Caroline's 2023 Reading (Chapter 2)

By Matisse

I'm Caroline, living in London. I own far too many books, and am slowly letting some go (for numbers see >3 Caroline_McElwee: below, about 30 a week are going out the door at the moment). I could never read all I own in my lifetime. That's not to say a few new ones are not creeping around the door, too many still.

Read in 2023


By Vanessa Bell

Fiction

The Papers of Tony Veitch (William McIlvanney) (02/0123) ***1/2
The Great Fire (Shirley Hazzard) (07/02/23) ****1/2
The Colony (Audrey Magee) (09/02/23) *****
Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen (Fay Weldon) (15/01/23) ***
The Idea of Perfection (Kate Greville) (01/02/23) ***1/2
The Painter's Friend (Howard Cunnell) (09/02/23) ****1/2
Angle of Repose (Wallace Stegner) (06/03/23) (*) ****1/2
A Visitation of Spirits (Randall Kenan) (12/03/23) ***
Violeta (Isabel Allende) (19/03/23) ****
Swimming in the Dark (Tomasz Jedowski) (24/03/23) ***1/2
A Passage to India (EM Forster (06/04/23) (*) ****
Lessons (Ian McEwan) (26/04/2023) ****1/2
Stones from the River (Ursula Hegi) (12/05/23) ****1/2
To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf) (22/05/23) (*) *****
The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle (Kirsty Walk) (28/05/23) (*) ****
To Battersea Park (Philip Hensher) (11/06/23) ***1/2
A Siege of Bitterns (Steve Burrows) (30/06/23) ***1/2
This is Happiness (Niall Williams) (09/07/23) ****1/2
Utz (Bruce Chatwin) (10/07/23) (*) ****
The House of Doors (Tan Twan Eng) (15/07/23) *****
An Unnecessary Woman (Rabih Alameddine) (21/07/23) ****
The Garden of Evening Mists (Tan Twan Eng) (31/07/23) *****
Tom Lake (Ann Patchett) (05/08/23) ****1/2
The President's Hat (Antoine Laurain) (08/08/23) ***1/2
The Lost Garden (Helen Humphrys) (12/08/23) ****1/2
The Well of Saint Nobody (Neil Jordan) ****

Non-Fiction

Christopher Lloyd: His Life at Great Dixter (Stephen Anderton) (21/01/23) ****1/2 & Great Dixter:Then and Now (Fergus Garrett) (22/01/23) ****
Middlemarch and the Imperfect Life (Pamela Erens) (02/02/23) ****1/2
How should one Read a Book? (Virginia Woolf/intro&afterword: Sheila Heti) (20/02/23) ****
The Red Leather Diary (Lily Koppel (27/03/23) ****1/2
Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Enquiry and Hope (Sarah Bakewell) (16/04/23) *****
Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop (Alba Donati) (12/05/23) ****
A Life of One's Own (Joanna Biggs) (16/05/23) ****1/2
Arrangements in Blue (Amy Key) (1 June 2023) ****
Bluets (Maggie Nelson) 11/06/23) ****1/2
Landlines (Raynor Winn) (15/06/23) ****1/2
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke out of Auschwitz (Jonathan Freedland) (21/06/23) (reread) ****1/2
Howards End is on the Landing (Susan Hill) (*) (22/06/23) ****
Jacobs Room is Full of Books (Susan Hill) (25/06/23) (*) ***1/2
Anywhere out of the World: The Work of Bruce Chatwin (Jonathan Chatwin) (19/07/23) *****
Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships (Nina Totenberg) (26/07/23) ****
Writing in the Dark (Will Loxley) (18/08/23) ****1/2
Belonging: Natural Histories of Place, Identity and Home (Amanda Thomson) (24/08/23) ****

Poetry

The Hurting Kind (Ada Limón) (06/02/23) ****
The Voice of Sheila Chandra (Kazim Ali) (09/02/23) ****
On the Bus with Rosa Parks (Rita Dove) (19/02/23) ****
Sporadic Troubleshooting (Clarence Major) (06/03/23) ***1/2
The Carrying (Ada Limón) (*) (20/03/23) *****
Quiet (Victoria Adukwei Bulley) (08/04/23) ****
Not the Whispering Wild (John Eppel) (28/05/23) ***
Osip Mandelstam: Selected Poems (Osip Mandelstam, trans Clarence Brown and WS Merwin) (26/06/23) (*) *****

Re-reads (*) (already counted above)

Angle of Repose (Wallace Stegner) - fiction
The Carrying (Ada Limón) - poetry
A Passage to India (EM Forster)
To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle (Kirsty Walk)
Howards End is on the Landing (Susan Hill)
Jacobs Room is Full of Books (Susan Hill) (25/06/23) (reread) ***1/2
Osip Mandelstam: Selected Poems (Osip Mandelstam, trans Clarence Brown and WS Merwin)
Utz (Bruce Chatwin)

Total read: 52

Fiction: 26
Non-Fiction: 18 (including pamphlet)
Poetry: 08
Rereads (*): 8

Female: 26
Male: 25
Non-binary/Trans:

UK: 22
Australia: 02
US: 12
UK/US/Transnational: 01
British-Gharnaian: 01
South America: 01
German/Polish: 01
US/German: 01
Italy: 01
Zimbabwe: 01
Russian: 01
Ireland: 02
Canada: 02
Malay: 02
Lebanon: 01
France: 01

BOOKS ACQUIRED

102
(16/14/15/11/9/14/11/10/07



BOOKS RELEASED
From mid-Feb includes 2 books out for everyone in

512 (25 weren't in my catalogue)

OK, I'm going to keep track of this on my thread this year. The aim is to exit more than I acquire. My goal is 400 out, and no more than double figures in. ETA: Surpassed this goal beginning of July. New goal 1000 out by year end.

Somewhere nice to read. Looks Parisian.

Welcome...

I love all your toppers! Matisse - ah.

I'm also 'deaccessioning' books, because I need to make room for other, potentially artistic, activities in the apartment. So far, about 130 in March, and more to come. Rule of thumb - if the print is too small, if the topic is too 'intellectual' (I had aspirations), certainly if the book is a paperback in disrepair. Clearing the bedroom shelves in preparation for painting the walls was a helpful starter. I seem to have inspired Jim to do the same. It is very freeing.

>4 Caroline_McElwee:- Beautiful! Happy new thread, Caroline. I am also trying to let more books leave home this year but I haven't kept track/stats. Maybe I should; it might keep me more accountable

Happy Sunday, Caroline. Happy New Thread. Love the Matisse topper.

>6 ffortsa: It is the most I have ever let go of Judy, and I have to keep that level up. It takes me longer as I don't drive, and there are no longer places that will take large amounts in one go, or collect them, so I take 10 good quality hardbacks to Oxfam Books and 20 paperbacks to a Free Little Library each week (both a bus ride away).

Good luck with your continued releases.

>7 jessibud2: Keeping track is helping and it has got a little easier as I go Shelley. 190 in the past couple of months. I report in to my sister each week too.

I love Paris, so that is quite perfect as a reading spot. I'd keep the laptop somewhere else though.

>8 msf59: I do love Matisse Mark, glad you do too.

22. Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Enquiry and Hope (Sarah Bakewell) (16/04/23) *****



Another really fine, accessible book about philosophy from Sarah Bakewell (I've previously read and loved How to Live about Montaigne, and At the Existentialist Cafe * about the...existentialists).

Giving us the line of humanists and where and how they diversify. In this volume, there were a lot more participants I had not heard of, as well as many I had. Her works always lead me on new journeys. Her books for me are page turners.

* Read in Sicily

Happy new thread, Caroline. As always, I love your art at the top! It's a pleasure to visit your thread.

Good luck with the finding of new homes for your books. You are doing well, very inspiring.

The Blakewell sounds great. I have her previous two books and need to get them out and read them. But I am also adding this to my WL.

>11 BLBera: Thanks Beth. Glad you enjoy the art.

You will very quickly get into the Bakewell books. I will definitely be rereading them in time.

Happy new thread, dear lady. x

>13 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul.

i love all the paintings and photos on your new thread Caroline. Beautiful! Wonderful to visit with what you are reading too!

Love your welcome mat photo!!! Good luck on the book purge. I may get to that someday, but I have so many other things that need cleaning up first, and at least the books look orderly. LOL. Happy new one!

>15 mdoris: Hi Mary, glad you enjoyed your visit. always good to see you.

>16 Berly: My books are more chaotic Kim.

Happy new thread, Caroline!

You found some nice pictures to go along with the first messages.
Good luck with restraining yourself from acqiuring books, and releasing some. Letting them go is so hard, I also struggle with it.

Happy new one!

Love all the pictures!

>10 Caroline_McElwee: Looks like a perfect spot to read with delicious looking food!

>18 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita, it is hard to part with our book treasures indeed.

>19 figsfromthistle: It was a rather lovely spot Anita. The restaurant was just up from my apartment, and I enjoyed a couple of lunches there. And of course G&Ts. That dessert was delicious.

Happy new thread. Where do the books that are leaving go?

Oh, another Bakewell book. I really enjoyed the other ones you mentioned. In fact, I've been listening to At The Existentialist Cafe a second time on some of my walks around town. She actually makes philosophical discourse both interesting and accessible to me. I'll have to get hold of this one.

Happy new thread, Caroline.

>10 Caroline_McElwee: OK, tempted by that one. Also the location. I read a history of Sicily that, at one point said something like "but this is a history, not a tourist brochure so let's get back to the subject". It was very good and worked on both levels!

Happy new thread, Caroline!

>21 dianeham: Thanks Diane, the good quality hardbacks go to the Oxfam Charity raising funds to support developing charities, the paperbacks go to a Free Little Library.

>22 ffortsa: She is a fine writer Judy.

>23 Helenliz: I had a lovely fortnight in Sicily a few years back Helen, 2018 I think. A week in Palermo and a week in Giardine Naxos, just below Taomina. I'm sure I'll go back sometime.

>24 drneutron: Thanks Jim.

Glorious day for a first visit of the year to Chelsea Physic Garden.



The cake was lemon drizzle.



This looked like a critter, but is an iris root.

WOW! Beautiful!

Happy new thread and happy visit to the Physic Garden! I thought you had seen an alligator so I'm glad you clarified!

>26 Caroline_McElwee: Beautiful Physic garden photos. Maybe I'll get there this year.

>27 jessibud2: I love tulips Shelley, and these are stunning.

>28 Sakerfalcon: I know, very surreal Claire, every time I glanced up I thought it was a critter.

>29 charl08: I hope you do Charlotte. It's very compact, but always restful.

From Patti Smith's A Book of Days (be it all a day late).

>31 Caroline_McElwee: Isn’t A Book of Days wonderful?! I read a library copy but I think I need my own copy for rereading. Thanks for the reminder!

Karen O

>32 klobrien2: And lovely mostly being photos Karen. Smith is a literary and creative pilgrimager as am I so I find we have often walked in each other's steps. I love all her books.

Great photos from the Chelsea Physic Garden, Caroline! I would like to contribute a photo from our visit there in 2015:

I need to read A Book of Days.

I love the photos, Caroline.

>34 kidzdoc: It was a lovely day Darryl. Thanks for the photo.

>35 BLBera: Thanks Beth. I hope you like Patti's book.

23. Lessons (Ian McEwan) (26/04/2023) ****1/2



A ‘during a life’ saga of our narrator Roland Barnes covering around 100 years, as it incorporates stories of his parents and parents-in-law.

There are a number of themes that thread their way through the book. The title Lessons covers both life lessons, and the piano lessons that are part of one of the threads through the book, a Nabokovian perhaps, storyline of a 14 year old boy seduced by a 25 year old female teacher, and the impact those 2 years has on the rest of his life and relationships.

The characters are richly drawn and grow like cellular building blocks and you can see how they evolve as layer on layer is set down. He allows us to see the naivety through to the experience, via the contradictions that occur in most rounded human life spans.

There are some autobiographical aspects, such as the late in life discovered full brother, which was McEwan’s experience, though at the back of the book in acknowledgements, he says there never for him was such a piano teacher.

Very much for me on the edge of his best, but probably soundly in the middle of his oeuvre (my favourite being Enduring Love). Definitely one that will get a re-read in time. I enjoyed being with his narrator and those that filled his life.

>37 Caroline_McElwee: Excellent review Caroline. I started the book and didn't finish it and now can't remember why so I will have to try to read it again.

Out and about in town yesterday. They are well ahead with the preparations for next week's Coronation. All the gating is up along the streets in Westminster. The Abbey looks great against the blue sky.

I found Freddie in a charity shop and took him home, his voice has been the background to all my late teen and adult life. I saw Queen live once. There is no artist name on the print, I'm hoping the framers may be able to help, but that is a long shot.

>38 mdoris: I hope you get back into it Mary, I wasn't sure at the start, but then I'm not much into coming of age stories, which is what it is at the start.

>39 Caroline_McElwee: - Lovely pics, Caroline and don't you just love finding something cool and unexpected in charity shops! I love when that happens!

>37 Caroline_McElwee: Enjoyed your review of Lessons, Caroline. I think I felt pretty much as you did - enjoyable enough, and somewhere in the middle of his best to worst writing. Funny enough, Enduring Love is probably my favourite McEwan too.

>42 AlisonY: Surprisingly I like his The Innocent the most. One of my favourite things about Ian McEwan is that you never know how he will surprise you with his books as one is rarely similar to the others.

Have a lovely May Bank Holiday, Caroline.

>41 jessibud2: I do Shelley. I am the kind of person who knows exactly what I want and 99% of the time the thing that drew me in, or attracts my attention first is what I leave with. Freddie was winging from the window.

>42 AlisonY: I don't have them in a dual volume which saves the quandry Alison.

>43 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul.

Do you have a favourite McEwan novel?

>39 Caroline_McElwee: Lovely photos Caroline! Your lunch looks tasty, where did you go?

>45 Sakerfalcon: Thanks Claire. It was a little Patisserie Valerie in Wilton Road Victoria. Not as great as pre-pandemic, like many places a lot less choice, but nice enough.

>39 Caroline_McElwee: Lovely pictures, Caroline.
I like the Freddie, the composition and the colors. I hope you can find out who made it.

>46 Caroline_McElwee: If I'm in that area I tend to head for Rosa's Thai! It is a good area for restaurants.

Happy Friday, Caroline. I am back from my various travels and still trying to catch up around here. I love all your spring photos. Things are beginning to blossom and brighten around here too. The McEwan book sounds good. I had not heard of that one.

>47 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. I have a suspicion I want identify the artist. No reply from the framers.

>48 Sakerfalcon: I remember a visit to Rosa's with you, your sister and Darryl some while ago Claire. Next week I will be going to the Turkish, Kazan's, also in Wilton Road, haven't been since before the pandemic.

>49 msf59: It is lovely to see nature blooming Mark. I think you might like Lessons.

I enjoyed the Berthe Morisot exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery today. Three favourites:



This seemed so modern.



I don't think many male artists would paint this.



Her subjects were mostly women and children, with a mostly delicate palette, so these are perhaps a bit less representative. She exhibited with most of the male impressionists, all of whom she knew, but she is hardly known here.

Oh I so want to go see that Caroline. Maybe I'll make it before it closes! Thank you for posting the paintings. I am even more tempted by the catalogue now.

>52 charl08: I abstained from the catalogue for the time being Charlotte. The exhibition is on until September.

>51 Caroline_McElwee: Lovely pictures of pictures. Thanks. And I agree that the first one seems quite modern.

>51 Caroline_McElwee: Van Gogh would have loved the third painting!

>54 ffortsa: I think part of that is because it looks like she has short hair Judy, not common for women of the time. But it is more than that.

>55 m.belljackson: Yes Marianne, it has a flavour if some of VVG. I'm not sure whether she would have known him or seen his work. I'll see if I can find out.

>51 Caroline_McElwee: Lovely paintings, Caroline, thanks for sharing.
I hadn't heard of Berthe Morisot before, so I searched a bit on the internet, and found some more paintings I like.

>57 FAMeulstee: Glad you enjoyed them Anita, it's good to discover artists new to us.

Glad you enjoyed it. I debated going last time I was in London, but timings didn't quite work. But it's still on the list to try to get to.

>59 Helenliz: I try and get to most of their exhibitions Helen, as I maybe said before, I have been going there since I was about 5, when I lived in the next town. Now it is quite a trek from East lindon, but always worth it.

24. Stones from the River (Ursula Hegi) (12/05/23) ****1/2



The story of a Zweig (Dwarf), Trudi Montag, who lives in a small town in Germany between 1915-1952. Her life as both the outsider, and ultimately the connector of the town, especially during the years of the second world war.

Trudi narrates her story, and that of her neighbours and strangers that pass through. Interesting to see the war from the opposite side to that, as a Brit, I am familiar with, but on a domestic level rather than the main theatre of war. Seeing how neighbours choose different positions, the invidiousness of how nazi power seeps into the town and how it is grasped or resisted.

Mostly though this is a story of an extraordinary woman.

Read for the American Author Challenge (AAC). A new author to me which is always a treat.

Highly recommended.

****

25. Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop (Alba Donati) (12/05/23) ****



*

>50 Caroline_McElwee: I've had some very good meals at Kazan, again pre-lockdown.

>53 Caroline_McElwee: I have decided that life (and print runs) are too short for me to put off buying an exhibition catalogue if I really loved the show. It's hit or miss as to whether they'll go up or down in price after going OOP. Mind you, I am resisting the Tate's hardback-only, £35 or £40 editions. That's just too much for my budget. I wish they would publish a paperback version.

>61 Caroline_McElwee: Gosh, I read this back in the day when it was a huge bestseller in the US! Like you, I found it an interesting portrayal of the many opinions and attitudes present in German society in that period. My grandfather moved to England from Kassel in the early 1930s because he didn't like the way the country was heading.

>62 Sakerfalcon: Interesting about your grandfather Claire.

Kazans was definitely as good as pre-pandemic. Tomorrow I am meeting my bro for a visit to My Old Dutch. Another I haven't been to since pre-pandemic.

The other reason I wavered over the catalogue was the curators comments on the paintings were constantly offering the inspiration of male artists. There must have been other contemporary female artists to have inspired her in her time. Though maybe the catalogue would have clarified that. I shall have to see what Katy Hessel has to say in her book The Story of Art Without Men.

This evening watched 'Mary Cassatt: Painting the Modern Woman' from the Exhibition on Screen series.



Spending the majority of her life living and working in France, but in latter life advising American collectors about Impressionist art, she was also a friend of Berthe Morisot.

>37 Caroline_McElwee: I started reading this one a few months ago and then stopped and forgot about it. I find I am still able to remember what I read so it must be a sign of a good book! Good review. I will pick it up again soon.

>51 Caroline_McElwee: It is a sad fact that many female artists were not given the due acknowledgement and accolades they deserve vs their male counterparts. What beautiful paintings!

>63 Caroline_McElwee: the curators comments on the paintings were constantly offering the inspiration of male artists That's irritating! Especially as the premise of the exhibition is that Morisot "shaped" Impressionism and was a "trailblazer" (quoted from DPG website). That does not suggest to me that she was inspired BY others, more that she inspired them!

>65 figsfromthistle: I hope you can get back into it Anita.

>66 Sakerfalcon: Exactly what we thought Claire. I'm still of a mind to send them an email about it. Not that I want to exclude male influences, but it was exclusively so.

>67 Caroline_McElwee: And is there evidence that she was influenced by anyone, rather than being the originator?

>68 Sakerfalcon: Well she did know Mary Cassatt, they went to exhibitions together according to the docu I watched last night.

26. A Life of One's Own (Joanna Biggs) (16/05/23) ****1/2



Writer Joanna Biggs seeks solace and advice from her 9 writing heroines in these fine essays about their lives and work. Mary Wollstonecraft, George Eliot, Zora Neil Hurston, Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, Sylvia Plath, Toni Morrison and Elena Ferrante (the first 8 are my own female literary friends also, I may come to Ferrante, but I didn't get far into My Brilliant Friend, probably because I am not much of a 'coming of age' story person). I too have been reading these writers most of my life, and regularly revisit them.

In this volume Biggs is looking for a way forward after her divorce, and her revisiting these writers gives her ideas for framing how she can move forward, shape and form new ways of being. In her exploration she finds new things in her later readings of the works.

I certainly wanted to revisit again with these writers, and dived again into Virginia's To the Lighthouse, probably my 6th reading.

I shall certainly be revisiting these essays again.

27. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf) (22/05/23) (reread) *****

Review to follow

Lovely visit to Chelsea Physic as usual. We saw the crowds heading in to the Chelsea Flower Show too. Glad that we were going somewhere quieter. I go with a friend and we will be in our 4-6 weekly visit mode until winter now.



Sculptures by South African artist Deborah Bell. Couldn't resist the sleepy puppy on the bus.

>72 Caroline_McElwee: Lovely how the sculptures are exposed in the garden, Caroline. They look so lively in this environment. The puppy is irresistible :-)

Lovely garden pics, as usual, but I'm with Anita: irresistible puppy! :-)

>72 Caroline_McElwee: These are just gorgeous, Caro! Subtly weird and still elegant.

>71 Caroline_McElwee: Not my personal favorite of her books, but a fine work of Modernism.

>70 Caroline_McElwee: That was a Book-Circle read back in the day, and I remember thinking that it was a very interesting story that I just didn't want to read. Now, of course, I can't recall exactly why. Thirty years wil do that to a memory.

>74 jessibud2: I know Shelley. For such a youngster he was so calm.

>75 richardderus: I think you are thinking of Woolf's A Room of One's Own RD, @ >70 Caroline_McElwee: has wiggled that title for a series of essays about her female writing heroines.

Woolf's essay is one of her finest pieces of writing IMO.

As usual, I find many treasures here, Caroline. I love the Morisot paintings. I would pick up Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop just for the cover! A Life of One's Own definitely goes on my WL -- I love a good essay collection.

>77 BLBera: Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop was a gift, so doubly a treat as so few people risk giving me books Beth. And this was one I'd not heard of too.

28. The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle (Kirsty Wark) (28/05/23) (reread) *****1/2



When Martha Morrison was a child, her mother Anna took her to Arran every summer, and one year Anna popped a note through the door of one of the houses, saying if they ever thought of selling, to let her know.

The novel starts with adult Anna, learning to cope with her mother's early dementia, and finding a letter from Elizabeth Pringle's solicitors, telling Anna that Elizabeth had kept her letter, and had bequeathed the house to her.

Martha, in a crossroads of her life, is given the keys to Holmlea as her mother's guardian, and goes to Arran to learn more about the mysterious Elizabeth, and the home her family have inherited.

The stories of both Martha and Elizabeth, are interwoven.

This was a reread, and I enjoyed it even more the second time around. Well written for a debut. I liked her second novel as much, the third must be due in the next year or so.

>79 Caroline_McElwee: - Sounds like one I"d enjoy, Caroline! I'll keep my eyes open for it.

>80 jessibud2: I think you would enjoy it Shelley.

29.Not the Whispering Wild (John Eppel) (28/05/23) ***



A short volume by one of Zimbabwe's most noted poets. A gift from a Zim friend retuned from a visit home. A signed copy at that.

Some clever wordplay in the first quarter, but on the whole it didn't blow me away, and the later half would have been called 'verse' years ago, and was a bit lacklustre.

>79 Caroline_McElwee: the library has that. It also has it on CD, I may give that a go.

>83 Helenliz: I hope you enjoy it Helen. It stood a reread.

30. Arrangements in Blue (Amy Key) (1 June 2023) ****



This is an extraordinary brave memoir from creative Amy Key, against the backdrop of Joni Mitchell’s album ‘Blue’ she explores the fact that she has spent 50% of her life outside a romantic relationship. Sex there has at times been aplenty, but rarely truly romantic love. She reflects on other kinds of love that have supported her, and wonders why it has rarely been enough, why she still craves this particular type of validation, why this craving persists. Why she can’t simply be who she is, as she has created for herself a life that does give her much satisfaction: creating a home she loves, holidaying solo sometimes, committing to close friendships, being there for others and having them there for herself.

As someone from pre-teens who knew I did not want children, I was liberated from the need to be part of a pair, I’m always interested to read about other’s who share the same feeling, though mostly those who write about it are temporarily in the situation, relationships that have run their course, widowhood, people who expect not to remain untethered to another. Key’s memoir is different, but her need for romantic love is relentless and almost like a drug, so doesn’t reflect my own choices either, because for her it hasn’t been a choice. There are moments of contentment with the life she has carved, but there is still this addiction to what seems like something she cannot have, or has not had so far. She is in her late 40s now, and realises that although she is not giving up on the possibility of romantic love happening for her, she wants to unseat it’s centrality, and give the other rich aspects of her life the attention they deserve.

For a first prose book (she is also a poet) this is a very well written volume.

That sounds very interesting, Caro.

Great comments, Caroline. The Amy Key book sounds good, and I will also look for The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle.

>70 Caroline_McElwee: Writing heroes and heroines? Certainly intriguing. Mine of course would be largely poets.
But if we had nine and I had to go three poets, three novelists and three non-fiction writers then:

Poets
Ted Hughes
Dylan Thomas
Gerard Manley Hopkins (I have always had a thing for the beauty of alliteration)

Authors
W. Somerset Maugham
Emile Zola
Andre Brink (I was greatly influenced by his writing when I was young)

Non-Fiction
CV Wedgwood
Tony Benn
Laurie Lee

Not necessarily a list of my nine favourites but all of them had an impact upon me growing up.

>88 PaulCranswick: I like Manley Hopkins too Paul.

I'll think of doing my own. 8 of the 9 in the book are heroines of mine, but if I where to do 'the 9' there would be differences.

A Life of One's Own and Arrangements in Blue both sound fascinating! And you've reminded me that I haven't been to the Art Museum here in far too long. Gonna call my sister and set up a date. :)

31. Bluets (Maggie Nelson) (11/06/23) ****1/2



250 vignettes and thoughts about the colour blue. Bluets are flowers, they are cornflowers in the UK.

Of course I love the gorgeous cover.

Maggie Nelson is becoming a favourite writer.

*****

32. To Battersea Park (Philip Hensher) (11/06/23) ***1/2



Four novellas, three autofiction. Set across the years of the pandemic. The first and last tell the story of the 'writer' and his husband both of whom have covid in the early months. The second about his parents. The first part was my favourite in how it showed for many, being so restricted in what they could do, became more observant of what they could see in the world, and how sometimes their imaginations ran away with themselves.

The title of the book referring to the fact that the narrator could only walk to Battersea Park, but could never enter it, as it took half an hour to get home, and the State said one was only permitted to be out for an hour.

The third part was perhaps a kind of covid nightmare.

>90 Berly: Hope you get that museum date in the diary Kim.

>91 Caroline_McElwee: Love Maggie Nelson. Have her latest one on the shelf to read.

>70 Caroline_McElwee: I saw this in my library's catalog, thought about it, and passed it over because I'm not terribly familiar with the works of a few of the authors. Then I thought I'd heard about it somewhere on LT, couldn't remember where, and stumbled across the place I'd seen it - your thread!

All of that to say that now I'm considering adding it to my library wishlist. :)

>93 charl08: I got about half through it on holiday the year it came out Charlotte, then did't get back to it, so need to pick it up again. I was enjoying it. Her books are always thought provoking,

>94 ursula: I hope you enjoy it Ursula.

These just continue to delight me...

>97 Caroline_McElwee: I love it! ❤️

>97 Caroline_McElwee: *snort* I don't feel seen at all.

>97 Caroline_McElwee: I feel like this might be a good time to mention that as a child, I once had a bicycle accident because of too many books checked out from the library. I had a small frame as a child and my backpack was stuffed with books. On the way out from the library parking area I had to do a 90 degree turn and the centrifugal power meant my heavy backpack pulled me off the bike. No major damage, fortunately - some scrapes on hands and knees but luckily no books were harmed.

>97 Caroline_McElwee: LOL! So glad I am only allowed twenty ;-)

>100 PawsforThought: aww, poor little Paws! Momentum's a powerful force, not always for good. Glad no books were harmed in the accident! >:-)

Sweet Thursday, Caroline. Just checking in. How are you? Enjoying those books? All good here- birds/books & Jackson. Life is grand!

I am enjoying a poetry collection called Promises of Gold that Joe recommended. Have you been reading any?

>97 Caroline_McElwee: I love it! And I LOVE my library!! ❤️

>98 mdoris: >99 Helenliz: >100 PawsforThought: >101 FAMeulstee: I thought that would be recognised tee hee. Glad you survived Paws.

>103 msf59: Glad all is well with you Mark. I need to pick up another poetry collection soon. I've been enjoying non-fiction a bit lately, but not having as much reading time as I'd like of late.

>97 Caroline_McElwee: Ummm I guess being weighed down under the splendid volume of books is a hazard I have enjoyed over the years.

>104 Caroline_McElwee: Have you read anything by Zaffar Kunial, Caroline? I read a recent collection of his this month and found him interesting, especially if you like cricket!

>105 PaulCranswick: I'm afraid cricket is a foreign language to me Paul, beyond watching men in whites on the field and the 'pock' sound.

>106 Caroline_McElwee: That is part of the poetry, Caroline - the strangeness of the game.

Caroline, I'm looking at going to Dulwich picture galley the week after next, to see the Morisot exhibition. Anything else in the area that you'd recommend seeing/doing?

>108 Helenliz: If you have never done the gallery before it could keep you occupied for a while Helen. Its general collection has a number of great dutch paintings including Rembrandts, as well as other well-known artists: Gainsborough, Rubens and other pieces. The village is pleasant and there is a park.

>109 Caroline_McElwee: Excellent, I'll plan the whole morning then. >:-)

34. Landlines (Raynor Winn) (15/06/23) ****1/2



Volume 3 of Raynor Winn’s memoir of her walking the country with husband Moth. In this volume they start in Scotland with highland ruggedness, and as one trek ends, they are compelled to start another, despite the wear and tear on them both. They witness some of the side effects of climate emergency, political bad choices, pandemic behaviours and joyful (and occasionally not so) meetings with strangers along the way.

I love Tom Gauld..

>112 Caroline_McElwee: - LOL! So funny (and true)!

>111 Caroline_McElwee: - I have the first 2 (though as yet unread). I guess I should get to them if there is a third now...

>113 jessibud2: Ha, yes, we've all fallen into that trap Shelley. I have a few series where several volumes have been published before I get to the first.

>111 Caroline_McElwee: I liked this one better than the previous book, Caroline.
The first one remains my favorite.

>112 Caroline_McElwee: Lovely.

>112 Caroline_McElwee: Priceless. Explains my constant stiff neck!

So much more in bloom today at Chelsea Phys:

>118 Caroline_McElwee: Looks beautiful Caroline.

Caroline, good for you for getting books out of the house. Earlier this year, I went through all my young adult books and got rid of many that I purchased on a whim at a book sale. Now, if I could stop bringing more in the door....

>118 Caroline_McElwee: Lovely pictures, Caroline, especially the one in the middle with the bumblebee.

>111 Caroline_McElwee: Ooh, I want to seek this one out. It looks like something I would enjoy. What is the title of the first one?

Happy Wednesday, Caroline.

>121 FAMeulstee: the bees loved that plant Anita.

>122 msf59: The first two are The Salt Path and The Wild Silence Mark. I'm sure you will like them.

>118 Caroline_McElwee: Gorgeous respite from the citification around you, eh what?

I'm glad you're finding the reads and the days so agreeable this summer, Caro.

>111 Caroline_McElwee:, >122 msf59: I remember being intrigued by The Salt Path when it was first published, and somehow it slipped off my radar. I've now added it to the never-ending list.

I don't need any more plants, but you/ your thread readers don't happen to know the name of the large purple ones are you, do you? Just in case a space opens up... (!)

I just finished Tan Twan Eng's book and the descriptions of a beautiful garden in Singapore made me wish I could grow/ keep alive some more exciting plants.

>125 lauralkeet: I think you will like them Laura.

>126 charl08: I'll have to leave that to any passing gardeners Charlotte. If they are there when I return next month I'll check the label.

Both my bro and a friend have shown me photos of some of the gardens in Singapore.

35. The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke out of Auschwitz (Jonathan Freedland) (21/06/23) (reread) ****1/2



A biography of the first two jews who escaped from Auschwitz, Rudolf Vrba and fellow inmate Fred Wetzler. Names that few of us will have heard of, I hadn't, despite reading a fair amount about the Holocaust across my life.

The thing that always startles me on some level, is no matter how much you revisit these books, they never cease to be harrowing, you never get used to the evidence of the cruelty and intention of the Nazi final solution.

Like his main subject, Vrba, Freedland sets out the details and the numbers. It reads like a novel, whilst explicitly recording the facts.

Vrba isn't always perfect, he had ego as well as memory and charm. He suffered in person and what he witnessed, and ultimately in having his beliefs about how the world would react once it knew the truth squashed.

****

36. Howards End is on the Landing (Susan Hill) (22/06/23) ***



I'm posting the review I wrote after first reading it in 2009, which hasn't changed:

I imagine anyone who belongs to LT will enjoy a book about books. Susan Hill’s very personal graze around her library is engaging and quickly commands everything else to be pushed aside whilst you glut on it. One of the most intriguing results being the places of utter harmony and those of unexpected disagreement. More potent when the writer of the book on books is one you admire perhaps. Our main place of dispute would be over 'David Copperfield' – it seems he won’t be read again by Hill, where I hope to consume it more than once more. Though reading her chapters on Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury, and that on Bruce Chatwin was like a double take, were these my words, had I written them myself, because they felt like mine!

There were books I read I nodded in agreement with, and many I have been planning to read that she has made me want to pull nearer to the top of the TBR file. It has also made me want to re-read some of her own novels, many last read with pleasure in the 80’s, and pick up a more recent one to see what she is up to now. She is one of those writers whose work I gorged on in the beginning, and kept collecting, but have not revisited for some while, until now. Treats ahead.

>128 Caroline_McElwee: - I saw an interview with Freedland about this book not too long ago. Harrowing indeed

>126 charl08:, >127 Caroline_McElwee: I used the Seek app on the photo, and it identified the plants as Purple Wood Sage aka Salvia nemerosa. Catmint (Nepeta) has a similar appearance.

>127 Caroline_McElwee: Thanks Caroline. The descriptions of them in the Tan Twan Eng book were really beautiful. A lot less hard on my back than the real thing too!

I thought the Freedland was a brilliant biography of a complex life. The author didn't shy away from some of the less pleasant parts of Vrba's character. I'm not sure I would have liked him in person, but I did admire him. An effective biography that gives the reader that sense of knowing a "whole" person, I think.

>130 lauralkeet: Thanks Laura. I like that plant, but not sure it's the same one in the picture. I appreciate the effort though.

37. Jacobs Room is Full of Books (Susan Hill) (25/06/23) (reread) ***1/2



Rereading this straight after Howards End is on the Landing, I see there is a fair amount of repetition, however there were quite a few enticing aspects.

38. Osip Mandelstam: Selected Poems (Osip Mandelstam, trans Clarence Brown and WS Merwin) (26/06/23) (reread) *****



I first came to Mandelstam 40 years ago, and am making another revisit as I am just about to read the biography just translated into English. My copy of the poems is beginning to fall apart as I read it so much in my 20s and 30s.

Before the 1930s he wrote much about nature and love.

116

Take from my palms, to sooth your heart,
a little honey, a little sun,
in obedience to Persephone’s bees.

You can’t untie a boat that was never moored
nor hear a shadow in its furs,
nor move through thick life without fear.

For us, all that’s left is kisses
tattered as the little bees
that die when they leave the hive.

Deep in the transparent night they’re still humming,
at home in the dark wood on the mountain,
in the mint and lungwort and the past.

But lay to your heart my rough gift,
this lovely dry necklace of dead bees
that once made a sun out of honey.

(1920)

***

From the 1930s on it got darker.

232

No, it's not for me to duck out of the mess

behind the cabdriver's back that's Moscow.

I am the cherry swinging from the streetcar strap
of an evil time. What am I doing alive?


We'll take Streetcar “A” and then streetcar “B,”

you and I to see who dies first. As for Moscow,
One minute she's a crouched sparrow,

the next she's puffed up like a pastry -

How does she find time to threaten from holes?

You do as you please, I won't chance it.

My glove's not warm enough for the drive

around the whole whore Moscow.

(1931)

Eventually he was sent to a Siberian labour camp for a poem that insulted Stalin.

>132 Caroline_McElwee: I've had Jacob's Room is Full of Books on the shelf for ages. It spoke to me very strongly when I first saw it, because my Jacob's room really is full of books as well. It's sufficiently long since I read Howard's End is on the Landing that I probably wouldn't notice any repetition.

>134 SandDune: I agree Rhian. I didn't really notice when I first read it as there was a gap of 8 years between the publication of them. Only rereading them back to back shone a light on that.

39. A Siege of Bitterns (Steve Burrows) (30/06/23) ***1/2



The first of the Birder Mysteries featuring Canadian DCI Jejeune, who now resides in the UK.

I enjoyed this slightly different detective story which has an environmental grounding, and will likely read some more of the series (there are 7).

I came to this via SassyLassy's review of the most recent volume.

I watched this lovely documentary. Matt Tannanbaum ran his bookstore for 43 years (he bought it just before his 30th birthday), then the pandemic hit. He sold books kerbside, but his monthly sales were what he sold in a day prior to covid. The only way he can save his bookstore is via a GoFundMe campaign, which reaches his target within 24 hours. Now, the bookstore is thriving and debt free and continues the heartbeat of his community.

Throughout the film Matt reads from some of his favourite books. Delightful.

>137 Caroline_McElwee: What a heartwarming story! I'll have to go find this. Is it on one of the streaming services, Caroline? (Netflix, etc.)

>138 PlatinumWarlock: In the UK it is on Curzon Home Cinema. I'm not sure about the US Lavinia. Maybe Apple.

>139 Caroline_McElwee: I'll poke around - thank you!

>140 PlatinumWarlock: Lavinia, a US friend said it is on Kanopy, the free library service.

>140 PlatinumWarlock:, >141 Caroline_McElwee: Another US friend piping up here. I use the Justwatch app to find out where shows and movies are streaming and manage my never-ending watchlist. Hello Bookstore is free on Kanopy, which is usually offered through public libraries. If perchance you don't have Kanopy, it looks like you can rent it from Apple or Amazon.

>141 Caroline_McElwee: and >142 lauralkeet: We do have Kanopy - thank you both!

Just back from seeing the latest Indiana Jones. Not as good as previous ones in my opinion, but I guess it was made in the pandemic so that might have had an effect. Second half better than the first. And Harrison Ford still handsome at 80 (well probably 78 when it was filmed).

>137 Caroline_McElwee: I enjoyed this one as well, Caroline.

>91 Caroline_McElwee: I love the cover!

>98 mdoris: I love this.

I agree that the Hill books are similar, but I loved them both. I think there was more about nature in Jacob's Room Is Full of Books. Anyway, they are books I will revisit.

>145 BLBera: I very much enjoyed rereading both these Hill books Beth, and am sure I will dip in again in time.

Just learned my local cinema has closed down as of today. Very disappointing. The next nearest is 40 mins away and costs double. I did used to go there sometimes as they did more independent films, but they have gone more mainstream. Boo hoo. Definitely the result of having to close through a lot of the pandemic, and never getting back to pre-pandemic attendance levels.

Out of the blockbuster/kids films season I went most weeks. I will have to really want to see a film to bother going forward.

>147 Caroline_McElwee: Oh, that is sad, Caroline. I don't have one that's near me and it's definitely cut down the amount I go. I used to go in Edinburgh twice a week sometimes. The lovely Filmhouse there has closed down now though. They used to show such interesting films.

I've added the bookshop film to my wishlist. Looks good!

>133 Caroline_McElwee: #116 is really beautiful isn't it? I must go and add some of his work to my collection.

>137 Caroline_McElwee: What a wonderful story - not many COVID tales had happy endings.

Have a glorious weekend, Caroline.

>147 Caroline_McElwee: My nearest cinema is probably 20 minutes drive away, and I almost never go. It's a shame, as there's something special about seeing a film on a big screen.

>149 PaulCranswick: I think you would like Mandelstam Paul.

I liked Matt Tannenbaum. Quirky but a real love of literature. He raised his two daughters by himself as his wife died young, and they were raised in the bookshop, as is his grandson now, brought regularly by his mom.

I bought The Girl with the Leica as it was one of his favourite books, a biography, looking forward to it landing.

>150 Helenliz: There really is nothing like sitting in a large dark room to see a movie on the big screen Helen, I shall miss doing as often as I have done.

>147 Caroline_McElwee: The pandemic is the gift that keeps on taking, indeed. Ready for a better era now, everyone?

>147 Caroline_McElwee: Was it Empire Cinemas? Ours has shut too. The nearest cinema apart from that is 30 minutes away, although the council have got plans to develop a local small arts centre (including a cinema). There has been a lot of local opposition to that, much of it along the lines of the fact that the town isn't big enough for two cinemas, but that may change now that we don't have a cinema at all.

>152 richardderus: It is indeed RD, and I suspect it still has some work to do unfortunately.

>153 SandDune: Yes Rhian, the Empire. I really felt for the staff who rocked up for work yesterday to find a notice on the door. At least 3 had worked there since it opened. It's a shitty way to treat staff, although they will say they couldn't risk the news getting out before they wanted it to, but that is inhumane.

40. This is Happiness (Niall Williams) (09/07/23) ****1/2



A beautifully written, lyrical Irish novel. Noel Crowe, in his 70s residing now in America, is looking back on a period of his early life, aged 17, and living with his grandparents in the small rural parish of Faha having dropped out of seminary. He arrives as the parish is just about to be connected 'with the electricity' and the arrival of Christy McMahon who changes his life.

Vividly drawn, with a breadth of characters and stories, a sense of place, music, and spoonful of tragi-comedy.

>155 Caroline_McElwee: - Sounds like a good one. Onto the list it goes!

I just started This is Happiness on Saturday and I'm not very far along yet but lyrical is a good word for it. I'm glad to see your 4.5 stars.

>156 jessibud2: I think you will like it Shelley.

>157 lauralkeet: I am a fan of Irish writing Laura, and this didn't disappoint. I have 2 others of his so far unread, as well as 2 I read years ago. The former I aim to get to this year.

Had an indulgent lunch with a friend. Pud was vanilla cheesecake with mango sorbet and mango sauce. Always beautifully presented. The green slithers were chocolate.

That looks fabulous!
>40 Caroline_McElwee: tempting as well, but laden with fewer calories.

>159 Caroline_McElwee: - Beautiful!

Charlie Watts' signed copy of The Great Gatsby. Unfortunately my budget doesn't run to it, but it wouldn't surprise me if it tops the £200,000-£300,000 estimate. I'm going to guess £500,000+ as 2 icons are linked with it.

41. Utz (Bruce Chatwin) (10/07/23) (reread) ****



An unnamed narrator tells the story of Meissen porcelain collector/obsessive Kasper Utz. Set mostly in Prague, the narrator, who has only met Utz once, reveals his own obsession with the eccentric ‘trickster’ and his life, and on the way we learn a lot about the origins of porcelain as well as the tumultuous time in 1960s Prague.

Always with Chatwin one has to be aware that he was a mythologiser (as well as a self-mythologiser), and the complaint many have is that you can never know what element of his novels have some validity/fact/truth in them. It is not something that has ever bothered me. If I become fascinated with a subject he weaves a spell over, I go find a non-fiction book to learn. Like Tolstoy, I don’t think he himself called any of his books one thing or another, ie he never described any of them as novels per se. I’d recommend his essays (or some would say short stories).

As with his own life, when he became ill, he said that it was because he had eaten a thousand year old egg in China, when in actual fact he had HIV/AIDS. Even in pending death he wanted to embellish his life. I have never come away from any of his work without being spell bound by something he has written, and I have reread most of it several times.

>162 Caroline_McElwee: Wow, that's some price tag. I wonder where Watts kept it (in the bank?)

>159 Caroline_McElwee: Almost too beautiful to eat. Almost.

>164 charl08: That would be interesting to know Charlotte.

>159 Caroline_McElwee: I didn't pause longer than to take the photo!

>159 Caroline_McElwee: That is too pretty to eat, Caroline!

Too bad about your cinema. I can't remember the last time I went, pretty sure it was pre pandemic.
>155 Caroline_McElwee:, >163 Caroline_McElwee: Both sound great. Onto the WL they go.

>163 Caroline_McElwee: I am reading the Dutch translation of Chatwin's What am I doing here now.
I hope to get to Utz and The Viceroy of Ouidah some day.

>166 BLBera: I hope you enjoy them when you get to them Beth.

>167 FAMeulstee: It's years since I read that volume Anita, but I will reread it this year. Viceroy was the one I liked the least and the one I haven't reread, but I will do so. Maybe I'll like it more.

Hi, Caroline. Catching some BBs over here. Both The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke out of Auschwitz & This is Happiness sound like my cuppa, along with A Siege of Bitterns.

>159 Caroline_McElwee: All the YUM!

Enjoy the week's slide to its end.

>169 msf59: Glad to have hit you with som BBs Mark.

>170 richardderus: It was good RD.

For Elly Griffiths readers:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/14/elly-griffiths-if-i-love-a-book-i-...

Hi, Caroline. Happy Friday.

I can’t remember where I first heard about it, but I loved This is Happiness, too. It’s shelved in my mind with Cider with Rosie.

Beautiful Matisse up top. That’s a new one to me.

I wish I had the affinity for Gerard Manley Hopkins that you and Paul do. My English prof BIL is a fan, too, but GMH makes me dozy.

You have prompted me to revisit Mandelbaum. That one you posted is a doozy. The poet I’m currently high on is a young guy named Jose Olivarez and his Promises of Gold. His first one was good, too.

I thought about reading Howard’s End is on the Landing and don’t think I ever did. Another BB; I’ll add it to the TBR.

42. The House of Doors (Tan Twan Eng) (15/07/23) *****



Set mostly in 1921 Penang, slipping back and fro to 1910 in the second half, Lesley Hamlyn and her husband Robert become the hosts to Willie Somerset Maugham and his lover Gerald for two weeks. The novel's narration switches between Lesley and Willie, talking to themselves and each other.

Written with a nod to Maugham's style and themes stories are told about their lives and the lives of others, including a Chinese revolutionary, and a murderess. A wonderful layered, rich novel about a time and place as well as those who inhabit it.

>173 jnwelch: I hope you enjoy your revisit with Mandelstam Joe. Noting Jose Olivarez.

This month's Chelsea Phys collage. It was a beautiful day, with a three minute shower, but otherwise sunshine.



Top middle is Peonia Veitchii, from China. So unusual.

It looks like a cross between a split open raspberry and a venus fly trap! ;-)

>177 jessibud2: Great description Shelley.

>167 FAMeulstee: Looks lovely Caroline. It seems like it has rained all week here!

>174 Caroline_McElwee: I loved this. I wonder if it will get a Booker nod in August?

>179 charl08: The Eng deserves it IMO Charlotte.

This sounds wonderful; I love Maughm's stories.

>176 Caroline_McElwee: Lovely.

43. Anywhere out of the World: The Work of Bruce Chatwin (Jonathan Chatwin) (19/07/23) *****



I love chronological evaluations of a creatives work wound through with relevant aspects of their lives, and this is a good one. Jonathan Chatwin (no relation to his subject) gives you a strong sense of Bruce Chatwin and his contradictions. He follows an obsession through BCs work about the human necessity for restlessness, which BC himself suffered from, while also periodically being pulled back to the world of possessions and the civilisation of the settled, even if for the shortest periods.

Starting with the first, unpublished work now held in the Chatwin archive at The Bodleain Library, to the posthumous volume of essays.

>181 BLBera: Maugham's were some of my first adult reads Beth (no YA back then). I certainly intend a revisit.

>174 Caroline_McElwee: Mr. Tan's abilities as a storyweaver are superlative, so I am really glad this one's up to his standard.

>176 Caroline_McElwee: THAT'S A PEONY?! Wow!

>182 Caroline_McElwee: A fascinating man, Bruce Chatwin. Glad he succumbed to his wanderlust, though I don't share it...but I do like reading about it.

>184 richardderus: I know, alien in appearance, I'd never have guessed RD.

It was the first Tan I have read, so The Garden of Evening Mists is up next. His new one did make me take the first volume of Maugham's Collected short stories out of the library, which starts with the much mentioned story 'Rain'.

All my life I have loved reading travellers tales, and although when young enjoyed walking, since an accident in my 30s that put pins and plates in my right ankle and leg, I have to seriously manage walking. I was never a hiker or climber tho.

44. An Unnecessary Woman (Rabih Alameddine) (21/07/23) ****



Aaliah Saleh resides in her old apartment in Beirut. She has translated 37 books into Arabic via a convoluted system, making 1 translation a year, but never submitted them for publication. She is in love with certain books and certain writers, Pessoa and his other identities especially.

In her 60s now, and having spent much of her life in solitude she reflects on her family with whom she has little to do, and the overheard title-tattle of three other women who live in her block.

While I liked this book, and some elements are likely to stay with me, I think other LTers enjoyed it more.

>176 Caroline_McElwee: Those look like follicles with seeds of the Paeonia veitchii, Caroline. The flowers are usually pink, and a bit like the flowers of the tree peony.
I didn't know those seeds were so bright red at first.

45. Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships (Nina Totenberg) (26/07/23) ****



I am a sucker for books about friendship, fiction or non-fiction, and this memoir really hit that spot. As a Brit I was not familiar with the author, but enjoyed getting to know her. I was better acquainted with one of her main subjects, Ruth Bader Ginsberg (or the notorious RBG as she became known).

Totenberg writes with warmth about almost all of her subjects including many she did not agree with, something that has become harder and harder to consolidate in recent years, and she reminds us as the book concludes that the Supreme Court is a very different place than the one RBG experienced.

Recording the wide variety of kinds of friendship, and the multiple facets any given friendship may shift-shape across a lifetime.

I enjoyed learning more about the law and politics in the US as well.

Thanks Linda (Laytonwoman3rd) for putting this on my radar.

RECOMMENDED

>187 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita, that would make sense. They have always drawn my attention, but clearly I've never seen the plant in bloom then. Maybe next month.

>188 Caroline_McElwee: Sounds good Caroline. I do love a compelling memoir, and this sounds wonderful.

Dinners with Ruth sounds good, Caroline. I enjoy Nina Totenberg's writing about the Supreme Court, so this will probably be a winner for me.

>190 charl08: Me too re memoirs Charlotte.

>191 BLBera: I'm going to have to find one of her radio pieces to here her voice Beth.

Belatedly catching up, Caroline. Picked up some great titles from you as always.

>193 AlisonY: Thanks Alison. Always glad to be of service! :-)

>188 Caroline_McElwee: I am picking that one up from the library today. I hope I enjoy it as much as you and Linda did!

>195 alcottacre: I don't doubt you will Stasia.

Happy August, Caroline. I see you are still reading some terrific books. I am so glad to see you loved The House of Doors. Joe has a copy, which I hope to get from him. I plan on finally reading The Gift of Rain next month.

46. The Garden of Evening Mists (Tan Twan Eng) (31/07/23) *****



Set in the garden of Yugiri in Malaya (as it was then) and the tea estate next door, Majuba, the story shifts too and frow across time as the narrator, Teoh Yun Ling, a straits Chinese woman tells her story and that of the once Gardener of the Emperor Hirohito, Nakamura Aritomo (Malay surnames are always first, so the novelist’s surname is Tan). Yun Ling returns to the garden of Yugiri – Evening Mists - 40 years after her previous visit, the garden was left to her by its owner Aritomo who disappeared 40 years earlier. Yun Ling and her sister were once prisoners of the Japanese in Malaya, during the course of the novel she reflects on her life, the relationships she has with friends on the estate next door, and her apprenticeship to the Japanese gardener.

Layer upon layer. The breadth and depth of this novel and the tales it tells are rich. The characters deeply drawn, the twists and turns subtle and fascinating.

This novel has been on my self some while, not sure why it took me so long to read it. It will definitely get a revisit.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

>198 Caroline_McElwee: Sounds good, Caroline, I might be able to squeeze it into my August reads.

>198 Caroline_McElwee: Ooh, so glad you loved this one. I think he is one of my favourite writers (I just wish he wrote more of them.)

>199 FAMeulstee: I hope you can Anita. I almost want to turn straight back to page 1 and read it again, but I will resist and save it for another time.

>200 charl08: Yes, Charlotte. I see there is only one more, which goes into my shopping basket soon just now.

>198 Caroline_McElwee: I really enjoyed The Garden of Evening Mists - I'm looking forward to reading his new one House of Doors.

Quite behind but trying to catch up.....

>137 Caroline_McElwee: Sounds like an interesting story. I shall have to see where I can find this to watch it.

>198 Caroline_McElwee: You hit me with a BB! It looks to be a worthy one.

>176 Caroline_McElwee: Absolutely beautiful. Always love pictures of flowers-nice and cheerful.

>203 figsfromthistle: I am sure you will like it Anita.

I agree re seeing beautiful blooms.

>201 Caroline_McElwee: Ha! That was quick work there Caroline.

>198 Caroline_McElwee: Book bullet for me. Lovely review.

>198 Caroline_McElwee: Oooo, sounds as good as one could hope for from Tan!

Hi Caroline: I've had The Garden of the Evening Mists on my shelf for a while as well. Time to dust off some of these gems. I'm also looking forward to his new one, I'm on the reserve list at the library.

>207 richardderus: I now have his debut volume in the tbr mountain RD. I will have read them in reverse, but there will be a wait for the next!

>208 BLBera: I think you will like it Beth.

47. Tom Lake (Ann Patchett) (05/08/23) ****1/2



A quiet, beautifully crafted novel, an homage to Thornton Wilder's Our Town, to theatre, summer stock especially. About obsession, young love, mature love. About what is shared and what is not.

Shifting between Lara's mature life with husband and three adult daughters on a cherry farm during the pandemic, the daughters have persuaded her to tell them the story of her life as a burgeoning actress one summer in Tom Lake, and the people she met there, including a young man called Pete Duke, who latterly becomes a famous star the girls have become fascinated with. Shifting between the farm and the Lake as they are harvesting the cherries, which also subtly pulls in the concerns of climate change.

>210 Caroline_McElwee: I just starting reading this one myself, Caro. Just a few pages last night at bedtime, but eager to continue. It's great to see your favorable review.

>211 lauralkeet: I look forward to reading your thoughts Laura.

48. The President's Hat (Antoine Laurain) (08/08/23) ***1/2



Collection of whimsical linked short stories following the journey of Francois Mitterend's hat.

I don't know how your thread became unstarred but it is properly starred again, Caroline.

I own >186 Caroline_McElwee: and >188 Caroline_McElwee:, both of which are on top of the *next to read* pile. I am trying to zip through some light-weight (and long on the shelf) garden books first, so I can clear some room on that shelf. I also recently purchased >210 Caroline_McElwee: though not sure when I will get to it. It certainly is getting a lot of buzz.

49. The Lost Garden (Helen Humphrys) (12/08/23) ****1/2



Thirty-something horticulturalist Gwen Davis leaves the ravages of war torn London to volunteer to lead a group of Land Girls in Devon during the 'Dig for Britain' campaign, where she is based on an old estate with dilapidated gardens that she attempts to bring life back to.

A novel of loss and reinvigoration, friendship and hope.

It's a while since I read a short novel in half a day, one sitting.

I think a couple of LTers read this recently, but I didn't note where I got the recommendation.

>214 jessibud2: That happens sometimes Shelley.

All good reads those.

>215 Caroline_McElwee: I read The Lost Garden earlier this year; I gave it 4.5 stars as well. Helen Humphreys was a new-to-me author last autumn and I immediately read a handful of her books.

>217 lauralkeet: I had a feeling you might have been one of the guilty parties Laura. I read her Frozen Thames a few years back, and am certainly going to read more.

Happy Sunday, Caroline. As usual, there are so many good books that you are reading. Glad to see you loved The Garden of the Evening Mists. I did too. I am finally getting to The Gift of Rain next month. You read that one, right? I have a copy of Tom Lake and hope to get to it soon. I will also add The Lost Garden to my list. She can be a bit hit or miss for me, but this one sounds like a direct hit.

>219 msf59: I seem to be reading Tan in reverse order Mark, so his debut The Gift of Rain is in my holiday reading pile next month, so a shared read maybe, mid month?

>218 Caroline_McElwee: Well, we're even then. It's entirely possible that you encouraged me to read The Frozen Thames. Ha!

>215 Caroline_McElwee: Helen Humphreys certainly makes the rounds in the 75ers, eh Caro? I have her The Ghost Orchard yet to read, and like everyone else here (or so it seems) read The Frozen Thames. Isn't WWII having A Moment on our pop-culture landscape? A bit too much of one, IMHO....

Happy week-ahead's reads!

What a lot of great reading, Caroline.

I look forward to Tom Lake. I thought The President's Hat was entertaining. I love Humphreys.

>223 BLBera: Yup, a good reading glut at the moment Beth.

50. Writing in the Dark (Will Loxley) (18/08/23) ****1/2



An exploration of London during WWII via the literary world based there. Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Orwell, Dylan Thomas, Stephen Spender, John Lehmann, Cyril Connolly. Auden, Isherwood and the impact of their moving to the US. How does art have a role during war? Should creatives be political or not?

In the last part of the book I learned how in actual fact the most famous WWI poems now were written before the poets had actually experienced any action (ie Brooke and Owen especially), and later poems by some that were inspired by action are less well known.

A bit denser in the last quarter, but well worth the read for anyone interested in Bloomsbury, a different perspective of war as a civilian in a city.

>225 Caroline_McElwee: - Sounds like a very interesting read, Caroline.

>225 Caroline_McElwee: This sounds excellent, Caroline. I will add it to my WL.

Finding oneself in an independent bookshop, one has to make purchases.



Belonging: Natural histories of place, identity and home (On this year's Wainwright Prize Longlist)

The Waste Land: A Biography

Genius and Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947

>226 jessibud2: >227 BLBera: I think you would both like it.

>228 Caroline_McElwee: But of course! Sounds like an intriguing haul, look forward to hearing more in due course.

51. The Well of Saint Nobody (Neil Jordan) ****



Irish music teacher Tara, in late middle age, learns the English Maestro who has crossed her path three times across the years, and never recognised her, discovers he has moved into the old rectory. Responding to an advertisement on the café noticeboard for a housekeeper, she inveigles her way into his life.

Full of stories as any Irish novel will be.

>228 Caroline_McElwee: That last one must cover some very interesting territory. The world certainly changed from 1847 to 1947.

>230 charl08: I have taken a bite out of Belonging: Natural histories of place, identity and home, so far so good Charlotte.

>232 ffortsa: Indeed Judy. I suspect I'll learn a lot about people I don't know of, as well as those I do. Will probably get to it by month's end.

Red hot poker's at Chelsea Phys.

>234 Caroline_McElwee: Those are lovely. I tried to grow them here but they disappeared after a couple of years: too soggy I think.

>235 charl08: My dad always grew them Charlotte. He had clay soil. He used to have a competition with one of my friends, who had the most blooms each year, he almost always won.

Accidentally have missed your thread this past while, Caroline, as I was filtered on my groups rather than starred topics. Enjoyed catching up, and particularly enjoyed the discussion / reviews related to Bruce Chatwin. I really enjoyed On the Black Hill, so you've reminded me to go put some of his books on my wish list.

Any that you'd particularly recommend?

What beautiful flowers. I love the color.

>237 AlisonY: On the Black Hill is probably my favourite Alison. The one I least liked was The Viceroy of Ouidah, the only one I haven't reread, though I plan to give it another go. Songlines and Utz are the other nearest to novels. Though he never described any of his work as such. In Patagonia is a classic. The volumes of essays/short fiction have some gems in too.

>238 Whisper1: They are a treat Linda.

52. Belonging: Natural Histories of Place, Identity and Home (Amanda Thomson) (24/08/23) ****



An interesting exploration of self, place, and nature in Thomson’s memoir. A biracial scientist, artist, photographer who was born and lives in Scotland, she delves into her maternal family history as she explores the forest around her and follows the lives of migrating birds, the changes and evolutions of their patterns. She contemplates the concept of home for humans, birds and other animals. Her focus is also much on the margins, on neither being either/or.

Happy Friday, Caroline. Belonging: Natural Histories of Place, Identity and Home sounds like my cuppa. On the list it goes. We are doing a shared read of The Gift of Rain in September. I will start it, early in the month. I hope you can join us.

>241 msf59: Yup, count me in Mark.

Ha, yes I was planning to put >240 Caroline_McElwee: on your radar.

>240 Caroline_McElwee: - Onto my list it goes, too!

>243 jessibud2: I hope it works for you if you get to it Shelley.

>198 Caroline_McElwee: I have that one on deck to read in September while I am waiting for The House of Doors to arrive. I am glad to see you enjoyed it so much, Caroline.

>210 Caroline_McElwee: I get to dodge that BB as I finished the book a couple of days ago. I am a very big Patchett fan.

>215 Caroline_McElwee: I went to add that one to the BlackHole and discovered it was already there. I really need to get hold of a copy!

>225 Caroline_McElwee: That one sounds like one I would enjoy. I believe you mentioned it on my thread when I read the Bill Goldstein book recently. I will have to look for a copy. Thanks for that recommendation, Caroline.

>228 Caroline_McElwee: Nice!

>231 Caroline_McElwee: I like Irish stories, so I will give that one a shot.

>240 Caroline_McElwee: Curious about that one.

Have a wonderful weekend, Caroline!

I think you will like The Evening of Garden Mists Stasia. It got put onto my RL book group list, so will get a reread in the middle of next year. Not too many books I'd reread so soon.

>246 Caroline_McElwee: I rarely do the same author that close together, let alone the same book. This has been a rare year for me because I have read so much Victoria Goddard.

Let me know when you would like to read The Bluest Eye in September. I am free at any time.

I went to see the exhibition of Freddie Mercury's things, before they are actioned off next week. His closest friend inherited the house and all its contents. She is older now, and wanted to be the one to organise their new home. The money raised will go to family, and Freddie's Foundation, as well as Elton John's AIDS Foundation.



Freddie's favourite piano, I could have breathed on the ivories he touched.



His Wurlitzer and some of his kimono's. Apparently he often gifted kimono's to friends. He was fascinated by Japanese culture.



The Tissot was bought only weeks before he died, and is said to have been his most expensive acquisition.



The cherry and almond cake was one of Freddie's favourites, they apparently took several on tours with them each time. Delicate jasmine tea.

>248 Caroline_McElwee: Oh man what a piano!

What an exhibition!

Wow! I'm partial to that juke box, myself...

What an interesting and complicated man, Freddie Mercury was and what a loss too.

>242 Caroline_McElwee: I won't join you guys for a re-read of Tan's debut novel but you have a treat ahead!

You might enjoy this short video which includes shots inside Freddie's home:

https://www.sothebys.com/en/videos/inside-sothebys-the-making-of-freddie-mercury...

>249 figsfromthistle: >250 jessibud2: >251 PaulCranswick: It was lovely to see things that Freddie treasured and to fill out my idea of him.

Hi Caroline.

>248 Caroline_McElwee: Just wow. Shelley alerted me about the auction and that you’d been posting about it. Thanks for the video too.

>248 Caroline_McElwee: It is interesting to see the things that made the man. Thanks for sharing the pictures and the video, Caroline!

>254 karenmarie: >255 alcottacre: Glad you enjoyed it Karen and Stasia. Along with Bowie, Freddie provided a big part of the background music of my adult life, so seeing the things that meant something to him was a treat.

I saw Queen live once, as I did Bowie.

>248 Caroline_McElwee: Amazing collection of thises and thatses.

Shocking to realize that he'd've been 80 this year....

>257 richardderus: I know RD. i imagine what vocal stardust he might have created over the past 30 years. Too many great talents depart too soon.

Your thread is always so visually interesting, Caroline. I love all your photos.

>240 Caroline_McElwee: And full of good reading as well. This sounds good. Nice book haul.

Have a wonderful weekend, Caroline!

>260 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia, you too.