Midnight in Austenland

The title: Midnight in Austenland
The authors: Shannon Hale
Publication: Bloomsbury, 2012
Got it from: The library

So I did something I almost never do - diverged from my reading list to read the sequel to a book I've just read.  Midnight in Austenland follows a different character in the same place.   Charlotte Kinder is a divorced thirtysomething woman with two kids and a cheating ex-husband.  A successful Internet entrepreneur, she treats herself to a holiday in Austenland to indulge her love of Jane Austen.  But because she states on her questionnaire that she also loves Agatha Christie novels, she and the other actors in Austenland get involved trying to solve a murder mystery.  The problem is that Charlotte thinks the mystery may spill from make-believe into the real world...


I really enjoyed this sequel and read it in just a few days.  I liked Charlotte as a heroine more than Jane from the original novel, since she has a more can-do attitude and spends less time feeling sorry for herself, even when she had more to deal with in her home life.  I also liked that we're mislead as to who the hero of the novel really is - let's just say it will probably be less of a surprise to those of you familiar with Northanger Abbey, the Austen novel this book is based on.  We also get to meet with some of the characters from the first novel - Mrs. Wattlesbrook, Col. Andrews and Miss Charming, and learn more of their back stories.  Overall I have to say I liked this novel more because there was more action involved in solving the mystery.  If I have to be nitpicky, I did smack my forehead a number of times when the characters did some very silly things  (without giving too much away, if you suspect there's a murderer in a cottage, you wait for the police, not go rushing in yourself!)  I certainly hope we'll get to have more adventures in Austenland. 

Non-fiction bites

Right now I'm in the middle of an unputdownable book (it's an Amelia Peabody!), but while I'm waiting to write that review, I thought I'd post about some of the non-fiction I've been reading over the past six months or so.  Here's my confession: I often bring home tons of non-fiction from the library, but I rarely have time to read them cover-to-cover unless it's already on my to-read list.  Nonetheless, I thought it would be fun to share some of the titles I've read.  All of them were published within the last year:

Tutankhamen by Joyce Fyldesley

Obviously I am crazy about all things Egypt and this book is an excellent introduction to the rock-star like pharaoh who was a minor king in his own time but has achieved huge cultural significance today.  The author touches on both what is known about Tutankhamen's actual life (no, he wasn't murdered) and his discovery by Howard Carter in the 1920's.  Wisely, she urges readers to avoid any book about the pharaoh that uses the words: "the truth" or "the real story."

 

 The Siesta and the Midnight Sun: How Our Bodies Experience Time by Jessica Gamble

An interesting long at our circadian rhythms, both in terms of the shorter daily cycles and longer seasonal ones.  The author looks at a number of studies about what happens when usual daylight clues are removed and how in such cases human beings resort to a much longer sleep/wake cycle.  She also looks at how cultures adapt when there is an absence of light, such as the Arctic in winter.

If Walls Could Talk by Lucy Worsley

Similar to At Home by Bill Bryson, but somehow not as compelling.  Based on a miniseries in Britain, Lucy Worsley charts the history of our lives as seen through our home.  Covers much of the same ground as Bryson's book but is still full of interesting facts: for instance closets were once considered retreat spaces for reflection and prayer.  Definitely of interest to history junkies, particularly of the Tudor and Victorian age.

The World of Downtown Abbey by Julian Fellowes

A no-brainer for Downton Abbey fans, lots of great facts from the daughter of Julian Fellowes.  Gorgeous pictures of life on set, too.

50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True by Guy P. Harrison

I adored this book.  I devoured (almost) every single one of the 50 entries in just a couple of days.  I would put this on the list of books that everybody MUST read at some point in their lives.  Basically, the author cuts through all the nonsense and superstition in the world to explain in plain, non-condescending language, why things just aren't true.  Beliefs such as ghosts, UFO's, homeopathy, bad medicine, and religion all get exposed.  Although you may laugh at some of the beliefs (such as that witches are real), the author is quick to point out how harmful these beliefs can be, as in parts of Africa where the murder of innocent children on charges of witchcraft are ongoing.  Quite simply, this is an outstanding book on the necessity of thinking critically.  There is no ranting and raving here, the author is almost gentle in his approach, and his arguments are all the better for it.

Europe on 5 Wrong Turns a Day

Fans of funny travel writing a la Bill Bryson will probably enjoy this tale of a man who tours Europe using a 1963 guidebook (Europe on $5 a day) that  he found at a flea market.  The advice the book gives is of course hilariously out-of-date and Europe has changed considerably since then.  Or has it?  This book explores Europe then and now, as well as providing a guide to what you can get nowadays for $5.  (Not much, as it turns out).

The Statues that Walked by Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo

I've saved the most mysterious for last.  The name of Easter Island represents a secretly thrilling world of wonder for me, a far-flung island so remote its closest inhabited neighbour island is over 2,000 km away.  Nevertheless, I was surprised to learn that it actually has a good tourist industry, thanks to daily flights from Chile.  It seems that not even this remote island is safe from the ravages of the modern world - sigh.  Still, the history of the island is full of enough surprises and puzzles to keep even  the most jaded explorer happy.  Here's a fact I learned: the islanders were obsessed with hats, and when the Europeans came wearing theirs, the native women would sexy-dance to distract them and then grab the hats and run.  For some reason I feel this is the thing I'm going to remember the most about this book.

Austenland

The title: Austenland
The authors: Shannon Hale
Publication: Bloomsbury, 2007
Got it from: Book Depot, 2009
 
This was going to be a different review.  On Sunday morning, when I was halfway through the book, I made a draft that was going to be another scathing critique of chick lit.  It was going to talk about how I couldn't understand these chick lit heroines, how boring they are, how they expect their Mr. Darcys yet do nothing to earn them.  But then something happened.  I started getting into it.  And now, having finished it, I am astonished to report that I actually enjoyed it.

After the fun of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, I was longing to read another British chick-lit book that would be light and fun and silly. Jane is a single thirtysomething woman dissatisfied with her love life.  She is given a chance to live out her Jane Austen fantasies when she is willed a holiday to "Austenland" by a dead relative.  People (read: women) go to Austenland to be heroines in Jane Austen's novels, while actors are hired to fill out the male roles.  Jane is expected to live completely Regency-style for three weeks.

My big problem with the book at first was the main character.  Here is a tidbit remaining from my original harsher review:

I despised the main character.  First of all, she is ashamed and embarrassed about her Jane Austen obsession, so much so that she hides her Austen movies in a plant.  But why?  Why would any woman be ashamed of it?  I don't understand.  If grown women can go around proudly admitting they read and enjoyed Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey, why on earth would they be ashamed of enjoying an author who is considered one of the canon, the literary greats, history's finest?  Admitting you like Austen is like saying: I have brains and class.  Jane, don't you know all the cool women are doing it?

Then, as I said, things changed.  I'm still not sure I "get" some of Jane's actions.  But she did, in the end, prove to actually have a passion outside of her self-obsession, which was painting.  I wish the author had developed that aspect of her personality more, but I'm glad it was there.  I think the turning point for me was when Jane began to realize she may have genuine feelings for the actor hired to play the Mr. Darcy-like character.  She starts to question what is real and make-believe.  I loved the constant game of trying to figure out who is real, and who is false.  There is a great scene in the book when they all put on a play, and Jane and Mr. Nobley (the love interest) talk about whether actors can start to have real feelings outside of their plays, which naturally carries a double meaning inside the story we're reading. 

Oh, and I can't wait for the movie.  JJ Feild as Mr. Nobley?  Yes, please.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

The title: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
The authors: Lauren Willig
Publication: Penguin, 2005
Got it from: Library booksale, 2008


Happy Victoria Day, everyone! I've spent all weekend in the garden, so no surprises that I have flowers on the brain.  Naturally I also read The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.   It's based on the idea that the Scarlet Pimpernel was real, and that he later spawned a ring of British spies with flowers for their names.  The story follows Amy Balcourt, a young half-French girl who escaped from the terror and grew up wanting to avenge her father's death by joining the League of the Purple Gentian, a sort of spin-off spy of the Pimpernel's.  On her way to France Amy meets Richard Selwick, the Gentian's real-life alter ego who is pretending to be a dull archaeologist working for Napoleon.  Naturally, there is bickering and romance.  Overarching the whole story is the 21st century scholar, Eloise, who's studying the Pink Carnation and butts heads with the Gentian's descendant Colin Selwick.  (Of course there won't be any romance there.  Of course not).


Have I mentioned how much I love the whole superhero-in-disguise thing, where the woman is in love with the superhero but has a feud going with his true self?   Love, love, love it.  Way back when I was child, this was the premise of my favourite show of the time, Lois and Clark: The Adventures of Superman.  Also in Batman Forever, which everybody thinks is a crappy Batman but I disagree because it's all about how Chase Meridian falls for Batman but is all meh about Bruce Wayne (at least at first).  And of course, the origin of the whole trope, the Scarlet Pimpernel, as best embodied in the Anthony Andrews/Jane Seymour movie, which you absolutely must see.  I even love stories of highwaymen that invoke this trope, even though they're technically more bad guys than superheroes.


Which is to say that my love of superheroes/superspies kind of taints my reading of this story to err on the side of giddy joy.  The middle, where the action picks up, is particularly excellent.  Oh, it's silly good fun of course.  (And how jealous am I that the author was only twenty-six when she wrote this?  VERY JEALOUS.)  I figured out who the Pink Carnation was about twenty pages in, and there's not a ton of surprises.  But I just can't get tired of the "damnit I am a superhero and I can't fall in love with this annoying woman but I am so attracted to her" plot.  It's not gonna happen.

The Mysterious Howling

The title: The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling
The authors: Maryrose Wood
Publication: HarperCollins, 2010
Got it from: Gift to someone MC, loaned back to me


This book is what would happen if Lemony Snicket wrote Jane Eyre.  Miss Penelope Lumley, fifteen years old and a graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, goes to live as governess at Ashton Place.  The only problem is that her three charges were literally raised by wolves, and only found weeks earlier by Lord Ashton on a hunting expedition.  They are given the names Alexander, Beowulf and Cassiopeia Incorrigble.  Like My Fair Lady, Miss Lumley must not only instruct her pupils on the basics of literarure, math and science, but also on correct behaviour in Victorian society.  


Miss Lumley herself is the least interesting character in the story, behaving rather oddly for a fifteen-year-old governess in the way she immediately begins ordering the other servants around.  But the three children themselves are absolutely adorable, especially the way they add "awoo" to the end of every word ("Lumley" becomes "Lumawoo," a squirrel they make friends with is "Nutsawoo," the "wreck of the Hesperus" because "Wreck of the Hespawoo.")  This is a very silly story with lots of silly details, such as two guests' last names being Maytag and Hoover.  And there are lots of unanswered questions: who are the Incorrigbles?  Is there really somebody trapped in the wall?  Is there some relation between Miss Lumley and the children?  What does the coachman know that he's not saying?  No doubt the rest of the series will provide some answers.

Sweet Talking Man

The title: Sweet Talking Man
The authors: Bettina Krahn
Publication: Bantam, 2000
Got it from: Library booksale, 2009


New York, 1892: the story opens with two seventeen-year-old lovers at a clandestine meeting, upset at the girl's aunt for "not understanding" their puppy love.


Priscilla: "She's so old and lonely and miserable - she must be thirty years old."

Oh, to be seventeen again.


"She" refers to Beatrice von Furstenberg (not to be confused with Diane von Furstenberg), the widow of a wealthy businessman who has taken the reigns of her dead husband's company.  She's also a suffragist, which is why this book is made of awesome.


Prissy and Jeffrey, the two gag-worthy lovebirds, know that Aunt Beatrice won't approve of their love, so they hatch a plot whereby they will hire some men to kidnap Beatrice so Jeffrey can save her and she will be ever so grateful and approving of him.  To do this, Jeffrey asks his black-sheep cousin, attorney Connor Barrow, an Irishman who has connections to the Irish mob and is running for congress, where he can find two lowlifes.


This cannot possibly go wrong in any way, amiright?


As the two dimwitted Irish thugs, Dipper and Shorty (I love Dipper and Shorty!) proceed with the plan, they realize something has gone awry - namely, Jeffrey has been forced to stay home by his mother and can't come to Beatrice's rescue.  So they hide her in the one place nobody will look for her - a brothel.  Naturally, baby Jeffrey doesn't have a clue where to find her and has to ask cousin Connor to get her out.  Wearing nothing but a corset and brandishing the only thing she can find - a whip - Beatrice encounters Connor for the first time.  She is rightly furious, and when she discovers Connor's hand in the whole thing she blackmails him into publicly supporting women's suffrage.  You go, girl.


Ordinarily, I find the businesswoman angle doesn't work in romance novels.  Usually things work out just peachy for the heroine, and she rides through the story on a cloud of rainbows and sunshine.  Not so here.  This book exposes the realities of being a 19th century woman in business, and it sucks.  Beatrice's hold on her company is tenuous, and there is a harrowing scene where the board members vote whether to keep her on as president.  There is also some great stuff here about the prejudice and derision faced by suffragists, and their struggle to gain even the most basic of rights for women.  One of the major plot points is the difficulty faced by women in obtaining a bank account without a man's consent, something the heroine tries to change over the course of the story.


I really, really enjoyed this book.  A few years ago I reviewed one of the author's other novels, The Book of Seven Delights, and I thought it was fun but really silly.  Sweet Talking Man had so much more depth to it.  I liked the love story, but what I really loved was the character of Beatrice.  I love how she takes charge in a man's world, I love how she stands up for injustice toward women, I love how she doesn't stop passionately advocating for the things she believes in even after she falls in love.  One hundred and twenty years later, there are still women who could learn a lot from her about not relying on a man for everything.

Shadow of the Titanic

 The title: Shadow of the Titanic: The Incredible Stories of Those Who Survived
The authors: Andrew Wilson
Publication: Atria, 2011
Got it from: The library

I'm in the middle of reading this book about the Titanic survivors, and it's all a bit surreal to know that tonight is the 100th anniversary of the sinking.  100 years!  How crazy is that? 

I have been fascinated by the Titanic since I was a little girl.  My mom's family is from Halifax and she heard stories about it from her mom, and introduced me to books and movies about it at a young age (thanks mom!).  I also lived in Halifax and got to see the sites related to the disaster, so for me it definitely feels more "real" than legend.  I continued to read about it for many years but then "the" movie came out and I just couldn't stomach all the so-called interest as everybody jumped on the Titanic bandwagon.  It suddenly didn't seem special to me anymore, like it was a celebrity I loved who'd sold out for fame.  Thankfully the hype died down a few years later and I was back on the bandwagon again, reading up on it every chance I got.


Now the centennial anniversary is here and I find my interest piquing again.  Isn't it amazing that Titanic is still within living memory, and that there were survivors in my lifetime?  Isn't it incredible to think of all the change that has taken place since then, and yet it was not so long ago after all?  I love all the little details about the ship, all the human stories and tragedies and tales of survivors.  I find this book a bit disappointing - although I am learning about the big-name survivors, I was hoping to hear more about the lesser-known passengers for whom there is very little record.  It's still a good read, and a testament to the fact that the first class passengers were in no way happier than those in the lower classes.  Madeleine Astor was married to the richest man not just on the ship but probably in the world and her life story reads like a walk through crazytown junction.  Trust me, you wouldn't want to be in her pregnant 18-year-old shoes.  Compare her to the lesser-known 26-year-old Marion Wright, who traveled in second class, survived, married her sweetheart and settled down to a contented life on an Oregon farm.  Not all the stories are of tragedy and suicide, although these are detailed here too.  Overall I feel like I'm reading the Hello magazine gossip version of the passengers - most of these people are not people to whom I can relate, not being fabulously wealthy and weirdly eccentric myself.  


Maybe someday someone will write a book about the small tales and lesser-known people on board (maybe they have?).  Until then, I'll just keep mining for details and quietly walking the decks in my imagination.