Book column
Australian Jewish News
Melbourne March 2006
The Women's Room is the first novel
by American author Marilyn French,
published in 1977.
These days I read big, beautifully written and glossy books that I leave on the family room table to impress family and friends. And because they are too heavy and expensive to carry around. My three best current examples are: Palazzi of Rome, by Cresti and Rendina, published by Konemann, 1998; Patrons and Painters, Art and Society in Baroque Italy by Haskell, published by Yale UP 1980 and The Library, a World History, by Campbell and Pryce, Chicago UP, 2013.
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32 comments:
I am not surprised. See the prices.
Small World by David Lodge $15.99
Tulip Fever, $9.66
Vs
Patrons and Painters, Art and Society In Baroque Italy $171
The Palazzi of Rome $344.
I remember Marilyn French but I can't remember why. I must have read something significant about her or by her.
Lol about reading in the bath. Do you have a 'boy' to bring your coffee to your bath?
"Le Corbusier: Atlas of Modern Landscapes" Is this the book, Hels?
In June 2013, The Museum of Modern Art presented the largest exhibition ever produced on Le Corbusier's prolific oeuvre, as architect, interior designer, artist, city planner, writer and photographer. This towering figure of modern culture constantly imagined landscapes using all the artistic techniques at his command eg paintings, photographs and models. This publication, 25 years after the Centre Pompidou released the catalogue Le Corbusier, is the new sourcebook. Reflecting the geographic extension of his designs and built works, the book has topographical entries allowing for the major sites where Le Corbusier worked. Featuring essays by international curators, scholars and critics, plus archival images and materials from Paris’ Fondation Le Corbusier, this lavishly illustrated volume presents a way to explore his life.
There are some stunningly beautiful books to be longed for and hinted about . . .
Those books sound like something you would read
I bet it was fun to find that old article. I think book choices change with how busy we are, the times and and even our age. I know that there's some book I would have loved 20 years ago but now I feel like they're kind of silly not because they actually are, but because I've "matured" and what I like to read has changed. I enjoyed reading that old article. This is a fun post Hels.
Deb
no wonder people bought cheap paperbacks instead of very expensive collectibles back in the day. $344 dollars, even if the book was worth every penny of it, was a truckload of money for a family woman.
And I got good use of my novels after I had finished reading them. I gave them as birthday presents to family and friends.
Andrew
ahhh a bath, I remember what that was in the years before non-functioning hips and shoulders. Now I read in bed *pathetic sigh*
Joe
"Le Corbusier: Atlas of Modern Landscapes" is exactly what I would love. Featuring essays by international curators and scholars, plus materials from Paris’ Fondation Le Corbusier, make this very desirable for me. Lavishly illustrated volumes in particular are my dream books.
It is so fascinating how our reading lives evolve through different chapters, isn't it? Going from assigned school classics and the absolute whirlwind of raising kids to finally indulging in gorgeous, heavyweight coffee-table books is such a relatable journey. There is something wonderful about keeping massive volumes on architecture and history right out on display—they double as brilliant conversation starters when friends come over.
Those gorgeous design books definitely deserve a permanent spot on the birthday wish list!
Claudeb
Correct! Heavyweight coffee-table books are truly a pleasure to leave in the sociable room in this house. Everyone has enjoyed the huge professional images in particular.
Never ever advertise casinos in my blog please. They are immoral and possibly criminal "services".
Of the books listed here I have only heard of Anne of Gren Gables, but have never read it. I don't remember what books we read in school, I do remember thta I always acquired them ahead of time and read the lot during the summer holidays and now I remember one was Sun on the Stubble, set in Australia about a young farm boy in his final year of primary school. I still have a copy, but not my original which fell apart from much reading.
jabblog
normally the small paperbacks I had would be read once and then passed on. I have rarely read any of them, even those I much loved, more than once. But the beautiful coffee table books will be kept forever, protected and referred to perhaps weekly. Just as well my academic passions were not physics or accounting :)
Jo-Anne
My passions were architecture, paintings, decorative arts, history, garden design and to a lesser extent, literature, music and the performing arts. I am in love :)
Erika
book choices certainly do change by the decade, depending on teachers' recommendations, family preferences, critics' discussions and finally our own growing maturity. For example I loved The Women's Room by French 30 years ago, but now I would find it insensitive to men, something we don't need.
River
Many of Anne of Green Gables great series of books were for adolescent girls, but are less interesting now for mature women. One the other hand "Rilla of Ingleside" follows Anne’s youngest daughter in WWI. Because Anne is a mother watching her children go off to war, the anxiety and and historical gravity make it greatly profound for adult readers (See Read & Co Books).
Interesting list, Hels. Haven't read any of those but have watched Anne of Green Gables on Netflix probably based loosely on the book. I used to read a fair few books when training in between studying, have no idea what they were...oh my!
I remember feeling the same way about Amos Oz. A wonderful writer. I loved him and that book. I read The Women's Room. It was quite a cult book at the time. Rachel
I'm with you there, Hels. I can barely recognise my reading habits from 2006. In my defence, I had only recently begun reading fiction again (in Dec 2005) and was mostly reading YA or middle grade books, neither of which interest me now
Margaret
In 1963 most novels presented boys as energetic and girls as quietly cooperative, friendly types. But Anne from Anne of Green Gables was an imaginative, high-spirited and imaginative lass. Despite having to cope with being an orphan, she was resilient, resilient and energetic. I found her a role model, back then.
New World
I can speak Hebrew perfectly well, but in books I read the English translation to ensure the subtleties are not lost. A Tale of Love and Darkness (2002) is a sad novel, following Oz's young life in war-torn Jerusalem, personal tragedies and the growth of the modern Israeli state.
In Scenes from Village Life (2009) an elderly man complains to his daughter that he hears the sound of digging under his house at night. The mayor receives a note from his wife: “Don’t worry about me.” The veneer of new wealth i.e fancy restaurants, art galleries, winery—cannot conceal abandoned outbuildings, empty air-raid shelters and rusting farm tools. I honestly thought Scenes from Village Life was a moral for me!
Mandy
In high school, there was little choice since the English teachers handed us the novels to read. The ones I remember and loved best were Little Women (Louisa May Alcott), Anne of Green Gables (L.M Montgomery) and Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen). Did the male students read and enjoy these novels?
Like you Hels, I remember ever so clearly all of the books I was reading in High School. They were so formative and influential. Funnily, I also remember very clearly what I was reading in my 30s - probably because that was another formative period, and when I discovered Margaret Atwood. Yes to Anne of Green Gables and The Women's Room.
Eirene
Margaret Atwood and I share political and intellectual values, so I would have enjoyed her books at uni and after, had I known her name.
I wonder what I was reading 20 years ago. 20 years but I feel the same.
I never read Anne of Green Gables but loved the mini series. I loved Anne with an E even more. It was just a visually beautiful series and more nuanced in the storytelling.
Julia
Thanks for reading the post.. I too find it fascinating to see how reading tastes change over the decades.
But do not EVER advertise casinos on my blog. They destroy families.
kylie
it is fascinating that original books create the ideas and the characters, but sometimes films successfully reach a much wider audience.
That we remember how we felt decades ago when reading or watching those key pieces of fiction only proves that the skills of some authors go on and on.
I feel the same about Atwood. Wow! I could not believe it when I discovered her. And so did you... it does not matter when.
Bom dia minha querida amiga Helen. Obrigado pela visita e comentário. Infelizmente não poderei lhe responder. Obrigado pelas dicas literárias. Uma excelente manhã de sexta-feira, para você e todos os seus familiares na Austrália e um grande abraço do seu amigo carioca.
Luiz
Were you given specific novels to read in high school literature classes? Did they influence your reading choices later in life?
Eirene
If I was a literature teacher in high school these days, I would still be cautious in selecting the novels to be read. Adolescents think they are a tougher and smarter generation than their parents, but that doesn't seem to be true. And they are not as literate, either.
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