Recent reading

[luzula]

Phoebe Junior by Margaret Oliphant (1876)
I chose this next Oliphant because it was 1) available on Librivox, and 2) marked with a star on this list. It is my least favorite of her realistic books so far, but when she wrote such a huge number of books, I suppose every one can't be as good as Kirsteen or Hester! It's about two young women, Phoebe Beecham and Ursula May, the first of whom is the daughter of a fairly well-off Dissenting minister, and the other the daughter of a poor Anglican clergyman, and three men who are in various ways potential love interests for them. So a lot of it is about class and the various things that affect it: Phoebe's grandparents are shopkeepers, who look up to the Mays as gentry even though they don't hold with their Church ways, but then OTOH the head of the May family forges Phoebe's grandfather's signature as surety on a bank bill when he needs money... The book does end with marriage, but it's more like Phoebe coming in the way of a post that will allow her talents and ambitions free play than anything romantic. When I write about the book, it doesn't sound like I disliked it, and indeed I didn't! It's just that it doesn't rise to the same level as my favorites.

Small Talk by Naomi Mitchison (1973)
I thought I'd read her autobiographies in order, so this is the one about childhood. I appreciate her attention to social and material detail: what were the children's relationship to the servants, what did they eat, etc. I didn't know she lived in Oxford as a child! And how fascinating that her mother was conservative and all for British imperialism, while her father wasn't--but her mother shaped her political opinions while her father just kept his mouth shut. I look forward to reading in the next book what is hinted here, about her and her brother's break from their mother's politics.

Unrelatedly, has anyone read The Weeds by Katy Simpson Smith? It seems to be litfic with botany and historical f/f.

Comments

[osprey_archer]

That Naomi Mitchison autobiography sounds right up my alley! I love childhood autobiographies and I am also fascinated by the question of how Mitchison became Mitchison. Truly cruel that it is so difficult to find her books nowadays.

[jesse_the_k]

Speaking of botany, sonia just linked me to the delicious artist Helen Ahpornsiri. She collects flora, foliage, and seaweeds and then makes collages with them. Mind-blowing: cornet moth rendered in pressed flowers

[chestnut_pod]

You inspired me to read a Mitchison this week! It was not one of the autobiographies, which I need to hunt down somewhere online, but Travel Light in the Small Beer Press edition. Delightful!

[luzula]

I am also fascinated by the question of how Mitchison became Mitchison
That is an interesting question! She really does stand out.

There seem to be a fair number of cheap copies of this one, but most of them are in the UK.

[luzula]

Oh, that is gorgeous! Thank you.

[luzula]

Oh, I love Travel Light! Looking forward to your review.

[nnozomi]

Small Talk is almost like one of the novels of the period--so precise about the details of childhood and how large they loom. (I haven't read it in a while, so going back to openlibrary to reread it and pick out some of the details you pointed out.) She's such an engaging writer and so aware of the, how can I put it, the _meta_ of writing an autobiography that it's really fascinating.

[luzula]

so aware of the, how can I put it, the _meta_ of writing an autobiography that it's really fascinating
I don't read many autobiographies, so this is not something that I've thought about! But yes, she's a very engaging writer.