Category: BookLust II

Treetops

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Cheever, Susan. Treetops: a Family Memoir. Bantam Books, 1991.

Reason read: Read in honor of Cheever’s birth month in July.

Susan Cheever had already written a biography of her father called Home Before Dark so I was excited when she wrote in the introduction to Treetops that this was a book about the three generations of her mother’s family and Treetops as a place. By the end of the introduction she returns to the men: Tom Watson the inventor who assisted Alexander Graham Bell, Winter the grandfather who started the Yale School of Medicine and of course, her father, acclaimed writer John Cheever. Susan Cheever’s father dominates a great deal of the Treetops story…again. Cheever needs to share her father’s accolades and affairs with a healthy dose of name-dropping. It would have been refreshing if Treetops contained less about the man she had already written a full biography about and concentrated more on her mother’s life. Her mother is talked about as footnotes when she describes the short stories (in detail) of her father’s. Cheever would rather describe her father’s relationships with, and perception of, women as a gender. Most of the time the details of her mother as in reaction to something her father said, did, or wrote. The more Susan Cheever quoted her father’s short stories the less I enjoyed Treetops.

As an aside, when Cheever relived the invention of the telephone and detailed exactly what happened between Alexander Graham Bell and her great-grandfather Thomas Watson, I know she was setting up the historical backdrop to her family’s history, but I couldn’t help but think it was also device to subtly suggest Watson invented the telephone and Bell took all the credit.

Author fact: I have satisfied all of the Susan Cheever books I needed for the Challenge.

Book trivia: there are a smattering of photographs in Treetops.

Music: Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, and “Happy Birthday.”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “All in the Family: Writer Dynasties” (p 5). Pearl put it perfectly when she said that when you related to someone famous there is almost an “irresistible temptation to write about the experience” (More Book Lust p 5). Cheever takes it a step further by writing about her famous great grandfather and notable grandfather as well.

Hollow Land

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Gardam, Jane. Hollow Land. Walker Books, 2001.

Reason read: Jane Gardam’s birth month is in July. Read in her honor.

Jane Gardam introduces her readers to Bell Teasdale and Harry Bateman and we are witness to their childhood adventures through various linked short stories. When we first meet the boys Bell is eight years old. He befriends Harry, one of the Bateman children renting Grandpa Teasdale’s farm for a summer holiday. Every summer Bell and Harry celebrate boyhood and survive life changing events: becoming trapped in a mining cave, witnessing a horrific flood, recovering a table stolen by gypsies. Over the course of twenty years their lives change but their friendship remains constant. My only word for Hollow Land is pleasant.

Confessional: the friendship between Bell and Harry reminded me of my childhood. Like Harry’s family renting Light Trees, my friends from “away” would rent a cottage every summer in Maine. Each summer if we were lucky our friendship would pick up right where we left off the summer before. More often than not, the parents would chose not to rent consecutive years and the friends would become pen pals until we either saw each other again or fell out of touch.

Line I loved, “He can inherit this weather” (p 134).

Author fact: Sadly, Jane Gardam passed away last year at the age of 96.

Book trivia: Hollow Land was promoted as a book for young adults.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Jane Gardam: Too Good To Miss” (p 96).

Sex Life of My Aunt

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Cheek, Mavis. The Sex Life of My Aunt. St, Martin’s Press, 2002.

Reason read: Aunt Day is on the 26th of July.

A chance encounter with a sexy stranger with beautiful blue eyes sets off a ravenous desire in Dilys like never before. Even her husband has never ignited such a flame. And so begins a complicated life for middle aged Dilys. Juggling a jealous lover and an overly trusting husband does not prove to be easy. Confessional: I did not really care for Dilys. Her sister hated her for having the perfect life: married to a successful (rich) lawyer who gave her everything she wanted, two grown kids, adorable grandkids, and a sexy young lover. She seemed to have it all. Her biggest dilemma appeared to be how she was going to keep her lover from pressuring her to leave her husband. Never mind that she had a sister who despised her and an aunt with a boatload of secrets of her own.

Lines I liked, “Shame made her wary of people” (p 20), “Is there any surer way of the hook of attraction than looking up the object of the attraction in a telephone directory?” (p 33), and “If there is one thing passion does to you, it is to reduce your brain to childlike proportions” (p 92).

Author fact: while Mavis Cheek wrote a bunch of books I am only reading The Sex Life of My Aunt for the Challenge.

Book trivia: Sex Life of My Aunt has a little story-within-a-story element to it when the aunt tells her story.

Music: “She Loves You,” Puccini, Mozart, Bryan Ferry’s “Let’s Stick Together,” Charlie Parker, and the Eagles’ “Desperado.”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Wayward Wives” (p 231).

Can You Forgive Her? Vol. 3

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Trollope, Anthony. Can You Forgive Her? Volume Three. BiblioLife, 2008.

Reason read: to continue the series started in April in honor of Anthony Trollope’s birthday.

Mercifully, Trollope brings the relationships of Alice Vavasor, Lady Glencora Palliser, and Arabella Greenow to somewhat satisfying conclusions. To be sure, Alice waffled through the entire third volume until the very end. No surprise there. Lady Glencora’s husband, Plantagenet Palliser, showed remarkable grace concerning his wife’s indecisions. He knew she was stuck in the marriage for parliamentary duty yet made the best of it. Arabella Greenow was my favorite character throughout Can You Forgive Her? Greenow just didn’t give a damn and continued having relationships with two men. She just couldn’t chose between the two of them. Trollope used these women to poke fun at Victorian society and it worked.

Author fact: Trollope was also a civil servant.

Book trivia: Volume three of Can You Forgive Her? is the final installment.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Barsetshire and Beyond” (p 15).

Clearwater Summer

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Keegan, John E. Clearwater Summer. Backinprint, 2000.

Reason read: June 21 marks the first day of summer.

We begin Clearwater Summer with college-aged Will Bradford needing proof of an accident; did a train really hit a car stalled on the tracks? Did someone really die in that wreckage? Was it an accident? The reader is left in suspense asking what happened next as Keegan catapults us several years into the past.
Using Will Keegan’s fourteen year old voice, Keegan unravels a beautiful coming of age story about Will and his two closest friends, Taylor and Wellesley. This is a Washington summer of first crushes, first dates, first heartbreak, first funerals. It is a summer of getting into trouble, saving the day, and learning life’s hard lessons. Like a cold river undercurrent, Keegan’s Clearwater Summer also unveils dark prejudices between the haves and the have nots, pride and shame that keep victims too silent, and the dangers of a community staying too complacent under the guise of “I see it, but it’s none of my business.” With all of it’s drama, sex, violence, and romance, Clearwater Summer could have been a movie.

Author fact: I have to wonder how many times John Keegan had to say he wasn’t the same author who wrote military nonfiction. This John Keegan wrote four books, but I am only reading Clearwater Summer.

Book trivia: Clearwater Summer was really difficult to find. My local consortium didn’t have it in print. The state-wide consortium didn’t have it available for lending. I contemplated interlibrary loan from across the country, but the wait time was too long. I ended up using Internet Archive. Phew!

Setlist: Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Love Me Tender,” Long Tall Sally,” “Poison Ivy,” Beethoven, Buddy Holly, “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Red Sails in the Sunset,” and Sal Mineo.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Teenage Times” (p 217).

Family Linen

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Smith, Lee. Family Linen. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1983.

Reason read: Family Linen takes place in Virginia. Virginia became a state in the month of June.

Lee Smith introduces you to a typical dysfunctional family in America. They all have their quirks, but when the matriarch of the family dies, true colors reveal themselves as a jumble of full personalities with dark secrets. Family Linen has been called a murder mystery. Nettie, seeking help for constant headaches, visits a therapist. Under hypnosis, Nettie remembers an axe murder and her mother was directly involved. Did she wield the axe? Nettie, despite her mother’s passing is determined to solve the crime. Family Linen has also been called a psychological commentary on family dynamics. Throughout the story Smith uses various characters to voice past regrets and future forgiveness. Every character has their own tangled troubles.
As an aside, Nettie left her husband Marvin and later started seeing Millard, a flower shop owner. Nettie said Marvin could make beautiful arrangements. Was that her faux pas about her ex-husband or Smith’s?

Line I liked, “Sybill wishes she had never let Bob step one foot down in her subconscious” (p 43).

Author fact: Lee has her own website here: https://leesmith.com/

Book trivia: Family Linen’s story begins on June 1st, 1983. I started reading Family Linen on June 1st.

Music: “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” Beatles, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do,” “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille,” “You’re Ruining My Bad Reputation,” “Tennessee Waltz,” “What a feeling,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Mule Skinner Blues,” “Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Careless Love,” Boy George, “Mr. Sandman,” “Georgia On My Mind,” “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth,” Willie Nelson, Elvis, “Mr. Blue,” Synchronicity, Thriller, Kenny Rogers’ “Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” Nat King Cole’s version of “Ramblin’ Rose,” “Orange Blossom Special,” “The Twelfth of Never,” “Sea Cruise,” Rickie Scaggs, “Shout,” and “Wayward Wind.”

As an aside, I had to laugh when Lee Smith called Willie Nelson “old” in 1985…

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust twice. First in the chapter called “Lines That Linger; Sentences That Stick” (p 140) and again in the chapter “Southern Fried Fiction” (p 205).

Ordinary Wolves

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Kantner, Seth. Ordinary Wolves. Milkweeds, 2004.

Reason read: Colorado’s Wolf Preserve opened in the month of June and while Ordinary Wolves isn’t exactly about wolves, I chose this book to honor the place.

Life can be brutally harsh, especially in the far reaches of the Alaskan tundra. Seth Kantner does not sugarcoat the Alaskan way of life. Violence is a simple reality whether it be hunting animals to stay alive or getting into fights with bullies for being too different or “too white” in Inupiaq country. The violent subject matter often throws cold water on the warmth of Kantner’s writing; for Ordinary Wolves despite the pain is also beautiful and lyrical. Emotions are physical entities: distrust squirted, embarrassment marched and memory pretended. Kantner writes in the language of keen observation and passion. I was seduced by the aromas of the land: coffee and campfire, the forest and snow.
Told in three parts, Ordinary Wolves takes readers from the wilderness landscape of Alaska to the city of Anchorage and back home again from the point of view of Cutuk. Despite being born and raised in Alaska, even at five years of age Cutuk has been aware of his differences: his yellow hair and pointed nose. Abe, his father from “away,” has embarrassed him all of his life. Throughout Cutuk’s childhood he feared his father was not manly enough. Despite living on the barren tundra Abe does not like to hunt; he is not rugged nor outwardly strong. Abe survives as an artist who builds furniture for extra income. Then there are the hints that Abe is not an observant father: the unfulfilled promise of a sleeping bag so that Cutuk doesn’t have to sleep so close to his coming-of-age sister; or realizing his daughter needs glasses. As Cutuk grows older his sense of self expands to a new understanding about the world around him.
Ordinary Wolves is a coming of age story that explores themes of identity, heritage, and belonging.

Favorite line, “I wiped my greasy hands on my pants and climbed up into his words as if they were a long team to pull me away to the land of strength and adultness” (p 11).

Author fact: Kantner was born and raised in Alaska. Ordinary Wolves has the potential to be autobiographical.

Book trivia: One of my all-time favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver, write a review for Ordinary Wolves. It makes perfect sense that someone who can paint portraits of the landscape as well as Kingsolver would write Kantner a beautiful review.

Music: Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” Stevie Nicks, “Country Roads,” and Lucinda Williams (one of my favorites).

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Maiden Voyages” (p 158).

Sea Glass

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Shreve, Anita. Sea Glass. Little, Brown and Company, 2002.

Reason read: June is Small Town Month and Sea Glass takes place in a small town in New Hampshire. Even though I read this years ago I am sticking to my rule: if I don’t remember the plot or major characters I have to reread it.

The backdrop to Sea Glass is 1929 New England, specifically on the coast of New Hampshire. Each chapter reveals the perspective of a different character; like a viewfinder, clicking through their lives one by one. Honora Beecher finds herself in a rundown cottage, married to a typewriter salesman she met at her teller job at a bank. Sexton provides for Honora and she loves him, despite him being a virtually stranger. Little by little, Honora’s world expands as she meets the various residents of her (fictional) seaside town. When the stock market crash of 1929 explodes, true personalities are revealed. Shreve is a magician; making readers change their minds about characters. Vivian starts off as a snob while Sexton is admirable. McDermott appears untrustworthy and untethered to life. As with all Shreve novels, the ending is not Hollywood and yet we keep coming back for more.

Characters:

  • Alan – brother of Honora; went to the McKenzie Boys School
  • Alphonse – 11 years old; one of six children; mother is a widow; works in the Ely Falls mill on the bobbins; father died when he was eight; doesn’t know how to swim; wears his sister’s sweater when it’s cold.
  • Alice Willard – mother of Honora
  • Arnaud Nadeau – father is a mule spinner; wears a sweater once belonging to his mother; millworker
  • Asa Whitlock – hotel guest and friend of Vivian
  • Arthur Willet – maybe makes his millions from a diamond mine
  • Augustin – brother of Alphonse
  • Bernice Radcliffe – sick of raisins
  • Bobby Kellogg – a friend of Vivian’s
  • Camille – sister of Alphonse
  • Cedric Nye – from Raleigh, North Carolina
  • Charles – brother of Honora; went to the McKenzie Boys School
  • Charles – from Syracusa
  • Cyril Whittemore – radio actor
  • Delaney – mill worker
  • Dickie – was engaged; moved to Indianapolis after the stock market crash; works for a shirt company; stayed with a man named Johnny Merrill
  • Dorothy Trafton – acquainted with Vivian
  • Eileen – McDermott’s sister
  • Emma – Charles’ infant daughter; died in the explosion
  • Estelle – a woman back home.
  • Evanthia Blanchette – Alphonse’s mother; works of the same floor as McDermott
  • Evelyn – Charles’ wife
  • Father Riley
  • Floyd Holmes – owns the party house
  • Franco – desk manager
  • Francois Boutet – millworker; short
  • Georgia Porter – from Washington; her father is in politics
  • Gerald – friend of Vivian’s; homosexual
  • Harold Willard – uncle of Honora; went blind in the explosion
  • Harlan Quigley – from New York
  • Harold Hurd – mill boss
  • Honora (Willard) Beecher – newly married to Sexton
  • Ima Thurston – drunk party-goer
  • Jack Hess – store owner; has a sister named Arlene
  • John Sevens – hotel guest
  • Joshua Cutts – lives at the beach all year long
  • Lester Simms – a friend of Vivian’s
  • Louis Desjardin – friend of Aphone’s brothers
  • Madame Derocher – a cook at a boarding house
  • Marguerite – Honora’s aunt; died in childbirth
  • Marie-Therese – sister of Alphonse
  • May – found a lump in her breast and had a mastectomy
  • McAllister – Penderton millworker; drunk
  • McDermott – a twenty year old mill worker who frequents prostitutes and smokes; has an ulcer; father abandoned the family when McDermott was twelve; has a sister Eileen (19); brothers are Eamon (went to Texas) and Michael; had a girlfriend named Evangeline (redheaded weaver) who got pregnant by another man; mother died of a stroke; a little deaf; first name is Quillen but everyone calls him by his last.
  • Mironson – a man from the Trade Workers Union; from New York
  • Nat & Hunt Chadbourne – brothers who invented the ball bearing and are millionaires
  • Natalie Nye – Cedric’s wife
  • O’Reilly – millworker
  • Ouellette – millworker; has eight kids
  • Paul Tsomides – millworker; brother owns a market; injured in a raid
  • Phillip – brother of Honora; went to the McKenzie Boys School
  • Ross – has bad teeth and also works at the mill; married to Rosemary;
  • Sam Coyne – always late for school
  • Sean Rasley – works in the mill as a weaver
  • Seth – Honora’s younger brother; died in the explosion
  • Sexton – newly married to Honora; typewriter salesman; Mr. Fosdick is his boss;
  • Sister Mary Patrick – non at school
  • Schwaner – mill worker
  • Sylvia – hotel guest
  • Teddy Rice – Vivian, in a fit of rage, hit him on the ankle with a tennis racket.
  • Tilly Hatch – a friend of Vivian’s
  • Verna Willet – married to Arthur; wears sapphires instead of diamonds
  • Vivian Burton – smokes; a snob from Boston; 28 years old; birthday is in September; mother left when Vivian was eight; her father and his new wife went to vacation in Italy; has a housekeeper named Mrs. Ellis;
  • William – Honora’s father; died in the explosion

Author fact: Shreve is a New England author.

Book trivia: I didn’t realize Sea Glass is the third installment in a trilogy about Fortune’s Rocks, the fictional New Hampshire town. Pilot’s Wife and Fortune’s Rocks round out the series.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Small-Town Life” (p 203).

River Angel

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Ansay, A. Manette. River Angel. William Morrow, 1998,

Reason read: Wisconsin became a state in the month of May.

In the fictional town of Ambient is a tight-knit community. You will get to know Shawn and his son, Gabriel. Shawn’s brother, Fred, wins the prize of caring for Gabriel after Shawn skips town, leaving the chubby ten year old behind. Gabriel’s personality is restricted to the fervor of religion and the preoccupation with food. Fred’s wife, Bethany, is less than thrilled to have another male in the house. She has enough on her hands with her husband’s father, Alfred, and own two boys, Pete and Robert John from different fathers.
Then there is Lorna Pranke, the police chief’s wife. Joe Kimmeldorf, the Mader family: Ruthie, Cherish and Gwendolyn. Father Oblerling, Mr. Shuckel, John Grosshuesch, Maya Paluski, Marty, and Anna Grey Graf and Anna’s husband Bill and daughter Milly.
Ambient is an unsightly rundown town that is unashamed to bare its dirty knickers. But at the heart of is charm is an old legend about a river angel. A boy, supposedly drowned in a river ends up in a barn, looking like a sleeping angel. Anday admits River Angel is more about the community than the legend.

Confessional: I did see a similarity between the town of Ambient and my hometown. Rich people from “away” worm their way into the community and start calling the shots with their money doing all the talking. They buy their way into changing all the rules and the way of life.

The only line I liked, “…she wore red lipstick that stuck like a miracle to the complicated shape of her mouth” (p 13).

Author fact: Ansay also wrote Vinegar Hill which is on my Challenge list.

Book trivia: I read this book way too fast because none of the characters grew on me.

Music: Stille Nacht,” “Die Kinderlein Kommen,” “Amazing Grace,” and Pink Floyd.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Big Ten Country: the Literary Midwest (Wisconsin) (p 25).

WRA

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Krug, J.A. and D.S. Myer. WRA: a Story of Human Conservation. United States Department of the Interior.

Reason read: April 15th is universally known as tax day.

J.A. Krug, Secretary of the War Relocation Authority put together a comprehensive report of the WRA program.

What was old is new again. During World War II “enemy aliens” were to be removed from high threat areas of the Pacific Coast region (California, Oregon, and Washington). These “enemy aliens” were determined by Japanese lineage: Issei – immigrant Japanese born in Japan, Nisei – American born, American educated children of the Issei, and Kibei – born in America, but educated in Japan. The burning question was how “American” were the Nisei?
Otherwise known as Order #9066 the War Relocation Authority mandate removed a large contingent, over 110,000 Japanese and Japanese-American men, women, and children from their homes. In total the program lasted four years and two days but left lifetimes of trauma. It was a convoluted plan and the government was in a difficult situation. The bombing of Pearl Harbor accelerated a paranoia over national safety, but they also had to handle evacuees with fairness and human decency. Using a 1798 Congressional authority giving the President broad power to deal with a national alien enemy in wartime, the WRA came into existence. Ten relocation centers were established to “evacuate” the Japanese-American population from the west coast.
Many times throughout the reading of WRA I wanted to play devil’s advocate and ask things like what did Senator Chandler mean when he wanted to separate the “disloyal” evacuees from other residents at the various WRA centers? Was the fact that Japanese evacuees were only allowed employment if they never resided or studied in Japan and passed a background check all that fair? It is no wonder that the President of the United States had to apologize to the Japanese-American community. First, they were removed from their homes with the excuse that their nationality was a perceived threat to national security. At the same time they were told they were being relocated for their own safety. Oh and by the way, the government wants them to sign up to help with the war effort. Obviously not trusted in their homes but trusted to serve in the U.S military. But first they need to renounced their native country and pledge allegiance to the country which does not trust them in their own homes. If they were not enlisting, they were assisting with the agricultural needs of the nation.
Despite their best efforts to create a sense of community and safety, the relocation ended up being the creation of detention centers under military control. Rumors ran rampant about the care and attention the internees were receiving while the rest of the war-time Americans had food insecurities. Many believed the food in the relocation centers was better and more available than what was on the shelves at their local market.
I was relieved to see a chapter on the property of the evacuees because that was one of my burning questions. What did they do with their possessions? Storage? If so, where? Evacuees were encouraged to make their own arrangements for personal property.

Book trivia: One of nine reports, the WRA provides a chronology of the evacuation and the WRA program from January 29, 1942.

BookLust Trivia: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Your Tax Dollars at Work” (p 239).

Birds Without Wings

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De Bernieres, Louis. Birds Without Wings. Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

Reason read: In Turkey there is a day in April called Children’s Day.

De Bernieres introduces a mystery within the very first few pages of Birds Without Wings. You do not know what Ibrahim did to the beautiful Philothei. You do not know what the narrator did to his son Karatavuk except to say he/she lives in shame. Throughout Birds Without Wings the reader is introduced to a myriad of characters. The Dog – a mysterious stranger whose smile gives nightmares to children and adults alike. Mustafa Kernal – the teenager in Military Training School. Karatavuk, Mehmetak, Polyxeni, Ayse, Stamos, Snowbringer, Leech Gatherer, Tamara, Broken-Nosed, Rustern Bey, Charitos, Yusufthe Tall, among others. At the center is Philothei, betrothed since childhood to Ibrahim. Ever since childhood she has been beautiful beyond measure.
This is a story of human nature in the midst of prejudice and hate, war and relationships. Told from the perspective of a myriad of characters, Birds Without Wings is tragic and heartbreaking and beautiful all at once.
De Bernieres knows human relationships, especially marriage. I had to laugh at this situation: when a wife is unhappy with her husband he might get a little too much pepper in his food. After doing a bad thing the husband thinks I am going to get too much pepper in my food again tonight. But a husband a;ways has more power. He can put aside his wife and get a new one if he thinks she has been adulterous.
As an aside, I wish I had paid attention to all the bird references from the beginning of Birds Without Wings. There were so many! Sparrows, seagulls, ducks, doves, goldfinches, pigeons, partridges, nightingales, robins, owls, blackbirds, songbirds – they all soar (or cannot) and sing and escape cages. Of course, the ultimate little bird is the lovely Philothei who states plainly, “I have found that perfection is not enough” (p 463).

Author fact: Louis De Bernieres also wrote Corelli’s Mandolin but I am not reading it for the Challenge. Birds Without Wings is my only De Bernieres book.

Quotes to quote, “There comes a point in life where each of us who survives to feel like a ghost that has forgotten to die at the right time…” (p 3). What about this quote, “Nowadays no one would say, “I think we’ll remove all these people from their homes and send them to another country” (p 487)?!

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Digging Up the Past Through Fiction” (p 79) and again in Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Turkish Delights” (p 238) which always makes me think of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

Can you Forgive Her?

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Trollope, Anthony. Can You Forgive Her? Oxford University Press, 1900.

Reason read: Trollope’s birth month. Read in his honor.

Can You Forgive Her? is the first instalment in the Palliser or Parliamentary series and follows three parallel stories about dating and marriage. All the single women in Can You Forgive Her? are in relationships with men of varying repute. This was an era when virtual strangers could tell a person who to marry or how to live one’s life. Antiquated norms made for a humorous read.
And speaking of humor, I was surprised to find there was a little humor sprinkled throughout Can You Forgive Her? Take, for example, the description of the green room being an abomination and ugly with deformed furniture. I could picture the space and found it worth a chuckle. Or, how about this insult? “…false tongued little parasite that she was” (p 413). Beyond humor, even more surprising was the element of violence and danger when George Vavasor is caught in a robbery.
All in all, I found Alice Vavasor to be an annoying character. She was torn between marrying two different fellows and her reasoning for how she treated each of them was irksome. I don’t think I would have made it through all three volumes of Can You Forgive Her? without the occasional narration of Sage Tyrtle from Quirky Nomad. The expressive way she reads is very funny. Too bad she doesn’t read the whole thing!
As an aside, I found the fox hunt scene particularly disturbing.

Natalie connection: when Lady Glencora (?) has the conversation about age and growing old I immediately thought of Natalie. According to Lady G twenty-five years of age seems ancient. On her album, Leave Your Sleep, Natalie revised a poem by Laurence Almatedema which has the line, “When I am getting old at nearly twenty-eight or nine, I’ll buy myself a little orphan girl and bring her up as mine.”

Quotes to quote, “Alice sat silent, not knowing what to say in answer to this charge brought against her, – thinking perhaps, that the questioner would allow his question to pass without an answer” (p 218). Like Alice, I have been in that situation many a time. Here’s two more quotes that I liked, “there can be no guilt in her remembrance” (p 295) and “All is right as a trivet” (p 421). Can someone please explain what that means?

Author fact: Anthony Trollope was born on April 24th, 1815.

Book trivia: Can You Forgive Her? is in the public domain so I listened to a great deal of it on LibVox. It was narrated by a variety of readers. My favorite was the woman who would sigh loudly after each chapter she finished.
For the print trivia – I was amused by the advertisements on the inside cover: Beetham’s Glycerine and Cucumber, Cadbury Cocoa, and Ward Lock and Co.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Barsetshire and Beyond” (p 15).

Arundel

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Roberts, Kenneth. Arundel. Doubleday and Company, 1933.

Reason read: Maine became a state in the month of March.

Steven Nason, a boy from Arundel, Maine, opens his story with the announcement that he wants to set the record straight. He looks back his childhood in 1759 when Steven is only twelve years old. His childhood sweetheart, Mary Mallison, has just been kidnapped and her father murdered. Steven’s father suspects it is the work of Henri Guerlac de Sabrevois, a Frenchman hiding out in Quebec. Calling upon the Abenaki nation for help, Steven and his father set out to rescue the fair maiden Mary. The mission takes years and Steven’s life takes many twists and turns as he and his companions get caught up in the American Revolution. As a historical fiction writer, Kenneth Roberts weaves in events so real they seem to jump off the page. I particularly enjoyed Steven’s loyalty to his friends and the fact that he had a pet seal named Eunice.

Maine towns: Arundel, Brunswick, Falmouth, Kittery, Portland, Wells, and York. I was wondering if Monhegan would make a mention and it does on page 68.

Line I liked, “I growled a little, as Maine folk do when not wishful of answering…” (p 378).

Author fact: Roberts also wrote Northwest Passage which is on my Challenge list.

Book trivia: Arundel is book one of a four-part series. I am not reading any of the other books. Incidentally, my copy of Arundel boasts an extensive list of printings starting with the first publication on November 18th, 1929 all the way through September of 1956.

Music: While I didn’t expect any music in Arundel I was pleasantly proven wrong. “Viva la Canadienne,” “”Lillibullero,” “Benny Wentworth,” “Hot Stuff,” “Yankee Doodle,”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Digging Up the Past Through Fiction” (p 79). Arundel is also listed in the index of Book Lust To Go int he chapter called “The Maine Chance” (p 135).

Brontes: a Life in Letters

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Barker, Juliet. The Brontes: a Life in Letters. Overlook Press, 1997.

Reason read: March is considered Literature Month.

Arguably one of the best researched biographies of the Bronte family and definitely unique. Riding on the coattails of success from Juliet Barker’s first book, The Brontes, she came back with a follow-up. The Brontes: a Life in Letters offers new material in the forms of letters, manuscripts, the reminiscing of friends and teachers, and school documents on the lives of four of the Bronte siblings: Charlotte, Emily, Anne, and Branwell. (Sisters Maria and Elizabeth Bronte both died when they were eleven and ten respectively.) Nineteen new letters are published for the very first time.
Barker’s careful selection of letters creates a humanizing effect. You don’t think about well known “celebrity” types being real people with real feelings and faults. For example, waiting for the reviews of Jane Eyre to come out. As it was, Charlotte suffered from an inferiority complex when it came to social settings. She was truly shocked when people referred to her as a friend. On paper Charlotte had no problem being candid about the political climate of the day or, on a lighter subject, offering book recommendations on all sorts of subjects such as poetry, history, fiction, biography, natural history, and divinity. She and her siblings liked to live in the imaginary world of Gondal and were torn between several callings: teaching or writing or painting? Less is known about Emily, Anne and Branwell. Although Branwell’s involvement with a married woman and subsequent alcoholism complicated the lives of all the Brontes. Like a sniper of the disease variety, tuberculosis picked off the Brontes one by one. Branwell, Emily, and Anne all succumbed to the illness.
One of my favorite parts was learning that the Brontes wrote to established poets to inquire about their own future success as writers. Branwell wrote to William Wordsworth and Charlotte sought the advice of Robert Southey. The biography ramps up in interest when the three Brontes sisters decided to become published authors, cleverly disguised behind androgynous pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. However, The Westminster Review and W.M. Thackery both pegged the Jane Eyre author as being a woman. Charlotte wanted her books to be considered for the words she wrote rather than the sex of the author. What a progressive idea. I can only imagine the material she could have written into her old age.

As Branwell wrote to a friend, “Death only has made me neglectful of your kindness” (p 109). I wish I could send this quote to my friend.

As an aside, it was interesting to read about the struggling success of Wuthering Heights when in present day an adaptation is in the theaters.
Interesting sidenote: I read the lines about Charlotte’s death on March 30th, one hundred and seventy years after her passing.

Author fact:  According to her Wiki page, Barker was the curator and librarian of the Bronte Parsonage Museum from 1983 to 1989.

Book trivia: Brontes: a Life in Letters is thought to be a companion read to Barker’s earlier book called The Brontes. Both books are considered groundbreaking.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Literary Lives: the Brits” (p 146).

Old Iron Road

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Bain, David Haward. The Old Iron Road: an Epic of Rails, Roads and the Urge To Go West. Viking, 2004.

Reason read: February is Train Month. Not sure why.

Over twenty-five years ago Bain decided he needed to take his family on a two month epic journey from Vermont to California. He previously written the very successful Empire Express, researching thirty years of American train history, and the endeavor had taken fourteen years of his life. What better way to thank his family for their patience than to take them on a cross-country journey? Using the first transcontinental railroad route as a guide, the family made their way from Orwell, Vermont to San Francisco, California.
This isn’t any typical memoir about a family trip. Along the way Bain paints a vivid picture of the pioneers who went before him with mini biographies of the more famous characters like Mark Twain, Butch Cassidy and Willa Cather. He paints romantic images of the pioneers who traveled his same routes, staying in the very same towns. Bain supplies his readers with history of every region he and his family visit. Readers are apt to learn way more than they bargained for. For example, Wyoming is the Equality State because it was the first territory in the world to introduce legislation giving equal rights to women in December of 1869. Richard Francis Burton visited Chimney Rock in Nebraska. Bain revisits the Donner tragedy again and again.
The best parts were when Bain interacted with his family and shared their adventures. His family sounded wonderful.

As an aside, I was so intrigued by the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument that I looked it up on YouTube. It sounds like an amazing adventure. Note to self: exit 275.
The white crosses that dotted the sides of the highways every few miles reminded me of the southwest trip I took with my family a few years ago. I was startled to think how many people have died along the way.
Another aside, I thought Bain’s respectful treatment of Mr. Hornsby was phenomenal.
And speaking of musicians, every time Bain mentioned Southern Pacific I thought of Josh Ritter and his love of trains.

Phrase that stopped me cold, “…summer storms sometimes blew into my nightmares” (p 89). Me too.

Author fact: Bain had the travel bug from a young age. At twenty-four he drove across the country with a bunch of hippies. At the time of Old Iron Road’s publication Bain still lived in Vermont.

Book trivia: Bain includes a good mix of current and historical photographs in Old Iron Road. The ones of his family are particularly touching considering he lost his wife after the trip.

Music: Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Don’t Start Me Talking – I’ll Tell Everything I Know,” Bing Crosby, Tammy Wynette, Oak Ridge Boys, Randy Travis, Hank Williams, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby, Grateful Dead, Willie Nelson, Huey Lewis and the News, Elton John, Bob Seger, Don Henley, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Stevie Nicks, Leon Russell, Chaka Khan, Yellowjackets, Franz Liszt, and “I’m an Old Cowhand.”

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “The Beckoning Road” (p 19).