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

[MotherofPearl]

Welcome to the Mumsnet 'Rather Dated' Book Group, where we read and discuss 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.

Previous posters 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 read one book a month. Our first book, that inspired the original thread, was The Road to Lichfield by Penelope Lively. We have been going for about 18 months now, and each new book gets its own discussion thread, started on the first of the month.

Our March 2024 book is Penelope Fitzgerald's The Bookshop. We will begin the discussion of this on 1 April.

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).

I hope Antarcticant, who started the last thread, won’t mind that I’ve started this new one.

Token Male Author 😆

Join in if you like the look of 'The Bookshop' RogueFemale. You don't have to be ready for the 1st of April.

I’ve got Saplings by Noel Streatfeild on my TBR list so can I add a vote for that?

I’d love to join, I’m a huge fan of rather dated books.

I’m thrilled to have found you all and have just downloaded a copy of The Bookshop from my library app ready to read.

I love the books of Mary Stewart (not the Arthurian series) and can I do a shout out for Josephine Tey as well. Both of these authors were recommended by my English teacher many years ago and I’ve always blessed her for it!

I’m looking forward to discovering many more authors to enjoy.

I'd be happy with this or Elizabeth Cambridge's Hostages to Fortune which @HenryTilneyBestBoy mentions. It's on my TBR pile!

I'm planning to read Saplings before going to the Persephone Festival in Bath (anyone else??) so that would be an excellent choice!

The Elizabeth Cambridge was your original suggestion @MotherofPearl I just copied it over from the last thread 🙂

Hello @Ihaveamagicwand I love Tey too and just discovered Mary Stewart's adult fiction last year (thanks to a MNer). Which are your favourites?

Happy to reread Saplings too. Are other Streatfeild lovers familiar with the fluffier offerings under her 'Susan Scarlett' name? Plots/characters very same-y but lots of period detail and fun spotting recurring elements from her children's fiction (anyone named Dulcie 🚩🚩🚩)

@HenryTilneyBestBoy I nearly died with joy a couple of years ago when I went into my local charity shop and they had about 20 Greyladies Press reprints of Susan Scarlett and other books for 99p each. I snaffled the lot 🫢

Hi HenryTilneyBestBoy my favourites are Madam Will You Talk, This Rough Magic, Airs Above the Ground, My Brother Michael and Wildfire at Midnight. Although really I’d be happy to (re)read any of them!
They have an amazing sense of place with wonderful descriptions, so much so you can almost smell the locations coming off the page.
I hope you have fun discovering them all!

Hi HenryTilneyBestBoy my favourites are Madam Will You Talk, This Rough Magic, Airs Above the Ground, My Brother Michael and Wildfire at Midnight. Although really I’d be happy to (re)read any of them!

I had completely forgotten reading these Mary Stewart novels years ago until your post reminded me! I will definitely read again

@Terpsichore So that's the muse I should have been dedicating my sacrifices to, to have such bookfinders' luck?! SEETHING WITH ENVY. I do get very excited when spotting a grey Persephone spine at my charity shop, but 9/10 times it's one of the gardening ones 😐
Thank you @Ihaveamagicwand I really enjoyed the first two on your list so will continue working my way through in order, when in need of a virtual holiday😃

📚 'Rather Dated' March: Penelope Fitzgerald’s ‘The Bookshop’ 📚 http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/whatweree_reading/5040564-rather-dated-march-penelope-fitzgeralds-the-bookshop

Thread is up and running to discuss The Bookshop. I'll add my thoughts later today.

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What does anyone think about Diary of a Mad Housewife by Sue Kaufman as a potential next book?

Yes! I would be up for it.

Although I don't see it on Kindle.

It’s not on Kindle unfortunately, and cheap copies are a bit thin on the ground…I have a memory of getting rid of mine quite recently on the grounds that I’d never read it again! 🤦‍♀️

(Edited to say cheap!)

Yes Terpsichore. There's* *a copy on WOB for ten euro which is pricey enough. And another one for thirty-three!

It’s not available from my library system either, which is a shame as it sounds good!

It's on my system in another branch but there's no saying when I'd get it. It could take months!

They haven’t got it in either of the two libraries I use either 😩

Hmmm. Perhaps not then.

Sorry @StellaOlivetti - but have you got a copy?

I had one (was my mum’s) but it fell apart! I was going to try and track down a secondhand copy…