Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?

I think Devils Cub? Referencing the time in These Old Shades where she had been thought to run off to France with Rupert (but hadn't!)

"I am quite in the way of running off to France with Rupert."

These Old Shades?

In Bath Tangle, was Serena a widow who wore a wonderful outfit of black and white when she had come out of all black, and the hero, who already knew her, asked her if she was setting up as a magpie?

I should add that I studied Ancient Greek at school and certainly could not, after five years of study, speak a single word beyond declining a verb :)

The funeral is brilliantly written tho so so grim.

The migraines are well described too.

But this passage:
“In a certain sense, this was why I felt so close to the others in the Greek class. They, too, knew this beautiful and harrowing landscape, centuries dead; they'd had the same experience of looking up from their books with fifth-century eyes and finding the world disconcertingly sluggish and alien, as if it were not their home. It was why I admired Julian, and Henry in particular.”

And this, a few paras later:
“Ancient Greek is a difficult language, a very difficult language indeed, and it is eminently possible to study it all one's life and never be able to speak a word; but it makes me smile, even today, to think of Henry's calculated, formal English, the English of a well-educated foreigner, as compared with the marvellous fluency and self-assurance of his Greek — quick, eloquent, remarkably witty.”

This is a bit niche but I thought the best bit of TSH was the migraine description.

She studied classics at Bennington, though her degree was in philosophy in the end. Lots of inspiration for The Secret History there— both people and place.

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a27434009/bennington-college-oral-history-bret-easton-ellis/

My favourite part of TSH is the whole ghastly funeral part.

Incidentally just rereading The Secret History (after reading the pretty good but WHAT a pastiche If We Were Villains for a book club) and I just got to the bit I LOVE where he is talking about writing in Greek (rather than translating) and how it opens up so much - not the language of bodkins and Mrs Gamp, but you can talk about the Pur and the action of the Greek armies... the six of them looking up from their books with fifth-century eyes – Donna Tartt must have studied Ancient Greek at one time.

the enormous office row about what to buy for a wedding present for the engaged couple

Ah yes @PermanentTemporary "oh of course if you really are Lord Peter Wimsey, you’re probably frightfully rich?" "Fair to middling, It might run to a cake for tea" :)

Ahhh what a lovely thread. I think Mrs Floore had a tobine dress with ruby stripes. But she might have had both.

I will just say that there is a lot of fanfic out there with Gilly and Gideon as the lovers...

Another huge MMA fan for the office scenes. As with many Sayers books she essentially loses interest in the whodunit for the fun stuff. The fact that the unmasking of the murderer is overshadowed by the enormous office row about what to buy for a wedding present for the engaged couple is one of my favourite moments to read.

And got to admit I adore reading about all Linda's new outfits when Fabrice is bankrolling her in The Pursuit of Love.

Not to mention Lufra!

A Baluchistan Hound NOT a Barcelona Collie 😁

Expected to marry his painfully shy, but also dutiful and obedient cousin Harriet, and then, on his adventure, meeting the beautiful Belinda.

I love that book. But also the Reluctant Widow, with Bouncer, the best of Heyer's appalling dogs.

Gilly, I think? Also known as Adolphus? He wishes he was plain Mr Dash and not suffocatingly coddled by his staff.

Thinking back to Georgette Heyer. there's one with plain Mr. Dash from nowhere. He has a cousin called Gideon Ware, who is a cavalry man. I loved the description of his living quarters. I rather fancied Gideon, too.

Young Cathy in Wuthering Heights hearing Hareton read.

'1066 and all that' - 'Honi sois qui mal y pense' is translated as 'Honey, your silk stocking is hanging down.'

I'm sure you're delightful @Crichel 😂

I was thinking of artists generally, particularly some of the celebrated classical composers.

My specialist field is Economics and some of the famous economists were pretty cantankerous by all accounts.

I also remember as a teenager, reluctantly on a seaside holiday and bored senseless, finding some GH paperbacks in the camp shop. Oh what bliss! I got out of going to church that Sunday claiming a bad period, and sat on my bed reading.

Love love love these books.

I first read The Warrior's Apprentice many years ago, and always reread that first when I'm having a comfort binge, although of course it is chronologically second. WA was published first and discovering LMB as a new to me author was a wonderful experience.

The only thing that stops me recommending A Civil Campaign to everyone is that it is the perfect culmination of amazingly drawn character development across about 10 books (at a pinch you could start one before with Komarr) and is so much richer for them. It has a dinner party which is both hilarious and heartbreaking, the best love letter (I wanted to posess the power of your eyes, the way they see beauty that isn't there and draw it up into breathing reality) and a fantastic table-turning proposal. Only Lois McMaster Bujold could dedicate a piece of science fiction "To Jane, Charlotte, Georgette and Dorothy. Long may they rule."

Can't remember the details, Crichel, as it's a few years ago, but Byron Rogers is good at taking apart the myths that build up around an author (which aren't necessarily the author's fault).

I’ve often thought about reading it, but I know JLC burned a lifetime’s diaries, so wondered how insightful it was. Was it good?

Who was it who said that JLC’s funeral was crammed, but hardly anyone there had ever set eyes on anyone else, because all his many friendships were completely separate from one another?

I did enjoy Byron Rogers biography of J L Carr, in case anyone is tempted.

I know a lot of novelists, and write fiction for a living myself, and we’re generally perfectly ordinary, but according to my publisher JLC was spectacularly cantankerous. (So was my publisher, so I’m delighted if JLC got across him!)

I've read a couple of other books by J L Carr, but they're quite different. Nothing matches that sense of elegy and the feeling that life is wonderful and tragic and funny, all at the same time.