Rhapsody (Edwards) 204

I loved Dorothy Edward's Winter Sonata, so I was keen to get hold of Rhapsody to read as well. This is a book of short stories by Edwards which pre-dates Winter Sonata. As I wrote in my ealrier post, Edwards only wrote one novel and some short stories before tragically committing suicide at the age of 21.

The stories have similar themes and settings to Winter Sonata; they feature country houses, walks, and a world which was very different to Edwards' socialist upbringing and then fairly poor adulthood. Music is a recurrent motif. Not my favourite short story collection but certainly interesting to read as a companion to Winter Sonata.

Like Winter Sonata, it was just published once by Virago with this original green cover.

Celia (Young) 332

Having enjoyed a number of EH Young's novels as part of this challenge, I was pleased to come across a copy of Celia. Set in Radstowe, like many of her other books, it's a book about marriage and relationships. Celia, the main character, has been married for years, and is bored and disappointed by both marriage and life. Rather than a plot driven book, it is more about the characters. I warmed to Celia and her daughter Catherine, a 17 year old school girl, and enjoyed reading about their lives. Ultimately, I don't think it was my favourite EH Young, but it was certainly enjoyable. And I am particularly looking forward to the last EH Young VMC that I have to read - Jenny Wren.

It's been published twice by Virago, in original green and italicised green covers. But both use the same image. My copy is the original one :)

Latest acquisition - the latest VMC

The daylight and the dust: selected short stories by Janet Frame is the latest Virago Modern Classic (number 552) and was kindly sent to me ahead of its publication by Sophie from Virago. I've come across Janet Frame before - her autobiography was also republished by Virago this year, and I wrote about it here, and here. So it is interesting to have the chance to peruse some of Frame's stories.

The back-cover quotes Frame: "I'm a short-story addict, both reading and writing them, and I always keep hoping for the perfect story". This belief is certainly evident in this new book; the stories contained within it are taken from the four collections of stories that Frame wrote over her life, and it's a difficult collection to sum up. The stories range in length, from a couple of pages to about ten, they range in theme from childhood, to old age, and the locations are as far apart as Frame's native New Zealand and London. I was expecting there to be more on the theme of "madness", reflecting on Frame's journey through mental illness, but perhaps not focussing on this was part of her method of escapism? Anyway, there are certainly some wonderful stories in the book, although as usual I struggled with such bitesized works of literature.

The volume is ably introduced by Michele Roberts, who has her own volume of short stories out this month, also published by Virago. It's called Mud, and although not a short-story lover, I did enjoy dipping in and out of this collection which also cover a wide range of topics, but primarily from a female perspective. Michele Roberts is also one of those authors who one feels should be part of the Virago Modern Classics list so I would certainly recommend looking out for this one too.

Enormous changes at the last minute (Paley) 9

I picked up Enormous changes at the last minute in the Books and Comics Exchange in Notting Hill simply because it was a green Virago (in excellent condition) that I hadn't read; this was much to the potential dismay of my companion who would have nabbed it if she had seen it first. She told me that it was rather collectable and that Paley's writing is pretty well respected.

It's a book of short stories, some are very short indeed, set in New York, and mainly dealing with characters falling in and out of love. Because it's a short story volume (because, Paley, who never published a novel apparently once said "Art is too long, and life is too short. There's a lot more to do in life than just writing), I wasn't sure that it would be a keeper. But it is, if just for the first story, "Wants".

A mere 2.5pp long, "Wants" is the story of a woman returning two very overdue library books (themselves VMCs - Wharton's House of mirth, and The children). She runs into her ex-husband, and then begins to reflect on what she wants from life:

"I want, for instance, to be a different person. I Want to be the woman who brings these two books back in two weeks. I want to be the effective citizen who changes the school system and addresses the Boart of Estimate of the troubles of this dear urban centrer. I had promised my children to end the war before they grew up. I wanted to have been married forever to one person..."

But she realises that at least she has returned the library books this time, so may be in a position ultimately to do something about her wants.

Halfway!!!!!

Yesterday, I wrote about my 276th Virago Modern Classic - which, given that there are currently 552 in the list means that I am halfway through my venture. Not bad going given that I only started in July this year! Of course, I had read a number of these before embarking on the challenge, so the figure is slightly artificially updated by the "catch-up" posts that I have written (I'm nearly up to date with those, the only author that I have read and not blogged about is Elizabeth Taylor but I'm holding out until I manage to get myself a complete set of her books in the original green editions!). But I'm still pleased with the progress of the challenge, and maybe it won't take the 10 years to complete that I originally anticipated. On the other hand, many of the books that I have left may be difficult to track down, and others are really long (four volumes of Pilgrimage only count as one book according to the master list), and Virago are still issuing more modern classics at the rate of about 10 a year. So I still feel somewhat daunted by my challenge, but hopefully there are many more wonderful books out there to be discovered.

But it still represents a pretty big achievement I think. Big thanks to Virago for their help, sending me copies of the latest VMCs and some of the other ones too. Many thanks to all of my wonderful readers who have commented, and shown interest in the project, and who have lent me books, and those who have given me books along the way - I've been absolutely bowled over by people's generosity!

To celebrate, I'd like to giveaway a surprise VMC to one lucky reader. Tell me which out of the VMCs that I have yet to read, you'd most like to see me reading (that might involve a little research!).

The robber bridegroom (Welty) 80

Kindly lent to me by Claire from Paperback Reader, The Robber Bridegroom is Eudora Welty's first novel and quite a contrast to the only other Welty that I have read, Losing Battles. The book is a retelling of one of the Grimm's Fairy tales, of the same name, only set in Welty's Missouri. The original story is recognisable, with a wicked stepmother, beautiful heroine, wonderful hero, weak father , and a "happily ever after" ending. I don't know anything at all about American folklore, but according to the introduction Welty drew heavily on it to turn the story into a novella by adding other characters. It was interesting to read this tale in a completely different setting; after all I suppose this is what folk lore and fairy tales are really about - familiar stories, retold in the situation inhabited by the storytellers.

I'm hugely intrigued now to read more by Welty - I greatly enjoyed this version of a fairy tale, and am curious to come across more of her writing and see whether her other books are like this or more like Losing battles.

It's been published twice by Virago, with an original green cover (which was the edition that Claire lent me) and a modern green cover.

Summer will show (Townsend Warner)

Summer will show is an extremely interesting novel that falls into two parts. It centres around the character of Sophia Willoughby, a young aristocratic woman. In the first part we are introduced to Sophia, the young aristocratic woman around whom the novel centres. Controversially for the 1840s, she has an unusual degree of freedom, having inherited land from her family. Consequently, when her husband has an affair, she sends him away to France to live with his mistress. Her life changes when both of her young children die of smallpox. She follows her husband to France. She arrives in the Spring of 1848, just as France is about to undergo revolution, and becomes both trapped by it and caught up in it, and embarks on a relationship with her husband's mistress.

It's been published just one in a VMC edition with this fantastic cover that has a very revolutionary feel.

(PS: I hope Summer will show around here sometime soon - the weather has reverted to its normal grey chilly dismallness and I want to get my flipflops out again)