Reading the 20th Century discussion

The Catch - Mick Herron's new novella - was released today. Have a busy day today, and parents evening to get through, so will probably read it at the weekend. A new Mick Herron is always worth waiting for!

Ooh - thanks Susan


First I've heard of it

Hope you enjoy it, Nigeyb. I will post on the Mick Herron thread when I get to it.

My well-loved (apparently) copy of Friends and Relations arrived today.

Good to hear, Elizabeth.

I've just splashed out...


49 pence

.....on the Complete Works of Arnold Bennett - all 11,116 pages of it.

Thanks goodness for kindle eh?

Anyway, it all means I can get cracking with Riceyman Steps, a buddy read in March.

Happy days.



Novels:
A Man from the North
The Grand Babylon Hotel
Anna of the Five Towns
Leonora
A Great Man
Teresa of Watling Street
Sacred and Profane Love
Hugo
The Ghost- A Modern Fantasy
The City of Pleasure: A Fantasia on Modern Themes
Buried Alive
The Old Wives' Tale
Clayhanger
Denry the Audacious
Helen with the High Hand
The Card
Hilda Lessways
The Plain Man and His Wife
The Regent: A Five Towns Story of Adventure in London
The Price of Love
From the log of the Velsa
These Twain
The Pretty Lady
The Roll-Call
The Lion's Share
Mr.Prohack
Lilian
Riceyman Steps
Elsie and the Child
The Strange Vanguard
Accident
Imperial Palace

Short Stories Collections:
Tales of the Five Towns
The Grim Smile of the Five Towns
The Matador of the Five Towns
The Woman who Stole Everything and Other Stories
The Loot of Cities
Mr. Penfound's Two Burglars
Midnight at the Grand Babylon
The Police Station
The Adventure of the Prima Donna
The Episode in Room 222
Saturday to Monday
A Dinner at the Louvre
Plays:
What the Public Wants
The Honeymoon
The Great Adventure
The Title
Judith

Non-Fiction:
The Truth about an Author
How to Become an Author
The Reasonable Life
Literary Taste: How to Form It
How to Live on 24 Hours a Day
The Feast of St. Friend: A Christmas Book
Mental Efficiency
Those United States
Friendship and Happiness
Paris Nights and Other Impressions of Places and People
The Author's Craft
Over There: War Scenes on the Western Front
Books and Persons: Selections from The New Age 1908-1911
Self and Self-Management
Things That Have Interested Me
The Human Machine

Nigeyb wrote: "I've just splashed out...


49 pence

.....on the Complete Works of Arnold Bennett - all 11,116 pages of it.

Thanks goodness for kindle eh?

Anyway, it all means I can get crack..."

$1.99 here, but still a good buy and thanks for the reminder about these. I have several others of the Delphi Classics collections.

My pleasure Elizabeth. I hope I like Arnold Bennett, as I now own his entire output, and I hope you do too having also splashed a couple of bucks on it

We read his The Grand Babylon Hotel, which I think was not typical, even though I enjoyed it. I’ve also read his The Old Wives' Tale. I have a couple of others on my wish list, which, now that I have this, am more likely to get to.

Nigeyb wrote: "I've just splashed out...


49 pence

.....on the Complete Works of Arnold Bennett - all 11,116 pages of it.

Thanks goodness for kindle eh?

Anyway, it all means I can get crack..."

Those kindle collections are brilliant aren't they. I bought a crime collection and I think it has about 200 stories in it!

No actually 560! British Mystery Classics - Ultimate Collection: 560+ Detective Novels, Thrillers & True Crime Stories: Complete Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Four Just ... Cases, Max Carrados Stories and many more

I've also got the complete Dickens, Gaskell, Trollope and others. I know I could get them free online, but having them on Kindle is really convenient.

Wow, that's another bargain Sue.

I picked up several at the library today: The Complete Maus, The Girl Who Lived Twice (the latest Lisbeth Salander novel), and The Book of Science and Antiquities by Thomas Keneally (I have several of his books but this is a new one that caught my eye, both the title and the cover), plus a few others. Way more books than I can read in 3 weeks but I'll get through 1 or 2.

Some new books out on my reading radar, when I clear my 'has to be read really right now,' list are:

Victory in the Kitchen: The Life of Churchill's Cook

Dressed for War: The Story of Audrey Withers, Vogue Editor Extraordinaire from the Blitz to the Swinging Sixties

Dressed for a Dance in the Snow: Women's Voices from the Gulag

The women from the gulag book looks interesting - I'll have to check it out.

Susan wrote: "Some new books out on my reading radar, when I clear my 'has to be read really right now,' list are:

Victory in the Kitchen: The Life of Churchill's Cook [bookcover:Victory in the ..."

Susan a podcast on this book came up on my feed this morning. I haven't listened to it but thought you might be interested. It's the Spectator Books podcast and it's an interview with the author.
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2020/02...

Thanks, Sue. I will certainly have a listen.

I went to a local book exchange today and picked up Riceyman Steps! Now I shall be able to join in with the buddy read.

Tania wrote: "I went to a local book exchange today and picked up Riceyman Steps! Now I shall be able to join in with the buddy read."

Yay! Looking forward to it.

Thanks. I also picked up a copy of Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann having enjoyed Invitation to the Waltz which I read with this group.

Two recent books I picked up - Eugene V. Debs: A Graphic Biography and Shakespeare and Company by Sylvia Beach.

I fell into a Kindle deals trap recently. Picked up Have You Seen Luis Velez?, which was a recommendation from my real life book club. I think not usually my type of read, but it looks/sounds good anyway. Also have been wanting to try something by Miriam Toews. Her Women Talking wasn't a title I had expected to be my first, but there it was, and one I expect to like.

Who knows, of course, when I'll get to either one.

Just noticed there is a new book on pre-order by John Preston (A Very English Scandal ) Fall: The Last Days of Robert Maxwell
The book is linked to the wrong author on Goodreads, but I'm not sure how to fix that...

Also on my reading radar - some old and some new:

The Health of Strangers

The Truants

Hamnet

The Postscript Murders: chilling read for winter nights from the bestselling author of The Stranger Diaries

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

Susan wrote: "Just noticed there is a new book on pre-order by John Preston (A Very English Scandal ) Fall: The Last Days of Robert Maxwell [bookcover:Fall: The Last Days of Robert Maxwell|483440..."
I just used my librarian status to fix that one, but it may take a while for the author page caching to catch up.

I've fixed the Preston error Susan - looks good doesn't it?


Have you bought Fall: The Last Days of Robert Maxwell?

Snap Hugh

There was also a second record attributed to the wrong Preston - I've corrected that one too and combined it with the other edition, so all should be well now

Oh, thanks for fixing the error, Hugh and Nigeyb. Yes, I have pre-ordered the Last Days of Robert Maxwell. I enjoyed not only A Very English Scandal, but also The Dig, which was an earlier novel.

I have also been approved for The Group by Lara Feigel who wrote The Love-charm of Bombs: Restless Lives in the Second World War - too many books, too little time...

I picked up A Scots Quair, A Trilogy including Sunset Song, Cloud Howe, Grey Granite by Lewis Grassic Gibbon this morning from a Kindle deal. I'd had the first in the series on my wish list.

too many books, too little time... This!

Susan wrote: "I have also been approved for The Group by Lara Feigel ..."

I'll be interested to hear what you think, Susan. I see this is inspired by The Group by Mary McCarthy, which I remember as a great book.

Yes, a more modern take, apparently. I also liked The Group by Mary McCarthy, so I am looking forward to it. I think it's her first novel, although she has written other non-fiction books.

So I fell into one of those Amazon traps - buy $20 and get a $5 credit. I knew I was going to buy the Celia Fremlin for June, so I poked around. Nigeyb - you'll no doubt like the dominance of Simenon.

Uncle Paul
The Madman of Bergerac
The Blue Room
The Mahé Circle

A good haul

A bonanza at the mail box today. Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Bowen. (The Death of the Heart, The Last September, Elizabeth Bowen, an Estimation)

Ha, that's set you up nicely for the next few months, Elizabeth!

Yes it has. I need to finish my plans through the end of May, and then I'll be on the two novels.

Excellent, Elizabeth. Nothing like new books to put a smile on your face :)

Having missed my football I came across this:

The 1966 World Cup Final: Minute by Minute

I have enjoyed other books in the Minute by Minute series. Don't suppose anyone fancies a buddy read at some point? A little football talk might be fun, I thought...

For awhile back a few months ago, I was ordering books often enough I came to call this day of the week "Book Tuesday". It's been awhile since I've had a Book Tuesday, so was glad today to get our two September art subject book: Life Class and The Portrait.

That's good, Elizabeth. Life Class is currently 99p in the UK, if anyone is thinking of joining in with the September group read.

Thanks Susan, since the libraries are open again (phew), I have ordered this one in.

Yesterday, I bought Diana Mosley
by Anne de Courcy. It was £1.50 and looks as though it's been signed by the author. I have missed browsing the charity shops, you never know what you might find in them.

Susan wrote: "That's good, Elizabeth. Life Class is currently 99p in the UK, ..."

Still $11.99 in the US on Kindle.

So, I just got an email about new books out from The Spectator and that has led me to buy an intriguing book A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar
I don't know the author, but the book they mentioned was By Force Alone which also looks good. Does anyone know this author?

I've heard of Lavie Tidhar but haven't read him - so am interested in what you think, Susan.

I recently picked up The Tomorrow People by Judith Merril and The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead on Kindle recently.

I came across this, which looks fun: Rule Britannia

Ernest Drabble, a Cambridge historian and mountaineer, travels to rural Devon to inspect the decapitated head of Oliver Cromwell - a macabre artefact owned by Dr Wilkinson. Drabble only tells one person of his plans - Harris, an old school friend and press reporter.

On the train to Devon, Drabble narrowly avoids being murdered, only to reach his destination and find Dr Wilkinson has been killed. Gripped in Wilkinson's hand is a telegram from Winston Churchill instructing him to bring the head of Oliver Cromwell to London.

Drabble has unwittingly become embroiled in a pro-Nazi conspiracy headed by a high-status Conservative member of the British government.

And so, Drabble teams up with Wilkinson's secretary, Kate Honeyand, to find the head and rescue Harris who is being tortured for information...

Has anyone read it?

Today I picked up my first library book since the reopening of the libraries. Nigeyb, I think you'll be pleased to know it was The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton. It's very exciting to have access to library books again.

Wonderful choice Tania - I hope you love it as much as I did


My library is opening on 12 August and, as you can imagine, the skies are black with hats in the air

Nigeyb wrote: " as you can imagine, the skies are black with hats in the air"

What a great description of joy!

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Nigeyb wrote: " as you can imagine, the skies are black with hats in the air"

What a great description of joy!"

Yes, your turn of phrase is quite Wodehouse-esque, Nigeyb!