50/50

I checked in at the Booking Through Thursday blog, which is the host for a weekly book meme or blogging prompt. Here is this week’s prompt:

My brother-in-law turns 50 this weekend. So, in his honor, please pick up your nearest book or whatever book you’re currently reading, and turn to page 50 and then share the first 50 words with the rest of us.

The book is Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen. A new chapter begins on page 50:

I woke the next morning determined to take Belinda up on her other suggestion—the one for gainful employment. Armed with Belinda’s glowing recommendation, I sat facing the head of personnel at Harrods. He was eyeing me suspiciously and waved the letter in my direction. “If you had indeed proved so satisfactory, why did you leave this position?”

This book is the first of Royal Spyness Series. Unlike the Maggie Hope Series by Susan Elia MacNeal, (I just finished the second book, Princess Elizabeth’s Spy), Rhys Bowen’s a lighter mystery with a touch of humor and clever satire. She’s recruited by Her Majesty, not MI-5, to spy on the divorced American woman who is the latest flame of her son. Bowen’s is more an old-fashioned whondunnit, less the twists and turns of MacNeal’s internationally plotted conspiracy against the throne.

Unread, Forgotten, Dusty

A coworker and I talked about books that were intriguing enough for us to buy in the first place but that somehow we never got to read. I’m sure many readers have books that are collecting dust on our shelves unread. But what happened to the books that had obviously lost the appeal? Forgotten, banished, and set aside, they are not even in the TBR pile.

1. The book everyone is reading or recommedning.
I sometimes succumb to the popular opinion and sheep syndrome. Even though I know better about my taste, I still buy books that everyone is reading or talking about. Well—not Fifty Shades of Grey although a girlfriend who has never toughed a book is reading it. I’m talking about those phenomenal bestsellers that Hollywood quickly bought off the copyright to make a movie out of them. Like A Kite Runner. The Life of Pi. These books largely remain unread.

2. The book is dirt cheap.
Ever felt left out if you can’t make it to the $1 book sale at the local charity or library sale? When books cost no more than pennies and nickels, I tended to be much less selective. The result is a stack of books that I felt half-hearted about. The bargain bin can be dangerous because you never realize how quickly that pile builds up.

3. The book is a giant, intimidating-looking tome.
One day, I will read Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, and Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy. But to give me the credit, I have survived The Fountainhead (which I loved), and this year American Tragedy and The Secret History. At this point I don’t even want to think anything by Proust! It’s such a commitment to tomes.

4. The book is a classic, meaning an obligation.
I don’t know why I still feel obliged to reading books that bored the hell out of me in school. Just because something is shelved under classics doesn’t mean I have to read it. I enjoyed The Great Gatsby, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Sound and the Fury but I shouldn’t read everything written by Fitzgerald, Dickens, and Faulkner? One day, I’ll get to Les Misérables. (See #3)

5. The book is written by an author whose other work(s) I like.
Sometimes buying the entire oeuvre is a big mistake. I should have left Umberto Eco alone after reading, cherishing, and loving The Name of the Rose. Most of his other novels I cannot even get through the first chapter. Focault’s Pendulum is flat out boring and pointless, a huge mess. Cloud Atlas is another one, and the film doesn’t help. David Mitchell is the kind of author whom you just have to read one and you read them all. Number 9 Dream is gathering dust.

[566] Princess Elizabeth’s Spy – Susan Elia MacNeal

“You grew up in America, after all—exactly what do you know about British aristocracy?”
“Not much beyond the historical, I’m afraid,” Maggie said.
“All right, impromptu quiz—what do you say when you meet the King and Queen?”
Maggie gave David a wry look. Frain had forgotten about royal etiquette lessons. “Hello?”
David smacked himself on the head. “Oh, my dear Eliza Doolittle — we have a long night ahead of us.” (Ch.5, p.52)

This book is Maggie Hope Mystery #2, a sequel to Mr. Churchill’s Secretary. After she has discovered and broken the hidden Nazi code that points to three specific attacks in London, Maggie Hope is no longer Winston Churchill’s secretary at Number Ten. She has proven that her scientific acumen, intelligence, problem-solving skills and ability to handle dangerous situations make her a great asset to the British war effort. The beginning of Princess Elizabeth’s Spy sees Maggie entering MI-5 school for spies. Although her grades are stellar, she doesn’t do well enough on the physical tests to be sent abroad to gather intelligence for the British front.

Maggie shook her head. A decapitated Lady-in-Waiting, rabid corgis, and a man who lives with birds? ‘I thought living in a castle would be interesting, Sir Owens,’ she said, ‘but nothing—absolutely nothing—prepared me for this. . . Maggie went back into the sitting room. She stopped by the bookcase, which was empty. She squinted at it. The dust indicated books had been there for a time and had recently been removed. Now, that’s odd, she thought. Why would someone take Lily’s books? (Ch.9, p.102-3)

Instead MI-5 finds a job for her as math tutor to Princess Elizabeth, a post as an undercover, so she can keep an eye on Elizabeth, fondly known as Lilibet, who, as heir to the throne, may be a Nazi target. Soon she realizes danger is on the prowl on castle grounds when a lady-in-waiting is murdered. Her book, removed from the shelf of her quarter, is proof of connection to another murder at the Claridge’s in London. Castle life quickly proves more dangerous and her assignment, after all, is not cushy but one that involves intrigue, kidnapping, and treason. In this novel, besides the conspiracy that places the entire royal family in peril, Maggie Hope also grapples with the loss of her boyfriend and the possible truth that her father, Edmund Hope, an expert in code and cipher at Bletchley, might have been a German spy.

As Maggie needs to discern who the German agents are that have infiltrated the castle, she races against time to save England and its heir from a most disturbing fate. Although Princess Elizabeth’s Spy is not a historical fiction, more a fictional story set in the past with real characters, the book is very well-researched. The Windsor Castle, with its grandeur and staidness, is a workplace like “living in a museum—and terribly cold in winter” during the war. The King and Queen were strict about rationing, so even the princesses were limited to one egg per week, and the rest of the restrictions the British people lived through. The castle’s dungeons were used a bomb shelter where servants and the Princesses move their beds, changes of clothes, books, kitchen utensil and furniture in to keep calm and carry on. This light mystery gives one a glimpse of what it was like to live in war-time England and the story constantly keeps one on the edge using humor and red herrings.

369 pp. Bantam Books. Paper. [Read/Skim/Toss] [Buy/Borrow]

(A Bit of) Book Rant

I checked in at the Musing Mondays blog, which is the host for a weekly book meme or blogging prompt. Here is this week’s prompt:

Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s). What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! Also tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

(Picture: Leigh’s Favorite Bookstore in historic downtown Sunnyvale, 40 miles southeast of San Francisco. Fabulous indie bookstore but no Bowen mystery series.)

It all started with Mrs. Queen Takes the Train, the story of Her Majesty taking a trip to Scotland on a whim without royal escort or equerry. After that I’ve been searching for books set against England and the royalty. I stumbled upon Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, a typist who discovers and breaks the Nazi code that points to specific attacks, including the assassination of the prime minister. Now I’m burying my nose in the sequel, Princess Elizabeth’s Spy, in which this typist-turned-agent, Maggie Hope, disguised as the princess’s governess, is to investigate any espionage activity in Windsor Castle. Over the weekend I got behind the wheels looking for a similar series by Rhys Bowen but with no success at first. What do you do when your local indie doesn’t have books in stock? I drive around and check inventory. I don’t mind purchasing online but I don’t want to give my business to Amazon, which was under fire for perceived anti-gay policy. I think Amazon can totally decide what they want to sell and not to sell, but if you want to sell a LGBT book, you need to allow reviews. It’s like a business that wants the money from gays but is ashamed of its gay customers. To make a long story short, many of the indies don’t have Bowen’s Her Royal Spyness Mysteries series in stock (not even used copies) and I ended up buying the entire series at Barnes & Noble. This is how far I would go to find my books, because I don’t like waiting for packages that always come when I’m not home. It’s frustrating that you have to buy everything online and not be able to look at the item. Many stores offer free return but truth be told, I rather just get the book and be over with the hassle.

[565] The Château – William Maxwell

” Paris seemed to be withdrawing piecemeal from the world. At first it didn’t matter, except that it made the streets look shabby. But then suddenly it did matter. There were certain shops they had come to know and to enjoy using. And they could not leave Harold’s flannel trousers at the cleaners, though it was open this morning, because it would be closed by Monday. The fruit and vegetable store where they had gone everyday, for a melon or lettuce or tomatoes, closed without warning. ” (Ch.16, p.282)

Spontaneous and unpredictable, occasionally encumbering, The Château does not have a clear pot. The narrative is simplicity itself: Harold and Barbara Rhodes are young, well-to-do American couple who decide to take a four-month vacation in post-war Europe in 1948. Although their trips cover England, Germany, and Italy as well, The Château focuses on France, where they stay with Mme Vienot and her family in a château that takes in lodgers to make ends meet.

Feeling tired and bruised by their own series of setbacks, they hurried on up the stairs, conscious that the house was cold and there would not by any hot water to wash in and they would have to spend still another evening trying to understand people who could speak English but preferred to speak French. (Ch.8, p.148)

Most of the actions take place in the château, where they spend two uncomfortable weeks, with meager amenities, rationed commodity, but strict formality. The book relays, in day-to-day, almost excessively, prosaic details of meals, social gatherings, and other happenings in the mansion. They deliberate if they should depart early but only to change their mind upon the next warming on the part of their hostess. Obviously France is far from ready for receiving visitors. Travelers like the Rhodes receive food coupons upon having their passports inspected. They have traveled with four month’s supply of everything from coffee, cigarettes, to cold cream—commodity that would be scarce in post-war Europe. Means of transportation is limited. But they manage to travel extensively and see many sights.

He put himself in her shoes and decided that he would have been relieved for a minute or two, and then he would have begun to worry. He would have been afraid that they would find in Paris what they were looking for—they were tourists, after all—and not come back. (Ch.8, p.140)

So the entire book sees the Americans hitting one site of attraction after another, gradually becoming enmeshed in their host family’s doings. Account of their misunderstanding of the French is shrewd, poignant, and funny. Even in their bliss moments of attachment to France, they are reminded of their foreignness and awkwardness. Lurking in their mind is the question: “Do you think there was something going on that we didn’t know about?” (350) Maxwell captures the feelings of alienation in a traveler. There are social disappointments, the inadvertently offense given and the anxiety about being taken advantage of.

I don’t mind three-hundred pages of culture shock and social solecism (and all the wonderful descriptions of French sights) because Maxwell intersperses his subtle accounts of character with sharp observations about human nature. His writing is also supple and contemplative. But what trumps the whole reading experience is the indulgent, distracting, and clunky epilogue that aims to demystify the French’s “mystery.” Yes, the Rhodes are puzzled and hurt by the French refusal to warmth and charmed when it’s given unexpectedly. But they departed with a much lighter spirit and what transpired to a friendship with the host. The epilogue becomes a poor structure that answers questions not necessarily any answer.

402 pp. Vintage International. Paper. [Read/Skim/Toss] [Buy/Borrow]

Deviate from Books

I checked in at the Booking Through Thursday blog, which is the host for a weekly book meme or blogging prompt. Here is this week’s prompt:

What’s your favorite hobby OTHER THAN reading?

Work. Does browsing the bookstores count? (Chortle) I make a stop at the neighborhood bookstore on the way home. Buying books is like making a grocery run—it’s life-sustaining. Anyway, when I’m not reading, I like to work out, to hike, and to make day trips. The Bay Area is home to many beautiful trails that are within an hour drive from the city. The world renowned Napa wine country is just an hour north of the city. You can read my post on Château Montelena yesterday—the winery that put Napa to the forefront of wine making in the world after a panel of French judges picked their chardonnay over the French in the celebrated 1976 Paris Tasting. Closer home I like to take my dog to one of the gems of city parks and open spaces that are unknown to tourists. On the weekend, I also like plane spotting at the water park near the airport. I’m an outdoor guy so you’ll find me sitting outside with a book.

Château Montelena

In 1976, at the Paris Wine Tasting, a panel of top French wine experts shocked the industry by choosing unknown California wines over France’s best. This legendary contest, conducted blind, put Napa on the wine map of the world. The tasting was organized by a Paris-based British wine merchant, Steven Spurrier, who wanted to honor the bicentennial of the American Revolution with California and French wines. Thirty years after the event, this seems very old news, but at the time it marked an absolute revolution in taste and in expectations. California’s wine industry took off, commanding ever-higher prices and attracting even more talent. Four white Burgundies were tasted against six California Chardonnays. When the scores were tallied, the French Judges were convinced that the top-ranking white wine was one of their own. In fact, it was Chateau Montelena’s 1973 Chardonnay, rated above all other wines. The results proved that Chateau Montelena could produce some of the world’s finest wines, and that California’s wine industry had come of age.

Last weekend I paid a visit to Chateau Montelena in Calistoga for a wine tasting. The chateau was built in 1882 and sits on rugged land amounts to about 254 acres. Montelena did not take over until 1958, when the new owner excavated a lake, with landscaping to reflect the Chinese gardens of his homeland. I picked the book, George Taber’s Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine, which chronicles events leading up this celebrated event with a readable, concise history of wine making in America.

The wine country is literally my backyard. I’m so grateful to be living in the Bay Area where nature is just a stone’s throw away. Imagine getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city to embrace the manicured vineyards on rolling hills. If you’re visiting San Francisco, you must take a trip to the wine country and visit Château Montelena.