Another title from my TBR explode project that I was enjoying enough to finish!
At 29, Yancey Stirling i
"It was so easy to defy once you got started."
Another title from my TBR explode project that I was enjoying enough to finish!
At 29, Yancey Stirling is unmarried and is facing a lifetime of mundane conversations with her controlling family, who want her to be the butt of their jokes but don't think activities like reading or daydreaming are appropriate. So she takes her life into her own hands! I enjoyed this little pre-World War I feminist empowerment tale.
This makes me think of my mother so much!
"The mischief was done now. Valancy knew she had offended her mother deeply and would not be spoken to or noticed in any way for two or three days. Cousin Stickles would see to Valancy’s bringing-up but Mrs. Frederick would preserve the stony silence of outraged majesty."
And Valancy really comes to this conclusion:
"“I’ve been trying to please other people all my life and failed,� she said. “After this I shall please myself. I shall never pretend anything again. I’ve breathed an atmosphere of fibs and pretenses and evasions all my life. What a luxury it will be to tell the truth! I may not be able to do much that I want to do but I won’t do another thing that I don’t want to do. Mother can pout for weeks—I shan’t worry over it. ‘Despair is a free man—hope is a slave.'"
This is the author's debut novel, which he wrote after dropping out of college. The novel starts with a disturbing but This cover, man, I don't know.
This is the author's debut novel, which he wrote after dropping out of college. The novel starts with a disturbing but memorable dream sequence. The main character, Arthur, is a college dropout and seems to be suffering from PTSD, but from unknown circumstances. He struggles to connect with others, and then his father comes to town.
Stoner by John Williams remains one of my favorite novels, and is not in danger of being replaced by this one. This reads more like psychological drama/horror (with some violence towards women) and/or commentary on loneliness.
This edition (NYRB Classics) has an interview with the author's wife, and that might have been my favorite thing.
I received a copy of this from the publisher through Edelweiss. It came out 12 February 2019....more
My first read for the Books and Chocolate (blog) - a play, to fulfill this item: 12. Classic Play. Any play written or My first read for the Books and Chocolate (blog) - a play, to fulfill this item: 12. Classic Play. Any play written or performed at least 50 years ago. Plays are eligible for this category only.
The play premiered in Copenhagen in 1879. Ibsen was asked to write an additional ending for German audiences, one that ends more wretchedly and punishing for the woman.
The play is set in a small Norwegian town in 1879, and takes place entirely inside a house. Technically the translation into English of the title is "A Doll House," but this is often altered for English-speakers to A Doll's House. Nora is the wife and mother at the center of the story, seen as frivolous and needing direction by her father. She hasn't told him about money she's spent and borrowed (for his health care!) and it's about to unravel.
Can I spoil the ending of a classic play? It's important that the character of Nora makes decisions for herself at the end after suffering an entire life as a "doll" for her father and then her husband. It's interesting that this is written not long before feminist texts like The Yellow Wallpaper come on the scene in America, although the play itself was not performed in the states until after that time. All relatively of the same era though, confronting the tension between old roles and new.
Ibsen portrays the husband as completely bewildered when his wife starts charting her own path. He is a bit bumbling and out of sorts in the end. It is interesting that a male playwright could capture that so well. After an obstacle is cleared, he turns to her and says
"Now we're thrown back on each other completely... My darling wife, how can I hold you close enough?"
If you are female you are probably groaning the way the audience did. His controlling endearment is capture exactly right, and in many ways is a bit timeless.
I listened to the LA Theatre Works version of A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen, in English of course. Calista Flockhart plays Nora and actors whose voices sound like more famous actors play the other roles (I could have sworn her husband is played by Kyle MacLachlan, but nope!) They do a nice job and you can hear responses from the audience, making the listening experience one notch above reading the text, but not as good as seeing it in person of course. ...more
"Here we will write. Here we will plant the ancient word of the beginning, the origin of all that was done in the citadel of K'iche', among the people"Here we will write. Here we will plant the ancient word of the beginning, the origin of all that was done in the citadel of K'iche', among the people of K'iche' nation."
An epic poem of creation and culture from the K'iche' people of what is now Guatemala, newly translated into verse by Michael Bazzett.
I found it breathtaking and intriguing throughout, but I especially liked the long period before the humans turn up, and how many elements of the culture are embedded into the creation story.
"Surely, we await the dawn."
I received an early copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, but I was belated in reading it and it is already available....more
I went to book Twitter (specifically the hosts of the Backlisted Podcast) for a recommendation on books with music as a main theme and this is what thI went to book Twitter (specifically the hosts of the Backlisted Podcast) for a recommendation on books with music as a main theme and this is what they came up with - a book Elizabeth had previously recommended to me. Doh! I enjoyed this novel (a first in a series) about an out of luck family in the years before World War II, from the perspective of one of the middle daughters. I enjoyed the challenge of pondering if anyone is an unreliable narrator. The whole family agrees Cordelia has no musical talent but she gets gigs in town (and may be the only person in the family actually *making* money.) The mother (who is 40 and has four children) has a alternate career path as a concert pianist that she gave up to have a family, but I had to wonder if she could have made it, or if that was just her mental escape out of her life. ...more
I whole heartedly support the underlying philosophy or driving force of this book - proving a woman should have space of her own, a vote, a life, evenI whole heartedly support the underlying philosophy or driving force of this book - proving a woman should have space of her own, a vote, a life, even if she deigns to stay single, etc. But the way the story is told deflates the message, from a three part structure that follows 1)agonizingly slow 2)feisty pseudo feminist 3)batshit crazy witchcraft (well this was a surprise)
This was the first book every offered by Book of the Month back in the day, so I enjoyed it from that curiosity standpoint, but there are stronger books of the same era that have similar themes.
Gold star for me, reading a book from my shelves.
And after I bought it but before I read it, I heard this book mentioned in passing on the Backlisted Podcast about "We Have Always Lived in the Castle," as an example of when witchcraft is used as a foil to show something about society, or something like that. Shirley Jackson is a much better writer, read her instead....more
Jenny (Reading Envy)
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Books:
backtotheclassics2019
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