Back in November, Michelle over at Overdue Books issued a "From the Stacks Challenge" which I happily signed up for (which compulsive reader does not have books on their shelves yet to be picked up and read?!). What with all the travels, I've still to blog about all the gems I hoofed my way through as a result, but you can see my first post about the challenge here as a refresher, and a sampler from THE MAKING OF A MARCHIONESS by Frances Hodgson Burnett which I was thoroughly enjoying at the time. So, thanks to Michelle for spurring me on to read this book.

It turns out that we owe more to Elaine over at Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover than just thanks for a wonderfully entertaining blog. Persephone Books' Nicola Beauman takes suggestions from the public in terms of what they may publish, and it is Elaine who drew her attention to both THE MAKING OF A MARCHIONESS (divine) and the forthcoming Hodgson Burnett title THE SHUTTLE out in April (can't wait!).

Now it turns out that THE MAKING OF A MARCHIONESS will be broadcast over the next two weekends (oh joy!). Persephone describes it as "a two-part Classic serial starring Miriam Margolyes and Charles Dance on BBC Radio 4 on the Sunday before Easter (April 1st) and on Easter Sunday itself (April 8th) from 3-4 pm". Elaine has discovered a link for listening online for those of you outside the UK (archived for 7 days only, so you'll have to be quick about it) http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/openbook/openbook_20070325.shtml.

Here's a taster:

She had not lived in a world where marriage was a thing of romance, and, for that matter, neither had Agatha.It was nice if a girl liked the man who married her, but if he was a well-behaved, agreeable person, of good means, it was natural that she would end by liking him sufficiently, and to be provided for comfortably or luxuriously for life, and not left upon one's own hands, or one's parents', was a thing to be thankful for in any case. (p.42)

It is distinctly eerie - every book I'm reading at the moment appears to have variations on the same theme (quite accidental I assure you!). I commented previously on the "ordinary lives of women" theme; have a look at this:

'Now, there is Agatha Slade, poor girl! She's of a kind I know by heart. With birth and beauty she is perfectly helpless. Her people are poor enough to be entitled to aid from the Charity Organisation, and they have had the indecency to present themselves with six daughters - six! All with delicate skins and delicate little noses and heavenly eyes. Most men can't afford them, and they can't afford most men. As soon as Agatha begins to go off a little, she will have to step aside, if she has not married. The others must be allowed their chance...But Agatha has not had any special offer, and I know both she and her mother are a little frightened. Alix must come out next season, and they can't afford frocks for two. Agatha will have to be sent to their place in Ireland, and to be sent to Castle Clare is almost like being sent to the Bastille. She'll never get out alive. She'll have to stay there and see herself grow thin instead of slim, and colourless instead of fair. Her little nose will grow sharp, and she will lose her hair by degrees.' (p.31)

This delectation is from THE MAKING OF A MARCHIONESS by Frances Hodgson Burnett (yes, she of THE SECRET GARDEN fame!). Originally published in 1901, republished by Persephone in 2001. Isn't it extraordinary how women's lives in the west (regardless of class) have changed in the past century?

So go to your quarters now and attend to your own work, the loom and the spindle, and tell the servants to get on with theirs. Talking must be the men's concern, and mine in particular; for I am master in this house.
The Odyssey. Telemachus replying to his mother Penelope. Translated by E.V. Rieu.

When I selected titles for the From the Stacks Challenge, my criteria were simply titles I'd had sitting there for ages, split into some which I really, really wanted to read and those which I felt I should read because they'd just been sitting there far too long. Quite by chance, my current selection is hammering home a message hard to ignore - the ordinary lives of women.

I've been blown away by Fettouma Touati's Desperate Spring (why did it take me so long to read this?!), following the interconnected lives of an ever-expanding Algerian extended family.

I'm not sure that I'll finish Zimbabwean Tsitsi Dangarembga's The Book of Not in time for Friday's meeting with her, but I'm giving it a stab. Picking up where Nervous Conditions left off, Tambu is exploring her place in the world from the confines of the Young Ladies' College of the Sacred Heart.

Serendipitously, our reading group is reading Namibian Neshani Andreas' The Purple Violet of Oshaantu, describing constraining village life for a group of rural women.

All of these books, to a greater or lesser extent, deal with women's lives, expectations, hopes, dreams, marriages and constraints. I'll blog more on each as I finish them, but this is just to say that you might think this would all be tedious, hectoring or boring and instead it is gripping stuff and I am enjoying myself thoroughly.

As a foil to these women in African countries, I have picked up at the library The Bitch in the House: 26 women tell the truth about sex, solitude, work, motherhood and marriage, edited by Cathi Hanauer. I'd seen this reviewed in the mainstream press last year, with mixed reactions, but it is serving as an interesting complement to the fiction titles.

On the train up to London last week, a mixed group of teenagers got on and I suddenly became aware of their conversation when a boy asked "Are you a feminist?" One after the other (peer pressure no doubt) every girl in the group strenuously denied any interest in feminism. I restrained myself from commenting, but all this current reading tied in perfectly with what I quietly thought - you don't want the right to equal job opportunities, equal pay, freedom of movement, freedom to dress as you wish, then? What would you say if I said you couldn't be out on a train with your male friends? Could not go to school? Could not wear that miniskirt? What do you think feminism is? I can recommend a book or two...

Michelle over at Overdue Books has issued a From the Stacks reading challenge that fits right in with my current moans and groans about my TBR (To Be Read) pile teetering, crashing, and burning! With a time frame of November 1st to January 30th, her instructions read:

If you are anything like me your stack of purchased to-be-read books is teetering over. So for this challenge we would be reading 5 books that we have already purchased, have been meaning to get to, have been sitting on the nightstand and haven't read before. No going out and buying new books. No getting sidetracked by the lure of the holiday bookstore displays.

Definitely yes from me; I have so many books I keep meaning to get to and just don't, for no apparent reason. Can anyone explain the strange compulsion to acquire more books when there are enough in the house already to keep one going for years anyway?! I could run a lending library from here!

My chosen titles in no particular order are:
The Story of Lucy Gault - William Trevor
Lent to me by a friend a year ago, and I still haven't read it - it's now or never!
Desperate Spring - Fettouma Touati
Nearly as bad - another friend lent me this six months ago - I simply must.
The Making of a Marchioness - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Because I love Persephone Books; need there be another reason?!
The Book of Not - Tsitsi Dangarembga
It is glaring reproachfully at me.
Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The glare off this one is positively blistering! I so loved her first and am expecting great things.

Perhaps, come February, the Valentine's Day challenge will be to read 5 more books off my TBR pile - will I ever get through all of them?!