olivia

yesterday i read the novella, olivia, by dorothy strachey. strachey was the sister of lytton strachey, a well-known friend of virginia woolf and the bloomsbury group. dorothy only wrote one novel, i.e., olivia. this book is an interesting little thing by a little known author, it is about a young student and her passionate "love" for her female teacher at a french boarding school. (i write love this way because her love for this teacher, while very real to her, has all the qualities of adolescent passion and intensity. who knows if these feeling are really love...maybe, maybe not). while nothing explicitly sexual every happens and it actually ends in some heartbreak, it is an interesting study in that intensity that comes with our first school crushes. the fact that these feelings were between two females only made it more interesting. i've never read a book that dealt with a main character who had same-sex tendencies and i am glad that now i can say that i have. no matter your opinion on the issue, this book reveals the reality of feeling that truly can and does exist between two people. while it's not the best written novel i've ever written, one thing that strachey definitely succeeds at is portraying olivia's earnestness, intense need and desire, and heartbreak over eventual rejection regarding her teacher, mademoiselle julie. a worthy and enlightening read. 

the girl who played with fire

the girl who played with fire is the second in a swedish crime fiction trilogy by the late steig larsson. they are fast, fun, suspenseful reads that are well-written. the second novel builds upon some mysteries from the first, adding more and more plot twists and anxious moments. i really like the characters in these books. the heroine, if you can even call her that, is a punk genius who's had nothing but tough luck and betrayal in her life. she's no-nonsense and hard as nails, but in this novel the reader almost begins to see a softer side.

my only complaint about this book is the brandname dropping. literally, one whole page is devoted to specific IKEA items that the main character purchased. the actual swedish names of the table, chair, nightstand or what have you. do we need to know this? can't we just take a short paragraph and says she spent 90,000 kronor (swedish currency) on new furniture? i.e.--she worked on her powerbook G4 with 17-inch screen. ok. she could see them with a pair of minolta 8x binoculars. right. it got to the point where i seriously wondered if the book was paid for by all the name dropping.

however, don't let that keep you from these novels if you're looking for good contemporary crime fiction. i'm not usually a great reader in this genre, but these are pretty fun.

fair and tender

fair and tender ladies is a beautiful book. what set it apart from many novels is the author's development of the main character's voice. fair and tender ladies is an epistolary novel which means it is told solely through letters. ivy, the main character, loves to write letters to her family and friends and the reader gets to know ivy, very well, through her words to sisters, brothers, dead fathers, dead sisters, friends, and even an occasional enemy. ivy was born at the turn of the century (1900) in the mountains of virginia. her story is one of hard work, farming, city life, passion, love lost, mistakes, death, and most of all, life. the readers gets a true sense of mountain life in appalachia during the early twentieth century, but more than that, the reader gets to know a person. ivy seemed as real to me as my own family. by the end, i really felt i had walked through the major events of her life with you. i was the recipient of her letters. she is altogether human, wanting love and children, fresh air and freedom. she also wants adventure and to actually feel alive which leads her to an affair that hurts her family. but even that mistake became part of her in a way that made her life better, her marriage better, her daily life more satisfying. i guess that's the beautiful thing about mistakes. fair and tender ladies is an altogether human book. a human book...that's the best way i, or anyone in my opinion, can describe this novel.