First of all, I have some sad news to report. My bicycle got stolen yesterday!!!! I left it tied up to a bike rack at the train station in Milton Keynes at 7.00am and when I got back from a lovely day out in Liverpool much, much later that day (21.00pm) it was gone. So now I have to go and figure out where I am going to get a new bike and how much money I have to spend on it. I did just get some money back from the electricity company as they had overcharged me but I was kind of looking to spend that on something else than a new bike.
Anyway..... I did manage to finish a book as well. I wanted to get this one finished by Halloween and I just finished the last story a few minutes ago. So, hot from the presses....
##### SPOILER ALERT #####
The Virago Book of Victorian Ghost Stories - Richard Dalby (Ed.)
For this one I returned to one of my most favourite genres: the Ghost story.
This one has got a couple of real corkers in it but also some that did not really leave much of an impression at all. When I started reading the book I found that it contained a couple of tales that I had read recently so I kind of skipped through them. Fortunately there were only a few of them and it was definitely worth reading the rest of the book. Interesting to note that all the authors in this one are women, stories date from 1837-1900.
Here's the ones I liked best:
Margaret Oliphant - The Open Door
My favourite one in this selection of stories.
The story deals with a family that move into a house and for a change it is not the house itself that is haunted but a place outside the house. A little boy is the one who discovers the haunting and suffers by doing so. He becomes ill and dad is left to try and sort out the ghost. He gets several people involved (both believers and non-believers in ghosts) and they all testify to the same story there is a presence and a pleading voice. It is not until a local clergyman gets involved that we get to the bottom of the story and the whole ting is rounded up neatly.
What I liked about it was the set up the story and how it develops. The scene is set, the characters are established and you develop a bond with them before "it all kicks off". The haunting itself is a sad story of a son being scorned by his mother and pleading with her. Although the undertone is at times a bit religious (the ghost is set free once he gives himself over to God) the story is told with a great humanity and feeling that works and makes you care for the ghost and those trying to guide him back home.
Willa Cather - The Affair at Grover Station
My second favourite one!
A man's friend is killed by a jealous rival in love is the basic premise for this story. It is presented as a story being told by someone who has kept the truth of what happened to his friend to himself as the truth is so strange it would never be believed. I can tell you that about 99% of the story I would readily have readily believed but it is the final 1% that makes it ghostly.
There's a man wooing a woman and a second guy who thinks he has the right to claim her affections too. Then we have a party and one of them never turns up. Naturally the other is blamed for the disappearance but the way the thing plays out is great and a bit weird. Looking for his friend the main character goes out to investigate at his friend's place of work. Whilst spending the night there his friend appears to him and writes own a message on a blackboard. This then leads them to find the body that has been dead or a little while but has chalk on the fingers. Again the story takes it time in developing, we get to know the people and the world they live in a little, and then the weir stuff comes along. The setting of the atmosphere is really good in this one; the tension between the two love rivals is well written and their characterisation sets them up to fulfil their roles in the story.
Mary Cholmondeley - Let Loose
My third favourite one of the lot.
A story being told by some one's travel companion. It tells of how this gentleman heard about some frescoes in a little church. Him and his dog go down to a village to find them. (Naturally) the frescoes are in a crypt and he has to get the keys for it. He is refused at first but persuades the local cleric to allow him access in the end. He gets some precise instructions about opening and closing the two access doors to the crypt and is told to follow them to the letter. All seems well until someone dies. He is then denied again but pleads his way back in - he hears some noises, notices a hole in one of the coffins but thinks nothing much of it. Although by now the place actually creeps him out and he does what he has to and gets out. The really weird bit happens once he is back in hotel room - the dog goes mad, something comes for him and he passes out. A nice level of creepiness and you spend a lot of time thinking what could possibly be wrong in the crypt and when the weirdness is going to start but trust me, it does in the end. You'll sleep with the windows closed after reading this one.
And here's a brief summary of the rest of them:
Charlotte Bronte - Napoleon and the Spectre
weird little of Nappie going to sleep and ending up sleepwalking into some one's private drawing room. Not enough to it to make it interesting or scary. Not sure she would have had much of a career writing just ghost stories.
Elizabeth Gaskell - The Old Nurse's Story
read this one not too long ago. I thought it was okay but not spectacular then and it did not improve on second reading. The tale of a Nurse maid who tells the family history of a child in her care. Reclusive aunt, organ music at night, visions of family tragedy, the end
Dinah M Mulock - The Last House on C-- Street
The story is being told to an impatient listener who keeps trying to fill in the blank and making assumptions - it's a bit annoying. A girl and her first suitor do a bit of courting. Mum goes back to the house in the country, dad and girl stay behind for a few days and guess what... tapping sounds and vivid dreams aplenty and bad news follows. An okay tale but nothing to scary and a bit predictable.
Mary E Braddon - The Cold Embrace
A couple promise to be there for each other even after death... in a ghost story that is asking or trouble. She dies, he tries to get away and keep busy and always surrounded by people but she gets him in the end.
Rosa Mulholand - Not to be taken at Bed-time
Brute of a man falls in love, spurned by the daughter of the man who is his sworn enemy. He gets her in the end. Tries very hard to be very dark.
Amelia B Edwards - The story of Salome
There's a mysterious woman who becomes the obsession of a man and then of his friend. Some stuff about an island and a grave and her restless spirit.
This one would probably have been better if all the padding was taken out of it and the characters had been more defined.
Rhoda Broughton - The Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth
The story is presented in the form of a correspondence between two women which is a nice touch. Woman 1 - the house is great, where did you find it, I cannot believe my luck. Woman 2 - I'm stuck out here with my sick son and wish I could be there with you. Woman 1 - we've left the house, the maid got spooked, weird stuff happened, people died. CU soon.
Mrs Henry Wood - Reality or Delusion
2 Women fight for their man but he turns out not to be a good apple but a bad one. The envy between the two women is well written and it is a nice enough tale it just does not pack much of a punch in the end.
Vernon Lee - Winthrop's Adventure
The music is doing the haunting is this tale. A man hears a tune he has not head in years and tells the story of how he came to know it. The story drags on a bit for me and I lost interest with it at some point. It makes one too many side steps and meanders off the main idea for my liking. The whole thing seems to lose focus from what the haunting is really about. There is too much fluff and not enough real body to the tale.
Charlotte Riddell - The Old House in Vauxhall Walk
A man down on his luck gets to stay in a friend's house for a few days. The house is haunted by the ghost of a miser and he re-discovers the lost fortune. Then goes back to dad and says he is a changed man.
Lanoe Falconer - Cecilia de Noel
This is more a story about religion and compassion than anything else. Various people see a ghost and tell their tale and what it means to them. It preaches too much the values of religion, or at least some kind of belief and the ghost is not really that important in the end... because guess what.. if you show it true compassion is disappears.
Louisa Baldwin - Many waters cannot quench Love
Man goes to stay in the countryside. Surly housekeeper warms to him. The family that left the house had a daughter who loved a local lad. Time passes and he has a vision of the daughter who perished on the seas, and then the lad turns up dead as well. Of course it was determined that they died about the same time... well, it would be.
Violet Hunt - The Prayer
A loving couple - he dies, she begs him not to leave her, maddened by grief and then he mysteriously comes back to life. However, he is not the same man she knew once. It seems the characters in this one are all just a tad too much. The family doctor is too much of a nice, understanding, basing his principles on science kind of guy. The wife is a bit too doting and a bit too lethargic and dramatic. The husband is a bit too remote and cool and creepy. I don't like any of them too much.
The end is nice though and does lift the story a bit - it's not too dramatic and overemphasised, you can draw whichever conclusion you want from it.
Ella D'Arcy - The Villa Lucienne
I did not really like this one. It's too flimsy and has no real scare. Only some posh people exploring a house and a whining kid. It tries to be scary and the author tries to set a moody atmosphere but fails to do so effectively.
Gertrude Atherton - The Striding Place
A man's friend disappears. He looks for him, finds a body without a face... ah well.
No good character setting and yet the story is based on a real place where real people died. You'd think the author could have come up with something better than she did.
Mary E Wilkins - The Vacant Lot
In any ghost story if it comes cheap, there's a reason for it! Here it is the vacant lot next door that is haunted. The visions the family see seem unconnected (someone hanging up laundry, the shape of a previous house, a group of men dressed in black) and dad is awfully keen not to lose his money by selling the house so soon, more than he is concerned for his family's welfare. Oh and in the last sentence we learn that someone was killed in his ancestor's hostelry and that that guy's family owned the vacant lot. So if you suggest the family link, why did other people unconnected to either family have issues living there then?
Isabella Banks - Haunted
A poem about haunting.
Nice but a strange addition to a collection of stories.
Title: The Virago Book of Victorian Ghost Stories
Author: Richard Dalby (Ed.), various authors
342 pages
Virago Press Ltd
ISBN n 0-86068-809-7
Books to be read 71
Sunday 31 October 2010
Wednesday 20 October 2010
Brrrrrrrrrrr
All of a sudden it has gotten really cold. I still have to find my gloves somewhere. I think I know where they are but before the temperature drops any more I better go and check.
At least I am reading an appropriate book for the time of the year: a ghost story one. With the cold, the nights drawing in and of course Halloween coming up it's the perfect reading material.
To comfort myself tonight I will not only be turning the heating on but also making a fish pie - lost of fish and lots of cream for the sauce. Perfectly legitimate use of cream as I need the energy to stay warm when I cycle to work.
At least I am reading an appropriate book for the time of the year: a ghost story one. With the cold, the nights drawing in and of course Halloween coming up it's the perfect reading material.
To comfort myself tonight I will not only be turning the heating on but also making a fish pie - lost of fish and lots of cream for the sauce. Perfectly legitimate use of cream as I need the energy to stay warm when I cycle to work.
Wednesday 13 October 2010
Good Charlotte
After basking in my genius-ness for a few days I have now safely landed planet earth again and managed to finish another book. This one not a detective or even ghost story one but more general fiction. Unfortunately having read this one I now may just have to go and increase the book count and find a few more... all will be revealed at the end of the review.
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Charlotte Gray - Sebastian Faulks
In a way this one was a slow starter. I could tell from the start that Faulks was going to take his time in telling me who these people were that I was going to be reading about. I was also going to find out quite a bit about what made them tick before they were sent on their merry way to do what they had to. I liked that part of it. There was no rush to get the story going and you get now the characters, have an idea of who they are and what their outlook is on life. This approach shows the clear difference with someone like Dean Koontz - not only are they different genres (nothing spooky or supernatural in Charlotte Gray) but the approach to their characters is different as well. It's almost as if Koontz paint with broad brush strokes whereas Faulks fills in the details of his characters to almost photographic quality. I like Koontz' easily recognisable characters but you can tell that these characters are more developed, fleshed out, stronger, and therefore make a more lasting impression.
In essence the book is the story of a young woman, Charlotte who is recruited by some semi-shady government agency to become an agent in France. Just before she goes over she meets Peter Gregory who seems to have the luck of the Irish and some other nations to boot. He is one of the few pilots out of his initial band of friends that is still alive and he almost seems to go out of his way to find danger and see how far he can push his luck. Charlotte and Gregory become involved although they both seem unsure of why and how, or even if it is a good idea. He sees something in her fierce strong eyes that he fears and yet admires. She senses his feelings of discontent with his lot and his need to keep tempting fate. Peter is soon to go on a mission to France and Charlotte is training to become and agent for G-section (some kind of MI5 during war time).
Charlotte's first assignment is carried out whilst the Second World War is raging on the continent and France is having some issues deciding which side of the fence to fall down on so, to pass he time and keep their close neighbours/enemies sweet, have signed away half their country to the Nazi German invaders. Charlotte is recruited because she speaks French very well. She also seems to have some patriotic desire to do what is right for her country and a curiosity to see what is let of the France that she knew when she stayed that many years ago. She is supposed to go over and act as a chaperon to an English pilot. As soon as he gets to where he needs to be she is to return to England. She gets dropped in France in the Summer of 1942 and does not go back to England until the Winter of 1943.
Charlotte decides to stay behind because she thinks that she can be of help to the people in the village that she has settled. I guess she feels that she can do more where she is than by going back. Another factor is that Peter goes missing and she wants to see if she can find him. In a way it seems she does not make too much of an effort to do so. At one point she goes to where she thinks he was supposed to land and asks his contact if he has heard from him -the contact does not confirm this and Charlotte returns back to her little village.
To me it seems more the fact that Charlotte is being drawn into the lives of the people she meets that makes her stay than any sense of loyalty to the agency that sent her or even Peter. She soaks up the life she has created for herself and enjoys being on her own in a strange place. She has not contact with anyone from England (only once or twice does she get in touch with them via the wireless and even then via others). She seems perfectly willing to immerse herself in French Village life. There is not really that much resistance work to do for her where she is. I get the feeling that in this isolation it is more herself that she is working on and with. It seems that the isolation gives her the time to look at her own life. It makes her reflect what has happened in hers, how it has shaped her, affected her and those she loves. Everyone she meets and every place she goes shapes her and changes her outlook on life. She gets involved fully in the lives of many of the people in the village. She becomes a maid for the town eccentric, becomes friends with two Jewish boys and helps the local resistance group on a weapons drop.
On the sidelines is the story of Peter Gregory trying to make his way out of France. He really only pops up a few times. We get a status update on how he is, that he has realised he really loves Charlotte and how eager he is to get back to her. As far as he is concerned she finished her mission ages ago and is back in England waiting for him or maybe even on her next mission, or has perhaps even forgotten him already.
There is a happy ending of sorts to the book but there is a fair amount of tragedy as well. There are some that do not make it to the end of the book. There are vivid descriptions of the rounding up of Jewish people -old, young, women and children into camps and the uncertainty that they faced there. None of them really knew, or if the suspected they certainly did not want to believe the stories that came back from Poland. the fact that some if this is told through the eyes of the two young Jewish boys makes it so much more potent and emotional. Their complete innocence contracted with the ruthless efficiency of the German extermination machinery is beautifully moving to read... hard to read as well as you almost know as soon as they get taken that things will not end well.
Another thing that becomes clear is the effect of French apathy to the situation they manoeuvred themselves into. The majority seems to be perfectly happy to just play along and not make too many waves. Charlotte and others are convinced that surely people would spring into action and not agree to their country effectively being run by the Germans but there seems no urgency in the French bureaucracy until we get closer to the end of the book and the War.
There is a sense of some dark secret between her an her father but you never really get to the bottom of it when she is still in France. This issue does not get resolved until she gets back. It is like she is then finally able to understand her father and his experiences better and to see what happened between them in a new light. It's like her experiences in France mean that she is now grown up and mature enough to understand and appreciate some of what her father had to endure during the First World War.
In conclusion, it is a great book about the trials and lives of people in a country in a state of war and how it tries to come to terms with the situation it finds itself in. The characters are very well developed, very "alive" and very recognisable. Their emotional life is rich, the fabric of the book is rich in people's experiences and the events that unfold. I think it probably gives you a very good idea of what makes people join the resistance and fight for a cause they believe in.
NB: Apparently this one is the last book in the "French Trilogy" - it includes Birdsong and The Girl at the Lion d'Or and I will most definitely be hunting around for these two!!!
Title: Charlotte Gray
Author: Sebastian Faulks
496 pages
Vintage
ISBN nr 0 09 939431 6
Books to be read: 72
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Charlotte Gray - Sebastian Faulks
In a way this one was a slow starter. I could tell from the start that Faulks was going to take his time in telling me who these people were that I was going to be reading about. I was also going to find out quite a bit about what made them tick before they were sent on their merry way to do what they had to. I liked that part of it. There was no rush to get the story going and you get now the characters, have an idea of who they are and what their outlook is on life. This approach shows the clear difference with someone like Dean Koontz - not only are they different genres (nothing spooky or supernatural in Charlotte Gray) but the approach to their characters is different as well. It's almost as if Koontz paint with broad brush strokes whereas Faulks fills in the details of his characters to almost photographic quality. I like Koontz' easily recognisable characters but you can tell that these characters are more developed, fleshed out, stronger, and therefore make a more lasting impression.
In essence the book is the story of a young woman, Charlotte who is recruited by some semi-shady government agency to become an agent in France. Just before she goes over she meets Peter Gregory who seems to have the luck of the Irish and some other nations to boot. He is one of the few pilots out of his initial band of friends that is still alive and he almost seems to go out of his way to find danger and see how far he can push his luck. Charlotte and Gregory become involved although they both seem unsure of why and how, or even if it is a good idea. He sees something in her fierce strong eyes that he fears and yet admires. She senses his feelings of discontent with his lot and his need to keep tempting fate. Peter is soon to go on a mission to France and Charlotte is training to become and agent for G-section (some kind of MI5 during war time).
Charlotte's first assignment is carried out whilst the Second World War is raging on the continent and France is having some issues deciding which side of the fence to fall down on so, to pass he time and keep their close neighbours/enemies sweet, have signed away half their country to the Nazi German invaders. Charlotte is recruited because she speaks French very well. She also seems to have some patriotic desire to do what is right for her country and a curiosity to see what is let of the France that she knew when she stayed that many years ago. She is supposed to go over and act as a chaperon to an English pilot. As soon as he gets to where he needs to be she is to return to England. She gets dropped in France in the Summer of 1942 and does not go back to England until the Winter of 1943.
Charlotte decides to stay behind because she thinks that she can be of help to the people in the village that she has settled. I guess she feels that she can do more where she is than by going back. Another factor is that Peter goes missing and she wants to see if she can find him. In a way it seems she does not make too much of an effort to do so. At one point she goes to where she thinks he was supposed to land and asks his contact if he has heard from him -the contact does not confirm this and Charlotte returns back to her little village.
To me it seems more the fact that Charlotte is being drawn into the lives of the people she meets that makes her stay than any sense of loyalty to the agency that sent her or even Peter. She soaks up the life she has created for herself and enjoys being on her own in a strange place. She has not contact with anyone from England (only once or twice does she get in touch with them via the wireless and even then via others). She seems perfectly willing to immerse herself in French Village life. There is not really that much resistance work to do for her where she is. I get the feeling that in this isolation it is more herself that she is working on and with. It seems that the isolation gives her the time to look at her own life. It makes her reflect what has happened in hers, how it has shaped her, affected her and those she loves. Everyone she meets and every place she goes shapes her and changes her outlook on life. She gets involved fully in the lives of many of the people in the village. She becomes a maid for the town eccentric, becomes friends with two Jewish boys and helps the local resistance group on a weapons drop.
On the sidelines is the story of Peter Gregory trying to make his way out of France. He really only pops up a few times. We get a status update on how he is, that he has realised he really loves Charlotte and how eager he is to get back to her. As far as he is concerned she finished her mission ages ago and is back in England waiting for him or maybe even on her next mission, or has perhaps even forgotten him already.
There is a happy ending of sorts to the book but there is a fair amount of tragedy as well. There are some that do not make it to the end of the book. There are vivid descriptions of the rounding up of Jewish people -old, young, women and children into camps and the uncertainty that they faced there. None of them really knew, or if the suspected they certainly did not want to believe the stories that came back from Poland. the fact that some if this is told through the eyes of the two young Jewish boys makes it so much more potent and emotional. Their complete innocence contracted with the ruthless efficiency of the German extermination machinery is beautifully moving to read... hard to read as well as you almost know as soon as they get taken that things will not end well.
Another thing that becomes clear is the effect of French apathy to the situation they manoeuvred themselves into. The majority seems to be perfectly happy to just play along and not make too many waves. Charlotte and others are convinced that surely people would spring into action and not agree to their country effectively being run by the Germans but there seems no urgency in the French bureaucracy until we get closer to the end of the book and the War.
There is a sense of some dark secret between her an her father but you never really get to the bottom of it when she is still in France. This issue does not get resolved until she gets back. It is like she is then finally able to understand her father and his experiences better and to see what happened between them in a new light. It's like her experiences in France mean that she is now grown up and mature enough to understand and appreciate some of what her father had to endure during the First World War.
In conclusion, it is a great book about the trials and lives of people in a country in a state of war and how it tries to come to terms with the situation it finds itself in. The characters are very well developed, very "alive" and very recognisable. Their emotional life is rich, the fabric of the book is rich in people's experiences and the events that unfold. I think it probably gives you a very good idea of what makes people join the resistance and fight for a cause they believe in.
NB: Apparently this one is the last book in the "French Trilogy" - it includes Birdsong and The Girl at the Lion d'Or and I will most definitely be hunting around for these two!!!
Title: Charlotte Gray
Author: Sebastian Faulks
496 pages
Vintage
ISBN nr 0 09 939431 6
Books to be read: 72
Thursday 7 October 2010
Genius
I just wanted to say that I am a genius!
I have just single candidly connected up my new wireless router and did not even go wrong once in the process. Trust me... for me that is quite an achievement. I usally get my slightly geeky mate to help with these kinds of things but decided that this time I was going to stand on my own two feet and sort it out myself.
Whereas before I was "chained" to the length of my cables, I am now a free spirit and can roam the house and go online wherever I please/choose... well.. until the battery on my laptop runs out at least.
I have just single candidly connected up my new wireless router and did not even go wrong once in the process. Trust me... for me that is quite an achievement. I usally get my slightly geeky mate to help with these kinds of things but decided that this time I was going to stand on my own two feet and sort it out myself.
Whereas before I was "chained" to the length of my cables, I am now a free spirit and can roam the house and go online wherever I please/choose... well.. until the battery on my laptop runs out at least.
Monday 4 October 2010
Recovery
This weekend was a good one - I went to a Ruby Wedding Anniversary party. It was great to spend some time with one of my best friend, her parents and a lot of their family. It's always nice when you meet new people who have led interesting lives. So. I'm back home now and am spending the rest of this afternoon on the sofa with my book. It's not a detective story or a ghost one this time. I am feeling a bit tired so let's see if I can stay awake for the duration of at least on chapter.
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