If Walls Could Talk by Lucy Worsley

When Dorothy clicked her heels and said "There's no place like home" she naturally meant her home.  Not the neighbours house across the field because a house is something all together different from a home.  We all eat, sleep, bathe and entertain in our homes but the way those activities are performed vary from post code to post code, family to family and person to person.  And who isn't curious about what goes on in other people's homes?  I remember being intrigued by the compost bucket that resided on the counter of a friend's house when I was ten years-old.  My family wasn't nearly as resourceful and usually, until you get to a certain age you think every family does things the same way your family does.

Lucy Worsley dishes on all sorts of activities that went on in the home from medieval time to fairly recently and the thought processes behind them.  While we may consider medieval citizens to be a bit on the whiffy side without heavily scented deodorants and body wash they had their standards. 

'There is an important social distinction between being afflicted by lice as opposed to fleas.  Fleas were almost unavoidable, everyone had them.  But to "be lowsie" was an indicator of poor personal hygiene.'

Origins of certain phrases are another fascinating subject and 'getting the wrong end of the stick' possibly came from a time when Romans would use a sponge on the end of a twig to clean their bottoms.  Moving right along past the time of putting children to good use by getting them to rip newspaper into strips for toilet paper, I learned that apparently North Americans are 'scrunchers' while Europeans folded.  Who knew?  The natural progression from toilet paper was to feminine hygiene products.  As a woman born in the 1960s I can attest to the continual improvements in this department.  It was more than a bit difficult to hide the fact someone in your house was menstruating in the seventies when a box of fifty napkins was so large they took up half of your closet.  These days a package of ninety fits in your lunch bag.  Actually, with Kotex now marketing their product in neon, young ladies no longer to 'have a little secret', instead they are supposed to shout about it from the shop aisles!

Moving right along into the area of food and spices, the saying "above the salt" comes from being seated according to status.  Since salt was kept in the middle of the table should you find yourself between the lord and master and the salt you were considered to be higher on the social ladder.  Imagine the sly grins as people glanced at the salt and their guests further down the table.  And if some Victorians were boiling their veggies for up to two hours to aid digestion as suggested by Dr Worsley then guests and family would be reaching for the salt just to give their food a bit of flavour.

Not only is it fascinating to learn how people lived throughout the ages but also how we see others through our own set of social mores.  While I would be hard pressed to recognize every single piece of formal cutlery on the market I couldn't help glancing at how my daughter's friends would hold their fork and knife when they stayed for dinner.  A clear sign as to how important table manners were in their own home.  I could be as sniffy as I liked but the truth is that if a barbequed chicken appeared on the table we are as capable as anyone of behaving like we're at a medieval feast..as long as no one is looking.

I soaked up every word, no dipping in and out for me, and highly recommend this delightful book as one of the most entertaining history lessons you will ever have.

A New Book or Five

A few books have been added to my shelves over the past couple of weeks...

If Walls Could Talk by Lucy Worsley - I've been on a bit of a non-fiction binge lately.  There is enough toilet talk in this historical read to keep a gaggle of eight year-old boys absolutely riveted...and me.  Straight talk about the hygiene habits and other behaviours of those who came before us has been keeping me up at night and making me awfully thankful for modern day plumbing, soap, deodorant and dentistry.  Who knew there was a difference in the way citizens regarded someone crawling with lice as opposed to someone full of fleas?  I will fill you in on all the details once I have finished the book.

Between the Acts & The Years by Virginia Woolf - Reading this post by Book Snob prompted a mental note to pick up a copy if I happened to stumble across one.  Good old Wordsworth Classics for publishing a lovely copy of not one but two stories together for an excellent price.  I have stood outside of Virginia's townhouse in Gordon Square, seen her bust in Tavistock Square, read Mrs Woolf & the Servants by Alison Light and skimmed some biographies but I have yet to read anything by Virginia herself.  Bit silly isn't it?

Beautiful for Ever by Helen Rappaport - Apparently 'Madame Rachel' (who was actually Sarah Levison from Whitechapel) lived in Victorian London having emerged from a state of poverty and all that that entails to become a highly sought after beautician in Mayfair.  She is also labelled on the front cover as a con-artist and blackmailer, two court trials provided enough evidence I suppose.  Madame Rachel and her exploits are referred to in Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and disguised as Lydia Gwilt in Wilkie Collins's Armadale so a bit of reference homework will pay off during future reads I am sure.  Thanks to Elaine from Random Jottings for tempting me with this post.

The Penguin Book of British Comic Stories edited by Patricia Craig - Some of these compilations are good and some are excellent, this one is tops.  The contents page of works by authors such as Richmal Crompton, P. G. Wodehouse, E. M. Delafield, Kingsley Amis, Elizabeth Bowen, Katherine Mansfield had my smile growing by leaps and bounds.  Talk about being in the right place at the right time as it was being discarded from the library stacks and has found a new home at my house.

Complete Short Stories by Elizabeth Taylor - It makes me laugh to think of how many times I used to turn my nose up at short stories.  Now I love them!  Some time last year I emailed Virago to ask about Taylor's short stories as they were publishing everything else in celebration of her centenary.  A lovely reply came letting me know that yes, a collection was definitely in the works and would be worth waiting for.  My preorder receipt had been hanging around in my email's 'In Box' for months and months so it was a bit like welcoming a baby when a massive parcel finally appeared in my mailbox.  And oh what a pretty cover.

During a trip to Toronto last Sunday I discovered a new second-hand shop with shelves chock full of books reaching at least 12 feet high and a sliding ladder.  The prices were a bit steep so I just had fun looking and left empty-handed, it's not like I'll be short of things to read and there is always a next time.