"English Novelists," by Elizabeth Bowen

My dear friend B. recently gave me a book that was perfect for me! (She knows my literary taste very well!) Let’s start with the title – a simple “English Novelists.” Although I have read, enjoyed, valued, and learned from novels from around the world, I must admit that I have always had a very special place in my heart for English novels, by English novelists. Next: The author is Elizabeth Bowen, a longtime favorite novelist of mine. In the case of this book, she is a literary historian and critic as well. Third, the physical appearance of the book: It is a slim book (of 48 pages), with a worn-at-the-corners and slightly-torn dust jacket featuring a drawing of a writing quill. The back cover tells us that this book is part of a series titled “Britain in Pictures,” which includes enticing titles such as “English Poets,” “English Women,” “English Villages,” “The Story of Scotland,” “English Children,” and many more. Inside the front cover, there is a handwritten name of a former owner of the book, apparently a military man with a military address, perhaps a soldier during World War II, taking some time to focus on something he loves – literature – in the midst of the horrors of war. The title page tells us this book was published by William Collins of London in 1942. It is also noted that the book includes “8 plates in colour” and “19 illustrations in black & white,” and indeed these plates and illustrations, scattered throughout the book, are charming. Bowen gives very brief histories of the authors, works, styles, and reputations of several writers, starting with Henry Fielding and continuing with such authors as Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, and Laurence Sterne. Then there are Fanny Burney, Jane Austen, William Thackeray, and Charles Dickens, who are followed by Sir Walter Scott, the Bronte sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Arnold Bennett and a few others. Bowen concludes with E.M. Forster and Virginia Woolf. She sets the context for each new generation of writers, is concisely informative about each author, and offers her own opinions about their works and their places in literary history. A couple of her opinions surprised me, such as her very guarded and hedged praise of George Eliot; Eliot is one of my favorites, but I did understand some of Bowen’s criticisms. In any case, I loved looking at, holding, leafing through and reading this brief but concentrated look at the development of the English novel and its best-known authors. Everything about it came together to make it a very appealing book. It will have a special place on my bookshelves.

"She Said" and "Catch and Kill" -- Two Investigations of Harvey Weinstein

I recently read, one right after the other, with great horror, anger, and sadness, the books “She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement” (Penguin, 2019), by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, and “Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators” (Little, Brown, 2019), by Ronan Farrow. Both were written by journalists, building on articles they had written for, respectively, The New York Times and The New Yorker. Both books focus mainly on the predatory producer Harvey Weinstein’s many years of manipulating and abusing young women, mostly those who aspired to be actresses and hoped he would be able to help them, but then were set upon by him and scarred forever by his behavior. Many of them gave up on their dreams, or kept the stories to themselves for years or decades, damaging their mental and emotional health. Others complained, but realized they had no chance to prove their cases, and ended by accepting settlements and signing contracts never to reveal anything about what Weinstein did to them. The books, especially Farrow’s, also deal with harassment and even rape by other powerful men such as the television news personality Matt Lauer. I thought I already knew a lot about these cases, but the books tell so much more about the great numbers of women affected, the strategies these men used, and the large numbers of their employees and others who enabled them to get away with these crimes for so many years. Weinstein in particular had a vast system and network of people who basically recruited women and brought them to him, and/or protected him. He spent huge amounts of money on organizations such as Black Cube, which gathered intelligence on the women, in order to smear their names if they went to the police or to news organizations. He made friends with other powerful people, and cultivated an image of a philanthropist. There was so much fear and, as with most women who are abused, a sense of hopelessness and even shame for “letting” it happen. But finally in the past few years, a few brave women have spoken out, which gave courage to other women to speak out as well. I enormously admire these women. I also admire the authors of these books, and others involved in the investigation and reporting that was done. They have made a difference, as have the #MeToo and the #TimesUp movements. There is a little sliver of hope associated with these revelations and these forward movements, but as with so many matters relating to the lives of women, and to the feminist fight for women’s rights and equity and safety and dignity, one cannot but feel an uneasy mixture of hope and discouragement. Such terrible damage has already been done, and unfortunately continues to be done.

"Unmarriageable," by Soniah Kamal

Jane Austen’s popularity seems unending (and I am just fine with that!). The tributes include -- along with films, associations, conferences, scholarly articles, merchandise, etc. -- spin-offs, sequels, prequels, and twists on Austen's six completed novels. Some of these are awful, but some of them are quite literary and/or just plain fun to read. A new “tribute” novel is “Unmarriageable” (Ballantine, 2019), by Soniah Kamal. This is a retelling, more or less, of “Pride and Prejudice,” but set in India in the year 2019. It is cleverly done and quite funny. The same gently mocking tone that Austen sometimes employs is found in this novel too. But a serious issue is also addressed. The book focuses on the same situation Austen focuses on: the need for women to get married to survive, as they (especially if they were/are from middle or upper class families) are not raised to, or allowed to, work for money. Although this situation is changing, there is still some of this attitude in India. Besides the economic factor, there is also a societal expectation that a woman will of course want to marry and have children. The Binat family, similar to the Bennet family in the Austen novel, consists of parents and five daughters. (Many of the names in “Unmarriageable” are Indian versions of those in “Pride and Prejudice.”) The two oldest daughters are teachers, a respectable job, but they are understood by their families and others to be teaching only until they marry. Part of the fun of the novel is the small twists on the original story, adapting to current times and to the Indian context. This novel is a charming, funny, and enjoyable tribute to Austen’s best-known and best-loved novel. (P.S. For Austen "followers" in the U.S., consider watching PBS Masterpiece's new presentation of "Sanditon," one of Austen's unfinished novels. The first episode airs tomorrow (Sunday, January 12, 2020).

"Dear Girls," by Ali Wong

Honest, raunchy, outrageous, feminist, fearless, relatable and very, very funny are among the adjectives that describe Ali Wong’s book, “Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life” (Random House, 2019). Framed as an extended letter to her two young daughters, it is actually a sort of memoir, with plenty of commentary mixed in. Wong is becoming an increasingly well-known comedian, with her television specials “Baby Cobra” and “Hard Knock Wife,” and actress, with the movie “Always Be My Maybe,” and of course with her live stand-up shows around the country. In this book, she writes of her loving but nontraditional (in some ways) Chinese/Vietnamese/American/San Franciscan family, of her education, her dating and sex life, her married life, her life on stage, her opinions about women’s lives, and much more. A frequent reaction of audiences, and now of readers is “Wow, you can’t say that! (but I am glad you did!)"; she has no fear of discussing body parts and processes, no matter how intimate, messy, or “forbidden-to-talk-about.” Wong is all about breaking barriers and taboos, but always in a way that seems natural and nonjudgmental. Another equally common reaction of readers is being touched by the love underlying so much of what Wong writes about. I of course love the San Francisco setting of Wong’s growing up years (although she now lives in Los Angeles, for career reasons). Wong is very good at exploring/explaining cultural/ethnic/class/gender differences, always with humor and (sometimes slightly, but only slightly, barbed) affection. It happens that she went to the same high school that my daughter did, and they knew each other fairly well there. My daughter has gone to some of Wong’s shows in local clubs, and attests that they are hilariously wonderful. I haven’t seen the shows, but I did see the movie “Always Be My Maybe,” which is funny, touching, and terrific...as is this book.