Month: July 2010

Reading Update: July 31, 2010

Posted on by Dana

WitchI have been reading Georgette Heyer’s Regency romance Charity Girl for the Celebration of Georgette Heyer at Austenprose. I am about 1/3 the way through. I also picked up Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms because I need to have it read before school starts: it’s summer reading for my 10th grade students, and I haven’t read it before. I know, shocking! I like it so far, but I can’t deny that I have truly been wanting to read something set in Salem ever since my trip. I tried to tell myself I was going to finish these two books first and then I could indulge, but you know what? It’s summer, and I’m going to read it now if I want to. So I have started Brunonia Barry’s The Map of True Places. I will probably move on to something else set in Salem for as long as the mood lasts. I had a wonderful time there, and I so enjoyed seeing everything I had read about.

Plus, how cool is it that the first few results in my Photodropper plugin that helps me find Flickr images I can use on my blog returned my own photographs?

photo credit: danahuff

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My Life in Books: To Kill a Mockingbird
The Virgin Blue
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Emily’s Ghost

Posted on by Dana

Emily’s Ghost: A Novel of the Brontë SistersDenise Giardina’s novel Emily’s Ghost is the third novel about the lives of the Brontës that I’ve read this year. The other two were Jude Morgan’s Charlotte and Emily and Syrie James’s The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë. Perhaps because Wuthering Heights is my favorite novel, I felt Emily’s presence lacking a bit in these other two novels as they were both told from Charlotte’s point of view. Giardina’s novel is told mainly from Emily’s point of view, but also includes the perspectives of the curate William Weightman, supposed by many to have been a love interest of Anne Brontë’s. Giardina chooses instead to depict William Weightman as Emily’s beloved. As no substantiation exists for a definite relationship with Anne, I suppose Giardina can take the license to offer a different portrayal of Weightman’s affections than is traditionally shown.

Emily’s Ghost is not a sweeping saga of the Brontës so much as a collection of important vignettes. Giardina notes that the story we traditionally read of the Brontës has been Charlotte’s, as she was the sister who survived and her biographer, Elizabeth Gaskell, naturally had Charlotte’s point of view to work with. Emily’s story, at least as Giardina imagines it, is very different. I found her William Weightman charismatic and her depiction of their relationship plausible. Patrick Brontë is particularly well drawn in this novel, and Branwell is portrayed in a much more sympathetic light than usual, due mainly to his concern over Emily’s reaction to Weightman’s death and his care for Weightman as he died. Charlotte, on the other hand, suffers a great deal from Giardina’s characterization. She comes off as a little bit man-crazy, and certainly whiny, self-absorbed, and vain (about her talent, especially). In the final pages, she’s downright appalling.

I actually think of the three Brontë novels I’ve read, I enjoyed this one the most. I was swept away—it’s easy to tell Giardina is a fan of the Brontës. I also felt somehow that this novel captured something accurate, something very real about the Brontë household. Or perhaps a somewhat romanticized version of it. It’s much more like Wuthering Heights than Jane Eyre, which is to be expected. A couple of favorite lines stand out:

They were sisters. They loved one another. They were also rivals, though they never admitted to it.

I can easily picture the Brontës feeling this way—so much talent in so little space.

And Emily, remarking to her sisters, who do not like Wuthering Heights:

And do you despise Heathcliff? Then despise me! Because I—” She jabbed her finger against her chest as she leaned forward across the table. “I am Heathcliff! I am!”

Be sure to check out the much more comprehensive review at BrontëBlog. If you are a fan of the Brontës, you will enjoy this novel.

Rating: ★★★★★

Happy birthday, Emily Brontë.

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Booking Through Thursday: Una’s My Beach Buddy

Posted on by Dana

Seagull

This week’s Booking Through Thursday question asks: “Which fictional character (or group of characters) would you like to spend a day at the beach with? Why would he/she/they make good beach buddies?”

I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of hours, and I keep coming back to the same character: Una Spenser from Ahab’s Wife. Now, I realize this is a really unorthodox choice. After all, she probably isn’t the first person to come to mind when you think of the beach. Then there is the episode at sea after the whale destroyed the ship she was stowing away on. In fact, it might strike most readers as distinctly odd that anyone would want to hang around with Una anywhere near the ocean, but hear me out. The New York Times review of the novel includes this paragraph:

“Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last,” begins Naslund’s heroine, Una Spenser, as she lies on her back on a Nantucket beach after Ahab’s death, watching the clouds go by. One of them, she thinks, looks a bit like Ahab’s face, a face that she always recalls as ”mild” if somewhat excitable. She waves goodbye. With one dreamy, casual gesture, Una thus waves aside a century’s worth of canonization and goes on to talk about what’s really on her mind: her mother. Over the course of the next 667 pages, Una unscrolls her life story, a long and winding tale in which Ahab is one player among many, and not necessarily the most important one.

Now tell me you wouldn’t like to lie on the beach next to Una and listen to her tell her story. Sena Jeter Naslund brings the nineteenth century alive in her novel. Una Spenser is someone I would want to lock arms with and stroll down the beach with in early fall before it gets too cool. She would tell me all about her adventures at sea and with the freethinking friends she’s made on Nantucket. She would tell me about creepy Nathaniel Hawthorne skulking around Concord in a black veil, and we should share a giggle over that, as well as a long-suffering sigh over his comment about the publishing world being dominated by a horde of scribbling women. We would watch the fat seagulls waddling away from the waves rolling onto the beach.

Perhaps not the vision of a beach buddy that most folks have in mind, but Una Spenser remains to me one of the characters in literature that I would most like to to know, and how better to get to know her than a walk on the beach?

Booking Through Thursday

photo credit: anneh632

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Celebrating Georgette Heyer

Celebrating Georgette Heyer

Posted on by Dana

Celebrating Georgette HeyerIn honor of Georgette Heyer’s birthday on August 16, Laurel Ann of Austenprose is hosting a month-long celebration of Heyer’s work. Yours truly is participating with a review of Charity Girl, which will be my first Heyer read. Please join us at Laurel Ann’s for the festivities.

In other book-related news this week, on this date in 1054, Siward, Earl of Northumbria, invaded Scotland to aid Malcolm Canmore against Macbeth, an event depicted in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Can’t wait to teach that one again this year! It’s also the birthday of Alexandre Dumas fils and the anniversary of the death of Gertrude Stein.

Tomorrow marks the birthday of Beatrix Potter and the anniversary of the death of Cyrano de Bergerac.

Friday is the birthday of novelist Emily Brontë. I hope I can have a review of the novel Emily’s Ghost ready to commemorate that event. Friday also marks the anniversary of the death of British poet Thomas Gray.

Saturday we celebrate the birthdays of J. K. Rowling and her creation, Harry Potter. On July 31, 1703, writer Daniel Defoe was also put in a pillory following a conviction for seditious libel. He was pelted with flowers.

On August 1, 1944, Anne Frank made the last entry in her diary. August 1 is also Herman Melville’s birthday.

Monday August 2 is Caleb Carr‘s birthday and also marks the anniversary of Raymond Carver’s death and William S. Burroughs’s death.

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Salem Trip

Posted on by Dana

I originally hadn’t planned to post this video of our trip to Salem, MA., but I will share it for a short time. I created it in iMovie using photographs and video taken with our iPhones and Flip camera. It’s a little distorted to fit here, but not substantially so. It clocks in at about 11 minutes.

Trip to Salem, MA., July 2010

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Sense and Sensibility

Posted on by Dana

Sense And SensibilityJane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is the story of two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood who, along with their younger sister Margaret, are children of their father’s second marriage. When their father dies, their older half-brother John and his wife Fanny decide not to provide for their younger sisters and step-mother, leaving them in much reduced circumstances. Fanny does everything in her power to make her husband’s family feel unwelcome, especially in light of Elinor’s attachment to Fanny Dashwood’s brother Edward Ferrars, which Fanny sees as an inappropriate match for her brother. The family removes to a cottage in Devonshire, where Marianne meets and falls in love with John Willoughby. The novel follows the romantic fortunes and misfortunes of Elinor and Marianne as they learn to strike a balance between sense and sensibility.

I first read this novel in 1998, during my first year as a high school teacher. It was refreshing to return to it again and discover I loved it as much as I remembered. I had completely forgotten Willoughby returns upon hearing of Marianne’s illness to confess he still loves Marianne to Elinor. I can’t remember if that scene was absent from both movies I’ve seen or just the most recent. I have always admired Elinor as the kind of person who puts others before herself and rolls up her sleeves to do what must be done. I wish I were more like her. To Marianne’s credit, she realizes her behavior is selfish and repents of it. Her essential romantic nature and love for music and books is what I admire about her.

I can’t tell if I like this book better than Pride and Prejudice or not. Elizabeth Bennet is a spunky, admirable character, and Mr. Darcy a worthy romantic hero. Yet, the Misses Dashwood certainly have their charms. I have thoroughly enjoyed my re-reads of both books this year.

Rating: ★★★★★

I re-read this novel for the Everything Austen Challenge. It is the second of six Austen-related activities I have planned. Others:

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Review: The Crossover, Kwame Alexander
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The Meaning of Night

Posted on by Dana

The Meaning of Night: A ConfessionThe story of the writing of Michael Cox’s The Meaning of Night is an interesting one. Diagnosed with a rare cancer, Cox began to lose his sight. He had begun the novel in the 1970’s, but cancer gave Cox a new sense of urgency. He finished the book, which in my paperback version stretches to nearly 700 pages.

The Meaning of Night is the story of Edward Glyver’s quest for revenge against Phoebus Daunt, who robbed him not only of his Eton education, but all he holds most dear. The book begins memorably as Glyver kills an innocent man to be sure that he will have the resolve to murder Phoebus Daunt when he has the opportunity: “After killing the red-haired man, I took myself off to Quinn’s for an oyster supper.” Following his account of killing this stranger, Glyver tells the story of his childhood, including his expulsion from Eton, his employment with Christopher Tredgold, and his infatuation with the beautiful Miss Emily Carteret, the daughter of the 25th Baron Tansor’s first cousin and employee, Paul Carteret. Glyver uncovers the truth of his parentage and reveals his motive for wanting to kill Phoebus Daunt.

I read this book at the recommendation of my husband, and while I enjoyed parts of it, I had some major problems with it. First, I could find no characters to like. I didn’t feel much sympathy for Edward Glyver. He’s unlikeable in the extreme. He values the wrong things in life, and he spends his days in dissolution, feeling sorry for himself. He was indeed treated unfairly, but he certainly meted out the same sort of treatment to other undeserving and innocent parties. Another issue I had with the book was its length. The story moves at a slow pace, and I found it difficult to plow through the beginning of the book, particularly as Edward Glyver had given me no reason to be interested in or care about what happened to him. I am not sure what should have been cut, but I hate investing so much time in a book this long for so little reward. The story turns on coincidence, which normally I don’t mind and have actually used in my own writing, but for some reason in this novel it bothered me. It seems Alastair Sooke and I are in agreement on our reviews. What Cox does very well in this book is capture a sort of seedy underbelly of Victorian society and the sharp divisions between classes.

Cox succumbed to cancer on March 31, 2009 after finishing The Glass of Time, a companion to The Meaning of Night.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

This book is my eighth book for the Typically British Challenge, bringing me to the highest level of the challenge: Cream Crackered. Looks like I have finished this one.

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Mark Twain’s Unexpurgated Biography Published

Posted on by Dana

Mark Twain via the Library of CongressMuch speculation has surrounded Mark Twain’s autobiography because of the stipulation in his will that it not be published until 100 years after his death. Many have wondered exactly what he said that was so controversial. Readers won’t have to wait much longer. The New York Times reports that the first of three volumes is set to be published by the University of California Press this November. You can preorder it on Amazon right now. No word yet on when volumes 2 and 3, which are said to contain most of the previously unpublished material, will be published.

Are you going to try to read it?

Other book news this week:

Thursday, July 15 marks the 172nd anniversary of Ralph Waldo Emerson‘s famous Divinity School Address at Harvard Divinity School. Emerson declared Jesus to be a great man, but not divine, and he discounted biblical miracles in this famous address. The controversial speech resulted in Emerson’s not speaking at Harvard for 30 years. You can read the speech here.

Friday July 16 marks the 95th anniversary of the date when Henry James became a British citizen. I can only think of one other American writer—T. S. Eliot—who became a British citizen. Because James died less than a year after becoming a British citizen, most people don’t think of him as an English writer, whereas some people do think of Eliot as English. Can you think of other American writers who became British citizens?

July 16 also marks the 59th anniversary of the publication of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. This book continues to speak to students even today. You can read my reflections about teaching it here and here.

Mickey Spillane died four years ago on July 17.

On July 18, 1925, Adolf Hitler published Mein Kampf. William Makepeace Thackeray was born on July 18, 1811. Jane Austen died on July 18, 1817. Horatio Alger also died on that date in 1899.

On July 19, 1692, five women—Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Sarah Wildes, and Rebecca Nurse—were hanged for witchcraft in Salem, MA. (my visit to Salem begins on that date next week!) The Salem witch trials served as inspiration for Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, as well as one of my favorite YA writers Ann Rinaldi’s book A Break with Charity. Elizabeth Howe is an ancestor of modern writer Katherine Howe, who also used Salem’s witchcraft history as inspiration for her novel The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane (read my review).

On July 19, 1963, Australian author Garth Nix was born. I enjoyed his book Sabriel. My daughter loves his writing.

Transcendentalist writer Margaret Fuller died on July 19, 1850. Irish-American writer Frank McCourt died a year ago on July 19, 2009.

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My Life in Books: To Kill a Mockingbird

Posted on by Dana

To Kill a MockingbirdMy first encounter with To Kill a Mockingbird came in sixth grade. As a reward, our classes were allowed to watch the movie during school. It was such a great story. Two years later, I was looking at the books my language arts teacher had on her library rack, and I picked up the copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. With the unerring sense of an English teacher sniffing a student interested in a book, she was at my side in a moment asking me if I would like to read the book. I sheepishly put it back on the rack. I was scared to read it at that time, and I can’t think why. I had read other adult books, and one could argue that this, despite it’s cover, was not even an adult book. The cover was yellow with some adult-looking print.

Yellow To Kill a Mockingbird

I thought it looked like a mystery or a spy novel. I don’t think I put it together with the movie I had already seen.

To Kill a Mockingbird was assigned reading in my 11th grade English class (American lit.). I usually have a hard time keeping up with a school reading schedule, but I stayed ahead in this book. I devoured it. I read more than I was assigned. I was entranced by the characters. I fell in love with the book. It was the first assigned novel I read for school that I really liked.

What Harper Lee did masterfully in this book is capture real people. I knew folks just like all the characters in the book. While the book has some critics, I still consider it one of the best books I’ve ever read and one I would definitely consider worthy of its place in the literary canon. Parts of this book still have the power to make me laugh aloud and cry real tears. My favorite books have almost always been character-driven. I love good characters, and I am willing to forgive flawed writing and hackneyed plot if the characters are good. I think I trace that love of character to my first experience reading To Kill a Mockingbird.

In the years since that first reading over twenty years ago, I have had the pleasurable experience of teaching the novel, and many times, students react to it in the same way that I did. Harper Lee has famously described the novel as “a love story.” In a way, it is. It’s a snapshot of a moment in time and place. It’s a moving homage to Lee’s own father, Amasa Lee, who was her model for Atticus—Harper Lee gave Gregory Peck, who played Atticus in the film, her father’s own pocket watch. It’s a loving tribute to the innocence of childhood. To Kill a Mockingbird means so many things to so many people. My personal hero Morris Dees says he became a lawyer because of Atticus Finch.

Happy 50th birthday, To Kill a Mockingbird.

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Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday: Sharing Books

Posted on by Dana

Booking Through ThursdayDo you have friends and family to share books with? Discuss them with? Does it matter to you?

My husband and I only occasionally read the same books, but we manage to talk about books all the same. Or rather, I make him listen to passages I’m reading, and I discuss. He listens well! We have a lot of books in our home, and we both enjoy reading.

I sometimes talk books with my daughters, but they don’t always really want to talk about books with me—I think because I’m an English teacher. All of my children love reading, and I’m grateful for it.

I sometimes talk about books with my sister, but we don’t read a lot of the same books, either. She often asks me about books.

I will never, ever recommend another book to my mother. She and I are apparently so different in our preferences that we have a strong dislike for each other’s favorites.

I talk about books with friends all the time. Being an English teacher has its perks in that you generally get to work with people who love books. We talk books frequently. I also discuss books with students. We have a faculty book club, too, which has been a lot of fun because some of our most voracious readers are in other departments.

I share books with students a lot, but I don’t often pass along my books. I have loaned out my Jasper Fforde books to a colleague this year, but books loaned to students sometimes don’t return. 😥 Now that I’m doing quite a lot of reading on my Kindle and my iPhone (audio books in iTunes), it’s harder to pass on a physical copy to someone else.

It does matter to me to have the ability to discuss books with someone. I was so glad when my dad began reading the Harry Potter books. Where our interests coincide, such as Harry Potter or Tolkien, he is perhaps the best person to discuss books with that I know.

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