Reading the 20th Century discussion

Susan wrote: "A couple of other titles I want to read are: Spam Tomorrow and [book:Joining the Dots: ..."

They both sound great Susan! I may join in a buddy read of Spam (please and thank you!) depending on how my reading list is looking later in the year.

I see that 'Furrowed Middlebrow' are going to announce more titles, probably for a January release. Nice to have something to look forward to in January.

I've added it to our master list for November plus put it on the bookshelf - we can move it if necessary. We still need to set up the thread.

Many thanks, Nigeyb.

I’m in for Spam as well!

Excellent, Lynaia. It sounds like exactly the kind of book I like.

Spam, spam, spam... lovely spam, beautiful spam!

I still remember it from school dinners, Judy!

Yes, we had spam fritters - very greasy as far as I remember.

And mash. And cabbage...

Came across this for pre-order and thought it looked really interesting. Afraid it is not yet listed on Goodreads, so can't provide a link.

A History of Britain Through Books: 1900 - 1964 Kindle Edition
by Christopher Tugendhat

Christopher Tugendhat takes readers on a journey through Britain as told through seminal books of the twentieth century; from Lord of the Flies to A Room of One's Own, to Heart of Darkness. Exploring the experiences, attitudes and prejudices of the previous century and how they've shaped modern Britain, we gain a unique insight into the politics, social changes and psyche of a nation undergoing enormous transitions within itself and the world at large.

Susan wrote: "Came across this for pre-order and thought it looked really interesting. Afraid it is not yet listed on Goodreads, so can't provide a link.

A History of Britain Through Books: 1900 - 1964 Kindle Edition
by Christopher Tugendhat"

Sounds very interesting, Susan. I've read and enjoyed a few books along similar lines in the past - only problem is that I usually feel I need to read any of the books I haven't previously read for starters. But that's probably no bad thing.

I have a thing about books about books... I would add it, but I can never work out how to add a cover!

Susan wrote: "I have a thing about books about books... I would add it, but I can never work out how to add a cover!"

I'll add it, if you can give me a link.

EDIT: I've added the hardcover. I don't see a Kindle edition at amazon.uk, but it may be added later.

A History of Britain Through Books: 1900 - 1964

Oh, thanks, Elizabeth. I can add books, but tend to wait and see if they will just appear, magically, first.

Susan wrote: "Oh, thanks, Elizabeth. I can add books, but tend to wait and see if they will just appear, magically, first."

It's fine to add them. Yes, books are imported, but if you add them, the imports won't write over what you've done.

About a month ago, I saw a copy of Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols in a charity shop. I knew the library had a copy so I reserved it from there instead. Sadly, they had lost the book and the reservation was cancelled. I looked online and the cheapest copy I could find was £17. I passed the shop the other day and to my surprise, the book was still there. Score!

Tania wrote: "About a month ago, I saw a copy of Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols in a charity shop. I knew the library had a copy so I reserved it from there instead. Sadly, they had ..."

That was lucky, Tania - well done!

Thanks. I shall be starting this one soon.

This has definitely reached by TBR list:

Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and Her Oxford Circle Remade the World For Women

A group biography of renowned crime novelist Dorothy L. Sayers and the Oxford women who stood at the vanguard of equal rights.

In 1912, Dorothy L. Sayers and five friends founded a writing group at Somerville College, Oxford; they dubbed themselves the 'Mutual Admiration Society.' Brilliant, bold, serious, and funny, these women were also sheltered and chaperoned, barred from receiving degrees despite taking classes and passing exams. But things for women were changing - they gained the right to vote and more access to the job market. And in October 1920, members of the Mutual Admiration Society returned to Oxford to receive full degrees, among the first women to be awarded such honours.

Sayers and her classmates remained lifelong friends and collaborators as they battled for a truly democratic culture that acknowledged their equal humanity. They pushed boundaries in reproductive rights, sexual identity, queer family making, and representations of women in the arts - despite the casual cruelty of sexism that still limited women's choices. Historian Mo Moulton brings these six indomitable women to vivid life, as they navigate the complexities of adulthood, work, intimacy, and sex in Interwar England.

A celebration of feminism and female friendship, Mutual Admiration Society reveals how Sayers and the members of MAS reshaped the social order - and how, together, they fought their way into a new world for women.

I am trying to downsize my book collection so I shouldn't be posting too often here! However, one of my friends traded books with me this past weekend and I received White Rose, Black Forest by Eoin Dempsey.

A few months ago I accidentally discovered the 2nd largest used book store in my state. Of course, I had to check it out. I didn't plan on buying anything but left with 6 modern classics- all books I've been intending to read some day!

Ah, the number of books I intend to read some day, Pam. Such dangerous temptation!

I've received some lovely books as birthday presents - The Darksome Bounds of a Failing World: The Sinking of the “Titanic” and the End of the Edwardian Era by Gareth Russell, Letter from an Unknown Woman and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig, and Hag's Nook , the first Gideon Fell mystery by John Dickson Carr.

I was also given Big City Cat: My Life in Folk Rock by Steve Forbert - any other fans here? I loved his music back in the 1970s and have been rediscovering it recently. I was also given one of his albums, Flying at Night.

Happy Birthday, Judy!

Happy Birthday, Judy! Some great books there :)

Happy birthday 🥳 - those books sound fab

Thank you, Elizabeth, Susan and Nigeyb.

Happy birthday Judy! That’s a nice collection of books you received! I’ve never heard of Forbert but Big City Cats sounds good. I’ll have to look up the music, too. Enjoy!

Thank you, Pam - Alive on Arrival and Jackrabbit Slim are two classic Forbert albums if you want to give him a listen.

I enjoyed Hag's Nook.

Just saw this book mentioned on Sky News:

Missing: The Need for Closure After the Great War

In May 1918, Angela and Leopold Mond received a knock on the front door. It was the postman and he was delivering the letter every family in the United Kingdom dreaded: the notification of a loved one’s battlefield death, in their case the death in action of their eldest child, their son, Lieutenant Francis Mond.

The twenty-two year old Royal Flying Corps pilot, along with his Observer, Lieutenant Edgar Martyn, had been shot down over no man’s land, both being killed instantly. If there was one crumb of comfort, it was the news that a brave Australian officer, Lieutenant A.H. Hill, had gone out under fire and recovered both bodies: there would, at the very least, be a grave to visit after the war.

And then, nothing. No further news was forthcoming. Angela Mond wrote to the Imperial War Graves Commission asking for further details but there was confusion. No one knew where Mond's and Martyn’s bodies were buried. There had been an initial trail: both bodies had been taken to the village of Corbie and a lorry summoned to take them away, but from that last sighting both men had simply disappeared. ‘It seems incredible that all traces of the burial of two officers duly identified, should be lost,' wrote Angela to the authorities in December 1918.

And so began one of the most extraordinary private investigations undertaken in the aftermath of the Great War. Aged 48 and the mother of five children, Angela, a wealthy and well-connected socialite from London’s West End, embarked on an exhaustive personal quest to find her son, an investigation that took her to the battlefields and cemeteries of France and into correspondence with literally hundreds of French civilians and British and German servicemen. In the meantime, as she searched, she bought the ground on which her son’s plane had crashed and erected a private memorial to Francis, a memorial that still survives.

Angela’s quest for her son is reflective of the wider yearning amongst those who lost loved ones in the Great War: the absolute need find a form of solace through the resolution of a search. More than 750,000 servicemen and women had been killed, half of whom had no known grave. After the Great War there were families who hunted for their missing sons for a decade or more and when no body was recovered, back doors were forever left unlocked just in case that son should one day return. Lieutenant Francis Mond’s case was exceptional, perhaps unique in the circumstances of his death and subsequent disappearance, but the emotions behind the search for his body were shared by families all over the country.

Very relevant to today and certainly one I will pre-order.

Sounds very interesting - thanks Susan


And, as you say, most appropriate to Remembrance Sunday

Susan wrote: "Just saw this book mentioned on Sky News:

Missing: The Need for Closure After the Great War

In May 1918, Angela and Leopold Mond received a knock on the front door. It was the po..."

This author has quite a few titles about The Great War. He bears further looking at. Thanks!

Susan wrote: "Just saw this book mentioned on Sky News:

Missing: The Need for Closure After the Great War

In May 1918, Angela and Leopold Mond received a knock on the front door. It was the po..."

Sounds good. And she was luckier than the other "missing" families - prominence and connections that they didn't have.

Here is GR's author page: Richard van Emden. Susan, I see several that, had I not learned of him from you, I would think would be of interest to you. Here are a couple I hope to find time for:

Meeting the Enemy: The Human Face of the Great War
Sapper Martin: The Secret Great War Diary of Jack Martin

I won an ARC of The Seine: The River that Made Paris from Goodreads Giveaway. I haven't started it yet.

Judy wrote: "I've received some lovely books as birthday presents -.I was also given Big City Cat: My Life in Folk Rock Big City Cat My Life in Folk Rock by Steve Forbert by Steve Forbert - any other fans here?"

I liked Forbert's music but never bought an album so I can't say I'm a fan. He was stuck with the overused label "the next Bob Dylan" when he came out with his first albums and the hit single "Romeo's Tune." While he, and others, did not live up to that label, he still managed to carve out a low-key career anyway. The Sirius Radio station The LOFT used to play a song of his every so often when I listened to the station before it went online only in 2018. I did hear a song of his on Sirius Channel DEEP TRACKS a few weeks ago. I've enjoyed any of his songs they played but I guess not enough to purchase a CD.

I listened to Romeo’s Tune and did recognize it but I think that’s the only song by that artist that I know. That wasn’t my kind of music in high school.

I picked up a book yesterday for my husband. I have no idea if it’s any good! It’s titled Across the Brazos by Ermal Williamson (John Wayne’s body double). This book is the first in a series that is a sequel to William Dale Jennings’ book The Cowboys (which was made into a movie starring John Wayne, of course). My husband loves those movies so I took a chance on the book. The author was selling the books so I got it autographed and took a pic with him. He does look very similar to John Wayne!

Brian wrote: "I liked Forbert's music but never bought an album so I can't say I'm a fan. He was stuck with the overused label "the next Bob Dylan"..."

Yes, Springsteen and several others got lumbered with that too -

https://www.theawl.com/2012/03/the-me...

Loudon Wainwright wrote a song about the curse of being labelled the new Bob Dylan...

Did you get any good books for Xmas?

I received a lovely large paperback of our forthcoming read Lusitania: Triumph, Tragedy, and the End of the Edwardian Age by Greg King and Penny Wilson.

Not as such, but Santa (in the guise of my hubby) brought a lovely, new Kindle Oasis, which is very smart indeed. It has 'warm' light in the evening, which I think of as the kindle equivalent of heated car seats :)

I bought myself a Xmas present of forty-five books of the most current titles I have been craving.

Excellent, David! A man after my own heart :)

I didn't get any for Christmas so I bought myself a couple - The Giver of Stars - Amazon gave me a $5 credit on it - and How to Read the Constitution--and Why and The Night Fire.

I got a few for Christmas, The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables, The Best of Everything, and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne.

With some Christmas money I bought, The Husband Hunters, A Very Great Profession, Among the Bohemians, and Fadeaway.

(Sorry, can’t do links on my phone!)

I thought A Very Great Profession was really interesting, Bronwyn - hope you enjoy it. A great batch of books there.

Good to hear, Judy. Thanks! :)

My Christmas gifts from my sister hadn’t shown up by Christmas (one still hasn’t; she’s getting annoyed), but yesterday she gave me Poison Penmanship by Jessica Mitford. I’m really looking forward to it!