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Lucy Honeychurch is a young Victorian woman who travels to Florence, Italy with her cousin Charlotte as chaperon. There they meet a host of English people also on holiday, including the Reverend Beebe who has just taken up a position in Lucy's home village, a flamboyant woman novelist named Eleanor Lavish, and the Emersons, a father and son. On arrival at their pension, Lucy and Charlotte find their rooms are not what had been promised. Most importantly, there is no view. The Emersons offer to exchange rooms, creating a comedy of manners as Charlotte abhors feeling obligated to anyone, not the least people like George and his father, whom she judges to be "common." However, there is an attraction between Lucy and George, which Lucy tries to deny. On returning home she is courted by the arrogant and class-conscious Cecil Vyse, and agrees to marry him as a way of putting her attraction for George out of her mind. But of course that's not the end of the story, and when George and his father appear on the scene in England, Lucy has to come to terms with her own feelings and the importance of making choices guided by one's own sense of right and wrong.
I tried to consider this book on its own merits: does Forster's novel stand on its own? I simply couldn't do it. The film is so true to the book; much of the dialogue went directly into the script. I can't quite say why, but I am fairly certain that if I hadn't seen the film I would not have enjoyed this book as much as I did. So I am left giving this book a respectable rating, while urging anyone who has not seen the film to do so ... you will not be disappointed. ( )
I haven't seen this much snow in years. When I woke up early Saturday morning, there was only about an inch on the ground (measured by the tried and true "dog paw print depth method"). But the snow came fast & furious all day. I shoveled the walk and the deck about 10:00am, and again around 1:30, clearing about 4-6" of snow each time. By 3:30, there was no evidence of shoveling, and it was still snowing. My Labrador retrievers were romping in snow up to their bellies (and loving it). A flock of grackles had taken up permanent residence at the bird feeders; apparently their normal food supply had been buried in snow. Things slowed down overnight, and there's at least a foot of snow on the ground today. It's all quite beautiful, really, especially since I don't have to travel in this weather. And it's a perfect time to curl up with a good book. I didn't do as much reading yesterday as expected, instead spending my time on chores, cookie-baking, letting the dogs in & out & in ..., and drying the kids' wet clothes.
One of the high points of my weekend has been a Secret Santa with the Virago Modern Classics group on LibraryThing. We had 34 participants from all over the world: US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, etc. We've been chatting about it on our talk threads since mid-November, and December 19 was designated as the start of the gift opening period. We set up a thread just to record all of the "oohs and aahs" from delighted group members. The first to open her gift lives in the Philippines, so she posted when it was still Friday evening in my part of the world. I waited until Saturday breakfast: after the first cup of coffee, but before shoveling snow! My Secret Santa lives in Texas and is someone who has come to know me fairly well over the past couple of years. She also has impeccable taste in books, and chose very well for me. Every single book is right on target, many fit with 2010 challenges or reading goals, and I can't wait to dive into these:
While I didn't do a lot of reading during the blizzard I still managed to finish my second book of the week: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This book gets rave reviews from the YA crowd, including my younger daughter who has been pushing it on me for a while. I'd also read several positive reviews from book bloggers, and was intrigued. It did not disappoint. As a work of dystopian fiction, Collins does a nice job developing the post-apocalyptic North America where the story takes place. Yet the characters are very familiar, and much like people readers would know today. They deal with typical teen concerns like appearance and relationships, but are also fighting for survival. The book is a real page-turner and, since my daughter now has a copy of the sequel (Catching Fire), I suspect I'll read it one of these days. Click here for more of my thoughts on The Hunger Games.
Also this week I read a wonderful Virago Modern Classic, Crossriggs. This was a delightful story of two sisters: one a helpless widow, the other a strong, independent single woman, each making their way in Victorian Scotland. I liked the strong character best (no surprise, and I believe that's what the authors intended). I read this book for the Women Unbound challenge, because it explores some issues we still face to some degree today. As I wrote in my review:
I've just started A Room with a View, but after that I'll be reading The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom. I'm on vacation from work for the rest of the year, so I may need one more book to take me through the rest of 2009. Looking over my stacks yesterday, I zeroed in on Barbara Pym as an author who would suit my winter reading mood, and the "comfort reads" theme I declared for December. I've really enjoyed three of her books (Excellent Women, Quartet in Autumn, and Jane & Prudence). Her portraits of English village life & manners are brilliant, sometimes comic and sometimes poignant. I have three of Pym's books on my shelves that I haven't read yet: An Unsuitable Attachment, No Fond Return of Love, and Less than Angels. Have you read any of these? Which one would you recommend? Leave a comment and help me choose!
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Read more from The Sunday Salon here.
In this dystopian world there is an annual tournament, known as The Hunger Games, in which two youths from each district compete. There's just one thing: the winner of the competition is the one who survives. The children are chosen by lottery -- one boy and one girl from each district -- and are then whisked away to the Capitol to prepare for the games. When Prim's name is drawn, Katniss instantly steps in to take her place. She is accompanied by Peeta, a boy she barely knows, but who has apparently had eyes for Katniss for a very long time. Katniss' feelings are conflicted: on the one hand, she feels quite vulnerable and needs a friend; on the other, she knows they will soon be fighting against each other for their lives. When they arrive at the Capitol they go through training programs, make public appearances, and develop their strategy with help from District 12 mentors.
And then the games begin, and my plot summary ends. The story is filled with suspense, and even though I had a suspicion that things would turn out OK, at no time was I certain. The premise is frightening and yet, in my bleaker moments, I can almost envision a world that puts their children at risk in this way. The contestants are faced with a myriad of moral dilemmas that could be thought-provoking for the reader -- especially the young adults for whom this book is written. There's now a sequel to The Hunger Games, and I liked this first book well enough to be interested in a second helping. ( )
Supporting the two sisters are a strong cast of village locals, many of whom are quite amusing. For example, Alex and Matilda's father is a vegetarian, which from the tone of the novel, must have been quite unusual in Victorian England. And Mr. Hope (known to many as "Old Hopeless") takes it a step further by declaring himself a "fruitarian" and living off garden apples past their prime. He engages in humorous attempts to educate house guests by subjecting them to his favorite foods. And then there is Miss Bessie Reid, a spinster of a certain age:
Miss Bessie Reid -- good woman! -- was skilled in all the little arts that make home hideous. There was a specimen of her handiwork at every turn -- a painted tambourine here, a stark water-colour there, whilst miniature animals in crockery seemed to crawl on every ledge. ... Taste, I suppose, is only a constant delicate expression of opinion, and Miss Bessie's opinions -- poor dear! -- must have been singularly confused. (p. 141)
On her first visit to the Admiral, Alex meets his grandson Van, who is new to Crossriggs. Van is several years younger than Alex, but he is immediately attracted to her. She is oblivious to his attentions, first because of the age difference, and second because Alex herself has strong affections for Robert Maitland. Maitland is a long-standing family friend and the attraction is mutual. He is, however, married. Both Maitland and Alex take great pains to conceal their affections, even from each other. And yet Alex is both sufficiently devoted and independent to rebuff Van's advances. As the family's fortunes ebb and flow, Alex finds additional opportunities to earn income through public readings, and teaching in town. Being the breadwinner for such a large family begins to take its toll. And even as Alex shows clear signs of stress and fatigue, the annoyingly helpless Matilda just "tut tuts" and lectures Alex, while doing absolutely nothing to help provide for the family.
On the surface, this novel appears to be focused on Alex's love interests: will she and Maitland find a way to get together? Will she choose Van? But by the end of this book, it's clear the Findlater sisters were exploring much more important points. What is more important: money, or loving relationships? Why do women feel they have to marry in order to be safe and secure? Can a woman have a career? Why is it so difficult for a woman to live independently in society? And even though women have made incredible strides since the publication of Crossriggs in 1908, we still don't have good answers to those questions. ( )