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📚The Mumsnet 'Rather Dated' Book Group - All welcome to join📚

997 replies

Antarcticant · 01/09/2022 16:44

Welcome to the Mumsnet 'Rather Dated' Book Group, where we will be reading and discussing fiction from the 1930s to the 1990s that would have been described as 'contemporary' in its day.

The best introduction to the 'rather dated' concept would be to read the wonderful thread which inspired this group:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/4596284-rather-dated?reply=119670989

To summarise, a number of posters expressed disappointment that literature of the 20th Century is often dismissed as 'rather dated' because society has moved on from many of the values and lifestyles described.

We decided to create a reading group where the literary merits of such fiction can be appreciated, with any 'rather dated' elements being a point of interest rather than a reason to dismiss a novel.

We will be reading one book a month. Our first book, for September, will be the book that inspired the original thread:

The Road to Lichfield by Penelope Lively

Please do join the thread whether you want to take part in the discussion or just place mark to follow it.

Fellow Rather Dated people, please add anything important I might have missed!

(With huge thanks to ImJustMadAboutSaffron for the original thread and idea Flowers)

OP posts:
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GoingToBeLessRubbishAtLife · 28/07/2023 21:44

Can I join in sometimes? It will mainly depend if I can get the book out of the library to be honest. Which book are you doing next?

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 27/07/2023 09:53

I finished it yesterday. I really enjoyed it. Very witty, very sharp. I wasn't expecting it to be so funny. Von Arnim had an intelligent sense of humour.

I'll start a discussion thread on the first of August.

MotherofPearl · 25/07/2023 18:08

I'm finding the writing very witty.

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 25/07/2023 13:50

Isn't it? Maybe they will all have one by the end of the book 😄

Terpsichore · 25/07/2023 13:35

That stick is a brilliant excuse, isn’t it?

frustratedacademic · 25/07/2023 10:56

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 25/07/2023 09:36

I'm a few chapters in and I'm enjoying it too.

'I am prevented going into the kitchen because of my stick'. 😅

Note to self: get a stick.

I can't get over the fact that this "elderly" person is simply middle-aged.

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 25/07/2023 09:36

I'm a few chapters in and I'm enjoying it too.

'I am prevented going into the kitchen because of my stick'. 😅

Note to self: get a stick.

MotherofPearl · 23/07/2023 12:20

I started The Enchanted April a few days ago and am really enjoying it so far.

frustratedacademic · 23/07/2023 11:41

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 23/07/2023 11:22

No, not yet. I'm going to start one on the 1st of August.

Ooh, lovely!

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 23/07/2023 11:22

No, not yet. I'm going to start one on the 1st of August.

frustratedacademic · 23/07/2023 10:59

I'm reading The Enchanted April at the moment. Such a treat. Is there a new thread for it yet?

StellaOlivetti · 17/07/2023 12:56

Great, I’ve not read that one. I’m really enjoying The Enchanted April. I could do with being in a medieval Italian castle surrounded by flowers at the moment.

MotherofPearl · 17/07/2023 10:18

Terpsichore · 17/07/2023 07:05

Always love to read any Barbara Pym, with the possible exception of Quartet in Autumn, so An Academic Question would be fine by me.

Quartet in Autumn is a little gloomy.

Glad we seem to have agreed An Academic Question.

FuzzyCaoraDhubh · 17/07/2023 09:28

As usual, I'm happy to read anything recommended, so it's fine by me :)

Terpsichore · 17/07/2023 07:05

Always love to read any Barbara Pym, with the possible exception of Quartet in Autumn, so An Academic Question would be fine by me.

MotherofPearl · 16/07/2023 16:24

I'd be happy to reread An Academic Question.

ImJustMadAboutSaffron · 15/07/2023 02:08

SenecaFallsRedux · 14/07/2023 12:01

I would definitely be in for a Pym. I've also read her canon several times, but would happily read any of hers again.

What about An Academic Question?

I feel quite fondly towards Lotty in Enchanted April. I can't stand Caroline being called "Scrap" it really irritates me.

frustratedacademic · 14/07/2023 19:38

If we go for Barbara Pym, it's worth listening to this Slightly Foxed podcast about her: foxedquarterly.com/barbara-pym-other-excellent-women-slightly-foxed-podcast-episode-41/

SenecaFallsRedux · 14/07/2023 12:01

I would definitely be in for a Pym. I've also read her canon several times, but would happily read any of hers again.

MotherofPearl · 13/07/2023 21:51

I'd be very happy with a Muriel Spark or a Barbara Pym next (after TEA). I've read all Barbara Pym's novels, but would gladly reread any of them. And of Muriel Spark's I've only read The Prime... so would be pleased to expand.

StellaOlivetti · 13/07/2023 17:57

I’ve just finished Hadnet Crampton by Barbara Pym, so funny. What would people think about reading a Pym one month? I’m starting An Enchanted April tomorrow.

TragicMuse · 12/07/2023 23:33

Thanks @XingMing - I'll be mindful of the prevailing attitudes of the times...

frustratedacademic · 12/07/2023 15:17

Thank you XingMing, I'd never actually heard of Ann Bridge, so that's quite a discovery, especially as I have quite a few Chinese students, so it's lovely having the opportunity to learn more about the culture, albeit through a very specific lens.

Other ideas for future reading: what s about Muriel Spark (not The Prime... necessarily)?

XingMing · 12/07/2023 08:39

And it was the Atlantic Monthly's fiction prize that she won... worth $10,000 which must have come in handy as diplomats were expected to have a private income, and the O'Malleys did not. Her husband had joined the Colonial Service which rarely served overseas, but the two services were merged, and he was sent to China. Her autobiography, Facts and Fictions, is fascinating.

Apologies if all this is tmi.

XingMing · 12/07/2023 08:31

I hope you enjoy them @TragicMuse.

A brief word of warning: her political views tend to mirror those of her class at the time, which I didn't entirely grasp when I read them first. There are (fairly brief) references that would be considered anti-Semitic slights and other "lapses".

I have from memory, Peking Picnic, Illyrian Spring, The Ginger Griffin, The Dark Moment (early modern Turkey and the rise of Kemal Ataturk), Frontier Passage (refugees fleeing the Spanish Civil War into SW France) and some of the Julia Probyn stories, which are much lighter.