The Misfits

The Misfits by Arthur Miller is an interesting quick read, and follows the lives of (as the title suggests) 3 misfits. A stunning divorcee, and two cowboys who live on the edge of society trying to avoid the waged job. The book follows their emering and complicated relationships, their dependancy on each other, and yet their inability to relate to and trust each other. The story has a melancholy that threads throughout the story. What I found really interesting however, is the style of writing. Arthur Miller wrote this as a type of screen play. It is almost like being in the director's mind, or behind the camera as you read the novel. Scenes are described in detail, almost setting up the shot for the props people, costumers, lighting etc. Ofcourse this was made into the film, as can be seen by the cover photograph. Apparently it was the last film made by Clarke Gable and Marilyn Monroe before their deaths. If I can find a copy of it somewhere, it will be interesting to see how similar the viewing experience is to the experience of reading the novel,

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence - a book that was originally banned from being sold. It's hard to imagine in this day and age that a book would be banned for its sexual content. This is the story of Lady Chatterley who though married to landed gentry, has a saucy love affair with the games keeper. What I found unusual about this book is that it is written by a male but from the point of view of the female character. This is a novel that explores sensuality and sexual desire, and I'm not sure whether it was the sensual content that made it so controversial in its day, or whether it was the exploration of a female's sexual desire. It was an interesting read, especially given its forbidden past - but I suppose as I was reading it with modern eyes I didn't find it as controversial as I thought I might have done.

Baby Quilt for Baby H

Another completed baby quilt under my belt. This was made in 3 evenings using the sewing machine.
Again, we don't know the sex of the baby, so I tried to make this as gender neutral as possible, so lots of green, red and the white squares tie it all together.
I didn't quilt the fabric in its entirety but quilted little squares. This was gifted to the baby's mum a day before she left on maternity leave. Little baby due in 3 weeks and I hope he/she enjoys using this!

Arthur and George

Another book that I read on holiday. This is a historical fiction novel that follows the lives of Arthur Conan Doyle, famous author of the Sherlock Holmes series and his dabble into real-life detective work following the case of George Edjali. George is a solicitor in Birmingham, born to an Indian father and Scottish mother. Following multiple animal mutilations in and around his neighbourhood and a spate of vicious anonymous letters, George finds himself in the middle of a police investigation that eventually finds him guilty and lands him with a prison sentence for 7 years hard labour based on very thin circumstantial evidence. This case captured the nations' imagination, including the attention of Arthur Conan Doyle, who picks up the case and campaigns for the clearing of George's name.

I found this novel to be an interesting read, from the viewpoint that this was the first case that lead to the introduction of an appeal process. Some of the scenes seemed to be carefully thought out and put together, based on the research done on newspapers, personal letters etc, but some of the linking scenes written to link the lives of George and Arther seemed to me to be strained. A particularly interesting side of the novel was when the author touched on the prejudices surrounding the mixed-race George, and George's own reluctance to think that his racial background had any baring on the case. Another very interesting aspect was the exploration of Arthur's interest in spiritualism, a very fashionable hobby or passtime for the rich at the time, and touched upon throughout the novel. All in all, this was an interesting read, but probably not a novel that I would necessarily pick up again.