Reading the 20th Century discussion

Every month we discuss a book on a specific era or a theme. This book will be the winner of a group poll.


Our December 2018 theme is the 1920s

If you feel inspired, please nominate a book set in, or about, the 1920s that you would like to read and discuss.

It can be either fiction or non-fiction.

Please supply the title, author, a brief synopsis, and anything else you'd like to mention about the book, and why you think it might make a good book to discuss.

If your nomination wins then please be willing to fully participate in the subsequent discussion.

Happy nominating.

A question: does a nomination have to be a novel? I ask as I'm thinking about T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land - arguably one of the most quintessential 1920s texts that grapples deeply with a generation's loss of all moral, spiritual and cultural faiths.

Fine though if we want to stick to prose - and maybe something a bit lighter might be appropriate for the holiday season anyway.

It is a seminal work of the period and would be an interesting one to discuss.

I am sure it would be fine, RC.

Roman Clodia wrote: "A question: does a nomination have to be a novel?"


No Roman Clodia.

Go ahead if you'd like to discuss The Wasteland. Has anyone here read it?

I haven't. I am currently wavering between suggesting a fiction and a non-fiction choice, but I am sure - even I can't make up my mind - there will be some excellent suggestions.

I'll nominate....


Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

Inexplicably I've never read it, despite reading many of Waugh's other works, and all the other major novels.

I'm not even sure it's that good, or that enjoyable, however I feel it's a book I should read, and from what I can glean, it should also generate some interesting discussion.

A few of us here have read biographies of Waugh, so know the background to the book and what was going on in Waugh's personal life, which should result in some informed commentary too.

It's 322 pages, so a fairly quick read,

Here's the blurb....

The Bright Young Things of 1920s Mayfair, with their paradoxical mix of innocence and sophistication, exercise their inventive minds and vile bodies in every kind of capricious escapade, whether it is promiscuity, dancing, cocktail parties or sports cars. A vivid assortment of characters, among them the struggling writer Adam Fenwick-Symes and the glamorous, aristocratic Nina Blount, hunt fast and furiously for ever greater sensations and the hedonistic fulfilment of their desires. Evelyn Waugh’s acidly funny and experimental satire shows a new generation emerging in the years after the First World War, revealing the darkness and vulnerability beneath the glittering surface of the high life.


Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

Great suggestions so far - I read The Wasteland when I was a student but would be up for reading it again. I also haven't read Vile Bodies yet and need to do so!

I'll add to the mix:

Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald



This is a collection of 11 short stories first published in 1922 - Fitzgerald himself wrote an amazing table of contents where he has a mini-introduction to each story giving his thoughts on it.

He also divides them into three categories, "My Last Flappers", "Fantasies" and "Unclassified Masterpieces"!

Here is part of the Amazon blurb for the Macmillan Collector's Library edition (a nice edition which is 98p on Kindle, couldn't find the book cover to show here, but there are also various other editions including a free one.)

Tales of the Jazz Age features eleven of F. Scott Fitzgerald's best-loved short stories and 'novelettes' including 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' and 'The Diamond as Big as the Ritz'. Set in the Jazz Age, Fitzgerald's own term for the Roaring Twenties of newly confident, post-war America, this collection shows a comic genius at work, fashioning every genre from low farce to shrewd social insight, along with fantasy of extraordinary invention. These stories illuminate the unique talent who went on to write The Great Gatsby, and to become one of the enduring icons of American literature.

All the editions seem to have different numbers of pages, possibly depending on how much critical matter is added in - around 300/370.

Some excellent options already. OK, I will throw into the mix a novel that I haven't actually read, but I've heard a lot about.

Lolly Willowes

Lolly Willowes is a twenty-eight-year-old spinster when her adored father dies, leaving her dependent upon her brothers and their wives. After twenty years of self-effacement as a maiden aunt, she decides to break free and moves to a small Bedfordshire village. Here, happy and unfettered, she enjoys her new existence nagged only by the sense of a secret she has yet to discover. That secret - and her vocation - is witchcraft, and with her cat and a pact with the Devil, Lolly Willowes is finally free.

An instant success on its publication in 1926, LOLLY WILLOWES is Sylvia Townsend Warner's first and most magical novel. Deliciously wry and inviting, it was her piquant plea that single women find liberty and civility, a theme that would later be explored by Virginia Woolf in 'A Room of One's Own'.

I actually almost nominated Lolly Willowes before going for Fitzgerald, Susan! My daughter is a fan of Sylvia Townsend Warner and I am about to read some of her short stories. :)

I'll second Lolly Willowes.

Judy wrote: "Here is part of the Amazon blurb for the Macmillan Collector's Library edition (a nice edition which is 98p on Kindle, couldn't find the book cover to show here, but there are also various other editions including a free one.)"

Link to the hardcover: Tales of the Jazz Age



EDIT: My library's Overdrive has a copy of this! I was going to nominate something else, but I'd be very pleased to read this, so will save my nominating for another month.

Thanks, I'll make my nomination of The Waste Land official, then. I'd also be happy with either the Waugh or Fitzgerald so looks like another good month!

Thanks Roman Clodia, it's official, thanks also Judy and Susan


NOMINATIONS SO FAR....

Roman Clodia: The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
Nigeyb: Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
Judy: Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Susan: Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Thanks for posting the lovely Jazz Age cover, Elizabeth. For some reason it only offered me a few covers when I went to "add book/author".

I think I will definitely read the short stories soon whether it wins or not. :)

Judy wrote: "Thanks for posting the lovely Jazz Age cover, Elizabeth. For some reason it only offered me a few covers when I went to "add book/author".

I think I will definitely read the short stories soon whe..."

I had to go to the Other Editions page and find the edition, then I could add the ISBN in the add book/author field.

I have added this to my over-burdened wish list and will read whether it wins or not, but maybe not as soon as I might if it doesn't win.

i want to read all of the nominations too, so am not going to add further confusion...

Tales of the jazz age seems to be winning the beautiful covers competition anyway, my copy has this one

To add to the cover love, I have this one

Pamela wrote: "Tales of the jazz age seems to be winning the beautiful covers competition anyway..."

Hold your horses.....

Nigeyb wrote: "Hold your horses..."

Ooh this is going to be a tough decision this month ;)

I feel a bit sad for my nomination, but it does have some nice covers too -

Haha, The Waste Land definitely loses the cover war:

Ah well, never mind, RC. I think both of us are in the losing team in this contest of cover one-upmanship ;)

I've read The Waste Land - read it in college for a class and I dip into it every now and again.

Still reading Vile Bodies and Tales of the Jazz Age.

I will look to see if I have anything that I want to nominate.

I have been looking for a non-fiction choice, preferably about more than flappers and jazz, but those I have found so far are not that readily available.

I thought of Hotel Years: Wanderings in Europe between the Wars, but it was 1920's and 1930's. I've meant to read it for ages.

Looking forward to whatever you come up with Val, assuming you can find anything suitable to nominate.

Likewise you Jan - although, who knows, this might work out as an opportunity to finally finish Vile Bodies or Tales of the Jazz Age

Jan C wrote: "Still reading Vile Bodies and Tales of the Jazz Age."

Or indeed to share some of your insights about The Wasteland

Jan C wrote: "I've read The Waste Land - read it in college for a class and I dip into it every now and again."

Watch this space


NOMINATIONS SO FAR....

Roman Clodia: The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
Nigeyb: Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
Judy: Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Susan: Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Any more nominations?

I guess I'll pass on nominating anything this month. Nothing really springs to mind.

Thanks Jan


Any more nominations?

Since I can't find much on the social history of the 1920s alone, I will nominate one which covers the 1930s as well.
We Danced All Night: A Social History of Britain Between the Wars by Martin Pugh.
It covers several subjects and seems quite readable (not too scholarly) and it has been reprinted several times, so should not be difficult to find.

Great suggestion, Val.

Thanks Val. I think that's all the nominations. Poll coming soon.


NOMINATIONS....

Roman Clodia: The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
Nigeyb: Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
Judy: Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Susan: Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Val: We Danced All Night: A Social History of Britain Between the Wars by Martin Pugh

You have such fun finding thematic photos!

Here is a different one:
https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur...
by KENNETH KNAPMAN

First Printed and Published by the Workers’ Resource Centre (2000)
170, Wandsworth Road, London, SW8 2LA

All rights reserved, 2000

Thanks Elizabeth. Thanks Val (good point).

The poll's up


Vote now

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

We have a winner.....


Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh 6 votes, 40.0%
The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot 3 votes, 20.0%
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner 3 votes, 20.0%
Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald 3 votes, 20.0%
We Danced All Night: A Social History of Britain Between the Wars by Martin Pugh 0 votes, 0.0%

Thanks to everyone who nominated, discussed and voted.

Looking forward to our discussion about Vile Bodies in December 2018. See you there.

Looking forward to it - and you managed to find yet another cover!

I’ve been wanting to read this for ages! Looking forward to it.

Susan wrote: "Looking forward to it - and you managed to find yet another cover!"

Me too.

Yes indeed - another cover, but they're all sound beautiful I can't get enough of them. Let's have the old style plain Penguin classic next.

Farrah wrote: "I’ve been wanting to read this for ages! Looking forward to it."

Thanks Farrah. I have never read it either. Inexplicably, as I've read all his other major novels. And, like you, I've been meaning to put that right for eons.

Roll on December

Looking forward to this one too - I'm another one who hasn't read this particular Waugh novel yet.

I have read it, but not for ages. The Mod-Led read also looks interesting. Good reading to end the year :)