📚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 )

Norah Lofts
Anya Seton
Loved those books.

I’m here to push myself out of my usual reading habits so happy to go with the majority. I do have Black Narcissus though on Kindle already.

I started today and shelved everything else got the moment, so should be done for 25th.

A prettier woman would have taken up adultery

This isn't a plot spoiler so I hope will be OK, but it is rather depressing when one reads about oneself.

Do you have to be pretty to be adulterous, or just up for it? I say this being neither.

Yes I didn't like that line

I also winced at that line.

I think that line is a prefect example of ‘slightly dated’ in action!

Yes I think so

Just discovered this thread, right up my street! I would suggest adding Ann Bridges and Elizabeth Goudge to the big list of potential authors...

I would say it's better to think of yourself as an Excellent Woman to use a rather dated phrase 😁. Better excellent than an adulterer.

I loved Ann Bridge, but wonder how easy it will be to find them now. And they are very dated.

Good Pym reference there Janina. I couldn't agree more about being an Excellent Woman; it's something I aspire to.

Thanks for setting this up, I have been on holiday for a couple of weeks and am chuffed to come back to see this!!!

I'm completing my current book and then starting a Barbara Pym, An Academic Question.

I just finished Moon Tiger - thanks to this thread/post. Thank you. Have recommended it to several friends.

Norah Lofts is one of my favourite authors. I reread the Gads Hall books every couple of years.

Just bought my Road to Lichfield. Not sure I'll manage to read it this month but will follow this thread with interest. Determined to get back into reading this winter.

A great idea for a book club. I have a good pile of virago books already, but late to start this month's but with join in October

Great thread.
I’ve just finished the light years which I loved and can’t wait to read the rest of the series. The story of this family of 3 generations begins in 1937 and onwards from there.

Hi, I would love to join in. Have just received my copy and made a start. Should be ready by the 25th!
And I agree about the titchy wee print.

Just finished Road to Lichfield, really enjoyed it…

Lots to discuss, no spoilers…but I did have a wry smile at any point £££ were mentioned as the numbers were so shockingly out of sync with todays prices

Great idea. I read the original thread.

Oh the Cazalet chronicles are amazing

I’m so in.already imbedded with the characters and the family’s next moves.and was shocked already by some of the behviours.

Finished RtoL and loved it. The specificity of the language , and the description of life were outstanding.

I am the lone voice on MN who didn’t like the Cazalets and won’t bother with the rest. They should have been my thing - period, slow, window into life, about the characters rather than plot, as these are all things I love but it just didn’t work for me.

I think today is the day our discussion of The Road to Lichfield can begin?

I really enjoyed the book, more and more as it went on. I think Lively's descriptions of landscape are wonderful - as a pp said, her use of language is so precise. The sort of mirror plot was an interesting device - Anne's life repeating patterns from her father's (although with a very different and surprising ending).

I thought David's wife was going to appear at the funeral or afterwards to tell Don about the affair! I was astonished when Don knew already, and seemed willing to go on with his marriage.

I can see why some might call it dated, though that doesn't bother me. Certainly all the smoking and (implied) drink driving date it to another era. I wonder if the values seem dated? If the book had been written today, would Anne and David have left their respective spouses and gone off together? I'm keen to hear what others think.