Shirley Conran obit - trying to get a mortgage “lit the feminist fire in me”

I missed that she had died ☹️ I loved her book “Superwoman” which my mum had a copy of and I still live by the “Lifes too short to stuff a mushroom” mantra.

The advice she gave that I remember most was when she says to put a big box under the kitchen table and throw everyone’s random shit in there when left lying about . And to give everyone just 1 plate, 1 cup etc and if they don’t wash them up then they have nothing to eat off 🤣

I have been channeling this energy ever since (along with strong Margot Leadbetter vibes!)

Another one of the same vintage here too ☺️

Same - forgot The Thorn Birds in my previous post (and very early Danielle Steele novels: The Promise, Now and Forever...)

🤣🤣. I think I'm a similar vintage to you.

Princess Daisy.

That reminds me of my first experience of realising that book reviewers might not be serious people. One of them, in the Irish Times, said that it was a book to be read when in bed with a box of chocolates, a bottle of champagne and a bounder. Now, I like reading, but really, in that situation, even (maybe especially) in my teens, I didn't think that 'I'll just settle down with a nice book' would be my first (or even second or third) choice activity.

We grew up at the same time @Seriestwo !!

I’m going to order Lace to reread it.

@noraclavicle thanks for the share token. Really interesting to read about Dame Shirley and learn about all her other achievements. RIP.

OMG missed that she had died! I still cite that mushroom quote.

She was a fabulous woman.

Ha! I had the book as well, it was quite the education for 12yo me.

Agreed. I reread lace last night and was surprised by how topical it is even now. It would have gone over my head as a teenager.

RIP Shirley, one of the heroes who slashed their way through the jungle undergrowth hoping the rest of us could walk through the clearing. Which we have - mostly - managed to do, though we still have to watch out for the poisonous snakes and tree frogs.

So right about banks, I have a friend who in the early seventies was refused a small loan by a bank to buy washing machine, even though she actually worked for the same bank! Loans and mortgages for women were usually dependent on them having a male guarantor, didn’t matter if the woman was in a secure decently paid job and the man unemployed, it was what was in their pants that sealed the deal. It is sometimes well worth reminding ourselves what a long way we have come, and how much is owed to women by women like Shirley who had a voice and used it loudly in the days when most of us didn’t have a public voice.

I took Princess Daisy by Judith Krantz (made Shirley seem like Beatrix Potter) to our Bible Class camp when I was about 13 and we took turns reading out the sexy bits in the dorm.

We also passed around the novelisation of Fame in P7 - it was the novelisation of the film not the Kids from Fame which we were all mad about, so a bit of an eye opener😬

haha, yes. Lace, all the Gilly Cooper books, Virginia Andrews...

Omg Flowers In The Attic!

At least I had Lucky and Chances by Jackie Collins

My sex Ed was lace, Riders, Flowers in the attic, the Thirn birds and the problem page on Jackie magazine.

Sex was not what I thought it was going to be. Far fewer priests than I expected, for a start.

To quote 3goodrats who wrote the following on http://blog.threegoodrats.com/2016/01/throwback-thursday-lace.html

"Here is all that I remember about this book: there is a scene in which a man and a woman are getting it on, and he reaches into a goldfish bowl next to the bed, pulls out a fish, shoves it in her hooha, and then lays on top of her so she cannot move (she is understandably trying to struggle), after which she then enjoys the feeling of the fish fluttering around inside her. It was horrifying, and still is. Imagine reading such a thing when you are around 12 years old and are still formulating your ideas about what happens during sex."

Shudders!

I can't remember the goldfish bit! Obviously overdue a reread. Also passed around at boarding school @Brefugee along with Riders.

Thanks for posting the obit @noraclavicle . I didn't realize all the other stuff she'd done.

Same 🫣

You could change it to "life's too short to intricately fold pants aesthetically like those influencers on Tiktok."

You know who you are

Sc has just been discussed on Women's Hour.
Half a century old!
What strikes me is how we have slid from fussy food, thank goodness, to, as a society, simultaneously fetishising food (the Bake Off and Masterchelf programmes) and consuming mostly rubbish processed food.

I think I'm the least observant person in the world but it took me ages to realise that a character in the book (Kate?) was missing from the mini series!

came here to say that.

We all read Lace at my boarding school. What's not to love about a book that has the opening line "which one of you bitches is my mother?" (IIRC)

Many thanks . . . It's strange because I don't think I've looked at that book for over 30 years, yet I could clearly remember that!!!!!

Let's see if I can get the text readable this time

There was...

I seem to remember that was there was a funny story/cartoon at the back of the Superwoman book . . . .

A husband arrives home from work to find that the house is in a complete & utter mess, the toddlers are trying to murder each other, etc etc

The wife is sprawling on the sofa, reading a book and eating chocolates

As her husband enters the room she looks up and says "I thought the easiest way to show you what I do all day was NOT to do it!"