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Wednesday Reading Meme
Jun. 5th, 2019 08:46 amWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
I devoted Saturday afternoon to the newest Charles Lenox mystery, The Vanishing Man, which is always a fine occupation for any afternoon. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to hear more of Lenox’s reactions to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (we witness him devour it at a rapid rate, but there’s no weeping in the railway carriage a la Horace Greeley), but then it occurred to me that most of the audience won’t have read the book and could not care less about Charles Lenox’s Opinions About Little Eva.
I also finished Cari Beauchamp’s Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. This book is great: I particularly loved the way that it portrays the dense social connections between those powerful women of Hollywood, like Frances Marion’s friendship with Mary Pickford. (For example: the two of them made a comedy together, and the studio execs said it wasn’t funny and hemmed and hawed about releasing it, but the terms of the contract meant that they had to… and the theatrical audience thought it was hilarious.)
But the later chapters, through no fault of Beauchamp’s, are kind of a bummer, because the big money moves into Hollywood and squeezes all the flexibility and creative joy out of the movie-making process, till Frances Marion finally quits and takes up sculpting because she wants an art form where she has some control over the final product.
What I’m Reading Now
George Gissing’s The Odd Women has been vaguely on my radar for years, but I’ve put off reading it because really, do I want to read what a late Victorian man has to say about the Woman Question? Do I? As a general rule the answer is no, but Gissing has clearly given the matter some real thought; as I haven’t finished the book yet I have no idea if I’m going to like where he ends up, but at least it’s been an interesting ride getting there.
I’m holding out hope for the older Madden girls to actually start their school. No one seems to think they will and I want them to prove the naysayers wrong.
I’ve stalled a bit in Kristin Lavransdattar: I got to the end of Book Two, Part Two, and then I stopped because ( spoilers )
But I’m hoping to get back in the saddle this week. Can’t stop now! I’m halfway there! And there’s no one else Undset can kill whose death will hurt me like that.
What I Plan to Read Next
The next book on my “I intend to read this because Nina Auerbach discusses it in Communities of Women” list is Henry James The Bostonians. Full disclosure: the only Henry James book I have read is Daisy Miller, which I disliked so intensely that… well, that’s why it’s the only Henry James book that I’ve read. But maybe The Bostonians will surprise me like The Odd Women did?
I devoted Saturday afternoon to the newest Charles Lenox mystery, The Vanishing Man, which is always a fine occupation for any afternoon. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to hear more of Lenox’s reactions to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (we witness him devour it at a rapid rate, but there’s no weeping in the railway carriage a la Horace Greeley), but then it occurred to me that most of the audience won’t have read the book and could not care less about Charles Lenox’s Opinions About Little Eva.
I also finished Cari Beauchamp’s Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. This book is great: I particularly loved the way that it portrays the dense social connections between those powerful women of Hollywood, like Frances Marion’s friendship with Mary Pickford. (For example: the two of them made a comedy together, and the studio execs said it wasn’t funny and hemmed and hawed about releasing it, but the terms of the contract meant that they had to… and the theatrical audience thought it was hilarious.)
But the later chapters, through no fault of Beauchamp’s, are kind of a bummer, because the big money moves into Hollywood and squeezes all the flexibility and creative joy out of the movie-making process, till Frances Marion finally quits and takes up sculpting because she wants an art form where she has some control over the final product.
What I’m Reading Now
George Gissing’s The Odd Women has been vaguely on my radar for years, but I’ve put off reading it because really, do I want to read what a late Victorian man has to say about the Woman Question? Do I? As a general rule the answer is no, but Gissing has clearly given the matter some real thought; as I haven’t finished the book yet I have no idea if I’m going to like where he ends up, but at least it’s been an interesting ride getting there.
I’m holding out hope for the older Madden girls to actually start their school. No one seems to think they will and I want them to prove the naysayers wrong.
I’ve stalled a bit in Kristin Lavransdattar: I got to the end of Book Two, Part Two, and then I stopped because ( spoilers )
But I’m hoping to get back in the saddle this week. Can’t stop now! I’m halfway there! And there’s no one else Undset can kill whose death will hurt me like that.
What I Plan to Read Next
The next book on my “I intend to read this because Nina Auerbach discusses it in Communities of Women” list is Henry James The Bostonians. Full disclosure: the only Henry James book I have read is Daisy Miller, which I disliked so intensely that… well, that’s why it’s the only Henry James book that I’ve read. But maybe The Bostonians will surprise me like The Odd Women did?
