Kathy's (kac522) 24 in 2024 Challenge

A Pleasant Corner, 1865
John Calcott Horsley (1817-1903), British

Welcome to my "24 in 2024" Category Challenge

This year I am striving to read 24 books in 6 different categories. In order to get close to 24 in each category, if a book fits in more than one category, I'll be counting it in both places. Some of these categories are expanded from years past.

One of my major goals is to concentrate on reading Virago and Persephone editions and other editions of books by Virago/Persephone authors that are on my TBR. Each of my 6 Challenges will feature a Virago book cover from my TBR that fits that Challenge.

My 75ers thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/356771

Tracking my "Roots": books I've read that have been on my shelves from before 2023:



On to the Challenges!

Quiz: Can you identify the VMC book cover with the above painting?
Answer: The Perpetual Curate, Margaret Oliphant

"Breakfast Piece", Herbert Badham (1899-1961), Australian
Art Gallery of New South Wales

I. 24 Virago and Persephone books from my TBR
My TBR currently includes 60-70 Virago (V) and Persephone (P) books, as well as books in other editions by Virago authors (think Edith Wharton and Willa Cather here). So reading at least 24 this year should put a dent in these.

P 1. A London Child of the 1870s, Molly Hughes (1934); Root from 2023
V 2. The Blush, Elizabeth Taylor
V 3. Angel, Elizabeth Taylor
P 4. Young Anne, Dorothy Whipple (1927); Root from 2023

"At the Dressing Table", Harold Harvey (1874-1941), British
Cyfartha Castle Museum, Wales

II. 24 books in my "Complete the Author" challenge
I hope to read at least 2 books from each of these authors in 2024.

**Elizabeth Bowen

Willa Cather
Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather, Benjamin Taylor (2023)--biography

Agatha Christie
Evil Under the Sun (1941)
N or M? (1941)

George Eliot*

Elizabeth Gaskell*
North and South (Norton Critical Edition), (1855) RR
"The Manchester Marriage" (1858) from Right At Last and other tales
"Mr Harrison's Confessions" (1851) from The Cranford Chronicles, RR

Thomas Hardy

**Winifred Holtby*

D. E. Stevenson
The Fair Miss Fortune (2011 post; orig written 1938)
Music in the Hills (1950)

**Elizabeth Taylor
The Blush and Other Stories (orig publ 1958; this VMC edition 1987)
Angel (1957)

Anthony Trollope
Nina Balatka (1867), RR
The Way We Live Now (1875)

Elizabeth von Arnim

Edith Wharton

Dorothy Whipple
Young Anne (1927)

**E. H. Young

*For these authors I only have 2 books left to read.
**Will concentrate on these authors, as I failed to read any of their books in 2023.

Under the Cherry Tree", Sir John Lavery (1856-1841), Irish
Ulster Museum, Belfast
oldest VMC on my TBR, acquired 2015


"The Mirror 1900", William Orpen (1878-1931), British
Tate Gallery, London
newest VMC on my TBR, acquired 2023

III. 24 of the Oldest and Newest books on my TBR

I started recording my books in 2009 when I joined LT. I plan to read 12 of the oldest books that I've recorded on LT. And to give myself some incentive, I'm giving myself permission to read 12 books that I acquired in 2023. Anyway I look at it, it's a win-win.

Oldest
Feb 1. Telling Tales, ed. Nadine Gordimer (2004); short stories by various authors, acquired before 2009; I read 3 of the stories and tried a few others, but decided to DNF the rest. Of the 3 stories I read, "The Age of Lead" by Margaret Atwood was brilliant.
Apr 2. The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope (1875); acquired in 2011

Newest--acquired 2023 and 2024
Jan 1. A London Child of the 1870s, Molly Hughes (1934); acquired 2023
Feb 2. Evil Under the Sun, Agatha Christie (1941); acquired 2023
Feb 3. The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach, Peter Schickele (1976); acquired 2024
Apr 4. Music in the Hills, D. E. Stevenson (1950); acquired 2023
May 5. They Came Like Swallows, William Maxwell (1937); acquired 2023

"The Fan", James Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836-1902), French
Sotheby's, London
Short stories

IV. 24 Short works: short stories, novellas, plays and essays

I have over 50 collections of short stories, plays and essays on my TBR. I did read a fair number in 2023, but need to do better in 2024.

1. The Blush and Other Stories (orig publ 1958; this VMC edition 1987)
2. "John Bull's Other Island", George Bernard Shaw (1904); a play contained in Modern Irish Drama
3. "Pygmalion", G B Shaw (1914); a play contained in George Bernard Shaw's Plays: Norton, along with Preface and Epilogue by Shaw
4. Shaw on Music, G B Shaw (1955); essays
DNF The Penguin Book of Welsh Short Stories, Alun Richards, ed. (1988); read 6 of the 24 short stories

Vogue cover May 1929
For the British Author Challenge (E. M. Delafield in November)

V. 24 Books for Challenges on LT and elsewhere

I'm scaling back my challenges this year, but I will still do a few here and there. I also participate in a RL book club. I'll record these here.

RKIT = LT RandomKIT
75NF = LT 75ers Nonfiction Challenge
AAC = LT 75ers American Authors Challenge
BAC = LT 75ers British Authors Challenge
RTTM = LT Reading Through Time monthly challenge
VIRAA = LT All August/All Virago
VIR24 = LT Virago 2024 Monthly Authors
VIRCHR = LT Virago Chronological Group Reads with Liz
MA = LT Monthly Authors
CDalong = #Dickensalong (booktube)
JA = Jane Austen July (booktube)
VICT = Victober (Victorian October--booktube)
OCC = My RL Book Club

1. RKIT: Jan: Birds: Dear Mrs. Bird, AJ Pearce, library book
2. 75NF: Jan: Prizes: Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Root from 2021
3. OCC: Jan: North and South (Norton Critical Edition), Elizabeth Gaskell; Root from 2022; RR
4. BAC & RTTM: Jan: The White Company, Arthur Conan Doyle, Root from 2022
5. VIR24: Feb: The Blush and Other Stories (orig publ 1958; this VMC edition 1987)
6. CDalong: Feb: Bleak House; audiobook; Root; RR
7. MA: Feb: "John Bull's Other Island", George Bernard Shaw (1904); a play contained in Modern Irish Drama
8. CDalong: Feb: Hard Times (1854); audiobook; Root; RR
9. RTTM, OCC & RKIT: Feb: Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson (1883); Root; RR
10. MA: Feb: Pygmalion, GB Shaw; Root; RR
11. VIR24: Feb: Angel, Elizabeth Taylor (1957)
12. MA: Mar: Waverley, Sir Walter Scott (1814); Root
13. RTTM: Mar: Epidemics: A Journal of the Plague Year, Daniel Defoe (1722); Root
14. OCC: Mar: The Quiet American, Graham Greene (1955)
15. CDalong: Mar: Little Dorrit (1857); audiobook; Root; RR
16. RTTM, AAC: Apr: John Adams, David McCullough (2002); Root; audiobook
17. MA: Apr: Wilkie Collins: Mad Monkton and Other Stories (1881)
18. BAC: Apr: The Way We Live Now, Trollope, Root
19. BAC: Apr: Quartet in Autumn, Barbara Pym (1977); Root; RR
20. OCC: Apr: "Oedipus the King" from The Three Theban Plays, Sophocles (ca. 432 B.C.E.)
21. MA: Apr: Wilkie Collins: The Dead Secret (1857); Root
22. AAC: Apr: Nonfiction: How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis (1890); Root
23. RKIT: May: Art/Architecture: 101 Things I Learned in Urban Design School, Frederick and Mehta (2018)
24. AAC: May: They Came Like Swallows, William Maxwell (1937); Root
25. RKIT: May: Art/Architecture: Leonardo da Vinci, Sherwin Nuland (2000); Root
26. 75NF: May: The West: The Silverado Squatters, Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)

"Mrs Mable Whitehead", Margaret Foreman (1951-), British
private collection
A possible re-read in 2024

VI. 24 Classics and Re-reads (RR)

I read lots of classics and I re-read lots of classics. This category will probably go way beyond 24.

RR 1. 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff (1970); Root from 2021
RR 2. North and South (Norton Critical Edition), Elizabeth Gaskell (1855); Root from 2022--this edition
RR 3. Bleak House, Charles Dickens (1853); audiobook read by Simon Vance; Root from 2017
RR 4. Nina Balatka, Anthony Trollope (1867); Root from 2019
5. "John Bull's Other Island", George Bernard Shaw (1904); a play contained in Modern Irish Drama
RR 6. Hard Times, Charles Dickens (1854); audiobook read by Martin Jarvis; Root from before 2024
RR 7. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson (1883); Root from 2017
RR 8. Lady Susan, Jane Austen (1871); on audiobook, Root
RR 9. Pygmalion, G B Shaw; Root
RR 10. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene Hanff (1973); library book
11. Waverley, Sir Walter Scott (1814); Root
RR 12. Little Dorrit (1857); audiobook; Root
RR 13. Quartet in Autumn, Barbara Pym (1977); Root
RR 14. Oedipus the King, Sophocles; play
RR 15. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (1813); audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson; Root

"Lady in a Black Dress", James Peter Quinn (1869-1951), Australian
Queensland Art Gallery

VII. Everything Else

The perpetual catch-all category!

1. The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman (2020); library book
2. Carnegie Libraries Across America: A Public Legacy, Theodore Jones (1997); library book
3. Home/Land: A Memoir of Departure and Return, Rebecca Mead (2022); library book
4. My Uncle Silas, H. E. Bates (1938); library book
5. Q's Legacy, Helene Hanff (1985); library book
--- Readings on Hard Times, Jill Karson, editor (2002); library book; DNF--read intro & 6 essays
6. Funny Things: A Comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schulz, Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi (2023); library book; graphic/comic strips
7. The Perfect Passion Company, Alexander McCall Smith (2024); library book

Favorite Reads of 2023

In no particular order....

Favorite Fiction
The Forest of Wool and Steel, Natsu Miyashita
Maud Martha, Gwendolyn Brooks
All Passion Spent, Vita Sackville-West
The Girls, Edna Ferber
Ruth, Elizabeth Gaskell
A Child of the Jago, Arthur Morrison
*Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
*The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
*Washington Square, Henry James

*These last 3 are all classic works that I should have read years ago, but I was positive I wouldn't like them...and I was SO wrong. It pays (once in a while) to read stuff you think you won't like.

Favorite Nonfiction
The Anthropocene Reviewed, John Green--essays that made me think in new ways about random stuff
Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days that Changed her Life, Lucy Worsley--an entertaining walk through the life of the Queen
Secret Harvests, David Mas Masumoto--a memoir about secrets, separation and a family farm
Unearthing the Secret Garden, Maria McDowell--the life and gardens behind the classic children's book The Secret Garden
My Life in Middlemarch, Rebecca Mead--a memoir interweaving the author's life and George Eliot's masterpiece
Aspects of the Novel, E. M. Forster--classic lectures from 1927 given at Cambridge; entertaining and thought-provoking

Favorite Re-reads
The Return of the Soldier, Rebecca West
A Month in the Country, J. L. Carr
The Last Chronicle of Barset, Anthony Trollope, on audiobook
Barnaby Rudge, Charles Dickens, on audiobook
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens, on audiobook

Some end-of-year stats for 2023:

Total books read: 137 -- most books ever--averaging 11 books per month.

"Roots" read: 79 (58%)
Bought & read in 2023: 11 (8%)
Library books: 47 (34%)

Re-reads: 34
Translated: 5

Books by a male author: 58 (42%)
Books by a female author: 74 (54%)
Books with several authors: 5 (3%)

Fiction: 95 (69%)
Non-fiction: 34 (25%)
Other: 2 plays; 2 graphic; 1 poetry; 1 mixed fiction/nonfiction (6%)

Breakdown by years published:

before 1800: 3 (2%)
19th century: 43 (31%)
20th century: 61 (45%)
21st century: 30 (22%)
I'm clearly stuck in the past with my reading!

I will be avidly following (and put on a kevlar vest whenever I drop in for the BBs that will come flying)! Good luck with your goals, and I love those wonderful covers.

Still trying to add to my green VMC collection - so hard to find though! I just love looking at the covers. Definitely following along.
Happy reading in 2024!

Love the Virago theme! I am also doing 6 categories of 24! :)

>11 MissWatson: LOL! Just trying to picture you in that vest...thanks for stopping by!

>12 JayneCM: They ARE hard to find...I only found 3 last year. But I love them, even as the pages get old and brown. Watch these pages for any finds in 2024.

>13 christina_reads: I'm being very optimistic with 6 x 24....I'll only get close by double-counting some titles, I'm sure. Good luck with your challenges, too.

>4 kac522: Good idea! Happy reading in 2024.

Enjoy your 2024 challenge!

Wonderful theme! I love Virago books too and the covers are so beautiful.

>12 JayneCM: Fingers crossed we both have some finds in 2024. Remember the olden days, where you could find them on eBay for next to nothing? Not any more!

>15 pamelad: Thanks for stopping by! Last year I picked 24 books that had been on my shelves for a long time and I did not get through them. This way, at least half the books are ones I just picked up, so I still have some enthusiasm (I hope) for them.

>16 DeltaQueen50: I will, thank you! A year of good reading to you, too.

>17 VivienneR: Yes, I love the covers of the old green ones and I wanted to highlight the artists, too.

>18 JayneCM: Maybe--went to a used book store today--they had only 1 and it's one I already own--boo-hoo.

Great theme! Have fun in 2024 :)

>20 rabbitprincess: Thanks for visiting! If nothing else, the book covers will be wonderful...

Hope you have a good year reading.

Love the book covers. >7 kac522: is my favorite. Good luck with your 2024 reading.

>22 dudes22: Thank you, and to you as well.

>23 lowelibrary: Isn't that an interesting portrait? It's the artist's grandmother. And happy reading to you, too.

>19 kac522: That's a shame. :(
Our discussion must have been good luck for me as today I found Sunflower by Rebecca West in pristine condition, looks unread. Hopefully the good luck will continue!

>25 JayneCM: Ooh, good for you!

Oh, what wonderful covers! I'll be following along here, your categories look so good!

>27 MissBrangwen: Thanks--you can't go wrong with the old green Virago covers. I'm so sorry they gave those up, and as Jayne says, they're harder and harder to find these days. Sometimes the cover is more appealing than the book ;)

Good luck with your 2024 reading. I'm sure I will be wounded by several BB's!

Both your covers and your categories are so appealing! I'm looking forward to following your reading this year.

Do you ever buy the American black Viragos? I have several of those.

>30 NinieB: Hi Ninie! Yes, I have 4 black ones, although I rarely find them:



I've read the 2 E. H. Young novels, but not Rebecca West or May Sinclair.

I have a number of the "later" green ones, like this:



I also have a newer "in-between" green one--I'm not sure what to call it:



The border and spine are dark green, but the font and picture style are different. Haven't read this one yet. I don't believe I have any others in this same style.

I had a huge book haul today, courtesy of LTer Liz1564 (Elaine), who graciously sold me 11 Persephone titles:

Elizabeth Cambridge, Hostages to Fortune, #41
E M Delafield, Consequences, #13
Molly Hughes, A London Child of the 1870's, #61
Katherine Mansfield, Montana Stories, #25
Mrs Oliphant, The Mystery of Mrs Blencarrow, #89

And these Dorothy Whipple titles:
--Someone at a Distance, #3
--They Knew Mr Knight, #19
--They Were Sisters, #56
--Greenbanks, #95
--Every Good Deed and Other Stories, #118
--Young Anne, #127

Elaine has a few titles left. If you are interested, see her post here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/355234

>32 kac522: Oooh! I have read Someone at a Distance and I own Young Anne. Looking forward to reviews!

>33 NinieB: Since we live in the same city (Chicago), I was lucky enough to briefly meet Elaine and pick these up myself. She even gave them to me in a Persephone bag! I feel very fortunate and look forward to all of them. I'm especially excited for the Molly Hughes book.

>33 NinieB: I now have 8 Dorothy Whipple titles, and I think I'm going to read them in publication order, so that means Young Anne is the oldest title I have. Definitely a book for 2024!

>34 kac522: That sounds like a lovely way to acquire your new Persephones. My first two I ordered from England and since then I have been able to buy a few at the big local book sale.

>35 kac522: A readalong to break up the Dickens! I have just reminded myself that I also own Whipple's The Priory. I have a reading plan for my persephones for 2024, basically one a month.

>36 NinieB: Not a bad idea. I think I'll add her to >3 kac522:, my Author Challenge. I may not have access to the titles I'm missing, but it will keep the books I do own front & center and less likely to get lost on the TBR.

I love the way you notice and post about book covers. I read exclusively (almost) ebooks or audiobooks and never even notice the covers. I must become more aware!

That is exciting about the Persephones! I got about 8 of them by ordering from England, but their shipping has gotten prohibitively expensive in the past couple years. Some day I'll make a trip over there and buy out the store! I've really enjoyed every title I've read.

>38 Tess_W: I just love the Virago covers, Tess. It's one of the main reasons that I collect the old ones; I'm not as much a fan of the newer ones. I was inspired by Jane (BeyondEdenRock) in the Virago group in 2022. She did a whole series featuring the original art of many Virago covers, with a short description of the book. The first thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/336441

>39 japaul22: I was fortunate to be able to pick up the books from Elaine--she lives downtown so it was easy. I'm particularly excited about all the Dorothy Whipple titles. A few years ago Elaine gave me 20 Virago titles, and I'm still slowly making my way through those.

I enjoyed seeing all the book covers. Hope you have fun with your 2024 reading.

>41 hailelib: Thanks! If I read mostly off my shelves, I'll be very happy.

I just noticed that the cover of the book I'm currently reading is by the same artist in >5 kac522:, James Jacques Joseph Tissot:



Detail from The Picnic.

The woman could be the same model in both pictures.

I ended up looking through Elaine's list of Persephones that she was selling and buying quite a few of them! In fact, I think I ended up taking all the grey covers that she had left. I just couldn't pass them up since it's so expensive to acquire them new right now. Thanks for mentioning it on your thread - I had missed her post in the Virago group. I'm so excited!

>43 japaul22: Yes, she's really trying to downsize. She forgot to include the bookmarks, so today I got an envelope filled with the bookmarks! So don't be shy if your books don't have them--she definitely wants to forward those on, too.

Goodness, you have quite a few challenges this year, and 24 in each! I don't think I could complete so many. If I get to 50 total this year, I'll be happy. Good luck with all the challenges; it looks like a great reading year!

>45 atozgrl: Oh, no worries, Irene! I'm double- and triple-counting wherever I can!! I actually don't think I'll make 24x6 anyway, but I like the "24" idea. Really, until I retired, I was lucky to get in 25 books a year. My reading exploded once I retired.

I was also thinking about finding books published and authors born in 1924 and 1824, as well as 1974 (50 years) and 1874 (150 years). How's that for another challenge?

January Reading Plans/Possibilities



This month I'm leading my RL book club in a discussion of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South (1855), so this will be my prime focus for the month. I've read this novel several times and it is one of my all-time favorites. I recently acquired the Norton Critical Edition, so I hope I'm prepared for our meeting on the 25th.

On New Year's Day I indulged in a re-read of 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (1970), which always inspires me.

Currently reading:
--Bleak House, Charles Dickens, (1853) on audiobook
--Index, a history of the, Dennis Duncan (2021)--nonfiction about The Index

✔ North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell (1855)--re-read for my RL book club and I'm presenting the book (meaning I give the background info and come up with the discussion questions).

Other possibilities for January include:
✔ Dear Mrs. Bird, AJ Pearce (2018) for RandomKIT
--The White Company, Arthur Conan Doyle (1891) for British Author Challenge (BAC)
✔ Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015), for the 75ers Nonfiction Challenge
--Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor (1971), a re-read, a Virago title
✔ A London Child of the 1870s, Molly Hughes (1934), a Persephone title and one of the newest on my TBR
--The Chisellers, Brendan O'Carroll (1995), one of the oldest books on my TBR Realized this is 2nd in a trilogy and haven't read book #1! Don't own #1 so will need to find it, either used or library copy
--Short Selections from Mark Twain for the American Author Challenge (AAC)

and these library books:
--Orwell's Roses, Rebecca Solnit (2021)--George Orwell, his gardens and his writing
--Home/Land, Rebecca Mead (2022)--memoir
--Esther Waters, George Moore (1894)--classic portrayal of lower class life in Victorian London

>46 kac522: That certainly sounds like an interesting additional challenge! Go for it if you've got the time and interest to research it!

Oh, some good reading going on there in >47 kac522:, plus, I took 3 BB's!

>47 kac522: So many good reading plans! I'm also a huge fan of North and South, both the book and the miniseries adaptation. And I'm intrigued by Index, A History of the!

>49 Tess_W: Thanks, Tess--I hope to get to most of them.

>50 christina_reads: Christina, I love N&S and the miniseries, too. It's my selection for my RL book club, and no one else has read it, so I'm a little nervous. So I hope it will go OK.

My sister-in-law used to work as an indexer at a small publisher and so the indexing book intrigues me, too.

Hello and finally dropping in to say Happy 2024 reading! I congratulate you on achieving your goals in 2023, and I look forward to more insights into your 2024 books.

BTW, how is Bleak House as an audiobook?

>52 threadnsong: Thanks for stopping by! I love Bleak House as an audiobook, but I have read it (print) a couple of times and seen the adaptation a couple of times. I am much better with audiobooks as re-reads; that way, if I miss something or get distracted for a moment, it's no big deal as I already know the story.

The narrator for mine is Simon Vance, and he does great voices and characterizations for all the parts. And for me he does meaningful readings of the narrative (non-dialogue) portions. It's going slowly (I only listen in the car), but I'm enjoying it.

Definitely following along! Have a happy reading year!

>54 beebeereads: And you as well! I'm in the middle of re-reading both Bleak House and North and South, so it's all good!

Time to think about February reading. Of course I have many more books than I can possibly read in the shortest month of the year (21 titles in 29 days--yeah, sure!), but here goes:

Currently Reading:
Bleak House, Charles Dickens, on audiobook
Carnegie Libraries Across America, Theodore Jones

Other library books:
Esther Waters, George Moore
Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather, Benjamin Taylor

From my shelf--listed in order, from most likely to read, to least likely:

Hard Times, Charles Dickens--audiobook once I finish Bleak House
Treasure Island, R L Stevenson--a re-read for my RL book club
Evil Under the Sun, Agatha Christie
Nina Balatka, Anthony Trollope--a re-read for Liz's Trollope Group read
Angel, Elizabeth Taylor
The Blush, Elizabeth Taylor--short stories
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor--a re-read
George Bernard Shaw's Plays--will choose one or two to read for Monthly Author Read
Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Music in the Hills, D. E. Stevenson
If Not Now, When?, Primo Levi
Celia, E. H. Young
Waverley, Walter Scott
No Name, Wilkie Collins
Sylvia's Lovers, Elizabeth Gaskell
The Edwardians, Vita Sackville-West
At Freddie's, Penelope Fitzgerald

I might take a Long book/Short book approach, where I alternate between long and short books, which may put some of the less likely books towards the top. We shall see.

>56 kac522: I often alternate long book, short book, etc. It seems I read "more" as even in pages, and pay attention better!

>57 Tess_W: Yes, I agree. Also, I think finishing a short book gives me a sense of accomplishment, which in turn gives me incentive to tackle a long book. I guess whatever works to trick my brain...

I generally read one physical book at a time. That said, of course, last night I started reading a little out of 4(!) new books--2 short story collections, 1 nonfiction and 1 Agatha Christie. None of them are long--I'll probably concentrate on the mystery first, the nonfiction 2nd and pick at the stories here & there throughout the month.

January Reading Recap:



1. 84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff (1970); memoir; re-read
This was a re-read of the short but wonderful letters from TV script-writer Hanff to a London bookseller in the 1950s & 1960s. It was a great way to start out the new year.

2. Dear Mrs. Bird, AJ Pearce (2018); historical fiction

It's 1940 London and Miss Lake lands a job at a women's magazine working for Mrs Bird, the over-bearing advice columnist. Our Miss Lake also volunteers at the local Fire Service, manning the phones during bombing raids. Between the two jobs, she manages to upset her employer and her friends by trying too hard to do the Right Thing.

The book had some funny lines, but at first seemed too light for a story about the Blitz. It eventually took a more serious turn, focusing on the complications of friendship and loss and carrying on in adversity. I wanted to love this, but compared to other novels I've read about the Blitz, it seemed almost frivolous. But I can understand how it is an entertaining and comforting read for many.

3. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015); essay/memoir

Coates has a powerful voice here and gives an idea what it is like to live in his skin. But it felt repetitive to me. I wish it had been more broken up into separate essays instead of a very long letter to his son. It is truthful but also devastating. It didn't give me much hope.

4. A London Child of the 1870s, Molly Hughes (1934); memoir; from my Persephone collection

This is the first volume in a memoir trilogy by Molly Hughes. Born in 1866, this first book covers Molly's memories from about age 4 until about age 12. The youngest of 5, Molly was the only daughter and adored her 4 big brothers. We hear of their games, their studies, their plays, their scrapes, vacations in Cornwall and much more. I'm amazed at her fantastic recall of so many details of her life.

This was totally enjoyable and I hope I can find the next book in the trilogy.

5. The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman (2020); mystery

I've heard so many raves of this series and I wanted to love it, but it didn't work for me. Set in a retirement home, it had too many characters and felt too long. I think it will make a great TV mini-series, as it was written with 95% dialogue/voice-over and in short scenes. So I'll wait until it gets adapted by the BBC (or wherever) and enjoy the characters on the screen.

6. North and South (Norton Critical Edition), Elizabeth Gaskell (1855); re-read

This was my fourth re-read of this beloved 19th century novel about industrialization and change in the North of England. Margaret Hale, from a small village in the south of England, moves to Milton-Northern (based on Manchester) and learns to confront her own prejudices and pre-conceived notions. The novel touches on differences of region, religion, class, education and owners vs. workers, with a great love story weaving through it all.

On this reading I noticed how many times an ethical decision by a character marks a movement of the plot. I read the Norton Critical Edition, which has additional material including letters to & from Gaskell and contemporary criticism. One of my favorite novels of all time, and only gets better on each reading.

7. Two stories: "The Manchester Marriage" from Right At Last and other tales (1858) and "Mr Harrison's Confessions" from The Cranford Chronicles (1851), by Elizabeth Gaskell; fiction

"The Manchester Marriage" (1858) concerns Mrs. Frank Wilson, a shy young widow who is "wooed" by Mr Openshaw, a stiff Manchester business man. His romantic proposal (from behind a newspaper): "Mrs Frank, is there any reason why we two should not put up our horses together?" She eventually accepts. This story starts out rather humorously, but when the couple move to London, darker events occur, where Mr Openshaw's full character and good heart are revealed.

"Mr Harrison's Confessions" (1851) is a longer story (about 80 pages) and concerns a new young doctor in town. As he settles in, it becomes apparent that 3 slightly older women believe he has feelings for them, while Mr Harrison only has eyes for the vicar's daughter. The confusion is funny, but the story takes a more serious turn when the doctor faces real medical emergencies.

These were delightful and moving, and show Gaskell's knack for effortlessly interweaving humor and sadness into her stories.

8. The White Company, Arthur Conan Doyle (1891); historical fiction

This is an early piece of historical fiction by Arthur Conan Doyle set in 1366-67 during the Hundred Years' War. Alleyne Edricson is an orphan and has been raised in a Hampshire abbey. Under his father's will, the abbey received money and land as long as Alleyne was kept at the abbey until his 20th year. At that time his father's will specified that Alleyne must spend at least one year "in the world" and then may decide if he wishes to remain in the world or return to the abbey.

Alleyne ventures out and is eventually drawn into the ranks of The White Company, led by Sir Nigel Loring, to re-capture the throne of Spain at the Battle of Najera. These last are all real events and The White Company and Sir Loring are real characters in the war whose history fascinated Doyle. Our young Alleyne (a fictional character) shows his mettle and by the end of the book joins the ranks of the knights. My edition from 1965 has some wonderful water-color illustrations by N. C. Wyeth:



This started out well, but I must admit all the adventures, fights and capers just got repetitive. We don't get the decisive battle until the last 30 pages of the book. I did enjoy the writing and the characterizations, but it was just over-long for me, and I ended up skimming some of the middle chapters.

9. Carnegie Libraries Across America: A Public Legacy, Theodore Jones (1997); nonfiction

This was a good overview of Andrew Carnegie's project to fund over 1600 libraries in (mostly) small-town America. The book covers how it evolved, how towns applied for grants, the stipulations by Carnegie and how the libraries were implemented. For every library there is a unique story. Interestingly, there appear to have been quite a number of architectural styles and floor plans. The book also has a list of all the libraries and their status as of the book's writing (1996). A significant number were still used as libraries, although many have been re-purposed or razed. Lots of archival photos of the buildings from all over the U.S. makes it an interesting read.

>59 kac522: Our district attorney office (Shawnee, OK) was originally a Carnegie Library building.

>59 kac522: Yes, so many different purposes. My hometown built a new library in 1958 and the Carnegie Library is now a nail salon....go figure!

>58 kac522: I generally have 3 going: a tree book, an ebook, and an audio book. Depends upon my mood, which one I pick up. Always listen when I drive and before bed, though.

>62 Tess_W: Yes, I usually have an audiobook going in the car, too. I only listen before bed when I'm so near the end of the book that I've _got_ to finish it!

I'm another one who generally has 3 books going. I love the phrase "a tree book" and am going to adopt it going forward. I mostly listen in the car and if my walking partner isn't walking, I'll listen while I walk.

Taking a hit for the Carnegie Libraries book. Off to see if it's available at the library.

ETA: Yup - it was. Put on order.

>64 dudes22: I hope you like the Carnegie book. His grant programs helped make a town public library something that even smaller communities could afford. Carnegie granted funds to build the structure, but only after the communities provided the land, agreed to buy the books and furniture, hire & pay staff and commit to ongoing support each year. It paved the way for public funds for libraries, something that we take for granted today, but wasn't common prior to Carnegie's program.

>65 kac522: "...public funds for libraries, something that we take for granted today"

Taking funding for granted may be a mistake. When Mike Huckabee was Governor of Arkansas he stopped state funding to public libraries. His attitude was that if a city/town wanted a library they should fund it. I was on the Board of our library, we were the second largest city in the state, and overnight we lost $350,000 in annual funds. We had funding from property tax as many libraries do, but we still had to lay off part time employees and reduce hours. When the next Governor came into office he restored the money immediately. By that time some (I hope I can find the number) of the small libraries had to close because they didn't have a tax base large enough to provide 100% of funding. I worry about continued funding, a lot of people think libraries aren't needed because after all, we have the internet!

>66 clue: It should be said that back when Carnegie was starting these libraries, there wasn't even property tax revenue allocated for most libraries. Some communities couldn't accept Carnegie's grant because they couldn't get any sort of public funding approved at all.

I feel (for the time being anyway) our libraries in Illinois are "safe", but it's not true everywhere. Thanks for the reminder of the need to keep vigilant.

>66 clue: - We had a similar situation at the library my sister works at. There was a big controversy that went on for many years. Although taxpayers had approved a bond for a new library, when a new town council was elected, they tried to stop the purchase of the new building and when they found what the library had in reserves, they cut the funding for the library basically in half. In a domino effect, the state library board cut funding because they only support in a proportional amount. Luckily a new town council was elected, and funding restored, and the new library had a ribbon cutting and opened last weekend. And this was a library that was in the running when the Reader's Digest (?) had a competition for best small library in the country. And, of course, none of the town council at the time used the library.

>65 kac522: - I think that the library in a town I used to live in might have been a Carnegie library which is one of the reasons I'm interested in the book. I've already requested it through our ILL system. Might have it by the end of next week.

>68 dudes22: There's a list here (click on your state to see the list): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Carnegie_libraries_in_the_United_States

I think it might be more up-to-date than the book, which is from 1996.

Our library was originally a Carnegie library too. It's been in two other locations since those days though.

>69 kac522: - Looks like the only one in my state is a university library that Carnegie contributed money towards.

>59 kac522: BB for me for the Carnegie Libraries...just put it on hold. Thanks!

>72 beebeereads: Yep, it's an interesting book, with lots of pictures and anecdotes, and it has a complete list of all the libraries at the end.

I posted this on the "This Just In" thread, but thought I'd share it here, too:

I don't usually post my acquisitions, but I had to share this story.

Today I went to Powell's Books Chicago on 57th Street in Hyde Park, near the University of Chicago. It is a used bookstore and years ago was affiliated with the Powell's of Portland, but no longer.

As I was browsing I saw this book, with cover facing out, on the shelves:



I pulled it off the shelf, to get a better look at the title: It All Adds Up by Saul Bellow. But as I was looking at the photograph, I had a weird experience, because those shelves looked eerily familiar. I looked at the photo, and then looked up to my right, and saw the exact same shelves AND that big heating duct up on the ceiling, with some very similar strips hanging down!

I was in the EXACT same aisle as in the photograph! I checked with the staff, and indeed the photograph was of aisle #6 in the store and the man in the photograph is Saul Bellow. I don't know what year the photo was taken, but it was probably in the 1990s. And I was standing in just about the same place as Bellow, bending over the stacks. So, of course, I had to buy the book.....

The Northcote Library in Melbourne, Australia, was a Carnegie library. There's a plaque on the Northcote Town Hall, where the library used to be.

>75 pamelad: Yes, it's important to recognize the Carnegie helped to build over 3,000 libraries throughout the world. Scotland, Carnegie's original homeland, has quite a few. This particular book only includes libraries in the United States, however.

Oof--message deleted--didn't mean to post >74 kac522: twice!

There was so much great discussion about the Carnegie libraries here that I took a tour down the rabbit hole to see the libraries in Georgia. The Atlanta branches were mostly torn down, and one is now a bank. I had no idea Andrew Carnegie started this trend, worldwide, of public libraries! We are all richer for his gifts.

>74 kac522: That's amazing! Did you get someone to help you re-create the photo? :D

>78 threadnsong: Yes, I think we are, and also that we recognize that small communities 1) deserve a library and 2) it is in the public interest to fund it with public funds. Up to this point, most American libraries were privately funded.

It was a rabbit-hole that got me to this book: in the Fall I read Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. Bradbury set the book based on his hometown of Waukegan, IL, and part of the story involves the Carnegie library in the town. This was based on a real Carnegie Library in Waukegan where Bradbury spent many, many hours as a kid. That building is still standing (although there is a new library), and it is in the process of being renovated as a Waukegan History Museum. I drove up to Waukegan to check it out, and that got me thinking about the whole project, what they looked like, etc.

>79 rabbitprincess: Ha! Never even thought of it, although I guess I can always go back and do that on my next visit. I am going to put a note in my book to remind myself of the whole thing. I actually hadn't planned on buying the book--I put it back on the shelf--and then decided it was just too good to pass up.

>68 dudes22: I remember when we were living in SC the branch library for the northern portion of the county was in a storefront, bursting at the seams. A campaign was started to raise funds for building a new branch library. I can't recall if it was in print or video, but someone who objected to building a new library said "I don't see why we need a new library. I don't use it."

Uh...I'd be ashamed if I'd said that.

>74 kac522: That's an amazing story!

>82 MissWatson: Yeah, it is, but the more I think about it, the more I'm certain the store placed that book in that particular spot on purpose. It was in the middle of the "G" fiction section, yet it's a collection of essays by Bellow. Anyway, it felt amazing at the time and I was a sucker for their strategic book placement. I'm sure the essays will hold up. Plus, these days, you never know how long bookstores will last, so it's nice to have a book with a photo of bookshelves I've browsed.

>83 kac522: I'm sure they placed it there on purpose, but it shows someone has a knack for marketing.

>84 MissWatson: Yep, when I bought the book I told him it was all due to the book placement.😉

>74 kac522: That is such a cool story, even if they placed the book there on purpose!

Both 84, Charing Cross Road and North and South are books I have owned for ages and mean to read every year but never do. Maybe 2024 will be the year I finally get around to them?

>86 MissBrangwen: You could read 84, Charing Cross Road in an evening--it's short letters back and forth--so go for it! North and South is a slower book and there are some passages in Northern dialect. But it is one of my all-time favorites. Gaskell has a way of presenting many sides to an issue.

And then after you've read them, you should see if you can find the films: 84, Charing Cross Road with Anne Bancroft & Anthony Hopkins--fairly true to the book and the BBC mini-series of North and South with Richard Armitage, Sinead Cusack, Anna Maxwell Martin and so many other great actors. The mini-series changes some things and adds scenes, but I think they are all in the spirit of the book. The film helps draw out the many themes of the book.

February Reading Recap: Part I

Hard to believe, but I finished 14 books in February, although 6 were re-reads. So better get started....



10. Evil Under the Sun, Agatha Christie (1941); mystery
A holiday setting on the sea, with an off-shore island. Great characters as always and Poirot is in from the beginning. I was able to follow his solution and it seemed to make sense from what we are told.

11. Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather, Benjamin Taylor (2023); biography
This is a loving, short biography of Willa Cather. Taylor weaves important events in Cather's life with summaries, extracts and analyses of her works as reflections of her life experiences. Bringing the woman and the writer together are quotes from Cather's letters, only recently available to scholars.

At only 180 pages, this is not a mammoth, all-inclusive tome, but rather a gentle and comforting introduction to her work, her loves and her character. If you're new to Cather, this is a wonderful place to start. If you know and love Cather, this is a real delight to read, like a visit with an old, beloved friend. My only disappoint was that there wasn't a chronology of important dates and works, but that is a minor flaw.

12. Bleak House, Charles Dickens (1853); fiction; re-read on audiobook

Dickens' long and scathing tale of the decades-old law case Jarndyce & Jarndyce, and how the legal system can leave families in ruin. The way things are working in our legal system today, I'm not sure all that much has changed. It's also about class, illegitimacy, forgiveness and so much more. I do love Mr Jarndyce. I can't say I had many new revelations on this reading, although I still loved it all the way through. I did not get bored with any section or side-plot (maybe only the droning of Mr Vholes). Because I'm currently re-reading Dickens in publication order, I noticed this time that at the end of David Copperfield, Traddles has a long monologue on the absurdities of the law, foreshadowing Dickens' next book, Bleak House. And near the end of Bleak House, Mr George goes to the Iron Country to visit his brother and we get a long description of the industrial north, foreshadowing Hard Times.

13. Nina Balatka, Anthony Trollope (1867); fiction; a re-read

Set in Prague, this is the love story of Nina Balatka, a Catholic and Anton Trendellsohn, a Jew, and their struggles with family and society because of their different faiths. Published anonymously, along with his next novel Linda Tressel, Trollope provides some detailed descriptions of Prague, which he had visited. The writing style is simple, and the characters are typical Trollope, showing sympathy for both of the lovers.

Before this re-read I had remembered the descriptions of Prague, but was vague on the story. I had particularly forgotten the friendship with Rebecca, a Jewish admirer of Anton's and the very dramatic ending. I found Rebecca's selflessness a bit hard to believe, but otherwise the story felt true. In particular, Trollope's passages inside of Nina's head were well done and more extensive than I remembered.

14. The Blush and Other Stories, Elizabeth Taylor (1958); short stories

Short story collections can be hit or miss for me. This collection has one gem after another. As Paul Bailey notes in the Introduction, Elizabeth Taylor's writing has an "effortlessness" that is truly remarkable--you are never aware of how concisely yet easily her stories unfold. I think my favorites were "The Ambush", "The Letter-Writers", "You'll Enjoy it When you Get There" and "The Blush." There was only one story that I didn't enjoy, but the writing was still exquisite.

15. John Bull's Other Island, George Bernard Shaw (1904); play

An Englishman and his Irish engineering partner leave London to visit the home town of the Irishman. Although the plot on the surface is about the engineering firm developing land in Ireland, it's really a discussion of the English and Irish. Shaw manages to satirize and criticize both. The play was not well received, either by English or Irish audiences, and it was rather so-so for me.

16. Hard Times, Charles Dickens (1854); re-read on audiobook; read by Martin Jarvis

I am still processing my re-read of this novel. Set in the industrial north of England, it is thought by some to be his greatest achievement, but to me it feels like a didactic morality fable. The characters are stereotyped (both good and bad) and spout ideas that seem to come directly from Dickens himself, instead of from the characters themselves. Mercifully, it is one of his shortest novels. I can't help comparing it to Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, published right after Hard Times, which presents rounded and thoughtful characters in the industrialized North, who don't always have the answers.

February Reading Recap: Part II



17. Home/Land: A Memoir of Departure and Return, Rebecca Mead (2022); memoir
I picked this up because I enjoyed My Life in Middlemarch, in which Mead weaves the structure and themes of George Eliot's book with her own journey. Born in London, but raised in a small sea-side English village, Mead moved to New York City after university and has had a successful career in journalism. Around 2017 she and her American husband decided to move to London. The book starts out with thoughts and memories of New York; it slowly shifts to the move, musings on being "rootless" and finally wraps up in London. I wasn't as taken with Home/Land as her previous work, however, perhaps because by the end of the book I don't think I completely understood why Mead and her family decided to move to London. I found the book compelling to read because of the writing, but felt it was untethered in purpose. It wandered about for me, feeling more like a series of loosely connected essays.

18. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson (1883); fiction; a re-read on audiobook.
I enjoyed this classic children's adventure tale of young Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver so much more than my first reading about 10 years ago. I listened to about half on audiobook which helped and this edition & the Modern Library edition I picked up at the library had more background info, which greatly enhanced my reading. I think on my first reading I didn't always follow what was going on, but this time I did. After reading Conan Doyle's "White Company" in January, I'm impressed by how superior Stevenson's book is as an adventure tale and keeping my interest. It's also shorter, but every piece of action is leading to the eventual conclusion. Plus I think the first person narration here helps keep our interest and suspense.

19. Lady Susan, Jane Austen (1871 post.); fiction; re-read on audiobook

The delightful short epistolary novel about the scheming Lady Susan. Always a comforting re-read.

20. "Pygmalion" from George Bernard Shaw's Plays (Norton Critical Editions), George Bernard Shaw (1912); play; a re-read

I re-read Pygmalion from this Norton Critical Edition of Shaw's plays, which included the Preface and Epilogue written by Shaw. Probably Shaw's most famous play (later adapted as the musical "My Fair Lady"), it's the story of flower girl Eliza Doolittle and her encounter with speech teacher Henry Higgins. It's a play about class, language and strong vs. weak personalities. Shaw's original ending is completely different from the movie (and musical) versions. In Shaw's epilogue he makes it clear that he intends NO romance between Eliza and Higgins. In fact he imagines that Eliza marries Freddy and they set up a flower shop (financed by Colonel Pickering). Lots to think about here in its original version.

21. Shaw on Music, George Bernard Shaw (1955); essays and reviews from the 1890s to 1930s

I skimmed through these essays, stopping to read ones that I found interesting. Most of the essays date from the 1890s, but there are a scattered few up to the 1930s. Shaw adored Wagner, and Herr Richard shows up in almost every essay, either as a subject or as a comparison to shame lesser beings attempting composition. There are also many essays on opera. The most interesting essay was the beginning piece on his own upbringing and musical education. His description of Messiah being sung (badly) by a cast of thousands is memorable. Paderewski makes an appearance as someone who hammers the piano to death while the orchestra competes and just about wins. There are a few positive reviews: a performance of Mendelssohn's "Elijah"'; The Hallé orchestra of Manchester performing Symphony Fantastique by Berlioz; and a review of a concert by locals in a remote Welsh village which Shaw found charming and surprisingly good.

22. Angel, Elizabeth Taylor (1957); fiction

Loosely based on the life of the Edwardian popular novelist Marie Corelli, this novel follows the life of Angel Deverell from age 15 to her death. At age 15 Angel begins writing sentimental romantic novels set in aristocratic settings and becomes a smash hit. But Angel is selfish, self-absorbed and essentially lives in the dream world of her creations. Taylor's novel is an excellent character study, but half-way through the book I was bored with Angel, her life and the people around her. I only finished the book because of Taylor's brilliant writing style, but the people and story line did not keep me wanting more. This may have worked better as a novella, or even parts as a short story, but it went on way too long for me.

23. The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach (1807-1742)?, Prof. Peter Schickele (1976); musical humor or humorous music--take your pick!

The great Peter Schickele died in January 2024 and I was fortunate to snag this book at a library sale in February. I can remember hearing his bits on radio (WFMT/Midnight Special) and loved them. Prof. Schickele "discovered" this "strangest stop on the Bach family organ." Schickele presents a life history, pictures, and descriptions of some of his works ("Such a Horrid Clang"), including the "Gross Concerto"; "Pervertimento" for Bagpipes, Bicycle and Balloons; "Serenude" for devious instruments; "Schleptet"; and "Concerto for Piano Versus Orchestra", just to name a few.

So much fun here--even in the footnotes, and the Index is a stitch on its own. I read it in bits & pieces throughout the month whenever I needed a good laugh.

Coming up in March....

Currently reading:
Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens (1857), a re-read on audiobook, read by Simon Vance
The Ladies of Seneca Falls, Miriam Gurko (1976)--history of the famous Women's Rights convention in the 19th century
Index, a History of the, Dennis Duncan (2022); nonfiction
Penguin book of Welsh Short Stories for the BAC
My Uncle Silas, H. E. Bates (1938); set in Bedfordshire, England--attempting to read a book from every county in England
Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene Hanff (1973)--sequel to 84, Charing Cross Road

From my shelf:
A Journal of the Plague Year, Daniel Defoe (1722); my first Defoe, for a couple of challenges (medicine/epidemics)
Waverley, Sir Walter Scott (1814); the Monthly Author for March
Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852); for the "Read for Julia" Memorial (for LTer rosalita)
The Quiet American, Graham Greene (1955); for my RL book club
Young Anne, Dorothy Whipple (1927); from my Persephone/Virago shelf
Mary O'Grady, Mary Lavin (1950); from my Persephone/Virago shelf and St. Patrick's Day/Irish Readathon
This is Happiness, Niall Williams (2019); set in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day/Irish Readathon

From the library:
✔Fair Miss Fortune, D. E. Stevenson (2011 post.); ebook; written in the 1930s
Esther Waters, George Moore (1894); 19th c. Irish author for St. Patrick's Day/Irish Readathon
The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day (1952); autobiography

and if time allows, or the whim seizes me:
N or M?, Agatha Christie )1941)
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor (1971); re-read
The Ladies of Seneca Falls, Miriam Gurko (1976)--history of the famous Women's Rights convention in the 19th century

>88 kac522: >89 kac522: I really enjoyed reading your comments and I added Chasing Medusas to my WL! I have not read much of/about Willa Cather, but would love to know more. The Blush and Other Stories is another BB!

And you have such great plans for March. Happy reading and I am looking forward to your reviews!

>88 kac522: I had pretty much the same reaction to Hard Times, it's not a Dickens I'm eager to pick up again. Bleak House, on the other hand...ah yes, but it's Walter Scott first this month. I've taken Guy Mannering from the shelf.

>88 kac522: thanks for the review of the Willa Cather biography. It's been on my radar - good to know it's short and not one of those 600 page comprehensive biographies! I like those too, but I'm more likely to read this short one.

>91 MissBrangwen: Yes, I'm lately into "short"--the Willa Cather biography is short and yet covers all the basics. And I've read a lot of Elizabeth Taylor's novels over the years, but I'm finding that she excels in shorter formats.

>92 MissWatson: I'm still struggling through this re-reading of Hard Times. I picked up a book at the library: Dickens Redressed: the Art of Bleak House and Hard Times by Alexander Welsh, and I hope it will give me some insight.

I've only read one Walter Scott before, and it was a short work extracted from The Chronicles of the Canongate. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on Guy Mannering; that's one I don't have.

>93 japaul22: Short can be good sometimes, and Chasing Bright Medusas is one of those. I've read long biographies of both Austen and Dickens, and my favorites are still 2 little ones: Charles Dickens by Jane Smiley and Jane Austen by Carol Shields.

>94 kac522: Carol Shields wrote a Jane Austen biography?! I must read.

>95 japaul22: Yep, both the Dickens and Austen bios are part of the Penguin Lives series:



here: https://www.librarything.com/work/75958

Shields finished it not long before she died.

Wow, two Dickens in a month! I can only take one, although, for the most part, I'm a fan! Bleak House is my fav Dickens.

>97 Tess_W: It's an ongoing project on audiobook, so in December (after I finished Dombey & Son) I started Bleak House, which I finished in early February. Then I listened to Hard Times and because it's (relatively) short finished in February, and then in the last week of Feb. started right in on Litlle Dorrit. Frankly, I was glad to get right into Bleak House after Dombey (which I didn't like), and to get into Little Dorrit right after Hard Times, another one that is not a favorite.

>59 kac522: Thanks so much for the recommendation of Carnegie Libraries Across America. I had a fun time reading about them and made a discovery about my childhood library as well!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/357398#8472633

>99 beebeereads: Glad you enjoyed it!

I finished 10 books in March and it was a pretty good reading month.

March Reading--Part I


24. The Fair Miss Fortune, D. E. Stevenson (2011 post.; orig written 1938); fiction

Moving along in my D. E. Stevenson reading, this is one that was originally written in 1938 but Stevenson could not get a publisher, and was first published in 2011. Basic premise is mistaken identity with a set of twins. A pleasant romp, with a few funny lines. The twin deception went on until the very last chapter, which was way too long (and somewhat unbelievable). I can see why it wasn't published at the time--perhaps a bit too frivolous as the country was heading toward war? I can see how it could have been the basis for a decent 1930s screwball comedy movie, with the right script and actors.


25. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene Hanff (1973); memoir; Re-read from 2004

Following up on my January re-read of 84, Charing Cross Road, I decided to re-read the sequel. Such a fun book about London from a rapturous New Yorker's perspective. After a while all the people she meets got confusing, but the places and comments were brilliant. 50+ years on it's still a great memoir.


26. My Uncle Silas, H. E. Bates (1938); fiction

Set in Bedfordshire, England, these are stories told by a narrator of his colorful Uncle Silas and rural life in Bedfordshire at the turn of the century. Uncle Silas is a teller of tall tales and Bates is an author with wonderful country descriptions, understated wit and affection for his characters. A lovely little book.


27. Waverley, Sir Walter Scott (1814); fiction

Considered to be the first full novel of historical fiction, it's set in 18th century England and Scotland, and contains a few real characters from history. Our hero, the fictional Edward Waverley, is a young Englishman without a clear purpose. Heir to his uncle's estate, Waverley-Honour, Edward enters the British army and is posted to Dundee, Scotland. While on leave he visits friends of his uncle's, where he meets men of strong Jacobite sympathies. While traveling and visiting, he is taken into custody by British officials because reports have circulated that he has deserted his company and has now aligned with the rebel Jacobites. Edward is later rescued by his new Jacobite friends and makes the decision to don the tartans and join the gathering rebellion to re-instate Prince Charles Edward (Bonnie Prince Charlie) to the throne, and the story continues from there.

This was my first full-length novel by Scott and I had a hard time following this book at first. This was Scott's first novel and his language is sometimes difficult to follow; the Scottish dialects of some characters was almost impossible for me to decipher (these bits may have worked better on audio). I didn't feel engaged with the story until Edward's capture and then the novel seemed to fly by. Scott provided long and detailed extra notes on various real-life characters and events. Scott's writing in these short explanatory texts was so much easier to read and understand than his more flowery prose in the novel. I'm glad I read it, even if it took nearly half the book before I was enjoying it. I haven't given up completely on Scott and plan to read at least one more.


28. Q's Legacy, Helene Hanff (1985); memoir

The last installment of Helene Hanff's memoir provides background on how her wonderful book 84, Charing Cross Road, changed her life. Entertaining, funny and honest. This was written before the film adaptation; I'd be curious to find out how she felt about it, as I think it does the book justice.

March Reading--Part II


29. Funny Things: A comic Strip Biography of Charles M. Schulz, Luca Debus and Francesco Matteuzzi (2023); graphic/comic strip biography

This very creative and enjoyable biography of Charles M Schulz of Peanuts fame is told in comic strip form -- six daily black & white "strips" followed by a "Sunday" page in color, extending over 400+ pages. It's told by an elderly Schulz looking back on his very full life.

Debus & Matteuzzi capture Schulz's range of personality: you laugh and cry with him, and maybe get a little angry and frustrated with him, too. My own quibble with the structure was that it wasn't always clear when in Schulz's life the "strips" happened. I wish there had been more markers of the years of the events--especially post WWII until the 1970s--to get a sense of Schulz's age and what's happening in the world. Otherwise, it's an amazing achievement and I think surprised me how well it told a life-story with comic strips alone.


30. A Journal of the Plague Year, Daniel Defoe (1722); fiction

Set during the London plague of 1665, Defoe wrote the novel as if it were a newly discovered manuscript by an observer/narrator ("H.F.") living in London at the time. Defoe did much research on the plague and includes real statistics that are reported by "H.F." in the journal. (The endnotes of this Oxford edition were invaluable and pointed out how nearly all of Defoe's narrative was true and recorded in other treatises of the day.) Overall, this was much easier to read than I was expecting from an 18th century text.

It's amazing how some things were so much like our own pandemic and yet how things were so, so different. He de-bunks quacks and crazy transmission theories, notes the economic hardships the plague created and offers lots of anecdotal stories. Brilliant observations on the attitudes of people and the "opening up too soon" factor. On the "differences" side, dead bodies were taken away and only buried during the night. Families in sick households were nailed into their homes to die, with guards to prevent them from anyone going in OR out. It was dangerous to leave a plague area and attempt to escape to an uninfected area, as travelers would be ostracized and even worse. I'm not sure I would have appreciated this novel as much if I had read it 10 years ago, but today it is eerily relevant. I'm glad I read it, but I probably will not read it again...until the next pandemic😧


31. The Quiet American, Graham Greene (1955); fiction

I hated this. Great writing, but the sexism and racism completely ruined this book for me. I only finished it because it was for my real life book group. I was definitely in the minority. The less said about this the better, but I will never read another Graham Greene novel.


32. Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens (1857); Re-read on audiobook read by Simon Vance

Probably my second favorite novel of Dickens (after David Copperfield). The story is too long and involved to summarize here, but among other things it is about prisons: both real and self-imposed. Listening to it on audiobook (25 CDs!) was an emotional experience; some of the narration was so poignantly done. I could re-read this over and over; it never gets old for me.


33. N or M?, Agatha Christie (1941); mystery

Set during WWII, this installment in the Tommy & Tuppence mysteries takes our couple to a holiday retreat on the east coast of England, where they have assumed identities and are trying to smoke out German spies. I love Tommy & Tuppence's characters, their relationship and how they work together. Christie makes me feel like I'm part of the process to solve the crime, rather than waiting for the big reveal, as in a Poirot novel. I've been reading Christie in publication order, but I may skip ahead and finish up the T&T books, just for fun.

I have two books that I DNF'd in March:
DNF: The Penguin Book of Welsh Short Stories, Alun Richards, ed. (1988)
I read 6 of the 24 short stories in this collection, but none really grabbed me and I couldn't get past the first page of the rest.

DNF: Readings on Hard Times, Jill Karson, ed. (2002)
This is a collection of literary essays on Dickens' novel Hard Times. What I read of this was quite good: I read the Introduction and about half the essays that had topics of interest to me. These included George Bernard Shaw on Dickens and the Modern World; F. R. Leavis' assessment that Hard Times is Dickens' greatest novel; Malcolm Pittock, essentially refuting most of Leavis' conclusions; and a couple of others. Some interesting thoughts here that helped me understand the novel better, which I re-read in February and did not like very much.

April's Pile of Possibilities:

Way too many as usual, but what else is new?

Currently Reading:
--Mad Monkton and Other Stories, Wilkie Collins--for the April Monthly Author challenge and the 200th anniversary of Wilkie Collins birth
--John Adams, David McCullough (2001), on audiobook--for the April AAC nonfiction challenge and the Reading Through Time April Riots & Revolutions; fascinating and eye-opening
--The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope (1874)--for the April BAC and loving it so far.

Upcoming reads (from my shelves):
--Quartet in Autumn, Barbara Pym (1977), for the April BAC
--How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis (1890), classic nonfiction journalism about poverty in NYC; more nonfiction for the AAC
--Dead Secret, Wilkie Collins (1857), novel for Monthly Author Challenge
--Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852), Memorial read from Julia's TBR (LTer rosalita)
--Music in the Hills, D. E. Stevenson (1950), next DES on my list
--Oedipus Rex, Sophocles (Fagles translation), a re-read, for my RL book club
--In This House of Brede, Rumer Godden (1969), for Virago April Challenge
--Young Anne, Dorothy Whipple (1927); my Virago/Persephone Challenge

From the Library, as time permits:
--So Late in the Day, Claire Keegan; stories
--The Light of Truth: Writings, Ida B. Wells; essays and other nonfiction selections
--Esther Waters, George Moore, novel
--Dream Angus, Alexander McCall Smith, myth re-telling
--The Perfect Passion Company, Alexander McCall Smith; novel; 2024 release
--In the Upper Country, Kai Thomas; 2024 Longlist for the Walter Scott Prize; Canadian author
--Index, a History of the, Dennis Duncan; nonfiction

>101 kac522: I have a few of Sir Walter Scott's novels on my shelves, but haven't read one so far because I am intimidated by them. Reading your review I think that there is some justification to that feeling.

>104 MissBrangwen: I think my next one will be easier now that I understand his style. I know that I need to have an edition with a lot of notes, to understand the historical background and any unfamiliar Scottish terms/language.

Prior to Waverley (which is his first full-length novel), I had only read The Highland Widow, which is a novella within a larger work called Chronicles of the Canongate. This was one of Scott's last works before he died, and I found it easy to read, so I think his writing style improves over the years. In fact, maybe I'll start with that next, and move back in time! 🤣

>102 kac522: I also found A Journal of the Plague Year a much easier read than I expected. It encouraged me to read Moll Flanders, which I'd never considered reading but turned out to be very entertaining.

I like Graham Green a great deal more than you do and thought The Quiet American a thought-provoking book. My main issue with him is that he's such a misery.

Loved The Way We Live Now, which was the first Trollope I completed after a false start with The Warden. But once I became attuned to Trollope I returned to The Warden because I knew The Barchester Chronicles would be worth it.

>106 pamelad: I wasn't liking The Quiet American much as I was reading. The narrator is obnoxious and he doesn't have a good thing to say about anybody. And his opinion of women is little better than what he feels about a faithful dog. But what really did me in was this sentence a little over half-way into the book, where he & Pyle (the American) are trapped in the marshes:

I took a breath and went under--so instinctively one avoids the loved thing, coquetting with death, like a woman who demands to be raped by her lover.

After that, every page just got me angrier and angrier. That's his viewpoint--a girl just wants to get raped. Enough. Whether that's the thoughts of the despicable narrator or Greene himself, it doesn't matter. I don't need it.

I'm enjoying TWWLN (about 25% through), although I'd like it to move a little faster. I have a feeling the pace is going to pick up soon.

>107 kac522: That passage is really off.

>108 pamelad: Yeah, just made an annoying book worse for me.

For Jane Austen fans:

Amanda Fagan is an American singer-songwriter who has just released an EP of 6 songs, with each song based on one of Jane Austen's novels.

Katie Lumsden introduces & reviews Amanda's EP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ3wztwn6NM

and you can listen to it in full here:
Love, Jane playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8B-BzufZvrMN8A8r44kp_GMqHYmUp0xE

>110 kac522: Thanks for sharing that! The album is also available on Spotify for those who have it. While I don't love all of the songs, I think that this is a beautiful idea!

>111 MissBrangwen: Yes, the songs tend to sound the same, but I do like the one based on Persuasion. And it is a very cool idea to have words straight from the text in the lyrics.

I was hoping to finish more books in April; 2 chunksters and one deceptively slim volume took up much of my reading:

April


34. The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope (1875); fiction

With a few minor exceptions, I generally love Trollope or at least find things to enjoy in his novels. Although this is supposedly Trollope's "magnum opus" at 800+ pages, I can't say that I enjoyed it very much. The book starts out following Lady Carbury, a mediocre novelist with little money who is attempting to get good reviews (and hence good sales) for her books and to get her son and daughter into advantageous marriages. The novel slowly shifts focus to the great financier Augustus Melmotte, whose background and source of great wealth are a mystery. (From what I've read, Melmotte's portrait was a conglomeration of real-life men of wealth during the Victorian era.) The more that is revealed about Melmotte, the more unlikable he becomes. Trollope can often portray unlikable characters but still get me to have pity or sympathy with them (Louis Trevelyan in He Knew He Was Right, for example), but not here. I felt I knew Melmotte too well and the more I knew him, the less I pitied him.

Trollope's intent, I think, was to portray a society that has become so corrupt that it has lost all sense of honesty and integrity. Laudable aims, but overall I can't say that I enjoyed this book very much. Trollope's portrayal of Melmotte is compelling, but once his downfall is complete, the other minor characters and their resolutions seem insignificant by comparison and not all that interesting to follow. There really wasn't a character that I liked or even appreciated, except possibly Roger Carbury (Lady Carbury's distant relation) and to a lesser extent minor characters Mr Breghert, the Jewish banker, and Mr Broune, Lady Carbury's friend.

This was a disappointment for me. At some distant time I may re-read it, and perhaps knowing the outcome I will better appreciate what Trollope was trying to do.


35. John Adams, David McCullough (2002); biography; audiobook read (mostly) by Edward Herrmann

I felt like I really knew the personality and character of John Adams when I finished this book. McCullough used quite a bit of Adams' correspondence with his wife Abigail and others to bring him to life. Adams felt most proud of his work for independence during the early revolutionary years and his part in constructing the Massachusetts constitution, which later became a model for the U.S. Constitution. I love McCullough's narrative style and it made the book move quickly despite its 600+ pages.

I listened to this abridged audio edition and supplemented by reading the print copy for some material that was skipped, which was mostly his VP and Presidential years, and background information on Thomas Jefferson (McCullough had originally intended this book to explore the relationship between Adams and Jefferson). I was annoyed, however, when the audiobook narration sometimes switched to a woman who sounded like an automated voicemail machine. Fortunately, most of the recording was done by Herrmann.


36. Mad Monkton and Other Stories, Wilkie Collins; short stories from throughout Collins' career

This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Wilkie Collins. I plan to read several of his works throughout the year, and this collection was the perfect way to begin. This was a fantastic collection of 12 ghost, mystery and detective stories throughout Collins' career. All of the stories (except 1, and that one was the least engaging) were written in first person, and often there is a narrative within the narrative. I think my favorites were "The Diary of Anne Rodway" (the first female "detective", told in diary format), "A Terribly Strange Bed" (his first published mystery story) and "The Biter Bit" (featuring an over-confident new detective told in letter format). His narrative style works perfectly in the short story format. Short stories can be hit or miss for me, but most of these were definite hits! I'm so glad my library had this older Oxford edition, as I doubt if it's still in print.


37. Quartet in Autumn, Barbara Pym (1977); fiction; a re-read

I first read this in 1987, loved it and have since re-read a couple of times. This re-read did not disappoint. The story, contemporary to the 1970s, is about four elderly single people--Letty, Marcia, Edwin and Norman--who all work in the same London office and are approaching retirement. Their contact with one another is almost entirely at the office. They maintain a courteous distance and each one is a bit odd in their own way. When Letty & Marcia decide to retire, the shift in relationships and what the future looks like for each of the "quartet" is the focus of the novel.

As I've now been retired 15 years, Pym's gently funny and quiet, but wry, observations of older people alone and how they are perceived by others are spot-on. Each has their irritating quirks, but Pym gives them sympathetic and universal appeal, too, as they struggle to do the right thing and maybe find that life still has possibilities ahead. A gem.


38. "Oedipus the King" from The Three Theban Plays, Sophocles (5th c. B.C.E.); translated by Robert Fagles; play; a re-read

This was a re-read for me for my RL Book Club. I appreciated the Fagles translation which was very readable and understandable, and gave the play life.


39. Young Anne, Dorothy Whipple (1927); fiction

This was my first book by Dorothy Whipple, who has been on my radar for quite some time. Persephone Books have re-printed all of her novels and it seems nearly every review I've read of her books has been glowing. Fortunately for me, this book lived up to all the hype!

I absolutely inhaled this novel in 2 sittings. Set in a medium-sized town in northern England in the late 1890s, we follow Anne from age 5 into the first few years of her married life. We see her within her family with a critical father, a distant mother and a loving, motherly servant; we follow her in school as the only Protestant in a convent school; we see her first love and first break-up; we witness her first job, first boss and first paycheck; thrill to her first car and then first car accident; and finally her complex marriage.

I loved Whipple's writing; I just couldn't stop reading. She is sometimes tongue-in-cheek and sometimes quite serious. Often it's what is left unsaid that is almost as important as what is revealed. Much of the novel reflects Whipple's own experiences in her early years. I think the ending was a bit awkward and melodramatic, but on the whole, as a debut novel, this was wonderful, and I've got her next novel, High Wages, all lined up for May reading.


40. The Dead Secret, Wilkie Collins (1857); fiction

This is one of Collins' early novels with true "sensational" elements. A wealthy woman is dying; on her deathbed she writes a mysterious letter witnessed by a servant and it is the intention of the mistress that this letter should be given to her husband upon her death. She dies, leaving her husband and a 5 year old daughter. The servant, however, hides the letter in a remote room of the large manor house and vanishes the next day. Fifteen years later, the surviving daughter Rosamond, now married, is made aware of this mystery while in childbirth with her first child, and, along with her blind husband, is determined to uncover the Secret.

This was quite a page-turner, and has a lot of interesting elements, including ghosts and visions, an old decrepit house and a spiteful reclusive relative. It's clear that Collins intends the reader to have a good idea of what the "Secret" is from the beginning, and that the purpose of the story is to follow young Rosamond (headstrong and quick to react) and her loving husband (blind, reserved and thoughtful) as they slowly pursue the Secret. I really enjoyed how they worked as a team uncovering each "clue" and revelation and what to follow-up next. Another strength, which is found in many of his novels, is how well Collins draws female characters; both Sarah Leeson (the servant) and Rosamond (the daughter) are amazing rounded characters. Collins keeps the spooky atmosphere throughout the novel, but there are also some funny bits, too, to break up the intensity.

What's frustrating is that this was written for serial publication, so Collins prolonged just about every scene imaginable with as much melodramatic sensibilities and for as many words as possible. I enjoyed it, but it could have been half the length and still have been a great novel.

My last read for the month deserves its own post, so.....

41. How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis (1890); nonfiction text with photographs

This classic of late 19th century journalism was a difficult book to read; it took me nearly the entire month to finish, even though it is only 218 pages. I could only read a chapter or two at a time because the material overwhelmed me.

Jacob Riis (1849-1914) was a Danish immigrant who arrived in New York in 1870. Like many of the subjects in his book, his first years in New York were spent on the street or in miserable lodging houses. After a series of jobs, he finally became steadily employed in 1877 as a journalist on the New York Tribune and later at the Evening Sun. His beat was in the Lower East side slum district, and so began his concerted effort to raise awareness of the living conditions of the neighborhood.

Riis wrote many short articles about the conditions, but they seemed to have little or no effect. It was the invention of flash photography that changed everything. He employed photographers and later learned the skill himself, and went into neighborhoods, tenements and alleys to document the living conditions. When his book came out in 1890, it had an immediate impact, due largely to the photographs.

The text is dense. Riis includes loads of statistics, intense narrative and personal stories along with the photographs to document conditions. Riis felt that the first step to improving the slums was better housing, where every room had light and air and every living space had adequate plumbing, all things that were woefully inadequate in 1890s tenements. He goes block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, ethnicity by ethnicity, to describe the inhumane living conditions of the men, women and children, nearly all immigrants.

Riis has definite views on various ethnic groups and seems to rely on some stereotypes. But he went everywhere, no matter how horrible the living situation. As was the practice at the time, he did not ask permission to take his photographs; he just set up and shot. The photographs were taken by him and by other photographers working with him.

There is much written about his work, so I will refrain from adding any more. If you are interested here are three websites with photographs and more information:

This has a selection of some of the photographs:
https://www.americanyawp.com/text/how-the-other-half-lived-photographs-of-jacob-...

At this PBS website, there are 2 clips from a documentary about Riis:
https://illinois.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/jacob-riis-video-gallery/new-york...

This short video is from the 2016 Library of Congress exhibition about Jacob Riis. I learned quite a bit of background info:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqpQzyK96uk

It's here, the lovely month of May! Piles and piles on the TBR; most of these are fairly short, so the chances are a bit better I may get to at least half 🤣:

Two shorties already finished--woo-hoo!:
✔ Music in the Hills, D. E. Stevenson (1950)
✔ 101 Things I Learned in Urban Design School, M. Frederick and V. Mehta (2018)

Currently Reading:
--Index, a History of the, Dennis Duncan; nonfiction--determined to finish or DNF this book in May
--Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen--my annual re-read on audiobook, read by Juliet Stevenson
--They Came Like Swallows, William Maxwell--for the AAC

Upcoming reads (from my shelves):
--The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O'Farrell--for the Monthly Author reads
--Washington Square, Henry James--for my RL book club; a re-read
--A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, on audiobook--for the Dickens Mega readalong
--For the Virago May Challenge: Edith Wharton, I haven't decided among The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome or The Children. The first 2 would be re-reads.
--Leonardo da Vinci, Sherwin Nuland and Mr Mac and Me, Esther Freud for RandomKIT May: Art & Architecture
--The Silverado Squatters, Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)--a California travel diary for the 75ers NonFiction "Wild West" theme.

From the Library:
--The Pinecone, Jenny Uglow--for RTT May International Labor Day and RandomKIT May: Art & Architecture
--Dream Angus, Alexander McCall Smith
--The Perfect Passion Company, Alexander McCall Smith
--Winter and Rough Weather, D E. Stevenson; next up in DES reads

As always, the "As Time Permits" list:
--No Fond Return of Love, Barbara Pym--another Pym I want to re-read
--Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor--a Taylor I want to re-read
--The American Senator, Anthony Trollope--next up in my Trollope reads
--Five Little Pigs, Agatha Christie--next in my Christie reads
--High Wages, Dorothy Whipple--next in my Whipple reads

>113 kac522: Oh, your review tells me that I should read Quartet in Autumn, it sounds wonderful.

I really like The Way We Live Now, but I get why you didn't. Definitely has unlikeable characters.

That John Adams biography was the book that hooked me on nonfiction. And Quartet in Autumn was my first Barbara Pym novel and I've now read almost all of hers. She's one of my favorites.

And I've also gotten into Dorothy Whipple recently, through Persephone. I've only read The Priory, and I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to more of hers.

Lots of good reading to look forward to from you in May!

>116 MissWatson: Anything by Pym is wonderful, Birgit, but I especially enjoyed Quartet in Autumn and Excellent Women.

>117 japaul22: Thanks for stopping by, Jennifer.
Re: Trollope--I think a re-read at some distant point will be worth it. Besides the unlikeable characters, I think there was a feeling of distance from Trollope in this one. I didn't feel like he enjoyed his characters, either.

Re: McCullough--The first book I read of his was 1776 for my book club and I was hooked with his style and perspective. With John Adams I've now read most of his major works, except the one about the Panama Canal. One of my favorites of his was an early one, The Johnstown Flood, I think because it was local for him, so it felt more personal.

Re: Whipple--I was prepared to be let down by all the hype, but Young Anne was so engaging. I can't wait to dive into High Wages.

>113 kac522: After a false start with The Warden, which I went back to later, The Way We Live Now was the first Trollope I read, and I loved it. I was impressed by the modernity of the book's concerns, and by Trollope's fairness to his flawed, complex characters. You've experienced almost the opposite! Perhaps it's the times? The wrong time to read a book about corruption?

I'm a big Barbara Pym fan as well. My favourite is probably Excellent Women.

>119 pamelad: Pam, thanks for stopping by. I absolutely love Trollope. Years ago I started out with the Barchester novels, then the Pallisers, and then went back and have been reading all his stand-alone novels (mostly) in publication order. I've read 34 of his 47 novels, and except for maybe 2, I've enjoyed them all.

So having heard how great this novel was, I guess I was expecting too much. What I missed was not liking any of the characters, even the "heroine" Hetta and the "hero" Paul. Lady Carbury (the novelist) is an interesting character, but I didn't like her very much. The fall of Melmotte was well-done, but once that was accomplished, it seemed the novel was pretty much over and the next 100 pages or so was just wrapping up other plot lines that weren't all that interesting.

I also had just finished re-reading Little Dorrit in which Dickens has the fall of the great financier Mr Merdle. Mr Merdle is based on the same real-life men that Trollope based Melmotte (including ending in suicide). And I have to say that although we don't see Mr Merdle as much in Little Dorrit as we get of Melmotte, Merdle's crash was so much more dramatic and moving, and it has this tremendous ripple effect through the remainder of the novel. So maybe it was reading the two "great" novels close together that I didn't give Trollope all his due.

I've definitely marked it as "to read again" and I will at some point, perhaps on audio.

And yes, Barbara Pym is a favorite of mine, too. Both Trollope and Pym were also favorites of my mother; I took her advice on Pym and read them while she was still alive.

But I scoffed at Trollope at the time. After she died, I reluctantly picked up The Warden from the hundreds of books left in her house because it was the shortest Trollope 🤣. And I loved it, and truly regretted that I gave away her huge Trollope collection after she died and have since had to replace them all!

A BB for the Pym and Collins novels!

>121 Tess_W: The Pym is a long-time favorite and The Dead Secret is a great story, if you don't mind some drawn out scenes. It also has two main female characters that are interesting and fully fledged out. Collins creates great female characters in his books.

Hello and happy May to you! Like you, I was struck by the similarities in Journal of the Plague Year between then and now, like people wrapping a scarf around their necks to hide their buboes and going out to go to market because they were tired of being stuck indoors.

My first (but not last) Trollope was La Vendee and I really liked how he presented those historic events about which I knew absolutely nothing. His women characters were also deeper than anything Dickens wrote.

Have you listened to Hard Times on audio? It looked from your photo that you might have but I wanted to make sure. Hearing it with the dialects really made it a better story for me than when I read it a few years later in print. You're right, though - it does sound like it's Dickens' points about poverty and the industrialization of the north more so than a story about characters.

And thank you for the link to the photos of Riis. Oh my gosh! You're absolutely right - without photographs, there are just not the words to convey the awful conditions these people lived in.

Hope you have a Merry Month of May reading!

>120 kac522: I had a similar experience with Trollope. My dad had a collection of his books, it may have been complete. When we had to move my mom (years after dad passed), we were overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we had to clear out of her house. I wound up keeping my dad's sets of Dickens and Sir Walter Scott, but I didn't have room for everything and let the set of Trollope go. At the time I was thinking I could always pick it up in e-books. But I find I still greatly prefer print, and I also found that it's really hard to find Trollope in print. Dickens is still around everywhere, but not Trollope. I should have just brought the set of Trollope home with me.

>124 atozgrl: Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one! I split my mom's books by (and about) Jane Austen with my sister; I had all of the Dickens anyway; and I did take all of her Thomas Hardy books. She had one of those hardcover sets of all of his works--I let my son take the ones I'd already read, and I kept the rest. So I have some lesser-known Hardy novels and story collections.

It has taken me about 10 years to replace those Trollope books I gave away and accumulate all of Trollope's novels, mostly from online used book sites like worldofbooks.com. I also happened to find at the Newberry Library book sale one year where somebody had donated a ton of Trollope--I think I walked away with about 15. Most of my copies of the less popular novels are the old World's Classics editions from the 1980s when they reprinted all of his works, like this:



If you haven't read Castle Richmond, it's an interesting novel, one of the few (for its time) set in Ireland during the famine.

>123 threadnsong: Thanks for visiting! Yes, I was not expecting Defoe to be so eerily relatable!

I enjoyed La Vendee, too--I think we are in the minority there, and it's really hard to find a copy. My library had a very beat-up copy. Just recently I found a copy for myself online; it is definitely due for a re-read--maybe in June after I've re-read A Tale of Two Cities. Might be interesting to compare the two back to back.

Yes, Hard Times was on audiobook, read by Martin Jarvis (I just updated that entry--forgot to cite the narrator). I think he did a good job with it. All of my Dickens re-reads are on audiobook; most are read by Simon Vance, but I don't think he recorded this one. The more I look back on that book, the less I like it as a novel. It was more of a morality tale, I think.

Those photographs by Riis and his associates really tell the story the way simple prose could not. It took me most of the month to read it, but I am glad that I did, and the extra online resources I found helped enhance the reading.

>125 kac522: Wow, you were so lucky to find that collection of Trollope at a library book sale. I have not read Castle Richmond, I'll have to check it out. I do have his works in ebook format, but I would still like to locate good print copies.

ETA: I just took a look at worldofbooks.com. I hadn't found that site before. It looks like a good source.

>127 atozgrl: Yes, worldofbooks is a pretty good site, and I think they have a lot of British books. They ship from Florida, I think.
BUT--warning here--sometimes they stuff too many books into one package, so I would caution against buying too many at once. I've had packages come that are split open because they were just too tightly packed.
Stick to ordering 2 books, at the most 3 small ones, at one time.

>128 kac522: Thanks for the advice! Very good to know that. I'll try to remember to be careful.