Virago 50th Anniversary Reading Project 2023 - December

And so we reach the final month of our 2023 celebration of 50 years of our favourite publisher, Virago! I am starting this thread early, as December is such a busy time of year, to allow plenty of time to choose and read suitable titles.

As you know. we set up a reading project to choose books from a section of the VMC catalogue in sequential order, and after some discussion on other threads, decided to go for equal sections rather than trying to divide up the 50 years and fit books into this by publication date!

To aid us, we have been using our Virago Collection Tracker which can be found in the Group Wiki.

December, our final month, is an odd one! As we've reached the end of the Wiki, we can choose from books numbered 701, which is Apple Bough by Noel Streatfeild up to anything which has been released recently. My checklist ends with book 718, which is The Growing Summer also by Noel Streatfeild but it's entirely possible that other titles have come out which I've missed so if you have any more information please do leave it below.

As there is such a short list of titles for this month, I would suggest that it might good to say that December is also a catch-up month if there's a VMC you've always meant to read but never got round to.

Thanks to all who've joined in this year's celebration and I'll post a suggestion for 2024 in a separate thread. :D

>1 kaggsy: First, thank you for hosting this project this year. It has helped me to focus on reading my Virago books and helped me to get an idea of the wide range of books Virago has to offer.

Second, I hope to read one of two books: #718 Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston OR #579 In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden, which I meant to read in October, but didn't get to it. In a perfect reading world I'd get to both of them this month, but I'm not holding my breath.

>2 kac522: Most welcome! There are so many books about that I think we sometimes need to be reminded of the Viragos!

And hope you enjoy this month's book(s)!

Yes, thank you for organising the project. I'm going to do my best to read the Virago at 50 volume you so kindly sent me while it's still the right year!!

>4 LyzzyBee: Hurrah! Hope you enjoy it!

I'm still reading The serial garden from last month! These whimsical stories are best read a couple a day which is why I'm taking my time. Aiken was a genius.

I have finished My Career Goes Bung (#52) by Miles Franklin, since I hadn't read a book for ##1-70 in February.

Well, I haven't read either of the books I was thinking about in >2 kac522:, but I did read this month:

....and....

The Professor's House by Willa Cather #57 (1925)--great writing, but I wasn't always sure what Cather was trying to communicate. I read a different edition, though--I don't have the Virago edition.

and

Welcome Strangers by Mary Hocking #342 (1986), the last book in her Fairley family trilogy. I enjoyed this last book quite a bit, as our main character Alice is more front & center, and it seems to end with a more positive feel. I think the first and third books are strong; the second book was a bit muddled for me.

Hooray, I managed to get a Virago book read and a pertinent one - Furies which they published to celebrate their 50th anniversary this year! https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2023/12/30/book-review-various-furies/