Lilisin in 2024!

Welcome to another reading year!

While I was ready for last year to be a strong reading year, I was blindsided by an unexpected event that left me mourning for most of the year, unable to really enjoy things, and just trying to wash away the hours by scrolling through social media. I have finished mourning now and I feel like I have also additionaly managed to get rid of some other remaining emotional baggage that was weighing me down for years. So I think this year will finally be the winning reading year as my mind is finally clear for reading enjoyment.

Recent trends in my reading have me reaching for classics, wanting to get lost in well established stories that I know will be well written. I realized I'm a bit tired of exploring contemporary fiction as most reads seem to fall in the middle of the road range. I have also been going for door-stopper long books, both fiction and nonfiction, and I see that continuing this year as well. I just get so much satisfaction when I've finished yet another 700 page book. Another recent discovery is my enjoyment of American history. I've been reading nonfiction about the American Native populations mixed in with some Texas history and I've been truly enjoying myself. I have bought two books in this same topic recently that I feel won't be lagging on the TBR for long.

As for Japanese fiction, I'm not too sure where I stand with that right now. I know I'm known for this but I haven't been reaching for it lately. It almost feels like I've already the greatest of greats and it's hard to find gems these days although I do know they are out there still. I think for now I won't push this interest and will wait for it to naturally come back to me.

As always, thanks again for those who continue to follow my ever-decreansingly active threads.

Books read in 2024:
1) Alexandre Dumas : Vingt ans après (Twenty Years After)
2) John Wyndham : Trouble with Lichen

Manga read in 2024:
キャプテン翼 1-37
極主夫道 12-13
聖闘士星矢 8-10
らんま1/2 19

Books read in 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009

Yes, following. And I’m interested in both Native American and Texas history. I’m sorry you had such a rough 2023. Wish you a good new year.

I'll be following along with your years of reading regardless of the directions it might take. Always something to learn.

I'm glad you are back, Lilisin, and I'm glad you have been able to find some solace after your loss. Like Kevin, I will look forward to following along regardless of what you read. Welcome back and happy new year.

Welcome back! Give yourself permission to return to mourning for an hour or a day when you feel you need it - sometimes that's the best way to handle things.

If you do not feel like Japanese literature, so be it. One day it will call back to you but in the meantime, it is a big world. And I absolutely agree about long books - while I love short fiction, getting to the end of a long novel is always a great feeling :) I may not always remember to post but I do try to keep up with your reading.

Thank you all for the lovely words of support and encouragement. It's one of the big reasons I always come back to LT even in periods of lowered interest.

I thought I'd start the year with my Christmas book haul. I went back to Texas for the holidays and bought some books and also brought back some unread books I left behind when I moved to Japan. I love a freshly renewed TBR pile.

Nonfiction in English
Jon Krakauer : Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
Thant Myint-U : The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma
Jung Chang : Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China
- three authors whom I have read other works by and really respect and trust with nonfiction; always fascinating and informative reads

Dee Brown : Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
David Grann : Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
- continuing on my Texas history/Native American history theme I purchased these two books; unfortunately the Wounded Knee was delayed by Amazon and won't arrive until I'm back in Japan so my mom will hold on to it for now; the Killers of the Flower Moon book I purchased to make up for the delayed Amazon delivery and since I'm neither much of a Scorcese fan nor a diCaprio fan, I thought it best to read the book rather than watch the movie

Bradley K. Martin : Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty
- continuing my Asian history studies

Pingru Rao : Our Story: A Memoir of Love and Life in China
- a wonderful find in the used book store this is a beautifully put-together book of a man's love for his wife, filled with his illustrations

Fiction in English
Ursula K. Le Guin : The Left Hand of Darkness
Wilkie Collins : The Moonstone
Ngugi wa Thiong'o : Weep Not, Child
Philip K. Dick : Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
John Wyndham : Trouble with Lichen
John Wyndham : The Kraken Wakes
- all authors I've read before

Min Jin Lee : Pachinko
Isak Dinesen : Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass
- two books I already owned but never picked up; maybe now is the time?

Fiction in French
Herbjorg Wassmo : Le Livre de Dina, tome 1,2,3
Honore de Balzac : Eugénie Grandet
Takiji Kobayashi : Le bateau-usine
Léonora Miano : L'intérieur de la nuit
Ryû Murakami : La Guerre commence au-delà de la mer
Ranpo Edogawa : La bête aveugle
- all books I already owned but had left behind; a mix of authors I've never read and have read

I've decided to not participate in the ROOTs group this year as I have struggled in the last years updating one thread let alone two. But this means I need to bring the type of content I had in that thread and bring it over here, which means a list keeping track of my acquisitions and also a list showing the manga I'm reading. I always separated out my manga read as CR always was more of a high-brow type of group to me but now I think it'll just be nice having everything in one spot. So now to look at where my TBR stands at the beginning of the year.

TBR at beginning of 2024
Spanish 3
Japanese 37
French 88
English 52
Total 180

I actually did an excellent job in 2023 getting my pile down. I had a net loss of 10 books, going from 170 to 160 physical TBR books, having made a huge dent in my English language books. Now with my recent acquisitions I'm back up to 180 but I'm not mad at that as it replenished my English books and as I'm quite quick at getting recent purchases off my pile.

My manga TBR however is out of control considering I haven't been reading much lately. It is currently at 614 volumes, 540 of those on my shelves here in Japan. I'm hoping to make some progress on that front this year as it is much needed. I will be limiting my manga purchasing to just new volumes that have come out in currently ongoing series that I'm actively reading. (I actually had this rule in 2023 and was following it very well until one fateful day traveling in my friend's hometown when the used book store was selling manga sets for 70% off. Let's just say I HAD to open my wallet to that deal!)

A list of my acquisitions for the year. I will be striking the titles that I manage to read during the year. After the initial posting of my holiday acquisitions, may this post be short and uneventful.

Books acquired in 2024:
Jon Krakauer : Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
Thant Myint-U : The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma
Jung Chang : Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China
Dee Brown : Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
David Grann : Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
Bradley K. Martin : Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty
Pingru Rao : Our Story: A Memoir of Love and Life in China
Ursula K. Le Guin : The Left Hand of Darkness
Wilkie Collins : The Moonstone
Ngugi wa Thiong'o : Weep Not, Child
Philip K. Dick : Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
John Wyndham : Trouble with Lichen
John Wyndham : The Kraken Wakes
Min Jin Lee : Pachinko
Isak Dinesen : Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass
Herbjorg Wassmo : Le Livre de Dina, tome 1,2,3
Honore de Balzac : Eugénie Grandet
Takiji Kobayashi : Le bateau-usine
Léonora Miano : L'intérieur de la nuit
Ryû Murakami : La Guerre commence au-delà de la mer
Ranpo Edogawa : La bête aveugle

Manga acquired in 2024:
さよならフットボール 1-2

I read Killers of the Flower Moon for my book club last year. I thought it was going to be true crime, a genre I don't care for, and it was, but it was more historical and I liked it a lot. I had known nothing about the Osage murders and found it fascinating. I hope you like it too. I also liked Pachinko, and the tv series (what they have released so far) was fantastic. I love how diverse your reading is.

Please do share your manga. For the last two years, although not so far this year, Annie curated a Graphic Stories thread here on Club Read, where we shared reviews of graphic novels, comics, manga, etc. We even have a list I started of Club Read's Graphic Stories Recommendations. So there are those of us who are interested. Post away!

Personally I've never worried to much about ROOT. I read for pleasure and/or information, and I don't care where that reading comes from: my shelves, library, borrowed from friends, ebooks, etc. Plus I get a lot of enjoyment out of book sales and browsing at bookstores. For me that's part of my love for reading. So IMO until I run out of room in my house, it's all good.

>7 lilisin: CR always was more of a high-brow type of group to me

Don't tell anyone but I like reading comics, graphic novels, thrillers and pulps and you cannot get less high-brow than that. We do have our literary readers but we have a few of us that read all over the place.

Still - it is your thread, you decide what to talk about. :) I will be curious to see what manga you are reading - even if it is not translated so I cannot read it :) But if you rather not, that's ok.

>9 labfs39: I am considering if I want to do it again this year - probably will as soon as I read my first GN for the year. We shall see... :) The start of the year is crazy in Club Read so starting a bit later is not such a bad idea.

>10 AnnieMod: The start of the year is crazy in Club Read so starting a bit later is not such a bad idea.

Absolutely. My first graphic work will probably be Paracuellos later this month or next.

Welcome back! I hope 2014 will bring you the peace of mind you're looking for, and hope you have the stellar reading year you're wishing for.
I will be following your thread, whatever you decide reading. And I hope you'll share your manga reading as well. I love CR but don't consider myself an high-brow reader, and I love reading varied books, and reading about varied books as well.

I like long books so much better than short works. It always takes me forever to get into a new book. It can take me days to get through the first 10 or 20 pages, but once I'm in ("hooked") I can keep reading forever.

>13 arubabookwoman: I have a hard time leaving some books, especially if I've been immersed in them for a while. Not only do I feel like I'm still in the book, but sometimes I don't want to leave it either!

1) Alexandre Dumas : Vingt ans après (Twenty Years After)

I finished my first book of the year and it follows exactly the indications from my introduction as I've started the year with a long book, logging in at 940 pages. I know a lot of people like to start with short novels to get the year started with a roaring start but I quite enjoyed sinking into a long and fun adventure story. Really nothing can go wrong when you start the year running about with the three musketeers.

This is actually the second book of the trilogy and now that I have read this I have finally finished the series. I have already read the third installment as I had purchased it while I was in France and wasn't patient enough to wait till I was back in the states to read it, hence having read the third before the second volume.

In this second volume we find our four beloved characters, d'Artagnan, Aramis, Porthos, and Athos, 20 years after the events of the first book. The musketeers have separated into their own very distinct lives and political leanings. In this second installment we are with a new cardinal, Mazarin, at a time where Paris is revolting against the government. Aramis and Athos are siding with the Frondeurs but d'Artagnan is required to follow Mazarin and brings along Porthos with him. Our friends are now enemies!

When a mission comes up to send all of them in England to deal with Charles the 1st fate, we find that the friends must reunite and fight as one against a common enemy, the ghost of Milady.

Another amazing adventure that had me turning the page from beginning to end, and has me wanting to read the entire series again. If only Dumas could have written another fourth book. I love these musketeers.

The length of those Muskateer novels puts me off...................

>15 lilisin: Way back when, I started with the third novel in the series (new translation in 3 volumes just around the time I was starting to read grown up books) - did not even realize it was part of a series for a long time - it was titled "Louise de La Vallière" in that edition. It was my introduction to Dumas... I had been thinking about getting back to the trilogy - and your post reminds me that I really should...

I forgot to add a warning when I posted my Musketeers review.

Twice while reading my original French copy I got curious as to how the English translation dealt with a passage and when I checked Project Gutenberg for the English document, all the passages I was curious about had gotten cut out! Glancing my eyes on another page I noticed an easy mistranslation - as in so easy that it shouldn't occur -- and then noticed other paragraphs cut out.

Project Gutenberg doesn't state what edition they are using nor who translated it but it is heavily edited.
And it turns out, looking up the books on Wikipedia, the books had been seriously edited and mistranslated back in the day so definitely check up on the edition if you decide to read this series in English translation.

>16 baswood:
They are ridiculously long but ridiculous in quite a fun way, and there is never a moment that feels like it could have been edited out to make the book shorter. Every paragraph has its appropriate place and the length of the book in turn makes the adventure even more fun. Plus the books are really straightforward to read with no archaic language nor endless descriptive scenes and instead the adventure is fast paced full of witty dialogue and humor. So it's worth giving them a chance.

>17 AnnieMod:
Yeah, in French there are three volumes:
1) Les Trois Mousquetaires
2) Vingt Ans Apres
3) Le vicomte de Bragelonne

In English translation they typically split up that third volume into
a) The vicomte of Bragelonne
b) Louise de la Valliere
c) The Man in the Iron Mask

But other bindups are possible. So definitely go back and read the series!

>18 lilisin: Oh, I did read the other 2 later (all of them in Bulgarian - if I go for a reread, it will be in English this time around). The Bulgarian editions' titles were... interesting ("The vicomte of Bragelonne" was used for the translation of "Vingt Ans Apres" for example). Then another publisher decided to mix them up again. :)

Project Gutenberg has only translations that are out of copyright after all and the ones that are old enough to be there are from the school of translation that considered the French texts too risque. You should check what they have for Jules Verne. The stories are there but I tend to look for newer translations when I look at French classics.

>15 lilisin: sounds like a great way to start your year

>18 lilisin: “there is never a moment that feels like it could have been edited out to make the book shorter. Every paragraph has its appropriate place and the length of the book in turn makes the adventure even more fun.”

Pretty impressive for 940 pages.

>19 AnnieMod:
I have seen that 20 Years Later has been called the Vicomte in other translations! It's just asking for confusion by the readers!

I'll try to remember to compare my next Verne to the English translation on Gutenberg. I can see parts being cut for length but not sure what kind of content would be considered too disagreeable for translation. Lately I've been reading the more obscure Verne texts so I'm extra curious to see how they are messed with as they shouldn't be as abridgeable as say 20000 Leagues is.

>20 dchaikin:
Thank you, it was!

Going to do a currently reading update since I'm reading two big books thus haven't completed anything lately. Also, haven't made huge progress on those books since I went skiing, had a lovely day trip to see cherry blossoms with wanderingstar, and have been up to quite a few things.

The two books I'm currently reading are:
Gordon W. Prange : At Dawn We Slept
George Eliot : Middlemarch

The Prange book is a 900 page detailed nonfiction about Pearl Harbor. It's fascinating but it's a 25 pages per day kind of read and I haven't been keeping up with that schedule so it's taking me a little longer to read than intended. But it's very good and I can't wait to get to the major actions bits.

Middlemarch is my current read via PDF at work and on my phone book when on the train but I haven't been on the train much (other than the ski trip but I was chatting with friends the entire time) and being able to work is all dependent on the level of business so either the book can get read quickly or it will take three months. In the meantime I am greatly enjoying it. I plan to post mini summaries and highlighted quotes like I did with Anna Karenina as I go through each part. That was a wonderful way to read AK and now that I've read part 1 of Middlemarch I can post that shortly, hopefully today.

In the meantime since I'm reading those two large books I decided my leisure reading will be manga! And more than that, soccer manga! Nothing gets me back into reading manga, and equally, back into reading in Japanese like a fun soccer manga. And the exciting thing is that after having read every other soccer series in existence, I'm finally reading the most famous one: キャプテン翼 (Captain Tsubasa)! I grew up on the anime series in French as a kid under its French title Olive et Tom (which I actually always thought was Olivier et Tom until recently) so it's wonderful to finally read it. It's soooo... positive. lol Such a different vibe than other soccer manga I've read. It's cute, actually.

Also keep forgetting to post one of my favorite pieces of dialogue from Dumas' Vingt Ans Apres.

Pg. 645
Écoutez, dit d'Artagnan, je comprends peu l'anglais; mais, comme l'anglais n'est que du francais mal prononcé, voici ce que j'entends: Parliament's bill; ce qui veut dire bill du Parlement, ou Dieu me damne, comme ils disent ici.

---
And later on that page...

Mon ami, interrompit d'Artagnan, comme je n'entends pas l'anglais, mais que nous entendons tous l'espagnol, faites-nous le plaisir de nous entretenir dans cette langue, qui est la vôtre, et que, par conséquent, vous devez parler avec plaisir quand vous en retrouvez l'occasion.

— Ah! parfait, dit Aramis.

Quant à Porthos, nous l'avons dit, toute son attention était concentrée sur un os de côtelette qu'il était occupé à dépouiller de son enveloppe charnue.

— Vous demandiez donc? dit l'hôte en espagnol.

— Je demandais, reprit Athos dans la même langue, s'il y avait deux parlements, un pur et un impur.

— Oh! que c'est bizarre! dit Porthos en levant lentement la tête et en regardant ses amis d'un air étonné, je comprends donc maintenant l'anglais? j'entends ce que vous dites.

— C'est que nous parlons espagnol, cher ami, dit Athos avec son sang-froid ordinaire.

— Ah! diable! dit Porthos, j'en suis fâché, cela m'aurait fait une langue de plus.

Ha! I just love the humor in The Three Musketeers series. Cracks me up.

Middlemarch: Part 1
Miss Brooke

I have finished part 1 and am fully immersed in the story and characters. I also very much enjoy connecting the quotations at the beginning of each chapter to the chapter itself. What amount of research must have gone into this book! George Eliot's wit is also refreshing to read and her skills of observance on the social mores of the time and human interaction is fascinating. However I must make the observation that reading these so well written books saddens me somewhat in thinking how much women could have thrived if men hadn't, and didn't continously, try to stifle their talent. What a waste.

FULL SPOILERS BELOW
Dorothea Brooke is a 19-year-old orphan, living with her younger sister, Celia, as a ward of her uncle, Mr Brooke. Dorothea is an especially pious young woman whose hobby involves the renovation of buildings belonging to the tenant farmers, although her uncle discourages her. She longs to live an ascetic life devoted to some great project for improving the world. Dorothea is courted by Sir James Chettam, a man close to her own age, but she is oblivious to him. She is attracted instead to the Rev. Edward Casaubon, a 45-year-old scholar. Dorothea accepts Casaubon's offer of marriage, despite her sister's misgivings. Chettam is encouraged to turn his attention to Celia, who has developed an interest in him.

Dorothea meets Lydgate, the new, young surgeon. Lydgate thinks she is a fine girl, but too earnest, and prefers the company of Rosamond Vincy, the daughter of the mayor. She equally fancies Lydgate, preferring to marry a man who is not from Middlemarch, and she believes Lydgate has important, aristocratic relatives.

Rosamond and her brother, Fred, decide to go visit their elderly uncle, Peter Featherstone. Featherstone's second wife, Mrs. Vincy's sister, died with no children. She hopes that her own children, especially Fred, will inherit Featherstone's wealth. Featherstone accuses Fred of borrowing money for gambling debts, using his possible inheritance of Featherstone's wealth as security. He names Mr. Bulstrode, Fred's uncle, as the man who could prove or disprove the rumor. Bulstrode, a wealthy banker, would know everything about the borrowing or lending of money. Featherstone demands that Fred secure a letter from Bulstrode confirming or denying the rumor.

Mary Garth, Featherstone's niece by his first marriage, is charged with the care of the sick old man. Fred is also madly in love with her. He asks Rosamond if Mary mentioned anything about him. He fears that Mary has heard the rumor about his gambling debts. Rosamond replies that Mary only said that he is unsteady and that she would refuse to marry Fred if he proposed.

Other characters of note:
Mrs. Cadwallader - who plays matchmaker and informs Sir James that Dorothea is not interested in him and he should instead go for Celia; she is also against the Dorothea-Casaubon match
Mr. Cadwallader - the Rector
Will Ladislaw - young grandson-nephew to Mr. Casaubon; undecided on his profession, Mr. Casaubon decides to send him abroad
Lydgate - new, young surgeon in Middlemarch; uninterested in Ms. Brooke, prefers Rosamond Vincy
Rosamond - daughter of current mayor; equally interested in Lydgate
Fred - brother to Rosamond
Peter Featherstone - uncle to Rosamond and Fred
Mr. Bulstrode - brother-in-law of Featherstone

Quotations:
Chp 3, pg 35
(Sir James) "You have your own opinion about everything, Miss Brooke, and it is always a good opinion."
(Dorothea to herself) What answer was possible to such stupid complimenting?

Chp 3, pg 39
Certainly these men who had so few spontaneous ideas might be very useful members of society under good feminine direction, if they were fortunate in choosing their sisters-in-law!

Chp 7, pg 73
But he (Mr. Casaubon) had deliberately incurred the hindrance (of courtship), having made up his mind that it was now time for him to adorn his life with the graces of female companionship, to irradiate the gloom which fatigue was apt to hang over the intervals of studious labor with the play of female fancy, and to secure in this, his culminating age, the solace of female tendance for his declining years.

You have me intrigued with soccer manga. My teen boy loves soccer and has recently gotten into anime and manga. Is there any soccer manga translated into English that you're aware of that I could recommend to him?

Enjoying your Middlemarch adventure. It's one of my favorite books.

>24 lilisin: I revisited Middlemarch last year. I think my enjoyment was lessened because I listened to it on audio, not the best format for me, but it was still enjoyable. I like reading your notes.

>24 lilisin: enjoy Middlemarch! Like Lisa, I read it last year (but for the 1st time, and not on audio). I had a little trouble with the pace. But you seem quite happy with it.

>25 japaul22:
Your teen boy would have a heydey with my bookshelves then! I don't read manga in English so I'm not well versed in what is out but this article mentions four that are available in English. Perhaps you can start there.

https://www.cbr.com/best-soccer-manga-before-world-cup/

---

Thanks everyone for the Middlemarch encouragement. I think just the fact that I'm reading it mainly on computer and phone will make any pace issues less of a problem because my reading pace in itself will be inconsistent. In any case, I had huge success with Anna Karenina reading this way so am enjoying the journey!

>28 lilisin: thank you! I will check those out.

You make me want to read Dumas again! Well, actually I’m not sure how much I read of the trilogy. Les Trois mousquetaires for sure, probably twice. I remember fondly d’Artagnan’s arrival in Paris on his yellow horse, and his blunders. I may have read Vingt ans après but I’m not sure, and probably not Le Vicomte de Bragelonne.

Middlemarch: Part 2
Old and Young

The hustle and bustle within Middlemarch remains interesting although it lacks a bit of the tension that was in say, Shirley. I'm curious to see in what direction the relationships will go. Currently just copy and pasting, and revising online summaries but they are a bit messy and I will try to summarize part 3 in my own words.

FULL SPOILERS BELOW
Middlemarch tensions continue as a decision must be made about who will head the new hospital: Lydgate (as nominated by Bulstrode) with his "new medicine" or Mr. Tyke (side of Farebrother) who is a safe decision despite and due to his outdated treatments. Tyke ultimately becomes chaplain to the infirmary, and Lydgate continues to work with Mr. Bulstrode.

We learn about Lydgate's youth and then his pursuit of an actress in Paris. He falls for her despite a strange theatre incident but upon her admitting to killing her husband, Lydgate recedes and decides to avoid romance.

We learn about Bulstrode's arrival in Middlemarch twenty years ago but no one knows his origins. He married Mr. Vincy's sister which allies himself with an important, respectable family. He has an intimate view into the private lives of Middlemarch citizens through their finances. He uses his money as a lever to spread his strict Protestant ethic and to scrutinize its effect on his fellow citizens. Power is his favorite game.

Fred has told his father about Featherstone's request. Bulstrode is reluctant to write the letter because he disapproves of Fred's extravagant habits. He believes that Vincy made a mistake in paying for Fred's expensive college education. Vincy criticizes Bulstrode for moralizing and hints that his sister, Mrs. Bulstrode, will disapprove of Bulstrode's refusal to help her brother's family. Bulstrode agrees to write the letter after a short consultation with his wife.

Fred delivers the letter, and Featherstone gives him one hundred pounds as a gift. Fred retreats to speak with Mary. He doesn't want to be a clergyman, and he has failed his examination at college. Fred demands that she promise to marry him, but she refuses. She suggests that he pass his exam as proof that he is not an idler, even though she thinks he would be an unfit clergyman. She refuses to encourage his marriage prospects. Fred returns home in low spirits and asks his mother to hold eighty pounds. He owes one hundred and sixty pounds for a gambling debt. His creditor holds a bill signed by Mary's father as security against the debt.

We briefly go to Rome where a crying Dorothea is seen by Naumann, a painter friend of Will Ladislaw. They come up with a plan so that Naumann can paint her portrait. We see that Dorothea is starting to see the truth behind her marriage and Casaubon.

Other characters of note:
Rev. Camden Farebrother - the Vicar
Mrs. Farebrother - the Vicar's mother
Miss Noble - Mrs. Farebrother's sister
Miss Winifred Farebrother - the Vicar's elder sister

Quotations:
Chp 16, pg 178
It was a principle with Mr. Bulstrode to gain as much power as possible, that he might use it for the glory of God. He went through a great deal of spiritual conflict and inward argument in order to adjust his motives, and make clear to himself what God's glory required.

pg 179
Whatever was not problematical and suspected about this young man (Lydgate) ・for example, a certain showiness as to foreign ideas,and a disposition to unsettle what had been settled and forgotten by his elders as positively unwelcome to a physician whose standing had been fixed thirty years before by a treatise on Meningitis, of which at least one copy marked own・was bound in calf.

pg 181
This was one of the difficulties of moving in good Middlemarch society: it was dangerous to insist on knowledge as a qualification for any salaried office.

pg 181
Certainly, small feet and perfectly turned shoulders aid the impression of refined manners, and the right thing said seems quite astonishingly right when it is accompanied with exquisite curves of lip and eyelid.

Chp 17, pg 199
But a good wife— a good unworldly woman—may really help a man, and keep him more independent.

>31 lilisin: I'm loving these summaries. Last year I reread Middlemarch for the first time in thirty years. Or rather I listened on audio, which is not quite as easy for me. Anyway, it's interesting to see the story unfold in your summaries.

Good stuff on Middlemarch. I had forgotten about Lydgate’s Paris actress

Middlemarch: Part 3
Waiting for Death

A bit of a slower week at work has allowed me to get through part 3 at a nice pace. We end with quite the exciting cliffhanger which makes me want to jump right into part 4. As I suspected, writing the summary myself (and as I read) is much easier and logical.

FULL SPOILERS BELOW
Fred ends up losing most of the money he received after trying one last gamble with horses, and is forced to confess his debt to Mrs. and Mr. Garth, and furthermore, to Mary Garth. His troubles continue when he comes down with typhoid fever, picked up from his "adventures".

This however gives an opportunity to Lydgate -- who becomes Fred's doctor after once again proving Middlemarch's medical practices outdated -- to interact with Fred's sister, Rosamond. However, while he convinces himself that these are mere interactions, Rosamond and the town itself consider these flirtations, and rumors of engagement begin to fly about despite Lydgate's desires to not marry so soon.

However, Lydgate's self-denial of his feelings fade quickly enough and Rosamond and Lydgate confirm their engagement, on the day that Mr. Vincy is found walking back from Mr. Featherstone's, who is on the brink of death, and will indeed be passing his fortune onto Fred.

Dorothea and Mr. Casaubon return from their honeymoon in Italy, Dorothea continuing to feel the unease of her marriage and Mr. Casaubon doing nothing to aid her. Celia announces her engagement to Sir James Chettam.
Shortly after receiving two letters from Will Ladislaw, Mr. Casaubon has a heart attack and Dorothea is told by Lydgate that Casaubon must slow his studies lest he study his remaining years away too quickly. Dorothea is hit by the idea that Casaubon could die without having finished his work meaning that she would have been found useless.

Dorothea asks her uncle, Mr. Brooke, to reply to the letters to stop Ladislaw from visiting the Casaubon's, which Mr. Brooke does but not without inviting Ladislaw to his own home instead.

At the news of Mr. Featherstone's imminent death, his opportunistic relatives come to visit. On the brink of death, he asks a favor of Mary Garth, to open up a chest and rip up one of the two wills he has written. She refuses this task, along with the gold he offers, and Mr. Featherstone dies with two wills in his name.

Characters to remember:
Mr. Bambridge - horse dealer that Fred Vincy owes money to
Caleb Garth - signed Fred's debt and thus must lend money to Fred

Quotes:
ch 24, pg. 281
Curiously enough, his (Fred Vincy) pain in the affair beforehand had consisted almost entirely in the sense that he must seem dishonorable, and sink in the opinion of the Garths: he had not occupied himself with the inconvenience and possible injury that his breach might occasion them, for this exercise of the imagination on other people's needs is not common with hopeful young gentlemen. Indeed we are most of us brought up in the notion that the highest motive for not doing a wrong is something irrespective of the beings who would suffer the wrong. But at this moment he suddenly saw himself as a pitiful rascal who was robbing two women of their savings.

ch 29, pg. 316
Providence, in its kindness, had supplied him with the wife he needed. A wife, a modest young lady, with the purely appreciative, unambitious abilities of her sex, is sure to think her husband's mind powerful. Whether Providence had taken equal care of Miss Brooke in presenting her with Mr. Casaubon was an idea which could hardly occur to him. Society never made the preposterous demand that a man should think as much about his own qualifications for making a charming girl happy as he thinks of hers for making himself happy. As if a man could choose not only his wife but his wife's husband! Or as if he were bound to provide charms for his posterity in his own person! When Dorothea accepted him with effusion, that was only natural; and Mr. Casaubon believed that his happiness was going to begin.

ch 29, pg 317
For my part I (George Eliot as the narrator) am very sorry for him (Mr. Casaubon). It is an uneasy lot at best, to be what we call highly taught and yet not to enjoy: to be present at this great spectacle of life and never to be liberated from a small hungry shivering self-- never to be fully possessed by the glory we behold, never to have our consciousness rapturously transformed into the vividness of a thought, the ard or of a passion, the energy of an action, but always to be scholarly and uninspired, ambitious and timid, scrupulous and dim-sighted.

>34 lilisin: I loved the scene with all the relatives waiting in the downstairs room, eyeing each other and gossiping about who will get what.

A lot more life in your own summaries and a lot more vivid memories brought back. Eliot was having so much fun. The first-person interlude surprised.

Middlemarch: Part 4
Three Love Problems

Part 4 was remarkably short with fewer memorable moments or passages, but since I'm now halfway through I suspect things are about to gain intensity in Middlemarch. Things have picked up at work however so I regret it might take a while to read through part 5 and beyond. Hopefully I can continue to steal a page of reading here and there. In the meantime, thank you for the lovely comments on my reading logs. I should mention that while I'm reading these long books (although my Pearl Harbor nonfiction has been unintentially on pause for almost a month now), I have been devouring the Captain Tsubasa manga series. Having fun with that of course and am now more than halfway through it.

FULL SPOILERS BELOW
A crowd has gathered, along with a mysterious Joshua Mr. Rigg, for Mr. Featherstone's funeral, awaiting for news on his will. Reading the first will reveals money left here and there to various relatives with a larger amount going to Fred; the second will leaves the smallest of donations but gives all, including the land to Mr. Rigg instead, as well as giving Rigg the Featherstone name. Fred is left with nothing and is left to figure out his fate while Rosamond's upcoming wedding with Lydgate is allowed to go on without interruption.

Mr. Brooke has bought a paper, "The Pioneer", and Ladislaw is his writer; but people around are very much against this turn of events.

A week remains until the Rosamon-Lydgate wedding and we go to the Garths where Mary has decided to teach at a school in York now that she is no longer connected to Mr. Featherstone. However, a letter from Sir James Chettam arrives, offering to Mr. Garth the management of the family estates Freshitt (Chettam's) and Tipton (Mr. Brooke's). With this the Garth money problems seem to be over and Mary can stay in Middlemarch.

Shortly after the vicar visits the family to discuss Fred who has left in shame due to his debts to the Garths, and has decided to leave in search of education. The Garths reveal to the vicar Farebrother that according to Mary Mr. Featherstone had sought to burn the second will which means Fred should have gotten the 10000 pounds. It also revealed that a particular transaction was going on between Mr. Bulstrode and the new Mr. Rigg Featherstone concerning his inherited land.

We witness a conversation between Riggs and his father-in-law, Raffles, a direspute man whom Riggs wishes no longer to see. We last see Raffles as he leaves town with a note signed by Burstrode.

Lydgate calls upon Mr. Casaubon on return from his wedding to discuss his illness. Lydgate confirms Casaubon's concerns and Casaubon realizes there is no chance for him to finish his work. Surprisingly he finds solace in Dorothea.

Characters:
John Raffles : fatherinlaw to Mr. Riggs

Quotes:
ch 35, pg. 372
When the animals entered the Ark in pairs, one may imagine that allied species made much private remark on each other, and were tempted to think that so many forms feeding on the same store of fodder were eminently superfluous, as tending to diminish the rations. (I fear the part played by the vultures on that occasion would be too painful for art to represent, those birds being disadvantageously naked about the gullet, and apparently without rites and ceremonies.) The same sort of temptation befell the Christian Carnivora who formed Peter Featherstone's funeral procession; most of them having their minds bent on a limited store which each would have liked to get the most of.

ch 36, pg. 392
I (Lydgate) feel sure that marriage must be the best thing for a man who wants to work steadily. He has everything at home then -- no teasing with personal speculations -- he can get calmness and freedom.

I wish we learned more about Riggs. Enjoyed your update.

Middlemarch: Part 5
Book v. the Dead Hand

As suspected there was a lot of movement in part 5. Everything is about expected according to the rules of Victorian literature. I enjoy the subtlety in juxtaposition between Celia and Dorothea's lives. While we are fully immersed in Dorothea's life, Celia's journey through the standard path of wifedom and motherhood is revealed only through short, brief sentences. I find this a clever way to compare the sisters.

FULL SPOILERS BELOW
Dorothea visits the Lydgate home wishing to speak to him about her husband's condition; instead she meets the new Mrs. Rosamond Lydgate and happens to find Will Ladislaw there as well. Rosamond discovers Will's feelings for Dorothea, while in the meantime, Lydgate as managed to get Dorothea to commit funds towards the new hospital.

Middlemarch is undergoing changes: 1) The New Hospital has been built and Bulstrode is looking for financial donors but the residents are against this antagonist to the current medical doctors, 2) Political reform is the hot topic for the potential upcoming elections. Ladislaw and Lydgate along with Brooks are for, but know that Middlemarch will be stubborn to adopt change.

Rosamond is pregnant. Celia has had a baby.

Will Ladislaw makes an attempt to see Dorothea at the local church but immediately regrets his decision at seeing her resentfulness to his coming. It turns out Dorothea was quite pleased to see Will and was looking forward to some consensus of agreement with Mr. Casaubon but she saw that no reconciliation could be had between the two.

Mr. Casaubon, chiefly aware of his limited time has finally decided to focus on the completion of his work and Dorothea is happily a part of this new work (although she admits to herself that even if he were to complete his work, it would amount to nothing). However, she is taken by surprise when he asks her to fulfill his wishes (which he does not give details upon) without question if and upon his death. Dorothea is taken aback and asks for time to decide. But before she can give her answer, the next day, Mr. Casaubon passes.

It is revealed that Mr. Casaubon had written a codicil to his will about Dorothea. In it he states that Dorothea would lose all the property of the estate if she were to wed Ladislaw. The reactions of Celia and Sr. James Chettam is one of disgust towards the ill will Casaubon's codicil implies about Dorothea, and Dorothea's reaction is one of shock and lack of trust. Casaubon's codicil begins to backfire as, while Dorothea had never once entertained such feelings to Ladislaw, revelation of the codicil makes her begin to rethink her feelings.

In the meantime Mr. Brookes fails politically and decides to give up The Pioneer to Ladislaw. And Fred Vincy has now returned in hand with a college degree. Mary indirectly declines Mr. Farebrother's hand and keeps herself open to Fred with the condition that he become a better man, but not seek to become a clergyman.

Mr. Bulstrode has purcased the deeds for Stone Court from Riggs who has now left Middlemarch. However, Buldstrode runs into Raffles, with whom it seems they were once acquaintances long ago and with whom Bulstrode does not seem happy to meet. Aptly so as Raffles has come to blackmail Bulstrode about some connection in the past. Bulstrode has a step-daughter: Ladislaw.

Quotes:
ch 43, pg. 489
Rosamond felt herself beginning to know a great deal of the world, especially in discovering what when she was in her unmarried girlhood had been inconceivable to her except as a dim tragedy in by-gone costumes that women, even after marriage, might make conquests and enslave men. At that time young ladies in the country, even when educated at Mrs. Lemon's, read little French literature later than Racine, and public prints had not cast their present magnificent illumination over the scandals of life.

ch 44, pg 492
Half the town would almost take trouble for the sake of thwarting him. In this stupid world most people never consider that a thing is good to be done unless it is done by their own set.

....

"But what is there against Mr. Bulstrode? I (Dorothea) know that my uncle is friendly with him."
"People don't like his religious tone," said Lydgate.
"That is all the stronger reason for despising such an opposition," said Dorothea.

ch 44, pg 493

I (Lydgate) suppose one must expect to fight one's way: there is hardly anything to be done without it. And the ignorance of people about here is stupendous. I don't lay claim to anything else than having used some opportunities which have not come within everybody's reach; but there is no stifling the offence of being young, and a new-comer, and happening to know something more than the old inhabitants."

Coming in late, but i like revisiting Middlemarch here. A lot going on in this last section.

Casaubon really shot himself in the foot with that codicil. It's interesting how both Featherstone's and Casaubon's wills end up not fulfilling the intentions.

Middlemarch: Part 6
The Widow and the Wife

I have less quotations to pull from the book as the book goes into the main plot and its conclusion. I continue to be entranced but I'm not sure how easy it'll be for me to read at work from here out. I recently got an assistant which is all good but she sits right next to me so pulling out Middlemarch, albeit via PDF, is a bit less discreet when someone is staring at your screen with you. Obviously I can't complain about having to work while at work, and having an assistant definitely was a huge help today so I'm happy to have her but I'll miss the reading. In any case, Middlemarch is still a pleasure and I have now only two parts left to the book!

FULL SPOILERS BELOW
Dorothea goes back to her estate as conversations fly about whether she should take on another husband. Will Ladislaw comes to visit her to share his farewells and they both leave the conversation after miscommunicated feelings.

In the meantime Fred Vincy has come under the tutorship of Mr. Garth, officially declining to join the clergy, and hopefully sealing his match with Mary.

Rosamond loses her baby. Lydgate and Rosamond are suffering from miscommunication and a difference in expectations in their marriage leading to Lydgate being in debt due to having to provide for a home beyond his means. Rosamond meanwhile tells Will Ladislaw about the codicil, and furthermore goes behind Lydgate's back to ask money from her father, who himself reveals that he is in a bit of trouble himself.

At a Middlemarch estate auction, Will Ladislaw encounters Mr. Raffles, and is asked if Sarah Dunkirk is his mother.

As Mr. Raffles puts pressure on Bulstrode we finally learn about his past: he was excelling as a young banker's clerk and was an esteemed member of the church, considering entering the ministry as his vocation. Then one day he is invited to the home of the richest man in the congregation, Mr. Dunkirk. After the death of a partner, Dunkirk chooses Bulstrode to manage his affairs and a company with seedy origins. After time, Mr Dunkirk died and his wealth went to his wife. It was thought that Bulstrode would marry the new widow but first it seems the Dunkirk's had had a daughter who has run off was married but they couldn't find her, and now Mrs. Dunkirk wished to find her again before getting married so as to pass on some of her wealth. Bulstrode proceeds to find the daughter, but pays a man to keep the finding a secret, so that he may marry Mrs. Dunkirk and her wealth.

Mr. Bulstrode calls in Will Ladislaw to his home to admit his marriage to Will's mother. Mr. Bulstrode reveals their connection, and offers a yearly allowance when Will understands Bulstrode's secret, but in a surprising turn of events Will refuses the money due to the seedy nature of the fortune, as he wishes not to ruin his reputation in the ideas of Dorothea and the deceased Mr. Casaubon.

Will makes one last visit to Dorothea before he leaves town, leaving behind miscommunication but also love.

Quotes:
ch 61, pg. 695
The service he could do to the cause of religion had been through life the ground he alleged to himself for his choice of action: it had been the motive which he had poured out in his prayers. Who would use money and position better than he meant to use them? Who could surpass him in self-abhorrence and exaltation of God's cause? And to Mr. Bulstrode God's cause was something distinct from his own rectitude of conduct: it enforced a discrimination of God's enemies, who were to be used merely as instruments, and whom it would be as well if possible to keep out of money and consequent infl uence. Also, profitable investments in trades where the power of the prince of this world showed its most active devices, became sanctified by a right application of the profits in the hands of God's servant.

ch 62, pg. 704
He (Chettam) sent the groom on an unsaddled horse across the park with a pencilled note to Mrs. Cadwallader, who already knew the gossip, and would think it no compromise of herself to repeat it as often as required.

I have nothing to report in terms of reading unless I were to report on my manga reading, but instead of that, I want to report my window shopping results. While waiting for friends I decided to check out the foreign books store in Shinjuku to see if anything would catch my eye and a lot did actually. Some of these I can thank the striking new covers for.

First are books by authors I've been wanting to revisit for a while.
William Golding : The Inheritors
- I was very happy when I read The Spire almost 20 years after reading Lord of the Flies; it kicked a bad habit of not revisiting the books of authors I've enjoyed a work by

When spring comes, the people leave their winter cave, foraging for honey and shoots, bulbs and grubs, the hot richness of a deer's brain. They awaken the fire to heat their naked bodies, lay down their thorn bushes, and share pictures in their minds. But strange things are happening - inexplicable scents, sounds, and violence - and, suddenly, unimaginable creatures are half-glimpsed in the forest; an upright new people of bone-faces and deerskins. What the early people don't know is that their season is already over ...

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley : The Last Man
- this would be in the same vein as above; I've read and loved Frankstein twice so why have I never read any other works by Mary Shelley!; this must be fixed!

Mary Shelley's apocalyptic fantasy of the end of human civilisation. Set in the late twenty-first century, the novel unfolds a sombre and pessimistic vision of mankind confronting inevitable destruction.

Nella Larsen : Quicksand
- I read Passing last year and while I simply liked, but didn't love it like others have, I felt Larsen's genious and relevance to society both then and now and I truly want to read another by this author

Crane is the lovely and refined daughter of a Danish mother and a West Indian black father who abandons Helga and her mother soon after Helga is born. Unable to feel comfortable with any of her white-skinned relatives, Helga lives in various places in America and visits Denmark in search of people among whom she feels at home. The work is a superb psychological study of a complicated and appealing woman, Helga Crane, who, like Larsen herself, is the product of a liaison between a black man and a white woman.

E.M. Forster : The Machine Stops
- never read author but I've been enjoying my foray into older science fiction

First published in 1909, Forster's short science fiction work, "The Machine Stops," posits a technology-dependent humanity now living underground, its every need serviced by machines. But what happens if--or when--the machines stop? "The Machine Stops" was named one of the greatest science fiction novellas published before 1965 by the Science Fiction Writers of America.

Margaret Mitchell : Gone with the Wind
- a book I've always been curious about and the edition in the store finally made me closer to picking it up

Next, two books I hadn't heard of but the covers were striking and then the blurbs sealed the deal.
Chester Himes : If He Hollers Let Him Go

This story of a man living every day in fear of his life for simply being black is as powerful today as it was when it was first published in 1947. The novel takes place in the space of four days in the life of Bob Jones, a black man who is constantly plagued by the effects of racism. Living in a society that is drenched in race consciousness has no doubt taken a toll on the way Jones behaves, thinks, and feels, especially when, at the end of his story, he is accused of a brutal crime he did not commit.

Toni Cade Bambara : Those Bones Are Not My Child: A Novel

On Sunday morning, July 20, 1980, Marzala Rawls Spencer awakens to find that her teenage son has gone missing, even as the Atlanta child abductions are beginning to be reported. As she and her estranged husband frantically search for their son, the story moves with authority through the full spectrum of Atlanta's political, social, and cultural life, illuminating the vexing issues of race and class that bedevil the city.

>43 lilisin: Wonderful book haul! Like you I often find myself thinking, why haven't I read more by this author? I need to follow your example and actually do it!

>44 labfs39:

Actually just window shopping! I’ve added everything to my wishlist but didn’t buy anything. I haven’t even completed my second book of the year so definitely not the time to be buying books!

>45 lilisin: That's good too! I love browsing in bookstores.