New year's reading
Jan. 19th, 2025 04:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regshoe[my most recent reading is this new, very cute Alan/Davie fic, yay!]
Lady in Waiting by Rosemary Sutcliff (1956). As usual I decided to start the year with a Sutcliff book, and I chose this one by looking and seeing what the library had of hers that I hadn't already read. It's one of her later-history ones, Tudor/Stuart England this time (the book is split into two halves titled 'Elizabeth' and 'James'); and it's about Walter Ralegh, as Sutcliff spells it, or rather about Bess Throckmorton, Ralegh's wife, and her perspective on his story. It is not one of Sutcliff's better books; there's a lot of totally uncritical portrayal of colonialism and a lot of that tedious 'angst in het relationship because man cares about Ambitions of Greatness while woman only cares about man' trope. It's an interesting comparison with The Rider of the White Horse, which I was surprised to look up just now and see is from only a couple of years later; that book is similar in its basic concept—early modern England, famous historical man, wife's perspective—but much better because (among other things) there's so much less tedious gender stereotyping and so much more interesting individual character in Anne and Thomas. The prose, language and descriptions are still as good as they always are in Sutcliff, which is to say very good indeed, and the book was worth reading for those alone; but I think I'll have to pick a better one next time and remind myself what those powers of writing can do in the service of a story more worthy of them.
A Lost Lady of Old Years by John Buchan (1899). A Jacobite novel! Unfortunately as Jacobite novels go this one was a bit of a disappointment. The lady of the title is Margaret Murray of Broughton, an interesting and worthy Jacobite, but Buchan seems to have been rather uncomfortable with her (the edition I read has an introduction which actually quotes him describing the historical Margaret as 'really a very bad lot... her life does not bear inspection'); the portrayal of her is not what it deserved to be and also doesn't take up that much space in the book, more of which is devoted to a) following the adventures of the rather annoying young protagonist and b) trying to make Simon Fraser of Lovat appear tragically heroic.
Curious Wine by Katherine V. Forrest (1983). Described on the front cover as 'THE MOST POPULAR LESBIAN ROMANCE NOVEL OF ALL TIME', so of course I had to know what that was about. It's a romance between two women who meet as friends-of-friends on a skiing holiday at Lake Tahoe, and it was a fun and cool read, interesting in its historical context—recent enough that it can be perfectly open in being about queer characters, early enough that the attitudes are quite noticeably different from those of today. I did like the main characters, Diana and Lane, and their relationship; there's a lot of emotional and sensual description, and a lot about how very into each other they are and how amazing the sex is, which was cute, and I liked how they bond over a shared love of Emily Dickinson's poetry. They are both fairly 'normal' women who've had relationships with men before (balanced against some of these relationships having been good and meaningful for them, there's also a lot of discussion of how unsatisfactory heterosexual relationships often are for women), and the way they come to understand their identities now doesn't seem to fit neatly into modern categories of lesbian vs. bi etc. The general cultural background was kind of interesting too—I was a little alarmed at all the casual gambling, and the 'encounter games' were fun, though I would not have wanted to play.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë (1848). Technically a partial re-read; I read this book years ago, but only in the abridged/censored text which was produced after Charlotte Brontë tried to suppress her sister's unsuitable writing and which is still used for most modern editions of the book. I recently discovered that the Internet Archive has some copies of the unabridged first edition, and that's what I read now (curiously, the one I read, an American edition, has 'by Acton Bell, author of "Wuthering Heights"' on its title page—hmmm). I remembered this book as a shockingly brilliant main story sandwiched in between two sections of kind of annoying framing story, and I agree with that now! The main story is really good and I love Helen as much as ever; the framing story is questionable in plotting as well as judgement. I was especially struck this time by the universalist religious views expressed by the narrative and Helen—who articulates a clear view of Hell as temporary and hope for eventual universal salvation which must actually have been pretty unusual at the time as well. I haven't delved properly into the question of exactly what was cut from the abridged text, though Wikipedia mentions one chapter that was almost entirely removed and that was interesting to note (Helen writing about her love for her newborn son and talking about him with Mr Huntingdon, who is significantly uncaring). I think Helen and Esther Hargrave becoming happily-ever-after unmarried companions would have made a much more satifsying ending and there should be femslash fic.
Lady in Waiting by Rosemary Sutcliff (1956). As usual I decided to start the year with a Sutcliff book, and I chose this one by looking and seeing what the library had of hers that I hadn't already read. It's one of her later-history ones, Tudor/Stuart England this time (the book is split into two halves titled 'Elizabeth' and 'James'); and it's about Walter Ralegh, as Sutcliff spells it, or rather about Bess Throckmorton, Ralegh's wife, and her perspective on his story. It is not one of Sutcliff's better books; there's a lot of totally uncritical portrayal of colonialism and a lot of that tedious 'angst in het relationship because man cares about Ambitions of Greatness while woman only cares about man' trope. It's an interesting comparison with The Rider of the White Horse, which I was surprised to look up just now and see is from only a couple of years later; that book is similar in its basic concept—early modern England, famous historical man, wife's perspective—but much better because (among other things) there's so much less tedious gender stereotyping and so much more interesting individual character in Anne and Thomas. The prose, language and descriptions are still as good as they always are in Sutcliff, which is to say very good indeed, and the book was worth reading for those alone; but I think I'll have to pick a better one next time and remind myself what those powers of writing can do in the service of a story more worthy of them.
A Lost Lady of Old Years by John Buchan (1899). A Jacobite novel! Unfortunately as Jacobite novels go this one was a bit of a disappointment. The lady of the title is Margaret Murray of Broughton, an interesting and worthy Jacobite, but Buchan seems to have been rather uncomfortable with her (the edition I read has an introduction which actually quotes him describing the historical Margaret as 'really a very bad lot... her life does not bear inspection'); the portrayal of her is not what it deserved to be and also doesn't take up that much space in the book, more of which is devoted to a) following the adventures of the rather annoying young protagonist and b) trying to make Simon Fraser of Lovat appear tragically heroic.
Curious Wine by Katherine V. Forrest (1983). Described on the front cover as 'THE MOST POPULAR LESBIAN ROMANCE NOVEL OF ALL TIME', so of course I had to know what that was about. It's a romance between two women who meet as friends-of-friends on a skiing holiday at Lake Tahoe, and it was a fun and cool read, interesting in its historical context—recent enough that it can be perfectly open in being about queer characters, early enough that the attitudes are quite noticeably different from those of today. I did like the main characters, Diana and Lane, and their relationship; there's a lot of emotional and sensual description, and a lot about how very into each other they are and how amazing the sex is, which was cute, and I liked how they bond over a shared love of Emily Dickinson's poetry. They are both fairly 'normal' women who've had relationships with men before (balanced against some of these relationships having been good and meaningful for them, there's also a lot of discussion of how unsatisfactory heterosexual relationships often are for women), and the way they come to understand their identities now doesn't seem to fit neatly into modern categories of lesbian vs. bi etc. The general cultural background was kind of interesting too—I was a little alarmed at all the casual gambling, and the 'encounter games' were fun, though I would not have wanted to play.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë (1848). Technically a partial re-read; I read this book years ago, but only in the abridged/censored text which was produced after Charlotte Brontë tried to suppress her sister's unsuitable writing and which is still used for most modern editions of the book. I recently discovered that the Internet Archive has some copies of the unabridged first edition, and that's what I read now (curiously, the one I read, an American edition, has 'by Acton Bell, author of "Wuthering Heights"' on its title page—hmmm). I remembered this book as a shockingly brilliant main story sandwiched in between two sections of kind of annoying framing story, and I agree with that now! The main story is really good and I love Helen as much as ever; the framing story is questionable in plotting as well as judgement. I was especially struck this time by the universalist religious views expressed by the narrative and Helen—who articulates a clear view of Hell as temporary and hope for eventual universal salvation which must actually have been pretty unusual at the time as well. I haven't delved properly into the question of exactly what was cut from the abridged text, though Wikipedia mentions one chapter that was almost entirely removed and that was interesting to note (Helen writing about her love for her newborn son and talking about him with Mr Huntingdon, who is significantly uncaring). I think Helen and Esther Hargrave becoming happily-ever-after unmarried companions would have made a much more satifsying ending and there should be femslash fic.
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2025 07:18 pm (UTC)I did warn you about A Lost Lady of Old Years! Agree with you completely. My edition did not, however, have the same preface as yours. OMG, why would he write about someone whom he thinks is 'really a very bad lot... her life does not bear inspection'? I suppose that's why she was so boring in his book and why it did not include her robbing people at pistol-point, sigh. I mean, I'm not convinced I would exactly have liked her personally myself, but she was definitely not boring!
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2025 08:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 20th, 2025 06:09 pm (UTC)Yeah, I think you probably were.
I did warn you about A Lost Lady of Old Years!
Hee, so you did :D I know, right—'why did you go and try to write a book about her, then???' was just what I thought! Such a shame about the lack of robbing Whigs at pistol-point.
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Date: Jan. 19th, 2025 09:46 pm (UTC)I've never heard of 'Curious Wine', even though I've usually read the older lesbian novels -- I'm curious about it now!
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Date: Jan. 20th, 2025 06:14 pm (UTC)I would recommend Curious Wine!
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Date: Jan. 22nd, 2025 08:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2025 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 20th, 2025 01:27 am (UTC)So true!!
I did enjoy re-reading this, although I am pretty sure I read the abridged version.
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Date: Jan. 20th, 2025 06:16 pm (UTC)It was a good one to re-read!
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Date: Jan. 20th, 2025 10:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 20th, 2025 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 21st, 2025 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 21st, 2025 01:37 am (UTC)That set my blood boiling. I just really hate the idea that after the marriage, the estate and money will be tied up with the guy. If I were the aunt, I would have set up a fund or something so that at least Helen would be independent.
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Date: Jan. 21st, 2025 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 21st, 2025 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2025 02:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 21st, 2025 06:01 pm (UTC)I really enjoyed Curious Wine, for similar reasons to you.
interesting in its historical context—recent enough that it can be perfectly open in being about queer characters, early enough that the attitudes are quite noticeably different from those of today
Yes! After Curious Wine I thought it would be interesting to read more from the same time period and hit on the idea of reading the early Lambda Lesbian/Gay Mystery winners and finalists (from the late 80s and 90s). Particularly as I saw Katherine V. Forrest herself listed several times.
no subject
Date: Jan. 22nd, 2025 05:01 pm (UTC)