📚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 )

Still Missing is really good.

Too many good mentions on this thread :)

I agree. I have liked all of Beth Gutcheon's books that I have read. Still Missing was made into a film called Without a Trace. If I recall, it follows the book fairly closely. It might be available somewhere on the web.

Which is the next book? One Fine Day or An Enchanted April?

I think it's One Fine Day.

May have been me. I mentioned it as one of my favourite Persephone’s. I should try some more of her books as it’s the only one I’ve read from Beth Gutcheon.

I’m still reading The Feast and I’m loving it. I couldn’t see a discussion thread though?

I’ve read one fine day fairly recently so I’ll skip that one but will join in the discussion. I may read the enchanted April next as I think I have it somewhere unread.

Thanks @MotherofPearl.

There is a discussion thread for The Feast, artyone,* *but I recommend finishing the book first.

I believe that One Fine Day is the book to be read in June and discussed in July. The Enchanted April is (probably) the next book to read in July - not sure if that’s been definitely decided yet.

I'm making good progress with One Fine Day and looking forward to chatting about it with everyone.

My copy arrived two days ago. I'm looking forward to starting it soon!

We should have done that in April shouldn't we?!

In between books I am also reading The Go Between. Good summer read!

July thread just created. Do join when you're ready:

📚'Rather Dated' July: Mollie Panter-Downes' 'One Fine Day' 📚 http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/whatweree_reading/4839345-rather-dated-july-mollie-panter-downes-one-fine-day

Thank you! Will head over there now...

Are we reading The Enchanted April now? I'm also hoping that someone else might be willing to set up the discussion thread for this on 1 August, as I'm going to be away? I will be reading the book, but won't be able to add my comments until mid-August when I'm back.

The Enchanted April sounds great. I'd love to read it next.

I'll be around on August 1st and can start a thread, but I am not good at doing links, so it might not be done in the style that we're accustomed to :)

Well it will be much better than if I have a go, @FuzzyCaoraDhubh ! Thank you. I can’t wait to start The Enchanted April. I’ve just got to finish my current Barbara Pym, and then a Miss Read that won’t take very long.

So long as we don't mind something basic, but I will remember. Enjoy your hols :)

Thanks Fuzzy; much appreciated. I struggle with doing all the links too so don't worry about all that. I've got One Enchanted April downloaded to my Kindle and ready to read on holiday, along with a few other Rather Dated novels.

The idea of great art being 'rather dated' is absurd. The greatest war poem ever written, Homer's Illiad, is 2,700 years old. Is that dated? Are Vermeer's breathtaking paintings 'rather dated' because the people wear silk ruffs? No doubt the people who built the Taj Mahal believed some pretty horrible things. But its still a beautiful building.

Art doesn't exist to give moral instruction. Chaucer, Shakespeare, James Joyce, etc, aren't moralists. And they aren't PC or Woke. In fact, when people try to make PC art they usually produce mawkish garbage. Art isn't there to pat you on the back and confirm all your nice middle-class liberal opinions. It's meant to challenge you, shake things up, and offer new ways of looking at the world.

It’s a tongue in cheek reference to early 20th century novels dealing with expectations of women as wives and mothers. We’re reading books that were popular when published but went out of fashion in the 60s and 70s and so aren’t widely known. Hence the title. No one is suggesting the Merchant of Venice should be cancelled.

Yes indeed. Here on this thread we actively like fiction some might think of as 'rather dated.' We don't think 'dated' is an automatic drawback.

One may as well begin with the difference between old and dated.

That’s an E M Forster reference, isn’t it? Can’t remember which book!