A 19th Century Infusion

For some reason, my reading inclination has furnished solely 19th century fare this past week.  Mystery, science fiction, children's lit.  All written and set in my favourite century to read from.  


First, the mystery.  With as many twists as a winding road up the side of a steep mountain, Anna Katharine Green plots the course of the mysterious and ill-fated happenings at the ironically named Happy-Go-Lucky Inn.  Mrs. Truax, the mistress of the inn, is our primary narrator.  And does she have a tale to tell, a haunting incident that forever stains her memory.  Of murky happenings in an oak-lined room, of romance and tragedy and the loss of innocence.  Of noble men and dastardly deeds, of heartbreak and cruelty.  A fascinating novel is The Forsaken Inn, but to say much more is to give too much away.  Though I can't say enough good things about Green's writing.  She had such a gift with narrative voice.  I've read quite a few novels of hers with authentic-sounding male narrators. This one, with its female narrator, is fascinating in terms of the differences in motivation.  The interaction between men and women tends to be highlighted in narratives written by women of this time period (which leads some to mistakenly think of romance when often it's gender politics. But that's a post for another time).  Green stays away from that stereotype, by and large, and gives us a narrator who is intuitive, but precise, not to mention courageous, thoughtful, intelligent, and a working woman. Such a great tale and a great character.


Then the science fiction: I've just finished reading another Jules Verne adventure, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  Yes, I'm probably the last bibliophile on the planet to read it, but I'll make up for my lateness with boundless enthusiasm.  I just love Verne.  Excitement, imagination, meaning. What more can a person want from a novel?  Throw in a giant octopus and, really, it's just about the best adventure tale I can think of.  And Verne's skill when it comes to balancing detail and page-churning suspense! I don't know how he did it.  One reads along, struggling to envision some of the descriptions of sea flora and fauna, and then -- all-of-a-sudden -- sharks!  But it never feels contrived or ridiculous.  


And in the land of children's fiction, I've recently disembarked from a voyage through Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. As a child I loved this tale (though not the Disney movie interpretation) and, as an adult, I still think it's awfully good. The episodic, moral tale told with an extravagant amount of scintillating imaginative power.  It's like a child's version of The Odyssey meets Aesop's Fables. Just the thing for bedtime, good fuel for thoughts and dreams.