June reading list

In lockdown life this month I reread a few old favourites, including some Fitzgerald short stories, and two new books that share the theme of mother and daughter.
The first novel, 'Feebleminded' was the book choice for our reading group, which now takes place as a zoom meeting.

I disliked this book intensely and had it not been up for discussion would not have bothered to read beyond the first page. Mercifully it is a very short book! The author is a young Argentinian woman and her writing has received high praise. The story is constructed as the stream-of-consciousness howl of two damaged women, the mother and adult child, both nameless throughout.
"Ariana Harwich again takes us into the darkest recesses of the imagination with this deliriously disturbing account of a mother-daughter relationship. Driven to the edge by the men in their lives, both absent and present,they oscillate between erratic bursts of housework, lazing in the garden and drunken escapades."

I much preferred Laura Cumming's non-fiction account of the kidnapping of her mother when she was a child. The book tells the story of the detective work done by the author to discover the secret behind this strange happening.

Laura's mother had been adopted when she was three years old, prior to the kidnapping,  and many opportunities were missed to find out about her birth parentage, apparently due to a wish not to upset the woman who had brought her up.
The author is an art critic on the Observer newspaper and she references various art works and images through the book, making at times what, for me, were somewhat tenuous connections. I felt that it could have been edited a little more crisply so was quite a frustrating read at times. It was also very sad.

The two books could not be more different. Great love and respect of her mother was evident throughout Laura Cumming's book, whereas the relationship that Ariana Harwicz portrays in 'Feebleminded' is poisonous. (The book meeting was divided, one or two loved the book, other responses were more like mine.)

Presents

A present arrived in the post from the First Born, a very pretty-looking mask for when I go out to meet the world again!

I had a bit of a kerfuffle at first in trying it on, trying to fasten the ribbons at the back of my head, catching them in my hair and having the mask slip down from my face. Then it dawned on me that the ribbons needed be tied together. Success - I'm sometimes a bit slow to work things out!

But although the mask itself is pretty, the act of wearing it is not. You can convey so little. A smile is useless and much human interaction is lost. A masked face is disturbing and potentially threatening. Even so I shall be quite happy for EVERYONE to be masked when I do eventually leave this period of self-isolation.

When we opened the kitchen door we found that a courier had left a parcel.

A super little hamper of goodies from Fortnum and Mason

to thank us for looking after Sparky.

Sparky did his very best to pal up with Himself, but it was to no avail. I could have told him that it was a lost cause, and not helped one bit by tearing away at the planking on the wooden shed.

 The First Born is a journalist and I sometimes get maligned in print. This week she mentioned my gardening garb. Yes, I'll admit that when I garden I do dress rather like Worzel Gummidge, in my, or her, or her sister's old clothes. I'm comfortable like that and don't care if I get tangled in a rose bush or if something gets torn or covered in dirt. The concept of new clothes bought just to garden in is a strange one for me. Neighbours have got used to me looking like a bin lady. Perhaps they think me a bit eccentric. I wouldn't know.

After days of glorious weather it is now extremely windy and cold and we have retreated into the greenhouse. The bigger citrus trees have been put outside for the summer and we are sheltering inside. Having lived in shorts and skinny tops in recent weeks, (scruffy, old ones, as above!) I'm now back in trousers and warm jumpers. Me&Ems lovely light, yet cosy, cashmere jumper and cargo pants are not hand-me-downs so I won't be gardening in them any time soon. I'll probably need to wear out the elbows first.

Crazy weather. Crazy times. I hope, dear bloggers, you are keeping safe and well.