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The Trollope Seminar – Thornfield Hall
A friend giggled when she noticed my three-shelf double-stacked collection of Trollope's novels. She groaned, "The last thing you need is a Trollope seminar!" "Yes, but it will be fun." After a fascinating but stressful class last spring in which the students sounded brilliant but no one knew the subect except the professor, I regret…
The Love of Tea: Teabags or Loose? – Thornfield Hall
Version 1.0.0 "Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. There are circumstances in which, whether you partake of the tea or not—some people of course never do,—the situation is in itself delightful." - Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady…
The Grammar of Rivers: Amal El-Mahter’s “The River Has Roots” – Thornfield Hall
"There is grammar that is ruled like a kingdom, and grammar that is ruled like a composition book, and there is always, always the wild, unruly grammar of ballads and riddles..." In Amal El-Mahter's lyrical novella, The River Has Roots, the River Liss brims with grammar. Two willow trees on either side of the river,…
The Paperback Road Trip – Thornfield Hall
Road trip reading is not restricted to Jack Kerouac's On the Road or Fanny Trollope's Domestic Habits of Americans. I prefer Jane Austen. And I always take a rather scruffy paperback. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman on a road trip needs an inexpensive, even disposable, paperback that will fit in a…
Great Fall Reads: Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” & Robert Macfarlane’s “Is a River Alive?” – Thornfield Hall
On a recent vacation, I was fascinated by Fanny Burney's Cecilia, a smart 1,003- page novel about the perils of being rich and female in the 18th century. And then Burney pointed me in the direction of Jane Austen, when, on page 930, she repeated the phrase PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (all caps) three times. Yes,…
A Victorian Classicist: Jane Ellen Harrison’s “Reminiscences of a Student’s Life” – Thornfield Hall
Jane Ellen Harrison I recently raced through Reminiscences of a Student's Life, a charming memoir by Jane Ellen Harrison, a Victorian classicist who popularized Greek culture. This spare, witty memoir is sprinkled with delightful anecdotes, but I wish it had been longer: Harris seems to be the only Victorian minimalist. She describes her Yorkshire childhood…
“Pride and Prejudice” & “You’ve Got Mail” – Thornfield Hall
Nora Ephron's enchanting comedy, You've Got Mail, is my favorite film version of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Directed by Nora Ephron and written by Nora and her sister Delia Ephron, it is not an exact retelling but is playfully allusive. Set in New York in the '90s, it is also a romance of bookshops. Ephron's…
Dead Men’s Suits – Thornfield Hall
When i was 16, I was seduced by a 34-year-old lesbian teacher. I lived with her for a year and a half. It was a horribly boring time: I was lonely, isolated, and sometimes terrified, because she stressed that she would go to prison if I told anyone. Since she flaunted me as her trophy…
The Influence of “Cecilia”: Objections to the Wedding & Other Marital Disasters – Thornfield Hall
In Fanny Burney's Cecilia, a delightful 18th-century novel, an heiress struggles for independence and control of her money. Cecilia hopes to devote her fortune to charity and good works, but she spends much time deflecting fortune hunters and unwanted suitors. And later, when she falls in love with Mr. Delvile, the marriage is opposed by…
My Dearest Friends: Amicitia vs. Friendship – Thornfield Hall
First, let me say that my dad was reputed to be "the loneliest man in the world." "You're lucky if you have one friend in this life," he said. I reminded him that he had a second wife, siblings, and me. That made little impression. What he liked was excitement. He chatted to strangers at…
Notes on Fanny Burney’s “Cecilia”: The Power of the Name – Thornfield Hall
"Is Fanny Burney better than Jane Austen?" I asked as I tore through Burney's 941-page novel, Cecilia (1,004 pages with notes). I was spellbound by Burney's first novel, Evelina, and her second novel, Cecilia, is a masterpiece. The brilliant novelist Fanny Burney (1752-1840) also influenced Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and Dickens. I finally decided that Burney…
Post-Party Reading: Nancy Mitford’s “Don’t Tell Alfred” – Thornfield Hall
I'm so exhausted by my birthday party that that I can hardly get off the couch. Pop-up cards! A picnic! Hours of conversation! And so I'm sitting around reading Nancy Mitford. No one is wittier than Nancy Mitford, and her last novel, Don't Tell Alfred (1960), is her best and funniest. Fanny, the narrator of…
Distraction & Diversion: Chris Hayes’ “The Sirens’ Call” – Thornfield Hall
At the coffeehouse I asked my friend if her bookstore carried a new small-press book. She said it did not, but she would order it. "What's the title again?" "I've got a pen and paper here." "Oh, I've got my phone." I don't mean to be sanctimonious, but I was flabbergasted. Who would prefer typing…
“Outrageous,” the Britbox Show about the Mitfords – Thornfield Hall
Outrageous, the new TV show about the Mitfords. If you are an out-of-control Mitford fan, that is, if you have read alll of Nancy's novels and biographies, and Jessica's hilarious autobiography and radical journalism, you must sit down with a pot of tea and prepare to watch Outrageous. Captain Nemo told me about Outrageous, the…
The Memoirs of a Courtesan: Daniel Defoe’s “Roxana” (Final Version) – Thornfield Hall
I came late to Daniel Defoe. I did not read A Journal of the Plague Year during our Plague. But this week I raced through Roxana, Defoe’s last novel, published in 1724, the rowdy, rollicking autobiography of Roxana, a-deserted-wife-turned-courtesan who delights in luxury but repents her sins. In fact, she is looking back in middle age at her life, saddened by…
The Death of Book Reviews – Again! – Thornfield Hall
Who predicted the death of book reviews? Perhaps it began in the 1990s, when book pages depended on advertising and lost space for reviews. Regular reviewers sought new gigs after reviews were turned over to reporters. The obituary writers wrote great mystery reviews but… At our house, we have alway read book reviews. We love The…
The Mysteries of Modern Technology – Thornfield Hall
One day in the 1990s a free AOL disc arrived in the mail. I did not have the faintest idea what it was. I did not understand what "online" and "world wide web" meant, either. Several friends urged me to try it. And suddenly I was part of the AOL community. Lo and behold! bibliophiles wrote…
The Birthday Card: What If It Doesn’t Have the Right Number? – Thornfield Hall
This woman does not look as if she has lost her hormones yet! Mr. Nemo and I were looking at birthday cards. Looking, looking, looking... and we couldn't find the right number. Happy 30th Birthday! Done that. Happy 40th Birthday! I admit to that. But where do all the numbers go? Are we like Jack…
Dystopian Denial: Will There Be Another Autumn? – Thornfield Hall
One of these days crying may be forbidden. Good girls don't cry. Survival will depend on the politics of water. I used to cry a lot when I was very young. Red, swollen eyes the next day. Calling in sick, because who can go to work looking like that? But I'm in a different phase…
What I’m Reading: “Isola, “The AI Con,” and “Universality” (Final Version) – Thornfield Hall
I have been reading three terrific new books. They are not behemoths – two of them are very short – and I finished Allegra Goodman’s novel today. Allegra Goodman’s breathtaking new novel, Isola, is based on historical incidents. The prose is spare and elegant, the plot rapid-fire, and the contrast of the narrator’s wealthy childhood with her exile…
Arachne and Me – Thornfield Hall
This summer I find myself identifying with Arachne. I have been rereading Metamorphoses, Ovid's brilliant epic poem, a collection of Greek myths linked by the theme of metamorphosis. Now that we're living in environmental hell, I turn to playful Ovid. I am enchanted by the twists and turns and loopy cleverness of his Latin hexameters. The…
Summer Reading: The “Deucalion and Pyrrha” Version – Thornfield Hall
Deucalion and Pyrhha (Rubens) I'm in the mood for what I'm calling the "Deucalion and Pyrrha" reading list. The weather is inclement all over. There has been a drought here for two years. And suddenly it rains and storms every night. Now there is flooding. I feel like Pyrrha in a feminist retelling of Ovid's…
Summer Reading: Guy Gavriel Kay’s “Written on the Dark” – Thornfield Hall
"Joy. Safety. They can be present for us, more often are not." -- Written on the Dark, by Guy Gavriel Kay In Guy Gavriel Kay's brilliant, beautifully-written new novel, Written on the Dark, he deftly infuses the narrative with bits of verse and philosophy. The book is part literary fantasy, part historical novel, set in…
Lost in a Classic: Balzac’s “Eugénie Grandet” – Thornfield Hall
Years ago in London I purchased a Vintage classics edition of Honoré de Balzac's Eugénie Grandet, with a charming introduction by Rose Tremain. Published in the Vintage Classics Orange Inheritance series, it was one of six books chosen by winners of the Orange Prize (now The Women's Prize). This edition has the 19th-century translation by…
Booker Prize Longlist 2025: Katie Kitamura’s “Audition” – Thornfield Hall
"I had given in to his story... because of his persuasiveness - persuasion, which is only one step away from coercion." - Audition, by Katie Kitamura I am not suggesting that Katie Kitamura's glittering novel is a retelling of Austen's Persuasion. Both titles have three syllables, and that's the extent of it, on the surface.…
Is Contemporary Fiction Too New York-ish? – Thornfield Hall
My favorite new novel of the years is set in Maine! I have this feeling... This feeling that New York has sucked me in.,, This feeling that the new books I read are too "New York-ish." That's because New York is exhausting. We love the art museums, the operas, and the theater, but... it's bewildering. …
Balzac’s “Letters of Two Brides” and/or “The Memoirs of Two Wives” – Thornfield Hall
This post is a "rerun" of my review of Balzac's Letters of Two Brides, a charming, if slight, epistolary novel, translated by R. S. Scott in 1898. I recently read the new translation, The Memoirs of Two Young Wives (NYRB Classics),. The "review" below applies ot both versions. An 1898 copy of Balzac’s " Letters…
The Booker Prize Longlist 2025 – Thornfield Hall
Today the Booker Prize longlist was announced. I am familiar only with a few of the authors, which makes it all the more interesting. Good news: many are already available in the U.S. The rest are on order. Here is the Longlist 2025: Love Forms by Claire Adam The Link by Tash Aw Universality by Natasha Brown…
Lost in the Forest with Natty Bumpo – Thornfield Hall
"Where is Natty Bumpo?" one of us asked at one point. Of course you've never heard of Natty Bumpo, also known as Hawkeye. No one reads James Fennimore Cooper's dense historical novels anymore. In Cooper's alleged masterpiece, The Last of the Mohicans, Natty Bumpo knows woodcraft. He is a white man raised by Indigenous people. …
The Aftershocks of Crime: “The Brittle Age,” by Donatella Di Pietrantonio – Thornfield Hall
We live in a violent, terrifying world. Every time I read the news, there is a new report of a mass shooting. Here's the latest: "Five people are dead including the gunman after a shooting at 345 Park Ave., a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, on Monday evening..." (The Washington Post) Homicide is a daily occurrence in…
Booker Prize Fever – Thornfield Hall
The Booker Prize judges: I know two of them, Roddy Doyle (far left) and Sarah Jessica Parker (far right). During a bitterly cold February, I was excited by the Booker International Prize longlist. In muddy March, it was the The Women's Prize longlist. In July I'm usually excited about the Booker Prize longlist, but I…
The State University Saved My Life – Thornfield Hall
My college education had a profound effect on me. Hilariously, I not only read voraciously for my classes, but I also read books on the syllabuses for other classes. Today Mr. Nemo and I were discussing the fascinating syllabus for a DeFoe to Austen class. I dropped out of the class because the professor was…
A Buoyant Comedy and an Eerie Dystopian Novel: “She Stoops to Conquer” and “The Memory Police” – Thornfield Hall
Until the millennium, I read only one book at a time. I would finish Philip Roth's American Pastoral before pouncing on my beloved Jane Austen's Persusion. Now it's Liberty Hall here; I have several books going at once. After too much screen time, I fall on my books like a graduate student with 1,000 pages to…
The Art of Sad Satire: Marrying Your Chatbot – Thornfield Hall
This summer I am committed to comedy. Evelyn Waugh? Check. Nancy Mitford? Check. Cynthia Heimel? Check. Peter DeVries? Of course. I am dedicated to Thalia, the muse of comedy. I make daily libations to laughter. But sometimes the twenty-first century is not at all funny. Did you know that a man in Idaho has married…
Oliver Goldsmith’s Gentle Comedy, “The Vicar of Wakefield” – Thornfield Hall
I’m in the mood for gentle comedy. Not Netflix comedy, but the literary kind. I’ve been frazzled because I had a computer “emergency,” a broken keyboard with sticky a’s, v’s, b’s, d’s, and x-es. As for my 11-year-old tablet, it has lost its little electrronic mind. It is, however, an excellent kitchen timer. And so…
The Iambic Knit/Purl of Sonnets: Carol Shields’ “Segue” – Thornfield Hall
I’m always good for 500 words. Maybe 900. OK, I’m a babbler, I’m a show-off, I’m a Can-I-Post-Every-Night person. I genuinely admire Carol Shields, but I couldn’t write one meaningful sentence last night. This morning I exorcised my demons by deleting my post on The Box Garden. I want briefly to write about another of…
Carol Shields’ Autograph: Where’s My Copy of “Larry’s Party”? – Thornfield Hall
Somewhere in a box I have an autographed copy of Carol Shields's novel, Larry's Party. At least I think it's in a box. I've searched the S shelves, and it is not with Shields's other books. That's the problem with moving: you never get around to unpacking all the boxes. The Guardian publishes a Q&A interview…
“Streamers Waving”: A Modernist Spinster’s Tale by C. H. B. Kitchin – Thornfield Hall
Reading C. H. B. Kitchin (1895-1967), a neglected 20th-century English writer, is one of the rewards of literary wanderings online and off-. Kitchin wrote brilliant, weird literary novels as well as cozy mysteries. His friend, the writer L. P. Hartley, lauded his work, but the critics were less enthusiastic, often damning him with faint praise.…
Spinning Fans: More Paperback Series – Thornfield Hall
During a hot, humid, quasi-tropical summer, when three fans spun in our apartment, and it was too hot to go outside, I drank iced tea and contemplated my collection of paperbacks. Then I decided whimsically to arrange them by cover and publisher. We won't talk about Penguins. We all know about them. But one of the…
What Class Are You? The Genealogy Crisis – Thornfield Hall
UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1950s: Woman writing letter. On a sunny, cold Friday in autumn when I coughed nonstop because I had bronchitis, I waited for the mail, expecting a note from a posh writing professor who kindly sent postcards to his former students, and insisted that it was no trouble to read our manuscripts.…