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Original poster

Au reservoir! Anyone up for a Mapp and Lucia thread?

34 replies

Ohwhatfuckeryisthis · 29/07/2014 15:03

Bit of a cheat, at I'm watching it on TV ATM. They are my guilty pleasure, Dorothy Tutin was perfect as the divine Lucia. Anyone else?

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AuntieStella · 29/07/2014 21:49

I've just mentioned psychic bidding on another thread.

I think these are brilliant books!

gailforce1 · 30/07/2014 09:20

These books are regularly recommended - what is so brilliant about them? Are they a series? Do you need to read them in order? I visited Rye in East Sussex years ago and these were displayed in the Martell bookshop there but I cannot remember the connection to that area? (Sorry for so many questions!)

AuntieStella · 30/07/2014 09:28

Yes, there's a series of 6 of them.

It's a comedy of manners set almost entirely in Rye (after the first book), and yes I do think you need to read them in order.

It's all about middle class social pretentions and affectations; well written, close observation.

(Anyone here "speak" Italian?)

Original poster
Ohwhatfuckeryisthis · 30/07/2014 13:38

Ah mi caro mios! I was about to slink away with my forlorn little thread. I'm going load my kindle up with them for the hols. Has anyone read the follow on ones not written by EF Benson?
Psychic bidding?

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cuddybridge · 30/07/2014 16:46

I read them when I was teenager and loved them, I've just bought the first 4 for my kindle to give them another whirl. Ive not read the follow on ones, but if I get through these 4, I might try them

ParsingFlatly · 30/07/2014 16:48

You thread was silent apart from the crashing of toast, Ohwhat.

Messygirl · 30/07/2014 16:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

furrlinedsheepskinjacket · 30/07/2014 16:57

loved the tv show - hilarious

Laska42 · 30/07/2014 18:39

Vair good..

AlpacaLypse · 30/07/2014 18:42

They're on the same shelf as Dorothy L Sayers and Georgette Heyer's very best. 'Go to' books when I'm feeling shit and need cheering up. The characters have never dated.

Who wrote follow ups? I've read Jill Paton Walsh's Wimsey follow up stories, they're okay but not as good as the originals.

Original poster
Ohwhatfuckeryisthis · 30/07/2014 18:50

Guy Sampson-Fraser apparently. (No me neither)
But look here! exciting no? I can see either Miranda or Anna as the divine Lucia.

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MollyBdenum · 30/07/2014 18:55

I'm very excited about the new series. Gemma Whelan (Yara in Game of Thrones) is going to be in it which makes it extra good.

Laska42 · 30/07/2014 18:58

here is the (a) secret recipe for Lobster a la Riseholme..
Cant say I fancy it...

Original poster
Ohwhatfuckeryisthis · 30/07/2014 19:28

That was the episode yesterday today was twatting commonwealth games. Pah.

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AuntieStella · 30/07/2014 22:09

Psychic bidding is when you misstate the length/strength of your hand in contract bridge (so your partner has to be psychic to have any idea what you're up to).

Does Lucia do this as a sort of rarified strategy? Or is she perhaps Not As Good As She Pretends on bidding conventions?

IrenetheQuaint · 31/07/2014 10:03

Marking place...

MollyBdenum · 31/07/2014 10:51

I'm going to have to buy the books. I keep borrowing the omnibus from the library, but I don't actually own a copy.

bibliomania · 31/07/2014 11:53

Tom Holt did some follow-ups. They're not bad - he doesn't do anything grating. They lack the.....fairy dust of the original though.

gail, they're simply lovely. None of that horrible thing that Freud calls sex.

I also recommend the biography of E F Benson's mother, Good as Gold, Clever as the Devil. You understand more about a huge and very respectable Victorian family, where pretty much every member seemed to have a same sex preference.

AuntieStella · 31/07/2014 12:03

There is a Mapp and Lucia omnibus (all 6 books) currently for sale on Kindle for 77p.

Messygirl · 31/07/2014 13:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

gailforce1 · 31/07/2014 15:39

bibliomania I have just had a look on Amazon for Good as Gold, Clever as the Devil and could not find it. I did find that there was an E F Benson Society so going to google that later. Feel a trip to Rye coming on!

MollyBdenum · 31/07/2014 16:00

Thank you AuntieStella. I have just bought it. Mykindle last of books I've downloaded but not read consists entirely of ridiculously long omnibuses (I am currently 11% of the way through the Song of Ice and Fire omnibus, with another 50 hours of estimated reading time ahead of me).

bibliomania · 31/07/2014 16:43

Madrigals, they married, but "emphatically not for dynastic purposes". Separate bedrooms all the way. They have great affection for each other, but it's non-sexual.

gail, sorry, I gave the wrong title - it was As Good as God, but in fact it's been published under another name anyway, The Impossible Life of Mary Benson. It's by Rodney Bolt.

I did visit Rye expressly because of the Mapp & Lucia connection. Apparently there is a walking tour during the summer months, but I came too early in the year and missed it. Very sad. Lovely town though.

bibliomania · 31/07/2014 16:44

Molly, that might be the best 77p you ever spent. They're not going to be everyone's taste, but if you fall for them, you'll fall hard....

juliascurr · 31/07/2014 16:48

oh, those books! such a joy