Recent reading
Apr. 19th, 2022 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaDiana Victrix by Florence Converse (1897)
I commend this book especially to the attention ofregshoe and osprey_archer, but there are probably lots of other people on my reading list who would enjoy it! It's the story of two women's romantic friendship, how they are wooed by two step-brothers, and how they don't get married to them but instead reaffirm their relationship. The two women are Enid (energetic and devoted to social reform) and Sylvia (a writer who is delicate and in ill health). They are from Boston (obviously), but for Sylvia's health they spend a winter in New Orleans, where they board with the Dumarais family, among them Jacques (a practical businessman) and Jocelin (self-indulgent and idle but with an angelic voice).
It's a very readable book, but I was frustrated that for much of the book, the focus is more on the Dumarais family: we don't even meet Enid and Sylvia until 50 pages in. I wanted to see more of their relationship! We do get more Enid/Sylvia at the end, such that I can definitely recommend the book, but I would have shifted that balance more. I mean, not that we get nothing; here's page 76, for example: Enid averred once that, with a married woman, husband and children, the particular, the personal relationships, must come first, but that the unmarried woman, who consecrates herself to a cause deliberately, gives up the personal claims; it is a part of the sacrifice. Shortly after making this statement, Enid came South with Sylvia. I just wanted more of them interacting in the beginning and middle parts of the book!
This is not on Gutenberg yet, which is a pity, nor on Librivox. I'll put it on my list of potential recording projects. Hmm, what else? There's one book I read for book club, but I'll wait to review that. Also, I re-listened to Warhorses of Letters when I needed cheering up. Awww. <3
A while ago I also read maybe half of Letters of John Cockburn of Ormistoun to his Gardener, 1727-1744, which I originally found in the notes of Naomi Mitchison's The Bull Calves and whichregshoe has also read. It was interesting to read about agriculture and estate improvement, though the gardener must have felt a bit put-upon to have it all be micromanaged by letter. There was a cool linguistic find: 'rise/rice', which is the same as Swedish 'ris', and means 'tops and branches which you have cut off from trees and bushes'.
I commend this book especially to the attention of
regshoe and osprey_archer, but there are probably lots of other people on my reading list who would enjoy it! It's the story of two women's romantic friendship, how they are wooed by two step-brothers, and how they don't get married to them but instead reaffirm their relationship. The two women are Enid (energetic and devoted to social reform) and Sylvia (a writer who is delicate and in ill health). They are from Boston (obviously), but for Sylvia's health they spend a winter in New Orleans, where they board with the Dumarais family, among them Jacques (a practical businessman) and Jocelin (self-indulgent and idle but with an angelic voice). It's a very readable book, but I was frustrated that for much of the book, the focus is more on the Dumarais family: we don't even meet Enid and Sylvia until 50 pages in. I wanted to see more of their relationship! We do get more Enid/Sylvia at the end, such that I can definitely recommend the book, but I would have shifted that balance more. I mean, not that we get nothing; here's page 76, for example: Enid averred once that, with a married woman, husband and children, the particular, the personal relationships, must come first, but that the unmarried woman, who consecrates herself to a cause deliberately, gives up the personal claims; it is a part of the sacrifice. Shortly after making this statement, Enid came South with Sylvia. I just wanted more of them interacting in the beginning and middle parts of the book!
This is not on Gutenberg yet, which is a pity, nor on Librivox. I'll put it on my list of potential recording projects. Hmm, what else? There's one book I read for book club, but I'll wait to review that. Also, I re-listened to Warhorses of Letters when I needed cheering up. Awww. <3
A while ago I also read maybe half of Letters of John Cockburn of Ormistoun to his Gardener, 1727-1744, which I originally found in the notes of Naomi Mitchison's The Bull Calves and which
regshoe has also read. It was interesting to read about agriculture and estate improvement, though the gardener must have felt a bit put-upon to have it all be micromanaged by letter. There was a cool linguistic find: 'rise/rice', which is the same as Swedish 'ris', and means 'tops and branches which you have cut off from trees and bushes'.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-19 04:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-19 05:26 pm (UTC)This is not on Gutenberg yet, which is a pity
Well, it'll be one for my list of potential projects too, then :D
Heh, I know what you mean about the put-upon gardener!... And that's cool about 'rice'/'ris'. It's funny how the Swedish and English words are both homophones for rice/ris as in the grain, although (looking them up) the two meanings don't seem to be related.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-19 06:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-19 06:27 pm (UTC)*looks up ris*
Hmm, yes, the different meanings do seem to have different origins.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-19 07:25 pm (UTC):D Better and better!
(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-19 07:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-20 01:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-20 02:47 pm (UTC)Have you read George Gissing's The Odd Women? It also includes a pair of female social reformers who ultimately reaffirm their relationship rather than get married. Way more interesting about gender roles than I would have expected from a male author in the 1890s, tbh.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-20 05:58 pm (UTC)No, I haven't! I'll look it up.