Retro Reads discussion
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A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep
Non Fiction Group Reads
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Jan 25th 2021 Group Read A Time to Dance No Time to Weep Part 1 Prologue-Calcutta Dust
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I'm in, but will take a week or so to get to it. It's a first read for me as well.
, reading this edition.
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, reading this edition."No worries Carolien!
I'm usually a very slow nonfiction reader!
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That Catholic school! My word.
& RG does write about her own Greengage Summer.
I forgot we were starting, but this is perfect timing!
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Isn't it? I'm not much of a non fiction reader, but this book is already more gripping than the fiction book I'm reading!
The two years she spent with Mona Swann, who taught her what it meant to be a writer and gave her all the tools to be an excellent one must have been an amazing boon to Godden. "If you are a writer and you have work to deliver, you don't go to bed until it's done" - what it means to a youngster to be treated with such respect! She was "inches taller" after that remark, and that kind of treatment taught her the responsibility to herself that she really needed.
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Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "RG & Jon both show very independent spirits from a very early age. For example, RG backs out of an engagement to a very nice man who adores her & seems to have plenty of money."And she backs out not because she has something better to do or someone she prefers to him, but just because he's not what she wants. For all of her immaturity, she does have a well of understanding that's pretty deep!
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She certainly knows what she wants!
I think that what I meant was more inexperience about "real life" than immaturity. As she says, she knew no men or boys, and that often translates to a mess; her frame of reference for marriage was extremely narrow. But, although she might not have known what she did want, she was able to figure out what she didn't! That probably is a sign of maturity - or at least obstinacy (I may have been thinking personally there :)Any good autobiography ought to stir up memories, I think, regardless of their era. Godden was about my grandmother's age, but she somehow makes me think of my own past. When I think of the music and art and dance that she experienced, I wonder why my own was so different. We moved pretty much constantly, but her life was also interrupted quite a bit (I wonder if Teresa's {Kingfisher} longing for a permanent home came from her own self or a sibling's, maybe?). I wonder if, in the U.S., culture only happened in the cities? As the West was settled, opera houses and grange halls were built in the new lands, but now they're mostly relics of the 19th century. When I was growing up in many areas of rural America, I knew no one who took dance lessons and very, very few (I can only think of one) who even studied piano, let alone another instrument. The last 50 years have seen a resurgence (both my daughters teach ballet), but the first 2/3 of the 20th century was singularly lacking in "the arts". That would make an interesting study for someone interested in human nature and the cycles of behavior!
I just read an interesting article from the Irish Times that has quotes from Rumer’s daughter Jane Murray-Flutter. I stumbled across it while looking for images of Rumer’s “Wellingtonian” nose. I don’t know how to link an article to a Goodread post, I wish I did. I find this to be one of the least user-friendly, counter-intuitive sites, which is particularly annoying as many of us are of an age where we were not born with computers, tablets, & smart phones in our hands. I wish Apple would have an easy way to do it as they do with Twitter, etc.
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Is this it?
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo...
Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Kim wrote: "I just read an interesting article from the Irish Times that has quotes from Rumer’s daughter Jane Murray-Flutter. I stumbled across it while looking for images of Rumer’s “Wellingtonia..."Wow! That would have been a festival I'd actually have loved to attend!
Thanks for the article, Kim and Carol!I love the part where she tells how they went about on elephants at camp.
Retro Reads
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A Time To Dance, No Time To Weep (other topics)A Time To Dance, No Time To Weep (other topics)
The chapters didn't have chapter numbers, so I have followed Ms Godden's lead!
Since this is non fiction, I'm not doing a spoiler thread. I would just ask that you don't discuss events that happen in the second half of the book in this thread, please.
This will be my first time reading this book. I can't show the cover just yet as Goodreads was being glitchy for me when I tried to add it.