Tea or Books?

Tea or Books? #59: Hard vs Easy Holiday Reading, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle vs The Haunting of Hill House

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Shirley Jackson and holiday reading – welcome to episode 59!


 

In the first half of this episode, we look at holiday reading – chiefly whether we prefer easy or difficult books when we go off on holiday, but we also look at other potential reading options. In the second half, we look at two novels by the wonderful Shirley Jackson – We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House.

The episode of Colin’s podcast isn’t live yet, but you can see The C to Z of Movies on Soundcloud.

You can support the podcast on Patreon – with various rewards, including books and letters and whatnot.

And you can download Tea or Books? through any podcast app, or see our iTunes page. Ratings and reviews always welcome!

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
Beverley Nichols
E.F. Benson
By Auction by Denis Mackail
Greenery Street by Denis Mackail
Ian and Felicity by Denis Mackail
The Majestic Mystery by Denis Mackail
Chelbury Abbey by Denis Mackail
Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
Philip Larkin
Elizabeth Taylor
Dorothy Whipple
Virginia Woolf
Buttercups and Daisies by Compton Mackenzie
Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge
A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Stephen Leacock
Italo Calvino
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Tom Hanks
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson
The Sundial by Shirley Jackson
Daphne du Maurier
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin
Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson
Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson
Provincial Lady series by E.M. Delafield
The Bird’s Nest by Shirley Jackson
The Road Through the Wall by Shirley Jackson
Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert Jenkins

Tea or Books? #58: Book Groups (yes or no), and The Fountain Overflows vs Invitation to the Waltz

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Rebecca West, Rosamond Lehmann, and book groups – welcome to episode 58!


 
I can hardly believe that we’ve not done an episode on book groups before – but here we are! In the first half, Rachel and I talk about whether or not we’re in book groups, and what would constitute our ideal book group. In the second half, we discuss Rebecca West’s 1956 novel The Fountain Overflows and compare it with Rosamond Lehmann’s 1932 novel Invitation to the Waltz – both the beginning of series, and both about young women entering the world.

We’re always very happy to hear suggestions for topics or authors – do let us know if there’s anything you think we should cover.

Our iTunes page is here, and you can support the podcast through Patreon – and get various ‘rewards’, including a book a month picked by us.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Villette by Charlotte Bronte
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gower
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Stonecliff by Robert Nathan
Portrait of Jennie by Robert Nathan
The Train in the Meadow by Robert Nathan
Mr Whittle and the Morning Star by Robert Nathan
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
Being Dead by Jim Crace
Reading Groups by Jenny Hartley
Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras
Regeneration by Pat Barker
Thomas Hardy
Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
Jose Saramago
George Macdonald Fraser
P.G. Wodehouse
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Immortality by Milan Kundera
E.M. Delafield
Illustrado by Miguel Syjuco
To The North by Elizabeth Bowen
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay
Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
This Real Night by Rebecca West
Cousin Rosamund by Rebecca West
The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann
Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge
Barbara Comyns
Rachel Ferguson
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
The Echoing Grove by Rosamond Lehmann
Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann
Virginia Woolf
Thank Heaven Fasting by E.M. Delafield
‘Her First Ball’ by Katherine Mansfield
Harriet Hume by Rebecca West
H.G. Wells
Rebecca West by Victoria Glendinning
Random Commentary by Dorothy Whipple
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Tea or Books? #57: save vs binge, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd vs The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

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Murder mysteries and binge-reading – enjoy episode 57!

 

In this episode, we compare an uncharacteristically modern novel – The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, published in 2018 – with Agatha Christie’s classic Poirot novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. In the first half, we debate whether we binge-read authors or spread them out to save them.

Feel sorry for Rachel this week – she’s rather croaky with a cold, but she powers on admirably! I’ve edited out most of her coughing, poor thing, but apologies for any that have snuck in.

You can check out our Patreon account – where you can support the podcast at various different reward levels, including having a book sent each month. We also have our iTunes page, and you can read Rachel’s reviews of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
Charlotte Bronte: A Life by Claire Harman
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Iris Murdoch
A.A. Milne
E.M. Delafield
Richmal Crompton
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Charles Dickens
P.G. Wodehouse
Jane Austen
Miss Read
Enid Blyton
Point Horror
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard
The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
Albert the Dragon by Rosemary Weir
Further Adventures of Albert the Dragon by Rosemary Weir
Barbara Pym
Dorothy Whipple
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Bowen
Sanditon by Jane Austen
The Watsons by Jane Austen
Lady Susan by Jane Austen
Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
Beverley Nichols
Anne Tyler
Rose Macaulay
The Loved One by Edith Olivier
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
Cousin Rosamund by Rebecca West

Tea or Books? #56: Review vs Recommendation and The Lark vs High Wages

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We’ve finally done the reviewers vs recommendations episode! Also: E Nesbit and Dorothy Whipple.


 
Every now and then, the critics vs bloggers debate rears its head. In the first half of the episode, we take a slightly different look at that – newspaper reviews vs friend’s recommendations – but we also talk about blogs along the way, unsurprisingly. In the second half, we pit two novels about women finding jobs against each other – E Nesbit’s The Lark (1922) and Dorothy Whipple’s High Wages (1930).

You can support the podcast (and get some rewards) at our Patreon page – including the first bloopers reel! And our iTunes page is here. As always, let us know if you have any suggestions for topics etc. And rate/review if you can work out how to!

If you’re after the complete E Nesbit ebook, it’s available here or through wherever you buy ebooks.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
The Akeing Heart by Peter Haring Judd
Sylvia Townsend Warner by Claire Harman
Marilynne Robinson
Oliver Sacks
Touching the Rock by John Hull
Dan Brown
Hilary Mantel
A Life of One’s Own by Claire Tomalin
Apple of My Eye by Helene Hanff
The Lark by E. Nesbit
High Wages by Dorothy Whipple
The Incredible Honeymoon by E Nesbit
Greenbanks by Dorothy Whipple
They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple
A Pin to See the Peepshow by F Tennyson Jesse
The Enchanted Castle by E Nesbit
They Knew Mr Knight by Dorothy Whipple
Penelope Lively
Lifting the Veil by Ismat Chughtai
Birds of America by Mary McCarthy
Meatless Days by Sara Suleri
Kamila Shamsie
The Group by Mary McCarthy
Cover designs by Martha Rich!
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Tea or Books? #55: Versatility vs Dependability and House-Bound by Winifred Peck vs The Priory by Dorothy Whipple

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Dorothy Whipple, Winifred Peck, and authors who hop genres – welcome to episode 55!


 
In the first half of this episode, Rachel and I discuss a topic suggested by my friend Paul (thanks Paul!) – versatility vs dependability. Well, the way he phrased it was ‘would we buy a book by an author we liked if it was in a different genre’, and we interpreted it into a question that was easier to type into a subject line.

In the second half, we look at two novels from around the same period – House-Bound (1941) by Winifred Peck and The Priory (1939) by Dorothy Whipple – both of which have been republished by Persephone.

You can support the podcast at Patreon (a Patreon-exclusive blooper reel coming soon!), and visit our iTunes page. You can rate and review through the iTunes app or podcast apps, etc. Do get in touch if you’d like to suggest topics – we always love that.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks
Family Man by Calvin Trillin
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
Happy Returns by Angela Thirkell
The Lark by E. Nesbit
Penelope Lively
High Wages by Dorothy Whipple
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Dorothy Whipple
Marghanita Laski
Tory Heaven by Marghanita Laski
P.G. Wodehouse
Agatha Christie
Richmal Crompton
Anne Tyler
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Relatively Speaking by Alan Ayckbourn
Henceforward… by Alan Ayckbourn
Susan Hill
Stephen King
The Beacon by Susan Hill
A Kind Man by Susan Hill
Barbara Pym
Hilary Mantel
Penelope Fitzgerald
Beryl Bainbridge
Straw Without Bricks by E.M. Delafield
Provincial Lady novels by E.M. Delafield
Consequences by E.M. Delafield
Saplings by Noel Streatfeild
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
Anthony Trollope
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
A.A. Milne
William Maxwell
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
How To Run Your Home Without Help by Kay Smallshaw
Monica Dickens
Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple
Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther
One Pair of Hands by Monica Dickens
Arrest the Bishop by Winifred Peck
Bewildering Cares by Winifred Peck

Tea or Books? #54: Reading Children’s Books as Children vs Adults, and Tom’s Midnight Garden vs The Secret Garden

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A children’s books special today, featuring Frances Hodgson Burnett and Philippa Pearce. Not in person, you understand.


 
In the first half of the episode, we discuss whether it’s better to read children’s books as children or as adults (especially if we ended up missing those particular books as children). We enjoy ranging over the different children’s books we’ve enjoyed at different times – and would love to hear your thoughts.

In the second half, we look at two garden-focused children’s books – Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was great fun to read them – thanks Lauren for the suggestion!

You can check out our Patreon page, or our iTunes page. And we always love hearing from you, so do let us know any suggestions for future episodes!

(Quick note: I say in the episode that I never met someone who loved reading until I went to university – I meant anybody my age! I did meet some older people who loved reading :) )

The books and authors we mention are:

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
Tea With Walter du la Mare by Russell Brain
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Enid Blyton
Jennings series by Anthony Buckeridge
Jacqueline Wilson
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Lady Daisy by Dick King-Smith (not Anne Fine!)
Little Women by Lousia M. Alcott
Mallory Towers series by Enid Blyton
The Naughtiest Girl in the School by Enid Blyton
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
William series by Richmal Crompton
Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine
Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Judy Blume
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Moondial by Helen Cresswell
Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
Redwall by Brian Jacques
The Time Garden by Edward Eager
Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede
Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones
Charlotte Bronte
A Dog So Small by Philippa Pearce
The Priory by Dorothy Whipple
Housebound by Winifred Peck

Tea or Books? #53: Top of TBR vs Bottom of TBR, and The Bookshop vs According to Mark

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It’s the battle of the Penelopes – and which books we’re most likely to read first (top or bottom of the pile?)

 

Rachel is back (hurray!) – many thanks to Karen for taking her seat last time. And in this episode we’re doing a suggestion that a different Karen emailed in – do we read books as soon as we get them, or are we more likely to go for books at the bottom of the pile?

In the second half, we compare two literary Penelopes – Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop and Penelope Lively’s According to Mark. We don’t read anything by Penelope Mortimer, despite what Rachel thinks.

We have a Patreon page! You can get shout outs, cards, and even a book sent every month, plus access to any exclusive Patreon content. We also have an iTunes page, but I’ve never quite worked out what to do with that. Anyway… enjoy!

Oh, and listen out for a feline cameo…

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Penelope Mortimer
Bookworm by Lucy Mangan
Enid Blyton
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
E. Nesbit
Allan Quatermain by H Rider Haggard
King Solomon’s Mines by H Rider Haggard
Child of Storm by H Rider Haggard
Beverley Nichols
Floater by Calvin Trillin
Tove Jansson
Helen Oyeyemi
Sphinx by David Lindsay
The Birds by Frank Baker
Random Commentary by Dorothy Whipple
Vera Brittain
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
George Eliot
The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson
The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Mapp and Lucia by E.F. Benson
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
Muriel Spark
Jane Bowles
Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Oleander, Jacaranda by Penelope Lively
Thomas Carlyle
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
Memoirs of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting by Penelope Mortimer
The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Tea or Books? #52: Detective Fiction vs Crime Fiction and Merry Hall vs The Sweet and Twenties

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Detective fiction, crime fiction, and Beverley Nichols – what fun!


 

Rachel has had to take a quick break from the podcast, but I was delighted to have a special guest in the form of Karen, from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, who took to it all brilliantly. After an introductory chat with Karen, we talked about Golden Age detective fiction vs modern crime fiction – with my usual lack of research, though Karen is rather better informed.

Karen and I are both besotted with Beverley Nichols, and it seemed like a good opportunity to compare two of his books – Merry Hall and The Sweet and Twenties.

Rachel should be back for our next episode. In the meantime, you can visit our iTunes page – and we’ve also set up a Patreon page. Obviously we are very, very happy for people to keep listening without signing up for Patreon, but if you’d like to help us recover hosting costs etc. and get some ‘rewards’ (from shout-outs to book parcels) then you can check out our page.

In the episode, we talk about a wonderful clip of Beverley Nichols – here it is:

The books and authors we mention are:

Nairn’s Paris by Ian Nairn
Leadon Hill by Richmal Crompton
Weatherley Parade by Richmal Crompton
Narcissa by Richmal Crompton
Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton
Frost at Morning by Richmal Crompton
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Eternal Husband by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dashiell Hammett
Raymond Chandler
Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle
Val McDermid
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Endless Night by Agatha Christie
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Martin Beck series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Wallander series by Henning Mankell
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
Jo Nesbo
The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley
The Wychford Poisoning Case by Anthony Berkeley
John Bude
John Dickson Carr
Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers
The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards
Quick Curtain by Alan Melville
Death of Anton by Alan Melville
The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books by Martin Edwards
Murder in the Museum by John Rowland
Calamity in Kent by John Rowland
Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols
The Sweet and Twenties by Beverley Nichols
Crazy Pavements by Beverley Nichols
Yours Sincerely by Beverley Nichols and Monica Dickens
Down the Garden Path by Beverley Nichols
Twenty Five by Beverley Nichols
A Pin to See the Peepshow by F Tennyson Jesse
Messalina of the Suburbs by E.M. Delafield
Virginia Woolf
Noel Coward
Oscar Wilde
Mrs Tim of the Regiment by D.E. Stevenson
Vita Sackville-West
Sunlight on the Lawn by Beverley Nichols
Laughter on the Stairs by Beverley Nichols
Elizabeth Bowen
Molly Keane
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
The ABC of Cats by Beverley Nichols
The XYZ of Cats by Beverley Nichols
This is Sylvia by Sandy Wilson
Nancy Spain
L.P. Hartley
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
According to Mark by Penelope Lively

Tea or Books? #51: Author Parents vs Author Children, and The Boat by L.P. Hartley vs Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

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Literary families, and the reveal on our recommendations for each other – we’re back after a seasonal break. We’ve missed you!


 
In the first half of our 51st episode, we look at families where more than one generation has written, and try to determine whether we tend to prefer the parents or children – thank you Paul and Kirsty for your suggestion. And in the second half we find out whether or not our recommendations worked. We each picked a book we thought the other one would love – how well do we know each other’s tastes? I chose The Boat by L.P. Hartley for Rachel, and she chose Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner for me.

In the next episode we’ll be doing Penelope vs Penelope. All suggestions welcome (if you’ve sent one, it will doubtless happen eventually, once I dig it out from somewhere), and you can see our iTunes page here. If you can work out how to do reviews, via iTunes, they are always much appreciated!

The (enormous number of!) books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
Mr Men series by Roger Hargreaves
Things a Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls
Bluestockings by Jane Robinson
No Surrender by Constance Maud
The Real Mrs Miniver by Ysenda Maxtone Graham
Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther
Terms and Conditions by Ysenda Maxtone Graham
The Priory by Dorothy Whipple
Money by Martin Amis
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
Faulks on Fiction by Sebastian Faulks
E.M. Delafield
The Unlucky Family by Mrs Henry de la Pasture (not The Unhappy Family!)
Provincial Daughter by R.M. Dashwood
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Trilby by George du Maurier
Only the Sister by Angela du Maurier
Virginia Woolf
Leslie Stephen
Anthony Trollope
Domestic Manners of the Americans by Frances Trollope
American Notes by Charles Dickens
A.A. Milne
Christopher Milne
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft
Angela Thirkell
Colin Macinnes
Denis Mackail
E.F. Benson
Stella Benson
Sitwells
Corduroy by Adrian Bell
Virginia Woolf by Quentin Bell
Bloomsbury by Quentin Bell
Angelica Garnett
Family Skeletons by Henrietta Garnett
Singled Out by Virginia Nicholson
Frieda Plath
Ted Hughes
Sylvia Plath
A.S. Byatt
Margaret Drabble
Margaret Forster
Ivy Compton-Burnett by Cecily Grieg
Appointment in Arezzo by Alan Taylor
Meyer
Bloomsbury’s Outsider by Sarah Knights
H.G. Wells and His Family by M.M. Meyer
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Alan Bennett
Two People by A.A. Milne
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
A Perfect Woman by L.P. Hartley
The Betrayal by L.P. Hartley
According to Mark by Penelope Lively
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
Penelope Mortimer

Tea or Books? #50: Question & Answer

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To celebrate episode 50, we are doing a question and answer episode!

 

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas – I’m editing this a few days before Christmas, but I’m going to assume that a wonderful time was had by all. We were really delighted with all the questions that were sent in (thank you!) and have picked 36 of them to discuss in this episode. Tune in in two years’ time for more questions and answers in episode 100!

You can see our iTunes page here, and we always welcome reviews and ratings. We’ll be back in the new year with books we think the other one will love – I chose The Boat by L.P. Hartley for Rachel, and Rachel chose Wallace Stegner’s Crossing To Safety for me.

The books and authors we mention in today’s episode are:

The Railway Journey by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Coral Glynn by Peter Cameron
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Dorothy Whipple
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
Crazy Pavements by Beverley Nichols
J.B. Priestley (John!)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
The Semi-Detached House by Emily Eden
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Emma by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
Aunt Mame by Patrick Dennis
Barbara Pym
The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
The Sandcastle by Iris Murdoch
Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
The Shelf by Phyllis Rose
The Year of Reading Proust by Phyllis Rose
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust
The Provincial Lady Goes Further by E.M. Delafield
The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
Tristan Shandy by Laurence Sterne
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding
Humphrey Clinker by Tobias Smollett
Pamela by Samuel Richardson
Shamela by Henry Fielding
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Marilynne Robinson
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
The Runaway by Claire Wong
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Enid Blyton
J.K. Rowling
Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert Jenkins
Mr Pim Passes By by A.A. Milne
The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester
The Gourmet by Muriel Barbery
The Boat by L.P. Hartley
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner