Smiling panic

The theory is that instead of reading or crocheting (neither of which I’ve done much of this week) I’ve been cleaning and listening to podcasts (the latter has certainly been happening…).

So the second frog is finished, and my room does not feel ready for Bedikas Chametz…

102. China Court by Rumer Godden

I did finish listening to China Court on Forgotten Classics, and got quite into it with large chunks together. I do like being (well) read to, and Julie’s selections are always interesting. She is proactive about trying to deal with copyright issues, and actually got permission from Rumer Godden’s estate to podcast this novel, which I hadn’t come across before. I have read and enjoyed several (although nowhere near all) of Godden’s books, and am appreciating the variety of her writing more and more.

This book has the capacity to be very confusing, as it interweaves the stories of several generations of the same family and household, where the house itself is the most important common factor. Julie well picks up Godden’s skillful differentiation of the voices involved, and listening to (or I assume reading) chunks of this together also helps to keep it all together. China Court, while passed down the paternal line through the generations is always shown as the domain of one or more strong women, many of whom come in as wives, so bringing in new family values. In fact the place is shown as far less important to the married daughters than to those who come to it without having been born there.

It looks like the book is out of print, but I’ll keep my eye out for my own copy.

I amn’t sure what Julie is doing as her next book, but I strongly recommend her podcast for the future, as well as going back to the China Court episodes.

Tags: books, China Court, Forgotten Classics, Mr Frog, Passover, Pesach, podcasts, Rumer Godden