Last week, I posted about my
library haul. I said I'd let you know what I thought of these books, so here I am to do that.
I returned two of the books unread. One wasn't what I thought it'd be, so I DNFed it. The other still seemed like a good book, but I was no longer in the mood to read it. This isn't a one-off for me. I am so grateful to have access to all the libraries in the country. But I'm very much a mood reader and it's often the case that I request a book because it seems really interesting or like something I want to read, but by the time I get it, I've moved on and have turned my attention elsewhere. This is most often the case with non-fiction. It's not the kind of thing that happens with the majority of the books I request, but it does happen sometimes. So it was this time.
I did read the other three I'd picked up and here are some brief thoughts.
Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima is a small novel, considered a classic in Japan, that was serialized there in 1978-79. It's a short novel about a woman who finds herself a single mother when her marriage breaks up. The novel follows her through the first year of this part of her life. It's a realistic, sometimes painful description of the struggles she experienced as the mother of a daughter who is, like her, strong-willed. There are times she questions herself and times she is ashamed of her behavior. This isn't a saccharine sweet novel about the joys of motherhood, but more about the sometimes brutal reality of the role. I've read that it's a very autobiographical novel. I liked this book. I didn't love it, but I found the cultural aspects of her motherhood interesting, both because I'm a mother myself and because I did research on the ideology of motherhood in grad school.
This is a new book and quite timely. In it, Rees draws on his decades of historical research into the Nazi era and delves into the psychology of the people who were part of the regime and those who supported them or who simply went along. He examined the literature and interviewed psychologists for this work. I found this book well worth reading, although I would have liked a bit more psychological insight. To be fair, he's a historian not a psychologist. It's a timely book, of course and throughout there are so many similarities to things that are happening today. Rees concludes the book with a list of 12 warnings for people today--things to watch out for in today's world. It's important to remember that while specifics will be different according to culture--no fascist movement can be successful unless it builds on whatever culture it's part of--there are overarching themes that are evident cross-culturally. I'm very glad I read this book.
Finally, the book I loved the most from that haul was this one:
Love, love, love! The author is a rare book dealer and Jane Austen fan. One day, she was picking up a collection when she discovered a book by Frances Burney. She'd never heard of Burney, even though she is mentioned in Northanger Abbey as well as Austen's letters. Romney realized she'd taken for granted the misogynist opinions about what constitutes 'the canon' and the idea that Austen was the first great woman novelist. A small bit of investigation showed Romney that Austen read, loved, and found inspirational the work of many women. She felt a bit sheepish that, as a rare book specialist, she knew nothing about these women, so she embarked on a project to learn more about them and to add to her book collection. She organizes the book around several of these authors--Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth. She looked for books, she read works by and about these women, she got angry at the dismissal of their work, and she recognized the ways in which they drew on and were constrained by their life situations and the societies in which they lived. She didn't love them all--neither did Austen, apparently. As for me, I've read short stories and/or excerpts of longer work by Edgeworth and Inchbald and read a novel by Radcliffe (via Serial Reader) as well as two of Burney's novels, which I loved, especially Cecilia. Needless to say, I've placed some requests at the library and sent myself some links to download books from Project Gutenberg so I can read more work by these women. I also went through the bibliography--as you do--and put a hold on another work of feminist literary history and one that's an early gothic reader. I'm quite interested in both and I suspect that interest will remain for the time it takes the books to get to me. Another fun aspect of this book was her description of the rare book dealer world. She weaves together this, the discussions of the authors, their lives, and their work, and the ways Austen was inspired by them extremely well. This was a very fun book to read.
I had nothing in this week, but I'm hopeful for next week. I currently have 5 things in transit and more could be coming soon. I hope you have plenty of great reading material to enjoy!
