Jewels-PiXie's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 19 Jun 2025 00:59:50 -0700 60 Jewels-PiXie's bookshelf: all 144 41 https://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Faust 406373 Faust reworks the late medieval myth of a brilliant scholar so disillusioned he resolves to make a contract with Mephistopheles. The devil will do all he asks on Earth and seeks to grant him a moment in life so glorious that he will wish it to last forever. But if Faust does bid the moment stay, he falls to Mephistopheles and must serve him after death. In this first part of Goethe’s great work, the embittered thinker and Mephistopheles enter into their agreement, and soon Faust is living a rejuvenated life and winning the love of the beautiful Gretchen. But in this compelling tragedy of arrogance, unfulfilled desire, and self-delusion, Faust heads inexorably toward an infernal destruction.]]> 503 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 0385031149 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.90 1808 Faust
author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1808
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/06/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Cat, a Man, and Two Women 37822483 'One of the finest pieces of literature concerning cats ever written.' (Choice)

Shinako has been ousted from her marriage by her husband Shozo and his younger lover Fukuko. She's lost her home, status, and respectability. Yet the only thing she longs for is Lily, the elegant tortoiseshell cat she shared with her husband. As Shinako pleads for Lily's return, Shozo's reluctance to part with the cat reveals his true affections, and the lengths he'll go to hold onto the one he loves most.

A small masterpiece, A Cat, a Man, and Two Women is a novel about loneliness, love, and companionship of the most unexpected kind. In this story of Japanese society and manners, Tanizaki gives us a perfectly-formed oddball comedy, and a love triangle in which the only real rival is feline.]]> 128 Jun'ichirō Tanizaki 1911547038 Jewels-PiXie 3 3.69 1936 A Cat, a Man, and Two Women
author: Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1936
rating: 3
read at: 2020/11/15
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves:
review:
A fairly addictive to read as the story is fast moving. Lily is the heartbeat that is the centre of this love triangle between a man, his ex wife and his current wife. Lily, the cat, sweet, attentive and loyal is used as a pawn to achieve various emotional results from the characters in this. And we see how cold and brutal people can be due to their own selfish whims. And how Lily resented for the love that is lavished on her, only ever really brings people apart, only to be discarded. It's a light read but the emotion it exudes is palpable and Lily's presence is very much present throughout.
]]> <![CDATA[The Unconventional Life of Haee (Haee and the Other Middlings, #2)]]> 16121603
Only then can we create a community where individuals can flourish, united by a shared vision and a sense of belonging.

Part II of this series continues our journey with the ordinary, average, and conventional cat as he trudges awkwardly through the contradictions in life.]]> 65 R.S. Vern 9810721471 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.17 2012 The Unconventional Life of Haee (Haee and the Other Middlings, #2)
author: R.S. Vern
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Between the Acts 46105 224 Virginia Woolf 015611870X Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.63 1941 Between the Acts
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1941
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Napping House 815234 16 Audrey Wood 0152026320 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.27 1984 The Napping House
author: Audrey Wood
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1984
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit]]> 30687200 Many people dream of escaping modern life, but most will never act on it. This is the remarkable true story of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years, making this dream a reality--not out of anger at the world, but simply because he preferred to live on his own.

In 1986, a shy and intelligent twenty-year-old named Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the forest. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later, when he was arrested for stealing food. Living in a tent even through brutal winters, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store edibles and water, and to avoid freezing to death. He broke into nearby cottages for food, clothing, reading material, and other provisions, taking only what he needed but terrifying a community never able to solve the mysterious burglaries. Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, this is a vividly detailed account of his secluded life--why did he leave? what did he learn?--as well as the challenges he has faced since returning to the world. It is a gripping story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude, community, and what makes a good life, and a deeply moving portrait of a man who was determined to live his own way, and succeeded.]]> 209 Michael Finkel 1101924926 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.88 2017 The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit
author: Michael Finkel
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fen 26210520 Fen is a liminal land. Real people live their lives here. They wrestle with familiar instincts, with sex and desire, with everyday routine. But the wild is always close at hand, ready to erupt. This is a place where animals and people commingle and fuse, where curious metamorphoses take place, where myth and dark magic still linger. So here a teenager may starve herself into the shape of an eel. A house might fall in love with a girl. A woman might give birth to a – well what?]]> 208 Daisy Johnson 1910702331 Jewels-PiXie 2 Firstly, on reading the blurb on the cover it is misleading. There is nothing to say that it's a collection of short stories. So when it makes the claims that a girl may starve herself into the shape of an eel and a house may fall in love with a girl, the fantastical things seem like they are going to happen as part of one thing.
I would say it's a work of magical realism but it's a bit preoccupied with sex and that brings it back down to grubby earth. It feels like the author is trying too hard to be a liberated female writer, with her female characters initiating sex. But I think this is outdated now. Fans of Angela Carter will probably like this.
The atmosphere is watery, marshy and gloopy and there is a ruggedness that I liked. Part 2 of the book, I enjoyed a lot more, however there was anal cruelty which I couldn't stomach and also false claims about foxes. She seems to me to be someone who doesn't feel akin to animals and so that's someone that I won't feel akin with.]]> 3.63 2016 Fen
author: Daisy Johnson
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2022/11/15
date added: 2022/11/15
shelves:
review:
I found Fen disappointing.
Firstly, on reading the blurb on the cover it is misleading. There is nothing to say that it's a collection of short stories. So when it makes the claims that a girl may starve herself into the shape of an eel and a house may fall in love with a girl, the fantastical things seem like they are going to happen as part of one thing.
I would say it's a work of magical realism but it's a bit preoccupied with sex and that brings it back down to grubby earth. It feels like the author is trying too hard to be a liberated female writer, with her female characters initiating sex. But I think this is outdated now. Fans of Angela Carter will probably like this.
The atmosphere is watery, marshy and gloopy and there is a ruggedness that I liked. Part 2 of the book, I enjoyed a lot more, however there was anal cruelty which I couldn't stomach and also false claims about foxes. She seems to me to be someone who doesn't feel akin to animals and so that's someone that I won't feel akin with.
]]> <![CDATA[Going Feral: Field Notes on Wonder and Wanderlust]]> 43472842 206 Heather Durham 0578468328 Jewels-PiXie 4
And also when she has a close encounter and connection with a coyote. And throughout her essays she has many close encounterd with different animals. We feel her fear of the dark and her gratitude at being a naturalist and conservationist. Her intimate sharing of experience captures the oneness between human and nature and what a special thing that is.
She completely transports us to each place she is exploring and it is a very magnificent and splendid thing. ]]> 4.44 Going Feral: Field Notes on Wonder and Wanderlust
author: Heather Durham
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.44
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/11/01
date added: 2022/11/01
shelves:
review:
It's so refreshing to read the experiences of a female naturalist. This is very different to someone like John Muir who you feel constantly on the precipice with, in completely hazardous places. Heather Durham's experiences are more sure-footed, told in subtle, but not less thrilling ways. I noticed as I was reading Going Feral that my senses were becoming really heightened and I was experiencing things in a much more clearer way. There are moments of beautiful poetry in her work and some smile-making experiences, such as when the frogs who turn into ice for the winter, and whose heart stop beating for the duration, when they wake up again, they all begin to sing. 

And also when she has a close encounter and connection with a coyote. And throughout her essays she has many close encounterd with different animals. We feel her fear of the dark and her gratitude at being a naturalist and conservationist. Her intimate sharing of experience captures the oneness between human and nature and what a special thing that is.
She completely transports us to each place she is exploring and it is a very magnificent and splendid thing. 
]]> Girl in the Woods: A Memoir 18635099
In this inspiring memoir, Aspen chronicles her journey, a five-month trek that was ambitious, dangerous, and transformative. A nineteen-year-old girl alone and lost, she conquered desolate mountain passes and met rattlesnakes, bears, and fellow desert pilgrims. Exhausted after each thirty-mile day, at times on the verge of starvation, Aspen was forced to confront her numbness, coming to terms with the sexual assault and her parents' disappointing reaction. On the trail and on her own, she found that survival is predicated on persistent self-reliance. She found her strength. After a thousand miles of solitude, she found a man who helped her learn to love and trust again—and heal.

Told with elegance and suspense, Girl in the Woods is a beautifully rendered story of eroding emotional and physical boundaries to reveal the truths that lie beyond the edges of the map.]]> 384 Aspen Matis 0062291068 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.43 2015 Girl in the Woods: A Memoir
author: Aspen Matis
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Gifts 58005979
Meanwhile, when rumours of a 'fallen angel' cause a frenzy across London, a surgeon desperate for fame and fortune finds himself in the grips of a dangerous obsession, one that will place the women he seeks in the most terrible danger . . .

THE GIFTS is the astonishing debut adult novel from the lauded author of BEARMOUTH. A gripping and ambitious book told through five different perspectives and set against the luminous backdrop of nineteenth century London, it explores science, nature and religion, enlightenment, the role of women in society and the dark danger of ambition.]]> 400 Liz Hyder 178658073X Jewels-PiXie 3
I turned to the book shelves and was immediately drawn to The Gifts and read the first few pages which were wild and palpable.  The female character had hatched wings and I could really feel the cracks of this becoming and the earth beneath her feet. I don't typically like contemporary novels as, so far, I've found them quite hollow in comparison to earlier era books I've read. I'm looking forward to being proved wrong about this. The Gifts first few pages were enough to lure me in and so I bought it and upon getting home, began to devour it. 

It's described as a feminist novel, and whilst initially I felt the urge to criticise this, I had to remind myself that this is set in Victorian times and so whilst in the present day the female characters actions seem small, at that space in time they would be out of the norm and defying convention. The female characters all seem to have been searching for their own autonomy and agency and are bold enough to embark on the venture. So, perhaps the bestowing of wings, is a reward, a 'here these will take you further for your efforts'.

There is a cluster of female characters, who along with Edward, the male surgeon lead the story, Etta, Natalya, Mary and Annie. Etta and Natalya hatch wings and so become much sought after by Edward who desires fortune and recognition. Natalya is a storyteller and when she does so, it's really quite engrossing and bewitching. I enjoyed the tales within a tale.

It's a breeze of a read, really
engaging and exciting and hard to put down, so I raced through it. Mostly eager to find out why the Wings have been bestowed upon these women. However whilst the book compels the reader to consider this mystery, you leave the book not knowing the answers. So the reason is pure speculation. All I could think of was that these were women who dared to follow their humble dreams at the time. It's such a thrilling novel and I liked the layout, where the different characters are followed in short breaths of pages. But ultimately I felt cheated after investing myself so fully into the story. Towards the close of the novel, it all goes a bit Scooby-Do in it's mission.

There are some nice style touches, little drawings of plants and leaves that seem to be the work of Etta's character.

So, I did enjoy it and the rugged territory and weather I feel most at home in but it did have the kind of hollowness and lack of depth, similar to something like The Witches Of New York. It just felt soulless. But I would still recommend reading it because it is entertaining. ]]> 3.80 2022 The Gifts
author: Liz Hyder
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/10/18
date added: 2022/10/21
shelves:
review:
I stumbled across The Gifts quite by chance, when I was looking to fill the void Gone To Earth by Mary Webb had left me. I asked the book shop assistant for something wild featuring a female character from the late 1800s to early 1900s and she couldn't help me. 

I turned to the book shelves and was immediately drawn to The Gifts and read the first few pages which were wild and palpable.  The female character had hatched wings and I could really feel the cracks of this becoming and the earth beneath her feet. I don't typically like contemporary novels as, so far, I've found them quite hollow in comparison to earlier era books I've read. I'm looking forward to being proved wrong about this. The Gifts first few pages were enough to lure me in and so I bought it and upon getting home, began to devour it. 

It's described as a feminist novel, and whilst initially I felt the urge to criticise this, I had to remind myself that this is set in Victorian times and so whilst in the present day the female characters actions seem small, at that space in time they would be out of the norm and defying convention. The female characters all seem to have been searching for their own autonomy and agency and are bold enough to embark on the venture. So, perhaps the bestowing of wings, is a reward, a 'here these will take you further for your efforts'.

There is a cluster of female characters, who along with Edward, the male surgeon lead the story, Etta, Natalya, Mary and Annie. Etta and Natalya hatch wings and so become much sought after by Edward who desires fortune and recognition. Natalya is a storyteller and when she does so, it's really quite engrossing and bewitching. I enjoyed the tales within a tale.

It's a breeze of a read, really
engaging and exciting and hard to put down, so I raced through it. Mostly eager to find out why the Wings have been bestowed upon these women. However whilst the book compels the reader to consider this mystery, you leave the book not knowing the answers. So the reason is pure speculation. All I could think of was that these were women who dared to follow their humble dreams at the time. It's such a thrilling novel and I liked the layout, where the different characters are followed in short breaths of pages. But ultimately I felt cheated after investing myself so fully into the story. Towards the close of the novel, it all goes a bit Scooby-Do in it's mission.

There are some nice style touches, little drawings of plants and leaves that seem to be the work of Etta's character.

So, I did enjoy it and the rugged territory and weather I feel most at home in but it did have the kind of hollowness and lack of depth, similar to something like The Witches Of New York. It just felt soulless. But I would still recommend reading it because it is entertaining. 
]]> <![CDATA[The Spring of Joy: A Little Book of Healing]]> 10108259 68 Mary Webb 1409923843 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.00 1917 The Spring of Joy: A Little Book of Healing
author: Mary Webb
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1917
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fifty-One Poems 12822885 Mary Webb Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.57 1947 Fifty-One Poems
author: Mary Webb
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1947
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mr. Tallent's Ghost 35426842
'Mr. Tallent's Ghost' is an amusing tale about an eccentric writer who likes to read his appalling and tedious novels aloud to his relatives...or indeed anyone who will listen. He persuades a lawyer to draw up a will devoting his entire fortune to funding the publication of his writing. Shortly after this, news of Mr. Tallent's death arrives.

The disinherited relations dispute the will vigorously, and soon after this, the ghost of Mr. Tallent begins to haunt the relatives and the executor. Worse still, the ghost is reading his dreadful novels to them aloud. One by one the relatives are consigned to mental institutions. The lawyer, who is also Mr. Tallent's executor, holds out longest...and then he makes an extraordinary discovery.]]> Mary Webb Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.45 Mr. Tallent's Ghost
author: Mary Webb
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.45
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Poems and the Spring of Joy 16052441 249 Mary Webb Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.65 1942 Poems and the Spring of Joy
author: Mary Webb
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.65
book published: 1942
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Armour Wherein He Trusted (Virago Modern Classics)]]> 2814225 256 Mary Webb 0140162089 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.85 1929 Armour Wherein He Trusted (Virago Modern Classics)
author: Mary Webb
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1929
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The House in Dormer Forest 1983768 292 Mary Webb 0860681807 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.66 1920 The House in Dormer Forest
author: Mary Webb
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1920
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Golden Arrow 1504228 288 Mary Webb 0385279787 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.83 1916 The Golden Arrow
author: Mary Webb
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1916
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Seven for a Secret 3678229 256 Mary Webb 0224611569 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.96 1922 Seven for a Secret
author: Mary Webb
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1922
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Precious Bane 779509 Precious Bane is a novel that haunts us with its beauty and its timeless truths about our deepest hopes. Set in Shropshire in the 1800s, it is alive with the many moods of Nature, benevolent and violent and the many moods -- equally benevolent and violent -- of the people making lives there.
 
Prue Sarn is an unlikely heroine, born with a facial disfiguration which the Fates have dictated will deny her love. But Prue has strength far beyond her handicap, and this woman, suspected of witchcraft by her fellow townspeople, rises above them all through an all-encompassing sweetness of spirit.
 
Precious Bane is also the story of Gideon, Prue's doomed brother, equally strong-willed, but with other motives. Determined to defeat the poverty of their farm, he devotes all his energies to making money. His only diversion from this ambition, he abandons her for the stronger drive of his money lust.
 
And finally, it is the story of Kester Woodseaves, whose steady love for all created things leads him to resist people's cruelty toward nature and each other, and whose love for Prue Sarn enables him to discern her natural loveliness beneath her blighted appearance. 

Rebecca West, a contemporary of Mary Webb, called her, simply, "a genius," and G. K. Chesterton, another contemporary, asserted: "the light in the stories . . . is a light not shining on the things but through them."
 
Critic Hilda Addison summed up Precious Bane: "The book opens with one of those simple sentences which haunt the mind until the curiosity has been satisfied . . . It strikes a note which never fails throughout; it opens with a beauty which is justified to the last sentence."
 
When the book was first published in 1926 in America, the New York Times Book Review predicted: " on some bookshelves, we feel sure, Precious Bane will find almost a hallowed place." ]]> 328 Mary Webb 0268015384 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.23 1924 Precious Bane
author: Mary Webb
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1924
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Gone to Earth 1505329 246 Mary Webb 1406931292 Jewels-PiXie 5 favourite-reads It articulates the essence of the novel perfectly.
Since reading it, I have found many reviews likening it to Wuthering Heights and Hazel Woodus is as much a part of the rolling Shropshire woodland and landscape as Cathy Earnshaw is of the epic moors. And she's not just subject to the wild elements but is a part of them and that wildness is to be revered and held in awe in it's tremendous jaws. Throughout the novel we find ourselves at the very core of nature with a pure and naive spirit that is Hazel.
Hazel has a special affinity with wild animals and a very special one in particular, Foxy, her fox who she will not be parted with. As I take care of 8 visiting foxes, this especially blossomed in my heart.
And Hazel herself is feral and who is most at home exploring the landscape, free and happy. She has a naivete that is truly endearing and on her wedding day dresses up her little animal friends to include them in the big day and the festivities. She is charming and child-like.

But she soon becomes the subject of pursuit by two very different men, one is the local squire and one the parson. One is a brute who thinks little about her but wants to possess her and violate her carnally. And then, the other. Edward the parson, puts her on a pedestal and has his own ideas about who Hazel is and how she should be. But just as wild animals should not be possessed , Hazel, like them should not be. She's not truly happy in the home of Reddin the Squire or Edward. Although she does seem to settle more in the nurturing home of Edward and enjoys it's spiritual and caring nature.
It does seem that Hazel has little emotional intelligence and little hope of finding ways to escape her captivity.
And each line comes in a tangle of bracken and woodland that she becomes evermore embroiled in. And as the novel goes on, the tension builds and the homes Hazel is given to live in become more imprisoning. Her sweet birdsong voice becomes lost in jailing and the sadness sweeps across the pages.
Mary Webb writes so poetically that one does find themselves caught up in the prickly trees and bushes of untamed surroundings.
I loved this book so much and became entirely immersed in it. I have been searching desperately for something similar but have, as yet.to find it. If anyone reading this review can make a recommendation, please message me.
Reddin seems to represent violence and exploitation and there are some horrible scenes of animal cruelty that I found difficult to read. Edward represents a gentle nature but one that holds things in a sacred light away from reality.
Caught between such vastly different men, it might be difficult to see which Hazel should be with. But ultimately, like me, you may decide that she is better off being the wild thing she is meant to be, free from capture and a thing of natural beauty to be admired from afar.
Hold the novel in your hands as tightly as you can because Mary Webb's words have the power to make it fly free in all it's wildness.]]> 3.88 1917 Gone to Earth
author: Mary Webb
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1917
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/21
date added: 2022/10/19
shelves: favourite-reads
review:
On the cover of my Gone To Earth, there is a quote by John Buchan that reads "if this is not true magic. I do not know where to look for it".
It articulates the essence of the novel perfectly.
Since reading it, I have found many reviews likening it to Wuthering Heights and Hazel Woodus is as much a part of the rolling Shropshire woodland and landscape as Cathy Earnshaw is of the epic moors. And she's not just subject to the wild elements but is a part of them and that wildness is to be revered and held in awe in it's tremendous jaws. Throughout the novel we find ourselves at the very core of nature with a pure and naive spirit that is Hazel.
Hazel has a special affinity with wild animals and a very special one in particular, Foxy, her fox who she will not be parted with. As I take care of 8 visiting foxes, this especially blossomed in my heart.
And Hazel herself is feral and who is most at home exploring the landscape, free and happy. She has a naivete that is truly endearing and on her wedding day dresses up her little animal friends to include them in the big day and the festivities. She is charming and child-like.

But she soon becomes the subject of pursuit by two very different men, one is the local squire and one the parson. One is a brute who thinks little about her but wants to possess her and violate her carnally. And then, the other. Edward the parson, puts her on a pedestal and has his own ideas about who Hazel is and how she should be. But just as wild animals should not be possessed , Hazel, like them should not be. She's not truly happy in the home of Reddin the Squire or Edward. Although she does seem to settle more in the nurturing home of Edward and enjoys it's spiritual and caring nature.
It does seem that Hazel has little emotional intelligence and little hope of finding ways to escape her captivity.
And each line comes in a tangle of bracken and woodland that she becomes evermore embroiled in. And as the novel goes on, the tension builds and the homes Hazel is given to live in become more imprisoning. Her sweet birdsong voice becomes lost in jailing and the sadness sweeps across the pages.
Mary Webb writes so poetically that one does find themselves caught up in the prickly trees and bushes of untamed surroundings.
I loved this book so much and became entirely immersed in it. I have been searching desperately for something similar but have, as yet.to find it. If anyone reading this review can make a recommendation, please message me.
Reddin seems to represent violence and exploitation and there are some horrible scenes of animal cruelty that I found difficult to read. Edward represents a gentle nature but one that holds things in a sacred light away from reality.
Caught between such vastly different men, it might be difficult to see which Hazel should be with. But ultimately, like me, you may decide that she is better off being the wild thing she is meant to be, free from capture and a thing of natural beauty to be admired from afar.
Hold the novel in your hands as tightly as you can because Mary Webb's words have the power to make it fly free in all it's wildness.
]]> Two Serious Ladies 215262
Two serious ladies who want to live outside of themselves, they go in search of salvation: Mrs. Copperfield visits Panama with her husband, where she finds solace among the women who live and work in its brothels; while Miss Goering becomes involved with various men. At the end the two women meet again, each changed by her experience.

Mysterious, profound, anarchic and very funny, 'Two Serious Ladies' is a daring, original work that defies analysis.]]> 234 Jane Bowles 0720611792 Jewels-PiXie 4 The book begins in quite a thrilling and teasing way.
We first meet. Miss Goering, as a child and a very odd one at that. She mostly plays alone and her games often have a religious theme and she's fixed on ideas of sinning, redemption and salvation.
She manages to persuade her sister's friend into playing with her when her sister is ill. And begins a terrifying game where she asks the girl to take off all of her clothes, she makes her put on a hood with eye holes. She then performs a mock baptism on the confused and petrified girl.
But from this point, we fast forward to Miss Goering as an adult and I did think we would follow the direction of her childhood, but it didn't. I was slightly disappointed because it felt very unusual but I think we were given the snapshot as a kind of psychotherapist's notes to bear in mind. It does linger in the back of the mind and lays there hauntingly. I was surprised to find out that Two Serious Ladies was written in the 60's because it really feels like it's in the 20's .
In my quest to find spinsters in fiction who break the mould and stereotype we frequently read about, Miss Goering is one who goes against the grain.
Miss Goering is living a fairly routine life when she receives a visitor, Miss Gamelon, whose cousin used to tend to Miss Goering when. She was younger. Miss Goering asks her to call again, and when she does the next day Miss Goering is impressed at the unconventionality, and asks her to move in. It's a strange and unexpected decision. They begin a strange companionship, where neither are really satisfied with the other. Miss Gamelon, in particular, seems to have a lot to complain about, quietly to herself about Miss Goering.
When Miss Goering makes a surprising decision to give up her high society house to seek out a more humble abode on an island, it doesn't sit well with Miss Gamelon and also, Arnold who Miss Goering has picked up along the way. He tried to charm her at a party, she allowed herself to be whisked off to where he lived with his parents. And we see another of Miss Goering's willingness to be swept along with situations. Arnold gradually, but fairly quickly, moves into Miss Goering's house and then into the new move.
The decision to move from her lavish house into a squalid house on a remote island reverts back to her childhood behaviour. She is making a decision that seems to be purging herself of sin, the riches she has enjoyed, in hope that being more humble will bring it's rewards at a later date. But she's too invested in the idea to believe that may happen.
She begins to test herself by making trips out on her own and in doing so, she becomes involved in sordid affairs that seem to come about more as an afterthought thay she's swayed into than a truly assertive decision.
Mrs Copperfield is very vocal to Miss Goering at a party about not wanting to go to Panama. A trip her husband had booked.
She is absolutely adamant that she doesn't want to go. She has some general fears and anxieties that cause barriers for her.
Nevertheless she is dragged along by her husband. She doesn't want to stay in one of the small, local hotels but instead wants to stay in the bigger hotel that other visitors frequent. She thinks she won't be safe in the one that is more familiar to the locals.
But quite quickly, on a jaunt out with her husband she is inquisitive about the locals and chats to them seeming very at home. She rejects going on a trip with her husband, in favour of getting more familiar with a local young prostitute, Pacifica and they begin a romantic relationship. She becomes careless, or should I say carefree about checking in with her husband.
The difference in location seems to open up an unexplored side of Mrs Coppefield and she embtaces it fully.

So what is it that makes Two Serious Ladies so gently thrilling and appealing.
It's because we're getting an intimate view into these two women, who, until this point, have led routine and conventional lives. And Bowles really gives a sense of that. So that when both break free to begin their own adventures it feels exciting, unexpected as we launch into the unpredictable. It also seems to say a lot about the kind of women we still read about in contemporary fiction and that we meet in real life. That we are still searching for that Room Of One's Own that Virginia Woolf wrote about. Even when the rebellions are small, they are still a break from the norm, something that so many women aspire to. And if you're in search of a slightly strange but essential fire escape out of your day, this is a good place to look.

What is such a pity is that this is the only novel Bowles ever wrote and other than that short stories. I definitely would have liked to see where else she would have taken us.
]]> 3.62 1943 Two Serious Ladies
author: Jane Bowles
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1943
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/19
date added: 2022/10/18
shelves:
review:
Two Serious Ladies is the journey of two women who we follow separately and who surprise us with their decisions along the way.
The book begins in quite a thrilling and teasing way.
We first meet. Miss Goering, as a child and a very odd one at that. She mostly plays alone and her games often have a religious theme and she's fixed on ideas of sinning, redemption and salvation.
She manages to persuade her sister's friend into playing with her when her sister is ill. And begins a terrifying game where she asks the girl to take off all of her clothes, she makes her put on a hood with eye holes. She then performs a mock baptism on the confused and petrified girl.
But from this point, we fast forward to Miss Goering as an adult and I did think we would follow the direction of her childhood, but it didn't. I was slightly disappointed because it felt very unusual but I think we were given the snapshot as a kind of psychotherapist's notes to bear in mind. It does linger in the back of the mind and lays there hauntingly. I was surprised to find out that Two Serious Ladies was written in the 60's because it really feels like it's in the 20's .
In my quest to find spinsters in fiction who break the mould and stereotype we frequently read about, Miss Goering is one who goes against the grain.
Miss Goering is living a fairly routine life when she receives a visitor, Miss Gamelon, whose cousin used to tend to Miss Goering when. She was younger. Miss Goering asks her to call again, and when she does the next day Miss Goering is impressed at the unconventionality, and asks her to move in. It's a strange and unexpected decision. They begin a strange companionship, where neither are really satisfied with the other. Miss Gamelon, in particular, seems to have a lot to complain about, quietly to herself about Miss Goering.
When Miss Goering makes a surprising decision to give up her high society house to seek out a more humble abode on an island, it doesn't sit well with Miss Gamelon and also, Arnold who Miss Goering has picked up along the way. He tried to charm her at a party, she allowed herself to be whisked off to where he lived with his parents. And we see another of Miss Goering's willingness to be swept along with situations. Arnold gradually, but fairly quickly, moves into Miss Goering's house and then into the new move.
The decision to move from her lavish house into a squalid house on a remote island reverts back to her childhood behaviour. She is making a decision that seems to be purging herself of sin, the riches she has enjoyed, in hope that being more humble will bring it's rewards at a later date. But she's too invested in the idea to believe that may happen.
She begins to test herself by making trips out on her own and in doing so, she becomes involved in sordid affairs that seem to come about more as an afterthought thay she's swayed into than a truly assertive decision.
Mrs Copperfield is very vocal to Miss Goering at a party about not wanting to go to Panama. A trip her husband had booked.
She is absolutely adamant that she doesn't want to go. She has some general fears and anxieties that cause barriers for her.
Nevertheless she is dragged along by her husband. She doesn't want to stay in one of the small, local hotels but instead wants to stay in the bigger hotel that other visitors frequent. She thinks she won't be safe in the one that is more familiar to the locals.
But quite quickly, on a jaunt out with her husband she is inquisitive about the locals and chats to them seeming very at home. She rejects going on a trip with her husband, in favour of getting more familiar with a local young prostitute, Pacifica and they begin a romantic relationship. She becomes careless, or should I say carefree about checking in with her husband.
The difference in location seems to open up an unexplored side of Mrs Coppefield and she embtaces it fully.

So what is it that makes Two Serious Ladies so gently thrilling and appealing.
It's because we're getting an intimate view into these two women, who, until this point, have led routine and conventional lives. And Bowles really gives a sense of that. So that when both break free to begin their own adventures it feels exciting, unexpected as we launch into the unpredictable. It also seems to say a lot about the kind of women we still read about in contemporary fiction and that we meet in real life. That we are still searching for that Room Of One's Own that Virginia Woolf wrote about. Even when the rebellions are small, they are still a break from the norm, something that so many women aspire to. And if you're in search of a slightly strange but essential fire escape out of your day, this is a good place to look.

What is such a pity is that this is the only novel Bowles ever wrote and other than that short stories. I definitely would have liked to see where else she would have taken us.

]]> To the Lighthouse 59716
As time winds its way through their lives, the Ramsays face, alone and simultaneously, the greatest of human challenges and its greatest triumph—the human capacity for change.]]> 209 Virginia Woolf Jewels-PiXie 3 The novel is broken into three parts, the past, an account of the time that has passed,and then it's present.
The first part is, really dense and the lack of fluidity makes it feel like reading through treacle. The story is about a family, the Ramsays and their friends. There is barely no dialogue throughout the entire novel, the narrative is, almost entirely based on the character's inner thoughts, this creates a sense of tension.
The majority of the characters want to take a, trip to the Lighthouse the following day but Mr Ramsay and some of the male characters dismiss it due to expected bad weather. Mrs Ramsay holds the hope that the weather forecast will be wrong and they will be able to go after all. There is a sense of occasion about it. Where Mrs Dalloway flows unconventionally, it has a structure that To The Lighthouse does not, until we reach the third part of the novel.
Woolf's insight into the inner thoughts of the characters remind us that what is hidden within our minds is often darker than we ever reveal in conversation or to others in the light of day.
Her characters have some alarming thoughts that shake you, such as one saying they would blow their brains out and another saying they would strike their father with a knife. Our mind's can be murky and frightening places to be. I do believe that Woolf has a particular affinity with this since her own depression and psychosis will have taken her to some terrifying places.
As time passes in part 2 some characters die, some of whom, we find surprising.
Part three sees the trip to the Lighthouse finally taking place but with only Mr Ramsay and two of his children. And the Lighthouse feels like a kind of sanctuary to escape to. The excitement originally felt about taking a trip there is replaced with a sense of resignation.
There is something about the way Woolf writes that while taking us deeply into her characters thoughts, she takes us deeply into our own minds. So we become uncomfortably close to thoughts we may prefer to leave lying dormant. I usually know just how much I've enjoyed a novel by the amount of quotes I write down from it. In To The Lighthouse there are many, her words are extraordinary, original and haunting.
My recent quest has been to read fiction with spinsters that defy the usual stereotype and a spinster appears in To The Lighthouse, but surprisingly, is the conventional kind, however she does ponder feminist issues about male views to women creating art.
Part three of To The Lighthouse relays between the inner dialogue of mainly three characters and it's fast paced and dizzying, like watching a tennis match and it really creates a sense of building climax.
Reading Woolf's work makes one feel so very alive because it is relatable in it's representation of humanity. Her language is so hypnotically electrifying and poetically lyrical. The darkness only makes the light within shine so much brighter. ]]> 3.81 1927 To the Lighthouse
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1927
rating: 3
read at: 2022/04/03
date added: 2022/10/18
shelves:
review:
To The Lighthouse is an extraordinary and compelling novel. Similarly to Mrs Dalloway, it takes part in a day, except unlike Mrs Dalloway, it takes place on a day from the past and one from it's present.
The novel is broken into three parts, the past, an account of the time that has passed,and then it's present.
The first part is, really dense and the lack of fluidity makes it feel like reading through treacle. The story is about a family, the Ramsays and their friends. There is barely no dialogue throughout the entire novel, the narrative is, almost entirely based on the character's inner thoughts, this creates a sense of tension.
The majority of the characters want to take a, trip to the Lighthouse the following day but Mr Ramsay and some of the male characters dismiss it due to expected bad weather. Mrs Ramsay holds the hope that the weather forecast will be wrong and they will be able to go after all. There is a sense of occasion about it. Where Mrs Dalloway flows unconventionally, it has a structure that To The Lighthouse does not, until we reach the third part of the novel.
Woolf's insight into the inner thoughts of the characters remind us that what is hidden within our minds is often darker than we ever reveal in conversation or to others in the light of day.
Her characters have some alarming thoughts that shake you, such as one saying they would blow their brains out and another saying they would strike their father with a knife. Our mind's can be murky and frightening places to be. I do believe that Woolf has a particular affinity with this since her own depression and psychosis will have taken her to some terrifying places.
As time passes in part 2 some characters die, some of whom, we find surprising.
Part three sees the trip to the Lighthouse finally taking place but with only Mr Ramsay and two of his children. And the Lighthouse feels like a kind of sanctuary to escape to. The excitement originally felt about taking a trip there is replaced with a sense of resignation.
There is something about the way Woolf writes that while taking us deeply into her characters thoughts, she takes us deeply into our own minds. So we become uncomfortably close to thoughts we may prefer to leave lying dormant. I usually know just how much I've enjoyed a novel by the amount of quotes I write down from it. In To The Lighthouse there are many, her words are extraordinary, original and haunting.
My recent quest has been to read fiction with spinsters that defy the usual stereotype and a spinster appears in To The Lighthouse, but surprisingly, is the conventional kind, however she does ponder feminist issues about male views to women creating art.
Part three of To The Lighthouse relays between the inner dialogue of mainly three characters and it's fast paced and dizzying, like watching a tennis match and it really creates a sense of building climax.
Reading Woolf's work makes one feel so very alive because it is relatable in it's representation of humanity. Her language is so hypnotically electrifying and poetically lyrical. The darkness only makes the light within shine so much brighter.
]]> Just So Stories 34053 here.

Twelve stories about animals, insects, and other subjects include How the Camel Got His Hump. The Butterfly That Stamped, and How the Alphabet Was Made..]]> 210 Rudyard Kipling 0517266555 Jewels-PiXie 4 Full of nonsensical logic , silly but wise-seeming tales.
Fun and fanciful to read for children and adults alike.
After all ,one is never too old to learn how the camel got his hump or the elephant got his trunk! ]]> 4.07 1902 Just So Stories
author: Rudyard Kipling
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1902
rating: 4
read at: 2022/03/07
date added: 2022/10/18
shelves:
review:
A sweet and tender visit to my childhood.
Full of nonsensical logic , silly but wise-seeming tales.
Fun and fanciful to read for children and adults alike.
After all ,one is never too old to learn how the camel got his hump or the elephant got his trunk!
]]> Mrs. Dalloway 14942 194 Virginia Woolf 0151009988 Jewels-PiXie 4 The novel has a way of arriving in many different voices, getting under the skin and becoming part of you.
Mrs Dalloway is focused on the events of one day, that will culminate in Mrs Dalloway's party. And we see the day and the various characters scattered through the day, coming together and falling away. The beginning fizzes with the excitement of seeing a car that everyone seems sure is transporting royalty. And a sky writer that everyone is trying to make out what is written.
The character Septimus Smith is introduced to us and it's a very unsettling experience. As someone who has had first hand experience of psychosis, I found it very difficult to go through his troubled thoughts. He has paranoia and is certain messages are being sent to him from both inanimate and animate objects. We learn that he has suicidal ideation, and his young wife is exasperated by this. She arranges for him to be seen by doctors who insist that there is nothing seriously wrong with him, but we know that there is. Even though the novel is 100 years old, it's alarming to see that opinions about mental illness haven't changed very much.
This character feels so intimately close to the bone and the articulation of psychosis so authentic, it made me wonder if Virginia Woolf had experienced psychosis. I knew she had suffered from serious depression. I found out that she had experienced psychosis which makes Septimus's feverish turmoil so very real and authentic. It's my guess that Septimus is a character most representative of Woolf and that through him, we are given an intimate insight into mental illness. It's frightening, disorienting and destabilising. Septimus is possibly also suffering from shellshock. We return to Septimus many times throughout the novel and between he and Mrs Dalloway, we have our central characters.
We also meet women in different stages of their lifes, from 18 to 80. And the buttoned up appearances that are superficial and of everyone playing their practiced part, conceal their underlying neurosis and existential crisis.
Woolf captures the characters in such a way that they are very humanly relatable and this combination of a stark reality and sobering characters combined with spellbinding poetic verbiage that collects the minutae is extraordinary and brilliant.
The details we find out about Clarissa Dalloway are garnered from Peter Walsh a past suitor whom she rejected in order to marry her politician husband Richard. Peter seems to hold some scorn still and hasn't taken the rejection well. He's very critical of Clarissa and so it's certainly not an objective view. She, too, reminisces about her past relationship with him and what may have been.
She also brings to mind a romantic connection she had with a friend Sally. And she seems confused about it but the feelings and emotions she associates with her, she seems only to be able to liken to a romantic liaison. Her reminiscences of her certainly seem giddy and dizzy.
I feel what strikes the reader most in this novel is the way some of the characters confront the topic of mortality. They do so like a solid numb drum with no comfort, only reality. And this is what makes it such a very staggeringly human book.
While we are in the to's and fro's of the day getting ready for the party and everything is buttoned up and proper on the outside, we are also invited into the psyches of the characters we meet and we realise that any sense of perfection is superficial.
And the close of the book feels as if we are just that moment being introduced to Mrs Dalloway and it is by Peter, so the end feels like a beginning.
It's a truly extraordinary book, hypnotically addictive, lyrical,poetic, so humanly close to the bone. Neuroses is confronted in a real and intimate way.
What becomes so chillingly apparent is that no matter what class you belong to ,there are shared anxieties that cut across them. There are some things that remind us that being human is a difficult thing filled with brutal truths ,and accepting mortality or battling against it ,is one of those worries. Virginia Woolf does this in such a way that is so relatable and reminds us of us of our fragility in this world.
Sometimes you just cannot do a book justice, but can only try and this is one of those times. I know that it will remain with me and I think it will remain with you if you read it too. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

]]> 3.79 1925 Mrs. Dalloway
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1925
rating: 4
read at: 2022/03/02
date added: 2022/10/18
shelves:
review:
There are rare occasions that come as a gift, when you begin to read a novel and you know it will change you and stay with you forever. Mrs Dalloway is exactly this. This is the first fiction I have read by Virginia Woolf and I can't understand why it has been such a long time coming.
The novel has a way of arriving in many different voices, getting under the skin and becoming part of you.
Mrs Dalloway is focused on the events of one day, that will culminate in Mrs Dalloway's party. And we see the day and the various characters scattered through the day, coming together and falling away. The beginning fizzes with the excitement of seeing a car that everyone seems sure is transporting royalty. And a sky writer that everyone is trying to make out what is written.
The character Septimus Smith is introduced to us and it's a very unsettling experience. As someone who has had first hand experience of psychosis, I found it very difficult to go through his troubled thoughts. He has paranoia and is certain messages are being sent to him from both inanimate and animate objects. We learn that he has suicidal ideation, and his young wife is exasperated by this. She arranges for him to be seen by doctors who insist that there is nothing seriously wrong with him, but we know that there is. Even though the novel is 100 years old, it's alarming to see that opinions about mental illness haven't changed very much.
This character feels so intimately close to the bone and the articulation of psychosis so authentic, it made me wonder if Virginia Woolf had experienced psychosis. I knew she had suffered from serious depression. I found out that she had experienced psychosis which makes Septimus's feverish turmoil so very real and authentic. It's my guess that Septimus is a character most representative of Woolf and that through him, we are given an intimate insight into mental illness. It's frightening, disorienting and destabilising. Septimus is possibly also suffering from shellshock. We return to Septimus many times throughout the novel and between he and Mrs Dalloway, we have our central characters.
We also meet women in different stages of their lifes, from 18 to 80. And the buttoned up appearances that are superficial and of everyone playing their practiced part, conceal their underlying neurosis and existential crisis.
Woolf captures the characters in such a way that they are very humanly relatable and this combination of a stark reality and sobering characters combined with spellbinding poetic verbiage that collects the minutae is extraordinary and brilliant.
The details we find out about Clarissa Dalloway are garnered from Peter Walsh a past suitor whom she rejected in order to marry her politician husband Richard. Peter seems to hold some scorn still and hasn't taken the rejection well. He's very critical of Clarissa and so it's certainly not an objective view. She, too, reminisces about her past relationship with him and what may have been.
She also brings to mind a romantic connection she had with a friend Sally. And she seems confused about it but the feelings and emotions she associates with her, she seems only to be able to liken to a romantic liaison. Her reminiscences of her certainly seem giddy and dizzy.
I feel what strikes the reader most in this novel is the way some of the characters confront the topic of mortality. They do so like a solid numb drum with no comfort, only reality. And this is what makes it such a very staggeringly human book.
While we are in the to's and fro's of the day getting ready for the party and everything is buttoned up and proper on the outside, we are also invited into the psyches of the characters we meet and we realise that any sense of perfection is superficial.
And the close of the book feels as if we are just that moment being introduced to Mrs Dalloway and it is by Peter, so the end feels like a beginning.
It's a truly extraordinary book, hypnotically addictive, lyrical,poetic, so humanly close to the bone. Neuroses is confronted in a real and intimate way.
What becomes so chillingly apparent is that no matter what class you belong to ,there are shared anxieties that cut across them. There are some things that remind us that being human is a difficult thing filled with brutal truths ,and accepting mortality or battling against it ,is one of those worries. Virginia Woolf does this in such a way that is so relatable and reminds us of us of our fragility in this world.
Sometimes you just cannot do a book justice, but can only try and this is one of those times. I know that it will remain with me and I think it will remain with you if you read it too. I cannot recommend it highly enough.


]]> The Soul of Kindness 1707951
The soul of kindness is what Flora believes herself to be. Tall, blonde and beautiful, she appears to have everything under control -- her home, her baby, her husband Richard, her friend Meg, Kit, Meg's brother, who has always adored Flora, and Patrick the novelist and domestic pet. Only the bohemian painter Liz refuses to become a worshiper at the shrine.

Flora entrances them all, dangling visions of happiness and success before their spellbound eyes. All are bewitched by this golden tyrant, all conspire to protect her from what she really is. All, that is, except the clear-eyed Liz: it is left to her to show them that Flora's kindness is the sweetest poison of them all.]]> 219 Elizabeth Taylor 0860683451 Jewels-PiXie 3 The Soul Of Kindness, is like being part of an Elizabethan or other formulaic dance. Only in the sense that we are invited into each of the characters lives and there is such poetry in motion.
Flora is the centrepiece, the central character, beautiful and devastating, cool and, in her eyes, well meaning. It doesn't ever really become apparent if she is aware that her machinations are selfish or destructive. There is a lightness of touch which reminded me, often, of Emma
Flora seems happy to make it her business to organise and influence everyone around hers business. This seems to keep her amused and happy as she feels like she is doing her friends and loved ones a favour. However , while her friends make excuses for her because she is so charming ,there is no doubt she is meddlesome. When things don't go according to her plans, she finds the unravelling hard to bear. She tries to matchmake those who are not each others type, in terms of sexuality. Forces couples to become more conventionally committed, even when they were happy as they were before.
She becomes jealous of a neighbour who her husband has spent time without her knowledge and pushes at the situation to the point of vexation to Richard, her husband, and where the companionship is no longer worth the effort. But I do think we can have sympathy with Flora here.
The characters are so well drawn and each have very independent lives. Most are drawn together and join company with Flora. So much so, that we are surprised when we are met with those who have strong opinions of her but haven't met her. The language is subtle and nuanced and I missed the poetry that I usually yearn to find. However in the last few pages ,the poetic enters and I think this is intentional and heightens the emotional climax.
The Soul Of Kindness is an acerbic title, because this is what Flora considers herself to be. However we see, eventually, how her encouragement and interference almost has Irrevocably tragic consequences. And when this happens Flora can't bear the bright light of truth to be shone upon her. All of her friends rally round to deal with the damage control.
Reading Elizabeth Taylor is entertaining and reminded me of Anita Brookner, but more upbeat, and as I said earlier, with a lightness of touch.
It's such a breeze to read and Flora is captivating while the other characters are alluring. It makes one think about the impact, what we believe are our good deeds, have on people's lives.
It's a slowly wound, gradually opening Jack-In-A-Box.]]> 3.94 1964 The Soul of Kindness
author: Elizabeth Taylor
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1964
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/23
date added: 2022/10/18
shelves:
review:
Taking a different path to the one I have been on recently ,to find unconventional spinsters. In this book one of the minor characters is a more traditional nspinster.
The Soul Of Kindness, is like being part of an Elizabethan or other formulaic dance. Only in the sense that we are invited into each of the characters lives and there is such poetry in motion.
Flora is the centrepiece, the central character, beautiful and devastating, cool and, in her eyes, well meaning. It doesn't ever really become apparent if she is aware that her machinations are selfish or destructive. There is a lightness of touch which reminded me, often, of Emma
Flora seems happy to make it her business to organise and influence everyone around hers business. This seems to keep her amused and happy as she feels like she is doing her friends and loved ones a favour. However , while her friends make excuses for her because she is so charming ,there is no doubt she is meddlesome. When things don't go according to her plans, she finds the unravelling hard to bear. She tries to matchmake those who are not each others type, in terms of sexuality. Forces couples to become more conventionally committed, even when they were happy as they were before.
She becomes jealous of a neighbour who her husband has spent time without her knowledge and pushes at the situation to the point of vexation to Richard, her husband, and where the companionship is no longer worth the effort. But I do think we can have sympathy with Flora here.
The characters are so well drawn and each have very independent lives. Most are drawn together and join company with Flora. So much so, that we are surprised when we are met with those who have strong opinions of her but haven't met her. The language is subtle and nuanced and I missed the poetry that I usually yearn to find. However in the last few pages ,the poetic enters and I think this is intentional and heightens the emotional climax.
The Soul Of Kindness is an acerbic title, because this is what Flora considers herself to be. However we see, eventually, how her encouragement and interference almost has Irrevocably tragic consequences. And when this happens Flora can't bear the bright light of truth to be shone upon her. All of her friends rally round to deal with the damage control.
Reading Elizabeth Taylor is entertaining and reminded me of Anita Brookner, but more upbeat, and as I said earlier, with a lightness of touch.
It's such a breeze to read and Flora is captivating while the other characters are alluring. It makes one think about the impact, what we believe are our good deeds, have on people's lives.
It's a slowly wound, gradually opening Jack-In-A-Box.
]]> Four Gardens 55941036
"Mrs. Henry Smith," said the butler contemptuously.

In Four Gardens, the most emotional and nostalgic of Margery Sharp's brilliant novels, we meet the lovable Caroline Smith (née Chase) and glimpse the stages of her life through the gardens in which she digs. There's the lavish abandoned one in which she has no right to dig; the tiny one in which she has no time to dig; the extravagant one, complete with stubborn gardener, in which she's not allowed to dig; and one final garden, hers and hers alone, in which she finds quiet, wise contentment. As we follow Caroline through the vicissitudes of life, we meet her adoring husband Henry, her shockingly modern children Leon and Lily, and friends and neighbours from the self-righteous Ellen Taylor to the posh but hilariously down-to-earth Lady Tregarthan.]]> 241 Margery Sharp 1913527662 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.96 1935 Four Gardens
author: Margery Sharp
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1935
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sylvia's Lovers 830205 Librarian note: 2004 edition of the same ISBN can be found here.

A very powerfully moving novel of a young woman caught between the attractions of two very different men, Sylvia’s Lovers is set in the 1790s in an English seaside town. England is at war with France, and press-gangs wreak havoc by seizing young men for service. One of their victims is a whaling harpooner named Charley Kinraid, whose charm and vivacity have captured the heart of Sylvia Robson. But Sylvia’s devoted cousin, Philip Hepburn, hopes to marry her himself and, in order to win her, deliberately withholds crucial information—with devastating consequences.
The introduction discusses the novel's historical and geographical authenticity, as well as its innovative treatment of gender and human relationships


Includes a new chronology, updated further reading, notes, and appendices]]> 484 Elizabeth Gaskell Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.76 1863 Sylvia's Lovers
author: Elizabeth Gaskell
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1863
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Kate Hardy 59638209 "Do you know anything about her, Richard?"

"Nothing except that she lives in London, is obviously well off and very impulsive. . . . She bought the house as if it were-a bun. She bought it straight off without seeing it."

"She must be mad!"

The arrival of novelist Kate Hardy at the lovely Dower House in Old Quinings, with her staunch ally and housekeeper Martha, has the whole village talking. But Kate is not in fact mad, merely in need of escape from her selfish sister Milly and spoiled niece Minty. Though welcomed warmly by Richard Morven at the Manor House and the charming, widowed Mrs. Stark, Kate likewise finds herself taken for a witch and is then one of the targets of a poison pen campaign-not to mention the rumours that her new home is haunted by its past inhabitant. With the arrival of Mrs. Stark's son Walter, back from his wartime triumphs and finding readjustment to village life difficult, Kate may find that the country allows her as little time for writing as London!

First published in 1947 and providing a fascinating glimpse of English life in the immediate postwar years, Kate Hardy is an irresistible tale of village life, challenging family relations, romance, and D.E. Stevenson's incomparable storytelling. Also included in this edition is an autobiographical sketch by the author.

"Miss Stevenson has her own individual and charming way of seeing things." Western Mail]]> 213 D.E. Stevenson 1915014417 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.11 1947 Kate Hardy
author: D.E. Stevenson
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1947
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> No Fond Return of Love 178567 254 Barbara Pym 155921306X Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.96 1961 No Fond Return of Love
author: Barbara Pym
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1961
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Her Body and Other Parties: Stories]]> 33375622 Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.

A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella Especially Heinous, Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgangers, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes.

Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.

The husband stitch --
Inventory --
Mothers --
Especially heinous --
Real women have bodies --
Eight bites --
The resident --
Difficult at parties]]> 248 Carmen Maria Machado 155597788X Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.82 2017 Her Body and Other Parties: Stories
author: Carmen Maria Machado
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Spinster 57714406 106 Edith Wharton Jewels-PiXie 3 I came across this short novel in my quest to read about spinsters and hopefully find those that defy the typical stereotypes.
Spinster is set in New York high society in 1850 and we get a sense of the social etiquette that is expected.
Delia is much revered in high society and is getting ready to choose an outfit prior to her cousin Charlotte's wedding. Charlotte bursts in ,frantic ,to reveal a secret that calls for the wedding to be cancelled and secrets to be made ,creating a bond between the two that culminates in tension ,jealousy , suspiciousness.
Because of the situation,Charlotte is seen as a spinster ,when that's not the case ,but it's the facade that Delia and Charlotte have created in order to keep the secret.
I found that information and details were sparse , and this is understandable big an author wants to create suspense and a-ha! Moments, but when information is revealed ,it doesn't come fully.
However ,this is still a very readable book , quite dramatic and suspenseful.]]> 3.00 1922 The Spinster
author: Edith Wharton
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1922
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/06/22
shelves:
review:
Firstly,the only physical copy of this book that exists is this one , published by Amazon. And it contains so many errors , the pronouns are inaccurate throughout ,there are paragraphs that are duplicated 2 or 3 times and the grammar is flawed. However ,if you can be prepared to correct as you read , it's possible to get past these things.
I came across this short novel in my quest to read about spinsters and hopefully find those that defy the typical stereotypes.
Spinster is set in New York high society in 1850 and we get a sense of the social etiquette that is expected.
Delia is much revered in high society and is getting ready to choose an outfit prior to her cousin Charlotte's wedding. Charlotte bursts in ,frantic ,to reveal a secret that calls for the wedding to be cancelled and secrets to be made ,creating a bond between the two that culminates in tension ,jealousy , suspiciousness.
Because of the situation,Charlotte is seen as a spinster ,when that's not the case ,but it's the facade that Delia and Charlotte have created in order to keep the secret.
I found that information and details were sparse , and this is understandable big an author wants to create suspense and a-ha! Moments, but when information is revealed ,it doesn't come fully.
However ,this is still a very readable book , quite dramatic and suspenseful.
]]> The Spinster 55441946
The three women live quietly together until Tina’s wedding day, when Delia’s and Charlotte’s hidden jealousies rush to the surface. Originally serialized in The Red Book magazine in 1922, The Old Maid is an examination of class and society as only Edith Wharton could undertake.]]> 150 Edith Wharton Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.00 1922 The Spinster
author: Edith Wharton
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.00
book published: 1922
rating: 0
read at: 2022/06/22
date added: 2022/06/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Night and Day 116056 496 Virginia Woolf 0140185682 Jewels-PiXie 3 It is almost 500 pages long and uses twice the amount of pages needed for what could be done in half.
I've seen reviews that say it could be a Romantic Comedy but I really don't see it except for the lightness of touch that doesn't dive deeply into emotions in the neurotic way Woolf does in her later works, so romance yes, comedy ,no.
The novel is about relationships, love and marriage and whether the two necessarily go hand in hand and the confusion that ensues because of those kind of assumptions. It follows Katharine Hilbery, Mary Datchet, Ralph Denham and William Rodney.
Mary Datchet works hard to campaign for the suffrage manifesto and we see the indifference Katharine has towards this. There is quite a profound moment late in the novel where Katharine and Ralph are looking over a London that they know Mary is hoping to better,knowing that they will never see the fruits of her labour.
In my recent quest to find novels featuring spinsters, I think Mary Datchet could possibly be one . She is in love earlier in the novel but turns down the proposal because she feels it is insincere. So it seems that Woolf may be suggesring that there is no room for relationships when you are trying to change the world.
The novel does go round and round in circles throughout looking at relationships ,love and marriage and so it's fairly repetitive.
It didn't hold me rapt like her other work but is still worth reading.]]> 3.77 1919 Night and Day
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1919
rating: 3
read at: 2022/06/09
date added: 2022/06/09
shelves:
review:
Night And Day is Virginia Woolf's second novel and it definitely doesn't dazzle or have the depth of emotion we see in her later more contemporary works such as Mrs Dalloway and To The Lighthouse.
It is almost 500 pages long and uses twice the amount of pages needed for what could be done in half.
I've seen reviews that say it could be a Romantic Comedy but I really don't see it except for the lightness of touch that doesn't dive deeply into emotions in the neurotic way Woolf does in her later works, so romance yes, comedy ,no.
The novel is about relationships, love and marriage and whether the two necessarily go hand in hand and the confusion that ensues because of those kind of assumptions. It follows Katharine Hilbery, Mary Datchet, Ralph Denham and William Rodney.
Mary Datchet works hard to campaign for the suffrage manifesto and we see the indifference Katharine has towards this. There is quite a profound moment late in the novel where Katharine and Ralph are looking over a London that they know Mary is hoping to better,knowing that they will never see the fruits of her labour.
In my recent quest to find novels featuring spinsters, I think Mary Datchet could possibly be one . She is in love earlier in the novel but turns down the proposal because she feels it is insincere. So it seems that Woolf may be suggesring that there is no room for relationships when you are trying to change the world.
The novel does go round and round in circles throughout looking at relationships ,love and marriage and so it's fairly repetitive.
It didn't hold me rapt like her other work but is still worth reading.
]]> <![CDATA[The Brontës Went to Woolworths]]> 6968312
London, 1931. As growing up looms large in the lives of the Carne sisters, Deirdre, Katrine and young Sheil still share an insatiable appetite for the fantastic. Eldest sister Deirdre is a journalist, Katrine a fledgling actress and young Sheil is still with her governess; together they live a life unchecked by their mother in their bohemian town house. Irrepressibly imaginative, the sisters cannot resist making up stories as they have done since childhood; from their talking nursery toys, Ironface the Doll and Dion Saffyn the pierrot, to their fulsomely-imagined friendship with real high-court Judge Toddington who, since Mrs Carne did jury duty, they affectionately called Toddy.

However, when Deirdre meets Toddy's real-life wife at a charity bazaar, the sisters are forced to confront the subject of their imaginings. Will the sisters cast off the fantasies of childhood forever? Will Toddy and his wife, Lady Mildred, accept these charmingly eccentric girls? And when fancy and reality collide, who can tell whether Ironface can really talk, whether Judge Toddington truly wears lavender silk pyjamas or whether the Brontes did indeed go to Woolworths?

"The Brontes Went to Woolworths "is part of The Bloomsbury Group, a new library of books from the early twentieth-century chosen by readers for readers.]]> 188 Rachel Ferguson 1608190536 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.49 1931 The Brontës Went to Woolworths
author: Rachel Ferguson
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.49
book published: 1931
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Magnificent Spinster 543241 384 May Sarton 0393312496 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.72 1985 The Magnificent Spinster
author: May Sarton
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1985
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Housekeeping 11741 Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and her younger sister, Lucille, who grow up haphazardly, first under the care of their competent grandmother, then of two comically bumbling great-aunts, and finally of Sylvie, their eccentric and remote aunt. The family house is in the small Far West town of Fingerbone set on a glacial lake, the same lake where their grandfather died in a spectacular train wreck, and their mother drove off a cliff to her death. It is a town "chastened by an outsized landscape and extravagant weather, and chastened again by an awareness that the whole of human history had occurred elsewhere." Ruth and Lucille's struggle toward adulthood beautifully illuminates the price of loss and survival, and the dangerous and deep undertow of transience.]]> 219 Marilynne Robinson 0312424094 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.82 1980 Housekeeping
author: Marilynne Robinson
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Burial Rites 17333319
Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.

Riveting and rich with lyricism, Burial Rites evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, and asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?]]> 336 Hannah Kent 0316243914 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.01 2013 Burial Rites
author: Hannah Kent
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Grownup 26025580
“The Grownup,” which originally appeared as “What Do You Do?” in George R. R. Martin’s Rogues anthology, proves once again that Gillian Flynn is one of the world’s most original and skilled voices in fiction.]]> 64 Gillian Flynn 0804188971 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.53 2014 The Grownup
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Writing Class 2226289 Kill Me Now, she is a loner afraid to be alone. Her only bright spot each week is the writing class that she teaches at the university extension.

This semester's class is full of the usual suspects: the doctor who wants to be the next Robin Cook, the overly enthusiastic repeat student, the slacker, the unassuming student with the hidden talent, the prankster, the know-it-all... Amy's seen them all before. But something is very different about this class—and the clues begin with a scary phone call in the middle of the night and obscene threats instead of peer evaluations on student writing assignments. Amy soon realizes that one of her students is a very sick puppy, and when a member of the class is murdered, everyone becomes a suspect. As she dissects each student's writing for clues, Amy must enlist the help of everyone in her class, including the murderer, to find the killer among them.

Suspenseful, extremely witty, brilliantly written, unexpectedly hilarious, and a joy from start to finish, The Writing Class is a one-of-a-kind novel that rivals Jincy Willett's previous masterpieces.]]> 326 Jincy Willett 0312330669 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.49 2008 The Writing Class
author: Jincy Willett
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Cranford 6534328 304 Elizabeth Gaskell 0141442549 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.72 1853 Cranford
author: Elizabeth Gaskell
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1853
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Eileen 23453099 So here we are. My name was Eileen Dunlop. Now you know me. I was twenty-four years old then, and had a job that paid fifty-seven dollars a week as a kind of secretary at a private juvenile correctional facility for teenage boys. I think of it now as what it really was for all intents and purposes—a prison for boys. I will call it Moorehead. Delvin Moorehead was a terrible landlord I had years later, and so to use his name for such a place feels appropriate. In a week, I would run away from home and never go back.

This is the story of how I disappeared.

The Christmas season offers little cheer for Eileen Dunlop, an unassuming yet disturbed young woman trapped between her role as her alcoholic father’s caretaker in a home whose squalor is the talk of the neighborhood and a day job as a secretary at the boys’ prison, filled with its own quotidian horrors. Consumed by resentment and self-loathing, Eileen tempers her dreary days with perverse fantasies and dreams of escaping to the big city. In the meantime, she fills her nights and weekends with shoplifting, stalking a buff prison guard named Randy, and cleaning up her increasingly deranged father’s messes. When the bright, beautiful, and cheery Rebecca Saint John arrives on the scene as the new counselor at Moorehead, Eileen is enchanted and proves unable to resist what appears at first to be a miraculously budding friendship. In a Hitchcockian twist, her affection for Rebecca ultimately pulls her into complicity in a crime that surpasses her wildest imaginings.

Played out against the snowy landscape of coastal New England in the days leading up to Christmas, young Eileen’s story is told from the gimlet-eyed perspective of the now much older narrator. Creepy, mesmerizing, and sublimely funny, in the tradition of Shirley Jackson and early Vladimir Nabokov, this powerful debut novel enthralls and shocks, and introduces one of the most original new voices in contemporary literature. Ottessa Moshfegh is also the author of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Homesick for Another World: Stories, and McGlue.]]> 260 Ottessa Moshfegh 1594206627 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.56 2015 Eileen
author: Ottessa Moshfegh
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Miss Webster and Cherif 2638097 244 Patricia Duncker 0747584303 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.41 2007 Miss Webster and Cherif
author: Patricia Duncker
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Passage 24984
Dr. Joanna Lander is a psychologist specializing in near-death experiences. She is about to get help from a new doctor with the power to give her the chance to get as close to death as anyone can.

A brilliant young neurologist, Dr. Richard Wright, has come up with a way to manufacture the near-death experience using a psychoactive drug. Joanna’s first NDE is as fascinating as she imagined — so astounding that she knows she must go back, if only to find out why that place is so hauntingly familiar.

But each time Joanna goes under, her sense of dread begins to grow, because part of her already knows why the experience is so familiar, and why she has every reason to be afraid.

Yet just when Joanna thinks she understands, she’s in for the biggest surprise of all — a shattering scenario that will keep you feverishly reading until the final climactic page.]]> 780 Connie Willis 0553580515 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.72 2001 Passage
author: Connie Willis
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Equal Rites (Discworld, #3; Witches, #1)]]> 34507 228 Terry Pratchett 0060855908 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.06 1987 Equal Rites (Discworld, #3; Witches, #1)
author: Terry Pratchett
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Till We Have Faces 17343
Orual was born ugly and even though she’s a princess, she struggles with the death of her mother and the friction between her sisters. There are two lights in Orual’s life. One is her tutor, the Fox, a Greek slave captured through war. The other is her much younger sister Istra, later nicknamed Psyche, born from Orual’s father’s second marriage. Istra is beautiful and sweet and good but far from being jealous of her, Orual loves her as a daughter. When the priest of Ungit says that Psyche’s great beauty is an insult to the goddess and she must be sacrificed, Orual fights to prevent this. When Orual expects to find her sister dead, she finds her well and thriving. But, why can’t Orual see what everyone else sees? Blinded by her jealous love, Orual castes blame on the duplicity of gods. What is the truth? What is real?

Lewis’s novel is a brilliant examination of envy, loss, betrayal, blame, grief, guilt, and conversion. Why must holy places be dark places? Lewis reminds us of our own fallibility and the role of a higher power in our lives. “Holy places are dark places. It is life and strength, not knowledge and words, that we get in them. Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.”]]> 313 C.S. Lewis Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.20 1956 Till We Have Faces
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Água Viva 13082435 88 Clarice Lispector 0811219909 Jewels-PiXie 5 favourite-reads Clarice Lispector looks at ways to capture a sense of self, with an understanding that the self is always in a state of flux,now and now and now, with such urgency. She is constantly considering if it is possible to capture the sense of self and put it down in words, or if the self will only ever exist outside of language , as some schools of psychology would agree.
She looks at things around her, such as flowers and wildlife to try and find a stability and by making sense of them, gives a part of herself to make sense of.
It's extremely assertive and bold and considers death to be the punctuation to stop the ever becoming.
At times she describes herself as having to take care of the world and be responsible for it ,so taking on a God-like being,even though she often mentions God. Beautifully explorative and lyrically poetic.
It's so bracing and one feels fully at the whim of the elements. It's an exploration into existentialism and is a lively journey of self discovery.
It reads like a campaign for the self - a manifesto. Agua Viva also has some brief moments of amusing quirkiness.
The more one reads, the more alive one feels. Each page delivers the freshest sense of life affirment. To read this is to feel truly alive. A completely unforgettable experience.]]> 4.28 1973 Água Viva
author: Clarice Lispector
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1973
rating: 5
read at: 2022/04/17
date added: 2022/04/18
shelves: favourite-reads
review:
Agua Viva is truly unlike anything I have ever read before. When first beginning it, I was unsure I would be able to continue because it was so confronting. It not only demands your attention, it commands it. It arrives as an aggressive attack on the senses. But when you begin to understand it is necessary to impart the message, it becomes enlivening, like smacking cold water onto the face.
Clarice Lispector looks at ways to capture a sense of self, with an understanding that the self is always in a state of flux,now and now and now, with such urgency. She is constantly considering if it is possible to capture the sense of self and put it down in words, or if the self will only ever exist outside of language , as some schools of psychology would agree.
She looks at things around her, such as flowers and wildlife to try and find a stability and by making sense of them, gives a part of herself to make sense of.
It's extremely assertive and bold and considers death to be the punctuation to stop the ever becoming.
At times she describes herself as having to take care of the world and be responsible for it ,so taking on a God-like being,even though she often mentions God. Beautifully explorative and lyrically poetic.
It's so bracing and one feels fully at the whim of the elements. It's an exploration into existentialism and is a lively journey of self discovery.
It reads like a campaign for the self - a manifesto. Agua Viva also has some brief moments of amusing quirkiness.
The more one reads, the more alive one feels. Each page delivers the freshest sense of life affirment. To read this is to feel truly alive. A completely unforgettable experience.
]]> The Stone of Chastity 1400608
"We'll be going to Old Manor, then?"

"Not yet," said Mrs. Pye grimly. "We go first to the village. To rouse the women . . ."

Professor Pounce arrives in the idyllic village of Gillenham, along with his sister-in-law, his nephew Nicholas, and Carmen, his voluptuous assistant, in single-minded pursuit of the Stone of Chastity, a stepping stone in the local stream reputed to trip up impure women. His interest is cold-bloodedly scientific, but his researches, including putting the village women to the test and documenting the results, are taken rather more personally by some, including the Vicar's wife, who enlists the Boy Scouts to help suppress his efforts, and stern Mrs. Pye, possessed with the soul of an inquisitor. Ultimately, it's young Nicholas who must try to assuage the villagers' outrage, all the while coping with the repercussions of his own amorous impulses.

The Stone of Chastity, first published in 1940 and inexplicably out of print for decades, is perhaps the deftest (and daftest) of Margery Sharp's many dazzling, witty social comedies.

'Miss Margery Sharp's witticisms lift the otherwise flat and unprofitable life of the village of Gillenham to the level of a bubbling champagne-glass full of laughter' New York Times]]> Margery Sharp 1419153722 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.68 1940 The Stone of Chastity
author: Margery Sharp
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1940
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Yellow Wall-Paper 286957
In a private journal, the woman records her growing obsession with the “horrid” wallpaper. Its strange pattern mutates in the moonlight, revealing what appears to be a human figure in the design. With nothing else to occupy her mind, the woman resolves to unlock the mystery of the wallpaper. Her quest, however, leads not to the truth, but into the darkest depths of madness.

A condemnation of the patriarchy, The Yellow Wallpaper explores with terrifying economy the oppression, grave misunderstanding, and willful dismissal of women in late nineteenth-century society.

First published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine.

Excerpt:
Out of another I get a lovely view of the bay and a little private wharf belonging to the estate. There is a beautiful shaded lane that runs down there from the house. I always fancy I see people walking in these numerous paths and arbors, but John has cautioned me not to give way to fancy in the least. He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited fancies, and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency. So I try.]]> 62 Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1558611584 Jewels-PiXie 4 4.09 1892 The Yellow Wall-Paper
author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1892
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/03/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wild Muir: Twenty-Two of John Muir's Greatest Adventures]]> 238712 211 John Muir 0939666758 Jewels-PiXie 3 If you are ever caught up in a lockdown, I definitely recommend this as material and a portal that will free you. The Wild Muir is truly wild, you will be caught up in a rollercoaster of adventures, that will take you rising ,falling and gazing captivated. Sometimes you are so much in the eye of the storm of Muir's experience that it's difficult to get your bearings or a perspective but that just adds to the dizzying heights of the experience. It is frightening , hair-raising , and thrilling.
Muir's fearlessness and careful measure take him on some truly thrilling and exhilarating adventures. The book wakes you up and brings you to life. It's so interesting to get an idea of the kind of mindset it takes for a person to be driven to discover in such a death defying way. And he does, through the Americas. No matter what obstacles he comes across, he is never deterred. Each page is fizzing with activity and his descriptions are enchanting and pure. When he describes the auroras, it is with such elated joy and childlike delight.
The book is a collection of excerpts from his memoirs, arranged in chronological order.
My favourite excerpt was Stickeen, the little dog who decided he would like to be an explorer too.He followed Muir on one of his adventures and Muir's tender companionship with this little friend is really heartwarming. Stickeen,like Muir , is curious and fearless.
In his writing, it is clear how passionate and dedicated he is to nature. We feel his heart skipping joyously as he describes the flowers and wildlife he encounters. His encounter with a bear is also smile-making, comical and charming.
In these writings though, I only found one paragraph that put what he was seeing in nature as the work of God's creation and it was magnificent but I really wanted more of that.
It's really interesting to read the Reverend Young's account of his expedition with Muir because it gives us a perspective of him and how he appeared. He seemed to come across as whimsical, passionate about nature, loyal to his fellow man, fast thinking, excitable and charismatic. Through the Reverend Young's account, we get a unique insight and clarity into Muir and it's also interesting to read the expedition from someone who isn't a seasoned explorer.
The Wild Muir is a wash of cold water to the face and is life affirming, rejuvenating and invigorating. It allows us to venture vicariously through his gripping explorations.
]]> 4.10 1994 The Wild Muir: Twenty-Two of John Muir's Greatest Adventures
author: John Muir
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1994
rating: 3
read at: 2022/02/06
date added: 2022/02/07
shelves:
review:
It's a regular quest of mine to search for quotes about wildlife and nature and my favourites are those that have a spiritual essence. It was during this quest that John Muir's quotes appeared many times. And they seemed to be within a context relating to God's creations. This developed a thirst to read more about his expeditions, and so I picked up a copy of The Wild Muir.
If you are ever caught up in a lockdown, I definitely recommend this as material and a portal that will free you. The Wild Muir is truly wild, you will be caught up in a rollercoaster of adventures, that will take you rising ,falling and gazing captivated. Sometimes you are so much in the eye of the storm of Muir's experience that it's difficult to get your bearings or a perspective but that just adds to the dizzying heights of the experience. It is frightening , hair-raising , and thrilling.
Muir's fearlessness and careful measure take him on some truly thrilling and exhilarating adventures. The book wakes you up and brings you to life. It's so interesting to get an idea of the kind of mindset it takes for a person to be driven to discover in such a death defying way. And he does, through the Americas. No matter what obstacles he comes across, he is never deterred. Each page is fizzing with activity and his descriptions are enchanting and pure. When he describes the auroras, it is with such elated joy and childlike delight.
The book is a collection of excerpts from his memoirs, arranged in chronological order.
My favourite excerpt was Stickeen, the little dog who decided he would like to be an explorer too.He followed Muir on one of his adventures and Muir's tender companionship with this little friend is really heartwarming. Stickeen,like Muir , is curious and fearless.
In his writing, it is clear how passionate and dedicated he is to nature. We feel his heart skipping joyously as he describes the flowers and wildlife he encounters. His encounter with a bear is also smile-making, comical and charming.
In these writings though, I only found one paragraph that put what he was seeing in nature as the work of God's creation and it was magnificent but I really wanted more of that.
It's really interesting to read the Reverend Young's account of his expedition with Muir because it gives us a perspective of him and how he appeared. He seemed to come across as whimsical, passionate about nature, loyal to his fellow man, fast thinking, excitable and charismatic. Through the Reverend Young's account, we get a unique insight and clarity into Muir and it's also interesting to read the expedition from someone who isn't a seasoned explorer.
The Wild Muir is a wash of cold water to the face and is life affirming, rejuvenating and invigorating. It allows us to venture vicariously through his gripping explorations.

]]> <![CDATA[Baba Yaga: The Wild Witch of the East in Russian Fairy Tales]]> 17125126 316 Sibelan E.S. Forrester 1617037788 Jewels-PiXie 5 Over the years I've tried to find books about Baba Yaga, to no avail, until just before Christmas last year and it immediately went on my Christmas list.
This book is a really fantastically thorough and comprehensive collection of wonder tales about the Baba Yaga. It has a very detailed introduction and foreword with intricate notes, so would be of great use as an academic source.
I soon came to understand that there is not just one Baba Yaga but many Baba Yagas, just as typically we understand there to be witches plural.
I learned that the Baba Yaga's mode of transport is by mortar and pestle and that she uses a broomstick to sweep away her tracks. Although she has a formidable and fearsome reputation, in these tales she often helps the people who come across her path, whilst it is the people who behave more viciously. In fact, I began to wonder if she had really lived up to this reputation since it's only ever hinted at in the wonder tales. But on the final tale, and, I understand, the most popular, Vasilisa the Beautiful, we are told that Baba Yaga, grabs people and eats them like chickens. Defining enough to invoke a fearsome shudder!
The tales are very quaint and some terminology that I found charming and adding to the uniqueness appeared often 'for a long while, or a short while'. It adds a kind of nonsensical tone that is at home in these wondertales. And "morning is wiser than the evening'There is a really rustic authenticity about this collection of Wondertales that make them a treat to read.
There are many incredible illustrations of the Baba Yaga and the other characters. The tales are enchanting and engaging. We are taken to places that we don't expect and experience things that we wouldn't usually experience. It's often the humble characters that do well in these tales. And the Baba Yagas are drawn in a way that is familiar in each tale. She has long bony legs and arms and sprawls out in the space of her hut, this paints a really quite monstrous picture. She is demanding and commanding and expects to be waited on by anyone who stumbles upon her home. She issues terrible threats of what will happen to those who don't meet her demands. So the characters serve her out of fear rather than any kindness.
There are recurring symbols often given to those on their adventures by the Baba Yagas , but some by othef helpful characters , these things ,such as ball that will roll and it lead you in the right direction or a comb that will create a dense forest to hinder a Baba Yaga in pursuit.
The tales told me just enough about Baba Yaga to form more of an idea of her in my mind ,while also leaving enough mystery to continue to feed my fascination. It's a fantastical collection of tales.
]]> 4.07 2013 Baba Yaga: The Wild Witch of the East in Russian Fairy Tales
author: Sibelan E.S. Forrester
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/17
date added: 2022/01/17
shelves:
review:
When I was a little girl, about 6 years old, the Headmaster of my primary school was Russian. He was a very likeable and interesting man and would often tell us fairytales from Russia. This is the first time I heard about Baba Yaga. The idea of a witch who lived in a hut that stood on a chicken's leg captured my imagination and never left it.
Over the years I've tried to find books about Baba Yaga, to no avail, until just before Christmas last year and it immediately went on my Christmas list.
This book is a really fantastically thorough and comprehensive collection of wonder tales about the Baba Yaga. It has a very detailed introduction and foreword with intricate notes, so would be of great use as an academic source.
I soon came to understand that there is not just one Baba Yaga but many Baba Yagas, just as typically we understand there to be witches plural.
I learned that the Baba Yaga's mode of transport is by mortar and pestle and that she uses a broomstick to sweep away her tracks. Although she has a formidable and fearsome reputation, in these tales she often helps the people who come across her path, whilst it is the people who behave more viciously. In fact, I began to wonder if she had really lived up to this reputation since it's only ever hinted at in the wonder tales. But on the final tale, and, I understand, the most popular, Vasilisa the Beautiful, we are told that Baba Yaga, grabs people and eats them like chickens. Defining enough to invoke a fearsome shudder!
The tales are very quaint and some terminology that I found charming and adding to the uniqueness appeared often 'for a long while, or a short while'. It adds a kind of nonsensical tone that is at home in these wondertales. And "morning is wiser than the evening'There is a really rustic authenticity about this collection of Wondertales that make them a treat to read.
There are many incredible illustrations of the Baba Yaga and the other characters. The tales are enchanting and engaging. We are taken to places that we don't expect and experience things that we wouldn't usually experience. It's often the humble characters that do well in these tales. And the Baba Yagas are drawn in a way that is familiar in each tale. She has long bony legs and arms and sprawls out in the space of her hut, this paints a really quite monstrous picture. She is demanding and commanding and expects to be waited on by anyone who stumbles upon her home. She issues terrible threats of what will happen to those who don't meet her demands. So the characters serve her out of fear rather than any kindness.
There are recurring symbols often given to those on their adventures by the Baba Yagas , but some by othef helpful characters , these things ,such as ball that will roll and it lead you in the right direction or a comb that will create a dense forest to hinder a Baba Yaga in pursuit.
The tales told me just enough about Baba Yaga to form more of an idea of her in my mind ,while also leaving enough mystery to continue to feed my fascination. It's a fantastical collection of tales.

]]> The Woods in Winter 180179 221 Stella Gibbons 0340105704 Jewels-PiXie 4 to-read
I think I chose the perfect time of year to read The Woods In Winter - December and everything in the novel feels so crisp and glittering and with the snapping delicious bite of the cold.
Ivy Gover is the central character, she's quite bewitching. Middle aged and very happy being on her own after 3 marriages. She doesn't suffer fools gladly and isn't really interested in making friends.
When she inherits a cottage in the woods, it seems it gives her the freedom to be more wild, more feral. It is as though the cottage and Ivy become part of the Woods, almost innately part of it. If you feel an affinity with Nature and animals, you will find a home here. Ivy's companions are animals, her pet pigeon, her rescue dog, the wild birds and mice and even the cockroaches. She has a kindred relationship with them and respects them all.
The people surrounding her, frown upon her and her unconventional ways but she is always quick to have an acerbic response and bat away criticism. She heals the Lord's dog, confirming what the blurb of the book says about her 'slightly witchy ways'. There is an air of liberation that surrounds Ivy and she really is such a character.
Whilst she's the central character, we still spend a good deal of time with the other characters in the book. And one of the reasons I chose to read this was the mention of a spinster, as I am still on my quest for unconventional spinsters in fiction. However, Angela, fits the stereotypical mould.
Ivy does allow a runaway boy into her house and her heart and aside from her animal companions, this is the only other meaningfully relationship she makes.
She's, proud, misbehaved, mischievous and Stella Gibbons creates a winter world that is so inviting to step crisply into.
Her descriptions make our senses grow sharper and make us feel closer to nature, through glittering descriptions of the woods in winter to the brilliance found in nature on wayward walks. Gibbons really makes the pages shimmer with the enchantment of winter.
Whilst it is set in a world so bitingly cold, it glows like a warm fireplace for us to draw ourselves up to and warm our hands upon.
It has a very delicious way of feeling like home.]]> 3.73 1970 The Woods in Winter
author: Stella Gibbons
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/24
date added: 2021/12/24
shelves: to-read
review:
The Woods In Winter by Stella Gibbons

I think I chose the perfect time of year to read The Woods In Winter - December and everything in the novel feels so crisp and glittering and with the snapping delicious bite of the cold.
Ivy Gover is the central character, she's quite bewitching. Middle aged and very happy being on her own after 3 marriages. She doesn't suffer fools gladly and isn't really interested in making friends.
When she inherits a cottage in the woods, it seems it gives her the freedom to be more wild, more feral. It is as though the cottage and Ivy become part of the Woods, almost innately part of it. If you feel an affinity with Nature and animals, you will find a home here. Ivy's companions are animals, her pet pigeon, her rescue dog, the wild birds and mice and even the cockroaches. She has a kindred relationship with them and respects them all.
The people surrounding her, frown upon her and her unconventional ways but she is always quick to have an acerbic response and bat away criticism. She heals the Lord's dog, confirming what the blurb of the book says about her 'slightly witchy ways'. There is an air of liberation that surrounds Ivy and she really is such a character.
Whilst she's the central character, we still spend a good deal of time with the other characters in the book. And one of the reasons I chose to read this was the mention of a spinster, as I am still on my quest for unconventional spinsters in fiction. However, Angela, fits the stereotypical mould.
Ivy does allow a runaway boy into her house and her heart and aside from her animal companions, this is the only other meaningfully relationship she makes.
She's, proud, misbehaved, mischievous and Stella Gibbons creates a winter world that is so inviting to step crisply into.
Her descriptions make our senses grow sharper and make us feel closer to nature, through glittering descriptions of the woods in winter to the brilliance found in nature on wayward walks. Gibbons really makes the pages shimmer with the enchantment of winter.
Whilst it is set in a world so bitingly cold, it glows like a warm fireplace for us to draw ourselves up to and warm our hands upon.
It has a very delicious way of feeling like home.
]]> Brat: An '80s Story 55277901 Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire, Weekend at Bernie's, and Less than Zero, and as a charter member of Hollywood's Brat Pack. That iconic group of ingenues and heartthrobs included Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, and Demi Moore, and has come to represent both a genre of film and an era of pop culture. 

In his memoir Brat: An '80s Story, McCarthy focuses his gaze on that singular moment in time. The result is a revealing look at coming of age in a maelstrom, reckoning with conflicted ambition, innocence, addiction, and masculinity. New York City of the 1980s is brought to vivid life in these pages, from scoring loose joints in Washington Square Park to skipping school in favor of the dark revival houses of the Village where he fell in love with the movies that would change his life. Filled with personal revelations of innocence lost to heady days in Hollywood with John Hughes and an iconic cast of characters, Brat is a surprising and intimate story of an outsider caught up in a most unwitting success.]]> 223 Andrew McCarthy 1538754274 Jewels-PiXie 3 I saw my first Andrew Mccarthy movie on VHS when I was very young and then avidly followed his career. I found his onscreen presence different and mesmerising. What he describes as an appearance of aloofness, came across to me as an awkwardness and sensitivity, that I had only seen in 2 of my favourite actors, James Dean and Montgomery Clift- both, it turns out, actors that inspired McCarthy. I've watched all of his very memorable films many times all these years after. They feel like home to me.
This is such a breeze of a read, and I knew it would be. A few years ago I read The Longest Journey Home by him, a kind of travel memoir. There are so many times I've recollected memories from that book, so much so that it feels as if they are my own. McCarthy has a really nuanced way of drawing you in and igniting the senses.
Brat is definitely one for people who are fans and gives such a privileged insight into how his career began, the people that influenced him, the friends he has made along the way and also his enduring sense of being an outsider. We see How his curiosity for working on the other side of the camera grew and he also followed writing and directing.
The book dispelled a lot of, probably naive notions, for me, that he had struck up friendships with his costars and I'd always imagined an extension of his friendships with them beyond the movies. So I had truly believed that he had hung out with the cast of St Elmos Fire and Pretty In Pink when it turns out that didn't happen with either.
It's really interesting to read how he came to play such well-loved parts and also those he turned down that went on to become iconic. I always find it sad that Andrew McCarthy hasn't gone on to have a more successful acting career because he definitely has the presence to do so. In recent years I've seen him in TV movies where his method acting skills have been mismatched in context. It makes me wonder if he hasn't had the opportunities or if he has simply turned them down.
We learn how he honed his craft and are given insight into the sets of the movies.
When it comes to Mannequin, there is no mention at all of Kim Cattrall, which only made my suspicions of her, as being a tricky customer, more firm.
There are some surprising encounters, he was invited to live with Jacqueline Bissett, his Costar from his first movie and they had quite an enduring friendship, one where she helped nurture his career. An evening spent spontaneously in the company of Liza Minelli where it seems they really connected. And some moments with Robert Redford, James Coburn and Dustin Hoffman.
I do feel that the book lacks heart and charisma which surprised me because The Longest Journey Home is full of both and some very sincere vulnerability.
He tells us about the troubled relationship with his father where he was constantly harassed by him to lend money with empty promises that it would be repaid. McCarthy tells us about his battle with alcohol abuse and how he beat the addiction.
It is subtley thrilling and allows us to be a vip passenger through an effervescent time he was upfront at.
Warmth, friendliness and pragmatism exude from the book. And it's a resourceful and interesting, un-put-downable read.]]> 3.57 2021 Brat: An '80s Story
author: Andrew McCarthy
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2021/12/14
date added: 2021/12/14
shelves:
review:
I was full of excited anticipation when I saw the release of this book.
I saw my first Andrew Mccarthy movie on VHS when I was very young and then avidly followed his career. I found his onscreen presence different and mesmerising. What he describes as an appearance of aloofness, came across to me as an awkwardness and sensitivity, that I had only seen in 2 of my favourite actors, James Dean and Montgomery Clift- both, it turns out, actors that inspired McCarthy. I've watched all of his very memorable films many times all these years after. They feel like home to me.
This is such a breeze of a read, and I knew it would be. A few years ago I read The Longest Journey Home by him, a kind of travel memoir. There are so many times I've recollected memories from that book, so much so that it feels as if they are my own. McCarthy has a really nuanced way of drawing you in and igniting the senses.
Brat is definitely one for people who are fans and gives such a privileged insight into how his career began, the people that influenced him, the friends he has made along the way and also his enduring sense of being an outsider. We see How his curiosity for working on the other side of the camera grew and he also followed writing and directing.
The book dispelled a lot of, probably naive notions, for me, that he had struck up friendships with his costars and I'd always imagined an extension of his friendships with them beyond the movies. So I had truly believed that he had hung out with the cast of St Elmos Fire and Pretty In Pink when it turns out that didn't happen with either.
It's really interesting to read how he came to play such well-loved parts and also those he turned down that went on to become iconic. I always find it sad that Andrew McCarthy hasn't gone on to have a more successful acting career because he definitely has the presence to do so. In recent years I've seen him in TV movies where his method acting skills have been mismatched in context. It makes me wonder if he hasn't had the opportunities or if he has simply turned them down.
We learn how he honed his craft and are given insight into the sets of the movies.
When it comes to Mannequin, there is no mention at all of Kim Cattrall, which only made my suspicions of her, as being a tricky customer, more firm.
There are some surprising encounters, he was invited to live with Jacqueline Bissett, his Costar from his first movie and they had quite an enduring friendship, one where she helped nurture his career. An evening spent spontaneously in the company of Liza Minelli where it seems they really connected. And some moments with Robert Redford, James Coburn and Dustin Hoffman.
I do feel that the book lacks heart and charisma which surprised me because The Longest Journey Home is full of both and some very sincere vulnerability.
He tells us about the troubled relationship with his father where he was constantly harassed by him to lend money with empty promises that it would be repaid. McCarthy tells us about his battle with alcohol abuse and how he beat the addiction.
It is subtley thrilling and allows us to be a vip passenger through an effervescent time he was upfront at.
Warmth, friendliness and pragmatism exude from the book. And it's a resourceful and interesting, un-put-downable read.
]]> <![CDATA[Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It]]> 53330118
LONGLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD • “A masterpiece.”—Angela Duckworth, bestselling author of Grit • Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel H. Pink’s Next Big Idea Club Winter 2021 Winning Selection

One of the best new books of the year—The Washington Post, BBC, USA Today, CNN Underscored, Shape, Behavioral Scientist, PopSugar • Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Shelf Awareness starred reviews

Is talking to yourself normal? The truth is that we all have a voice in our head. When we talk to ourselves, we often hope to tap into our inner coach but find our inner critic instead. When we’re facing a tough task, our inner coach can buoy us up: Focus—you can do this. But, just as often, our inner critic sinks us entirely: I’m going to fail. They’ll all laugh at me. What’s the use?

In Chatter, acclaimed psychologist Ethan Kross explores the silent conversations we have with ourselves. Interweaving groundbreaking behavioral and brain research from his own lab with real-world case studies—from a pitcher who forgets how to pitch, to a Harvard undergrad negotiating her double life as a spy—Kross explains how these conversations shape our lives, work, and relationships. He warns that giving in to negative and disorienting self-talk—what he calls “chatter”—can tank our health, sink our moods, strain our social connections, and cause us to fold under pressure.

But the good news is that we’re already equipped with the tools we need to make our inner voice work in our favor. These tools are often hidden in plain sight—in the words we use to think about ourselves, the technologies we embrace, the diaries we keep in our drawers, the conversations we have with our loved ones, and the cultures we create in our schools and workplaces.

Brilliantly argued, expertly researched, and filled with compelling stories, Chatter gives us the power to change the most important conversation we have each day: the one we have with ourselves.]]> 272 Ethan Kross 0525575235 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.93 2021 Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It
author: Ethan Kross
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sacking the Henwife 2907233 Jane Sprague Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.18 2008 Sacking the Henwife
author: Jane Sprague
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hunters and the Henwife 4570637 96 Nicholas Stuart Gray 0234722754 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.50 1954 Hunters and the Henwife
author: Nicholas Stuart Gray
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1954
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Alchemist 18144590 The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations.

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, following our dreams.]]> 182 Paulo Coelho 0062315005 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.01 1988 The Alchemist
author: Paulo Coelho
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Near Neighbours 57455010
Shy, uncertain Miss Balfour is still finding her way after the sudden death of her domineering sister Belle, who-following a failed marriage many years ago-had returned home and made a career of brow-beating her meeker sibling (her memorable final words were 'Don't be a fool Dottie'). But Dorothea soon begins exploring her newfound freedom, observing and then becoming happily enmeshed in the doings of her neighbours, the widowed Mrs. Lenox and her five unusual and charming children, with whom Belle had always forbidden contact. Domestic challenges, romantic difficulties, and efforts to aid a painter's abandoned family-all are facilitated by Dorothea's calm intelligence. And before long she has drama of her own, from her spontaneous rescue of an endangered child to her encounter with Belle's long-lost husband, from whom she learns some surprising secrets.

Molly Clavering was for many years herself a near neighbour and friend of bestselling author D.E. Stevenson, and they may well have influenced one another's writing. Originally published in 1956 and set vividly in postwar Edinburgh, Near Neighbours is one of Clavering's most cheerful and amusing tales. This new edition includes an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.]]> 292 Molly Clavering 1914150589 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.20 1956 Near Neighbours
author: Molly Clavering
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Small Pleasures 51475209 Jean Swinney is a feature writer on a local paper, disappointed in love and — on the brink of forty — living a limited existence with her truculent mother: a small life from which there is no likelihood of escape.

When a young Swiss woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth, it is down to Jean to discover whether she is a miracle or a fraud. But the more Jean investigates, the more her life becomes strangely (and not unpleasantly) intertwined with that of the Tilburys: Gretchen is now a friend, and her quirky and charming daughter Margaret a sort of surrogate child. And Jean doesn't mean to fall in love with Gretchen's husband, Howard, but Howard surprises her with his dry wit, his intelligence and his kindness — and when she does fall, she falls hard.

But he is married, and to her friend — who is also the subject of the story she is researching for the newspaper, a story that increasingly seems to be causing dark ripples across all their lives. And yet Jean cannot bring herself to discard the chance of finally having a taste of happiness...

But there will be a price to pay, and it will be unbearable.]]> 352 Clare Chambers 1474613888 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.68 2021 Small Pleasures
author: Clare Chambers
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Landscape in Sunlight 34664351 All One Summer.

At the end of the war, Mrs. Midge stayed on. While the war lasted Mrs. Custance had accepted her as part of the war-effort; it was only in the past year or two that Mrs. Midge had been transferred to the category which Mrs. Custance described as "people we could manage without."

Elizabeth Fair’s rollicking second novel takes place in Little Mallin, where village life is largely dominated by preparations for the August Festival. Out of such ordinary material Fair weaves a tale of conflict, scheming, misunderstanding — and of course romance.

Among the villagers are a vicar dreaming of ancient Greece; his wife, largely concerned with getting their daughter married off; the melancholic Colonel Ashford; the eccentric Eustace Templer and his nephew; not to mention Mrs. Midge and her delicate son. The author said the novel was meant for people who "prefer not to take life too seriously." Compton Mackenzie said it was "in the best tradition of English humour."

Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair’s irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.]]> 259 Elizabeth Fair Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.90 1953 Landscape in Sunlight
author: Elizabeth Fair
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Novel on Yellow Paper 408704 252 Stevie Smith 0811212394 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.56 1936 Novel on Yellow Paper
author: Stevie Smith
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1936
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Exile and the Kingdom (Vintage International)]]> 76826
The six works featured in this volume are:

"The Adulterous Woman" ("La Femme adultère")
"The Renegade or a Confused Spirit" ("Le Renégat ou un esprit confus")
"The Silent Men" ("Les Muets")
"The Guest" ("L'Hôte")
"Jonas or the Artist at Work" ("Jonas ou l’artiste au travail")
"The Growing Stone" ("La Pierre qui pousse")]]> 213 Albert Camus 067973385X Jewels-PiXie 3 Each character in this collection experiences alienation in their own way and is searching for a sense of place. The Adulterous Wife seeks a way to feel more connected to her surroundings and this is in detachment just for her ,in separation from her husband. And when she does it's truly bracing and life affirming.
The other two stand out stories for me were Jonas - The Artist At Work and The Growing Stone.
Jonas ,the artist feels blessed to be able to paint ,guided by what he says is his star,a kind of lucky star. As he becomes more famous , disciples visit him in his living space to watch him paint and this is invasive to himself and his family. Several times he and his wife move the room in which he will paint in order to accommodate the growing number of visitors. As time goes on Jonas becomes overwhelmed and seeks refuge outside of his house but is met with gossip and criticisms making it difficult to find a place where he can feel inspired. Gradually ,he spends more time dreaming and hoping for inspiration to strike and less time painting. Ultimately he moves into his loft and completely cuts himself off from everyone. And it becomes apparent that in spite of him saying he has been working ,he has not painted but instead filled the canvas with one word. We really do feel the impact that his fame has had on his star and his ability to live comfortably.
In The Growing Stone ,an engineer who has arrived in a town to build a dam and seems very much like a solitary soul , becomes involved with a man who has made a promise about carrying a religious stone . Whilst the engineer is an existentialist and isn't invested in religious beliefs ,when the day comes for the man to carry the stone in the procession ,the Engineer takes the burden from him when he sees he is struggling. This demonstrates hope and kinship.
Camus is one of those Writers who has the ability to pluck out quite simple subjects of every day life and find the glittering veins of gold running through them to create enthralling stories. They read like fables and are quietly spectacular ,poetic and full of depth.]]> 3.89 1957 Exile and the Kingdom (Vintage International)
author: Albert Camus
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1957
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/30
date added: 2021/12/01
shelves:
review:
I sought out this short collection of stories by Camus after coming across a quote from the first story in it 'The Adulterous Woman' - it felt so incredibly alive and I immediately wanted more of that.
Each character in this collection experiences alienation in their own way and is searching for a sense of place. The Adulterous Wife seeks a way to feel more connected to her surroundings and this is in detachment just for her ,in separation from her husband. And when she does it's truly bracing and life affirming.
The other two stand out stories for me were Jonas - The Artist At Work and The Growing Stone.
Jonas ,the artist feels blessed to be able to paint ,guided by what he says is his star,a kind of lucky star. As he becomes more famous , disciples visit him in his living space to watch him paint and this is invasive to himself and his family. Several times he and his wife move the room in which he will paint in order to accommodate the growing number of visitors. As time goes on Jonas becomes overwhelmed and seeks refuge outside of his house but is met with gossip and criticisms making it difficult to find a place where he can feel inspired. Gradually ,he spends more time dreaming and hoping for inspiration to strike and less time painting. Ultimately he moves into his loft and completely cuts himself off from everyone. And it becomes apparent that in spite of him saying he has been working ,he has not painted but instead filled the canvas with one word. We really do feel the impact that his fame has had on his star and his ability to live comfortably.
In The Growing Stone ,an engineer who has arrived in a town to build a dam and seems very much like a solitary soul , becomes involved with a man who has made a promise about carrying a religious stone . Whilst the engineer is an existentialist and isn't invested in religious beliefs ,when the day comes for the man to carry the stone in the procession ,the Engineer takes the burden from him when he sees he is struggling. This demonstrates hope and kinship.
Camus is one of those Writers who has the ability to pluck out quite simple subjects of every day life and find the glittering veins of gold running through them to create enthralling stories. They read like fables and are quietly spectacular ,poetic and full of depth.
]]> Brief Lives 1650081 Book by Brookner, Anita 309 Anita Brookner 158547018X Jewels-PiXie 3 I realised, on reading this novel that each of her works is like opening the door to the same room, each character a familiar piece of furniture, but rearranged each time. And there is something about this familiarity that continues to draw me back.
Brief Lives is by far the most sombre of Brookner's novels. It's oppressive, stifling and deeply melancholic. Fay, as the main protagonist, as with all of Brookner's lead female protagonists is bound by duty to an old acquaintance, Julia, both antagonistic towards each other. Fay seems surprised when she does strike up fond friendships with women ,as she generally sees them as quite toxic.
Brief Lives, makes us aware of exactly that, the brevity of life and the fragility of it, there is much focus on death and loss in it. Fay is also continuously searching for meaning and she believes, some time after losing her husband, that another man may bring her that purpose. Julia is constantly a nagging unraveling thread that Fay feels responsible for ,and when both have lost their husbands ,this becomes moreso. Particularly with that innate sense of duty. Julia is larger than life ,a little sardonic and spiteful and she reminded me of Alix from Brookner's Look At Me.
It's full of tension, anxiety and a yearning to appear 'normal' and that this is a kind of perfection. A ruined dinner brings about a great deal of distress for Fay, and is delivered as an epic scene in the way that Brookner does best and there is a similar scene of a ruined dinner in another of her novels but I can't remember which.
Fay, as the main character is insular, introspective, duty-bound and melancholic. It will leave you feeling bereft. There is no joy to be found in this book but it is as compelling as Brookner always is.]]> 3.77 1990 Brief Lives
author: Anita Brookner
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at: 2021/11/22
date added: 2021/11/22
shelves:
review:
This is the seventh consecutive book I've read in succession, by Anita Brooker. In my quest to read about Spinsters and Spinsterish women, this is something she does well.
I realised, on reading this novel that each of her works is like opening the door to the same room, each character a familiar piece of furniture, but rearranged each time. And there is something about this familiarity that continues to draw me back.
Brief Lives is by far the most sombre of Brookner's novels. It's oppressive, stifling and deeply melancholic. Fay, as the main protagonist, as with all of Brookner's lead female protagonists is bound by duty to an old acquaintance, Julia, both antagonistic towards each other. Fay seems surprised when she does strike up fond friendships with women ,as she generally sees them as quite toxic.
Brief Lives, makes us aware of exactly that, the brevity of life and the fragility of it, there is much focus on death and loss in it. Fay is also continuously searching for meaning and she believes, some time after losing her husband, that another man may bring her that purpose. Julia is constantly a nagging unraveling thread that Fay feels responsible for ,and when both have lost their husbands ,this becomes moreso. Particularly with that innate sense of duty. Julia is larger than life ,a little sardonic and spiteful and she reminded me of Alix from Brookner's Look At Me.
It's full of tension, anxiety and a yearning to appear 'normal' and that this is a kind of perfection. A ruined dinner brings about a great deal of distress for Fay, and is delivered as an epic scene in the way that Brookner does best and there is a similar scene of a ruined dinner in another of her novels but I can't remember which.
Fay, as the main character is insular, introspective, duty-bound and melancholic. It will leave you feeling bereft. There is no joy to be found in this book but it is as compelling as Brookner always is.
]]> <![CDATA[Where God Begins To Be: A Woman's Journey Into Solitude]]> 1429331 130 Karen Karper Fredette 0595333214 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.91 1994 Where God Begins To Be: A Woman's Journey Into Solitude
author: Karen Karper Fredette
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hotel du Lac 251665
But instead of peace and rest, Edith finds herself sequestered at the hotel with an assortment of love's casualties and exiles. She also attracts the attention of a worldly man determined to release her unused capacity for mischief and pleasure. Beautifully observed, witheringly funny, Hotel du Lac is Brookner at her most stylish and potently subversive.]]> 184 Anita Brookner 0679759328 Jewels-PiXie 4 Something that I find brilliantly inspiring is that Brookner only began to write when she was 50 years old and then proceeded to write 24 novels, quite a feat! And the Hotel Du Lac won her the Booker Prize. Although I think from all that I've read of her work so far each are worthy. But there is a tightness to Hotel Du Lac that brings the story into a scintillating microscopic view.
I have no doubt that Brookner must have been the most avid and most excellent people-watcher because each character is drawn in such a thorough and engaging, believable way.
Edith Hope removes herself from her home and surroundings after bringing shame upon herself and her friends. She is made to feel guilt and embarrassment, although, it seems that even though she is meant to feel these things, she only puts herself into temporary exile as a matter of course and, as always seems to appear in her work, out of a sense of duty.
She is a romantic novelist and her time is spent between intermingling with the guests at the hotel and writing.
Something about the tension of the atmosphere reminds me of Rebecca by Du Maurier.
Edith carefully observes each guest and allows herself to befriend some of them.
Brookner brings to the surface the painful reality of what it is to 'be'. And she does so with heartbreaking relatable clarity.
There are the cafes that we become familiar with in reading her work, this time though, she is in France rather than hopping back and forth between London and Paris. And usually we explore the London streets of Knightsbridge with her.
She paints the days in ways that are so palpable that you truly become immersed in them.
Edith remains faithful in thought and heart to her circumstances at home but also finds herself as receiver of a proposal which could bleach away the shame she has brought herself and allow her to redeem herself. And as I don't want to create a spoiler here, you will have to read to see what Edith decides.
But as it is the path I am on to read about Spinsters who break the stereotype, I always love to see what fate Anita Brookners Spinster-ish women will meet.
The Hotel Du Lac is so meticulously drawn and each character intricately so, you will very much feel that you, too, are one of the guests. There is a pull and a sense of haunting to this that I think may have counted towards it winning the Booker prize. Because whilst I feel all of the novels I've read by her so far get under the skin, this does so in a more premeditated and exacting way.The characters are all so easy to picture and characters and surroundings are all tightly woven. So far, she has failed to disappoint. Another engaging world to slip into.]]> 3.59 1984 Hotel du Lac
author: Anita Brookner
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/06
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves:
review:
I think this is the 6th consecutive novel I've read by Anita Brookner. Her work is so very addictive. When you are in her world, you know it, because there are similarities in the surroundings and some of the routines. And she writes the most excellent spinster-ish women. Also you really would have no idea that her novels are written from the 1980's onwards, they feel very much like they are written and set in the 1920's. It's only the rare mention of something in fashion, an item of clothing that brings us to a point in time much later.
Something that I find brilliantly inspiring is that Brookner only began to write when she was 50 years old and then proceeded to write 24 novels, quite a feat! And the Hotel Du Lac won her the Booker Prize. Although I think from all that I've read of her work so far each are worthy. But there is a tightness to Hotel Du Lac that brings the story into a scintillating microscopic view.
I have no doubt that Brookner must have been the most avid and most excellent people-watcher because each character is drawn in such a thorough and engaging, believable way.
Edith Hope removes herself from her home and surroundings after bringing shame upon herself and her friends. She is made to feel guilt and embarrassment, although, it seems that even though she is meant to feel these things, she only puts herself into temporary exile as a matter of course and, as always seems to appear in her work, out of a sense of duty.
She is a romantic novelist and her time is spent between intermingling with the guests at the hotel and writing.
Something about the tension of the atmosphere reminds me of Rebecca by Du Maurier.
Edith carefully observes each guest and allows herself to befriend some of them.
Brookner brings to the surface the painful reality of what it is to 'be'. And she does so with heartbreaking relatable clarity.
There are the cafes that we become familiar with in reading her work, this time though, she is in France rather than hopping back and forth between London and Paris. And usually we explore the London streets of Knightsbridge with her.
She paints the days in ways that are so palpable that you truly become immersed in them.
Edith remains faithful in thought and heart to her circumstances at home but also finds herself as receiver of a proposal which could bleach away the shame she has brought herself and allow her to redeem herself. And as I don't want to create a spoiler here, you will have to read to see what Edith decides.
But as it is the path I am on to read about Spinsters who break the stereotype, I always love to see what fate Anita Brookners Spinster-ish women will meet.
The Hotel Du Lac is so meticulously drawn and each character intricately so, you will very much feel that you, too, are one of the guests. There is a pull and a sense of haunting to this that I think may have counted towards it winning the Booker prize. Because whilst I feel all of the novels I've read by her so far get under the skin, this does so in a more premeditated and exacting way.The characters are all so easy to picture and characters and surroundings are all tightly woven. So far, she has failed to disappoint. Another engaging world to slip into.
]]> One Hundred Years of Solitude 320 One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of a mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, alive with unforgettable men and women, and with a truth and understanding that strike the soul. One Hundred Years of Solitude is a masterpiece of the art of fiction.]]> 417 Gabriel García Márquez Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.10 1967 One Hundred Years of Solitude
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1967
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Lolita 7604 Librarian's note: Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780141182537.

Humbert Humbert - scholar, aesthete and romantic - has fallen completely and utterly in love with Dolores Haze, his landlady's gum-snapping, silky skinned twelve-year-old daughter. Reluctantly agreeing to marry Mrs Haze just to be close to Lolita, Humbert suffers greatly in the pursuit of romance; but when Lo herself starts looking for attention elsewhere, he will carry her off on a desperate cross-country misadventure, all in the name of Love. Hilarious, flamboyant, heart-breaking and full of ingenious word play, Lolita is an immaculate, unforgettable masterpiece of obsession, delusion and lust.]]> 368 Vladimir Nabokov Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.87 1955 Lolita
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Northanger Abbey 50398 Northanger Abbey is often referred to as Jane Austen's "Gothic parody." Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers give the story an uncanny air, but one with a decidedly satirical twist.

The story's unlikely heroine is Catherine Morland, a remarkably innocent seventeen-year-old woman from a country parsonage. While spending a few weeks in Bath with a family friend, Catherine meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, who invites her to visit his family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Catherine, a great reader of Gothic thrillers, lets the shadowy atmosphere of the old mansion fill her mind with terrible suspicions. What is the mystery surrounding the death of Henry's mother? Is the family concealing a terrible secret within the elegant rooms of the Abbey? Can she trust Henry, or is he part of an evil conspiracy? Catherine finds dreadful portents in the most prosaic events, until Henry persuades her to see the peril in confusing life with art.

Executed with high-spirited gusto, Northanger Abbey is a lighthearted, yet unsentimental commentary on love and marriage.]]> 260 Jane Austen 1593082649 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.86 1817 Northanger Abbey
author: Jane Austen
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1817
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Picture of Dorian Gray 5297
In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.]]> 272 Oscar Wilde Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.13 1890 The Picture of Dorian Gray
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1890
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Not at Home 48595478 "I don’t mind being alone at all. I was often here alone in the blitz, and I was so frightened of the bombs that I quite stopped being frightened of burglars."

World War II has ended, residents are flooding back to London, and the housing shortage creates strange bedfellows. Elinor MacFarren—middle-aged spinster, botanical writer, and collector of prints and objets d’art—decides to rent part of her house to Antonia Bankes, whose American husband is with the Occupation Forces in Europe. While Miss MacFarren prefers to live alone, Mrs Bankes seems a perfect tenant. She admires Miss MacFarren’s beautiful things (“It’s the prettiest room I’ve ever seen in my life!”), promises quiet and care (“You’ll find me madly careful”), and seems an ideal homemaker (“I like housework. I’ve got quite a ‘thing’ about it.”).

Inevitably, however, it’s not so easy. Mrs Bankes proves to be exasperating and helpless, skilled only in charm, manipulation, and blithely promising anything to get her way. What follows is an intricately plotted, gloriously entertaining saga of domestic warfare, as Miss MacFarren tries to cope, tries to cajole, and finally tries to rid herself of her meddlesome tenant, all while taking up whiskey—and all with unpredictable and delightful results.]]> 300 Doris Langley Moore Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.05 1948 Not at Home
author: Doris Langley Moore
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1948
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Nothing to Report 46150226 “I have told Rose that there will be a chauffeur for dinner,” she ended, frowning slightly at the cannibalistic sound of her sentence.

Unmarried and nicknamed “Button” by her friends, Mary Morrison is a (very mildly) distressed gentlewoman. She no longer lives in her family home, but remains at the very centre of village life, surrounded by friends including carefree, irresponsible Catha, Lady Rollo, just back from India and setting up lavish housekeeping nearby with her husband and children—socialist Tony, perfect Crispin, and Elizabeth who’s preparing to be presented at Court. Then there’s Marcelle, Mary’s widowed sister-in-law, and her challenging daughter Rosemary, who may soon be planting themselves with her to escape London bombs, Miss Rosanna Masquerier, a historical novelist who might just be a wry self-portrait of the author, and an array of other Sirs and Ladies who rely on Mary’s sympathy and practicality. And perhaps there’s just a hint of romance as well . . .

Known for her bestselling historical fiction, in Nothing to Report Carola Oman delightfully evokes E.M. Delafield’s Provincial Lady in her portrayal of an English village cheerfully, hilariously, and sometimes bumpily progressing from obliviousness to the war’s approach to pulling together for king and country. Dean Street Press and Furrowed Middlebrow have also reprinted Oman’s Somewhere in England, a sequel to Nothing to Report.]]> 273 Carola Oman Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.80 1940 Nothing to Report
author: Carola Oman
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1940
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Seaview House 34661402 243 Elizabeth Fair Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.01 1955 Seaview House
author: Elizabeth Fair
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Lark 28430665 "When did two girls of our age have such a chance as we've got - to have a lark entirely on our own? No chaperone, no rules, no..."
"No present income or future prospects," said Lucilla.

It's 1919 and Jane and her cousin Lucilla leave school to find that their guardian has gambled away their money, leaving them with only a small cottage in the English countryside. In an attempt to earn their living, the orphaned cousins embark on a series of misadventures - cutting flowers from their front garden and selling them to passers-by, inviting paying guests who disappear without paying - all the while endeavouring to stave off the attentions of male admirers, in a bid to secure their independence.]]> 263 E. Nesbit Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.79 1922 The Lark
author: E. Nesbit
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1922
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Swiss Summer 17158908
Packed with good humour, lush scenery, and irresistible charm, The Swiss Summer, first published in 1951, is one of Stella Gibbons' most delightful novels. This new edition features an introduction by twentieth-century women's historian Elizabeth Crawford.]]> 330 Stella Gibbons Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.72 1951 The Swiss Summer
author: Stella Gibbons
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1951
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Father 4310892 "There came a moment, she imagined, in the lives of most unmarried daughters, and perhaps in other people’s too, when they must either bolt or go permanently under."

Since her mother’s death, Jennifer has devoted years of her life to her father, managing the family home and acting as his secretary. After the sudden announcement that her father has married again, Jennifer, at 33, seizes the opportunity to lead an independent life. Quickly she secures the lease of Rose Cottage and turns her attention to her own needs and interests.]]> 339 Elizabeth von Arnim Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.09 1931 Father
author: Elizabeth von Arnim
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1931
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Foolish Gentlewoman 2644483
World War II has ended and widowed Isabel Brocken, kind-hearted and generous if perhaps just a bit foolish, is back in her old family home on the outskirts of London, accompanied by her friend Jacky, just out of the ATS, and her newly-demobilized nephew Humphrey. They're soon joined by Isabel's surly brother-in-law Simon, who has decidedly mixed feelings about her but whose own home is under repair for bomb damage. Into this uneasy mix comes Tilly Cuff, a poor relation to whom Isabel has been inspired-by a rare church venture and a particularly inspiring sermon-to make amends for having, many years before, sabotaged her one chance at romance.

When Tilly proves manipulative and even 'malevolent', the happiness of Isabel's household is threatened. And where the story goes from there is pure unexpected delight. In The Foolish Gentlewoman, Margery Sharp provides us a thoughtful, funny, and terrifically entertaining slice of British life in the immediate aftermath of war.]]> 428 Margery Sharp 0708907776 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.68 1948 The Foolish Gentlewoman
author: Margery Sharp
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1948
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Well 444972 192 Elizabeth Jolley 0140089012 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.52 1986 The Well
author: Elizabeth Jolley
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.52
book published: 1986
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> I Wanna Be Yours 52772089
At 5' 11' (8 stone, 32 inch chest, 27 inch waist), in trademark suit jacket, skin-tight drainpipes and dark glasses, with jet-black back-combed hair and mouth full of gold teeth, John Cooper Clarke is instantly recognisable. As a writer his voice is equally unmistakable.

This memoir covers an extraordinary life, filled with remarkable personalities: from Nico to Chuck Berry, from all the great punks to Bernard Manning, and on to more recent fans and collaborators Alex Turner and Plan B. John also reveals his boggling encyclopaedic knowledge of 20th-century popular culture, from Baudelaire to Coronation Street. Inimitable and iconic, his book will be a joy for lifelong fans and for a whole new generation.]]> 470 John Cooper Clarke 1509896104 Jewels-PiXie 3 I've also had the joy of meeting him a few years ago and he is a very lovely gentleman indeed. So it was with delight I received his memoirs 'I wanna be yours' as a Birthday present from my friend. And eager to know more about this elusive figure, I dived in.
The first part of the book, had me fascinated, since JCC is not far off the age my Dad would have been and so his fascination with the cinema and movie stars was something also that my Dad used to treasure. It feels a little like we're being invited into his world just a little at this point.
However it doesn't get much deeper than this. It really should be called a popular culture and style encyclopedia or compendium, since there is a massive amount of detail given to clothes and hairstyles and popular culture in general. And I feel that, sadly, this left me feeling shortchanged. The memoirs are really packed with this kind of peripheral detail and we aren't really taken beneath this. We do travel the journey of how JCC became such a successful poet and the people that inspired him, so that's interesting. And there are anecdotes that fit to the stories of touring. There is some brief warmth when he talks about his wife and love of his life and their daughter, which makes an impact but is fleeting.
If you're in recovery or thinking about it, definitely don't read this as it is a quite upbeat retelling of tales of scoring and how good various episodes of that were. I certainly know more now about what it entails than I did before. And whilst he is clean, it does feel like there's a degree of yearning there, but I'm guessing that's the way it is for most recovering addicts perhaps.
I Wanna Be Yours is written in an entertaining and pacey way but I don't feel like I know very much more about JCC than I did before and I think that's intentional. He obviously holds dear his privacy, so reading this feels very much like being in the audience at one of his gigs, drawn in tantalisingly close but kept so far, at a safe distance. I've considered whether I would want this to be something more confessional and emotional or if I prefer it to be the elusive collection of career anecdotes that it is. And so far, I still don't have the answer but I respect the decision that this is how JCC decided to approach it. It's still a fun and worthy read with his voice very recognisable throughout. But it is all impeccable suit and no soul and I missed a deeper substance. I have no doubt though that JCC will be the subject of tales and folkloric iconic legends ,so maybe the fact we don't get the details from the man himself isn't important. ]]> 4.16 I Wanna Be Yours
author: John Cooper Clarke
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2021/10/31
date added: 2021/11/01
shelves:
review:
One of the greatest and coolest things I've always been able to tell people is that, not only do I live in the town where Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Humpty Dumpty were written, but that the captivating individual that is John Cooper Clarke lives here. And when you happen to see him, in these very ordinary settings, it's a bit like magic. He has such a striking and inimitable presence, it's like seeing a Tim Burton character come to life. He's like Edward Scissorhand's older and more sensitive brother.
I've also had the joy of meeting him a few years ago and he is a very lovely gentleman indeed. So it was with delight I received his memoirs 'I wanna be yours' as a Birthday present from my friend. And eager to know more about this elusive figure, I dived in.
The first part of the book, had me fascinated, since JCC is not far off the age my Dad would have been and so his fascination with the cinema and movie stars was something also that my Dad used to treasure. It feels a little like we're being invited into his world just a little at this point.
However it doesn't get much deeper than this. It really should be called a popular culture and style encyclopedia or compendium, since there is a massive amount of detail given to clothes and hairstyles and popular culture in general. And I feel that, sadly, this left me feeling shortchanged. The memoirs are really packed with this kind of peripheral detail and we aren't really taken beneath this. We do travel the journey of how JCC became such a successful poet and the people that inspired him, so that's interesting. And there are anecdotes that fit to the stories of touring. There is some brief warmth when he talks about his wife and love of his life and their daughter, which makes an impact but is fleeting.
If you're in recovery or thinking about it, definitely don't read this as it is a quite upbeat retelling of tales of scoring and how good various episodes of that were. I certainly know more now about what it entails than I did before. And whilst he is clean, it does feel like there's a degree of yearning there, but I'm guessing that's the way it is for most recovering addicts perhaps.
I Wanna Be Yours is written in an entertaining and pacey way but I don't feel like I know very much more about JCC than I did before and I think that's intentional. He obviously holds dear his privacy, so reading this feels very much like being in the audience at one of his gigs, drawn in tantalisingly close but kept so far, at a safe distance. I've considered whether I would want this to be something more confessional and emotional or if I prefer it to be the elusive collection of career anecdotes that it is. And so far, I still don't have the answer but I respect the decision that this is how JCC decided to approach it. It's still a fun and worthy read with his voice very recognisable throughout. But it is all impeccable suit and no soul and I missed a deeper substance. I have no doubt though that JCC will be the subject of tales and folkloric iconic legends ,so maybe the fact we don't get the details from the man himself isn't important.
]]> Cat Lady Chic 20702033 The volume features a sharp, funny introductory essay on the Cat Lady conundrum along with scores of photo­graphs of felines paired with famous feline fans across a spectrum of backgrounds, including figures such as Audrey Hepburn, Georgia O’Keeffe, Diana Ross, Marilyn Monroe, Zelda Fitzgerald, Lana Del Rey, Lauren Bacall, Joan Jett, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, and more.]]> 128 Diane Lovejoy 1419714023 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.87 2014 Cat Lady Chic
author: Diane Lovejoy
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Cackle 56637938
Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?]]> 293 Rachel Harrison 0593202023 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.69 2021 Cackle
author: Rachel Harrison
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Leaving Home (Vintage Contemporaries)]]> 84515 212 Anita Brookner 1400095654 Jewels-PiXie 3 My hope is always to find spinsters who break the mould of waiting to be 'rescued' by a man.
'My days as a compliant accomplice were at an end' this conclusion asserted by Emma, the protagonist of Leaving Home, one wishes that her other characters in her other novels had also asserted.
Something that is apparent on reading her works, is that they are all, really sister novels of each other and quite incestuously linked. Each female protagonist feels like they are a continuation or parallel life of the other.
Each are bound by a sense of duty, have usually nursed a parent until death and who split their time between Paris and London ,have a housekeeper and are studious or fairly ambitious.

After the death of her mother Emma decides to buy a flat in London to spare herself the unwanted visits of her antagonistic and unfriendly uncle. However, she still very much splits her time between Paris, where she is studying Gardens, and London and it becomes clear that Leaving Home isn't a simple thing but something that is fragmentary and when she is in one place, she longs to be back in the other. There is a yearning to be fulfilled with a sense of place that doesn't seem to be satiated. The restlessness she feels runs as an agitated undercurrent.
Emma, like other Brookner protagonists, is so bound by duty that she is often taken for granted and is put upon, often, because of this. Particularly because any unhappiness she has about situations that cause her frustration, she keeps pent up inside and is melancholic.
Her love interests, are portrayed to us, as vaguely so. It's almost as if her true feelings must remain secret so that when she has an uncharacteristic outburst, it comes as a surprise but also a burst of catharsis, that she is allowing herself to be heard.
This is such an effortless read, swiftly arriving at the end after shortly starting at the beginning. And Brookner creates atmosphere in a way that is indicicative of her, Immaculately full of detail. The grey slate misty skies often appear as a backdrop.
This does glide but it didn't have the impact on me that Look At Me and A Start In Life had but her work is incredibly addictive and so absolutely worth reading. My dog and cat had a complaint that Furry friends are underrepresented in her novels and I had to agree. There is such a familiarity in her works that, unlike Emma, we do feel very much at home and it's a place we long to return to. ]]> 3.47 2005 Leaving Home (Vintage Contemporaries)
author: Anita Brookner
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2021/09/19
date added: 2021/09/20
shelves:
review:
This is, I think, the 5th consecutive novel I have read by Anita Brookner. I am compelled to read them because of my interest in how the spinster is represented in fiction and Brookners works are driven by Spinsters or Spinster-ish women.
My hope is always to find spinsters who break the mould of waiting to be 'rescued' by a man.
'My days as a compliant accomplice were at an end' this conclusion asserted by Emma, the protagonist of Leaving Home, one wishes that her other characters in her other novels had also asserted.
Something that is apparent on reading her works, is that they are all, really sister novels of each other and quite incestuously linked. Each female protagonist feels like they are a continuation or parallel life of the other.
Each are bound by a sense of duty, have usually nursed a parent until death and who split their time between Paris and London ,have a housekeeper and are studious or fairly ambitious.

After the death of her mother Emma decides to buy a flat in London to spare herself the unwanted visits of her antagonistic and unfriendly uncle. However, she still very much splits her time between Paris, where she is studying Gardens, and London and it becomes clear that Leaving Home isn't a simple thing but something that is fragmentary and when she is in one place, she longs to be back in the other. There is a yearning to be fulfilled with a sense of place that doesn't seem to be satiated. The restlessness she feels runs as an agitated undercurrent.
Emma, like other Brookner protagonists, is so bound by duty that she is often taken for granted and is put upon, often, because of this. Particularly because any unhappiness she has about situations that cause her frustration, she keeps pent up inside and is melancholic.
Her love interests, are portrayed to us, as vaguely so. It's almost as if her true feelings must remain secret so that when she has an uncharacteristic outburst, it comes as a surprise but also a burst of catharsis, that she is allowing herself to be heard.
This is such an effortless read, swiftly arriving at the end after shortly starting at the beginning. And Brookner creates atmosphere in a way that is indicicative of her, Immaculately full of detail. The grey slate misty skies often appear as a backdrop.
This does glide but it didn't have the impact on me that Look At Me and A Start In Life had but her work is incredibly addictive and so absolutely worth reading. My dog and cat had a complaint that Furry friends are underrepresented in her novels and I had to agree. There is such a familiarity in her works that, unlike Emma, we do feel very much at home and it's a place we long to return to.
]]> <![CDATA[The Music at Long Verney: Twenty Stories]]> 264836 The New Yorker, and all of them appear here in book form for the first time. They are crowded with irrepressible, living characters and even more animated objects and incidents. There are stories of romantic love and the mysteries of marriage; of artists who speak the truth even as they distort reality; of gardens and houses and very fine things and of those who fancy themselves their owners. The centerpiece of the collection is a series of five linked stories about an eccentric establishment, the Abbey Antiques Gallery, and its singular proprietor, the urbane Mr. Edom -- not to mention its uncontrollable inventory, staff, and clientele.]]> 192 Sylvia Townsend Warner 1582431124 Jewels-PiXie 5 favourite-reads This collection also includes Stay Croydon Thou Swain ,which I've read before and it was as enjoyable and entrancing second time around. A man who conjures up a nymph out of the ordinary ,after obsessively fantasising about them.
STW has a way of shining a bright light into every corner of a character in a way that makes them relatable and illuminates both the favourable and unfavourable attributes in human behaviour.
Reading her work is always exciting and an absolute privilege. This is a perfect small collection of some of her stories.]]> 4.11 1971 The Music at Long Verney: Twenty Stories
author: Sylvia Townsend Warner
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1971
rating: 5
read at: 2021/03/30
date added: 2021/08/24
shelves: favourite-reads
review:
Reading Sylvia Townsend Warner is such pure magic . This collection of stories explores so many different characters and we always feel like we are being given a very personal and intimate insight into their inner worlds. STW has such a unique way of being both cynical and humorous in such an idiosyncratic way. This collection includes a handful of stories set in an antique shop ,each character as intriguing as the objects for sale within. One of them is set during a powercut while it is snowing and it's absolutely packed with atmosphere. Basking in the candlelight STW creates a cosy and enchanting place that we don't want to leave.
This collection also includes Stay Croydon Thou Swain ,which I've read before and it was as enjoyable and entrancing second time around. A man who conjures up a nymph out of the ordinary ,after obsessively fantasising about them.
STW has a way of shining a bright light into every corner of a character in a way that makes them relatable and illuminates both the favourable and unfavourable attributes in human behaviour.
Reading her work is always exciting and an absolute privilege. This is a perfect small collection of some of her stories.
]]> A Start in Life 1523501 176 Anita Brookner 0140147438 Jewels-PiXie 4 favourite-reads It's also published under the name of The Debut.
The blurb about the book is quite misleading I feel, because it leads us to believe that, Ruth, the main protagonist, physically revisits the people and places she knew when she was younger, in order to set her life on a new path at 40. Where, in fact, she visits these people and places through reminiscences.
As in A Misalliance, where the main female protagonist compares the people in her life to idyllic characters in painting, here Ruth, uses Balzac, whom she is studying to consider, mainly herself in terms of Balzacs ideas of vice and virtue and the comparison is quite stifling. She begins to wish she had followed a path of study on fairytales, like Cinderella, that she loved as a child and wonders how different the outcome would be.
Ruth lives with her parents, Helen a semi-successful actress at one time,and quite a diva and George, the onetime owner of a bookshop. The couple are larger than life and very colourful. And their living conditions only get more bizarre when they employ a live in housekeeper. In spite on their home being a large residence, they all begin to convene in just one room, Helen's bedroom, where she holds court, recounts anecdotes, dresses in opulent garments, powders and paints her face. The bedroom is the setting for stories, squabbles and everything in between. It made me think of the Bucket family in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, who have no choice but to live in one room together and snuggle up to keep each other warm. It's a very oppressive environment and her parents are quite controlling.
Ruth makes the decision to move into her own flat, chiefly because she wants to invite Richard, a prospective love interest to dinner. Brookner is so brilliant at articulating the anxiety of such situations so palpably and the preparing of the dinner and the date are very much like the headache in A Misalliance. She practically makes herself ill trying to get everything prepared and right. Then when she has given up, he turns up late as though it's no great matter at all and Ruth feels so awful that she resolves not to put herself through it again, because that's the only way she can bear that she might.
She returns to live at home after the disaster but only until she is due to go to France to study. Her parents really don't want her to go, with no good reason, except that, perhaps they don't want her to live her life more fully than they are living theirs. But they are still quite young and could choose to leave the room and live life, but do not.
There are some hiccups when first in France but then Ruth finds romance with an older, married, professor and a nicer flat and she is slowly finds her stride. But then she is called home. And something that is apparent in all of the Brookner novels I've read so far is that the women have a sense of duty, and are bound by it, particularly to family. So Ruth does return home where she finds disharmony between her mother and father. She vows to herself that they will sort it out and she will return to France, still in her 20s but instead has to stay on due to unexpected tragedy.
There is something about the way Brookner writes that is compelling and completely un-put-down able. Her novels yearn to be devoured. She kidnaps her readers away into every day-Ness but then whisks it into a frenzy that is relatable and in this case eccentric. She invites you into worlds that are bubbling away with activity under the surface and filled with intricate electric emotion and detail. This is definitely one worth allowing yourself to be whisked away into.]]> 3.79 1981 A Start in Life
author: Anita Brookner
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1981
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/22
date added: 2021/08/23
shelves: favourite-reads
review:
This is the fourth consecutive novel I've read by Anita Brookner and after reading Look At Me previously and loving it so much, I didn't expect it to be surpassed but in A Start In Life it is. In fact, it feels a bit like a sister novel to Look At Me in it's excitable and meticulously observant tone.
It's also published under the name of The Debut.
The blurb about the book is quite misleading I feel, because it leads us to believe that, Ruth, the main protagonist, physically revisits the people and places she knew when she was younger, in order to set her life on a new path at 40. Where, in fact, she visits these people and places through reminiscences.
As in A Misalliance, where the main female protagonist compares the people in her life to idyllic characters in painting, here Ruth, uses Balzac, whom she is studying to consider, mainly herself in terms of Balzacs ideas of vice and virtue and the comparison is quite stifling. She begins to wish she had followed a path of study on fairytales, like Cinderella, that she loved as a child and wonders how different the outcome would be.
Ruth lives with her parents, Helen a semi-successful actress at one time,and quite a diva and George, the onetime owner of a bookshop. The couple are larger than life and very colourful. And their living conditions only get more bizarre when they employ a live in housekeeper. In spite on their home being a large residence, they all begin to convene in just one room, Helen's bedroom, where she holds court, recounts anecdotes, dresses in opulent garments, powders and paints her face. The bedroom is the setting for stories, squabbles and everything in between. It made me think of the Bucket family in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, who have no choice but to live in one room together and snuggle up to keep each other warm. It's a very oppressive environment and her parents are quite controlling.
Ruth makes the decision to move into her own flat, chiefly because she wants to invite Richard, a prospective love interest to dinner. Brookner is so brilliant at articulating the anxiety of such situations so palpably and the preparing of the dinner and the date are very much like the headache in A Misalliance. She practically makes herself ill trying to get everything prepared and right. Then when she has given up, he turns up late as though it's no great matter at all and Ruth feels so awful that she resolves not to put herself through it again, because that's the only way she can bear that she might.
She returns to live at home after the disaster but only until she is due to go to France to study. Her parents really don't want her to go, with no good reason, except that, perhaps they don't want her to live her life more fully than they are living theirs. But they are still quite young and could choose to leave the room and live life, but do not.
There are some hiccups when first in France but then Ruth finds romance with an older, married, professor and a nicer flat and she is slowly finds her stride. But then she is called home. And something that is apparent in all of the Brookner novels I've read so far is that the women have a sense of duty, and are bound by it, particularly to family. So Ruth does return home where she finds disharmony between her mother and father. She vows to herself that they will sort it out and she will return to France, still in her 20s but instead has to stay on due to unexpected tragedy.
There is something about the way Brookner writes that is compelling and completely un-put-down able. Her novels yearn to be devoured. She kidnaps her readers away into every day-Ness but then whisks it into a frenzy that is relatable and in this case eccentric. She invites you into worlds that are bubbling away with activity under the surface and filled with intricate electric emotion and detail. This is definitely one worth allowing yourself to be whisked away into.
]]> In Watermelon Sugar 961585 166 Richard Brautigan 0440340268 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.93 1968 In Watermelon Sugar
author: Richard Brautigan
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1968
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Misalliance (Vintage Contemporaries)]]> 548388 208 Anita Brookner 1400095220 Jewels-PiXie 4 It's immediately wryly comical in that, the protagonist, Blanche, describes herself as almost a widow. When, in fact, her husband has left her for another woman. It gives us an instant insight into the fairly black comedic humour she has about the situation. The people that surround Blanche in her life, are all quite like visitors coming and going with very minimal constancy.
Bertie, her husband still drops by regularly, to which she has become accustomed and is always somewhat prepared for.
During her voluntary work at the hospital she becomes drawn to a little girl and her mother. And she begins to involve herself in their lives. Blanch has a spinsterish lifestyle and their inclusion adds some variation to her life while adding to her, already, dutiful life, and from this the misalliance is born.
Blanche, quite, naively and with much sincerity seems to think that her entrance into their lives will allow her to better their lives. She frequently gives them money and is drawn into the quite disorderly life the mother, Sally, leads. Because all we see is how their lives are when Blanche enters to attempt to create order. She feels like Sally and her daughter, who doesn't speak, need saving and that the vacancy appears to be open for her to do it.
But she doesn't counter in the possibility that some people may seem like they need help, but may exist on the drama of their situation. So she very dedicatedly puts her efforts into fixing their situation.
As she doesn't work , Blanche spends a lot of time in the National Gallery , and often regards the characters in the paintings interchangeable with people she meets in real life, projecting her understanding of the characters on to real people.
Brookner's writing contains imagery that will quite often completely set your stomach dropping and take your breath away. 'as the sun made a brief appearance, the over-painted lips smiled, revealing the ghosts of girls long gone'.
Blanche appears to be someone who commits to what she sets her mind to. It's also quite comical when she talks about how she discovered by means of her own experimentation, the exact level of conversation that was tolerable to her husband when they were together, forfeiting her own essence and sense of self. It's also sad, and relatable for some, that an intelligent woman feels forced to fashion her personality type by dumbing it down to suit her husband and his friends.
It is only when Sally lays the full force of her dependence onto Blanche, by asking her for an awkward and fairly inappropriate favour, that the weight of this burden becomes too much.
In the face of feeling a sense of duty to complete the task and a really horrible and extremely palpable headache that renders her bedbound: Blanche begins to think about escape and how she really doesn't have any true ties to keep her where she is. We feel the sense of freedom this brings. And we also see how, in life, we may find ourselves misaligned with many people, all pieces of a jigsaw, that don't quite fit together. Where some may be lost pieces waiting for their co-piece to be found again.
In the wake of a possibility of freedom, will Blanche liberate herself or will a further misalliance appear to throw things into disorder. Will she embrace the idea of a new found freedom of reality in her Spinsterish life, or will end be put to it, in the guise of a new beginning.
This is a really compelling read by Brookner, who writes about single women, so very fastidiously and with intricate diligence. Her description of Blanche's headache lasts a few pages and is so incredibly tangible, it really draws us in to the hellish and debilitating experience it is. It also takes us to a place where physical circumstances can very much create physiological pain.
The pace is intense and tightly bound, slightly less feverishly so than Look At Me. Brookner takes you so deeply and intimately into the psyche's of her female protagonists that at times it is uncomfortably claustrophobic and so that when she takes us into a headache that lasts pages/days the effect is like a blistering implosion, such is the power of her writing.
This is my third book by Brookner and a paper trail I will continue to follow. Her articulation of spinsterish women is original, fascinating and riveting.]]> 3.74 1986 A Misalliance (Vintage Contemporaries)
author: Anita Brookner
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1986
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/14
date added: 2021/08/16
shelves:
review:
Furthering my quest to read about spinsters and hoping to come across those who don't conform to the usual stereotype, I came across A Misalliance.
It's immediately wryly comical in that, the protagonist, Blanche, describes herself as almost a widow. When, in fact, her husband has left her for another woman. It gives us an instant insight into the fairly black comedic humour she has about the situation. The people that surround Blanche in her life, are all quite like visitors coming and going with very minimal constancy.
Bertie, her husband still drops by regularly, to which she has become accustomed and is always somewhat prepared for.
During her voluntary work at the hospital she becomes drawn to a little girl and her mother. And she begins to involve herself in their lives. Blanch has a spinsterish lifestyle and their inclusion adds some variation to her life while adding to her, already, dutiful life, and from this the misalliance is born.
Blanche, quite, naively and with much sincerity seems to think that her entrance into their lives will allow her to better their lives. She frequently gives them money and is drawn into the quite disorderly life the mother, Sally, leads. Because all we see is how their lives are when Blanche enters to attempt to create order. She feels like Sally and her daughter, who doesn't speak, need saving and that the vacancy appears to be open for her to do it.
But she doesn't counter in the possibility that some people may seem like they need help, but may exist on the drama of their situation. So she very dedicatedly puts her efforts into fixing their situation.
As she doesn't work , Blanche spends a lot of time in the National Gallery , and often regards the characters in the paintings interchangeable with people she meets in real life, projecting her understanding of the characters on to real people.
Brookner's writing contains imagery that will quite often completely set your stomach dropping and take your breath away. 'as the sun made a brief appearance, the over-painted lips smiled, revealing the ghosts of girls long gone'.
Blanche appears to be someone who commits to what she sets her mind to. It's also quite comical when she talks about how she discovered by means of her own experimentation, the exact level of conversation that was tolerable to her husband when they were together, forfeiting her own essence and sense of self. It's also sad, and relatable for some, that an intelligent woman feels forced to fashion her personality type by dumbing it down to suit her husband and his friends.
It is only when Sally lays the full force of her dependence onto Blanche, by asking her for an awkward and fairly inappropriate favour, that the weight of this burden becomes too much.
In the face of feeling a sense of duty to complete the task and a really horrible and extremely palpable headache that renders her bedbound: Blanche begins to think about escape and how she really doesn't have any true ties to keep her where she is. We feel the sense of freedom this brings. And we also see how, in life, we may find ourselves misaligned with many people, all pieces of a jigsaw, that don't quite fit together. Where some may be lost pieces waiting for their co-piece to be found again.
In the wake of a possibility of freedom, will Blanche liberate herself or will a further misalliance appear to throw things into disorder. Will she embrace the idea of a new found freedom of reality in her Spinsterish life, or will end be put to it, in the guise of a new beginning.
This is a really compelling read by Brookner, who writes about single women, so very fastidiously and with intricate diligence. Her description of Blanche's headache lasts a few pages and is so incredibly tangible, it really draws us in to the hellish and debilitating experience it is. It also takes us to a place where physical circumstances can very much create physiological pain.
The pace is intense and tightly bound, slightly less feverishly so than Look At Me. Brookner takes you so deeply and intimately into the psyche's of her female protagonists that at times it is uncomfortably claustrophobic and so that when she takes us into a headache that lasts pages/days the effect is like a blistering implosion, such is the power of her writing.
This is my third book by Brookner and a paper trail I will continue to follow. Her articulation of spinsterish women is original, fascinating and riveting.
]]> Fraud 393483
As Brookner reconstructs Anna's life and character through the eyes of her acquaintances, she gives us a witty yet ultimately devastating study of self-annihilating virtue while exposing the social, fiscal, and moral frauds that are the underpinnings of terrifying rectitude.]]> 224 Anita Brookner 0140176500 Jewels-PiXie 3 Anna Durrant has spent many years nursing her sick mother until she finally passes on.
The first action she takes that surprises those who know her, is to sell the former home and buy a new flat of her own. It seems her friends and acquaintances think this is too bold a move than what they expect from her.
The book opens by Anna being declared missing and then subsequently we follow Anna's actions that have led up to this point, and also her Doctor and friend, Dr Halliday, and Mrs Marsh.
Anna is a person who has been bound by duty, to help others out, but it seems that she is scorned for this and very readily written off as 'too spinsterish'. Her capabilities are seen as very limited by the people who know her, and they really don't seem to like her very much. Mrs Marsh only really contacts Anna when she is need of something, and Anna, being bound by her sense of duty, can always be relied upon. She feels overlooked 'a spinster who no one would think of to compliment'.
We see that Mrs Marsh is struggling with her own state of being, she be becomes increasingly obsessed with the idea of her own death and some of her thoughts are wry and comical. She attempts to set up her own son, who she holds in the greatest esteem, with Anna, at one point. But it doesn't go to plan and she is banged to rights by her son and Mrs Marsh then reprimands herself for introducing, she sees as very plain to her prized possession, Nick.
Fraud has a very sombre tone and has quite an orderly fashion, which suits Anna's character.
We wonder throughout what circumstances have led to Anna's disappearance. Particularly since those who have appeared to have some constancy in her life feel that something so out of the ordinary could happen to her. Mrs Marsh has some moments of mild guilt which aren't very absorbing. And we do very quickly see that Anna has been surrounded by people who really don't care about her very much. And Anna isn't naive to this, she is perceptive about it but she overlooks these things and stays faithful to her acts of duty.
She allows herself to be whisked away by fantasies about being in different countries and the freedom of these fantasies makes her feel liberated and it also reveals a side of her that others are oblivious of and that takes her away from being seen as sitting loyally at a wheel spinning.
We are invited into a romance that could have been and the inner thoughts of Anna and the person involved, and we see how they quite probably would work together as a couple.
What we steadily begin to see is that everyone is a Fraud, who we really only understand at a surface level. We all have our masks that we show to each other and the world. And in Fraud, we see quite frequently that there doesn't seem to be a desire to delve into a deeper understanding of each other. And even when one appears to be there, it is kept tightly hidden away. So Anna is under the guise of Spinster and that is her mask, and the only one her acquaintances seem to want to accept of her.
The undercurrent of wondering where Anna has gone to, whether she's been taken or whether she has taken it upon herself to escape, is tightly bound up in the background.
And the discovery of how and why the disappearance happened is revealed to us and answers my question about whether a spinster is simply bound to spinning at their wheel or whether they are so much more that.
I didn't enjoy this as much as the feverishly written Look At Me, but it is an altogether different animal and another exploration of a Spinster and her journey, and that, I like very much.
An enthralling read that feels incredibly mortal. ]]> 3.76 1992 Fraud
author: Anita Brookner
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 2021/07/31
date added: 2021/08/01
shelves:
review:
On my continuing quest to read about Spinsters and how often, in fiction, they break free from the stereotypical mould, I came across Fraud.
Anna Durrant has spent many years nursing her sick mother until she finally passes on.
The first action she takes that surprises those who know her, is to sell the former home and buy a new flat of her own. It seems her friends and acquaintances think this is too bold a move than what they expect from her.
The book opens by Anna being declared missing and then subsequently we follow Anna's actions that have led up to this point, and also her Doctor and friend, Dr Halliday, and Mrs Marsh.
Anna is a person who has been bound by duty, to help others out, but it seems that she is scorned for this and very readily written off as 'too spinsterish'. Her capabilities are seen as very limited by the people who know her, and they really don't seem to like her very much. Mrs Marsh only really contacts Anna when she is need of something, and Anna, being bound by her sense of duty, can always be relied upon. She feels overlooked 'a spinster who no one would think of to compliment'.
We see that Mrs Marsh is struggling with her own state of being, she be becomes increasingly obsessed with the idea of her own death and some of her thoughts are wry and comical. She attempts to set up her own son, who she holds in the greatest esteem, with Anna, at one point. But it doesn't go to plan and she is banged to rights by her son and Mrs Marsh then reprimands herself for introducing, she sees as very plain to her prized possession, Nick.
Fraud has a very sombre tone and has quite an orderly fashion, which suits Anna's character.
We wonder throughout what circumstances have led to Anna's disappearance. Particularly since those who have appeared to have some constancy in her life feel that something so out of the ordinary could happen to her. Mrs Marsh has some moments of mild guilt which aren't very absorbing. And we do very quickly see that Anna has been surrounded by people who really don't care about her very much. And Anna isn't naive to this, she is perceptive about it but she overlooks these things and stays faithful to her acts of duty.
She allows herself to be whisked away by fantasies about being in different countries and the freedom of these fantasies makes her feel liberated and it also reveals a side of her that others are oblivious of and that takes her away from being seen as sitting loyally at a wheel spinning.
We are invited into a romance that could have been and the inner thoughts of Anna and the person involved, and we see how they quite probably would work together as a couple.
What we steadily begin to see is that everyone is a Fraud, who we really only understand at a surface level. We all have our masks that we show to each other and the world. And in Fraud, we see quite frequently that there doesn't seem to be a desire to delve into a deeper understanding of each other. And even when one appears to be there, it is kept tightly hidden away. So Anna is under the guise of Spinster and that is her mask, and the only one her acquaintances seem to want to accept of her.
The undercurrent of wondering where Anna has gone to, whether she's been taken or whether she has taken it upon herself to escape, is tightly bound up in the background.
And the discovery of how and why the disappearance happened is revealed to us and answers my question about whether a spinster is simply bound to spinning at their wheel or whether they are so much more that.
I didn't enjoy this as much as the feverishly written Look At Me, but it is an altogether different animal and another exploration of a Spinster and her journey, and that, I like very much.
An enthralling read that feels incredibly mortal.
]]> <![CDATA[Until the Real Thing Comes Along]]> 127394 282 Elizabeth Berg 009945176X Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.55 1999 Until the Real Thing Comes Along
author: Elizabeth Berg
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.55
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Three 362210 143 Ann Quin 1564782727 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.93 1966 Three
author: Ann Quin
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Beginning of Spring 108620
"They ought either to be quieter or more noisy than before," their father thinks, "and it was disconcerting that they seemed to be exactly the same." Frank's routines, however, drift into disorder as he tries desperately to take charge of life at home and work. Even his printing plant is suddenly confronted by the specters of modernization and utter instability.

In Penelope Fitzgerald's fiction, affection and remorse are all too often allied, and desire and design seem never to meet. Frank wants little more than a quiet, confident life - something for which he is deeply unsuited, and which Russia certainly will not go out of her way to provide.

'The Beginning of Spring' is filled with echoes of past wrongs and whispers of the revolution to come, even if the author evokes these with abrupt comic brio. (In one disturbance, "A great many shots had hit people for whom they were not intended.")

As ever, Fitzgerald makes us care for - and want to know ever more about - her characters, even the minor players. Her two-page description of Frank's chief type compositor, for instance, is a miracle of precision and humor, sympathy and mystery. And the accountant Selwyn Crane - a Tolstoy devotée, self-published poet, and expert at making others feel guilty -is a sublime creation. His appetite for do-gooding is insatiable.

After one fit of apparent altriusm, "Selwyn subsided. Now that he saw everything was going well, his mind was turning to his next charitable enterprise. With the terrible aimlessness of the benevolent, he was casting round for a new misfortune." As she evokes her household of tears and laughter, Fitzgerald's prose is as witty as ever, rendering the past present and the modern timeless. - Kerry Fried]]> 188 Penelope Fitzgerald 0006543707 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.69 1988 The Beginning of Spring
author: Penelope Fitzgerald
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A View of the Harbour 1022957 Librarian's note: Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781844083220.

In the faded coastal village of Newby, everyone looks out for - and in on - each other, and beneath the deceptively sleepy exterior, passions run high. Beautiful divorcee Tory is painfully involved with her neighbour, Robert, while his wife Beth, Tory's best friend, is consumed by the worlds she creates in her novels, oblivious to the relationship developing next door. Their daughter Prudence is aware, however, and is appalled by the treachery she observes. Mrs Bracey, an invalid whose grasp on life is slipping, forever peers from her window, constantly prodding her daughters for news of the outside world. And Lily Wilson, a lonely young widow, is frightened of her own home. Into their lives steps Bertram, a retired naval officer with the unfortunate capacity to inflict lasting damage while trying to do good.]]> 313 Elizabeth Taylor Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.85 1947 A View of the Harbour
author: Elizabeth Taylor
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1947
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Look at Me 84512 192 Anita Brookner 0140147454 Jewels-PiXie 4 favourite-reads Look At Me is an absolutely riveting novel. Frances (who hates to be called Fanny, she tells us immediately) works in a library as an archivist. Her mother has died and she is very well off, living in a large flat with many rooms in a nice part of London. She admits to herself that her life is dull and she delays going home to her flat where the routine is quite suffocating her. The family maid still lives there and tends to her. But Frances describes this in a fairly nauseating way. That she is served the same unimaginative meals her mother was served on her deathbed and out of a, sense of duty, she eats them without complaining. She is an aspiring novelist, a talent her mother encouraged and we really do get a sense of this because we are drawn in, to look at people and surroundings, as if through a microscope, with all the minutae.
Immediately upon being introduced to Frances, we get a sense of someone who, although reclusive and introspective, is quite commanding. She does repeatedly throughout the novel say 'look at me'.
She does seem to feel as unnoticed as many of the old ornaments that inhabit her flat.,except for her own observational eye.
This is until she is swept up by seemingly perfect and dazzling couple Nick and Alix Fraser. We have all known people like this, those that are louder and more demanding attention of others, always having some kind of party just for themselves and whatever lucky people they invite into their seemingly glittering net of faux charisma.
Frances begins to really come alive in the glow they shine upon her. We feel the skip in her step and the lightness in her heart as she begins to feel a new window has been thrown open into a world of possibilities. We also feel her angst and anxiety at wanting to please her new friends, to justify her being asked to join their company.
Even though Alix is quite scathing, calls Frances 'little orphan Fanny' to which Frances relents, and is frequently mocked by Alix's sharp and cruel tongue. But Frances is prepared to pay this price to stay in this fizzy glow of liveliness. And through the couple meets James, who she seems quite confused about and Alix orders Frances to end the relationship if she's not in love with him. It's only at this point that Frances begins to allow Alix's nastiness to fully take form in her observation. And Frances makes lots of observations, all of which are collecting in her notebook for her novel. Nick seems to take more of a passive backseat, pandering to Alix's desires and bad behaviour. When it appears that Alix is discarding Frances, like a toy she's grown bored of. Frances feels desperately and savagely unhappy and cast out. Particularly as it seems Alix has been responsible for interfering in Frances and James relationship.
The whole book is written very feverishly and addictively, frantically and the momentum builds.
Frances admits to having 'murderous' thoughts about the couple all set against a backdrop of a dark and menacing walk home through a London park, where her footsteps reverberate through us. It feels like revenge is afoot while her passion is so fierce. And we wonder exactly how this will be carried out as a result of being so shamefully discarded.
What is truly brilliant about this novel is how relatable it will be to many. How many of us have longed to be part of the cool crowd, when those cool people have turned out to be mean and uncharitable. We all really want to be liked and in our own way are saying 'Look at me' as we want to be noticed . So the emotions that drive this are very authentic and recognisable.
The intensity with which Frances longs to be part of this popularity bubble is so palpable and painfully desperate.
I won't tell you how the situation resolves itself but will let Frances do this in her own meticulous and ever observant way.
An extremely addictive, fanatic and compelling novel that will leave you ravenous for more by Brooker.]]> 3.95 1983 Look at Me
author: Anita Brookner
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/18
date added: 2021/07/19
shelves: favourite-reads
review:
On my continued quest to read about Spinsters and to see what's beneath the stereotypes that have typically defined them, I stumbled across this intoxicating novel.
Look At Me is an absolutely riveting novel. Frances (who hates to be called Fanny, she tells us immediately) works in a library as an archivist. Her mother has died and she is very well off, living in a large flat with many rooms in a nice part of London. She admits to herself that her life is dull and she delays going home to her flat where the routine is quite suffocating her. The family maid still lives there and tends to her. But Frances describes this in a fairly nauseating way. That she is served the same unimaginative meals her mother was served on her deathbed and out of a, sense of duty, she eats them without complaining. She is an aspiring novelist, a talent her mother encouraged and we really do get a sense of this because we are drawn in, to look at people and surroundings, as if through a microscope, with all the minutae.
Immediately upon being introduced to Frances, we get a sense of someone who, although reclusive and introspective, is quite commanding. She does repeatedly throughout the novel say 'look at me'.
She does seem to feel as unnoticed as many of the old ornaments that inhabit her flat.,except for her own observational eye.
This is until she is swept up by seemingly perfect and dazzling couple Nick and Alix Fraser. We have all known people like this, those that are louder and more demanding attention of others, always having some kind of party just for themselves and whatever lucky people they invite into their seemingly glittering net of faux charisma.
Frances begins to really come alive in the glow they shine upon her. We feel the skip in her step and the lightness in her heart as she begins to feel a new window has been thrown open into a world of possibilities. We also feel her angst and anxiety at wanting to please her new friends, to justify her being asked to join their company.
Even though Alix is quite scathing, calls Frances 'little orphan Fanny' to which Frances relents, and is frequently mocked by Alix's sharp and cruel tongue. But Frances is prepared to pay this price to stay in this fizzy glow of liveliness. And through the couple meets James, who she seems quite confused about and Alix orders Frances to end the relationship if she's not in love with him. It's only at this point that Frances begins to allow Alix's nastiness to fully take form in her observation. And Frances makes lots of observations, all of which are collecting in her notebook for her novel. Nick seems to take more of a passive backseat, pandering to Alix's desires and bad behaviour. When it appears that Alix is discarding Frances, like a toy she's grown bored of. Frances feels desperately and savagely unhappy and cast out. Particularly as it seems Alix has been responsible for interfering in Frances and James relationship.
The whole book is written very feverishly and addictively, frantically and the momentum builds.
Frances admits to having 'murderous' thoughts about the couple all set against a backdrop of a dark and menacing walk home through a London park, where her footsteps reverberate through us. It feels like revenge is afoot while her passion is so fierce. And we wonder exactly how this will be carried out as a result of being so shamefully discarded.
What is truly brilliant about this novel is how relatable it will be to many. How many of us have longed to be part of the cool crowd, when those cool people have turned out to be mean and uncharitable. We all really want to be liked and in our own way are saying 'Look at me' as we want to be noticed . So the emotions that drive this are very authentic and recognisable.
The intensity with which Frances longs to be part of this popularity bubble is so palpable and painfully desperate.
I won't tell you how the situation resolves itself but will let Frances do this in her own meticulous and ever observant way.
An extremely addictive, fanatic and compelling novel that will leave you ravenous for more by Brooker.
]]> Summer Will Show 958670 An alternative cover for this edition can be found here

Sophia Willoughby, a young Englishwoman from an aristocratic family and a person of strong opinions and even stronger will, has packed her cheating husband off to Paris. He can have his tawdry mistress. She intends to devote herself to the serious business of raising her two children in proper Tory fashion.

Then tragedy strikes: the children die, and Sophia, in despair, finds her way to Paris, arriving just in time for the revolution of 1848. Before long she has formed the unlikeliest of close relations with Minna, her husband’s sometime mistress, whose dramatic recitations, based on her hair-raising childhood in czarist Russia, electrify audiences in drawing rooms and on the street alike. Minna, “magnanimous and unscrupulous, fickle, ardent, and interfering,” leads Sophia on a wild adventure through bohemian and revolutionary Paris, in a story that reaches an unforgettable conclusion amidst the bullets, bloodshed, and hope of the barricades.

Sylvia Townsend Warner was one of the most original and inventive of twentieth-century English novelists. At once an adventure story, a love story, and a novel of ideas, Summer Will Show is a brilliant reimagining of the possibilities of historical fiction.

]]> 406 Sylvia Townsend Warner 0140161767 Jewels-PiXie 3 Sophia Willoughby is the Lady of an affluent estate and her husband is a philanderer, buzzing from woman to woman until he tires of them. Sophia decides to tell him not to return from Paris, where he has an on again, off again mistress.
Sophia is a very practical, and quite hard woman, keeping her children at quite an arms length. When they catch smallpox and ultimately die from the disease, her emotions are quite detached but also seem ever so slightly delirious. She does feel quite at a loss as to what to do next. She has sent away her Uncle's mixed race son to a boarding school and has no real duties to speak of, than keeping the house in order. In a state that I think comes across as a kind of mania, the kind that brings a sense of clarity, Sophia decides to travel to Paris to ask her estranged husband Frederick for another child.
However when she gets there, she becomes captivated by Frederick's mistress, Minna. Minna has a talent for recounting stories of adventure from her childhood, that keep her audience rapt as if they were fairytales. When we first meet Minna, we do listen for a substantial amount of time to one of her stories and I've questioned whether it was superfluous or if we needed it, in the hope to become enchanted as others seemingly are. STW's comparisons on Minna to a cat reveal her kindred spirit with kitty cats ,which always feels very real and as if she has a special talent for truly knowing what they are thinking.
Sophia and Minna instantly form a very powerful bond. As their relationship is explored, we see how they each give the other independence and the freedom to spread their own wings. Minna draws Sophia into the French revolution of 1848 and when we first enter these scenes of unrest, even though we are told we are in the middle of them, it feels like we are not immersed and instead, are removed. It's interesting though to see how Sophia explores her ideas of politics throughout the book and the quite down to earth way she approaches the subject.
Sylvia Townsend-Warner always offers a view that I believe is feminist at it's core, where we look at the obstacles women have to overcome, no matter their class. Sophia is cut off financially by Frederick and has to look for other ways to survive.
And ultimately Summer Will Show offers the kind of freedom we find in much of her work. In SWS it is found through a liberation of the mind and it's values and becoming involved in the revolution as a bigger thing but also of oneself.
And amidst all of this we have the backdrop of an enduring and mutually respectful love affair.
But, I found many moments where I felt like I was drifting, because the novel was drifting and sending me away from being compelled by it.
But the recognisable bones of STW's incomparable, beatific writing is there and constant throughout, breathtaking as ever.]]> 3.59 1936 Summer Will Show
author: Sylvia Townsend Warner
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1936
rating: 3
read at: 2021/07/10
date added: 2021/07/12
shelves:
review:
Summer Will Show left me feeling decidedly underwhelmed, mostly because I hold very high expectations for work by the remarkable Sylvia Townsend-Warner. But here we have her unmistakable essence, however it is diluted and spread out in such a way that no real momentum gathers.
Sophia Willoughby is the Lady of an affluent estate and her husband is a philanderer, buzzing from woman to woman until he tires of them. Sophia decides to tell him not to return from Paris, where he has an on again, off again mistress.
Sophia is a very practical, and quite hard woman, keeping her children at quite an arms length. When they catch smallpox and ultimately die from the disease, her emotions are quite detached but also seem ever so slightly delirious. She does feel quite at a loss as to what to do next. She has sent away her Uncle's mixed race son to a boarding school and has no real duties to speak of, than keeping the house in order. In a state that I think comes across as a kind of mania, the kind that brings a sense of clarity, Sophia decides to travel to Paris to ask her estranged husband Frederick for another child.
However when she gets there, she becomes captivated by Frederick's mistress, Minna. Minna has a talent for recounting stories of adventure from her childhood, that keep her audience rapt as if they were fairytales. When we first meet Minna, we do listen for a substantial amount of time to one of her stories and I've questioned whether it was superfluous or if we needed it, in the hope to become enchanted as others seemingly are. STW's comparisons on Minna to a cat reveal her kindred spirit with kitty cats ,which always feels very real and as if she has a special talent for truly knowing what they are thinking.
Sophia and Minna instantly form a very powerful bond. As their relationship is explored, we see how they each give the other independence and the freedom to spread their own wings. Minna draws Sophia into the French revolution of 1848 and when we first enter these scenes of unrest, even though we are told we are in the middle of them, it feels like we are not immersed and instead, are removed. It's interesting though to see how Sophia explores her ideas of politics throughout the book and the quite down to earth way she approaches the subject.
Sylvia Townsend-Warner always offers a view that I believe is feminist at it's core, where we look at the obstacles women have to overcome, no matter their class. Sophia is cut off financially by Frederick and has to look for other ways to survive.
And ultimately Summer Will Show offers the kind of freedom we find in much of her work. In SWS it is found through a liberation of the mind and it's values and becoming involved in the revolution as a bigger thing but also of oneself.
And amidst all of this we have the backdrop of an enduring and mutually respectful love affair.
But, I found many moments where I felt like I was drifting, because the novel was drifting and sending me away from being compelled by it.
But the recognisable bones of STW's incomparable, beatific writing is there and constant throughout, breathtaking as ever.
]]> Miss Plum and Miss Penny 6388970 253 Dorothy Evelyn Smith Jewels-PiXie 4 to-read, favourite-reads On the morning of her 40th Birthday, Alison Penny happens to see and save Victoria Plum trying to drown herself in a duck pond. This does conjure up a comical vision that seems quite pathetic and tragicomic. Miss Penny takes it upon herself to give Miss Plum a home where she will convalesce. Her wish is that she will help Victoria Plum get strong enough to deal with the world again.
However it turns out to be a testing endeavour when Miss Plum seems all to happy to be cared for and grows comfortable in what is supposed to be her temporary home. Ultimately she outstays her welcome, and frustratingly, for Alison Penny, her male friends, who had originally advised casting Miss Plum back into the world as soon as possible, take a fond liking to her and are quite charmed by her. This leaves Alison feeling quite unsupported, except by her housekeeper, Ada.
There is a recurring theme where the male characters, friends of Miss Penny, imagine themselves married to Alison, this then switches to Miss Plum and some brief meanderings of thought to their housekeepers. It seems too, that a strong message is an under or overcurrent, that some women do need saving, by marriage, but others are altogether happy without it, and have lots of social events that they are perfectly happy with going to alone ,such as the women's institute, thank you very much.
And where the reality of being married is nothing in comparison to nostalgia about past relationships, kissed goodbye to, but held golden by our own imagination.
And as it's the male characters who are constantly courting these imaginings, we start to wonder if it's them who really are looking for a woman to save them and not vice versa.
When Miss Plum suddenly goes missing, we wonder, just who, if anyone, will rescue her.
It's very atmospheric, mostly set in winter and we feel the glassy iciness of the atmosphere.
This book has a heartbeat and makes every home and person in it truly come to life. It's subtley quirky and explores very human inclinations, such as when can a good deed reach it's expiration date. And does it really matter how we appear when we feel the expiration date has arrived, how will we appear to others and what is considered meeting society's niceties. We also frequently access the very imaginings of each character which make us feel closer to them.
And so on my quest to read about subversive spinsters, this proved to be a thoroughly entertaining and engrossing meandering.]]> 3.69 1959 Miss Plum and Miss Penny
author: Dorothy Evelyn Smith
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1959
rating: 4
read at: 2021/06/05
date added: 2021/06/05
shelves: to-read, favourite-reads
review:
Miss Plum And Miss Penny is an incredibly charming and enchanting read. Furthering my quest to read books about Spinsters and most of all, to find those who don't need to be saved by marriage, this is a wonderful take on spinsterhood being embraced.
On the morning of her 40th Birthday, Alison Penny happens to see and save Victoria Plum trying to drown herself in a duck pond. This does conjure up a comical vision that seems quite pathetic and tragicomic. Miss Penny takes it upon herself to give Miss Plum a home where she will convalesce. Her wish is that she will help Victoria Plum get strong enough to deal with the world again.
However it turns out to be a testing endeavour when Miss Plum seems all to happy to be cared for and grows comfortable in what is supposed to be her temporary home. Ultimately she outstays her welcome, and frustratingly, for Alison Penny, her male friends, who had originally advised casting Miss Plum back into the world as soon as possible, take a fond liking to her and are quite charmed by her. This leaves Alison feeling quite unsupported, except by her housekeeper, Ada.
There is a recurring theme where the male characters, friends of Miss Penny, imagine themselves married to Alison, this then switches to Miss Plum and some brief meanderings of thought to their housekeepers. It seems too, that a strong message is an under or overcurrent, that some women do need saving, by marriage, but others are altogether happy without it, and have lots of social events that they are perfectly happy with going to alone ,such as the women's institute, thank you very much.
And where the reality of being married is nothing in comparison to nostalgia about past relationships, kissed goodbye to, but held golden by our own imagination.
And as it's the male characters who are constantly courting these imaginings, we start to wonder if it's them who really are looking for a woman to save them and not vice versa.
When Miss Plum suddenly goes missing, we wonder, just who, if anyone, will rescue her.
It's very atmospheric, mostly set in winter and we feel the glassy iciness of the atmosphere.
This book has a heartbeat and makes every home and person in it truly come to life. It's subtley quirky and explores very human inclinations, such as when can a good deed reach it's expiration date. And does it really matter how we appear when we feel the expiration date has arrived, how will we appear to others and what is considered meeting society's niceties. We also frequently access the very imaginings of each character which make us feel closer to them.
And so on my quest to read about subversive spinsters, this proved to be a thoroughly entertaining and engrossing meandering.
]]> <![CDATA[Miss Winbolt and the Fortune Hunter]]> 9802154
But Emily is an heiress, and her rescuer none other than Sir William Ashenden, a man of some distinction. He needs to marry, and she yearns to believe that William wants plain, upright, suddenly reckless Emily—not for her fortune, but for herself….]]> Sylvia Andrew 0373306091 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.32 2008 Miss Winbolt and the Fortune Hunter
author: Sylvia Andrew
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Thirty-Two Going on Spinster (Spinster #1)]]> 18133199
With the arrival of Jared Moody, the new hire at work, Julia’s mundane life is suddenly turned upside down. Her instant (and totally ridiculous) crush on the new guy causes Julia to finally make some long-overdue changes, in hopes to find a life that includes more than baking and hanging out with Charlie.

But when the biggest and most unexpected change comes, will the new and improved Julia be able to overcome it? Or will she go back to her spinster ways?]]> 285 Becky Monson Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.72 2012 Thirty-Two Going on Spinster (Spinster #1)
author: Becky Monson
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Proud Citadel 25486401 318 Dorothy Evelyn Smith Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 4.20 1947 Proud Citadel
author: Dorothy Evelyn Smith
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1947
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> All Done by Kindness 50249283 “There are some embroidered waistcoats . . . They are very old. A museum might be glad of them. . . . There are some pictures too,” Mrs. Hovenden brought out with a fresh effort, “oil paintings that were in the rector’s family.”

The kindness of Dr George Sandilands towards an elderly patient, and her insistence on repaying him with the detritus of her attic, sets in motion a comedy of errors that rocks the art world. Dr Sandilands finally accepts a stack of begrimed paintings, to the horror of his eldest daughter, a stern housekeeper. But his younger daughter is prepared to be swept up in the romance of old treasures, and her boss, an amateur art connoisseur, develops a theory about the artworks and clings to it like a dog with a bone. Enter an art expert who’s not above some shady maneuvers, his adoring secretary, the director of the local art museum, and a sleazy London dealer.

Doris Langley Moore has packed her unpredictable, compulsively readable plot with subtlety, wit, and insight, and with an array of characters both lovable and so delectably nefarious that they’re begging for their just deserts. All Done by Kindness is a rollicking masterpiece of tight plotting and unexpected machinations. This new edition features an introduction by Sir Roy Strong.]]> 246 Doris Langley Moore Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.95 1951 All Done by Kindness
author: Doris Langley Moore
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1951
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Winter Away 34115770 “My last secretary was thirty-five,” old M. said gloomily, “and no more sense than a child of ten. Or else she wasn’t all there. You all there?” he asked suddenly, giving Maud a searching look. “No banging your head on the table? No throwing the china at me? Hey?”

Young Maud has made her escape from an overbearing stepmother and come to stay with her cousin Alice and Alice’s companion Miss Conway in the countryside. Alice and “Con” have arranged a job for her as secretary to Mr Feniston, an eccentric and intimidating neighbor who seems to have driven his previous secretary to a nervous breakdown.

In between cataloguing Mr Feniston’s library, dodging his temper, and encounters, awkward and intriguing in turn, with his son and an alienated nephew, Maud finds herself involved with local eccentricities and dramas, including a “secret” romance which has everyone talking. She may never be the same after this winter away!

Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair’s irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.

“Miss Fair’s understanding is deeper than Mrs. Thirkell’s and her humour is untouched by snobbishness; she is much nearer to Trollope, grand master in these matters.”--Stevie Smith

“Miss Fair makes writing look very easy, and that is the measure of her creative ability.”--Compton Mackenzie]]> 235 Elizabeth Fair Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.84 1957 A Winter Away
author: Elizabeth Fair
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1957
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Excellent Women 178565 Excellent Women has at its center Mildred Lathbury, a clergyman’s daughter and a mild-mannered spinster in 1950s England. She is one of those “excellent women,” the smart, supportive, repressed women who men take for granted. As Mildred gets embroiled in the lives of her new neighbors—anthropologist Helena Napier and her handsome, dashing husband, Rocky, and Julian Malory, the vicar next door—the novel presents a series of snapshots of human life as actually, and pluckily, lived in a vanishing world of manners and repressed desires.]]> 231 Barbara Pym 014310487X Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.90 1952 Excellent Women
author: Barbara Pym
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1952
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Our Spoons Came from Woolworths]]> 1818286 Our Spoons Came from Woolworths. But Barbara Comyns’s beguiling novel is far from tragic, despite the harrowing ordeals its heroine endures.

Sophia is twenty-one and naïve when she marries fellow artist Charles. She seems hardly fonder of her husband than she is of her pet newt; she can’t keep house (everything she cooks tastes of soap); and she mistakes morning sickness for the aftereffects of a bad batch of strawberries. England is in the middle of the Great Depression, and the money Sophia makes from the occasional modeling gig doesn’t make up for her husband’s indifference to paying the rent. Predictably, the marriage falters; not so predictably, Sophia’s artlessness will be the very thing that turns her life around.]]> 223 Barbara Comyns 0860683532 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.85 1950 Our Spoons Came from Woolworths
author: Barbara Comyns
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1950
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead]]> 1785957 193 Barbara Comyns 0984469311 Jewels-PiXie 0 to-read 3.81 1954 Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead
author: Barbara Comyns
name: Jewels-PiXie
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1954
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>