Read-athon Update: Dancing for Degas

As I mentioned in my start-up post, I had no intention of reading for 24 hours straight, but my goal was to read throughout the day and try to rekindle a love of reading fiction.  So far, the event has been a success.

Since my last update, I have read another 229 pages in about 2.5 hours.  I am re-reading Dancing for Degas by Kathryn Wagner, a book that I reviewed here.  However, I wanted to re-read the book in light of the upcoming NaNoWriMo event.  The protagonist, Alexandrie, is striving to become a star dancer in the Paris Ballet.  She is noticed by Edward Degas and he hires her as a model.  His pastel paintings of her are so successful that they begin to spend more time together, which she hopes will lead to a romantic relationship and then marriage.

As in the other book I read, The Painted Girls, these ballerinas often come from poor homes whose families are relying on their wages to help make ends meet.  Since ballerinas are paid so little, these girls supplement their income by becoming mistresses of the wealthy patrons.  It is indeed a Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde society where the ballerinas are viewed as angelic royalty while on stage, but reveal a dark, immoral character post-performance.

I hope to finish the book before going to bed this evening, although I am not sure that I will write a summary read-athon post.  It has been a glorious day of reading however, and reconnecting with fiction, and rekindling a love for an old passion.  Thank you, Dewey, and all those who have made this event possible.  I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to participate, and I look forward to spring, 2014.

Read-athon Update: The Painted Girls

I have completed my first book in the read-athon!!  Of course it helped that I  started the book about three weeks ago and read about a third of it prior to this morning.... but I still read about 210 pages in about 2.5 hours.

The book I read was The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan.  I selected the book because it is historical fiction that takes place in the same time period as my upcoming NaNoWriMo piece.  I was hoping to glean additional insight into the time period as well as the characters to help me flesh out my own story.

Original Wax Statue
National Gallery in DC

The book focuses on the Van Goethem sisters, Antoinette, Marie, and Charlotte: Marie being the model for the well-known Degas sculpture, Little Dancer at age fourteen.  The book is written in the alternate voices of the older sister Antoinette and the middle sister Marie.  While all three girls were a part of the Paris Ballet, Antoinette was eventually asked to leave, which left her with few career options:  a life of laundress, like her alcoholic mother, or a life of prostitution.  She experiments with both and at one point is imprisoned for stealing money from one of her "clients"

Marie remains in the ballet corps for a longer period of time, finding a patron willing to supplement her meager earnings for modeling favors.  Marie has talent and a future in the ballet, but in this fictional narrative she makes an emotional decision that causes her undo stress.  Eventually she is also fired from the corps because she is absent from too many rehearsals.

The younger sister Charlotte is the one with the most promise and she does eventually go on to succeed as a prima ballerina and then instructor with the ballet.

I enjoyed the book from a historical perspective.  The author gave me insight into the everyday life of the lower class.  I enjoyed how she weaved two non-fiction stories into one that created romance, suspense, and conflict.  She did a nice job of developing two different narrative voices:  Antoinette is not as well-educated and a bit more bold and hardened by life; Marie is smarter, wiser and more compassionate.

The book is true to the time period, I believe, and because these ballerinas came from the seedy side of town, there are a few graphic scenes that would make this book geared to adults rather than teens, in my humble estimation.

All in all, I would rate the book 3 out of 5 stars and am quite appreciative of the writing talent and detailed research that the author provides her readers.

Read-athon: Hour 1

I was very late in signing up for this bi-annual event.... literally the 11th hour, but last minute plans had me return to town a day early and I figured "why not?!"

I will not read for 24 hours, I know that going in, but I if I can read for about 4-6 hours today that is about five more hours than I have read in a single day in months.  I am hoping that this is what will finally jumpstart me into a reading routine again.

The opening meme asks us to answer a few questions:

1.  What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
I hail from the "Heartland of America" -- a suburb of Kansas City.

2.  Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
I do not have a photograph of my stack, but it contains several books in a variety of genres.  There are two fictional stories that I would like to read in preparation for NaNoWriMo, The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan, and Dancing for Degas by Kathryn Wagner.  I would also love to make some headway in the 2nd Harry Potter book, The Chamber of Secrets.

I just returned from a HUGE used book sale (which I will write about in the Sunday Salon tomorrow) and I bought several books on writing that I will probably peruse, and a number of books on poetry that I hope will help me overcome my fear of the genre.

3.  Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Well, since I didn't decide to join until late last night, I have no special snacks in the house.  That is fine though... I have some pita chips and hummus, which is a favorite go-to snack for me, and this evening I will relax with a glass of chardonnay.

4.  Tell us a little something about yourself:
I am a semi-retired teacher at a small private school.  I have cut my schedule WAY back this year (I only teach Brit Lit and English Comp on Tuesdays and Thursday) in the hopes that I will increase my devotion to writing.  I love to travel and I am interested in photography with the hopes of pairing pictures with words to create compelling essays of my travel experiences.

5.  If you participated in a past read-athon, what is one thing you will do differently today?
I have participated in past read-athons, but the last time was probably in 2010.  I really do not have a strategy, except that I am not going to sweat the details.  I will read today, and that is the point.  I am not going to focus on number of pages read, number of hours read, number of posts written... that will detract me from the pure pleasure of uninterrupted reading... something that I desperately need and want to do.

Ok - so one hour into the read-athon and I have yet to read.  So I am going to pour myself a cup of coffee, head to the nook, and escape into a book.

I wish all of you participating in this event, wonderful reading time... and those who are not, a fantastic fall Saturday.