What Virago are you reading? (Part III)

The last thread was getting frightfully long for those of us with dial-up. So I thought I's start a new one. I hope there's not another one lurking somewhere

Has anyone seen rbhardy3rd? I think he's missing, bless his heart. Do you think we should call someone?

I think he is off preparing lessons.

He's off stewing in his own bitterness, I think.

so none of you are reading at the moment?

Has anyone tried looking in the asylum - maybe that is where rbhardy3rd is languishing - perish the thought ...

My reading pace has slowed down considerably. I'm still only halfway through Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Good as it is, I'm too tired in the evening to read, and too distracted during the day. And now I have nine weeks of reading Sophocles with college students ahead of me. If I ever finish Captain Corelli, I think my next Virago will be Kate O'Brien's The Ante-Room, which mrspenny so kindly sent me.

Lovely to 'see' you Rob and so very pleased to hear that you are reading Captain Corelli - slowly but surely :)

#5. I am reading my daily chapter of Cecilia and Bruno's Dream. Enjoying both.
It's a bit difficult to concentrate sometimes with this 'madness' all around me! Enjoying that too....oh! oh! I see men in white coats approaching! Byeee...

>5 europhile: I'm reading, but it's not a VMC so I'm just lurking here!

I'm reading. And it's a VMC: Christine: SOE Agent and Churchill's Favourite Spy by Madeleine Masson. So far I'm enthralled!

I'm reading, too, but recently started a part-time job at a bookstore (an independent--hurray!) so am feeling the need to read more frontlist books. I'm working on the right balance . . .

#11 christiguc - just gone to check your Christine: SOE Agent and Churchill's Favourite Spy book and it sounds just up my street. Over in the Girlybooks group there is a memoir/biography thread - this is just the type of book they may be interested in. I know this would really appeal to me - women and war type of category. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

I don't think any of these are Viragos. I'm just hanging about avoiding the men in white suits. I'm making my way through Helene Hanff's books: 84 Charing Cross Road (a reread), The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Q's Legacy, and Underfoot in Show Business.

I love 84 charing cross road and the duchess of bloomsbury street! I haven't read the others yet...
I just finished Eternity's Sunrise by Marion Milner
This one was a challenge, but it did open my eyes to new ways of journaling. I suppose my diary does come out a bit flat and chronological. I've got some experimenting to do...

#11 Oh no, yet another book to look out for - don't do this to me!

# 14 I've read all those Helene Hanff books you mention, but quite a while ago now, so it might be about time I re-read 84 Charing Cross Road too, as that's what started me off on them. Q's Legacy appealed to me too so I looked out for his books for some time after that.

>11 christiguc: It is on my wishlist, now! Sounds very interesting, let us know!

I loved the Hanff books and even tried to start correspondence with Waterstone's (think late 70's)! Nothing much came of it, but I did end up with some lovely British editions.

Reading Margaret Forster's bio of Daphne du Maurier. Daphne was very much influenced by "Q" who also lived in Fowey.

TerrierGirl.....congratulations on working in an independent! I spent a few recent months working for Barnes & Noble and absolutely hated it! Indies are the way to go - without a doubt.

I'm glad that everyone is posting what their reading even if it isn't a VMC. There's so much to learn from everyone and, of course, new books to look out for.

Absolutely dear Cate. May I use this encouragement to mention that a new book entered my little house today?
Guess what? It was The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. Oh I do love it - the touchstone comes up in French. You will never believe it but when we go to France at the end of October I want to buy the French version!

Julie, that book sounds so charming (and I just love your French soul)! It's coupled with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society on amazon. Both have been on my list - and now they're just a click away!

Cate, I'd use "one-click ordering" for that combo!
Julie, I recently read a review of Hedgehog and it sounds delightful. I hope you enjoy it! Come back and tell us all about it, s'il vous plait.

ETA: and doesn't "herisson" sound so much more, well, elegant, than "hedgehog"?

Ever the geek, dear lindsacl! Say, didn't you just read the Potato Society?

I'm currently reading The Custom of the Country which I believe was published by Virago at some point, although my edition is a Penguin (the cover's so pretty) I'm enjoying it very much. I don't remember if I wrote that here or elsewhere but Wharton has always had the ability to provide escapism for me, I don't know why her books do that to me more than others'. Her writing makes me feel as if I were watching what she describes, as if I could almost touch that table or that frock, it's incredible. I've also ordered The House of Mirth in its Norton edition and can't wait to receive it.
I love Norton editions, I always look at the supplemental material as another book altogether, it's so interesting and well worth the price, they don't carry that many titles so I try to buy them all.

About L'élégance du hérisson (which I haven't read, I'm not much for bestsellers, I tend to wait till the frenzy has passed), I find the word "hedgehog" quite funny in fact, it may be because of the h echo within the word. I must say I've never thought of "hérisson" as an elegant word but it may be because I think of the cute animal each time I say it!
My favourite words in the English language are colloquial (I like the K sound) and serendipity (it almost makes me laugh, don't you just love the 3 consecutive "e" sounds ?).

>22 bleuroses:: Cate, I resemble that remark! Yes I did just read Potato Peel. So I should amend my statement in #21 to say "I recommend YOU use one-click ordering for that combo!" That's what I meant, just not what I wrote.

>23 Sibylle.Night:: Sibylle, we could probably have an entire thread devoted to words we love!

One of my favorite Greek quotations is:

πόλλ' οἶδ ἀλώπηξ, ἀλλ' ἐχῖνος ἓν μέγα

Attributed to the poet Archilochus, it means: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."

Good to hear from you, Sibylle.Night. I miss your blog!

Yes but what does the hedgehog know? Greek?

#20 - go for it Cate click and order potatoes and hedgehogs. I wonder why the touchstone isn't working?
#21 - lindsacl - your review was one that influenced me to get it!

As for the hedgehog quotation - I am so impressed - if a little curious ...

Hmm all the threads seem to turn to headgehogs now.

I am reading All Passion Spent which I picked up in Hay-on-Wye. It is wonderful. I am also finding it very evocative now that I have seen some of the places Lady Slane mentions and although I am not the age of Lady Slane I am finding her desire for solitude very compelling as well as her cast of eccentric friends.

Oops it didn't seem to post and then there were two posts.

I just read All Passion Spent, too, Maren. It's a wonderful book, isn't it? And quite before its time I think ...

Hullo after a long time, fellow Virago lovers. Summer reading is over, autumn waits in the wings and I am attracted to those green covers again. Yesterday, I picked up ((E. H. Young's )) (William) ,pub. 1925 and having started it last night can't put it down as ((Young))has caught me up in the family circle of the Nesbitt's living in the fictional Radstowe (Bristol, England) at the turn of the century (?) Emily Hilda is fascinating in herself; her life being very unconventional life for the period. There is an informative article about her on the web by Michael Pascoe : Bistol's Gentle Satirist: ((E. H. Young)) from April 10th , 2008 ~so deemed still relevant. There is more to the lady than meets the eye, she deserves to be brought back from near oblivion. Oblivion except for us dedicated Virago collectors and readers, that is. Regards to all, Lapassionata

Our former neighbor, Prof. Chiara Briganti (whose daughter used to babysit for my sons), wrote a book titled Domestic Modernism, the Interwar Novel, and E.H. Young. Something I should probably read!

That title simply trips off the tongue :))

#31 sounds really fascinating.

Am now reading the George Eliot Virago Modern Classic novella The Lifted Veil. Short read, unusual, written 1859 after Adam Bede and at the same time as Mill on The Floss this short work was not published until 1878 as the publishers were embarrassed by her references to 'pseudosciences'. How times change.

rbhardy3rd, I'm starting to feel bitter. Pubs, Viragos for the taking, interesting neighbors, Greek, and a teaching job . . . .

Yours truly,
urania"I'm no bitter"1bityet"

I'm sorry, Mary. If it's any consolation, (1) the price of a pint of beer at the pub went up a dollar this week, (2) our neighbor Chiara moved to England several years ago, and (3) the teaching job only goes through the end of next March. Meanwhile, you have a mountaintop and honeybees, if I recall correctly.

I have to say, I love teaching Greek. My students are wonderful. But not everyone would be as thrilled as I am about sitting in a basement classroom for 70 minutes, discussing grammar.

Have just been in the Asylum to read a chapter of Cecilia. It was lovely there, no interruptions and conducive to thoughtful reading. Now it's back to The Sea, the Sea.

Rob, I studied Greek many centuries ago, while in HS, and have to say (regretfully) that I have completely forgotten it, except how to read it.
:-((

I went to see an exhibit of paintings by women impressionists yesterday (Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, Eva Gonzalez and Marie Braquemond) and there were so many lovely paintings of ladies and their children in gardens that I felt I just had to come home and begin reading Elizabeth and her German Garden while the images were fresh in my mind.

>38 aviddiva: Sounds lovely. I felt an instant sympathy with Elizabeth and her German Garden and Enchanted April but I have been noticing a law of diminishing returns with Von Arnim. I found The Caravaners and Mr Skeffington to be pale imitations of her own style and the gentle mocking tone she is loved for seem contrived and strained. I am steadily working my way through her novels though, and am very much looking forward to reading Love and Fraulein Schmidt and Mr. Anstruther later this year.

aviddiva - where was this wonderful exhibition?

It has toured two cities: Frankfurt, where it originated, and San Francisco, where i saw it. It closed here this weekend, and I don't know if it is destined to travel elsewhere, but if it does, I can heartily recommend it -- it was truly a wonderful exhibition! I particularly enjoyed the work of Berthe Morisot, whose principal model was her daughter, Julie. As the exhibit unfolded we got to watch Julie grow from an infant into a lovely young woman, all seen through the eyes of a talented mother who obviously loved her very much.

I finished my brief foray into male-authored non-Viragos, and enjoyed it immensely. Captain Corelli's Mandolin is little short of a masterpiece.

Now I'm back in the green, reading Kate O'Brien's The Ante-Room, which mrspenny kindly sent me and which smells pleasantly of soap. I think Kate O'Brien has displaced Elizabeth Taylor as my favorite Virago author.

Rob - I'm intrigued that The Ante-Room smells of soap!

Maybe the floor was freshly scrubbed?

Was anyone seen eating tarts in that bathroom?

I hope they weren't seen.

Don't you love it when you take a book off your shelves and find a card or something interesting inside? I picked up my next VMC tonight, one I've chosen in honor of Banned Books Week: The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall. I was quite pleased to find a little note inside from our dear mrspenny, who sent this book to me some time ago.

Yes, Laura, I know exactly what you mean :) I always place the little notes inside, especially so that I may remember.

At last a little decorum .... but should we be on the look out for tart crumbs ... perish the thought ...

All right everyone. Pull out your Viragos. The Book Asylum Librarian will be conducting a search of all books. There had better not be any tart crumbs stuck in the pages . . . or . . . .

Thank you,
The Management

P.S. Curry stains are okay. Urania's copy of The Book of Beginnings (the first part of The Mahabharata is tinted a pleasant curry yellow due to her propensity for taking long hot baths, reading, and eating at the same time. Now that the weather has gotten cooler, she has switched from chocolate ice cream to curry.

P.P.S. We just got the very first fig off our fig tree! This minute!!!! I'm so excited!!! I grew up eating fresh figs, but Robbie had never eaten fresh figs until he met me. Fresh figs are practically impossible to buy in grocery stores here. We bought our two fig trees last year at a frost sell. They had been marked down to practically nothing because of the extremely late and long spring freeze that we had. They looked pretty pathetic, little stick trees less than a foot high. Robbie didn't think they would survive. I thought they'd survive, but I wasn't expecting fruit for three to five years. Now, the larger of the two trees is almost as tall as I am (and lots wider), and it has figs!!!!!! And in only one year!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!! Can you tell??????????

Oh bring out the figgy pudding and bring it out here!!!!!

P.S. And laytonwoman, paws off the pudding. Everyone will get a slice.

Oh, please, please Urania, may I have a few fresh figs before they're turned into pudding? One of my dreams is to sit in the sun on a balcony overlooking the sea, preferably in Portugal, where I've yet to visit, with a cup of strong coffee, a crusty loaf of very fresh bread, and a plate of fresh figs. Hmm... perhaps also with a small dish of some salty white cheese... My personal idea of heaven.

Or - serve them with lovely french goat's cheese mmmm delicious! We have a vast fig tree in France and we are going there in three weeks - yay!

I haven't read any VMCs for ages (not that I have that many of them on my shelves in the first place) but today decided to start reading Blow Your House Down by Pat Barker that I got from a charity shop about a month ago.

queen_ypolita, thank you for returning to our originally scheduled program. A bunch of nuts have left their figs here, and I speak from the bottom of my tart.

I picked up a copy of Blow Your House Down at a fete a few weeks ago, so I'd be interested in hearing what you think about it.

#52
I read Union Street by Pat Barker this year : it was very well written, a deeply sensible account of a few women's lives. It dealt with a lot but always cleverly. I still have a vivid memory of some precise scenes I'm sure everybody who's read this book remembers. It felt more like a collection of short stories than a novel, because of the division into chapters each devoted to one woman in particular. Reminded me of Toni Morrison (that's a high compliment) because of its topics : poverty, sexuality, death, love. It wasn't a cheerful read at all but I was pleasantly surprised because I had never heard of her before.

I speak from the bottom of my tart.
* snort *

What!!!! Do I smell a tart? There's something rotten in here. Someone needs to get to the bottom of it right away.

Just in case you all didn't know--this week is Banned Books Week. I think there are many many Viragos that fit the criteria. I'm reading Kate O'Brien's The Land of Spices (banned for immorality--one sentence tells of the main character's discovery that her father, how she always idolized, was homosexual). Anyone else reading a VMC in honor of Banned Books Week, celebrating the fact that we can read these books?

Christina: The Land of Spices may just be my favorite Virago of all time. I talk about it in a blog post about banned Books Week.

At the moment, though, I'm reading Kate O'Brien's The Ante-Room. I can't get enough of her writing.

There goes my budget again. I'll have to add The Land of Spices to ye liste.

Urania: Would you like me to send you a copy of The Land of Spices? I just happen to have a spare copy.

I have just started Mary Lavelle by Kate O'Brien for Banned Books week - the description on the back of the edition I have classifies this title of O'Brien's as one of her two books put on the "challenged" list when first published.

Bleuroses, thanks so much for the good wishes about my new job. Obviously, it's already taking me away from the important things a bit, but I'll find a way to fit it all in!!! Actually I'm enjoying working at an independent bookstore very much. It's so much fun putting good books written by women--everything from Arlington Park to Purple Hibiscus and Fun Home--into other women's hands and saying, "Read this. Just do. You won't regret it." It's really a wonderful experience. But of course I feel like I have so much more reading to do . . .

>58 christiguc: Christina ... yup, see #47. Reading The Well of Loneliness. I hadn't realized so many VMCs were banned/challenged!

My, my #59, you do make The Land of Spices sound enticing, and I've always been so interested in things that are banned, or shall we shall contraband. I'd like to hear more. Is this a book about the Spice Girls or is it merely "something understood . . . you know, that little thing by George or Herbert or something like that? Perhaps you know it? I don't have a prayer of chance of remembering it myself. I've never been good with names.

#61 Thanks Rob. I would love to have The Land of Spices if you have an extra.

#65 Hi viragodiva and welcome. It's nice to have a genuine virago in the group.

Hi viragodiva! Genuine virago or.....diva? Anyway, it s always nice to see new and original faces!
:-))

Paola! Genuine virago or.....diva? That's not like you dear. Apologize or I'll flag you.

:-))

Both??
;-)

I finished a non-virago A Woman of Independent Means (from a dear LTer) which was quite satisfying although not quite as much as All Passion Spent.

I am pondering which book I want to read next in the midst of my research reading.

I have just finished A Semi-attached Couple & A Semi-detached House by Eden and have enjoyed both immensely. She has an excellent wit.

What next out of those unread Viragos? Rob is nudging me towards a Kate O'Brien.

Do! I just recently finished The Land of Spices--very good.

I'd listen to Rob Tiffin - Kate O'Brien is wonderful!

Started South Riding this afternoon and I'm quite taken in. Poor Midge!

I'm reading South Riding right now, too! I'm about 200 pages into a lovely old hardcover copy from the library. (On the inside front cover is a note that the book was donated by local resident in 1956!) So far, it seems no one fares well--women, children, animals, progressive thinkers, . . .

Oh, I loved South Riding, enjoy!

I am finishing up Mary Lavelle by Kate O'Brien

And I just finished Kate O'Brien's The Ante-Room.

ETA: Reviewed here.

I just started Kate O'Brien's The Land of Spices, which came winding its way to me today courtesy of Rob. Rob enclosed a lovely card featuring an aerial photograph of Carleton College at which he reads Greek. The campus is quite lovely. I'm envious Rob, but not bitter :-))

I don't know if O'Brien cites George Herbert's poem "Prayer" (I), which includes the title line, but I feel moved to include the poem here because it is one of my favorite poems of all time.

Prayer (I)

PRAYER the Churches banquet, Angels age,
Gods breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth ;

Engine against th’ Almightie, sinner's towre,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six daies world-transposing in an houre,
A kinde of tune, which all things heare and fear ;

Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse,
Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best,
Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest,
The milkie way, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bels beyond the stars heard, the souls bloud,
The land of spices, something understood. (italics mine)

I've just started Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by M. Barnard Eldershaw. It sounds really interesting - a man in the 24th century writing a novel about 20th century Australia - but I just can't get into it. I think it's because the beginning is dense prose with little speech to break it up.

Has anyone read this one? Is it worth perservering with??

I just started reading Millenium Hall. I'm having an 18th-century fest, since I'm also slogging through Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations.

#79, charbutton I found Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow thoroughly and urelievedly dull from start to finish.

urania1 - I didn't think there were any bad VMCs. How disappointing!

True, Tomorrow etc., ranks lower than low of all Viragos to me. It was the science fiction aspect that didn't appeal to me. urania1, you were very brave to slog through it!

I agree, char, how can that be? That there's a sinker in the lot!

I am remiss in my virago reading but I am reading some good books that might be related on a convoluted geneology chart somewhere. I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog after Mary's mention of it and I loved it. It may make me want to read it in the original French. Mind I haven't read a novel in French since Le Rouge et le Noir in approximately 1997.

I also just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which is lovely and the epistolary friendship between people who love good books reminds me of our own little group.

I think next I may be Lolly Willowes which has been highly praised and I see is easily obtained as a reprint by NYRB.

Maren,

I should be happy to read The Elegance of the Hedgehog en français and long distance with you if we can obtain copies. And do read Lolly Willowes after which EVERYONE should read Pictures from an Institution by Randall Jarrell!!!!!!!!!

That and drink hay.

Maren,

I'm expecting The Elegance of the Hedgehog and The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society in the mail any day now. My reading french has all but vanished as it's been 20 years since I studied the language. Still, I look forward to reading both books soon!

urania1 - Lolly Willowes sit right over there on that shelf. I do believe she beckons as well!

I do enjoy reading about the other books everyone reads!

#82 and #83 - it just goes to show there's a bad apple in every lot. groaning of the damned heard from within

Oh bleuroses do let me know how you like them. Mary I am willing to try. I'll see if I can find French copies on line somewhere -perhaps after Lolly Willowes.

edited to correct to the French spelling of bleu

Not 30 minutes after posting, did the poste arrive and both books sit here before me! I'm off work today (listening to the workman fixing our foundation!!). I think I'll pour something cold and settle in with The Elegance of the Hedgehog!

The other book in the shipment is "Impossible" by Nancy Werlin. It was advertised in the daily Shelf Awareness newsletter with a link to the the book video. The author takes the lyrics of Scarborough Faire and creates Lucy Scarborough and her family of cursed women. Lucy has 9 months (before the birth of her child) to complete the tasks in the song or else fall into madness.

edited to fix touchstone on Impossible - and still can't!!!

Dear Mary
In response to your crie de coeur

'I should be happy to read The Elegance of the Hedgehog en français and long distance with you if we can obtain copies.'

clickhere to obtain information regarding the purchase of L'élégance du hérisson

http://www.amazon.fr/s/ref=nb_ss_w?__mk_fr_FR=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alia...

Julie, have you read the English translation? I'd be curious to know what you thought of it.

Not yet Bleu - it is on my bedside table ready but I have been so tired lately that I have been unable to read in bed! Something to do with long working days followed by way too much time with my dear LT friends!

I finished reading Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann yesterday; I enjoyed it but not as much as I thought I would... I'm still looking forward to reading Invitation to the Waltz though.

bunnyb: I enjoyed Dusty Answer, too, but did find it rather emotionally draining. Novelist Justine Picardie (Daphne) has a good Bibliotherapy column about Dusty Answer (originally published in the Sunday Telegraph and reprinted on her blog).

Thank you for reminding me about Bibliotherapy!

Yes, Rob...thank you! I have Justine's blog bookmarked, but don't always get to it! I also realized that I don't have a copy of Dusty Answer and in seeking one this morning, I came across a Rosamond Lehmann website.

Just finished Sarah Scott's Millenium Hall, and posted my review of it here. Now I'm about to start Gamel Woolsey's One Way of Love, recommended by Paola.

An excellent and perceptive review of Millenium Hall Rob. Millenium Hall, which I've taught several times, has always been one of those books that I find more interesting as a cultural artifact than as a "good" (aka "fun") read. It teaches well and provokes interesting discussions, but it has never delighted me. After reading your review, I think I will perhaps revisit the hall not for pedagogical purposes but for the book's own sake.

I'm almost done with Mary Lavelle (my first VMC after joining this group).

I have to say it took a while to get used to her style of writing and that whole stream of consciousness, but even then I read some beautiful passages. Halfway through, I realised what a wonderful writer Kate O'Brien is and what an original piece of work this is. Her writing is so raw and so touching. Her description of a bullfight was so accurate and beautiful. I'm looking forward to reading more of her books. Is this her best work? Is the movie worth watching?

I loved Mary Lavelle, and reviewed it here. But my favorite of Kate O'Brien's novels (of the three I've read) is The Land of Spices, which I reviewed here. (Notice how shamelessly I promote my book blog!) You are absolutely right about the beauty and power, and occasional difficulty, of her writing. She has become one of my favorite writers, both for the challenges and the rewards she offers.

The other novel of hers that I read was The Ante-Room (reviewed here!), which I didn't like as much, but which still impressed me very much. Her most popular novel, during her own lifetime, was That Lady, which is still on my TBR pile. I'm trying to read and savor her books slowly!

Rob - after reading your review of the Ante-Room, I was inspired to start at the beginning of O'Brien's writing and put Mary Lavelle aside to finish at a later date. I am halfway through Without My Cloak which is extraordinarily good for a first novel. I will be interested to see how her craft develops in her later novels and will reconsider Mary Lavelle. I have also recently found a memoir of O'Briens called "My Ireland" to complement my readings.

I find your reviews clear, concise and to the point and enjoy reading them.

Tuppy- you might like to continue your O'Brien reading with "Without my Cloak". It is excellent so far.

Rob - I loved your review on Mary Lavelle. Yes, the book's main theme is that bittersweet turning point in life - from loss of innocence to the gaining of knowledge and O'Brien has captured it so well.

I've just finished Union Street by Pat Barker. If it's possible to enjoy a book that is so sad and depressing, then I did. The lives of the women in the book are unremittingly grim, yet their stories were thoroughly absorbing. I felt that Barker has real affection and empathy for them, despite some of their actions.

Books don't often move me to tears, but this one nearly had me sobbing on my commute to work!

Wow. It sounds like something I need to read; however, given the fact that I've spent most of the day either in or on the verge of tears because I yelled at my Dad about politics this morning (he's an unreconstructed Southern Republican), I think maybe I'd better stay away from anything else that makes me cry.

How dreadful, Urania :( I feel deeply about politics myself and can't talk to my family about anything other than trivial everyday life otherwise I know I won't be able to talk to them anymore.
#103, I loved Union Street as well, I shared my thoughts on this very thread (post #55), I'd love to read more by Barker, it was a haunting read indeed.

urania, have you seen what I put on my profile page?
And yesterday I also put a sticker on my car and a sign on my lawn, a thing I have NEVER done before!

#105 - I know the feeling. Thanks for the empathy.

#106 - Paola, yes!!!!! I have been to your website!!! Yes, I like it!!!!! Yes!!!! Yes!!!!! Yeeeeesssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*ahem* I started reading Mary Lavelle by Kate O'Brien at the doctor's office today. When the nurse called me to go in, I looked up at her with my best "not now, I'm reading" look. Unlike my family, she seemed not to recognize it. I actually had to close my book and go in!

My goodness! How rude!! ;)

>104 urania1:, 105 urania and Sibylle, I have the same problem with my closest relatives. At least during this campaign, they haven't been sending me "humorous" jokes and cartoons about my candidate as they did last time.

>108 tiffin: tiffin, I recently read Mary Lavelle also and loved it! Enjoy.

Now that I've finally delivered my presentation on Edith Pope I can squeeze in some Virago time between grading midterms. I've just started That Lady by Kate O'Brien a good Spanish counterpart to the Renaissance England I'm about to embark upon in my English Lit survey.

Paola -- lindsacl also has the button on her profile and kindly shared it with me, so I've pinned it on to mine as well. Luckily MY side of the family are pretty much in agreement, but we avoid politics (and religion and social mores) with the in-laws ... there are adorable rug rats to discuss.

I understand, Jane. I have no family of my own here in the US, so at least I cannot argue with them (even though I know they would be on my same side). I was wearing a REAL button on my coat yesterday, and that attracted a lot of smiles, thumbs up and winks (NOT like Palin's). For the first time in my life I also put a sign on my front lawn. Now, let's hope....:-))

I hope I'm not violating intellectual property law, but I couldn't resist making this little button for my own campaign website:
From Rough Draft

That's fabulous Rob! Love the "O" !!

Wish I could vote for you, Rob!

Me too!!!!!

Rob -- I'd give you my vote -- anyone who reads Greek should be on the school board!

Vote for Rob! Vote for Rob!

What's your platform Rob? What do you support? What would you like to see changed ? Why?

P.S. having finished The Land of Spices (*****), I have now started The Ante-Room.

More Virago Modern Classics in the classroom!!

Actually, I've been participating in an online forum for candidates (here) and have come out in favor of charter schools and evolution and against using drug-sniffing dogs in the high school. I have not yet been launched on a tirade about No Child Left Behind, but I have one stored up.

I'm glad you liked The Land of Spices, which is actually one of the best novels about education that I've read.

Rob - thank you for the Land of Spices alert. I went straight over to read the blurb. Hey ho another for the TBR list.

I am nearly finished wiht the non virago life of Edna St Vincent Millay - what a lady. Does anyone else know her?

Have started a non Virago copy of Virginia Woolf's Orlando. Will be reading it along with the group concerned with VW in particular. I hadn't realised it was actually a Virago until bleu told me - so thanks =)

#122
I've been wanting to read her poems for the longest time. I have a book about her on my TBR list : What Lips My Lips Have Kissed (great title!), now all I need is money and time.

Juliette...is it Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford that you're reading? One of the best biographies I've read in a long time. Miss Millay is, indeed, a kaleidoscope of a woman.

p.s. Rob, you have my vote too! Say, can you make another button with a greenish hue?

I love Edna St. Vincent Millay. Every year on All Soul's Day I post a copy of Dirge Without Music on our office bulletin board. (I'm the poetry geek in the office; people expect me to provide for all occasions.) I've just added the Milford biography to my wishlist.

I started reading Liana last night. Didn't get very far, but I think it's going to be good.

Linda, it is the "Milford" biography, not Mitford.

Ah...thank you. Fixing it now.

After all the high-minded spiritual soul-searching of Kate O'Brien, I had to take a Barbara Pym break: Some Tame Gazelle and A Glass of Blessings. Neither is a Virago, but both should be. I must say that after O'Brien, all the chaste chasing after curates seems positively scandalous. I never thought the day would come when I would pronounce Pym scandalous. If her ghost is reading this thread, I expect she's having a good giggle about having achieved the position of novelist provocateur.

P.S. Does anyone know why touchstones absolutely refuse to recognize Kate O'Brien as an author name? Is there some anti-Catholic sentiment at the top? The touchstones accept Barbara Pym and she's so high she's practically Catholic.

I find the author touchstones to be very cranky.
Martha Gellhorn
Dennis Lehane
Margaret Mitchell
William Faulkner
Kate O'Brien
Barbara Pym
Dorothy Parker
Helen Hanff
Ernest Hemingway
Holly Wendt
Don Freas
James Lee Burke

See?

Sometimes you can get author touchstones if you just bracket one of the names and then scroll through the other listing and choose the appropriate name. This method won't work with more common names like Mitchell or Burke, but it does work with less common names like Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway.

I am reading Orlando; A Biography by Virginia Woolf. I didn't realise it was aVirago but gather it is! Loving it, the philosophy, the fun, the refelctions upon time, gender and societal expectation of gender - I could go on a lot as you may gather.

I've just read A House and Its Head by Ivy Compton-Burnett. The least we can say is that nothing prepared her for this kind of book : born in 1884, she died in 1969 and left us an impressive bibliography. She had a classic upper-class background, and wrote as her Penguin blurb :
"I have had such an uneventful life that there is little information to give. I was educated with my brothers in the country as a child, and later went to Holloway College, and took a degree in Classics. I lived with my family when I was quite young but for most of my life have had my own flat in London. I see a good deal of a good many friends, not all of them writing people. And there is really no more to say."
Her novels deal with upper-class families who live at the beginning of the 20th century. Been there, done that ? WRONG. A House and Its Head was very original, quite like nothing else I've ever read. First of all, her writing style takes some getting used to : it's an endless succession of dialogs, and the characters' psychology is not described but rather talked about by themselves. Show don't tell indeed. It's all very proper and polite but now and then she casually throws irony, satire and moves on. Everything and everybody is criticized in this novel, and rightly so. It's about selfishness, hypocrisy and basic instincts. There's death, murder, coldness, not love but some kind of association between people so that they can keep to the class they're in without being judged. Completely astonishing, I really didn't expect that when I picked it up and read the summary.
It sure won't be my last Compton-Burnett, it was too intriguing.

Aleta Dey by Francis Marion Beyon through interlibrary loan. The sad thing is that doesn't look as if it has ever been read. Hopeful it is just that the previous reader(s) were very careful.

Also, The Virago Book of Witches, a book of short stories edited by Shahrukh Husain.

(edited because it should be Dey not Day)

>132 Sibylle.Night:, Sibylle I was recommended Elizabeth and Ivy by Robert Liddell earlier in the year. It is a slim but delightful volume. Liddell was friend and correspondent to Ivy and Elizabeth and so it gives a unique insight. He also wrote one of the first studies of CB's work - which I have yet to track down.

>134 sqdancer:, Aleta Day is next up on my TBR...

Sibylle, thank you for that description Compton-Burnett moves up my imaginary list or at least makes it on to a piece of paper to take bookshopping.

Last night I finished Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns (touchstone not working). What an odd yet curiously satisfying little book! Here's my review, which I found difficult to write because the book doesn't fit neatly into any particular pigeonholes. I would love to hear what others thought of this one.

>137 Talbin: Your review is very intriguing, Talbin! Must add that one to my wishlist!

I started reading The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter last night.

I'm reading—savoring, basking in—Kate O'Brien's Without My Cloak.

Oh Rob, I have just begun The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brien - on your recommendation in fact.

I am tucking in every night with The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield and am enjoying it thoroughly, despite my occasional wince at the problems she professes to have with the servant "class".

#141
I had my issues with that too, Tiffin. I tried to put it away and focus on something else although it always feels awkward when you read things like that :/ I don't know if you've read Elizabeth and her German Garden, it's quite a pointless book (everything's lovely, etc etc) and out of nowhere she throws one racist statement that had me shocked for the entire book. I still don't know how to deal with this sort of thing, I always find it very difficult to enjoy the book as a whole afterwards. It has happened to me more times with Persephone than with Virago, though.

#143 - Rob, I have almost finished "Without My Cloak" and will be interested to know if you enjoyed it or rated it as highly as I will!!

#142: yes I have, Sibylle and I had the same reaction to certain things there as well (her salvation for me was that she loved her garden passionately and as my garden is my passion as well, I forgave her a lot). I accept that it is being written in a different era but nonetheless, these things do rattle my egalitarian Scots-Canadian sensibilities. That said, she is very funny and she frequently questions things which others of her class take for granted. Lady B offends her mightily with her pretensions, as an example. I'll see how things fare by time we get to the Provincial Lady during the time of the war.

>142 Sibylle.Night:, 144 I quite agree. Don't get me started on Rachel Ferguson. If you want to continue to enjoy her fiction, as I did, you definitely do not want to read her memoirs We Were Amused which I read and reviewed early this year.

> 145 goodness - what happened 5 pages before the end?

Well, my curiosity is certainly piqued now, Fabrile and Lyzzy!

Oh I find it hard to shake that sick feeling too. It happened to me in the Persephone copy of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day I know it is a different era but the fact that it was acceptible to anyone is jarring.

>145 woollenstuff: Fabrile, tell us what happened in those last 5 pages!!!!! I will never read the book, so you won't be spoiling it for me!

It's November now in the UK and I am still reading my chapter a day of Cecilia by Fanny Burney and I am still enjoying it. I do not think I would like to read big chunks of it though - in the case of Cecilia slow is good. I am about half way through the book.

I'm reading Bobbin Up, after having read several glowing comments by LTers. I really like it so far.

lindsacl - glad you are enjoying Bobbin Up - I think it is Hewett's best novel..

I will report back once I have found the offending passage.

I am about to start Lantana Lane by Eleanor Dark for an Australian Theme Read.

I finished Bobbin Up and really enjoyed it. Now I'll be reading some non-VMCs for a time but will still be hanging around here to enjoy what everyone else is reading!

Oh!!!! Lantana Lane is another among my favourites! I really like Eleanor Dark, and have read other books she wrote.

I've started The Way of an Eagle by Ethel M. Dell. I'm about a chapter in and it looks like it's going to be an exciting read.

#148 Maren, I thought I was the only person in the world who had a negative reaction to Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. The presentation of women as simply silly really bothered me.

aluvalibri - I am enjoying Lantana Lane very much. I have not read any of Eleanor Dark's other novels but shall certainly do so.
I see The Little Company on my tbr pile :-)

That is a good one too, er60!

I shall make it my next read, thank you for comments.

I just finished Frost in May. While I enjoyed it, I'm not sure it was written for me - it seems the ideal reader would be English and/or Catholic. I'm neither, so I think I missed many of the nuances about class, boarding school and old-style Catholicism.

158 Ah no Mary, I loved the little line drawings but in addition to what you mention I also found some antisemitic comments that left a bad taste in my fouth.

162 Talbin that may be possible but I think that painful sense of loss at being unjustly accused and a realization of adult unfairness and failibility that accompanies growing up is universal. What are you thinking of reading next?

>163 Marensr: Marensr - I wholeheartedly agree with you, and that's what I got out of the novel. However, I had a strong feeling that if I had a deeper cultural and/or Catholic understanding there would have been a lot more layers of meaning there for me. I felt more like an outsider looking in at that world rather than a part of it.

I'm not sure what will come next. I have a whole pile of VMC's to choose from now. :-) (Although after reading Frost in May, I have a sudden desire to re-read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.)

Ah yes Talbin, I can see a rereading of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie being necessary. Actually I have been doing a lot of thinking about the British tradition of books about boarding schools and books about beloved but flawed teachers. I am doing dramaturgy for The History Boys next spring so perhaps a reread of our friend Miss Brodie is in order for me as well.

Maren - rbhardy3rd recommended The Land of Spices because of the education, boarding school convent aspect. It is truly wonderful and in turn I would recommend it as well.
Dear Rob, yooo hooo, if you are listening I am sure you could do this virago far more justice!

Oh thank you Julie. I will add that to the list.

I am still trying to figure out how to give a group of 19 or 20 year old American actors an understanding of the British education system (A levels as they were in the 1980s), the difficulty of getting into a university, the importance of Oxbridge, etc. Although in the play it is not a boarding school it is a grammar school in the north of England. So if anyone knows of Viragos or other books that will help me give them some of that as well, let me know.

I am afraid I will be quite the schoolmistress with these young actors. Since they also have whole scenes in French and quote Shakespeare and Conrad and Larkin.

Maren, I saw the National Theatre's touring production of The History Boys at the Warwick Arts Center in Coventry when I was living in England. Wonderful play. As for a reading list, my wife, who did her A levels at Westonbirt School (near Tetbury in Gloucestershire) in the late 1970s, says that the Harry Potter books, minus the wizardry, are a pretty good representation of the English boarding school experience!

I'm one chapter into Cry Wolf by Aileen La Tourette. It has a post-apocaliptic setting but, so far, seems very focused on the protagonist's musings and self-analysis.

#148 & 158: if I can figure out how to do it, I'll post my review link of Miss Pettigrew here.

My Review

I had this on the 50 book challenge thread and just today decided to move it to my reviews.

Thanks Rob! It is funny I was talking about Harry Potter at a design meeting. It is a grand play isn't it. Oh and good luck today!

tiffin well said in your review. In some ways I enjoyed the movie more because it was free of those sorts of references and made the women more interesting.

I finished The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which was the perfect counterpoint to Frost in May. Now that I seem to be on a roll with school-based novels, I think I'll read Olivia next, which is a semi-autobiographical VMC that takes place in a French finishing/boarding school.

ETA: I really love The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which I first read in college. Looking at the LT reviews, it seems as if there are mixed feelings about it, but the story and especially the writing are just wonderful, IMHO. Here's my review.

There's a wonderful film of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie with Maggie Smith that came out in the 1970s -- have you seen it?

>173 janeajones: I've always sort of resisted it because I love the book so much. I've heard several times that it's very good, but I just can't bring myself to change the way I experience the book.

Finished The Little Company by Eleanor Dark - very different from Lantana Lane - this was a more serious look at life in Australia during WWII. I found it very interesting but there were times when I found my mind wandering from the text. Perhaps that was just me letting life come between me and my book.

#175> Valerie, I felt just the same! There is another book by Eleanor Dark I really liked: Waterway. However, it is not a Virago and it might not be easy to find a copy.

Thanks for your comments Paola. I shall keep my eyes peeled for Waterway.

Eleanor Dark also wrote the trilogy of The Timeless Land" a fictional account of European settlement of Australia.

The titles are:

Book 1 - The Timeless Land;
Book 2 - Storm of Time;
Book 3 - No Barrier.

I hope to read the trilogy one day! There are just sooo many good books to read!

Patri, I have the three of them, but have not read them yet.
Quite a while ago, I acquired several works by Australian writers, both men and women, as I was (and still am) very interested in Australian literature and fiction.

Paola - you must seriously think of visiting again and I will take you on a lovely book trail which is about an hour's drive from home - I always manage to find some interesting books that I can't resist!!

Was there any one book that aroused your interest in Australian Literature?

I love to see Australian writing out there in the world, especially our women writers.

My dear, believe me, if I could I would fly over right now! I am biding my time an, hopefully, in a few years I shall be able to come back. It goes without saying that I am ready to jump onyour offer, so don't forget it!

You ask what aroused my interest in Australian literature....it was Cindie, by Jean Devanny. True, she was from NZ, but she lived most of her life in Australia, as you know. From her I moved to Miles Franklin, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Eleanor Dark and so on.
If you look through my catalogue, under the "Australia" tag, you will see my collection is pretty extensive, a thing of which I am proud. I have not read them all, but I am slowly proceeding.

Regrettably, many Australian authors are still not available here, but luckily we have internet.

I'm finally starting on Phoebe Junior by Margaret Oliphant which is the last one in the Carlingford series. I haven't read them one after the other because I've read all sorts of things in between but I thought it was about time I read the last one.

Another new writer to me, Marjorie Barnard. Just finished The Persimmon Tree and Other Stories.

I am reading The Wedding Group, although not in a Virago edition. My husband disapproves of books that make me laugh when I'm reading in bed. He doesn't like this one. (He's reading The Stand, which makes him twitch in his sleep. Now, I ask you...who has the more valid complaint here?)

#182 - Paola - I notice you have a cookbook by Elise Pascoe - she is a very creative chef and lives in our town..

Can I also suggest you add Dymphna Cusack and Florence James to your list - DC wrote "Come in Spinner" which I regard as one of the best contemporary Australian novels of the 20th century..

Oh dear - our lists just keep expanding!!!

Patri, I have been on the verge of buying Come in Spinner several times, but then something else got prioritized. Now, I must go and look for a copy. What do you suggest by Florence James?
I have to go and check Elise Pascoe's cookbook, now that you mention it.
And, by the way, thanks for the suggestions!
:-))

Paola - Florence James only has her authorship on one novel which is "Come in Spinner" which is a joint undertaking with Dymphna Cusack - According to Dale Spender, they wrote the novel while waiting for a passage to London. They also jointly wrote "Four Winds and a Family" which was a children's book - I have always considered Come in Spinner as Cusack's novel as the style of writing is most emphatically Cusack's.

Cusack also jointly wrote Pioneers on Parade with Miles Franklin in 1939.

Here is an excellent description of the high regard "Come in Spinner" is held in some literary circles:

"That the male characters are not positive (and not central to the plot) probably has something to do with the literary establishment's neglect of this remarkable novel - a novel which I would recommend as a coming-of-age present for all young Australian women."

This quote is from "Writing a New World: Two Centuries of Australian Women Writers" by Dale Spender. I strongly recommend it if you can find a copy. It is an excellent reference.

I would also recommend :

"Eclipsed: Two Centuries of Australian Women's Fiction" by Connie Burns and MaryGai McNamara;

"Feeling Restless:Australian Short Stories 1940-1969 also by Burns and McNamara.

I have to confess a bias towards Cusack - we share the same birthplace:-))

Patri, you make it sound more and more interesting......got to go find those books!!!!!!!!!!

Paola - the more I delve into women's literary history more interesting it becomes - don't you find that?

I am in complete agreement with your last comment Patricia.

I have just finished The Overlanders by Dora Birtles as part of my Australian Theme Read. Found it so absorbing that I read it in one day - burnt a bit more midnight oil.

Yes, Patri and Valerie, I feel exactly the same! And I keep finding more authors I knew absolutely nothing about, which thrills me no end!!!!

Paola - I too keep finding new authors that I wasn't aware of and wonder how they escaped my notice all of these years - Oriel Malet and Barbara Pym are two of my newly discovered authors and I have just finished "Less than Angels" by Pym which was an excellent introduction to her writing - I have "Horses of the Sun" by Malet on my Mount TBR..

Mrspenny, Horses of the Sun was a favorite of mine in my 20s -- I recently bought a copy but haven't reread it yet to see if it holds up to my fond memory of it. It's linked in my mindwith the Constant Nymph and Rumer Godden's The Greengage Summer. All are coming of age stories that I really enjoyed at that period of my life.

All right....another one....Oriel Malet.....I think I have heard of her, wasn't she a good friend of Daphne Du Maurier's?
Isn't Barbara Pym wonderful?

Du Maurier seems to have been her mentor - "Letters from Menabilly" is a record of the correspondence between the two (edited by Malet)..

Yes ..Ms Pym is a marvellous writer - I loved "Less than Angels" - it captured the characters of academia as I remember them. I particularly love the part when the retired anthropologist is encouraged to burn all his notes in a backyard bonfire!! LOL!!

I've just started The Way Things Are, and am thoroughly enjoying it. Since this is my first Virago, I'm happy to have such a fun start - makes me eager to read more of them!

I just finished reading Uncommon Arrangements by Katie Roiphe. Interesting idea and choice of couples to concentrate on. More of a 'taster' book. If you are familiar with the people, then I would bet you already know what Ms Roiphe goes over.

This is my first post here but I am in the middle of All Passions Spent thanks to Maren's recommendation, and I thought that this would be the place to mention that I can't put the book down (except when driving of course).

That's a fantastic book, kmlee! I read it recently myself. Welcome to the group!

This group becomes more and more fascinating with the discovery of so many new/old women writers - it's an inspiration and a head spinner! Thank you, mrspenny and Paola, for adding more Australian writers to look for!

A warm welcome to kmlee59. I took a peek at your library and saw that A.S. Byatt is a favourite we share!

201 - and me too =) Welcome kmlee59 - you will soon feel at home here. We have woodsheds, a therapist, a fig room, not to mention our passion for Viragos - what else could a girl or chap need? Enjoy!

kmlee59 - a very warm welcome to the group - I think we can safely boast we are the greenest group in existence!!

Welcome kmlee59 - I see from your library that we share quite a few books and favourite authors. Happy reading.

199 Hi Karen, welcome! I am so glad you posted and I am sorry I wasn't around to give you a proper welcome. I think you will like this group very much. I am glad you are liking All Passion Spent.

(Full disclosure kmlee and I were undergraduates together.)

Maren - did you know Karen was going to join - maybe you even encouraged her!

Completed the wonderful The Land of Spices and am now having a Virago break as I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

>206 juliette07: Juliette you have just reminded me that I really want to read TGL&PPS, thank you!

I recently finished TGL&PPS and love love loved it!!

Excellent - I reserved a copy at the library and it arrived today!

I finished TGL&PPS a few weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I read the last few pages several times because I just didn't want it to end!

I am loving it - serious thought provoking in places but riotous in others!! I an getting through it very quickly so I know what you mean kmlee!! How sad that she died so recently though. ...

Julie,

I think you've been hanging out with a certain "bitter" member of our forum. We're now on Part IV of this thread. Oh, and I'm not bitter either. :-)

I consider myself suitably reprimanded M'aam. I will have to pull myself away from the bitter one!

Methinks I am getting carried away with drooling over PP ... Oh by the way, just been peeping at the nudge group - *your* thread in particular. Got some ideas but I'm feeling shy.

ETA - DO NOT POST ANY MORE HERE!!