Astray

Despite hearing good things about it, I'd never read any of Emma Donoghue's work, largely because the subject matter of her most well known novel, Room, seemed too harrowing for my taste. Then I picked up the short story collection Astray and got my first taste of her writing.

All of the stories in the collection deal with the theme of being unmoored in some way. Each is centered around characters who are about to leave their homes, in transit between two places, or just arriving somewhere new. They're all short works of historical fiction, set in time periods that span from the 1600s to the 1960s. Donoghue's brand of historical fiction takes the phrase a bit more literally than some authors might. She doesn't just pepper her stories with period details of a specific time and place, but basis the circumstances of each of her stories on events that actually transpired. She follows each story with a short explanation of the historical facts that inspired it. In some cases, it's a fairly well known incident involving famous figures like P.T. Barnum or Charles Dickens. In others, it's a piece of local news that was unearthed by some obscure historical record or newspaper clipping. In all cases, it's clear that Donoghue has a passion for digging through history. The stories she creates from her findings give new life to all but forgotten bits of the past.

The opening story, "Man and Boy", is my personal favorite in the book. Its first few pages are quite disconcerting, with the narrator addressing the reader in the second person. Slowing you realize that the narrator is the elephant keeper at a London zoo, and the "you" he's addressing is his charge. A surprisingly touching story unfolds as the one-sided dialogue--relatable to any pet owner--reveals the affectionate bond that exists between the elephant and the keeper, who's an otherwise hardened curmudgeon. Most of the stories in Astray provide interesting reading, and I'd highly recommend this one if you only have time for one or two of them.

Oatcakes

Today the award for favorite recently baked treat goes to Heidi Swanson's oatcakes, from her cookbook Super Natural Everyday. According to what Swanson writes in the recipe, oatcakes are apparently quite common in San Francisco bakeries. Although they look like muffins, their texture is closer to that of an oatmeal cookie. Their slightly sweet flavor and interesting texture perfectly compliment one another, and they're just healthy enough to justify eating them for breakfast. 

This is a must-try recipe (and it looks like you can find it here). 

A Little Folly

Going into A Little Folly, the Regency era novel by Jude Morgan, I thought the book could go either way for me based on the fact that it's drawn comparisons to both Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. Obviously I love the former, but the only novel I read by the latter didn't necessarily leave me clamouring for more. Then I read the opening sentence of A Little Folly and was reassured. "Sir Clement Carnell's ruling passing, until the very last moment of his life, was his passion for ruling" sets a tone of gentle, ironic social observation and commentary that's very much in the vein of Austen herself.

As the start of the novel, Sir Clement Carnell has just died. During his life he was strict to the point of cruelty, closely controlling every aspect of the lives of his son and daughter, Valentine and Louisa. Now, at their own disposal for the first time, the siblings decide to start to "live life". Small acts of independence, like removing an ugly screen from the sitting room, soon lead to bigger ones, like rekindling relations with London relatives who were estranged from Sir Clement and, eventually, making an extended visit to London, where they quickly become swept up in the bustling social scene. Although both siblings are equally inexperienced, Louisa is the more cautious and sensible of the two, and she soon begins to realize that some of the "little follies" she and Valentine have caused have the potential to permanently harm their social standing.

 

The strength of this novel seems to be the way in which it makes nod to elements from predecessors like Austen's novels, but takes those elements in new directions that feel fresh, not predictable. This is especially true when it comes to romantic entanglements. Present among the cast of characters is the Carnell's stern and aloof neighbor, who also happens to be handsome and wealthy; Valentine's slightly older best friend, who exudes good sense and sarcastic humor; and a brooding but charming solider. It's not surprise that all three are set up as potential matches for Louisa. What is surprising is that I had a hard time predicting which one would prevail until at least about two-thirds of the way through the story. Morgan (which is actually the nom de plume of Tim Wilson!) certainly seems to know how to craft an intriguing romantic plot.

 

Are you a fan of Regency novels? Have you read anything by Jude Morgan?

Friday Fancies

I've been uninspired to do Friday posts for the past couple of weeks. I'm tempted to blame the arrival of spring and the extra hours of light for making me want to spend as little time as possible looking at a computer screen, but I'm pretty sure I've said the same thing about summer, fall, and winter at one time or another. Instead, I'll just try to beat the blahs with this group of links that I've collected over the past few weeks.

(image via here)

This food and literature blog is worth a look. (Thanks for the tip, Lara!)

A cute article and video about Etsy's dog-friendly office.

These Jane Austen postcards look pretty enough to frame.

A collection of covers of The Great Gatsby. 

On a related yet entirely different note, here's what happens when The Great Gatsby meets Arrested Development. 

And I'm not sure I've ever linked to a funny animal video before, but this one is kind of worth it.

A Backward Glance

Edith Wharton's autobiography, A Backward Glance, couldn't be more aptly named. While many biographies can be said to offer a long, close stare at a particular subject, this one truly is just a glance. Wharton doesn't try to present the full story of her life. Instead, she compiles a (not always chronological) collection of memories, and can often be found saying something along the lines of, "I won't go into detail about...." this or that part of her life. This kind of cursory treatment isn't without its problems. It tends to be a bit uneven, and much of the middle third of the book gets bogged down with anecdotes about her various acquaintances. This is interesting when the person in question is Henry James, but less so when she goes into detail about people who are no longer commonly known figures. She also barely alludes to her separation from her husband, an aspect of her life I would have been interested in hearing more about. These are minor quibbles, though, and can be easily remedied by reading a more comprehensive, impartial biography of Wharton. On the whole, I think A Backward Glance is an interesting read for anyone who has enjoyed Wharton's books and knows a bit about her life already.

In the spirit of Wharton's meandering style of reminiscing, the following is a random collection of some of the more interesting facts I learned from the book, along with a couple of quotes that I thought were particular gems.

Wharton opens the book with her philosophy on aging, which is that "in spite of illness, in spite even of the arch-enemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways".

Wharton's famous home, The Mount, was named after the country home owned by her great-grandfather, located in what is now...Astoria, Queens!

One of the biggest influences throughout Wharton's life was the long stretch of her childhood years that her family spent living abroad, a situation that was brought about as a way to economize after American currency depreciation after the Civil War.

Wharton's parents weren't particularly literary or intellectual themselves, but they did stress proper English usage to their children and didn't allow them to read children's books by authors who used "bad" English (including books by Louisa May Alcott!). Knowing this, it's easy to see how an emphasis on precise language choice shows itself in Wharton's novels.

And finally, the importance Wharton places on finding pleasure in the small things in life is one of the biggest themes that recurs through the book. She closes her memoir with a quote that eloquently revisits her opening theme: "Life is the saddest thing there is next to death; yet there are always new countries to see, new books to read, a thousand little daily wonders to marvel and rejoice in".