SMUT by ALAN BENNETT

I picked this one up solely on my wonderful experience with The Uncommon Reader. I think my expectations were far too high. Two longish short stories which did not do anything very much for me.

Described as unseemly, the words are very apt as I was not very comfortable with the two stories - in fact not even with the two titles. The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson, middle aged, comfortably widowed and then a turnaround in behavior. Not a fling which would have been par for the course but something different!
The Shielding of Mrs Forbes deals with again a middle class woman with an attractive son who is gay and here keeping up appearances is of paramount importance.

I should have found them funny or even slightly humourous but I found them rather dull. I did finish the book because I was hoping for something more but by the end - it was still slightly flat for me.

Both stories are about what people would think and do, and how they would react if they actually know the truth so it was a bit of play acting throughout. The story also deals with how sex is handled with an almost Victorian attitude in the 20th century and the only happy handling of a sexual relationship was between a father in law and daughter in law!

Not my best read for 2012.

MAILBOX MONDAY/IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING

I am back in Sri Lanka after a three week sojourn in Melbourne. Coming back is always sad as I have to leave the children behind and though it is nice to be back in my own home it takes me quite a while to settle down. 

I was without Internet for the last two weeks and could not participate in my Monday morning memes (which I dearly like). My mailbox this week will remain empty and I will start on my reading once I unpack and settle down (came back only early this morning).

I am going to visit the mailboxes of all the other bloggers though and see what is the latest happenings in the book world.

This meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey is also an interesting one. Will be visiting the blogs after a long absence.

I have quite a few book reviews to do and will get back into the reading asap.

THE VISION OF LOVELINESS by LOUISE LEVENE

I read about this author for another book Ghastly Business at Cornflower Books and since that one was not available I thought I'd pick this one up and try a new author for me.

Set in the 1950's in a drab suburb of Norbury where being "respectable" counts above all, we have Jane James living with her younger sister June, in the home of her aunt and uncle who took the two children in when their parents died. Jane wants to break away and at 19 is looking for an opportunity to do so. She reads up on how she should behave with men, to seduce and entice them, how to dress, how to do proper make up and generally wants to upgrade herself in a manner which will take her out of Norbury into the much looked up West End part of London.

An opportunity comes her way and she grabs it with both hands, leaving Norbury behind and joining forces with Suzy St. John (nothing real about the name) and in her finds a like minded spirit who is determined to move on and up and speedily.  Anything more would be spoilers!

This book deals with the feelings of the time - that for young women there was nothing else to do but make themselves as attractive and appealing to the men - married or single - and obtain as much favors as one could - from marriage, to jewellery, to a flat to anything as mundane as furs and handbags as well so that earning one's bread and butter is not a chore but just a sideline  to the main event.

It is bitingly funny,  described as a social satire and at the same time looking at it from 2012 I found it sad that such talented young women had to behave like this to improve their lot.  I just thank my lucky stars that I was not born in such a sexist, small minded society!  This was a excellent read and I must try to find Ghastly Business before I leave Melbourne.

I am going to be away from the Internet as we are moving house and the provider has just informed us that it takes two weeks to give us our new connections. I didn't think it was as bureaucratic as all that in modern Melbourne so unless the library has time for me to get a slot no internet till I get back to Sri Lanka.

Weather here in Melbourne was chilly when I arrived, then turned balmy, two days ago cyclonic winds and now just gloomy. Ten days more only in Melbourne and then back home. 

WAIT FOR ME by DEBORAH DEVONSHIRE

I have liked memoirs and I think the Mitford sisters ones are slightly different - a bit larger than life always, a bit eccentric and a bit in your face. They were a family which did not follow the norms of conventional society of the time,  though the broad outlines of normal family life were very much there - father was someone who hitched his children to carts or wagons to work off the children's excessive energy but at the same time both parents were far thinking on lots of things which was unusual for their era. They were very fair to the myriad people who worked for them and it is obvious that the caring was much more than skin deep. They did not have a callous attitude towards their "servants" and though aristocratic as they were, it could never be equals, they still had a far better time under the Mitford family than most other families of the time.

Although this book concentrates on Deborah's life as the youngest and the one most ignored by her siblings, it also brings to life what it was to be part of such a big, strange family. The life that Deborah led was to a great extent the most "normal" to the extent of marriage and family but she certainly had an exciting time of it and she seemed to have coped wonderfully - going through the changes of two World Wars, loss of family members at every turn, an alcoholic husband and the burden of great wealth which had to be looked after, nurtured so that it could be passed on intact either to the next generation or for the appreciation of the public in general.

How she turned Chatsworth into a self sufficient enterprise along with members of a Trust was for me amazing. She was willing to try out any entrepreneurial scheme that would benefit the employees, the House itself and the family so that profits aside it would be independent and able to manage on its own.

Very dry wit and facts as they stood - whether it was homosexuality, alcoholism, dissolute lifestyles, atrocious attitudes and tempers it is all in this book. Quite a chunkster I read it in stages and enjoyed it very much. 

DROWNING ROSE by MARIKA COBBOLD

The story begins with Eliza holding a responsible job as a ceramic conservator at the V&A museum. She is happy in her job, trying to get the pieces of her life together after her divorce. Eliza was brought up in Sweden and out of the blue receives a phone call from Uncle Ian and this is where the flashbacks begin and the actual story starts.


We go back twenty five years to three girls Portia, Eliza and Rose and Sandra/Cassandra. In a posh boarding school the girls are put together to "get on" and with orders not to make Sandra feel unwanted. In typical teen fashion which can be quite cruel three of them do realize that whatever happens Sandra is an outsider who does not understand the nuances of society as much as they do or rather think they do and their cruelty is knowingly or unknowingly the beginning of the tragedy where Rose loses her life.

Sandra comes in as the scholarship girl and trying desperately to get into the inner circle. It is Sandra who gives us perfect descriptions of each girl - Eliza the artistic one, Rose the film star and Portia the author - the two first person narrations of the story can be confusing till you separate them in your mind into two distinct compartments. We have Sandra as the first with very clear cut views on each of the girls she is associating with and her wanting to be part of that circle does not diminish her views on each persons strengths and weaknesses. Once Rose and Sandra fall for the same boy, the chips are down and its a full scale battle.

We then have Eliza in the present time, older, a bit battered and wondering why Rose's father wants to give her such a legacy despite the fact that she was responsible for his daughter's death.

The burden of grief and more than that guilt is brought out delicately in this story. The fact that some of us can handle both of it better than others is also shown whereas with some the guilt specially overshadows their entire life and can sour it forever.

Though there are degrees of sadness and darkness in the novel, the lightness of Eliza's tongue in the cheek humour makes it very refreshing to read.

MAILBOX MONDAY/IT'S MONDAY. WHAT ARE YOU READING?

I am spoiled for choice! So many books courtesy of the Carnegie library in Melbourne. The host for this month for this meme is BooksNAround

Ghastly Business was the recommended read on Cornflower Books.  That book is only going to come back after I leave Melbourne. This is another book by the same author.

After reading Mariana, this was my next step.

I have seen this author on several blogs. This is my first read of the author.


The Mitford sisters has fascinated me for years. I have been able to get hold of several of the books but this account by the youngest sister is a new one for me. They were often overshadowed by Pam and Nancy so this one gives another view of this family.

This has been on my TBR for over one year. Finally got to it.

It's Monday What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. 

I'm reading two books - Drowning Rose as well as Wait for Me. The two are a contrast to each other and
thankfully Wait for Me is in a big print. Ideal for night time reading.

Am visiting quite a few blogs as I have more free time than at home. Enjoying seeing what everyone else is reading.

PARIS IN LOVE by ELOISA JAMES

This is a book that came highly recommended during the Paris in July read-a-long. I would have liked to have entered such a group of bloggers but I knew that my access to reading books on Paris would be nearly zero. I picked this one up now and wasn't it a winner.

Something that lots of us would maybe like to do. Take a year off from whatever we are doing - in this case a Shakespeare professor - take the family and go live in Paris for one year. It is a book that drags you in and won't let you get out. An original take on one woman's insight into living in Paris with an Italian husband, two children of eleven and fifteen who are trying desperately to cope with a new language and a new set of friends and her own foray into the world of French women, French food and the French way of life.
It also brings us glimpses of immigrants, the homeless of Paris, museums and churches galore and I loved the list of fairly unknown museums at the end which was a personal recommendation of the author.

The author decided to go to Paris to live after hearing herself diagnosed with breast cancer and just two weeks after her mother died of the disease. The book signifies her triumph in spirit and the way she embraces life with all its differences, determined to enjoy life and at the same time makes sure that her children also experience life in another dimension. The story of Luca and Anna is uplifting - in a strange environment learning Latin and French and making new friends is never easy but these two children manage very well and I loved how they adapted to their new environment. The support of Alessandro the author's husband was immense and she could not have done this without him. The flashbacks to James's Minnesota background was a nice contrast to their present way of living and highlighted the differences.

Told in snippets and each one varying greatly from the previous one - you could be reading ten lines on a fabulous museum, then going on to French women and their sartorial touches and then moving on to an episode of Anna and her erstwhile enemy now turned best friend Domitilla and then moving on to a mouthwatering menu.

An enchanting read.