Fall Reading Challenges: R.I.P. XIII, Persephone Readathon, Victober, and The 1944 Club!

So many great reading opportunities on the blogosphere this fall! Here's a roundup of what I want to read soon. Naturally, I'm going to focus on what's on my own shelves. 

Readers Imbibing Peril XIII: September 1 - October 31.

Mystery, suspense, horror, thriller, dark fantasy, gothic. I'm hoping for Peril the Second, at least two books. Possible RIP Reads:

• A ghost story collection -- I have collections by Elizabeth Gaskell, M. R. James, and E. F. Benson on the TBR shelves
• Something by Wilkie Collins, a shorter work: The Dead Secret, The Evil Genius, or The Haunted Hotel. (Can also count for Victober).
• Frankenstein, for my IRL book club
• Something by Dorothy L. Sayers -- my library has several available for digital audio download.  Probably either Strong Poison or The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. Will also count for my final category in the Back to the Classics Challenge. 

Persephone Readathon: September 21 - 30. Hosted by Jessie at Dwell in Possibility. 

Again, just trying to read more books from my own shelves. I have at least a dozen unread Persephones. Possible reads: 

• Alas, Poor Lady by Rachel Ferguson. It is the dove-grey book that I've owned the longest without reading it.
• Long Live Great Bardfield by Tirzah Garwood
• The Godwits Fly by Robin Hyde. My most recent Persephone purchase, bought at the shop on my trip to London in June.
• Tory Heaven by Marghanita Laski. A birthday present -- I should read it before my next birthday.
• The Happy Tree by Rosalind Murray

Portrait of Queen Victoria, painted by Franz Winterhalter  in 1943.
I saw the original at Kensington palace in June.

Victober 2018: October 1 - 30. 

This is a new one for me, a month-long readalong of Victorian literature on Goodreads. Possible reads: 

• The Doctor's Wife by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
• The Dead Secret, The Evil Genius, or The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins (also RIP)
• Tales of Mystery and the Macabre by Elizabeth Gaskell (also RIP)
• Who Is Lost and Is Found by Margaret Oliphant
• Is He Popenjoy? by Anthony Trollope -- for my Trollope group readalong
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson -- I've gotten hooked on Black Sails, which includes some of Stevenson's characters -- sort of a prequel which explains the relationship between Long John Silver and Captain Flint.
• The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

The 1944 Club, October 15 - 21.

Hosted by Simon of Stuck in a Book and Karen of Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings: 

Possible reads: 

• The Green Years by A. J. Cronin. I know nothing about this book, but someone left a beautiful old edition on the giveaway cart at the library last year, and I couldn't pass it up. Apparently it's about an Irish orphan who is sent to live with his grandparents in Scotland. It's only 240 pages so I'll give it a try.
• The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker -- I have a beautiful Penguin copy that I received as a prize several years ago from an online contest -- one of the last of my Big Box of Penguins.
• Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker -- a wonderful book set in Montana, by an author nobody reads anymore. I read it several years ago and loved it, and would love to read it again. It's a coming-of-age story about a young woman working as a teacher in WWII.

It seems like a lot, but it's split up over two months, and a lot of the books cross over into other categories. Bloggers, have you read any of these books or authors? Which do you recommend? And is anyone else signing up for fall challenges? 

Time Travel Rarely Ends Well

For this year's RIP Challenge, I had intended to reread either Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (one of my all-time favorite novels) or My Cousin Rachel, which was recently adapted into a movie. I may yet read both of these, but I also discovered that The House on the Strand was available from my library's digital catalog as an audiobook -- so I've crossed one of her lesser-known novels off my to-read list! House on the Strand is the fifth of du Maurier's novels that I've read, and I absolutely loved it -- it's a close second to Rebecca and I don't think it gets nearly the attention it deserves.

Here's the setup: published in 1969, this is the story of a forty-something man named Dick Young, told as a first person narrative. Dick recently left a high-pressure publishing job in London and is spending the summer holidays in Cornwall at a house called Kilmarth, the home of his oldest friend, Magnus Lane, a noted professor of biophysics. Dick's wife Vita and two stepsons are due to join him in a week or so, but before they arrive, Magnus asks Dick to do him a favor -- Magnus is trying to create a drug that will actually allow the user to travel back in time -- not physically, but through memory -- and he wants Dick to be his guinea pig.

Magnus explains that somehow, memories are biologically passed down, and by taking the drug, the user can somehow access memories that are centuries old, as if they've actually traveled into the past and are experiencing it in real time. The user is just an observer, and can't be seen or heard by the people in the past; also, if the user makes physical contact with anyone, they will be instantly returned back to the present, with very uncomfortable side effects.

Dick takes the plunge and goes back in time to the 1300s, observing a man named Roger Kylmerth who lived in the original property. Roger was the steward of a Cornish aristocrat, Sir Henry Champernoune, and Dick is immersed in the intrigues between Henry's manipulative widow Joanna and the beautiful Isolda, wife of another aristocrat, who is carrying on an affair with Joanna's brother. Roger is secretly in love with Isolde, and is something of a doppleganger for Dick, who becomes obsessed with Isolda and the drama surrounding her life. Dick becomes more and more obsessed with Isolda and the long-dead players in this Middle Ages drama, to the detriment of his life in the present.

I really, really enjoyed this book, though I did find the parts set in the past a bit confusing -- it was harder on audio because I couldn't flip back to earlier sections to reread and clarify who was who (apparently the print version has family trees and a map, which would have been extremely helpful). Luckily, I'd gotten used to some of the Cornish names after reading so many of the Poldark novels -- names like Bodrugon and Trenwyth are pretty familiar now, and listening on audio, I've learned how they're actually pronounced.

Overall, though, the parts of the book that were most fascinating were how Dick reconciles his new obsession with the people in the present, particularly his wife who shows up unexpectedly early. He has to make up excuses as to why he disappears for hours at a time, and returns confused and dirty after wandering around the countryside in a trancelike state while under the influence of the drug as he follows Roger, Isolda, and the rest of the historical Cornish characters. It becomes increasingly apparent to the reader that Dick is putting himself in grave danger, both from the drug itself, and in physical danger since he has no concept of the present while he's traveling into the past -- it's hard to look both ways crossing the street when you think you're in the Middle Ages, when cars didn't exist.

This book is a really interesting psychological study -- is this really happening to Dick, or is he just hallucinating?  Is it all just the drugs, or is Dick subconsciously working through his personal issues in the present? I got really invested in the story, and became really worried about what was going to happen to everyone, in both narratives. I found this a really interesting twist on how time travel works and the physical and mental effects on the traveler.

The only thing I really didn't like was the characterization of the women in this book, none of whom come off as sympathetic except the luminous Isolde, who doesn't seem especially developed. For a female writer, du Maurier has a lot of terrible women in her books. However, I still loved it and it's definitely one of my top reads of the year.

Readers Imbibing Peril XII and Some Travel Plans

Another Readers Imbibing Peril? How can I resist?

It's the 12 time around for this challenge, which I have attempted off and on since I began blogging in 2009. This year I'm signing up for Peril the Second, only two books over the two month period, since I have so many other books I'm trying to finish. 

Possible reads:

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens. My final novel of Dickens' major works. I've never made it past the first couple of chapters, but I'm going to give it another try.

Rebecca or My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier, both rereads. You can't beat du Maurier for a great Gothic read. 

Affinity by Sarah Waters -- I've read nearly all her books, and this story about the supernatural in a Victorian women's prison is perfect for the challenge.

And finally, another reread -- Dracula by Bram Stoker just because . . . . 

I AM GOING TO TRANSLYVANIA IN OCTOBER!!! SERIOUSLY!!!

I leave October 28 and will be visiting Bucharest, Brasov, the Carpathian mountains, Dracula's castle etc. And I will actually be there on Halloween! (Well, it's our last day, so I expect much of it will be spent in the airport, which is scary in another way). 

I don't normally sign up for group travel because I am not always a people person -- I like my personal space and the thought of joining a tour of complete strangers for four days, much of it spent on buses, is not my idea of fun. BUT nobody in my family wants to go and this may be the only chance I get, plus I sincerely doubt I would attempt this on my own. I'm not averse to solo traveling but Romania sounds like a place best done with an organized group. I've easily booked travel myself through Italy, France and the UK, but Romania might be a challenge, so I'm going with the group option this time. I did spring for the single-room supplement so I know I'll have somewhere to escape by the end of the day.

It might end up being completely cheesey and touristy, or it might be very cool. Or both. Nevertheless, I'm kind of excited about it but the only preparation I'm planning is the reread of Dracula, which I may save for the trip because I can always use my book as an excuse to be anti-social. 

Anyway -- other suggestions for the challenge? Reading material for the trip? Anyone else actually been to Transylvania, or anywhere else in Romania, for that matter? 

RIP 2012

Once again, I have signed up for the RIP challenge -- R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril.  Participants read books or watch movies that are ghostly, ghastly, gothic, suspenseful, or sufficiently moody for the season.  Even though it's September, it's not even remotely close to fall weather in Texas, but his will help me pretend we actually have seasons (oh, who am I kidding?  It's going to be 100 degrees today!)

But back to the books.  I've signed up for Peril the First, which is four reads over two months, which is quite manageable.  I have a lot on my TBR plate at the moment, so this year I've really narrowed down my RIP reads.  But I also got smart -- three of my four book group reads for September and October qualify -- probably because I chose all of them for the group.  I wasn't thinking specifically about RIP months ago when I made the schedule, but I did think it would be fun to read something a little creepy.

First, the September read for my afternoon book group:

Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris.  Not sure if it fits the challenge exactly, but it has some kind of mysterious element, so I'm including it for now.  Been wanting to read this one for quite awhile

Then, selections for both book groups for for October:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.  This has been on the TBR list for awhile, plus it's on my Classics Club list.  I really liked We Have Always Lived in the Castle which I read for RIP VI.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.  I have selfishly reserved every copy in my library system for our book group.  (Well, if people want to read it, they can join the group, right?) It's short, and I might even work up the nerve to watch the movie adaptation, which looks really creepy.  I just hope it's not too scary for the group members -- oh well, you can't please everyone.

And I'll have to choose at least one more read to complete the challenge.  I have this stack of mysteries, gothic novels, and short stories from my TBR shelves.  (Quite a few of these were on the pile from last year's challenge):

Just in case you can't make out the titles, here's what's in the photo, from top to bottom:

The Doll and Other Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier
The Ghost Stories of Muriel Spark
The Mystery of Mrs. Blencarrow by Margaret Oliphant
The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen by Lindsey Ashford
A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
The Uses of Enchantment by David Liss

Any recommendations from the pile?

Has anyone else signed up this year?  What are you planning on reading?

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

With The Little Stranger, I've not only read another book for the RIP Challenge, I've also finally completed another owned-and-unread book from the TBR shelf.  I bought The Little Stranger at a library sale not long after I finished (and loved) Fingersmith, so I've been looking forward to reading it.  But like my last RIP book, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, it wasn't quite what I was expecting.

Set just a couple of years after the end of World War II, The Little Stranger is an atmospheric story told in the first person by a British country doctor, John Faraday.  He grew in the shadow of Hundreds, a grand country house owned by the local gentry family, the Ayreses.  Though his mother was in service and his father a shopkeeper, Dr. Faraday was able to rise above his station through hard work and his parents' sacrifices.  He's not the Ayreses' regular doctor, but one day he's called out there as a substitute, to check on a young maid who's ailing.

The maid seems to be shamming, but confesses to Dr. Faraday that she's unhappy in the big house, which gives her the creeps.  He dismisses her fears -- the house is nearly empty nowadays, with only a full-time housekeeper; Mrs. Ayres, a widow; her daughter Caroline, who is in her twenties and unmarried; and her son and heir Roderick, who was a pilot in the war and was badly wounded and burned in a crash.

The Ayres family has fallen on hard times, and are barely able to keep the estate afloat.  With the pretext of helping Roderick with an experimental medical treatment, Dr. Faraday begins visiting the Ayreses on a regular basis.  He becomes a close family friend and confidant and is present when a terrible thing happens, the first of many odd occurences.

Three of Sarah Waters' novels are neo-Victorian, but this is her second foray into another historical era -- post-WWII Britain, which I thought she did extremely well.  Of course I'm no expert, but the past year or so I've been reading a lot more fiction written and published in that era, and the mood was very similar.  Waters does an excellent job evoking the period, but what I think was best about the book was her description of an aristocratic family fallen on hard times, and their struggle to keep their lifestyle afloat.  They're desperately hanging on to another era -- they can't keep the farm going, can't maintain the property, and can barely find servants to help them around the house.  It's a real contrast to the books I've been reading recently in which great houses have scores of servants and most women had few other job choices than to be a maid, cook, or governess.

The supernatural aspect of the book is not the best part, in my opinion, and I was a little disappointed in the ending, which didn't quite satisfy me.  But the book is so well written, I read it pretty quickly over a couple of days. I didn't like it quite as much as Fingersmith, but it was well worth reading.   One of my librarian friends is coordinating a historical fiction book group, and the December read is one of Waters' other books, Affinity, so I'm hoping to get to it in a couple of months.  This one is set in a Victorian asylum and also has supernatural elements -- as my friend Jason commented, "Nothing says Christmas like Victorian madhouses!"

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Another RIP read -- and a really good one.  In fact, it might be my ideal RIP challenge read:

1.  It's very creepy.
2.  It's very short (only 146 pages in my edition).
3.  It's a book from my TBR shelves that I've been meaning to read since it arrived in February in that Great Big Box of Penguins.

So, this book was a trifecta for a book challenge from the start.  Oh, and what is it about, by the way?  Well.  Published in 1962, this story is told in the first person by Mary Catherine Blackwood, also known as Merricat.  She's about eighteen when the story takes place.  On the day the story begins, Mary is has to go into town, to the library and to pick up the groceries.  Slowly, as she describes her walk, the reader learns about her very odd family.

Merricat lives with her sister and her Uncle Julian in a large mansion, but she's the only one that ever seems to leave.  Actually, her older sister Constance hasn't left the property in years; Uncle Julian is in a wheelchair, and he might be suffering from mental problems.  Pretty quickly, the reader realizes that almost everyone in the village seems to dislike the Blackwoods.  There are whispers and stares, and people pointing at Merricat.  At first I felt really sorry for her, and wondered what in the heck happened (though if you read the back cover it gives away more of the history. I really wish I hadn't, so I won't reveal it here).   As I kept reading, I realized there was a lot more weirdness going on.

Once again, I don't want to give away too much so I don't spoil it for anyone else.  All I will mention is that Shirley Jackson is just masterful at setting the scene and drawing the reader in, and the tension just escalates -- I couldn't put this book down.  Jackson is wonderful at revealing just enough to give the reader clues without giving away too much too fast.  I will admit that there was one big reveal I figured out pretty quickly -- I've read so many mysteries it's pretty easy for me to pick up on important clues.  However, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story one bit.

Before this, I'd really only read one other work by Jackson, her famous short story, "The Lottery," which is also creepy, but in a different way.  If you haven't read it, you can read it online here.  Jackson is well known for showing the darker underside of small-town life, and this book is so worth reading.  We Have Always Lived in the Castle is dark and creepy and Gothic, and I loved it.  A perfect quick read for the RIP season.

Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

I love this cover --
the swooning is so over the top!  

My very first RIP posting!  I've signed up for Peril the First, which is four books, so I'm well on my way.  This book wasn't originally on my list of potential reads, but after Amanda at Ramblings raved about it, well, I had to read it right away.  And I am so glad I did, because I just loved it.  This book kept me up late at night, and prevented me from reading not one but TWO books for IRL book groups last week!  I also neglected Spanish homework, housework. . . it was that good!

Here's the setup:  Lady Audley is a beautiful young woman with a mysterious past.  She recently married Lord Audley, a rich widower much older than herself.  Meanwhile, Lord Audley's semi-slacker nephew Robert has just run into an old school friend, George Talboys, who is returning from Australia.  George left his young wife and infant son three years ago, desperate to make his fortune, and he's returned now as a rich man.  Their fates will intertwine, and the story includes mystery, murder, mistaken identity, bigamy, and madness.  Braddon published this, her first novel, in 1862, and it was so successful she was financially independent for the rest of her life.  She went on to write more than 75 other novels, though this is still the most famous, and it's never been out of print.

I really enjoyed this novel -- it's not great literature by any means, but it's great escapist fun. The plot was fairly predictable, but writing was actually pretty good, and it's a fast read.  It does make some points about women's fates and opportunities, and Victorian ideas about madness and psychology.  The characters were good too -- sometimes I liked Lady Audely, sometimes I hated her, and sometimes I just felt sorry for her.   I had a pretty good idea of what the big secret was, but I couldn't help wanting to read more.   I imagine it would be on a college reading list simply as an example of its genre.  According to the Penguin Classics website, "Lady Audley's Secret epitomized the scandalous and irresistible "sensation" fiction of the period," which I think sums it up nicely.  In other words, it's popular escapist fiction, but popular fiction that has endured, so it's a classic in that sense.  According to Wikipedia, it was pretty sensational for its time because it showed the darker side to the ideals of Victorian domestic bliss.

Anyhow, this was a great start to the RIP season, and I've already found another of Braddon's books at the college library.  Hopefully I'll enjoy it just as much as this one.

RIP 2011

Even though the temperatures are still in the triple-digits here in Texas, it's starting to feel like fall -- and it's time for the RIP Challenge!  Last year I only managed to squeeze in a couple, but I'm really hoping to tackle some more this time around.  I've signed up for Peril the First, which means I'll be reading four books.  I have a nice stack of novels just begging to be read:

From top to bottom:

The Mystery of Mrs. Blencarrow by Margaret Oliphant

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
Drood by Dan Simmons
The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

And I have this nice stack of short story volumes that would fit the challenge nicely:

Tales of Mystery and the Macabre by Elizabeth Gaskell
Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Thief by Maurice LeBlanc
The Ghost Stories of Muriel Spark
The Oxford Book of English Ghost Stories by R. A. Gilbert, editor
Murder on the Menu by Peter Haining

Plus I still have some library books I have on hold already, including The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morely;  The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole; and Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon!!   Any winners or losers in the bunch?  If I get half of these finished, I'll be happy.

Bloggers, what are you reading for RIP?

The Victorian Chaise Longue by Marghanita Laski

So, another Persephone, but also, a neo-Victorian, and it counts for the RIP Challenge!  I'm killing three birds with one stone, plus it was only 120 pages!

But seriously, this is one creepy little book.  Our protagonist Melanie is a young married woman living in London, I'm guessing about 1950.  She has a young baby, but has hardly seen him because she is recovering from tuberculosis.  However, her prognosis is good, and until her husband can take her to Switzerland, she is recovering at home.  In fact, her doctor has said it's okay for her to get out of bed and move into another room.  Melanie is finally going to be able to look out the window, lying on an ugly Victorian chaise-longue she bought at an antique store when she was newly pregnant, shopping for a cradle.  She never actually used the chaise longue because she became ill.

However, things take a turn for the bizarre -- on her first afternoon lying on this antique piece of furniture, Melanie closes her eyes for a nap and awakens in Victorian England, lying on the same hideous chaise longue.  She's being attended by her bitter, cold sister Adelaide, and her name is now Milly.  She is upset and confused and her sister is angry and hateful, and though she doesn't understand what's happening, she recognizes pictures in the room, and names, and has snippets from memories of people she doesn't even know.

A Victorian Chaise Longue, not so ugly

This book is strange and unsettling -- without giving too much away, Milly's sister is angry with her and she doesn't know why, but Milly's life has strange parallels to Melanie's.  She doesn't know if she's been reincarnated or remembering a past life or if she's dead.  Some secrets are revealed at the end, but there are a lot of unanswered questions.  Though I was lucky to get a 1953 edition through interlibrary loan for free, I really wish I'd bought a copy of the recent Persephone edition because it has an introduction by P. D. James.  Persephone Books is now hosting an online discussion group, and if they continue in order of publication, The Victorian Chaise Longue should be the November read and hopefully someone in the blogsophere can answer all my questions.  It's a creepy little read and I highly recommend it if you can get your hands on a copy.


Have you reviewed this book on your blog?  Please tell me in the comment section and I'll link to your review.