bookmark of the week

This bookmark shows the downside of London in 1872. This reproduction of a print by Gustave Dore shows Orange Court, just off Drury Lane. Again this was purchased in the Museum of London, a great place for a day out in the capital.

bookmark of the week

This is the second bookmark showing a vie of London, this time dating from 1630. This also came from the Museum of London and is one of the iconic views of the capital from the South side of the Thames. The skyline is dominated by the original St Pauls.

book review - From a View to a Death - Anthony Powell

"Mrs. Brandon did not answer. She had ceased to fan herself with the Illustrated London News and now she lay back on the sofa quite still. Her eyes remained open, but they stared in front of her at nothing in particular. Mrs Dadds made preparations to leave the room. She was an unobservant woman and did not notice that her mistress was dead."

Cards on the table I like Anthony Powell. I know some people think of his Dance to the Music of Time as an upmarket Eastenders but it charts a world that has gone forever blown away by the bombs of war and the decline of the aristocracy. But From a View to a Death is slightly different.

It contains all of the Powell hall marks of characters from country houses that have wealth and eccentricities that are designed to make the reader laugh. The problem is that those characters were probably seen with some fondness back in 1933, when this was first published, but now seem not just vulgar but irrelevant.

The world inbetween the wars was one when those that had served in the First World War got to stroll around and talk about the war and the need for everyone to be a gentleman. But the spectre of Nazism was looming when being a gentleman was not going to be enough and those in houses that were already in decline were facing serious problems.

But this is written before that was clearly happening. In a nutshell an artist, Arthur Zouch, who is neither successful or a hit with the ladies exploits the hospitality of a family in the country setting his sights on an engagement and marriage into a comfortable life in the country.

He finds away from London he manages to start a couple of affairs with not just his intended target but another pretty girl in the village. Set pieces about a pageant and hunting are played out as the characters move through a vanishing world. What you sense clearly is how boring it is to be part of that and how protected they all are not just from reality but ever being told about it. Butlers might grumble about them but they dare not say it to their masters faces.

The two problems for me were firstly that the humour didn't carry through 80 years and the scenes about transvestitism were just awkward when presumably they were meant to be rib tickling.

But secondly the main character of Zouch never really worked for me. Was the reader meant to like him as he broke hearts and schemed his way through engagements? Were they meant to feel pity when the family he had chosen to become part of closed ranks and made it difficult? I felt neither and as a result found it lacking any real engagement.

As a piece of social history charting a world that has largely disappeared then it is worth a read but those heading for Powell would be wiser to go for the Dance rather than this.

bookmark of the week

The bookmarks for September are all going to have a London theme. The first one, from the Museum of London is a print of the long view of London produced by Wenceslaus Hollar in 1647. No eye, Gerkin or Shard back then.

Month review - August

If there were any themes this month it was short stories with the Jergovic collection and Wessex Tales by Hardy. The first was easier to get through than the second, which although containing great content is quite a dense read.

The other theme was the history with the Luneburg Variation a tale of the holocaust, The Courilof Affair of Russian revolutionaries and the Legend of Elizabeth Siddal a biography of a remarkable woman.

List of books read:

Prater Violet by Christopher Isherwood
Sarajevo Marlboro by Miljenko Jergovic
The Luneburg Variation by Paolo Maurensig
Wessex Tales by Thomas Hardy
The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal by Jan Marsh
The Wine-Dark Sea by Leonardo Sciascia
The Courilof Affair by Irene Nemirovsky

book review- The Wine-Dark Sea - Leonardo Sciascia

"Is there a local mafia?" asked Bianchi.
"Mafia?" exclaimed Micciche with the same incredulity he would have displayed had he been asked whether the inhabitants of Nisima had webbed feet. "What Mafia? All nonsense!"

In the story that gives the book its title there is a moment when a traveler and a family he has ended up bunking up with en route look at the sea. They argue over the description of the colour of the water much. They disagree over what each other can see much in the way that throughout the book there is a blindness shown by some characters towards organised crime.

The Mafia hangs like a shadow over this collection of stories with tales of corruption and bitter betrayal. In the opening couple of stories the theme is set with a bunch of men duped into thinking they were being taken to America in The Long Crossing finding instead they have been on an elabrorate scam that saw them go round in circles before being dumped back near where they originally started.

The Wine-Dark Sea follows an official going to Sciliy to check up on oil reserves fully aware that he is heading into Mafia territory and is going to find it difficult and dangerous. As he tries to gather intelligence from a family he is traveling with he realises just how much danger he is in when he mentions the M word.

There are some clever tales which have a feeling almost of the detective novels set in LA with The End-Game showing just how far a woman will go to set up someone else for a crime.

The story with a Mafia boss and his underling describing what they think the word 'Mafia' means is illuminating and does have moments of humour.

But after putting the book down and sitting back in reflection what you take from this collection is an insight into a world where it was almost what was not said that was important. The influence of the mafia covers everything and those that try to deny it cannot fight back a tide of fear. But there are other moments here where the depths to which normal people will go to take you by surprise.

The real question is not who is in the mafia perhaps but who is capable of doing the crimes and being filled with the hatred of a Mafia killer? The response to that question of all puts us all under the spotlight.

book review- The Wine-Dark Sea - Leonardo Sciascia

"Is there a local mafia?" asked Bianchi.
"Mafia?" exclaimed Micciche with the same incredulity he would have displayed had he been asked whether the inhabitants of Nisima had webbed feet. "What Mafia? All nonsense!"

In the story that gives the book its title there is a moment when a traveler and a family he has ended up bunking up with en route look at the sea. They argue over the description of the colour of the water much. They disagree over what each other can see much in the way that throughout the book there is a blindness shown by some characters towards organised crime.

The Mafia hangs like a shadow over this collection of stories with tales of corruption and bitter betrayal. In the opening couple of stories the theme is set with a bunch of men duped into thinking they were being taken to America in The Long Crossing finding instead they have been on an elabrorate scam that saw them go round in circles before being dumped back near where they originally started.

The Wine-Dark Sea follows an official going to Sciliy to check up on oil reserves fully aware that he is heading into Mafia territory and is going to find it difficult and dangerous. As he tries to gather intelligence from a family he is traveling with he realises just how much danger he is in when he mentions the M word.

There are some clever tales which have a feeling almost of the detective novels set in LA with The End-Game showing just how far a woman will go to set up someone else for a crime.

The story with a Mafia boss and his underling describing what they think the word 'Mafia' means is illuminating and does have moments of humour.

But after putting the book down and sitting back in reflection what you take from this collection is an insight into a world where it was almost what was not said that was important. The influence of the mafia covers everything and those that try to deny it cannot fight back a tide of fear. But there are other moments here where the depths to which normal people will go to take you by surprise.

The real question is not who is in the mafia perhaps but who is capable of doing the crimes and being filled with the hatred of a Mafia killer? The response to that question of all puts us all under the spotlight.

Monday update

Just as the curtain is coming down on the month managed to get the Wine-Dark Sea by Leonardo Sciascia wrapped up, review tomorrow hopefully, and am trying to get into The Courilof Affair by Irene Nemirovsky.

She writes stories that are easy to engage with but much deeper than they first appear because of her talent in describing the human condition. Her eye for details is something that could be really enjoyed in Fire in the Blood and already 70 odd pages in is here but perhaps more slowly as a former revolutionary describes the story of an assassination he was sent to carry out in Tsarist Russia.

bookmark of the week

the memory of the summer are the three days spent on Studland Beach. Wonderful and this bookmark shows the view as you look out to sea and across the headland towards Swanage.

book review - The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal - Jan Marsh

"The known facts about Elizabeth's Siddal's life are few; knowledge of her personality, opinions and emotions is even scantier. Of her 'true self' only her paintings, drawings and poetry survive, and these do not admit of simple biographical analysis."

Most of the time a biography will tell you who a person was charting their life from cradle to grave, or in the case of Jordan from one year to the next, but what Jan Marsh has done with this book is that and more.

Elizabeth Siddal was a young woman with striking red hair who was spotted by one of the group of artists known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and used as a model by a few of them before settling down to become the love interest and eventually wife of Gabriel Rossetti.

She produced art in her own right and as the years go on is being recognised more for her own pictures, painting and poetry than her role as a bit of romantic interest in the story of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

But with the details of her life still reasonable sparse Siddal has become a figure used and abused by others to make a point about class and the battle of the sexes as well as by some as an almost legendary whimsical Yoko Ono type figure with Rossetti filling the part of John Lennon. That he loved her at some points is not in doubt but Marsh suggests that he had tired of her and moved on before she managed to eventually pin him down to marriage.

"Gabriel had fallen out of love with his dear dove, but did not know how to resolve the relationship to which he was in honour bound."

Their married life was brief as an addiction to opiates and general ill health dragged Siddal down to the point where she eventually over-dosed and died. Was it suicide? That's another mystery for the Siddal addicts to debate and muse over.

What is certainly true is that she has remained a figure that can command time of writers, art historians and gossips long after her death. Part of this is because of the way that after her death Rossetti exhumed her body to get back some poetry he had buried with her and wanted to publish but it is also perhaps because despite the ups and downs of artistic fashion the interest in the Pre-Raphaelites has continued to remain a force.

This book was published 15 years ago and has been reissued and updated following the BBC drama Desperate Romantics which put Siddal back into the public spotlight. Marsh oozes knowledge on her subject and manages to chart the different times and movements of the 40s, 50s and 60s to detail how Siddal was treated and shows how one person can be used for different ends.

There are still parts of Siddal's life that remain a mystery and that makes the chances of the legend being extended and enhanced even more likely in the future. Although that might confuse things the hope is that Marsh will be on hand to guide the reader through in the same way she has done so masterfully here.

Thoughts at the half way point of The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal

A while ago the BBC broadcast a drama about the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood which helpfully provided enough background knowledge to pick this book up with a slight knowledge on the area.

But in that series the model and inspiration for many of the artists in the PRB Lizzie Siddal comes across as a flame haired beauty that at various times seems to have had the artists fighting for her affections with Rossetti winning out in the end.

But he failed to be faithful and the drama left you under the impression Lizzie kills herself with an overdose and then the guilt combined with grief tears her husband apart.

Of course this is probably as much legend as fact and Jan Marsh's book is all about looking at the legends that started during Siddal's life time but went into overdrive after her death.

Unlike most biographies this starts with the death and works back from there which is a refreshing way of avoiding the she born, she lived, she grew up here formula.

Looking forward to discovering a bit more about the woman who was an artist in her own right as well as being a muse and lover.

A review will follow on completion...

The week ahead

A while ago I used to blog on Monday about the plans for the week ahead. Given the slow reading recently this time this is more of a buck up message for me rather than purely of general interest. With only four books read so far this month time is running out to hit my usual seven. So here is what hopefully will be read this week.

I’m half way through Marsh’s fascinating study of Elizabeth Siddal and hoping that a bit of time above and beyond the commute can be carved out to finish this off.

The Wine-Dark Sea is just waiting to have a real read and hopefully that will happen soon and my first impressions of something rather special will be confirmed.

bookmark of the week

Looming above the landscape is the magnificent Corfe Castle. Run by the National trust this is a great castle that also serves as an ideal picnic spot.

Author interview: Anne Peile - Repeat it Today With Tears

Having recently read Repeat it Today with Tears the author Anne Peile kindly agreed to answer some questions about the book. She sent me the answers as a written letter which in the day and age of email and twitter was something rather special.

In a nutshell the book told the story of Susie, a bright girl from a broken home who is destined for Oxford and a life away from her mother, sister and mother's boyfriend. But her obsession with her father tips over into a sexual relationship that destroys them both. The story is set in 1970s Chelsea and is described in such vivid detail you can picture the streets that Susie walks down as if watching back old cine film.


Thanks Anne for answering my questions and good luck with the next book. The way London of the past came to life on the pages of Repeat it Today was quite wonderful.


Q. Where did the idea come from for the story?
"The story came to me more or less fully formed though Susie does, of course, have some pretty august literary ancestors - from Ovid onwards."

Q. The old London you describe is so wonderfully done was it a world you knew personally or did you have to go and do a lot of research to be able to produce such vivid descriptions of 1970s Chelsea?
"I do know South West London fairly well, I also have a working background in 20th century social and cultural history which helps with contextual 'props, including issues relating to the hospital passages."

Q. Some of the scenes, particularly the intimate ones between Susanna and her father make difficult reading were they difficult to write?
"Overall, I did not find any particular scenes more difficult to write than others."

Q. Is Susanna a character you would use in another book? She was left damaged but had a lot of life potentially ahead of her.
"I do not think that I shall write about Susie again although I will certiantly revist Chelsea and that era - indeed the book I am writing at the moment has some SW3 locations."

Thoughts at the half-way point of Wessex Tales

There are moments when Hardy can scare you, tear at your heart strings or make you smile and all of those emotions are roused in this collection of short stories.

So far there has been the story of the criminal singing next to his hangman and then escaping capture, the love struck Hussar who misses out on escaping with his beauty with fatal consequences and a bit of witch craft.

But what you are struck by here is the way that Hardy is able to quickly pen a description of a world that the modern reader can only imagine. Country people and traditions are laid bare by a writer who writes about them with a clear amount of tenderness as well as a degree of scepticism.

Will pull together a more comprehensive review on completion of reading the book...