North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell

This is the third and final discussion post for the North & South readalong hosted by It's All About Books, Jenni Elyse & Kami's LIbrary Thoughts.

Discussion post two is here.

Discussion post one here.

I have been a little rebellious by not waiting to answer the questions posted by Suey, Kami & Jenni. However I write most of my big posts on the w/e & I didn't want to miss out on the mid-week catch-ups - it was hard enough getting the time zones right for twitter chats!

Happily my posts have covered many of the questions they posed, if in a roundabout fashion!

Let's see if I can wing it three times in a row.

Now that I've got to the end, I see North & South more as coming of age story about Margaret than a straight love story or even a story about the class divide in England.

Apparently Gaskell wanted to name the story after her heroine, Margaret Hale as she did for Mary Barton. But Charles Dickens insisted that she call it North and South. The story was serialised from September 1854 to January 1855 in Household Words (a journal edited by Dickens throughout the 1850's).
At the same time that Gaskell's story was being serialised, Dickens was also serialising Hard Times (also set in Manchester) in Household Words (thank you wikipedia).

Gaskell found the weekly installments required difficult to keep up with as well as being challenged by Dickens writing about the same topic at the same time and trying not to overlap on key points.

I've always found the serialised novel a curious concept.
It must completely mess with the editing & continuity process. I would have to assume that most writers would have the bulk of the story already written, although I've read previous accounts of journals being held up by authors trying to finish the final chapters in time.

By the end of North & South, Gaskell wrote that she would rather call her novel Death and Variations, because "there are five dead, each beautifully consistent with the personality of the individual" (The Cambridge Companion to Elizabeth Gaskell (2007) edited by Jill L Matus). Certainly, all the deaths provide key moments in Margaret's own personal development as they allow her to become emotionally, physically and finally, financially independent.

Later in 1855, the book was finally published in full with many changes to overcome the restrictions of the serialising process. This included editing, changing the ending, adding a preface, several new chapters, chapter headings and the epigraphs.

Although everything that occurs in North and South is part of the maturation of Margaret - from marriage proposals,
moving towns, deaths, money management & new friendships - it is a novel that discusses the class divide in England. A divide that exists also between men and women.

We see the competition between traditional and modern life; country life versus city; poverty and wealth; inherited family wealth and the self-made man.

Even at the end of the book, Gaskell is still highlighting the differences between the two.

"seeing the old south country-towns and hamlets sleeping in the warm light of the pure sun, which gave a yet ruddier colour to their tiled roofs, so different to the cold slates of the north. Brrods of pigeons hovered around these peaked quaint gables....There were few people about at the stations, it almost seemed as if they were too lazily content to wish to travel.

The hot air danced over the golden stillness of the land, farm after farm was left behind." (pg 467-8)

 "Meanwhile, at Milton the chimneys smoked, the ceaseless roar and mighty beat, and dizzying whirl of machinery, struggled and strove perpetually...in their endless labours...(and the) tireless endurance by the strong crowds, who, with sense and with purpose, were busy and restless in seeking after - What? 

every man's face was set in lines of eagerness or anxiety; news was sought for with fierce avidity; and men jostled each other aside in the Mart and in the Excahnge, as they did in life, in the deep selfishness of competition." (pg 508)

I cant help but think, by Gaskell's choice of language, that even though she admired and respected the changes happening in the North, her heart was in the South.

Thank you to Suey, Jenni & Elyse for hosting this wonderful readalong. I'm so glad that I finally read my first Gaskell & that I got to do so in such fine company.

The readalong has also helped to kick start my year of reading challenges as North & South (at 531 pgs) fulfills my TBR pile, Reading England (Lancashire) & Back to the Classics (chunkster) challenges. It is also another book off my Classics Club list.

I hope to watch the miniseries of North and South soon, although I'm not quite sure how I'm going to fit that into my current schedule!
For now I'll leave you all with a  little curious titbit - the actor who played Mr Hale in the 2004 series, Tim Pigott-Smith, played Frederick in the 1975 series.

2015 - Challenges - Will I? Or Won't I?

I may have over-commited myself when planning my 2014 reading challenges!

I very nearly threw my hands up in despair last week when I started spotting 2015 challenges. I was adamant - NO! Not again.

But then I spotted Behold the Stars British Reading Challenge & Adam's TBR Challenge...and I started wondering....

Did I really do so badly with my 2014 challenges?
And even if I did, does it matter?

Thanks to all those challenges I met some fabulous new bloggers & read lots of great reviews for books I'd like to read one day.

Only one way to find....

To summarise:

My ability to keep my challenge page up to date & link appropriate reviews fell down about August. But with a bit of double-checking and cross-referencing I discovered...

Eclectic Reader Challenge - not as eclectic as I thought I was.
The bulk of my reading in 2014 was either 'award-winning', 'cosy-crime' or 'published this year'. I only read some Gothic books thanks to the Angela Carter Reading Week in June.

Around the World Challenge - success!
I planned to read 4 countries, but managed to read 8 (Australia, England, USA, Japan, New Zealand, Netherlands, France, India - & half a Russian!) Which makes me a 'casual tourist'.

Adam's TBR Challenge - I only read 4 of my nominated TBR list, although I actually read somewhere between 12-15 books from off my TBR pile anyway!

What's in a Name? Of the 5 categories I only fulfilled one. Although I fulfilled that one, over and over and over again! Who knew that I enjoyed reading books with people's first names in them so much?

Back to the Classics - of the 6 categories - I read more than one book from 5 of them. Even though I read a few war books this year, they were not classics alas.

History Reading Challenge - thanks to Aus-Reading Month & Non-Fiction November I finally finished a book on the Eureka Stockade to fulfill one read in this challenge.

Chunkster Reading Challenge - I read at least 4 chunksters this year - yay me!

Michael's Literary Exploration Challenge - I failed miserably at maintaining a goodreads page, but I did read out of 23 of the 36 categories in the Insane Challenge.

New Year's Resolution Reading Challenge - X

Books on France - big tick - at least 7 books completed.

Foodies Challenge - one book completed - review still to come.

Colour Coded Reading Challenge - 2 books

The Classics Club - 11 more books ticked off my list.

Lessons learnt?

I read classics, I read contemporary. I read historical fiction & non-fiction. I read translations and love books set in other countries. I love joining in readalongs & reading weeks. I read a LOT of Australian books.

So I guess that means I'm in!
In for another year of reading challenges, readalongs and reading weeks - although tailored towards my preferred reading genres and styles.

Behold the Stars: Reading England Challenge

Cambridgeshire - Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf (20th century)

Cheshire - Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Cornwall - Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (reread) & Basil by Wilkie Collins (person's name)

Cumbra - Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte (woman author)

Derbyshire - Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

Devon - The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (novella)

Gloucestershire - Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee (non-fiction)

Hampshire - Watership Down by Richard Adams (reread) (children's)

Kent - Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens & Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man by Siegfried Sassoon

Lancashire - Mary Barton (19th century) and North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell (chunkster)

London - Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, The Diary of a Nobody by George & Wheedon Grossmith (humorous),  Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens, Night and Day by Virginia Woolf & The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

All of these books are currently (languishing) on my shelves (or in the piles hidden behind my bedroom mirror!) Most of them are also on my Classics Club list.

The list (currently) consists of 16 books which means that I can also officially join in Adam's TBR Pile Challenge of 12 books from my TBR pile.

Karen's Back to the Classics is also (mostly) covered by the books above (notes in blue).
For the rest - a forgotten classic is Stoner by John Williams, a translation is The Dream by Emile Zola & a play is Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler (Australian).

On my left sidebar Plethora of Books has not only conceived a project after my own heart, but she has also designed the most exquisite badge ever.
I re-read at least one Austen every year, so it will be a pleasure to join in as time permits with this one.

Lois at You, Me and a Cup of Tea is also hosting a Birthday Reading Challenge. The idea is simply to read a book by an author who has a birthday during each month. Each month she will post a list of possible authors and a review link for that month. Could be fun.

I also plan to join the Australian Women Writers Challenge when they post their 2015 sign up as my reading & reviewing this year proved to be predominately Australian women writers.

Are you joining in any reading challenges in 2015?

Eugénie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac

Eugénie Grandet is part of Balzac's much larger collection of works, La Comedie humaine, conceived as a realistic exploration of the Restoration & July Monarchy periods (1814-1848) .
There were 91 completed and 46 uncompleted novels & essays in the collection all told.

Eugénie was first published in 1833. My edition was translated by Katherine Prescott Wormeley.

Balzac uses a lot of very specific detail and description to set the scene in this, his first best selling novel. Many of the descriptions referred to places, items & architectural terms that I could not picture, so I spent an afternoon on google images researching the town and buildings of Samaur. (see my WWW post).

I initially thought this was going to be a Romeo & Juliet story with star-crossed lovers and early, tragic deaths.

However, the tragedy is far more subtle, drawn-out & realistic than Romeo & Juliet as the star-crossed lovers are merely separated by geography & time.

Balzac explores human nature, temperament and the influences of family and circumstance.
The main themes are money & power and the corrupting nature of both.

We follow Eugénie as she suffers for her first and only love. She argues with & defies her father who locks her in her room with nothing but bread and water. Her mother dies, she reconciles with her father but withdraws from society. She gradually takes over her father's business affairs as his health also declines and, in despair we watch Eugenie become more and more like her miserly, niggardly father.

Declining all the joys and happiness that could be had, choosing instead to remember lost love and martyr herself to the miserly life established by her father.

According to wikipedia, Eugénie is content with her lot at the end of the book. I guess, if you consider waiting to die to attain the glories of heaven, 'content with your lot', then so be it, but it seems a rather cold & lonely existence to me.

Eugénie was, sadly, a product of her time. As a young woman, she had no other viable option other than to obey her father and accept her lot. Meanwhile, young Charles could head off into world, explore, make a fortune and make a life for himself.

This could have had an interesting early feminist twist, except that Balzac also gave Charles an unsatisfying ending - corrupted morality, a loveless marriage and the hollow ambition to get into the court of Charles X. With all his choices and options, cousin Charles still ended up leading a cold and lonely existence.

But perhaps, I'm just a hopeless romantic who thinks that love is the only real consolation in this life!

I read Eugénie Grandet for Paris in July, although it also fulfills several other 2014 reading challenges as well.
If you'd like to check out the best translation of Eugénie for you - visit this fabulous Compare Translations website.

And for the record, I will be reading more Balzac - this was a very satisfying dip into provincial French 19th century life.

The Chateau by William Maxwell

I've had The Chateau on my TBR pile for some time now, but Paris in July gave me the excuse I needed to read it sooner rather than later.

The evocative cover attracted me straight away as it drew me into post WW2 France. I was expecting to be overwhelmed by love and tenderness and joie de vivre.

But this was a quieter book than even I anticipated.

"He studied the man's face, and the face declined to say whether the person it belonged to was honest or dishonest."

Harold and Barbara Rhodes are a gentle, sensitive American couple travelling in France after the war. Conscious that they don't belong, they try everything they can to learn the ropes & fit in. Many of the little drama's in this book are created by their inability to understand French ways. They're astute enough to know something is amiss, but the language and cultural barriers are simply too intangible and complex for them to navigate confidently.

"Though there is only one way to say 'Thank you' in French, there are many ways of being rude, and you don't stop and ask yourself if rudeness is sincere. The rudeness is intentional, and harsh, and straight from the closed heart."

The Chateau is full of little awkward moments & little misunderstandings. The insecurities of traveling in a foreign country are beautifully detailed. But also, the unexpected delights - the walk, the detour, the lunch, the party invite that becomes a memorable highlight.

The French countryside and Paris came alive under Maxwell's light touch.

 "Mont-Saint-Michel....Rising above the salt marshes and the sand flats, it hung, dreamlike, mysterious, ethereal."

The melancholy the comes over the traveller as their time is coming to an end was also beautifully described.

"It was alright before, and now it isn't....Home, I'm talking about....I didn't know about any other place. Or any other kind of people. I didn't have to make comparisons. I will never be intact again."

The story was divided into two distinct parts. The majority of the book followed Harold & Barbara on their journey through France. All their experiences and decisions radiated out from their expectations and involvement with the chateau and the people they met there.

Part two was a final, curious chapter, that I ended up reading twice.

"...answers may clarify but they do not change anything."

Maxwell steps out of the story & provides a question and answer chapter that 'clears up' all the little drama's and misunderstandings.

He uses the chapter to highlight just how contrary and nuanced, mundane and bizarre the behaviours of his characters really are. 

The Chateau was not as mesmerising as I thought it might have be, but it's gentle charm has stayed with me for several weeks now. 

I see more Maxwell on my horizon!

This book also counts for Dreaming in France, Back to the Classics & Books on France Reading Challenge.

No Name by Wilkie Collins

No Name by Wilkie Collins was my lucky number 1 for the Classics Club Spin #6.

The official finish/posting date for this Spin is the 7th July and I can happily report that I finished this book with a month to spare! (Maybe I should put this 'spare' time to go use & finally finish Spin #5 - The Brothers Karamazov!!)

I read No Name with Melbourne on my Mind, who has not only finished the book, but also written her review. She makes a couple of fabulous character comments which made me laugh and nod my head in agreement. 

"Captain Wragge lives firmly in the grey zones between right and wrong. 

Frank Clare is a jerky mcjerkface and I really wish it was possible to punch fictional characters in the face, because that's what he deserves."

If you'd like to read the rest of her review please click on her name link above.

My edition of No Name, is prefaced by Wilkie with these words,

"Here is one more book that depicts the struggle of a human creature, under those opposing influences of Good and Evil, which we have all felt, which we have all known."

To that end, Magdalen is one of the most frustrating fictional characters I've read for quite some time.

She is drawn sympathetically by Wilkie.
In the first scene we see all her good points through the eyes of the other characters; we can't but help liking her. She's a little headstrong and foolish in a Jo March/Marianne Dashwood kind of way - charming but silly.

However when she falls in love with the weak-kneed, opportunistic, self-centred Frank Clare we all reach a turning point in trusting Magdalen to make good choices.

Throughout the remainder of the book we watch her make bad situations worse, by her poor choices.

Wilkie shows us another way of managing their plight in the example of her sister, Norah. Like the Dashwood sister's in Sense and Sensibility, we are shown two ways of coping with adversity.

Norah gets on with making a new life for herself, makes the best of the things and doesn't complain. She is stoic, patient & forgiving.

Magdalen is a drama queen. She is vengeful, scheming & single-minded.

Despite all this, we still like Magdalen and feel sorry for her. Even as we are left wondering if her happy ending was a little bit more than she actually deserved!

There is much more to Wilkie than Moonstone and Woman in White. He wrote 19 novels altogether - years of reading pleasure ahead of me!

No Name also fulfills my Back to the Classics reading challenge & Chunksters reading challenge.

#ccspin

2014 Challenges

It's that time of year - when the New Year challenge call goes out to those of us in blogger land.

Will we, or won't we join up? How many challenges? Will I keep to my plan? Or is simply something else to fail at?

So far I've avoided yearly challenges in my 5 years of blogging.
I love a read-along or a special event, like Austen in August or Pym reading week.

I adore The Classics Club with it's five year, open-ended plan to read 50 classics (or in my case 75). It's something I would have done anyway, but the CC actually gives me a purpose and reason  for those times I might feel a little unmotivated.

Given how much I've enjoyed the CC, I decided it was time to join in a few of the 2014 challenges on offer that might help me stay focused and give me a structure to fall back on.

Firstly, Adam @Roof Beam Reader is hosting The Official 2014 TBR Pile Challenge. His challenge is simple and goes like this...

This  challenge was started after I realized I had such an issue buying books but never reading them (not because I don’t read – but because I have such a book buying problem!). So, year after year, books would sit on my shelf, untouched, and I would end up reading newer ones first. I realized I was missing out on a lot of great books because I let them sit there gathering dust instead of reading them as I bought them.

The Goal: To finally read 12 books from your “to be read” pile (within 12 months).

Obviously, to anyone who has seen the pile of unread books by my bed, this challenge and I are a match made in heaven.

But because I like to make simple things difficult, I've decided to combine more than one challenge!

Onto Shelley Rae @Book'd Out and her Eclectic Reader Challenge. 

The idea is to read 12 books, one from each category listed below. I figured I had enough books in my TBR pile to cover the first 11 categories easily!

*  You can read your chosen titles in any order, at any pace, just complete the challenge by December 31st 2014 to be eligible for the prize drawing.

Categories

1. Award Winning  - The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (New Zealand)
2. True Crime (Non Fiction) 

3. Romantic Comedy 

4. Alternate History Fiction 

5. Graphic Novel 

6. Cosy Mystery Fiction 

7. Gothic Fiction 

8. War/Military Fiction 

9. Anthology 

10. Medical Thriller Fiction 

11. Travel (Non Fiction) 

12. Published in 2014 - The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

But to make life REALLY interesting, I discovered that Shannon @Giraffe Days is hosting an Around the World Challenge for 2014.

The idea is to read books set in "a specific country or region with a noticeable attention to location of environment."

She has allowed for different participation levels by creating 4 levels - the happy camper (min of 2 books), the wayfarer (min of 4 books), casual tourist (min of 6 books) & the seasoned traveller (12 book challenge).

The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata (Japan)
Parisians by Graham Robb (France)
The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee (India)

The list below makes me a Wayfarer, but I'm sure I will read more books from around the world as the year progresses.

My list is beginning to look a little something like this...

1. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Award Winning, TBR & North America)

2. Jerilderee Letter by Ned Kelly (True Crime, TBR & Australia)

3. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (Rom Com & TBR)

4. 11/22/63 by Stephen King (Alt History & TBR)

5. The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman (Graphic Novel & TBR)

6. Maisie Dobbs: Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear (Cosy Mystery, TBR & Britain)

7. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (Gothic, TBR & Classics Club)

8. Parade's End by Ford Maddox Ford (War, TBR & Classics Club)

9. The Philosophy of Food edited by David Kaplan (Anthology, TBR)

10. Next by Michael Crichton (this is the tricky one - Medical Thriller - my least favourite genre! This book is officially on Mr Books TBR pile and not mine, but it's in the house, unread by me, and as close as I'll  probably get !)

11. Thin Paths by Julia Blackburn (Travel, TBR & Italy)

12. TBA in 2014!

Adam wisely suggested having a couple of back up titles in case one or two of the above turn out to be duds or not do-able. 

1. The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov (War, TBR, Russia & Classics Club)

2. Sherlock Holmes (Cosy Mystery, TBR, Britain)

3. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (Award Winning, TBR, France)

4. Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk (Award, TBR, Turkey)

All the books in the challenges below are also titles from my TBR piles! I'm hoping to really put a dint in it this year (as long as I resist the urge to keep adding to it!!)

What's in a Name? is being hosted by The Worm Hole.

The idea is to read a book that fits into the categories creatively designed by the host.

This year, the categories are (with some of my possibilities in brackets):

1.  A Reference to Time (11/22/63, Parade's End and Next)

2.  A Position of Royalty (Winter King, The Sun King, Children of the King)

3.  A Number Written in Letters (Ninety-Three, Eleven Kinds of Loneliness)

4.  A Forename or Names (Olive Kitteridge, An Abundance of Katherines, Elizabeth: My Royal Story, Eugenie Grandet, Villette, Nana & Maisie Dobbs: Elegy For Eddie)

5.  A Type or Element of Weather (Cold Spring Harbor, Summer Lies, Winter Journal)

Karen at Books and Chocolate is now hosting Back to the Classics.

Books must be at least 50 years old and fit the categories below:

1. A 20th Century Classic ( To the Lighthouse, Olive Kitteridge )
2. A 19th Century Classic (The Jerilderee Letters, Eugenie Grandet, Sherlock Holmes, No Name)
3. A Classic by a Woman Author (Villette)
4. A Classic in Translation  If English is not your primary language, then books originally published in English are acceptable.  You could also read the book in its original language if you are willing and able to do so. (something by Dostoyevski, Balzac (Eugenie Grandet) Proust, Emilé Zola (Nana) or Mikhail Bulgakov)
5. A Wartime Classic  2014 will be the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I.  Any book relating to a war is fine -- WWI, WWII, the French Revolution, the War of the Worlds -- your choice. (Parade's End, Ninety-Three, Regeneration)
6. A Classic by an Author Who Is New To You This can be any author whose works you have not read before.  It doesn't necessarily have to be an author you've never heard of.  (The Chateau by William Maxwell, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath)

There are a number of other 2014 challenges around that my reading list above (& remaining TBR piles around the house) could also apply to. 

Such as:

Fanda @Classiclit who is hosting the History Reading Challenge (London by Peter Ackroyd, Culture & Imperialism by Edward W Said, The Boy: A Holocaust Story by Dan Porat, 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow by Adam Zamoyski, Marie Curie).

Michael +Literary Exploration who is hosting his annual Literary Exploration Challenge (it should be easy for me to complete the easy challenge, but a little more effort will be required to get through the next two levels - Click here for my Goodreads page for this challenge.

Joy's Book Blog and her New Years Resolution Reading Challenge (maybe I will finally tackle my 2013 What Colour is Your Parachute? book)

There's always the Chunkster Reading Challenge (The Luminaries, The Brothers Karamazov, No Name by Wilkie Collins, A Place of Greater Safety, Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee, The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee) 

Words and Peace's Books on France Reading Challenge (Father Gariot, Eugenie Grandet, The Most Beautiful Walk in the World, Paris at the End of the World, The Chateau, Chronicles of Old Paris, The Flaneur, The Devil's Pool, Indiana, The Reef, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Louise de la Valliere, Swann's Way, Parisians by Graham Robb).

The Foodie's Read (The Omnivore's Dilemma, Cooked & Season to Taste) 

Or the Colour Coded Reading Challenge (The White Earth, Olive Kitteridge, The Colour Purple, The Red Necklace, The Silver Blade, The Blue Castle) to keep me going!

Am I crazy? Have I been too ambitious? Or will it be a fun way to get through some of the books on my TBR pile in 2014?

Wish me luck !