In the High Peaks
















Friday, April 24, 2020

Fri. Bookshelf Traveling for Insane Times #6

The top shelf of my favorite bedroom bookcase is home to three very large first-edition biographies, none of which I have really read from cover to cover. They are beautiful, pristine copies, and as I took them down and browsed through them, I realized I hope I will read one in the next few months, from cover to cover. But it will be a difficult choice.

Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man by Dale Peterson, published in 2006, is the one I'm most likely to tackle first, and at 685 pages (very small type),  it will be a job to "tackle." But because I've always been drawn to her work over many decades, and because she has led such an extraordinary life, I think I will submit to it. (A 4.19 rating on Goodreads.)
 
Goodall turned 86 years this year (born April 3, 1934), so this book was published when she was a very young 72 years and still accomplishing a great deal. Goodall and Dale Peterson collaborated on a number of books previous to this one, so he is very much familiar with her life's work and who she is as a person.  I remember I bought it because it was so highly acclaimed when it was published.

The other biography I've been meaning to read for so very long is The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism by Megan Marshall (2005). Once again, I purchased this hardcover immediately after publication because it was so highly and universally regarded, and also because the Peabody Sisters lived in Massachusetts, growing up in Salem. They were friends and colleagues of their contemporaries Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The most interesting thing about them was that in the 1830s and onward, they were the opposite of the ideal American woman, in that they were very highly educated, extraordinarily intellectual, did not keep their opinions to themselves, and inspired the men in their circle by igniting philosophical debates. They were very much a part of the Transcendentalist Movement. The  youngest sister Sophia married the author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The middle sister Mary married and inspired the most noteworthy American educational reformer of the 19th century, Horace Mann. And the oldest sister Elizabeth was fire-and-ice involved in all the philosophical discourse of the day. Her name is linked with many more reformers than I can list here. An extraordinary family of sisters, who are often referred to as "the American Brontës."  (A 4.12 rating on Goodreads.)

The third biography is another blockbuster. And a chunkster, at 830 pages, with another nearly 200 pages in notes.  It is Juliet Barker's The Brontës, published in 1994 in the UK and in 1995 in the US.
 I have the first American edition and have used it as a reference book many, many times, though I have not read it cover to cover. It, too, has been the most highly acclaimed work about The Brontë Family to date. But for a time it went out of print, which I have NEVER understood. Then it was revised and republished as The Brontës: The New Edition in the UK and in the US as The Brontës: Wild Genius on the Moors. For more information, please follow the link. (Another 4.19 rating on GoodReads.)

13 comments:

  1. I am a big fan of Megan Marshall but will admit I have not read this book *completely* cover to cover, despite having been inspired by hearing her speak several times. Among other things, she mentioned that one of her favorite books as a girl was the Childhood of Famous Americans bio of Amelia Earhart. That was one of my favorites too! I wasn't going to give up my copy but found one in a used-bookstore-library on Cape Cod the following summer and mailed it to her, and received a nice thank you note.

    By the way, I joined your Bookshelf Travels this week: http://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2020/04/fridays-bookshelf-travels.html Great idea!

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    1. I loved the Childhood of Famous Americans series and read loads and loads of them, including the Amelia Earhart one. They were wonderfully exciting and they were the books that started me reading on a regular basis when I was 8 years old.
      Thanks so much for joining our Bookshelf Travelling!

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  2. Three brilliant books, Judith! I have a book of Jane Goodall's letters which stretch from her younger years to when she wrote In the Shadow of Man. I think I'll start that soon, inspired a bit by Michael Palin's travels in Africa so perhaps I'm in a bit of an 'Africa' mood. And also a bit prone to being inspired by other bloggers' posts at the moment I fancy.

    Did you know that the Bronte sisters' mother was from my home town of Penzance? There's a plaque up on one of the houses in one of the streets that I'm very familiar with. Next time I'm in Penzance I will take a pic.

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    1. Hi Cath,
      I would love to hear what you think about Goodall's letters from her younger years. I enjoy reading volumes of letters, too.
      And, no! I did not know that the Brontes' mother was from Penzance! Makes me wonder if the family ever made a trip to Cornwall, or if the sisters ever did. I would think they would have been curious to see where their mother came from. So far from Haworth, though! Do take a photo on your next trip! Would love to see that.

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  3. I have the Bronte biography, too, but have not read it cover to cover. While culling books after selling our house, I donated it to the library and purchased the ebook on a daily deal. Now I regret it and am thinking of replacing it after we move into the next house...hopefully in June.

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    1. Hi JoAnn,
      Moving is so hard--which books to keep, which to let go. And when moving, one feels the urge to let go more than keep.
      I do wish you in your new home in June! Will you be able to post any photos, by any chance? Views from the house, maybe? Just so we can picture where you are.

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    2. I'll definitely post some photos when the move gets closer! :)

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  4. I think I'd start with Juliet Barker's book - I have a copy too! I write a bit about it in my Bookshelf post last week. :)

    Here's my Bookshelf post -https://booksplease.org/2020/04/25/bookshelf-travelling-for-insane-times-4/

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    1. Lark Rise to Candleford! Ah! This series of books sound wonderful, and it seems that they were made into television, because I think Lark Rise to Candleford is (was) available on Netflix. I will definitely add this to my list of books to read--sounds perfect for me.

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  5. You have a new spring photo up. Very nice and cheerful.

    Wow, two huge chunksters. I think I would enjoy the book about the Brontes most, but it would take commitment to even start it.

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    1. Hi Tracy,
      I don't think I could read The Brontes from page one to page 1000. I use it more as a pick-up and read book. I read an Anne Bronte novel and then read about her and her youth and her years out working (she was the only sister who did!) and her death, and so on. I want to read more about Charlotte. They had such tragic lives, yet they had such vibrant, wonderful connections while they were alive. An extremely fascinating family.

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  6. I read The Brontes years ago, but don't have my own copy. When you get to the UK again you should try to visit the Bronte Parsonage, you will love it, and the Haworth area in general.

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    1. Hi Katrina,
      How I've always wanted to go to the Parsonage, and I will indeed when (if) I come back to the UK. When Ken and I toured Ireland and England on our honeymoon (with Ken bravely behind the wheel), we did spend time in York and Yorkshire, but because we wanted to take in Cornwall and Devon and Wiltshire, etc., I decided not to plan our Yorkshire itinerary to go so far north. We had a wonderful time in the Yorkshire Dales, though. Next time! I should use this time to plan where I must truly go, because I don't think Ken will be on this next trip. We went to London together in 2000, but he has said for a long time that he really does not want long-distance travel. Sigh.

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