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

[Antarcticant]

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 )

[IsFuzzyBeagMise]

I'm interested! Sometimes I think I'm rather dated myself!

[Antarcticant]

Aren't we all? Welcome!

[Terpsichore]

I’m in! Thanks for the thread, @Antarcticant

[IsFuzzyBeagMise]

@Antarcticant

Aren't we all? Welcome!

Thank you 😊

[babysteps22]

Love this. I'm in.

[AtomicBlondeRose]

Yes! I’m in and ready for some mild thrills, understated emotion and the odd reference I have to look up on Wikipedia (Span houses anyone??)

[ChannelLightVessel]

Hurrah! Thank you @Antarcticant for the thread. DM has already brought round her copy of The Road to Lichfield.

[Terpsichore]

@AtomicBlondeRose

Yes! I’m in and ready for some mild thrills, understated emotion and the odd reference I have to look up on Wikipedia (Span houses anyone??)

They’re rather pricey beasts now - one for sale in Gerrards Cross at the moment if you have a spare 700k…..😳

[SherwoodForest]

I've just bought a copy from Ebay so I can join in.

[JaninaDuszejko]

Placemarking. I'm now going through my bookshelves to see what I have that fits into this category.

[Gufo]

Amazing thread - I used to love Penelope Lively, Margaret Drabble and Lynne Reid Banks.

[Readytostartagain]

I’m in please. Dated definitely describes me but happy to embrace it 😃

[SolInvictus]

I'll lurk if that's OK.
I shall be trying to get to 50 on the 50 bookers so may not read the monthly book on here, but I like the concept.
Lynne Reid Banks and the L Shaped Room trilogy, despite its utter datedness remains one of my favourite series ever.

[Antarcticant]

Yes, lurkers are welcome @SolInvictus 🙂

[Lio]

I'd like to join in please, will buy the book now. I recently read Penelope Lively's Moon Tiger and am keen to read more.

[DorritLittle]

I'm in! The Road to Lichfield is en route from ebay as we speak. Thanks @Antarcticant and ImJustMadAboutSaffron

Looking forward to feeling dated among friends 😀

[Echobelly]

Love the idea - I read a lot of fiction (borrowed from my parents) that was very well received in its time but sort of forgotten now.

[frustratedacademic]

I'm in too. Luckily I've a copy on my shelves. I reread it quite recently, but with my rotten memory I'll have the pleasure of rereading it for this thread.

[frustratedacademic]

@SolInvictus I love the Reid Banks trilogy. Toby was my dream man when I was younger and more innocent, and I still dream of setting up a mysteriously successful craft shop in a little village .

(Putting aside the rather gratingly racist depiction of John).

[MotherofPearl]

I'd love to join your thread, please.

I've just finished reading Penelope Lively's 'Heat Wave', and will order 'The Road to Lichfield'.

I'm a big fan of 'dated fiction'. A friend recently introduced me to the wonderful Persephone bookshop (in Bath) and through that I've discovered the novels of Dorothy Whipple (earlier 20th century though). I also really enjoy the work of Anita Brookner, Barbara Pym, and Elizabeth Jane Howard.

[tobee]

Thank you so much for this thread and for the idea.

I'm going to try to get second hand/ex library or even original copies of the books.

What do people think of someone putting the front cover of their copy on the thread? And maybe other copies' front covers if they have a different edition? It's just I love front covers. I really enjoy looking at original ones but also subsequent editions. Especially if it's a reprint of a "rather dated" book that someone has decided to make it look snazzy 40 years later!

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

I was trying to think what I know Lynne Reid Banks from — it was The Indian in the Cupboard series.

I've just looked her up, she's 93, and has some new children's books published in her 80s!

[SenecaFallsRedux]

I'm in. I just ordered it for my Kindle.

[SenecaFallsRedux]

The Mumsnet Rather Dated Book Group sounds to me like a group of readers that might pop up in an Alexander McCall Smith novel.

[mathanxiety]

I'm going to lurk until I can find my kindle.