A rather eclectic mix of books this week. The Pumpkin Cookbook, because it’s fall and I love pumpkin spice, and so does my husband! Chaotic Good, because it’s about a geeky girl facing sexism, and it’s set in my hometown! And Frankly In Love because I’ve been hearing great things about it.
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial MechanicsThis was one of two sweet, lighthearted romances I read to prepare myself for Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments – and it definitely helped. HEAs always lift my mood.
I was a little afraid, with the title, that we were going to be talking about astrology, but nope. Astronomy. Just from a Victorian point of view. Well. Slightly earlier, actually, as the book opens in 1816. It’s a true Regency romance, set twenty years before Victoria becomes Queen.
Lucy Muchelney, one of our two main characters, is left somewhat at loose ends after her father dies and her lover marries a man. She had been serving as her father’s assistant in astronomy calculations, but her brother, now in control of their finances, tells her she should get married and leave silly thoughts of science behind her. Then she finds a letter from one of her father’s patrons, the Countess of Moth, and runs off to London, hoping to convince the Countess she’s as good as her father.
The Countess, recently widowed, is intrigued by Lucy, and takes her on. Together they face the sexism of the exclusively male Polite Science Society, and privately struggle with a romance that can never be publicly acknowledged.
I really enjoyed this romance. I think it was actually less explicit than most of the adult romances I read, but I know LGBT romances in particular have to walk a fine line because people are all-too-ready to call them bad names as it is. It absolutely had sex scenes, just…not as dirty and detailed and prevalent as many romances I’ve read.
I liked that it dealt with issues surrounding the need to keep the relationship a secret. In that era, being gay was a crime, though usually only prosecuted against men. But it meant it couldn’t be publicly acknowledged; they couldn’t marry. So there’s a worry that there’s nothing legally binding them together, and if, say, the Countess were to get tired of Lucy, Lucy could be out on the street. The imbalance of power with no safety net puts Lucy on shaky ground, and that’s something the two women have to work out.
The bulk of the plotline outside of the romance deals with the sexism of the scientific society at the time; my Friday 56 this week quoted a particularly damning scene. Lucy gets her revenge eventually, and it’s a delight.
Fun little regency romance. There are a few authors writing diverse historical romance, and I’d love to see more!
As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover’s sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. It isn’t until she finds a letter from the Countess of Moth, looking for someone to translate a groundbreaking French astronomy text, that she knows where to go. Showing up at the Countess’ London home, she hoped to find a challenge, not a woman who takes her breath away.
Catherine St. Day looks forward to a quiet widowhood once her late husband’s scientific legacy is fulfilled. She expected to hand off the translation and wash her hands of the project—instead, she is intrigued by the young woman who turns up at her door, begging to be allowed to do the work, and she agrees to let Lucy stay. But as Catherine finds herself longing for Lucy, everything she believes about herself and her life is tested.
While Lucy spends her days interpreting the complicated French text, she spends her nights falling in love with the alluring Catherine. But sabotage and old wounds threaten to sever the threads that bind them. Can Lucy and Catherine find the strength to stay together or are they doomed to be star-crossed lovers?
So I THOUGHT I had written up a post a long time ago featuring our visit to Poe’s grave, and I was going to link it today in a post about the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival happening this weekend in Baltimore, but it turns out I never wrote that post!
So today will be a combo Festival recap and Literary Landmark post! I’d like to make these a sporadic feature, the only one I’ve done before was on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s grave in Rockville, Maryland.
The view down one leg (of two) of the Poe Festival.
First, the Poe Festival. I believe this is the second year they’ve held it; I didn’t make it to last year’s. It’s held in the street in front of the Poe House, which I sadly neglected to get pictures of, as I thought I’d taken pictures when we toured it several years ago. AGAIN I WAS MISTAKEN. The only Poe House I have pictures of is the one in Philadelphia. (Tell me I posted that one…*combs through old posts* Ah ha! I found it as part of my Philadelphia trip post.) So it looks like we’ll need to make time to tour the Baltimore Poe House again some time, and get pictures this time. We’ve also decided we really need to get down to Richmond and see their Poe museum, so we can complete the trifecta!
The Poe Festival wasn’t real big; it was basically two small blocks, with a writer’s stage and a performance stage, and a couple of food booths on the other side of the performance stage. I don’t know how big it was last year, but I’m hoping it will expand. (And we were only going to the free stuff, there were paid tours and a ball of some sort.) There was a lot of neat art, some local authors selling books, and a couple of Poe-themed beer companies. The Richmond museum had a booth there, as did the Poe Society, who had printed leaflets of lectures that have been given on the study of Poe’s works. What I did NOT see, surprisingly, was anyone selling complete copies of actual Poe. Isn’t that weird? I’m going to Barnes & Noble on Wednesday for Book Club, I’ll have to pick up one of their gorgeous collectible copies to match the others we have.
The Richmond Museum’s booth included a mini-exhibit on period coffins at the time of Poe’s death, including this one that they welcome people to step into. (Currently occupied by my husband, with his hands crossed over his Poe shirt, so you can’t see it!) It’s – rather claustrophobic. The man’s hand you see in the foreground with a ring is clasped around the top of a cane; I did not get a name, but he had amazing semi-period dress on, and I SHOULD have gotten a picture! I always realize later there are more things I should have gotten pictures of. I DID get a picture of this fantastic man with his art, though:
That is a portrait of Poe overlaid with the text of The Raven! We bought a print to go in my reading nook, because it’s amazing. If you can’t read his contact information there, it’s @nicholasdamianschleif on Facebook and Instagram. He might still have some for sale on his Facebook if you want one for yourself!
A few more photos from the festival:
And since I never posted about Poe’s grave, some photos from Westminster graveyard, the site of Poe’s grave.
The church is gorgeous, with beautiful brickwork. It’s not as ornate as some churches in Baltimore, but it’s pretty magnificent nonetheless. The graveyard itself is really pretty, too:
There’s a crypt around the corner with some other interesting people in it, but Poe’s grave is what we’re here for, right? We have his original gravestone:
And then at some point he was dug up and reburied next to his mother-in-law/aunt and his cousin/wife. There’s a big white monument for them:
There are historical plaques all over the graveyard, but I didn’t get very good shots of them. I’ve gotten better at that over the years, but here’s a partial:
It was also summer, and shade wasn’t cooperating. It might be worth it to go visit sometime this winter when there won’t be any leaves on the trees to shade the signs!
We had a pretty fun day yesterday, and we’re at the Renaissance Festival again today, working at Tiger Torre Art. Feel free to come say hi if you’re in the area!
His Hideous HeartThe first of my spooky reads this month, His Hideous Heart is a collection of thirteen redone tales from Edgar Allan Poe. The timing for this review is perfect, because today is also the International Poe Festival here in Baltimore! I am heading down to the festival today, and should have photos to post tomorrow!
This book was incredibly well done – one of my favorite parts about it is the inclusion of the original versions of the eleven stories and two poems, in the second part of the book. A few of the tales chosen were ones I had never heard of – I’m much more familiar with Poe’s poetry than his prose. So having the originals to read made the experience much richer.
I think my favorite was the retelling of Annabel Lee, one of my favorite poems. Tessa Gratton turned it into a story of two young lesbians and called it Night-Tide, and it beautifully captures the yearning and loss from the poem. A Drop of Stolen Ink, inspired by The Purloined Letter, was another fantastic, futuristic piece. They are all fantastic pieces, though, who am I kidding? I think my least favorite was actually the one built from The Raven – it’s the original poem, but with most of it blacked out so the un-redacted words form a new poem. It’s novel, but just not as good as the rest, in my opinion.
Like much of young adult lit recently, the diversity was on point; The Murders in the Rue Apartelle, Boracay includes a trans character, and several of the tales star queer people. The viewpoint character in Happy Days, Sweetheart (The Tell-Tale Heart) is black and Mexican.
Overall, this is a beautifully done modern take on some of Poe’s best tales, and I definitely want to buy a copy for my own shelves. I actually need to re-buy a book of Poe’s tales – somehow, though my husband and I each had a copy when we married, somewhere through our moves we’ve lost both copies! I’ll have to keep an eye out today at the festival, though I think what I really want is one of Barnes & Noble’s pretty collector’s editions.
Edgar Allan Poe may be 170 years beyond this world, but the themes of his terrifying works live on in modern fiction for young adults. And with this collection, a host of some of today’s most beloved authors come together to reimagine Poe’s most terrifying, thrilling tales in new and unexpected ways.
Whether Poe’s stories are already familiar or discovered here for the first time, readers will revel in the terrors and thrills of his classic tales and how they’ve been brought to life in thirteen utterly unforgettable ways.
The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice. The rules are simple – turn to page 56 in your current read (or 56% in your e-reader) and post a few non-spoilery sentences.
This week’s quote is from The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, picking up right after our main character has presented her translation of a scientific text to the exclusively male “Polite Science Society.”
Mr. Hawley kept his eyes on Catherine, swept out his hand, and brushed the pages, unread, to the floor.
Aunt Kelmarsh gasped, hand over her mouth, and Mr. Frampton’s eyebrows shot up.
Mr. Hawley sighed. His tone was all sweet disappointment. “My dear countess: you must know you are being unreasonable.” While Catherine choked on shock and outrage, he turned to Miss Muchelney, putting a hand on her wrist and gripping it with earnest entreaty. “Please do not think I disparage your eagerness to help, my dear girl – it is only that as men of science, we must uphold certain standards if our work is to be accorded its proper value in the community. You understand, of course.”
“Oh yes, Mr. Hawley,” Miss Muchelney replied tightly. “I understand you perfectly.”
Country Wisdom and Know-How: A Practical Guide to Living Off the LandThis is a heck of an encyclopedia on homesteading topics. It gathers up a bunch of bulletins previously published by the Storey company, collating them into one very large book. It’s divided into six main categories: Animals, Cooking, Crafts, Gardening, Health and Well-Being, and Home. Each of those categories is divided into 2-5 subcategories, then individual columns under those. For example “Home” is divided into “Inside the House” and “Fences, Orchards, Outbuildings and More.” Under the latter category we have topics ranging from “Making Maple Syrup” and “Cold Storage for Fruits & Vegetables” to “Building Stone Walls” and “Build a Pole Woodshed.”
There’s an entire line of these encyclopedias; this seems to be the most broad of them, as others have slightly narrowed focus, like Garden Wisdom & Know-How or Woodworking Wisdom & Know-How. They are absolutely not books you’d read cover to cover, but are also books I want on my shelf and in my Survival Library. I only have this one from the library currently, but I definitely want to own it, and the entire line.
Country Wisdom & Know-How is well put together, with LOTS of diagrams and instructions. It’s often hard to visualize how something goes together if you’ve never done it before, and the book solves that with the diagrams, very clearly. It’s a gigantic book, but it’s PACKED with information on a huge number of topics – 144 individual topics plus 8 appendices!
(This is actually the description from Goodreads, as the back cover just has a list of topics)
Reminiscent in both spirit and design of the beloved Whole Earth Catalog, Country Wisdom & Know-How is an unprecedented collection of information on nearly 200 individual topics of country and self-sustained living. Compiled from the information in Storey Publishing’s landmark series of “Country Wisdom Bulletins,” this book is the most thorough and reliable volume of its kind. Organized by general topic including animals, cooking, crafts, gardening, health and well-being, and home, it is further broken down to cover dozens of specifics from “Building Chicken Coops” to “Making Cheese, Butter, and Yogurt” to “Improving Your Soil” to “Restoring Hardwood Floors.” Nearly 1,000 black-and-white illustrations and photographs run throughout and fascinating projects and trusted advice crowd every page.
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