Member: Herenya

Oh, and peeking down at my previous comment in November... have you had a chance to read any Heyer yet? :)

posted by wisewoman at 9:05 am (EST) on Mar 14, 2011

Hi Herenya, and thanks for your comment! I think my review may give more of a negative impression than I actually intended. I enjoyed the lectures and history and lit stuff quite a bit. It was just everything else that bothered me!

Have you read any other Tam Lin retellings? I've read Patricia McKillip's Winter Rose (though it's been ages and I don't remember much). And Diana Wynne Jones' Fire & Hemlock has been highly recommended.

posted by wisewoman at 9:04 am (EST) on Mar 14, 2011

Hi Herenya, and thanks for the comment! I'm glad you enjoy my reviews. I love writing them! Who knew it could be so fun?

Ah, Georgette Heyer. I first heard of her here on LT, in an Austen thread. Intrigued, I purchased a few that I saw at a library booksale, and started one of them (Lady of Quality). Well, apparently it was the wrong one to start with! The characters seemed too modern to me and I just couldn't get into it. And yet everywhere she was mentioned, Heyer received unconditional, gushing accolades from other readers here. I didn't understand it!

So one day I bumped into LTer ChocolateMuse, over some other book. She's now one of my kindred spirits here! I noticed that she had Heyer listed as a favorite author, so I asked her what I was missing. She gave me a list of titles to start with, and eventually I saw Cotillion on audiobook at my library, and decided to give it a try. It was amazing! Funny, witty, intelligent, with wonderful characters and a truly authentic Regency setting. Even the narrative voice uses Regency terms! (It also helped that the reader of the audiobook, Phyllida Nash, was fabulous.) From that moment on, I was hooked.

And yet I haven't really read enough Heyer yet to be authoritative on her. My favorites so far are Cotillion and Friday's Child, and so from my limited experience, that's where I would point you. I want to binge on Heyer, but I also want to ration myself, read her books here and there, save them up, savor them.

I do think it's unfortunate that the romance genre has tried to claim Heyer for its own. The newer editions of her books feature forewords by well-known romance authors, and it's annoying because Heyer's books contain none of the smut and explicit stuff of modern romance :(. I never thought I would find anything I loved in the romance section of library booksales, but now I comb them and have been rewarded with a Heyer or two here and there. She is NOT like the modern Harlequins though, have no fear. Let me know if you decide to read anything by her; I would love to hear your thoughts as you go.

I read Gaudy Night first, actually. I had read a couple of the Lord Peter mysteries before that and enjoyed them a great deal, but I didn't know the order of the Harriet Vane books, and just picked up that one because I had heard of it before. I wish I would have read them in order because I think the character arcs are brilliant, and Sayers does something that most mystery authors can't by developing her characters so realistically. I read... let's see... Gaudy Night, Have His Carcase, Strong Poison, and then Busman's Honeymoon. Eventually I want to reread them all in the proper order!

It's nice chatting with (or at, lol) you :). Hope you have a great weekend!

posted by wisewoman at 11:48 pm (EST) on Nov 6, 2009

There is a new Anne book by LM Montgomery given to her publisher on the day she died! It is called _The Blythes are Quoted_!

http://lmmresearch.org/lmmontgomery/the-blythes-are-quoted

It certainly sounds interesting!

posted by ElizabethPotter at 7:16 pm (EST) on Oct 23, 2009

Hi Herenya! Perhaps I started with the wrong Sherwood Smith book; it's happened before and then when someone sets me on the right book, I fall in love. That's what happened with Georgette Heyer for me, and it's quite possible it could happen for Smith too! I will keep my eyes open for more of her books at the library sales and thrift stores I frequent. Thanks for sticking up for her :)

Gaudy Night absolutely blew me away. I wish I had read the Lord Peter/Harriet books in their proper sequence because I think the emotional build-up would have been even more amazing, but it's a testament to Sayers' powers that the characters and story were so enthralling to me all the same. Have you read her book The Mind of the Maker, on the triune nature of creativity? I read it recently and really liked it for the most part. That woman could write!

posted by wisewoman at 8:21 am (EST) on Oct 19, 2009

Hi Herenya, and thanks for the comment on my JE review. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I have the feeling that JE is the sort of book that only gets better every time you read it! I noticed the Brontes group that you're in and have joined. Thanks :)

We share a lot of favorite authors! I see you're reading Sherwood Smith at the moment; do you like it? I'm reading Wren to the Rescue and am not finding it particularly good. Of course, it could also be suffering from being read too close to genius literature like Jane Eyre...

posted by wisewoman at 9:24 am (EST) on Oct 16, 2009

Is your profile picture from the cover image of East, by Edith Pattou? I love that book! Looks like we have fairly similar taste. :)

~Jenny

posted by jenreidreads at 12:14 am (EST) on Jul 27, 2009

Hi I dropped in because I really liked your review of 'Gaudy Night' - my fav. Sayers, closely followed by Busman's Honeymoon and the 9 Tailors. It looks as if we have a lot in common, so I'll mark your library is 'interesting', if you don't mind!
Best wishes
GG

posted by Goldengrove at 4:42 am (EST) on Jun 17, 2009

Heylo! *pokes* You changed your books around! *shifty eyes* Now we don't share as many books. Bah!

posted by Tevildiel at 4:06 pm (EST) on Dec 17, 2006