Tag: modern classic

#BookReview The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields @WorldEdBooks

whatcathyreadnext5 Comments

Welcome to the opening stop on the blog tour for The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields. My thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to participate in the tour and to World Editions for my digital review copy.

downloadAbout the Book

Widely regarded as a modern classic, The Stone Diaries is the story of one woman’s life; that of Daisy Goodwill Flett, a seemingly ordinary woman born in Canada in 1905. Beautifully written and deeply compassionate, it follows Daisy’s life through marriage, widowhood, motherhood, and old age, as she charts her own path alongside that of an unsettled century. A subtle but affective portrait of an everywoman reflecting on an unconventional life, this multi-award-winning story deals with everyday issues of existence with an extraordinary vibrancy and irresistible flair.

Format: Paperback (392 pages)                         Publisher: World Editions
Publication date: 22nd October 2020 [1993]  Genre: Literary Fiction

Purchase links
Bookshop.org
Disclosure: If you buy a book via the above link, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops

Hive | Amazon UK
Links provided for convenience only, not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

I must admit it’s a little daunting to write a review of a book that has a foreword by Margaret Atwood.  However, I’ll do my best!  In her foreword Margaret Atwood describes The Stone Diaries as Carol Shields’ ‘glory book’ praising her ‘large intelligence’, powers of observation and humane wit. Originally published in 1993, The Stone Diaries was shortlisted for that year’s Booker Prize and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1995.  Most excitingly for me, it also won Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction in 1993, a prize established in 1936 by the Governor General at the time, Lord Tweedsmuir (better known as the author John Buchan, of whose works I am a great fan, as regular followers of this blog will know).

The Stone Diaries is the story of a life, a long life punctuated by tragedy but also by moments of happiness and fulfilment. As the author notes, “What is the story of a life? A chronicle of fact or a skillfully wrought impression?” In this case, it’s a bit of both because, as the reader is warned earlier in the book, “Maybe now is the time to tell you that Daisy Goodwill has a little trouble with getting things straight; with the truth, that is.”

The story of Daisy’s life is told in a variety of narrative styles, including through letters and newspaper articles, and is accompanied by photographs and even a family tree.  As noted earlier, Daisy experiences a number of tragedies in her life, starting with the circumstances of her birth, but also periods of happiness, including motherhood.

Although there are moments of sadness, The Stone Diaries is also full of wit and humour.  For example, the scene in which Daisy reveals to her daughter, Alice, the facts of life and tries to persuade her that what takes place between her father and mother is beautiful, not ‘icky’.  Or the advice of Daisy’s prospective mother-in-law that “tomato juice ought never to be served at breakfast“, “that white shoes are worn only between Memorial Day and Labour Day” and that when travelling to the continent she should steer well clear of the ‘curious device’ she may find in her hotel bathroom. Or the advice in a women’s magazine that “the wearing of pyjamas in bed has driven many a man to seek affection elsewhere”.

One of the sections of the book I particularly enjoyed was that entitled ‘Work’. Although it starts with melancholy news, it also contains some very funny letters from appreciative readers in response to the gardening column Daisy writes for the local newspaper. “Dear Mrs. Green Thumb, Really enjoyed your dramatic struggle with the ant colony.  Also your words of enlightenment on the European leaf beetle”.   It has to be said Carol Shields creates inventive if rather violent deaths for some of her characters, including being crushed beneath a soft drinks vending machine.  (By the way, he deserved it.)

The Stone Diaries is the story of a century as well as a woman although the focus is always at the micro rather than the macro level.  Significant world events, even world wars, happen ‘off-stage’ as it were.   Although Daisy experiences bereavement and periods of depression, she also enjoys – if we are to believe her – lifelong friendships, finds fulfilment in work and family, and remains positive and resilient to the end of her life.

The Stone Diaries is moving, funny, compassionate and, as Margaret Atwood notes, a book that is “full of delights”.

In three words: Tender, assured, touching

Try something similar: Stoner by John Williams

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

Carol Shields Author picAbout the Author

Carol Shields (1935–2003) was born in the United States and emigrated to Canada when she was 22. She is acclaimed for her empathetic and witty, yet penetrating insights into human nature.

Her most famous novel, The Stone Diaries, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, along with the Governor General’s Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Happenstance was praised as her tour de force, masterly combining two novels in one. The international bestseller Mary Swann was awarded with the Arthur Ellis Award for best Canadian mystery, while The Republic of Love was chosen as the first runner-up for the Guardian Fiction Prize.

In 2020, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, a North American literary award dedicated to writing by women, was set up in her honour. Her work has been published in over thirty languages.

#BookReview The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault #1956Club

whatcathyreadnext1 Comment


About the Book

Alexias, a young Athenian of good family, comes of age during the last phases of the Peloponnesian War. The adult world he enters is one in which the power and influence of his class have been undermined by the forces of war. Alexias finds himself drawn to the controversial teachings of Socrates, following him even though it at times endangers both his own life and his family’s place in society.

Among the great teacher’s followers Alexias meets Lysis, and the two youths become inseparable – together they wrestle in the palaestra, journey to the Olympic Games, and fight in the wars against Sparta. As their relationship develops against the background of famine, siege and civil conflict, Mary Renault expertly conveys the intricacies of classical Greek culture.

Format: ebook (371 pages) Publisher: Virago
Publication date: 6 August 2015 [1956] Genre: Historical Fiction, Modern Classics

Find The Last of the Wine on Goodreads

Purchase links*
Amazon UK | Hive (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience not as part of an affiliate programme

My Review

The Last of the Wine was my book for the recent 1956 Club hosted by Simon at Stuck In A Book and Kaggsy at Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish reading the book or write my review during the event.

As soon as I started reading The Last of the Wine, two things struck me. Firstly, I realized I’d read it before, back in 2015. Secondly, that when I read The Flowers of Adonis by Rosemary Sutcliff a few months ago, the reason the story seemed so familiar is that the two books cover pretty much the same ground, namely the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta in the period 431 to 405 BC. The difference is that, whereas Alkibiades is the main focus of The Flowers of Adonis (albeit his exploits are described by a series of different narrators), in The Last of the Wine he remains largely off-stage with events being seen from the point of view of Alexias, a young Athenian.

In her introduction to my Virago Modern Classics edition of The Last of the Wine, Charlotte Mendelson describes Mary Renault as “an Ancient Greek” because of her knowledge of the period and her ability to bring it to life. I agree entirely because the novel wears its historical research lightly, instead immersing the reader in the details of daily life, social and religious rituals. This means The Last of the Wine is more than just a history of the political and military events of that period, it’s the story of a deep and loving relationship between two young men, Alexias and Lysis. Those who enjoy action scenes won’t be disappointed either and there are parts for famous figures of Greek philosophy such as Socrates and Plato.

I was surprised to learn Renault was nearly fifty when she began writing The Last of the Wine and that, although it was her seventh novel, it was the first to be set in Ancient Greece. I must admit I’d always thought of Renault as a writer of exclusively historical fiction. Mendelson argues the timing was due to the parallels Renault saw between the South Africa in which she was living at the time and her desire to write a love story whose protagonists just happened to be homosexual and would not be “shamed, imprisoned or hounded to death”.

Renault’s insight when writing about love – and grief – is evident. “Then the pain of loss leaped out on me, like a knife in the night when one has been on one’s guard all day. The world grew hollow, a place of shadows…” Women barely figure in the book, except those offering sexual services or as wives needing protection. As Charlotte Mendelson notes, the men “have the best characters, the best bodies and best lines”.

In three words: Immersive, exciting, emotional

Try something similar: The Flowers of Adonis by Rosemary Sutcliff

Follow this blog via Bloglovin

About the Author

Mary Renault (1905 – 1983) was best known for her historical novels set in Ancient Greece with their vivid fictional portrayals of Theseus, Socrates, Plato and Alexander the Great.

Born in London and educated at the University of Oxford, she trained as a nurse at Oxford’s Radcliffe Infirmary where she met her lifelong partner, fellow nurse Julie Mullard. After completing her training she wrote her first novel, Purposes of Love, in 1937. In 1948, after her novel North Face won a MGM prize worth $150,000, she and Mullard emigrated to South Africa.

It was in South Africa that Renault was able to write forthrightly about homosexual relationships for the first time – in her last contemporary novel, The Charioteer, published in 1953, and then in her first historical novel, 1956’s The Last of the Wine, the story of two young Athenians who study under Socrates and fight against Sparta. Both these books had male protagonists, as did all her later works that included homosexual themes. Her sympathetic treatment of love between men would win Renault a wide gay readership.

In 2006 Mary was the subject of a BBC4 documentary and her books, many of which remain in print on both sides of the Atlantic, are often sought after for radio and dramatic interpretation. In 2010, Fire From Heaven was shortlisted for the Lost Booker of 1970. (Bio credit: Curtis Brown)