Hi all. Happy Remembrance Day, or Veteran’s Day to others. Here’s a toast to all who’ve served their country and those too who voted and stood up for democracy.
I was glad to see this week that many of the crazies didn’t win in the U.S. midterm election, which is quite a great relief. As Liz Cheney said the losses by far-right candidates and election deniers were a “clear victory for team normal.” Hooray. Though votes are still being counted in a few key locations so keep hope alive that the trend continues.
Meanwhile we had a very cold week here with some single-digit days (see the steam coming off the river), but now we’re back into the 30s, which feels completely balmy in comparison. And my book club met on Zoom to discuss Nita Prose’s debut novel The Maid, which was a quirky and entertaining-enough mystery that I think everyone enjoyed. We might pick Sarah Winman’s novel Still Life next, but we will see if everyone agrees.
In other book news I noticed that Calgary author Suzette Mayr just won Canada’s top literary award — the Giller Prize — this week for her novel The Sleeping Car Porter. Wow, that’s big for us here in Calgary! The novel just came out at the end of September so I haven’t heard a lot about it yet, but the publisher describes it this way: When a mudslide strands a Canadian passenger train in 1929, Baxter, a gay Black sleeping car porter, must contend with the perils of white passengers, ghosts, and his secret love affair.
It sounds good and I just put my name on the library wait list for it along with 515 other readers. Oh my. There’s going to be a long wait, though I’m sure the library will buy more copies.
And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately.
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield / Flatiron /240 pages / 2022
Synopsis: This is about a gay married couple (Miri and Leah) who seem very committed to each other, and then Leah, a marine biologist, goes on an underwater dive research mission in a submersible (with a crew of two others), which is only supposed to last a few weeks but then something mysterious goes wrong and Leah’s out there for about six months with no communication or power at the bottom of the ocean — so her partner Miri doesn’t know what’s happening back at home.
My Thoughts:
I listened to this as audiobook, which I almost put down after the first couple sections thinking the story (mostly about their relationship) wasn’t holding me much, but then I stuck with it and by the last section called Hadal Zone I was totally invested and gripped.
The chapters alternate between the two women Miri and Leah, and from Miri you come to know about their relationship, how they met, their backstory, and how much she is missing Leah, and from Leah emerges a picture of what is going on during the underwater ocean mission. I seemed to gravitate more to Leah’s chapters because I wanted to know what the heck was going to happen on the submarine.
Later Miri’s chapters delve into the mission and how things begin to change for Leah. Whoa. I don’t want to say too much, but it gets a bit freaky and mysterious and I was glued to the last few chapters. Not everything is resolved or explained at the end but you learn enough. Throughout the novel, the story has a lot of heartfelt words … about love, grief, and life in the oceans. You could underline probably a lot of her lines if you wanted to. It’s a weird novel but quite good too.
Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson / Penguin / 256 pages / 1952
Synopsis: This is a memoir of sorts published in 1952 by the author who died in 1965 and is still famous today for her various spooky tales. Many of the chapters apparently were taken from magazine articles she wrote back in the ’40s and ’50s and then were stuffed together to make this book.
My Thoughts:
I’m intrigued by Shirley Jackson — who she was and how and why she wrote the tales that she did. She seemed a whiz and a huge talent. And I try to read one of her books around Halloween time each year. So far, I’ve read two of her novels — The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in a Castle — both of which I admired as well as her short story The Lottery, which is a chilling classic.
From this memoir, I was hoping to get a glimpse of Shirley — the writer, who wrote spooky tales, but most of this book is about her and her husband and their lives raising their children. It’s a very domestic look … and you might never suspect her creative darker sides if you read this. She’s all light and humor with her kids and husband. Parts of it are indeed funny and other parts get a bit tedious about the antics of her young kids and their everyday lives at school and home. Everyone thinks their kids are cuter than perhaps anyone else wants to hear — so you get a lot of tales of them.
Still I was glad I finished this one, though it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. Shirley seemed a very patient and caring Mother … to her three kids, the fourth one is born at the end of the book. The good thing about this domestic memoir … is that we find out that Shirley had a funny sense of humor. And at one point she says she believes in ghosts and later says she wasn’t about to mess with a broken furnace and get electrocuted. But you can’t glean too much of her fiction writing from this book. In fact, I really wonder how she got all her writing done while raising her kids and the amount of cooking — which she seemed to enjoy — doing for them and for her apparently unfaithful husband. But I’m glad she did.
After finishing the memoir, I looked up Shirley Jackson’s children who seem to be well and all close to their 80s now, and one son Laurence Jackson Hyman put out a book of her letters in 2021 and an early short story of hers just this year. Wow, so her writings continue to come out.
That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and what did you think?
The election results were surprising. Outside of the cities, Colorado is extremely MAGA, so I’m shocked that Lauren Boebert’s race is (probably) going to a recount. BoBo is an embarrassment to the state, but my parents and neighbors love her, so I thought she’d win easily. It’s awesome that we’re in recount territory.
Hi AJ, that’s great to hear. It would terrific if Colorado could knock-out BoBo. Will there be a recount? Hmm. I will watch for any announcement of it. Got to take out the MAGA. Have a great week.
Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is sooooo good!
I love that photo of your river and surrounding area, but am so not good in the snow. I am in Ithaca, NY right now where it’s wet and chilly, but I will miss the deep winter since I leave Monday.
Hi Helen, Ithaca seems like a cool place, though I’ve never been.
It takes awhile (like 3 to 5 years!) to get used to winter places but eventually it happens. I adapted while walking the dogs on so many cold days. Ha.
I agree The Lottery is quite a tale. Safe travels home.
I was a bit surprised with the election results here. The Trump-ers still dominate in the rural parts of Texas but I was surprised to see some thoughtful voting in the cities and even, to some extent, in the suburbs here. That gives me hope.
Our Wives Under the Sea sounds fascinating. Aren’t you glad you didn’t drop it early on? That’s some waiting list for The Sleeping Car Porter. Hopefully, the library will step it up a bit and buy a few more copies now that the book has won such a prestigious award.
Stay warm! Not sure I’d survive those temps…
Hi Deb, that’s good to hear that Texas is become Bluer and hopefully less MAGA. There’s still hope! Someday Abbott and Cruz will go!
And yes I think the Library will be buying a lot more copies now of The Sleeping Car Porter, especially since this Giller winner lives & teaches here in Calgary. I look forward to reading it.
The Wives Under the Sea novel was unusual but I’ll keep my eye out for what the author — a British writer — writes next. There was some nice writing in this.
Hope you have a great week.
The Giller Prize winner looks interesting. I’d like to read it at some point.
Now here’s my confession: I have never read anything by Shirley Jackson and for some reason, I’ve never wanted to. I can’t explain it; just put it down to an unreasoning prejudice.
And, yes, all in all, voting day was not a bad day for democracy this week. It could have been so much worse.
Hi Dorothy, yeah I was expecting disaster on election day — so it’s so great to see such better results. Keep counting those ballots.
I think it’s all right to skip an author if you have no inclination for her books. You probably wouldn’t care for her fiction perhaps. I was surprised how 1950s and domestic she seemed in her memoir — and yet she wrote such unsettling tales. Ha. Enjoy your week.
Your weather looks a bit like ours here in Michigan — we had a couple of days with high temps above 70º but now some sort of precipitation is falling gently, and it looks just a little snowish. The political climate here in Michigan, though, is better than we had hoped.
Have a good week.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Hi Mae, I was so pleased with Michigan to see that Gov. Whitmer won again and the right to an abortion held. Wow. It did go better than expected.
And maybe you are getting a bit of our weather from last week that we pushed eastward … man that was cold. Stay warm. Have a great week.
I’m hopeful by most of the midterm results. I’m glad democrats retained the senate. I’m sad/mad Utah (my state) re-elected Mike Lee to the senate. I was really hoping Evan McMullin would’ve won, but Utah’s too set in its ways.
My book club’s reading THE MAID for November as well. We meet on Wednesday. I’m still reading the book, but I’ve heard it’ll garner a lot of great discussion. I’m hopeful that I’ll like it.
I hope you have a good week!
My Post
Hi Jenni, thanks for stopping by. Too bad about Utah’s senate race … maybe next time. It’s been exciting that your neighbor Nevada came through.
Interesting to hear your book club is reading The Maid too. I think there are some good discussion points about it. Our group had a good chat. See what you think. I’ll stop by your site soon. thanks! Enjoy your week too.
A beautiful photo! It’s quite warm here in the UK but we have had our heating on for a few hours – extravagant due to the problems that we are having but we had to do it .
I’ve read The Maid and enjoyed it. I loved the main character!
I hope you have a great week ahead!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com
Thanks Emily for stopping by. Yes I liked The Maid too. It was a good premise & character and we had a good discussion about it too.
It’s hard to believe it’s still warm in the UK midway into November.
Have a great week … and I look forward to checking out your site soon. Cheers!
Yah…the voters did a great job overall, but some states still need work. I ended up with Trump’s former press secretary, Sarah Hucklebee or whatever her name is for a Governor. Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Help me!!!!
I added the Shirley Jackson memoir and letters to my TBR!!!! Your review of the #memoirnotmemoir was GREAT and it sounds 100% my cup of tea. I love hearing about people’s kids (especially if they’re are bratty, precocious, mischievous)
Have you seen the movie Shirley starring Elisabeth Moss? It’s based on a novel so it’s more fiction than biography, but I liked it.
Hi Jinjer …. I still have not seen the Shirley movie! I think I need to move it back on my list ASAP. I’m curious too about the recent Ruth Franklin biography about Shirley Jackson called A Haunted Life. Sounds very good.
As for Arkansas …. good grief Sarah Hucklebee yikes! That’s tough! Worst of all is that she worked for that total *&!(@*&@! I will refrain from saying any word. But maybe you can subvert the Red there. & Keep up the fight!
Have a good week.
I remember Remembrance Day as Poppy Day in the UK?
Yeah Harvee … I think it used to be called Poppy Day in the UK and in various Commonwealth countries … but then apparently after WWII it changed to Remembrance Day in Canada (where we live) & Australia and maybe Remembrance Sunday in the UK. Canadians still wear red poppies on their lapels on Nov. 11 to honor the day. You are astute to recall that. I’m sure it can still be called that … and people will know.
Wow I thought it was getting cold here but you have us beat! That steam off the river is cool. I agree with you about the elections. there was so much fear about the possible results it was a very pleasant surprise (relatively speaking).
Yes Greg, I felt relieved — the election results seemed much better than many people had feared. Thank goodness to hold the Senate.
And I think we lost our season of fall right when November started. It immediately turned to winter with much snow. Argh. I hope to stop by your site soon to see what’s up. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week.
I saw your comment about the jazz on my last Sunday Post and thought I’d reply here since I’m sooo far behind and you might not have seen teh reply there. Here’s a channel on Youtube that has great pieces like that one
https://www.youtube.com/@relaxingjazzpiano6491
and this is nice too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHcj3REfLc0&t=142s
Great thanks Greg, I’m going to keep these sites. I actually have the jazz music on now. It is very relaxing. Perfect for my weekend reading and computer work. 🙂
After the elections and now that the results are piddling in, I can finally breathe again. I dedicated a lot of space today to digest what we just through. I am so happy that the weather has gotten cooler finally.
Hi Anne, yes I’m relieved too about many of the results. I will stop by your site soon to see what you thought. Thanks for stopping by. Have a nice week.
Single digits temps? We will be in Missouri this weekend where it’s about 20 degrees. I do not do well with cold and the idea of ice freaks me out. I cannot tolerate another fall on ice. Nope.
Also, the crazies. Seems like the main crazy is still in it to grift a bit more out of his following.
Yeah Ti, let’s hope the regular crazies are done with the main crazy. Who knows.
I hope you have a great trip to Missouri. Just bring some warm clothes and a good coat. Californians are pretty clueless when it comes to real winter. 🙂 It took me many years to finally adapt to this place. Luckily on Tuesday I’ll be flying to Palm Springs for a week in SoCal. Wow it’ll be like heaven right?
I’ve read the same two Jackson novels that you have, and enjoyed them both. I actually just did a reread of The Haunting of Hill House last month, this time reading it aloud to my wife, who hadn’t experienced the story. She loved the suspense as the story unfolded, but, as I suspected, was not fond of the ending.
Hey Carl, great to hear from you. It’s been a long while. I hope you are back blogging regularly again. I will check your site. Yeah I like reading Shirley Jackson in October too. And her endings often feel like a dagger, ha. But we still love her. I still need to read her other fiction. Have a great week.
Hi Susan,
I am so glad that you have posted several comments on my blog, because that led me to discover the wonders of yours!! I’m adding you to my “Blogs of Substance” list. I will be following you religiously now. I’m enjoying all of your recent posts. And I’m so excited to know that you live in Alberta, a great place for winter, winter being a fave of mine, which is a large part of why we chose to move to the Adirondack Mountains from Boston in 2005. (The Adirondacks have the harshest winters in the Northeast.) Actually, I’m a crazy nature person. And yellow Labs!!! My father bought my dog-crazy self a yellow Lab when I was ten. And upon having a more settled life as an adult, we bought a great yellow Lab. Then we started buying golden retrievers and have continued with them. Love Retrievers of all stripes!
So in tune with your views on US politics and Shirley Jackson. How’s that for a combo?
Great to meet you Judith. Thanks for stopping by! Wow the Adirondacks must be such a beautiful place to live. I like the photos on your blog. And I’m honored to be in your “blogs of substance” – Wow ha! It seems we have much in common: from dogs to nature and reading and politics. Maybe we are near the same age group as well. I will be adding your blog to my regular visiting sites. Though my blogging has been a bit sporadic lately as things have been busy here since we are getting ready to move to the countryside (now in mid-January). I look forward to more chats with you. Cheers!
Best of all possible good wishes for your move to the countryside! A perfect time of year to move, so you can grab the best of the marrow of winter!
Thanks! Yeah. I think we’re ready to be at the new place. Getting a bit antsy. It’s been pushed back a couple times I think. We’ve been a bit in limbo which is wearisome after a while. We need to keep the focus! It might be nice out there in winter. We will see!
I’d love to be on that bridge in the winter scene!
Nice Harvee, good point. Walking across that bridge is quite pretty in winter, especially that day when I noticed all the steam rising up.
My postings must be getting too slow – as I noticed you commented above, which is totally fine. I’m just slow these days. Have a great week.
What a lovely winter photo! I hope you and your book club picks up Still Life. It’s one of my favourite books from 2022. Very cosy but also funny and quirky. I wanted to read Shirley Jackson for Halloween this year, but never got around to it. Maybe next year…
Thanks Stargazer. Yes my book club did pick Still Life for our upcoming January discussion, so I’m looking forward to reading it. I remember you had really liked it so I sort of pushed it. I haven’t started it yet but it’s not far off now. I especially like its setting in Italy. Have a great week … and thanks for recommending the book.
Pingback: Nonfiction November 2022 Week 5: New To My TBR – The Intrepid Arkansawyer