tvordlj: (Reading Woman)
tvordlj ([personal profile] tvordlj) wrote2014-01-30 09:39 am
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End of January already!
I've had my flights booked and am going through the usual angst over choosing a hotel in Paris and London. The Canadian dollar has gone down so the pound is more expensive. We were spoiled for the last couple of years with the pound costing about $1.55 to $1.60 and it's not upwards of $1.80 or 85, back to the bad old days, nearly. The Euro is still steady though so that's helpful. I thought about consulting a travel agent, maybe they can get a good deal on the hotels with a one way Eurostar ticket to join them up. You can get really good deals on the Eurostar site as a package but only if you have a return ticket which we won't. The agent i spoke to just to find out said that but she said they could probably put something together for me. I'll give them the chance. I gotta get my hair done on Saturday so i'll talk to them then i think, if the one that i usually deal with is in.

I've read 8 books this month. I usually try to set a goal of 90 for the year. Only just made it last year. It sounds like a lot but when you have 3 or 4 on the go at a time, it seems to go quickly and I do average 6 - 8 a month depending on how long them are. I'm currently struggling through a D.H. Lawrence, the Rainbow. I do try to take in some classics or older books to broading my reading experience but this one is starting to be a struggle. Dear heavens the characters, particularly the males are drama queens! Talk about making a meal out of a minor crisis, it's practically a banquet! For instance, a young couple has just got married. After a day or two in bed, she decides it's time to get up and do some housework and get back to reality. He takes  a hissy fit, pouts, shuts her off coldly, his soul ground into the darkness, sulks, you name it. WTF? There's several pages of how pissed off, dark souled, angry, nasty etc. he is from both his point of view and hers. Get over yourself, buddy. And you, missus? Throw a plate or something! Tell him to grow the F$$$ up. Then she takes him to church and gets highly irritated that he doesn't take in the sermon like she does. Internalizing, of course, but highly irritated? Please. I'll give you highly irritated. But it's not grinding my soul into darkness, just giving my eye rolling muscles a good workout. It was not quite this bad at first but still the mostly male characters don't half go on and on in their thoughts and feelings and I really don't think people, especially simple country folk as these characters are portrayed as being, would philosophize, ruminate and sink into that mire of belly button gazing like the author has them doiong. I've probably just written what will end up being my review! Anyway, I'll stick with it for now, just so i can post that review on Goodreads when I"m done!

So the rest of the  books for January were:
(And i had the first four written before I realized I'd already posted them earlier in the month. Doh)

6. The Profligate Son - Nicola Philips
This is a biography of sorts that examines the conflict and relationship between an early 19th century father and son. The father is a man who has a strong and firm worth ethic, having made some money in the East India Company but who has left under a cloud of some scandal. He didn't make his fortune due to his own ethics like many but he did well enough but attributes it to honesty and hard work. Apparently his son didn't get the message. His schooling from about the age of 14 becomes difficult. He doesn't enjoy it and won't settle down, causing trouble and flouting rules. His father has difficulty trying to find schools to take him, mainly focussing on small private schools run by ministers rather than sending his son to places like Eton or the "name" schools where he would no doubt be thrown out in 5 minutes anyway given how he usually behaves.

The son is intent on living his life like the "gentlemen" dandies of the day who mirror the excesses of the Prince Regent. He drinks, gambles, and spends like money is water. His father pays his debts at first and then refuses. He finally gets permission to join the army but makes a hash of that as well due to his rule breaking and debts.  Over time, the young man ends up in debtors' prison several times and though manages to escape the hangman, is transported to Australia where his life doesn't end up much differently. It's a sad tale of ruin.

The father had kept much of his correspondence which is what the author used initially to write the book and then researched the rest of what happened to the father and son as well through records. The son's lifestyle wasn't all that different from many young men of the day, some had the financial backing of their family to pull them out and some didn't. It was an interesting view on life in that time period. There was the Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana, who was a famous socialite who was also mired in debt trying to keep up appearances and you can see how this sort of thing can happen when appearances are everything in that class of society either by those that are in it or by those that want to be in it or seen to be in it.

7 - Joyland - Stephen King
Not one of his horror novels though there is a ghost and a murdery mystery through some of it. It's a nostalgic coming of age book about a 21 year old finding his feet and how working a summer and fall in a theme park/carnival changes his life. Good book.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/802634151

8 - The Diviners - Libba Bray
About a 17 year old flapper in the roaring twenties in New York. She's got the psychic ability to see when holding an item belongihng to someone. There are other characters in the book who also have unusual abilities. There is evil let loose and is trying to manifest itself by gaining strength from gruesome murders leading up to a date when a comet will appear, the culmination of it's power. Evie and her uncle and friends have to figure out who's doing the murderers and then how to stop the evilness from winning. First of a series apparently. Quite a good read.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/825685995