50 Book Challenge 2018 Part Two

1. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff - on audiobook as recommended by Mumsnet! I really enjoyed this little gem. An exchange of letters between an American author and a very traditional British book shop. The book starts post Second World War when rationing was still in force and I loved the hampers sent from the States. Very touching and understated.

Cheerful

Sorry! But the JPW ones are 99p and Gaudy Night is seven English pounds. SEVEN!!!!

Satsuki Oh God, now I need to go and buy that one too ... I'm just back from my local Waterstones buying Hostages of Fortune!

Of the Persephone list, exexpat would also recommend Diary of a Provincial Lady if you've not read it.

In fact have just looked and Persephone have A London Child of the 1870s

Satsuki - not mid-century, but have you read the Molly Hughes London Family books? The first two are my favourites, A London Child of the 1870s, then A London Girl of the 1880s. They're autobiography, and just beautifully written (and include the author's time at the North London Collegiate school under Miss Beale & Miss Buss). They're sadly out of print, but our library had all of them, & they're available cheaply on abebooks

Another in the same vein that I love is Period Piece by Gwen Raverat (one of Charles Darwin's grandchildren).

Thanks for the review Toomuchsplother I have Priestdaddy in my to read pile so good to know its worth reading.

exexpat I just read Mariana which I will review later and asked for other Persephone recs and got quite a few suggestions so if you scroll back a page you should find them

Remus What?! What?! What?! You're reading crappy Paton Walsh knockoffs and you've never read any of the originals with Harriet in?!!!!!

I need to go and have a lie down.

(I detest the JPW follow ons with the force a thousand fiery suns and count Gaudy Night as one of the books which made me who I am today.)

Cote, I am having far too much fun picturing you in the sort of book club that would read Harold Fry ...

9 Dave Gorman vs. the Rest of the World by Dave Gorman.

Borrowed this from dh's Christmas pile as I fancied something light and non fiction after Robinson Crusoe. Hit the spot perfectly. Dave (never heard of him before, apparently he's a comedian) travels about the country playing games with people. Board games, card games, skittle type games etc.
It’s a series of little anecdotes where he meets a random stranger, plays a game with them and then comes home. Nothing even remotely profound (apart from maybe an unfortunate encounter with a fundamentalist Christian and his Intelligent Design board game) but enjoyable to read anyway. I was disappointed that he didn’t enjoy Settlers of Catan or Agricola as I love both those games.

10. Over The Moon by Imtiaz Dharker

Poetry collection. Picked this up as I was intrigued by the blurb “Dharker was born in Pakistan, grow up a Muslim Calvinist in a Lahore household in Glasgow, was adopted by India and married into Wales.”
Most of the poems here are set in London, although her other cultural influences shine through now and again. Quite a few poems about train and bus travel which I liked very much. The latter half of the book is obviously inspired by the death of her husband Simon Powell.

Will certainly read more of her work if and when I come across it.

Any particular Persephone recommendations? I am going to be near their bookshop in London next month and was thinking of popping in for a browse. My self-imposed January book-buying ban will be over by then, so it could get expensive. Foyles and the LRB bookshop are also nearby...

And yes terpsichore re: Persephone it does seem a bit hit and miss which is why I thought I’d ask here, hard to tell what is quiet and intelligent and what is quiet and dull - there’s domestic and then there’s domestic.

tarahumara I guess that’s why the children’s became mainstream “classics” and the others didn’t so much. With the Dickens, it had a bit of a bite to it, and didn’t shy away from “adult” topics, albeit within reason for the time.

26. Priestdaddy - Patricia Lockwood What an incredible book. It was one those rare books that has you laughing out loud one second and almost crying the next.
It is the true story of the upbringing of US poet Patricia Lockwood. Her father was a member of the US Navy who got his religious calling whilst on board a submarine watching The Exorcist! Subsequently he trains to be Catholic Priest even though he is married, exploiting the loophole which allows late converters to maintain their marital status. Her father is a gun loving, guitar playing priest who much prefers to parade around his home in his underpants rather than a cassock.
Lockwood describes how 3 days before she is due to leave for college her father calls her in to his study. Wearing his best, least transparent pants, he informs her there is just no money for her to go to college. Tellingly, just weeks later he buys a guitar made for Paul McCartney. Her mother, Karen, is equally as eccentric. Pro-life and obsessed with germs and satanists in equal measure, she looms large. The irony that the family live, unwittingly, for many years on top a nuclear waste dump is not lost on the reader.
Lockwood's response is to leave home and marry a man she means on the internet. 12 years later the couple married, but in financial trouble the couple move back home.
Too many hilarious and tragic incidents to recount. One stand out for me was her father's belief that all cats are 'democrats' who 'would have abortions if they could'.
Stand out read for me, heartily recommend.

11. A Presumption of Death (Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane) by Jill Paton Walsh – I liked this. I haven’t read any of the original ones with Harriet Vane in, but this felt enough like Dorothy LS but with less wittering (although some wittering remained). It’s 99p on Kindle at the moment, and I immediately bought another one of them, also 99p.

I wasn’t keen on Harold Fry either (and I often like books written by women and for women).

Saplings is not bad, but a bit of a disappointment compared to Streatfield’s children’s books, which I adored when I was growing up.

Vistaverde - You're not alone re Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. See my review below

CoteDAzur.............................Sun 03-Nov-13 21:40:40

38. Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce

One of those books written for women. Faux-profound rubbish full of truisms and inane "insights". I came close to losing my faith in womankind, seeing the silly nonsense hundreds of readers have highlighted on the Kindle

Whatever this book was trying to do, The Alchemist did better. I was 17 when it came out, and I still thought it was superficial faux-intellectual rubbish.

Why do women read stuff like this? I find it really puzzling.

Thank you for letting me get that out of my chest before book club meeting

1. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

This tale of a lonely young woman who doesn't fit in at work, and has no friends or social life, told in her own words. Sad - it's clear from early on that some trauma in the past lies behind Eleanor's present situation - and sometimes very funny as Eleanor tries to make sense of what most of us regard as normal human interactions. Reminiscent of The Rosie Project. It's not my usual sort of book and I had to suspend my disbelief at times, but as a one-off I enjoyed it.

Our tastes sound very similar, @CheerfulMuddler - it was me who recommended The Home-Maker . The Elizabeth Cambridge book really resonated with me despite the fact (dare I admit this) that I’m not a parent. I read it a long time ago but still think of it, and in fact I must re-read it.

vistaverde I read the first couple of pages of Roanoke Girls in the library last week and it was so poorly written please don’t feel any shame in giving it up!

Thanks for all the mid century suggestions, I will look them all up and see what I fancy. I am looking for escapist but well written and witty and modern stuff just doesn’t hit the spot. I have a rotten cold and am craving a book equivalent of hot lemon and honey!

Funny seeing Hodgson Burnett and Streatfield - as with Monica Dickens I read their children’s books but hadn’t seen their adult novels.

I am interested to hear people's reviews of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock as have it on my list for when it comes out in paperback. I have also added A Very British Scandal to my list as this sounds right up my street and I would like to read it before watching the adaptation.

6 The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harry Fry - Rachel Joyce - Reviewed on these threads previously. I know I am in the minority but I found it predictable and in places fairly dull.

Now reading the Roanoke Girls which I am finding similarly tedious. I really need to get better at giving up on books I am not enjoying.

MusuemofHam think it was me who reviewed Stories of your life & others glad you enjoyed it! Gave a copy to my BIL for Christmas but as one of the Blind date with a book editions ....I thought I had guessed the clues correctly & wanted to see if I was right. I was! So lucky it was a good book really

Tepischore, I've just looked up that book and it sounds so exactly like something I need to read on about four separate levels. I'm going to have to go buy a copy I think.

Miss Pettigrew is great. I liked The Making of a Marchioness too, though it's proper escapist silliness. Round About a Pound a Week I found utterly fascinating non-fiction about how the Edwardian working classes lived - it's an account of a sociological study though, not a novel. Like someone upthread I really enjoyed The Home-Maker. And Doreen is a very unusual novel about evacuation from the point of view of the child, the child's parents and the family she is evacuated to - a very frank look at what was fundamentally a very weird situation.

Ooooh, there’s a story in Skeleton Crew set in the same club as The Breathing Method! I always wanted to get more about that!

Persephone books - Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day is really sweet. Noel Streatfeild’s Saplings is fascinating but disturbing. However, I don’t know if it’s been published by Persephone or not, but Grass in Piccadilly is lovely.

If anyone is looking out for a slightly quirky history book, Katherine Hughes' Victorians Undone is 99p on Kindle. The chapter on Darwin's facial hair is strangely compelling.