The Classics Club is organizing another spin read and this time I’ve chosen to give it a go. The first spin was during a busy time for me so I didn’t feel up to letting fate choose my next book, but this time I am feeling adventurous and can’t wait to see what book is chosen for me. I’ve been a bit cowardly and have put only books that I feel I can finish by July on my list – nothing super chunky or incredibly hard to read. Most of these are books that I very enthusiastically bought and planned to read immediately, but then let linger. They’ve slowly moved from my bedside table to my upstairs bookcase and are now being neglected in my downstairs bookcase.

1. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
2. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
3. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
4. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
5. South Riding by Winifred Holtby
6. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
7. The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
8. Nana by Emile Zola
9. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
10. Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves
11. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
12. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
13. Brook Evans by Susan Glaspell
14. Saratoga Trunk by Edna Ferber
15. Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins
16. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
17. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
18. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
19. The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty
20. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Are you taking the spin? Do we have any books in common?

Also, I can’t read this Danish book blog (unless I use Google Translate, which is not ideal), but I love looking at the photos. This blogger’s pictures are beautiful!

Have a gorgeous weekend!

“Did the old man die here? What do you think?” Julia asked, as her husband began to come upstairs.

One Christmas break when I was in college I house sat for a neighbor while she was on vacation. For two weeks I slept in her bed, cooked in her kitchen, watched her tv,  read on her porch and snuggled with her dogs. It was nice to be on my own and to have a break from my roommates, but it was also a bit uncomfortable to inhabit a relative stranger’s home and unsettling to live among objects that were not my own. In Elizabeth Taylor’s debut novel At Mrs. Lippincote’s the Davenant family experiences much the same uneasiness.

Towards the end of the second world war Roddy Davenant is transferred to a new town (he’s in the RAF) and moves his wife Julia, son Oliver and cousin Eleanor into a rented home that belongs to Mrs. Lippincote. All of her furniture and belongings are left behind in the house and Julia and Eleanor set about setting up a home in these borrowed surroundings. The plot follows the characters as they question their lives and learn things about each other that change their relationships and family dynamic, mostly not for the good.

Julia is a remarkable character, a woman who is private, harsh and blunt yet a romantic. She doesn’t suffer fools, but she has a soft heart that leads her to connect with unlikely people. Roddy is your typical husband and soldier of this era and, though she loves him, she has no interest in playing the role of the typical wife and conflict ensues. Add to this mix Roddy’s cousin Eleanor, a single middle-aged woman who takes up with a band of Communists and conceals the friendship from Roddy who will not approve. Basically, the women in this novel rebel, perhaps because they don’t feel comfortable or in control of their own home.

Julia’s relationship with her young son Oliver is also rocky as he is precocious and sickly with a huge appetite for books (he’s seven and has read Jane Eyre) and causes her much worry and resentment. Their relationship, though, is really charming and I loved reading about Oliver’s favorite books and their conversations about his reading. It is one of the most delightful parts of the novel especially when Roddy’s boss, the Wing Commander, joins in the discussion.

Taylor’s writing continues to feel stiff to me and not easy to read, but reading her short stories alerted me to her style so I was ready for this novel. If you don’t like short stories and want to read her I would suggest this as a first try because it is short and not as hard to get into as some of her other novels that I’ve tried.

From what I’ve read to this point I’d say that her books are full of subversive women. They may not march down the middle of main street to protest the mistreatment, disrespect and boredom they endure, but they certainly act out in small ways within their own spheres. I am intrigued by them and will continue to read Taylor to meet more of these interesting women.

Other thoughts:

The Captive Reader

Harriet Devine

Heavenali

Stuck in a Book

Will you try Elizabeth Taylor?

1. Penguin Classics // 2. Oxford World’s Classics // 3. Penguin USA //

4. Penguin Drop Caps //5. Vintage Classics // 6. Insel Verlag GmbH

Oh, Emma Bovary! It seems people either hate her or sympathize with her. If I had to choose I would say I am in the sympathize camp because I completely sided with her the first time I read this novel as a teen. The feelings I had for the trapped, bored, insensitive and selfish woman who can never be satisfied will always stay with me, though I’m sure at this age I would find her a wretched little brat.

So, to the covers… I own number 3, but am really drawn to number 6. There is something about the woman on the cover that is so Emma. Which cover do you like and are you a fan of Madame Bovary?

My week has flown by because at work I am hustling to get our summer reading program materials and logistics in order before the chaos starts on May 30. We’ve changed our program this year and so everything is new and unfamiliar and we are all getting up to speed on the rules and regs and hope it all goes smoothly. On top of that there’s been cleaning and preparing to do in the evenings as I’ll have company this weekend. My cousin (who used to live with me) and her sister are coming from Colorado and I am so excited. It will be wonderful.

My reading has taken a nose dive this week, but I did finish The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud last night, which is fascinating, sad and brutal. It is the anti-Excellent Women.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

In the winter of 2008 I served on my very first jury. The case was at the Superior Court of Maricopa County in Phoenix and the defendant was a twenty-five -year old man who was accused of auto theft. He had stolen a truck from an apartment complex and when he was pulled over by police he claimed that he had bought the truck from a homeless man. He couldn’t produce any proof of the sale and was completely unconvincing when he gave testimony. When we met in the jury room to deliberate his fate the right decision was obvious, however most of the jury had a very hard time making it. The problem was knowing that he was the sole caretaker of his two-year-old son. It was a simple case, really, and our verdict should have been made quickly, but knowing about the son just bothered so many of us. After much debate we did decide to convict him, but not without heartbreak and sadness. On the shuttle back to our parking garage there was sobbing and second guessing. I know there were several jurors who felt we did the wrong thing – did stealing a car really warrant sentencing a man to prison and forcing him to abandon his son?

In Josephine Tey’s Miss Pym Disposes, Lucy Pym faces a similar dilemma. She’s a middle-aged recently famous author, highly sought after since publishing a book on popular psychology. An old friend from school, Henrietta, invites her to speak at the physical training college (it’s the 1940′s) where she is headmistress and Miss Pym decides to stay on a while after her engagement is over. She is fascinated by the young, energetic, beautiful girls who work diligently all day at dancing, games, gymnastics and learning anatomy. She also loves the peaceful and calm environment yet puzzles at the quiet competition and subtle dislike among many of the girls. It is a perfect setting to study human psychology.

Students at a physical training college in Brisbane, early fifties.

And this really is what the novel is about. There is a murder, but it doesn’t occur until the book is nearly over. The goal of this book is to examine the mixture of different personalities, events and resentments that lead to murder and lies. Because Miss Pym is observant and interested in motives she is caught in the middle of the tragedy and is painfully compelled to either reveal or conceal the knowledge she has about who the murderer is. And though she wants to do the right thing she debates if ruining the life of a mostly decent young woman is worth the life that was taken. Is it worth sentencing a young woman to death when she can potentially do much good in the world?

Josephine Tey’s characters are so lively and vibrant and her humor is very enjoyable. I can tell that like her wonderful creation Miss Pym, Tey was hugely interested in human nature. I am, too, so this book was a delight for me. If character exploration and a slow burning plot make you crazy than this isn’t the book for you. If you like moral dilemmas and wonderful character development than it most certainly is.

I just checked out The Franchise Affair by Tey and am really looking forward to it. Have you read Tey? Do you have a favorite?

And also…have you ever served on a jury?

I’ve been enjoying looking at and smelling the blossoms that have popped up around my house lately. The white blossoms are on an oleander tree in my front garden. It is a highly poisonous plant, oleander, but the blossoms are lush and beautiful – almost over the top. The pink and purple blossoms are petunias that my dad gave me for my birthday. I placed the pot on my back patio and I am grateful for them. My tiny yard is otherwise drab and full of weeds so these pretty flowers have cheered me up this week. I hope the heat (we’ve already had triple digits this week!) doesn’t wilt them. I’d really like them to stick around for a while.

Have any blossoms cheered you up lately?

And now for the winner of my 2nd birthday giveaway – I used random.org to generate a number and it choose #5 Sam from Tiny Library!

Congratulations Sam! Email me at gudrunstightsatgmaildotcom with your address and I will get the books off to you as soon as I can. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Enjoy your weekend!

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher was the second book my recently formed book club discussed. I thought it would inspire a great discussion on the history of detectives and police work, the psychology of murder and a fascinating peek into the world of a Victorian family and the Victorian press.

In June 1860 a small boy named Savile Kent is murdered in his home, Road Hill House, and found dumped in a privy. There is practically no physical evidence, not much cooperation from the boy’s household (composed of his parents, four older step-siblings, a young sister and several servants), and not much experience among the local police on how to investigate such a crime. Several weeks after the body is found Inspector Jonathan Whicher from Scotland Yard arrives to apply his considerable expertise to solving the murder. He quickly pins down a suspect while the newspapers criticize and ridicule his decisions and deductions. In addition, the case had become an obsession to the entire country (I was reminded of the Casey Anthony case recently here in America) with people from all walks of life, including Mr. Charles Dickens himself, contributing their two cents about who committed the murder and how it could really be solved.

Inspector Whicher

Inspector Whicher was inspiration for the early detective novels of Wilkie Collins, especially The Moonstone, Dickens’ Bleak House and Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. The book club discussion didn’t touch much on this aspect of the novel, but several book clubbers did mention a desire to read Collins after reading this.

So, what did the book club think? I believe the majority of us very much enjoyed the book, though it was slow going in parts. There were a few members who didn’t manage to finish the book because it was so dense and detail laden. I had trouble about half-way through when the press accounts became overwhelming and repetitive – it felt like Summerscale was trying to pad out the years after the murder when not much was happening in the case. The end of the book was, however, riveting with its account of what happened to the major figures in the case long after the investigation was over.

The next book up for discussion in May is Rules of Civility by Amor Towles.

If you’d like to win copies of Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym and This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart enter here.

Today is the second anniversary of the creation of Gudrun’s Tights! I remember sitting down two years ago and thinking how fun writing this new blog would be, but also had serious doubts as to whether anyone would read it. Well, I still think it is fun (despite occasional lapses), and there are people who read it – and that always amazes me! Thank you for reading and for visiting my little space on the big wide web. I’ve so enjoyed getting to know all of you and cherish every comment. My life really wouldn’t be the same without this blog and the people I’ve met through writing it.

I’m giving away two books by two of my favorite authors for GT’s birthday- Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym and This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart. Please go to this link to enter the drawing and indicate whether you’d like only one of the titles if you win or both (I know some people might already have copies of these). The giveaway is open internationally and closes at 11:59 pm, Pacific Standard Time, on Thursday, May 2. The winner will be announced on Friday, May 3.

Thanks for visiting today – have a great weekend!

The Secret History by Donna Tartt – I don’t know how to describe my experience of The Secret History. It is about an elite group of college students who primarily study Classics under a dynamic mentor named Julian. They have special status at their college and are seen by the other students as odd and mysterious. For reasons that are very logical to themselves (and, disturbingly, to the reader) they murder one of their members, Bunny, and the rest of the novel unravels the mystery of why he is murdered and explores the aftermath of their decision. I started out absolutely adoring this novel. The first half is a brilliant piece of atmospheric writing, placing the reader straight into beautiful and rural Vermont at a small, elite college with wealthy, eccentric and  intelligent students. But the second half…oh, brother. I hated it. I hated reading about their endless drunken binges, drug fests and rotten, selfish antics. I wished all of them had been murdered. I only suffered through the mess because of the hope that things would magically right themselves by the end. And there was redemption. The ending was unexpected yet beautiful and right. So, I had very strong feelings about this book and I can’t decide if I really think it is gorgeous or silly or a big mash of both, but it is worth reading.

The Blush by Elizabeth Taylor – The Blush is a collection of stories by Taylor, a much admired author among bloggers. I have tried to read several of Taylor’s novels and could not connect with them at all so I bought this volume hoping that her stories would be a better introduction to her writing. And they were. To me, her writing is cold and hard to embrace, but it is worth giving her prickly prose a shot because there is lots of humor, truth and spark in her characters and her writing. I like that her stories are all very different, focusing on different settings, classes, and time periods. This lady is harsh on her characters and spares no embarrassing detail of their lives. I cringed through quite a few of the stories because I just felt so sorry for the characters and I was uncomfortable for them. She really has no pity at times. My favorite story of the bunch is called ‘Poor Girl’ and is a ghost story, though an ambiguous one. It is quite sensual and impressively dark Victorianish – it somewhat reminded me of Sarah Waters. I’m glad I read The Blush because I no longer fear Elizabeth Taylor. In fact, I am currently reading At Mrs. Lippincote’s and think it is fantastic.

Have you read either of these books? Are there any authors that you can’t connect with?

Hello, friends! I hope you’ve had a lovely week despite the scary and tough events we’ve faced in the world. These are the books that have come to me in the mail to cheer me up and I’m proud to say that every single purchase was inspired by reading a blog post or on a recommendation from a blogger. Here they are:

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayres & Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey –  Inspired by Vicki.

Mariana by Monica Dickens – Inspired by Teresa.

Loving and Giving by Molly Keane – Inspired by Ali.

Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden – Inspired by Nicola.

High Rising by Angela Thirkell – Inspired by Katrina, and Lisa, who is a great Thirkell fan.

Thanks for leading me to some exciting books!

Here are a couple of interesting links that I came across this week:

Wondering what Mary Stewart book to read first or to read next? Here is a quiz that will help you decide!

Can you believe there is a Barbara Pym doll??

What are the characteristics of a good historical novel?

I should have a pretty hefty New Arrivals report for you next time because it was my birthday on Wednesday and oh did I treat myself! Books will be arriving by the armload!

Have a beautiful weekend.

**If you haven’t heard – Mary Stewart Reading Week will be September 15-22, 2013**

Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym -Less Than Angels is the Librarything Virago Group’s Barbara Pym Centenary book for April and my first Pym of the year. I tried to read this sometime last year and didn’t get on with it, but this time I really loved it. The plot centers around a group of anthropology students, professors and their friends and families and their relationships and struggles to make connections with each other. The humor in this novel is particularly striking – I think it is the funniest of Pym’s novels I’ve read so far. The young female characters are really interesting, not as likeable as Wilmet Forsyth or Mildred Lathbury, but intelligent, imaginative and eccentric in a good way, especially Catherine. I liked the ensemble aspect of the novel and the focus on many different characters, all of them richly drawn. I’ve read that some readers don’t like the ending, and I admit it did seem incongruous with the rest of the plot, but Pym is so good at mixing the funny and the serious that it makes both qualities stand out and enhances the humanity of her stories. I’m not sure where I would place this among the other Pym novels I’ve read – probably nearish the top, but not over Excellent Women or A Glass of Blessings.

My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart – This is one of the three Stewart’s set in Greece (The Moonspinners and This Rough Magic are the other two) and it is her ode to the country she loved and where she felt at home.  This love shines through My Brother Michael and makes Greece seem like a magical place despite the murder and mayhem the main character encounters. The book starts with Camilla Haven taking a chance. She takes a hired car that doesn’t belong to her from Athens to Delphi to prove to herself that she is adventurous and spontaneous. When she gets to Delphi she tries to find the person who did hire the car and meets Simon, a British school master who is in the area to discover the truth behind his brother Michael’s death during the war. As Camilla and Simon delve into the mystery, they encounter a dangerous plot that threatens their lives and the fate of some majestic ancient ruins. The descriptions of the Delphi area are stunning – the typical Stewart appreciation for nature and antiquities really works in this book. There is also a tiny supernatural feel to the plot that fits in with the mystical setting. I didn’t like the main male character as well as I have some of her other heroes, but that is my only quibble. My Brother Michael is another great novel by Stewart and makes me even more excited for Mary Stewart Reading Week in September.

I really liked these thoughts on yesterday’s tragedy. I pray for the people who were injured in Boston and for them to be healed, physically and emotionally.