Month: March 2011

IABD: A brain malfunction and FOUR books to give away

Thomas22 Comments

   

Recently when blogging about International Anita Brookner Day, I mentioned that I was going to be reading A Closed Eye, the last of AB’s 24 novels left for me to read. Much to my chagrin, I just realized that I forgot about the fact that I just read it in November. Not only is this troubling because it makes me feel a little senile, but it also means that I have no AB novels left to read. On the other hand I have 24 to begin re-reading. And I plan do so chronologically.

In other news I am giving away not one, but four AB books in preparation for IABD.  All you have to do is cut the following and paste it in a comment with your order of preference.

Thomas, I don’t have an AB novel to read for IABD and would love to get one so I can read it by July 16, 2011. My prize preference in order is…1…2…3

Please specify your order of preference or whether or not you have no preference. I will ship anywhere in the world. Entries must be posted to my comments no later than midnight Eastern Daylight Time April 15, 2011.
And remember, all you have to do for IABD is read one AB novel between now and July 16, 2011 and then tell us about it either on your blog or in the comments on my blog or Simon’s blog.

Book Review: My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme

Thomas10 Comments

  

Julia and Paul Child

Do the French dream about living abroad as much as the rest of the world seems to dream about living in France?

Much has been written in the blogosphere about this book since the movie and “Julie and Julia” hit the big screen. I probably won’t break any new ground in this review as I loved it as much as every other sane person on the planet. What is not to love? It works on so many levels. Not only does the book allow us to vicariously live in France and eat amazing food but we also get a chance to hang out with one of the most enthusiastic, life affirming humans to ever walk the planet. I have loved Julia since I was a child. And she was the subject of an early post here on My Porch.

Back in the late 1990s as I approached my 30s, I read Appetite for Life a biography of Julia Child by Noel Riley Fitch. The most important thing I took away from that reading was that Child, a revolutionary force in American food, didn’t start cooking until she was in her early 30s.  This gave me the added boost I needed to leave behind a fun, well-paying job to go back to school for another Master’s degree. And now here I am in my early 40s and am again inspired by Child’s late bloomer success and absolute lust for life.

Like I said I don’t have much new ground to cover on this well reviewed book so I won’t say too much more. There were two literary connections in this book that I found fascinating. One was that Dorothy Canfield (Fisher) makes a few epistolary appearances in the text. Canfield Fisher, author of one of my favorite novels The Home-Maker, was friends with one of Child’s cookbook collaborators and played an early, cameo role in the development of their magnum opus Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And the second, perhaps even more impressive literary connection is that Judith Jones, the editor who finally brought MAFC to print was an editorial assistant who convinced her boss to reconsider his decision to not buy the US rights to publish Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Jones sure knows how to spot a gem.

Unless you are a cranky, life-hating, mistanthrope who doesn’t like to eat, you will love this book.
  

The Magnificent Spinster Giveaway Results

Thomas5 Comments

    

I said I would give away a copy of the wonderful Mary Sarton novel The Magnificent Spinster. After additional thought, however, I couldn’t figure out why I shouldn’t give away two copies. It still leaves me a wonderful hardcover edition for myself.

So I chose two random numbers. I couldn’t figure out if all commenters were actually asking to be included in the giveaway so, with the exception of Susan in TX who declined explicitly, I put everyone’s name in the hat.

The winner of the newer trade paperback edition (shown here) is: Mother Etc.

The winner of the older mass paperback edition (the one that I actually read) is: Rachel of Book Snob.

So ladies, send me your mailing addresses via email to onmyporch [at] hotmail [dot] com.

Tho those who didn’t win, I have another giveaway going on and another one to be announced very soon.

Sunday Painting, Manic Postings, and FOUR books to GIVE AWAY

Thomas2 Comments

I should have spaced all these postings out. But I couldn’t wait. Like a kid on Christmas morning. So here is my Sunday Painting feature, followed by:

1. A give away of four very English books.

2. My Borders Loot.

3. Some great book pairs.

4. Bliss.

And now here is a little Gene Davis to restore some order to my frenzied mind.

Untitled, 1969
Gene Davis, (1920-1985)
The Kreeger Museum

By the way, The Kreeger Museum is a great art collection in a modernist mansion here in DC designed by Philip Johnson. Pictures of the museum if you follow the link in the caption.

Borders Loot

Thomas13 Comments

    
I know a lot of you have already made your trek to the Borders Books in your neighborhood to pick up a few bargains during their liquidation. I finally made my way over there. I think 40% list is as low as you can let it go if you want to get anything decent. As you can see I did fairly well.

Must. Give. Away. These. Books.

Thomas31 Comments

 
I found three of these four books yesterday at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Used Book Sale. This was the first time I have been to the annual sale and I was quite happy as you can see in this other post. I have copies of each of these but given the rock bottom prices ($2 a piece) I couldn’t pass up buying them. Especially since I know it is hard for many of you to find them.

So, I am giving them away.

Here are the rules:

  1. Simon T. gets first dibs at one of those Provincial Lady books. I know it is one of his favorite books and he may not have this edition. Simon: The multi-colored one has a dustjacket, the lavender one does not. Oddly enough, the one with the DJ is white not lavender. If Simon decides he doesn’t need another copy, I will give it away to someone else.
  2. Sign up for the random drawing by making a comment on this post letting me know which one you most want and a second choice.
  3. I will ship anywhere in the world except for the UK. These titles are too easily available there.
  4. Deadline to sign up is Monday, April 4, 2011.

A Quartet of Duets

Thomas7 Comments

Yesterday at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Used Book Sales I came up with these lovely pairings. Trust me, they weren’t displayed as pairs, after combing through tables and tables of books they managed to re-introduce themselves to each other in my rather large, heavy bag.

I don’t really collect Wodehouse, but would you pass them up?

I’ve always wanted to read The Old Wives’ Tale. And now I can get even
further into Bennett’s head.

First I found the great vintage Penguin of  a book I already own in
two editions. Then I stumbled across my very quick glance at the history tables.

I already own a very well worn and much read copy of this one.
I still couldn’t pass up what appears to be a US first edition
and a great old paperback.

Bits and Bobs + Seen on the Subway

Thomas9 Comments

 

The Blogger Lunch
Last week in the midst of a visit by my sister, brother-in-law, and niece, I was able to have lunch with a New Hampshire-based blogger who was in town for a few days. A frequent visitor to DC throughout her life, Margaret Evans Porter was willing to give up a few hours exploring the city to meet up with me at the delicious cafe of the National Museum of American Indian at the foot of the Capitol. I think I originally came across her Periodic Pearls blog via Nan’s Letters from a Hill Farm. Margaret is a true Renaissance woman. A novelist with 13 published works and a former member of the New Hampshire legislature, Margaret has lived and travelled all over the place and really seems to embrace life long learning. And she has two of two of the cutest dogs on the Internet.

Buying Books
I have already chronicled my delightful Persephone Triple Play, but in the past couple of weeks there have been other book buying binges including a discount bookstore going out of business where I got 9 books for $18. And then I finally made my way to the Borders liquidation where I brought home a big stack about which I will blog in due time.  And then this weekend is the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School used book sale. I have never been but I have high hopes.

Salman Rushdie is in love with his own celebrity (a personal account)
We have friends visiting from out of town who recently attended a dinner party with Salman Rushdie. Seated around the table were a bevy of university academics all set to engage in deep conversation with the literary giant only to be quietly mystified that the only thing Rushdie wanted to talk about was popular culture. One of my friends was seated next to him and is no slouch when it comes to popular culture. But he was surprised when it became clear that Rushdie’s only interest in popular culture was as it reflected on his own celebrity. The conversation was a one-sided litany of Rushdie’s many celebrity friends and the many terribly interesting things they said to him. The way my friend tells the story, it seems a little tragic that such an old geezer was trying so hard to be hip.

Seen on the Subway
Since there was a whole week when I didn’t commute I haven’t had as much opportunity to spot people reading. Add to this the fact that I was too into my own reading to look up much means I only have one example to offer this week.

Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

The Reader: The interesting thing about this reader is that I spotted him several weeks ago reading the same book and I am not sure he is making much progress. Even more interesting is the fact that both times I have spotted him he has actually been walking down the street reading the book. I would say he was mid-twenties with a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) bag.

The Book: Since this walking reader had the front cover of his book folded back I could only catch a little triangle of a saturated blue. And the back cover and spine was the palest green. I instantly recognized it. The pale green was certainly a Penguin and the blue cover was the blueprint motif of Penguin’s edition of Gravity’s Rainbow. I have never read the book, but I never forget a cover.

The Verdict: I have been tempted in the past to give Pynchon a go, but lately I have come to understand that his style of writing is probably not for me. So I have put him, at least temporarily, in the Joyce-Faulkner pigeonhole of authors to avoid.

Book Review: The Magnificent Spinster by May Sarton

Thomas25 Comments

   

This review contains a giveaway.

One of the best reading chances I ever took was to buy a stack of May Sarton books without knowing anything about her. I had seen her name over the years but knew absolutely nothing else. Then in 2008 we were in a very cute used bookshop in Woodstock, Vermont back when I spied this stack of May Sarton paperbacks in old Norton editions and for some reason decided it was time I check her out. But I didn’t just buy one, I bought the whole stack. That was one of the best reading gambles I ever took Three years later I have read many of those volumes and added several more to my collection. Sarton wrote wonderful journals and wonderful novels. She also wrote poetry but I haven’t looked at that yet. In both 2009 and 2010 her books made it into my top 10 for the year.

So what did I think of my latest Sarton experience? It was fantastic.The Magnificent Spinster was the kind of book that I didn’t want to put down, but even more important it was the kind of book that I actually relished reading slowly. I tend to be too results oriented to ever slow down my reading too much–I feel I need to finish things–but with this book, I really did enjoy going slowly.

In The Magnificent Spinster, 70-year old Cam decides to write a novel about her 50-year friendship with Jane Reid who has just passed away. I haven’t done the research, but my guess is that the novel is based more than a little on the book’s dedicatee, Anne Longfellow Thorpe (1894-1977). Before each chapter there is a nonfiction-style (but fictional) prologue that sets up the fictionalization of Thorpe’s life in the guise of Jane Reid. But Cam’s prologues become just as much a part of the Jane Reid story as the chapters themselves. It kind of reminded me of the layered narrative structure in The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, but I don’t even want to make that comparison because the Sarton wonderfully readable and so full of joy and life in a way that the Lessing is not.

The Magnificent Spinster is cosy, cosy, cosy, but with feminist, political twists and some somber earnestness that elevates it to something more profound. Parts of it reminded me of Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn but it also had a Pepysian quality as WWI, the Spanish Civil War, WWII, the McCarthy Communist witch hunts and Vietnam all scroll through proceedings. And these aren’t really Pymsian spinsters. As much as I love Pym, the women in The Magnificent Spinster would never be as complacent or docile as Pym’s excellent women.

You should read this novel if any of the following things appeal to you:

  • Stories of deep, abiding friendships
  • Idyllic summers on an island in Maine
  • A multi-generational story told through the lens of the women
  • Lots of great housekeeping details (linen changing, bath drawing, travel arranging, brownie baking, flower gathering, etc.)
  • Career minded women living against gender expectations in the early 20th century
  • Warm, gregarious characters determined to live full, exuberant lives
  • Pre-Stonewall Lesbians (just a few, although they all might have been)

It isn’t often that I get tears in my eyes when I read a book, but the scenes where Ruth, Cam’s partner of 20 years dies was so beautifully rendered. (This is not a spoiler, the fact of her death is mentioned very early on.)  There is so much about this book that made me love it. If you haven’t read any Sarton, I think this would be a good place to start. It is a wonderful combination of her novels and her journals.

And, for one lucky random person who posts a comment there will be a free copy of this book. As a result of all my Sarton book buying, I appear to have acquired three copies. I not only have two old Norton editions (the one I read was a paperback, but it turns out I also have the hardcover edition) but I also have a more modern Norton edition. It is the newer one that I am prepared to send anywhere in the world to someone who wants to read it (not just collect another free book). This is for the reader in you, not the bibliophile…