October, October (2020) by Katya Balen

 

🌳 Hello friends! I miss you, and this blog, a lot! You might have been wondering - or not? :P - where have I been this month? Apart from the three books I have read for #1949Club, this was the only book I have managed to read in October - and what an appropriate title it has, isn't it? Well, the reason of my absence, if you care to learn anyway, was too complicated to explain. In short, I have been chaotically busy  beginning the second week of October. Apart from having to do all the house chores by myself, due to my mom's weak heart (she's relatively okay, by the way, just too weak to do her usual activities, and she sleeps a lot); I have had to study for a tax certification exam - which I failed and must do another end of this month :(. On top of those, there's a tax audit going on at work, that my friend and I must prepare all the documents required (which means that our own jobs have been neglecting and we must catch up a lot). All combined together, the result is: exhaustion and stress! Luckily, I have all the books in the world to read and listen to, without which I'll certainly have a nervous breakdown one of these days...

🌳 Anyway, October, October is a middle-grade fiction about ten year old girl who has been brought up completely in the nature. She was named October by her parents, and has lived in the forest since childhood with her father, in a house that the father built. They eat food from their own vegetable patches, or by foraging from the woods. To October, the trees, the bushes, the animals are her true companions; and she has become a wild child. Her mother left them when she's a little child, as she doesn't love the wild as much as her husband and daughter. She (the mother) lives in the suburbs, and would only occasionally visits her family in the forest. October loathes her mother - terribly. She even calls her "the woman who is my mother" throughout the story. That is one thing I failed to grasp - the deep-rooted hatred for one's mother. OK, children hate mothers who abandoned them, but October's mother didn't. She just chose to not to share the wild life style October and her father love. She (the mother) is a kind and affectionate mother, too.

🌳 I think, in a way, this book is a kind of warning to parents, to always introduce their children to the "normal" world. It's okay to be different; to like different things from the world; but at some point the child would have to emerge to this "normal" world from time to time. One must teach a child to be adaptable, even to the unpleasant environment. October lives comfortably among the trees; the woods is her home. But one day, her birthday in fact, a terrible accident befell her father. October's mother arrived in the forest bringing birthday gift, and October ran away from their cave to avoid her. Her father chased October, up to a tree which she climbed like a monkey. But he fell! Now, when the father was "on the mend" at the hospital, the mother brought October to live with her in the suburbs. The wild child must leave the wild behind, and adjusting to the "normal" world of the city - school, noises, and all. Would she "survive"?

🌳 On the whole, October, October - which is, by the way, how October's father used to call her; a nice way to be called, right? There is a poetic quality in it - is a nice read for middle-graders. It connects you with the natural lives, a good way to introduce the charm of nature to teenagers. To adults, parents in particular, like I said before, it's a good reminder to expose children to all the options of life. I wish October's dad hadn't spoiled her that much; he should have been trying to take her out from the woods from time to time; and to make her understand that it's okay to like different thing; that it doesn't mean someone (the mother) doesn't love you by being different. I personally felt sad for October's mother. What's her fault, anyway, to be treated like dirt by her own daughter? She's entitled to like different things from her husband (and daughter). Enough to say, she's the only character in this book I could relate; and my least favorite is October herself. :D Fortunately, I love nature, and this book brings a lot of that aspect to lift up a little of my stress during the read.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey #1949Club

 

🧩 After having finished Brat Farrar, I realized that had I read this book before Mary Stewart's The Ivy Tree, I might have appreciated this book more. The main plot of both books are the same - one member of a family was missing or disappeared without explanation. And then, years later, someone came claiming to be the missing person. It is the question of 'was he or was he not' is the central element behind the mystery/thriller. In this aspect, The Ivy Tree is superior than Brat Farrar, since we are never sure whether the 'prodigal child' was genuine or an impostor, until near the end. And that was what made The Ivy Tree such a gripping thriller. Unfortunately, in Brat Farrar, we know from the beginning that Brat Farrar is not Patrick Ashby. Hence, the book only deals with what has become of Patrick Ashby, who everyone had assumed he's committed suicide - was it suicide or....?

🧩 The Ashbys are an English country-squire family in a village called Clare. Resided in the family estate of Latchetts are Beatrice "Bee" Ashby (Aunt Bee), a spinster of fifties, Simon Ashby - the twin brother of Patrick, Eleanor - Simon and Patrick's sister, and two twin siblings. Patrick Ashby disappeared when the twins were teenagers; leaving a note that could be assumed as suicide note. Fast forward to present time, enter Brat Farrar. Brat is a foundling, who had just come back to England from America, when a stranger called him: Simon! He was an Alec Loding, old friend of Simon and Patrick Ashby. Brat's resemblance with the twin was uncanny, and that gave Loding a crazy idea, and in turn he presented Brat with a crazy proposition - that of being an impersonator. Patrick Ashby - had he been alive, would very soon be coming of age, and would inherit Latchetts. Loding, a poor second-rate actor, saw it as a chance to enrich himself by half of the proceeds.
🧩 Of course, Brat Farrar succumbed to temptation and agreed to the scheme. I won't reveal what happened next, since the process is half of the book's attraction. Suffice to say, that the whole plot is between 'is he going to fool them all?' and 'what's really happened to Patrick?' Of course, there should be crime committed, and to be honest, it's not a mystery at all. We could see from the beginning what's what. It's just fun to follow what would happen next, and how it would all resolve to at the end. 🧩 Like I said earlier, the idea is brilliant. But I wished the plot twist is more twisting and shocking than that. Like, I have been guessing that from the beginning, and just needed to know the way it had been accomplished. Entertaining? Very; but gripping? Well, maybe only twenty percent.... Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

The 1949 Club

hosted by Simon and Karen

Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, translated by Robert van Gulik #1949Club

 

💛 Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, or Dee Goong An, was Robert van Gulik's first attempt to bring an 18th century Chinese detective novel by Anonymous writer, to Western canon. The main character in the detective novel (Judge Dee) was actually inspired by a real Dynasty Tang's statesman and detective in 7th century called Di Renjie. Why did van Gulik chose this novel in particular to be translated, while there were a lot of other Chinese detective novels? It's because, unlike Western detective novel readers, who loved fast-paced mystery while keep wondering whodunnit until near the end, ancient Chinese readers liked their detective novels to be long and full of detailed facts and technical procedure of the laws and detection. Moreover, they also devoured the gruesome details of the brutal punishment to the criminal - something that we won't have stomach to read through. These would result in a boring and distasteful read when translated. Judge Dee, meanwhile, was the shortest and most nicely-paced that van Gulik had found. He would, later on, continue writing his own historical mysteries about Judge Dee in a series (which I plan to read through).

💛 Celebrated Cases opened with Judge Dee starting his duty as new magistrate in a small town. He was always accompanied by his four faithful and trusted assistants. The magistrate was like a father of the people in a district, thus Judge Dee's duty stretched to not only solving lawful cases, but also imparting justice to the wronged. On his first court, an innkeeper reported the accusation from his rival that he had murdered two silk merchants who had been staying at his inn. This was the first case in this book, which is called "The Double Murder at Dawn". There were three cases in total; however, interestingly, the investigations were running simultaneously by Judge Dee. Thus, when Judge Dee, during investigation of the Double Murder, put a disguise as a doctor, his first "patient" was an old woman who sought medicine for her dumb granddaughter - the case of which happened after the rather mysterious death of her husband (no foul play detected; no blood, no injury, but for his bulging eyes). Judge Dee's suspicion made it a case number two: "The Strange Corpse". During court session for the second case (or was it the first? I forgot), another case was brought in front the judge: a bride who had been poisoned on her wedding day; hence the case was titled "The Poisoned Bride". 

💛 I won't go into details of each case, but only want to highlight the different approach of investigation and detection in Celebrated Cases from the usual detective novels of Western canon. First of all, we (the Judge and us readers) know or highly suspected the murderers from quite early stage (at least for the first and third cases - the second was the most puzzling, though the solution was ingeniously simple); therefore, Judge Dee's main tasks were to, a) force a confession from the criminals, and b) deduct how the murder had been committed. The first he achieved by either threat, or persuasion, or - and here is an aspect we never find in Western canon detective novels, but highly liked by Chinese readers - physical tortures. The latter provides gruesome aspect to the book.
💛 The second feature that we might never find in Western detective novels, is the punishment of the criminals. The crime novels we read are mostly ended when the crime was solved - a few might mention that the criminal is about to be hanged, or imprisoned. For us, justice has been administrated. But Chinese readers at that time liked to "watch" - albeit from reading the story - how the punishment was performed in detail, and how the criminal suffered from it; as if that was the climax - the avenging of the crime - rather than the solving of a mystery. The third aspect is maybe typical of Asian culture (and literature) - and we have found the same in 18th century Western crime novels - the involvement of supernatural element during the investigation. What annoyed me most about the first case, The Double Murder at Dawn, is the way Judge Dee "consulted" with supernatural beings in solving the murder - he even "ask" the deceased's ghost to help or lighten him about his unnatural death. And that made this case to be my least favorite.

💛 The best mystery in this book is undoubtedly The Strange Corpse; that is a brilliantly plotted murder that would baffles many inferior investigators. Although that's also the case with most gruesome torture of the stories. The Poisoned Bride, however, is my favorite. It is simple, but with genius solution that will reminded you to one of Agatha Christie's short stories - you know, when she's playfully pulling your leg. All in all, this was an interesting, rather than entertaining, read.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

The 1949 Club

hosted by Simon and Karen

Fearless and Free: A Memoir by Josephine Baker #1949Club

✨ My knowledge of Josephine Baker had been hitherto, that she was a famous dancer in the Roaring Twenties era. In Midnight in Paris movie - which I have watched at least three times), she was portrayed (though in a glimpse) sensuously and glamorously dancing in a club. But the real Josephine Baker was not only that sensuous dancer; she was much more than that. And thanks to the #1949Club, I have found this memoir of hers, where I learned much about the really talented artist, an ardent supporter of France Resisttance, and a wonderful human being.

✨ Josephine Baker (née McDonald) was an American girl, born in 1886 in the poverty-stricken home at St. Louis, Missouri - a mixed race of black (from her mother) and white - presumably- from her biological father). She also revealed that her aunt was in fact an Indian. Little Josephine loved to dance and perform, and at the age of thirteen she had started career as street-corner dancing. Her stars started shining when she performed in revues until she joined the Folies Bergère. Her breakthrough happened when Josephine was only 19, dancing in a feather skirt in La Revue Nègre at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. She was further more mostly famous as banana dancer - dancing in her iconic banana skirt.

✨ By 1925, Josephine Baker had been a household name, not only in France, but from aother European countries to Middle East. She was famous with her erotic dance, but more than that, by her free and passionate dance style, coupled with lively expression of her face; she loved doing silly faces during dances, which made her unique and original. Her memoir, wrote by a French journalist Marcel Sauvage, was written in her characteristic of fearless and free. It was told just as Josephine told her own story to Sauvage; you would find a lot of sentence-openings like: "You know Monsieur Sauvage...." And that gave us a glimpse to Josephine Baker's genuine personality: warm, spontaneous, cheerful, passionate. Maybe these quotes would give you an idea of who or what kind of person Josephine Baker was:

About her love of Paris:

"Have we said enough about Paris's place in the world and life in Paris? Paris is elegance, mayhem, love, champagne and pretty trinkets, the Eiffel Tower. Spirit, and heart, wouldn't you say? And thousands of other adjectives. [...] Paris is women, sun, midnight sun. The Bois, tea, dance halls, shopping, cabaret. [...] I love Paris, how it moves, how it sounds, its mystery - its mysteries - all its mysteries. [...] Night-time, champagne, joy, frenzy, more dancing, flowers, women. Never horrid, never stupid, never ordinary... Vive Paris!"

Josephine's view of performing v. money:

"I don't ever want to dance, sing, perform or shoot just because of my name."

✨ Josephine Baker's passion stretched out not only to dancing - and later on also singing and acting - but also to people, especially children (she adopted not less than twelve during her lifetime), and the poor and afflicted. Josephine also adored animals; she kept exotic pets, gifted by her many admirers around the world. But maybe, the most interesting aspect of Josephine Baker which not many people realized, is her love of France - the country that had adopted her into her bosom. Josephine volunteered to be a secret agent during World War II due to her international fame, and thus had heard many hush-hush information from many influential people first hand. Later on, she became the Second Lieutenant during the French Resistant movement, and did acted in several dangerous situation (not only in the comfort of cabarets or boudoirs). ✨ After being entertained with Josephine's early career - with dances, performance on the stages, her tour around the world, describing each country from her point of views; the tone of the memoir was shifting to a darker tone when she criticized the racial injustice the Black people received after World War II. She was aghast that during the war everyone mixed happily together despite of different races, but why was it that after war, they hated each other? She was furious especially to how the Jews and the mixed race (half white and half black) treated Black people with even more severe racial discrimination than the pure White. An irony, indeed. And that later part of the memoir was enough for me to change my view on Josephine Baker. She's now, to me, not only a sensuous dancer who performed with funny-silly faces (which I disliked); Josephine Baker was a tremendously generous and affectionate human being who, during her lifetime, truly and actively practiced Christianity, despite what many Christians (and the Church) had accused her of. What a remarkable way of starting the #1949Club week! Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

The 1949 Club

hosted by Simon and Karen

Miss Plum and Miss Penny (1959) by Dorothy Evelyn Smith #SpinsterSeptember

 

🟣 This would be my second and last book for the 2026 edition of #SpinsterSeptember. I have wanted to read one more, but just couldn't manage to, due to many things happening concerning my mother's health lately. Anyway, I enjoyed very much the two I have finished (the previous one is Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day). Now, the heroine of this one is the titular Miss Penny, a middle-aged spinster who lives quietly and contentedly in an English village with her also-contentedly-living housekeeper: Ada. Miss Alison Penny's life, which is filled with charity works, Women's Institute meetings, or annual bazaars - the usual activities in any English villages at that time - was disrupted when she rescued a young woman from attempting suicide by "drowning" herself in a duck pond. A very hilarious idea, indeed, drowning one self in a duck pond! But Miss Penny didn't see it that way; it was her conscientious duty to save another human being.

🟣 But that was not the only disruption in Miss Penny's life. The annual birthday card she receives from her old flame George, did not arrive for the first time in twenty years. It has been Miss Penny's only romantic touch to her otherwise loveless (yet cheerful) existence. George had been her first (and only) love twenty years ago, but her parents forbid her to marry him. Anyway, receiving Miss Victoria Plum (that was the young woman who's committed suicide) into Miss Penny's hitherto orderly and quite home, soon proved to be a havoc, not only for Miss Penny and Ada, but also for the other villagers too. Miss Plum's weepy and forlorn disposition soon steals everyone's heart, including the vicar and another outstanding middle-aged man called Stanley - both had hitherto been considering marrying Miss Penny for comfort. However, Miss Plum's welcome in Miss Penny's home soon wears thin, although Miss Penny is still in dilemma between getting rid of her soon, and not wanting to ruin her Christmas. Things weren't improved either when out of nowhere, George - the old Miss Penny's flame - arrived at the village, proposing to marry her!

🟣 On the whole, Miss Plum and Miss Penny is a perfect story about spinsters of that era - the 1950-1960s. And Dorothy Evelyn Smith gave the novel a rather dark comedic aspect, although not the crude one like Nancy Mitford's, no... hers is more subtle. It's interesting to watch how the villagers; especially the three main characters: Miss Penny, Hubert the vicar, and Stanley, were all trying to be generous and affectionate towards the needy (Miss Plum - who has neither money, home, nor relatives), although at some point they were also aware of Miss Plum's tendency of manipulating people using her weaknesses. We can see that from the start ("suicide" attempt at a duck pond; staying in bed in appearances, while in fact has been snooping around Miss Penny's house). Only Ada, Miss Penny's housekeeper, who wasn't deceived from the start. While this novel seems to be a light reading, there are many things that left you pondering about human kind. A certainly interesting read!
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Mrs. McGinty's Dead (1952) by Agatha Christie: A Reread

 

'Mrs. McGinty's dead!'
'How did she die?'
'Down on one knee, just like I!'

🔹 Agatha Christie's readers must have been familiar with her delight in old children's rhymes. There are many of her novels were titled or even inspired by these; And Then There Were None is one of the most famous of them. Mrs. McGinty's Dead was inspired by an old children's game - what a terrible game for children, isn't it? Anyway, the real Mrs. McGinty was an old charwoman who 'did' for some houses in a small village of Broadhinny. She was a quiet woman, but, like the type, she also likes to snoop around the houses she 'did'. One day she was found murdered, with a blow at the back of her head; and her meagre savings missing. Her only lodger, a James Bentley was accused, and then convicted, of murdering his landlady.

🔹 Superintendent Spence, however, doubted that Bentley was the murderer; he asked Hercule Poirot's help to investigate. Funny scenes came from Poirot, who was 'forced' to stay at the Summerhayes' guest house, which was a far cry from his ideal level of comfort; and also from the appearance of Mrs. Ariadne Oliver - the famous mystery novelist - who we all know for her untidiness and love of apples. And right enough, Poirot first saw her coming to Broadhinny after being hit by an apple core! LOL!! Anyway, Mrs. Oliver only served as humorous touch in this mystery; she lent almost no hand in the investigation, although she stays at the house of one of the suspects. Poirot soon learns the motive of Mrs. McGinty's murder - it has something to do with a past crime; someone who, either committed murder but not convicted, or was related to the murderer. That someone currently lives in Broadhinny, and is one of Mrs. McGinty's clienteles. 🔹 On the whole, it is one of Christie's mediocre works. It has some plot twists and red-herring; it has a humorous quality, especially whenever we have Poirot and Ariadne Oliver in one scene; it has the usual Poirot's denouement in the end; and Poirot once again acted as a love matchmaker for two young people of the characters. However, the plot and the characters didn't stand out from the rest of her works, and one can easily forget what had happened, and who's who in the end. A very entertaining one, but certainly unmemorable. Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Suzanne (2026) by Michael Saxton

 

🎨 First of all, many thanks to Michael Saxton, for giving me a free copy of his self-published book: Suzanne. I have first stumbled upon this book on Davida's blog (she reviewed it for #ParisinJuly2026), and I was fascinated by the story - the first French female painter of the of the Impressionism, whose works were admitted at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. I have never heard of her, and yet I was vaguely familiar with the name Utrillo, who was Valadon's son (also a painter). Hence, I was most curious about this Suzanne Valadon, who started her career in Montmartre as model for famous artists such as Berthe Morrisot, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir; but later on became "one of them" - as Edgar Degas had said at that time - the model had become the peer of the artists she had posed for. 🎨 Suzanne Valadon was born Marie-Clémentine Valadon in 1865 from an unmarried mother who was a laundress at Montmartre - her father was unknown. From childhood, Marie loved to draw, but both her mother and the Sister at the school forbade her to pursue this hobby. After being injured following a fall as trapeze acrobat in a circus, Marie began to pose as model and muse for several painters. One of these paintings, and perhaps the most famous, is Dance at Bougival (1883) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

🎨 From those hours of posing for the painters, Marie (or Maria - her chosen "professional" name as model) observed and learned their techniques. She went home often bringing some discarded papers and charcoal, and tried and trained herself to draw. It was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec who first "found" her hidden talent, and he brought her to Edgar Degas, who was at that time considered the highest authority in paintings. And the rest, as they say, is history. Marie, or Maria, has become Suzanne - the name she assumed - the painter. However, that was only the beginning. Suzanne had had a long way to go to be well respected among her contemporary (male) artists, and to be considered a professional. One of her biggest obstacle was Maurice Utrillo, her son, born out of wedlock. 🎨 Maurice was conceived when Suzanne was only eighteen years old. She never revealed the father - most probably because she herself was not certain. However, Miquel Utrillo signed a legal document acknowledging paternity, without being sure himself of the truth. Anyhow, Maurice was a restless boy from the beginning, and Suzanne's mother often gave him a small dose of alcohol into his diet to "calm" him. Either from this diet or hereditary alcoholism in his blood, Maurice grew up an alcoholic. And so, Suzanne's personal life was always in between poverty and alcoholism (and perhaps a hint of schizophrenia). Paul Mousis, a banker, was the only non-bohemian man who had ever really loved Suzanne. He provided respectability and establishment to Suzanne's life (they lived in a Paris apartment), staying away from Montmartre and bohemian influences that Suzanne believed was bad for Maurice. 🎨 Unfortunately, once a bohemian, one would always be one. Suzanne began an adulterous affair with a boy of the same age of Maurice - in fact he was Maurice's friend - called André Utter in 1909. He posed for her painting Adam et Eve. I was quite furious with Suzanne at this point. What kind of a mother who would prioritize passion on top of the wellbeing of his sensitive son? She admitted to herself that if she were to chose between her husband (Paul) and her son, she would have picked Maurice. That was quite understandable, considering her relationship with Paul was more of comfort rather than passion. But to "sacrifice" Maurice's feeling to passionate affair with a mere boy was too much for me - bohemian or not. Well, they say that genius artists (and writers) are usually selfish, so maybe that's one quality that Suzanne needed to be what she had later become. 🎨 All in all, this is a nice historical account of a self-made woman painter, at the time when the art world was dominated by men. Suzanne had always been persistent in both her art and her dealings with blood-sucker art dealer, and with people who was on the way between her and her son's happiness. Personally I prefer Maurice Utrillo's art of cityscapes than the bold-lined and crude Suzanne's feminine nudity. Well, I generally dislike feminists, so... But that didn't deter my enjoying this book. The first half is perhaps quite confusing; one chapter, for instance, Maurice was still a toddler, then apparently in the next he's already six. But the rest are more neatly paced. Though I was not quite immersed into the Paris of between the end of Impressionism era to the rising of Expressionism, this would be a perfect choice for #ParisinJuly, or if you are a Francophile like me.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐