Bookish Thoughts

I'm still enjoying the Poldark novels, though it's been an adjustment switching the focus to the next generation. Still, the shift has highlighted the idea that the more things change the more they stay the same.  Ross and Demelza's kids go through a lot of the same things Ross and Demelza went through: new love and broken hearts, a taste for adventure and having to deal with the consequences, even opening a new mine and handling all the finances. But there are differences too. Clowance has opportunities Demelza never dreamed of and Jeremy has access to technology that still makes his father uncomfortable. Time keeps marching forward.  These books remain comforting. It's fun to go hang out in Cornwall for a few days. I'm starting to get sad that I'm getting so close to the end of the series.

With this book, Winston Graham jumps forward in time ten years and shifts the focus to the next generation. I wasn't expecting it, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Ross and Demelza and the rest are all still in the books, but the bulk of them is about their kids. In a way I'm happy because I like Ross and Demelza and the lack of stories about them means that they're basically happy. There isn't that much drama in their life. But I also care a lot more about them than I do about their kids. It might just take a few books for me to be as interested in Jeremy and Clowance. Hopefully I'll get there, though.

The Poldark series remains a lovely form of escapism. I'm far enough into this series that I care deeply about (almost) all of the characters. Graham's prose is comfortable and comforting to sink back in to. And I'm invested in seeing what happens.   So this book has Drake and Morwenna finally (finally!) getting together, which is huge. I've been waiting for that forever.   But it also has us saying goodbye to Elizabeth. She was an increasingly complicated woman, and my feelings about her waxed and waned. Sometimes I was really rooting for her and other times and I hated her choices. But I was fascinated by her throughout the series, and I'm sad to see her go. It didn't help that her death scene was particularly difficult to read, seeing as I was sitting at my own husband's deathbed at the time.

I think Graham is getting better at titles as he goes. This one actually worked with the book, the four swans being the four main women whose lives are in upheaval: Demelza, Elizabeth, Caroline, and Morwenna. Actually, Caroline is barely in this book, which is a shame. Her story takes place mostly on the fringes, but it ends in a place that has me very excited for the next part of her life. Demelza and Ross once again find themselves looking outside their marriage for comfort and companionship. But it's almost boring at this point. The two of them are so solid that I can't imagine what it would take to break them up. So Demelza's whole affair with Hugh never seems that serious or threatening. But I really loved getting more of Morwenna's story. And even though it doesn't really end with her in a better place than where she started, I absolutely loved the addition of her sister, Rowella. Rowella reminded me of the main character in Alias Grace . She's so good at ...

I just love these characters so much at this point. Graham has a real gift for creating a huge cast of incredibly human characters, for exploring all the ways they clash against each other. His stories contain a good balance of joy and sorrow, of things going right and things going wrong. It makes for compelling reading, as I'm never entirely sure what's going to happen. Basically, it's the best that slice-of-life storytelling has to offer. This book introduces two of Demelza's brothers. One of them, Drake, falls in love with Elizabeth's cousin Morwenna, who is her son's governess. The relationship between the two of them is incredibly sweet, and I was rooting for them so hard. I'm still rooting for them. But because of the feud between the two families, not to mention their different class standings, the relationship is doomed from the start, and the whole story is just one of heartbreak. Even though Morwenna ends the book married to someone else, I'm s...

I'm now a third of the way through this series, though for twenty years, this was the last book in the series. It works as an ending, mostly because things are actually looking up when this book ends. Everyone is settled, more or less. Ross and Demelza are finally making money, Dwight is finally engaged to a woman he can be with, Ross and Elizabeth seem to have broken off for good now that she's married to his greatest enemy. It's a good ending. Somewhere along the way I really came to care about these characters. That happens when you're this deep in a series. Either you want to know about the people you're reading about or you stop reading. And I find myself wanting to know what happens next (even as I want them all to just stay happy for a while). Graham's style finally works for me, and I'm not sure if he's improved or finally worked things out with his editor (who cut nearly 200 pages out of the first two books) or if I'm just getting more fam...

This is the third book in the Poldark series, which I'm warming up to. I find myself caring more and more about the characters, wanting things to go well for Demelza and Ross for once, wondering what will happen to Warleggan, hoping that the new mining venture will succeed. But, man, he needs to work on a better naming scheme. Jeremy didn't arrive until the last six pages of the book (though I suppose Demelza's pregnancy was confirmed halfway through). I know some of what's coming in the next few books, and I'm not sure really sure how it will go. I'm bracing myself for a few things and wondering how or if certain characters will be redeemed. But like I said, I care about the characters now. I'm committed, at least for the next book. Maybe Dwight Enys will finally fall in love with a woman he can be with. Mostly, though, I just want good things for Demelza, who really deserves everything Ross can give her and more.

For a few days after I finished this book, I was surprised that I wasn't still reading it. Part of my brain was still living in Cornwall in the 1790s. Which I suppose speaks to how engrossing the book actually was and my desire to find out what happens next to Ross, Demelza, Verity, Elizabeth and all the rest. This isn't my usual fare, but it's definitely growing on me. I appreciated Graham's prose in this book more than the first one, which I think speaks more to my frame of mind than the writing itself. In the last few weeks, I've been feeling my brain turn back on and I'm starting to appreciate more complicated writing again instead of just gorging on lighter, fluffy stuff. This book requires a bit more attention than I was initially expecting, but it rewards it. That said, I still struggled with the crowd scenes - Graham tends to jump around a room and require his reader to follow three or four distinct conversations at once. I'm also having a hard tim...

Back in April a friend of mine gifted me this entire twelve book series. I enjoy historical fiction, but the truth is that I don't read a ton of it. And this series, about a Redcoat who returns home from the Revolutionary War to discover his fiance thought him dead and is marrying his cousin, is not exactly in my wheelhouse. So it sat on my shelf while I wavered back and forth between reading it and taking the entire series to the local used book store. But, as long as my to-read list is, I just can't pass up a free book. Especially when it's already sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. So I finally picked up the first one, telling myself that I was in no way committing to reading the whole series. It actually took me a while to get in to this book. The style is a little obtuse, the characters' dialects can be difficult to parse, and it switches between characters more than I was prepared for. But I ended up liking that the focus was as much on Ross Poldark's...