Words for Wednesday: The Women and The Rules of Civility

So sorry if the first title is misleading.  The book I read is not the same as the movie, The Women, which was released in 1939 and remade in 2008.  I must admit that when I bought the book I thought it was the one for the movie ( a story that has only female characters and deals with all sorts of drama) and was quite surprised at the book starting with a Japanese man driving to Wisconsin.

For having picked out the wrong book, I lucked out as it dealt with two extremely interesting topics: Frank Lloyd Wright and a "fictional yet based on truth" Japanese apprentice.  It actually focused on the many loves of Frank Lloyd Wright and how that love influenced his buildings and his philosophy.  It also focused on his love affair with Japan, which was great since I had recently become interested in this after seeing the Imperial Tokyo Hotel (recreated at an open air museum near Nagoya) and an apartment building built by his son/grandson (I forgot) that Nana lives in near Tokyo.  This meant that not only was the book filled with crazy drama (I had no idea he had been married so many times to such characters- or about the murder/massacre of his first mistress and several employees at his home in Wisconsin), but it also had a lot of stuff about Japan and Japanese that I didn't know.  For example, I learned from this book the phrase "Sumeba miyako," which, loosely translates to "Wherever you live you come to love," which perfectly sums up how I feel about Japan.

Anyway, I highly recommend the book.  It is looong but because each of the women Frank Lloyd Wright was involved with were so different, it feels like each part is a new story.

The other book I read while I was away from blogging was The Rules of Civility which is about a group of three friends whose lives are changed during the year of 1938.  Set in New York City you get the typical "30s" feel for cocktails and anything goes life as well as a lot of fresh takes on people in their late twenties trying to make something of themselves.  I especially related with the main character, Katy, or rather I greatly admired her.  She seemed to be living the life I had once dreamed of for myself, working at an up and coming magazine (similar to what I assume Vanity Fair must have been like at that time) and getting a glimpse of what life is like for the rich.

There is one scene where a man she has been seeing comes to her place for the first time and he goes about noticing and commenting on her choice of books as well as how they are arranged.  It is silly, but it is exactly the kind of scene my Jr high self imagined for my college self.  Anyway, the book doesn't seem to have anyone significant event but it is amazing to see how the friends change and come out in the end.  Another highly recommended read.