Category: Books

Maine Musing: Watching & Reading

JWF Leave a comment

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and some TV viewing, so here are a TV series getting a fair bit of good press and one novel from my summer list. True to the past, I keep picking up and reading books unrelated to those I’ve assigned myself. More book thoughts in future posts!

ROMPING IN THE 16TH CENTURY

My Lady Jane (Amazon Prime)

Guildford & Jane (thestatesman.com)

Fast-paced, lusty, high-spirited, and even raunchy some might say, My Lady Jane turns history on its ear in an eight-part series about Queen Jane of England.  It’s a blend of comedy with fantasy.   Some characters appear as humans but are also Ethians who can change into animals to escape tricky situations.  One maid becomes a hawk, and a key male is a horse by night.  Suspend any sense of reality all ye who watch!  

Sickly King Edward is on the throne, but his sister and others are desperately conspiring either to hasten his demise or to ensure that they will be the one to succeed him.  Jane Grey, cousin to Edward, is forced into marriage with Lord Guildford Dudley by her scheming mother, while her sister is tied to a decrepit man several decades her senior.  When Jane becomes a reluctant queen, her enemies scheme and plot to try to kill her. The series is full of adventure with an ever-present narrator offering helpful sometimes humorous commentary.  

This won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it’s different and possibly worth sampling an episode or two.  The Chief Penguin and I aren’t hooked on it, but we have now watched half of the series.  Note, the real Jane Grey reigned for only 10 days.

UNEARTHING FAMILY HISTORY

Homecoming by Kate Morton (on my summer reading list)

Author Morton (nytimes.com)

Australian Kate Morton is the author of several historical novels, most of them firmly based in a particular geographic place and often featuring a historic home.  Homecoming, her latest, is set in Sydney and the Adelaide Hills in South Australia.  It’s December 2018 and journalist Jess returns to her native country after 20 years of living in London.  She is 40 and recently unemployed.

Her beloved grandmother Nora is in the hospital after a fall.  Offhand words from Nora and her unusual behavior before being hospitalized send Jess on a search to learn more about a tragic family event in 1959 that no one had ever told her about.  Putting her reporting skills to work with her curiosity, Jess talks to townspeople still around, reads a detailed published account, and delves deeply to try to solve the mystery of these family deaths.  She also ponders her home in London versus feeling at home in Australia.

There are many strands to this story, the setting is lovingly and beautifully presented, and a cast of intriguing characters keeps the reader guessing.  It’s a satisfying long novel for a summer day, and it’s the best one by Morton I’ve read.  Recommended! (~JWFarrington)

Photo of the Week

Golden lilies at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Note: Golden lilies and header photo of rosy astilbe or False Goat’s Beard ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Comments: Holiday, etc.

JWF Leave a comment

THIS HOT FOURTH OF JULY

Like many Americans, we celebrated this 4th of July holiday with picnic fare (hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, and barbecued ribs plus sides) albeit indoors.  In the afternoon, we were treated to a recital by A Touch of Brass, an instrumental group consisting of trumpets, trombone, drums, and French horn. 

This group of six entertained us with a wide variety of patriotic songs and marches including America the Beautiful, God Bless America, and Yankee Doodle Dandy along with When the Saints Come Marching in and Sousa’s great march, Stars and Stripes Forever. 

It was both heartening and encouraging to sing these American songs, a reminder perhaps that despite today’s messy, troubling political scene, this country will strive to remain strong and viable into the future.

SUMMER READING

What Constitutes Home?

Long Island by Colm Toibin

Toibin (wikipedia.com)

Colm Toibin’s latest novel, Long Island, a sequel to Brooklyn, is set in a small community on Long Island and in Enniscorthy, Ireland.  Devastated and motivated by some shocking news about her Italian American husband Tony, Eilis returns to her Irish hometown after twenty years away.  Although married with two almost grown children, she has never felt at ease in the enclave of Tony’s brother’s and their families and his mother. Enniscorthy offers escape from her stifling home scene and the opportunity to be present for her mother’s 80th birthday.  

While Ireland is familiar, it is also different. Eilis re-connects briefly with her longtime friend Nancy and becomes close again with former boyfriend Jim Farrell, not knowing that his affections have been engaged elsewhere.  She is also both puzzled and hurt by her mother’s responses to offers of help.

The novel flows slowly and is told from Nancy and Jim’s perspectives as well as Eilis’s.  There are secrets and silences and gossip.  These individuals, and others in Enniscorthy, are reluctant to be open with each or to address straightforwardly the questions and concerns each has.  Aside from Nancy, ambivalence seems to be the approach of the day.  

Would Jim be happy leaving the pub he owns and runs?  What does Eilis really want?  She loves her children, but their lives are in the States.  Where does she fit?  

I enjoyed this work, but not as much as I liked Brooklyn and The Master.   (~JWFarrington) 

POLITICAL POSTCARDS

If you have some extra time, write legibly, and believe it is crucial to vote, then you might want to consider writing postcards to select voters in various states.  Under one project, Postcards to Swing States, you pick from the list of states and agree to write 200 postcards between now and October 15 when they are to be mailed.

The postcards are provided, you purchase your own stamps, and you choose from three different approved messages. I picked North Carolina, a key battleground state, and am now working my way through my list of names and addresses.  

Another organized effort is Postcards to Voters.  This organization requires you to go through a few hoops before being approved and receiving your first list of names and addresses with instructions.  These postcards are messages to mostly Democratic voters urging them to vote for specific Congressional candidates in key races in their state. 

Note: Header photo of the American flag is from www.history.com 

Carolina Capers: Vicars, Trains & More

JWF 2 Comments

VIEWING: VICARS AND CRIME

Grantchester Season 9 (PBS)

On set, Robson Green (Geordie) & Rishi Nair (Vicar Alphy Kottaram) (pbs.org)

Life in the village of Grantchester rolls on, and Vicar Will Davenport, with some hesitation, accepts a new job offer.  He and Bonnie and their kids will move to Newcastle.  

The Chief Penguin and I watched the entire season of eight episodes, and we think it’s an excellent one. Episodes 1 and 2 do provide murders to solve, but they more significantly focus on Will’s decision to leave and how that is unveiled to Geordie and others in the community.  These episodes present a wonderful depiction of male friendship, both the complex yet deep relationship between Will and Geordie and Will’s strong bond with former curate Leonard.  

From this poignant and moving departure, the series continues with the arrival of new vicar, Alphy Kotteram, whose initial welcome is cool to tepid.  Women’s roles, or more specifically, women’s place in society, come to the fore as evidenced by cantankerous yet devoted Mrs. C. demonstrating her loyalty, Cathy struggling with midlife issues, and Miss Scott in the police department assisting in the murder investigations.  

Grantchester has been renewed for yet another season.  Recommended!

TRAIN RIDE THROUGH THE WOODS

New Hope Valley Railway

This past week, we went on an outing to nearby Bonsal about 20 miles south of Cary.  From Bonsal, you can ride a train on historic track for 4 miles to nearby New Hill.  A locomotive pulls airy passenger cars through leafy woods of pines and deciduous trees.  There is not a lot to see, but the trip is a pleasant meander.  

The most action is at New Hill when the locomotive engine uncouples from the front of the train, runs on a parallel track, and then couples up with what was the back of the train for the return to Bonsal.  The whole trip takes just under an hour.

Engine on the parallel track

An all-volunteer enterprise, the railway goes all out for holidays with flying witches at Halloween and Frosty the Snowman and Santa around or on board in December.  Gina, the brake woman in our car, overflowed with details about the these preparations.

Also on site is a gift shop, of course, a range of antique train cars, and an elaborate G Scale model train layout that is mesmerizing for all ages.  We enjoyed sampling this North Carolina attraction and know that it would appeal to many folks’ grandchildren!

READING—NOT ON MY SUMMER LIST

A Poet’s Memoir

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

(nytimes.com)

I like memoirs and read a good review of this book, so put it on my birthday wish list. Prior to reading it, I had not heard of poet Maggie Smith nor was I aware of her 2016 poem, Good Bones, that went viral after the horrible shooting at the gay nightclub in Orlando.

Other memoirs have dealt with marriage break-ups and the challenges of parenting as one and not two.  What Smith does in You Could Make This Place Beautiful is unique; her memoir is made up of snippets of life, questions one could pose, and a play within the memoir.  

The reader gets raw, painful episodes of hurt and anger along with accounts of the joys she shares with her young daughter and son.  She discovered her husband’s infidelity on a postcard; she dubs herself the Finder in her drama scenes and he The Addressee.  Throughout her musings are some sections that recur like “A Note on Plot”, or “A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question” where one time the text reads: “Then what is mine? how to forgive or “how to remain myself.”

Smith reiterates that this is not a tell-all book, but rather a “tell-mine.”  She omits certain scenes and specifics yet delves into her early life, their courtship, and their marriage.  Ultimately, she believes her view of her professional life and his view of it, her work vs. his work, colored their relationship, and ignited its fracturing.  

None of this is written in a linear way as she reflects, revisits issues, revises her thinking, consults and quotes other writers, and shares her experiences with her therapists. At one point, she states that she had hoped to have more levity on the page to offset the sadness and hurt.  She studies and revises her view of herself again and again as she works to become, I would phrase it, a more fully integrated person.  

There is an immediacy here; some issues, such as finalizing the divorce drag on in litigation as she writes.  Her children also take turns on take center stage as she ponders their futures, mourning the fact that their father moved out of state, limiting their access to him. The depth of her love for these two resilient kids is clear.  

There is pain on the page and yet, there is a magnetic quality about the writing (her poet’s eye for precision, e.g.) that kept me glued to the text.  Highly recommended!  (~JWFarrington)

Note: Unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Capers: Novels & TV Series

JWF Leave a comment

INDIAN FAMILY SAGA

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

(lithub.com)

Abraham Varghese does not write short novels.  His earlier work, Cutting for Stone, which I read and enjoyed was also a tome.  The Covenant of Water is more than 700 pages; one must persevere, and one must endure, but it is worth the effort.  I do believe it could have been edited down some, but I felt that about the earlier novel also.

Covering the years 1900 to 1977 and set mainly in Kerala, India, and somewhat in Madras and Glasgow, it begins with a 12-year-old girl marrying a 40-year-old widower, father of one son, JoJo.  Over the years, she becomes Big Ammachi, the matriarch of the family, presiding over and nurturing three generations at Parambil, the family seat.  Threaded through the generations are an uncommon number of deaths by drowning.  Those who drown have a fear of water and work to avoid contact with any water.  This affliction is known as The Condition, and for decades, no one knows what causes it or why.  

Dense with descriptive prose, detailed descriptions of unusual medical procedures (Vergherse is a physician and a professor), and a host of characters, intriguing individuals seemingly unrelated to the main story, The Covenant is rich and engrossing.  As is his wont, Verghese brings these characters together, connections are made, and the strands become a cohesive whole.  For readers with patience, it’s a rewarding journey! (~JWFarrington)

MAISIE DOBBS REFLECTS

The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear

(harpercollins.com)

I have read all of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs’ series and have been a big fan of this author.  About fifteen years ago, a good friend and I went to a small bookstore lunch in Marin honoring Winspear.  It was to celebrate the arrival of her latest Maisie Dobbs.  Not surprising, Winspear was gracious and warm. She chatted with us individually during lunch and then read a selection from the book.  It was a memorable affair. 

In addition to the Maisie Cobbs series, Winspear has written two standalone novels and a poignant memoir, This Time Next Year, We’ll Be Laughing. I recommend these works as well.

The Comfort of Ghosts is the 18th novel in the series and a fitting end to Maisie’s career. It is 1945 and the war is over, but London folk are suffering with bombed out buildings and a lack of suitable housing.  Food is in short supply, some homeless become squatters in vacant homes, and demobbed soldiers are haunted by what they have witnessed.

In her last case, Maisie becomes protector and investigator for four young squatters who believe they’ve seen a murder.  She must call upon all her sources and friends for assistance, while simultaneously reflecting on her own part in both world wars, and on the deaths of friends and spouses.  As always, Maisie is determined, detail-oriented, and perceptive; these traits all come into play.

For anyone who hasn’t read the early works, this one is a valedictory to Maisie’s career and personal life, providing glimpses and explanations about how she rose from lowly household maid to investigator and psychologist. Along the way, readers are reintroduced to Maurice Blanche, her mentor and friend; Pris her longtime friend since college; her father and stepmother Brenda; and Julian and Rowan Compton, parents of her first husband James.  It’s a trip down memory lane, shadowed by old ghosts, and yet reflective of the challenges Maisie and her compatriots face in moving on past the terror and damage of WWII.  

Winspear convincingly portrays both the postwar climate in Britain and the mental struggles those who served must overcome to function again in peacetime.  Maisie Dobbs has her own regrets and concerns, but she is a stalwart, and her first response is usually to provide help.  I found this a very satisfying conclusion to the series, but I will, nonetheless, miss Maisie.  (~JWFarrington)

REGENCY ROMANCE

Bridgerton, Season 3 (Netflix)

Colin & Penelope (eonline.com)

Bridgerton, first viewed during Covid, has now advanced to its 3rd season.  For those who’ve read Julia Quinn’s novels on which it’s based, it’s a logical viewing choice.  Created by the talented producer Rhonda Shimes and Quinn, it’s a romance lover’s delight—complete with lavish costumes, fancy balls and intrigues, frustrated and beleaguered lovers, and, of course, the redoubtable Lady Whistledown’s gossip sheet.  

This season focuses on Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton.  She is the youngest and an overlooked sibling in her family, while Colin, the Bridgerton brother she has been friendly with and adored for years, has recently returned from Europe.  This is Penelope coming into her own as a woman alongside Queen Charlotte’s ongoing quest to learn the identity of Lady Whistledown.  The season is steamy and sexy with plenty of couplings, engagements, and even an incipient attraction between Lady Violet Bridgerton and a certain lord.  

It’s fun, it’s poignant, and the women have their day!  I think it’s the best season thus far with greater depth than the previous two.  Enjoy!

OTHER DOINGS

This week we participated in a Juneteenth celebration which included commentary about the holiday, music, and some tasty African-inspired nibbles. Another day, we lunched out with the Adventurous Eaters at La Victoria, an attractive Mexican restaurant in Cary. The waitstaff was friendly, the guacamole fresh with a punch, and the enchiladas verdes I ordered delicious. Add in an afternoon performance of songs from the 1950s, 1960s, and 70s by the BackFence Duo; it was a full week.

Note: Header Juneteenth graphic courtesy of Vecteezy.com