Gone with the Wind part 3 (ch. 17-30)

Posted on September 10, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Follow the Great Gone with the Wind Readalong at The Heroine’s Bookshelf. Today we discuss part 3.

I’m quite late on this one, as noted before vacation – I hadn’t actually read this part before we set out, so it’s posting after my return. Ho-hum. I should be on track for the last two readings: part 4 on Sept. 26, and part 5 on Oct. 17. For now, you can go check out the discussion of part 3 at the Heroine’s Bookshelf, here. As as aside, Erin at HB is doing a fabulous job of leading these discussions! Not only does she summarize chapters, but she also gives us links for further reading on any number of historical facets of this amazing book.

So. I’m still just devouring GWTW; it’s an epic with momentum, emotional impact, and plenty to think about. It’s entertaining, heart-wrenching, and instructive.

These fourteen chapters are fast-paced and stomach-churning. Scarlett is living in Atlanta as the Civil War really ramps up; casualties increase, and the fervently loyal Southerners begin to face the fact that they can’t win this war. Social niceties that Scarlett (and Melly, and Pitty, and everyone) thought could be relied upon fall apart. Scarlett ends up undertaking some incredible challenges, simply out of necessity: she safely delivers Melanie’s (and Ashley’s) baby, and then grits her teeth and grinds her way home through dangerous, contested territory towards Tara. She enlists Rhett Butler’s help in doing this, but he abandons her – near Tara, but not close enough for safety.

When she gets home, she learns that her beloved mother has died, her two sisters are ill and no more tolerable to her than ever, her father Gerald is no longer a rock but rendered a pathetic simpleton by his wife’s death. Everything falls on Scarlett’s shoulders and, again, necessity births greater strength and skill than she would have thought possible.

I never liked Scarlett, in the sense that I would have wanted to be her best friend; but I always respected her, greatly in fact. Conniving, manipulative, and nasty? Yes. But determined? Oh, yes. And now I respect her more than ever; she’s really pulled it together. She’s my kind of woman, in a way: she doesn’t waste too much time whining, not when it really comes down to it. She rolls up her sleeves, picks her own cotton, earns blisters and calluses and loses weight and saves the farm, when her sisters are ready to roll over and die rather than stand up straight. I respect her immensely.

But I’m also concerned for the vision that Scarlett, and everyone around her, has of some reborn Southland. It’s just not going to happen. (Says I, with the benefit of lots of hindsight!) It’s never going to be the same again. And then Ashley comes home… finally… and Scarlett is still wasting her time pining over him. Just like the reincarnated South she dreams of, her perfect life with Ashley is impossible. I’m frustrated at her slowing down her own progress by mooning over impossibilities.

In response to some of Erin’s discussion points:

The descriptions of war are grotesque and well-done; I can really see and feel and smell the horrors. But I guess I failed to be entirely shocked, if only because this is the reputation of the Civil War in our time. Perhaps Mitchell’s contemporary audience was less clear on this point? I think we all learned in school at least about the idea of the Civil War as awful. But she certainly evokes it viscerally here.

Prissy is a deplorable character – as is Mammy, I must add. I have little patience with the way these slaves are depicted. It’s so obviously stereotyping, using set parts, simplifying these black slave who were – hello!! – real people, like every other population on earth made up of smart, dumb, hard-working, lazy, creative, dull, kind and evil people. My greatest difficulty with this book so far is in the portrayals of the slaves. Does Prissy drive me crazy? Yes. And there’s every chance that somewhere, one specific slave girl had all these characteristics that Prissy does; but it’s just too easy to paint them all with the same brush, and that I do not buy. Mammy’s relief and pride at still belonging to a good family is disgusting, coming from Mitchell’s pen. Pork’s pridefulness on being a “house n*gger” is offensive, to my modern eyes.

Rhett Butler… oh, my. I was at least as disappointed as Scarlett when he proposed, not marriage, but prostitution! (And I wonder if she would really have turned him down, as she planned to, if it had in fact been the former?) I think he’s rather wonderful, and I also think that he and Scarlett are two peas in a pod; she’s self-delusive if she doesn’t see how alike they are. It’s funny, because what she hates in him is what carries her through her own life, too.

The momentum of this section of the book is amazing. I couldn’t put it down. Can’t wait to discuss part 4 with everyone! But some of the portrayals of the south, and of the slaves, are getting a little uncomfortable. What’s next?

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quick trip report: Key West, FL

Posted on September 10, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Hello friends! I’m back! Did you miss me?

Husband and I DID, in fact, make it to Florida! Here’s a quick report…

Last Friday night we flew into Miami, got a hotel room and a rental car and a beer, and went to bed. Saturday morning we got up lateish and began the drive down through the Keys. It was a lovely drive, as promised, with water on both sides of the narrow highway for a few hours. We took our time on the drive down, stopping for lunch – fried conch, an outstanding Ahi burger, and some rum – and made it into Key West around 5pm. We got a room, had a few drinks, and walked around Duvall St. before turning in.

Sunday we really began our sightseeing, with my top priority: the Hemingway House. It was very special. I am still trying to wrap my head around the idea that he lived right there. I’ll give you the full Hem House report shortly. [EDIT: Here‘s my report.] Then we rented bikes and rode out to the area where the fishing charters depart, so we could shop for a fishing trip for Husband. Finally, we found some solid pizza by the slice and took yet another dip in the pool at our B&B.

Monday was a lazy day in and out of the pool, the bed, and various books… we rode our bikes around some more and fished off a pier on the east (Atlantic) side of the island. Then we had an early night so we could wake up early on Tuesday to go fishing!

We went out in a little boat with Captain Mike and Husband fished for baby tarpon, bonefish, permit, and maybe something else?? This is not my area but I went along for the boat ride. We saw maybe 5-7 sharks and a whole mess of sting rays, which was cool. This was “flats” fishing, on the Gulf side of the island, with a lot of poleing the boat over very shallow flats, so we could see very clearly what was swimming around under us. Husband didn’t have any luck but he thoroughly enjoyed himself all the same, and has expressed greater interest since we’ve gotten back home, in getting out there more. There’s talk of renting us seats on a local fishing boat in the coming months. And when I got up this morning he was casting in the back yard!

Tuesday night we spent more time exploring the island, catching up on the last of the recommended beer bars, getting our fill. Wednesday morning we had the time to wake up in a leisurely fashion, get Husband a new fishing hat (the other one disintegrating) from a local angler’s shop (so it’s a functional souvenir, good work Husband), and make the drive back up to Miami for an evening flight home. It was a fairly quick trip but we got everything out of it we wanted to (except a tarpon – maybe next time) and made it home with free time to spare.

Nephew Tanner kept all three little dogs alive and didn’t burn the house down, so things were a success all around!

Thursday morning involved some unexpected travel: we drove out west of Houston to Columbus, TX, one of the areas that was hit hard by wildfires in our absence. My family owns property out there and we had to assess the damage. In a nutshell, we were lucky: the hard work of the local fire crews saved our house, literally stopping the fire at the doorstep (as they did for countless of our neighbors). We lost our barn and tractor, and 30 acres of woodlands are spotty, some places nearly destroyed by fire (biggest trees standing but scorched, little else, carpeted in ash) and some places almost untouched. Overall we were most definitely lucky. Columbus lost 11 homes. Nearby Bastrop has lost some 1400 homes; this is almost unthinkable, in terms of all those families who have only what they could carry. We did take some clothes, toiletries, food and books up there with us to donate to the effort.

And now I’m just settling back in. I have several books and audiobooks to write for you. They might be brief reviews; I didn’t take any kind of notes, sadly. It feels good to be home. Here’s hoping you’re enjoying your reading, maybe even a break of some sort, and hoping your families are safe and fire-free…

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and we’re off! literary travels

Posted on September 3, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Here comes a little break, children. I’m going to try to stay away from the interwebs this time. Husband will be facebooking, of course – he has a “smart” phone (harumph), for one thing, and we like to make our friends jealous by posting real-time pictures of things like beautiful beaches and craft beer and bloody Marys while they’re at work. But I won’t be blogging. I will be reading! But not blogging. I’ll save it all up to dump on you upon my return. 🙂

This vacation has morphed a few times. Originally we intended to go to Colorado someplace to go mountain biking. (We both have new full suspension 29ers, yum.) But I hurt my knee way back at the beginning of July, and have had a hell of a time coming back from it. I’m just now coming off a month of physical therapy with the lovely, talented Ingrid, and I’m coming along well – can now ride a bike again, but just a little teeny bit, not enough to go off on a cycling vacation. You can only imagine how crazy this has made me for the last several months. But enough about the bad news. The good news is that we have found another travel option we like: the Florida Keys. This would involve some walking but not as much as the UK (the other considered destination) and I think I’m up to it.

This partly came about, and will be extra-enjoyable, because of the coincidence of my having just read Paul Hendrickson’s Hemingway’s Boat. This is a new book coming out in September, and I REALLY loved it; he brought a fresh, new angle to the somewhat tired (although still and forever interesting to me) field of Hemingway biography. His lens is Hemingway’s boat, the Pilar, which he first purchased while living in Key West; it followed him to Havana of course, but KW plays an important role, along with his residence there, which is now the Hemingway House and open to visitors for a fee. I’ve heard it’s touristy and crowded, but I’m not afraid. My life (and adoration and scholarship) won’t be complete without a few trips to some of his homes; I’d also like to see the finca in Havana one day if they ever let us, and his childhood home in Oak Park (Illinois), and what the heck, the house in Bimini (Bahamas) sounds lovely. Maybe we’ll go there instead, or next.

Hem House in KW, circa 1933, the year before he bought the boat. from Hem House website


So! I’m all fresh now on the Hemingway House, and really hope to see it. Key West and surrounding environs (we’d drive down the famously scenic Highway 1 from Miami) also boast beaches, fishing (that’s for Husband), and some unique ecosystems. I hope to visit several state parks and/or national parks, and maybe go canoeing; maybe we’ll take some sort of boat tour. We would definitely relax, get some craft beer – we’d be there for the Key West Beer Fest, and there is one little brewpub – sit around, and read.

I’ve decided against doing “potential vacation” posts (like I did when we went to Terlingua last year) to come up while I’m gone, so we’re just going to go radio silent here at pagesofjulia for a little while. I’m back to work on Monday, Sept. 12, but likely home before then, and I hope to post again before then, too. [NOTE regarding the Great Gone With the Wind Readalong: I’m going to miss part 3’s scheduled posting on 9/5. It will be up here the next week when I’m home. But go check out the hostess at The Heroine’s Bookshelf.] Meanwhile, many thanks to nephew Tanner who is staying at our house with THREE little dogs, bless his heart.

I think the beaches down there are rocks, not sand. it's okay, I'll take it

But! It’s never that simple. Because the flights (everywhere) are very full, we are not sure we can make it to FL. A second option that has been discussed is Seattle; others are in the discussion stage as well. We’re considering various destinations, in fact. The long and short of it is – when this post posts, we will be I know not where. We are playing airport roulette this week. It will be an adventure, and if it goes well-ish, I shall tell you all about it on the other side. (If you hear nothing about my vacation at all, it is probably because it did not go well.) Place your bets, children! Where do Husband and I end up? I can’t wait to find out.

See you back here in a week or so, then!

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A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd

Posted on September 2, 2011 by pagesofjulia

A quiet but fully-wrought WWI mystery involving war orphans, family dynamics, and nurse Bess Crawford’s good intentions.

Mother-and-son writing team Charles Todd (the Ian Rutledge series) delivers the third in the Bess Crawford series. Bess, a World War I nurse and sometime amateur sleuth, is trying to make her way home on leave at Christmas when she discovers a battered and crying woman huddled on her London porch in the freezing rain. Of course Bess takes her in, and is persuaded to accompany Lydia back to her husband’s family home. A smattering of domestic violence is just the beginning; the family is haunted by past losses, at odds with one another and thrown further off-kilter by the question of a possibly missing and possibly illegitimate child. Bess’s hesitant commitment to Lydia and her family will follow her to the front lines of the war in France and back again, to the tense, almost haunted family estate where her own life will be endangered before all is resolved.

Todd paints a remarkable, poignant wartime scene of people quietly seething with tragedy and loss, stoically soldiering on, with layers of disinherited and heroic minor characters. Bess is a well-developed character: strong, brave and imperfect, she has involved herself beyond her intentions and proprieties in this story. Two male friends raise the question of a romance in the reader’s mind, but Todd is not ready to answer it yet.

This is a well-constructed and understated historical mystery. Fans of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs mystery series, in particular, will want to read A Bitter Truth immediately.

This review originally ran in the September 2, 2011 issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers. To subscribe, click here, and you’ll receive two issues per week of book reviews and other bookish fun!

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book beginnings on Friday: Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym

Posted on September 2, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Thanks to Katy at A Few More Pages for hosting this meme. To participate, share the first line or two of the book you are currently reading and, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line.

Today I’m reading Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym. She’s an author I am wholly unfamiliar with, but my curiosity was piqued by the favorable mentions of her over at Stuck in a Book and My Porch – and then as you may have noticed, Thomas from My Porch was very kind to send me a copy!!

I am enjoying this book so far, but will resist the temptation to tell you a lot about it here. This is a book beginnings post. Review to come. I daresay, a favorable review.

We begin:

The new curate seemed quite a nice young man, but what a pity it was that his combinations showed, tucked carelessly into his socks, when he sat down. Belinda had noticed it when they had met him for the first time at the vicarage last week and had felt quite embarrassed.

If you’re like me, the “combinations” may have given you trouble (as did the “marrows,” apparently a sort of produce – fruit or veg, that is – a few pages later). I think these are cultural-and-historical confusions, meaning I think they belong to England of the… 1950’s? (that’s when the book was published; I’m shady on the time-setting) and seeing as how I live in 2011 Houston, these terms were new to me. But! The interwebs tells me that combinations are a unionsuit (one-piece underwear – do they have flaps for toileting? or do you have to fully undress?) and marrows are squash. Ah, the wonders of the interwebs.

I like my book. 🙂 What are you reading?

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Challenge Update

Posted on September 1, 2011 by pagesofjulia

My last update was at the beginning of June. Time to check in again.

Where Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books. The idea is to read one book from each of the 50 states within the 2011 year. (Bonus points are awarded for foreign locations.) Take a look at my map to see where I’ve been. So far, I’ve read in 25 states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Washington DC, Wyoming) and 17 foreign locations (Canada: Toronto and BC, Wales, Mexico, Dresden, Dublin, Kenya, London, Nepal, Paris, St. Mark’s, Stockholm, Switzerland, Jerusalem, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Okinawa).

This has been a fun challenge because, so far, I’ve yet to start hunting down locations at all. It’s interesting to see where I’m reading. But soon… the pressure builds, and I think I’m going to have to start searching for some of these locations. It’s funny to see what’s been easy and what’s been difficult; I’m not surprised that Texas (home state), Louisiana (neighbor), New York, and California (big, important states) were easy to take care of. But I was surprised to see places like Nebraska and Connecticut get ticked off so easily. It will certainly be an interesting game to pull it all together in the final weeks of December!

The Classics Challenge is hosted by Courtney at Stiletto Storytime, and I signed up for the bachelor’s degree level, meaning 10 classics in 2011. It’s been a great motivator for me this year. I’ve read:

  1. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
  2. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
  3. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
  4. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
  5. Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein
  6. Don Quixote by Cervantes (just part one for now, but the rest is to come, I promise)
  7. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  8. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
  9. Othello by William Shakespeare
  10. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (just parts one and two so far, the rest to come by mid-October)

HEY look at me! I finished this one with months to spare! Yay classics! I did, of course, read a number of very short classics – the two Shakespeare plays, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Tender Buttons (short, but not quick!!), and Main Street of moderate length. But I think Gone With the Wind and Don Quixote should more than compensate. I think there will be more to come, too. Why stop here? (I did do some post-bacc English coursework after my BA and before my MLS. I guess I won’t stop at the bachelor’s level of this challenge, either. :)) I’ve got Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood going on audio as we speak!

What’s In a Name? is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. The goal is to read books with certain title attributes.

Wow! Another one! I tell you, when I started drafting this “challenge update” post I had no idea I’ve have 2 out of 3 completed this early. Very exciting.

So now it’s just down to the Where Are You Reading? challenge. I knew that one would be a doozy. Soon, it might be time to start seeking books out by state, sigh.

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hemingWay of the Day: with love

Posted on August 31, 2011 by pagesofjulia


According to Paul Hendrickson in his meticulously researched Hemingway’s Boat which I respect and admire very much, Hemingway wrote to Sara Murphy (an old friend from the Paris days) in December of 1935 of his concerns on aging… his work habits… and a recent hunting trip with his son Patrick. The part I like the best (and which strangely echoes Gertrude Stein) is his closing,

with very much love much love and love also with love.

I love you too, Papa.

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Teaser Tuesdays: The Barbarian Nurseries by Héctor Tobar

Posted on August 30, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just open your current read to a random page and share a few sentences. Be careful not to include spoilers!

I’m very impressed with this quiet, evocative novel about a Mexican maid working in an affluent white household in Orange County during a time of disturbing upheaval. I have come across several remarkable lines and shall share here – two teasers because I just couldn’t choose.

From page 154:

Brandon and Keenan packed their rolling suitcases and backpacks with extra speed, anticipating another visit to that temple of sugar, and the condominium with the expansive recreation facilities where the elder Torres lived alone in a long-dashed hope that his grand-children might visit him and use the kidney-shaped swimming spool. They packed their bathing suits and Game Boys too, until Araceli told them to leave all toys behind and to bring more underwear instead.

Yes, this next one is longer than the prescribed two sentences. You may stop reading at two if you’re offended.

From page 165:

“What’s it called? Why is it made out of cement? It hasn’t rained, so where does the water come from?”

“Too many questions,” Araceli said.

“Too many?” No one had ever told Brandon such a thing.

“Yes.”

That makes me laugh. You just wait for my review on this one; I think it will be glowing.

This quotation comes from an uncorrected advance proof and is subject to change.

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Musing Mondays: the last book

Posted on August 29, 2011 by pagesofjulia

I don’t often participate in Musing Mondays (hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading, and thank you ma’am) but today’s topic was too tempting to pass up. So here, briefly, are some recent books in my life.

What was the last book you…
• borrowed from the library? The library where I work? Lee Child’s Tripwire on audio. (I’m almost through with Die Trying so it’s up next.) The library where I do not work? Hm, that’s hard… it’s been a while… would have been The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear, according to my library account online. (I turned on the history-recording feature. It doesn’t do that automatically, of course. USA PATRIOT Act and rights to privacy and all.)
• bought? Gone With the Wind. For the readalong.
• cried over? Hemingway’s Boat by Paul Hendrickson. I’m waiting for Shelf Awareness to publish my review so I can post it here, but to say it briefly, I loved.
• disliked and couldn’t finish? Dancing with the Queen, Marching with King.
• read & loved? The Barbarian Nurseries by Hector Tobar (review to come at Shelf Awareness). recommend.
• got for review? (or: got in the mail?) I guess the last one to arrive was Masscult and Midcult, a collection of essays by Dwight Macdonald which I did not make it very far into at all before giving up. (failed to be the last book I disliked and couldn’t finish because I was more BLAH or MEH than EW about it.)
• gave to someone else? The Barbarian Nurseries, again, along with On Bicycles, both handed off to buddy Fil. (I want Barbarian back though, because my mother is next in line for it.)
• stayed up too late reading? Hm, you know, I’ve been pretty good lately! So good in fact that I can’t even name one for you! Or maybe I’ve just been that tired? I was certainly out too late last night, coming home with Lee Child’s Die Trying audiobook in the car, does that count? (We went to a Katrina Memorial event headlined by the New Orleans Hustlers Jazz Band. Most of the acts were questionable but the Hustlers were great fun.)

And what are YOU up to these days, bookishly?

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two-wheeled thoughts: M.S.

Posted on August 29, 2011 by pagesofjulia

two-wheeled thoughts

On silent steed of steel she rides
Past nature’s beauteous bower;
Life’s moments spent while thus she glides,
To her seem sweetest hours.
–M.S., The American Jewess, June 1896, as quoted in Around the World on Two Wheels

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