Peony In Love by Lisa See

Set in seventeenth century China, this historical novel is based on a famous opera, The Peony Pavilion, written in 1598 by the poet Tang Xianzu, as well as The Three Wives' Commentary, published in 1694, and written by the three wives of Wu Ren, the husband in this novel and a collaborator of the commentary on The Peony Pavilion. This commentary was the first book of its kind to be written and published by women anywhere in the world.

Peony is the first wife, who sees and meets her husband-to-be when she is fifteen, and attending a performance of The Peony Pavilion in her home. Like the main character, Liniang, Peony starves herself to death, thinking that the young man she met could never be her husband, only finding out the day she dies that she was betrothed to him by her father. Chinese customs of the afterlife come into prominence here, and Peony watches over her family and her lover, from the Viewing Platform. She becomes very involved with the second wife, and much later, the third, directing both of them from her ghostly position to write this commentary.

The novel is rich in detail and custom, but I must admit I enjoyed the author's note more at the conclusion of the novel, where she explains things more historically. It was fascinating to learn that women, who for the most part led sheltered lives in their homes, reached out through writing to find the freedom - and romance- they lacked in their lives, and according to See, there were thousands and thousands of women whose works were published during this dynasty, the Manchu. The opera itself was based on a much earlier time, but the poet was actually writing about life in the Ming dynasty, which preceded the Manchus.

The Peony Pavilion has been banned, suppressed, and even a performance at Lincoln Centre in 2000 was delayed by the Chinese government by barring the actors, costumes, and sets from leaving the country.

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

When I read Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys earlier this summer, there were several references to Virginia Woolf, and so I decided to read one of her books. I read the first 35 pages of To The Lighthouse in total confusion - I didn't want to read about the author or her writing ahead of time- then turned back to the beginning, read the Foreward VERY carefully, then began again, reading more intently. It soon became clear that Woolf wrote in "stream of consciousness": her books are a window into the mind, the sub-conscious. Those millions of thoughts that we have at any given moment are put into words by Woolf, so even as Lily Briscoe is painting the cottage, we read all those thoughts, without any connection between them. Difficult, or what? I finally realized that I'd never totally digest all this, just as all those random thoughts we have can never be completely retrieved, and then my reading began to flow a little bit better, but it still wasn't easy! I also cheated a little and read up on Woolf in Wikipedia. She must have done a lot of self-examination to be able to write like this, and she also must have been absolutely brilliant. The novel divides itself into three parts, and I have read the first, longest part. I had to leave it- just too much concentration was required- but I'll come back to it. At least I don't have to worry about remembering what happened!

I tackled this book in between the two Dervla Murphy books.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

I first read this book in 2007, and since it was chosen for our October 2009 Book Club selection, I re-read it in just over 24 hours, and enjoyed it no less the second time. The first time I read it, I was most intrigued by the description of footbinding, but this time it was the "nu shu" writing, a secret script invented by women and used by mothers and "sworn sisters" as a secret messaging system in Hunan province in Southern China. The novel is set in the 19th century.

Snow Flower and Lilly, the narrator, are "sames": chosen by a matchmaker because they share certain attributes that ensure a lifelong friendship. Secret Flower and Lilly, when they are not together, communicate by the means of a secret fan, on which they send messages written in "nu shu". Their friendship spans most of their lives, even though they marry and raise children, and endures through beatings, loss of children, war, and betrayal.

This is a richly detailed book, with vivid descriptions of Chinese life, traditions, and rituals. The foot-binding description made me wince often, and it was surprising to learn that the shape of the bound foot, with the toes turned in to the heel, is considered erotic by men because the deformed foot is basically the same shape as the penis ! Girl children, as we know and as they learn right from birth, are considered worthless, but there are definite patterns which they must follow, and their lives, which are often filled with grief, neglect, physical and emotional abuse, and often starvation, are dignified by the value they place on these friendships with other women.

The author is part-Chinese, and has spent many years researching for this book. It was extremely easy to read, but was also very informative, and nowhere did I sense the author was manipulating her readers, or her characters. I also have the next book by See, entitled "Peony In Love" and she released a third one this year, entitled "Shanghai Girls", which I will also read.

Full Tilt: From Dunkirk to Delhi by Bicycle

This was a fascinating read about Murphy's first travelling adventure, back in 1963, fulfilling a dream she'd had since the age of 10, to travel to India by bicycle. She has many adventures and misadventures: being attacked by wild dogs ( she had learned to use a shotgun), being horribly sunburned on one arm from travelling east, incurring a cracked rib from a nasty altercation between two Afghanis on a bus, by being accidentally hit with the butt of a rifle, being threatened physically by a young officer in Azerbaijan who although he had a gun, became the victim himself when Murphy used " unprintable tactics to reduce him to a state of temporary agony"...

It's impossible to note all the adventures she had, all her observations, the many, many people she met, so I decided to concentrate for my notes here on her accomodations throughout the journey- and these are just examples!

In Slovenia, she asks a girl on a street about lodgings, and the young woman takes her home. This happens time and agin in her travels: people would drive by, stop and give her the names of friends and relatives along the way and urge her to stay with them.

In Persia, she learns to deal with hotel bedrooms without locks- you balance empty bottles on top of the door. " As creating empty bottles is one of the few things I'm good at, this is an appropriate suggestion". (I think Dervla likes the odd drink now and then!)

She often stayed in police stations: in Persia, where the gendarmeries is known as a force existing primarily to protect tourists. She awoke once to find a bunch of men all watching her sleep!

People wanted to speak English, so this was another way she was invited into homes. Her travelling by bicycle also established an instant rapport, although people would often stop to tell her she was nuts, or to offer advice about drinking enough water and using sunscreen. She encountered problems getting a visa to travel through Afghanistan because she was a woman travelling alone on a bicycle, but with a little subterfuge, she managed to get one.

In one town in Afghanistan, she was directed to what was termed a Class A hotel, which was so named because it had an eastern-style lavatory ( i.e. a hole in the floor) with a flush overhead, and an empty toilet-paper holder. When she flushed, she received a shower of rusty water.

She describes " a good sleep on carpets in a corner of a tea-house". Also, a visit to a chief's house in Afghanistan, who lived in " a mud compound, where the chief, his five wives, fourteen sons and uncounted daughters, 38 grandchildren and sundry cousins all lived in a various apartments around a courtyard through which flows a swift stream with weeping willows and birches lining its banks."

A Tourist's Hotel in Bamian where there was "(a) no food or drink of any description, (b) no light, (c) nowater, (d) no heating and (e) only one thin blanket on each bed. As we were now 8550 feet above sea level, (e) was not funny." She and two young Indian men scrape together a meal from their provisions and raid empty rooms for more blankets.

She describes a midday nap on a mountainside in Pakistan only to wake and find that nomads had erected a tent over her to shield her from the sun.

In a tiny Himalayan village, she shares "six stinking blankets with six stinking children", although she adds that she prefers their company and their situation to their wealthier neighbours down in the valleys. Later, she has to purge herself of fleas!

High up in the North-West province of Pakistan, she meets some travelling Afghanis, and sleeps " snugly in sheepskins in a circle of Afghans around a fire which we kept up all night".

Her accounts of travelling in the high Himalayas were the most interesting- intense, debilitating heat, extreme cold, glaciers, lack of food- and of all the countries she travelled through, her favorites were Afghanistan and Pakistan, least favorites were India and Azerbaijan. Time and time again I was placed in awe by her thirst for adventure, her comfort level with travelling alone in totally deserted country, and her detailed descriptions she wrote in her diary, which later became this book.( How could she write so extensively in a diary after a day of cycling from 5:30 a.m. to 4:30 pm?)

Now that I've read this book- the Dervla Murphy book I wanted to read right from the beginning, the one I purachsed- her most recent- probably deserves another look, to see the journey by train through Siberia which she took at the age of 75, and also alone.