Random Jottings

The Darcys and the Bingleys - Marsha Altman

What with Lost in Austen and Pride and Prejudice, the Musical, popping up on Random this week, I seem to be in an Austen wallow and then up comes this book, another one of those lovely Austen related stories published by SourceBooks Inc in the USA, who are so kind at keeping me supplied with all these goodies.

Prequels, sequels to Jane Austen are variable, some ranging from wit and charm and one, which I hope never to come across again, degenerating into nothing but soft porn, so I always come to each such in this genre with a slight feeling of apprehension.  There are some I have read which will not be reviewed here as I did not care for them or thought they were down right dire, but I work on the premise that if I cannot discover any redeeming features in a book I keep quiet about it.  What I might dislike, others will not.

First thing to say about Marsha Altman's book is that she does not attempt a pastiche of Austen's style, just a straightforward narrative, obviously not modernistic in expression and language but cleverly avoiding the over-egging of Austenspeak, and keeping an easy flow.  The story starts with Bingley getting a bit worried about what is expected of him when he becomes a husband, and he wishes to speak privately on this delicate matter to Darcy, who he assumes is a Man of the World.  Every reader of P&P is aware that Charles Bingley defers to his friend and regards him as a fount of knowledge and it is rather sweet to think that Bingley naturally thinks Darcy knows all there is to know about certain facts of life when it is not totally clear that he does.  We hear stories about their high jinks at University, where they first met, and it is hinted that Mr D did not go home alone after drunken revels but nothing actually spelled out.  I have to say that if there is a woman alive who does not wonder about Mr Darcy and Elizabeth after they ride off into the sunset and how there married life progresses, I shall be very surprised.

So this is all amusing and then the reader will find themselves slightly taken aback at Mr Darcy producing a copy of the Kama Sutra which he presents to the stunned Mr Bingley.  Eventually Jane discovers this remarkable volume and makes sure that it is kept on her side of the bed for reference purpose, and of course has to show it to Elizabeth. 

What is endearing about this book is the way the Bingley and proud Darcy are totally at the mercy of their respective wives who seem to be able to twist them round their fingers with Darcy, in particular, finds himself being constantly challenged by Elizabeth and giving way to her and delighting in it.

However, the part of this story that is most interesting as, let's face it, we know a huge amount about the Bennets et al, is the light thrown on Caroline Bingley.  She is unmarried, living with her sister and her husband in London, where Mr Hurst seems to suffer from the most appalling gout and is visited by an interesting Doctor Maddox with whom she falls in love.  However, her vanity and pride will not allow her to acknowledge this and she ends up nearly being duped into marriage by a poverty stricken, Lord Kincaid, who is trying to marry her for her fortune.   Darcy and Bingley investigate his claims and found out that his is a fraudster, there is a fight, Darcy gets shot, Dr Maddox is called to look after him and Bingley, for once in his life puts his foot down regarding his sister's obvious partiality for the medical man, and tells her she must marry for love and not for position or money. So she does and is happy.

What do I think of it?  Well, it was fun and another welcome addition to the seeming never ending stream of Pride and Prejudice related stories.  As I mentioned at the start of this post, it appears that there is going to be a musical of P&P with Darcy singing a serenade to Elizabeth's 'Fine Eyes' and this triggered off lots of silliness as we all thought of appropriate songs for the characters to sing.  While my initial reaction to t he idea of such an event was one of horror, I cannot help but feel that Miss Austen would be highly amused and would sit back and watch with utter amazement what has happened to her work, and how much we are fascinated by it all.

"When the festivities were finally over and the guests more or less departed in every direction, Jane made one final announcement over the relatively quiet breakfast of the two couples in attendance - she was pregnant again. So there were more congratulations and smiles as the Darcys saw Bingley and Jane off with the now five month old Georgiana Bingley in Jane's arms.

'I suppose this is all my fault' Darcy said to his wife as they watched the carriage pull away.

'And how would that possibly be so?'

'Well, I did give him that damned book"

Great fun.

A Man like any other - Mary Cavanagh

First thing I have to say about Mary Cavanagh's book is that it is not for the faint hearted.  It packs quite a punch and while I could not put it down once I started, I made myself do so as I felt I needed time out half way through to recover from its impact.

Mary's first book A Crowded Bed which I reviewed last year here was also pretty powerful and, again, not a book to be taken lightly, but as with this one, quite a read.

The full title of this new book is A Man like any Other: the Priest's Tale and is the story of the childhood and priestly life of Father Ewan McEwan, the chaplain of Waldringhythe, a Cistercian abbey on the Suffolk coats where people, grief stricken at the loss of a loved one, come for healing.  Marina, Lady Proudfoot, who lost her small daughter and husband in a sailing accident many years ago, has been a regular visitor and over the years she and Ewan have conducted a passionate and loving affair which has been kept a closely guarded secret.  Now Marina is near death and she has left papers behind for Ewan to read in which she tells of her life and her own secrets.

Ewan is a charismatic priest, an iconic figure after being photographed in his youth as The Crucifix Man, someone who is loved by both men and women and exerts a powerful sexual aura.    We learn about his life, his childhood and his adoption and his feelings on becoming famous as the subject of this controversial photograph.  Most of all, we learn of his feelings and his knowledge that he is a priest who has betrayed his vows.  Throw in another love secret love affair, this time homosexual, between Marina's son Timothy and an old family friend Roger, who has betrayed his wife for most of their marriage, and you have a potent brew.

As I said, hard hitting and powerful stuff and I cannot write any more without giving away the final twist, the ending that left me wondering.  We not only learn yet another dark revelation, this time about Timothy, but are also left wondering just how much Marina knew about her lover and if, as is hinted, she knew his full story, then the reader is totally winded.  I know I was.

I will repeat my opening sentence, this book is not for the faint hearted, but it packs a punch and grabbed my attention and never let it go until I had finished reading.  Written with great conviction and style with a narrative not only flicking backwards and forwards between the main protagonists, but also in time so you need to concentrate, this is a worthy successor to The Crowded Bed.

Lost in Austen

This is getting pottier and pottier and I am loving every moment.  We now have Jane Bennett married to Mr Collins who is truly repulsive, Bingley knocking back the gin and punching Darcy on the nose, Wickham turning out to be a good guy, Caroline Bingley exhibiting Sappho like tendencies in Amanda Price's direction, Amanda falling for Mr Darcy and asking him to dive in the lake for her which he does and we have the Colin Firth Wet Shirt scene and Elizabeth is still in Hammersmith and we don't know what is happening to her on the other side of the bathroom door.

Can't wait for next week.  This is such FUN

It's official

I am now a fully signed up Senior Citizen.  Yes I know I reached the Big 60 last year and readers of Random will know as I waffled on about it long enough, but as I was working full time and commuting decided not to take my pension for the moment.  This is now all changed.

I recently interviewed for a part time contract with a large law firm in the City and was lucky enough to be offered the job (I can only be thankful it was not at Lehmans....) and am delighted that from the end of this month, I will be working three days a week.  Sadly, the cost of travel to London is just the same for 3 days as it is for 5 so will have to pay the full wack, but oh the thought that in the winter months I will be able to roll over in bed on a Monday morning, smug and content that I can stay there as long as I like.  Ditto Tuesday.  Sounds like heaven to me.

Obviously there will be less income coming in but I have found being at home this month, that I have spent hardly anything compared to my expenses of a daily commute.  Trying to think where it goes to and then you realise you pick up a magazine here, a cappo and a donut there, you nip into shops on the way to work 'Oh I will have that' and so on and so on and the money just vanishes.  So I am fully prepared to spend less when part time, wear out my clothes more slowly and generally live within my income which I have managed to do for some time now, I just have to prioritise a bit more (in other words make sure I have disposable money for books...)

So today I called the Pension Office in Burnley and had a chat with a delightful lady called Belinda who told me I could apply for my pension over the phone.  She explained things very carefully and slowly to me and then when I speeded up the chat a bit she realised I was compus mentis and we ended up having a good laugh and she was incredibly sweet and helpful.  She sounds the right person for the right job.  All done and dusted and she also confirmed that now that I had received the Winter Heating Allowance last year I would get it automatically from now on.

There you have it - I shall be taking my pension, getting my heating allowance and so consider myself a member of the Senior Citizenry.  I am getting a new car next week as well, have done an early trade in to get more cash for my current one and while I might yearn to career around the country in a low slung sports car, with dark glasses on and a scarf on my pensionable locks, impressing everyone with my aged joi de vivre, common sense and finances indicate that I stick to my Nissan.  Which I do love.

I am now off to the kitchen to put the kettle on and make a cup of tea in which to dunk my biscuits as I now have to be careful of my teeth.....

Pic of the Day

 

Scotland Street to Corduroy Street

I have just finished reading the latest book in the Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith,  The Unbearable Lightness of Scones.  I enjoyed it very much and was glad I did as I had found the previous one, The World According to Bertie, somewhat tedious.  Not sure why, perhaps I was tiring of the characters who seemed to spend most of their days in long drawn out conversations about the meaning of life, where were they going, what were they doing etc etc which can get a tad wearing after a while.

So wasn't sure if I was going to buy this one or not, but then of course I did. No surprise there and I  found I was engaged with the characters once more.  Bertie, poor precocious Bertie with the ghastly mother, joins the Scouts.  Against her wishes of course as with tedious predictability Irene dismissed the whole Scouting ethos as empirical and reactionary, but for once his father puts his foot down (or rather, tells her to shut her face) and Bertie is allowed to join, complete with outfit and toggles to his delight.

The dreadful Bruce, conceited and self obsessed, seems to undergo a conversion of the soul after realizing just how empty and facile he is, Matthew, the boring dreary Matthew, marries and nearly comes to a sticky end on his honeymoon in Australia being swept away into shark infested waters and rescued by a dolphin.  This episode was very witty and funny and I did wonder when reading if AMS had decided that Matthew needed a bit of a shake up.  It worked.

A delightful reference to another  character on page 203 of this edition that I would not have picked up or been aware of at all if I had not just discovered EF Benson:

"Angus claimed that it was the finest smoked salmon in Scotland....Domenica tried to obtain the shop's address from Archie but he had deliberately declined to give it....Thus did Lucia protect the recipe for Lobster a la Riseholme.....look what happened to Lucia; her hoarding of the recipe had driven Mapp into rifling through the recipe books in her enemy's kitchen..."

Wonderful.

As we all know, the Scotland Street books started as daily episodes in a Scottish newspaper and it seems that Alexander McCall Smith is about to repeat the experiment, this time in the Telegraph.  He is giving the Scotland Street characters 'a rest' and perhaps he has realised that it might be a good moment to let them take a back seat for a while.  But never one to rest on his laurels, AMS is now writing about a totally new set in Corduroy Street and readers can register and link up with this now.  Please see the link below.  I have duly done so and am looking forward to catching up on all these episodes. I gather they will also be available on a daily pod cast and AMS also wants this to be interactive with readers making suggestions of what should happen and how the characters shape up.  Sounds fun.

http://snipurl. com/3q1s5

End of Summer

With an outstanding lack of originality, as I am well aware I have said this before, I always feel that the summer has come to an end, no matter what the weather, when I have watched the Last Night of the Proms on the TV.  My mother was with me this weekend and we settled down at 7pm, first to watch Sue Perkins, the winter of the Maestro competition, conducting at Proms in the Park in Hyde Park.  Full of admiration at her control over the orchestra and the feeling you would be in safe hands with her on the rostrum even though she had never conducted in her life before. 

The the first half of the Last Night with Sir Roger Norrington at the helm who appeared on stage wearing what can only be described as an artist's smock with toggles.  He said he gave up wearing evening dress etc in 2000 and while I appreciate that it was probably a darn sight more comfortable for conducting, it did him no favours.  The material rather draped itself over his little pot belly.  However, this is trivia as he proceeded to take control of this annual jamboree with masterly control, no easy feat as I have seen conductors overwhelmed and defeated by this particular event.  He looks a bit like a stern schoolmaster who fixes you with a withering look and then his face suddenly lights up with a delightful smile.  I find his conducting technique totally weird but he seems to get results so who am I to judge?

Terrific performance of Beethoven's Choral Fantasia with piano, orchestra and choir which is one of my favourite pieces of music.  Not done all that often as it it a bit of a hybrid with an early sketch of the great tune in the finale of the Choral Symphony, and slightly unbalanced in that we have what sounds like a piano concerto for ten minutes before the choir and anybody else joining in, but oh it was smashing.

Then onto the stage came the Mighty Bryn.  Regular visitors here will know that I simply adore Bryn Terfel after watching him over 20 years ago now on the Cardiff Singer of the World and witnessing a superb talent just ready to flower.  He sang the first act aria from the Flying Dutchman in this competition and I knew then that he was a great Wagnerian and so he has proved to be.  He sang the song to the Evening Star from Tannhauser quite ravishingly, audience total quiet after a rapturous welcome, complete with Welsh flags.  Then returned later for the Honour aria from Verdi's Falstaff, in full costume complete with huge belly, red nose and wig and making an entrance down the side stairs past the audience.  Quite brilliant and hugely funny.  Another orchestral interlude and then back he comes, this time to sing Scarpia, the big aria at the end of Act One of this opera where he is lusting after Tosca and cries 'Tosca you make me forget God' with the choir and organ going like the clappers behind him.  Simply terrific.  I saw him as Scarpia the other year at ROH and will be going again next year when he revives it in the summer. 

Interval and cups of tea for mother and me and back in time for all the fun and shenanigans of the second half. Once more in the midst of all the uproar and noise, Bryn provided a tiny oasis of sheer enchantment and calm as he sang, accompanied with piano, a Vaughan Williams song, quite quite beautifully and reminded everyone that though he did NOT win the Cardiff Singer of the World that year (though he should have done) he won the Lieder prize. 

We had a newly commissioned piece unveiled in the second half which included players from all the Proms in the Park concerts taking place at the same time.  As I am a recidivist and a Grumpy Old Woman when it comes to modern music I will not comment on this work......

It was a simply terrific evening and Land of Hope and Glory and Jerusalem as usual bringing tears to my eyes.  Before I could say anything at the end, my mum turned to me and said that was the best Last Night  she had watched for years.  I totally agree.

Earlier this year Margaret Hodge, Our so called Culture Minister (HA!) said that the Proms was not inclusive enough and attracted too narrow a section of society.  After watching on Saturday night and viewing the crowds gathered in Glasgow, Belfast, Swansea and Hyde Park, knowing that this was being watched and listened to by millions all over the world (a friend of mine in New York tuned into the radio broadcast), seeing the multiplicity of flags being waved in the Hall (apart from the Union Jack, there were flags from Scotland, Ireland and Wales, St George, St Andrew, European Union Flags, German and French flags) I will say to Mrs Hodge what I said then:

"You are a very stupid woman and you should resign"

Resistance Book Draw - STOP PRESS

I had a lovely surprise yesterday when I opened up my laptop to find I had an email from Barbara Mellor.  Those of you who have read my post on the book draw for Resistance and who have clicked onto the link contained therein, will have read all about the translator of this wonderful book and how she and her husband renovated an old mill in France.  Well, the email was from her and I was thrilled to receive it.

She is delighted that everyone is finding out just how wonderful Resistance is and has offered to donate another two copies to the draw.  When the two winners are picked she will personally inscribe them and send them direct to the lucky ones.  So we now have four copies up for grabs and I will therefore pull out four names next week and the first two will receive the inscribed books and the next two the non-inscribed books.  I think that is the fairest way to do it.

I want everyone I know to read Agnes Humbert's account of her war years and marvel at her humanity and force of character so if you have not already entered, please do so.

Simon Says

Stuck in a Book is one of my favourite blogs and one I read on a daily basis, usually early in the morning with cuppa to hand.  This morning was no different, but I have to say Simon was nearly in danger of being taken off my list of Places to Visit as I laughed so much at his post on Pride and Prejudice - the Musical (yes really...) that  I knocked over my cup of tea and the liquid missed my keyboard by a millllllllllimeter.....

However, it did miss so Simon you are safe.

Earlier this week I posted on Rereading favourite books and my thoughts on this subject were triggered off by a post on the same subject written by....Simon.  He often gives me ideas in this way and I unashamedly steal them.  On the plus side, I always let everyone know from whence came this idea (plagiarist moi?) and today's post is no different.  Simon asked for suggestions of songs from musicals for the characters in Pride and Prejudice and I came up with so many (I love musicals) that I did not want to clutter up his comments box and decided to write about them here.  So, with thanks to Simon, here are my suggestions:

• It's Raining Men - Lydia on hearing about the Militia arriving in Meryton (not sure if this is from a musical but it came to mind)
• There is nothing like a Dame (South Pacific) - chorus of said Militia, led by Wickham
• I'm just a girl who cain't say no (Oklahoma) - Lydia ...again
• I hate Men (Kiss me Kate) - Mary Bennett
• Some day my prince will come (Snow White) - Jane Bennett
• Money, Money, Money (Mamma Mia) - Mrs Bennett

Cut to the Ball at Netherfield

• Hats off here they come, those beautiful girls (Follies by Sondheim)  - sung by assorted guests as the Bennetts arrive
• Some Enchanted Evening (South Pacific) - D'arcy on seeing Elilzabeth
• The Boy next door (Meet me in St Louis) - Jane, after the ball and dreaming of Bingley
• After the Ball is Over - all the Bennett sisters could sing this, there are several verses so one each(lovely sentimental song by one Charles Harris - who he?) could not resist putting this in. Just look at the words:

After the ball is over, after the break of morn,

After the dancers' leaving, after the stars are gone,

Many a heart is aching, if you could read them all—

Many the hopes that have vanished after the ball.

(Steady Elaine, you are getting carried away here)

The Proposal

• I hate Men (reprise after D'arcy's proposal to Elizabeth) - sung by Elizabeth this time
• You made me love you, I didn't want to do it (D'arcy after rejection) OR
• Why can't a woman be more like a man? (My Fair Lady)

At Pemberley

• Oh what a beautiful morning (Oklahoma) - D'arcy after meeting Elizabeth
• Can't help loving that man (Show Boat) - Elizabeth after meeting Darcy

Grand Finale

• I'm getting married in the morning (My Fair Lady) - Lizzie, Jane and assorted Bennetts
• This is my once a year day (Pajama Game) - Mr D'Arcy, Mr Bingley, assembled company at wedding

I did think of giving Can't help loving that Man to Caroline Bingley as she sits and yearns after D'arcy - think that would work as well.

So, a total silliness but I thoroughly enjoyed writing this and it has made me giggle.  Do nip over and read Simon's post which started off this lunacy.  There is a link there I believe to the original information about The Musical.

Simon mentions the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice which he does not care for, and while I admit to finding Keira Knightley acutely, and I mean acutely, irritating, I would like to stick up  a little bit for this version.  We are used to the Firth factor which is a hard act to follow, but what I thought this film did beautifully was to emphasize the gap between the Bennets and the Bingleys/D'Arcy.  In the BBC version the Bennetts appeared to live pretty well and did not seem short of a bob or two, but in the 2005 version we really could see how rough and ready they were and, therefore, anathema to D'Arcy.  Also, I felt that they had the ages right.  Jennifer Elle and Colin Firth, wonderful though they were, seemed pretty mature.

But I love them both and do wonder if anybody else will have the temerity of filming it again?  Silly questions really as we know it will happen...

Cast list suggestions anyone?

Pic of the Day