = #28
The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer - I'm excited about this one! (Finished 28th November - 2 Stars - It Fizzled badly!)PBT HORIZONS November- Culture = NATIVE AMERICAN
planning to read:
Our Stories Remember: American Indian History, Culture and Values through Storytelling by Joseph Bruchac (Finished 19th Nov)
Amy I’m about a third of the way through and really enjoying it so far. Currently I have been derailed because I started googling Mary Pickford who I knew nothing about. I ended up watching a few of her silent films on YouTube. I really enjoyed them! Then I watched the beginning of her talkie with Douglas Fairbanks’The Taming of the Shrew’. Frances is there as screen writer in nearly all of her films.
Wow that was a so interesting. You think Melanie Benjamin has such a talent and feel for that era. All of her books seem to center on various women in so many kinds of social classes and experiences. I may not be able to get to it, but the Aviators Wife is high on my list, and that counts for American History.
I absolutely loved Aviators Wife. I hated her first book ‘Alice I have been’ so I went into it with a good smack of prejudice, but her characters won me over and the history was fascinating.
NOVEMBER: FITS TAG #AMERICAN HISTORY
The Girls in the Picture by Melanie BenjaminMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, well researched and I feel, treated the two main female characters with both a sensitivity and hard realism that convinces as an authentic portrayal of two women who dared to lead in a time and place when power was supposed to belong only to the male of the species. In a time when the 'casting couch' was a reality of and survival and success in Hollywood, not a euphemism, two women of disparate background stepped into the limelight of American History at the very dawn of movie making, the era of Silent Movies.
Mary Pickford, Canadian immigrant is determined from her childhood to find a way out of her hardscrabble existence and to provide for her mother and two younger siblings by her success as an actor. In May 1909, she appears in her first silent, split reel D.W. Griffith film "Two Memories". Her determined rise to fame as America's little sweetheart was accomplished not by a lucky break, but by years of dogged and gritty hard work, planning, struggle and overcoming. Melanie Benjamin's portrayal of the scars Mary carried lifelong due to her early burden of family survival, of the girl who portrayed America's favourite child on the screen, despite never experiencing her own childhood and whom the public was determined to never see grow up, was both realistic and sensitive. Mary's failure to adapt successfully to the 'Talkies' had more to do with public and private perception and resistance, than lack of talent. Despite her personal belief of ultimate failure, Mary Pickford stands as the first woman to not only produce and act successfully in her own films, but also as a hard headed, intelligent woman of business who dared to stand amongst the greats, co-owning and running her own film production company (United Artists) at the dawn of Hollywood.
Lifelong friend of Mary Pickford and the woman who received her first big break in the industry at Mary's hands, this book also covers the life of film writer and producer Frances Marion. Frances was the first film writer (male or female) to win two Academy Awards and is credited with writing 300 scripts and over 130 produced films during her productive lifetime. Frances is a very different character to Mary, unwilling to share the limelight in from of the camera and a talented graphic artist, she chose to explore the emerging medium of film to portray her imaginative conceptions.
'The Girls in the Picture' is narrated by both Mary and Frances, giving voice and view point perspective to this era of American History from two very different women, who shared many of the same challenges, but often chose to meet them in very different ways. It is a story of both triumph and tragedy, gain and loss, hope and despair. I was inspired to further research these fascinating women's lives and the people that they shared their lives with. I was also inspired to watch some of the silent films that these women created: "A Little Princess" (1917), "Poor Little Rich Girl" (1917) "Daddy Long Legs" (1919) and "The Love Light" (1921). I thoroughly enjoyed my education of an era in American history that I had little prior knowledge of.
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NOVEMBER: FITS TAG #AMERICAN HISTORY
The Texan's Wager by Jodi ThomasMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
“That’s right. Come morning, the three of us are heading straight for Texas. We’ve got two weeks to get there before we starve.”
Bailee, Sarah and Lacy meet when they find themselves the only unwanted, single women on a wagon train travelling from Independence to Santa Fe. All seem to be trailing problems from their past that seem to cling to them in a way that make them seem cursed. Sarah is suffering from a fever that took her husband and new baby, Lacy seems to waft the taint of witchcraft and Bailee - she is running from the consequences of having killed a man the night before she left Independence, sent on her way by a father who never wants to see her again. When the leaders of the wagon train decide to abandon the women in the middle of nowhere with no supplies and no way of finding more food, Bailee decides that their only hope for survival is to head south to Texas in the hope of finding civilisation before they starve.
Bad luck continues to haunt the women and they end up finding themselves in a small town on the border of civilisation, all three confessing to the murder of a man who tried to rob them of their wagon and supplies and to abduct Lacy, on their route south. The sheriff finds himself in a quandary. On one hand he has three women confessing to the murder of a known criminal, whose reputation is legendary in these parts; on the other he cannot find an actual body. Meanwhile, he has three unattached women taking up the only available jail cell and turning his office into a boudoir/laundry, bossing him around and costing him money for food. In a town where the pregnancy of a prostitute has every man confessing to the sin in the hopes of gaining themselves a wife, Sheriff Harman decides to hold a lottery to auction off the women to any man with enough money to participate and a willingness to take a woman off his hands, self confessed murderer or not.
“I figure if you marry a stranger you got a fifty-fifty shot at liking him.” Harman nodded as if he thought his plan grand. “There’d be no time for courting or even meeting, for that matter. I won’t have a good night’s sleep until I get my jail cleared out.”
“We’re to be raffled off?”
“Not raffled. More like a lottery. Each man only gets one chance, an equal chance for a wife. So long as he has the money in hand to pay your fine. Any man who has the money to pay probably can support a wife, so you’ve got the main reason couples argue out of the way.”
I really enjoyed the major themes of this venture into Western Historical Fiction literature, a genre I was previously unfamiliar with. The story was told with warmth and humour and the characters were original, attractive and interesting. The plot was a little too circular for my liking, seeming a little too repetitive whenever the moment for another western style gun battle was indicated. There also seemed to be a few untied threads at the end of the story, which I found a little disappointing.
I really enjoyed the dip into early Deaf Culture in America and the descriptions of the use of ASL sign language, the Gallaudet American School for the Deaf and the special ways that exist in communication between a Deaf adult and their hearing child, or a Deaf child and a hearing adult. I also appreciated the way in which the author described the terrible ostracism of the Deaf by society and the concept that the Deaf themselves and the children of deaf adults (CODA) somehow lacked normal intelligence, because of a difference in communication. I study Auslan (Australian sign language) and really appreciated this well researched and historically authentic aspect of the story.
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The Romanov Empress: A Novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna by C.W. GortnerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a fascinating and well researched historical fiction that brings to vibrant life a strong and passionate woman, born Dagmar of Denmark, a princess who married the man who became Tsar of Russia, Alexander III. She is a woman I have never heard positive words of before, my understanding prior to this being based on Queen Victoria and her family's point of view and prejudices. She is bossy, arrogant and forceful and even manipulative and vain at times, but she brought to Russia a passionate heart and a willingness to embrace her adopted country, its citizens and culture, that she did not willingly forsake. Covering the turbulent years from 1862 to 1918, Minnie (as she was known to her family) becomes first Tsarevna of Russia, daughter in law to Tsar Alexander II, then Tsarina (Empress) of all the Russias (after the assasination of Tsar Alexander II) and finally Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, mother of Tsar Nicholas II.
Minnie famously opposed the courtship and marriage of her son Nicholas to the Princess Alexandra of Hesse (Alix), favourite granddaughter of Queen Victoria, on the grounds that she was temperamentally wholly unsuitable to the exigent role of Tsarina and well as being physically delicate and emotionally dependant. As these were probably the precise traits that appealed to her son Nicholas (who endured a childhood being alternatively coddled and controlled by Minnie and reprimanded and criticised by his father) it is not surprising that in this famously interdependent relationship, Nicholas finally found the strength to break free of his mother's will.
Thrown wholly unprepared into the role of Tsar, with a similarly unprepared Tsarina by his side, Nicholas made many serious errors that cost the lives of thousands of Russians within his first few years, alternatively influenced by one strong family member after another: his powerful uncles, his mother and finally and most dangerously, by his disaffected wife. Minnie played her own part in making the new Tsarina's introduction to her new country incredibly difficult and Alix openly showed her disdain for all things Russian, further isolating herself and her husband and children from Russian society. The most dangerous game that she played for power was through the person of the degenerate mystic Rasputin, who not only influenced every aspect of the lives of the Tsarina's family, but also began to dabble in influential politics...a very dangerous game.
I feel I have a much deeper understanding of how the complex politics and personalities as well as choices made by the Romanov family all contributed to the hell which resulted in the lives of millions of Russians lost in revolution and its aftermaths, as well as the terrible fates of Nicholas and Alix with all of their children, as well as a number of the other Romanovs. C.W. Gortner brought this complex period of time to me so vividly that I felt I made the journey through Russia at Minnie's side. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wishes to delve deeper into the history of this amazing woman and her highly interesting family.
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Shoes Were For Sunday by Molly WeirMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
'Poverty is a very exacting teacher and I had been taught well.'
Molly Weir, well known Scottish actress and comedian, writes this charming, authentic autobiography of her life as a child growing up in the poor tenements of Glascow during WW1 and the following economic depression (1910-1925) in a family where her widowed mother was the sole breadwinner for her household of three children, and her Grandmother was the main caregiver. Living in two small rooms (what luxury), the family of four worked hard, each member contributing their mite and learning how to hold household from a young age. Despite the deprivation, this was a family who knew how to count their blessings. There are many heartwarming tales of family life, of community and caring for those less fortunate than others through awareness, concern and small acts of kindness, each shown with a delicacy of respect that could teach a generation now living in less connected communities. Molly speaks of how lucky she was to grow up in such a close knit, loving family, where providence and care of the growing children's needs, took precedence in the adult minds. Her mother worked hard on the railways from before dawn until after dusk, her Grandmother gave up everything to come and live with them to care for them all when her mother had to go out to work, after the death of her father early in Molly's life.
'Filling every corner of my world was Grannie. From the minute I opened my eyes in the hurley bed in the morning, she tormented me, disciplined me, taught me, laughed at me, loved me, and tied me to her for ever, although I didn’t know it at the time.'
The story is told from the point of view of the child and adolescent Molly, aged 3 to 15, with no attempt to review its stories from adult eyes. Molly's world revolved around the security of her Grandmother, provider of care, understanding, disciple and tough love; warm nourishing food and always a welcoming presence in her home from the moment she opened her eyes to the moment they shut at night, even sharing her small trundle bed during sleep.
'One minute I was drowsily gazing at the gas mantle, blinking my lashes against its soft radiance and making rainbows with my flickering eyelids and its glowing globe, and the next moment it was dark and Grannie was pulling the blankets round her, and easing herself into the hollow in front of me. As I cooried in closer, to keep my share of the bedclothes, she would reach out a hand to push my knees down. ‘Your banes are like sticks,’ she would complain. ‘Streetch them doon noo. They’re that sherp, they’re cuttin’ intae auld Grannie’s back.’ Sleepily, obediently, I would straighten out my legs, and I would drift off with a drowsy smile as I prodded with a small hand my offending knees. How could Grannie think they were sharp enough to hurt her? I wondered. They felt soft and ordinary enough to me.'
Told with sparkling humour and simplicity, the childhood experiences of Molly, her brothers and the tight knit community of children living in the tenements is a joy to read. Although they went without many privileges, the family managed to provide for the necessities and even the occasional holiday or party for an extra special occasion. It was however the stories of the everyday that especially charmed me and made me see again that money cannot buy the kind of happiness that love can provide.
'Grannie meanwhile had been making the porridge, and infusing the tea, and soon we three children were kneeling on the rug with our porridge bowls on top of the long stool which ran the length of the fireplace, the heat from the fire warming our faces and fingers as we supped the good meal. How cosy these winter breakfasts were, for we had all been out of doors to whet our appetites, the boys delivering their milk round, and of course me getting the messages in. I had thought this routine would go on for ever, for I knew no other."
Grannie, the centre of her world, fearsome but loving Grannie, whose tough, independent spirit taught Molly to rise above her pitiful surroundings, work hard and finally achieve her dreams. Molly says her childhood ended on the day her Grannie died. Molly achieved scholarships to attend a university, and then went on to a successful career as an actress, most notably for her role as the long-running (1977–1984) character Hazel the McWitch in the BBC TV series 'Rentaghost'. That was a favourite TV show of mine growing up, full of fun and zany comedy. 'Shoes Were For Sunday', first published in 1970, became a bestseller. Molly went on to publish a number of other autobiographical books, following her rise from the slums to the footlights: 'Best Foot Forward', 'A Toe On The Ladder', 'Stepping into the Spotlight', 'Walking into the Lyon's Den' and 'One Small Footprint'. Molly died in 2004, leaving the proceeds of her estate to the poor and elderly of her beloved Springburn in Glasgow.
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Horizons November - Native American Culture
The Wisdom of the Native Americans by Kent NerburnMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
'Taken from writings, orations, and recorded observations of life, this book selects the best of Native American wisdom and distills it to its essence in short, digestible quotes — perhaps even more timely now than when they were first written. In addition to the short passages, this edition includes the complete Soul of an Indian, as well as other writings by Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman), one of the great interpreters of American Indian thought, and three great speeches by Chiefs Joseph, Seattle, and Red Jacket.' (Book Cover)
As a non American, I very much wished to get a good basic understanding of the original Northern American psyche, culture and world viewpoint. I was aware that many of the sources I have encountered in my life depicting the 'American Indian' were most likely dictated by the larger population and most politically powerful culture of white America, whose motivations for reporting on Native Americans and what I have heard called 'The Indian Problem' were more that a little questionable in authenticity and likely personally or politically biased. I know enough of the plight of the indigenous peoples of my own country to be suspicious of hearing any person's voice describing or explaining from an outside cultural viewpoint, even with the best of intentions, as likely to have incorrect interpretations. This is a brief and curated compilation of the words of many Native American people, from many diverse nations. The collection has been sensitively presented to find and explain shared viewpoints on themes of the land, communication, beliefs, education, personal values, respect, love, communication, purpose, betrayal, loss, grief, honour, integrity and common humanity. It also contains some of the most powerful, beautiful and most poetic language it has ever been my privilege to read. Accessible and enjoyable to read, this is not a history book, but a collection of voices speaking passionately and eloquently about the people, their lands, culture and their purpose and exactly how and why contact with white man has destroyed all of these within a very short period of time.
These are all life lessons passed down by very wise men, men who learned to think before they spoke, to listen courteously, waiting patiently for their turn to make their point, with direct simplicity that shatters comfortable beliefs others may hold about the truth of the matters addressed, in these preserved letters and speeches. I particularly enjoyed the explanations of the relationship of a mother and her child and how that child grows and becomes known as a valued individual in their community, written about in the essay 'Soul of an Indian' by Ohiyesa, as well as his writings on 'The Moral Strength of Women'. I also really appreciated hearing the first person perspectives in the written down speeches of Chiefs Joseph (Nez Perce), Chief Seattle (Suquamish and Duwamish), and Chief Red Jacket (Seneca). Here are some of my favourite thoughts from the entire compilation. Let the voices speak for themselves as they are far more eloquent than I could ever be:
"But for me, I cannot forget our old ways. Often in summer I rise at daybreak and steal out to the corn fields, and as I hoe the corn I sing to it, as we did when I was young. No one cares for our corn songs now. Sometimes in the evening I sit, looking out on the big Missouri. The sun sets, and dusk steals over the water. In the shadows I seem again to see our Indian village, with smoke curling upward from the earth lodges, and in the river's roar I hear the yells of the warriors, and the laughter of little children as of old. It is but an old woman's dream. Then I see but shadows and hear only the roar of the river, and tears come into my eyes. Our Indian life, I know, is gone forever."
— Waheenee Hidatsa (North Dakota)
"Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thought nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away."
— Anonymous Shoshone
"They are a heartless nation, that is certain. They have made some of their people servants — yes, slaves! We have never believed in keeping slaves, but it seems that the white people do! It is our belief that they painted their servants black a long time ago, to tell them from the rest — and now the slaves have children born to them of the same color! The greatest object of their lives seems to be to acquire possessions — to be rich. They desire to possess the whole world. For thirty years they tried to entice us to sell our land to them. Finally, their soldiers took it by force, and we have been driven away from our beautiful country."
-Ohiyesa's uncle, Santee Sioux
"Many of the white man's ways are past our understanding. . . . They put a great store upon writing; there is always paper. The white people must think that paper has some mysterious power to help them in the world. The Indian needs no writings; words that are true sink deep into his heart, where they remain. He never forgets them. On the other hand, if the white man loses his papers, he is helpless. I once heard one of their preachers say that no white man was admitted to heaven unless there were writings about him in a great book!"
— Four Guns, Oglala Sioux
"The white man who is our agent is so stingy that he carries a linen rag in his pocket into which to blow his nose, for fear he might blow away something of value."
— Piapot, Cree Chief
"I have carried a heavy load on my back ever since I was a boy. I realized then that we could not hold our own with the white men. We were like deer. They were like grizzly bears. We had a small country. Their country was large. We were contented to let things remain as the Great Spirit Chief made them. They were not, and would change the rivers and mountains if they did not suit them."
— Chief Joseph, Nez Perce
"When the buffalo went away the hearts of my people fell to the ground, and they could not lift them up again. After this nothing happened. There was little singing anywhere."
— Chief Plenty Coups, Crow
"Here, for the first time, I touched the goose quill to the treaty — not knowing, however, that by that act I consented to give away my village! Had that been explained to me, I should have opposed it, and never would have signed their treaty, as my recent conduct has clearly proven. What do we know of the manner of the laws and customs of the white people? They might buy our bodies for dissection, and we would touch the goose quill to confirm it, without knowing what we were doing. This was the case with myself and my people in touching the goose quill the first time."
"There are but two ways for us. One leads to hunger and death, the other leads to where the poor white man lives. Beyond is the happy hunting ground where the white man cannot go."
— Many Horses Oglala Sioux 12
"As children of nature, we have always looked upon the concentration of population as the prolific mother of all evils, moral no less than physical. It was not, then, wholly from ignorance or improvidence that we failed to establish permanent towns and to develop a material civilization. We have always believed that food is good, while surfeit kills; that love is good, but lust destroys; and not less dreaded than the pestilence following upon crowded and unsanitary dwellings is the loss of spiritual power inseparable from too close contact with one's fellow men. All who have lived much out of doors, whether Indian or otherwise, know that there is a magnetic and powerful force that accumulates in solitude but is quickly dissipated by life in a crowd."
-Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman) 'The Soul of an Indian'
"Suppose a white man should come to me and say, “Joseph, I like your horses. I want to buy them.” I say to him, “No, my horses suit me; I will not sell them.” Then he goes to my neighbor and says to him, “Joseph has some good horses. I want to buy them, but he refuses to sell.” My neighbor answers, “Pay me the money and I will sell you Joseph's horses.” The white man returns to me and says, “Joseph, I have bought your horses and you must let me have them.” If we sold our lands to the government, this is the way they bought them.
— Chief Joseph, Nez Perce
"I once showed a party of Sioux chiefs the sights of Washington, and endeavored to impress them with the wonderful achievements of civilization. After visiting the Capitol and other famous buildings, we passed through the Corcoran Art Gallery, where I tried to explain how the white man valued this or that painting as a work of genius and a masterpiece of art. “Ah!” exclaimed an old man, “such is the strange philosophy of the white man! He hews down the forest that has stood for centuries in its pride and grandeur, tears up the bosom of Mother Earth, and causes the silvery watercourses to waste and vanish away. He ruthlessly disfigures God's own pictures and monuments, and then daubs a flat surface with many colors, and praises his work as a masterpiece!”
-Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman) 'The Soul of an Indian'
"I was born upon the prairie where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures and where everything drew a free breath. I want to die there, and not within walls."
— Ten Bears Yamparika Comanche
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TBR November - #28
The Case of the Missing Marquess: Enola Holmes 1 by Nancy SpringerMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Enola Holmes is the much younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. When her mother walks out the door, never to return, 14 year old Enola sends to her estranged brothers for help in finding her. She soon discovers that her mother may have left home of her own accord for reasons that are becoming more clear to her. She purposes to discover the truth for herself and to follow the clues her mother left to her disappearance.
This was a strange read. Obviously aimed at the younger teenage reader, I found it an odd mix of gritty historical reality and mythical, fantastical pantomime. The characters were not particularly appealing, the plot badly paced. The beginning of the book up to the halfway mark had the feeling of a completely differently paced and traditionally styled mystery read for a young teen, the second half was fast paced, abrupt and difficult to reconcile to the first. As this was written as the first in a series, I’m assuming the second half will be more typical of the mystery themed story that Enola will be participating in each time-possibly future books will then be better paced, but I’m not sure I care enough for any of the characters to try and read further into the series.
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DECEMBER PBT PLANS
TAG = 2005
HORIZONS CULTURE = DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:
What about Your Saucepans? by Lindsay De FelizTBR = NUMBER 2:
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest HemingwayMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
'Initially published in 1929, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Set against the looming horrors of the battlefield - the weary, demoralized men marching in the rain during the German attack on Caporetto; the profound struggle between loyalty and desertion—this gripping, semiautobiographical work captures the harsh realities of war and the pain of lovers caught in its inexorable sweep. Ernest Hemingway famously said that he rewrote his ending to A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times to get the words right'.
-Blurb, book jacket 2004
Hemmingway's narrative style was strange to me...factual, minimalistic and very unemotional. I almost DNF this book as I really struggled with the unfamiliar stark, journalistic style and the masochistic interpretation of a female character. Everything, even Catherine’s own first person voice seemed to be heard from the male POV. Like she was a slightly idealised person, not very real, that he never really understood. Almost like the way I imagine a narcissist would interpret another persons perspective if writing a book. Hence her constantly conflicting and confusing statements? I guess there was a gritty realism that left off the Victorian and Edwardian romanticism of the past authors when telling stories of war and relationships. Leaving off the great passion and the concept that the two people involved somehow were more important and suffered more terribly than any others through that time. Both of the main characters came off as superficial, unwilling to examine their deeper feelings. In some ways I guess that is probably a more authentic voice for a war novel. They survive their circumstances by living superficially. Examining how they really felt about what was happening around them and to them may have been so soul destroying that they would be unable to function. In times of crisis, people deliberately don’t question their true feelings too deeply. Survival instincts prevent it. That is my experience anyway. You get done what must be done and say what must be said and interact only superficially with those around you. I am aware from the foreword introduction to the book that this is a loosely based autobiography of the author. It must have been quite cathartic for Hemingway and remains a valuable narrative of what war and the experience of war was really like and how the everyman caught up in it, survived its atrocities and basic wrongness and unfairness. I imagine all norms of society and social rules were put aside by many of those involved, so it is not a reflection of societal social norms of the period.
Hemmingway's reflections on the morality and perception of war from the viewpoint of the common man are powerful. He portrays the ultimate disillusionment of the 'Great Generation' whose romaticised notions of war and combat and service to country for the greater good were challenged and ultimately destroyed by the grim reality of World War 1.
'If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.'
I absolutely love Hemmingway's vivid prose paintings of landscape and weather throughout the story. These lived and breathed in my mind as I read. I loved the way that the war was reflected by the weather and the weather was reflected by the war. The seasons and the magnificent landscapes surrounding and the emotional struggles and situations of the couple were reflected and re-reflected in each other, like when you stand looking into a mirror that reflects another mirror and you see an infinite reflection of the world repeating itself, all in one place at one time. I also appreciated the moments of authentically wry, sardonic - almost gallows humour, that would have been very prevalent amongst men living through these conditions. moments of humour and comradeship brought bright glances of light to otherwise dark, dank and literally muddy plotlines. There is no doubt when you are reading this book that is is a first person account of the war, from a man who lived it- observed it, felt it, breathed it, heard it, smelt it and tasted it first hand and who then wished to portray it in a way others could understand it with powerful and stark authenticity, putting aside glossy, rose hued lenses of victory, defeat, battle, civilisation and courage that are usually placed on the head, through with which to view war in greater comfort.
'Through the other noise I heard a cough, then came the chuh-chuh-chuh-chuh—then there was a flash, as when a blast-furnace door is swung open, and a roar that started white and went red and on and on in a rushing wind. I tried to breathe but my breath would not come and I felt myself rush bodily out of myself and out and out and out and all the time bodily in the wind. I went out swiftly, all of myself, and I knew I was dead and that it had all been a mistake to think you just died. Then I floated, and instead of going on I felt myself slide back. I breathed and I was back.'
I will own that I didn't like the ending at all. In fact I even would have preferred the 'Nada' ending to the one Hemmingway chose. Given that he wrote it 39 times over, he must have been confused and conflicted over it. My best guess is that he lined them all up and thew a dart at them and then went with the one he actually hit. One he wrote at the arsenic hour of 3 am when the brain is most likely to dwell somewhere between reality and the alternate world of eccentric dreams. would have chosen another ending - at least 3 out of the 10 options I read, I would have preferred and even admired. I struggled a little with the selected one's abruptness. It seemed to me to go beyond stark to almost uncharacteristically absurd, in contrast to the narration that immediately proceeds it. Like a bandaid stuck over an open wound or an improperly flapped amputation.
These reflections are, of course, merely my personal feelings on reading this book and given that this, my first encounter, was not initiated by an inspired teacher who helped to illuminate the mysteries of Hemmingway prose for me, I did struggle with some aspects of the storytelling style. I feel that Hemmingway is an author whose writing may mature in appreciation within me over time.
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American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt by Karen HarperMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
In 1895, American heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt is 18 years old when wed against her preference to Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, being secretly engaged to Winthrop Rutherford. Bullied into the wedding by her pushing and controlling mother, Alva, Consuelo's marriage was in the nature of a trade of the most covetable of gilded commodities: a high ranked nobility title for a vast fortune. This melding of old world aristocracy and new world wealth was undertaken with great reluctance by Consuela's groom, who was solely motivated by the need to save his indebted ancestral home and associated landholdings from destitution, and so to preserve his linage for his future heirs and his noble reputation for posterity. Blenheim Palace, the only palace in England to be owned by a family not of the royal nobility, was desperately in need of funds to preserve and beautify its ancient walls and sumptuous gardens.
Consuela soon learned that she could not hope to achieve her husband's love and that her role was as chatelaine of his palace and soon to be mother of his future sons. Making the best of her situation, she began to take a personal interest in her husbands tenants and 'people' soon earning herself a love and regard that had never been earned by the supercilious Duke. She was also soon to be liked and admired by members of English society and was an intimate and beloved friend of her husband's cousin, the rising and brilliant Winston Churchill.
This book was well written and the narrative voice of Consuela was well imagined and believable. It seemed to me an accurate portrayal of her life, which I head already heard something of when reading that interesting history of Consuela Vanderbilt and the other American heiresses who married into the English nobility during the nineteenth century,
To Marry an English Lord by Gail MacColl. The picture on the cover of this book is of Consuela herself, taken during her marriage, sometime between 1900 and 1905.
I am now inspired to find out more about this fascinating woman and some of the other American women who brought heart and liveliness and authenticity to the stuffy, inbred aristocracy and dared to find their own unique paths out of the gilded trappings and cages of wealth, privilege and masculine dominated power. Hot on my lists of TBRs are That Churchill Woman by Stephanie Barron, Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by Fiona Carnarvon, Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart and The Husband Hunters: Social Climbing in London and New York by Anne de Courcy.
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Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (other topics)What about Your Saucepans? (other topics)
The Texan's Wager (other topics)
Our Stories Remember: American Indian History, Culture and Values through Storytelling (other topics)
The Girls in the Picture (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Barack Obama (other topics)Lindsay De Feliz (other topics)
Jodi Thomas (other topics)
Joseph Bruchac (other topics)
Melanie Benjamin (other topics)
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In May I read #24 The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen and in June I read #30 'Just So Stories' by Rudyard Kipling, from my TBR book list that I had placed in the wrong thread. Nicole kindly placed these books in that order so that they would count as read and randomised the rest. I'm placing the list here so that it can be easily found:
1. Zoo Quest by David Attenborough
2. Dreams from My Father by Barak Obama - DECEMBER
3.
Whiskey in a Teacup by Reese Witherspoon- SEPTEMBER4. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
5. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
6. The Briar Rose by Dinah Dean
7. Henry & Eva and the Castle on the Cliff by Andrea Portes
8. Cheaper By the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jnr.
9. Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle
10. Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? by Sophie Ranald
11. Theatre Shoes by Noel Streatfield
12. The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden - APRIL
13. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Engle
14. The Reluctant Godfather by Allison Tebo
15. The Weaver Takes a Wife by Sheri Cobb South
16.
Charming the Prince by Teresa Medeiros- AUGUST17. The Crossword Mystery by E.R. Punshon - FEBRUARY
18. The Adventures of Catvinkle by Elliot Perlman
19. The Salzburg Connection by Helen MacInnes -JANUARY
20. Birds of America by John James Audubon
21. A Question of Inheritance by Elizabeth Edmondson
22. The No. 3 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
23.
My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin- JULY24.
The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen- MAY25. Autumn Term by Antonia Forest
26. The Sky is Falling by Kit Pearson
27. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
28.
The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer- NOVEMBER29. The Bearkeeper's Daughter by Gillian Bradshaw
30.
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling- JUNE31. The Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell
32.
Shoes Were for Sunday by Molly Weir- OCTOBER33. Georgiana by Amanda Foreman
34. Twopence to Cross the Mersey by Helen Forrester - MARCH
35. The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn
36. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger