2 book clubs this week

I'm in two book clubs: the classics one (see a few posts ago) and one for kids, which I attend every other month so I can lead the discussion. These meet on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and I haven't read either book yet. I tore myself away from Dame Frevisse (see last blog entry) for long enough to start Tuesday's book, The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood. It's proving to be a quick read, thankfully. For Wednesday, I have to read The Bell Jar. Not looking forward to that - I think I'm too old for it.
In general, I think there are certain authors - Plath, Kerouac, Salinger - that can only be read for a few years of one's life. For me - for most people, I'd guess - that time was between the ages of 18 and 23. I'm not 23 anymore, so I'm not looking forward to Plath. I want her to get a grip, and be thankful for what she does have.
I guess "when you grow old, your heart dies". I told a high-schooler that last year, with a nonchalant deadpanned indifference, and he was appalled; he had no idea I was quoting Breakfast Club.
And speaking of medieval people taking holy orders, I came to work today and found the fourth Pagan book by Catherine Jinks (Pagan's Scribe) on my desk. Yippee! That'll be a good palliative (in its lesser-used sense of something that soothes but not heals) to the inevitable letdown when I finish the Dame Frevisse series. I'll re-read them all, so as to appreciate Pagan's Scribe more.

blessings on Margaret Frazer...

...and yes, I realize that Margaret Frazer isn't a real person. She's a pen name for two authors (Gail Frazer and another author at first; now, it's just Gail Frazer) who write a mystery series about Dame Frevisse, a 15th-century nun. If you haven't read them, start with The Novice's Tale.
Yes, I know - what is it with me and nuns? Well, I finally figured that out: the attraction is not only the struggle with one's vocation, but also the interest I have in all-woman communities. That's why I like the minutiae of girls' boarding school stories: how is the school laid out? How are prefects chosen, what are their responsibilities, and how much power do they have?
But I digress. Dame Frevisse develops as a character throughout the series, and her interactions with the world outside her convent are well explained (otherwise, how could there be so many violent deaths in a small convent?). Frazer avoids too many Famous Person Cameos (I always hate those), the books are reasonably accurate, and the recurring characters are well developed and well used. My favorite so far is The Servant's Tale, which had an agreeably creepy ending, though The Boy's Tale made me teary at the end.
Side note to the person who recommended the series to me: I wrote a garbled note to you on odd stationery. Sorry! I was in a hurry to thank you, so I mailed it anyway. The note was a poor shadow of my gratitude to you for recommending these books! I don't always write gibberish, by the by.

what on earth is a classic?

Last week I went to the inaugural meeting of a new classics bookclub. The mediator and I had chosen three books as possible first books: Sense and Sensibility, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and The Bell Jar. They're different in style and content, and I hoped the disparate titles would spark a discussion about what types of book we'd like to read.
Yup, that's what happened. Lots of discussion, to little point. Between the people who want to read the Greeks and don't consider 20th-C literature classic (it's too new), the people who wouldn't mind reading poetry, and the people who think a "modern classic" like The Bell Jar is Jim-dandy, there was plenty to talk about. One woman wanted to talk about the Scottish classics, the English classics, maybe even the Welsh - I'm an Anglophile, and even I was startled by the narrow focus.
Next month each member is supposed to bring a book that she wants the group to read. No idea what I'll bring - maybe Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Given the number of Anglophiles, maybe I should consider Things Fall Apart or some other non-Western classic. Any suggestions?

Margaret Biggs, etc.

I've been reading old children's books again - The Blakes Come to Melling and The New Prefect at Melling, both by Margaret Biggs. I really, really liked Blakes - it was a really clever school story, and Helen Blake reminded me of Tim from Antonia Forest's Marlow series (I could see Tim laughing, too, if she were sent to Coventry). I'm having a harder time with New Prefect - it looks as though Biggs wants Helen to Learn an Important Lesson. I dislike books like that, which is why I've only read Austen's Emma once.
I turned to old children's books after reading too much adult fluff - Dolores, by Jacqueline Susann, and The right address, by Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman. Both had a weird meta-fiction context - Dolores discussed Jackie Kennedy, but was a thinly-disguised story about her life. And The right address discussed plagiarism, but had a very similar plot to People like us by Dominick Dunne. It wasn't plagiarism, and I liked The right address more than People like us, but they were similar.
Oh, and a guy from my high school class is doing well and publishing quite a bit in his chosen field of creative writing. I must adopt a new mantra: I love my job and my life; I don't need a PhD to be fulfilled.

Heavens! zut alors!

I've had a cold the last few days, and yesterday I was reduced to reading a Betty Neels book called Heaven Around the Corner. I'd bought it on vacation a couple of weeks ago, because I thought it was a Betts that I didn't have. After a chapter, I realized I was wrong. I own a copy (now I own two. Drat!) and I'd read it before. The heroine is incredibly naive - a nurse who takes weeks to realize that her patient is an alcoholic. And then, the patient falls in love, and everyone says, "oh, now she has something to interest her, so she won't be an alcoholic anymore." The book was written in the early 1980s, when Betts was at least 60, but still - as I finished this Betts, I had the rare feeling that I was wasting my time. I should stress (confess?) here that I own nearly every Betty Neels book, and I have a bookshelf filled with them. A nearly complete Betts collection adds up to about 100 of her very similar books.
A copy of Carolyn 101 by Carolyn Kepcher landed on my desk today. Yippee!