Any Jilly Cooper fans want to chat about Jump (and other books)?

[CarolSinger]

There was a lovely thread in Sept about the book so I rushed out and bought it and started reading it but gave up in boredom.

Have now picked it up again and will finish it. So far I think too many characters and not enough Rupert.

So, anyone else want to chat Jilly-ness with me?

[arentfanny]

Oh I love a bit of Jillyness, early ones are better plus Imogen, Harriet et al.

[AliceandtheGinormousBaps]

I am waiting for Jump to come out in paperback, but love all my other Jilly Cooper books, even the ones others think are bit crap.

Lost my copy of Riders years ago and have been looking out for in the shops since.

[Lulumaam]

I have Jump, I found it disappointing. Am revisiting some of the earlier stuff via my Kindle... Rivals is a much jollier romp .

[arentfanny]

I am glad that I got Jump out of the library instead of buying it.

very jealous of your Kindle

[queenofboak]

I love Jilly Cooper. I have read them all from Rider onwards (not the name ones though).

How far are you though with Jump? I will withhold my opinion till you have finished

Happy to talk about the others though, which was your favourite? Mine is Riders or Rivals.

[HeavenForfend]

I'm about a third of the way through Jump and not finding it as racy - horse-wise or otherwise - as I'd hoped. I want the Etta character to grow a backbone and tell her kids to feck orf.

Also, some bizarro typos. Mince sauce with lamb, anyone?

But I'll persevere, in the hope of more Rupert further along.

[CarolSinger]

I'm just past the bit where they went to watch the play and stayed over in the same hotel.

I have heard that a major character from previous books dies and

[tribpot]

Have a look for the other thread but not til you've finished, as I posted a spoiler on it.

Thought it was a pile o' shite to be honest, agree with the 'too many characters and not enough Rupert' assessment.

Not sure what's happened to her, it just feels like the spark's gone out of her writing. Maybe if she started a whole new universe unconnected with Rupert?

[CarolSinger]

Oh and nothing she's done since comes close to Rivals, Polo and Rivals (in that order) along with the girls names books

[AllarmBelly]

I haven't read Jump - I think Jilly has two modes, fabulous mode and too-many-characters-not-enough-sex mode. Sounds like Jump is the latter.

I can't really choose between the fantastic ones - Riders and Rivals are brilliant. The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous is fantastic. Polo is really good apart from Perdita, the Rupert-type spoilt brat character doesn't work half so well in a woman. Some of the too-many-characters ones are round the house but I haven't read them for ages - is it Score when Rannaldini dies and they all appear to be on endless coach trips? Only Jilly could make a "murder mystery" out of someone trashing a soft toy belonging to an adult...

Oh and I thought Wicked and Appassionata were brilliant too. I wasn't mad keen on all the boozing teachers in Wicked, but how Jilly had got all the education stuff to hang together was really impressive.

[queenofboak]

The early ones are best!

Wish i could try out that life style. Would need time machine though They only work as well as they do because of the time they are based in IYSWIM

[lostinwales]

Jump made me think she'd learnt a lot about stable life and racing and wasn't going to rest until we all knew that!

[queenofboak]

lostinwales - Yes it felt like that for me too. With Jump and Wicked it seemed to be loads of knowledge with the odd sex scene chucked in.

Also i don't know if it is just me but there were some very uncomfortable bits in them, i'm hardly the moral monitor but the bit with Trixie as an example (don't want to put in any spoilers) i was a bit

[CarolSinger]

I agree queenofboak - the Trixie thing was quite shocking and the "ride for a ride" bit made me

I wonder if Jilly could go back and revisit some of the lesser characters from her other books or would they not be of the time? I would have liked to have more of Caitlin O'Hara when she got together with Archie and Daisy and Ricky other than the odd casual mention.

And more Hermione cos she's such a cow

[GabbyLoggon]

I like jilly cooper but dont rate her book

[CarolSinger]

Is it just me who found Etta really wet? I was trying to imagine who would play her in the film - I pictured Felicity Kendal but think she wouldn't want to play such a weak character [over-thinking it emoticon]

[MissBeehivingUnderTheMistletoe]

I have recently reread Polo, Riders and Rivals and am currently on Wicked.

Yes, Etta is really wet, as a central character, she was pretty uninspiring.

That scene with Trixie was pretty unpleasant - I don't want that from a JC novel - it's meant to be light relief!

I haven't read any of the Imogen etc ones - any recommendations where to start?

[barbarianoftheuniverse]

When did Etta get a bath installed?
It bothered me all through the book.

[CarolSinger]

The girls names ones are unconnected so you can start with any of them. My favourite is Prudence - mad family in it.

[AllarmBelly]

Ooh I love the Imogen etc ones!
They take me about 3 hours to crack through so I would just get the whole lot apart from Bella, which is a bit crap. They are very light compared to the blockbusters like Rivals, Riders and so on, basically girl gets boy is the plot each time.

My favourite is Imogen, Jilly really captures that "crap summer holiday with the wrong clothes" feeling, although things do get better for Imogen :)
I also like Octavia, they were filming this at one point but I don't think it came to anything.
Both are set in summer if you like to read books in the right "season" IYSWIM.
I just read Prudence again, that's great, that's one for a cold winter.
Harriet is another winter one.
Emily is probably the weakest, another winter one, doesn't hang together so well as Prudence.

They are a bit 70s, if not 50s in flavour, there is a great introduction in one of them where Jilly sums up her philosophy, something like "We thought God was in his heaven if all was Mr Right with the world" ie objective of life = land a husband. In some ways they are quite dated, in a couple of them she describes attempted rape in a very casual way. But as a Jilly fan you are probably used to taking her attitude to equality with a pinch of salt. For that reason I would get them second hand rather than paying full price for new editions, they are quite dated in that way, not to mention the fashion, when Octavia turns heads in a green towelling jumpsuit :)

But taken in the context of their time they have the joyfulness of good Jilly!

[KenDoddsDadsDogEatsTinsel]

I am really struggling with Jump and normally read Jilly books in a matter of days. This one is more like months.
Not sure if it's my post baby brain or the book but I'm finding it difficult to follow the characters.
Love Rivals the best I think.

[AllarmBelly]

Perhaps Rivals is so popular because, apart from it being one of the really well-written ones, the world of TV is so interesting. The workings of stables and orchestras are slightly less so (although I did like Appassionata, some of the orchestra funding stuff got a bit boring).

I also love Cameron Cook as a character. Despite Jilly's preference for domestic dyslexics, she wrote some fantastic career woman characters - Cameron Cook, Janey Lloyd-Foxe, Abigail Rosen...

[MmeLindt]

I disliked Jump. And I was so looking forward to reading it.

Agree that the Trixie scene was terrible, left a very nasty taste in the mouth. I almost stopped reading the book, but struggled on.

I felt the same way about the shagging teachers in Wicked.

[MissBeehivingUnderTheMistletoe]

[CarolSinger]

MissB - don't you need to " drench yourself in Arpege / Fracas " as well