Women’s History Month Mini Challenge – Completed

Lu at Regular Rumination hosted this mini challenge to read the books by women that you have always thought about reading, but never got around to.

I opted for 5 books and I’ve finished them all (but only just).

I have written about them all and would happily recommend any of them. Here’s the list:

South Riding by Winifred Holtby
Knights of Love;after the Lais of Marie de France by Jane Tozer
The London Scene by Virginia Woolf
Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
The Good Women of China by Xinran

Yay!

The Good Women of China by Xinran

This is a quite extraordinary book.

In the course of her work as a presenter at a Chinese radio station Xinran she received many letters, most of them were from women. Moved by the stories she read, she decided that she wanted to learn more about Chinese women’s lives

She uncovered stories about women who had endured lengthy sexual abuse during the Cultural Revolution, women who endured extreme poverty, women suffered from dictates of a male-centred society, women who had had their children taken from them or who had lost them.

Xinran tells all of their stories simply and clearly.

And what makes them truly extraordinary is that the women do not complain, they do not compare their lives with others more fortunate, they do not expect help and assistance. They accept, they endure and they go on living

And so this is difficult book and a book that will haunt you, but it is also a wonderful testament to the human spirit and a book that you must read.

South Riding by Winifred Holtby

Virago Modern Classic #273

South Riding is subtitled An English Landscape, and it is just that, a landscape made up of people.

Sarah Burton is a dedicated and idealistic teacher who returns to her home county to become headmistress of a girls’ high school.

Emma Beddows is the first woman alderman in the district and her work is the focus of her life now that her children are grown.

The dialogues and the developing relationship between those two dedicated but different women are quite wonderful, and there is much more besides.

Robert Carne is a county councilor and a struggling gentleman farmer. His wife is in an asylum and he worries that their daughter Midge will inherit her mental illness.

Lydia Holly loves learning and Sarah believes she has more potential than any other child she has taught but, when her mother dies after one pregnancy too many, her father pulls her out of school to look after her younger siblings.

And so many more – councilors, teachers, pupils, farm workers, townsfolk, all of the people that make up a community and all with their own story.

Their paths, of course, cross and Winifred Holtby tells all of their stories, mixing them and balancing them perfectly.

The characterization is absolutely wonderful, right across the social spectrum.

And there are so many wonderful words and ideas, so many wonderful moments. I really can’t praise this book enough.

South Riding is a quite wonderful picture of provincial England in the 1930s.

Tuesday Thingers

This week’s question posed by Wendi:

What is your least-favorite book(s)? Is your least-favorite book listed in your LT library? If it is listed, do you have anything special in the tags or comments section? How have others rated your least-favorite book?

My answer:

What is my least favourite book? I have no idea! These days if I don’t like book I drop it and if I do finish it and was unimpressed I don’t hang on to it. There are so many great books that I don’t have time or houseroom to persist with books I don’t take to.

There are however a couple of exceptions to this rule. I have two books with just one star apiece in my LibraryThing catalogue. Both are second novels that disappointed me after I loved the author’s first book.

Here they are:

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt

2898 members have it in their library and it has an average rating of 3.4.

A book that seemed to disappint a lot of people. A lot of reading but not much plot and zero resolution

The Inconstant Husband by Susan Barrett

Just 4 members have it in their library and it has an average rating of just 2.25.

Susan Barrett’s first novel, Fixing Shadows, was a lovely piece of Victoriana. This one was set in the early 20th century but it has modern day sensibilities and that just didn’t work for me.

I hold onto these two in the hope that I might pick them up one day and discover that I misjudged them and they really were as great as the books that came before …

Teaser Tuesdays / It’s Tuesday where are you ?

I am Tottie. I live with Mr and Mrs Plantaganet in a shoebox. Emily and Charlotte play with us often and we are content, but we would love the chance to live in a proper house.

It’s Tuesday, where are you? is hosted by raidergirl3.

Just quote a couple of spoiler-free sentences the book you’re reading to tempt other readers.

Here is mine:-

“Tottie was made of wood and it was good wood.She liked to think of the tree of whose wood she was made, of its strength and of the sap that ran through it and made it bud and put out leaves each spring and summer, that kept it standing through the winter storms and wind.”

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB

This all comes courtesy of The Doll’s House by Rumer Godden

(Re-reading for the Childhood Memories reading Challenge.)

Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann

Virago Modern Classic # 53

Invitation to the Waltz travels into the life, indeed into the mind, of Olivia Curtis.

The plot is simple.

In the summer of 1920 Olivia receives wonderful presents, most importantly a roll of flame-coloured silk to be made into an evening dress, for her seventeenth birthday. That dress in for her first grown-up dance, in a country house. She feels a mixture of exitement and fear. Her dress is all wrong, her dance card is full of spaces, she doesn’t know how to make small talk, and she is unsure quite how she is expected to behave. But, after several strange encounters, her spirits are lifted by the son of the house, who treats her with sympathy and kindness.

Lovely, but it is the execution that makes this book great.

Olivia’s inner world is wonderfully created and, while some things may have dated, so much of what she feels is still recognisable. Her relationship with her sister, just a little older but so much more at ease, her anxiety at facing a new and unfamiliar situation, the outfit that she thought was perfect but really isn’t quite right, the relief and joy of being rescued from the wrong company, the whole journey from childhood to adulthood … every detail is perfect.

And Olivia’s stream of consciousness unravels in such beautiful, descriptive prose.

I loved and felt every moment!

Herding Cats? I have a dog to do that … !

Herding Cats is a wonderful combination of reading challenge and book recommendations.

It’s hosted by Renay from Let’s Get Literate and this is how it works:

Make a list of five books you love. Directions:

• Five. I’m as serious as a beached whale.
• All titles must be books you’ve read in 2007, 2008 or 2009.
• Please don’t list a series; just the first book. If you really want to list a book in the middle of a series, you can, but it has to be that specific book.
• Feel free to share why you’re putting the book on your list, because I am nosy.

Post your list:

• In your own journal, in comments, whatever is fine. Share the list here.
• Lists should be public (no locked entries, no logging in to view).

 Browse the new book list. Stay a while. Read a few (eta: if you want; not even reading is required this time around if you don’t have time to commit to a new challenge but still want to share your favorites).

 If you review your books, you can share the reviews. You know, if you want. No pressure. Definitely not.

Here’s my list, all books that I loved:

Company of Liars by Karen Maitland

In 1348 a group of travellers join together to flee the plague. But they find that another form of death may be travelling with them. Wonderful storytelling!

Novel About My Wife by Emily Perkins

The beautiful and shocking story of a young married couple in London .

The Great Western Beach by Emma Smith

A wonderful memoir of growing up in a Cornish seaside town between the wars. Packed full of detail and the author balances her childhood viewpoint with the greater understanding she gained as an adult perfectly.

Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski

A man searches for his missing son in France in the aftermath of World War 2. Emotional, gripping and it may have the best ever final sentence.

The London Scene by Virginia Woolf

Six wonderful essays about London. Beautiful prose and wonderful evocations of the city and its inhabitants.

And this is Briar, the aforementioned dog!

What kind of flower are you?

I spotted this over at Stacy’s Bookblog.

I am a Violet What Flower Are You?

 

“You have a shy personality. You tend to hesitate before trying new things or meeting new people. But once people get to know you, you open up and show the world what you are really all about.”

Yes, that’s true…

The Paris Enigma by Pablo De Santis

The first thing to say about The Paris Enigma is that it is stunning to look at. Not just the front cover – the back is in the style of a newspaper trailing the contents of the book and inside the front cover is a series of headlines.

A lot for this debut novel to live up to. Does it? Very nearly.

Sigmundo Salvatrio is the son of a shoemaker and his ambition is to work with one of the world famous “Twelve Detectives”. And he does. He wins a place at a school for assistants created by the great Argentine detective Renato Craig. He gets the job, not necessarily because he is the best candidate, but because he is the last man standing.

It’s a busy and entertaining start.

Craig falls ill and Salvatrio is sent to Paris, where the World’s Fair is about to begin, to attend the first ever meeting of “The Twelve” in place of his mentor. It is at this point that the twelve meet for the first time, and it was at that point that I needed to make a list to keep track of who was who:

The Twelve Detectives

Renato Craig (Argentina)
Magrelli (Italy)
Caleb Lawson (England)
Tobias Hatter (Germany)
Louis Darbon (France)
Viktor Arzaky (Poland)
Madorakis (Greece)
Fermín Rojo (Spain)
Zagala (Portugal)
Jack Novarius (USA)
Anders Castelvetia (Netherlands)
Sawaka (Japan)

A lot of characters to keep track of, especially when you factor in assistants, associates and all of the others. I suspect “Eight Detectives” would have been plenty – a number of the great detectives have little to do.

At this point things take a different and interesting turn, as we meet the great men, see their rivalries and amd hear their views on the nature of crime and the art of detection.

The plot is suspended for a while, but it soon takes off again. There is a startling murder, a complex investigation, a remarkable solution and a lovely final flourish.

There is a lot going on, but it would be unfair to say more.

The door is left open for a sequel – maybe that is where the more under-used members of “The Twelve” come to the fore.

This was a fast-paced and entertaining tale – at times a little too fast,  and maybe a little too much was crammed in.

The plot was clever, though some elements didn’t join up as neatly as they might have.

But overall this is a great debut, and I look forward to reading Pablo De Santis’ next book.

Translated by Mara Lethem

The Guardian’s List of 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read: Science Fiction & Fantasy

The penultimate part of The Guardian’s list of 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read appeared on Thursday 23rd January 2009.

“Science Fiction & Fantasy” was the subject. Not a strong one for me. I’m not really a lover of thoses genres in their purest form, but I do like a good ghost story and sometimes something set in a recognisable world with a fantastical element.

Anyway, here’s the list.

The books I have read are bold and the books that are in my TBR and the books that I know I want to read are starred

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Non-Stop by Brian W Aldiss
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
In the Country of Last Things by Paul Auster
The Drowned World by JG Ballard
Crash by JG Ballard
Millennium People by JG Ballard
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks
Weaveworld by Clive Barker
Darkmans by Nicola Barker*
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear
Vathek by William Beckford
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Lost Souls by Poppy Z Brite
Wieland by Charles Brockden Brown
Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov*
The Coming Race by EGEL Bulwer-Lytton
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The End of the World News by Anthony Burgess
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Naked Lunch by William Burroughs
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Erewhon by Samuel Butler
The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino
The Influence by Ramsey Campbell
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon*
The Man who was Thursday by GK Chesterton
Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clarke
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (I’m reading it now – long term project!)
Hello Summer, Goodbye by Michael G Coney
Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski*
Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq
The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R Delaney
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick
Camp Concentration by Thomas M Disch
Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Under the Skin by Michel Faber
The Magus by John Fowles
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Red Shift by Alan Garner
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman*
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Light by M John Harrison
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A Heinlein
Dune by Frank L Herbert
The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg
Atomised by Michel Houellebecq
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson*
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Children of Men by PD James
After London; or, Wild England by Richard Jefferies
Bold as Love by Gwyneth Jones
The Trial by Franz Kafka*
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
The Shining by Stephen King
The Victorian Chaise-longue by Marghanita Laski*
Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu*
The Earthsea Series by Ursula Le Guin
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing
The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
The Monk by Matthew Lewis*
A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay
The Night Sessions by Ken Macleod
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin
The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Ascent by Jed Mercurio
The Scar by China Mieville
Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M Miller Jr
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Mother London by Michael Moorcock*
News from Nowhere by William Morris
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Ada or Ardor by Vladimir Nabokov
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Ringworld by Larry Niven
Vurt by Jeff Noon
The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien
The Famished Road by Ben Okri
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and CM Kornbluth
A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys
The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe*
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling
Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
The Female Man by Joanna Russ
Air by Geoff Ryman
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery*
Blindness by Jose Saramago*
How the Dead Live by Will Self
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Insult by Rupert Thomson
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Institute Benjamenta by Robert Walser
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner*
Affinity by Sarah Waters
The Time Machine by HG Wells
The War of the Worlds by HG Wells
The Sword in the Stone by TH White
The Old Men at the Zoo by Angus Wilson
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

I make that:

149 books
40 read
14 want to  read and 1 in progress

I wasn’t expecting the numbers to be that high – maybe I like fantasy more than I thought!

Certainly Affinity, Nights at the Circus and Under the Skin are among my favourite books. And why isn’t Oryx and Crake there?

What do you think? Any recommendations?

You can see all the lists plus some interesting extras here.

And Jennie at Biblio File is hosting a challenge to read 10 books from the list over the coming year. You can find the details here.

Next  (and last) up: War & Travel