Bookworm Boud checking in to say Still Life is back in the library. I did my best but I just couldn't. Stilted, trying hard to be significant, oh well, some people liked the Italian art history take, the wartime setting, the love interest, maybe, I dunno. I was just not in tune with this writer.
Likewise A Well Trained Wife, by Tia Levings, a nonfiction account of a woman growing up in Southern fundamentalist church, finding herself in a violent marriage, eventually, managing to leave.
It's a well written, and chilling, account of white male church-centered patriarchy and family dominance, enforced by husbands with violence.
I read as far as I could, out of respect, and would recommend it, if you have the tolerance. My own trauma, not of marriage, but of war, got in the way. Mainly I think it was her helplessness and isolation that got me racked up. And her courage in the face of massive social coercion and danger.
On the other hand, volume two of the Cazalet Chronicles, continues to be very good, with some piercing insights from the younger characters.
I'm reading this on hoopla, since only volume 1 was available in paper form. I could use the diagram showing the family tree. A lot of characters.
Still to be read is Penelope Fitzgerald's The Blue Flower, another Susan Hill favorite.
It's fall, wonderful walking weather, and the cod and broccoli continue to please, also the afternoon tea with Misfits snickerdoodles, much bigger than the ones I've made. I've put a a couple in the freezer for Handsome Son's next visit.
He needs his strength, because I'm going to ask him for help turning the queen size mattress, a test of ingenuity and strength in my smallish bedroom. Usually one or other of us gets pinned in a corner and we're laughing too hard to escape. You can't just flip it, it's a onesided mattress design. You have to turn it through 180° in a pretty confined space.
Happy day, everyone, and I hope your mattress turning is rare, safe and successful. Sounds like something else..
As well as walking there was stretching, surprisingly energetic.
They say gentle, hm.
Keep resisting,sez
Having grown up in a violent Home I can’t read those books. So I tend to avoid anything like that.
ReplyDeleteOur mattress is the same. You can’t just flip it. I used to be able to do it all on my own. Not these days.
Enjoy your fall. Our spring seems to have finally arrived
This book is not for anyone who's been there. I did read some out of respect for her courage, just some.
DeleteI used to turn the mattress myself but nowadays the danger of getting trapped by it deters me.
I gave up on Still Life too. It was our Book Club choice, most of the others enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI found the writing ew. She never found an adjective she didn't like. But that's me.
DeleteEnjoy reading... I'm busy cutting and sewing :-) and, above all, go through the woods.
ReplyDeleteI wish you a happy autumn and keep up with your exercise, preferably daily...
Thank you! I can't wait to see your current quilt completed. Your work is beautiful.
DeleteMattresses matter
ReplyDeleteYeah, mind over mattress doesn't work.
DeleteSame mattress issue here - why do they make (and why did I buy) a mattress with only one side?
ReplyDeleteI'm betting cheaper to manufacture. When we got this one it was the style, couldn't find a two sided one.
DeleteGood luck with the mattress-turning. Mind your backs!
ReplyDeleteWe're both pretty fit so I'm hoping it goes well.
DeleteThank you for the book recommendations. I also tend to avoid reading about traumatic childhood. it makes me wonder why authors Writing about children more.
ReplyDeleteI think there's an element of trauma porn that I try to avoid. There's a certain amount of trauma in any well written work, but what matters to me is how it's handled. In the Cazalets skilfully, good writing.
DeleteGood luck with your mattress flipping.
ReplyDeleteOne of Sarah Winman's books, "The Tinman" was about AIDS and brought back so many memories for me. I worked with AIDS patients in the late '80's, it was heartbreaking work.
I think I'll take a look at "A Well Trained Wife", I was not physically abused by my exhusband, just emotionally and financially. It was hard to leave.
You were certainly on the front lines in the AIDS crisis years. So many medical people couldn't do what you did.
DeleteNot been able to sleep in a bed for going on a decade due to back issues. Sometimes I miss it. But that's why there's no bedroom in my new place. A studio instead. ;) Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteThat's certainly a scenario I hadn't thought of. I guess it does save space though. More room for art materials.
DeleteI've been reading the Marlow Murder Club Mystery series and I'm enjoying it. Now they are showing it on my Public Television Station so I'm enjoying that too.
ReplyDeleteI do seem to read mystery and detective stories more than anything else.
I like the Marlow books, too. I always get my share of mystery reading in.
DeleteAh, the dreaded mattress turning caper. We have the same type now and it takes two of us to wrestle the thing around. We got one of those 'in a box' foam ones which is good enough but I'm finding that the edges are getting soft. I tend to sleep on the edge so am fully expecting to be on the floor one night.
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering about those foam mattresses. But they're usually too soft for me.
DeleteI've been having a dry spell when it comes to the books I listen to via Libby. VERY dry. I've finally downloaded one that the NYT's reviewed quite highly. Now let's see if I agree. Having better luck with the books I read with my eyes.
ReplyDeleteI wish you could get a video of the mattress turning. (Spinning?)
What's the title? Between Steve and the sofa and Boud and the mattress, there's raw material for quite a bit of comic relief.
DeleteI have a memory foam mattress I bought 16 years ago and it's still in great shape. It is two-sided so we can flip it to the other side. It is quite heavy so I am not much help. The guy is still strong so it gets done. I listened to Still Life a couple of years ago and don't really remember it. I seem to think I liked it. I know I liked Tin Man.
ReplyDeleteMy reply vanished. I remember trying foam when we got this mattress and they were too soft for either of us. But they weren't two sided either.
DeleteI wonder if Still Life is better as an audio book. A good narrator can lift a book.
My mattress is really firm.
DeleteOh my! Good luck with turning the mattress! You're right about the laughing. I HAVE to get the Cazalets!
ReplyDeleteThis is why we stay fit. Turning mattresses. Moving furniture through doorways. I think you'd like the Cazalets. Let us know if you try the Chronicles. Best read in order, this time.
DeleteOur mattress is also a one-sided design -- a scam, I am convinced, to get us to buy a new mattress more quickly.
ReplyDeleteVery likely. It hasn't worked with me, since the one I have is ancient. Small people don't wear out a mattress the way burly folk do.
DeleteYes, that first book, that type of book can be difficult to read. Yeah, mattresses these days are horrible. One sided and I agree with Steve a scam for sure. Hope you have a nice evening.
ReplyDeleteSome things are difficult to read but I feel I owe at least some effort to the writer. The Well Trained Wife is one.
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