Retro Reads discussion

This part is called The Christmas Holidays
Please use spoiler tags - at least until everyone has had a chance to read this part!
We may also use this for final conclusions. :)

I'm rather relieved for Donk that he's going to be in the upper school (view spoiler)[ math and science track while Tony goes off to the classics track. Maybe Donk will finally come out of his cave and start to talk. (hide spoiler)]

Hana wrote: "I'm rather relieved for Donk that he's going to be in the upper school [spoilers removed]"

Same here! Although (view spoiler)[ You can't suppress an ego like Tony's for long. (hide spoiler)]

Loved the final two stories - I think Christmas Presents would be an ideal choice for Tadiana's yearly Christmas short stories.

I will be paying more attention now (as we go through this series) to see how closely Laura's sons are modeled on Ms Thirkell's real life boys!

Sadly it appears that she had a falling out with one of her three sons, the writer Colin McInnes, and cut him out of her will! She must have loved them all dearly when they were boys, however, if the character of Laura is anything to go by -- no matter how annoying they are, she loves them to distraction.

Oh, I see this has already been covered in an earlier discussion. I should have read all the other comments first.

I didn't know she cut Colin out of her will. That's very sad.

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Loved the final two stories - I think Christmas Presents would be an ideal choice for Tadiana's yearly Christmas short stories...."

It would and I loved it too! The saucepan scene at the end had me laughing.

Also it sounds like the only biography of Angela Thirkell is more of a hatchet job.

Angela Thirkell: Portrait of a Lady Novelist Her youngest son Lance, who cooperated with the author, was reportedly very upset about it.

Apparently he has written about his mother, but this book is only available through the Angela Thirkell Society

http://www.angelathirkellsociety.co.u...

The Society has a lovely picture of Angela with her three boys

http://www.angelathirkellsociety.co.uk/

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Also it sounds like the only biography of Angela Thirkell is more of a hatchet job.

Angela Thirkell: Portrait of a Lady Novelist Her youngest son Lance, who cooperated with the autho..."

Thanks for sharing that photo, makes me feel better - cutting someone out of the will is pretty harsh! It looks like they were pretty happy boys at that time, at least. Good to know the only bio isn’t worth wasting time on - too many books...hopefully someone, some day will give Thirkell the Kloester treatment!

Both Colin & Lance look mischievous!

Sweet little boys and almost certainly one or all was the inspiration for Tony. You could not invent a kid like that without some foundation in fact!

I love that photo with the three boys! Coming from a fairly large extended family I've been amazed in my senior years at how our recollections of our years of shared childhood time--and our opinions of our elders--have varied and sometimes diverged when I've had later heart-to-heart conversations with cousins/sibs. Ditto with the various aunts and uncles. Memories are so often selective, and even pliable, with time.

When I stumbled into a new role as family genealogist I found myself the curator of a vast trove of photos, letters, census records, etc, etc. Several well-worn myths were blown apart but I was very selective about revealing it. Yet when I did, very delicately, it made subsequent talks so much richer.

One of the things I noticed was that the photo expressions and body language was incredibly revealing once we hit the 1910s/1920s or so when the technology improved.

Okay so this is probably too off-topic but I can't resist posting a link to my review of Nicholas and Alexandra. The Russian Royals got seriously caught up in the new photo fad and I culled some real gems [pats self on back] for this review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Hana wrote: "Okay so this is probably too off-topic but I can't resist posting a link to my review of Nicholas and Alexandra. The Russian Royals got seriously caught up in the new photo fad and I ..."

Tatiana was a stunner!

Totally!

Elinor wrote: "Sadly it appears that she had a falling out with one of her three sons, the writer Colin McInnes, and cut him out of her will! She must have loved them all dearly when they were boys, however, if t..."

Yes, Laura is so scared whenever Tony is riding that dreaded bike!

& I have a question. I read this edition & a reviewer (not a member of this group) said it was full of typos/mistakes. I didn't spot any.

Did anyone else spot any typos?

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "& I have a question. I read this edition & a reviewer (not a member of this group) said it was full of typos/mistakes. I didn't spot any.

Did anyone else ..."

I had the same book, and saw that comment, but I didn’t spot any mistakes/typos, either!

Yes, lots of typos--after about twenty pages I started reading with pencil in hand. But I'm a trained editor and proofreader. Glad they didn't annoy other readers!

Well, that’s embarrassing - my degree was in journalism!

That just means you're trained to get to the bottom of the meaning! That can lead to unconscious correcting of what's actually there.

Abigail wrote: "That just means you're trained to get to the bottom of the meaning! That can lead to unconscious correcting of what's actually there."

👍🏻

I finally got a chance to finish this. “Sugar and Spice and Mice and Lice.” Definitely one of my favorite Tony-isms. 😄