The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny

The Cruelest Month (2007) is book three in Louise Penny's excellent Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series and as with all of the books in this series the setting is the fictional village of Three Pines, Quebec.  It's a charming place, off the beaten path.  Very few outsiders know of it but for those who reside there they would not want to live anywhere else. 

Certain residents of Three Pines we follow from book to book.  Clara and Peter Morrow, who make a living through their art work.  Myrna Landers who runs the local bookstore.  Ruth Zardo an elderly, famous and brilliant poet who lives in Three Pines for the privacy and for the fact that her neighbors accept her curmudgeonly behavior.  And finally Gabriel Dubeau and his partner Olivier Brule who own the local B&B and bistro where the town members often gather to socialize.  

These six characters are regulars in the series.  They appear in each novel as does Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team of agents who work at the police headquarters in Quebec and they are used to solving big city crimes.  However, Three Pines despite its small size has a way of continually drawing Gamache and his team back to solve the  latest murder happening in their little town.  One would think Inspector Gamache would be exasperated by now but actually he loves Three Pines and has become friends with many of its residents.  

In the Cruelest Month the novel features two storylines.  There is the crime in which during the Easter weekend some of Three Pines' residents decided to hold a seance at the deserted Hadley House to exorcise the house's demons.  But something goes very wrong.  One of the participants in the seance, Madeleine Favreau, dies of fright.  The town is horrified and the thinking is that Madeleine had a heart attack but when the medical reports come back it turns out she was poisoned.

As Inspector Gamache tries to solve the case involving Madeleine's murder we come to the second storyline involving the Arnot case.  Years ago, Superintendent Pierre Arnot who was well liked among his fellow police officers in Quebec committed a terrible crime which Gamache discovered and couldn't ignore.  He brought Arnot to justice and Gamache's supervisors have never forgiven him for betraying a fellow officer and bringing shame to the department.  And so now as a way to bring Armand Gamache down, his boss, Michel Brebeuf, has planted a spy on his team.  Gamache is aware of who on his team is disloyal but what the reader knows and Gamache does not is that his best friend and boss Michel Brebeuf is in on the betrayal.  

And that is one theme of the book, betrayal and jealousy by people we thought we could trust.  Resentment began to build in Brebeuf over the years about all of the qualities that Gamache has that Brebeuf can never hope to match.  And that is true also of Madeleine Favreau.  She was a beautiful and accomplished woman who many admired and wanted to be around but for some closest to her it was hard to compete with all that perfection and jealousy and rage began to build there as well.

I really enjoyed The Cruelest Month and I would advise anyone who is thinking of beginning this great series to read it in order because these characters grow and change from book to book and in a few months (if not sooner) I will be on to book four, A Rule Against Murder.

7 Best Short Stories by George Gissing

Maybe twenty or thirty years ago I read George Gissings' classic novel The Odd Woman (1893) which is set in late Victorian England.  I read it so long ago that I have forgotten many of the specifics but as I recall the novel centers around two young women who are struggling with the issue of marriage.  

One of the women, Rhoda Nunn, is a suffragette and she worries that though she loves Everard Barfoot, the young man she is thinking of marrying, their union will endanger her independence which back in the 19th century was not an unreasonable thought for a woman to have.  I remember really enjoying the Odd Women and I was also very impressed by Gissings' portrayal of Rhoda.  There was no mocking of her fears.  It was clear that the author understood Rhoda and women's suffrage and he was supportive of both.  

I finished the Odd Woman vowing to read more from Gissing but it wasn't until 2018 that I got around to reading his greatest novel, New Grubb Street (1891), which I reviewed here at Reading Matters on June 9 2018.  It was even better than The Odd Woman and so when the 2021 Back to the Classics Category - choose a classic by a favorite author came along I was planning to read another Gissing novel, The Nether World (1889) but I decided to go with a collection of his short stories instead.

That was a mistake.  I just can't recommend these 7 short stories.  Not enough work in my opinion was put into the writing and crafting and though I only finished these stories a few days ago I'd have to go back and reread them to remind myself who the characters were and the various plot lines.  Still, reading these stories had a value in that as I have begun to go deeper into the work of George Gissing I am noticing certain themes.  Here for example is a passage from his short story The Capitalist.

"Those were damned days! It wasn't the want of good food and good lodgings that troubled me most, -- but the feeling that I was everybody's inferior.  There's no need to tell you how I was brought up; I was led to expect better things, that's enough.  I never got used to being ordered about.  When I was told to do this or that, I answered with a silent curse, -- and I wonder it didn't come out some times.  That's my nature.  If I had been born the son of a duke, I couldn't have resented a subordinate position more fiercely than I did".

And here is a passage from his short story The Poor Gentleman: 

"In a sense, all the families round about were poor, but -- he asked himself  -- had poverty the same meaning for them as for him?  Was there a man or a woman in this grimy street who, compared with himself, had any right to be called poor at all?  An educated man forced to live among the lower classes arrives at many interesting conclusions ... He saw around him a world of coarse jollity, of contented labor and of brutal apathy.  It seemed to him more than probable that the only person in this street, conscious of poverty, and suffering under it, was himself". 

The above quotes gives one a window into the kind of books George Gissing wrote and the way he saw the world.  The subject of class, poverty, resentment towards the upper classes but not feeling he belonged with the lower classes either was not only the story of his fiction but his life and it was not an easy life.  It was only towards the end, and Gissing died young at 46, that he found romantic happiness and he was beginning to finally make a decent living through his novels as well.  

After George Gissing died his novels went into obscurity but not entirely and I sense a revival of his work is happening because great novels like The Odd Women and New Grub Street and great writers like George Gissing, never go out of fashion.

My December 2021 Reads

I was looking at Sam Sattler's excellent book blog Book Chase (please see the link under blogs I follow) and I noticed that Sam lays out at the end of each month the list of books he plans to read for the following month.  I thought I'd like to try that too, make it a regular feature here at Reading Matters.  Now I may not finish all of the books I set out to read but it will give me a goal to shoot for and so here is the list of books I plan to read in December (some of which I have already started):

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny

7 Best Short Stories by George Gissing

Becoming by Michelle Obama

House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday

The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

City Folk and Country Folk by Sofia Khvoshchinskya

Three of the above (George Gissing's short stories, House Made of Dawn and City Folk and Country Folk) fulfill three categories for the 2021 Back to the Classics Challenge.  Becoming is Michelle Obama's bestselling memoir which I am really enjoying.  The Children's Blizzard is a novel recommended by my friend Iris who also introduced me to Louise Penny's wonderful mystery series and so I definitely plan to read the Cruelest Month in December.  

So, that's my reading schedule for December and I am looking forward to it! 

Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde

For the 2021 Back to the Classics Category - choose a classic play I had planned to go with Macbeth by William Shakespeare.  But with the year drawing to a close I didn't feel I had enough time to give Macbeth the attention it deserves.  Maybe next year.

So if not Shakespeare what play to choose for this year's challenge?  I was considering a number of options and then a few weeks ago I clicked open Book Bub, a daily book service I subscribe to and saw Lady Windermere's Fan (1893) by Oscar Wilde, an author I have been meaning to read and here was my opportunity.

And I have to say, I enjoyed Lady Windermere's Fan a good deal.  It's a witty comedy set in late Victorian England among the British upper classes.  And when the play begins we are introduced to Lady Margaret Windermere who is in her drawing room getting ready for the evening's birthday festivities.  It is Lady Windermere's 21st birthday and she is showing her guest Lord Darlington the beautiful fan her husband Lord Arthur Windermere has given her.  Lady Windermere and Lord Darlington soon get to talking about life and it's clear they see the world differently.  Lady Windermere is much more prim and proper:

Lady Windermere  "You look on me as being behind the age - Well, I am!  I should be sorry to be on the same level as an age like this

Lord Darlington:  "Do you think seriously that women who have committed what the world calls a fault should never be forgiven?

Lady Windermere: "I think they should never be forgiven".

Lord Darlington:  "I think life too complex to be settled by these hard and fast rules".

After Lord Darlington departs the Dutchess of Berwick arrives. The Dutchess is also a friend of Lady  Windermere but an insincere friend who loves nothing more than to spread rumor and gossip.  She seems to get a particular kick out of letting the injured party know what is being said about them.  And she has news for Lady Windermere.  

Lady Windermere's husband has been seen as of late visiting the home of Mrs. Erlynn a woman with a scandalous reputation who arrived in London six months ago without much money and now has a lovely townhouse, a carriage and visits from Lord Windermere at least three or four times a week.  No this can't be true, Lady Windermere tells the Dutchess.  Her huband would never do such a thing but later Lady Windermere finds her husband's bank book listing the money he has been giving to Mrs Erlynn. 

She confronts Lord Windermere.  He denies vehemently that there is anything going on between him and Mrs. Erlynn.  His explanation is that Mrs. Erlynn is a woman who made a mistake years ago and is now trying to get back into society and deserves that chance.  He asks his wife to invite Mrs. Erlynn to her birthday party.  Lady Windermere is adamant.  No way this scandalous woman is setting foot in her home.  Lord Windermere pleads with his wife to be reasonable and then tells her that he will extend an invitation to Mrs. Erlynn if she won't.  Lady Windemere tells her husband that  when Mrs Erlynn arrives she will be horrid to her in front of all their guests.

And then we come to the night of the party  and I can't go any further regarding what happens without spoiling the play.  Those who have read Lady Windermere's Fan will know what I mean.  Suffice it to say that it will upend everything Lady Windermere thought she understood about good women and bad women and how they are not distinct and totally separate categories.  Life to quote Lord Darlingon is much too complex.

As to why the play is titled Lady Windermere's Fan and not simply Lady Windermere. I will say that the fan has an important role in this story. This is a play with wit and sparkle but there is alot of heart here and the ending is quite satisfying.  I would really love to see a live production 

The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates

For some time now I have been meaning to read a novel by Darcy Coates.  She's a bestselling author who writes in the gothic horror genre and has about twenty novels to her credit.  I decided to go with The Haunting of Ashburn House since I am a pushover for books in which a young woman inherits an old house and moves in hoping for a fresh start.  Such is the case with Adrienne our young heroine:

"She had a house.  It was old and smelled funny and was a long way from town, but holy heck, she had her own house.  As long as the Wi-Fi worked well enough that she was able to submit her freelance articles on time she could end up being very happy here.  She thought she could grow fond of the town, too, and maybe even make some friends"

But then Adrienne begins to hear disturbing things about the house she has inherited from her great Aunt Edith.  The Ashburn family was murdered in this house almost a century ago  The only Ashburn to survive was Aunt Edith who was eight years old at the time.  Oddly, Edith moved back into Ashburn House when she reached adulthood and she was quite the eccentric figure to the townspeople.  She lived at Ashburn House until her death and then left it to Adrienne which comes as a shock since Adrienne never even knew she had an Aunt Edith.  Her mother never talked about any of their relatives.   

Things start going awry. Edith had all the mirrors in the house removed.  She also etched weird notes on the tables reminding herself to "Light the Candle. Your Family is Still Dead".  The electricity goes out and each night birds come out of the trees in the nearby woods creating a terrible racket.  There is a grave near the Ashburn House but why has it been dug up and  why is it empty?  Adrienne considers leaving but how can she since taking care of her Mom through her long illness wiped out her savings. and Ashburn House is all she has? 

I really felt bad for Adrienne.  She is a kind, strong and optimistic young woman who despite the disappointments life has thrown her is determined to have her happy future.  Now, towards the end there are some gory scenes but I didn't mind because I liked and identified with Adrienne and I liked her cat Wolfgang as well.  He's a demanding little fellow who expects his cat food to arrive on time.  But at the end of the book he proves himself to be a loyal friend and protector to Adrienne.  It's no wonder she cares about him so much.  

So the bottom line is that if you don't mind some blood and guts this is a book you might want to try out, particularly on a cold winter's night with a cup of tea nearby.

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger published 1951 was a book I first read in high school in the 1970's and I loved it.  But would a rereading hold up after all these years?  I was expecting to be let down, actually.  But I found to my suprise that it is still a powerful novel deserving of its classic status.

The narrator of The Catcher in the Rye as most of us know is sixteen year old Holden Caulfield.  He is probably one of the most famous narrators in literature and at the beginning of the book Holden is staying at a psychiatric facility in California.  He is telling his story to a therapist about "the madman stuff that happened around last Christmas" What happened is that Holden was kicked out of his high school, Pencey Prep:  

"I wasn't supposed to come back after Christmas vacation, on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself and all.  They gave me frequent warning to start applying myself  -  especially around mid-terms, when my parents came up for a conference with old Thurmer -- but I didn't do it.  So I got the ax.  They give guys the ax quite frequently at Pencey.  It has a very good academic rating, Pencey.  It really does". 

Holden, knowing his parents are going to be very upset (this isn't the first school he's been kicked out of) decides to delay going home.  He books a hotel room in New York.  The plan is to stay there a couple of days and then go home after his parents have "thoroughly digested it and all".

And so the novel is a three day odyssey of a young teenager wandering around Manhattan visiting jazz clubs, calling up an old girlfriend, visiting the Natural History Museum, going to the movies, Central Park etc before facing the music with his parents.  The book also gives quite a good description of what New York must have been like in the 1940's. 

Holden is a sophisticated kid.  He is smart but also very judgemental.  He can't stand phonies and he sees them everywhere.  His classmates are phonies, his teachers, pretty much everyone he encounters and he can be quite funny with his observations.  Holden is a very ethical young man.  The kind of kid who would come to the aid of a classmate being bullied.  He doesn't like to see people being hurt or put down. It drives him crazy.

Holden has misanthropic aspects to his personality but he loves his parents, his older brother, D.B. and his younger sister Phoebe.  He likes his old girlfriend Jane Gallagher and there are one or two former teachers he admires.  And then there is Holden's younger brother Allie who died from leukemia when Holden was thirteen.  Allie is an important part of this novel.  At one point Holden is in his hotel room feeling depressed and he starts thinking about Allie:

"What I did , I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie.  I do that some times when I get very depressed ... I keep telling him to go home and get his bike and meet me in front of Bobby Fallon's house.  Bobby Fallon used to live quite near us in Maine ... what happened was, one day Bobby and I were going over to Lake Sedebego on our bikes ,,, Allie heard us talking about it, and he wanted to go, and I wouldn't let him. I told him he was a child.  So once in a while, now, when I get very depressed, I keep saying to him, "Okay.  Go home and get your bike and meet me In front of Bobby's house"  ... I keep thinking about it anyway, when I get very depressed".  

That passage got to me.  It's about regret and maybe that's why The Catcher in the Rye is a novel we gravitate to when we are teenagers because Holden's exasperation with the phonies is easier to identify with when we are young. As we get older it's not so easy to judge others since we have too much we would like to change if we could go back.  

Also when I read The Catcher in The Rye in the early 1970's it was kind of thrilling since high school is an anxious time and Holden is a young man who is failing four subjects and could care less.  It was liberating in the same way Jack Kerouac's books filled with characters on the edge can be liberating.  But back then you could still drop out for a time to find yourself.  I don't t think that's true anymore which is why teenagers today from what I've heard are not as likely to identify with Holden's reckless behavior.

And yet it would be a mistake for young people to dismiss The Catcher in the Rye  as a dated novel from the baby boom generation.  J. D. Salinger was not a baby boomer.  He started writing The Catcher in The Rye in the 1930's and in 1942 was drafted into World War II.  He was part of the Normandy invasion. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge.  He was among the first soldiers to liberate the concentration camps at Dachau.  He fought bravely and rose to the level of army-sargeant.  Right after the war he was hospitalized for PTSD and his experiences and the horrors he saw never left him.  Salinger also carried his notes for The Catcher in the Rye with him all through the war.

Knowing this gives one a different perspective on Holden Caulfield.  His bitter view of humanity and his dream of living by himself in a cabin out west away from civilization doesn't sound so naive based on what the author saw.  Nor does Holden's fantasy in which there are thousands of kids in a field of rye and his job is to catch them before they fall over the cliff (enter adulthood) sound so strange when you consider the author's wartime experience.  

I chose The Catcher in the Rye for the 2021 Back to the Classics Category- choose a humor or satiric classic.  I did so because Holden is very funny in a sarcastic sort of way.  But make no mistake this is also a serious novel and I am glad I reread it.

The Starbridge Book Series by Susan Howatch

Currently reading Scandalous Risks by Susan Howatch (published 1990).  It's the fourth novel in Howatch's wonderful Starbridge series (6 books in total).  These novels are set in mid-twentieth century England (1930's-1960's) and they center around the town of Starbridge and more specifically the Cathedral of Starbridge and the Bishops, Archdeacons, wives, children, parishoners, who live there.  Each novel is narrated by a different cleric who has risen high in the church but now finds himself at a crisis point in his life and the question is why?  What has gone wrong that has brought him to this point?  

Theology and the history of the Church of England get discussed in these books in a very informative and interesting way.  And also psychology as we try to learn what got our main character into the predicament he finds himself in and the roots in these books are very often located in the main character's early years before he ever entered the clerical life.  I am currently listening to Scandalous Risks on audio and the British actress Sian Thomas who is reading this novel is doing a fabulous job.  I plan to listen to more of her audio recordings.

One thing I will say is that though the Starbridge novels can be read out of sequence,  I don't advise it.  These characters carry over into each novel and there are things you learn from these prior books that are essential in order to get the full enjoyment of the series.  So my advise is start with the first book, Glittering Images, and you won't be disappointed.

P.S. I should add that Scandalous Risks (book 4) is the one book in the series narrated by a woman, Venetia Flaxton.  The year is 1963 and Venetia is twenty-six years old, rather innocent in spite of her outward sophistication and she makes the mistake of becoming involved with the married Archdeacon of Starbridge, Neville Aysgarth.  Part of the fun of reading Scandalous Risks is that we learn everything we need to know about Neville Aysgarth in Ultimate Prizes (book 3) and he is no prize.