Rounding Up: Seeds, Christie Mysteries, and the Brennans

Time for another roundup of books I've been reading...

Seeds: One Man's Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees That Inspired Famous American Writers from Faulkner to Kerouac, Welty to Wharton, by Richard Horan - I cannot remember where I heard about this one, from a fellow blogger or from one of the many gardening sites that I follow? Anyway, I wanted to love it and did...sporadically, which means it was a 3-star read for me. The idea is that English teacher and novelist, Horan got the idea to make pilgrimages to the homes of literary luminaries and other noteworthy people who have inspired him and collect seeds from the trees in their yards and then plant and nurture them. A cool idea, a great notion that naturally leads to a book about the pilgrimages and the trees and the challenges with gathering seeds. 

Among my favorites is the first featured in the book when Horan and his family visit Lincoln's home in Springfield, IL and he recognizes the tree in the front yard from a photograph of Lincoln. Turns out, the tree from 1860 is still alive and gracing the property. Cool, right? My other favorites were his visit to Gettysburg where he shows off his writing chops and writes a beautiful tribute to this hallowed ground, his visit to several of Robert Frost's homes, and the trip to Herman Melville's farm. I got a bit bored towards the end and will confess to skimming a bit. I like visiting favorite author's homes and seeing landscapes that inspired or influenced their work, and with my interest in gardening and trees this was a natural. I learned a lot, gained some interesting factoids, and got itchy feet that long to be on the road. Speaking of which, his bit about Kerouac has made me think maybe I should reread On the Road, which I read as teen in the 1970s and loathed, but maybe I might appreciate it as an adult. Maybe.

We Are the Brennans, by Tracey Lange - Unlike Seeds, I know exactly from whom I heard about this novel, JoAnn of Gulfside Musing. She raved about a reread of it, and JoAnn has not steered me wrong yet. This is a wonderful story about an Irish-American family in New York that is navigating the troubled waters stirred up by secrets from the past. I enjoyed getting to know each of the family members, from only daughter Sunday to her various brothers, her senile father, and the larger extended family. I would like to read more by this author.

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie - a chilling study in psychological warfare in which a sociopathic killer systematically accomplishes ten murders, following the recipe of an old nursery rhyme. The racism of the original version has been cleaned up. Not a fun read but a good look at why Christie is still the queen of the mystery.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie - Audible offers members freebies and when I saw that Richard Armitage was the reader of this first Hercule Poirot mystery and it wouldn't cost me a credit, I jumped at the chance to listen to Richard and fill in my backlist of Christie mysteries. It was actually more fun than the other Christie I read at the same time, although I must say that Hercule Poirot gets on my nerves a bit and his foil, Hastings, must be the stupidest man on the planet. Published in 1920, it is a between-the-wars story with a good cast and lots of admirable red herrings and a clever ending.

The Impressionists, disc 1

I started watching a three-part mini-series from 2006 called The Impressionists. The premise is that a reporter visits Giverny and interviews Claude Monet when he is an old man, and Monet reminisces about his past.

Richard Armitage plays Claude Monet in his younger years, and (from Wikipedia):

...Monet describes his fellow artists and supporters with whom he struggled and shared so much: Bazille, played by James Lance, the little known genius who died too soon to enjoy the movement's success; Renoir, played by Charlie Condou, an irrepressible lover and painter of women; Manet, played by Andrew Havill whose work was Monet's first inspiration, but was censored by society; Degas, played by Aden Gillett, who captured the back stage reality of the ballet world; Cézanne, played by Will Keen, whose innovative work determined the path of modern art. Amanda Root plays Alice Hoschedé, Monet's great love.

I loved Bazille as portrayed in episode 1--sadly he dies in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, but he was vibrant, enthusiastic, generous, and talented. The war scenes are pretty thin, though, but they are more than made up for by the Parisian street scenes and the lush, vibrant outdoor painting scenes.

I really enjoyed the camaraderie of the artists, their pushing against the straitjacket of the art world of the time, and their exuberance in finding new modes of expressing their vision. In particular, I loved seeing the paintings of the same scene by various artists. I also enjoyed the way Monet dressed--no staid blacks or browns for him, he's always decked out in yellow, blue or red!

I've always really liked Impressionist paintings, but never really knew much about the lives of the painters or their interactions with each other. This series claims to be a factual drama, based on letters, newspaper clippings, etc. rather than a screenwriter's fancy. Here's what the BBC had to say about it when it came out in 2006.



Watching the mini-series is a bit like moving through a museum, looking at the exhibits, listening to the audio, and reading the notes--it's leisurely, enriching, satisfying, and visually stimulating. I'm glad the BBC went this route with this subject matter--it fits, it works, and I'm looking forward to episode 2 tonight.

Ted Hughes, Richard Armitage, Sylvia Plath

I have a growing interest in Sylvia Plath that started earlier this year when I was diving headlong into Brontemania. I read about Plath visiting Haworth and Top Withins with Hughes, and I read both of their poems about Top Withins. I liked Plath's better, btw.

Yesterday, when I was following a trail of bloggers, I found this wonderful post in which a recording of Richard Armitage reading Ted Hughes's letter to Sylvia's mother regarding Sylvia's death was coupled with scenes from Sylvia.

As Maria Garza says in her posting, "Get ready to shiver..."

Updated (July 23): I was particularly moved by Hughes's comment that if there is an afterlife, then he is surely damned. Maybe, but can one person take the responsibility for another person's act so completely? I read The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book a few months ago, and we are all accountable only for our own actions. Of course, everything I know about their relationship I learned from Maria's movie clip and the letter so maybe I should reserve judgment until after I've read The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes
.