North and South

I watched the British miniseries North and South and just had to read the book.  Wives and Daughters which is considered Gaskell's best is more fun.  This book has more of a social message and is different from that book but just as good.  It's also a romance. This deals with mill workers who are on strike.  Margaret Hale, the main character of the book, feels for the workers and even becomes friends with a worker Bessy.  Her father tutors the owner of the mill the hard-hearted Mr. Thornton.   She hates him at first.  However, the two gradually fall in love.  There's an interesting subplot with Margaret's troubled brother but that is wrapped up by the end.  Gaskell is one of the more famous female authors of the 1800s.  I've got to read more of her and generally female authors from that time period.   

Haunted Child Joe Penhall

This play was just ok.  I've heard that this isn't Penhall's best work so I'll read another play.  It's about an absent father who comes back to his family.  He's been brainwashed by a cult. The reason why he came back is that he wants to sell his belongings to the cult. His wife strongly objects to this.  The ending isn't surprising but it is realistic and kind of a happy ending.  I really do need to read more plays.  I was really into them as a teenager but then other genres took over.    

The Life and Death of Harriet Frean

This is a bleak short book from a British novelist.  It deals with a woman who wants to please her family and do the right thing.  However, "the right thing" may not always bring you happiness.  For instance, she falls in love with her best friend's fiancee.  He reciprocates these feelings.  Yet she decides not to go through with it because it would hurt her best friend.  I found this a different twist to this usual story. Friendship is not the most important thing.  You should think about your own self-interests too. It turns out to be the only love of Harriett's life. Harriett eventually becomes just a distant memory to the guy and lands up a spinster.  Her mother does something stupid as well just to save a few bucks and it jeopardizes Harriett's happiness as well.   There was a great company once called Virago Modern Classics that focused on mostly obscure woman writers.  Every once in a while I read a book that they published.  It's fascinating to read what these women of the past had to say.

Her Husband

I absolutely love Diane Middlebrook's biography on Anne Sexton.  So when I found out that she did a biography on Sylvia Plath I just had to read it.  I've already read a book on Sylvia Plath a few months ago, along with rereading The Bell Jar and her poems.  I have to admit that I'm not the best reader of poetry.  I find it hard.  I'm in my 30's and just getting into it.  Until I got into Sylvia Plath I never heard about Ted Hughes before. (I'm a beginner.)  I was surprised to find that this book is mostly about Ted Hughes.  It first covers their marriage and the writing process they had when they lived together.  Then the rest of the book is about Ted, his other poetry works, his second marriage, and a few of the flings he had.  I've got to read a book of his poetry.  In Sylvia's lifetime, she was just known as his wife who also wrote.  Now he's living in her shadow.  I think that what he did with her journals was horrible.  He burned one and "lost" the other.  But I don't know if I would have done differently if I was in his shoes.

Frost in May

This focuses on Nanda a girl in a Catholic school and her eventual expulsion. Her father is a new convert and happily sends her off to the school. Nanda wants to please and accept the lessons given by her teachers.  She even converts a girl.  This also looks at her friendships with the girls at the school.  I especially liked the dialogue between Nanda and Leonie.