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Jean Rhys’s Novel of Desperation: “After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie” – Thornfield Hall
Jean Rhys's second novel, After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie, published in 1931, is not her only novel of desperation. In a sense, her four early novels center on female despair. In After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie and the last of the four, Good Morning, Midnight, women past their first youth are stranded in Paris or London. Rhys…
The Kindle-ables: What to Read on the Kindle – Thornfield Hall
Years ago, the critic Laura Miller wrote that she preferred the Kindle to the book. She had a practical reason: there was no more room in her apartment for books. The bookcases overflowed with hardcovers and paperbacks, and stacks of review copies lined the hall. As a reviewer, she had to do something to preserve…
The Destruction of the Nuclear Family: Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Agent” – Thornfield Hall
Joesph Conrad's intriguing short novel, The Secret Agent, is a Balzacian exploration of anarchy, political maneuvers, and the destruction of the nuclear family. The three main characters become mired in radial politics, the latter two unknowingly. Mr. Verloc, an anarchist who is also a secret agent for the Russian embassy, owns a porn shop as…
R.E.M. Live in Concert- “The Great Beyond” – Thornfield Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggZ4Oa7C0XM&list=RDggZ4Oa7C0XM&start_radio=1 I love this video of R.E.M. live in concert in Weisbaden, Germany, singing "The Great Beyond." Were you there? Neither was I, but you can watch it on YouTube. "The Great Beyond" I've watched the stars fall silentFrom your eyesAll the sights that I have seen I can't believe thatI believed I wishedThat you…
R.E.M.’s Anti-War Song, “Orange Crush” – Thornfield Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opI5j_wEumw R.E.M. gamely performs "Orange Crush" in the rain, with the band and audience getting drenched and Michael Stipe's blue makeup melting. "Orange Crush" is R.E.M.'s iconic anti-war song. It refers to Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant used in the Vietnam War, which poisoned, maimed, and often killed people exposed to it. And it also…
The Minus Five: “(Don’t Go Back to Rockville)” – Thornfield Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpjhVek3KdY&list=RDEpjhVek3KdY&start_radio=1 The Minus Five performs the classic R.E.M. song "(Don't Go Back to Rockville)" (Don't Go Back to Rockville) Looking at your watch a third timeWaiting in the station for the busGoing to a place that's farSo far away and if that's not enoughGoing where nobody says helloThey don't talk to no one they don't…
Class & Bicycle Helmets – Thornfield Hall
I recently bought a bicycle helmet. I had held out for 20 years. There are many reasons I dislike the helmet: it makes my head sweat, the visor bumps against my glasses, the adjustable chin strap is too tight or too loose, and I must lug it around in stores. Then I had a revelation.…
Daphne du Maurier’s “The Birds” vs. Frank Baker’s Novel, “The Birds” – Thornfield Hall
"The Birds" is included in this new collection of Daphne du Maurier's short stories. I am halfway through After Midnight, a new collection of Daphne du Maurier's short stories, and, as always, I am struck by her story "The Birds." And so I am reposting my essay comparing her short story "The Birds" (1952) to…
Halloween for the Frightened: Daphne du Maurier’s “After Midnight: Thirteen Tales for the Dark Hours” – Thornfield Hall
THE BEST BOOK TO READ THIS HALLOWE'EN Hallowe'en used to last one day: now it is a two-month celebration of corn syrup and horror. The candy corn appears in August. The Halloween cards soon follow. As for pumpkin spice lattes, I say, "Don't." I admit I am frightened of some of the more graphic decorations.…
An Outsider in Paris: Jean Rhys’s “Good Morning, Midnight” – Thornfield Hall
"Nobody else knows me, but the street knows me." - Good Morning, Midnight Jean Rhys Jean Rhys's heroines lead disturbingly empty lives. London, Paris, it hardly matters. They are unlucky and poor, and barely balance on the edge of the abyss. They cannot work, or if they can, they do not excel in the workplace.…
Taking Notes in the Country of Forgetting – Thornfield Hall
Why do I write in public? Why does writing go with coffee or tea? I live in the Country of Forgetting. I often take notes to flesh out a personal record of my life and times. It's better than ranting on X, formerly Twitter, about any stupid thing that comes to mind. My philosophy is: …
May I Borrow Your Pen, Please? – Thornfield Hall
I was sipping espresso at the cafe and perusing Don Marquis's Archie and Mehitabel. Archie is a cockroach who types verse in the newsroom late at night by jumping on one typewriter key at a time. He often writes about his friend Mehitabel the alley cat, who believes she is the reincarnation of Cleopatra. …
The Book I Was Meant to Read: Kiran Desai’s “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny” – Thornfield Hall
"This is the book I was meant to read," I told Captain Nemo. It was one of my psychic moments. While perusing the Booker Prize longlist in July. I was excited to learn that Kiran Desai had a new book. Her stunning novel, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, is her first since she won…
“Wuthering Heights” As a Cross-Genre Novel – Thornfield Hall
Modern Library Torchbearers edition I cannot count the number of times I've read Wuthering Heights. It's a romance, it's a Gothic, and it's a brutal revenge story. Emily Bronte's novel is gorgeous and lyrical, but it is also violent - some Bronte fans find it too disturbing to include in their personal Bronte canon. When…
Reading in Public: Edith Wharton and Kiran Desai – Thornfield Hall
In the fall, we like to read in public. On the veranda of a popular bicyclists' watering hole, you will see artists tattooed with snakes (Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man), a weary physician's assistant (Tracy Kidder's Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People), a disheveled lawyer on the take (John…
Dumb Appliances, Personal Assistants, and Bots – Thornfield Hall
My favorite robots! Call it house-sitting. There are six bedrooms, three bathrooms, one with a working shower, and then there's the Talking Kitchen. There is a chatty refrigerator, a brilliant stove, and a beeping, whirring dishwasher, Needless to say, this is temporary. MEMO: Tell Jek to find dumb appliances. Jek, originally Jack, now Jek or…
Muriel Spark & Her Alter-Ego – Thornfield Hall
"But that day in the twentieth century I felt more than ever how good it is to be a woman and an artist there and then." - The narrator of Muriel Spark's "Loitering with Intent" In the preface of her brilliant new biography, Electric Spark: The Enigma of Dame Muriel, Frances Wilson portrays Muriel Spark…
What We Read at the Progressive School: The Less Discreet Version – Thornfield Hall
What did I read at my progressive school? The quasi-affluent students were VERY proud of their school, but I was underwhelmed by the quality of teaching.. The public schools at that time were excellent, and those teachers had a great influence on my reading. (That's where I found out about Jane Eyre.) This progressive school…
What We Read at My Progressive School – Thornfield Hall
I've been thinking about what I read in school, and am surprised by how little I remember. It was a "progressive school" - it cost only $25 a year - and though it was like a free school, it wasn't structureless. Tbere was definitely snap and style. For instance, an impish boy stole a…
Four Favorite Books of 2025 – Thornfield Hall
What books do you love that aren't strictly in the canon? Here is my list of three neglected "older" books and one new novel longlisted for the Booker Prize. 1. The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot, by Angus Wilson. This neglected novel won the Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1958. You can find a copy…
Was “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” Banned by the Catholic Church? – Thornfield Hall
My mother loved the movies. Quiz her on movies: she knew them all. She should have been a movie critic, but there were no Film Studies departments back then. Maggie Smith in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" From toddlerhood, we accompanied her to the theater. It is fair to say that we saw EVERY…
An Imaginary Diary: Henry Bean’s “The Nenoquich” – Thornfield Hall
In Henry Bean's brilliant novel, The Nenoquich (1982), reissued a few years ago by McNally Editions, the narrator, Harold Raab, is a thoroughly unpleasant guy. You will not like him. I guarantee it. You will, however, be fascinated by what I call his imaginary diary. Harold does not call it a diary. He writes, "Recently…
Out-of-Print: Joan North’s “The Whirling Shapes” – Thornfield Hall
Part I of a series on out-of-print novels. Joan North's The Whirling Shapes (1967) is a whimsical novel of the mid-twentieth century. If you have not heard of it, that is not surprising: it was published as a children's book and is out-of-print. I would argue that this all-ages book could be marketed as adult…
One of My Favorite Novels: Angus Wilson’s “The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot” – Thornfield Hall
Angus Wilson is a neglected 20th-century English novelist whose name may resonate faintly but perhaps you're thinking of Edmund Wilson, the American critic. I am stunned by the brilliance of Angus Wilson's novel The Middle Age of Mrs. Eliot, published in 1958 and winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. It traces the rise…
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,…
“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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
“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 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 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…