Booknote: Mysteries of Character

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GEMMA, MAISIE, AND CLARE

My mother devoured mysteries.  I think when she was raising her four children they were pure escape.  She would read a Crime Club mystery in an evening and then read several more over the rest of a week—all of that required frequent trips to the public library.  I am more selective in which mysteries I like, but I do have a few favorite authors whose series I follow.   These are mystery novels featuring women detectives with these characters evolving over time.  Reading them in the order they were published enables the reader to share in how a relationship, whether it’s with a work partner or a romantic interest, deepens and changes.  For me, this is much more satisfying than a one-off crime novel. The books in these series are also well written.  Each author came to writing after some other career and with considerable life experience and each has won multiple awards for her writing. So, here is my first batch of favorites—for those who know me, there aren’t any surprises!

Deborah Crombie grew up near Dallas, Texas, lived in the U.K. with her first husband, a Scotsman, and then returned to the U.S. and Texas.  She loved England and her contemporary mysteries are set there and feature the Scotland Yard detective team of Duncan Kincaid and Gemma Jones.  The first books focused on Duncan, but then their relationship developed.  They became partners in life and often work together, whether officially or unofficially, on their cases.

The novels are rich with the complexities of children and stepchildren, ex-spouses, unreasonable bosses, challenging colleagues, and yes, murders with few clues.  One of her most recent titles which I just read and enjoyed is The Sound of Broken Glass.  There are at least 17 titles in the series—hard for me to believe I’ve read that many!

The Maisie Dobbs mystery novels by Jacqueline Winspear are mostly set in England in the period from WWI into the 1930’s.  Maisie is a psychologist and private investigator and a somewhat quirky woman taking advantage of the winds of social change.  Author Winspear was born and raised in the U.K., immigrated to the United States in 1990, and now lives in the San Francisco Bay area.  Several years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting her briefly when she was also a guest at an author lunch.

I find Winspear’s evocation of this earlier time in history to be fascinating and believable.  Besides Maisie, her other characters—Maisie’s father, her mentor Maurice, and her friend James Compton—come off the page and I find myself savoring the details of their lives and their interactions.   Currently, I’m reading the very latest Maisie Dobbs, A Dangerous Place, this one set in Gibraltar.

Unlike the other two writers, Julia Spencer-Fleming has always lived in the U.S. and has not strayed too far from home.  She grew up in Plattsburgh, NY as an army brat, went to law school and then practiced law before becoming a successful writer.  She now lives outside Portland, Maine.  Her main character, Clare Fergusson, is undoubtedly one of the more unusual detectives.  An ordained Episcopal priest, Clare has her own church in a small upstate NY town, and previously was a helicopter pilot in the army.  The town of Millers Kill is almost as much of a character as police chief Russ Van Alstyne with whom Clare collaborates.

Almost every book title is a phrase from a Protestant hymn and some chapter titles too, but don’t be put off, there is some church politics in the mix, but these are not preachy tomes.  One aspect of Spencer-Fleming’s work I particularly admire is her willingness to tackle contemporary issues within the context of a murder mystery, be it abandoned babies or the struggles of returning veterans.  You may find, as I do, that her stories stay with you.  One such for me was One Was a Soldier published in 2011.

Tidy Tidbits: Reading, Cheese & Theater

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READING WOMEN

Our local paper included an article from the Washington Post by Alyssa Rosenberg about reading a year’s worth of books written by women.  That’s a fine idea, but she carried it a step further and did a pair of books each month for a total of 24.  I was intrigued and checked to see how many of these titles I had already read, a disappointing five in all.

Some of her pairings were unusual and some I will follow up.  For example, she paired My Brilliant Friend, which I’m happy to report I did finish and enjoyed, with Last Things by Jenny Offill, a first novel set in contemporary Vermont.  Calling each of these “slim,” however, is misleading as the Ferrante novel is a dense 300+ pages.  The Margaret Fuller biography by Marshall is paired with Marriage: A History by Stephanie Coontz—interesting since Fuller spent the bulk of her life as a single woman.  And Louise Erdrich’s beautiful novel, The Round House, is paired with The Secret History by Donna Tartt.  I loved the Erdrich book and certainly know of Tartt’s work; each novel is told from the male perspective.  There are more on Rosenberg’s list, but I’ll leave you to explore the rest.

CHEESE

We were in upstate New York (really upstate in the Finger Lakes region) last week.   Thanks to a recommendation from my sister-in-law, my sisters and I ventured into the countryside to visit the Muranda Cheese Company. It’s outside Waterloo, and on the way, we passed through the pleasant town of Seneca Falls, home of the Women’s Rights National Historical Park.  Seneca Falls was the site of the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention.

On their farm, the Murray family raises Registered Holsteins; the milk from these cows is used for producing a wide range of cheeses which are aged, cut, and wrapped here.  For a modest $2.00 each, we were invited to taste 15 different cheeses.  They included several cheddars, Gouda, Colby, a killer blue, and an array of smoked and flavored cheeses—with garlic and chives, bacon, and sundried tomatoes.  Our host was knowledgeable and friendly and we each went home with more cheese!  And, not a surprise, you can order their cheese online.

CULTURE NOTE

We recently saw a first-rate production of Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz’s play, Sotto Voce.  It focuses on the relationship between an elderly female novelist and a young male student, both of whom have connections to the 1939 doomed voyage of  the S. S. St. Louis.  This boat was taking Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany to Cuba, but was denied entry there and also turned away by the U.S.  The two main characters in the play never meet face to face, and all their interactions happen by phone or e-mail.  It is a play of voices and silences, very creatively staged.

Tidy Tidbits: Film & Theater

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TIDY TIDBITS:  Film & Theater

This was a week when we gorged on culture, films especially.  The Sarasota Film Festival (SFF) is celebrating its 17th year, and over the course of ten days 270 films, a mix of documentaries and feature films, are screened.  We were late getting tickets, having been away, but still managed to see several noteworthy films.  Most of these are making the rounds of a number of film festivals, and at least some of them are set for commercial release in the next three to six months.  Here are my thoughts and my recommendations:

Dior and I.  An excellent film about the fashion industry and Raf Simons’ first couture collection for the House of Dior.  Featuring both passages from Christian Dior’s memoir and the suspenseful account of the creation of Simons’ collection,  this is documentary film making at its best.  If you ever wondered why haute couture is so dear, then seeing all the hand work involved here, you will understand.  The film was also the focus of a recent NY Times piece in their style magazine.  Not for fashionistas only.

For the Record.  A documentary about court stenographers and those who do closed captioning for TV shows and the like.  I really enjoyed this film.  My husband got bored and snoozed a bit.  There was the excitement of the competition to see who was the fastest transcriber, and one of the contestants was local, from Sarasota.  I think my librarian and linguistically-inclined friends would enjoy this one.

Blood, Sweat and Beer.  The subject of this film is the craft beer industry and it portrayed two start-ups, one in Ocean City, Maryland, whose owner was having a rough time due to a copyright infringement law suit, and the other in a very depressed former Pennsylvania steel town.  Two energetic recent college graduates took on the challenge of creating a brewery and pub in Braddock in the midst of abject poverty and neglect.  The film could have used more editing, but it gives you a sense of how pervasive the craft beer industry has become.

Wildlike.  A feature-length film set midst the gorgeous Alaskan scenery, this is the story of a teenage girl who is sent to stay with her uncle.  She has problems with his behavior and runs away and attaches herself to a middle aged backpacker who has recently lost his wife and is trying to find some peace and solace in Denali National Park. Sensitively done and worth viewing.

Paradise, FL.  Another feature film, this one shot in the Sarasota Bay area and hence of interest due to its local color.  It’s a depressing tale of drug addiction and family strife straining the friendship and loyalty between two young male fishermen.  Overly long and drawn out, it still held my interest.  It would be better with some judicious cutting.

Theater

Asolo Rep did it again with their marvelous production of Somerset Maugham’s Our Betters!  This was the equal of anything you’d see on Broadway and was both well cast and well staged.  Featuring four women, all of whom were part of the exodus of American heiresses to Britain to find titled husbands, it was funny, fabulous and thought provoking about the role of women.  This director chose to move the time of the play from 1917 to the 1920’s in order to have costumes that were more flowing and allowed the women characters greater freedom of movement.  An inspired decision!

Booknote: James and Ferrante

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I have returned home from my Asian Adventure and along with re-adjusting to east coast time, I’m back doing more reading.  Here are my latest books.

WSJ Book Club

Sometime ago, I read that the Wall Street Journal was starting an online book club.  I was intrigued, but I was still working and didn’t think I had the time to commit to it.  Now, Colm Toibin, one of my favorite authors, is moderating a 6 week discussion of Henry James’ novel, The Golden Bowl.  I probably last read this novel in college, but vividly recall the Masterpiece Theater production of some years ago.

From www.imdb.com
From www.imdb.com

 

 

 

Now I’m reading it again, this time from the 1922 New York edition of James’ works given to me by my grandfather.  This copy was published on good paper (probably acid-free or mostly so), is in good condition, and comprises two volumes, given its length.  I have the added bonus of a folded sheet of lined yellow paper with my grandfather’s handwritten notes tucked in the front.

James’ sentences are lengthy with many phrases strung together by commas.  I liked Toibin’s advice, in an article about his choice, to just read them and not worry about understanding every nuance.  He also suggested reading at least 50 pages at a time without a break.

Online, a question for discussion is posed each week, and this week’s relates to the names of the characters, Adam Verver, Prince Amerigo, and Fanny Assingham, and their significance.  I have long been a fan of Henry James and this online discussion provides motivation and discipline for my reading.

 

Elena Ferrante 

In between short takes of James, I’m reading the first volume, My Brilliant Friend, of Italian novelist Elena Ferrante’s series about a lifelong friendship between two women.  Ferrante has received a lot of publicity and much praise for her works and occasioned curiosity about her identity and even her sex.  She was born in Naples and has written a number of successful novels, but uses a pseudonym.  As her works have been translated and made available outside Italy, there has been greater speculation about her including an article last year in the New York Times.

BrilliantFriendThe first volume is not an easy read, in my opinion, but I am determined to finish it.  Set in a poor neighborhood, the childhood section is somewhat stream of consciousness with a raft of characters and could be said to mimic how a younger child’s mind recalls events.  The second section, “Adolescence,”  is more straightforwardly presented.  Ferrante easily captures the capricious nature of childhood relationships; she likes me, she hates me, she feels superior; I admire her, but I want to best her, I want her to like me, etc.  Onward, I go!