October's bookish art...

Gustav Adolph Hennig -- Girl Reading, 1828

Anyone who says they have only one life to live

must not know how to read a book.

--Unknown

Agnes Grey

"How delightful it would be to be a governess! To go out into the world; to enter upon a new life; to act for myself; to exercise my unused faculties; to try my unknown powers; to earn my own maintenance, and something to comfort and help my father, mother and sister, besides exonerating them from the provision of my food and clothing; to show papa what his little Agnes could do; to convince mamma and Mary that I was not quite the helpless, thoughtless being they supposed. And then, how charming to be intrusted with the care and education of children!"

But the realities of being a governess soon dispel all of Agnes's hopes and bright optimism. Because the children don't mind, and their parents aren't supportive or welcoming, and she doesn't fit with the family and their friends, or with the servants.

"My task of instruction and surveillance, instead of becoming easier as my charges and I got better accustomed to each other, became more arduous as their characters unfolded. The name of governess, I soon found, was a mere mockery as applied to me..."

And that's just the beginning! After her first disastrous position, Agnes goes to work for the Murray family as their governess and her story really begins. Not that her job there is a shining success. (She's a little too passive to ever be that.) But she bravely endures the trials of genteel poverty and the struggles and frustrations of governessing and finds her own happiness in the end.

Agnes Grey reads like a first novel:  it doesn't have the depth of Jane Eyre; it's not as well-crafted as The Tenant of Wildfell Hall; and it's a little lacking in plot. But for all its weaknesses, it has its own merits. And I liked it. Anne Bronte shows from personal experience what it's like to be a governess in less than ideal circumstances. (And her language and vocabulary--wow!) Agnes's real struggles with her "little tormentors" and "the vexatious propensities of my pupils" made me laugh in sympathy. Although at times I found myself wishing she'd grow a spine and be just a little more assertive and confident. But Bronte had other designs for her character. This will never be my favorite Bronte novel, but I'm very glad I read it. It made me wish that Anne hadn't died so young. Think of what she could have written if she'd lived longer!

Happy Reading!

Fourth book in a favorite series...

Title & Author:  The Dire King by William Ritter
First lines:  To say that the house at 926 Augur Lane was not yet back to normal would be to grossly misrepresent the nature of the house at 926 Augur Lane. At its best, the peculiar property was an abode of the abnormal and a sanctuary for the strange.

My thoughts:  This latest book in the Jackaby series picks up where Ghostly Echoes leaves off. Jackaby and Abigail Rook are once again facing off against the forces of evil in order to prevent an all-out war between the fae and mankind; as always, Jenny the Ghost and Charlie Cane, police detective and shapeshifter extraordinaire are there fighting alongside them. They are ALL such great characters; I really love them. And this book? The Dire King is another fun supernatural adventure full of magical creatures of every kind--I especially liked the one known as the twain. And there's a twist at the end I wasn't expecting! Just be sure to read the other books in this series first, or nothing is going to make sense. And the others are definitely worth reading!

The other books in the series:
     #1 - Jackaby
     #2 - Beastly Bones
     #3 - Ghostly Echoes

So check them out!

And....happy reading!

Picture this!

"If someone asked you to paint a snowman. you would probably start with three white circles stacked one upon another. Then you would add black dots for eyes, an orange triangle for a nose, and a black dotted smile. But if Picasso painted a snowman...."

This is my new favorite picture book! (And not just because it's written by my sister and illustrated by my brother-in-law.) I love it because it's all about art and some of my favorite artists and the snowmen they might have drawn from Monet to Seurat, Dali and Klimt, Grant Wood, Van Gogh and O'Keefe. It's clever and whimsical and fun. And the illustrations are amazing! Plus, I was there at the Picasso Museum in Paris with my sister, Amy, when she first came up with the idea. You can check out some of the paintings for it at Greg's blog. Or, even better,  just buy a copy for yourself!

Lichtenstein's Snowman by Greg Newbold

Happy Reading!

Ghost Song by Sarah Rayne

Despite its title, this novel is more historical mystery than haunting ghost story. I was hoping for an eerie haunted house full of ghostly secrets; what I got was an intriguing mystery centered around the Tarleton Theatre, an old music hall in London that has been closed up and off-limits since 1914. Asked to provide a survey of the old theatre, Robert Fallon discovers a bricked-up sealed vault beneath the stage; fellow researcher, Hilary Bryant, who is very interested in Tarleton's past, unearths stories of the Tarleton ghost and of Toby Chance, a legendary performer and songwriter at the Tarleton who vanished without a trace also in 1914.

Hilary said, "You know, Robert, anyone listening to some of the things we've said tonight might almost believe we really do think the Tarleton's haunted. I don't mean just enjoying the atmosphere and the echoes--I mean really haunted."

"I do think it's haunted," said Robert. "So do you. All old buildings are haunted, to some extent anyway. I don't know what we encountered tonight, but whatever it was, I don't think that what's sealed beneath that stage is a ghost."

There are multiple story lines in this novel:  Toby's and his mother's, both performers at the Tarleton back in the day, Robert's and Hilary's own modern-day encounters, along with some long-buried secrets, unexpected political intrigue, murder and revenge, and, of course, the mystery surrounding the Tarleton ghost. I got caught up in each part of this mystery, eager to see how they all came together in the final chapters. There was only one story line, Shona's, that seemed completely superfluous and unnecessary. Luckily, Rayne is such a talented writer I never felt my interest or attention wane. So even though this wasn't the ghost story I was hoping for, I ended up really enjoying this well-written and intriguing mystery. (It also counts as another TBR book checked off my list for Lark's Backlist Reader Challenge.)

Happy Reading!

One of Rayne's more ghostly mysteries:

       The Silence

How to Find Love in a Bookshop...

What this book offers:  heartwarming, memorable, and sometimes quirky characters, a quaint English town full of charm, friendship and romance, and the best bookshop in the world. I wish Nightingale Books really existed; I'd go every week! Needless to say, I loved this book. Veronica Henry's story is  enchanting, her prose poetic. And her characters, especially Julius and Emilia Nightingale, will forever be favorites. This book reminded me in many ways of my favorite Rosamunde Pilcher reads. But if that's not enough to make you want to read this book, check out these three quotes:

• Her father was still here, thought Emilia, in the thousands of pages. Millions--there must be so many millions--of words. All those words, and the pleasure they had provided for people over the years:  escape, entertainment, education...He had changed minds. He had changed lives. It was up to her to carry on his work, so he could live on, she swore to herself.
• Books, after all, were her escape from the horror she had been through. At night she could curl up with Ruth Rendell or Nancy Mitford, and the stress melted away, and for a couple of hours she could be somewhere else.  Reading gave her comfort.
• She knew, from all the books she had ever read, that life was complicated, that love sprang from nowhere sometimes, and that forbidden love wasn't always something to be ashamed of.

Happy Reading!

Similar reads:

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

Bookish randomness...

Richard Montanari's second novel, The Skin Gods, does not disappoint. This page-turning thriller is as layered and suspenseful as The Rosary Girls. I really like Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano, his two main homicide detectives, and I can't wait to read the rest of this series. (Luckily for me, there are at least six more books to go!)

Check out these clever and fun grammatical tees. The autocorrect one totally made me laugh. You can find them all at Cents of Style.

Recently checked out of the library:

The Shining by Stephen King ('cause it's that time of year!)

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

They Came To Baghdad by Agatha Christie

A Kiss Before Doomsday by Laurence MacNaughton

Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey ('cause ghost stories also go with October!)

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Am also in the mood for:

Because I like these classic monster movies, especially the black-and-white ones starring Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, and Boris Karloff.  What about you? Got any favorite monster movies that I should add to my October monster movie viewing? 

Happy Reading...and Viewing...in October!