Janet's Log - Stardate 2016

[Janet]

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D H Lawrence

The ‘blurb’
Lyric and sensual, D. H. Lawrence's last novel is one of the major works of fiction of the twentieth century. Filled with scenes of intimate beauty, the novel explores the emotions of a lonely woman trapped in a sterile marriage and her growing love for the robust gamekeeper of her husband's estate. The most controversial of Lawrence's books, "Lady Chatterley's Lover" joyously affirms the author's vision of individual regeneration through sexual love. The book's power, complexity, and psychological intricacy make this a completely original work — a triumph of passion, an erotic celebration of life.

When Lady Constance Chatterley’s husband returns from the First World War he has been injured and as a result is now impotent. The couple had only had a short time together before he went away to fight and now, because of Clifford’s inability to satisfy Connie sexually the couple grow apart. A nurse is hired to take care of Clifford and Connie becomes increasingly isolated. One day whilst out walking in the estate she meets the gamekeeper, Mellors, and whilst he is socially her inferior the couple embark on an affair…

Well, this was a slog! I didn’t know much about it before I started it, although one would have to have lived under a rock not to have heard of it! I knew it was essentially about an affair between an upper-class woman and a gamekeeper, but that was about it. It was infamous in the 60s when Penguin were sued for obscenity in publishing – it is hard to believe that it was first published in 1928!

The trouble is that I felt nothing but indifference towards the characters – where I should perhaps have felt sympathy for Clifford for losing the sexual part of himself, and therefore his wife – and for Connie for losing the man she married, I didn’t really care for either of them.

There are liberal scatterings of the F and C words throughout this novel, and whilst they may seem fairly tame to today’s audience it is easy to see why this novel caused such offence at the time. This notoriety however did not make it an enjoyable read for me – it was too slow. If it hadn’t been a Counties Challenge (for Nottinghamshire) then I would have given up on it long before the end!

The paperback edition is 302 pages long and is published by Wordsworth Editions. It was first published in 1928. The ISBN is 9780143039617.  I read it on my Kindle.

2/5 (I didn’t hate it!)

(Finished 14 May 2016)
 

[Alexi]

It's my own fault for being so behind with my reviews.  I might have to do a few short ones to try to catch up.  Every time I catch up I swear I shan't get so far behind again, but I always do!

Haha, I'm getting "I swear I shall not get so far behind again" on my gravestone!

 

Great reviews as ever J. I'm very nervous about Lady Chatterley but I'm determined to get to it before the year is out. There haven't been too many misses on the counties challenge list (so far), and it least it ticks off another 1001 at the same time.

[Janet]

Haha, I'm getting "I swear I shall not get so far behind again" on my gravestone!

 

I'm going to have Just let me get to the end of this chapter... put on mine!

 

Great reviews as ever J. I'm very nervous about Lady Chatterley but I'm determined to get to it before the year is out. There haven't been too many misses on the counties challenge list (so far), and it least it ticks off another 1001 at the same time.

Thanks. It was definitely one I wanted to get out of the way! I don't think I've ever read a favourable opinion of it on BCF! However there are lots of fans of it on Goodreads, so I hope you enjoy it.

[Janet]

 

The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

The ‘blurb’
‘I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession, or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world…’

In London, 1888, the razor-sharp detective skills of Sherlock Holmes are to be put to the test. Mary Morstan reports two seemingly unconnected and inexplicable events: the disappearance of her father, a British Indian Army Captain, and the arrival of pearls by post from an unknown sender. Driven on by its complexity, Holmes and Watson slowly begin to unravel an intricate web of exotic treasure, secret pacts and mysterious deaths.

A Miss Mary Morstan arrives at Sherlock Holmes’s rooms at 221b Baker Street with a request for his help. Her father, who she had not seen for some time, had arranged to meet up with her but he did not turn up at the scheduled rendezvous, and Mary has had no luck in tracking him down. At the same time as her father’s disappearance she started receiving anonymous letters, each containing a pearl. The writer requested to meet Mary and so Holmes and Watson accompany her. She meets with a man called Thaddeus Sholto who informs her that his brother Bartholomew is holding treasure that belongs to Mary’s father and by rights out to be given to her. However when they find Bartholomew he has been killed and the treasure is nowhere to be found. Holmes takes on her case and he and Watson set out to find the murderer in order to protect Mary and to hopefully return her inheritance…

Peter and I listened to this on a car journey as a change from the Poirots that we are working our way through. As a huge fan of the BBC’s Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman it was nice to ‘meet’ Mary who arrives in Series 3 of the show. The story moves along at a fair pace as the action unfolds and is told by Watson. In it, one villain, an Andaman Islander, is described thus:

“They are naturally hideous, having large, misshapen heads, small, fierce eyes, and distorted features…” and “They have always been a terror to shipwrecked crews, braining the survivors with their stone-headed clubs, or shooting them with their poisoned arrows. These massacres are invariably concluded by a cannibal feast.’ Nice, amiable people, Watson!”

You might think he’s talking about a fictitious place, but no, the Andaman Islands really do exist. A bit of Googling (I had never heard of the Island before) reveals that some inhabitants have little or no communication with people outside their own communities but there is no suggestion of cannibalism. To today’s reader it feels disturbingly racist in places and one has to remind oneself that it is ‘of its time’. That said, we did enjoy listening to it – it was narrated by Derek Jacobi who did a good job of it! This is the second book featuring Holmes – I’ve read three others – one more full-length book and two of the short-story collections and I intend to read them all. Generally I’m not a huge fan of short stories, but so far Conan Doyle bucks this trend as I’ve preferred them to the full-length novels but that might change when I get on to The Hound of the Baskervilles. Back to the BBC now and I can’t wait for the next series!

The paperback edition is 256 pages long and is published by William Collins. It was first published in 1890. The ISBN is 9780008110468.

3/5 (I liked it)

(Finished 14 May 2016)
 

[Nollaig]

I need to get back into my Sherlock reading!

[Janet]

How many of them have you read, Noll? 

[Janet]

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

The ‘blurb’
A beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II

‘Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.’

For Marie-Laure, blind since the age of six, the world is full of mazes. The miniature of a Paris neighbourhood, made by her father to teach her the way home. The microscopic layers within the invaluable diamond that her father guards in the Museum of Natural History. The walled city by the sea, where father and daughter take refuge when the Nazis invade Paris. And a future which draws her ever closer to Werner, a German orphan, destined to labour in the mines until a broken radio fills his life with possibility and brings him to the notice of the Hitler Youth.

In this magnificent, deeply moving novel, the stories of Marie-Laure and Werner illuminate the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

This was a Book Club read and although it had popped up as a recommendation on Amazon and Goodreads a few times I doubt I’d have picked it up if it wasn’t.

It tells of a young girl called Marie-Laure who lives with her father in Paris. Marie-Laure is blind and so her father makes an exact model of Paris to help her find her away around, and on her birthday each year he gives her an intricate carved puzzle box which upon solving reveals a present. He also teaches her to read in Braille. He works as a locksmith in a museum at where rumour has it there is a beautiful diamond known as the Sea of Flames – which is also said to be cursed. When the Germans occupy Paris, Marie-Laure and her father leave the city and head to the relative safety of her great-uncle Etienne’s house.

Meanwhile, in Germany, orphaned Warner Pfennig - who lives with his sister Jutta in a children’s home - develops an interest in radios after he successfully repairs a broken set and he becomes sought after for repairs. He is soon selected to go to a prestigious Nazi school and from there to join the Wehrmacht – the Defence Force. Warner’s path will eventually take him to St Malo where Marie-Laure’s uncle Etienne lives…

There is no doubt that this book is beautifully written. I like books which switch narrative points of view, as this one did – and I did enjoy it – but it didn’t wow me. At times I found it difficult to find the enthusiasm to pick the book up but overall it was an enjoyable read so I’m glad I persevered. In terms of Book Club it made for a good discussion.

I feel sure this will be made into a film at some stage – and I shall look forward to watching it if it is.

The paperback edition is 544 pages long and is published by Fourth Estate. It was first published in 2015. The ISBN is 9780008138301. I read it on Kindle.

3½/5 (I liked it)

(Finished 30 May 2016)

[Athena]

I'm glad you liked this book, great review! I've heard good things. I don't own it, but maybe I'll find a copy and read it eventually. I don't know if it'll be a book for me or not. But I enjoyed reading your review anyway.

[Janet]

Thanks, Gaia.    I hope you enjoy it if and when you buy it.

[Janet]

Elephants Can Remember by Agatha Christie

The ‘blurb’
Hercule Poirot stood on the cliff-top. Here, many years earlier, there had been a tragic accident. This was followed by the grisly discovery of two more bodies – a husband and wife – shot dead. But who had killed whom? Was it a suicide pact? A crime of passion? Or cold-blooded murder?

Poirot delves back into the past and discovers that ‘old sin leave long shadows’.

When her son becomes engaged to a young woman called Celia whose parents died some years before in a double tragedy, Mrs Burton-Cox asks her friend Ariadne Oliver the question “which of Celia's parents was the murderer, and which was murdered?”. Initially Ariadne doesn’t wish to get involved, but after speaking to Celia she decides that perhaps the questions deserve answers and so she asks her friend Hercule Poirot to help her solve the mystery. During their investigations they talk to witness and people who knew the couple, most of whom are getting on in years but each remembers the case and has something to say about it. Poirot, with Ariadne’s help, must pick out the facts from those distant memories if he is to find out the truth of what happened all those years ago…

Another audio book on another trip away – this one had a few flaws in it – the timeline of Poirot and Ariadne’s friendship didn’t stack up – and neither did the ages of the deceased, but nevertheless it was an enjoyable yarn. We worked this out before Poirot which is unusual, but we still enjoyed Poirot’s unravelling of the case. As ever this was ably narrated by Hugh Fraser.

The paperback edition is 304 pages long and is published by HarperCollins. It was first published in 1972. The ISBN is 9780007120802. I listened to the audio book.

3½/5 (I liked it)

(Finished 31 May 2016)
 

[Athena]

Thanks, Gaia.    I hope you enjoy it if and when you buy it.

Thanks, Janet .

 

I'm glad you enjoyed another Agatha Christie book. You must've read a lot of them by now! But then, she's written lots of books.

[Nollaig]

How many of them have you read, Noll? 

 

Just two short ones, The Sign of Four and A Study in Scarlet. Just looked back over my log to check, and it was last year I read them! Definitely gonna pick one up soon.

[willoyd]

 

The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle

 

The ‘blurb’

‘You might think he’s talking about a fictitious place, but no, the Andaman Islands really do exist. A bit of Googling (I had never heard of the Island before) reveals that some inhabitants have little or no communication with people outside their own communities but there is no suggestion of cannibalism.

 

 

I remember the Andaman Islands from the Boxing Day tsunami reporting a few years ago:  they were particularly badly hit.

[Alexi]

I'm about to finish my last Sherlock Holmes. I've read all the short stories and now have a couple of chapters to go of the last novel (The Valley of Fear). I intend to finish it today.

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles is definitely my favourite, but the short stories are better worked than the other three novels I think. The Valley of Fear has been enjoyable, but I think could have worked as a short story without the very detailed back story in which I'm currently swimming - the format is the same as A Study in Scarlet.

[Janet]

I'm glad you enjoyed another Agatha Christie book. You must've read a lot of them by now! But then, she's written lots of books.

14 Poirot books so far and a couple of others too.

 

Just two short ones, The Sign of Four and A Study in Scarlet. Just looked back over my log to check, and it was last year I read them! Definitely gonna pick one up soon.

The older one gets the faster time seems to go!  I can't believe it's nearly the end of August.  Only 124 sleeps until Christmas! 

 

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes has been my favourite so far, I think.

 

I remember the Andaman Islands from the Boxing Day tsunami reporting a few years ago:  they were particularly badly hit.

Obviously I remember the Tsunami and I watched a lot of the news reporting. I guess I just didn't take the location in.

 

I'm about to finish my last Sherlock Holmes. I've read all the short stories and now have a couple of chapters to go of the last novel (The Valley of Fear). I intend to finish it today.

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles is definitely my favourite, but the short stories are better worked than the other three novels I think. The Valley of Fear has been enjoyable, but I think could have worked as a short story without the very detailed back story in which I'm currently swimming - the format is the same as A Study in Scarlet.

I was considering reading the rest of them in order (even though I read the first four out of order), but I think I will leave The Hound of the Baservilles until the end based on your recommendation. 

[Janet]

I met up with Claire, Kay and Alan in Bristol today.      As ever, we I had a great time - it always goes too fast!   

 

I went on the bus which took an hour and ten minutes on the way there, and 55 minutes on the way home, so lots of lovely audio-book-listening time! 

 

Kay loaned me this...

 

 

And I bought these (and some Alice in Wonderland playing cards    ) with a Waterstone's gift voucher...

 

 

Looking forward to our next meet-up, guys.    xx

[Janet]

 

Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay

The ‘blurb’
When Miss Pongleton is found murdered on the stairs of Belsize Park station, her fellow-boarders in the Frampton Hotel are not overwhelmed with grief at the death of a tiresome old woman. But they all have their theories about the identity of the murderer, and help to unravel the mystery of who killed the wealthy 'Pongle'. Several of her fellow residents - even Tuppy the terrier - have a part to play in the events that lead to a dramatic arrest. This classic mystery novel is set in and around the Northern Line of the London Underground. It is now republished for the first time since the 1930s.

Euphemia Pongleton lives with an assorted group of men and women of different ages in a boarding house called the Frampton Hotel. She is known to walk past the closest underground station in order to save money and to use the stairs to go down to the station as she doesn’t like lifts. When she is found dead on the stairs leading down to Belsize Park Underground, strangled by her dog’s lead, there are a whole host of suspects, not only the residents of the Frampton but also members of the deceased own family…

I have read a lot of vintage crime this year and I’m really enjoying the genre. A few of these ‘British Library’ were cheap on Kindle so I took advantage of the offer. This is the first of three available by Mavis Doriel Hay and I thought it was enjoyable, if not in the same league as Agatha Christie or Dorothy L Sayers – I would definitely read another.

The paperback edition is 288 pages long and is published by The British Library Publishing Division. It was first published in 1934. The ISBN is 9780712357258.

3/5 (I liked it)

(Finished 10 June 2016)
 

[Athena]

14 Poirot books so far and a couple of others too.

That's quite a few . Though she's written so many .

 

And I bought these (and some Alice in Wonderland playing cards    ) with a Waterstone's gift voucher...

 

Those covers are beautiful!

[bobblybear]

The older one gets the faster time seems to go!  I can't believe it's nearly the end of August.  Only 124 sleeps until Christmas! 

 

Yep, shocking, isn't it?

 

I met up with Claire, Kay and Alan in Bristol today.      As ever, we I had a great time - it always goes too fast!   

 

I went on the bus which took an hour and ten minutes on the way there, and 55 minutes on the way home, so lots of lovely audio-book-listening time! 

 

Kay loaned me this...

 

 

 

 

Oh, that sounds interesting!! There is a show on BBC (5 part series) called Coast Path which follow an explorer who walks along all 630 miles of the SW Coast Path. It's on Wednesday nights (I think), but you can still catch it on iPlayer. It only just started this week, and I caught the tail end of it. Love the coastal path, though some of it can be a bit too close to the edge for my liking.

[chesilbeach]

Oh, that sounds interesting!! There is a show on BBC (5 part series) called Coast Path which follow an explorer who walks along all 630 miles of the SW Coast Path. It's on Wednesday nights (I think), but you can still catch it on iPlayer. It only just started this week, and I caught the tail end of it. Love the coastal path, though some of it can be a bit too close to the edge for my liking.

Thanks for mentioning that programme - I'd not heard of it, but after a bit of investigation found it on BBC One South West. My OH has walked the SW Coast Path at least five times now, we always holiday near it, and he'll do four of the day long walks (between about 11 and 22 miles each) during the week, while I find somewhere comfy to read books.

[poppyshake]

I met up with Claire, Kay and Alan in Bristol today.      As ever, we I had a great time - it always goes too fast!   

 

I went on the bus which took an hour and ten minutes on the way there, and 55 minutes on the way home, so lots of lovely audio-book-listening time! 

 

Kay loaned me this...

 

Lovely to see you and Claire, Janet Time does go so fast though .. why does it do that? I've been on my own this bank holiday weekend and it's draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggged! Who's in charge of that!?!  

Hope you enjoy the book   

And I bought these (and some Alice in Wonderland playing cards    ) with a Waterstone's gift voucher...

 

 

Looking forward to our next meet-up, guys.    xx

Those two books are beautiful, it's just a pleasure to look at them .. if they're good .. that's a bonus xx

Yes, here's to our next get together     (four go in search of cake and books .. and good conversation ) 

[Nollaig]

I wanna come see you guys

[Janet]

I wanna come see you guys

Awww.      That would be awesome.   Never say never though.  

[Janet]

Max Gate by Damien Wilkins

The ‘blurb’
1928. As Thomas Hardy lies on his death bed at his Dorset home, Max Gate, a tug-of-war is taking place over his legacy ... and the eventual fate of his mortal remains. What counts for more: the wishes of his family and dutiful second wife, Florence? the opinion of his literary friends? Hardy's own express desires? or 'the will of the nation'? Narrated with wit and brutal honesty by housemaid Nellie Titterington, Max Gate is both an entertaining insight into the eccentricities of a writer's life, and a raw, intriguing tale of torn loyalty, ownership and jealousy.

Peter bought me this when we visited Dorchester for our anniversary this year. We’d been to see Hardy’s Cottage, where Thomas Hardy was born and also the Max Gate of the title, which was the house Hardy designed himself after the success of his writing. The contrast between the two – one the scene of his humble beginnings, the other, a symbol of how far he’d come, is good to see and the two properties, which are owned by the National Trust, are easy to do in one visit.

This is a fictionalised account, narrated by housemaid Nelly, of the time leading up to Thomas Hardy’s death. It is well documented that Hardy himself wished to be buried in Stinsford church which was the church he worshiped in with his family as a child, but that his executor agreed to his ashes being buried in Poet’s Corner in London’s Westminster Abbey. As a compromise, Hardy’s heart was buried in Stinsford in the grave of his first wife Emma. This is one of the areas explored in the book. Unfortunately, whilst the premise of this book is great I felt that it failed to deliver – it was rather a chore to read and I had to force myself to pick it up. I have also planned to read Winter by Christopher Nicholson and also Claire Tomalin’s biography at some stage. Hopefully those will be more satisfying.

This is the real Max House…

 

And here is Thomas Hardy’s grave at St Michael’s church…


The paperback edition is 224 pages long and is published by Aardvark Bureau. It was first published in 2016. The ISBN is 9781910709139.

2½/5 (A bit slow)

(Finished 20 June 2016)
 

[willoyd]

I have also planned to read Winter by Christopher Nicholson and also Claire Tomalin’s biography at some stage. Hopefully those will be more satisfying.

I can't compare, as I've not read either Winter or Max Gate, but I found Claire Tomalin's biography of Hardy to be very much up to her usual high standard, confirming why she is one of my favourite non-fiction writers. Definitely worth a look.  There was certainly quite a tug of war over his remains from what I remember of Tomalin's book.

Edited August 30, 2016 by willoyd