Read the 1940s - July 2019: Travel

Our topic for July is Travel.

As usual, books can be fiction or nonfiction, Viragos, Persephones, books by Virago/Persephone authors, or books that otherwise embody the "Virago spirit." They can be set in the 1940s, or published in the 1940s. In short, there are no rules here -- participants can set rules to suit themselves. For questions, comments, and general chat about the theme read go to our General Discussion thread.

Visit the Book Recommendations thread for help choosing books that fit the theme & monthly topic. We also have a fabulous Google spreadsheet created by Heather/souloftherose, which compiles and classifies all the book recommendations mentioned on the thread. The spreadsheet includes a "categories" column that shows which topic(s) each book would be suitable for. Below are links to two different views of the data:
* Full spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-b4Y2YrG4VseFT5qn546IjWy0JYst7cOVIrmeBHB...
* Filtered on the "Travel" category: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-b4Y2YrG4VseFT5qn546IjWy0JYst7cOVIrmeBHB...

Note that the filtered view does not work on mobile devices, and it may take a few extra seconds to load in your browser. Please let us know if you have any feedback or suggestions for the spreadsheet.

I think we'd all benefit from a few more recommendations so chime in with your reading plans for July!

I didn't think I had any of the books in this category but on a closer look, I've got The house on the Rhine on my kindle and own a print copy of The far cry. So I am all set!

I also recommend another Emma Smith title which I think would fit this month though the travel is all within the UK. Maiden's trip tells of her work on barges transporting cargo around Britain during WWII.

I'm not sure I have any books in this category either! Just last week I read the delightful Miss Bunting which fits our 1940s theme but the only references to travel were about "the boys" serving in the war, and the local train timetables, LOL.

I've started The house on the Rhine, which is really good. It's about a large family that is far from warm and cosy.

Sorry to say but I am reading nothing VMC. Summer here is torrential rain and I am binge watching all the shows I've missed over the last year in between yardwork (weeds from the rain!) and housework. Plus I've read so many of my VMCs/Persephones I have nothing left that is relevant for Travel. But I check in every day and read your comments with interest.

The house on the Rhine was excellent, very gritty and unsparing in its portrayal of human nature with all its flaws and weaknesses. There are some truly horrible people, but also some who show unexpected goodness at their core. The changes in German society after WWII are shown here in the impact they have on the social order as they shake up the life of the family who occupy the titular house. Strongly recommended.

Now I've started The far cry, which takes us to India. It's very good so far.

I've managed two books in this category in July: Indifferent Heroes by Mary Hocking - the second in a trilogy about the Fairley family in the 1930s and 1940s. This was an author I hadn't read before and I thoroughly enjoyed her perceptive writing and dry humour. The book was actually written in the 1980s I think which might account for the rather franker writing on sex.

The other book was Hetty Dorval by Ethel Wilson, a Persephone book. This was a novella about the impact of a beautiful but self-absorbed woman on a teenage girl in 1930s Canada. WWII only features in an implied way at the very end of the book.

I'm happy to see a few of us managed to find some "Travel" books! Because I'm using this theme to read books I already own, I didn't want to buy something new just because it fit the theme. Despite having loads of "tbr" Viragos and a couple of unread Persephones, nothing seemed to fit. Fortunately this is the only month where that is the case and I have books lined up for the rest of the year.

I have returned to reading Agatha Christie in French and inadvertently qualified for the 1940s travel thing with Evil Under the Sun (People from all over the world on holiday at a luxury resort, and published in 1941.) Interestingly, one of the characters has her reading matter examined by Poirot: Mrs. Humphrey Ward and Charlotte Yonge, so a small VMC tie-in.

>9 romain: well now that's an interesting connection to both the 1940s theme and VMCs. And good for you, reading in French! I'm impressed.

I'm reading Barbara Comyns, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Jenkins, and Rose Macaulay! I'm properly set up! Don't know how many of those are 1940s but I love Virago. What is this though? A reading group? Is there a discussion thread for these books? Would love more recommendations like this!

>11 bookofcalm: Hi bookofcalm, and welcome to the group! If you love Virago, you've come to the right place.

As it happens, every August we do something called All Virago, All August where group members devote the month to reading Viragos (click on the link for the relevant discussion thread).

This year we also have a 1940s theme going, with different topics for each month, like this one for July. There's a thread for our August topic, emigration/relocation, here.

And then there are more general threads, like Which Virago are You Reading?.

Feel free to jump in anywhere you like. We are pretty unstructured and friendly, and I'm sure you'll be gathering book recommendations in no time. Happy reading!