The Charles Dickens Journey

Without really planning it 2009 has turned into a bit of a Charles Dickens year for me. I have to say that university English study had turned me off reading any more Dickens but as I grow older I find that I am wanting to revisit some of the novels that caused me so much grief when I had to read, interpret, deconstruct and then write endless essays on them!
Earlier this year I read Drood and even though it was a fictional interpretation of the last years of Dickens' life I still found that it intrigued me into wanting to find out more about this author and his numerous written works. Other fictional works relating to Dickens that I have read this year include Girl in a Blue Dress and Wanting -both of which I loved.
In our recent trip to London I continued my year of exploring Dickens. We saw a wonderful performance of Oliver at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane - I thought it was a great interpretation of the story - with fantastic humour thrown in courtesy of Omid Djalili who plays Fagin.

I rounded out our trip with a visit to the Charles Dickens House Museum - the only surviving London residence of Dickens and where he wrote some of his novels, including Oliver Twist.

So, when we got back home I was in the mood to actually pick up a Dickens novel and when I headed to Borders I found one of the beautiful new Penguin hardcover editions of Oliver Twist which has come home with me. I now just have to move past my mental block that says Dickens = study and I will be able to start reading it!

Do you have a favourite novel of Dickens? Do you have a favourite novel about him and his life?

Persephone Secret Santa

I am only newly introduced to the world of Persephone Books but I am already wishing I lived much closer to London so that I could visit the shop on a regular basis. So, when I saw the post over at Book Psmith about the Persephone Secret Santa I was keen to jump on board - even more so when I saw that people in all parts of the world can be involved!

You have until November 10th to join in so head on over to Book Psmith if you would like to put your name down for the Christmas fun.

True Pleasures - A Memoir of Women in Paris - Lucinda Holdforth

I started reading True Pleasures - A Memoir of Women in Paris before we left for our trip in September and have only just finished it now so my reading has been a little disjointed - but fortunately I think this is the sort of book that lends itself to the "dipping" style of reading.

The Australian author of the book has reached a crossroads in her life - feeling unsatisfied with her career and feeling like there must be "something more" she heads to Paris to spend 3 weeks researching and reflecting on the lives of influential women who have connected with and impacted on that city in some way:

Through this strange period of reading and working and contemplating their past and my future, the women of Paris - wild, noble, brave, bad, strong, foolish - came to represent important things to me: the grand scale that an individual can achieve; the beautiful arc that a finished life can describe; the radiant, limitless scope of female potentiality.

And I found that the individual stories of these women's lives did not exist in isolation, but connected across time and space, like threads in the grand narrative tapestry that is the story of Paris itself.

Holdforth divides the book into chapters with each focusing on a particular woman relevant to the story of Paris - and women whose stories are interconnected with that of Paris. Women such as Colette, Nancy Mitford, Edith Wharton, Coco Chanel, George Sand and Madame de Pompadour are all explored in greater or lesser detail as well as many others.

I must admit I was drawn to this book mainly because I was about to go to Paris for the first time and I was hungry to consume as much reading material as I could about this city before I arrived there - but I an actually glad that I finished this book after coming back from my trip - it somehow meant more to me being able to have images in my mind of some of the places the author describes.

I really enjoyed the way the author talks about her own history with Paris - as well as her history in Australia - for me this provided a great context for her story and why she was on this crusade to discover more about the women of Paris's history and what drove them. However, I am able to see that some of her narrative may be confusing and boring for non-Australian readers. As an Aussie girl I didn't have that problem though and I enjoyed reading Holdforth's comparisons of the two cultures:

In Australia we do girls very well: young, fresh, ignorant, sexy girls. Not that I was one of them. I was pale and bookish and wore black tights in winter and secondhand sixties' frocks in summer. In France they like women, grown-up women. Ellen once said to me that the French don't consider a women starts to become interesting until she is thirty-five years old.

And with my 35th Birthday approaching I am starting to realise why I connected with Paris so well...

I found the stories of the individual women interesting and the little snippets that Holdforth has put into her book have only made me want to go out and read more about each of them. I found the book a great combination of history and fact and personal reflection and thought:

If Paris is a feast, then I'm still hungry. I haven't yet had my fill: in fact, I doubt I will ever be sated. That's why I'll just have to keep coming back.

I couldn't agree more.

The Time Traveler's Wife - Movie

The Time Traveler's Wife is being released at the movies in Australia tomorrow but I was really lucky to be able to see it on our recent trip while in Dublin (just one of the perks I love about travelling overseas - being able to see films months before they make it down under!).

I am a huge fan of the book by Audrey Niffenegger but it did take me two attempts to be able to read this book - I just couldn't get my mind past the concepts in order to focus on the relationships and the story itself. I did what I always did when I have trouble with books I am certain I should be liking - I give them to my best friend to read first - she always seems to be able to help me interpret books in new ways. Anyway, on my second attempt I couldn't put the book down and absolutely devoured it.

Jackie wrote a great reflection the film which I read before I went away - and it only made me want to see it more. Like Jackie I cried when reading the book - and more tears flowed during the movie. It actually takes a lot for me to cry at anything fictional so this is usually a sign (for me at least) that the emotional storyline is authentic and genuine. My partner came to see the movie with me and even though he had not read the book he said that he enjoyed the movie and could follow the concepts easily.

Seeing movies of my favourite books are often a hit and miss affair for me but I have to say that The Time Traveler's Wife was definitely a hit. There was certainly a lot about the movie that was missing (especially content wise) but I felt it captured the essence and feeling of the book perfectly. So much so that I think I will venture out this weekend to watch it all over again...

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson

It took me a while to pick up The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - I was really intrigued by all the wonderful reviews I was reading but the genre of crime/mystery is not usually one that I enter into - too close to my work and just not something that tends to relax me. Part of the buzz of reading for me is being taken to another world - and this type of world just isn't really the kind of world I want to visit!

However, I bit the bullet with this one when I was in Borders with my partner a couple of weeks ago and he had two books in the "Buy 3 Get one Free" deal but just couldn't find a third - Dragon Girl called out to me so I brought her home with me.

Am I glad that I did? Well, yes and no...

Yes because this was a really great book in so many ways. Not being a big crime/mystery reader I'm probably not really able to compare this book with others in its field but I thought this was one of the best character novels in this genre that I have read. The main characters seemed solid and well developed and not without their flaws - definitely multidimensional. The character of Lisbeth Salander was a particular favourite - so vulnerable but such a tough ass at the same time - I loved her!

I thought the mystery element of the novel was well built - the premise of disgraced finance journalist, Mikael Blomkvist being called upon by ageing Industrialist Henrik Vanger to solve a decades old family mystery was combined well with Blomkvist's own personal and professional dramas with a high rolling Swedish businessman. The interactions between the different story lines and characters was written quite well - I sometimes felt the narrative was a little stilted or strange but I am wondering if this was a result of the translation process??

This book captured my reading time from the moment I picked it up but unfortunately it also captured my non-reading time - particularly my sleep! I soon discovered that for me this was not a book I could read before going to sleep - the violence depicted in the novel - particularly personal violence against women - was brutal and graphic. I have worked with women who have had violence perpetrated against them and this book reminded me of many of their stories. To be honest, if I had known this was the context of the book I probably would not have read it - so in many ways I am glad I was in the dark about this content as this is a book I am glad to have read. I will also be looking forward to reading the other two books in the series - after I have a little bit of a break from the violence and mystery.

Book Club For Two

I used to belong to a book club with a few of my closest friends and workmates. We would meet every two months to discuss a common book as well as other reading we had been doing. I really enjoyed the discussions and the fact that I discovered books I would not ordinarily have read. Unfortunately that book club came to an end - it died a natural death in a way, other commitments became more important and it became difficult to get everyone together.

I have been thinking about joining another book club/group lately but the reality is that my time is probably taken up even more now and I don't think I really have the time or energy to commit to a new group of people right now.

So, that is when I came up with the idea of starting a book club with my partner! We read VERY different books normally and while we do share with each other stories and quotes from what we are reading it is still a very singular activity for us. When I broached the idea to him this week he seemed to go for it - I was very generous and gave him the honour of selecting our very first joint read - and he has chosen Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby. The book is a sporting fan's memoir - Nick Hornby's relationship with his beloved football team, Arsenal (which also happens to be the team my partner supports which I believe may have had something to do with his book selection!).

We don't really have any guidelines for the "club" - we will both read the book at our own pace over the next couple of weeks and have a chat about it (probably during and when we finish). After that it's my turn to choose a book...

The Bradshaw Variations - Rachel Cusk

The Bradshaw Variations was a novel I saw while over in the UK and while it tempted me there and then I didn't buy it due to my bag already being overflowing (not to mention bloody heavy!) with books. It did stick with me however and when I got home and couldn't find it anywhere in bookshops here I ordered it from The Book Depository.

I have not read any of Rachel Cusk's books before so in terms of her writing style I had nothing to compare this book to and no real expectations. What tempted me into reading this book was it's description and also an interview I had read with Cusk where she came across as an honest, straightforward woman with clear thoughts and opinions around life, motherhood and the broader role of women within society.

The Bradshaw Variations focuses on the three adult Bradshaw children, their elderly parents and their respective families although the main characters of the novel are Thomas Bradshaw, his wife Tonie and their young daughter, Alexa. Tonie has recently been offered, and accepted, a promotion in her academic position at the University where she works. She is now the Head of the English Department and as such her hours and workload have increased dramatically. As a result of this promotion there has been a change in the family structure with Thomas resigning from his working life to take on the care of Alexa and to focus on developing his artistic life in the form of piano lessons. Thomas's brothers and their families as well as the Bradshaw parents are also included in the narrative of the book which often reads like a series of interconnected short stories rather than a comprehensive novel.

Having not read any of Cusk's work before I am not sure if this novel is indicative of her style but if it is I have to say, I don't think I will be picking up another one of her novels. The narrative was incredibly wordy, repetitive and complex. The characters would often engage in lengthy inner monologues with themselves which did not really add anything to character development or plot from what I could tell - it just made me dislike the characters and become inpatient with the story. I mean, I know we all have inner thought processes but these characters were so introspective I'm not sure how they got anything else done! For example;

But it is true that Thomas has never been quite that sure again, that he became more doubtful as Tonie's promotion became more of a certainty, that even now he appears to be going through a process, an adjustment, as though life has simply hardened around him again in its new forms and the revelation that set it in motion is nowhere to be found. It has no concrete existence, this revelation. It has no reality. It merely changed, for an instant, reality's properties, as the flame changed the candle and sent it running over the edge of itself, running and running into new paths as though it sought to be free of what it was, of what it became once more as soon as it reached the air and stiffened in its tracks (Page. 18)

Maybe I am being too harsh but I just found this book painful to read - I did not connect with the characters at all and the story lacked focus and direction for me.

I am also unsure of what message Cusk is trying to send about the role of mothers who work outside the home. The ending of the book really left me wondering about this so I would love to hear from any of you who have read this one and what your thoughts are.

Not the book for me unfortunately.