Anna Karenina: Leo Tolstoy

I found it difficult to write more than a superficial review of this book without revealing some of the plot. If you have not read this book, and don't want to know much about the plot, I would pass on this review until you have read it. I knew little of the overall plot before I started reading the book, but I did know the ending. That did not spoil the book for me, but I would have preferred to go into the book with no knowledge of the story at all.

These are the major characters:

Anna Karenina, née Princess Oblonsky, is the wife of Alexei Karenin, who is 20 years older than she is. She is the sister of Prince Stepan (Stiva) Arkadyevich Oblonsky.

Princess Ekaterina (Kitty) Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya is the sister of Princess Darya (Dolly) Alexandrovna Oblonskaya, married to Prince Stepan.

Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky, a cavalry officer.

Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin, a wealthy landowner. 

The story centers around Kitty and Levin and Anna. 

Anna is not happy in her life as the wife of a Petersburg government official but she does enjoy the social life and the things she can afford as the wife of a wealthy man. They have a young son that she adores.

Anna visits Moscow at her brother Stiva's request. His wife Dolly has discovered that he has a mistress, and is threatening to leave him. They have five children, and he wants her to stay married to him. Anna's goal is to talk Dolly into staying.

While in Moscow, Anna goes to a ball that Kitty and Count Vronsky also attend. Kitty is very young, and she expects Vronsky to propose marriage at the ball. However, Vronsky dances with Anna and they are very attracted to each other. When Vronsky does not propose, Kitty is humiliated. Vronsky and Anna get involved and soon are having an affair. 

Levin is a family friend of Stiva and Dolly, a wealthy landowner, and in love with Kitty. He had proposed to Kitty earlier, but was rejected. His life is more simple than the other characters who are involved in society in Moscow or Petersburg. He must spend time running his farm, and he takes his responsibilities there seriously.

Obviously there is much more to the story and the tale unfolds in over 800 pages.

My thoughts:

When I finally decided to read Anna Karenina, I had had my copy at least 12 years. It was time to make a decision to read or not read. I was put off by the length and my opinion that it would be a depressing book, but it was on my Classics List. The book was not as difficult a read as I expected, but at least half of the story was depressing. And it took me four months to read it.

I had difficulty reading this book mainly because of Anna's plight. She brings her problems upon herself, but she is in the unfair position of not being able to divorce her husband and still have some rights to her son. She, like other women at the time, had very little control over her life. 

On the other hand, I enjoyed reading about Levin, his trials and tribulations, and his propensity for evaluating his life and that of others. He was a good man and a hard worker. I liked that he and Kitty do find their way to each other and enjoy their life together. Levin is surprised to find that marriage is not always idyllic, but together they learn how to deal with their differences. There are portions of Levin's story that are drawn out and overly long, but those parts also reveal a lot about life in Russia in the 1800s.

Anna Karenina is good book, deserving of the designation as a classic, and I am glad I read it. I learned a lot about life in Russia when it was written.  My edition had footnotes and explanations; for instance, there was a note explaining the laws that governed divorce and the rights of women at the time. I liked the Levin / Kitty plot but I had to mostly force my way through Anna's story. 

At times I had problems with the Russian names. Some of them were very similar (both Vronsky and Anna's husband are often referred to as Alexei, which was very confusing) and the same person was referred to at various time by their real name or nicknames.  

-----------------------------

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2004 (orig. pub. 1878)
Length:  838 pages
Format: Trade paperback
Setting:  Russia
Genre:   Fiction, Classic
Source:  On my shelves for many years.
Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Back to the Classics Challenge 2022

I am joining the Back to the Classics Challenge for 2022. The challenge is hosted by Books and Chocolate and is in its 9th year.

The challenge consists of twelve prompts for classic books. All books must have been written at least 50 years ago to qualify; therefore, books must have been published no later than 1972 for this challenge. The deadline to sign up for the challenge is April 1, 2022. More detailed rules can be found here. 

I have listed possibilities for books I may read but I am not committed to those choices. In some cases there are many possibilities on my Classics Club List to fulfill the category description. Ideally I would read one for each prompt for a total of 12, but as long as I read at least 6 books for this challenge, I will be happy.

Here are the categories for 2022 (followed  by my choice where I have one): 

1. A 19th century classic. Any book first published from 1800 to 1899.

Dracula – Bram Stoker (1897) 

2. A 20th century classic. Any book first published from 1900 to 1972. All books must have been published at least 50 years ago; the only exceptions are books which were written by 1972 and posthumously published.

Daphne du Maurier – Rebecca (1938)

3. A classic by a woman author.

Edna Ferber – Giant (1952)

Edna Ferber – Show Boat (1926)

4. A classic in translation.  Any book first published in a language that is not your primary language. You may read it in translation or in its original language, if you prefer. 

Leo Tolstoy – Anna Karenina (1878)

5. A classic by BIPOC author. Any book published by a non-white author.

Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart (1958)

6. Mystery/Detective/Crime classic. It can be fiction or non-fiction (true crime). 

James Cain – The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934)

7. A classic short story collection. Any single volume that contains at least six short stories. The book can have a single author or can be an anthology of multiple authors. 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Adventures of Sherlock Holmes  (1892)

8. Pre-1800 classic. Anything written before 1800. Plays and epic poems, such as the Odyssey, are acceptable in this category. 

William Shakespeare – Much Ado About Nothing (1598)

9. A nonfiction classic. Travel, memoirs, and biographies are great choices for this category.

10. Classic that's been on your TBR list the longest. Find the classic book that's been hanging around unread the longest, and finally cross it off your list!  

Jane Austen – Sense and Sensibility (1811)

11. Classic set in a place you'd like to visit. Can be real or imaginary -- Paris, Tokyo, the moon, Middle Earth, etc. It can be someplace you've never been, or someplace you'd like to visit again.

12. Wild card classic. Any classic book you like, any category, as long as it's at least 50 years old! 

Novellas in November: The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

This is a classic science fiction novella about a man who discovers how to turn himself invisible and decides to do it, thinking that his invisibility will give him an advantage over people. In reality, he discovers that it makes his life both uncomfortable and problematic.

It is difficult to describe my reaction to reading The Invisible Man. For one thing, I had seen the 1933 film adaptation at least once before, thus I had that story in my mind when reading the book. That film differs from the book significantly. Had I come to the book with no preconceived notions, that might have made a difference. Secondly, the story is very brief, about 155 pages in the edition I read. Thus I find it hard to tell about the story without revealing too much. 

Once I got about half way into the story, I realized that it was much simpler and more focused than the movie version. A stranger comes to the Coach and Horses in Iping and seeks a room and a sitting room where he can set up a lab to work in. He is bundled up in a strange way, only his nose can be seen, and he seems peculiar and cantankerous. As he has arrived in the winter when they have few guests, the husband and wife who run the place are glad of the money, until they find out how disruptive his presence can be. Even then, they put up with him for months because he continues to pay his bills. 

Eventually the stranger runs out of money and gets thrown out of his room. He resists, and in the course of an altercation he removes his clothes and they realize that he is invisible. They try to keep him there, but he escapes. And the reader begins to realize that the invisible man is not just a man in trouble, looking for a solution to his strange state, but that he has no concern for others, for their safety or their feelings. He is quite willing to endanger or harm people to get what he wants. 

The rest of the story is concerned with revealing how the invisible man got that way, how it has affected him, and his plans for his future. He serendipitously runs into an old friend from medical school and enlists his help.

Personally, I found this book to be a disappointment, but I cannot describe the things that led to that opinion without telling more than I want to reveal about the story. I was interested while reading it and I thought the writing was fine, but I wanted a more exciting or meaningful story, and it did not impress me in that way. The book is a classic and definitely worth reading but it was not a story I cared much for. However, I want to stress that many readers have enjoyed the story much more than I did.

The story is told in third person, and I think this reader might have had some sympathy for the main character it it had been in first person and told in a more personal way. 

I think this book is more about issues but somehow that did not work for me. Kate at crossexaminingcrime wrote an excellent in-depth review of the book, discussing the various ideas that can be found in this work. Please see her review.

A few days after I read the book we watched the 1933 film adaptation of The Invisible Man again. It was directed by James Whale, and Claude Rains made his American film debut as the invisible man. Gloria Stuart played the love interest, a role that does not exist in the book. I can understand why it was decided to provide more of a backstory for the invisible man in the film. The early part of the book is condensed quite a bit in the film, and that is also understandable. The filmmakers used groundbreaking special effects in making a story in which the main character is never seen. 

I read this for Classics Week in the Novellas in November 2021 reading event. The host blogs are 746 Books and Bookish Beck.

 -----------------------------

Publisher:   Race Point Publishing, 2017 (original pub. 1897)
Length:       155 pages
Format:       Hardcover
Settings:     UK

Genre:        Science fiction

Source:       Purchased in 2020.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2021

I am joining the Back to the Classics Challenge for 2021. The challenge is hosted by Books and Chocolate and is in its 8th year.

The challenge consists of twelve prompts for classic books. All books must have been written at least 50 years ago to qualify; therefore, books must have been published no later than 1971 for this challenge. More detailed rules can be found here. Ideally I would read one for each prompt for a total of 12, but as long as I read at least 6 books for this challenge, I will be happy.

I have listed possibilities for books I may read but I am not committed to those choices. In some cases there are many possibilities on my Classics Club List to fulfill the category description.

1. A 19th century classic: any book first published from 1800 to 1899

H. G. Wells – The Invisible Man (1897)

2. A 20th century classic: any book first published from 1900 to 1971. 

(so many to choose from)

3. A classic by a woman author.

Madeleine L'Engle – A Wrinkle in Time (1962)

4. A classic in translation, meaning any book first published in a language that is not your primary language. 

Leo Tolstoy – Anna Karenina (1878)

5. A classic by BIPOC author; that is, a non-white author.

Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)

6. A classic by a new-to-you author, i.e., an author whose work you have never read.

Bram Stoker – Dracula (1897)

7. New-to-you classic by a favorite author -- a new book by an author whose works you have already read. 

Margaret Millar – Beast In View (1955)

8. A classic about an animal, or with an animal in the title. 

Virginia Woolf – Flush: A Biography (1933)

9. A children's classic. 

Roald Dahl – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)

10. A humorous or satirical classic.

Leo Bruce – A Case for Three Detectives (1936)

11. A travel or adventure classic (fiction or non-fiction). It can be a travelogue or a classic in which the main character travels or has an adventure. 

Laurence Sterne – A Sentimental Journey (1768)

12. A classic play. Plays will only count in this category.

William Shakespeare – Much Ado About Nothing (1598)

Little Women: Louisa May Alcott

Little Women was the book that came up for me to read in the last Classics Club spin. I was happy about that because I had just purchased this very nice edition and was eager to read it.

I think I read this book when I was younger. However, it is possible I just remember what I saw in movies over the years. The story was somewhat familiar to me but my memories were garbled so that there were enough surprises to entertain me. 

I had mixed feelings before reading Little Women; I thought it would be too old-fashioned in tone and themes. There is a good bit of moralizing, which isn't appealing, but that does fit with the times it was written. 

Thus it surprised me that I found this such an enjoyable read and also that I continued thinking about it for several days after finishing it. 

The story focuses on four sisters (Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy) and their mother, Marmee. Mr. March has volunteered to serve as a chaplain in the Union Army during the Civil War, and he is stationed far away. The fear that they will never see him again weighs heavily on all of them. The family once was well-to-do but Mr. March made some bad business decisions so that they have now moved to a smaller home and have to mind their pennies. Right next door, however, is a very rich man and his grandson, Laurie. Over time the girls and Laurie become good friends. 

I did not realize that the book was in two parts (and is sometimes published as two separate books). The first part begins when Meg, the oldest, is 16 and Amy, the youngest, is 12.  The second part follows the girls as they approach their twenties and are thinking of marriage.

My favorite character is Jo, who is headstrong with a temper, and doesn't want to fit in with the expectations of the day related to marriage, being dependent on a man, and taking care of a home. I was not at all like that when I was young and ended up with a career by accident, so it isn't that I really understood her yearnings. I think Jo balances out the other characters who want to be married, and preferably to someone with lots of money (except for Beth, but I am not addressing that at all).

I like that the story is told in episodes of the girls lives; each chapter is almost like a short story that can stand alone. They all go through trials and tribulations. I was never bored with the story.

My edition of the book was a Penguin Deluxe Edition and had a Foreword, an Introduction, and a section on "how the read the book" for both children and adults, which I found useful. There was a glossary in the back of the book, also useful and entertaining. Usually I could figure out approximate meanings of words I was unfamiliar with, but often reading the notes in the glossary helped even more by explaining books that were popular at the time, etc.

I enjoyed the introduction (and other sections), and learning more about Alcott and how and why she wrote the book. I never thought of this book as a children's book, but it was written for children which explains a lot of the moralizing. Actually, nowadays, it seems like it would appeal more to adults, as a picture of what times were like in the 1860s, than to children.

Reading an article in LitHub, I found it interesting that Louisa May Alcott wrote the following sentence in a response to a letter from a young writer: "I do not enjoy writing 'moral tales' for the young, I do it because it pays well." 

I nearly forgot to mention one of my favorite themes in the book. Throughout the years the March family celebrates Christmas. The book begins at Christmas, with Jo complaining that it won't be Christmas without presents. They find ways to make it nice anyway. The Christmas celebration the next year is lovely. This is the perfect book to read in December.

Moira at Clothes in Books has featured Little Women (and other books by Alcott) on her blog often. See this post about Christmas in wartime.

 -----------------------------

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2018 (orig. pub. 1868).
Length:    464 pages
Format:    Trade Paperback
Setting:    Massachusetts, US
Genre:     Fiction, Classic
Source:    I purchased this book in 2020.

Reading Summary for February 2020

February was a strange reading month. It took me close to 3 weeks to read Bleak House. I also read a good number of short stories, most of them in the two short story books I have already reviewed. All of the books I read were published before 1990. One of the books from the 1980s featured a nun as the main character and was written by a nun.

Fiction

Bleak House (1853) by Charles Dickens

This is one of Dickens' longest novels. Some readers consider it his best novel. I have only read A Christmas Carol by this author, so I can make no comparison. I feel ambivalent about the novel. I enjoyed reading much of it, but it was a very difficult read, and seemed too long to me. It was first published in 20 monthly installments. 

Grand Hotel (1929) by Vicki Baum
Translated from the German by Basil Creighton with revisions by Margot Bettauer Dembo

Several disparate people stay in the Grand Hotel in Berlin over several days. For almost all of them, the people they meet and the things they do there effect changes in their lives. This was a remarkable book, thought-provoking and entertaining. 

Crime Fiction

The Saint Valentine's Day Murders (1984) by Ruth Dudley Edwards

This is book 2 in the Robert Amiss series. The first two books in the series feature office settings, and focus on bureaucracy and office politics. See my thoughts here.

Seven Days in May (1962) by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II

After Kirk Douglas died earlier this month, we watched Seven Days in May, a film he had starred in. It was directed by John Frankenheimer, and Burt Lancaster also had a major role. We have watched it many times but it had been a while. The book it was based on had been on my shelves since 2014, so I decided it was time to read it. It is a fast-paced thriller about the attempt by military leaders in the US to take over the government and remove the President from power. A very good read.

A Novena For Murder (1984) by Sister Carol Anne O'Marie

This is a very cozy mystery starring a nun as amateur sleuth. Sister Mary Helen has retired at 75 and is sent to Mt. Saint Francis College for Women in San Francisco. Shortly after she arrives the body of a professor at the school is found, following an earthquake. The police blame the wrong person, in Sister Mary Helen's opinion, so it is up to her to find out what happened. I liked the setting and the characters; it was the perfect read for me at the time.

Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens (1982) by Michael Gilbert

This is one of two books of short stories about two middle-aged spies, working for a secret government group in the UK called the Joint Services Standing Intelligence Committee (JSSIC). See my thoughts here.

English Country House Murders (1988) ed. by Thomas Godfrey

A short story anthology edited by Thomas Godfrey. The volume begins with a charming introduction by Godfrey; he also introduces each story. See my thoughts here.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2020

I am joining the Back to the Classics Challenge for 2020. I am hoping it will help keep me moving along on my Classics Club List. The challenge is hosted by Books and Chocolate and is in its 7th year.

This is similar to another Classics Challenge I signed up for this year, and some of the categories do overlap. For this one I can go for 6 classics, or 9, or all 12.

I have listed possibilities for books I may read but I am not committed to those choices. In some cases there are many possibilities on my Classics Club List to fulfill the category description.

1. 19th Century Classic.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – The Sign of the Four (1890)

2. 20th Century Classic.

Ira Levin – A Kiss Before Dying (1953)

3. Classic by a Woman Author.

Shirley Jackson – We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)

4. Classic in Translation.

Mikhail Bulgarov – The Master and Margarita (1967)   

5. Classic by a Person of Color.

Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart (1958)

6. A Genre Classic. Any classic novel that falls into a genre category -- fantasy, science fiction, Western, romance, crime, horror, etc.

Agatha Christie – And Then There Were None  (1939)

7. Classic with a Person's Name in the Title. First name, last name or both.

Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre (1847)

8. Classic with a Place in the Title. Any classic with the proper name of a place (real or fictional) - a country, region, city, town, village, street, building, etc.

Graham Greene – Our Man in Havana (1958)

9. Classic with Nature in the Title. A classic with any element of nature in the title (not including animals).

Kenneth Grahame –  The Wind in the Willows (1908)

10. Classic About a Family. This classic should have multiple members of the same family as principal characters, either from the same generation or multiple different generations.  Updated: Family members in the title are also acceptable.

Elizabeth Gaskell –  Wives and Daughters (1863)

11. Abandoned Classic. Choose a classic that you started and just never got around to finishing, whether you didn't like it at or just didn't get around to it. Now is the time to give it another try.

I think this category may doom me to not completing all twelve categories (although I probably won't anyway). I cannot remember a classic that I have abandoned. I have only read classics in my younger years (too long ago to remember definitively) and in the last few years. There are many classics I have rejected (too scary or just not my thing or too long), but none I have started and not finished.

12. Classic Adaptation. Any classic that's been adapted as a movie or TV series.

So many possibilities on my list. Maybe:  Bram Stoker – Dracula (1897)

A Kiss Before Dying: Ira Levin

I read this novel for the Classics Club Spin #22. Previously, I had avoided reading anything by Ira Levin because his books are mostly horror and very tense. But I am finding it easier to try new things in my reading. For me it was not a fun read, but it was rewarding.

The story starts with a young man and woman, both college students, discussing their future. She is pregnant, and she wants to get married immediately. He doesn't. That doesn't sound too unusual, but in this case the situation eventually leads to the young woman's death.

The young man in this story is a World War II veteran with dreams and ambitions, but he wants to take short cuts to get to his goal. He doesn't want to finish college and find a job and work his way up the ladder. He wants to marry a young woman who has lots of money. That becomes his goal in life and he will let nothing get in his way of getting what he wants.

That is all I want to say about the plot because it is best to come into this story knowing very little.

My thoughts:

I don't do well with psychological suspense. This book was very intense for me, and there was a point where I just wanted to stop reading it. But I persevered and shortly after that it got less tense and more interesting.

The story is divided into three sections and each has a different feel, or mood, even though the main character remains constant throughout. There is tension in each part of the story, but handled in a different way, and I admired the author's ability to do this. The story has a fantastic twist, and it happens midway through the book. It  took my breath away.

More about the book and the author:

In a New York Times review of A Kiss Before Dying, Anthony Boucher wrote that “Levin combines great talent for pure novel writing -- full-bodied characterization, subtle psychological exploration, vivid evocation of locale -- with strict technical whodunit tricks as dazzling as anything ever brought off by Carr, Rawson, Queen or Christie.”

The New Yorker said:
"A remarkably constructed story depicting an inconceivably vicious character in episodes of thrilling horror."

A Kiss Before Dying has been adapted for the screen twice. The 1956 adaptation starred Robert Wagner, Virginia Leith, Joanne Woodward, and Mary Astor. The second adaptation was produced in 1991 and starred Matt Dillon, Sean Young, Diane Ladd, and Max von Sydow. I haven't seen either of the films but I understand that the 1956 film adhered closer to the plot in the book.

Ira Levin wrote a total of seven novels. Among them were: Rosemary's Baby (1967), The Stepford Wives (1972), and The Boys from Brazil (1976)... all of those also had film adaptations. He also wrote plays, several of which had film adaptations.

These reviews have more details about the plot:

• At Mysteries Ahoy!
• At Existential Ennui

-----------------------------

Publisher:  Pegasus Books, 2011 (orig. publ. 1953)
Length:      265 pages
Format:      Trade Paperback
Setting:      USA
Genre:       Suspense / Inverted Mystery
Source:      I purchased my copy in June 2018.

Reading Classic Books Challenge 2020

Because I always need a little push to keep me working on completing my Classics List, I have been looking for a related challenge. I found the Reading Classic Books Challenge at The Broken Spine hosted by Erica.

The rules are simple:
1) ALL books must have been first published 50 years ago or earlier
2) Books must be read between January 1st and December 31st
3) Books may be used for up to two prompts

I have added books on my list that I may read for some of the topics.

The Challenge Prompts:

1) Read a classic over 500 pages

Charles Dickens – Bleak House (1853)

2) Read a classic by a POC and/or with a POC as the main character

Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)

3) Read a classic that takes place in a country other than where you live

Christopher Isherwood – Goodbye to Berlin (1939)

4) Read a classic in translation

Vicki Baum – Grand Hotel (1929)

5) Read a classic by a new to you author

Madeleine L'Engle – A Wrinkle in Time (1962)

6) Read a book of poetry

7) Read a classic written between 1800-1860

Jane Austen – Sense and Sensibility (1811)

8) Read a classic written by an LGBT author and/or with an LGBT main character

9) Read a classic written by a woman

Nancy Mitford – The Pursuit of Love (1945)

10) Read a classic novella

11) Read a classic nonfiction

12) Read a classic that has been banned or censored

Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 (1953)

The Woman in White: Wilkie Collins

This book is one of the first sensation novels. First published in 1859, it tells the story of a young woman  (Laura Fairlie) who marries unwisely and the man (Walter Hartright) who loves her and tries to rescue her from the clutches of an evil man.

First sentence:

This is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and what a Man's resolution can achieve.

And a few paragraphs later, the author tells us how the story will be told:

When the writer of these introductory lines (Walter Hartright by name) happens to be more closely connected than others with the incidents to be recorded, he will describe them in his own person. When his experience fails, he will retire from the position of narrator; and his task will be continued, from the point at which he has left it off, by other persons who can speak to the circumstances under notice from their own knowledge, just as clearly and positively as he has spoken before them.

Thus, the story here presented will be told by more than one pen, as the story of an offence against the laws is told in Court by more than one witness...

Walter Hartwright is seeking a job, and his good friend Pesco suggests a position that will fit him perfectly – drawing instructor to two young women. He seeks and gets this position. The two women he will be tutoring are half-sisters, Laura Fairlie and Marian Halcombe; they live with Frederick Fairlie, Laura's uncle and owner of Limmeridge House in Cumberlands.

One night before he leaves for his new position, Walter meets a mysterious woman in white who has a strange connection to Limmeridge House.  Once he arrives at his new home, he seeks more information about this woman, with little initial success.

That is the set up for the story and I did not even know that much when I started reading the book. I liked going into the story with little knowledge, so I will not elaborate on the plot any further.

I enjoyed this novel, very much more than I expected to. I had resisted reading The Woman in White for years. Even though it is a well-known crime fiction classic, I did not think I would enjoy the old-fashioned story (how wrong I was!). Even then I might have tried it if it had not been so long (in various editions, 600-700 pages).  Finally I overcame my prejudice when Judith at Reading in the Wilderness blogged about how much she enjoyed it.

As noted above, the story is told from various points of view, and that includes some incidents described in diary entries. I liked that approach. William Hartright starts out the tale and is one of the major players, but at times he is only on the fringes of the story.

My favorite character was Count Fosco, an Italian man with a mysterious past, and a close associate of Laura Fairlie's fiancé. Marian Halcombe is a very strong character, determined and loyal. I really hated Laura's uncle, Frederick Fairlie, who lived in his own private world and cared only for his own wants and needs. The author was successful at evoking strong reactions to the characters and their actions.

I liked the edition that I read, published by The Modern Library. There was an introduction by Anne Perry, which I read after I finished the book. The notes by Chris Willis were very useful to me.


 -----------------------------

Publisher:   Modern Library, 2002 (orig. pub. 1859)
Length:      643 pages
Format:      Trade Paperback
Setting:      England
Genre:       Classic Mystery; Sensation novel
Source:      I purchased my copy.

The Tin Flute: Gabrielle Roy

The Tin Flute is a classic Canadian novel, first published in French as Bonheur d'occasion. The book tells the story of the Lacasse family in the St. Henri area in Montreal, during World War II. They are poor, and only the oldest daughter, Florentine, is working. Eugene, the oldest brother, has joined the military. It took me a while to get into the story, but about halfway into the book it took hold of me and I could not stop reading.

This is how the story begins:

Toward noon, Florentine had taken to watching out for the young man who, yesterday, while seeming to joke around, had let her know he found her pretty.

The fever of the bazaar rose in her blood, a kind of jangled nervousness mingled with the vague feeling that one day in this teeming store things would come to a halt and her life would find its goal. It never occurred to her to think she could meet her destiny anywhere but here, in the overpowering smell of caramel, before the great mirrors hung on the wall with their narrow strips of gummed paper announcing the day’s menu, to the summary clicking of the cash register, the very voice of her impatience. Everything in the place summed up for her the hasty, hectic poverty of her whole life in St. Henri.

The story centers around Rose-Anna, the mother, and Florentine. With eight children in the family, Rose-Anna is again pregnant. Her youngest child, Daniel, is in very ill health. The father, Azarius, is usually unemployed, a dreamer, always leaving one job for a "better" opportunity and spending most of his time away from home talking with a group of men, young and old, about the state of the world.

Florentine is a waitress in a restaurant in the back of a Five and Ten store in her neighborhood. She meets Jean Lévesque, a customer, and falls for him, although he is arrogant and aloof. She is desperate to escape from her life in poverty. Later she meets Emmanuel, a friend of Jean's, who loves her while she is still obsessed with Jean.

The story is beautifully written. In the first portion of the novel I was impatient with the slow pace and the introspection of the characters. As I became more involved in the pain and sadness and frustrations of the family members, I was pulled into the narrative.

This is a story of war and those who are affected, the Canadian home front, and the pain of poverty. There is so much more to this book than I can describe here, but not without revealing the later parts of the story, and I think each reader should discover all of it on their own.

I found the story depressing although I am sure not everyone would feel that way. Yet, I am very glad I read this book and I highly recommend it.

The Tin Flute was Gabrielle Roy's first novel. Nine more novels followed, published between 1950 and 1982.

Brian Busby of The Dusty Bookcase introduced me to this book, suggesting it two years ago for a World War II reading challenge. I did not get to it until this year. I am grateful that he mentioned it.


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Publisher:   McClellan & Stewart, 2009 (orig. pub. 1945)
Length:      400 pages
Format:      Trade paperback
Translated by:  Alan Brown
Setting:      Montreal, Canada, 1940
Genre:       Fiction, Classic
Source:     I purchased this book.

Reading Summary, January 2019

Another lovely month of reading in January. I read ten books: one fantasy, eight mysteries, AND I finally finished Les Misérables. I was feeling pretty bad about taking 13 months to read that book, but when I realized I read 400 out of 1200 pages in December and January, I decided that wasn't so bad.

Of the eight crime fiction books, two were set in the UK (England and Scotland), one was set in France, one set in Canada, and the others were set in the US. So, a good bit of variety.

Classic Fiction in January

Les Misérables (1862) by Victor Hugo

Very glad to have finished this book. It started out as part of a chapter a day challenge, but that did not work well for me and I was reading it in e-book format. About a third of the way through I switched to my hardback copy, but that still did not keep me from reading in fits and starts. January was more a month of reading comfort books for me so it wasn't until the end of the month that I got back to the book and finished the last 140 pages. A very emotional section of the book. I am glad I read the book.

Fantasy Fiction in January

Good Omens (1990) by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

This is a comic version of an Armageddon novel. It was written when both Gaiman and Pratchett were at the beginning of their careers. I enjoyed it very much, although I did have problems with an overload of humor. I prefer more subtle humor. The book is often compared to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and it does have the same style of writing and tone. A very entertaining  and fun book.

Crime Fiction in January

True Detective (1983) by Max Allan Collins

A historical mystery, with a private detective as the likable protagonist, not damaged, but not perfect either. And set in a very interesting time and place: Chicago during Prohibition, early 1930s. I loved the book and the character. My review is here.

Field of Blood (2005) by Denise Mina

I liked the first Denise Mina book I read (Garnethill), and this one was also very good. The subject matter was not my favorite; a young child has been killed. However the setting was great: Glasgow in the early 1980's. And the characters are well developed, interesting, not gorgeous with fantastic lives but real people with problems.

A Room Full of Bones (2011) by Elly Griffiths

The 4th book in a series of 11 books about Ruth Galloway, forensic anthropologist. She works with the police in her area whenever bones need to be examined. This series shines because the main characters are unique and the cast of recurring supporting characters get more and more interesting.

Murder with Pictures (1935) by George Harmon Coxe

My first vintage mystery fiction of the year. I was interested in this series, starring Kent Murdock, because he is a newspaper photographer, with a gift for sleuthing. I look forward to reading more by Coxe.

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1950) by C.W. Grafton

C. W. Grafton was the father of Sue Grafton; he wrote four novels, and three of those were mysteries. This was his last novel, and I believe it is the best known.  This book was very different, it is an inverted mystery, and I enjoyed it very much. My review is here.

Die Trying (1998) by Lee Child

This is the 2nd Jack Reacher novel and there are now 23 books in the series. In the past year and a half I read two other Jack Reacher novels, the 9th (One Shot) and the 18th (Never Go Back). I am amazed at how much I enjoy these books. The writing is nothing special but the author draws me in and keeps me reading and I like the Jack Reacher character a lot.

A Rule Against Murder (2007) by Louise Penny

My first Canadian book of the year. Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache are celebrating their 35th anniversary at the Manoir Bellechaise, a former hunting lodge turned luxury resort on the shore of Lac Massawippi in Quebec. For those who are not familiar with Louise Penny's series, Armand Gamache is the head of Homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, and the protagonist of the series. This is the fourth book in the series. It took me a while to warm up to the series, but this book was very, very good.

Summertime All the Cats Are Bored (2009) by Philippe Georget

Gilles Sebag is a police inspector in the  French seaside town of Perpignan. He has been passed over for promotion  throughout his career due to choosing to take a reduction of hours when his children were young. His children are now teenagers and he suspects that his lovely wife may be having an affair. Then a young woman goes missing and the case becomes high profile, demanding most of his time. This was not a perfect book but very interesting and one that provides a good picture of the south of France. 

Back to the Classics Challenge 2019

I am joining the Back to the Classics Challenge 2019. A new challenge for me, and I am hoping it will help keep me moving along on my Classics Club List. The challenge is hosted by Books and Chocolate and is in its 6th year.

There are lots of rules and information at the signup post.

THE CATEGORIES (and my choices, which may be subject to change):

1. 19th Century Classic. Any classic book originally published between 1800 and 1899.

Bram Stoker – Dracula (1897)

2. 20th Century Classic. Any classic book originally published between 1900 and 1969. All books in this category must have been published at least 50 years ago. The only exceptions are books that were published posthumously but were written at least 50 years ago.

Virginia Woolf – Flush (1933)

3. Classic by a Woman Author.

Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre (1847)

4. Classic in Translation. Any classic originally written in a language other than your native language.

Vicki Baum – Grand Hotel (1929)

5. Classic Comic Novel. Any comedy, satire, or humorous work.

Stella Gibbons – Cold Comfort Farm (1932)

6. Classic Tragic Novel.

Theodore Dreiser –  An American Tragedy (1925)

7. Very Long Classic. Any classic single work 500 pages or longer, not including introductions or end notes.

Charles Dickens – Bleak House (1853)

8. Classic Novella. Any work of narrative fiction shorter than 250 pages.

Truman Capote – Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958)

9. Classic From the Americas (includes the Caribbean). Includes classic set in either continent or the Caribbean, or by an author originally from one of those countries.

Betty Smith – A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943)

10. Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia). Any classic set in one of those continents or islands, or by an author from these countries.

Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart  (Nigeria, 1958). 

11. Classic From a Place You've Lived. Read locally! Any classic set in a city, county, state or country in which you've lived, or by a local author.

Raymond Chandler – The Little Sister (California, 1949) 

12. Classic Play. Any play written or performed at least 50 years ago. Plays are eligible for this category only.

William Shakespeare – Much Ado About Nothing (1598)

Participants may read 6, 9 or 12 books from this list, so I may not read all of these.

A Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens

I am not sure if I have read A Christmas Carol before, but it felt brand new to me as I read it a few days ago. I have, of course seen some adaptations of the story but the only one I remember is Scrooged with Bill Murray. It is one of my favorite Christmas films, but of course it is a departure from the original story.

The novella has a very simple structure. In the first part, Scrooge is revealed to be a bitter man who has no sympathy for the poor and whose every thought is aimed at making more money. On Christmas Eve, he leaves his place of business at the end of the day, after being rude and inconsiderate to his employee, his nephew, and some people seeking donations for the poor. He goes home but immediately notices odd occurrences; the iron knocker on his door looks like the head of his old partner, Marley, now dead. Marley appears before him, in chains, and foretells that that three visitors will come and will try to save Scrooge from Marley's sad fate.

In the middle three parts, the three ghosts visit Scrooge and take him on heartbreaking and scary tours of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. And Scrooge does experience an epiphany and becomes aware that he can change. The last part shows Scrooge's redemption and his new relationships with family and friends.

What did I like?

Just about everything. I liked the way the story was told. The narration pulled me into the mood immediately. Not only is the book a pleasant and humorous read, while giving us a beautiful story of redemption and finding new happiness, it also shows us today what life was like in the 1800's, especially for the very poor. The edition that I read had wonderful illustrations by Roberto Innocenti. The illustrations enriched the reading experience.

Here are some paragraphs from his journey with the Ghost of Christmas Present:

...they stood in the city streets on Christmas morning, where (for the weather was severe) the people made a rough, but brisk and not unpleasant kind of music, in scraping the snow from the pavement in front of their dwellings, and from the tops of their houses, whence it was mad delight to the boys to see it come plumping down into the road below, and splitting into artificial little snow-storms.

The house fronts looked black enough, and the windows blacker, contrasting with the smooth white sheet of snow upon the roofs, and with the dirtier snow upon the ground; which last deposit had been ploughed up in deep furrows by the heavy wheels of carts and waggons; furrows that crossed and re-crossed each other hundreds of times where the great streets branched off; and made intricate channels, hard to trace in the thick yellow mud and icy water. The sky was gloomy, and the shortest streets were choked up with a dingy mist, half thawed, half frozen, whose heavier particles descended in a shower of sooty atoms, as if all the chimneys in Great Britain had, by one consent, caught fire, and were blazing away to their dear hearts’ content. There was nothing very cheerful in the climate or the town, and yet was there an air of cheerfulness abroad that the clearest summer air and brightest summer sun might have endeavoured to diffuse in vain. 

For, the people who were shovelling away on the housetops were jovial and full of glee; calling out to one another from the parapets, and now and then exchanging a facetious snowball—better-natured missile far than many a wordy jest—laughing heartily if it went right and not less heartily if it went wrong. The poulterers’ shops were still half open, and the fruiterers’ were radiant in their glory. There were great, round, pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts, shaped like the waistcoats of jolly old gentlemen, lolling at the doors, and tumbling out into the street in their apoplectic opulence. ...

If I had to find some complaint about the book, I would point out that Scrooge reversed his attitudes awfully quickly. On the other hand, who wouldn't change if they were in the middle of being taking back and forth in time by ghosts. I sensed that deep down he was ready to make amends. And this is a fantasy / ghost story anyway. A parable of sorts.

It is encouraging that this story has endured for so long. I understand now why some people read this every Christmas. It is a quick read, very entertaining, and joyful.


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Publisher:   Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, Inc., 1990 (Orig. Publ. 1843)
Length:      152 pages, with illustrations.
Format:      Hardcover
Setting:      Great Britain
Genre:       Classic; Fiction
Source:      From our collection of illustrated books.

Les Misérables Chapter-a-Day Read-Along

I just learned about this Read-along for Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. The main  goal is to commit to reading a chapter a day as there are exactly 365 chapters in the unabridged version of the novel. I cannot say this is a book that ever called to me to read it but the idea of experiencing it one chapter a day for a year sounds very appealing. It is a very very long book. I am guessing the chapters average 4-5 pages each.

The Read-along is hosted by Nick Senger at One Catholic Life. It starts on January 1, 2018, and concludes on December 31. At Nick's blog, he will have weekly posts that will stay on track with the reading schedule, and since he has experienced this novel several times and taught it in school, I think those posts will be useful to me. Check out the sign-up post for more details.

Although the idea is to commit to reading a chapter a day, there is nothing to prevent one from reading ahead at times, or getting behind, and I imagine I will do both.

I will start reading this on my Kindle, which will be a big step for me since I have avoided using it for at least a year now. I think the shorter chunks of reading will allow me to see how I like the experience (both reading the book and using the Kindle). I will also be looking for a print copy, but I want to start reading today, and an e-book is the only option. Plus I can verify that I am enjoying the experience before I commit to a print copy.

I want to give credit to Brona at Brona's Books for alerting me to this Read-along.