August Rereads

Despite the fact that I acquired a mountain of new books for my birthday, I felt the irrepressible urge to go back and reread some of the ones already on my shelves. I don't reread as much as I'd like to. I often glance at my collection and think 'I want to take another look at you' but then the TBR pile gets in the way. However, I must've needed the comfort of books I know because I've been on a rereading blitz.

First up was Tell it to the Bees by Fiona Shaw (reviewed here). It's no exaggeration to say this is one of my favourite novels - this is my fifth or sixth reread since 2010. It's become an annual treat to pick it up when I'm feeling low and submerging myself in a forbidden relationship set in the 1950s. At least I've got out of the habit of needing to read it all in one day because now I can fully appreciate the final chapters without my eyelids drooping. What I haven't got out of though is wanting to read it again as soon as I've put it down.

My second reread was All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West (reviewed here). The story of an 88 year-old woman sick of being treated like a child by her family struck a chord. Rereading this affected me much the same as watching Angela Lansbury on-screen in Driving Miss Daisy did - it reminded me to focus on the person, not the age. There's an irony attached to all this that I'll maybe explain one day soon.

My third book was Landing by Emma Donoghue (reviewed here). Definitely a departure from the two above, it was my first Donoghue and therefore retains a special little place in my heart. I've been meaning to reread it and, for the most part, I enjoyed it again. However, like All Passion Spent, it made a point that I could've done without.

Finally, I reread Emma by Jane Austen (reviewed here). I actually read this two years ago this month and I've been looking at it longingly all year. I think my desire to reread Emma was actually what started this little rereading spree. I enjoyed it once again, of course, finding it amusing and still completely relevant to modern life. But, on a more personal level, Emma's journey led me on one of my own. Perhaps that was why I wanted to reread it all along.

Perks of Being Unwell

I've been struck down with that cold that's doing the rounds, though it had the decency to hold off until my final, final Downton Abbey essay edits had been completed. I think submitting that gave me permission to collapse and my body took the invitation without much hesitation. So here we are.

Fortunately, I have found some upsides to this being ill malarkey. Most of you know I don't exactly slow down but I've been forced to do just that and I'm actually relaxing for a change. I was already rereading Aurora Floyd slowly as part of my thesis work but I've finished that pretty speedily, thanks to waking up at half four this morning and having a three hour reading session. I'm going to indulge in some 'fun' rereading until I recover. I don't much have time to reread these days and there are some books on my shelves I really want to revisit such as Sing You Home (Jodi Picoult), Carol (Patricia Highsmith) and All Passion Spent (Vita Sackville West). I'm hoping to get through those three at least by the weekend.

I'm not entirely resting though - I'm incapable of it. I'm still working on some novel edits but the pressure's not there because I'm just doing as much as I feel like. And the rest of my free time is being spent with these lovely ladies because that's what I do when I'm unwell...

Book Review: All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West

It's with a tinge of embarassment that I admit this was my first foray into the works of Vita Sackville-West. Fortunately, I enjoyed it so much that it certainly won't be my last.

All Passion Spent is a short novel at around 170 pages. Sackville-West apparently intended it as a fictional companion to her friend and lover Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, and the similarities are certainly evident. However, it stands alone as a thoroughly enjoyable piece of prose equally relevant today as it was on publication in 1931.

Lady Slane's husband has just died. Having watched her spend her life in deference to other people, her children are confident she'll accept the arrangement to live with them each in turn as they do their 'duty' looking after her. However, Lady Slane rebels and rents a small house in Hampstead with her faithful servant Genoux. Four of her children are mortified while the other two (the only ones she has any affection for) accept her decision without argument. While living at Hampstead, Lady Slane makes friends with two elderly men and also Mr FitzGeorge, an acquaintance from early in her marriage. It's no spoiler to say, as Lady Slane is eighty-eight, that the novel ends with a death as well as beginning with one.

I loved this book. In a time of debate in modern society about care costs for the elderly and the consequences of longer living, the scenarios depicted in All Passion Spent really struck home. What do you do when your children regard you as a burden to be shared amongst them? What do you do when they expect your wealth to be given straight to them? And (though this one is rather unique to Lady Slane) what do you do with a very large bequest that has your children seeing pound signs at every turn? The relationship between a mother and her children is explored subtley and without criticism. As we learn more about Lady Slane's youth - and her 'beneficial marriage' - we come to understand why perhaps she feels as though she should finally take control of her own destiny.

The messages in this book are pretty universal and it should be read by young and old alike. Can you take control of something you feel is out of your control and enjoy your life a little more? Even if, in Lady Slane's case, that change only seems to give her visits from friends and walks upon Hampstead Heath. The little freedoms, Sackville-West implies, are as important as the big ones.

The most touching scene for me was one of the last, when Lady Slane receives a visit from her great-grandaughter Deborah. The similarities between the two are blindingly obvious but it's Lady Slane's melding of past and present, her life and her great-grandaughter's, that make this scene poignant. By following her own desires, Lady Slane has spurred Deborah on to do the same. And, in the end, that is a very comforting thought for an elderly woman.

As Vita Sackville-West's bisexuality is well-documented, this book can be considered part of the LGBT Reading Challenge 2011.