Month: September 2019

This Golden Fleece by Esther Rutter

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Do I know anything about knitting? Absolutely not. Actually – caveat, I knew nothing about knitting before I picked up Esther Rutter’s This Golden Fleece. Now I know rather more!

Why did I request this rather off-brand review copy? Well, Esther is a good friend of mine – and if you flick to the acknowledgements, you’ll even find my name there. It seems quite odd to call her Esther, as I know her as Phoebe or Epsie, but I should probably go with what is on the cover.

Esther’s book falls into that genre that has become quite popular since H is for Hawk – of being about a topic, but also about researching that topic. This Golden Fleece is not as deeply confessional or emotional as some in the genre, but we do follow Esther as she travels up and down the country, learning about regional knitting practices, historical details, and other eccentricities in the world of wool devotees. And it’s clear that they do have a world – one that is very welcoming to others, and where strangers will enthuse to each other about their projects and crafty passions.

While this isn’t a deeply emotional book, it is certainly a personal one. Throughout the year, Esther reveals glimpses of her family life, and also discovers that she is pregnant along the way. Her attention turns from knitting a complicated gansey for her dad to creating clothes for her future daughter. Gathering wool for these projects, and covetously looking at expensive varieties, play out alongside visits to craftspeople and collectors who can reveal glimpses into knitting’s past. But there is a feeling that the past is not too far from the present. The world of wool has certainly changed, but not as dramatically as many other worlds. With two pieces of roughly identical wood and part of a sheep, you have something in common with many generations before you. (I use ‘you’ advisedly; I have no idea how to knit, even after reading the knits and purls of This Golden Fleece.)

Some of the most interesting bits include how knitting has been a revolutionary act – e.g. being used to record secrets as part of spying, a la A Tale of Two Cities – and, of course, how knitting came into its own as a method of protest as recently as the ‘pussy hats’ when Trump became President. The stereotype of the passive, harmless knitter-in-the-background looks flimsier and flimsier, doesn’t it?

Most importantly in this book, Esther writes very well. I would expect nothing less, having studied English alongside her – which also helps with the contextualising moments, where unexpected knitters like Virginia Woolf get tangential mentions. The whole thing is very winning and engaging, and Esther’s warm, lovely personality shines through. A wonderful gift for the knitter in your life (or, of course, yourself). And, if nothing else, look how beautiful that cover is!

Tove Jansson: Work and Love by Tuula Karjalainen

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I read a second book for Women in Translation month, but didn’t get around to reviewing it. But here are some quick thoughts about Tove Jansson: Work and Love by Tuula Karjalainen (2013), translated by David McDuff.

I read Boel Westin’s excellent biography of Tove Jansson when it was translated a few years ago. It was one of those times like buses, where you wait ages for a biography to come out and then two come at once. I’m not sure why I leaned towards the Westin – maybe it came out first? It was also the authorised biography, I believe, though I’m not sure I knew that at the time.

Karjalainen certainly didn’t go rogue with her lack-of-authorisation and spread all sorts of salacious rumours. Instead, she takes us on a journey through the work and love of the title. And it’s a steady, methodical journey.

I really enjoyed reading this book, but here is where we come across the main reason that I think Westin’s biography is better. Karjalainen compartmentalises Jansson’s life so thoroughly that it’s as though she were living four or five parallel lives, without overlap. She writes at length and sensitively about Jansson’s relationships with men and women, but at such length that for a while her career disappears completely. The Moomins are cautiously not addressed for half the book, except for an accidental stray mention that doesn’t make sense since she’s given no context. I can understand that this sort of makes sense, but it means jumping back and forth in time, and pretending that Jansson’s love life was completely unrelated to her career, or that her success as a strip cartoonist had little bearing on her painting. And so on and so forth. Then again, when I reviewed Westin’s book, I complained about repetition… maybe there’s no way to deal with the complexity and overlaps of Jansson’s life and career within the confines of a conventional biography.

I will add, in each of her compartmentalised areas Karjalainen writes interestingly – though leaning perhaps a little too much towards the ‘Jansson must have felt…’ school of biography. As with Westin’s, there isn’t as much about the adult books I love so much, but I suppose that’s inevitable. And thankfully, as with Westin’s book, there are lots of beautifully reproduced examples of the paintings being talked about – even if Karjalainen evidently didn’t know which would be there when she was writing it, as the composition of some paintings are described in unnecessary length when we can just looked at them on the page opposite.

Oh, and the book itself – beautiful! I love the design and the solidity of it. Surely one of the nicest-looking and -feeling books I have on my shelves.

Overall – yes, I’d forgotten enough about Jansson’s life since I read Westin’s biography that I enjoyed learning it all again. But for my money, if you only read one biography of Tove Jansson, this should be your second choice.

Some books I’ve bought recently

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Remember early in 2019 when I said I wouldn’t be buying any books this year? Except special occasions? Well, that is increasingly looking stupid. Cos I’ve bought a lot of books this year. I’ve also read a lot, but still…

Anyway, the silver lining to my total lack of self-control is that I get to do a haul blog post! It’s not all from one place, but here are books I’ve bought over the past month or so. Many of them on two trips to a great secondhand bookshop in Wantage.

Here’s some more details, from top to bottom…

This Other Eden by E.V. Knox
I love a collection of essays – to the extent that my essay shelves are bursting. Might need a shelving rethink.

Don’t, Mr Disraeli by Caryl Brahms and S.J. Simon
I’ve not read anything by these two, but I keep seeing A Bullet in the Ballet around. I guess they were good at titles! This mystery novel will tick Project Names anyway, and that’s enough to convince me that it’s a good purchase.

Alexander’s Bridge by Willa Cather
Another that will work for Project Names, and a novel by Cather that I hadn’t even heard of. I think she might now be on my list of “stop buying books by them and actually read one” now.

The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie
Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie
I haven’t bought a book by Christie for ages – mostly because I bought dozens when I was around 14, and have still not quite made my way through them. But I am coming towards the end of that pile, so picked up some cheaply in a charity shop.

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
I can’t remember how I came across this book, written by a severely autistic boy about his experience, but I do know that I thought it could be a good way for me to try and understand autism better.

Heat Wave by Penelope Lively
I do have a few unread Livelys, but it was a heat wave when I picked this up, and clearly I’m that suggestible.

Wine of Honour by Barbara Beauchamp
Peace, Perfect Peace by Josephine Kamm
Spam Tomorrow by Verily Anderson
Table Two by Marjorie Wilenski
I’m grouping these because they’re all among the latest reprints from the Furrowed Middlebrow series from Dean Street Press. I got three as review copies, and then bought these four on top – it is such a fascinating looking batch this time around. They’re all connected with WW2. Do check them out!

Sixpence House by Paul Collins
One of my favourite books of the year so far is The Book of William by Collins, all about the First Folio. So it was only a matter of time before I got hold of his book about living in Hay on Wye, and I finally crumbled.

Keep The Home Guard Turning by Compton Mackenzie
Rich Relatives by Compton Mackenzie
Mackenzie is DEFINITELY on the list of authors I should stop buying and start reading – but I’ve made an exception here because the first one was recommended by a couple of people, and because the second is a sequel to Poor Relations, which I loved. At least I think/hope it is.

The Question Mark by Muriel Jaeger
I don’t read a lot of science fiction, but Karen made this one sound so interesting that I went right out and bought the British Library reprint.

There’s a Porpoise Close Behind Us by Noel Langley
I read a fun little book by Langley a while ago, and I couldn’t resist (a) this title, and (b) the fact that it features theatre actors. That’s one of those elements of a novel that I cannot resist.

The Sun in Scorpio by Margery Sharp
The Innocents by Margery Sharp
I am increasingly loving Sharp, and so was delighted to find a couple of her novels in the wild. In Wantage, to be more precise.

Song for a Sunday

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There’s not a lot of Sunday left here, but let’s sneak in a Sunday Song. You might think that I only listen to female singer-songwriters – but sometimes I listen to male singer-songwriters! And James Morrison is up there among my favourites. This song – ‘Power’ – is from his new album.