Vodkafan's Reading Adventure 2014

[vodkafan]

Long Time Coming      1/5

 

Edie Clarke

 

I started this because it was on my kindle I must have downloaded it as a freebie or a special offer but had forgotten the subject. It was a standard romance with a ghost in it for added measure. I don't even know why I carried on reading it. I think I was hoping for more of the ghost. There was nothing wrong with the writing, the story was just boring for me.

[ian]

Notes From A Small Island      3/5

 

Bill Bryson

 

I enjoyed this, there was a lot of truth in his observations about British people. I chuckled to myself many times. But disappointingly he did not go anywhere near the Midlands. When I was drawing near the end of the book and I realised he wasn't going to go there at all I lost a little bit of interest.

 

I had the same reaction about his avoiding the midlands - and it did seem like he deliberately avoided going there. 

[vodkafan]

In The Cage       3/5

 

Henry James

 

The first Henry James novel I have read. Unusually the heroine is not named throughout the book. She is a working class girl who handles the telegram messages from the upper class people who do not realise that she is able to piece together their whole lives over time and is privy to all their secrets. I think James made her anonymous on purpose  to prove a point. She becomes fixated on the illicit affair of one couple in particular and  even makes herself known to them, even delaying her impending marriage for the vicarious thrill of being slightly involved in the affair.

It is a novel that explores the ramifications on Victorian society of new technology: Private messages that used to be sent by letter between one person and another are now handled by several nameless people of lower rank.

This is something we have now grown used to without thinking: our emails and web browsing are all logged and watched.

[vodkafan]

I had the same reaction about his avoiding the midlands - and it did seem like he deliberately avoided going there. 

 

He missed the best bits of the country!

[vodkafan]

Postal Pleasures: Sex, Scandal and Victorian Letters        3/5

Kate Thomas

 

This is another book about aspects of 19th century writing that I read for research purposes. One of the facts it revealed to me was that the writer Anthony Trollope was in fact a postman and that he invented the pillar box!  

This was a bit heavy in places and is in fact more of a scholarly thesis-type essay, properly referenced. Still, very useful.

[Janet]

I heard that fact about Anthony Trollope on the radio or TV last week - I didn't know it either!   

[vodkafan]

Wired Love- A Romance Of Dots And Dashes    3/5

 

Ella Cheevor Thayer

 

The marvelous technology of ebooks brings very obscure old books back into circulation if one takes a little trouble to search them out. This was another Victorian story that explored one of my current areas of interest and research - the Victorian telegraph. The writer was herself a telegraph operator and so the most important part of the book for me was the accurate descriptions of the jargon , the procedures followed, even the layout of the telegraph office. It made a very good companion to In The Cage .

The story itself was a very weak Victorian chick lit. Certainly Miss Thayer was no Jane Austen.. I was feeling generous to award it 3/5

 There has very recently been a renewal of interest in this novel, evidenced by a few articles online, because of the phenomenon of catfishing.  Catfishing is an internet term for people pretending to be someone else on line, or at least not representing themselves truthfully. This novel shows that this is nothing new, human nature was the same a hundred and fifty years ago, and deceptions through technology happened then just the same.....also they used the words on line or on the line exactly the way we now use online.

[vodkafan]

The Victorian Internet         5/5

 

Tom Standage

 

Yes this little gem really hit the spot. He made the story of the development of the electric telegraph (telegraphy also includes semaphore and other optical methods which predated it you see!) really exciting. It really was an absolutely groundbreaking invention that changed the world for everyone. Standage tells us of all the winners and the losers , the heroes, inventors who went down the wrong path and those who were simply incompetent chancers. A very entertaining little book and packed with information  I would not find anywhere else. 

[pontalba]

Great reviews, you're certainly steaming along with research!  Good going.

[vodkafan]

My War   Killing Time In Iraq                1/5

 

Colby Buzzell

 

I only picked this book up to make up a batch of 5 in a charity shop because they were offering 5 for £1.50.  The author did a year in Iraq in the infantry  and became slightly famous for writing an unofficial blog from the soldier's point of view, which later attracted the attention of the High Command, as it was often in opposition to the official sanitized news reports. 

I can't say that I enjoyed reading it that much though, it was mostly boring.

[vodkafan]

Habits Of The House   (Book 1 of the Love and Inheritance trilogy )      3/5

 

Fay Weldon 

 

It is probably well known that Fay Weldon wrote the very first episode of Upstairs Downstairs all those years ago so I surmised that I was onto a winner when I discovered this series.

In this first book we are introduced to the rather financially incompetent Earl of Dilberne , his sharp wife Countess Isobel and their grown children, the playboy son Arthur and the feminist Rosina. Also we meet the servants, most notably in this story Grace the Lady's Maid.

Already having run up huge debts trying to keep up with his friend the Prince of Wales, the Earl faces complete financial ruin when the Boer War devalues his investments in Africa.

 As this type of humiliation is unthinkable, the only solution is for the son to be sacrificed on the altar of marriage and marry someone with a lot of money to save the family honour. The most likely candidate is an American girl with an unfortunate past...but Arthur has some secrets of his own.

I enjoyed this book, it was an easy read and Weldon weaved a good story around the characters.

However, the reviews of the following two books are so consistently bad- and the price still so high (the whole series was written in 2013) that I have decided I am not going to read the follow ups as I have plenty of genuine 19th century authors to get through.   

[vodkafan]

Wow I started on another George Gissing book- The Unclassed- and we are straight into some abject poverty and human misery in Victorian London with some wonderful characters. It's so good!

[pontalba]

My War   Killing Time In Iraq                1/5

 

Colby Buzzell

 

I only picked this book up to make up a batch of 5 in a charity shop because they were offering 5 for £1.50.  The author did a year in Iraq in the infantry  and became slightly famous for writing an unofficial blog from the soldier's point of view, which later attracted the attention of the High Command, as it was often in opposition to the official sanitized news reports. 

I can't say that I enjoyed reading it that much though, it was mostly boring.

 

What a shame it wasn't more interesting.  When I think of the flak he probably received for the entire thing, I'd wish the book could have proved to be more readable. 

[vodkafan]

What a shame it wasn't more interesting.  When I think of the flak he probably received for the entire thing, I'd wish the book could have proved to be more readable. 

 

I think he probably did more than OK out of it. I tried hard to like the guy but there was something intangible I could not pin down about him that I could not take to. For one thing he used a lot of bad language even before he got into the army and that didn't impress me. Yes I know soldiers swear a lot but for someone who prides themself as a writer it doesn't take much to edit f words out. After all, Robert Leckie went all through Guadalcanal and he didn't swear once in his written account. 

Also, like a lot of bloggers who feel their words are right on the pulse, in fact his observations were rather banal. Fair enough , he was there and I was not. But there seemed to be no insights to be gained , no lessons learned or any useful purpose to any of them being there. It was just we did this , then we did that. Nowhere near as interesting as Chickenhawk or Platoon Leader  (Vietnam memoirs).

[Ooshie]

vodkafan, on 19 Feb 2014 - 9:34 PM, said:

In The Cage       3/5

 

Henry James

 

The first Henry James novel I have read. Unusually the heroine is not named throughout the book. She is a working class girl who handles the telegram messages from the upper class people who do not realise that she is able to piece together their whole lives over time and is privy to all their secrets. I think James made her anonymous on purpose  to prove a point. She becomes fixated on the illicit affair of one couple in particular and  even makes herself known to them, even delaying her impending marriage for the vicarious thrill of being slightly involved in the affair.

It is a novel that explores the ramifications on Victorian society of new technology: Private messages that used to be sent by letter between one person and another are now handled by several nameless people of lower rank.

This is something we have now grown used to without thinking: our emails and web browsing are all logged and watched.

I have read a couple of Henry James books, but haven't come across this one; it sounds interesting, I will need to look out for it

[vodkafan]

I have read a couple of Henry James books, but haven't come across this one; it sounds interesting, I will need to look out for it

 

Hi Ooshie  I think it was free on kindle; I don't know if it is in print anywhere.

[Ooshie]

vodkafan, on 22 Mar 2014 - 4:19 PM, said:

Hi Ooshie  I think it was free on kindle; I don't know if it is in print anywhere.

 

Hey, that's even better!  I will see if I can find it at Amazon - then all I will need to do is find the kindle...

[vodkafan]

The Unclassed        5/5

 

George Gissing

 

This is the second George Gissing book I have read and like the first I also awarded this one top marks. The characters were just so good and the dialogue and plot both strong. I don't think there is a very strong moral to be drawn from the book (unless it is that the strongest will survive) it seems to be more of a slice of life.

Beware review contains plot spoilers!

The story starts with young fiery Ida Starr, who is excluded from her school for wounding Harriet Smales, who called Ida's mother a prostitute. This is actually the truth, although Ida has been kept innocent of what her mother does to feed them both; she knows only that her mother is loving and good.  Ida's mother knows that she is dying from a combination of malnutrition and weak health; she writes a letter to appeal to her stern father Abraham Woodstock for forgiveness and to look after Ida when she is gone. This Woodstock tries to do, but Ida is scared of the old man and young as she is, refuses his help.

We also see into the houses of two other girls the same age : Harriet Smales, who is growing into a nasty piece of work but has a kindly half Italian cousin Julian. The other girl is Maud Enderby, Ida's friend, who has been abandoned in strange circumstances by her parents and is being raised by her religious aunt who sees sin in any kind of enjoyment. 

Years pass. We first see Julian again, who is trying to make his way in the world. Julian makes a friend , Waymark , who wants to be a writer and a poet but is working at a miserable private school. Maud Enderby comes to the school to teach as a governess and she is the cause of an incident where Waymark loses his temper with the son of the headmaster and quits. That night he meets Ida Starr in the street and is captivated by her nobility in the face of her grinding poverty, which fascinates him from a poet's point of view. They start a strange friendship with Ida dictating the terms, but  Waymark also pursues a more conventional courtship with Maud Enderby, who is now of a religious bent herself and is hard work. One cannot really blame Waymark; he sees something good in both women and is not after anything from either. 

Julian is tricked into marrying his truly awful cousin Harriet and is soon very unhappy.

Waymark goes to work as a rent collector for old Abraham Woodstock, Ida's grandfather.  Waymark is the link holding everything together, although the three women are unaware of each other. At this point the stage is set and everything is in place for the ordure to really hit the fan. Oh man I hate Harriet so much.... and not everyone survives till the end.  

 

On the strength of this book  and The Odd Women  I just downloaded all the George Gissing I could find on Amazon. 

[Alexi]

On the strength if your review I've just downloaded The Unclassed!

[vodkafan]

On the strength if your review I've just downloaded The Unclassed!

 

You won't regret it Alexi! I can't wait to read  what you think of it.

[Kidsmum]

I already have The Odd Women on my wishlist after your last review so i guess i'll be adding this one as well 

[vodkafan]

I already have The Odd Women on my wishlist after your last review so i guess i'll be adding this one as well 

 

Lol  that's the way Kidsmum you must just read the books I pick out for you

[pontalba]

Great reviews, I like the sound of The Unclassed very much.

[Kidsmum]

Lol  that's the way Kidsmum you must just read the books I pick out for you

 

Well it's now moved from my wishlist to my TBR pile as it was one of my Mother's Day pressies so there's room on my wishlist for the Unclassed now 

[vodkafan]

Reading The Nether World, another George Gissing  but although this is good so far only a couple of the characters evoke sympathy and the remainder are horrible and their surroundings so relentlessly grim;  you feel something bad is going to happen all the time and no-one will escape, even the good characters.