Another tiny bombshell....

Thanks for all your comments for yesterday's post! We've bought the toilets, are now awaiting delivery and installation....hopefully by the weekend.
I ended up doing my taxes last night after all, and hurray, we woke up so happy this morning, it looks like we don't owe anything. Big smiles over here! Now I can go back to dreaming about books and bookshelves.......
So all is relatively calm now. I say relatively because my assistant manager dropped a bombshell me on today by informing me they aren't going to let me change my hours completely at work, from 9-5 to 7:30 to 3:30, because I am the only one in my section who works 9-5 and we need someone there to answer any questions from the West Coast and any emergencies that crop up (and they do). I can do 8-4 in a pinch.....but no one is happy, especially my manager, so we have a 'team' meeting tomorrow to discuss working hours. Half of me is debating having Toby not take the job, and wait for another one to come up with earlier working hours for him. This is the first job requiring him to work 9-5!!! Ever!!! And the other half of me is considering whether we can juggle different schedules and each of us picking up one of the kids on the way home......a logistical nightmare. And Toby starts his new job on Monday, so we haven't had much warning. Anyway, just so you know any writing book thoughts are far from my head again tonight, even though I am reading a wonderful book, "A History of Reading" by Alberto Manguel, which I will be reviewing as soon as I'm done it, and I read "Exit Music" by Ian Rankin over the weekend and can recommend that as well, and will do a review as soon as my life settles down a bit!! I am thinking book thoughts, as always!!!

Still here....

Yikes! I'm not sure how almost a week went by....it's been very busy, and still is. Today's journey is all about patience, not that I showed any when I got home to have my husband try to fix the toilet, only to discover the plumber that was in two years ago was right and our 40 year old toilet is so rusted that the stupid plug in the tank can't be repaired, so now we are looking at buying TWO toilets TOMORROW (might at well pay only one plumbing bill, so get the one in the basement that hasn't worked in three years fixed too)so we can have a functioning one in the house that doesn't require us putting our hand in the tank to flush it. There, now you know how my day is going....still 45 minutes before the day ends....
I've been sick again - last Friday, Sunday I was weeding and tidying in the garden, and hurray!!! all the dead things from last year are gone, and green growing plants are slowly springing forth!! My rose bush survived, as did the perennials I planted last year!!! Yesterday was Toby's birthday, so we had a family party for him last night. Tonight, not only is it emergency toilet stuff BUT the final night to prepare taxes, which, sadly, once again we have not done. Every year I think, this year, I will do them in February....every year, April 29th rolls around and they are waiting to be done!! As I write this, my dear husband is doing his taxes, then mine since I am too cranky over the upcoming soon-to-come plumbers bill after we buy the toilets tomorrow, to want to face taxes too. The good news is Toby has a contract starting next week, for three months, so we will be able to pay the plumber, taxman, etc!!!
I'm still here, it's just been one of those weeks!!

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

What an extraordinary book. It took me a little while to get into, because at first almost all the characters are so unsympathetic, looked at with such a clear, cold eye, all their faults and shortcomings exposed, that it was difficult for me to know what I was expected to feel. Was there no character I could like? I enjoyed the details, the drama of the exodus from Paris, so I kept reading. And soon enough, characters to cheer for emerged- the Michauds, then eventually Lucile, and Jean-Marie, and even Bruno the German soldier.

The descriptions in the book, the settings, the people, overtaken by events, and then settling down again - it does feel like music, and that was her aim. She wanted to write the novel in 5 momements or stages, 200 pages each. Suite Francaise contains the first two parts, although she had notes for the other three and an ending in mind. The novel ends, of course, halfway through the story, and in teh story timeline, at the middle of 1942, which is when Nemirovsky was taken to the camps where she died. By writing the book in real time - that is, using real dates of the Occupation, she sets the novel in real time, and this adds an extra dimension to my (at least) reading experience, because side by side with reading the book I found myself thinking, it reads like the novel is happening as the war happens. And indeed, Nemirvosky wrote this novel very quickly, and it is astounding at how good it is for what is really a first draft with major corrections done by the author. It is a fascinating study of people, of historical events shaping lives and how ordinary people cope. This is a haunting and memorable book, and in the back of any one who reads this book are two things: one, this war between these people at this time really happened, and two, the author was killed at Auschwitz, a direct result of this war. It is one of the most stunning accounts of what life under the Occupation was like, in France, in small ways; because the French had their own society feuds that kept on, despite the German requisitioning of everything. The awfulness and pettiness of people is revealed, but also the human capacity to try to survive, and for even fewer people, to survive with dignity.

In the notes to herself, contained in the journal that this novel was discovered in, she writes: "The most important and most interesting thing here is the following: the historical, revolutionary facts etc must be only lightly touched upon, while daily life, the emotional life and especially the comedy it provides must be described in detail." This was her goal in writing the book what she hoped to achieve.
These are Irene's own words, written in her journal that her daughters carried around with them when their parents were taken away because they were Jewish. The girls went into hiding until the war ended, and only long after was the journal finally looked at and the novel discovered. Denise, the eldest daughter, grabbed it as they ran from the house because it was a momento of her mother, who was always seen writing in it.

There are places and events in the book that are written with such clarity that I think Nemirovsky must have put in events she had witnessed. There is a horrific scene in the beginning, when a train station is bombed by a German plane : "The glass roof shattered and exploded outwards, wounding and killing the people in the square. Panic-stricken, some of the women threw down their babies as if they were cumbersome packages and ran."
I had to stop and re-read that passage. It is horrifying and awful and terrible to imagine. The whole book for me was like that, filled with images that were reporting the war to the readers through the images in the book. There is a veracity to the events and descriptions that made me realize, that Nemirovsky must have witnessed herself these, or heard first-hand accounts. Her desire, though, wasn't to show the horrors of war; she wanted to write about the affects of war upon ordinary people caught up in the events. In chapter 29, she writes in a paragraph that seems to me to be the heart of the novel: "Important events - whether serious, happy or unfortunate - do not change a man's soul, they merely bring it into relief, just as a strong gust of wind reveals the true shape of a tree when it blows off all its leaves. Such events highlight what is hidden in the shadows; they nudge the spirit towards a place where it can flourish." When I read that passage, I marked it, which I rarely do in a fiction novel, but I knew I wanted to remember it. War, Nemirovsky is saying, doesn't change people. It brings out what was in them all the time. So the characters we meet at the beginning were always mean and grasping, layered with middle-class bourgeois attitudes, or more rarely, gentle and sweet.

As the novel progresses, we do meet more people, farmers, villagers, and the local gentry, and the effects of the German occupation on the village and people.


Nemirovsky doesn't play favourites: the French come across as lazy and whose first duty is to pleasure, which is what costs them the war with Germany. She doesn't go on about how awful life was except through the villagers complaining about food shortages, and in casual comments or observations from the characters, the shootings of people who break the laws, but done more as an aside, not the central part of the book at all. The Germans are given, surprisingly, good and bad characteristics also. I say surprisingly because it must have been the novelist winning out over the real-life precarious position she was in the whole time she was writing the book. The German who lodges with Lucile and her mother-in-law is an awesome character - he is close to noble, a musician who can't write his music because the drums of war have beaten the melodies away. He is well-bred, and polite, and thoughtful, and is close to an ideal hero, but not, because he is on the other side of the war. In contrast, one of his comrade in arms, Bonnet, is a sadist: "During the retreat of the French army, when he was in charge of taking the pathetic herd of prisoners back to Germany, during those terrible days when he was under orders to kill anyone who was flagging, anyone who wasn't walking fast enough, he shot the ones he didn't like the look of without remorse, with pleasure even." Again, this is a passage that I marked when I read it, because it is so clearly drawn that I wondered if Nemirovsky had seen someone doing just that, or heard about it. It almost reads as though she is getting revenge on the German occupation by writing the truth, and disguising it in the novel. This is part of what raises this book so high in my esteem. There is a ring of veracity in this book that is rare in fiction.

There is beauty and love in this novel, as well as hatred and seediness and greed and pity. This is a novel about people caught in a terrible situation. And it is gripping reading, and lovely in places, horrifying in others. I love this book, and it is one I will return to again and again.

This should also be required reading in schools - Grade 11 or 12, I would think. There would be much to discuss and learn from reading this book, and history would come alive, for a while. I don't know why the book is banned ( or someone tried to ban it), again the book list for the challenge is from here in Ontario, but it shouldn't be. This is one of the best fiction novels I've ever read.

Links: Marg
Charlotte

books and reading cycles

When I think over my lifetime of reading books, I look at what I own now, and what I used to have, in my twenties and thirties. I find that I want to go back and read books that I read when I was 25, and haven't read since. Books like yesterday's post about Ray Bradbury - I know I read Fahrenheit 451 when I was a teenager, and I know I read Something Wicked This Way Comes (thanks for the comment, Chris; see my previous post, it reminded me of this!) in my 20's. But do I still own the books? No. I gave them away, sold them, lent them, over so many moves they were not among the ones I managed to keep with me. So now, many years later, it's time to revisit them. And that is what this post is about: reading cycles, and revisiting books read long ago. Does anyone else do this? Do you find yourself thinking back to the first fantasy or sf books, or romance, or mystery, or classics, that you were reading then? Do you miss them? I do. Did you give them away, or are they still with you? I wish I still had Sylvia Plath's Ariel, and The Bell Jar, which I read in my late teen's. My early Charles de Lint (and I had everything he wrote before I went to England), Stephen King, gone. So many books, that I let go of over the years, mostly due to my moving so often, I think. I would look at my books and think of what I hadn't read yet, and get rid of it if I hadn't (unless I knew I was going to read it shortly).

So how did I let them go? And why? I think I let them go - gave them away, put in boxes and then donated when I made one of my many many moves - because I thought I was done with them. I didn't understand in my 20's and even my 30's, that I would come back to them. If I was once interested in them, I would be again. I mean, I even went back and reread some of my earliest favourite Harlequin romances - they weren't as good the second time around, and that is the difference between being 13 and 28, I think!! It is like the spiral of psychological/spiritual growth - we finish with a problem, only to find we are dealing with it on a deeper level at another time. So I come back to books I read once, to read them on a deeper level, or from a different perspective or with more wisdom (I hope!) that life has given me.

I'm not talking about revisiting my childhood, or longing for the good old days. I want to read the books again, and see if my experience of them is the same, and what I remember, and if it's still good. I think, now, that because we moved so much through all my childhood and teen years, that I got used to leaving things behind, to getting rid of things if I wasn't actually using them, and I thought this applied to books too. I am beginning to think it doesn't. That for me, I do and will want to reread many of my favourites, and revisit authors I read long ago. So part of my desire to "own so many books my house might explode" isn't a material desire -"she who dies with the most books wins" sort of mentality - it's an understanding of myself that there will come a time when I will want to look at a book again, and I want it on my shelf instead of having to go out and buy it - again. Again being the key word....

So what books are essential in my library? I hear you asking...well, Gentle Reader, every book I've ever loved, ever liked. I do, like Bybee, have an Inner Bookworm, but alas mine isn't cool and tough like hers. Mine is literary and has leanings of pretension *sigh* it thinks I would look good in black and spouting poetry everywhere, and I have to keep convincing my inner Bookworm that I am NOT going back for my Master's and if I ever get published, I will NOT appear in all black and throw in the occasional French word just because I can....this is the same bookworm that wants me to read Jean-Paul Sartre and Goethe and yes, Virginia Woolf....so on occasion, pretentious books find their way on my shelves. I can say happily that Sylvia Plath had nothing to do with this inner bookworm; she belongs to the Dark and dangerous book self that I will deal with in another post (let's say that I understand Sylvia a little too well). I have many selves that have read books in the past - yikes, and that sounds a little like I should have the Three Faces of Eve or Sybil on my bookshelves too! - what I mean is, different books satisfy different parts of my soul. What I am learning is, I will return to those books again, sometime.

So, is this something any of you have experienced? Have your libraries changed over the years? did you ever give a book - or books- away and then find you wanted to read it again later? Have you ever thought you should get rid of some books, only to find you came back to them? I'd be curious to know if any other readers have discovered this tendency too. Maybe I'm the only one who has had to learn the hard way NOT TO GET RID OF BOOKS.

There is getting rid of what I don't need, and then there is living with my soul. So, in my world, I am learning I can never have too many books, to feed my soul and nurture my spirit, to turn to again and see what I loved the first time. Books like Anne of Green Gables, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, these are books I have carried with me almost everywhere I went. I can read and reread them, finding delight and sustenance every time I do. What I am learning is, now that I am in a permanent home, now that I am finally settled, I can let my shelves grow and expand, and among the new books I will buy, will be old favourites that I loved once upon a time. So my shelves will start to represent all of me, my history of books I have loved, over my lifetime. And I think that is what I really want. 20 years from now, I will re-read the books I am reading now, or the best of the ones I am reading now!! and any one I love, stays.

hidden on the bookshelf.....

Hooray!! I am so happy. I was looking for Harry Dresden book #1 The Storm Front that Rhinoa reviewed on today's post. I know I have a copy and read it last year - I loved it - I wanted to see what cover I had compared to hers - and didn't find it (did I lend it to someone? Alas, I think I did...) but I found, lo and behold, in the pile behind on my fantasy shelf, Fahrenheit 451!!!! The reason I am doing my happy dance is, it's on my Banned Book Challenge List, which I have to finish reading soon, and I couldn't find a copy anywhere in the stores....I honestly did not know I had any Ray Bradbury, which goes to show how often I've moved that front stack of books lately!!! It turns out I have Fahrenheit 451 and A Medicine for Melancholy AND The October Country by him!!!! Oh joy, this is almost as good as - no, it's better than finding them in a bookstore, because I already own them!!! whew. I still am looking for Ulysses. You'd think a book that caused so much controversy when it came out, and is on university reading lists and people either love or hate, would be easier to find. kind of like Lolita by Nabakov, which I have started looking for as I think I want to read it next year. Yes, I'm already planning my books for next year's challenges - not that I know what any of them will be other than the Canadian Book Challenge, set again to start in July, not that I have finished this year's challenge yet!! Yes, I am challenge-addicted. Bring it on!!! Ok, that was the competitive part of me. Now I have to go read them, not just make the lists (as much fun as that is! And it IS fun!)...

I am currently reading Suite Francaise, really enjoying it, moved by the drama of the stories and the characters who for the most part are the most unlikeable and real bunch of people I've come across in a book ever - and it's deeply affecting. I'll write more when I finish it. I had hoped to finish yesterday, but got caught by the spring cleaning bug and actually cleaned out part of the basement yesterday! We set up a play area for the children downstairs. Holly-Anne was so excited by the new space! It really opens the basement up, which is only half-finished - walls done,but no flooring to speak of, just cement. It was dusty and filled with cat hair and horrible spider webs and dried out husks of bugs - sorry, but it was the storage area for a long time, so neglected except for moving boxes in and out for several years - now it's all spic and span and really inviting. Totally off topic, but now you know why Suite Francaise isn't done yet, which was my original plan for yesterday!!! I could say happy children = more reading time for me, but sadly, it means loudly happily playing children instead.

The cat is shedding hair upstairs now, warm weather = clumps of cat hair everywhere. Why can't the good fairy come and do my housework for me so I can read more??? dust bunnies and I are good friends, but cat hair - *sigh* I can't really ignore.

Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb

As promised, here is my review. Let me start with saying, I love Robin Hobb's books. I have read two of her three other fantasy series, The Farseer Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy, a sequel to the Farseer books. They are among my favourite fantasy books. I had forgotten though, how intense Ms Hobb's writing is, how thorough her world-building is. So, when I opened Shaman's Crossing, the first in her new Soldier Son trilogy, I was half-expecting to be back in the world of Farseer (the other trilogy, the Liveship Traders, is also set there). It was a shock to realize it was a new world, and it took me a little time to adjust. When I did, about a third of the way into the book, I was able to settle in and enjoy it....no, not just enjoy it. With Ms Hobb's books, you enter a complete world. Everything is thought-out, and the writing and characterizations are perfect - there is nothing that strikes a wrong tone in her work. So, by the middle of the book when Nevare, the hero - the 'soldier son' of the title - is sent to the military college that he must attend as the second son of a soldier (the first son gets to inherit the house,property and money, the third son becomes a priest, etc), my attention was fully engaged, and whenever I put the book down, I found I was thinking about it and couldn't wait to get back to it. Even though the school and military life is present, the story is about Nevare and the intrusion of other magic into his life and the settlers of his country, who are pushing further east into the forest and mountains to open a new trade route to the sea. Nevare's people don't do magic, but the Specks, an unknown race who live in the forest, do. This first book sets up his first encounter with the Specks, and what the results are of that encounter. It is an amazingly moving final third of the book, that had me crying at the kitchen table last Sunday afternoon. I find I don't often cry or laugh aloud reading fantasy, that many books are pleasureable reads that don't require anything of us except a few hours. Ms Hobb's books are different because I find I become emotionally involved in the characters and the outcome. I have to know what happens next. I actually get cranky if people - chores - life insists I put the book down!

I've taken this week to think about this book and the world within it, because i wanted to be sure I did justice to it. I can say this fantasy is not for everyone, because not everyone will enjoy intense, original writing. And this is not a judgement call, it's an observation. Some people read strictly for pleasure, and don't want to think or - looking for a phrase here - experience a whole fantasy world. It is an experience to read any of Ms Hobb's books. The Fool, Fitzchivalry, and now Nevarre, are characters who are intimately connected with the survival of their worlds. I find this fascinating and it could be lame in other writer's hands (hero saves the world theme) but that's not the case here. These heroes of the various trilogies affect their world's balance. What they do is necessary for the world's survival, even if the people around them don't know, and have their own problems to sort out. This book, and her other fantasies, are not your average quest fantasy, and that is why I am cautioning my Gentle Readers. I certainly think these books are wonderful and well worth a try! And for those who have read her other work, this is as good as the other trilogies, but don't go in expecting more of the Farseer World. But give Nevare a chance, and Spink, Epiny, Nevare's father and Uncle, the college, the Specks, and so many of the other characters are so well-drawn, that you'll end up wishing you could be there too in their world, joining them on their adventures. I'd love to meet Epiny! She can talk to the spirits!

These are well-written fantasy books. It always gives me a deep pleasure to read them. This is fantasy that nourishes the soul, it's not just an adventure story with magic, and not just about magic either, as many fantasies written today are. Hobbs is a writer who understands that any call to adventure comes from within (to paraphrase Joseph Campbell in The Hero With a Thousand Faces), and her characters struggle and fight with and against this call, because as is always the case, the journey to the soul can only be done alone, and takes the person away from the world. Her characters have dreams and desires and fight what is inside them as much as any of us in the real world do. This is part of what makes her writing so complex and so satisfying.

By the way, I have a confession to make - I have an awful style of reviewing books. I can't help it. I once gave a radio interview on CBC for Douglas Adam's book "Dirk Gently's Wholistic Detective Agency", many years ago (like in 1986??)....well, you can guess how that went, since it doesn't have a straight-forward plot!! I worked at a bookstore (now out of business) and did the interview into a tape in the back room. It was going to be played on CBC radio one later that evening. Everyone knew, all my friends and family were going to listen. And so was everyone else in Canada, since CBC goes across the country! So, Heather began the interview, and away I went. I thought I described the book very well, clear, put in some humour....well, my best friend called me after she and her husband listened to it, and said they were completely confused as to what the book was about, and they weren't sure at first it was me until they recognized they weren't going to get a plot!!! so, you see, habits die hard, and I still can't give a plot away. I have no idea where it comes from, but I can't do it. I expect on my gravestone they'll be able to put:"and she didn't give the plot away"!! I can tell you what works in the book, and what doesn't (if something doesn't), and I know what the plot is and of course I could put it here - and I could have said it on the radio interview, which I am certain I did, right at the very beginning: 'it's about a guy investigating a murder, but a whole lot more too! this story has.....' and off I went. So, I could put the plots down here on my blog, but I'm not going to. I want you to go read the book yourself. I'll tell you what I like in the book, and if it is worth reading (in my opinion), and if something is wrong for me I'll say that too. But even then, I want you to go read about it yourself. Unless it's dreadful, and then I'd probably only put 'dreadful book, don't bother'. Mostly, I want to dialogue about books - if you agree, or disagree, let's talk and share our experience of the book. That to me is the most we can get out of reading books with other people, because reading is principally, mainly, an intensely personal experience between you and the writer. So I'll ferry you to the book, but you have to make the journey yourself!!

Let me know if you've read it or her other books, and what you thought of them, Gentle Reader. I'm always giving a copy of the first of the Farseer Trilogy, Assassin's Apprentice, to people to read. So far, it's been mixed - so let me know!

Oh, by the way - I love Douglas Adams, and i gave Dirk Gently a rave review - at least I thought I did. Other people came up to me after and asked, "what was the book about again?" I was so sad when Adams died last year unexpectedly. He was a bright light in the SF field, and brought a much-needed sense of humour to his books and SF in general. The answer, my friends, is 42. If you know what that is the answer to, let me know. Today's pop quiz in the SF/fantasy world! *laughs softly*

Gold Card

I've been having problems with blogger the past day or two, so I'm keeping this short tonight. I have been honoured with receiving the Blogging Friends Forever Gold card, and twice! From Rhinoa and Chris. I am delighted and have been happily smiling ever since! So thank you, you two, so much! And may I say, they each have amazing blogging sites. What makes a site amazing? Good books read and blogged about, life blogged about, and the happiness and charm of the writer. Chris always has intelligent and thoughtful reviews of books, interesting things to say, we share tastes in books and authors, He is such a welcoming, funny and charming person. Who else could do a blog about music to life events based on IPOD random selections, and make it funny? and make me wish to have an Ipod, too! Thank you Chris, your comments are something I really enjoy.

Rhinoa also has very similar reading tastes to mine, and the coolest list - 101 things to do in 1001 days, and she spent her 'celebration on getting a fabulous new job' money on books! How cool is that? I've just discovered her, and I love her site. And she has a button I want: 'Reading Challenge addicted and proud of it.' They both leave funny and warm comments, too. So, I send the gold card back to them, :-) and but because I want to share this card with more bloggers, here are my five new people to send this card to:
Patricia at Lady P's Cozy Corner:because I wouldn't be here without her. She was the one who sent me an invite to her new blog, last summer. I had no clue what I was waiting for me. And for those who don't know, she is my younger sister, and she is now reading Jane Austen because of my blog! So, for tackling Jane Austen (finally!), and for showing me the way...thanks, sis. This is for you.
Bybee at Naked Without Books: Bybee was one of the very first bloggers to welcome me by leaving a comment to one of my posts. Our friendship was sealed when I discovered she likes *Nick Hornby* too, and her name is Suzie, a version of mine! Plus, she has the dryest sense of humour and always, always makes me laugh. And great ideas for posts, like favorite books from the past (books that deserved to be discovered now again), and characters that really bug her, and she has a 'tough and cool Inner Bookworm'. Thanks, Bybee, you make my day.
Emily at Telecommuter Talk : She is another blogger who is hilarious. She coined the term 'bookslut' recently, and she's a pastor's wife! So how cool is that? and has told me I am a bookslut too :-) a title I proudly wear. She's clever and self-deprecating and recently tagged me for a meme I have yet to do, so I'm hoping this will save me for a bit!! Thanks for being hilarious, Emily.
Eva at A Striped Armchair is another blogger who quickly adopted me. Then we discovered common books read, and another friendship was cemented. She is intelligent and generous, reads texts and serious non-fiction that would put me to sleep and makes them interesting in her reviews, and she is full of life. Thanks for welcoming me, Eva! Hurry up and get your laptop fixed!
Nymeth at Things Mean Alot is someone I have recently discovered, who I am delighted and awed by her sweet spirit and her wonderful blog. It really is gorgeous, and so is she. She also writes among the very best reviews of books that I've ever seen. She is another kindred spirit when it comes to reading the same kinds of books, and we are about to read a book at the same time a world apart, so we can compare notes :-) Thank you Nymeth, you're another blogger who makes my day, every day.

I could give a whole list of bloggers I like, but they are all listed on my sidebar anyway :-) Special mention goes out to Table Talk for having interesting posts, and thoughtful reviews and ideas,
raidergirl3, for watching much of Jane Austen on Masterpiece theatre with me. These two bloggers were also among the first ones to leave comments, so they were the first bloggers I met. They are very good ambassadors for the book-blogging community.