Cold winter months mean lots of reading time. When the trails around my house are icy and snowpacked, the garden is tucked away, and night comes early, I love curling up by the fire and reading.
Here's a look at my January books.
Circe, by Madeline Miller - absolutely wonderful. I loved Miller's Song of Achilles, and this was also terrific. The story of the witch/goddess Circe, daughter of Helios, one of the Titans and the sun god of Greek mythology. I loved so many things about this book, starting with the gossipy world of the gods, their jealousies, rivalries, passions, and pastimes. I loved how Circe was born immortal but had to learn witchcraft--I loved how she was able to use her magic to protect her son, her island, and their lives. I loved seeing Odysseus and his odyssey through her eyes, and that of Penelope.
Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography by Marion Meade - another winner. I have long admired Eleanor and reading a complete bio of her was a treat. It was both scholarly and easy to read, not a mean feat. Having been published in 1977 it's a bit dated. How I wish one of the many cable/network companies would make a mini-series of her life. We're saturated with the Tudors, although I do plan to watch The Spanish Princess on Starz, about Katherine of Aragon. How could I not?
Transcription, by Kate Atkinson - Atkinson is fast becoming one of my favorite contemporary authors. This novel is about Juliet Armstrong, a woman typist who works for MI-5 in London during WWII, helping them spy on the British who were Nazi sympathizers or collaborators--she types up the transcriptions of the meetings that MI-5 tapes. After the war, she works for the BBC Radio, and her past comes back to haunt her. Such a fascinating story, giving me a view into an aspect of the war that I knew nothing about. Atkinson is incredibly skillful in building the tension of the story, as she oscillates between two primary time period, giving clues and building tension with each transition. The ending really walloped me--I did not see it coming.
O Pioneers, by Willa Cather - tremendous, an instant favorite, and first in the Great Plains trilogy
Agnes Grey, by Anne Bronte - a disappointing classic but my first book in the 2019 Back to the Classics challenge.
You read some great books last month. What's on your list for February?
ReplyDeleteTwo books on Austen for our Feb 10 JASNA meeting--At Home with Jane Austen, and What Matters in Jane Austen. Plus Grandma Gatewood's Walk about the Appalachian Trail, a couple of Tournament of Books books, and hopefully a bit of time for War and Peace!
DeleteThree very interesting looking books. I am likey to at least read Circe soon. If you have not already read it, I highly recamend Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad. The two works seem to be in the same vein.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've been meaning to get a copy of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad. Thanks for the reminder.
DeleteJane,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you wrote about your impressions of Transcription. I have it on my list, but I need to bump it up.
And I totally agree with you that there needs to be a series, or mini-series, or movie, or just more information about Eleanor of Aquitaine. Who has played her since Katherine Hepburn? And in that movie (Peter O'Toole plays Henry II) viewers only see a sliver of her later life. That was a very long time ago.)
I liked Sharon Penman's second volume in her series, Time and Chance, which focuses on Eleanor's early life and the early years of her life with Henry. I read the novel last summer. Penman's novels are very long, but she's done her research.
I really liked Time and Chance too--I only read 1 Penman every year or so because of their length, but they are absolutely my favorite historical novels.
DeleteI googled Eleanor of Aquitaine movies, and it appears that Glenn Close played her in another filming of Lion in Winter. It's her early years I want to see--living in Aquitaine, marrying the French king, going on crusade, escaping from her marriage and almost getting kidnapped before marrying Henry Plantagenet.
Jane,
DeleteI didn't know about the Glenn Close in Lion in Winter. Thank you for updating me.
But I wholeheartedly agree with you. The early years are the most dramatic--what these film makers are missing!
Best wishes
As usual, you accomplish much and articulate the high points so well. I was able to tackle one book, the Meade biography--not quite finished ;)--and I liked it a lot too. I finished another biography on St Catherine Laboure whose life spanned a good bit of the 19th century in France and felt the effects of the revolutions of that period even behind cloister walls. I haven't read Agnes Gray but I admired The Tenant of Wildfell Hall very much, impressed by its gritty honesty about alcoholism and its effects on a marriage; it was controversial for its frankness on many levels. Hence we differ in our reactions to Anne B as a writer. However, I might well find Agnes a dreary read--it certainly has that reputation, as a lesser work than Wildfell Hall. Glad to learn about this book by Atkinson, since Life after Life and its sequel were definitely impressive! Happy February reading!
ReplyDeleteYou're another fan of Circe. I keep hearing more and more great reports about it, which intrigues me to add it (along with Song of Achilles) to my list. Thanks for these recommendations.
ReplyDeleteGood idea for a mini-series about Eleanor of Aquitaine. There should be more than just A Lion in Winter.
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed Transcription and I hear that she has a new Jackson Brodie book coming out this year. Have you read those?
I have Circe here awaiting me. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about it. I hope to get to it this year.
ReplyDeleteNice wrap-up. I'm glad you gave me the word on Transcription. A few bloggers didn't care for it -- but from your review it does sound quite good & a page-turner. I'm curious now about the ending .... so I will get to it. I believe I'm still on the wait list for it at the library.
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