Cate, thank you so much for your comment about my blog ! I'd be happy to read yours if you have one :)

Lähettänyt: Sibylle.Night 3:09 am (EST) Apr 28, 2008

Hi Cate! better late than never on my reply. I see among your favorite author list some of my favorites too. Anna Akhmatova is a fantastic poet. Margaret Atwood is a goddess and so is Emily Dickinson. Virginia Woolf is in a category all her own. Love Vita Sackville-West. I cold go on and on!

Stefanie

Lähettänyt: wellred2 9:13 am (EST) Apr 26, 2008

You're v v welcome!

Lähettänyt: redredshoes 1:24 am (EST) Apr 20, 2008

Hi Cate:

Thank you for the warm welcome to LT and the Virago Group. I see my Virago library is small compared to most in the group. Hmm, I'd better work on that ... as a matter of fact I found 4 Viragos today ! :-)

Looking forward to being a part of the group.

Jayne

Lähettänyt: mrspurdy 6:28 pm (EST) Apr 7, 2008

Hi Cate:
I am new to the Virago Group and to LT. Still in the process of listing my books and struggling to edit my profile page ... not right yet, oh how to get rid of the tag field. Anyway, glad to see we have 31 books in common so far, mostly Viragos !! Enjoying reading all the VG entries and feeling I have at last found like-minded readers.

Mrs. Purdy

Lähettänyt: mrspurdy 3:04 pm (EST) Apr 6, 2008

Hi Cate - Thanks for the invitation. I used to have many more Viragos but my 'library' has been ruthlessly cropped over the years - now I find myself buying again books I gave away several decades ago! It always seems a pity to read them and lose that splendid row of green backs as you do if you crease the backs like me, bending them back for easy reading. I see we share a few favourites and I am glad to find another fan of Leonora Carrington and Julia Margaret Cameron.

Rosie

Lähettänyt: brunhilde 9:43 am (EST) Mar 24, 2008

Thank you, Cate, for your gracious note of yesterday. It was getting a bit lonely, cataloguing away in this drafty virtual library and I was beginning to wonder when and if I would ever get a posting. Of course,I realise now it was entirely up to me.I always thought that having and reading the Virago collection was like having and spending time with a lovely group of brilliant women friends who are not quite as intimidating or perhaps totally out of one's league as are the George Eliots,Brontes and Jane Austens of the "Great Tradition" (though I do read and love those writers.)My Viragos were the first thing I catalogued back in December because they are so close to my heart but partly too, I admit, for the pleasure of seeing them all together ranged with all their beautiful faces, well, face-up. I'm glad I did; it was like throwing a pebble into a body of water and seeing it set off ever-widening circles, the rippling effect. So thank you again from your note, also for deeming my library "interesting" and making me feel welcome to this lively circle of people who, among other things, share a passion for these beautiful green books and the writings, the stories and the feminine lore within.

Bibi in Montreal

PS Your moniker, "Bleuroses", is indeed poetic and witty.

Lähettänyt: lapassionata 4:08 pm (EST) Feb 13, 2008

Cate! I just wanted to let you know that Year Before Last arrived safe and sound this morning! I can't wait to get started on it!

Thanks again,
Helen xx

Lähettänyt: miss_read 9:28 am (EST) Feb 1, 2008

Cate, thanks for your reply! And I will definitely give the Virago fanatics first shot.

Lähettänyt: lindsacl 7:38 am (EST) Feb 1, 2008

What an exellent library you have! Some wonderful books listed here. We have a few books in common! :-)
I'm a huge fan of Persephone Books & Virago Modern Classics. I also love travel writing (with particular reference to Italy). Do you keep a book blog at all?

Lähettänyt: swanbreast 12:05 pm (EST) Jan 24, 2008

Cate:

Thank you so much for thinking of me! I'd love to have the book if it's still homeless! Thanks!

- Helen xx

Lähettänyt: miss_read 11:19 am (EST) Jan 22, 2008

Hi Bleuroses

I think I first noticed your library through the Lovers of NZ Lit connection. Although you and I only share 37 books they are among my toppest top favourites so after that connection your library just registered on my consciousness whenever it popped up!

Z

Lähettänyt: zappa 2:30 am (EST) Jan 3, 2008

Thank you for the welcome. I'm having fun!

Lähettänyt: iamwhoambic 4:13 pm (EST) Dec 29, 2007

Cate, you are very welcome! - Lois

Lähettänyt: avaland 6:52 pm (EST) Dec 16, 2007

Hi Cate

Glad you liked it :)

Happy Holidays

warmest wishes
Louise

Lähettänyt: fabrile-heart 7:33 pm (EST) Dec 15, 2007

Cate, I'm so glad the book choice worked! I was very glad of a Persephone fairy to help me make it. And I couldn't resist the soap. Once seen, it had to be bought. I only hope Orph and Owen approve.

P.S Loved the holiday outfit! Where can I find one?

Lähettänyt: finebalance 12:40 pm (EST) Dec 11, 2007

Thank you Cate.

The bookselling part: I started off working for a (then) five branch bookchain, which has now expanded to over 50 stores throughout Southern Africa. I have recently moved from a wonderful store in Rosebank, Johannesburg, which I managed for 5 years, into the online realm. It has been quite an adjustment for me, but has forced me to consider my purchases more carefully. Not too many of those impulse-buying splurges to be had anymore. Besides, I think (and hope) that I will receive better recommondations here on LT!

I am currently involved in launching a children's website for children's books in South Africa, and am organizing a literary festival for children which takes place next March. I will let you know when the children's website is up and working. In the meantime, you may want to have a look at our website: www.exclusivebooks.com. It also has photographs of some of the "real" stores I've worked in. (Be warned - connectivity is dismal at present. this is the result of unseasonal rainstorms which have literally submurged our lines!)

My husband saw October Project live several years ago when he was visiting the States. I'd introduced him to their music several years before, so I was most peeved at not being there with him.

I love Cameron, too. There is something eerily other-worldly about her images, yet at the sme time so serene. I'm afraid the only book I own about her is a biography, but this may be the excuse I need to go out and purchase the exquisite Thames and Hudson compilation of her work.

Happy reading,
Celeste

Lähettänyt: CelesteM 6:32 pm (EST) Nov 29, 2007

Another October Project fan! Excellent taste! I see we share a fair number of favourite authors. I'm about half way through loading my continually expanding library. Please may I add yours to my list of interesting libraries?

Kind regards,
Celeste

Lähettänyt: CelesteM 5:36 am (EST) Nov 28, 2007

I might seem less enigmatic if I put more of my books online. I just haven't found the time. Plus there are some I'm still thinking of dumping.

Yeah, I suppose "nohrt4me" is kind of like a vanity license plate or something. But I like to think that when women type it in, they'll think twice about taking hormone therapy for menopause, like it's some type of disease.

Yeah, you get a bit hot and cold, and whatnot, but I found the discomforts of menopause vastly overstated, and in many ways going through the change is a very freeing and wonderful time.

I like the new Gish pic, BTW. She was so beautiful and dainty.

Lähettänyt: nohrt4me 12:16 pm (EST) Nov 8, 2007

Hey, I like your moniker--bleuroses--sort of a riff on the "blue roses/pleurosis" in "The Glass Menagerie" in a frenchified way, and reminiscent of blue stocking (to go with your affection for Virago press et. al).

Which Gish is that in your picture? I loved Lillian Gish. Can't watch her in "Night of the Hunter" without getting choked up. But, of course "Whales of August" was a triple hankie. But her silent work is great, too, even in "Birth of a Nation," which started out interesting and turned into a big racist screed, sadly.

Lähettänyt: nohrt4me 8:02 am (EST) Nov 2, 2007

I wanted to be a nun until I was about 16, but, sadly, I was a Protestant at the time. Now that I'm Catholic, I'm married, and the convent won't take you after age 50. So I've blown that career.

Plus I'm not sure i really have a vocation; mostly I just want some damn peace and quiet and not have to worry about what to wear every day (though you buy yourself only black pants and whatever shirts go with that for work or home, and you've pretty much got your choices narrowed and you've cut your accessory needs and expenses in half because you don't need brown anymore).

Dystopian novels remind me of Purgatory because they involve, at heart, a struggle of the spirit. Most dystopians are about the world in a big mess that only the virtuous can overcome. And even if the virtuous are doomed, the trying matters. After reading a dystopian, where else is there to look but up, since there's no justice in this life.

Dystopians reflect the faith of the hopeless, which is one of those weird contradictions you get in literature and religion--yeah, people are the enemy, but the only way out of the mess is to connect with other people.

Hope this doesn't make me sound like a religious nut. I'm really quite a very bad Catholic, mostly because I don't think those running the Church are all that much better, more disinterested, or smarter than the rest of us. They're all men who've been kept away from women for most of their adult lives. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that's two handicaps right there.

I try to be very strict about donating my paperbacks to the library's used book sale or giving them to friends.

Thanks for asking, but I bet you're sorry after this blah blah.

For what it's worth, you are doing the right thing trying to simplify your life. Less encumbered with stuff, more open to what's outside your stuff. St. Francis, St. Clare, and all that.

And there are some pretty amazing things that get overlooked. Ever notice how when it's below zero, the crows can still sit on pole in the wind and chip frozen carrion with their beaks? And not get food poisoning? Now there's a lesson in fortitude sitting right in front of you that you don't get if you're worried about your stuff.

Lähettänyt: nohrt4me 7:56 am (EST) Nov 2, 2007

I'm an enigma? Geez, what brought that on? If you were to see me, I'd seem pretty much like every ex-English major in her mid-50s who likes to read, watch old movies, pet cats, knit and ask people if it's hot in here or it's just me.

I have a lot of opinions, but i guess you really don't get to middle age without thinking you know more than most people.

Lähettänyt: nohrt4me 3:50 pm (EST) Nov 1, 2007

Cate, I did not like the other book as well as Fall on Your Knees, but it really is good. I, too, had difficulty with it initially. In fact, at the end of the first section, I had to put it aside for a few weeks, as it had rather upset me. However, I came back and finished it, and was really glad I did. It is an important story in several ways, and interestingly, you are not likely to guess the outcome -- quite surprising, but very telling. Fall on Your Knees, on the other hand, deserves not one reading but rather several -- once a year is about right.

Lähettänyt: kambrogi 8:25 am (EST) Oct 29, 2007

Cate, I was on writestuff's profile page, and noticed a post from you in August. You mentioned that you had read Fall on your Knees three times. I have read it twice and really love it. It gets better with every reading. What a book. Have you read MacDonald's The Way the Crow Flies?

Lähettänyt: kambrogi 5:13 pm (EST) Oct 28, 2007

Arrgh! Sorry for the typo!! Should of course read 'Cate' rather than 'Care' I'll go back to sleep now!
X

Lähettänyt: purpleelephant 8:56 am (EST) Oct 28, 2007

Congratulations!!!

I have seen The Lover but never read it. It was a beautiful movie. I will make a point to add Duras to my wish list.

Ponder

Lähettänyt: ponder 5:36 pm (EST) Sep 29, 2007

Hi Cate,

Thank you for your lovely message. I look forward to nosing about your library in detail.

I know what you mean about it being addictive - I can't seem to tear myself away. And yet, I won't get any reading done if I don't!

Looking forward to getting to know you,
Allie

Lähettänyt: AllieW 4:01 pm (EST) Sep 25, 2007

Hello!

If only I was the REAL Molly Gibson! :) She's too sweet for words. I love the book & movie; the actress who plays her is perfect.

I haven't yet seen Becoming Jane as it hasn't played anywhere near me so I'm waiting for it on PPV or DVD. I'm also looking forward to the new line-up of Austen movies coming to Masterpiece Theatre in January!

Cheers!

Lähettänyt: MollyGibson 6:45 am (EST) Sep 21, 2007

Cate-

I have not read Marguerite Duras. What is a good book to start with?

The painting is of George Sand by Eugene Delacroix. Moving isn't it?

Ponder

Lähettänyt: ponder 7:10 pm (EST) Sep 9, 2007

Cate, I thought we already were "friends"! What an oversight and huzzah, it's fixed.

Lähettänyt: tiffin 10:11 am (EST) Sep 4, 2007

We have several favorite authors in common, including Byatt. I love the quartet, too, as well as "Possesion." Have just requested "The Whistling Woman" on paperbackswap. I can't believe I haven't read it yet. I like to save books by favorite authors so there's something to look forward to, to really savor them when I'm ready.

Lähettänyt: msggoat 6:21 pm (EST) Aug 23, 2007

Hi Cate, I'm Mel. I found you through Art is Life, your library is amazing. Would you please, please tell me about your picture for I am mesmerized and very keen to know anything about the person, place or time. Thanks, Mel.

Lähettänyt: readaholic12 4:02 pm (EST) Aug 21, 2007

Cate,
I can tell you already (up to p.70) that Moon Tiger is very good. Some of the writing is quite brilliant. It's the sort of book I would read again just to savour some of the ideas and observations and the language.
Amanda

Lähettänyt: amandameale 10:43 pm (EST) Aug 19, 2007

That is a lot of favourite authors! But they all seem to be very very good.

Lähettänyt: Megami 9:58 pm (EST) Aug 14, 2007

Thanks. I'll add them to my list.

I have no doubt in my mind that you are all very intelligent. However, I have yet to come across an Italian who is not crazy, so I also know that at least one of you is crazy as well. ;=) Anything else I should know before the two of you head this way?

Lähettänyt: izzybee 12:42 pm (EST) Aug 14, 2007

I've never read any of Peter Ackroyd's books. What do you recommend?

Lähettänyt: izzybee 4:32 pm (EST) Aug 12, 2007

Welcome back to California. . . glad we overlap on-line. (I live at Rossmoor, in Walnut Creek. It's an "over 55" community of @ 9,ooo people, so we have all kinds. None match the folks at LT, however, so happy to be here with you.) Esta1923

Lähettänyt: Esta1923 2:50 pm (EST) Aug 12, 2007

Hi Bleu, thanks for the comment.
T'was the Shared favorites feature that led me to your library. :)

Lähettänyt: aeosdur 9:20 am (EST) Aug 12, 2007

I'm glad you joined Art is Life, bleuroses. I hope to see you over there very soon.

Lähettänyt: TheresaWilliams 8:37 pm (EST) Aug 7, 2007

*geeky wave* Hi Cate!

Hope you're having a nice summer! :D

Drinks? Sometime you're in town again? I finally made it down to The Strand, I want to move there! Do you suppose they'll let me bunk it in the fiction section?

Much love,

"barnacle" Suge

Lähettänyt: suge 8:34 pm (EST) Aug 6, 2007

Hi Cate, I'm sure your copy will turn up one day. I keep meaning to contact Persephone Books and suggest Saraband as a book they might be interested in publishing. Eliot Bliss isn't very well known and you're right there's very little about her on the internet. As a final piece of work for my degree I wrote on her, but needed to write on Jean Rhys and Phyllis Shand Allfrey as well as there was so little info/critical writing about EB around.

I found a Virago Modern Classic in my favourite charity bookshop today: The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby. Hurrah!
Michelle

Lähettänyt: artymiss 1:21 pm (EST) Jul 27, 2007

Hello Cate,

Thanks so much for your encouraging comments! I will read the Carole Maso book on your recommendation, it sounds so good. I do try to write stuff that will move people in some way, but it doesn't always work!

I don't get back to the blogging as much as I would like to, so I know it gets a bit stale over there in wordygecko-land. Far too many books to read to spend too much time on it.

Hooroo for now,

Sue

Lähettänyt: thewordygecko 1:01 am (EST) Jul 24, 2007

Hi there, thank you for adding me to your list of interesting libraries. I see you have Saraband by Eliot Bliss. What did you make of it? I love it, but don't know anyone else who's read it.

Lähettänyt: artymiss 12:28 pm (EST) Jul 21, 2007

Hi Cate
I must look out for the film. Reading the The Piano Teacher is rather harrowing. The style makes it so, and the subject matter adds to it. Nevertheless, I was glad I read it.
Amanda

Lähettänyt: amandameale 7:50 am (EST) Jun 18, 2007

I liked Postcards. It's a sad story, moving, interesting. I kept reading. I have read White Noise and Underworld by Delillo. They are different, but I enjoyed both.

Lähettänyt: xtien 7:21 am (EST) Jun 16, 2007

I'm now reading "History of Love". First pages were so-so, but I was intrigued, and when I was half way through, it struck me. I was moved. I mean, sledgehammer level. I've never before read a book that all of a sudden got me after I read half the book.

I finished "Underworld" by Don Delillo last week. He uses the same half sentences as Krause, like individual sentences that are just "But." or "And yet.". They must share some cultural reference where they picked up that language, or it's something that's widely know and it's just me who doesn't.

Lähettänyt: xtien 1:55 pm (EST) Jun 9, 2007

You're invited to our online party... here

Lähettänyt: avaland 2:01 pm (EST) Jun 8, 2007

Cate,

I just now finished reading You Can't Catch Death by Ianthe Brautigan. It was beautiful. I'd say this is a *must read* for any fan of Richard Brautigan. It's a bit about his life and especially about his relationship to his daughter, followed by his ghosts which remain and his living legacy - a daughter and granddaughter. I won't tell you about the book's ending...which was quite a surprise for me.

No question about it. Read the book. Your rose-colored glasses will remain just as lovely after you're done. Perhaps even rosier...

Regards,

Madeline (...who's truly happy people still read Brautigan's books!)

P.S. ...and let me know what you thought of it.

Lähettänyt: SqueakyChu 9:15 pm (EST) Jun 6, 2007

Hi, I bought Ava, and the History of Love, and the Time travelers wife is coming in. I'll let you know what I think :-)

Is it ok if I add you to my contacts? I'm trying to figure out what that does, other than just showing other peoples nicks on my profile page.

Lähettänyt: xtien 8:55 pm (EST) Jun 5, 2007

Cate,
I haven't seen the recent movie of The Painted Veil, but I did see the old b/w version with Greta Garbo, George Brent and Herbert Marshall (who was also in the first version of The Razor's Edge) several years ago. I would love to see the more recent version, so I may rent it soon. I have a copy of the book, but haven't read it, so let me know when you get around to reading it and I will, too. Maybe by then I will have seen the film, too, and we can compare notes on book vs. film! Happy reading!
Marise

Lähettänyt: marise 2:06 pm (EST) Jun 2, 2007

Cate, I saw your comments on book talk about The Razor's Edge. This is one of my favorite books (and authors) and one of the few I have read more than once - three times to be exact. I also love BOTH versions of the movie, but for different reasons. Let me know what you think of the book! I have placed my first order with Persephone and today received their catalogs. Thanks again for your help.
Marise

Lähettänyt: marise 11:53 am (EST) Jun 1, 2007

Re: April tea. Sadly for me, I am in the middle of the US and not in NY! Thanks for the advice and web site, I will use it.

Lähettänyt: marise 8:29 pm (EST) May 27, 2007

Thank you, Cate, for your comments. I have been watching the Persephone group and had never heard of P books until joining LT. The books sound wonderful and I was able to order Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day from Amazon. It hasn't arrived yet, though. They don't carry too many and I was wondering where you order yours or if you are able to find them locally. I haven't seen them in the local bookstores and haven't asked yet if they are able to special order them. Thank you for inviting me to join and I am looking forward to future discussions!

I love your picture, who is the artist?

Lähettänyt: marise 10:52 am (EST) May 27, 2007

Hi Cate! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I really enjoyed Fall on Your Knees and rated it a 4. I can definitely recommend it to other readers. This was my first MacDonald book and I'm anxious to read her latest which I have on my TBR shelf!

Let me know when you get to Northern California! It would be fun to meet other LT users :) I'm located in Shasta County.

Lähettänyt: writestuff 8:00 am (EST) Apr 28, 2007

Hi Cate

It was a very pleasant afternoon on Saturday. And not only did I go home with my stack of Persephone books, but I browsed a bookshop while waiting for friends later and picked up a biography of Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt. So, all in all, an expensive little jaunt.

Lovely to meet you!
Becky

Lähettänyt: rec 9:30 am (EST) Apr 17, 2007

A montain man lives under thatch
before his gate carts and horses are rare
the forest is quiet but partial to birds
the streams are wide and home to fish
with his son he picks wild fruit
with his wife he hoes between rocks
what does he have at home
a shelf full of nothing but books

Han Shan, known as Cold Mountain lived 1200 years ago in China's Tientai Mountains

I send his poem for poetry month. Esta 1923

Lähettänyt: Esta1923 3:01 pm (EST) Apr 10, 2007

thank you Cate. I love Davies and Ken Branagh (usually) as well - and, of course, Shakespeare & Housman - but I must confess to REALLY adoring Hopkins (and unsnarling all that knotted thought and emotion.) I'm enjoying the stroll thru your excellent library and plucking some new titles to try. Again thanks, scott

Lähettänyt: bookstopshere 10:09 am (EST) Feb 20, 2007

Hi Cate,
I know Amanda "spreads rumours" about me (ha ha ha ha!!!), but I actually am still working on the 'crazy' aspect of my personality....;-)
I do enjoy the Persephone group VERY MUCH, and am really looking forward to the April tea. Keep posting your thoughts on LT, they are quite interesting.

Paola :-))

Lähettänyt: aluvalibri 12:20 pm (EST) Feb 14, 2007

Cate,I've left a message on the new group to direct people to the existing group. I'm sure you'll have something to say on the Award and Gender thread. Also take a look on avaland's profile - you might want to talk to her. She's very nice.
Dont't talk to PAOLA - she's this crazy Italian woman. JOKING
Amanda

Lähettänyt: amandameale 6:50 am (EST) Feb 14, 2007