Reading the 20th Century discussion

I have recently thought I might like to try Anne. For all I want to read, though, I'll need my life expectancy extended.

:)) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall feels shockingly modern given its date of publication.

That is the one I thought I'd try. There was a note on one of the editions that most published copies omit the first few pages so I went to archive.org to read it.

https://archive.org/details/tenantofw...

Too bad this reproach and background to the novel gets censored. I still haven't read the novel, but I would think this knowledge would give the reader an entirely different mindset.

How peculiar to have cut out that framing device! It's definitely there in my old Penguin and I hadn't realised that it got omitted.

Interestingly, I looked at the 2nd, not the 1st, entry at archive.org. That edition did not have the letter. I don't have a copy of the book at this time, but I'll make sure I read those first pages whether or not the copy I get has them or not.

Wuthering Heights is quite shocking, even read now. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is my personal fave, written by the more neglected,by comparison, Anne Brontë.

Roman Clodia wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Loving Jane Eyre might not necessarily be the right criteria for loving Sargasso Sea - it's deconstructive of the dynamics that underpin Eyre. I've just read that Rhys was inspired to start writing her book because she was incensed by Eyre's treatment of the 'madwoman in the attic'..."

I agree, although I do love Jane Eyre and liked Wide Sargasso Sea. It's a novel in its own right which as I said goes off in a different direction - "deconstructive of the dynamics" is a perfect description, from what I remember.

Pushkin Press emailed about a new title. The Decagon House Murders

There are old editions, I think, but it sounds great. Anyone up for a buddy read?

A classic Japanese murder mystery inspired by the golden age of British crimewriting

'A brilliant and richly atmospheric puzzle... a jaw-dropping but logical reveal' Publishers Weekly

The lonely, rockbound island of Tsunojima is notorious as the site of a series of bloody unsolved murders. Some even say it's haunted. One thing's for sure: it's the perfect destination for the K- University Mystery Club's trip.

But when the first club member turns up dead, the remaining amateur sleuths realise they will need all of their murder-mystery expertise to get off the island alive.

As the party are picked off one by one, the survivors grow desperate and paranoid, turning on each other. Will anyone be able to untangle the murderer's fiendish plan before it's too late?

That one does sound fun Susan, when were you thinking of tackling it? And I haven't done a 'buddy read' before so you'd have to talk me through how they work!

They start mid-month, rather than at the first of the month. Any month where we are not too snowed under. Anyone can suggest a book and only two people are needed really. Let me pop off and look at the reading schedule!

January/February/March are not too busy. Which suits best?

I will post on the buddy thread too.

I've just gone mad on eBay - all bargains so how could I resist....


The Long Shadow by Celia Fremlin
Family and Friends by Anita Brookner
Visitors by Anita Brookner
Strangers by Anita Brookner
A Closed Eye by Anita Brookner

And on Kindle...
The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories

I'm December ready (here at RTTC we're reading The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories and The Long Shadow)

I've already got a copy of The Quiet American which we're also reading together.

Back of the net

Brilliant haul, I thought Fremlin's The Hours Before Dawn was excellent, with some reservations about the ending. I've been meaning to track down more of her novels. And am very tempted by the ghost stories. I think Brookner's a great writer but a bit too melancholy for me at the moment...

Alwynne wrote: "Brilliant haul"


Thanks Alwynne

Alwynne wrote: "I thought Fremlin's The Hours Before Dawn was excellent, with some reservations about the ending."

Me too, it's really enjoyable and worth it for brilliant evocation of domestic life in 1950s London suburbia alone.

It would have been five stars for me were it not for the ending which, like you, I was slightly disappointed by. It felt a bit too neat and didn't quite live up to the earlier sections. A minor criticism though. It's now obvious why so many readers are rediscovering Celia Fremlin - and I am excited to be reading The Long Shadow with the rest of the group for one of our December buddy reads.

Do you have The Decagon House Murders , Nigeyb? I have suggested a buddy read - it's a Pushkin title.

We also have The Goldfinch coming up as a buddy, which I have started re-reading, or rather, re-listening to.

Susan wrote: "Do you have The Decagon House Murders, Nigeyb? I have suggested a buddy read - it's a Pushkin title."

I don't Susan and I was mightily tempted when I saw your post but, so far, am strenuously resisting having just added to my TBR list with a splurge of injudicious purchases.

If only I could read as fast you Susan I'd doubtless have been in like Flynn however, despite my love of all things Pushkin, I'm going to remain strong (for now at least).

Thanks so much for thinking of me and for suggesting more tempting reads.

Ha ha! Sorry, Nigeyb. I won't add to your reading pile if I can help it.

I guess I have it. Somewhere.

I have The Decagon House Murders so will be interested in when you decide.

I think we have a Margaret Millar book in January

Yes, so shall we say February for the Decagon House Murders?

As bookshops reopen (in the UK anyway) I thought it might be a good time to bump this thread. Has anyone else been tempted to treat themselves?

I paid my very first visit to a second-hand bookshop this year last weekend, very briefly, when I picked up what looks like a British hard-boiled private eye/spy thriller, The Whip Hand by Victor Canning (first in the Rex Carver series.)

Then today I picked up 4 titles - two British Library ones, Murder in the Mill-Race by E.C.R. Lorac, a mystery, and a science fiction classic, The Question Mark by Muriel Jaeger, which was originally published by the Woolfs' Hogarth Press. This sounds very intriguing because it was set 200 years in the future (published in 1926) and, according to the blurb, each person has a "personal 'power-box' granting access to communication, transportation and entertainment."

The other two were second-hand, a green-jacketed Virago, Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther by Elizabeth von Arnim and Mr Pim Passes By, a comic novel by A.A. Milne. I've started the A.A. Milne novel (it seemed the perfect thing to just glance into while eating lunch outdoors, and then I got hooked...) and am enjoying it so far. Milne adapted it from his own play, and there are some very funny bits.

I read Mr Pim recently and thought it was really good fun. I'd like to read The Question Mark, it does look really intriguing.

I did have a bit of a splurge the week the bookshops opened and bought Désirée and The Winged Horse, both reprint society editions; A View of the Harbour and A Game Of Hide And Seek by Elizabeth Taylor, Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym, The Birds on the Trees by Nina Bawden and A Lost Lady by Willa Cather. The Persephone Bookshop is re-opening in Bath in just over a week, so I'm planning on another splurge then. I need to go back to work so I have less time to be trawling bookshops : )

Great selection, Tania - I look forward to hearing what you pick up from the Persephone Bookshop! I hadn't realised they had a shop in Bath.

I'm hoping to read more by Elizabeth Taylor before too long and I also like Willa Cather. I used to like Nina Bawden's children's books but haven't tried her adult titles as yet.

Some wonderful books there Tania. A View of the Harbour is one of my favourite Elizabeth Taylor books, along with Angel.

Judy wrote: "Great selection, Tania - I look forward to hearing what you pick up from the Persephone Bookshop! I hadn't realised they had a shop in Bath.

I'm hoping to read more by Elizabeth Taylor before too..."

They didn't; the Bloomsbury shop is moving there. Sad for some. I'll let you know what I get, but I'm definitely getting Young Anne. Any other suggestions?

Despite owning several of the vintage Virago editions of Nina Bawden's books, I've not yet read any. I must get to them soon.

Pamela wrote: "Some wonderful books there Tania. A View of the Harbour is one of my favourite Elizabeth Taylor books, along with Angel."

I love Angel is one of my favourites too. It's been so long since I read A View of the Harbour that I only have a hazy memory of it, but I know I loved it.

Since whenever I last commented I’ve bought so many books. Basically all of my stimulus money last year went to books and then birthday and Christmas happened... so many books.

I’ve gotten really into books published by NYRB and bought a subscription for my birthday. I’m not great at reading them quick, or with the book club, any so far, but I’ve read about a dozen. Others I’ve bought have been all the Elizabeth Taylor they’ve published, some Sylvia Townsend Warner, John Williams, Tove Jansson. I haven’t met a book of theirs I haven’t at least liked, even if I didn’t think I would going into it.

Thanks for the news about Persephone Books moving, Tania - for anyone else who is interested, I've just found a news item about it:

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/l...

And this is their own announcement:

https://persephonebooks.co.uk/blogs/t...

Sad about them moving from London, but I would love to go to Bath and visit some day. Re suggestions, I think you are much more up on their books than I am - I'll be interested to hear which titles you decide to go for!

Yes, sad news. The Persephone shop in Lambs Conduit Street was once a regular haunt when I used to work just round the corner. Still, another good reason to visit the delightful town of Bath

Absolutely, Bath is beautiful. You can even stay in one of the houses Jane Austen lived in; it's now an Air B'n'B.

Oh, I just seem to keep ordering books. I hear about a book that I think would be interesting - next thing I know Amazon is sending it to me.

Saturday was independent book store day here but I didn't know that until the bookstore would have been closed.

My first stimulus check went to electronics, the second went to donations - mostly the local food bank and some to the Navajo/Hopi Go Fund Me since they apparently hadn't been receiving PPE, water, etc., from the govt. The First Lady has now made a few trips there. I have donated about 1/4 of the third check. I've been intending to spend most of it on local businesses.

I just got 4 books related to Hemingway. Yesterday I received Hilary Hemingway's Hunting with Hemingway. When her father succumbed to the family disease (suicide) he left a tape of stories for his daughter and she and her husband were launched on a search for the truth. So it looks pretty interesting.

So will try and make it to Main Street before I spend the rest of my money. I'm on a decent pension so I didn't really need these three checks but I don't mind if I can do some good with it.

Judy wrote: "Great selection, Tania - I look forward to hearing what you pick up from the Persephone Bookshop!"

I went to Bath today and got:
Young Anne by Dorothy Whipple
Operation Heartbreak by Duff Cooper
Making Conversation by Christine Longford (I'm told this is in a similar vein to Nancy Mitford.

Tania, how lovely that you visited their new shop. I've got Operation Heartbreak on my shelf of Persephones and Viragos that I haven't read yet (I must get on with them)! I also like Dorothy Whipple so I'm sure Young Anne will be good.

I hadn't heard of the Christine Longford book before and didn't realise Lady Longford was a writer - it sounds interesting though.

Oh, Operation Heartbreak is so good! Enjoy!

I’ve only read Someone at a Distance by Whipple but really enjoyed it.

I don’t own the third, but have it on my list to get one day. :)

I’m so jealous of you all who can go to the shop.

I'm hoping to get to Operation Heartbreak this month, looking forward to it even more now.

I've read several books by Dorothy Whipple, but I'm eeking the rest of them out. Love her writing.

Apparently Operation Heartbreak was Duff Cooper's only novel. Will be interested to hear your thoughts, Tania and have added both that and Making Conversation to my TBR list.

I will let you know.

So excited that I got This Charming Man: from NetGalley today. Not sure if anyone read the previous book The Stranger Times but it was so much fun!

Someone on my PG Wodehouse thread reminisced fondly about the humorous Moonrakers & Mischief by J.G. Feakes (1961), so I ordered a nice used edition with a dust jacket. Cross fingers it lives up to expectations! I also bought Nicholas Royle's White Spines: Confessions of a Book Collector because of a rapturous Twitter mention.

Moonrakers and Mischief sounds like it could be interesting. Do let us know what you think.

I bought The Literary Almanac: A Year of Seasonal Reading by Francesca Beauman. I have read Novembers chapter; main suggestions are Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I have been flicking through the rest of the book and some of my favourite novels are in here, so I'm hoping to make some new discoveries.

This isn’t a book I borrowed, it’s a book I loaned. I loaned The House on Vesper Sands to my mother and she said it was so good she couldn’t put it down. Lots of creepy Victorian era Spiritualism stuff. Now I can wait to get it back from her and read it myself!

Anybody have any books on their Christmas list? My husband has ordered me The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present which I am really looking forward to as well as The Beatles: Get Back so lots of good Beatles reading for me in the festive season...

I just asked for The Lyrics for my birthday (in a few weeks). Cross fingers!!! Also interested in All the Songs. With the imminent movie, total Beatles immersion is my plan.

My birthday is tomorrow, so I'm going to Bath. Going to a Dante Gabriel Rossetti exhibition at the Holborne Museum and then a bookshop tour, (including Persephone Books) so hopefully some to add. I would also love to add some more of the Chiltern Classics editions to my collection. They are so beautiful, and have just released some new ones and Mrs Dalloway is on my wishlist, amongst others.

Bought: Poland, The Ninja, used. Borrowed from Library 1: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Story of an African Farm, Miskien nooit.
Borrowed from Library 2: Last Snow, Space

Tania wrote: "My birthday is tomorrow, so I'm going to Bath. Going to a Dante Gabriel Rossetti exhibition at the Holborne Museum and then a bookshop tour, (including Persephone Books) so hopefull..."

Hope you have a lovely time, Happy Birthday for tomorrow! The Chiltern Classics look great, I haven't seen them before.

Hope you have a lovely birthday and enjoy your visit to Persephone Books' new home, Tania.

I just got The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies by David Thomson and Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock by Christina Lane. Not sure what was going on last week but I saw a couple of books on Amazon where the HC/PB was severely discounted. Would have been on a remainder table if I was in a store. I go for whatever is cheapest.