#49. Set In A City Beginning With The Letter ‘M’ – Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell (Audible)

My immediate thought was reading a book set in cities like Moscow, Munich, Mexico, Madrid…and then I thought, why not pick somewhere a little less exotic, a bit closer to home perhaps, and so I headed a few miles up the road to Manchester, to the industrial north and to the great novelist, Elizabeth Gaskell. I loved her novel North and South, would I also enjoy this story about Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life? 

“Explore the poignant and powerful world of 'Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life' by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. Set against the backdrop of the bustling city of Manchester during the industrial revolution, this novel takes you on a compelling journey through the lives of the working class in the 19th century. Gaskell's writing is a vivid window into the struggles and triumphs of the ordinary people during a time of social and economic upheaval.

Mary Barton, the central character, is a young woman who embodies the hopes and aspirations of the working class, while also grappling with the harsh realities of urban life. Gaskell's narrative paints a vivid picture of the disparities between the privileged and the downtrodden, highlighting the themes of social justice, labor movements, and the complexities of human relationships.

 

This audiobook is a captivating exploration of love, class divisions, and the resilience of the human spirit. It offers a riveting glimpse into the challenges faced by the working class and the enduring pursuit of a better life.”

 

This is the first novel that Elizabeth Gaskell wrote, and for a first novel, it paints a powerful picture of what Manchester life was like in the 1800’s, and whilst it is a work of fiction, the origin of the tale is rooted in the murder of a mill owner in 1831.

This is definitely a book of two halves, and I don’t mean like Gaskell’s brilliant novel North and South which I remember reading years ago and thinking it was a wonderfully written tale, a real page turner.

Both novels tell the plight of the working classes and they both stress the importance that people of all classes need to work together to ensure decent working and living conditions can be had by all. But if I’m being honest, North and South is a more refined novel…at times I found Mary Barton to be a bit clunky and boring. It wasn’t until the second half of the book that I started to enjoy the story; the first half of the book made me feel quite despondent.

Many Victorian novels feature secondary characters who live squalid lives and fight hard for survival; but they are certainly not the hero’s. This book is rather unusual because it features Mary Barton, a working class woman with very little money. Mary Barton gives a voice to the poorest souls of Manchester and makes them the central characters of this book. This makes the book fairly depressing, because these characters, of whom there are many, lead an incredibly hard life.

#44. Includes A Wedding – Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (Paperback)

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...even if you’ve never read Rebecca, it is likely you will have heard that opening line before, whether it be in a pub quiz, or when watching TV. It seemed only right that I finally read the book and found out what secrets lie hidden behind the walls of that mysterious mansion! 

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...

Working as a lady's companion, the heroine of Rebecca learns her place. Her future looks bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Max de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. She accepts, but whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to the ominous and brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding housekeeper, Mrs Danvers...

Not since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the Other Woman. An international bestseller that has never gone out of print, Rebecca is the haunting story of a young girl consumed by love and the struggle to find her identity.”

There is something so immediately captivating in Du Maurier’s prose. It is charmingly descriptive. From the initial, iconic, opening line, it is easy to imagine the haunting building of Manderley, a property that was once glorious, but now withered away, almost forgotten, but still clinging on in the narrator’s dreams. This dejected building, once the scene of opulent parties, but now with dark secrets hidden behind its crumbling walls, forms a major character in Du Maurier’s novel Rebecca. 

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me…

No smoke came from the chimney, and the little lattice windows gaped forlorn…

…it was only when I bent my head to avoid the low swinging branch of a tree that I realised what had happened. Nature had come into her own again and, little by little, in her stealthy, insidious way had encroached upon the drive with long, tenacious fingers. The woods, always a menace even in the past, had triumphed…”

When I read these opening lines they gave me goosebumps, I was immediately  transported to a place that raised many questions; and thus the inquisitive mind wanted to read more. Even though I hadn’t left my sofa, I felt like I was out walking and had stumbled across a dilapidated building that wanted to let me in on its secrets. Immediately there is this sense of wonder. Why has the place been left for nature to take over? Why does the narrator dream of this place? What happened here? Transfixed by these images I read on, to find myself in a sunny Monte Carlo where the atmosphere couldn’t be more different!

#35. Title Matches Lyrics From A Song – The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Audible)

I can't even begin to imagine how many books out there have a title which matches the lyrics of a song, however, when you're put on the spot, it's so easy for your mind to go blank. As I looked through all the books in my TBR pile, I noticed The Gambler and immediately thought of both Madonna and Kenny Rogers.  As a child, I listened to them both...one played on my record player...one played on my dad's. I leave you to decide which way round they went!

 

“In this dark and compelling short novel, Dostoevsky tells the story of Alexey Ivanovitch, a young tutor working in the household of an imperious Russian general. Alexey tries to break through the wall of the established order in Russia, but instead becomes mired in the endless downward spiral of betting and loss. His intense and inescapable addiction is accentuated by his affair with the General’s cruel yet seductively adept niece, Polina. In The Gambler, Dostoevsky reaches the heights of drama with this stunning psychological portrait..”

 

I suppose the biggest irony of this novel is that it was only written in order to pay off Dostoevsky's gambling debts. If you've never read anything by him before, this short story (at just over six hours long) is a good introduction to Dostoevsky's work. As a man who was a compulsive gambler, he is able to transport the reader into the world of the addicted; he shows the attraction and addiction of the roulette wheel whilst capturing the feelings of guilt and self-loathing, knowing that what you are doing is wrong, but somehow cannot be stopped. Do not let the fact that this story revolves around the roulette wheel put you off. This is not just the story of a gambler, but the tale of a man who is driven by hope, despite living his days full of fear, dread and constant anxiety.

This is a work both gloomy and humorous as it delves into the sordid world of the desperate gambler, and the gambling of the elite, where money doesn't seem to matter...or does it?! 

‘At that point I ought to have gone away, but a strange sensation rose up in me, a sort of defiance of fate, a desire to challenge it…’

Set in the fictitious German town of Roulettenberg, this is the tale of Alexei Ivanovitch, a tutor to a Russian General's family, who wishes to pursue his affections towards the General's ward Polina Alexandrovna. Unfortunately for Alexei, Polina has set her heart towards a fake French Marquis who is supplying the General with loans at exorbitant rates. In a bid to rise above his station, Alexei's gambling addicted mind thinks some luck at the roulette wheel will give him the money he requires for Polina to switch her affections towards him.

#25. An Author “Everyone” Has Read Except You – The Scapegoat (Audible)

I’ve watched the TV and film versions of both The Scapegoat and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier but realised during this challenge that I’ve read neither of them. Many people can quote the opening lines of Rebecca… “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again” and so it seemed that a novel by the author Daphne du Maurier would be perfect for this part of the challenge. I was initially going to read Rebecca, but then I remembered the film showed a wedding scene, and so I switched to The Scapegoat instead, and decided Rebecca could become my #44 read later in the challenge. So, the question now remained…was the book anything like the film version I enjoyed watched starring Matthew Rhys and Andrew Scott?

“By chance, John and Jean--one English, the other French--meet in a provincial railway station. Their resemblance to each other is uncanny, and they spend the next few hours talking and drinking - until at last John falls into a drunken stupor. It's to be his last carefree moment, for when he wakes, Jean has stolen his identity and disappeared. So the Englishman steps into the Frenchman's shoes, and faces a variety of perplexing roles - as owner of a chateau, director of a failing business, head of a fractious family, and master of nothing.”

Have you ever been mistaken for someone else? Has someone ever said to you “Oh I saw you in town the other week, but you were too far away for me to shout hello,” and you reply that wasn’t you, you’ve not gone into town for weeks. Do you ever look in the mirror, exasperated by your dull, meaningless life, and think that it should be more exciting? Do you crave something other than your lacklustre life? Why couldn’t you have been born into nobility, or be part of a dynasty of achievers? Do you ever wonder how different your life could be if you had done things differently? Would the life of the doppelgänger that people have mistaken you for be better than your own?

For John, his life is going to change immeasurably, not because he really wishes to have someone else’s life, but because someone is about to impose their life upon him. 

Written in 1957, Daphne du Maurier's atmospheric novel ‘The Scapegoat’ is an unsettling tale set in France. Du Maurier chose this location whilst she was researching her family history for another one of her novels, The Glassblowers. The glass-blowing foundry of her ancestors was to become the failing business of the de Gué family, which is central to the narrative of the book.

“He turned and stared at me and I at him, and I realised, with a strange sense of shock and fear and nausea all combined, that his face and voice were known to me too well. I was looking at myself.”

The story is told by an Englishman, John, an English lecturer in French history. He sets off on his travels through France and whilst reflecting on his lonely, unfulfilling life, he is startled to find his doppelgänger staring at him at a train station in Le Mans. The man, Jean de Gué, is a French nobleman, and John confides to him that he is depressed with what life has to offer him. Swept up by Jean’s confident manner, John finds himself playing along with Jean’s games, overindulging in wine and spending the night in a disreputable hotel, rather than continuing his travels to a nearby monastery as he had intended.

When he wakes from his drunken slumber, John realises that Jean has disappeared, taking all of John’s belongings with him. Instead, he is left with Jean’s clothing and gifts for his family. Jean’s chauffer arrives at the hotel to take him home; unaware that John is not his master, and with John realising the police would think he was a madman if he told his story to them, he allows the chauffer to take him to a tired looking chateau in the country, and so the story begins, with John taking on the persona of the "Comte Jean de Gué".

At first John is angry and confused at the predicament he finds himself in, however, he suddenly realises he is free of the shackles that confined him as John. He isn’t plain old John anymore, as far as anyone else is concerned, he is Comte Jean de Gué, a role he could surely play, at least until Jean returned, and they could trade their lives back again. 

"possessed by a reckless feeling I had never known before, the sensation that I myself did not matter anymore... no one could call me to account for any action. For the first time I was free."

As John enters the ancestral home, and quickly learns the effects Jean’s influence has on his family, it soon becomes apparent that John has become Jean’s scapegoat. The family business is in a mess, and Jean, out of his depth, needs someone else to take care of matters.

Not only has Jean meddled in John’s life, but he has also twisted the lives of his mother, siblings and in-laws to suit his own purposes. John’s anger about the situation begins to dissipate as he uncovers family secrets, and he begins to feel sympathy towards these people who accept that he is Jean de Gué. They treat him with either love or hate, but they don’t treat him with the indifference he suffered at college. 

The longer John spends with the family, the more he begins to be committed to them, and righting the wrongs that Jean has subjected them to. Within a week, John has used his influence to try to ensure the workers at the foundry still have jobs, and that the family members are given roles in the family business that they should have been allowed to pursue when Jean was in charge.

Whilst reading the book, I did have to suspend my belief that two biologically different men could look and behave so like one another that their own wife, daughter and mother could not tell them apart. In fact, the only inhabitant of the chateau that suspected something was amiss was the dog, César. So, am I supposed to take this book literally, or figuratively? I don’t think it really matters; the book is written so beautifully that you don’t really care about how implausible it all is, you just get swept up by the story.

As the book continues, the two characters of John and Jean seem to merge into one another: 

"I knew that everything I had said or done had implicated me further, driven me deeper, bound me more closely still to that man whose body was not my body, whose mind was not my mind, whose thoughts and actions were a world apart, and yet whose inner substance was part of my nature, part of my secret self." 

John begins to realise that he houses a darker self, one well fitted to lying and deceit. The longer he hides his true self, the more confident he becomes, the persona of Jean starting to shadow his original self. Yet throughout, he still maintains his belief in trying to do good, to right the wrongs of Jean, a character that is not concerned with the feelings of others.

It could be argued that John was not the only titular scapegoat, indeed both Françoise, the Comte's neglected, pregnant wife, and Marie-Noel, the Comte’s daughter, are both willing to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of Jean. The young girl’s religious dedication adds to the already heightened sense of drama and suspense, but with it brings the sense of the macabre of an almost gothic tale.

There is an awareness of dark secrets, some evil doings that have taken place in the past, as du Maurier hints and steers the reader through the roles and relationships of the family, allowing them a sense of foreboding as John slowly catches up with the reader into an understanding of who Béla is, Renée's sensitive reaction to ‘his’ gift, the hostility of the elder sister and the resentful nature of the younger brother.

This is both a fascinating yet disturbing tale of the complexities of the human character. The conclusion of the book for some may seem weak, or even disappointing, but it does give rise for the reader to consider their own personality hidden within themselves. Whether we will admit it to ourselves, or indeed others, we all lead a double life to some extent. There is both good and evil in all of us. Which of our attributes will rise to the surface? The book fails to answer this question, instead it suggests that one man will go back to reality, albeit changed to a degree, and for the other a time of reflection and learning is required from the ‘opportunity’ granted to him. Whichever way you look at it, from time to time we can all feel as though we have been made a scapegoat by others, and that the best thing to do is reflect how and why these things happen and try not to harbour too many grudges.

(After reading this novel, it turns out that the 2012 film I enjoyed, starring Matthew Rhys and Andrew Scott, isn’t a true reflection of the book. For a start it’s not set in France. Set in England circa 1952, teacher John Standing has lost his job and decides to go travelling. He meets his doppelgänger Johnny Spence in a London pub and takes on the life of the failed businessman. Whilst the family interactions are initially similar to those in the book, there are a number of changes that make the story, and therefore the lessons learnt, quite different from that of the book, including the romanticised ending.)  

Genre: Fiction, Classics, Mystery, Gothic, Psychological, Historical Fiction 

Release Date: 5th November 2011

Publisher: Audible Studios

Listening Time: 13h 4m

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#20. A Revenge Story – Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Audible)

The temptation to re-read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas for the umpteenth time was hard to resist. It is a classic novel about revenge, but I put my thinking cap on and looked through my library of books and thought maybe it was about time I found out what Crime and Punishment was all about, as a) it is a classic novel I haven’t read, b) I keep putting off reading it, so this reading challenge is a good excuse to get it over with and c) whilst it is a novel about redemption, it does explore the themes of revenge and guilt…

 

“A century after it first appeared, Crime and Punishment remains one of the most gripping psychological thrillers. A poverty-stricken young man, seeing his family making sacrifices for him, is faced with an opportunity to solve his financial problems with one simple but horrifying act: the murder of a pawnbroker. She is, he feels, just a parasite on society. But does the end justify the means? Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov makes his decision and then has to live with it. Dostoyevsky, in masterly fashion, contrasts the comedy and tragedy of life in St. Petersburg with the anguish and turmoil of Raskolnikov's inner life.”

 

I haven’t tried to read Crime and Punishment before because it sounds a bit depressing, and I thought it would be a dry and difficult read. I picked up an Audible copy in a 2-4-1 deal because it didn’t matter if I never listened to it, as in essence it was free. I’m delighted to say I really enjoyed both the book and this narration of it. Both Constantine Gregory’s narration, and Dostoevsky’s unique characters and writing style pull together, to provide an interesting look into the thoughts and mind of a killer.

This is a long book to listen to, but it clips along at fair speed to keep the listener engaged, but still slow enough to allow contemplation about the characters and their motives and actions. It is not only the protagonist’s actions called into question, but the people around him. What drives them? Are they ultimately good or bad people?

Meet Rodion Romanovitch Raskolnikov, an impoverished student, and the man at the heart of this tale. He has feelings of superiority over others, but as with all narcissists, he is no better than the other men he walks amongst. He has accrued debts with a local money lender, Alyona Ivanovna, and as he walks around his squalid neighbourhood, he has the notion of killing someone. He is utterly revulsed at this idea, yet the thought will no longer leave his head. It is said that some people have their best ideas whilst sitting in a pub, but the same cannot be said for Raskolnikov. He hears the conversations of the other drinkers; all are wishing that Alyona Ivanovna was dead.

Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene (Audible)

Graham Greene is possibly best known for his seminal works like "The Power and The Glory," "Brighton Rock" and "The Third Man." I can’t pretend to be an authority on his work, I read "Brighton Rock" whilst still at school; I’ve never read "The Third Man" but enjoyed the filmed version starring Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles. I don't know why I chose to listen to this specific book, I came across it and it seemed like a release from the pandemic lockdowns...if I can't travel for real, I can travel via a book!

Greene apparently wrote "Travels With my Aunt" as a bit of fun and a departure from his normal style of writing. His work often involved fragile, flawed characters that found themselves in distant lands; so this novel is no different in that respect, however, it’s impossible to try to tie Greene down to one stylistic genre. For those who have read nothing by Greene before, this humoristic jaunt in "Travels With My Aunt" is not like many of his other writings which are very dark, although there remain traces of darkness in this book which give an interesting insight into the authors character.

She is a rebel, he a conformist.

Henry Pulling is a single, retired bank manager; a straightforward, honest man, whose greatest pleasure is growing dahlias in his garden. He is a man who lives a quiet and sheltered type of life, who has seldom left the British shore he was born on. It is at his mother’s funeral that he encounters his long-lost Aunt Augusta, a formidable woman, equally glamourous and eccentric, who has rather a bombshell to deliver Henry whom she has not seen for over fifty years.

The Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley (Audible)

During lockdown, I’ve tried to make a concerted effort to go on a long walk once a week. I call it an effort, because it must be at least a 10 mile walk. There are only so many daily walks you can do in the immediate vicinity without getting bored, hence pushing for more then 10,000 steps! I concluded that the longer the walk, the more scope there was for finding new places to explore - all perfectly legal too! 

As I tend to do the majority of my walking alone, I have started listening to my audible books en route. I used to listen to books in the car, but as it’s now mainly sitting on my drive there is a backlog of books to be listened to. A book that piqued my attention was Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley. I thoroughly enjoyed the book but was reticent to share my thoughts about it. Should I publicly admit to reading a book by such a villainised figure, someone the tabloids had branded “The Wickedest Man in the World.” You only have to look at Twitter to see how people enjoy misconstruing what someone has said…would it be safer to keep my head down about reading books by the world-renowned occultist?

The most celebrated occultist of the modern age.

Published in 1922 and dubbed a book for burning by the media at the time, The Diary of a Drug Fiend is written as a novel, but according to the author is a true story…a terrible story, but also one that offers hope and redemption. The book provides a unique insight into the mind of the author and his involvement with both drug addiction and the religion of Thelema.

The Diary of a Drug Fiend tells the story of Sir Peter Pendragon who is dealing with the aftermath of WW1; he is depressed and lacking in direction and has just acquired a large inheritance following the death of his uncle. He meets Louise Laleham one evening, a devotee of Basil King Lamus, an occultist. The two quickly fall in love and marry and set off on a bohemian adventure across Europe fuelled with an appetite for cocaine, which quickly moves onto the reliance of the more addictive drug heroin.

The reader follows the couple on their drug fuelled honeymoon to Italy where they have all of their belongings stolen and have to return to England where they find themselves desperate to score more drugs. As we delve deeper into Peter and Louise’s journey, the reader witnesses the power that the drugs have over the couple, both physically and psychologically.

Back in England the couple are forced to move from Peter’s country estate to a slum house. There are physical beatings, theft, an increase in stress levels as they lie to one another in order to obtain their next fix and the pleasurable sensations that the drugs can arouse. As their health and finances decline they attempt to quit heroin, but the drug has a power over them and there is graphic detail recorded about their cravings and addiction which show how easily a person can be drawn into a world of drugs and how the addiction of cocaine and heroin ensnares the user into an endless cycle of needing a drug to feel better.

Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson (Box Clever Challenge - October)

 

I visited the Cotebrook Shire Horse Centre in the summer. Whilst the horses were stunning, it was the otters that held my attention. They were cheeky creatures, holding onto the wire fencing and making high pitched screeching noises. One of them just lay on his back and played with a stone; he was transfixed tossing it from one paw to another. I thought the poor creatures were bored and unhappy, but no...they were just passing the time as they knew their food was due to arrive soon. As soon as they saw their keeper, the stone was dropped and the screeching stopped, to be replaced by the hunting and satisfaction of munching fish in the long grass.

A few weeks later I was visiting the Blue Planet Aquarium. They have an outside pen of otters too, and I witnessed them playing in and out of the water; otters splashing one another, finding "toys" in the undergrowth, and so I was spurred on to find my old copy of Tarka the Otter that I have had since childhood, but never read. (You can tell it's a vintage copy of the book, it only cost 30p!)

Meet Old Nog, Deadlock, Halcyon and Tarka.

Henry Williamson's tale of Tarka takes us through an unsentimental journey around Devon. It is a fascinating book for both old and young, male or female, and will leave you with a new found respect for the countryside. What we have lost, how we have grown, and why hunting with dogs should never be considered sport.

The book is written from Tarka's viewpoint...that of being low on the ground, shrubs become trees, man becomes a giant. Henry Williamson begun his novel in June 1923 and finished it in February 1927. He wrote and rewrote passages to ensure he gave his reader the truest viewpoint of a wild otters life, taking in the smallest details of the river, so that armed with a map, the reader could follow Tarka's journey. You get the sense whilst reading the book that this is a true story, and that's not far off the mark.

After the First World War, Williamson was a lost soul. He left London behind him and rented a cottage in Devon, living there alone, except for the wildlife surrounding him. A stranger knocked at his door asking for help digging out some otter cubs from a hole after a farmer had killed their mother. He only found one cub alive and took it back to his cottage where he introduced it to a cat who was still nursing a kitten. After some intervention, the cat accepted the otter cub and nursed it until the cub was old enough to eat solid food. He followed Williamson everywhere, but on one walk he got caught in a rabbit trap. Writhing in fear and pain, Williamson was able to free the cub, however that was the end of their relationship. The otter fled, never to be seen again. This was where the story of Tarka began. Williamson was already at one with nature, preferring it to human contact, but in order to understand the otters life he would have to enter into the world of the huntsman. So Williamson entered the otters world, seeing it both as a carefree animal playing in the river, and that of the fearful persecuted animal, desperately fighting for his life.

A ChariTEA Party! Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Box Clever Challenge - August)

Ha ha ha...do you like what I did there?!

Tom Burke is both an avid supporter of Operation Smile, a charity which helps children born with a cleft lip/palate as well as being a supporter of Box Clever Theatre. Toms fans, or Burketeers, have been showing their immense support for both of these charities, and on 17th September 2016, they're holding a tea party in London in aid of Operation Smile. To coincide with the tea party, I'm reading what will be the theme of the party for my August reading challenge...Alice In Wonderland. (So I'm kind of hoping that Alice will be raising some money for both charities...hint hint!) https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Susan-rogers3


 Alice in Wonderland, a well loved children's classic, and even more so for me, because the writer Lewis Carroll was born and lived in the village of Daresbury, Cheshire...about 5 miles from where I grew up. There's a church in Daresbury where the stained glass windows show Carroll's famous characters, and I can remember going around the church looking at them whilst my dad happily recited The Walrus and the Carpenter and Jabberwocky from memory to me!

(For more information on Lewis Carroll check out this website http://lewiscarrollcentre.org.uk )

Whilst this might be a children's book, it has an enduring timeless appeal for adults too. As the name suggests, it is full of wonder, but it does tackle the complexities of life that children face when growing up. A mathematician, Carroll made the book logical, but at the same time humorous and imaginative. Much of the writing is absurd, but that is why it has stood the test of time and remains a firm favourite for readers and storytellers alike. (That's the reason why it has been made into several films over the years!)

"what is the use of a book...without pictures or conversations?"

Alice in Wonderland tells the story of a young Alice, who, bored at sitting on the river bank with her sister who is reading a book without pictures, begins wondering whether she is too sleepy to go and pick daisies when she sees a white rabbit run past her. Nothing strange in that, unless you consider this white rabbit is wearing a waistcoat, and has a pocket watch, and can talk! Now Alice, being of a rather nosey bent, decides to follow the rabbit and enters Wonderland after falling down a rabbit hole after him.

What follows is a voyage into the unknown where we meet a myriad of the most fantastical characters in fiction. Whilst we are never going to come across a talking cat or caterpillar in real life, these characters symbolise some of the types of people we come across in everyday life. It is interesting to see how Alice copes and interacts with each of these different traits of human nature and how Carroll has managed to create a world where the real and unreal meet.

One of the first characters she meets is a very laid back caterpillar. He is delightfully vague and contradictory and it makes for an interesting conversation with Alice, he is like a child, answering a question with a question. Fish and Frog footmen are equally confusing to poor Alice as she wends her way towards the Cheshire Cat. Now anyone who owns a cat, knows that really the cat owns them. They are intelligent creatures, and none more so than this cat who can disappear into thin air leaving his smile behind him. He has a sense of unerring logic! " you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad." You can't dispute logic like that!

We all know someone who is a little unconventional! I had a conversation with Tom Burke once in which someone told him we were mad. I said I'd call it eccentric, he quite agreed and said he felt he was somewhat eccentric himself! I doubt even he could compare to the Mad Hatter and The March Hare though! These characters are so full of life, they have boundless energy and a huge sense of fun, but they're also rather rude and straight to the point with their personal remarks! I do however love the Mad Hatter, not least because he seems rather partial to tea just like me! As he says, "it's always tea-time", Oh how right he is!

Not everyone in Wonderland is nice though and Alice soon gets to meet the despicable Queen of Hearts who after declaring Alice should have her head chopped off, relents and asks her to join in with a game of croquet. But this is Wonderland, so it can't be an ordinary game of croquet...no this game is played with flamingo's and hedgehogs rather than mallet and balls.

The Brothers Karamazov - Fydor Dostoyevsky (Box Clever Challenge - May)

"The murder of brutal landowner Fyodor Karamazov changes the lives of his sons irrevocably: Mitya, the sensualist, whose bitter rivalry with his father immediately places him under suspicion for parricide; Ivan the intellectual, whose mental tortures drive him to breakdown; the spiritual Alyosha, who tries to heal the family's rifts; and the shadowy figure of their bastard half-brother, Smerdyakov. As the ensuing investigation and trial reveal the true identity of the murder, Dostoyevsky's dark masterwork evokes a world where the lines between innocence and corruption, good and evil, blur, and everyone's faith in humanity is tested."

The book is narrated by an unknown person who tells us the trails and tribulations of the Karamazov brothers. He recalls the events that he has witnessed, but as he goes off on tangents telling his tales, he sometimes shows his cynicism to the events which unfold. Just like when a person you know tells a story and they go off at tangents, so does this storyteller. The book does not have a linear feel, and it can get distracting as you leap from one tale to the next and as a reader you never fully resolve the first tale before moving onto the next and back again. You therefore need to keep your wits about you to recall all the events, and what has happened to whom; this is made more difficult by complex Russian names, and people also being referred to by different nicknames throughout! Don't start reading this book thinking you are in for a quick and easy ride, set time aside and enjoy the complexity and brilliance of Dostoyevsky's writing.

Who killed him?

The book loosely falls around the murder of someone and it becomes a rather long and complicated "who dunnit". This is by no-means the main focus of the story though, the reader is questioned throughout about their thoughts about crime and justice, the redemption of someone through suffering, and the conflict that families face as they deal with moral dilemmas. It is a highly philosophical novel which questions your beliefs as you read through it. It is set in 19th Century Russia, and Dostoevsky opens up passionate debates on religion and spiritual and ethical questions. He has cleverly created three completely different characters, three brothers, who in their own way try to answer the complex question about human existence. As we read through the book we see the characters evolve, and try to deal with their personal sufferings the best way each one can. Human nature is seen here in all its forms, and you are torn in your feelings as each character develops. At times you feel empathy, anger, despair. You question them, you feel joy with them, you hate them...every emotion you can feel is there between these pages.

The main characters are Fyodor (father) and the three brothers, Dmitri, Ivan and Alyosha. Fyodor is something of a ladies man. He is insensitive and selfish, he doesn't care what effect his actions might have on those around him. He is not an attractive man, but he is rich and can afford to throw his money about on lavish parties, and therefore he is able to get the attention of the local ladies. As he falls in love with a woman called Grushenka, his troubles, and the beginnings of his sorry tale begin to unfold.

Never get carried away by a woman!

Dmitri, the eldest of the three brothers, has also fallen in love with Grushenka. As we know, love triangles never end well, especially when you fall in love with someone as dangerous as Grushenka. In his quest for Grushenka , Dmitri spurns the advances of Katerina, a woman who has lent him a substantial amount of money. As the murder mystery develops later in the book, these events will cast doubt over Dmitri as we see during the murder trial.

The youngest of the brothers, Alyosha, is studying to become a monk. He is as far removed from the lifestyles of his eldest brother and father as possible. During his studies at the monastery, we enter a subplot as Father Zosima teaches him the values of the church. As tensions heighten in the Karamazov family, Alyosha decides a life in the monastery is not for him, and he tries to enter the "real world." He takes on the role of carer for a dying child, a plot which serves the purpose of showing the reader how a person's actions can indirectly influence those around us.

The final brother is Ivan. If Alyosha is the saint and Dmitri the sinner, Ivan must be the intelligence; albeit a rather skeptical intellectual. His pessimism throughout is rather heartening at times, and it shows his ability to think matters through for himself...however hard he finds things. He does not believe that God will make everything alright, he has his own beliefs which, as we hear him talking his thoughts through with himself, often makes him appear selfish.

The path to virtue...

The path to virtue is being honest with yourself. If you can not be honest with yourself then there is no way that you can be honest with those around you, or see their honesty in them.  From a religious point of view, if you lie, you are a sinner, and redemption can be obtained, but only through suffering. This brings into question can there ever be a benevolent God? If suffering is required, what about the suffering of young innocent children? Should they be included? They know no better, so if they lie, do they have to be punished by suffering, or would it be better for them to learn by teaching and compassion? "pray tell me what have children got to do with it? It's quite incomprehensible why they should have to suffer."  If God is willing to see children suffering, those who are even too young to have been sinners, it must mean that God gets a kick out of torturing people. And if God enjoys torturing innocent souls, then why should man not follow suit, and why should man revere God?

Life...isn't is absurd?

Not surprisingly, the issues about belief and religion and the innate personality of a person is still as relevant to today's reader as it was when it was written by Dostoyevsky in 1880. Liza, another sub plot in this complex story, became an especially disturbed character, purposefully crushing her finger in a door. The ideas of self-harm, living in a fantasy world wanting evil and bad things to happen...to dance with the devil, they are not new ideas, they have been rife throughout the centuries and continue with modern mankind. It is possible to argue that the issues are more prevalent today with the advancement of the internet and social media. In 1880 you could walk away from abuse, today with the advancements in technology it is harder to do. Even if you hit block or mute on an account, it doesn't stop your name being taken in vain; comments are still spread like wildfire from people with no moralistic aptitude to think about whether their actions are justified before hitting the "post" button. People in Dostoyevsky's time were questioned about their morals, and that still holds true to people today. People have, and always will be, walking contradictions. Life is somewhat absurd if you try to make sense of it, and by reading this novel, and "watching" the lives unfold of the characters within it, you find yourself starting to try to piece that jigsaw of questions floating around in your mind.

Genre: Fiction, Russian Lit, Classics, Philosophy

Release Date: 29^th April 2003

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Pages: 1013

 

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Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut (Box Clever Challenge - March)

I must confess, to my great shame, I know very little of American history or literature. Is Jailbird a classic novel? I'm not sure, that is for you to decide. Vonnegut, however, is a highly respected and one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century. His most famous novel, Slaughterhouse-Five was inspired after he witnessed the Allied bombers destroy Dresden during WW2.

Despite Vonnegut being such an influential writer, I had not heard of him. I read the play Reasons to be Happy, by Neil LaBute because Tom Burke is starring in the stage play and I wanted to know what the story was about. In one of the scenes, Greg, the main character which Tom plays, is reading Jailbird by Vonnegut. I Googled the book and decided that this would make an ideal choice for my March read in the 2016 Classics Challenge!

Jailbird is a mixture of black comedy, satire and a potted history of the USA labour movement. Throughout the novel, the book shows the flaws in both political and corporate America and gives an insight into the differences of a capitalist and communist theory. The plot of Jailbird centres around someone who has been jailed for his minor involvement in the Watergate scandal. In what is essentially his memoir, Walter F Starbuck let's us know where he is in present day America, and then backtracks on his life, and what happened to him during his first two days of freedom when he has been released from jail.

The book interweaves fact and fiction in a subtle manner, and I'm sure that if I was better educated about the events happening in America at the time, I would have gained even more from the book than I did. That said, it gave me a great overview of society and the difficulties encountered between workers and employers. The Cuyahoga massacre is a fictitious event, but this clearly shows the violence between striking workforces and their bosses, and how the law was clearly on the side of the rich factory bosses. Whilst the story is a piece of fiction, it does draw similarities from the Morewood massacre in Pennsylvania in 1891. This sub story towards the start of the novel is an important one, it introduces us to the person who is responsible for influencing Walter's life as he grows up.

"all human beings were evil by nature, whether tormentors or victims, or the idle standers-by."

The novel is certainly a thought provoking one, and Vonnegut's style of writing is easy to follow and does not take itself too seriously. The book opens ones eyes to a corrupt society, the amount that humans are willing to put up with in their search for money and happiness. It is an insight into the the social and political challenges in America, and in fact shows the global issues which face us all. As the story continues, Walter mentions business after business, some of which are real, and how they are all bought up and eventually owned by the fictitious RAMJAC corporation. It shows how the little man cannot survive without some bulldozer coming in and snapping up the business, and ultimately ruining it!

It might be a pessimistic viewpoint to state that all humans are evil, but by degrees they are. Can the person who stands back and watches atrocities be any better than the man who carries them out? For a supposedly intelligent race, we often do not accomplish the things we should, or do the good that we intend to do. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The real life martyrdom of Sacco and Vanetti is a true piece of USA history and shows how immigrants could be treated at the time. They were Italian born USA immigrants, convicted of murders they claimed they did not commit. Well-known writers and authors petitioned for a pardon, but their cries were ignored. Both men were sent to the electric chair, despite a man called Celestino Madeiros confessing to the crime. 50 years after their deaths, a Massachusetts Governor would state that he had evidence that their trial had not been a fair one, but he declined to say if they were guilty or not.

"we are here for no purpose, unless we can invent one"

The book has many little sub-stories peppered throughout it, each one serving as a salutary lesson to the reader. One of the characters writes a book about a planet where the worst crime imaginable was ingratitude. The punishment? Defenestration. Prague lovers will know that this was the act of throwing people from windows and sparked The Thirty Years War! Even Einstein pops up to remark that "Life was fair." We might not think that life is fair, but if we reflect, life gives us countless opportunities, the question is, do we take them? And if we do take them, do we take the right opportunities? Quite frankly we can never know, not unless we are able to live a parallel life and see what would happen if we took those other opportunities...what we can't say with any truthfulness is that life is unfair. Life is just what you make of it.


"My nose, thank God, had conked out by then. Noses are merciful that way."

People like to think that money equates to happiness. It doesn't. Money may make life a little more comfortable, but in the same way it cannot buy style, it cannot buy happiness. Happiness comes from the soul, and the story of Mary Kathleen O'Looney, later to marry into the corporate world of RAMJAC to become Mrs Jack Graham, a woman in fear of her life, is a sad but poignant part of the tale. She transformed herself into an old, smelly bag lady, millions of pounds in the bank, but living in fear of her life in an old underground station and becoming just another non-entity on the street. If she was found she would have her hands cut off. The rest of her would not be required. Whoever had her hands, her fingerprints, had control of RAMJAC one of the largest corporations in the world.

This brings us back to the beginning of the book, a multimillionaire is friendless. He has an inability to interact with society, he has a wife who ignores him, a daughter who is embarrassed by him. All that wealth and he has to befriend the child of his cook so that he can teach him how to play chess, and thus keep the multimillionaire happy. The child would be Walter F Starbuck, a man who would get a job in a high powered company, which will lead to his downfall.

Back in Reality

A school in New York City was asked to write to their favourite authors to persuade them to do a talk at their school. Some students wrote to Vonnegut, who by then was 84 years old. He did not visit the school, but he did take the time to write a letter. The contents should be read and enacted up I think, It would certainly make people think a little before being so unpleasant to their fellow man. I will leave you with some words of wisdom in this regard from Vonnegut himself.



(With thanks to www.lettersofnote.com where the full and original post can be found)

Genre: Fiction, Classics, Humour, Literature, Science Fiction

Release Date: 1^st January 1992

Publisher: Vintage Books

Pages: 284

 

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Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope (Box Clever Challenge - February)

My friends were discussing the outstanding performance of the late Alan Rickman in his portrayal of Obadiah Slope in The Barchester Chronicles. I was only 9 years old when it was broadcast, so I don't remember it, although I imagine it was probably a firm favourite with my late mother! Curiosity got the better of me, and as I knew there was a copy of Barchester Towers in my bookcase, I decided it should be my second novel for the 2016 Classics Challenge.

Anthony Trollope published Barchester Towers in 1857; could a novel written nearly 160 years ago still have resonance with its audience today? I must admit I was disappointed when I first started reading the book. I found it tough going if I'm honest, the characters, of which there are many, were introduced at the start, but they were valueless introductions. The start is as if you were at a party and introduced to twenty people and you can't remember who is who or what they do because you haven't had a chance to have a meaningful conversation, therefore the person hasn't registered in your mind. It also didn't help that as you ventured through the novel, each character was known by a myriad of names!


The story is very simple, A new bishop arrives in Barchester with his wife, and a new chaplain. They liven up this quiet town, showing the two sides of ecclesiastical life, the old fashioned view of the church versus new ideas. Essentially this is a book about clerical warfare interspersed with a good old-fashioned love story! Who will have the strength and courage to battle it out with some very strong and fiery characters?


"I like everything old-fashioned...old-fashioned things are so much the honestest."


Trollope's style within the novel is to ramble on. The author of the story narrates his way through the lives of the various inhabitants of Barchester. It feels like you are sitting with a grandparent who is telling you a story of the village he lives in, but he keeps going off on a tangent before coming back to the main story! The book is therefore more character driven than plot based, in fact I'm not sure there really is a plot, so far as to say there are two questions to be answered. Who will win in the warring factions of the clergy, and who will win the hand of the delightful Mrs Bold? There is very little action but it is a peak through the windows of Victorian society. It shows how the society back then was of a nicety culture, you didn't voice your opinions, you would smile and be polite and keep your thoughts to yourself.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (Box Clever Challenge - January)

I've read several articles recently whereby people are supposed to feel guilty because they haven't read a book which is considered a classic. As far as I'm concerned, so long as you're reading something and using your mind and imagination, I don't think it matters whether the book is a classic or not. Whilst on that note, what makes a classic a classic? Who defines what a classic is, and are they correct when they put a book on "the list?" There are far too many books out there for us to read them all. So my advice is not to worry about whether you have read all the books on the "books you should have read list", read the ones that a friend has read and recommended to you if you think it sounds good, or one that appeals to you for whatever reason, even if it's only because you like the cover...you could surprise yourself!

Many of the books that appeal to me are often considered classics, so with this in mind I'm taking part in this years #2016ClassicsChallenge ( https://theprettybooks.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/2016-classics-challenge)   I am also raising funds for charity whilst completing this challenge and I have set up a JustGiving page to raise funds for Box Clever Theatre Company, details on my JG page!
https://www.justgiving.com/Susan-rogers3  I need to read one classic book a month and blog about it... let the challenge begin!

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (1859)  

I had heard about this book years ago. The Woman in White was considered ground breaking when it was first published. It was a piece of Victorian fiction which fused together the apprehension felt in a Gothic horror novel with psychological reality. It is helpful if you can submerge yourself into the mind of the Victorian reader when taking on this book. In November 1859, readers of Charles Dickens' periodical All The Year Round were finishing the serialisation of A Tale of Two Cities, and being introduced to a new piece of serialised fiction which would have them enthralled until August 1860. Despite its unsavoury themes, The Woman in White was due to be a huge sensation.



"This is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and what a Man's resolution can achieve".

Now that I have read the book, I think if you haven't read this novel you should feel a little guilty! Not because it is considered a classic, but because it is a beautifully crafted novel. It takes you on a journey of discovery, bringing the terror previously read about in far reaching fictitious castles, to a terror on your doorstep. It has a dark plot centered on murder, insanity, incarceration, treachery. It showed the dark underworld of Victorian society and the possibility that it was possible for the well admired and respected nobility to be responsible for the poisoning of a husband, for instance, in order to claim his estate and take on a younger lover! We don't know what goes on behind closed doors, but the possibilities are endless and Victorian society fed on this manner of criminality. The Victorian era showed a rise in consumerism. More books were being published and the Great Exhibition of 1851 at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park fed peoples desires for manufactured products and it was influential in educating people about the arts. Public shows were bigger due to advertising in the national press. Today the public seek their thrills by going on bigger and faster rides at theme parks, in the Victorian era thrill seekers would watch death-defying tightrope walkers or scare themselves at freak shows; children would read Penny Dreadfuls, badly written stories about pirates and dastardly highwayman! The Woman in White was consumed eagerly by the public and is still reknowned for creating a thirst for sensensational novels.

The Woman in White was initially written as a periodical and was more than likely inspired by the works of the French writer Maurice Mejan. Wilkie Collins was a close friend of Charles Dickens, another author we know who used to write his stories on a weekly basis rather than the novels we see today. These periodicals were the soap opera's of the day. Instead of sitting around the table asking who shot JR, Victorians were betting on the outcome of the stories, who did what to whom. The novel actually led to merchandising, ladies could spray themselves with Woman in White perfume, buy Woman in White cloaks, even music was specifically written for Woman in White Waltzes. Even Dickens himself had not had this amount of random publicity!

A series of witness statements.

What is clever about the novel, and unusual, is that we don't have one narrator telling the whole story, we have a series of witnesses to a crime. Just as a judge hears a persons piece of evidence and draws a conclusion, so does the novel take on the story from one narrator to another. Because we have to rely on each persons statement, how can we be sure that all parties are telling the truth? We have to draw our own conclusions as we read the story. Which witnesses do we trust? Who can we rely on and who is trying to salvage their reputation? This experimental use of all of the characters in the book telling their side of the story ensures that the novel moves on at a pace. We want to know how all of these characters interact, and whether we can trust their accounts. We need to be aware that not everything is always as it seems!

You will note that this is a strange type of review, in that I haven't told the premise of the story, or detailed the characters involved. There is a reason for this. Wilkie Collins in his preface to the book requests that reviewers do not tell the story second-hand. I can understand why he asks this. He has written the novel carefully so we meet the correct characters in the correct order suppressing important linkages until they need to be unearthed. If I started informing you how the novel runs and who does what to whom, the integrity of the novel is lost. The reason why you want to read the novel is because you are curious about who the Woman in White is, and you want the excitement and surprises to be revealed just as the author wished them to be.

The writing of the novel might be of a bygone age, but it is detailed and poetic. The descriptions are so complex that you can envisage what was going on in Collins' mind; you are figuratively standing in front of the characters, viewing them as though you are standing in the room with them. "The lady's complexion was almost swarthy, and the dark down on her upper lip was almost a moustache. She had a large, firm, masculine mouth and jaw; prominent, piercing, resolute brown eyes; and thick, coal black hair, growing unusually low down on her forehead. Her expression - bright, frank, and intelligent - appeared, whilst she was silent, to be altogether wanting in those feminine attractions of gentleness and pliability, without which the beauty of the handsomest woman alive is beauty incomplete. To see such a face as this set on shoulders that a sculpture would have longed to model..." Great attention is paid to the sound of the novel, this is what gives it the creepy edge when reading it. If you don't know what I mean, try reading the passages out aloud, rather than quietly in your head!

When it was written, the novel had the ability to make the hairs on your arms stand on end and the heart to beat a little faster. Modern society has been desensitised so we don't feel fear in the way Victorians would, however, that is not to say that the novel doesn't still have its place today and it is a novel which would be great adapted for the winter TV schedule. A theatrical adaptation was made in 1871, so it should be something a good dramatist could put on for a modern TV audience!

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical novels, who likes a bit of mystery and wants to be captivated to the very end of the book. It is more of a psychological book than a terrifying horror story.  The book caused excitement when it was first written, and despite being over 150 years old, it echoes themes that are still current. The possibilities of trust and mistrust are just as prevalent today as they were back then, and people today will be party to a crime if they believe they can benefit from it.

Genre: Classics, Mystery, Gothic, Horror, Historical Fiction

Release Date: 28^th September 2010

Publisher: Penguin Classics

Pages: 720

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