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Books of the Decades: Changing Our Lives One Book at a Time – Thornfield Hall
Today in the garden I was reading Joyce Cary's The Horse's Mouth and musing on books that have influenced my thinking over the years. Below I have attempted to define the decades of my life by choosing one or two books that characterize the mood and tenor of those times for me personally. Summer in…
Is The Personal Political? Women’s Publishing 2024 – Thornfield Hall
“It is at this point a political action to tell it like it is, to say what I really believe about my life instead of what I’ve always been told to say.” – “The Personal Is Political,” by Carol Hanisch, 1969 I do not remember how I became familiar with the saying, "The Personal Is…
Drink and Debauchery: George Moore’s “A Mummer’s Wife” – Thornfield Hall
Perhaps you are familiar with George Moore’s Esther Waters, a curiously modern Victorian novel that tells the story of a servant girl who, seduced and deserted by a fellow employee, struggles to survive as a single mother. The influence of Zola's naturalism permeates his books, which sets them apart from most Victorian novels. I recently…
The Reader at Large: Reading in a High Wind – Thornfield Hall
My husband and I love to read in public. Sometimes we sit in a park quietly reading our books, other times we read aloud. Once we read aloud a short, hilarious play by Brigid Brophy, The Waste Disposal Unit, which was published in an old anthology of plays that the public library has so far…
Reading in Bed: A History – Thornfield Hall
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single reader in possession of a bed, must be in want of a good book.- Anonymous ( NOT Jane Austen) I am a proponent of reading in bed. Many are not. Some outlaw this practice. One imagines the Moms for Liberty waving torches in front of…
New Post at “The Daily Read”: Is the Mirror a Portal? – Thornfield Hall
Illustration from George MacDonald's Phantastes Have you ever wanted to walk through a mirror? Wondered what is on the other side? Wondered if it is a portal, like the antique mirror in George MacDonald's remarkable Victorian fantasy novel, Phantastes? Do visit my new companion blog, The Daily Read, and check out my new post, "Is…
The Reader at Large – Thornfield Hall
There you are, on the bus, head in a book, headed home. You even have bedhead. The woman next to you told you this. Having done her hairdo duty, she asks, “Is your book good?” Am I Holden Caulfield? Is she Ackley? Do I dare say, “This sentence is terrific”? Maureen Howard (1930-2022) Now…
The Daily Write: Night Owls & Notebooks – Thornfield Hall
After a few false starts, The Daily Write, my new blog, is up and running. Instead of writing about books, I'm writing informally about whatever comes into my head. I hope you'll come by and read my first post, "Night Owls & Notebooks." I call it The Daily Write, but the posts will appear less…
No Home Like a Raft: “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” – Thornfield Hall
Everybody should read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which I enjoyed thoroughly on a fourth reading. It is not only a classic, but it is sui generis in American literature. In Twain's smart, witty, suspenseful masterpiece, Huck and Jim, a comic duo on the run, try to escape trauma as they raft down the Mississippi…
A Neglected Brazilian Writer: Rachel de Queiroz’s “Dora, Doralina” – Thornfield Hall
Before online shopping, there was a plethora of subscription book clubs. There were The Book of the Month, The Literary Guild, The Classics Book Club, and The Quality Paperback Book Club. A pamphlet arrived each month, and if you did not want the main selection, you checked the NO box and chose one of the…
The Controversial American Classic: “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” – Thornfield Hall
I first read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in tenth grade, with sighs and much boredom. I disliked American literature and anyway as a child had read Twain. I was an Anglophile devoted to Jane Austen, Lynne Reid Banks, John Fowles, Doris Lessing, and D. H. Lawrence. “Oh, God, this is in dialect,” I whispered.…
The Eclipse Drama & International Booker Prize Shortlist Drama – Thornfield Hall
First, the Eclipse Drama. My husband took Monday off to see the eclipse. “It won’t be a total eclipse. You have to drive to Buffalo for that.” “I love Buffalo!” Buffalo is a much hipper city than you’d think. I like the dim light, the ocean-like waves of Lake Erie, Talking Leaf Books, Delaware Park,…
A Fashion Faux Pas: Fashion in New Books – Thornfield Hall
For years I read classics where women wore long, rustling gowns, kid gloves, silk slippers, lockets, and bonnets: hence my modern green tights faux pas after reading D. H. Lawrence’s Women in Love in the '90s. Gudrun, a sultry artist, wears green tights with her artistic, original dresses. And so I bought a pair of…
The Lost Voices in Unfinished Fiction: “The Cemetery of Untold Stories,” by Julia Alvarez – Thornfield Hall
This intriguing novel begins with the description of a friendship between Alma Cruz, a well-known novelist, and a famous black writer referred to only as “a friend.” Alma wonders if her friend stays in touch with her only so she can learn about white culture for her writing. (Long before Toni Morrison made this remark,…
In Praise of John Barth – Thornfield Hall
John Barth John Barth, an award-winning writer best-known for his post-modern novels, including Chimera and Letters, died on April 2 at age 93. We are always distressed by the death of a great writer. Barth was part of the literary scene forever, and one expected him to go on and on. When did he…
An Irish Classicist’s Debut Novel: “Glorious Exploits,” by Ferdia Lennon – Thornfield Hall
Ferdia Lennon’s smart debut novel, Glorious Exploits, will appeal to fans of Greek literature and ancient history. Set in 412 B.C., during the Peloponnesian War, after the defeat of the Athenians in Syracuse, this tragicomic novel examines the connection between art and survival. I cannot express how amused I was by the voice of the…
Three Marvelous Weekend Reads: “The Hummingbird,” “Birthday Party,” & “Cakes and Ale” – Thornfield Hall
Here are three recommendations for good weekend reads, which should appeal to readers of different tastes and moods, including a classic by W. Somerset Maugham, whose 150th birthday was on January 25 this year. Birthday Party by C. H. B. Kitchin. Published in 1938, this brilliant novel is the story of Carlice Abbey, a crumbling…
The Virginal Lambert Strether: “The Ambassadors,” by Henry James – Thornfield Hall
Charming Lambert Strether, the middle-aged hero of Henry James’s novel, The Ambassadors, may, or may not, technically be a virgin. Although James never directly writes a sex scene, the uncomfortable lack of eroticism in The Ambassadors is unprecedented in his fiction. The protagonist’s innocence may be exaggerated. Strether, an American tourist who settles for several…
The Blossoming of Henry James: Objets d’art & Self-Sacrifice – Thornfield Hall
A young Henry James It was just a bad party, a party where Henry James would not have been caught dead. “It’s fine if you like that kind of thing,” said a friend with an English degree who was working on a Ph.D. In physics “What’s wrong with being serious? In my line of work…
The Stopped Watch: Retro-Feminism & Classicism – Thornfield Hall
Chalk and a blackboard. Tokens of her trade. A young woman wearing jeans and a sweaty leotard surreptitiously adjusts her bra strap while writing PARTICIPLES in capital letters on the board. Dear Reader, that woman was I, having rushed to class from the gym. I hastily slipped my jacket over the leotard so the male…
The Daily Write – Thornfield Hall
I planned to post this at a companion blog, The Daily Write, but decided to integrate these "journal" posts with my writing about books. March 23, 2024 A gloomy, cold Saturday. Napped, read a little, and then looked at my THINGS. I identify with Henry James’s characters, ergo I must have THINGS. I have no…
Notes on Bookmarks & My Favorite Book of the Year, “The Silver Bone,” by Andrey Kurkov – Thornfield Hall
I need 3 bookmarks per book because bookmarks get lost! I have collected 100 bookmarks over the years (but who’s counting?) since booksellers used to tuck them into every newly-purchased book. Borders was the last corporate bookstore to do so, and Amazon and Barnes & Noble stopped years ago. That leaves the indies. But bookmarks…
The Biblio-Anarchist Meets Henry James: “The Spoils of Poynton” – Thornfield Hall
I have fond memories of reading Henry James’s The Golden Bowl on the roof of a government building. The roof was a retreat, because the break room had no windows and we wanted fresh air. The guys mostly read Rolling Stone or talked about music, while I was absorbed in Henry James. It's been a…
The Biblio-Anarchist: Book Blogging in 2024 – Thornfield Hall
In 2018, I decided to create a new book blog, Thornfield Hall. I planned to do “alternative” writing about books, but sometimes on personal subjects. Blogging was not always so tranquil as it is at Thornfield Hall. Dear Reader, how was I to know that grammar was a political issue? At my old blog I…
Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Eclectic Literary Career – Thornfield Hall
Elizabeth Jane Howard After a month in the infectious disease ward of a hospital, I was very weak. I propped myself up on many pillows and groggily read popular fiction. During this period, I was lucky to discover Elizabeth Jane Howard’s four-book family saga, The Cazalet Chronicles. (A fifth book was later published.) These long,…
A Pioneering Australian Heroine & a Reader-in-Residence – Thornfield Hall
The Women’s Prize, formerly the Orange Prize, announced its longlist recently. I am not one of those faithful award junkies who read every book on every prize longlist and then reread those that make the shortlist. I have tried that in the past and found it wearying, because readers have wildly different tastes, and mine…
Coffee,Tea, or Me? Travels on Caffeine – Thornfield Hall
Coffee, Tea, or Me? was the title of a 1960s humor book purportedly written by stewardesses. I glimpsed it on the book rack at Woolworth’s and thought it hilarious. (I was in elementary school.) I was in a phase where it took little to make me laugh. I begged for a t-shirt with the slogan:…
Concussed at the British Library: The Haunted Manuscript Room – Thornfield Hall
The British Library, London There is little for tourists to do at the British Library. The researchers have all the fun. If that is your role, you check in your pens, pencils, and phone in a locker, don special gloves to handle aged paper, and stare avidly at documents, manuscripts, and books. Let it be…
What Book Should You Carry in Your Bike Pannier? Classics, Historical Novels, & The Women’s Prize Longlist – Thornfield Hall
This spring I am toting a 600-page classic in my bike pannier. It has long been my custom to pedal with a book on board for emergency. There was the time my husband’s derailleur broke, and we walked five miles, he carrying his bike on his shoulder, to a depot where I sat and read…
The Birds vs. The Birds: Frank Baker’s “The Birds” & Daphne du Maurier’s “The Birds” – Thornfield Hall
“Read on. And be careful if you hear the tapping at the window.” – Frank Baker’s “The Birds,” Author's Introduction The Birds is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s eeriest movies. I was terrified when I saw it on TV, and in a theater it might have utterly overwhelmed me. In this apocalyptic movie, flocks of birds…
The Incongruous Love of a Witty Woman: “Green Dot,” by Madeleine Gray – Thornfield Hall
First, let me say that I am surprised that Green Dot is not on the Women’s Prize longlist. Then again, it was published last month, so perhaps it is not eligible this year. I admired this smart, sharply-etched debut novel by Madeleine Gray, an Australian writer and critic who painfully portrays the culture of the…
A Tragedy with a Happy Ending: Edith Wharton’s “The Age of Innocence” – Thornfield Hall
Yes,” said [William Dean] Howells, “what the American public wants is a tragedy with a happy ending....”-- Edith Wharton’s French Ways and Their Meaning One of the most marvelous things about rereading is the consciousness of a changing perspective over time. On my first reading of The Age of Innocence, which won the Pulitzer Prize…
The Last of the Bookmarks: A Personal History of Marking Books – Thornfield Hall
I've always loved bookmarks; I’ve never felt comfortable dogearing pages or using a ripped corner of a newspaper to mark my place. Bookstores used to give away bookmarks gratis, partly to win customer loyalty, partly as advertisement, but this practice has waned in the twenty-first century. Indie bookstores valiantly manage to print out some kind…
Horace, My Love, Do We Have to Have This Conversation? – Thornfield Hall
An English translation. This winter I decided to reread Horace’s Sermones, which, not entirely to my satisfaction, is translated Satires. The root meaning of sermones is “conversations,” so even on my fourth reading of these saucy poems, I am rebellious about labeling them satires. Consult the dictionary and you will see that sermo (the singular…
What’s Coming up at Thornfield Hall? – Thornfield Hall
The Seven-Hour Reading Meditation My husband and I read a Christmas essay by a woman so harried by the hectic preparations that she retreats after the feast to read for seven hours, leaving the kids and clean-up to her husband. We had nothing too challenging planned on Christmas, so decided that we, too, would read…
The Whispering of The Famous Writer – Thornfield Hall
The Wave of the Future? Note: The Famous Writer is not based on any living writer, though I once attended a reading where the brilliant poet Alan Dugan abused and mocked the faculty wives. I have often posted about my creative long-distance book group. We read literary fiction, pop fiction, nonfiction, and Emily Dickinson. One…
Picks & Pans: A Satire of Newspapers, A Pastoral Love Story, and a Victorian Alcoholic – Thornfield Hall
circa 1930: American actress Joan Crawford . Joan hasn't chosen her book yet. Oh joy! It’s time for the Picks & Pans rite! You lounge in your boudoir in your favorite pajamas, preferably the silky kind worn by Joan Crawford, while you read and rate what you read and drink tea out of a porcelain…
Why I’m Not a Diarist: Four Days in the Life of a Recyclist – Thornfield Hall
I have a paisley notebook that is almost too pretty to use. It would make a perfect diary if I did calligraphy and wanted to be a diarist. Finally you would understand the enchantment of living in Whatsitville, a Midwestern town described by a friend as “a good night’s sleep.” That's a compliment, isn't it?…