Night and Day

Night and Day

Virginia Woolf

This book is about love and marriage - how relationships are affected by social mores and perceived obligations. Woolf also asks the bigger questions: What is love? What constitutes marriage? What is necesary for marital happiness? Is marriage necessary for happiness? What is happiness?

These are the questions facing Katherine Hilbery, who has been a willing, but bored, drudge, helping her mother with the task of researching her worthy grandfather, a well-known poet and family icon. These are questions also affecting her friends, William Rodney, mary Datchett, Cassandra Otway, and Ralph Denham.

I have loved every one of Woolf's works that I've read so far, and this one is no exception. Her writing rings as clear as a bell, yet every word, every phrase, every object is imbued with layers of meaning.

Ali and Nino

Ali and Nino

Kurban Said

I would characterize this book as Romeo and Juliet with an East/West culture clash rather than a familial clash. The setting, Baku, a crossroads between East and West is essential to the story.

Ali is a Muslim boy and Nino is a Christian, Georgian girl who happen to fall deeply in love.

While Ali's father agrees to the marriage, Nino's family at first refuses, until a supposed friend intervenes on Ali's behalf.

In the course of their courtship and marriage there are many obstacles thrown in their way - blood fueds, cultural and religious differences, and war. Much of their quest for happiness is played out in physical journeys from Baku to Persia, to Tiflis.

There was a fairy-tale quality about this story that I really enjoyed.

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

Harriet Reisen

As is true for so many others, Louisa May Alcott and her alter-ego, Jo March, are icons of my childhood.

I already knew quite a bit about Louisa May Alcott but I still found this an informative biography.

Louisa seemed to resemble her counterpart, Jo March, even more than I'd expected. I was also surprised by how many details from the Alcott's real lives found their way into Little Women. Not surprisingly, it seems as if she wrote her life, but as she wished it to be.

I found some of the details from Louisa's mid-life a bit surprising. For instance, her romance with the real Laurie.

I find it terribly sad that this woman who as a girl could go into raptures over nature, or who was always the one to lead any kind of fun, who gave so much pleasure to others, and who worked so hard for everyone around her was never able to find her own happiness. She never really was able to enjoy her own success.

Women in Love

Women in Love

D.H. Lawrence

Women in Love is the story of the Brangwen sisters who are very different in their approaches to life and relationships. The novel centers on Ursula's relationship with Birkin and Gudrun's relationship with Gerald Crich, son of the owner of the town's coal mine.

This is my first foray into Lawrence's work, and it will not be my last! In spite of the angst and over-analytical tendencies, it is the most lush, sumptuous writing I've ever had the pleasure to read. I loved it!

Flashman

Flashman

George MacDonald Fraser

The main character, Harry Flashman is a foolish, self-preserving, bigoted, womanizing coward. I didn't like him at all, yet couldn't help but laugh at the scrapes he would get into, and through no real effort of his own, get out of. I enjoyed the adventure, humor, and history. In its way, it was a fun read.

Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist

Nellie BlyL Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist

Brooke Kroeger

I love reading about unorthodox, adventurous, Victorian-era women and had recently wanted to know more about Nellie Bly.

Kroeger's portrait of Bly is both thorough and balanced. I came away with less respect for Bly than I thought I would, but I learned more about her than I had hoped. I also came away with respect for the author.

A River in the Sky

A River in the Sky

Elizabeth Peters

This is the last boook in the Amelia Peabody series to date, although it takes place out of chronological order.

This time, in a bit of an aberration, the Emerson family heads to Jerusalem and the Holy Land rather than to Egypt. The plan is to meet up with Ramses who has been working on a dig in Samaria.

While in Samaria, Ramses' insatiable curiousity and nose for trouble, (likely inherited from his fond maternal parent), leads him into a situation which may have dire consequences.

Meanwhile, as the Emersons await his delayed arrival, they must avert an explosion of the powder keg that is made up of Jerusalem's multitude of religious sects. A thoughtless, incompetent excavator, a man who might well have ties to German intelligence, may have deliberately lit the fuse.

I was very sorry to have come to the end of the Amelia Peabody series. It has been a great pleasure to have spent the last two summers with Amelia and her family.