January Read: Vita Sackville West

Our first monthly author is Vita Sackville-West.

From Wikipaedia:

Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson, CH (9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English poet, novelist, and garden designer. A successful and prolific novelist, poet, and journalist during her lifetime—she was twice awarded the Hawthornden Prize for Imaginative Literature: in 1927 for her pastoral epic, The Land, and in 1933 for her Collected Poems—today she is chiefly remembered for the celebrated garden at Sissinghurst she created with her diplomat husband, Sir Harold Nicolson. She is also remembered as the inspiration for the androgynous protagonist of the historical romp Orlando: A Biography, by her famous friend and admirer, Virginia Woolf, with whom she had a decade-long affair.

Her novels:

Heritage (1919)
The Dragon in Shallow Waters (1921)
The Heir (1922)
Challenge (1923)
Grey Wethers (1923)
Seducers in Ecuador (1924)
Passenger to Teheran (1926)
The Edwardians (1930)
All Passion Spent (1931)
The Death of Noble Godavary and Gottfried Künstler (1932)
Thirty Clocks Strike the Hour (1932)
Family History (1932)
The Dark Island (1934)
Grand Canyon (1942)
Devil at Westease (1947)
The Easter Party (1953)
No Signposts in the Sea (1961)

So who will be joining in and what will you be reading?

Fortuitously provided with a Vita Sackville-West novel by my VSS and the very generous elf LyzzyBee, I will be joining in and reading No Signposts in the Sea. It seems to me that The Edwardians may be on the TBR pile, so I may even get to that too. Looking forward to this. Thanks so much for setting it up. I love the author photo.

The only Vita I've read is All Passion Spent and I think I have all her VMC novels so I have plenty of choice. She's one of those Virago authors that usually gets pushed to the back of my TBR pile so this is good motivation. I'll probably read Family History

I have *tons* of Vita lurking, though not much in Virago. Nevertheless, I shall search something out!

I have a few possibilities and The Edwardians is calling loudest. A House Full of Daughters appeared before me at the library a few days ago, so I shall be able to read about the family too.

The only unread Vita on my shelves is the VMC edition of Seducers in Ecuador and The Heir so that's what I will read. It's very short, which is good because I'm also reading Deerbrook with the VMC Chronological Read Project in January.

>6 lauralkeet: The Heir is great Laura!

Oh, I meant to say thanks to Cate as I took the photo from one of her threads. A belated thank you, Cate!

I will be joining in. I'm not sure yet what I'll be reading, but I do have options.

I am joining too - I have All Passion Spent and Challenge to read.

Good photo! My first choice is also The Edwardians which I own but not in a VMC edition. If I succeed with that one (as I've never done a group read before), I may also try Seducers in Ecuador and the Heir which I don't own but hope to borrow from a library.

Jane mentioned this challenge & I thought I'd like to join in as I have lots of Virago authors on the tbr shelves (in green editions & others). I think I'll reread All Passion Spent & I also have The Edwardians tbr. I've just started a little book Vita wrote on English Country Houses too.

>10 mrspenny: I would suggest avoiding Challenge I love VSW generally have read a few of her books, but Challenge is dire!

>10 mrspenny:, >13 Heaven-Ali: Challenge was a DNF for me as well, and I was so surprised to have that happen with VSW's writing. I liked the premise (read the description on the LT book page), but that wasn't enough to sustain me through the story.

I have read all the VMCs and Passenger to Teheran. My library has nothing of note by her. They do have the Glendinning biography but Kirkus says it is 'a meticulous, un-probing, ultimately wearisome account of an ""open"" marriage' so I don't think I will be going there.

What I will say is that I absolutely love the VMCs I read by her. They were some of the first VMCs I read back in the 80s. I've recently got rid of a bunch of my Viragos but I kept all of hers.

ETA: Never heard of Challenge so clearly I don't have all of her VMCs....

>15 romain: I might be wrong but I think Virago only started publishing Challenge a few years ago. It seems to to be mainly considered of interest because Sackville-West was believed to have based the story on her relationship with Violet Trefusis, rather than for the book's literary merits!

I think I'm going to go for All Passion Spent as I haven't read it for AGES and I have a plan to re-read a book a month this year so that works with that, too.

I was considering re-reading All Passion Spent because it is years since I read it. However digging around in my tbr bookcase revealed a copy of No Signposts in the sea, so all being well I shall read that.

I've narrowed it down to a couple of Vitas, after some digging on the shelves. Like Ali, I have a copy of No Signposts in the Sea that I meant to start once and never did, so that is very likely to be one I read this month. The second is called Let Us Now Praise Famous Gardens and is a slim volume in the Penguin English Journeys collection which gathers some of her gardening pieces together. It's only 100 pages and looks very appealing so I may well try to sneak it in as well. (I am currently embroiled in Clear Horizon, trying to catch up with Pilgrimage, so I may be some time...)

I will be reading All passion spent and, if I can find my copy, The Edwardians.

I will be joining those of you who are reading All Passion Spent. I have loved it previously and....as all of my "Vita" books are in Washington, "Passion" is one I knew I wouldn't mind having a duplicate of here in Arizona. It has arrived so I am ready to go when I complete my current commitment.
I am excited! It has been a while since I read any Vita fiction. When I originally came upon her, I was so enamored with her work that I read everything I could get my hands on & loved it all.
Thank you ladies, for setting this up for the rest of us to enjoy. :-)

>13 Heaven-Ali:, >14 lauralkeet: - Thanks for the tip - Challenge is now back on the shelf for another time. I have replaced it with The Edwardians and hope to start All Passion Spent today.

I'll be reading All Passion Spent also. I read this book about thirty years ago so it will probably be like new to me.

I've also just joined up after reading Jane's post at Beyond Eden Rock. (Some of you might know me as Sarah from Hard Book Habit *waves*).

I'm ashamed to say I've never read any Vita Sackville-West, but I'm hoping to change that this month. I've unearthed 'No Signposts in the Sea', The Edwardians' and 'All Passion Spent' from my bookshelves, but I've not decided which of those to go with yet - who knows, I might even manage two!

I have actually read the four Viragos I have by Vita: All Passion Spent, The Edwardians, Seducers in Ecuador & The heir and No Signposts in the Sea but I have two others by her published by someone else: Heritage and Family History (no chance of a sensible working touchstone for those two) which I might start.

>24 IronGiant: Hello Sarah and welcome! :) This is a lovely group and you'll run across some wonderful people on it!

I confess I've already read No Signposts in the Sea and I enjoyed it very much. I hadn't realised it was Vita's last novel, and tbh the content didn't reflect the era it was written in, though there is a poignant quality to it and the sense of someone taking stock of their life towards the end of it.

I'll get a review up on my blog eventually!

>24 IronGiant: Hello Sarah! (*waves back*)

I'm in the early chapters of The Edwardians and loving it.

>24 IronGiant: Hello Sarah!! Liz from Adventures in Reading, Writing and Working from Home here! Enjoy VSW, she's wonderful.

I decided on 'All Passions Spent' in the end and am racing through it at a pace. It's not what I expected at all - the wry humour is a wonderful surprise. If I get the first installment of Anthony Powell's 'Dance to the Music of Time' finished in time, I might try and squeeze in another VSW before the month's out! :)

>24 IronGiant: Hi Sarah. Hope you enjoy reading VSW.

Having recently reread both Portrait of a Marriage and Vita and Harold, the letters of Vita and Harold Nicolson, I thought it was about time I tried one of her novels. I was intending to read The Edwardians but today I picked No Signposts in the Sea off the shelf and started it straight away because it looked quite short. I have finished it and may now attempt another - either All Passion Spent or The Edwardians unless I can get a copy of Seducers in Ecuador from the library in the next few days.

I can't think when I last read All Passion Spent - I have it in the Virago Omnibus edition so I'm guessing late 80s (bought it second-hand, it appears). Gosh it's brilliant, though, isn't it. Such an unusual central character to have, like one of the aunts in the Forsyte Saga being given her own story. I had to fight to make myself put it down after lunch and come up and do some work!

I'm half way through All passion spent and really enjoying it. As well as being a brilliant examination of a woman's inner life, it's also fascinating in its depiction of the social customs - those surrounding death, courtship, marriage, etc - of its time. Lady Slane is the sort of character who, as >32 LyzzyBee: says, is usually on the periphery rather than the protagonist and it's lovely to read about her.

Just finished No Signposts in the Sea last night and found it very thoughtful, a very good read, so thanks again LyzzyBee. With luck I should be able to fit in another Vita book before month's end.

>34 SassyLassy: I read that one too and really loved it - I'll get round to reviewing it eventually! :)

I'm also halfway through All Passion Spent and enjoying it, especially the characters of Lady Slane and her landlord. As I'm reading the Virago Omnibus edition I'll be able to move on to The Return of the Soldier for the Rebecca West read. Hopefully there will also be a Molly Keane read to come to encourage me to finish the book!

ETA: I have just finished All Passion Spent. I preferred it to No Signposts in the Sea, mainly because the characters were more believable, I think. It did seem a little over the top that Lord Slane had been both Viceroy and PM though!

I love Vita, particularly The Heir, and I've taken the opportunity to start The Death of Nobel Godavary which I've had for a few years - and had never heard of when I saw it in a bookshop. So far, so good!

>36 europhile: ha - I'm reading it in that edition too and just glad to put the great big thing down! Definitely looking for a single edition of All Passion Spent now.

>34 SassyLassy: A well-timed gift, I'm so pleased you've been able to put it to good use almost immediately!

>37 Stuck-in-a-Book: The Heir is wonderful, isn't it Simon? And I've never heard of the other book you mention - must be very obscure! :)

I've been able to get a copy of Seducers in Ecuador and The Heir from the library today, and started reading it straightaway. Again, it's quite short, either two short stories, or a short story and a novella, depending on how the distinction is defined. The best thing about "Seducers" was its title, the story itself was a bit...odd. It was ok but not really to my liking. The Heir, on the other hand, was a compulsive read and I liked it very much indeed. Vita clearly put a lot of energy and personal feeling into it.

Finished All passion spent which was wonderful. Lady Slane only has a year or so to live as she pleases, but her actions and influence mean that her great-granddaughter won't face the same fate. Very satisfying.

Agree with Grant on Seducers and The Heir which I read in 1988, having borrowed the book from the VMC carousel at the Wood Green library.

In fact I read most of my Sackville-Wests while living in North London in the late 80s. I am so pleased that everyone loves All Passion Spent which is one of my faves from the VMC collection.

>40 europhile: I'm reading this one too, but it's been a lower priority than other books. I read "Seducers" and completely agree with you about its oddness. I peeked at The Heir but haven't read more than a page or two, somewhat put off by the initial story's oddness. Grant, I am encouraged by your comments! Hopefully I will get to it this weekend.

I so enjoyed All Passion Spent and have reviewed it on my blog (no real spoilers as such) https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2017/01/20/book-review-vita-sackville-west-a... So glad I read this one!

>44 LyzzyBee: Agreed - this is a lovely and satisfying book.

I finished Seducers in Ecuador; and The Heir this weekend, and am in agreement with Grant (>40 europhile:). Seducers in Ecuador makes up about 1/3 of the book, and describes a group on a yacht excursion through the Mediterranean. The reader knows the fate of each character from the beginning, and their fates are surprising enough to make you want to read on to find out how they end up where they do. But it's all very creepy and strange. The Heir is about an unassuming and rather spineless man who suddenly finds himself heir to a large estate belonging to an aunt he never met. When he arrives on the scene, solicitors are preparing the property for auction. The story explores his evolving character as the auction approaches. I liked this one much better.

>40 europhile: I agree about Seducers in Ecuador very odd.

I am now reading No Signposts in the Sea

Just finished No Signposts in the Sea such a lovely novel.

I finally got around to Family History after a month of mostly reading counselling/psychotherapy books for a course I'm doing.

I didn't like the ending but very much liked everything else! Until the end, the relationships in the book are described quite brutally with the characters' weaknesses vividly exposed but somehow it's still heartbreaking. My favourite character was the teenage son, heir to a fortune but desperately unhappy at Eton.

I was going to leave it there for the month but after reading the comments above and sassylassy's review I'm wondering whether to take Signposts in the Sea with me on the train this morning.

>48 Heaven-Ali: It is, isn't it?

>49 Soupdragon: I would say go for it - it's a short novel but a lovely one!

>50 kaggsy: Just finished it and I agree!

>51 Soupdragon: :))))))

I took a bit of a break from Vita to read some library books and a light comic novel by Nancy Mitford, Don't Tell Alfred. It contains some of the characters from The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate but it's set in Paris quite a few years later. Now I'm about halfway through The Edwardians but can't help comparing it with the Mitford which was a very quick and easy read and far less self-conscious in its style.

ETA: I've now finished The Edwardians. Obviously I liked it a lot because it's turned out to be a nice summer's day here but I stayed inside to finish it. I've just been out for a walk to think about why I found it so good. I half guessed how it might end up but the outcome was kept deliciously uncertain to the very end. And the description of the Coronation was wonderful. The period it was set in tied in very well with Juliet Nicholson's The Perfect Summer, which I read late last year. I might add that I have also read the same author's A House Full of Daughters this month and it includes a chapter (only one!) on Vita. I can recommend it to anyone interested in Vita and her ancestors/descendants. The writing gene has certainly been passed down to the succeeding generations.

All in all one of the best, if not the best, of my Vita reads this month, which has been very successful from my point of view. Thank you very much for the much-needed encouragement to track down and read these books at last.

I've finally got my review of No Signposts in the Sea up here:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2017/01/28/setting-sail-for-a-fina...

A lovely read and I'm echoing Grant's thanks for the motivation to read it!

>53 europhile: I spent this weekend reading The Edwardians too. I started out of a sense of duty to fit in a second VS-W this month, but was soon fully engaged in the social politics of Vita's world. I enjoyed the variety of viewpoints from those within and without the favoured circle. I did feel that the ending was very sudden, but it was pleasing nonetheless.

I posted my review of No Signposts in the Sea today.

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/01/30/no-signposts-in-the-sea-vita-sackvill...

I wasn't planning to read anything more by Vita in January but I happened to notice the copy of Family History in the spare bedroom and picked it up to have a look at the introduction. Once I had read about the minor characters from The Edwardians who reappeared in it, plus the references to Sissinghurst and the Bloomsbury Group, I just kept on reading. Apart from the irritating grammatical experiment, I must say I liked it. So that topped off the month for me quite nicely. Now on to Rebecca West...

>57 europhile: It's always such a good feeling when you casually pick up a book and just keep going.

Hello, everyone! I read The Edwardians and enjoyed it very much. I reviewed it on my blog: https://theblankgarden.com/2017/03/08/his-plunging-spirit-had-got-stuck-in-the-g...

:)

I didn't like to see the Vita thread lying dormant so I just thought I'd add that I finished her biography Vita: The Life of V. Sackville-West by Victoria Glendinning last month. Marvellously interesting. She was certainly a fascinating character.

Just noticed this thread and hadn't realized we were still going to be doing a monthly author read. I thought it had been superseded by the 1940s monthly theme read, but that's fine, I'll do both.

I'm trying not to buy too many new books this year, and the three V S-W that I've got are The Edwardians (read about 2½ years ago), Saint Joan of Arc (read many years ago), and Seducers in Ecuador & The Heir (never read), so it looks like that last one's the one I'll be getting to.

>61 CurrerBell: Sorry if I caused any confusion. I revived an old thread from two years ago by posting this here.

>62 europhile: Heh-heh. I should have noticed the large number of posts. I mean, I know the VMC group's great, but how many LT folk belong that we'd get 60-some posts in 17/18 days?