Vanessa & Virginia - Susan Sellers

Following on from the Woolf In Winter Read Along I am keen to keep reading Woolf's novels and any other Woolf related fiction, biography etc.. That's why I jumped at the chance to read the latest selection from The Not The TV Book Group's reading schedule - Vanessa & Virginia being discussed this weekend over at Other Stories.

Vanessa & Virginia is a fictional account of the lives of the sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf and it captures the period from their childhood up until adulthood and Virginia's death. I think having a vague understanding of knowledge of the background to the sister's lives was helpful in reading and enjoying this book but certainly not essential. I think the author has created a beautiful stand alone story of the lives of two sisters - loving companions but also rivals in their creative and personal lives. The fact that the story focuses on two such famous and interesting people is a bonus for me!

Susan Sellers' writing style and descriptions are divine - from the beginning of the story I was hooked and I had entered the world of the characters completely. I find this an amazing skill that some writers have - to make me care about what is happening within the story - to care about the outcome. I thought it was particularly clever in this situation when the story and the lives of the characters are so well known to many.

I could open any page of this novel and quote a beautiful, lyrical passage - I found the way the author paralleled her writing style with the creative pursuits of Vanessa and Virginia wonderful;

The frame of a window, blue paint blistering in the Mediterranean sun. I am arrested, dazzled by colour, the cascading searlet of a pot of hibiscus, the glaring whitewash of a wall. It is as if the colours, first separately, then collectively, strike a series of notes that sets up a resonating chord in me. I am impelled to paint it.

An amazing book in both content and structure and one that has only made me want to continue my Woolf reading even further.

The Girl With Glass Feet - Ali Shaw

When I saw that The Girl With Glass Feet was the second book in the Not The TV Book Group's reading schedule I quickly got online and ordered my copy from the UK. The description of the book sounded tantalising and both covers were gorgeous (I ended up choosing the cover pictured). Discussion about this book is taking place today over at Simon's Blog.

The Girl With Glass Feet refers to the main female character of the book, Ida MacLaird. A young woman from the mainland who, after a brief trip to the islands of St Hauda's Land and a chance encounter with a reclusive resident of the island finds that her feet are quite literally turning to glass - glass that is slowly but surely beginning to transform her whole body. Ida makes the trip back to the islands to seek a cure for the glass transformation and it is then that she meets Midas Crook - a man who has isolated himself quite effectively from almost all human contact apart from his widowed best friend and his young daughter.

I really, really wanted to like this book but (and I'm sure you can see where this is headed!) I really did not like it. I felt some of the writing was glorious and the concept of the story itself was whimsical and moving in so many ways but I am afraid I just did not connect with the main characters at all. Ida's and Midas's back stories were certainly fleshed out and described in a lot of detail but I felt that detail actually swamped the story that was taking place in present time to the point where it was hard to focus on the author's intent. I also felt there were too many characters jumping into the story at different times - I found it difficult to focus on what was important and what was window dressing.

Unfortunately this just wasn't the book for me at this time but I can definitely appreciate the imagination and thought that went into creating the story.