Another Anniversary

Husband and I had our anniversary a few days ago – 43 years — if that can be possible. We decided to get away, but not far. We went to Point Reyes which is only an hour northwest of us, but seems like further. We can actually see the lighthouse on a clear day from our house…that’s how close it is.

With apologies to readers on the East coast, we had beautiful weather.

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We hiked, ate good food, stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast…

even had a picnic lunch with a heron…

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It felt like we had journeyed far, far away.

And speaking of far, far away — a friend back East found this photo of us – we’d only been married a year.

Check out that beard… still the cutest guy ever.

Happy Anniversary

I finished one book

and am halfway through another

Back to books, reading, and regular programming next time.

Passing by Nella Larsen

After my disappointment in The Vanishing Half, a kind Book Barmy follower sent me a note and suggested I try the classic, Passing by Nella Larsen. He went on to say it was a much better book, and an important one at that. A insightful story of racial identity and its falsehoods.

That was more than a year ago and although I made a note, it slipped my mind (like many things these past couple of years).

Fast forward to present day and while looking through my shelves for another book, I came across a copy of Passing which I forgot I had.

You see, I have a fondness for this Penguin Classics series and their lovely black spines…but trust me I don’t have as many as pictured here from the library of this blogger. I do have a small stack amongst my books and they are important reads (which I tell myself I should be reading) and most quite slim.

When I saw that Netflix was airing a film based on the book, I decided I must read it before watching the film. With that motivation, I finished Passing in just two evenings (and late into one night), and I’m grateful for the excellent tip from a reader – this was a riveting and thought-provoking novella.

But first a little author background (apologies, if you don’t know this by now, I tend to geek out on the background of authors and the genesis of their writing).

Nella Larson (1891-1964) was born in Chicago to mixed race parents. A Danish mother and her father, also with a mixed race heritage, was Afro-Caribbean. Ms. Larson was caught in between worlds, not quite white, not quite black, so it was natural for her to write of her life experiences. And that’s what she does in Passing.

The story is set in Harlem and revolves around two women, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry, both light skinned, one secure and happy. Irene accepts her racial identity, while Clare is passing as a white woman and is burdened with all the insecurities her secret causes. Clare married a white, racist man and she lives in a society that would reject her if they knew the truth.

Ms. Larsen takes her readers back to the Harlem Renaissance when African Americans were beginning to come into their own in northern society. It’s also fascinating look at two black women living a glamorous lifestyle in the 1920s.

The trouble with Clare was, not only that she wanted to have her cake and eat it too, but that she wanted to nibble at the cakes of other folk as well.

I found Passing beautifully written and Ms. Larsen’s characters are developed with such visual clarity and verbal accuracy that they dominate the novel. These characters have very different and often astonishing perceptions of racial identity.

It’s funny about passing. We disapprove of it and at the same time condone it. It excites our contempt and yet we rather admire it. We shy away from it with an odd kind of revulsion, but we protect it.

I don’t want to give too much away but there are number of subtexts in the book; the complex relationship between Clare and Irene, repressed homosexual desire, and emotional abuse. Ms. Larsen controls all these stories perfectly; she reveals plot points at exactly the right time and lets the characters drive the narrative.

When it comes to the end, don’t be frustrated – the author lets the reader decide the future. So just give it a good think.

I highly recommend this slim novella – and its examination of the various ways in which everyone is ‘passing’. While written in 1929, it couldn’t be more timely and relevant.

Passing – The Film:

The Netflix film was beautiful and received excellent reviews. Shot entirely in black and white, I found it a fine adaptation of the book. The setting and clothes are stunning. And oh the hats – the hats!

Well worth watching, but please, only after you’ve read the book.

N.B. Another geeky note: Nella Larsen holds her own place in history for being the first African-American woman to receive a Guggenheim fellowship,

A New Year

We spent the Christmas holiday in Palm Springs, as we wanted a change of scene – and that it was. Very unusual to see cactus and palm trees decorated, but we soon settled in and enjoyed the warmer weather.

We stayed at the iconic Palm Springs Tennis Club which is where Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and gang hung out to play tennis and drink by the pool.

I did some reading in the beautiful lobby.

Husband played a bit of tennis in between rain showers

We also got in a little pool time.

The room came with the Turner Classic channel which we don’t get at home. It rained several evenings, so we happily watched some great old holiday films — in between I read this great reissue by the British Library Crime series and Poisoned Pen Press.

This is a collection of mysteries from the Golden Age of mysteries. The anthology contains short stories from both well-known authors such as Cyril Hare and Carter Dickson. But there are also some largely unknown authors

Martin Edwards, who is a regular editor in the British Library series, gives a informative overview of the author at the beginning of each story and tells us how they fit into this age of crime writing.

This collection, as the title says, are written with a Christmas theme and the stories do not disappoint. Here’s just a few in the collection:

Blind Man’s Hood: Carter Dickson (1937)- an eerie and chilling tale in the Christmas tradition of Dickens. Wonderful storytelling and a very enjoyable read.

Twixt the Cup and the Lip: Julian Symons (1965)- an extremely good tale of a perfectly-planned jewel robbery in a London department store, just before Christmas.

A Christmas Tragedy: Baroness Orczy (1909)- an investigation, by Lady Molly, of a country house murder on Christmas Morning, narrated by her maid. An interesting tale, including a wronged suitor and a callous young woman. Our Lady uses psychology to reveal the perpetrator.

I’ve collected quite a few in this Christmas themed series and I am not ashamed to admit it’s largely due to the covers – aren’t they great? I just lay them all out during the holidays — picking and choosing my reading at random.

If you’re not familiar with this wonderful series you can check them out HERE.

Happy New Year. I don’t know about you, but I’m approaching this new year with caution — what will it bring?

Jólabókaflóð

Here’s the Book Barmy annual holiday post…

In Iceland, it is a Christmas Eve tradition to give a book as a gift.

This is called Jólabókaflóð, or the Christmas Book Flood.

This time of year the sun doesn’t rise until 11 AM & it’s dark by 3 PM.…

So after a brisk (and chilly!) afternoon walk around town with the rest of their neighbors, families snuggle into their homes with a hot drink and enjoy their new books.

Wishing all my fellow book lovers a traditional Jólabókaflóð

Merry Christmas and happy reading, from Book Barmy headquarters

P.S. Husband and I are spending the holidays in much warmer climes…

The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

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I purchased The Madness of Crowds as soon as it was released — supporting my local bookstore.

My–my, just look at those gorgeous end pages!

My reading of Louise Penny’s latest installment was accompanied with my Three Pines cup, a gift from my sister after a trip to Quebec and Brome Lake Books in Knowlton. Also a devoted Louise Penny fan, she and her husband explored the area that inspired the fictional Three Pines setting. Here’s the MAP they used from the bookstore’s website.

You Louise Penny fans already know what ” I’m F.I.N.E ” stands for, but if not; we must consult the foul mouthed, cranky poet, and one of Three Pines most colorful characters.

“I’m FINE” according to Ruth Zardo is:

• F: F#*&ed Up
• I: Insecure
• N: Neurotic
• E: Egotistical

But, as usual I digress — on to the book.

The good news is that we’re back in Three Pines with Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, Clara, Myrna, Gabri, Olivier, Ruth Zardo, and her muttering duck are all present and accounted for. It’s Three Pines in the winter with mugs of hot chocolate, ice skating, bonfires, and the very cold weather.

They stepped outside, and though they were braced for it, the bitter cold still stole their breaths.  It scraped the flesh of their faces and made their eyes water.

The Madness of Crowds very admirably utilizes the pandemic and its aftermath as the timely plot line for this mystery. But, I overcame my initial dismay at the topic (haven’t we all had enough of this pandemic and why couldn’t Three Pines have been spared?) and started reading. Ms. Penny soon addressed our shared pandemic fatigue…

Though the pandemic was now over, it had left behind a population worn down.  People were tired of being self-disciplined, of self-isolating.  Of social distancing and wearing masks.  They were exhausted, shell-chocked, from months and endless months of worrying about their children, their parents, their grandparents.  Themselves.

After 70 pages, things came together and I started to understand that the ‘madness of crowds’ referred to the overall theme of this book — the blind devotion to misinformation which leads to unprincipled and often evil ideas.

The bad news is that this post-pandemic Three Pines world is full of harsh truths; eugenics, crowd behavior, rape and torture of women, experimental treatment of the mentally ill, failed public health policies, dementia, and most upsetting — threats to disabled children. So, be warned, The Madness of Crowds is not the escape we’ve come to depend on in Ms. Penny’s books. But, importantly, it also presents thought-provoking questions about ethics and human relationships in a post-COVID world.

Hey there, don’t worry Ms. Penny still writes with her usual empathy, insights, sensitivity, and her trademark delightful humor…

Stephen was up by then and dressed as always in a crisp shirt, sweater, and gray flannels.  Ready for a board meeting, should one arise.

“She’s right”, said Myrna, turning astonished eyes on the mad poet [Ruth] at the other end of the sofa.  “She was bound to be right eventually,” said Clara.  “Law of averages.”

I struggled a bit with the last part of the book and its parade of red herrings. Without giving anything away, there is also a final scene, where Armand Gamache lets a gun lie in a room with suspects — waiting for it to be used. This is an antithesis to everything we know about his character.

Don’t get me wrong, The Madness of Crowds still delivers a well-written and complex mystery with the wonderful characters, and great food of Three Pines. But it also slaps the reader right across the face with humanity’s darker side.

We are seeing an evolution in Ms. Penny’s writing. She started out writing charming and cheerful Quebec mysteries set in the camelot-like setting of Three Pines. I can’t fault Ms. Penny for reflecting the news of our current times and for moving her craft into new vistas.

It’s just that I miss her old style and earlier books. I wish we had a real Gamache, whose musings on horrible behaviors could help us to understand why some chose such dreadful paths — and to help us feel less afraid.

And say “all will be well”.

Now I’m off to my annual holiday readathon, chosen from my as-yet-unread collection.

The last image is a favorite Christmas card I received — with lots of glitter and cheer.

Warning: If you love someone who is disabled, or if you lost someone you love to Covid, this book may be triggering.