What Virago are you reading? (Part II)

A fresh start...

the Passion of New Eve - Ugh! rats!

Are you not enjoying it englishrose? I haven't read it.

I haven't read it either. Is your exclamation signifying that you don't like it or that there are rats involved in the plot?

Oh dear. I just a copy to an Angela Carter enthusiast!

Marensr - I am enjoying it immensely.

christique - there are rats in the plot.

Bleuroses - relax!

If you like Angela Carter's work then I can recommend The Passion of New Eve.

Their Eyes Were Watching God will be my next read.

I retire in a week and am going to celebrate by reading The Brontes went to Woolworths. For now, I'm too fried to read a single thing.

tiffin - 'fried' as in hot? What a wonderful way to celebrate - any other plans I wonder?

Congratulations on what I hope will be a welcome change - and the wonderful plan for beginning it, with that most coveted book!

I just finished The Curate's Wife, and expect my next Virago to be The Fountain Overflows - a gift of the Duplicate Copies thread (and, more specifically and truly, Christina); and a crossover with the NYRB Classics group. But neither of those weighs so much as my absolute eagerness to begin.

9: It sounds like 'fried' in my mother's sense, of stressed, strained, exhausted or overwrought. (Though she may also be hot!) In either case, tiffin, my sympathies.

I'm still reading Their Eyes Were Watching God. I am only about half way through - slow for me. The dialect makes it a slow read but without it I don't think it would be such a good book. The dialect makes her characters come to life. Her use of language is beautiful, too.

#8 - tiffin - enjoy your retirement - I noticed you have "At Mrs Lippincote's" by Elizabeth Taylor, which is her first book and would be a great read to celebrate your change in direction. I am presently reading "Palladian" - Taylor's second book.

I am about a dozen pages from the end of Beatrix Lehmann's Rumour of Heaven. A very odd book.

I am into chapter five of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. It is engrossing with characters being developed and New York socialites 'keeping up with the Jones'.

#15 juliette07, if you like The Age of Innocence, then you must read all of Wharton. I recommend Custom of the Country, House of Mirth, Summer, The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. Her short stories are wonderful and some are quite wicked. Try "Xingu." It's available on Project Gutenberg at the following address: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24131

These works are, of course, just a start, but they're my favorites.

Thank you so much urania1 for that support and advice. I will go straight over to the Gutenberg - thanks for the link!

I've just started reading Stevie's Smiths Novel on Yellow Paper. I'd approached it with some trepidation as I had pre-conceptions of a provocative, eccentric, stream-of-consciousness novel. Well, all this may turn out to be true but it's so wonderfully and charismatically written, I think I'll forgive her anything.

There's a wonderful paragraph where she's talking about Victorian literature which begins,

"How richly compostly loamishly sad were those Victorian days, with a sadness not nerve-irritating like we have today."

It's reminded me of why I loved her poetry in my teens. It was probably because of this ability to be bleak and entertaining at the same time!

I've just started Return of the Soldier. I only had a short time to read last night but can tell this is going to be wonderful. The language is just beautiful. I picked this one up having noticed that juliette07 read it recently, and it's also on the "1001" list, so I can check one off there as well!

It's not a Virago, but it's been discussed on this forum several times (as something Virago might consider publishing): I got a copy of Margery Sharp's Rhododendron Pie on Interlibrary Loan from the Lawson-McGhee Library in Knoxville, TN. I'm excited to read a book that's even rarer than The Brontës Went to Woolworths!

Can't wait to hear what you think of it, Rob!

Hey Rob,

That's one of my libraries! It's a small world after all.

# 18 - I am also presently reading Novel on Yellow Paper - although I am only early into the novel, I am finding the random thoughts of Pompey quite hard to follow but I will persevere. Soupdragon - are you enjoying it?

Oh Rob! I am so envious!!!
;-)

I am reading West with the Night which was sent to me by the generous, sweet Marensr! It's been published as a Virago Traveller. Beryl Markham was quite a woman!

#23- Well, Mrs Penny, she doesn't make it easy for us! I'm about half way through Novel on Yellow Paper and there have been times when I've been willing myself to the end but then there are also some wonderful moments in there, which feel worth reading the book for alone.

I'm glad I've finally got around to reading it but will choose something which flows a little more easily for my next read. Shouldn't be difficult!

I'm reading The Gentlewomen in tandem with Anita Brookner's Undue Influence (not a Virago). Prozac anyone?

27 urania1 - how do you feel about Anita Brookner??

19 lindsacl - thank you so much for pointing out the 1001 link as well. Yes - I can tick off another one.

20 Rob - there we are with these rare gems from our libraries - speaks volumes doesn't it! (you may remember that I have The Brontes Went to Woolworths out of my nearest library)

#28 juliette,

Damn it all. After finishing a lengthy response to your question, I accidentally hit the close tab button to this page and so now have to recreate my response. To paraphrase from an old Sufi tale, “those tabs, maybe they’re a blessing and maybe they’re a curse. Only Allah knows.”

So to return to your question Julie, what do I think of Anita Brookner? Funny you should ask. Every time I read a new Brookner acquisition, I ask myself the same question. Here are my latest musings on your question, although by no means my definitive response. Brookner has essentially rewritten the same novel (at the rate of almost one a year) for the last twenty years, so in a certain sense she writes to a formula. Almost all of her novels (Lewis Percy is one of the exceptions) feature an adult female protagonist, either quite young (just making her “debut” onto the great stage of life) or in late middle age. Regardless of age, the protagonist nearly always feels herself alone, isolated from others even in the midst of a crowd, and certain that the parade either has or will pass her by without her having affected the world in a discernible way or having achieved a meaningful sense of self. She is an insignificant bit player, a wallflower in the drama of her own life. She knows or thinks she knows (I’ll return to this point later) that others have some “charms for the easy life.” These “others” know how to get what they want (the man, the attention, the career, the self-assurance, the family) – all the things that elude her. She also assumes – somewhat ahistorically I might add – that she is a woman born at the wrong place and time, that a generation or so earlier she would have fit in or managed to find a place. In my opinion, this time never actually existed (or a least not in the way she envisions it). As someone excluded from the great drama of life, she is a voyeur, and (this is the interesting part) one finds oneself drawn into a kind of voyeurism as well, peering not at the protagonist herself but at the author lurking beyond the margins of the texts. I, at any rate, feel I know Brookner (the biographical fallacy), yet on closer examination I realize that neither the protagonist nor the author has revealed very much about herself. On the one hand, I want to say the protagonist is the author; however, on closer examination the author is always an opaque presence.

Brookner is an art historian, so I think I will extend the art metaphor a bit further here. As a writer, she uses an extremely limited palette of colors. One could interpret this choice as either formulaic or a demonstration of extreme discipline. Certainly, she has developed as a stylist over the years. She has much more control over her medium than she did when she first began to write, even though the plot line has remained essentially unchanged. Her writing reminds me a bit of the paintings of Andrew Wyeth. He, too, uses a limited palette of colors and paints the same scene repeatedly. The bed on which the now famous Helga is pictured is also the prop for a painting of his dog. That room and that bed appear in hundreds of his paintings. Is Wyeth trite or sublime? I can’t make up my mind. Let me say merely that I feel annoyed when I look at his paintings. On the one hand, I do feel as if Wyeth’s work reveals some great insight, "Christina’s World" for example; on the other hand, I feel as if the artist is laughing at me for confusing sticky sentimentality with art - back to the dog again. I like that dog, but I am suspicious of the coziness, the charms for the easy life (again) that the picture seems to promise. The idealist in me wants to embrace that vision of life; the suspicious hermeneutist in me says, “Hmm, what family romance are we writing here? Life doesn’t work this way however much we might want to believe in this particular idyll.”

But to return to Brookner, two (or maybe three) things interest me about her work. I’ve always been fascinated by writers who return compulsively to the same question over and over again. John Irving is one writer who comes to mind. All of his novels keep picking at the same question: Can the abandoned, wounded child ever be healed? Where does this child find grace? I think he finally answers this question (for himself at least) in his latest novel Until I Find You. I’ll be curious to see if he ever writes another novel, and if he does will he keep on growing and developing as an artist or will he essentially stop where he is now. If I were the gambling sort, I’d bet he starts writing under a pseudonym in order to free himself of the baggage and expectations that have built up around his work and his persona. When I read Brookner, I sometimes toy with the idea, that she uses a pseudonym to write novels that are most decidedly “improper.” In the “unofficial,” totally fictitious biography I have created for her, she writes wildly erotic novels, with lots of heavy breathing, heaving breasts, etc. I could go on, but I’ll be discreet. But, in another “unofficial” and totally fictitious biography, I imagine that she is very much like the heroines of whom she writes – prim, tidy, maintaining decorum at all costs, and keeping the stiff upper lip even though she knows that nothing but loneliness and isolation will ever be her lot. Elements of her official biography would appear to bear out this judgment. She rarely gives interviews (more opacity there). Look at the jacket photo of her, the same one for twenty years. She looks so very prim and buttoned up. However, she was the first female Slade Professor at Cambridge. She certainly hasn’t been standing on the margins, waiting like a lonely puppy to be invited inside. And can a highly educated woman honestly believe these days that others really do have some charm for the easy life that has evaded her grasp? I don’t buy it. Furthermore, in reading one of her rare interviews, I was amused by the following comment: “I'm a middle-class, middle-brow novelist. And that's it. It amuses me” http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,429694,00.html. And that comment brings me back to my paranoia about Wyeth. Either his work is quite good, or he’s a middlebrow artist and amused.

Finally (yes I am going to finish here), I recognize elements of myself in her heroines. I also recognize the way they misrecognize themselves as I have done during the times when I identified strongly with her protagonists? What do I think of her work? I don’t know yet. What do you think? I'm curious.

Sorry guys. I went off on a tangent in the previous posting. It happens sometimes - one of the reasons my division chair didn't like me.

urania1, I really enjoyed reading your analysis (and I'm doubly impressed since you had to re-create it from scratch!). I've only read one book by Anita Brookner but am very familiar with Wyeth, as much of his painting took place near where I live (and there's an entire museum dedicated to the work of the Wyeth family). Interesting comparison, and I'm tempted to read more Brookner to experience your impressions for myself. Thanks!

I find it very interesting when you go off on a tangent, urania1. Keep it up, please!

Please do. It's a vastly better reflection on her than a random reader such as myself could give, with just a few novels read and much less capacity for it; reaching beyond, but true to, my own reading experience, wherever it touches it.

You are adding pleasure and instruction (or stimulation.... in the politer sense, of course).

#33 Eurydice - Re "in the politer sense, of course." Of course ;-)

Oh, yes - Monday, I began The Fountain Overflows, which I've been looking forward to (and was so graciously, kindly sent by Christina, on top of other recent duplicates). It really is a beautiful copy, as I exclaimed before, which adds to the pleasure. My only regret is being so tired. The reading doesn't slip by, page on page, as it should.

She's remarkable (as was the other NYRB novelist I read recently) in conveying certain true experiences of childhood, readily forgotten, and exposing the moral quality, at once with the facades and physicality, of the characters. Also, it's bursting like a plum cake with such things as the marvelous description of the horses on a farm, being encountered in the early pages, part of which reads "After a time, we could see the rolling of the mild nervous eyes which showed the horses had wills if they chose to use them, the barrel-bulk of their girdled bodies, the tree-trunk straightness of their forelegs, the cunning elastic spring of their hind legs, the huge spread of their round feet, all the strength that stirred so little and so much more mildly than it might have, had there been malice here. We saw two mice dallying in the litter underneath one giant, and knew it was proved."

There's much about the quality of things, disreputableness and beauties.

I think all my next book purchases (in fiction) will be, oh, well, 60% Viragos and NYRB Classics!

No, I am not enthusiastic. Only very, very pleased.

I have just finished Every Eye by Isobel English. Enjoyed this short novel. I would like to reread this some time in light of the revelation made at the end of the story.

Nearly finished Eight Cousins and will then read sequel Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott. These are both new to me. I read Little Women and its sequels when I was a child.

#29 urania - I am full of admiration for your review of Brookner and reflections upon her work. I found some resonance in what you wrote.
The first book I read of Brookner was Hotel du Lac in the year it won the Booker prize - 1984. When I entered it on LT I gave it five stars. I can remember thinking that it was all rather worthy, kept waiting for something to 'happen' but somehow found it a deeply satisfying read. This was probably because of the quality of her writing. I then went on to read seven more of her books. Sadly I was not writing reviews at that time so my ability to address or respond to your comments in depth is limited. I have been pondering about the characters and the 'sameness' of which you wrote. Maybe that very 'sameness' appealed to me at that point/time of my life. In addition I was reading quite a variety of authors. More likely her beautiful prose appealed to me. Interestingly, Hotel du Lac was eclipsed for me when two years later I read Possession by Anita Byatt. Up till the beginning of this year the latter was one of my top ever most influential, and best reads.

Englishrose, I bought Rose in Bloom in a Virago recently: it and Eight Cousins were among my favorites as a girl. Like many other Louisa May Alcotts, it was lost in the process of coming to maturity. (Speaking comparatively.) I was fortunate enough to happen upon it in Cambridge, Mass., in the Bryn Mawr Bookshop, and to visit both her grave and - by wonderful fortuity - that of another favorite writer of childhood, Margaret Sidney, while in Concord, and greeting also Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne. It's for the women and for Hawthorne that I felt as if I had stepped to the visiting of a friend. The mere fact of their having been in a place, when I have never before dealt with them in common space, imbued it with a sense of presence or closeness removed from any more ghostly overtones. I think I passed places inhabited by a couple of other Virago writers - Willa Cather, Sarah Orne Jewett, etc. - but not on days when I could keep proper track of house numbers and streets. :/

Juliette07, Possession ranks very high among my favourite books of all times, if not at the top of the list. The memory of the feelings it stirred when I read it is always present in my mind. I loved every minute of it, and was sorry to reach the end.
I will definitely read it again.

aluvalibiri - I do so identify with being sorry at the end - that sadness when you turn the last page is so tangible in the very best books. The most recent book that evoked that feeling as I turned the last page was War and Peace. I would love to read Possession again as I am sure that the passage of life may well bring a different light to the novel.

Well after a brief Virago hiatus I am back in the thick of May Sinclair's Three Sisters which I am enjoying thoroughly. I second all the affection for Possession. It is a remarkable book and I have not ever reread it. I wonder how what I would discover in it now.

Zounds,

I feel as if I've been gone forever. I'm now back from Chicago. I got to meet Maren, who is as gracious in person as she is online. She took me on a used bookshop tour of north Chicago, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I havw just finished reading June Oldham's Flames, a Virago Fiction edition not a VMC. By the end of the book, I was weeping. This novel is quite short, and the reader has to fill in a number of blanks for herself as the author draws with broad, impressionistic strokes rather than minute detail. In terms of theme, it reminded me a bit of The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell. Caldwell's book is not a VMC, but I highly recommend it.

#36 I found Every Eye a intriguing book. I'd be curious to hear more of your thoughts on it.

#38, #40, annd #42, I want to add my praises to possession. Right now I'm reading Margaret Drabble's The Gates of Ivory. Drabble and Byatt are sisters, you know. Over the last several years, they've both written books about mothers that comment on the other's work in interesting ways. I found this interesting comment from an old New York Times interview, in which she responded to a question about the state of English literature. I found it rather amusing, although I was crushed by her dismissal of Barbara Pym whose writing I adore. I think Pym's aims were a bit different. Anyway here's the quotation:

"You can be a great philosophical novelist like Iris Murdoch without writing about a broad social range," she starts slowly. "There is a generation of Amis admirers who feel it's their duty to report on the terrible seamy side of Thatcher's Britain, but the world is far more complicated. It's not sanitized! If you've got Martin Amis and Ian McEwan as leading novelists, you could argue the opposite! Then you see, you get A. N. Wilson reviving Barbara Pym as if she was a figure of any importance. She isn't . Then there are people like Julian Barnes, who don't fit into either category. What Julian Barnes is doing is nearest to what I want to see someone doing now -- inventing new forms -- although I'm not really sure what he's saying.

"I think we've had rather too much dirt rather than not enough. That's not a prudish English remark, but a statement of saturation. These up-and-coming young men," she splutters. "Penelope Fitzgerald -- they think, 'Ah! Middle-aged lady with frizzy hair and a nice smile; she must be writing tastefully.' I say she's writing against taste, quite savagely. But they don't pick it up because they're brash young men poncing about, waving their blood and thunder and condoms!" (from http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/06/13/specials/byatt-possessed.html)

I especially like the last sentence.

"brash young men poncing about . . ." very funny

Poor Pym, she has been neglected I found her as astute an observer as Austen within the realm about which she writes.

It is late so it just struck me that Pym would be a fine name for a cat.

It would. My one cat is called Shakespeare, but I'd like a few more authorial cats before I run out my time. (And I may say that, name influenced or not, he's been a fine companion, in many trials and through uncounted volumes.)

Pym's quite a fine eye for the gentle sadness that weighs down common lives, for sheer genteel loneliness - dissolutions and pride as in Quartet in Autumn. Looking on these so readily overlooked lives and seeing their content (pun intended) is not nothing.

I'm quite interested in June Oldham's Flames, from what you say of it, urania.

"Poncing" or "poncey" combined with "brash" and "blood" and "thunder" is curious and extraordinarily inapposite*. Really, really just weird if one knows anything about the use of "ponce" and its many (all too often extremely derogatory and homophobic) connotations at all.

I like Byatt as a fiction writer. I think she's quite gifted and much of her work is very powerful. As a critic and a thinker...well, not so much.

*I should note that Byatt is at least a generation older than I am and "ponce" once had slightly different, although equally derogatory connotations. Derived from a term for pimp, it once had clearer connections not just with personal flamboyance but also with flashy but ultimately aimless behaviour. I imagine this is some of what Byatt is referring to. I still think it's a poor and poorly thought out word choice though.

#43 re: Every Eye - I thought this novel showed how a young person, without realising it at the time, can be manipulated by older, more confident persons into doing what they think they want or ought to do with their life.

Harriet when she became an older, more confident person could look back on her past and see how her life had been lived to please others. Now, middle aged she relies on her own feelings and desires. She is her own person, so to speak, making her own decisions and living the life that she herself wants.

#46- I agree the word "poncing" jars here, though otherwise I loved that sentence!

I suspect she meant "posturing" but used "poncing" to sound a little more provocative and without thinking it through!

I'm not sure the word had those connotations in the US.

I was entirely unaware of those connotations as well.

Same here, Marensr.

Going back to the thread topic, I am just finishing The Wedding Group, a very good read by Elizabeth Taylor. I have pulled The Fruit of the Tree out of the VMC stack to read next, hoping for a long luxurious read.

I am currently reading Time After Time by Molly Keane. I have only just started it but am absolutely loving the eccentric family.

A few days ago, I read Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead - brutal, but extraordinary, a book I enjoyed immensely. This morning, finally, brought me to the end of The Fountain Overflows - though not of thought about the Aubrey family or the many issues and incidents raised.

I'm grateful to Christina for both.

Currently, though in a non-Virago edition, I'm piecing out The Salzburg Tales of Christina Stead.

Just finished a wonderful book - Pioneer Women Elizabeth Fry, Elizabeth Blackwell, Florence Nightingale, Mary Slessor by M E Tabor. Published in 1925 I read a library copy. I ordered it as it was later published as a Virago and was eatured on one of our threads in The Pioneer Series. It reflects the writing, thinking and times not long after these ladies had achieved their reputations for breaking the mould.
Although they and their situations may seem such a far cry from our world I am fascinated by the fact that these ladies, the influential women of their time lived while my Grandmother was alive.

The latter was a pharmacist at the famous hospital for women in London and I cannot help but think that she must have been inspired by the likes of Elizabeth Blackwell. The latter spent much time in New York - interestingly at roughly the same time that Edith Wharton set The Age of Innocence. The comparison between the lives of Ellen, May and Elizabeth Blackwell was striking.

There is a little girl who lives up the street from me named Florence. Her parents named her that because her great-grandmother was delivered by Florence Nightingale.

How very special !

I just finished The Three Sisters great but so melancholy (thankyou mrspenny) and started The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte (thank you Christina) which is very interesting.

Last night I finished The Fruit of the Tree a very good read by Edith Wharton, a bit different than her better known books, though. Marilyn French wrote an excellent introduction.

I'm about a third of the way through Joanna Godden - a non-Virago (sigh), e-text (gasp) version. Thus far, I've enjoyed it immensely. Joanna is an engaging character. On the whole, the book reminds me of Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. Both Joanna and Carol Kennicott want to shake up their tradition-bound little backwaters. Each manages to shock her community. The big difference - whereas Carol becomes frustrated at her inability to institute change and frequently feels misunderstood and hurt, Joanna really doesn't care what others think. She has more "grit" than Carol and doesn't "disdain" her home. Both were written around the same time (early 1920s). Lewis's book is set in Gopher Prairie Minnesota; Kaye-Smith's book is set in the Romney Marshes of England. Joanna Godden was made into a movie, The Loves of Joanna Godden in 1947. Ralph Vaughan Williams did the film score, the love theme of which he incorporated into his Sixth Symphony.

Since I really liked Main Street when I read it, ages ago, perhaps I should unearth my copy of Joanna Godden and read it next.

#60 aluvalibri, how interesting. Of course you would have read and liked Main Street :) I used to read it several times a year when I was in my twenties. I recently replaced the copy I lost during the divorce. I haven't yet reread it. It's been about fifteen years since I read it last. I'll be curious to see if I like it as much as I did then.

If you're looking for an excellent summer read, try The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy. I've just finished it and it really made an impression ! In many ways, it reminded of On The Road by Jack Kerouac but from a female perspective and in my opinion Dundy's book is better written.
The book narrates the story of Sally Jay, a girl on holiday in France who just wants to live and love and meet people. It's a refreshing book, not really light but rather revigorating and at times surprisingly hilarious.
Elaine passed away last May. I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to read her book when she was still alive and could have received some money for it.
Another Virago that I love, this publisher is so full of intelligent discoveries !

The Dud Avocado is an entertaining book Sibylle and it has been republished by New York Review Books so if tracking down a Virago copy is difficult it is at least readily available. I didn't realize the Dundy had passed away so recently.

I've just started The Rising Tide by M.J. Farrell. It didn't draw me in as quickly as Mad Puppetstown but I'm willing to be patient. Opinions on Farrell/Keane's best early novel? I'm curious what the fans have to say.

I have only read three Molly Keanes so far, but I particularly enjoyed The Rising Tide. I think that there is a certain ebb and flow to the story, which maybe takes a while to get into.

I have yet to read Mad Puppetstown, so I can't compare the two. I do think though that which of an author's books you prefer is to a degree dependent on the order you read them.

I am two chapters into Elizabeth Taylor's A Wreath of Roses, which is absolutley lovely. I got it from my local private subscription library that I joined recently - it has some gems tucked away.

>65 BeyondEdenRock: Fleur, A Wreath of Roses is one that is in my TBR line, somewhere. I look forward to reading your verdict when you are done.

>64 Leseratte2: For "early novel," are you confining the writing to anytime during which she was using the name M J Farrell? If so, I think my favorite is Two Days in Aragon, but I haven't read Mad Puppetstown either.

In the last few days, I read Elizabeth Taylor's The Wedding Group (my thanks to avaland!), which was wry, unsparing in vision despite its gentleness of tone - outright frightening, in some ways; certainly admirable writing.

Christina Stead is by the wayside, for the moment, as happens, often. A conversation last night gave quick kindling to my desire, and I'm halfway through the (non-Virago?) novel Robinson by Muriel Spark. (Touchstones very touchy over that one, hence my irregularity.)

With only one Molly Keane beneath my belt, I'm glad to see comments on specific books by such a group favorite.

I guess by “early” I mean the novels from The Knight of Cheerful Countenance to Loving without Tears. As for Rising Tide, I’ve been drawn in – had a hard time putting it down to go to work this morning, missed my stop on the train because I was too engrossed to notice, will probably even pass on the season premiere of Project Runway tonight. Slán go fóill, Heidi.

I just finished Love by Elizabeth von Arnim.
Delightful! It made me not mind my commute so much. Was tempted to stay on the circle line and go round and round till I finished it. I enjoyed it as much if not more than The Enchanted April and will definitely read more by ms. e.v.a. Thanks again aviddiva for the book!

I'm currently reading Molly Keane's Good Behavior - a dark, grim little novel if ever I read one. The mother-daughter relation is particularly horrific - all "good behavior" on the surface serving as a thin disguise for barely controlled sadism. Keane does a wonderful job with a first person narrator who manages to convey clearly information of which she is unaware. The book provides an engrossing read. Last night, I crawled into bed planning to finish the last few chapters before I went to sleep. My husband had already picked up the book (I usually sleep with several books in case I wake up in the middle of the night and need something to do) and was hooked after one chapter. So, I started another book. Today, I think I'll be a "good" Victorian housewife and slip some laudanum in his tea so I can repossess the book. A little sleep never hurts a husband; besides, he's a slow reader ;-)

On the strong recommendation of Juliette, I have just started Nadine Gordimer's The Lying Days. I'm having surgery tomorrow and will spend a few days lying (in a different sense) in bed and recovering. I'll need something gripping to read. The surgery is nothing too major, just a slightly embarrassing male complaint (inguinal hernia).

Best wishes to you, dear Rob, and may you recover at the speed of lightning!!!!
:-))

I have to agree that my favorite early (before Good Behaviour) Molly Keane novel is also Two Days In Aragon, though I confess I haven't read absolutely all of them. I feel that the overall structure of the novel has more payoff. Generally Keane can be brutal in her characterizations, but this novel with its suspense and somewhat surprise ending seemed to send it all home in a way that had a bit stronger impact than some of the others.

Don't know if it's necessarily good recovery reading, though....sometimes it can be hard to take harsher ideas when one is feeling fragile.

Which reminds me, I'm expecting a baby soon and have been wanting to ask if anyone has any suggestions for compatible Virago reading! I did read Our Spoons Came Woolworths which was fun to read just now!

outrageoussocks (#73): Congratulations! I recommend Enid Bagnold's The Squire. As the back cover descriptions says, "this is a beautiful and sensuous novel, exploring themes of childbirth, motherhood and maturity in rich and delicate prose."

Edited: You've read the Comyns!

Oh dear outrageoussocks!!!!!!!!
What wonderful news! Please keep us posted, it will be the first 'Virago Group' baby!
I hope you are feeling ok and enjoying a smooth and happy pregnancy.
When is the due date?
:-))

Thank you so much!

I appreciate the recommendation! I don't have that title by Bagnold, so will have to watch out for it.

Due date is coming up: August 11. First time for me -- so we'll see how close we get to that date! Things have been going well but I'm understanding why many folks have recommended trying to take it easy in the heat!

>76 outrageoussocks: oh my, when you said "soon" you really meant "soon"!! Good luck! And please do keep us posted, and we'll throw a little virtual party.

>76 outrageoussocks: What Fun! A Virago baby! Congratulations!

Good luck with your op Rob!

Wishing you and baby well outrageoussocks, I can second Robs suggestion of The Squire and perhaps also Elizabeth and her German Garden as it is a very relaxing read and there are some wonderful moments of mother and children in the garden together.

touchstones are being touchy!

#71 Good luck with surgery.

#73 A Baby Virago! Wonderful! Hope you have an easy delivery.

Tonight I started reading Elizabeth Taylor's A View of the Harbour. The introduction by Sarah Waters is delightful: There's a great celebration of female friendship in A View of the Harbour, even as the novel recognises that female friendship can be betrayed and undermined by women's relationships with men.

And while I'm only 18 pages into the book itself, the writing is so wonderfully descriptive I can tell I'm going to love it.

Oh dear! An Operation AND a Virago Baby!

Firstly, dear Rob, sending healing karma to you for a quick, easy procedure and recovery. Halloo if you need more books!

Dear Miss Fancy Socks....NUMBER ONE BABY! Oh, what miracles they are! Sending blue&pink&yellow karma to you for a speedy birthing and a lovely, beautiful, smart, happy and healthy baby for you and your husband!

#9 & 11: sorry for the delay in answering - yes, fried as in stressed out...not now though!
#13: thank you for the best wishes AND the suggestion - I will burrow through that daunting pile and bring it to the top!
#18: oh I DO like "loamishly sad" - sounds like something you wouldn't mind wallowing in. ;)
#20: pea green with envy, Rob - hens' teeth that one.
#27: great snort of laughter!
#29: standing and applauding, Urania! Loved your analysis.
#43: well, I would have to go toe to toe with Drabble over Pym, championing Pym, of course.

Outrageous, you must be getting very near your due date now - every good wish to you and your baby.

*gasp* I am finally caught up with this thread!

#70.....very clever, urania1. Must remember that one!

Congratulations outrageoussocks!

Speedy recovery Rob!

Best of luck with your op, Rob! And lovely baby wishes coming your way, Outrageoussocks! Have you chosen some appropriately Virago-ish baby names?

I'm currently reading The Way Things Are (touchstone not working) by E.M. Delafield. I'm actually racing through it, it's so good. I only wish it were longer. :(

# 84, Thank you bleuroses, "I try." By the way, the "I try" was pronounced with the deep southern accent that we call "magnolia breath." It positively drips with charm (can also drip with charming venom but not now). However does one indicate such an accent when writing?

Well, the operation was a success, but the post-op pain is rather unpleasant. And it's hard to concentrate on prose as rich as Nadine Gordimer's when you're on Percocet, so I'm finishing up Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man. Not a Virago, but great nonetheless.

Congrats rob. I hope the pain vanishes soon. I recommend light, funny books for post-op. Not a Virago (not even a woman - gasp), but John Welter's Night of the Avenging Blowfish: A Novel of Covert Operations, Love and Luncheon Meat is terrifically funny. The first time I read it, I wanted to track John Welter down and marry him (I was unmarried at the time).

>87 urania1:: "magnolia breath", that's brilliant. I'm not even from the southern US but I can imagine it from oh so many movies ... !

#87: maybe the venom dripping one could go in italics? I always imagine italics when a southern woman says "that's so nice when she means that it isn't.

ETA: post-op and percocet and Dashiell Hammett, oh my, Rob! Mend well.

#90: yep, lindsacl...as in Shut Up Sweet Charlotte

Rob, perhaps you should follow up reading The Thin Man by watching the film with William Powell and Myrna Loy and noting any changes made to the story! A good film to watch while recuperating in a Percocet haze! Hope you feel much better soon!

Oh yeah, that's a great film marise. And no magnolia breath there either ...

Rob, I hope you have a speedy recovery from your op.

Marise: I've seen the film many times; in fact, I own the entire series on DVD. But I had never read the novel until now.

Ah The Thin Man seems to be the perfect accompanyment to percoset you could always go on to something in the same vein like The Thirty-Nine Steps.

Hmm miss-read thinking of virago-ish baby names reminds me of when my sister deputized me to veto any baby names that had bad literary connotations- no Ophelia or Anna Karenina for my niece.

# 88 Rob - I could relate many hilarious tales of hospital experiences from my career spent in the health system to cheer you up but all the laughter may cause an incisional hernia and you would have to go through the whole experience again so take it easy and I hope you recover soon.

I can recommend 2 very funny books I have recently read which are short and very amusing:-

The Autobiography of the Queen by Emma Tennant (Queen Elizabeth runs away from home with some very funny consequences) and

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett.

Very little concentration is needed and they will amuse.

Outrageoussocks - Congratulations and best wishes for the lovely event next month.

# 98 mrspenny,

I second your recommendation of The Uncommon Reader. I thought it was a hoot. I haven't read the Tennant book. I think I'll put it on my wishlist.

Outrageoussocks, I haven't said congratulations yet. Here's wishing you lots of joy. Do you know whether your baby is a boy or a girl?

I am late to this conversation.

Such good news, outrageoussocks! Congratulations!

I hope you have a easy and restful recovery, Rob!

OK, so back to which VMC are we reading ...

I finished Elizabeth Taylor's A View of the Harbour this morning, and liked it quite a lot. Tonight I will start another Virago Modern Classic, Diary of a Provincial Lady. I've been looking forward to reading this one for quite a while!

I have just finished Diary of a Provincial Lady and you are in for a treat, lindsacl!

I agree marise, I am now about 1/3 of the way through thanks to a bit of reading over lunch. It's delightful!

I finished The Persimmon Tree and Other Stories by Marjorie Barnard earlier in the week, which I enjoyed much more than I thought I would (I'm normally not much of a short story person). "Fighting in Vienna" was definitely my favorite. Now I'm starting out on Open the Door!, while reading Rebecca West's Train of Powder on the side.

#101 - lindsad

Diary of a Provincial Lady is one of my favourite books of all time! I don't have the Virago edition, but inherited a Folio Society copy from my mother. I've since bought the whole series, and they're all wonderful. I'm a bit jealous of you reading it for the first time!

Just finished A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark. I will now go out into the world and boldly proclaim pisseur de copie whenever I get the chance!

>106 ms.hjelliot: lol, I so want to use that phrase!!! I can certainly think of a few, but will I get the chance??

I said much the same thing, in my review of the book, marise and hjelliot!

Just started Union Street by Pat Barker. Enjoying it so far.
It is set in the North-east of England, and as I am an exiled Geordie i.e. from Newcastle upon Tyne (which is in North-east area) I like reading books set there.

Blow Your House Down by Pat Barker - about a group of prostitutes faced with a serial killer in their midst.

# 110 englishrose60,

Is one of the prostitutes the serial killer or someone else? Please tell me. I love spoilers and I don't think I'll be reading this particular one. You can post privately to my website.

urania1 - how do I do that? Can't find Leave a comment thingamy.

I just started Sisters by a River last night, my third Comyns novel to date. The Vet's Daughter is still my favorite; Our Spoons Came from Woolworth's may or may not hang on to the silver medal. I can tell the Olympics are drawing near, I'm ranking things in terms of gold/silver/bronze.

englishrose60,

Just hit my blue name link that appears on each of our posts. That will take you to my LT page. Post a message there and check the little box on the bottom right marked private. That way, nobody else's reading will accidentally be spoiled :-)

I've been ignoring my vmcs for contemporary Orange women last month. But, now that I'm back, I'm beginning to get thoroughly absorbed in Women in the Wall by Julia O'Faolain (which was kindly sent to me by wonderful FleurFisher!! Thank you again!)

#114 tried that but when I get to your profile page there is no box for 'leave comment' . Help.

At the very bottom of the page? I see a comment box for urania.

Edited to add: the only other explanation I can think of is that maybe urania accidentally blocked you when she meant to reply to an earlier message or when she was looking at your profile? (It's right up there by "add this person to your private watch list" and other things. I've accidentally clicked on it before--but thankfully noticed!!) If someone has "blocked" a member, then that member can't leave messages.

englishrose60, tpost a comment box is at the bottom of the page.

urania - sorry to disagree but it isn't for me - boohoo!

Glad to report urania and I have resolved our communication problem.

Meanwhile I have read Century's Daughter another book by Pat Barker about an old women preparing herself for her final days while reflecting on her life and a younger gay community worker who is trying to persuade her to move from her home which is in a redevelopment area. He too reflects on his life and relationships. A good read about the poorer members of society, and how they cope with life and death.

Touchstones not working.

Sisters by a River gets the bronze. A dark, devilish little novel; I'm not sure I was really in the mood for that. This morning I picked up I'm Not Complaining and have only put it down to get some necessary movement. Ruth Adam is a keeper.

I'm glad you are enjoying "I'm Not Complaining" - It's one of my favourites.

Although I never had read Margaret Kennedy before, I was in a used bookshop last week and picked up Troy Chimneys, Together and Apart, and The Constant Nymph. I'm so glad I did, because I just finished Troy Chimneys and absolutely adored it. I've started a lot of books lately that I can't seem to finish, but I couldn't put this one down. It has just the sort of plain, bittersweet tone that I love - she's a really wonderful writer. Now I can't wait to read the other two Kennedy novels that I bought!

mrspenny: I can see why - I was up reading until 4:00 this morning, which doesn't often happen. Kudos to Ms. Adam!

>123 Allie_Mag_79: Allie_Mag_79, I am hooked on M. Kennedy, too! I received a hardbound (non-Virago) copy of Troy Chimneys just yesterday and can't wait to read it!

Starting The Curate's Wife by E.H. Young. Just finished her Jenny Wren and this is the sequel, of sorts.

I loved Troy Chimneys.

>123 Allie_Mag_79: Allie_Mag_79, I had the same reaction to Troy Chimneys. It wasn't suspenseful, but I couldn't put it down because I just didn't want to leave it!

Oh, dear. :) I've got scads of messages to catch up with, but just from the last dozen it, sounds like Margaret Kennedy is due up for my attention!

Barbara Pym has been getting it, just lately. With a beautiful 30th Anniversary Edition sent to me, I've spent short interludes each day re-reading Excellent Women, with a pot of tea. One night, I pulled out A Few Green Leaves, my only unread Pym, and read it. Now, I've mooched two more, and am awaiting them.

Though less so with A Few Green Leaves - a more somber book, on a less happy night - Pym's voice has diffused wry amusement, pleasure in her observation, and a sort of soothing quiet wisdom each day. It's a worthy respite. The lovely binding on Excellent Women (and the kindness of its sending) have added a great deal to my re-reading.

#128 Eurydice, have you read Crampton Hodnet? I think it's the funniest of all her books and is my personal favorite.

#125, marise - I was at the library today (checking out Ladies of Lyndon) and saw a beautiful hardbound copy of Troy Chimneys (with dandelions on the cover) - is that the one you bought?

#127, christiguc - I know! I think it's because I liked the character of Miles so much and needed to see what happened to him.

Not a Virago edition, but I started reading Troy Chimneys last night and love it, as I expected I would. Margaret Kennedy is one of my favorite "discoveries" since joining this great group!

I'm about to finish Balancing Acts : On Being a Mother which is an interesting exploration of several women's lives as affected by feminism and motherhood. It's a bit dated, being published in 1989, but it takes me right back to my early (more) feminist (than I am now) days and is interesting in its own right.

Isn't she fine, Marise? My wonderful discovery has been E.H. Young.

I was going to start The Beauties and the Furies but now I'm reconsidering, Troy Chimneys in hand...Has anyone read Christina Stead recently?

Part of The Salzburg Tales, yes. In the last month, I started, and found the writing too dense for the late hours I was trying to read it. It's still lying handy for hopeful resumption. I loved the prologue. Without ever having seen The Beauties and the Furies, I can say she's worth reading.

I read The Man Who Loved Children two years ago. Miserably unpleasant, but brilliant.

I read The Man Who Loved Children several years ago and I agree with Eurydice - brilliant characters and story but certainly not a happy tale.

I've read a lot of Viragos recently : Union Street was very powerful and I loved it, I'm looking forward to reading more by Pat Barker. However, The Old Man and Me by Elaine Dundy was very disappointing compared to the refreshing The Dud Avocado, I wouldn't recommend starting by Old Man if you want to know Dundy.
Today, I've read My Brilliant Career. You know, there are times when I read a book that is so good and that resonates so personally that I wonder what can possibly be the point of reading other books which will, undoubtedly, disappoint me compared to such a masterpiece.
I've just put my copy of My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin next to I Capture the Castle, because My Brilliant Career is such a book. One that makes me wonder whether Miles Franklin is psychic - Sybylla is me, the writing is amazing and intelligent, the story compelling and completely relatable I felt dizzy turning the pages - how could I possibly close this book ? But I did, in the end, and watching the beautifully evocative cover of the Virago edition I have the certainty that it will stay with me for a long, long time.
I'm so glad I chose this username, it's so perfect.

O Virago Press, how I love thee !

Now, Sibylle.Night, you have to read My Career Goes Bung, the worthy follower of My Brilliant Career.
:-))

Thank you, I will put that on my list !
EDIT : Oh shoot, it's out of print :(

>Sibylle.Night, leave me your shipping address in a private message and I'll send you a copy!

Just started A Very Great Profession by Nicola Beauman - I have the Persephone copy of this too - so I am also reading it for that group.

Eurydice and mrspenny - Thanks for the input. I tried reading The Man Who Loved Children two or three times and found it dense and depressing. I think I ended by donating it the Symphony Lunch Room Library.
I'm now winding up M.J. Farrell's Taking Chances, an excellent novel, my favorite so far. She's one of the few writers who can make "riding to hounds with the gentry" palatable to me (Trollope and Surtees are the other two, and Nancy Mitford if you count the "child hunt" in Pursuit of Love). Anyway, I think I'll read The Beauties and Furies next. I've already read Margaret Kennedy (The Ladies of Lyndon), time for someone "new."

As the description says it's "(Stead) at her mordant, witty best," I imagine it will be more comfortable than a novel so intensely focused on damaging or traumatic family experience. (Which is certainly true of The Salzburg Tales, apparently set in the same milieu as The Beauties and the Furies, and published at a distance of just two years.)

Sigh. I turned from Elizabeth Bowen, last night, with just that thought - yes, soon.... but first, "someone new".

Oh my gosh, I'm Not Complaining is good! The narrator is a primary school teacher in an impoverished factory town in Nottinghamshire in the Depression year of 1938. Wonderful stuff. I may have to buy copies for my sister-in-law (a primary school teacher in Stratford-on-Avon) and her son, my nephew (a teacher in, of all places, Nottinghamshire).

I think they would both enjoy it, especially your nephew.

Yesterday I finished Our Spoons Came from Woolworths by Barbara Comyns. I've been wanting to try her for ages and am so glad I did!

I'm going to the library tomorrow, and I can't wait to see what I can find to be my "next"!

I've just closed my copy of Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann, perhaps her most famous novel. The first thing that comes to mind is : what gorgeous prose ! Two examples :

"There was sadness in everything - in the room, in the ringing bird-calls from the garden, in the lit, golden lawn beyond the window, with its single miraculous cherry-tree breaking in immaculate blossom and tossing long foamy sprays against the sky. She was sad to the verge of tears, and yet the sorrow was rich, - a suffocating joy."

Fourteen pages later, about fireworks :

"Oh Roddy, if only -! They're so brief. I wish they were never quenched but went on falling and falling , so lovely, for ever. Would you be content to burst into life and be a ten second marvel and then vanish ?"

Beautiful, bitter-sweet portrait of adolescence, which very much reminded me of Monica Dickens' Mariana (published by Persephone) but Dusty Answer is by far superior, because of its poetic prose and the voice of Judith, so true, so honest it made my reading feel like an intrusion - in a good way.
I'm lucky, a lot of her novels are still in print !

Sibylle.Night, I just received from Amazon a copy of Mariana, but the old Penguin edition, with orange cover, and not Persephone.
I must make a mental note of getting Dusty Answer out of the Virago TBR pile. Thanks!

I enjoyed the Lehmann I read earlier this year now I am going to have to move her other books up my list.

I don't know if it was ever published by Virago but it would be in good company in any case- right now I am reading Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers which is wonderful. She has such a keen eye for human foibles and class consciousness.

I loved The Buccaneers ! It's not a Virago, though. I was very disappointed by the adaptation (a BBC miniseries), I had such a great time reading the book, for a while it was one of my favourites.

I loved The Buccaneers too, what a great book!

I don't understand why The Age of Innocence is more popular, it's so unfair ! If I were to choose, I'd take The Buccaneers in a heartbeat. I read it a while ago but I remember I could really really relate to Nan. Seriously, just writing this makes me want to read it again.
By the way, Conchita Closson in the book is based on Consuelo Vanderbilt, a biography of whom is on one of my lists of books to buy. She has a great entry on Wikipedia, very thorough.
I'd like to read more by Wharton, I was disappointed by The Age of Innocence, although her books have always been a place I love to go back to, both TAoI and TB provide with such escapism, I grant Edith that, that's not something I find in many of the novels I read. In fact it's funny because she's not one of my favourite authors and yet I can't think of another one (except Jo Rowling but if you knew me you'd know that for me Jo needs a category of her own) who has really made me feel as if the characters had just come to life, and who makes me want to enter the novel, literally. So yes, Wharton is totally someone who made an impression. Wow, I hadn't even realised it before writing that.

While I do consider The Age of Innocence Wharton's best work from an artistic point of view, my favorite Wharton novel is The Custom of the Country. Undine Sprague raises (or lowers) gold digging to levels not yet reached by any other gold digger fictional or real. I also love The House of Mirth, but I can hardly bear to read it, it's so sad. Unfortunately, Lily Bart ultimately can't "sell" herself the way Undine does. We really should start a Wharton reading group.

The Age of Innocence is my favorite, too, followed, I think, by The House of Mirth and Summer. But, although I've read more obscure titles (like The Glimpses of the Moon), I've yet to read The Custom of the Country. Thanks for the nudge!

Have just finished Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood which is a Virago but not a VMC. Next VMC I am going to read is also by Atwood - her first novel The Edible Woman - this is a reread for me having read it in the 80's but the memory is dim.

Forgot to mention that I did not enjoy Wilderness Tips as much as her novels I have read.

Reading Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor.

Here's another nudge, Rob, for Custom of the Country. Now I must find a copy of The Buccaneers - don't know how I have missed picking one up all these years!

I loved The Buccaneers which I read along with Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt after reading The Shuttle. It was a wonderful couple of weeks! I haven't read Custom of the Country but it would've fit in nicely. That will be the first when I return to Miss Wharton.

Again, not a VMC but it should have been! Just began Daphne by Justine Picardie and love it. (I really should be packing!)

touchstones are wonky today!

I just started reading The Getting of Wisdom (a black Virago), and now Cate reminds me of how much I have wanted to read Daphne. I just rushed down and bought a copy. I may have to break my own rules and have two novels going at the same time (my rule is to read one novel and one nonfiction book concurrently).

And then there's The Custom of the Country...

Rob, do you live dangerously close to a book store?!

Yes. There are three bookstores within a five minute walk from my house. Also within the same radius are the public library and the college library. Not too bad for a small city of fewer than 20,000 inhabitants.

I need to get some more Wharton. I have House of Mirth, Ethan Frome and The Age of Innocence. Of these my favourite is House of Mirth.

My favorite of Wharton's is The Custom of the Country--but I haven't read House of Mirth yet. I'm still keeping an open mind.

Let me put in one more plug for Wharton's short stories and novellas. She's a master (or is that mistress) crafter of short fiction. Her stories range from the hysterically funny "Xingu" with its brilliant portrayal of the literary snobberies of women's book clubs to the heartbreakingly sad "Bunner Sisters." If you want to know what it feels like to be a woman facing older middle age, impoverished and with the means for keeping bread on the table becoming increasingly precarious, this story puts you right there. I would also recommend Summer, a short coming-of-age novel about a young woman's first love and its consequences. In this book, Wharton demonstrates that she is as attuned to the social distinctions that the middle classes make as she is to those of Old New York society. Finally, if you're in the mood for a deliciously wicked and ever so genteelly snide short story, in which huge helpings of "just dessert" a la mode are served up, read "Roman Fever."

And now to segue abruptly to a new topic, I'm currently reading Elizabeth Taylor's The Wedding Group courtesy of Paola. Thus far, I'm enjoying it immensely. I

I love the story "Bunner Sisters," Mary, and Summer is a gem. I once thought about writing an essay on Wharton's Summer and Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Hmmm. Maybe I'll return to that idea.

Just finished The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood. This was her first published novel and it shows signs of the good things to come. This was a reread for me and I enjoyed it very much second time around.

#165 Rob, Summer and Oedipus? I'm not sure I get the connection? From the incestuous (at least in the psychological sense) overtones in Charity's relation to her foster father? Are there other similarities? I'm curious. I am surprised that Summer has not received as much critical attention as some of Wharton's other fiction. When one considers the book in its historical context, the book is rather radical.

I just started Told by an Idiot, which has proved to be a good antidote to The Beauties and Furies.
My favorite Wharton novel is still The House of Mirth. Custom of the Country, The Age of Innocence, and The Reef are also high on my list.

Reading Surfacing by Margaret Atwood.

On a roll. Finished Surfacing - found it interesting and good.
Next is Lady Oracle.

Enjoyed Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood. Still rolling - Life Before Man is next.

An Atwoodian roll indeed, englishrose! Can't wait for you to read Alias Grace though not published (as yet) as a Virago. Still, I would love to know your thoughts on them all.

Bleuroses - My copy of Alias Grace is published by Virago (1997) but not as a VMC. I have read this book and given it a 5 star rating. Atwood is one of my favourite writers. Her female characters are excellent and show her deep understanding of the female psyche.

I am thoroughly enjoying Life Before Man. I don't particularly like any of the three main characters but they are so well portrayed by Atwood that I need to read on.

Just finished The Getting of Wisdom. Good, but not quite what I expected. Now I'm starting a bit of a Virago hiatus, reading Justine Picardie's Daphne. Then, on my wife's recommendation, I'm reading some novels by men for a change (Ian McEwan's Enduring Love and Louis De Bernieres' Captain Corelli's Mandolin)!

ETA: Here's my review of The Getting of Wisdom.

I thoroughly enjoyed Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Hope you do too.

Now reading Bodily Harm.

Oh I missed the rest of the Wharton discussion. Urania I am glad someone else found The House of Mirth hard to read. I am afraid I have tried twice and stopped because of the sadness. It is funny it took me so long to find The Buccaneers because I had read the short stories and even her ghost stories and Glimpses of the Moon Dear Nan!

I confess I am not quite done because I have been caught up in getting unpacked and ready for company and I have been reading guidebooks.

Maren, when I first went off to graduate school, I intended to devote my life to Edith Wharton. I ended up as a late 16th/early 17th-century British literature specialist instead. Go figure. I have read all of Wharton's novels . . . except parts of The House of Mirth. I know what happens in those parts because I've read the criticism, but when Lily really begins her descent into moral hell . . . I stop every time and skip to the end. And then I cry.

Just finished Told by an Idiot, which I enjoyed despite the occasional clunky sentence and a tendency to overstate her point. Am now going back and forth between A Wreath for the Enemy and Mittee.

I finished up both The Brontes Went to Woolworths and Elizabeth and her German Garden recently. If anyone is in the london area, Kensington and Chelsea libraries has one copy of the rare The Brontes Went to Woolworths for reading!

Just begun Hunt The Slipper by Violet Trefusis. Anyone else read this one???

I have just begun Cecilia by Fanny Burney. As it is such a large book I am reading one chapter a day. Having read the first chapter I am looking forward to discovering how Cecilia, an heiress and orphan, experiences her new life in London.

I liked Cecilia almost as much as Evelina - if only Daddies Burney and Crisp had kept their mitts off it. Even so, a fabulous read.
Frankau and Rooke ended up back in the TBR pile. Now it's Novel on Yellow Paper. Wonderfully dotty so far.

I'm going to start All Passion Spent later today. I have really been looking forward to reading this book!

#183 I agree with you about the Daddies. It must have been very frustrating for her being so obedient to their wishes.

#184, I hope you enjoy All Passion Spent - I loved it!

I'm started Good Behaviour by Molly Keane and think I'm going to really like it.

>186 charbutton: charbutton, I have made a start and am quite enjoying it. My next couple of books will be by male authors, so I thought Vita would fortify me ... :-)

I have just finished A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence - This is the first book of Laurence's that I have read and enjoyed it immensely. It is written in a simplistic style which is very effective in the telling of the story of Rachel, the central character in the book.

According to notes in the book, it was made into the film called Rachel, Rachel which I haven't seen.

Margaret Atwood has described the book as "almost perfect" and the book won the Canadian Governor-General's Award for fiction in 1966.

>188 mrspenny: I think it starred Joanne Woodward and was directed by Paul Newman. It has been so long since I saw it, I really don't remember much about it.

Thanks marise - I will follow it up when semester is over.

About to start Circles of Deceit by Nina Bawden.

Mrspenny, I had the great good fortune to meet Margaret Laurence several times when she was the writer in residence at Trent University. A somewhat shy, very humble person, she would nonetheless welcome fledgeling writers to her office, carefully and thoughtfully read over our work and make helpful suggestions. In fact, she was so shy that she trembled with nerves when she had to address one of our classes. I asked her if she cried when she killed off a character and she replied that she bawled her eyes out. She lived in a red brick Victorian the next village over. Just a lovely person, really, deeply dedicated to her craft. I always feel a burst of warmth when someone discovers and loves her work.

They made a film of her book The Stone Angel and did a very good job of it, if you ever get the chance to see it.

tiffin - what great good fortune it would have been to meet ML -I think her craft is stunning in its simplicity. She sounds a little like Rachel Cameron in her shyness from the description.
I am about to start The Stone Angels.

Did you take any of her classes while she was at Trent University?

Finished Elizabeth and her German Garden over a month ago -- at recommendation from a fellow Virago here. Was a good read for summer, but I found it very unusual -- somewhere between fiction and perhaps autobiography of a smart, eccentric, and pretty self-satisfied lady, maybe. But I don't know so much about the author, so that's perhaps not a fair assessment.

#193: she didn't really teach, she guest lectured. Yes, I was there for a couple of those. But she also lived in one of the residences and had an open door policy for those students who wanted to bring their writing to her. I did take some of my writing to her and she was most generous and kind.

Margaret Laurence is on my list of authors to read - sounds like she was a pleasure to meet.

I have just finished Nina Bawden's Circles of Deceit - I particularly enjoyed the way in which she likened life to art.

I finished All Passion Spent last night and really loved it. Quite a powerful ending, at least for me. Will be reading non-Viragos for my next few reads ...

Finished A Saturday Life by Radclyffe Hall yesterday. This book is quite different from The Well of Loneliness, the only other I have read by her. Lighter, more humorous in tone. Not sure what to pick up next...

Started Good Behaviour by Molly Keane - I think this well be one to relish!

Almost finished The Lacquer Lady by F Tennyson Jesse - described as a neglected masterpiece - with which I agree. The novel is set in Burma in the 1880s.

Just started The Odd Women by George Gissing

I've just started a new what are you reading thread. Post there, not here.

Will you become bitter if people continue to post here?

Why bless your heart Rob, of course not. I'll simply take you out back, have a real (pronounced as a two syllable word) pleasant come-to-Jesus meeting with you, after which I'll jerk a knot in your tail and kick you back to your mother. How could I ever feel bitter after such an enjoyable time as that?

:-))