End of Summer Reading Extravanza
Hey everyone! I haven't talked much about books lately. And no it's not because I'm still in mourning from finishing Harry Potter 6. I'm just going to try to put the series out of my mind for the next two years, with a brief hiatus to see the 4th film in November. Anyway, I struck gold a couple of months ago and read four books in a row that I enjoyed.
A Light in the Piazza by Elizabeth Spencer: I was given a first edition of this book by Marlene that I will prize forevermore. My brother gave me an unfortunate dilettantish taste for first editions a few years ago by giving me a first edition, first printing of Atlas Shrugged for Christmas. Since then, whenever I find a new book that I really like, I try to get a first edition off Amazon or bn.com. Older books tend to be tricky because they're so pricey. For example, I could only afford a third edition of I Capture the Castle that's in okay condition. But it was in the library of Louie B. Nunn, the former govenor of Kentucky, so that made me happy. Anyway, to the book review! You may have heard of A Light in the Piazza, particularly if you live in NYC or are a fan of the stage, because it was made into a Broadway musical this year and won buckets of Tonys. Marlene, Janice and Bobbi were all lucky enough to see it a month or so ago and I'm still pea-green with envy! The book was written in 1960 by Mississippi author, Elizabeth Spencer. It reminded me of some of the works of Tennessee Williams, like The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, or to a lesser extent Suddenly Last Summer, where a few Southern characters travel to Europe and some drama goes down. In this case it's the wealthy Mrs. Johnson and her daughter, Clara touring Italy. Clara is in her early 20s, but had an accident in her childhood that left with the mentality of a child. This disability goes unnoticed by Fabrizio, the handsome, young Italian she meets and subsequently falls in love with. Finally a benefit to language barriers. This causes much distress for Mrs. Johnson as she worries about the effect of the relationship on her daughter. She does her best to discourage the pair, knowing Clara's condition will eventually be figured out by Fabrizio or his family. The characters are charmingly and effectively written and the plot takes a few unexpected turns. It's also interesting to read about the mores and opinions of the time and the role of class and wealth in the States and Europe. A Light in the Piazza also benefits by being a very quick read, quite the pageturner. Now if I can only see the musical!
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford: I've always wanted to read one of Mitford's novels, because I've been intrigued with the author herself. Mitford and her sisters were quite notorious in their day, kind of like early 20th century England's version of the Hilton sisters. Pursuit is her first novel, written in 1945. And Mitford wrote what she knew, so it's fun reading about this wealthy, eccentric family, the Radletts of Alconleigh. Lord Alconleigh is obsessed with old school English ideals - hunting and going to war, basically; while his wife does her best to accomodate everyone while not putting herself out too much. There are nannies and servants for that. The beginning of the book reminded me some of Cold Comfort Farm or I Capture the Castle because it focuses the Radlett children playing about in the English countryside, getting into amusing adventures, tricking their parents and whatnot. The protagonist of Pursuit is Linda Radlett and the story follows her through childhood and beyond. Once Linda hits her teens, she marries one misfit after another, gets involved in the Spanish Civil War, and is finally stranded in Paris where she meets her match. Of course WWII must get in the way at that point. You know what Shakespeare said about the course of true love. About halfway through the book, I got a bit tired of Linda and her romantic trials. I was more interested in some of the other, more neglected characters. But it was a first novel, so I definitely will try Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate somewhere down the road.
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden : This book has been tormenting me since it first came out. It received so may rave reviews, I heard so much about it and I knew so many people who read it. But I never could bring myself to pick it up, regardless of my love of kimonos (a love that was exquisitely requited thanks to my trouseau). This all changed when I heard they were making a movie version coming out this December. I knew it was now or never. I was also encouraged when a review on the back of the book compared the heroine to Scarlett O'Hara. So Geisha is the book I took to Telluride (yes, I still found time to read despite my nine movies). The setup for the story took around 160 pages. This was a little rough for me - lots of details and description. I'm more of a dialogue girl. But I did enjoy Geisha and I learned a lot about the geisha lifestyle - much different than I expected. I really thought they were just high class prostitutes, but it turns out that especially at the top level, geishas are more along the lines of extremely accomplisted hostesses and entertainers who must comply with a rigourous code of conduct. They spend years going to school to become geishas and have some sort of continuous learning thereafter. The book is set in the 1930s and 1940s and told through the eyes of Sayuri, who starts out life in a small fishing village with her distant father, sick mother, and dumb sister. Soon enough Sayuri ends up in Gion, a Japanese geisha district and begins her training. She is terrorized by the head geisha in her house, the monstrous Matsumoto, but eventually finds a big sister in the geisha, Mameha. Along the way she becomes one of the most famous geishas of her day and falls secretly in love with The Chairman who steps aside as Sayuri is pursued by his disfigured business partner, Nobu. The love story didn't really do much for me, but I did enjoy learning about all the geisha rituals, Japanese customs, and the Japanese view of WWII and Americans. Sayuri is definitely no Scarlett, but she is a survivor and given the horrid environment that she grew up in, that's saying something. I hear that Ziyi Zhang is supposed to be great in the movie, so I can now see it with the clean conscience of having read the book.
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery: I take a lot of flack for continuing to enjoy children's books. But I always say, just because a book is about children doesn't necessarily mean it's a chidren's book. Somehow I missed out on reading Anne in my younger years. It's been on the shelf taunting me for years. As I haven't had time to go to the library I finally gave in and plucked it down. The novel is set in a small rural village on Prince Edward Island in the early 1900s. As a 9 year old orphan, Anne comes to live with the Cuthberts . The Cuthberts are comprised of an old maid, Marilla, and her old bachelor brother Matthew. They wanted a boy to help Matthew with the farm, but once they got Anne they couldn't turn her away. Anne is characterized by her runaway, vivid imagination, her non-stop talking, and her red hair which she detests. Most of the story centers around Anne's adventures and the scrapes she gets into on the farm, at school and all places in between. This is one of those books that's perfect to read in a hammock. It makes you feel good and happy and peaceful and right with the world. Kind of like Jan Karon's Mitford series. I wouldn't be surprised if Montgomery inspired some of Karon's work. I'm very happy that though I've finished the first book in this series, there are many more to look forward to. I'll be interested to read about the woman Anne grows up to be.
I'm currently re-reading The Eight, a thriller by Katherine Neville. I first read it years ago and remember really getting into it, but I've totally forgotten it now. The Eight revolves around a mystery rooted in a notorious chess set given to Charlemagne in the 8th century. Math also plays a part in figuring this whole thing out. Reading it makes me wish I knew a bit more about both topics, particulary chess. The Eight was written about 20 yrs ago, and it's Divinci Codesque, except that in The Eight, a woman is the protagonist. Much better.
-sunday
A Light in the Piazza by Elizabeth Spencer: I was given a first edition of this book by Marlene that I will prize forevermore. My brother gave me an unfortunate dilettantish taste for first editions a few years ago by giving me a first edition, first printing of Atlas Shrugged for Christmas. Since then, whenever I find a new book that I really like, I try to get a first edition off Amazon or bn.com. Older books tend to be tricky because they're so pricey. For example, I could only afford a third edition of I Capture the Castle that's in okay condition. But it was in the library of Louie B. Nunn, the former govenor of Kentucky, so that made me happy. Anyway, to the book review! You may have heard of A Light in the Piazza, particularly if you live in NYC or are a fan of the stage, because it was made into a Broadway musical this year and won buckets of Tonys. Marlene, Janice and Bobbi were all lucky enough to see it a month or so ago and I'm still pea-green with envy! The book was written in 1960 by Mississippi author, Elizabeth Spencer. It reminded me of some of the works of Tennessee Williams, like The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, or to a lesser extent Suddenly Last Summer, where a few Southern characters travel to Europe and some drama goes down. In this case it's the wealthy Mrs. Johnson and her daughter, Clara touring Italy. Clara is in her early 20s, but had an accident in her childhood that left with the mentality of a child. This disability goes unnoticed by Fabrizio, the handsome, young Italian she meets and subsequently falls in love with. Finally a benefit to language barriers. This causes much distress for Mrs. Johnson as she worries about the effect of the relationship on her daughter. She does her best to discourage the pair, knowing Clara's condition will eventually be figured out by Fabrizio or his family. The characters are charmingly and effectively written and the plot takes a few unexpected turns. It's also interesting to read about the mores and opinions of the time and the role of class and wealth in the States and Europe. A Light in the Piazza also benefits by being a very quick read, quite the pageturner. Now if I can only see the musical!
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford: I've always wanted to read one of Mitford's novels, because I've been intrigued with the author herself. Mitford and her sisters were quite notorious in their day, kind of like early 20th century England's version of the Hilton sisters. Pursuit is her first novel, written in 1945. And Mitford wrote what she knew, so it's fun reading about this wealthy, eccentric family, the Radletts of Alconleigh. Lord Alconleigh is obsessed with old school English ideals - hunting and going to war, basically; while his wife does her best to accomodate everyone while not putting herself out too much. There are nannies and servants for that. The beginning of the book reminded me some of Cold Comfort Farm or I Capture the Castle because it focuses the Radlett children playing about in the English countryside, getting into amusing adventures, tricking their parents and whatnot. The protagonist of Pursuit is Linda Radlett and the story follows her through childhood and beyond. Once Linda hits her teens, she marries one misfit after another, gets involved in the Spanish Civil War, and is finally stranded in Paris where she meets her match. Of course WWII must get in the way at that point. You know what Shakespeare said about the course of true love. About halfway through the book, I got a bit tired of Linda and her romantic trials. I was more interested in some of the other, more neglected characters. But it was a first novel, so I definitely will try Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate somewhere down the road.
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden : This book has been tormenting me since it first came out. It received so may rave reviews, I heard so much about it and I knew so many people who read it. But I never could bring myself to pick it up, regardless of my love of kimonos (a love that was exquisitely requited thanks to my trouseau). This all changed when I heard they were making a movie version coming out this December. I knew it was now or never. I was also encouraged when a review on the back of the book compared the heroine to Scarlett O'Hara. So Geisha is the book I took to Telluride (yes, I still found time to read despite my nine movies). The setup for the story took around 160 pages. This was a little rough for me - lots of details and description. I'm more of a dialogue girl. But I did enjoy Geisha and I learned a lot about the geisha lifestyle - much different than I expected. I really thought they were just high class prostitutes, but it turns out that especially at the top level, geishas are more along the lines of extremely accomplisted hostesses and entertainers who must comply with a rigourous code of conduct. They spend years going to school to become geishas and have some sort of continuous learning thereafter. The book is set in the 1930s and 1940s and told through the eyes of Sayuri, who starts out life in a small fishing village with her distant father, sick mother, and dumb sister. Soon enough Sayuri ends up in Gion, a Japanese geisha district and begins her training. She is terrorized by the head geisha in her house, the monstrous Matsumoto, but eventually finds a big sister in the geisha, Mameha. Along the way she becomes one of the most famous geishas of her day and falls secretly in love with The Chairman who steps aside as Sayuri is pursued by his disfigured business partner, Nobu. The love story didn't really do much for me, but I did enjoy learning about all the geisha rituals, Japanese customs, and the Japanese view of WWII and Americans. Sayuri is definitely no Scarlett, but she is a survivor and given the horrid environment that she grew up in, that's saying something. I hear that Ziyi Zhang is supposed to be great in the movie, so I can now see it with the clean conscience of having read the book.
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery: I take a lot of flack for continuing to enjoy children's books. But I always say, just because a book is about children doesn't necessarily mean it's a chidren's book. Somehow I missed out on reading Anne in my younger years. It's been on the shelf taunting me for years. As I haven't had time to go to the library I finally gave in and plucked it down. The novel is set in a small rural village on Prince Edward Island in the early 1900s. As a 9 year old orphan, Anne comes to live with the Cuthberts . The Cuthberts are comprised of an old maid, Marilla, and her old bachelor brother Matthew. They wanted a boy to help Matthew with the farm, but once they got Anne they couldn't turn her away. Anne is characterized by her runaway, vivid imagination, her non-stop talking, and her red hair which she detests. Most of the story centers around Anne's adventures and the scrapes she gets into on the farm, at school and all places in between. This is one of those books that's perfect to read in a hammock. It makes you feel good and happy and peaceful and right with the world. Kind of like Jan Karon's Mitford series. I wouldn't be surprised if Montgomery inspired some of Karon's work. I'm very happy that though I've finished the first book in this series, there are many more to look forward to. I'll be interested to read about the woman Anne grows up to be.
I'm currently re-reading The Eight, a thriller by Katherine Neville. I first read it years ago and remember really getting into it, but I've totally forgotten it now. The Eight revolves around a mystery rooted in a notorious chess set given to Charlemagne in the 8th century. Math also plays a part in figuring this whole thing out. Reading it makes me wish I knew a bit more about both topics, particulary chess. The Eight was written about 20 yrs ago, and it's Divinci Codesque, except that in The Eight, a woman is the protagonist. Much better.
-sunday
posted by Sunday at
12:42 PM
1 Comments:
Yay! Ayn Rand! (Sorry, random comment here.)
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Anonymous, at 10/10/2005 7:57 AM
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