"Peter Quint - you devil!"

Over the weekend I finished my second choice - The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - of the 2007 Winter Classics Challenge hosted by A Reader's Journal - this post provides all the details of the challenge.

The Turn of the Screw is "widely recognised as one of literature's most gripping ghost stories", unfortunately I am obviously missing a literature gene as despite trying my darndest, I utterly failed to be gripped by this short gothic novella. It contains all the ingredients which usually captivate me; a bucolic English country estate, sinister supernatural spirits and unexplained occurrences along with the need to fully utilise your own imagination. But, something was missing for me, I hope you have more luck.

"What I had said to Mrs Grose was true enough: there were in the matter I had put before her depths and possibilities that I lacked resolution to sound; so that when we met once more in the wonder of it we were of a common mind about the duty of resistance to extravagant fancies." (James, 1991:33)

"Carbon, Betteredge! Mere carbon, my good friend, after all!"

In January 2006 I read my first ever Wilkie Collins, the magnificent The Woman in White, and now in January 2007 I have finished my second Wilkie Collins and my first choice for the 2007 Winter Classics Challenge sponsored by A Reader's Journal - The Moonstone.



An exquisite jewel, mysterious Hindoo curses and spies, morally and financially bankrupt gentlemen, exotic locales, opium eaters, bumbling cops and shrewd detectives, the Shivering Sand, scientific experiments, an overly pious and venomous spinster, philosophy courtesy of Robinson Crusoe and detective fever.

All this awaits your discovery in The Moonstone.




"Very good, sir. I'll just rest my eyes, and then I'll go on again. In the meantime, Mr Franklin - I don't want to hurry you - but would you mind telling me, in one word, whether you see your way out of this dreadful mess yet?" (Collins, 1999:298-99.)

2007 Winter Classics Challenge:

I am accepting the challenge to read 5 classics during the months of January and February.

My list of 5 classics:
The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins

Turn of the Screw - Henry James

Gothic Tales - Elizabeth Gaskell

The Jewel of Seven Stars - Bram Stoker

Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift

My list for extra credit:

Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray (Already read this in January, before I knew about this challenge!)

Romeo and Juliet / Macbeth - William Shakespeare (Re-reads and quite short - hence 2)

Plague, Mummies & Ancient Civilisations:

Cambridge, England, 1348. The Black Plague is on its way and physician Matthew Bartholomew must distinguish friend from foe while attempting to solve the inexplicable death of the Master of Michaelhouse.

"Tell Edith I am fine. But I do not understand what is happening at Michaelhouse. The Bishop is due to arrive today and will take matters in hand." (Gregory, 2005:108)

Peabody, Emerson and Ramses are once again embroiled in murder, mystery and ancient Egyptian artefacts. This time, however, the action occurs in the foggy streets of London."This period of history is often known by the name of the sovereign; and although no one respects the Crown more than Amelia Peabody Emerson, honesty compels me to note that her gracious Majesty's ignorant remarks about the sex she adorned did nothing to raise it from the low esteem in which it was held." (Peters, 2000:1)

The action shifts to the unknown deserts of Nubia (Sudan) and the Emersons are unable to resist a cryptic map - drawn on papyrus - and make one of their most startling, and perilous, discoveries yet. "From the sandy wastes of the cemeteries of Memphis to the rocky cliffs of the Theban necropolis, we had wandered hand in hand (figuratively speaking), in terrain almost as inhospitable as the desert that presently surrounded us. Never before, however, had we been more than a few miles from the Nile and its life-giving water. It lay far behind us now, and there was not a pyramid or a broken wall to be seen, much less a tree or a sign of habitation." (Peters, 2002:4-5)

(All images from Amazon Japan.)

The Washerwoman of Finchley Common:

"There is a great quantity of eating and drinking, making love and jilting, laughing and the contrary, smoking, cheating, fighting, dancing, and fiddling: there are bullies pushing about, bucks ogling the women...yokels looking up at the tinselled dancers and poor old rouged tumblers, while the light-fingered folk are operating upon their pockets behind. Yes, this is VANITY FAIR; not a moral place certainly; nor a merry one, though very noisy..."

(Thackeray 1994:ix)

(Image from Amazon UK)

It may not be moral nor merry, but it is a highly entertaining place to while away an afternoon or three and it's infinitely more reader friendly (way less pages!) than that other classic Napoleonic novel - War and Peace. Although our protagonists do feature in the Battle of Waterloo the main focus is on the social trials and tribulations involved in attempting to make it in suitable society.

For me, the scheming and manipulative Becky Sharp is a more interesting and memorable character than the insipid and dull Amelia Sedley...but I'm often drawn to dark characters! Who do you prefer and why?

Egypt in miniature...

You may be surprised to realise that this is not the real Sphinx:

It is a cleverly realised miniature from Tobu World Square in Tochigi Prefecture. And it fits nicely with the most recent Amelia Peabody adventure I've devoured - Lion in the Valley:

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Amelia, Radcliffe and their precocious son Ramses do battle against the Master Criminal - a genius of disguise - as they attempt to excavate the burial chamber of the Black Pyramid in Dahshoor...


And I leave you with the grandeur of Abu Simbel:

It's spectacular...even in miniature!

It began with an orange...

"Oranges were scarce; we'd only tasted them occasionally. On the market in Angers we might see them sometimes: fat Spanish oranges with their thick dimpled rind; finer-grained blood oranges from the South, cut open to reveal their grazed purple flesh..." (Harris, 2002:37)

Lush and evocative lyricism is used to breathtaking effect in Five Quarters of the Orange - itself a mystical and intriguing title! Framboise Simon returns to the small village she grew up in during the German occupation to find that all is not as she remembers.

"A couple of days later, at Dadi's house, the Starched Aunts entered the room and I said, 'At last! The tarts are here.' I was referring to the lemon tarts which Dadi's bearer wheeled in on the tea-trolley, just after the aunts entered, but it was an inauspicious start to the evening, nonetheless." (Shamsie, 2001:123)

A delightfully absurd, laugh inducing read set in inner city London and Pakistan. The complicated family tree of the Dard-e-Dils and their predilection for storytelling and producing "not-quite twins" mixes nicely with a potentially scandalous romance.

"Once every few years, even now, I catch the scent of Africa...Ripe fruits, acrid sweat, urine, flowers, dark spices, and other things I've never even seen..." (Kingsolver, 2005:87)

The Prices, an evangelical Baptist family, pack up their belongings and move to the Belgian Congo in 1959 where they find the things they carried - Betty Crocker cake mixes - are quickly rendered obsolete by their new surroundings. Africa has a profound effect on each family member and their growth and decline during their time in the jungle make for a thought provoking tale.

Which is worthy of my yen?!

Bearette recently mentioned that she wouldn't mind seeing my Amazon Japan wishlist...but in the interests of interactivity and the coyness of my nature I've turned a simple request into a quasi-complicated blog entry - that involves a lot of reading on your behalf!

The following 5 books (with italicised snapshots courtesy of stolen from Amazon) are currently in my 348 item wishlist:

The Book of the Heathen - Robert Edric: "At a declining British outpost in the Congo, a man stands accused of murdering a young native girl. The prisoner, Nicholas Frere, an intelligent and once-respected employee, denies none of the charges. His sole remaining friend, James Frasier (the narrator), is the only one who has not already judged and condemned Frere. Everyone around him, from fellow employees to the local trade baron and the deranged priest of a local mission, seems to have a suspiciously motivated interest in Frere's upcoming trial and fate."

Memoirs of Cleopatra - Margaret George: "Bestselling novelist Margaret George brings to life the glittering kingdom of Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, in this lush, sweeping, and richly detailed saga. Told in Cleopatra's own voice, this is a mesmerizing tale of ambition, passion, and betrayal, which begins when the twenty-year-old queen seeks out the most powerful man in the world, Julius Caesar, and does not end until, having survived the assassination of Caesar and the defeat of the second man she loves, Marc Antony, she plots her own death rather than be paraded in triumph through the streets of Rome."

The Hamilton Case - Michelle de Kretser: "Sam Obeysekere, a lawyer from Ceylon in the middle of the last century who "strove to perfect a performance that never deceived its audience." Obeysekere's narrative starred himself as a British gentleman, a latter-day Sherlock Holmes, in fact, but it was all too elementary, both to his fellow Ceylonese and to the British colonists on the island, that the brown-skinned, stiff-collared "native" was not the right kind of gentleman. These dueling narratives come together in the infamous Hamilton case. Would Obeysekere's role in this murder investigation ensure his favored position among the British elite, or would it expose the folly of his dreams?"

Pillars of Salt - Fadia Faqir: "She interweaves ancient Arabic storytelling traditions, with Muslim and Christian theological sources and modern facts, to capture an alternative picture of Jordanian history - the continuing repression of Arab women whose daily contributions to the nation's economy and struggle for independence are stifled in a male-dominated society. This is the story of two women, a Bedouin peasant named Maha from the Jordan Valley, and Um Saad, wife of a prosperous butcher in Amman. They are forced to share a room in the Amman mental hospital to which they have been confined before and after the British Mandate of 1921."

The Vintner's Luck - Elizabeth Knox: "One summer evening in 1808, Sobran Jodeau stumbles through his family's vineyard in Burgundy, filled with wine and love sorrows. As Sobran sways in a drunken swoon, an angel appears out of nowhere to catch him.Once he gets over his shock, Sobran decides that Xas, the male angel, is his guardian sent to counsel him on everything from marriage to wine production. But Xas turns out to be far more mysterious than angelic."

I'm sure you all agree they all look equally compelling...but what I want to know is the next time I click and buy... which one should I put in my virtual basket?

Buckle up...

The lovely Stepherz has tagged me, and true to form I will not be following the rules of this meme exactly, but will be embellishing at will - enjoy the ride.

1. Name of a book I have read more than once:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl, To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee, The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien and The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley, a swashbuckling feminist retelling of the Arthurian legend!


(Image from Amazon Japan )

2. If I could have one book while stuck on a deserted island:
The Dummies Guide to Surviving on a Deserted Island - Man Friday

3. A book that made me laugh:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams, Switch Bitch - Roald Dahl, Down Under - Bill Bryson and He Died With a Felafel in his Hand - John Birmingham, gruesome yet hilarious tales of housesharing.


(Image from Amazon Japan)

4. A book that made me cry:
Little Women - Lousia May Alcott

5. One book I wish I had written:
Tikki Tikki Tembo - Arlene Mosel and The Mayfair Witches Chronicles - Anne Rice

6. One book that I think shouldn't have been written:
As I said back in June, books are the gateway to new worlds, adventures and ideas and as such, all books are important

7. A book I'm currently reading:
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters

8. One book I've been meaning to read:
Well my Amazon wishlist currently contains 348 books I've been meaning to read, but I'll just tell you three of them... Perfume: The Story of a Murderer - Patrick Suskind, Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women - Geraldine Brooks and City of Falling Angels - John Berendt


(Image from Amazon Japan)

9. One book that changed my life:
The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton, it showed me the power of imagination


(Image from Amazon Japan)

Now I am supposed to tag someone...but you can tag yourselves if you are keen to play, and feel free to bend the rules!

Velvety smooth bliss...

"He deserved a reward for having freed himself of the brandy futures, and he'd been unable to resist any longer the seductive odour that had begun to permeate his chamber..." (Liss 2004:104)


(Image from here)

"It was not as good as what he had taken with Geertruid, or even what he'd tasted at the Turkish tavern, but he nevertheless liked the way the bitterness and the sweetness played off each other. He took a sip and savoured how the coffee washed into his mouth like a kiss. He sniffed at the bowl and looked at in the light of the oil lamp. And before he finished, he knew he would make another helping." (Liss 2004:104)


(Image from Amazon Japan)

After reading the above passage, I succumbed to my craving and brewed myself a cup of velvety smooth bliss...why don't you join me?

Puzzles, tricks and whodunits...

I love mysteries. Since the much lamented demise of BBC Japan I have had to search out alternatives to the brilliant The Mrs Bradley Mysteries in which Diana Rigg - as Mrs Adela Bradley - extols pragmatic words of wisdom like the following:

"Same old coiffure, husband secure. New style of hair, husband beware!"

Fortunately we do have LaLa TV here in Japan, which replays some classic TV shows like Murder, She Wrote starring the indomitable Jessica Fletcher - aka Angela Lansbury:


(Image from here)

Now, while I do enjoy sitting back and watching Mrs Fletcher handily solve a murder mystery in 45 minutes...woman cannot live on TV alone - she also needs books and lots of them!

DCI Alan Banks live in North Yorkshire and "is lean and wiry with short, cropped black hair greying a little at the temples...not especially handsome in the classic sense, but attractive to women...fanatical about music..." (Inspector Banks' PIR will fill in the blanks for you.)


(Image from Amazon UK)

Critics regard Peter Robinson's In A Dry Season to be the best of his literary police procedurals starring Banks. It links the lives of residents from Hobbs End - a village that was surrendered to the waters of Thornfield Reservoir - to discover how a young woman may have died over 50 years ago.

Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch is a man with a mission, a mission to "speak for the dead". Michael Connelly selected this name as "I didn't want to waste anything. I wanted all aspects of his character to be meaningful...I saw the metaphorical possibilities of juxtaposing contemporary Los Angeles with the Bosch paintings." (Read Michael Connelly's FAQs for the full description.)


(Image from Amazon UK )

The Last Coyote details Bosch's attempts to investigate an unsolved crime from 1961. A brutal murder that has profoundly affected Bosch, as the victim was his mother. He discovers that someone was able to keep the investigators away from the key suspects...will the cover-up remain intact today?

Commissario Guido Brunetti lives and works in La Serenissima (Venice, Italy), a relatively crime-free locale. "He loves his family, the majesty of Italian cuisine, and his job, even as he constantly rails against the bumbling and interference of his superiors...Guido is an island of integrity in a sea of corruption." (This site has the full details.)


(Image from Amazon UK)

Acqua Alta reintroduces some colourful characters from the first Brunetti mystery, Death At La Fenice, and forces Brunetti to investigate a savage beating and a swollen corpse against the backdrop of a cold and grey Venice.

Banks, Bosch and Brunetti are investigators that are looking to provide some sense of meaning to life and are inexorably drawn to the victims in their respective series. Each murder provides more details about their personalities and motivations. While you can delve into any of the novels for a complete tale, you will enjoy the character development more if you read the series in order. (Does anyone else find it weird that they all have "B" names?!)

"Gossip is the creation of civilisation"

The relentless humidity continues but luckily I've had some welcome company. Three intriguing characters; Manlius Hippomanes, a philosopher in the final days of the Roman Empire, Olivier De Noyens, a medieval poet during the years of the Black Plague, and Julien Barneuve, living in Vichy France. One text links their stories, The Dream of Scipio:



It's a clever novel with some interesting points to make about civilisation and our failure to live civilly, not only today, but in every age.

"Do you think that the peace of a thousand cancels out the unjust death of one single person?" (Pears, 2002:389)

(Image from Amazon Japan)

The "Russian" Dan Brown?

Steve Berry may very well be the next Dan Brown.
In fact, Dan says "Writes with the self-assured style of a veteran."

I recently read his 2nd (written first but published second!) novel The Romanov Prophecy:



(Book image from Amazon.co.uk)

It's fast paced and full of interesting characters like Rasputin, the mad Siberian monk, Felix Yussoupov, a cross-dressing noble, and of course the Romanovs themselves:


(Photo from here)

It's set in the present day in Russia, mainly Moscow & St Petersburg, and the USA and is basically a non-stop chase, involving violence, corruption, death, the mafiya, prophecy deciphering, borzois and snippets of Russian history. All your basic thriller ingredients! It's definitely not a piece of literature, but is an enjoyable romp nevertheless.

Interestingly, it took Berry 12 years to get published but he now has 4 books on the market (The Amber Room, The Romanov Prophecy, The Third Secret and The Templar Legacy) with another 3 due in the next 3 years. Perseverance really does pay off!

"Another shirt ruined..."

I have been engrossed in Victorian-era Egypt and the charming exploits of the redoubtable Amelia Peabody. I first made the acquaintance of Ms Peabody and her collection of parasols in Crocodile on the Sandbank:



The love of my beloved is on yonder side
A width of water is between us
And a crocodile waiteth on the sandbank.
(Ancient Egyptian love poem)

Fortunately Amelia is able to overcome the crocodile and find her own true love, the irascible Radcliffe Emerson, a man who is as hard on crockery as he is on his shirts! Their adventures continue in Curse of the Pharaohs:



It's a thrilling ride and I'm now anxiously awaiting the next instalment - The Mummy Case!

(Images from Amazon.co.uk)

 

Vermicious Knids...

Vermicious Knids are large greeny-brown egg-shaped monsters who go to other planets and eat those who live there. They attack space vessels by ramming them, pointy-end first. Vermicious Knids cannot enter Earth's atmosphere without being burned up by the friction.