October - What are you reading now?
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The sweet calm sunshine of October - and what are you reading?
Comments (75)Finished a rather fun read of Love Among the Butterflies by Margaret Fountaine, a collection of her diary entries which detail her wide travels across the world collecting butterflies (and sometimes men). [grin] Fountaine was a vicar's daughter (I think) who grew up at the tail end of Victoria and the beginning of Edwardian days, and as she was not married, she found herself somewhat unoccupied. She started to collect butterflies, and after a while, became a serious entomologist and traveled across the world adding pieces to her large collection. (Lots of overlaps with Edith Holden here.) So - clearly, this is an unorthodox woman for the times: she travels widely to countries not familiar to a lot of people back then, she ends up having a long-term relationship (and traveling with) a man from Syria, she becomes an expert in butterflies... It's quite admirable just how far she pushed acceptability in female terms back then, but it did come with a price. She really struggles to reconcile her love of freedom with the cultural expectations of the time with regard to spinsters and marriage and "suitable" partners. Despite all her travel experience, she stays curiously unhappy throughout her life (at least as told in these entries). She is very defensive all the time, but was heartless to those who kept her close to their hearts. Her Syrian lover could not be publicly acknowledged for many years, and although they travel and work well together, she insisted on them having different rooms and standards (despite their relationship), and she could never grasp that he was in love with her for realz. In their rather frequent seperations, she would drive herself to distraction imagining various horrible scenes involving him and an accident or another woman etc. Fountaine does acknowledge in her diaries that she adores her freedom, but anything that seems to threaten that state of affairs immediately puts her into a tailspin of being mean to her family, friends and lovers, of acting selfishly and generally being a bit of a pinhead. However, just because she was rather an unkind person doesn't make this book any less fascinating. The illustrations taken from her diary pages are intriguing to look at: her writing is immaculate with very few errors and she justifies her handwriting on every page. (Goodness - how to do that without making a crossing-out every now and then, who knows?). She had volumes of diaries and numerous boxes of butterfly specimens that she bequeathed to a museum, but only with the condition that the museum administration do not open the diary box for 40 years after her death. This agreement was stuck to, and so they waited for the correct time. Thus were found the diaries. So - good read overall. Woodnymph - you mentioned earlier that you had a copy but it was only a paperback and had type that was difficult to read. Would you like me to send you this copy? It's only going to the library book sale otherwise,......See MoreIt's October. What are you reading this month?
Comments (92)Mostly I've been reading forgettable mysteries. I read Robert Parker's The Professional and it was pleasant but, well, anemic. Listened to The Lost Symbol and was greatly disappointed. I kept falling asleep during the lectures. In short, the lecture to adventure ratio was too high. I expected to enjoy it. Daddy was a Mason and I grew up with lots of old Mason stuff around the house - mostly clocks. We had a huge blue Mason's Bible, the last half of which seemed to be about Egyptology (could have seeded my early interest in archaeology) and had lots of discussion of symbols so none of this stuff was really new or exciting to me. Just now I'm in the middle of Nevada Barr's 13 1/2...See MoreWhat are we reading? October 2020 edition
Comments (100)My last October post.. I finished Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal. Great premise, not so great execution. There were too many side stories that detracted from the best part of the plot - the Punjabi widows, their stifled lives and the freedom they felt when together in the classroom. I wish the author had focused on this part of the story and spent time developing the characters. I did appreciate learning a little bit about Punjabi culture in contemporary England. Overall 2 stars for me. Also finished Afterlife by Julia Alvarez. I long ago read her novel In the Time of Butterflies in which I learned a lot about the Dominican Republic’s dark history. This novel takes place in New England, about a newly retired and suddenly widowed college professor. A moving story about grief, sisterhood, and searching for a meaningful life amidst so many changes. Alvarez uses comic relief to balance the sorrow the main character is feeling. Quick read. 4 stars. Last week, dh and I had a 10 hr roundtrip road trip in one day to take our college son to a doctor appointment, Last time I made the trip alone, this time dh went to help with the long drive so I chose an audiobook that would appeal to both of us. We listened to The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11. Certainly not an easy subject as it’s a chilling and heart wrenching account told in a series of short interviews with first responders, survivors, witnesses, friends and family, govt officials. It certainly held our attentIon but it is a lot to listen to - I was in tears at point listening to one first responder talking about how he and fellow firefiighters laid the body of Fr. Mychal Judge on the altar of St. Peter’s. 5 stars Currently reading Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. Really enjoyed her previous book, Homegoing. Not too far into this one yet to have an opinion....See MoreOctober Already! What Are You Reading?
Comments (92)A selection of short stories Mr Wrong by Elizabeth Jane Howard was easy reading at bedtime. You'll Never See Me Again by Lesley Pearce was another undemanding book. Apparently Ms Pearce had a large following of fans who enjoy her work as so many of her characters are 'the same'. I had never come across her before and found though the story, set during WWI, was quite pacy I felt the heroine, a simple country girl, was amazingly lucky in finding employment with people who treated her as one of the family and by the end is able to marry a man way above her 'social station'. Is it just me that finds many of these popular books set in 'times gone by' could be about 'modern' people? In the above book all the better-off houses have electricity and modern plumbing. Everyone is very clean with baths/hair washing etc happening daily. Women are shown as being 'empowered' with very modern attitudes. And my old bug-bear . . . farms have hay stored in barns not in hay-stacks and agricultural labourers drive tractors; with never a horse to be seen....See More- last year
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