I'm Dreaming of a Grey Christmas - Persephone Presents

Well what could be in those pretty, ribbon wrapped packages?


Why it's my Persephone Christmas gift, for the 'I'm dreaming of a grey Christmas' swap! (sorry there was too much glare with the flash on so I had to settle for this low tech picture, as it gets dark at about four o'clock here). I'm so excited to have my first Persephone books from this great UK company that reprints fiction from female writers who have unfortunately been forgotten.

Courtesy of Thomas at 'My Porch' I'm now the happy owner of 'Miss Buncle's Book' by D E Stevenson and 'The Hopkins Manuscript' by R C Sherriff and two very cute bookmarks, using the same prints as the books endpapers :) The first book sounds like a humourous, comfort read which is kind of what I associate Persephone books with and the second sounds like an old sci-fi/dysotopian novel, about what would happen if the moon crashed into the Earth.

I gushed like a proper book fangirl at Thomas' blog, but I just want to say thanks to him again, for such a generous gift (and he tells me there's something else on the way). I hope my own secret santa recipient likes their gift as much as I like mine.

New Books and Boots!

I might have mentioned I was thinking of breaking my book buying ban and I guess the picture above will give you a clue that I have done so. Aren't the just gorgeous looking? There's a nice mix of YA and adult in my pile:

'Silver Phoenix' - Cindy Pon: Fantasy about a girl no one wants to marry, who goes a questing to save her father.

'The Day the Falls Stood Still' - Cathy Marie Buchanan: Candian fiction, recommended by 'A Work in Progress' and it came up when I searched Amazon for 'Dance Night'. Hope it has a similarly great writing style.

'The City and the City' - China Melville: This sounds like dangerous mix of crime and sci-fi, which critics are mentioning in their 'Great for Christmas' lists

'The Women of Nell Gywnnes' - Kage Baker: I understand this to be a kind of steampunk novel about a notorious brothel, whose employees are also extremly accomplished spies.

'The City of Theives' - David Benioff: The description makes this sound like WWII update of a labour of Hercules, with a looter and a deserter must deliver a very particular kind of egg for their colonel's daughter's wedding cake, or face death.

'I am a Cat' - Soseki Natsume: I know there's a readalong going on with this book at the moment. This is one of those occassions where an odd title led me to a lesser know classic, as Natsume satirises Japanese society, through the eyes of his cat narrator.

'Undercover' - Beth Kephart: The narrator writes love letters for the boys in her class to pass on to other girls, like a modern day Cyrano. I've heard that Kephart's writing is poetic and lyrical, something which I think is quite rare in young adult fiction which favours more straightforward prose and I was touched by what the author said in an interview about how each book could potentially be her last, as she makes steady, but not big sales.

'Offshore' - Penelope Fitzgerald: I just had to go back for more Fitzgerald after reading 'The Bookshop' last year and this one features a male prositute in a small community, which (if you know how strangely fascinated I am by books featuring prostitutes) made this particular book an obvious next choice.

Not only have I bought some beauties, but my friend Claire has lent me the next three books in the Twlight series, after we went to see the new film version of New Moon (possibly more on this later). Twilight is a really big guilty pleasure for me, as it's probably the only series where I know that the writing and characterisation are unbelievably poor, but I'm still incredibly drawn to it. There is my little graduating bear to remind me that reading can't be all about quick reads :)

And just because I can't resist showing them to everyone, here's a picture of my new boots! A couple of months ago I got some dark purple, relaxed calf high boots and decided I just wanted a pair of brown knee length boots to complete my winter wardrobe, but I think I've decided to give up on that as I just can't find ones that quite match what I want and are versatile enough to wear multiple places. So I've splashed my brown boot money on this pair of studded biker ankle highs, which are just boot perfection in my eyes.

Anyone else got any big purchases to share? It might make me feel a bit less like a spendthrift!

Weekly Geeks: 2009 - 43

I haven’t done a Weekly Geeks task in ages – but as this week’s task is about putting together a best of list I couldn’t resist. I’m pretty annoyed about the Times recent weak books of the decade list, which they then topped with their supreme loser list of best albums of the decade (Lily Allen beats out Muse?! Twilight is only three places behind the fantastic Carhullan Amy?! And have you seen what these people have to say about the Red Hot Chili Peppers – ridiculous!) so I thought I’d help contribute to the book blogger best of 2009 list. The problem is that I really haven’t read that many books that were originally published in 2009 (hardbacks are expensive, I need to get to the library more) so I can’t make a top ten list, but I have read four fabulous novels, published in 2009 that deserve to make the list:

'Wolf Hall' – Hilary Mantle (historical fiction, adult)
'Flygirl' – Sherri L Smith (historical fiction, young adult)
'Because I am Furniture' – Chalia Thaltas (novel in verse, young adult)
'Aphrodite’s Workshop for Reluctant Lovers' – Marika Cobbold (chick-lit, adult)

If you make up your own list and add the link to Mr Linky you could find your own favourite books, published in 2009, making the list.

Dance Night - Dawn Powell

Like dogs and their owners places and their place names often seem to resemble each other. New York sounds sharp, flashy and exciting, while Slough sounds undeniably depressing and dull (no offense, but when I visited Slough it did not scream ‘fun’). And so it is with Lamptown, the setting for Dawn Powell’s novel ‘Dance Night’, which is a small, safe, ordinary town that doesn’t stand out in any special way. For the main characters of ‘Dance Night’ Lamptown is both the safe haven where they feel secure and the small frame that keeps their expansive dreams from becoming reality.

Morry Abbott is the son of the local milner, Elsinore and her cruel, travelling salesman husband Charles. On one of his infrequent visits home Charles pushes Morry to support his mother financially, so Morry takes a job at the Works, Lamptown’s factory and principle source of industry. Morry has vague dreams of being a big shot in Lamptown, but has no idea how he might achieve this goal, in fact dreaming about doing something seems to almost satisfy him. However, when he befriends a younger girl Jen St Clare, who has been adopted by the local saloon owner to help his mother with her work, and Jen’s adoration makes Morry restless to the point where he tries to make his dreams a reality. The pressure that Morry feels causes him to misinterpret his own feelings and makes him determined that Jen shall not have a hold on him, which makes for a painful situation for both characters.

Lamptown is a place that provokes conflicting emotions in its inhabitants. Morry and Jen often determine to leave the town, but then become incredibly invested in improving Lamptown and their position in it. Their inability to leave somewhere they believe they dislike and ultimately their indecision about whether they really want to break from somewhere that offers safety is a theme that runs through many other characters lives. Powell writes characters who make it hard to see whether the best course of action is to let go, or to hold on. Some characters are unable to let go, but would undoubtedly be better off if they did, for example Bill Delaney, the saloon owner who is often crippled by the memory of a train crash that happened when he was operating engines. It seems that some characters will never do as well outside of Lamptown, as they have done in the town, such as Charles Hunt who is shown up as a minor player when other men of business begin to arrive in Lamptown. Jen and Morry must grapple with the contradictory fear that leaving Lamptown inspires, even as they come to recognise that Lamptown is not able to give them everything they want.

I suspect that Morry’s mother’s storyline captures Powell’s personal thoughts about letting go and holding on. Elsinore contentedly accepts her bitter husband’s demands and lives for the weekly dance night when she can be near Harry Fischer, the town dancing master. Neither of these distant attachments are healthy for her as Charles is jealous and works to restrict his wife’s innocent enjoyment, even though he sleeps with women on his travels and Fischer fails to notice Elsinore’s interest in him, while she exists in a state of limbo waiting to be near him. After discovering Fischer’s relationship with another woman in town, after hearing her husband explicitly accuse her of adultery when she is blameless, Elsinore acts to dramatically cut her connections with these men. After her life changes Powell seems to make Elsinore’s personality harder and it is questionable whether her life is much better, or if it is just different. I don’t think that matters so much, readers can make their own judgements about whether Elsinore’s business success is more important than her new hard nature (I’m still out on that myself), the important thing for Powell is that her character has made a decision, which means that her life can progress. The decision may turn out to be wrong, but it is better than the perpetual indecision that Morry suffers.

There’s so much right with this book that it’s impossible to fit it all in to one review. Jen, I haven’t even talked about what a wonderful character Jen is! She’s scrappy and purposeful, but also a dreamer who is sometimes afraid. Her fear and the way she embraces the small, imperfect Lamptown, because she’s never had a true home before make her so much more than a courageous orphan girl. I found the sections of the book told from her perspective really made the rest of the world disappear for me.

In fact all the female characters made a significant impact on me, even the proud and disagreeable characters like Nettie and Dode. They’re just more present, more active than the men who are always to be found in the saloon talking. The women have to be forthright because there are hundreds of them competing for status and dates in a town where men are scarce. Their pushy showiness and angry battle for control angers Morry, as he feels incapable of getting on and making the best decision, while the women around him act. His mother’s placid lack of drive in the beginning of the book and Jen’s sister’s lack of opinion is why he adores these two women, but just before the end of the book he seems to realise that he needs something more from a woman. He needs a truly challenging woman who will slap his face, rather than the easy compliance he seems to find in even the most disagreeable Lamptown natives.

There’s quite a bit in the novel about youthful idealism and whether it’s foolish, or terribly important. One of my favourite quotes from the book shows what Morry thinks about this subject:

‘That’s the way people were. Nobody believed in the things you believed but yourself, nobody believed that even you were really sincere about it, people believed whatever was good business for them at the time. Nobody believed in anything but good business. Clover Heights was blown up, the world was blown up, by good business. Everybody knelt to good business. No use counting on anybody having faith in an idea for it’s own sake. ’

That really resonates with me and I think it gives a little flavour of why ‘Dance Night’ is relevant today. Hopefully it also shows the quality of Powell’s writing, which I can only compare to what it might feel like to eat the best chocolate cake, while knowing that the cake is doing your body good. It’s such a smooth read, readers might assume it’s, light and inconsequential prose being used to express Powell’s complex ideas, but on examination it is clear just how hard Powell must have had to work to ensure such a swift passage for her readers. More please.

I’d love to hear from anyone else who’s reviewed this book in the comments (especially about the ending, do you think Morry will stick to his guns and will Jen forgive him?) and please leave a link to your review if you want me to link to it at the bottom of this post.

Other Reviews

A Work in Progress
Tales from the Reading Room
Of Books and Bicycles

Historical Fiction

I’m back after quite a slog through the large slab of historical fiction that was ‘Shashenka’. I’m currently reading ‘Dance Night’ by Dawn Powell and so far it’s an enjoyable, easy going take on the kind of small town life that often seems to preoccupy American historical fiction. It’s also a book Danielle from a ‘Work in Progress’ recommended, which I’m quickly learning means I’m in for a good reading time.

As I’m reading a novel set in the near past, had my preconceptions about historical fiction rocked by the superlative ‘Wolf Hall’ this year and last week found myself torn by what Simon Montefiore had tried to do in ‘Shashenka’ I thought I’d take some blog space to talk about what I personally think I want to find in a historical novel. This post is probably going to be a study in contradiction, because modern women that I am I want it all:

I want authenticity...

I definitely want the period and the character’s voice to feel historically accurate, without feeling a significant modern intrusion (I know that’s hard modern writers, I’m a demanding reader, I’m sorry). However, I don’t believe that means every woman has to be a doormat, but neither should every woman be an improbable feminist (by which I mean there have to be really good, built in reasons to show how a woman came to be able to be independent and self-respecting in a world dominated by an oppressive patriarchy).

...and probably accuracy

At least, if a writer has messed around with historical reality, or chronology in some major way I want to hear about it in a historical note at the end. I do not enjoy finding out from other sources that a writer has committed a lie of omission, or decided that if I’m too stupid not to know about every aspect of every period of history, it’s not their job to explain what’s really happened.

Interpretations of well known historical characters are interesting...

Especially if they’re a character that history has previously deprived of a voice (poor, black, female, mentally ill etc). The inclusion of real historical people in books is becoming a bit of a charged moral issue it seems, with authors like A S Byatt saying that this amounts to robbing a person of their voice. I sort of think this is an odd argument to apply to historical fiction, unless she is contending that novelists are likely to lie outrageously when creating a character, because historical biographers also present real historical characters to the public and no one’s accusing them of appropriating a character’s story. I’d like to read more original writings to provide a counter balance to novelist’s characters, but as many people fiddle the truth for posterity the ‘authentic’ voice found in their writings may be similarly flawed. Oh for a time machine (and the ability to touch things without destroying the future).

...but not essential

I’m all about fiction and I love historical figures who never really existed, as much as I love all other fictional characters. Just make with the authenticity and don’t be obvious about how you want me to feel about your character’s attitudes and all will be well.

There is always room for lyrical writing, stylistic experimentation and the examination of big ideas in every genre...

Hilary Mantle shows how this can work. I’d love to learn about authors who are transcending the supposed genre prose limitation that says genre novels should be written in straight line narrative and plain prose.

...but sometimes action a go-go is a good thing

I like battles, not too many battles because that get’s dull but sometimes a good battle is all I really want.

Mostly I prefer my historical novels, historical...

The recent trend for including a modern storyline alongside a historical one frustrates me. It just doesn’t work in most books and plenty of decent historical storylines are spoiled by the writers jumping back to modern time throughout the book. I am also pretty much against the modern characters having some sort of mystical, spiritual connection with their relatives that propels them to, oh I don’t know, take up the same job as them, or novels that make their modern characters vessels for the historical characters to appear in the future (possessions, past lives etc). It’s not that I don’t believe in that kind of thing, but I think it’s unfair to make a character a shadowy conduit for the personality of another person. Characters should be their own people and the unstoppable machinations of historical fate is in my opinion a very poor plot device (but then I don’t believe in predestination so what do I know eh?).

...however there are exceptions

for example ‘The Virgin Blue’ produces two equally interesting storylines, one set in the past and one in modern France and it has a crazy kind of connection through the ages vibe going on, but it worked. ‘The Glassblower of Murano’ has two storylines which almost match each other for interest (the ‘hey I am also a glassblower’ interest of the modern heroine irked me).

So there you have it, I don’t want much. Anyone want to Nanowrimo me up a historical novel of my very own?

Shashenka - Simon Montefiore

In ‘Shashenka’ Simon Montefiore has created a main character with realistic historical attitudes, created by the contextual rhetoric of Stalinist Russia. It’s a triumph for a historical novelist to produce such a character without giving them softer, modern sensibilities and the technical dedication to historical character development is impressive. Unfortunately Montefiore, who specialises in Russian history, is unable to leave his readers to make their own judgements about his historically accurate main character, Shashenka, perhaps fearing that they will judge her harshly due to a lack of historical understanding. By attempting to steer readers towards a sympathetic judgement he destroys the potential for readers to form an honest connection with Shashenka and to examine exactly what creates the woman she becomes in middle age.

The reader first meets Shashenka as an idealistic new convert to the Bolshevik cause, who is suddenly arrested outside her elite school. She has been exposed to Bolshevik literature by her Uncle Mendel and this literature shapes her ideas into the definite form of idealism that most people first experience as a teenager. Shashenka feels no doubt about her new ideas, as they provide her with logical reasons for her personal feelings, such as her hatred for her mother who is a decadent adulteress. The ideas of the Party reflect Shashenka’s growing hatred for the lifestyle that her family leads and so she embraces the Party’s doctrines as truth, because they make sense in terms of the world she sees around her (ie. the rich she sees around her are immoral). In the initial stages of the book it’s easy for the reader understand Shashenka’s unwavering faith in the Bolshevick cause because of this contextual background and to sympathise with her, even if they dislike her views.

As the second part of the novel catches up with Shashenka in later life the fact that Shashenka still expresses such contextually logical ideas make her an extremely unlikeable character. She expresses no doubt about the reasons behind the party’s punishment of those who have served it and does not question why top Bolsheviks, who once asserted that they had no need for family, or fabulous possessions, now live as comfortably as the bourgeoisie they destroyed. While this is a plausible historical attitude for a character who has learnt that Stalin is the heart of the party and whatever Stalin sanctions is right, it is not an attitude that enables the reader (at least not this reader) to feel sympathy for Shashenka. The most I could feel for Shashenka was a clinical, logical understanding of what had created her, but it is quite clear that Montefiore wants his reader to feel for Shashenka when she and her family are torn apart on Stalin’s orders. When Montefiore starts to suggest, by emphasising Shashenka’s close relationship with her children and her illicit love affair, that his readers should empathise with his heroine I couldn’t.

For me, being encouraged to feel sympathy for this older version of Shashenka was like being asked to feel sympathy for a witch finder who has expressed no doubt about the job he does until his own wife is accused and killed as a witch. Both the witch finder and the Bolshevik may have contextually logical reasons for their beliefs and while these genuine views make it possible to view them as people, rather than monsters it doesn’t excuse their actions. If Shashenka had expressed any silent doubt that what was happening to her father and friends wasn’t right I could have felt for her, even if she wasn’t able to stand up to the injustices (that would be a pretty big ask for a heroine in Stalinist Russia)but as she doesn’t I couldn’t find any sympathy for her character even though she suffers immensely. The logical reasoning, which leads Shashenka to join the Bolshevik cause in her youth is created out of pain, so it’s easy to not just understand her reasoning, but to sympathise with her, despite her naiveté. Her willingness to adhere to the Party in later life seems to come from a kind of blank acceptance, which she doesn’t even question when people she thought seemed loyal to the party are ‘ unmasked’. She only questions the Party when her children are in jeopardy and while again I find that a plausible response for a mother to have, it’s not one that inspired the sympathy Montefiore hoped to produce.

I know that I’m being especially harsh on Sashenka and I did feel terrible for her when the painful manner of her death was revealed, but I honestly think Montefiore’s inexpert attempts at manipulating my emotions got in the way of my connection with his main character. I’m still not sure I could ever feel sympathy for her, but without the distracting sentiment (fair warning, I found the presentation of her children cloyingly sentimental) insisting that I feel sorry for her I might have come to a better understanding of what she was all about.

I’m split about this novel. I admire that Simon Montefiore has managed to create a contextually accurate historical character, but I feel that he undermines his endeavour by so obviously instructing his readers in how they should feel about Shashenka. I also think that the final section where a young historian must unearth the mystery of what happened to Shashenka felt as if it had been tacked on to illustrate a moral for historians and to show how Russians viewed Stalinist history. There’s a crazy coincidence that links the historian to Shashenka, which feels false and frankly pointless. However there are knowledgeable descriptions of the country, people’s dress and the places that Shashenka visits that make the book feel authentic. There’s also a sense of pace sustained throughout the book, which makes the history and the consequences of each action thrilling. The first section reads like a well written political thriller that follows an adventurous female character. I just couldn’t connect with the women this naive, but principled girl grows into.

If you’ve reviewed this book please leave a link to your review in the comments and I’ll link to your review at the bottom of my post.

Seriespalooza and a holiday swap

A while ago I mentioned that I may have a few too many series of books on the go. I am a total completist when it comes to series, but I also hate really good series to end, or to go flat (yes that is why there are two unwatched seasons of 24 in my cupboard) and will avoid reading the later books in a series, even if I love that series. I suppose I’m a procrastinating completist, or something similar.

At the moment I’ve started ten series – this is bad:

‘The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’ – Michelle Paver
‘The President’s Daughter’ – Ellen Emerson White
‘Aubrey-Martin’ – Patrick O’Brian
‘Septimus Heap’ – Angie Sage
‘Harry Potter’ – J K Rowling (I only have to read the final book, but based on the fifth and the sixth books I just can’t be bothered, plus some inconsiderate people told me what happens)
‘Temeraire’ – Naomi Novick
‘The Millenium trilogy’ – Steig Larsson
‘Thursday Next’ – Jasper Fforde
‘Changeling’ – Steve Feasey
‘Twilight‘ – Stephanie Meyer

Can you believe I started eight of these series this year? What was I thinking? Please tell me someone else out there can beat my total.

Galleysmith is holding an event called Seriespalooza 14th December to 20th December, to encourage people to only read from series they’ve already started. I have five books sitting around the house from some languishing series, which means I could take part, without breaking my book buying ban (the ban is getting hard right now and even buying books as presents isn’t making me feel better) so let’s just say I plan to have good intentions that week. I might read one of these books:

‘The Girl Who Played with Fire’ – Steig Larsson
‘Throne of Jade’ – Naomi Novick (yay)
‘Harry Potter and the whatever he’s got himself mixed up in this time’ – J K Rowling (yeah I’m not going to choose this one)
‘Spirit Walker’ – Michelle Paver (yay)
‘Post Captain’ – Patrick O’Brian

My brain is fuzzy and I can’t think of an elegant way to go from this to the ‘Reading in Color’ holiday swap so just imagine me tugging at your sleeve and going ‘look, it’s cool’. You have to exchange books by authors, or books that feature main characters, who are black, hispanic, asian or Native American because that’s the focus of the blog. I’m a big fan of ‘Reading in Color’ and I can’t wait to receive a present via this swap.

Hopefully I’ll return soon with thoughts on ‘Shashenka’ (mixed reaction to the main character at the moment, although the action certainly is compelling) the first book in my campaign to read some chunky books by the end of the year. It makes me want to read some non-fiction about Stalin’s reign (maybe ‘The Whisperers’, which is huge and has been hanging around the house for about a year) which then makes me want to read general studies on world history, which makes me want to retire from such a huge project with a chick-lit novel : )

Also I have been listening to impassioned ideas about book buying and after finding £42 in a savings tin I might be preparing for a bit of a spree, so look out for unashamed book buying news soon!

GLBT Challenge

Just a quick post to announce that next year I'll be joining 'The Challenge that Dare not Speak it's Name' , run by the wonderful Amanda from 'The Zen Leaf'. I'll be ambitious and say I'm going to reach the Rainbow level (12 books or more) on GLBT topics. I'm not sure what to read, but some possibilities are:

'The Mariposa Club' - Rigoberto Gonzalez
'False Colours' - Alex Beecroft
'The Bermudez Triangle' - Maureen Johnson
'Nightwatch' - Sarah Waters
'Down to the Bone' - Mayra Lazara Dole
'The Rules for Hearts' - Sara Ryan
'The Vesuvius Club' - Mark Gatiss
'Hidden Conflict' - various authors
'A Dangerous Man' - Anne Brooke

Join up if you think it looks fun!

Sometimes you have to laugh (at someone)

Sometimes you just have to laugh. I followed a link from Bookslut to this book called ‘Save the Males’, which basically sounds like a book that claims feminism is equivalent to hating men and that we are all making men emotionally impotent. I clicked through because I anticipated some uber-funny Amazon reviews and was hoping for some indignant ones as well. I found one of the later type, by a man ( you go male ally), but it’s one of the former kind of reviews I want to share with you. This guy is pretty ticked at the women in his own country (America), but he has devised the ultimate way to punish the ones who are making him feel bad. It’s pretty brutal:

‘we American men are beyond sick of it, and getting mad enough to fight back. You want that? Because here's the form that the "fighting back" will take: we'll go elsewhere to meet women. If despising us is how you puff yourselves up, who needs you?’

Umm, gosh I bet all you American women are just freaking out right? Where will you get dates now? Oh the horror my American sisters! Honestly if you think about it (after you wipe all that stuff you just snorted out your nose off your face) it’s kind of a measure of progress that instead of saying fighting back will take the form of violence against women this man’s ultimate threat is that men will be looking elsewhere for their jollies. Really the feminists have already corrupted this guy, he just doesn’t know it yet.

Wait he has more to say and we must listen because otherwise we will be emasculating him:

‘That's a little blunt, but it needs saying. I'm an American man, and in a perfect world I would dearly love to value and honor the women of my own country. But I can't. Not now, anyway. Kathleen is absolutely correct: American women have made such a fetish of themselves, and of blaming men for all of their problems including those they bring upon themselves, that in recent years I have wondered why on earth American men should want to have anything to do with them. I'm married, so I don't have to worry about such things, (and yes, I am married to an American woman.) But I don't blame my fellow American men for going on the Internet and seeking female companions in Europe, South America or the Phillipines. I once adopted a cat who turned out to be so violently hostile to me that I returned it to its original owners. I wanted a companion, not a live-in enemy.’

Snort. You think women will be more receptive to dating your kind in Europe? You know Germany has a female prime minister right? I suspect that he is talking about mail order brides rather than female companions. Let’s move on to the final threat:

‘Kathleen is on-point and on-target when she makes it clear that American men want companions, not live-in enemies. And we're tired of being depicted on TV and in the movies as clueless dolts, incompetent bumblers, witless brutes and green-fanged rapists. It's no longer cute or funny, not that it ever was. Don't treat us with contempt and then expect us to call you for dates. And don't accuse us of seeking "submissive dewdrops" if we go seeking women who won't try to emasculate us in order to make themselves feel "liberated." '

Oh nooooooo! You guys won’t be calling up the women in your country for dates – big loss there ladies, see what your foolish, foolish ways have led to. You may as well go out now, because there is no use waiting by the phone, it won’t be ringing.

* We could have a serious conversation here about the real issues, like:
how to convince men about the true goals of the feminist movement, when many men become indignant if feminists talk about the injustices against women in the past and the present

* how it’s important that we allow both male and female culture to have equal space, without creating exclusionist clubs (I really want to give a massive shout out to GuysLitWire here who have created a space for male reading that doesn’t exclude, or denigrate women) (oh and we could also talk about to what extent there even is such a thing as separate male or female cultures)

* exactly why the feminists of the past were so anti-men and why present low levels of male co-operation/acknowledgement of the issues women have faced in the past, continue to perpetuate anti-male feeling (please note I am sure you all know wonderful men who fully back equal rights for men and women and I am not talking about them here, I know there are great guys out there who don’t suck, but there are also some that do)

* how male allies of the feminist movement are not in any way emotionally crippled, physically emasculated, or controlled by women

but sometimes it’s just more fun to laugh. Take any serious discussion (or very loud laughter) into the comments please.

The Children of Freedom - Marc Levy

‘The Children of Freedom’ highlights yet another of the seemingly endless, lesser known acts of heroism that took place during WWII. Just when I think I’ve read about every type of unsung activist from this conflict Marc Levy shows me just how much more I have to learn about what really went on in WWII. His chosen focus is the Jewish and foreign teenagers who form the Brigade 35, a French resistance group who operate in an extremely active way, compared with official resistance groups who apparently concerned themselves with stockpiling weapons for the promised Allied invasion of France.

The story is told by a Jewish boy called Jeannot, who escapes being arrested by Nazi’s and takes his brother Claude to find the Resistance. The narrative is conversational and reads like Jeannot reading back a diary that was written in the period, which means that Jeannot’s words read with that particular inflection that fills French people’s speech when they talk in English. I have to say as a reader I didn’t form a particularly close relationship with Jeannot, or any of the characters he talks about. While I was drawn to the events he described I didn’t feel like I was able to get close to his thoughts. This is understandable, he goes through some terrible things throughout the course of the novel and the distance created may be Levy’s way of realistically representing someone who survives treatment at the hands of the Nazis, but for me it left me feeling a little adrift from the characters.

Over the years Jeannot and the Brigade 35 work hard to undermine the Nazi’s operations by sabotaging munitions deliveries and exploding sites where Nazi’s gather. These missions were probably my favourite parts of the book, because while they’re actively fighting the Nazis the activists are hopeful and despite the seriousness of their missions there’s a tone of childlike adventure about everything they do. As Jeannot says, when they began their actions they treated it almost as a children’s game and there are a lot of descriptions of kids pedalling on bicycles and missions that sound like adventurous schemes Enid Blyton protagonists might have come up with, had they been involved in the war. There’s a juxtaposition between the destruction that their actions create and the rather do it yourself approach to war that groups like the Resistance were forced to use and this creates a light atmosphere that emphasises how running missions became ordinary, daily tasks while still remaining immensely dangerous.

Eventually the brigade is uncovered by the authorities. Jeannot and many of his friends are arrested. This part of the book contained historical facts that were new to me, as the group are betrayed by the established Resistance, who know that the authorities are about to arrest the group, but do nothing to save them. It is considered best that when France is liberated French people are seen as the heroes and as the 35th brigade contains many foreigners, the Resistance leave them to get captured despite the risks they have taken to regain freedom. Levy makes a point of reminding people that after the war many French collaborators and Resistance leaders were given respectable positions in charge, while the majority of the brigade dies in prison, or in concentration camps. However Jeannot also tells several stories about ordinary French people who help the brigade, in small ways, for example looking the other way when they suspect the teenagers are involved in resistance activities. The novel is about those who Levy feels were genuinely dispossessed, who suffered the consequences of war after it was all over, rather than those he feels used the war to their own advantage. He makes damning judgements about the humanity of the people in power in France and there are no sympathetic shades of grey provided here, but considering what happens to the brigade members and those they meet in prison I imagine few readers will disagree with characters being treated in this way, while they are caught up reading the book.

When the Allied forces arrive in France Jeannot and his friends are shuttled onto trains and the German officers try to transport them into Germany as war hostages and slaves. The men and women spend days crammed into overheated goods cars with little water, air, or space to sit down. I saw an Amazon reviewer mention that they felt distanced from the characters in the book, possibly because of the translation. As I’ve mentioned I felt distanced from the characters and in the earlier parts of the book I think Levy deliberately distances the reader from the violent scenes so readers don’t empathise with any pain the Nazis feel, but during the train journey this distance seems to be removed. Personally I found everything the prisoners experienced on the train present and painful, even though their experiences aren’t described in overly graphic detail. The three instances that stand out for me are when a prisoner who tries to escape, gets shot, but keeps on running, the day the train is hit by Allied gunfire and Jeannot’s terrifying leap from the train, where he risks being mangled by the wheels. All these episodes are described pretty simply, people die and the way they die is described with little embellishment (how much description does the image of a man being cut to pieces under a train really need?) and for that reason these episodes reach inside you and squeeze until it hurts.

If you enjoyed ‘The Children of Freedom’ I have to recommend ‘The Visible World’ by Mark Slouka, who uses a much more fantastically, folklorish writing style, but has created an image of Czech resistance during world war two that is equally as powerful as Marc Levy’s novel (I will take any opportunity to recommend this book to people). As for Levy’s work does anyone recommend anything else by him? I see ‘If Only it Were True’ has some great reviews, should I believe the hype?

If you have reviewed this book please leave me link to your review in the comments and I’ll add it at the end of this post.

The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

Over the last few months there has been a major resurgence of interest in Wilkie Collins’ work. If Collins was a disbanded pop band (more like ‘The Police’, than ‘The Nolans’), people would be booking concert venues right about now, but as he’s a Victorian author he gets a kickass blog tour instead. Today I bring you the eighth instalment of the not for profit, just for fun, Wilkie Collin’s tour, run by Rebbeca Reads, founder of the Classics Circuit. I’ll be reviewing Collins’ ‘The Woman in White’, which is a tale of madness and greed that all begins with one accidental meeting.

Walter Hartwright’s decision to walk back from his mother’s house places him in the path of a distressed young woman walking the road, alone after dark. The woman, dressed all in white, pleads for Walter’s assistance and he helps her to find a cab to London. After she has left him he overhears two men asking after a woman in white, who claim his mysterious acquaintance has escaped from an asylum.

With one of those amazing coincidences that Victorian writers were so fond of, the family of Walter’s new employer are acquainted with the young woman, who turns out to be Anne Catharick, a girl who spent time at Limmeridge House as a child. Laura, one of the young pupils Walter has been engaged to instruct, bears a shocking resemblance to the woman and seems to be the object of Anne’s fascination. When Laura receives a letter warning her not to marry Sir Percival Glyde, the baronet she is engaged to Walter and her sister Marian deduce that Anne has sent it. Walter’s love for Laura means that he is drawn into an attempt to uncover the mysterious reasons behind Anne’s distrust of Sir Percival. He and Marian set out to discover the true nature of Sir Percival. The investigation will place the three young people in serious danger.

The full plot of this book is quite frankly, gloriously insane. ‘The Woman in White’ is over six hundred pages long and Collins is determined to pack meaty plot chunks into every part of it. There’s the thrilling and strange encounter within the first twenty pages, then socially inappropriate romance begins to grow at about the fifty page mark and from then on its one long party with lunacy, deception, secrets, plots and greed right up until the end, where Collins follows the tradition of other greats such as Dickens and Bronte, by making sure his readers are treated to a fire, an attempted rescue and a death. All the shocks, surprises and twists produce exactly the reaction Collins hoped for as readers are jolted and thrilled.

Then there are the slower points in the novel, where Collins describes and develops his character, or creates the atmosphere. These descriptions are technically very good, for example, here Collins sets the scene with a strong sensory description:

‘The dead leaves which had whirled in the wind before me, when I had heard of her marriage engagement in the morning, whirled in the wind before her, and rose and fell and scattered themselves at her feet as she walked on in the pale waning sunlight. The dog shivered and trembled…’

but personally I found myself zoning in and out of these passages. Some parts I passed through without really knowing what I was reading and some parts dragged my attention back to the substance of the words on the page. I put this down to the fact that the novel is rather overloaded with description and my brain just couldn’t cope with it all the time. The descriptive domestic passages, where Walter talks about his time with Laura at Limmeridge, or Marian observes the pain of Laura’s marriage are also the parts of the book where Collins explains societies views on women so perhaps my ticked off mood distracted me from the characters speeches about how they were feeling.

When I read the book I had a hard time deciding whether the sexist views found in ‘The Woman in White’ were Collins’ views, or his attempt to satirize and critique society’s dominant views. On one hand, ‘The Woman in White’ obviously shows that locking your wives up for being an inconvenience, or because you want to steal their money is not acceptable behaviour. Collins champions the right for sensible women to have freedom of movement, without fear of persecution and Matthew Sweet, the author of the introduction believes this was in response to a real life incident that occurred in Collin’s social circle. Baronet Bulwer-Lytton, whose production ‘As Bad as we Seem’ Collins acted in was the real life inspiration for Sir Percival Glyde:

‘Rosina had separated from the Baronet in 1836 on very bad terms…As a result of this affair, Bulwyer-Lytton had Rosina abducted by force by two hired thugs and committed to Wyke House Lunatic Asylum in Brentford…Collins use of a plot about an ageing balding, sour tempered baronet who incarcerates his sane wife in a lunatic asylum greatly pleased Rosina, who wrote to Collins to say she could provide him with material from her own experience that would enable him to create the most dastardly villain in literary history.’

However, Walter Hartwright, who is the main narrator and the man who collects and binds together all the accounts, displays a subtle condescension towards women in many ways, such as assuming that only men will be reading the novel and patronising Laura. This is interesting since on the surface Walter is very much a women’s ally, taking Marian into his confidence and aiding the oppressed women in the story.

So what did Collin’s think of women? Well, after reading a comment on Stefanie’s post about reading ‘The Woman in White’ I’ve learned that he was a committed social reformer, who campaigned for women to be allowed to control their own property after marriage and wrote a detective story featuring the first female detective. Hurray! I expect Marian’s remarks on her own sex show Collins reflecting the views of the times, as anyone who has read a bit of George Elliot will know, some women did not have much concept of sisterhood.

The introduction to my edition of ‘The Woman in White’ raises the interesting idea that:

‘Lies are told; texts invade other texts. The bundle of documents that we are handed might be a full and true account of the Laura Glyde Affair. On the other hand, these papers might be the self-justifying trickery of their editor, the middle-class upstart drawing-master who, by the book’s conclusion, has his feet comfortably under the table at Limmeridge.’

Taking this as a central theory perhaps Walter should be viewed as a less sympathetic character who meddles with the others manuscripts and inserts his own views on the world into the accounts of others. Perhaps he is the reason Marian so often curses all other members of her own sex. Might Collins have been trying to suggest that the views about women are not his, but those of his meddling main character, who represents society? At the same time, Marian Harcourt is obviously a strong female character, whose utterances against women may be taken as arch and sarcastic. However, Marian is such a strong female heroine because she struggles against traditional female feeling and is slightly removed from femininity because of her appearance, she is able to be such a force in the story precisely because she is more like a traditional man than a traditional woman. Is Walter’s perception of her coloured by the fact that he is not comfortable with strong women? I don’t know, it’s a theory, but it’s one I can only hold on to by thinking very hard and so I tend to think it might be a bit flimsy.

Despite the fact that my level of interest fluctuated during the novel I believe ‘The Woman in White’ deserves a massive second coming, because it’s technically accomplished and achieves exactly the effect Collins hoped for, thrilling, shocking and enthralling readers. Enjoy the rest of the tour and please let me know what you thought of ‘The Woman in White’ in the comments.

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So Many Books

Theatre Weekends

Last week I mentioned that I was off to the Courtyard theatre in Stratford to see the RSC production of ‘Twelfth Night’. It was an absolute treat to watch. I don’t know why but whenever I go to see an RSC version I’m always afraid that they’re going to overdo the props, they never do, but the initial staging always seems like they might. This time there was a huge fibreglass wave set up at the back of the stage, a big background of turrets and cliffs and a seating area created from carpets and cushions and once again I thought it was going to be prop overkill, but of course they had just the right amount of scenery to suggest different locations and when one aspect of the stage dressing was the most important to the plot the others just seemed to melt away from my consciousness, so I wasn’t distracted. There is this fantastic scene where trickster conspirators hide in a tree and the stand hands had rigged a very precarious looking topiary tree, with room for three people and hole for them to pop out of for comic effect, which provided probably the best scene of the night. The people hauling on the ropes to keep the tree for toppling over must have been very strong.

The best performances definitely came from the two female leads, Viola and Olivia. The actress playing Olivia got really into this slightly ridiculous, love sick role which made her both incredibly funny and the kind of character you wanted to cheer for at the end. The best male performances came from actors playing smaller parts. The actor playing the Fool transitioned from high emotion, depression and hilarity easily and Antonio, the ship’s captain almost broke my heart when he thought his friend had betrayed him. Of course Richard Wilson, was a fine addition as Malvollio, but James Fleet, who was Sir Andrew mumbled a bit and was a little hard to hear.

Last weekend I went to a more local theatre with a friend to see the touring production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’. This year has been full of theatre trips, I think I’ve been seven times so far (three plays, two musicals and two stand up shows) which is much more than I’d usually go during a year. I was a little disappointed by the first half of this production, although it picked up after the interval (I don’t know if it was the interval wine, or the fact that everyone knew Lydia’s unthinking delight in her shot gun marriage was coming up, but the audience laughed much more and the actors seemed to relax). Considering that the Bennett sisters are the focus of the whole thing I thought they got shoved into a corner, in favour of the rather more famous actress playing Mrs Bennet . Kitty and Mary had even less to say than usual, although Mary did get to play all the violin interludes, Lydia’s marriage comes from nowhere, there is not even a hint of a flirtation with Whickham and it seemed as if Jane was barely ever on stage. The stand out performance was easily Mr Collins who had perfected a prat bow and a greasy tone of voice. I’d place it below the BBC adaptation (I know it’s not fair to judge all performances by that standard, but I can’t seem to help it) but far above the recent film, starring Keira Knightley (boo). It did make me eager to reread the novel, to see what order the events in the novel happen, as I think my memories are very influenced by the anniversary edition.
In bookish news I’m almost finished with Marc Levy’s ‘The Children of Freedom’ and am shocked by the terrible picture of betrayal at the heart of the French resistance. I know there’s still one more character who will definitely die before the end of the war, but will there be any more?

Oh and remember those depressing bookshelves in my office building? Well I’ve started populating them! I’ve only dropped off two crime novels that came free with magazines so far, but perhaps they’ll inspire someone else to add novels, or interesting non- fiction. Apparently those bookshelves are the buildings library system which makes me appreciate all the hard work that goes into creating a proper libraries.

Stop by tomorrow for my stop on the Classics Circuit, where I’ll finally tell you what I thought of ‘The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.

The Folded Leaf - William Maxwell

‘The Folded Leaf’ is one of those books I might not have found without blogs. Danielle, of A Work in Progress’ posted about it earlier this year and her description of the relationship between the two main characters Spud and Lymie lodged in my mind. The novel is a coming of age tale, written with an adult audience in mind, rather than teenage readers (like ‘Catcher in the Rye’, or ‘Firefox: Confessions of a Girl Gang’) and it’s narrative is created out of a quiet, sincere intimacy that immediately appealed to me:

‘Spud Latham, who had nothing to do and was in not hurry to go home, since it wasn’t home that he’d find when he got there, stood in front of his wooden locker and twiddled the dial. He was in the throes of another daydream. The school principal, on looking back over Spud’s grades, had discovered that there had been some mistake; that they should all have been S’s, not C’s and D’s. So he had the pleasure of coming home and announcing to his incredulous family that he was valedictorian of his class and the brightest student in the history of the school.’

Lymie Peters lives with his father in a boarding house. He’s sloppy, studious and no good at games, in fact that’s the first thing the reader learns about him. While the boys at his school don’t hold his physical fitness against him, it is an acknowledged fact that whichever team Lymie is on, during physical education lessons, will lose and Lymie always feels like an outsider, although he knows that with a little work he could become part of a group. Spud Latham has transferred schools and as the new boy he’s also an outsider. He’s physical, extremely neat and comes from a secure, nuclear family, he is the exact opposite of Lymie. When Lymie first offers him friendship, after Spud saves Lymie’s life in the school swimming pool, he rejects it, but later a prank played on them results in a moment of boy bonding and they become inseparable.

I think Spud’s first rejection of companionship really illustrates his character. He’s suspicious of friendship, always ready to be snubbed and finds emotional relief in fighting. He’s also blind to much that is outside his own experience, for example believing that Lymie’s unwillingness to treat him when they eat out stems from a miserly tendency, rather than the fact that he has to support himself without help from his father. Spud is the main cause of the problems that come between the boys in later years, when Spud refuses to believe that his girlfriend Sally, and Lymie are just friends. It’s quite clear to anyone reading the book that Lymie is only interested in Spud and has spent the majority of his life keeping his feelings of jealousy in check, as Spud meets other friends, then falls in love with Sally. I think because the reader sees so much of Spud through Lymie’s eyes and because Spud is also a bruised, unsure character despite all his advantages, it’s possible to come away with a sympathetic view of him, but his blind spots create episodes of such severe meanness that it’s hard to forgive him. I thought that the harshest thing Spud ever thinks is that he prefers to sleep alone, when the fact that he and Lymie sleep in the same double bed at their boarding house is so important to Lymie.

William Maxwell examines friendship with tenderness, but also with a kind of terrifying ferocity that expresses itself in very final expressions of feeling. In college Spud spends hours denouncing Lymie to a fellow boarder Rheinhart and eventually Rheinhart tells Lymie ‘He’s jealous of you…He comes over to the house sometimes when you’re at the library and he sits in my room and talks for an hour at a time about how much he hates you.’, when Lymie confronts Spud ‘To his horror he saw that Spud was smiling.’ and as Lymie leaves he claims he has forgiven Spud, but Maxwell as omniscient narrator lets the reader know that ‘Actually, Lymie didn’t forgive Spud anything.’ . There is no room for the characters to be persuaded to think differently, nor any room for the reader to hope for reconciliation between the characters. With every one of these type of lines the reader feels Lymie and Spud becoming increasingly cut off from each other.

Maxwell seems convinced that deep friendship is inevitably tied up with envy and rage, as is sexual attraction. Early on in the book Spud fights with a blond boy who he then befriends and despite his love for Spud, Lymie often expresses envy, which manifests itself as occasional episodes of rather ridiculous violent anger. It initially seems like a bleak message; people can’t be friends with people who have different strengths from them, without ending up despising their friends, but by the end of the book it feels like Maxwell is maybe talking about how low confidence has led Lymie to over emphasise Spud’s good qualities. He includes a heavily symbolic dream close to the end of the novel to show that once Lymie is free of Spud’s enchantment he is able to become a better version of himself. Despite the blurb’s hints that ‘for Lymie, still mired in guilt and self-doubt, the end of their intimacy is more than he can stand’ the ending is ultimately positive and I was glad about that, even while I wondered how many other challenges Lymie might have to overcome in his future.

Much of the action is presented in chapter long vignettes, so something will happen and in the next chapter the action will have moved a little away from this episode, which is partly because Maxwell has to cover quite a few years of the boys lives. This technique also allows him to step away from the main characters quite naturally and focus for one chapter on a secondary character. The result is wonderful short portraits of a few characters, although really these chapters aren’t necessary, as the characters play little part in the main story. These character sketches are strangely emotional additions to the novel, despite their short length and they made me feel much more engaged with the smaller characters, like Reinhart and Professor Severance. It might sound odd to say that I enjoyed the author’s digressions from the main relationship, but sometimes digressions are a necessary element of writing.

Remember to leave a link to your own review in the comments if you have one.

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A Work in Progress

Book Daydreams

Having a couple of bottles of wine, with a friend is probably not the smartest idea when you have to go to work the next day. It is also probably not the best idea to say ‘Shall we just have one more?’ as the bell rings. I have not exactly been productive today, but our terrible coffee place did teach me that Fanta Zero does in fact taste just like regular Fanta.

This is what is written on the post it pad on my desk:

(hopefully you can see it is a book list, it's kind of blurry)

‘Expressologist’ – Kristina Springer: the heroine sets up couples based on coffee choices, which is not quite as deep as Penguin’s idea, but quirky enough for me to read it

‘The Texicans’ – Nina Vida: I am a sucker for a not very good pun in a title

'Pretty Dead' – Francesca Lia Block: Awesome cover, that reminds me of the ‘Hard Candy’ artwork, oh and vampires

'Bait' – Alex Sanchez: Powerful sounding young adult novel, which comes recommended from a ton of great bloggers

'An African in Greenland' – Tete Michel Kpomassie: Are you not intrigued by how and why he is in Greenland?

'Gray Horses' – Hope Larsson: A grown up horse book, told in graphic form

'Spell of the Tiger' – Sy Montgomery: I was hooked when I heard that maneating tigers will never attack from the front, so people used to wear masks on the back of their heads andafter a while the tigers got wise!

'To Bed with Grand Music' – Margharanti Laski: A Persephone reprint, that offers and different perspective on life at home during a world war (yes I have forgotten which one)

'Moral Clarity' – Susan Neiman: If I’m honest I’ve forgotten what this non-fiction book is about, but Stefanie at ‘So Many Books’ was excited about it and I remember being interested when I read her post. I have a whole notebook of book titles, I can’t possibly remember what they all relate to and that makes choosing a few books to put on my Christmas list more exciting.

Have you been dreaming of books when you should have been doing something else? Any dire consequences (for example, if you’re a farmer you might have tried to milk a chicken)?

Making Money - Terry Pratchett

‘Making Money’ is the sequel to Terry Pratchett’s ‘Going Postal’, which followed Moist Lipwig, aka notorious con man Albert Spangler, after his hanging doesn’t quite come off right and he’s offered a new life by the ruler of Ankh Morpork, as long as he agrees to take a job reforming the postal system. I thought ‘Going Postal’ was the freshest Discworld novel for some time, with the addition of a really new set of characters, rather than characters who are slightly different retreads of personalities that Pratchett has written before ( Tiffany Aching, I’m looking at you). I was excited about this book, but also quite afraid of being disappointed. I think every reader has had that terrible moment where a sequel book just doesn’t live up to the first book and as much as you love the characters you can’t continue down the road with them. I was so bedazzled by Moist and his love interest Spike at the end of ‘Going Postal’ that I was getting really keyed up about this book possibly being terrible.

Hurray, hurray this book is fabulous and it made me want to reread ‘Going Postal’ (I thought I’d a had a fit of ‘you can’t keep all the books’ and given it away, but I eventually found it in a trunk). I’ve decided Moist is a combination of early Vimes and Rincewind, but with a special charisma that is all his own. In Spike, Pratchett has created a truly new kind of Discworld woman. At first I thought she was a bit like a less polite Sybil, or like an unrestrained Angua, but she’s none of those, she’s just Spike the woman who’s extremely caring, independent and cynical and goes everywhere in deadly six inch heels.

I liked it very much (and for all those people who said Spider the dog was their favourite character in ‘The Woman in Black’ there is a dog called ‘Mr Fusspot’ who eats sticky toffee pudding in ‘Making Money’). I recommend it to all Pratchett fans and anyone who likes satire, or a book about the grand old fight between good and evil. Usually there’s no need to read Discworld books in order, but I think in this case you need to acquaint yourself with Moist in ‘Going Postal’ before reading ‘Making Money’, otherwise quite a bit won’t make sense.

Hopefully in just a few months a copy of ‘Unseen Academicals’ will appear under the Christmas tree. I’m sort of considering rereading a few Discworld books in the future (for most this will be the fourth of fifth time I’ve read them), but I’m not sure which ones to choose. What are your top three Discworld novels?

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Magical Colloquial

The Women Unbound Challenge

I am so all over the ‘Women Unbound’ challenge it is useless to remind me about my challenge ban. The idea is to read fiction and non-fiction books related to a very broad definition of women’s studies. I’m going to smush all the initial challenge business into one post, so this may get a bit long. First let’s look at what I might read to qualify for the ‘Suffragette’ level (eight books, including three volumes of non-fiction):

Fiction

'An Equal Silence' – Francesca Kay: A female artist finds her marriage struggling when her work becomes more successful that her husbands.

'Emma' – Jane Austen: How does Austen free her women, while keeping them respectable enough for her readers? I’m intrigued by this book after the recent BBC series and my book came free as part of a free offer, by a woman’s razor company.

'Twelve Miles' – Cara Hedley: Women in playing ice hockey and probably being tough? Rocking.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – Lisa See : As far as I can remember this is about the brutal practice of foot binding.

Then I need something new and shiny to read for my fifth book. Perhaps ‘The Thirteenth Wife’ or ‘The Chosen One’ which both deal with polygamous societies.

Non-fiction

Warrior Queens – Antonia Fraser: I’m a bit worried about including this, as I tried it before and found it impenetrable, but this seems like the perfect challenge to try a book about historical women of power who physically fought.

Daughter of Desert: The Life of Gertrude Bell - Georgina Howell: Explorer, spy, map maker, pioneering women, why wouldn’t I want to read about Gertrude Bell?

No Place for Ladies – Helen Rappaport/Bluestockings – Jane Robinson: I realised the only other non-fiction I own, that fits this challenge is another Antonia Fraser book. All other non-fiction about women seems to be about women in the war and I think they’re going to be a bit general and not really about gender. So I’d have to buy, or borrow one of these fascinating books, how awful that would be.

Now for a few recommendations from my own shelves for anyone who is compiling their lists, or just likes female centred fiction:

'The Carhullan Army' – Sarah Hall: Britain’s society disintegrates and the heroine finds herself living in a closed community, where women are forced to wear the coil. It’s probably one of the best and the most brutal dystopian novels I’ve read so far.

'The Handmaid’s Tale' – Margaret Atwood: Another dystopian novel about reproductive rights. I love books form this genre which reflect the idea that women’s rights tend to appear, or disappear in relation to the state of the general world.

'The Virgin Suicides' – Jeffrey Eugenides: Four young women are kept in a house, with little access to the outside world.

'The Red Tent' – Anita Diamant: A Biblical retelling (the first part is the best) and a treatise on how women are bound together, even as they’re set against each other.

‘Flygirl’ – Sherri L Smith: A historically based novel about the WASPs, women who flew planes for the army during the second world war.

‘The Crimson Petal and the White’ – Michael Faber: Sugar is a most accomplished Victorian prostitute who dreams of writing a novel, decrying male control over women.

‘The Bitch Goddess Notebook’ – Martha O’Connor: Honestly I can’t remember that much about this one, except that three friends who have separated remember events past, but I remember loving it when I was reading it. It’s one of those spiky little books that dig themselves under your skin.

Finally my answers to the introduction meme the organisers devised:

1. What does feminism mean to you? Does it have to do with the work sphere? The social sphere? How you dress? How you act?

First two links, the Wikipedia entry on feminism and some thoughts on what modern feminists are trying to achieve. For me, feminism is all about a woman’s right to choose and to take control of her own life (I guess that makes me a typical third-waver). I also believe that the fact that feminism has splintered into different, specific groups is a good thing, as long as we encompass all those views under some main rights we can all agree on (the right for women to be educated, the right for women to be free from abuse, the right for women to control their own reproduction and sexual health, the right for a woman to work if she wants to and probably a few more thing I can’t think of right now). As long as a woman approaches herself and other women with the respect they deserve then I believe she’s aligning herself with feminism.

2. Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why or why not?

Plenty of people I know say they believe in equality of the sexes, but they’re not a feminist, in the same way you might say ‘I believe anarchy, but I’m not an anarchist’. They identify feminism as the set beliefs of a specific group of activists and although they believe in the values these people uphold, they don’t identify with that group of people and they wouldn’t support all the actions of feminists. Unfortunately when these people say ‘I’m not a feminist, but...’ all the world hears is the first four words and all feminists like me hear is ‘I don’t want to say I’m a feminist because of I do not want to be associated with negative image certain men perpetuate about feminists’ (must get better about hearing that differently).

I think these people are put off self-identifying as feminists by this negative visual image that certain men and women push on to the word feminism, but also by the archaic version of feminism, as an ideaology that is opposed to housewives, mothers and women who take care of their appearance. Feminism has moved on to become all encompassing and has broken off into so many shoots, but many people assume that being a stay at home mother, sets them at odds with feminism. This is pretty frustrating, because the domestic sphere, where it is so easy for a woman to lose her own self-identity and her control on her life choices, because of the baggage of easy assumptions and traditional roles that daily domestic life brings with it is probably one of the places where a knowledge and belief in feminism is most practically useful.

I’m a feminist, that’s how I self-identify. I feel proud of the history of the movement (although mistakes were made, it was generally on the right track and every movement goes through a period of development) and I feel that feminism allows me to express my own views, without feeling excluded by the movement. I’d say that most women who are reluctant to align themselves with feminism probably haven’t found the right branch of feminism for them.

3. What do you consider the biggest obstacle women face in the world today? Has that obstacle changed over time, or does it basically remain the same?

There are about a billion obstacles that women face today. The most visible problems, like opposition to reproductive choice, extreme violence based on outdated ideas associated with women and the lack of legal support for women occur mostly overseas. Opposition to making birth control available is pretty big obstacle, because it leaves women raising too many children to be able to save money, or go out to work, or to gain an education. Then their daughters face the same problems and their sons perpetuate the cycle. I think that western feminists need to get more involved with these problems abroad, or risk being branded insular.

In the UK there is the media to contend with, as well as ordinary people’s assumptions, which box women into particular roles because of how they look and act. Cultural baggage is a hard thing to shake off. Since old cultural ideas also encourage men to believe they have the right to rape and beat women I’d say it’s a pretty big obstacle.

The idea that women are somehow now a privileged group that is eroding the rights of men, sits right alongside the racist idea that black, or asian groups now receive too many special privileges and is gaining a following. That’s a dangerous idea, because when men feel their way of life is threatened, they’ll hit back and block women’s progress either in an official capacity, or in their own homes. Masses of men are not being won over to feminism and while I don’t encourage pandering to them, I think there must be a way of encouraging them to see the benefits of feminism (many already do) and the fact that we’re striving for equality, not control.

All the answers to this meme strike at something important, but I just wanted to spotlight Amanda’s answers Amanda's answers , because they highlight such an interesting slant on feminism. Amanda says she was always more interested in equality and focused on male rights (paternity leave etc) as she’d seen a negative side of feminism.

I leave you today with the news that when forced to meet pay equivalency equality standards Leeds Council opted not to pay its female employees more, but to cut the pay of 3,500 male bin men and street cleaners. There’s been a strike among the male employees, and people is calling it disgusting behaviour (not least because the bins are starting to smell and attract rats according to the One Show. What everyone seems to be forgetting is that these men have never been concerned enough to strike over the low pay of their female colleagues.

Other things I'm not doing: Nanowrimo

I know I’m a wuss right?:)

Here’s the thing, the 3,000 words I’ve written for Nanowrimo so far have given me courage. I’ve learnt my ability to construct a crazy, but fun plot is still very much a part of me and that my base, action writing and dialogue writing are pretty solid and that I can be quite funny. These are all great things, so yay for me. I now feel like I can write that book that I really wanted to write for Nanowrimo, but needed to do research for, because even though a ton of what I write may suck I know I can form a book and that with some serious, serious editing I can create decent passages. This is major progress for me. So yeah, um that's what I'll be doing with my cretaive writing for the foreseeable future, being busy working on that novel I really want to write hopefully, but at a slower pace than those doing it during Nanowrimo.

However as I looked back on my writing I realised I was creating characters who were a background for the action, rather than action that was a very cool background for some wonderful character relationships. That’s not the kind of novel I want to write and once I realised I was headed in the wrong direction I didn’t have time to go back and fix it (as you may know, with Nanowrimo you go forward, or you die, you can’t go back until national editing month) I kind of decided to end it instead of slogging on without any enthusiasm. Maybe my inner critic got to me, but I don’t think so, I think it mostly had to do with the fact that this wasn’t the book I wanted to write at this moment (yes perhaps I should have worked that out before starting).

So I’m officially retiring from the event and going into full cheerleader mode for those still in it to win it. Medievalbookworm especially deserves some support, she’s writing a historical romance and is about 6,000 words in, oh and she’s blogging as well.

If you’re still (ha still it is two days in) plugging away you’ll be needing some writer help (if you’re procrastinating writing any more of your novel you really should be reading about Nanowrimo). Maureen Johnson will be answering questions relating to the event, and she especially advises that you cheat on your job and just write anywhere. Justine Larbalestier and her husband Scott Westerfeld will have a tip every day, for the whole month of November. Yesterday Scott talked about writing the dialogue spine, which I found really helpful. Finally you might find Emma Darwin’s none Nano post about the many disguises of your inner critic funny and useful.

National Novel Writing Month 2009

Clearly it is insane for me to try to do Nanowrimo, when I have a pretty bad grasp of how grammar and punctuation work (I seriously have no idea how I got through university without someone taking me aside to discuss this issue).

It’s also pretty screwy for me to decide that the two novel ideas I’m most attached to, need much more research and risk irreparable damage if I expose them to Nano-madness, then decide to construct a new novel idea entirely out of air and dragons.

So, just as a nice little precaution against me producing something hideous during National Novel Writing month, I hope you’ll join me in accepting that I was not in my right mind when I signed up to play this year and so may still have the potential to be a writer if I mess this up... Look! Will you just look at that sentence! Madness I say.

The goal for my Nanowrimo experience this year is not to produce some kind of wonderful, publishable, genius novel. It is just important that I prove to myself that I can write a sustained piece of fiction, without freaking out, deleting it all and crawling into bed with a large mixture of sweet and savoury junk food. Oh and fun, lots and lots of fun (perhaps if you believe that you will also believe I am an African princess who needs your credit card details).

No, obviously I am over exaggerating, it will all be fine. Now I have told you about it all I will remain stoically calm and collected in that special way many of us British are known for( we squish all our fears down until it looks like we are very brave, when actually our biggest fear is being one of those ridiculous people who flap at the smallest suggestion of having to make a decision - we hate those people). I’m just a little apprehensive, as nothing I’ve written has made it past the magical two pages limit since I left secondary school, except the obligatory epic adolescent poetry. I’m sure it will all be fine.

*fears, squishes, fears again, get’s a big hammer for squishing*

Please be my buddy.