📚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.

I had to borrow the whole Trilogy from the library so ended up reading all of them.

Storygraph seems to be divided into people who prefer the first one and disliked them as they went on and others who didn't much like the first one but loved them as they went on.

Oh that is interesting @BadSpellaSpellaSpella .I wonder if it’s to do with the age you were when you first read them?

I have started a thread for discussion :)

Well, I have come to the end of the Whipple oeuvre. I finished Greenbanks last night. It was excellent as everything else I’ve read by DW. I’m rather sad there’s nothing left, but on the other hand I’d actually forgotten about Greenbanks so when the email came from the library to say I could collect it, it was like an early Christmas present.

Brilliant, Stella. I'll read more Whipple next year.

What about reading The Inn at the End of the World in December? We will discuss it in January.

Have we quietly given up on the idea of Mistletoe Malice? 🫣

Yes. Very quietly putting that one back in the box.

Hi all,

Sorry, I got myself completely overwhelmed with reading a million things, and lost touch with this thread. Just popping in to say how much I loved The L-shaped Room. I teach A Taste of Honey at GCSE and it was like a middle class version of that - I found it so interesting.

Will definitely aim to read December's book.

Good to hear from you @Partridgewell
Drop in any time :)

Are we going with The Inn at the End of the World for December's book?

I looked it up on Kindle. It sounds good and it's only 2.50!
It's a yes from me.

Sorry I've been AWOL for ages. I've had the most hideously busy few months at work, plus all the usual domestic demands.

I'm very happy to read The Inn next.

@StellaOlivetti I finished all the Whipple novels about a year ago and remember feeling utterly bereft. She really is the most compelling story-teller.

Just discovered Dorothy Whipple. Was searching for a book at the library and I came across two that had no pictures or designs on the covers, no blurb, just plain grey covers so I pulled one out , had a brief look and took it out. How well she writes.

Must read more Whipple!

Good to hear from you @MotherofPearl
Sorry to hear things have been hectic.

Good that you’re back, @MotherofPearl. Very happy to go with The Inn for December. Off to buy it now!

Is it the one by Alice Thomas Ellis?

I’ve just ordered The inn at the End of the World. It didn’t seem to be available through the library here. Has anyone seen the Ealing horror film The Halfway House? The plot sounds almost identical.

To clarify, we're talking about The Inn at the Edge of the World by Alice Thomas Ellis?

There's a similar title with 'end' in its title that involves a deadly zombie virus. We won't go there :)

Yes

Oh, yes! It's on Talking Pictures sometimes. Worth seeing when it comes round again.

(Sorry, yes, I realise now it’s the Edge of the World, not End)

Oh sorry, yes, Edge not End.

Phew. I thought we had lost you to the zombies Stella ;)

Hello everyone. I have ordered a copy of The Inn..I read it years ago and would love to read it again.

I've downloaded The Inn ready for December.

Edna O'Brien's The Girls is on my TBR. Hope to make time to read more of her.