Kent, Christobel "A Party in San Niccolò"

Kent, Christobel “A Party in San Niccolò” - 2003

An English "colony" in Italy. A party is celebrated. Not my usual kind of literarute. But something spoke to me when I chose this book. And I was not disappointed. The author is a good writer, she describes people and country beautifully. The plot was alright though a little overdone at times. Still, if you are looking for a nice litle read, this book is worth it.

Book Description:

"An entrancing story that is one of the most absorbing examinations of the English in Italy since A Room With A View. Set during one week in springtime Florence, A Party In San Niccolo follows the events leading up to the seventy-fifth birthday party for Frances Richardson, a much-loved English resident. Around her, Frances' friends are gearing up for the party too: Frank, a disenchanted journalist; Jane, who runs an Italian cookery school for rich Home Counties wives; her shady husband Niccolo; and Gina, a beleaguered mother-of-three who has come to Florence for a break. Before the week is out love, death, family secrets and old memories will come to a head at Frances' party, with dramatic results..."

Plenzdorf, Ulrich "The New Sufferings of Young W."

Plenzdorf, Ulrich "The New Sufferings of Young W." (German: Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.) - 1972

Any German who visited school after 1972 will have read this book as well as Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther" (which probably will have been read by any German visting school after 1774).

Same as the original "Sorrows", the "New Sufferings" spoke to the people. Ulrich Plenzdorf grew up in the German Democratic Republic. His play is not a nostalgic memoir of one of the greatest stories ever written in the German language, it is a criticism of society.

We hear about  a young man reading Goethe's masterpiece and finding a lot of similarities to his own life. The author uses the slang the youth language of the time which contributes to the familiar feeling you get when reading about this young man and his problems.

The play was an instant success in both parts of Germany and certainly belongs to the major works by German authors.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"One of the most talked-about works ever published in the German Democratic Republic! This innovative novel by an East German writer is a worthy companion to the classic it parodies and parallels: Goethe's The Sufferings of Young Werther. Goethe and J. D. Salinger were the two greatest influences on Edgar Wibeau, 'Young W.' Edgar is a 17-year-old with the frustrations of teenagers all over the world, living with the added pressures of an East-bloc state. A model all-GDR boy, the son of a factory director, he suddenly drops out. But not from socialism per se--just from conformity, picky regulations, and official disapproval of jeans, the blues, and girls. Hiding out, he finds and devours an old copy of The Sufferings of Young Werther. From then on he wards off reality with Goethe texts, and young Wibeau's fate is superimposed on that of Werther like a transparent overlay. It is an ironic and revealing linkage."

A Reader's Little Joys

One of the joys can just be the arrival of a new book. I tend to buy used copies, when and where available. Not only are they cheaper, they often have a history. And I love recycling.

The other day, one of those little gems arrived on my doorstep. The seller had mentioned that the book was "used, as new". That's not necessarily a guarantee, "as new" can mean a lot of things to different people but usually, it's pretty accurate. Alright, sometimes they don't really look "as new" any more but that's a small price to pay for having the books available that I really would like to read. Well, this one did. Looked as new. Even smelled as new. But the greatest thing of all, it had a little surprise waiting for me. When I opened the cover page, I noticed that the copy had been signed by the author.

Unfortunately, I am not able to go to many readings, so I don't get to talk to many authors personally and can't ask them for their autographs. I have a few but not many. So, this was really nice, especially since that wasn't mentioned at all.

Oh bliss, we can be delighted so easily.

Otto, Whitney "How to make an American Quilt"

Otto, Whitney "How to Make an American Quilt" - 1991

This is one of the few books I read after watching the movie. Can you tell that I loved the movie? It is full of wonderful women, one character cast better than the next. They all have a story to tell, and they tell their story to Finn who is the granddaughter of one of the quilt ladies and is about to get married. I expected the book to be just as good.

And it was. Whether this is due to the fact that I had the most vivid images in front of me already and have to thank the director of the movie more than the author of the book, I will never know. I just know that I will love this story forever.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"An extraordinay and moving reading experience, HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT is an exploration of women of yesterday and today, who join together in a uniquely female experience. As they gather year after year, their stories, their wisdom, their lives, form the pattern from which all of us draw warmth and comfort for ourselves."

Dohaney, M.T. "The Corrigan Women"

Dohaney, M.T. "The Corrigan Women: - 1986

A Canadian friend recommended this book to me. A portrayal of life in Newfoundland at the beginning of the last century, well, at the beginning of the First World War. The story of a girl who works as a household helper, who is not treated well by the family she works for. The story of a family during and after a war, of a soldier who is never the same again, of a daughter, who repeats the history of her mother.

And within this turmoil, M.T. Dohaney manages to describe the beauty and ruggedness of that part of Canada, makes you believe you've been there, includes a little bit of history but, best of all, gives you an insight why people survive even the harshest conditions.

From the back cover:

"M.T. Dohaney has been described as Newfoundland’s answer to Frank McCourt. Her first novel, The Corrigan Women, a richly textured portrayal of outport life, is a contemporary classic. Long out-of-print, this first novel in the trilogy that ends with the critically acclaimed A Fit Month for Dying, is now available once again. This intense family drama opens in pre-Confederation Newfoundland, on the eve of the First World War. Fifteen-year-old Bertha Ryan leaves home to work as the hired girl in the troubled Corrigan household in a larger village, called the Cove. There, she is browbeaten by her employer and raped by the deranged son. Pregnant and terrified, Bertha marries her assailant’s brother, with whom she is in love. But the war intervenes, and when her husband returns, he is shell-shocked and nothing is the same. Bertha’s daughter Carmel fares no better. During the Second World War, she marries a charming, handsome American soldier stationed at the nearby base and later she discovers that he is already married. The weight of the accumulated shame eventually falls upon Carmel’s daughter Tessie, who reaches adulthood caught in the crossfire between the ways of the Cove and the world beyond Newfoundland. With characteristic wit and compassion, Dohaney depicts a trio of resilient women who face life with dignity, courage and irrepressible humour. When The Corrigan Women first appeared in 1988, readers kept asking M.T. Dohaney, “Well, what happened? Did Bertha keep visiting the grave?” Dohaney would reply, “I don’t know. The Corrigan Women is fiction.” “But she must have told you.” “No, Bertha is fictional, and that was 1918, long before my time.” And so it went, until the immediacy of The Corrigan Women and the characters that would not stay on the page drove Dohaney to write two more Corrigan Women novels in this highly acclaimed now popular trilogy."

I also read the second part of the story "To Scatter Stones" which I quite liked and the third "A Fit Month for Dying" which I didn't.

Dohaney, M.T. "To Scatter Stones"

Dohaney, M.T. "To Scatter Stones" - 1992

"To Scatter Stones" picks up where "The Corrigan Women" left us. A daughter returns home after her divorce and gets busy in her little village. Again, many obstacles are in her way that are just as difficult in the second half of the century than they were in the first one. However, M.T. Dohaney manages to describe them just as well and the spirit of the Corrigan women has not left. It is still there and will be there in any of their descendants, no matter what the problems will be.

From the back cover:

"Described as Newfoundland's answer to Frank McCourt, M.T. Dohaney's To Scatter Stones is available once again. Long out of print, the highly anticipated To Scatter Stones was first published in 1992, the second novel in Dohaney's celebrated Corrigan Women trilogy. Now it's available to readers once again. In this novel, Tess Corrigan, newly divorced, has moved from Montreal to St. John's as manager of a travel agency. On a visit to her birthplace, a tiny outport called the Cove, she agrees to stand as the Liberal candidate in the forthcoming provincial election. Little by little, she becomes wrapped up in the lives of her childhood friends and neighbours. But the return to her roots is also difficult. The last of the Corrigan women, Tess is the daughter of Carmel and an American soldier, who turns out to be a bigamist. In addition to the uncomfortable echoes from her past, Tess's politics stir up conflict in the traditionally Tory village. Not only does she face discouraging odds and hard ethical choices, but she is the first 'petticoat candidate' ever to run for office in the Cove. On top of these external crises, Tess must deal with her own conflicting emotions and the love of youth, Dennis Walsh, now a priest, who reappears in the Cove. To Scatter Stones spans from the 1960s into the 1990s, marking not only the life changes of the last of the Corrigan women, but the radical changes as Newfoundland moved from paternalism and an economy based on the fishery to a more equitable political ideal. With wit and insight, M.T. Dohaney carries the story of the Corrigan women into the final decades of the 20th century." 

When I heard there is a third novel "A Fit Month for Dying", I read that one as well but was hugely disappointed.

Atwood, Margaret "The Handmaid's Tale"

Atwood, Margaret "The Handmaid's Tale" - 1985

The Handmaid's Tale. A young lady called Offred tells us the story of Gilead, a country in the future, situated in a part of the present United States of America. Some catastrophes must have led to the state they are in, certainly some ecological disaster but also a revolution that caused the situation the people find themselves in, in a way they have a dictatorship in Mosaic times, the fertile young girls are sent to an older man whose wife can't have children, like Hagar who was the handmaid who was brought to Sarah's husband Abraham in order to bear him children. A lot of the parts of their lives are named after biblical characters or events.

We never get to know the name of the narrator, she just doesn't wish anyone to know it so she can believe there is another life, another place to go back to after all the horror in her life is over. I was wondering about the weird name the author gave to our protagonist until I came across the next ladies who all had a similar one. Offred = Of Fred. Sounds like a dream for guys that all the women carry their name, as if they were their possession ......

I don't even remember what I thought this book would be about, I certainly didn't think it might be a dystopian novel. I love those kind of stories better than the utopian ones, I cannot believe in a glorious future where everyone is peaceful and nobody has to suffer. Those stories that tell us about worlds gone wrong seem much more realistic.

The breeding part reminded me of Hitler's maternity institutions "Lebensborn" where he wanted to breed "pure" Aryans. Here, they just want to breed human creatures which seems to have become a problem. They also know what to do with people who do not comply or are otherwise useless. Their concentration camps are called "colonies" and people are sent there to work in contaminated regions where they will slowly, but very surely, die.

The biblical part reminded me more about what is going on in the United States now, interesting how Margaret Atwood could foresee that almost thirty years ago. Every law, every rule, everything has to confirm to the bible, anything that doesn't is evil. I can very well imagine that in the event of a major catastrophe, these kind of people will try to take over and a dictatorship not much unlike the one described could develop from this.

What I also really liked about the novel, even though it might be tempting and Offred does dream of a better world, she does not have any unrealistic hopes that this will ever happen. Nothing written with rose-tinted glasses.

Yes, a wonderful story, well told, changing between past and present, an interesting, nor foreseeable conclusion at the end, I loved the style. I loved the story. I will definitely read more by Margaret Atwood.

My favourite quote: "Maybe I'm crazy and this is some new kind of therapy. I wish it were true, then I could get better and this would go away."

I re-read this novel with our international book club in 2018. See my new review here.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire – neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.
Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first-century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood's devastating irony, wit and astute perception."

Margaret Atwood was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for "The Handmaid's Tale" in 1986.

Margaret Atwood received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 2017.