Because I listened to this book, I am uncertain whether some of these stories are long or whether some are interconnected stories. They convey more than a moment in the character's lifetime; you learn "how things turn out." They are all wonderful tales and sometimes left me quite breathless. Occasionally when I finished a story, I had to take a break from the...
Audiobook. These short stories were written over the years by Alice Munro but held out from her other compilations because they were based on material she found about one side of her family named Laidlaw. They came to America from an obscure part of Scotland called the Ettrick valley, described in a 1779 description of Scotland as having "no advantages." The stories...
Audiobook. This is the story of Eilis (pronounced Eilish) from the village of Enniscorthy in Ireland in the 1950s. Her father has died, her brothers must leave home to make a living, her sister Rose works to support herself and her mother, and Eilis is sent off to Brooklyn in the hopes she will make her way there. The story of her crossing the Atlantic, settling into a...
Audiobook. Olive is a crusty New Englander who seems to find it necessary to say to her husband, "For Gawd's sake, Henry," on a regular basis. Perhaps crusty is putting it too gently. She is a real grump who prides herself on not being weak, but who shows up in most of these short stories with a kind, if gruff, word for people, sometimes just in the nick of time...
Audiobook. The beauty of the language in this book is limited to creating a stark and grim world very effectively; that is to say, beauty was rarely on display. The story is that of a man whose possibilities in improving his life were limited by troubles of his family when he was young. His mother's ill health resulted in him marrying the woman who came to help him out of...
Audiobook. Peter Gay, an eminent historian who wrote, among many books, The Age of Enlightenment, appears to have written this with a great love for the music of Mozart. And a lively interest in Mozart’s strangest weirdness (more about that in a moment), and in debunking the Mozart myths. He says Salieri did not poison him; he likely died of an especially bad episode of rheumatic fever...
Audiobook. Another 8 hours of happy walking and other exercise. Persuasion is said to be Jane Austen's most romantic book and I suspect that is right. Poor Anne Eliot agreed to withdraw from a relationship with a man deemed beneath her by her snobby father and older sister. She seems to have become a veritable Cinderella in the family in the following 8 years...
Audiobook. I have come to believe that 19th century novelists are meant to be read aloud. To Edith Wharton and Henry James, I now add Jane Austen as a true delight to listen to. We know the story of Emma — after all, we all saw Clueless or one of the BBC productions. So there are no surprises. I did grow weary of hearing Miss Bates (“very obliging of you, I’m sure,”...
Audiobook. Listening to Henry James is truly a treat. The language is languorous, circuitous, beautiful and funny, which makes him a wonderful companion for the tedious business of the elliptical or a walk around the track. For example, take the following: Isabel, however, gave as little heed as possible to cosmic treacheries; she kept her eyes on her book and tried to fix her mind. It...
Audiobook. This is the most recent in a series of murder mysteries set in Paris with lots of emphasis on the setting. The protagonist is Aimée Leduc whose detective agency consists of herself and a dwarf, René, who apparently came from a wealthy family. The pace is exhausting and I kept thinking Aimée should take Rene's advice and get some rest. It was delightful...