FABULOUS FINDS SIXTEEN!

Carry on....

ETA: The Storm Jameson drawing ends September 30th. See The Mirror in Darkness Drawing thread for details

I went on a crazy charity shop spree Friday/Saturday last week. Lots of good stuff - 26 books for £26.74 in one shop, a bit more for another 20 books in 2 other charity shops the next day. I didn't buy any VMCs though, but I did find a couple of Virago non fiction titles - a biography of Anne Sexton who I was interested in in my Sylvia Plath obsessed teens was one, but more excitingly, Daughters of Decadence: Women Writers of the Fin de Siecle by Elaine Showalter.

Bought quite a few books this week, including two VMCs - Plagued by the Nightingale by Kay Boyle and Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark

Recently I found a copy of She knew she was right, which I think has one of my favourite Virago covers ever. When I got the book home I noticed that it was signed by the author of the introduction! A nice surprise.

Sakerfalcon, you will have to do a review and rating on this one after you have read it as there are no ratings nor reviews on the book page. (please)

>5 rainpebble:: I'll have to move it up the tbr pile!

From Elaine in her generous duplicates give-away: All Passion Spent - this is one of my favorite covers - and also Portrait of a Marriage: V. Sackville-West & Harold Nicholson. YAY!!! Thank you, Elaine!
A reminder that I have a very nice non-Virago copy of *APS* ready to go to the first inquirer.

Also from Elaine: The Summerhouse Trilogy. Thank you, Elaine!

You're both very welcome. Now Belva has to go pick up her box.....

I have quite forgotten what all is in it so I am excited Elaine.

Today in the post I received: Some Kind of Black by Diran Adebayo, The Kitchen Madonna by Rumer Godden and Westwood by Stella Gibbons.

So the books will continue to trickle in for a bit and then sadly it is done for a while. My card is maxed out. How the hell does that happen? IDK>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Two Helen Humphrey novels arrived today, Coventry from Barbara and The Lost Garden from PBS. Still reading Feminine Middlebrow Novel. My, she uses big words...

The postman cometh with a huge PBS box (but really off Elaine's shelves), one from Amazon.com among others and a few within were:
The Well of Loneliness
Occasion for Loving
Borderline
Diana of the Crossways
The Fire-Dwellers (wondering did you read this as a series?
The Little Hotel
My Brilliant Career
The Doll: The Lost Short Stories
and many, many more that aren't anywhere near VMCs.

Oh happy day,
Oh happy daaaay,
When Jesus washed,
Oh when He washed,
He washed my sins away.

I was lucky enough to find some 'Virago' books in our university library recently - not published by Virago but early editions of books that later ended up on Virago's list - including The Semi-Attached Couple and The Semi-Detached House, and The Love Child by Edith Oliver

Hurrah for The Love Child, Linda! I hope you enjoy it.

Tea at Four O'Clock and Devil by the Sea are the latest arrivals. I'm running out of VMCs to hunt and gather.

From bookmooch an almost new copy of No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym and from the charity shop, another almost new copy of Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor and an old copy of Testament of Friendship by Vera Brittain (not a VMC but a Virago).

So that's 3 Viragoes acquired this month and 0 read :-(

Excitement reigns in Lizzie-land. I just got my ER notification that I got Dangerous Ambition: Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson: New Women in Search of Love and Power. Did anybody else here get this one? I trust that they knew that this group would be a great place to put it.

I was just going to post that I did, too!!! Only 15 copies available and we got two of them. Did anyone else here snag a copy?

Elaine

>17 LizzieD:, 18: well done ladies!

Congrats ladies. Can't wait to read your reviews when you get to it as there are none posted. Yea, you two!~!

Only two more days to put your name in the Mirror of Darkness drawing to win Love in Winter and None Turn Back.

bump

I was at a used bookstore yesterday and did not find a single Virago but I did find a Persephone book The Children Who Lived in a Barn which never happens in the state so I am feeling vindicated in my trip.

Found Expiation by Elizabeth von Arnim in a beautiful old hardback! And only £5 which, considering it was in Blackwells' secondhand department aka the most overpriced place in the world, was very impressive!

SCORE you two!~!

And I hope that this group is mildly interested in the fact that my ER ARC, Dangerous Ambition has arrived. I'm off to finish at least one something that I'm reading so that I can plunge into Rebecca W. and Dorothy Thompson about whom I know exactly nothing.

Dangerous Ambition looks fantastic: congrats to those who are reading and those who are ready to dive into, it.

Hey Peggy,

My copy of Dangerous Ambition arrived today. Did you notice the index was missing! I planned to look up H. G. Wells to make sure the bastard died in this biography.

And I bit the bullet and bought, for a ridiculous price of $43.83, a copy of The Feminine Middlebrow Novel by Humble.

Before I start Desperate Ambition, I HAVE to write reviews for Between Shades of Gray and Sleepwalkers, both really, really good reads.

Now I will quietly slink away and finish Her Royal Spyness.

Arrrghg. No, I didn't notice the missing index = all 26 promised pages of it; I was too busy being happy about the photos. The book goes past '46 when he died, so I'm pretty sure he'll die in *DA* too. I'm in attract-attract pattern because my August ARC also arrived this week, and it's a whopper. When I finish my Harry Truman program next week, I'm going to have to do some serious fun reading!
($43.83....wow! I hope that it's at least wonderful.)

Jane, (#325 previous thread) I would be VERY interested in photos from your authors' house tours, but that link didn't work for me. Can you re-post?

Try this one: http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=7...

It's also linked on my Facebook wall (below 3 Utah rocks links -- don't ask me how I managed to do that -- I'm pretty inept at Facebook stuff) : http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001218275452

In my mailbox on Saturday: Storm Jameson's None Turn Back and Love in Winter. Thank-you Andrew!

#31 Yes, that's done it! Thank you, Jane.

Over the weekend I received Molly Keane's Good Behaviour. Not only is it a VMC, but it was also nominated for the Booker Prize many years ago. That makes it a "two-fer," since I enjoy reading Booker nominees almost as much as VMCs. So of course I had to own it. Now. Even though I won't get to it until sometime next year.

What a fantastic slideshow Thanks so much for sharing this.

Elaine

Yes, brilliant. I spent a happy ten minutes looking at all of them. Thank you.

Thank you, Jane, it was wonderful!

Jane, that was a wonderful trip through your photos. I love it. I will probably go back several times. Thank you so much for sharing.

Literary houses are a great excuse for stopping in odd places and getting off superhighways when travelling!

Another wonderful thing to get off the busy highways for is all of the Armed Forces Cemeteries. They are mainly on the Eastern part of the country but my husband and I spent hours walking through them when we drove across the U.S. one year. Those and Gettysburg were probably the best part of our trip.

The Street arrived today. I have been hearing a lot of chatter regarding this book and I believe it was Elaine who said that there was a copy up on PBS. Not a Virago edition but I ordered it nonetheless. Must see what all the chatter is about.

I found a Virago edition of The Street on e-Bay, and of course I ordered it---along with two other V titles I know nothing about: George Beneath a Paper Moon and Phoenix Fled. They are on their way from the UK to my front porch! (And 'twas I who mentioned the PBS copy, Belva, for which you have already thanked me. I hope we both enjoy the book.)

Oh Linda, sorry..........but of course it was. I hope we both enjoy it as well.

@41 and @42 Recently spotted a copy of The Street in a local shop myself. Was quite pleased, as I'd been determinedly seeking it out a couple of years ago and, well, better late than bookless of course. Are you planning to read it imminently?

I'm just getting to Jane's pictures. Brilliant is the word. Thank you so much for letting us see them!

>#44:
buriedinprint;
Are you wanting to do a mini group read thing? I would be up for that but I must first finish Hunt the Slipper, read my R/L B/C book and one other. Then I would be willing and able.
Oh and the first Thursday, Friday, Saturday ,Sunday & Monday are on hold for the 100 hour ReadaThing.
So what are you thinking?
~belva

Glad you've all enjoyed the tour -- it was fun -- may you go on your own!

#44 I don't know whether I'll read it right away or not. I don't plan my reading most of the time (although I usually participate in a Virago month and Orange January/July). If it speaks to me loudly when it arrives, I just might dive right in though.

I just got back from a week in the Philadelphia area, and a Virago (Penguin) edition of Aleta Day came home with me. For those of you who live in that area, I spotted several lovely green spines at Book Haven on Fairmount Avenue and at Farley's bookshop in New Hope. (Farley's has a niche with bargain books, several Penguin VMCs among them.)

I walked past Any Amount of Books on Charing Cross Road on my way to the Royal Opera House to see a ballet triple bill on Monday and was unable to resist the signs in their window proclaiming all the books in the basement to be half price. I came away with five books, but the two I am most excited about are a VMC edition of Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont and a Margery Sharp novel that I haven't yet read.

Any Amount of Books is a wickedly distracting shop.

I used to work just around the corner from Any Amont of Books, in Cranbourn Street, and I miss it terribly.

***whining*** I want to live in the U.K.

That's not a whine, Belva; that's a simple statement of fact. Me too.
Meanwhile, it's not a VMC, but I finally got a very nice copy of The Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller, which I'm sure that I heard about here. As usual, I look forward to it, but I can't start it now. *sigh*

Got three lovely books in the mail today:

The Private World of Georgette Heyer by Jane Aiken Hodge
Death's Other Kingdom of Gamel Woolsey, a Virago Travellers edition
An Interrupted Life The diaries of Etty Hillesum

That last one is going to be a wonderful read Elaine!
(most likely the other two as well)

All this talk of The Street, I thought you were talking about the Dorothy Baker novel, but the touchstone leads elsewhere... am I getting the wrong end of the stick? I wanted the persuasion to try Baker!

Hey there Stuck; I don't know about the others but The Street I am referring to is the Ann Petry one. I will have to check out the Dorothy Baker novel. Oh my, you seem to be the only one with a copy of the that particular book on LT. There is nothing about it on the book page. Is it a Virago?
I attempted to google it and all I found were obits and your solitary edition here on LT. You may need to read it and round robin it if it is great. But I will see if I can get it on my Kindle.
~belva

P.S. Just checked out Project Gutenburg and there is no Dorothy Baker listed in their authors. What year is your copyright year on this one? She sounds almost like a 'novel noir' author.

Dorothy Baker's bio from the New York Review of Books She also wrote Young Man With a Horn, a biographical novel about Bix Beiderbecke, which was made into a movie starring Kirk Douglas and Lauren Bacall. Since she just died in 1968 (that's the year I graduated from high school---doesn't SEEM that long ago) her work won't be out of copyright for a long time, so Gutenberg won't have it. You could have a first edition of The Street, signed by the author and inscribed to Walter de la Mare for only $205.00 from abebooks!

Gosh, I had no idea my copy of The Street was that scarce! I think I even bought it based on the earlier discussion here, not realising it was the wrong author - and also because of the talk about Cassandra at the Wedding here or somewhere... not that I've read either of them.

The copy of The Street I have isn't a Virago, it's an old brown hardback - not in front of me, so not sure of date.

Wow! A plethora of info there Linda. Thank you so much.

#61 *bows* We aims to pleeze.
#60 I looked at all my usual sources, and can't find a copy of Baker's The Street on offer, except for the one I already mentioned. Wonder why it's so very scarce.

Yes, thanks for the info, Linda!
Looking back at my blog, it seems I paid the chiefly sum of £1 for it! Lucky me :)

Comes the postman and he bringeth:
Painted Clay by Capel Boake,
Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty,
The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey &
The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton and just in time.

Also from PBS (but actually from Elaine), Tell Me a Riddle by Tillie Olsen and Dangerous Ambition: Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson by Susan Hertog which looks to be fascinating.

Assuming you mean The Orchid House (teehee!), that's one I bought ages ago and have yet to read...

Delta Wedding is another of my favourites; it's been a few years since I read it so I think I'm due a reread.

Painted clay and The orchid house are on my tbr shelf.

Painted Clay is very good and as for The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton, well, no need to comment on that!

Yes, Stuck, it is indeed The Orchid House. I was in a hurry to get to class. Good catch!

I loved Delta Wedding -- it just moved so graciously.

The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton is a great choice for this time of year--obviously! And Edith Wharton is fabulous, no matter what the time of year.

I totally agree Kasthu. They just don't come any better than Edith Wharton!

I found a nice copy of Full house to add to my Molly Keane collection today, in the Oxfam Bookshop of Doom near work. My copy is the one with a rather windswept young lady in yellow on the cover - suitably autumnal!

A lovely booky week for me - a workshop at State Library on Monday resulted in an added bonus of some de-accessioned books on local history.

Then the next day an express post turned up from the U.S. of A. (a naughty EBay purchase) containing five hardcover Barbara Pyms. Of course they're not VMCs but I don't care - ex-library numbers in very good condition, methinks. They are from Klamath County Library, Klamath Falls, Oregon - must look that up and see what sort of place that is.

Obviously a marvelous place.

Only a 'find' in the sense that I found it on amazon, but this morning Everything is Nice by Jane Bowles arrived - loved Two Serious Ladies so looking forward to reading her short stories.

#74 :) indeed

#75 I love everything Jane Bowles, there's a very good bio by Millicent Dillon titled A little original sin and the collected letters out in the world are also very good.

I don't know if I've actually posted in this group before, but I have a fabulous find. I've been working on collecting Elizabeth Taylor (I'd been planning on her reading her in 2012 too and can't wait to hang out with you all reading her), and I'm on a budget so am looking for the least expensive copies (whether they're a VMC or not).

So I ordered At Mrs. Lippincote's online for $1, and it said it was the 2000 reprint edition--well I got it today in the mail, and it's the original green cover! Very exciting. :)

Score, Celia! Congratulations, and welcome to active participation in this best of all groups!

Woo hoo! And I'm glad you de-lurked to join our book chat.

#77 - belatedly, thanks for that info! I love letters, so will definitely keep an eye out for Out in the World

From PBS yesterday I got a Dial edition of Bid Me to Live. It's not a black Dial VMC, but at least I have the book.

A very nice copy of Losing Battles arrived today. Thank you very much Kerry.

Also I received a package containing these in my mailbox towards the end of last month:

Lucy Gayheart
Shadows on the Rock
Never No More
Four Frightened People
The Children
Keynotes & Discords
Susan Spray

The best haul I've had to report for quite a while.

He...he...Four Frightened People

#83 - I've been meaning to read some E Arnot Robertson for ages... and the Egerton is great!

Would like to join the discussion also. Most of the books that I read are from public libraries and I'm concentrating now on VMC's from the printed list that I have but the libraries sometimes provide me with the original copies from as far back as the 1920's. That's really fun although the books are fragile. Where I live also the public libraries have access to the worldcat and I'm in an area of many colleges and universities. Just got notified that Open the Door by Carswell and The Crowded Street by Holtby have arrived from 2 different colleges. Has anyone read either of those works?

The postman cometh and he bringeth:
VMC's:
Peking Picnic, Mandoa, Mandoa!, The Doves of Venus, The Brontes Went to Woolworths, Life and Death of Harriet Frean and **shivers up my spine** The Well of Loneliness all in green backs.
The other arrivals are:
Young Man with a Horn, Dark Places, The Idea of Perfection, From Copper to Gold: The Life of Dorothy Baker, Dorothy Richardson: A Critical Biography, We Had It So Good, The Clothes on Their Backs and Remind Me Who I Am, Again.
A few of these are duplicates and will eventually make to the duplicate thread.
Whoa, I am beat.......what a haul!~!
And I have 6 more to open and list from PBS. I think my credit card just died!

>86 kayclifton:: Kay, I haven't read The Crowded Street yet but Holtby is truly wonderful.

I just read Peking picnic and loved it. The landscapes and characters were so vivid and captivating. You have a treat in store there!

Oh, and my latest find in the Oxfam bookshop of doom was a new green Virago of The optimist's daughter, the one with the photograph of the girl sitting on the verandah rail. I love that image, but am not sure it fits with what I know of the story.

Belva!!!!! Will you chill out with the book buying thingy???? You are going to leave nothing for your Secret Santa to choose from! ;-))

I agree, Paola! We should all have a book-buying moratorium until after Secret Santa!

A moratorium will be a bit difficult, methinks, but I suggest we have a wish list and buy NONE of the things on it. Speaking of which, I am running to update mine on Amazon.

Yes, perhaps I got a bit carried away there! Your idea is much better. ;)

Okay, Okay, I get the message loud and clear!~!

I am today ordering, however, the Virago Book Club book: Perfect Lives by Polly Samson.

Now: GET OFF MY FACE!~!

(it is supposed to be 'get off my case', but my little grandson at 2 years of age would say: 'get off my face', so the family adapted that. I thought it very clever of him)
I have a nasty case of shingles come to call and I hurt like the devil and am probably not going to be easy to get along with for a time so I am going to attempt to keep my mouth shut!

Belva - I had the shingles shot about 6 months ago. My mother had shingles and I had a terrible bout of chicken pox as a child, so was a prime candidate. Hope you feel better soon my dear.

I continue to buy books at the local Goodwill. Mostly I swap them on PBS without reading them and order things I do want to read. I look for things in really nice condition to swap. In this neck of the woods Goodwill charges 99c for hardbacks and 49c for paperbacks. I particularly look for newer British books which fly off my PBS shelf. The other day I found a beautiful h/c of The Road Home (Rose Tremain), and a p/b of The Hand that First Held Mine, (Maggie O'Farrell) for myself, along with about 20 books to swap

Thank you Barbara. Sorry I was so testy.

New rule: If you have shingles, you get to buy yourself as many books as you want. xx

Has everyone got themselves all up to date with their Virago cataloguing? I know I always go foraging in my giftee's library to see what they have under the Virago tags.

Belva, why don't you update your wishlist here and then not get anything on it? That way if you are feeling really lousy you can get a pick-me-up and not wreck your Christmas pressie.

oops, this should not be on this thread...sowwy

hahahahahahaha; you are really funny Tui!~!

What is this; Let's slap belva while she's down day?

??? What I meant was to put the Viragos you really want on your wishlist here and then be careful not to buy them in case your Secret Santa does. How is that slapping you etc.??? Or was it being up to date with your cataloguing?

Belva, I hope you're feeling better soon. I have every sympathy with shingles sufferers as I had chicken pox as an adult and it was absolutely horrible but everyone said I was lucky not to have had shingles which would have been worse. At the time, I found it difficult to imagine worse, so poor you!

I am very excited that it is nearly time to learn the identity of our secret santa recipients. I agree it's a good idea to refrain from buying anything on our virago wishlist.

I also have another request. If you are going to leave a message on the thread Laura will be starting soon, regarding any particular likes, dislikes and requests, can you do it as soon as poss? My blood pressure went sky high one year when my recipient left a message after I'd bought her presents. Fortunately she was helpfully vague and non-specific about what she wanted!

Tui - Belva and I are doing our Three Stooges slapping routine over our inability to keep our mouths shut over the dreadful Angela Carter. You just kind of got in the middle of it. :)

It's ok, Barbara, I wasn't upset or anything like that but I was puzzled about what I had said that could be construed as a slap. In this medium I might think I am being innocuous and perfectly reasonable but someone else might read something differently. Glad it was just three stoogeism!

We just happen to be to be the two stoogeism and I am sorry you got caught up in it. Next time I will specify Barbara by name! lol!~!
And I promise no more purchasing of the books I have listed on my wanted list. Promise, promise, promise.....
commiserating hugs all round,
~belva

Today I got Invitation to the Waltz from our dear Kerry. It is the original greencover, oh happiness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tui, my catalogue is up-to-date, all of it, hence........if it is not there, I don't have it! Speaking of updating, my Amazon wish list is updated, but please note that there are also books and movies for friends and family. Those, however, have a small side notation saying, for example, "for Joe" or "for Eric" etc.

104> Belva, you mean you weren't even talking to me? I thought you were because of the first sentence! Well that's pretty funny.

Too funny/////////////////

Feeling a little flush with cash right now, so I now have: China to Me and Yangtze Valley and Beyond, both Travellers; and Peking Picnic, which I've been coveting for a while now.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh Kastu; I am pea green. Two Travellers in one hunt. (Did YOU happen to get my #?) lol! Kudos to you!~!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! so excited! The post has just been bearing book shaped parcels - most of them gifts for other people - bearing in mind the time of year. One was for me however - a small couldn't resist momentt the other day *guilty smile* I happened across a copy of The Brontes went to Woolworths by Rachel ferguson on Amazon market place - £0.01 and £2.80 postage - it was described as a VMC in good condition. I ordered it, and then the next day I was talking to my good friend Liz (Lyzzybee) over a cup of tea - and Liz said how she thought that it was a hard to get VMC and so we both decided that it would most likely be a more recent edition and that the description had been misleading. But no! it's here a beautiful green VMC - and as for the condition - about 9.5 out of 10!!

Some excellent finds here.

Ali, that's great about The Brontes. I'm pleased that it seems a little easier to find as a VMC now that Bloomsbury have reprinted it. It was one of my early favourite Viragoes: an eccentric and entertaining read with influences from Freud as well as the Bronte sisters!

>110 Heaven-Ali:: lucky you!

I found a copy, also an older style VMC in good condition, when Bloomsbury reprinted. I thought I already had a copy, and maybe one day it will show up, but I wanted to read it soon.

Good scoop, Heaven-Ali! It's one of my favourite Viragos.

SCORE!~!

GOOD for you Heaven-Ali! That Ferguson is a great favorite. I scored too. After Andrew made the Mirror in Darkness offer, I started Company Parade. Since I'm finding it delightful (no surprise there), I ordered the other two. My None Turn Back looks brand new except for the time-darkened pages. Yay! To keep me from being antsy as I wait for Love in Winter, I ordered a non-Virago copy of Not So Quiet... from PBS, and it came too. Very nice. Very nice.

Is Not So Quiet Feminist Press? That is a wonderful edition of one of my top ten virago reads.

My copy of Not So Quiet is Feminist Press and I love the cover are on it. But wow, one of your top ten Virago reads? I need to get to that one sooner rather than later. Do you have the green Virago Press edition Elaine? Because I am thinking that I 'duped' this one from you. Perhaps not but................
hugs,
~belva

Yes, Elaine and Belva, I lucked into a Feminist Press edition of Not So Quiet..., and like Belva I need to push it higher on Mt. Bookpile. Even though it's against the PBS rules, my copy is heavily underlined with marginal notes. It's all done in pencil though, so I think that I can go through with art gum and clean it up. I'm glad to have the copy in any case.
AND today my lovely original green copy of Love in Winter arrived. I can't remember the seller at AMP, but it was classified as "good" and I think it looks "like new."

I have it in both the Virago (picked up in Stratford) and the Feminist Press for its great afterword. And you did get it from me, Belva, because I had an extra copy. When I see this book at sales I just buy it so I can share it.

I hope you enjoy Not So Quiet as much as I did. It really is a very good book and is one of the reasons I disliked The Happy Foreigner so much. The latter was such a lukewarm version of the same time period and events and just didn't measure up to the Zenna Smith.

I found a green-spined edition of The Enchanted April in a used bookshop yesterday!

Not So Quiet is just about my all time best Virago :)))

Julie - I'll have to think what mine is but just off the top of my head it would be a toss up between The Corner That Held Them and Illyrian Spring. After I press send I will no doubt remember one I prefer to those two.

All the more reason that I must read The Corner That Held Them - mine isn't very original, it's Diary of a Provincial Lady, second probably Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead

Of the Viragos that I have read there are so many beloveds and favorites. But I especially loved Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Willow Cabin, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, All Passion Spent, Story of an African Farm, & The Shutter of Snow. My very least favorite is, hands down, The Holiday.

Belva? Surely it is The Passion of New Eve?

I didn't count The Passion of New Eve because I didn't complete; hawk, hak, hak, ptui; excuse me; er, hairball you understand, it.
N U'r mean...................sayin' 'dirty words' so close to Christmas Barbara.

I was in London over the past couple of days, and naturally paid a visit to Notting Hill Book & Comic Exchange (anyone in London, you HAVE to go - oodles of Viragos there, I left plenty, honest). I came away with:

The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Wedding Group by Elizabeth Taylor
The Friendly Young Ladies by Mary Renault

The last of these is the one I know least about - it's not historical, and the blurb won me over.

Also, I saw Rachel (who blogs at Book Snob) and she very sweetly gave me Mr. Skeffington by Elizabeth von Arnim - wasn't that nice?

How lovely of Rachel. I think that I bought a 4 pack of Virago books from her at one point in time and she sent a lovely card along with. A couple of the books were dupes and will go up on that thread sometime after the first of the year.

Great haul from the book exchange, I haven't found that many Viragos there on my last few visits, and I don't think I even have the ones you mentioned, although of course they may have lots of the easily found ones that I have already. But I always come away with lots of stuff, and I found a couple of relatively rare Viragos in the charity shops on Kensington Church Street too.

Recently arrived in my letterbox: The Illustrated Lark Rise to Candleford, Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography by Claire Harman and Ever Yours, selected letters by Florence Nightingale. All very pleasing acquisitions indeed.

>132 europhile: - I found a copy of The Illustrated Lark Rise to Candleford in my local bookshop last weekend - it is a beautiful edition and one of my favourite books.

That sounds a very special edition mrsp. I am presuming it is a hardback.

~132 I went through a phase of reading things FLorence Nightingale but not those letters. Looking forward to hearing about them.

All three books sound very interesting to me. Love reading bios about authors.

>134 juliette07: - Julie - It is a lovely hardcover edition with dust jacket and, according to the blurb, with the original wood-engravings. It also has a fixed book ribbon. OUP is the pubisher.

Acquired, at a used bookshop outside of Middlebury today:

Penelope Gilliatt Nobody's Business
Susan Ferrier Marriage
Emily Holmes Coleman The Shutter of Snow (what a great title!)
Catherine Carswell Open the Door! (I was worried I had this one, but I don't seem to after all, but I still maybe have read it??? or maybe not.)

Susan Daitch L.C. -- This is 'Virago Fiction' not a Modern Classic -- the writer was born the same year as me.... and got this published in '86. The one review is quite negative I see, but oh well, I'm only out a few bucks if it's bad.....

Shutter of Snow is a super book, Sib.

#138 I don't remember hearing of that book before...I went and read (and thumbed) your review, Tui. It intrigues me.

New Virago forumite, here. I'm in San Francisco and snagged The New House and Deerbrook the other day in the Mission.

I read (and loved) Deerbrook in college but I'm stocking up for a Year in Viragos. I've accumulated so many that I've decided to read only VMCs (with a counterweight of Non-Fic) starting in January through......haven't decided yet.

I loved The Shutter of Snow; have read it twice now. It is a difficult subject matter but a beautifully written book. I gave it 5 stars and it was one of my top ten for last year. I can't wait to see what you think of it sibyx.

Hello booktruffler, and welcome to this lovely group of Viragoites.

A year in VMCs sounds wonderful, and of course there is some wonderful Virago non fiction out there too.

Yes, welcome Booktruffler to this crazy gang.

Welcome booktruffler, envious sigh at San Francisco. Where did you buy the books? I've bought a lot of books in the Mission over 5 or 6 visits to San Francisco, though I don't know when I'll get back there now.

welcome booktruffler! I'm a recent member too, and they've been very welcoming to me :)
Simon

Welcome booktruffler (and pssst: romain is one of the craziest of the gang ;-)
I think you will enjoy our little group.
That is quite an undertaking you have planned for yourself. A year of nothing but Virago and non-fiction. I envy you your organization and will power. You will have to keep us posted with your reads and how you are doing.
~belva

Oh jolly!!! A new member! Welcome booktruffler (nice handle, by the way), I hope you will like it here. :-))

Welcome booktruffler! We're mostly harmless. :-)

sqdancer -- speak for yourself ;-. And welcome booktruffler -- happy viragoing.

Yay, a newcomer! Welcome booktruffler. I see you're also new to LT in general. I hope you find it to be as fun and addicting, and that you meet many wonderful people too. This group is a GREAT place for that! And I love your name -- do you hunt for books as a pig does for truffles?

Well, Jane..........we are mostly harmless at the moment as mean Mother U is playing Dr. But just wait until Mia is all healthy and bouncing around again. (hopefully & prayerfully).

Welcome, booktruffler!

Welcome from here in Birmingham, UK, Booktruffler. This is a marvellous group of people: the best. Full of care for each other, silly and clever humour, book information and a deep love of all books, not just our Viragos. I think it's pretty well the best online group I belong to!

Another welcome from the UK, booktruffler! Beware: membership of this group may cause your tbr pile to grow beyond all control.

Welcome booktruffler - I'm quite new here too- and it's a fabulous group.

My copy of Ten Days of Christmas by G.B Stern arrived today. A lovely copy with pretty dustwrapper.

http://twitpic.com/7tof17

I am going to read Shutter first! It had 'the look' somehow of being a winner. Thank you all!

Oh what a lovely cover, Ali!!!

Oh, isn't that a beautiful cover!

Wow, thanks for all the lovely welcomes! I have to admit, I'm already obsessing about the VMCs. I read quite a few back in college, mostly the pre-1930's ones. I'm just now beginning to appreciate that inter-war period. What a vista that opens up!

By profession, I'm a bookseller, so I have my sources. ;)
I sold my shop in Seattle six months ago and have been selling online in SF since then. I scrounge a lot from thrift stores, estate sales, library sales, and the local used shops. Green Apple and Aardvark have been good spots for me.

My Year of Viragos probably won't be a full year, as I doubt I can resist the other, non VMCs on my shelves for that long. Should I start a thread on my project once it's underway?

Are you a big fan of Stern's, Heaven-Ali? I have two volumes of her autobiography I could send you, gratis. I was going to read them but I couldn't get into them, despite loving her book on Jane Austen that she did with Sheila Kaye-Smith.

>160 booktruffler:: Should you start a thread? Oh yes!! Please!
By the way, we are celebrating Elizabeth Taylor's centenary next year, reading one book each month. Go to our group wiki for more information (there's a link to the wiki on the group homepage ... just ask if I'm not making sense).

#161 - I have never read any of her books before booktruffler - very tempted by your offer - but if they are hard to get into I might pass - although I am trying to read more Non fiction. Thank you very much though that is a kind offer. Also don't know if you realise I am in the UK - postage might be a lot.

Welcome booktruffle to this wonderful group - I agree with ~153. Me too LizzyBee!

Ah, Heaven-Ali, I did not realize you were in the UK. D'oh! They are kinda hard to get into. She skips around a lot in her life. Not terribly linear.

On a finds note, I finally found a lovely original green VMC of South Riding. Callou Callay! I passed up on a mass market of it when I was in London in April and have been kicking myself ever since. No more!

>165 booktruffler:: oh, that's a real treat. Have you read South Riding yet? LOVED it!!

Today I found a beautiful old copy of Introduction to Sally by Elizabeth von Arnim (don't think this was ever a VMC) for only £1! Also got The Virago Book of the Joy of Shopping - not that I find it especially joyful, but it seemed full of wonderful excerpts.

Ah- I bought the Virago Book of the Joy of Shopping in the Lake District in the summer and it's working its way up to the top of the TBR. I don't much like shopping, either, but the book looks delightful!

I don't think it's one I'm going to read cover-to-cover, but might dip into from time to time. Which will probably add a hundred titles to my wants-list!

Sounds the perfect little 'tweener' book.

Just arrived (from ebay) today

Fenny - by Lettice cooper - which I had bought for my VSS and wanted myself so had to get another copy : )
The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby
The Blush by Elizabeth Taylor

and I am excitedly watching the post for three others:

The Brimming Cup - Dorothy Canfield
William by EH Young

and Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor from Abebooks

(I went a bit mad online the other day - oops!)

Ali - what a slendid parcel and *more* to come! The Brimming Cup is one of my all time favourites!

Fenny is on of my fave Viragos.

Fenny is on my TBR list - I think I'll move it further up.

As well as a Virago from my wonderful Santa my s-i-l gave me three - she lives near Saffron Walden (in Essex) which has a very good Oxfam bookshop. One was a duplicate, which I shall post on the duplicates thread the other two were A note in music and Mad Puppetstown.

I've got so many books waiting to be read that I feel a bit overwhelmed. I'm feeling a bit worn down by winter, I think, and finding it hard to muster the energy to start new books. I haven't quite got a reading block as I can re-read old favourites but new books seem to require just a bit more mental energy than I've got at the moment. Roll on Spring...

Today Conversation Piece came home with me. It's the only Molly Keane in Virago, besides The Knight of Cheerful Countenance, that i hadn't owned before now.

Kasthu, Conversation Piece sounds a wonderful book. That one is going on my wish list. It sounds so totally different than anything I have read. You will have to put up a review when you do read it as there are none. Good score!~!

My copy of Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont arrived the other day. I'm trying to resist buying all the Taylors for the big read this year, leaving it to chance if I find them in the Oxfam bookshop. But Mrs Palfrey is one that I most want to read, so I found a cheap copy on amazon and ordered it. It's the italicized green edition with a beautiful bouquet of flowers on the cover.

I found a lovely hardback with jacket of Rose Macaulay's Going Abroad at an estate sale this weekend. And the copy of Margaret Kennedy's Lucy Carmichael that I'd won on eBay arrived on Saturday, as well.

My husband was in a used bookshop on Tuesday, and brought home a book for me, how sweet of him. It's Vita's Other World, a "gardening biography" and a nice intersection of my Virago obsession and my gardening hobby.

Awww...good for him!

I've been working my way through the entire Stuck-in-a-Book blog and have made quite a list of things to search out. Yesterday I found a reprint of Just William, as well as a boxed set of Wolf Mankowitz's Make Me an Offer and A Kid for Two Farthings. I really need to stop picking up non-Viragos!

I just received Who's Who in Bloomsbury by Alan and Veronica Palmer. If you can't tell the Bloomsburies without a scorecard this is the book for you! It will explain who was married to, sleeping with, in love with, father or mother of, sexually attracted to, asexually attracted to, brother or sister or cousin of etc. And even mentions what they painted, wrote or printed!.

#182 Thanks for that Elaine - I just ordered it from ABE books. For reasons even I cannot quite fathom I just love all that gossipy Bloomsbury stuff.

It's that time of year again ....the Lifeline bookfest...and I took no prisoners...

The Land of Green Ginger by Winifred Holtby

Lantana Lane by Eleanor DArk

Liza's England by Pat Barker

Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood

Christopher and Columbus by Elizabeth Von Arnim

Mandoa, Mandoa! by Winifred Holtby

The Diviners by Margaret Laurence

Keynotes and Discords by George Egerton

The Street by Ann Petry

Her Son's Wife by Dorothy Canfield

A Saturday Life by Radclyffe Hall

Nobody's Business by Penelope Gilliatt

Bodily Harm by Margaret Atwood

Yonnondio by Tillie Olsen

Cousin Rosamund by Rebecca West

Susan Spray by Sheila Kaye-Smith

One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes00

Brown Girl, Brownstones by Paule Marshall

In my enthusiasm I doubled up on the Atwood...does anyone want the copy of Lady Oracle?

184: Wow!!!

Amazing. That must be an incredible event!

Wow Alex - this reminds me of the Dunedin book sale when I was at uni there. You needed a shopping cart!

184: What a haul! I'm envious; some of these look fantastic. Enjoy!

It is a great event and held at the convention centre. Shopping trolleys are de rigeur. I love listening to the announcements at the fair e.g. "Mr Smith.....Mrs Smith needs a breather. She'll just be outside having a cup of tea. Take your time. Don't rush. Come when you're ready.". Or snatches of conversations overheard at the trestle table e.g. "I don't even know why we're here. There is no more room. Where are we going to put them?"

>181 booktruffler: - Make Me An Offer is a great little book, even if it's not VMC!

>184 alexdaw: - wow!!

That's exactly what the Dunedin sale was like Alex. The dealers came out in force looking for first editions, the rest of us just wanted books that we wanted to read. But it was always packed to the gills. Something about us southern hemisphere people and books. Apparently we read more books per capita than northern hemisphere people. I've always put it down to being stuck at the bottom of the world and having to stay in touch. But also the lack of tv until very late in the day - 1960 in NZ I believe and then only limited access - so by the time I discovered tv I was already well and truly hooked on books.

The San Francisco Fort Mason sale sounds like that, Alex. I was too late for a shopping cart this year, but I'll be bright and early next time. I'm a double-threat at these sales, looking for resale stock and personal treasures.

It's all your fault, Simon. I'm tempted to make another exception to my Virago Year: anything mentioned on Stuck-in-a-Book. I've been reading backwards through your site and finding waaaaay too many things I want to read. Your blog is a dangerous delight, good sir.

I bow to you, Luvvie. WAY beyond anything in my experience!

Wow alex!~! SCORE!~!

What wonderful finds! Lantana Lane is one of my favourites.

>193 booktruffler: - aww, that's sweet of you! I'd love to be an exception to the rule :) (although I have reviewed nearly 400 books, I think, so it will give you rather a lot of leeway...)

It's not a Virago, but I just found a signed copy of one of Doris Lessing's books at the local Oxfam shop. Now I need to try and finish reading one of her books . . .

Don't know if this counts as fabulous finds as they are kindle books- but I checked out the marvelous manybooks.net for some virago authors. (all these ebooks are free on this site) and although I would prefer beautiful green editions in the future I now at least will be able to read:

Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
Fraulein Schmidt and Mr. Anstruther by Elizabeth Von Arnim
The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight by Elizabeth Von Arnim
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
Bliss by Katherine Mansfield
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

Now I can read Virago wherever I am : ) - and will look out for the greens to replace them maybe too.

#199 Another good site for Virago-type titles is girlebooks.com - they have lots of Elizabeth von Arnim.

#200 - wow that's a great site thanks : )

#200 I love the girlebooks.com covers (and I know you can't really see the covers on an ereader but it still feels good knowing the nice covers are there).

>184 alexdaw:: my goodness, what a haul!