The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence is the eloquent story of a 90-year-old woman coming to terms with her life thus far and facing what happens next. Hagar Shipley is frail and dependent on her son and daughter-in-law but unlike many of the kindly “grandmothers” portrayed in fiction, she is stubborn, difficult and sometimes not very likable.

Through flashbacks Hagar tells her story of growing up the daughter of a stern, well-to-do merchant in the fictional town of Manawaka in western Canada. Hagar shows a rebellious streak when she marries Bramwell Shipley, a good dancer and handsome fellow, but one who isn’t quite from her same social class.

I think Hagar’s unflinching honesty as she recalls her life is part of what makes her character believable. For example, here are some of her thoughts on her husband: “Whatever anyone said of him, no one could deny he was a good-looking man. It’s not every man who can wear a beard. His suited him. He was a big-built man, and he carried himself so well. I could have been proud, going to town or church with him, if only he’d never open his mouth.”

Hagar has lived with her decisions and the consequences of her uncompromising attitude; however, now Hagar has to learn acceptance. She may be old and frail but Hagar still wants to be in control of her life even when her son and daughter-in-law have other thoughts. They want Hagar to go to a nursing home but she is adamant that that will be the death of her and so she plans an escape.

This is a novel that focuses on the internal. We have Hagar’s brooding thoughts and her rage at growing older and dependant on others. There are some passages that I found just heartbreaking. And, because of all of this I found Hagar a character with so much depth that you feel like you really know this woman.

I felt a very personal connection with this novel because I’ve seen some of Hagar in some of the women in my family. This novel makes you think about getting older and how each one of us will approach old age. Perhaps that’s why a lot of reviews on Amazon were unfavorable and said who cares about an old, hateful woman. Well, growing older may not be all sunshine and rainbows but shouldn’t we care about older members in our families? And what about when each one of us gets old? We are all going in that direction after all.

I found this to be an excellent book and with so much more to discuss than what I’ve written about. I highly recommend it and I also hope you’ll join in book discussion with the Slaves of Golconda over at the MetaxuCafe forum.

Before I show you my book finds I wanted to let Eva know that she won the ARC of Free For All and Julie got Immortal. Thank you so much for being interested in those books so just send me an email with your address and I’ll get those out this weekend. Hopefully I’ll have more ARCs to share – I guess I just need to read faster! ha,ha.

Now on to the book loot. Here’s a pic of the 26 books for $26!

There are quite a few Elizabeth George books so you are right to assume that I really enjoyed A Great Deliverance and now want to read more in the series. I need to post my review so stay tuned. I also found a few books in the Richard Jury series by Martha Grimes which I like.

I had to snatch up Up at the Villa as I remember Matt reviewed it a while back. Same thing for Witch Child which TY reviewed recently and Coraline which Stephanie reviewed a few days ago. My other major finds were Angelica, Everything Is Illuminated, The Glass Castle and One Good Turn — it seems I can never find those books on BookMooch or at Half Price Books.

Finally, I got a couple of other mysteries and fiction books which sounded good and had been on my radar. It was a great time at the book sale, but now I have to figure out where to put these books. Sigh.

Today has been a most wonderful bookish day. I started off my morning by going to an annual book sale hosted by a local PTA and walked away with a bag filled with books. The sale is going on through the weekend so I’m going to save my book finds post until I go back for another round of book shopping.

After lunch I hurried off to my bookbinding class where I spent most of the afternoon sewing the 25 signatures for my chunky book. I worked a bit on the spine and next week I get to work with leather for the covers. Woot!

The big event though was going to listen to Billy Collins speak at a local university campus. I know I’ve talked about how much I admire his poetry so finally getting to hear him read his poetry was really quite a thrill. He read poems from his latest book, The Trouble With Poetry, and had the audience laughing and nodding their heads at the wit and poignancy found in his words.

He read haikus, read poems about dogs, and even read a poem about the fanciful names of gated communities. Seriously, if you have never read any of his poems please do so. After the poetry reading I got in line with one of my favorite books, Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes, and got him to sign it for me. I was pretty star-struck so I think I only managed to say something about being thrilled to be there.

I’m off to wind down from my bookish high and so I leave you with a Collins poem to enjoy.

You know that parlor trick.
Wrap your arms around your own body
and from the back it looks like
someone is embracing you,
her hands grasping your shirt,
her fingernails teasing your neck.

From the front it is another story.
You never looked so alone,
your crossed elbows and screwy grin.
You could be waiting for a tailor
to fit you for a straitjacket,
one that would hold you really tight.

~ Embrace from Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes by Billy Collins