My 2009 Year End Reading Summary from Christy

• How many books read in 2009? 24
  
• How many fiction? 14
  
• How many non-fiction? 10
  
• How many biographical or auto-biographical? 8
• How many travel books? 2
  
• Female authors? 16
• Male authors? 8
  
• Most favourite? Someone at a Distance, by Dorothy Whipple
  
• Least favourite? The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet, by Colleen McCullough
  
• Any I simply couldn't read all the way through? The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet. I was amazed that the writer of Thornbirds could write such a dreadful book.
  
• Oldest book read? The Blue Castle, by L.M. Montgomery
  
• Newest book read? Persona non Grata, by Ruth Downie
  
• Longest read? The Lost, A search for six of six million, by Daniel Mendelsohn
  
• Shortest read? The Blue Castle, by L.M. Montgomery
• How may books from the library? 18
  
• Translated books? 3
  
• Most read author of the year? Dorothy Whipple
  
• How many by that author? 3
  
• Any re-reads? No
  
• Favourite character? Charlotte Gray
  
• How many countries were visited, through the read page? Australia, USA, Canada, Russia, Poland, Germany, Monrovia, France, United Kingdom, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Kenya, South Africa, Botswana
• Which books would you not have read without a recommendation? The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Someone at a Distance, Mrs Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Little Boy Lost, Facing the Lion.
  
• Which author was new to me, and I want to read all that author's works? Dorothy Whipple
  
• Read any books I always meant to read? The Blue Castle, L.M. Montgomery
• Any books I'm annoyed I didn't read? The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

I have never kept a statistical record of the books I have read. And I don't think this was my best year for reading books. I averaged two books per month. I think I'm going to try for three books per month next year. But I read for the love of it, so what takes my fancy or comes to my attention, will be read.

I seem to especially like books fiction or biographical, that are set in the first or second world war time period, but I'm not stuck there.

I have sorely neglected our library, book reading club and every time I run into someone they say "when are you coming back?" Just life gets in the way. So will work harder to keep up and participate in that.

Reading, what a joy, what a transportation, through time and distance from ones own fireside.

Well signing off from my American fireside reading.

Christy

P.S. Found this meme on Paperback Reader

Persona Non Grata, by Ruth Downie

This will be my last book review of the year and I was going to get together a very humble little tally of the books I have read this year.

Ruth Downie has two previous books in this series, both were New York Times best sellers, Medicus and Terre Incognita.

Based around the main character, a career military doctor, Gaius Petreius Ruso, who is stationed in Roman Britain, near Hadrian's Wall and lives with his companion Tilla a tribal native of the isle. He receives a letter summoning him back to his family in the south of France.

On reaching the family home and vinyard, nobody owns up to sending the letter. All is in turmoil. The family are on the edge of bancrupty, their creditors are breathing down their necks, they could all be out on the street. Gaius's sister-in-law's brother, has drowned mysteriouly on a sea voyage.

Gaius has not told his family he will be bringing Tilla and has not told them of their relationship.

As if this isn't enough their main creditor comes to visit and drops dead of poisoning in front of Gaius.

How is his younger sister mixed up the the gladiators.

Gaius is now expected to sort out the family fortunes.

What did I think?

I was truthfully expecting more. Knowing that Ruth Downie's two previous books were New York Times best sellers. It was a good read, a not in depth read. Interesting research on Roman Life. I enjoyed it, and probably I should go back and read the two previous books.

I studied Roman Britain for my final exams, so had some background understanding of this period in history.

I felt it was an OK book that benefited from it's period setting. I will hold judgement until I read the previous two books.

Christy

BBC Radio 4 Tea Time for the Traditionally Built

BBC Radio 4, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built.

If you enjoyed reading this book, or haven't read it, but would like to listen to it, go to BBC Radio 4 on the internet and listen to the two episodes. They are only there for seven days, so make haste. I think you will enjoy it, I'm listening to it while writing this post.

Enjoy.

Christy

The Lost Art of Gratitude, by Alexander McCall Smith

Isabel Dalhousie is a thoroughly modern woman, from a well to do background. She owns and edits from home, a philosophical journal. Has an eighteen month old boy, Charlie, who loves eating olives and lives with his father Jamie.

A chance meeting with an old acquantance Minty Auchterlonie, gets an invite for Charlie to her son's birthday party, to be held at their prestigious family house in the country outside of Edinburgh. Minty is now a high flying financier. Isabel had always thought of her as a ruthless climber, but her integrity had never been brought into question.

Minty takes Isabel into her confidence over a personal matter, but is Minty being truthful with her or is she using her. Rumors come her way of Minty being involved in a financial bank fraud, plus some other shady dealings. Being the curious Isabel that she is, she just can't say no.

Another dilemma is Professor Dove, her nemesis in the writing world. What's this whole to do about plagiarism?

Her neice Cat is dating a new boyfriend (a tightrope walker!) Isabel has Jamie, her neice's old boyfriend, Charlie's father; and the open question of marriage is still hanging.

Philosophizing, snooping and being just mum, make up this easy read series of books set in Edinburgh.

As the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency has an old worldliness to it. This series has a modern theme about it. Set in Edinburgh in the world of today. I like both series by McCall Smith, and will read more of these books in each series.

Christy

Tea Time for the Traditioally Built, by Alexander McCall Smith

Mma Ramotswe and her assistant Mma Makutsi, run the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, in Botswana. Mma Ramotswe who owns the agency is married to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni a first class mechanic who runs a repair garage along with his two young apprentices and an older man. Mma Ramotswe and her husband also have two adopted children, with special needs, Motholeli and Puso, a girl and a boy repsectively.

Mma Makutsi lives alone but has a 99% score from the Botswana Secretarial College; which she is very proud of. And at present is engaged to Phuti Radiphuti, the owner of a large furniture store in town. An advantagious marriage for one who comes from a poor background.

Mma Ramotswe, Precious has an old white van which is very dear to her, it is in need of some major work, but she is afraid to ask her husband as she knows he will say there comes a time when you must let it go and buy a new one.

Mma Makutsi finds out that her fiance to be has employed non other than her old arch rival, Violet Sephotho, who could have not scored more than 50% in her final exams at Secretarial College. Will Violet succeed in catching Mma Makutsi's fiance, or will Mma Ramotswe come up with a solution to show her up for who she is.

Plus their case at the agency with an owner of a leading football team, who is convinced there is a traitor in their midst, throwing the games.

A good cup of Red Bush Tea always helps the thinking process along. There is not a case yet that Mma Precious Ramotswe has not solved.

I the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series of books, has delightful old values. It's like stepping back to the sixties with some modern problems thrown in. A great cozy read by the fire with a cup of tea, red bush if you like.

Christy

Mma Makutsi,

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards

Obviously I have been away from my Lit Blog for a while. I have three books to review, but will start with The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards. As soon as I read the review on the back of the book cover, I remembered seeing this as a film, although at the time did not realize that the film was based on a book.

Doctor David Henry is newly married, and very much in love with his wife, who is about to give birth to their first child. A blizzard in Kentucky, prevents them getting to the hospital, so he has to deliver his child at the nearby clinic, with the aid of a nurse.

The baby boy is delivered, a healthy boy. But following close on his heels is a second baby, unexpected, a little girl, who as soon as she is delivered Dr Henry can see that she has Down's Syndrome. What to do, in a split moment in time he makes a decision which affects the rest of their lives. He decides to have the nurse, Caroline take the newly born child to an orphanage, keeping the knowledge of her living, a secret from his wife. Caroline though is unable to leave the newborn girl there and makes a decision that affects the rest of her life, to keep the child. Paul and Phoebe twins, growing up apart, never knowing each other. One decision brings sorrow, the other happiness.

The book goes into why he made this decision, and how secrets within a family destroy it. You have to go back to Dr Henry's childhood, being brought up poor in the hills of West Virginia, with a very sick younger sister, who had a heart condition and who took much of the families energies and resources, but who also brought a lot of love. He saw himself in his son Paul and his younger sister in Phoebe, and he wanted to save Paul from what he went through, only remembering the bad things of his childhood, but forgetting the good. He could only remember as a student doctor a professor saying "A mongoloid, do you know what that means?" And he did all sorts of problems including the one he was most afraid of, a heart condition.

Caroline moves with the baby to Pittsburgh, where she gets a job, moving in with a woman Doro and her senile elderly father, as his nurse and helper. Here they thrive and are nurtured and grow.

His wife thinking the little girl is dead, holds a memorial service for her. She just cannot get over it. Even as years move on and she would like more children, he will not. She gives, he can't, he knows why he can't give and she doesn't. All know they have the facade of a family, but something is missing.

There is so much more to the story, split decisions, not going back and putting things right, secrets, and why we do what we do.

It is a very well written book and I would highly recommend it.

Christy.

A London Child of the 1870s, by Molly Hughes

My book review of 'A London child of the 1870's' by M. Vivien Hughes. Is a delightful autobiographical addition to Persephone books. It is maybe not as flowing in a literary style, but does capture the essence of a child growing up in a middle class family of that time period.

Mary Vivien Thomas, born in October 1866 the youngest, with four older brothers, Tom, Dym, Charles, Barnholt and parents who in many ways are very liberal in their attitude to bringing up children. In 1870 they move to Canonbury, North London and live there for nine years. Their father works in the City, something to do with stocks. They have their ups an downs financially, but are never poor and have a couple of servants.

It's a charming review of a child's life. how did children play back then? What did they play with? Learning at home, the books she read, relatives who often visited. Her joy of life, wit and insight fullness.

The highlight of life was visiting her mother's family in Reskadinnick, Cornwall. These accounts are full of Cornish life back then, and I love the quotes from the locals. My grandfather came from Somerset and I can relate to that pattern of old speech. She mentions a manchet loaf of bread, that was not put in a tin to form, and if it was cut, must not be left on the table, a superstition. She also mentions her mother's family money coming from the tin mining business, which goes all the way back to the time of the Phoenicians who traded tin from Cornwall. Mollie mentions a trip that her aunt Tony took to Norway with her grandfather to buy Norwegian logs for pit props. Just interesting history.

There is a lot of mention of reading of those very pious religious Victorian books to teach morals, that mostly taught fear.

With all the liberalness of the family Mollie was not taken out on trips as much as the boys were, such as the Lord Mayor's Show, a steam boat trip to Greenwich. In fact she says, "Of course I was never allowed to go there myself." And further on that page she says "Strange as it seems I was never taken to anything more exciting than a picture gallery, not even to a Pantomime at Christmas..." Mollie does not resent this, but states it as a fact. "My father's slogan was that boys should go everywhere and know everything, and that a girl should stay at home and know nothing."

One entrance that caught my eye was a visit to Bumpus Book Shop in Oxford Street, London. It seems it was a very large and well known bookshop so here is a link to Bumpus Book Shop, don't you love that name? I think we would have liked to visit Bumpus Book Shop.

All the photos below are from the first book, except for the first photo of the author.









I wrote this a couple of days ago before the above review.

I had totally not thought about this book, 'A London Child of the Seventies', as I do not have this book as a Persephone publication. I was driving home from work today and it suddenly flashed into my mind, that I had this book, in fact the trilogy. I was so excited thinking I could do a review on it when I almost missed my exit to go shopping.

I first ran across the autobiographical works of M.V. Hughes over twenty-five years ago, in the form of a paperback discard from our local library which I happened to buy. It was 'A London Girl of the Eighties'. I so loved this book that I read it over several times during that time period.

In more recent years I realized that it was part of a trilogy, 'A London Child of the Seventies' and 'A London Home in the Nineties.' So I thought let me try and find it on ebay and in my first week of looking I came across A London Family 1870 - 1900, by M. Vivien Hughes. What is so nice about this is I have the 1947 trilogy, first published 1946. Full of photos. The three books having been first published in 1934,1936,1937. I don't know if the Persephone publication has photos in, so thought that I would post some here.

I always felt that these books would make wonderful reference works if you were writing a fictional novel in that time period. You would be able to capture the period by reading these books. But of course the writings are far more than a reference book you feel you have walked those streets with Molly.

I do have one question of Persephone. Why did they choose A London Child of the Seventies? Persephone calls it A London Child of the 1870's. As opposed to, what I personally think is the most interesting of the trilogy, A London Girl of the Eighties. That opinion could be totally subjective.

In any case try and read both, the last book of the trilogy is not I feel quite as interesting.

Christy

Persephone Books I've Read, Reviewed and Pretty Near To

My New Persephone Banner to Meet the Challenge

Paperback Reader , Claire and Verity of The B Files, are hosting a Persephone reading challenge all this week. With Quizzes give aways and just a coming together of Persephone book lovers.

In honour of this and because it was just plain fun, I've revamped my Lil Bit Brit Lit Blog with a new Persephone banner, made up from the lovely end papers of their books.

Christy

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, by Winifred Watson

Persephone Challenge, first book, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.





I'll start out by saying that it is just a delightful book. It's like a bubbling brook as it runs along, or a child skipping along, a little hop, skip and a jump. That is what the dialogue reminds me of. It flows so very freely. A bubbly, bouncy, burlesque kind of story, in the genre of the old time music hall.

Miss Pettigrew a very tired greyed out middle aged spinster , who is a nanny, seeks a job, in a very greyed out period of 20Th century history, at least for some. But not if you have money. There are two types of money, that of the rather boring suburbia families, living still within the rules of Victorian morality and then there is the entrepreneurial nouveau rich. Who have cast off restraints of society themselves, and don't hold others to such high standards either. Who accept you for what you are and do not judge you by your pedigree background.

Into this is cast Miss Pettergrew desperate for a position, never given a leading role to shine is sent by her employment agency to the apartment of a night club singer, Miss LaFosse, here it all begins. We enter into the comings and goings of gentlemen folk at Miss LaFosses's apartment.

This early paragraph sums up our entrance into the story.

"...She knew she was not a person to be relied upon. But perhaps that was because hitherto every one had perpetually taken her inadequacy for granted. How do we know what latent possibilities of achievement we possess? ..."

Miss Pettigrew's thoughts on one gentlemen, Phil.

"... I do,' she apostrophized her shocked other self determinedly, 'I don't care, I do. He's not quite ... quite delicate. But he's nice. He doesn't care whether I'm shabby and poor. I' m a lady, so he's polite in his way to me.'

The relationship between Miss LaFosse and Miss Pettigrew grows. Who would be right for Miss LaFosse to marry? Can Miss Pettigrew stave off the wolf?

Her thought about Nick.

"His glance flicked over her and Miss Pettigrew became aware at once of her age, her dowdy clothes, her clumsy figure, her wispy hair, her sallow complexion. she flushed a painful red. Her mind disliked him at once: her emotions were enslaved."

As the day goes on.

"... But these people! They opened their hearts. they admitted her. she was one of themselves. It was the amazing way they took her for granted that thrilled every nerve in her body. No surprise: they simply said 'Hello', and you were one of themselves. No worrying what your position and your family and your bank balance were. In all her lonely life Miss Pettigrew had never realized how lonely she had been until now, when for one day she was lonely no longer..."

With the acceptance of Miss Pettigrew and her witty dialogue come a new wardrobe.

"... She had never worn real silk underclothes in her life. at once they made her feel different. She felt wicked daring, ready for anything. She left her hesitations behind with her home-made woollens."

I will intersperse here some personal thoughts. A dear friend of mine whose mother never had access to an education, told me that her mother never left home without dressing to the nines. She would say to M. I feel more confident and people sum you up, by first appearances, how you dress.

I personally had that experience some weeks ago. Feeling somewhat down and not bothering to dress even somewhat better, I went into a store, where I've shopped often and never been asked for ID to accompany my credit card, but on this day I was. My whole persona came across as down and the shop assistant thought of me accordingly.

I love this sentence.

"She breathed Ambrosial vapour."

Is a romance in the offing for Miss Pettigrew?

Well read the book. You will not be disappointed.

Christy

Book Page, Compliments of Your Library

The Book Page, which is supplied by my local library, is a lot of fun to browse through and see what's new book wise. This magazine comes out every month.

Persephone Book Challenge

I have four Persephone books which I can read for the book challenge next week. I don't think I will have the time to read four, but I am thinking of two, to keep it in the realms of possibility. I'm looking forward to it and reading all the other reviews by Persephone lovers.

Christy

They Were Sisters, by Dorothy Whipple

They Were Sisters, by Dorothy Whipple. This is definitely a book I want to read, and I would love to watch the movie. I've looked for it on Ebay, but have not found a copy. I think Persephone did a viewing of this movie. Just a few scenes from the movie.

Christy

See my post in Two Sisters One Skye

See my post on Reading Matter for trip to UK here is the link, for my posting on H.V. Morton travel books, In Search of England, In Search of Scotland and In Search of London.

Christy

Interview with Agatha Christie's grandson Mathew Pritchard

I'm a definite fan of Agatha Christie. I read her autobiography and found it most down to earth and most interesting. Except no explanation on the 11 days she was missing.

This is an interview with her grandson.

Well do take a look at all the links I think you'll enjoy this.

Christy