Quick Lit March 2018

Linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy for reviews of the past month's reading.

Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own
Sometimes you can't remember whether or not you've read a book - that was the case with this one, and it was nagging at me. I knew the famous parts for sure - about needing a room of one's own to write fiction, and the fable of Shakespeare's sister - but had I read the whole thing or only extracts? So when it was a 99 cent Kindle deal, I had to buy it. It was interesting to read Woolf's call for upcoming female researchers to uncover the hidden fiction of women ninety years ago - when I have the fruits of those labours sitting on my shelf. Her ideas on fiction and predictions of the outcome when "womanhood has ceased to be a protected occupation" offered lots of reflection and internal dialogue.

Chip Heath and Dan Heath - Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work
OK, so maybe it wasn't a great idea to pick up this book after we decided to sell almost everything we own and relocate to Europe - but (phew) it clarified a lot of the decision-making process we'd gone through. This is written in a very clear and engaging manner, with a huge range of examples that cover both personal and professional decisions, a handy pneumonic, short summaries of each chapter, and further resources on the website. I found myself beginning to apply the ideas straight away.
It influenced my toddler too. "Where's your green book?" he asked after I swapped it for the drab back and brown To The Lighthouse.

Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse
Reading A Room of One's Own inspired me to re-read this one, which I prefer to Mrs Dalloway (though Orlando is my favourite). It was an old paperback I used in college about 30 years ago, and has tiny notes written in pencil between the lines. I can't read a word of them now. I'm sure it's because the pencil must have faded. Ahem. I'd forgotten how beautiful it was, or maybe I didn't appreciate it when I was barely an adult. Now, like Mrs Ramsey, I'm nearing 50 with a small child, married to a professor who deals in abstracts (though mine studies pure maths, not philosophy), and am prone to reflect on life. In a skillfully interwoven stream of consciousness style, the novel covers two days - before and after the First World War - where the lighthouse symbolizes the metaphorical light that shines on the inner lives of the Ramseys and those the enigmatic Mrs Ramsey draws into their sphere.

Herman Melville - Moby Dick narrated by Frank Muller
I'm glad I listened to Moby Dick, and I'm glad I listened to Moby Dick. Another one that's been on my TBR list for decades. I knew I ought to read it, but I'm also an anti-whaling vegetarian. I once bought a cheap paperback copy that struck guilt in me for years until I gave it away. For a while, I even comforted myself that I got the gist of it by reading my son's Cozy Classics version: Moby Dick in twelve words and felt puppet pictures. What finally tipped the balance was my elder daughter telling me how she sat next to someone on a plane who was going to a Moby Dick readathon. It was a double aha moment - why not try out my library's digital audio service and slay this literary leviathan at the same time? No, this isn't a review - but you know what Moby Dick is about and whether you have a white-whale-sized bout of guilt over not having yet read it. I definitely recommend trying the audiobook route.

Oops, spoiler

Jenny Colgan - The Little Beach Street Bakery
I needed to cleanse my reading palette after all those masterpieces, so I broke my usual mould and tried something in a contemporary setting. If cosy chick lit is a genre, this is it. Flora Mackenzie is a paralegal in London, far from the remote Scottish island home she left in disgrace. But when a billionaire client needs an islander to go back and make his case against a wind farm, Flora can't refuse the boss with whom she's secretly in love. I loved the aspects of island life and baking, but I can't say I felt invested in the love life of a twenty-something. Despite that, Colgan's plot twists made it a real page turner (or is that screen swiper nowadays?).

Robert McClosky - Blueberries for Sal
A classic, and maybe one that isn't for children with separation anxiety, but my little guy liked it. For those who haven't read it, Little Sal and her mother go berry picking on one side of Blueberry hill. Meanwhile, Little Bear and his mother are working their way up the other side. Sal and Little Bear stop to rest, and when they get up to join their mothers, they just follow the nearest one they see... I guess you could read it as a sweet story of how motherhood transcends all barriers or a horrid tale of separation and neglectful parents. But we thought it was fun. A plus is the blue and white illustrations throughout.

I guess animals and islands were my theme for the month. Hope the lion of early March is giving you plenty of excuses to curl up with a pile of books.