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Tea or Books? #70: Simon Takes a Tour of Rachel’s Bookshelves

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? 11 Comments

Simon visited Rachel – so naturally took a look around the shelves. Come for the tour!

In a change from scheduled programming, we do a slightly different episode. I was staying with Rachel in her beautiful flat while I was at a conference – and we thought it would be fun for me to take a tour of her shelves, discussing the books that caught our eye as we went around. We’ll be back to normal service next time – and hopefully I’ll be able to return the favour with my shelves at some point.

We don’t usually record quite this haphazardly, so fingers crossed the audio is OK. And, don’t forget, you can support the podcast at Patreon, see us at iTunes, and please do rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts. And do get in touch if you have any ideas for future episodes – particularly for the first halves.

We’re gonna mention a LOT of books and authors in this podcast, so ready yourself for a super long list:

Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada
Prater Violet by Christopher Isherwood
Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
Mrs Christopher by Elizabeth Myers
Littleton Powys
A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys
Wolf Solvent by John Cowper Powys
A Baker’s Dozen by Llewellyn Powys
Mr Weston’s Good Wine by T.F. Powys
The Letters of Elizabeth Myers
Bricks and Mortar by Helen Ashton
Greengates by R.C. Sherriff
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
The Loved and Envied by Enid Bagnold
The Squire by Enid Bagnold
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Henrietta’s War by Joyce Dennys
Alva & Irva by Edward Carey
Little by Edward Carey
Any Human Heart by William Boyd
Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd
Crossriggs by Jane and Mary Findlater
The Green Road by Anne Enright
The Boat by L.P. Hartley
Seasoned Timber by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
A Perfect Woman by L.P. Hartley
News of the World by Paulette Giles
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Four Hedges by Claire Leighton
Rosamund Lehmann
Molly Fox’s Birthday by Deirdre Madden
The Green Leaves of Summer by Oriel Malet
Marjory Fleming by Oriel Malet
Letters from Menabilly by Daphne du Maurier
South Riding by Winifred Holtby
The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Four Days’ Wonder by A.A. Milne
Nancy Mitford
The Happy Tree by Rosalind Murray
Marilynne Robinson
Dorothy L Sayers
The Gipsy in the Parlour by Margery Sharp
Britannia Mews by Margery Sharp
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Tomorrow Will Be Better by Betty Smith
Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther
Elizabeth Taylor
A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark
Vanity Fair by W.M. Thackeray
The Country Child by Alice Uttley
Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
Lisette’s List by Susan Vreeland
Sarah Waters
Evelyn Waugh
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
Stoner by John Williams
Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
The Easter Parade by Richard Yates
Edith Wharton
Dorothy Whipple
All the Days and Nights by William Maxwell
A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
Noel Streatfeild
Finn Family Moonmintroll by Tove Jansson
E.M. Delafield
Jane Austen
Mallory Towers series by Enid Blyton
St Clare’s series by Enid Blyton
Miss Read
Little House on the Prarie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
The Provincial Lady Goes Further by E.M. Delafield
Mazo de la Roche
How Like an Angel by A.G. Macdonnell
England, Their England by A.G. Macdonnell
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Goodnight, Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian
Teaching Grammar Through Literature by Rachel Fenn (!!) and Anna McGlynn
Happily Ever After by Susannah Fullerton
The Child That Books Built by Francis Spufford
The Road to Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
Virginia Woolf by Alexandra Harris
Mrs Woolf and the Servants by Alison Light
Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
The Enchanted Places by Christopher Milne
The Path Through The Trees by Christopher Milne
The Other Day by Dorothy Whipple
Random Commentary by Dorothy Whipple
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
Shakespeare by Bill Bryson
Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
A Very Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Bluestockings by Jane Robinson
Knole and the Sackvilles by Vita Sackville-West
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
The Long Weekend by Adrian Tinniswood
The Long Weekend by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge
The Houses of the National Trust
The Illustrated Dust Jacket 1920-1970 by Martin Salisbury
Station to Station 
Britain’s Lost Railways
A whole bunch of railway books that I couldn’t find the titles for. I just can’t.
Period Piece by Gwen Raverat
A London Child of the 1870s by Molly Hughes

Tea or Books? #68: Tact vs Attack, and North and South vs Pride and Prejudice

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , , 12 Comments

The books we hate (and should we tell you?) and Elizabeth Gaskell vs Jane Austen.
 

 

In the first half of this episode, we talk about the books we’ve hated – prepare for things to get contentious! – and then, perhaps belatedly, debate whether or not we should keep those opinions to ourselves. In the second half (thanks to a recommendation by Rebekah), we compare two nineteenth-century classics: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

You can support the podcast at Patreon (with a bunch of reward levels, including getting a book sent to you each month), visit our iTunes page, rate and review wherever you get podcasts, or just listen to the episode. Let us know which books you hate, and any suggestions you have for the podcast.

Apologies for some Skype issues we had while recording this, but hopefully you can work out what’s going on! We had to stop and start a few times in places.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
The Boat by L.P. Hartley
Alice by Elizabeth Eliot
Rachel Ferguson
Barbara Comyns
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
The Long Weekend by Adrian Tinniswood
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Baltasar and Blimunda by Jose Saramago
Henry James
NW by Zadie Smith
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Howards End by E.M. Forster
The Masters by C.P. Snow
Pamela Hansford Johnson
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Agatha Raisin series by M.C. Beaton
Agatha Christie
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Margaret Drabble
Lee Child
The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
The Sandcastle by Iris Murdoch
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce
Gone to Earth by Mary Webb
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
George Eliot
Charles Dickens
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
Blue Remembered Hills by Rosemary Sutcliff
Seasoned Timber by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

2018: some reading statistics

StuckinaBook All 17 Comments

I always like to do a round up of some reading stats from the year – last year I somehow didn’t manage it until April, so I’m certainly doing rather better this year. What does this tell us about my new powers of efficiency and determination? Probably nothing, but let’s keep going.

Number of books read
A rather surprising 153! I usually read just over 100, so this was unexpected. Partly it’s because I did the 25 Books in 25 Days challenge, partly it’s because I’ve got more into audiobooks. And living alone continues to give me more reading time.

Male/female authors
I read 85 books by women and 68 books by men – i.e. about 55% by women. I think it’s usually around that number, or a bit higher – certainly I’ve always read more books by women than by men since I started doing these stats.

Fiction/non-fiction
97 fiction and 56 non-fiction (for a slightly deeper dive – 52 fiction by women, 45 fiction by men, 33 non-fiction by women, and 23 non-fiction by men). So – just over a third of the books I read were non-fiction, which is a lower percentage than last year. But still much higher than it would have been ten or so years ago.

Books in translation
I read six in translation last year, and eight in 2016 – this year I fell in the middle, with seven: The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent (French), The Murderess by Alexandros Papadiamantis (Greek), Silence in October by Jens Christian Grøndahl (Danish), Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto (Portuguese), The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera (Czech), Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras (Spanish), and The Misunderstanding by Irène Némirovsky (French). Only one language repeated!

Most-read author
Nobody got above three this year – and on that level are Alan Ayckbourn, Margery Sharp, and Betty Macdonald.

Re-reads
Last year I re-read six books, and this year I re-read 11 – which might be the most of any year. Eight were for the ‘Tea or Books?’ podcast, two were children’s books, and one was for book group. Which goes to show that I seldom re-read adult books without a purpose.

Audio books
All the Betty Macdonalds and Alan Ayckbourns were audiobooks, and I listened to a whole bunch of others – 15 in total this year. (And yes, I do count them on my list if they’re unabridged.)

New-to-me authors
Usually about half the books I read are by authors I’ve not read previously – this year it was only 60 (i.e. 39%). Let’s say it’s because I’ve read nearly all the authors now (but, actually, I don’t know why this has changed.)

Shortest book title
Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala, with honourable mentions for Naked by David Sedaris, Sphinx by David Lindsay, and Little by Edward Carey.

Most disappointing book
There were a few duds, sadly and as usual, but I really disliked The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West. It’s left a horrible taste in my mouth, because the characters – and, in this case, seemingly the author – have such unpleasant opinions and ways of treating people.

Longest wait on the shelf
I’m really pleased I finally read The Pooh Perplex by Frederick C. Crews, which I bought around 2002. I wasn’t even an adult when I bought it! And I’m also so glad I waited to read it – this spoof of literary criticism and literary theories made a lot more sense post-degrees than it would have done beforehand.

Most confusing is-it-a-pun title
The internet was divided on whether or not The Plague and I by Betty Macdonald is intended to rhyme with The Egg and I. ‘Plague’ and ‘Egg’ don’t rhyme in British English. They might rhyme in American English. I asked the internet, and the internet could not answer.

Animals in book titles
There are always some! And this year there seem to be a lot of birds again… The Birds by Frank Baker, The Lark by E. Nesbit, Girl With Dove by Sally Bayley, Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban, The Cat’s Cradle Book by Sylvia Townsend Warner, The Shrimp and the Anemone by L.P. Hartley, Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver, Ride a Cockhorse by Raymond Kennedy, and, if we’re counting mythological animals, Albert the Dragon by Rosemary Weir and Sphinx by David Lindsay.

Strange things that happened in books this year
Birds started attacking and killing people, a magical garden appeared and disappeared, a fantastic contraption showed dreams, two schoolgirls turned into angels, a talking cat ruined a dinner party, a vegetarian dragon befriended a boy, someone was doomed to repeat the same day until they solved a murder, an author conjured his creations to life, voluntary mute twins started fires, and an artist impersonated his dead butler.

#1944Club: round up

StuckinaBook All 8 Comments

It’s been another great week of club reading! Thanks so much to everyone who joined in. Here are the reviews that came out this week – let me know if I missed yours. (I should say, I’m still adding them – so if you’ve already put it in a comment, then I’ll add it soon!) It’s been really interesting to see how wartime made a difference to the writing going on – and, in some cases, how it didn’t. Another really fun, really illuminating club! News about the next one soon…

Fair Stood the Wind for France by H.E. Bates

Annabel’s House of Books
Bag Full of Books

The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton

Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings / Mr Kaggsy
Staircase Wit

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

Book Jotter
Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings

Green for Danger by Christianna Brand

Briefer than Literal Statement

Gay from China at the Chalet School by Elinor Brent-Dyer

Gilt and Dust

Guignol’s Band by Céline

Intermittencies of the Mind

Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie

All the Vintage Ladies

Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

Ruthiella Reads

Gigi by Colette

Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings

The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin

The Literary Sisters
Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings

The Book of the Dead by Elizabeth Daly

Bitter Tea and Mystery

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Becky’s Book Reviews

Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge

Staircase Wit

Earth and High Heaven by Gwethalyn Graham

She Reads Novels
Buried in Print

The Shrimp and the Anemone by L.P. Hartley

Harriet Devine’s Blog
Stuck in a Book

A Bell for Adano by John Hersey

Typings

Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer

What Me Read
Desperate Reader

Young Bess by Margaret Irwin

Staircase Wit

The Dwarf by Pär Lagerkvist

Winston’s Dad

No More Than Human by Maura Laverty

Sally Tarbox

Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson

Becky’s Book Reviews

The Ballad and the Source by Rosamond Lehmann

Madame Bib Lophile Recommends

Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte

Winston’s Dad Blog

Agostino by Albert Moravio

1streading’s Blog

Company in the Evening by Ursula Orange

Stuck in a Book

The Portable Dorothy Parker

Lizzy’s Literary Life
Pining for the West

A House in the Country by Jocelyn Playfair

Hopewell’s Public Library of Life

The Friendly Young Ladies by Mary Renault

Madame Bibi Lophile Recommends

No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre

What Me Read

Transit by Anna Seghers

Kaggsys Bookish Ramblings
Lizzy’s Literary Life

Dragonwyck by Anya Seton

Staircase Wit

V-Letter and other Poems by Karl Shapiro

Typings

Pastoral by Nevil Shute

Leaves and Pages

Inspector Cadaver by Georges Simenon

Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings
Winston’s Dad

Signe Picpus by Georges Simenon

Brona’s Books

Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout

Typings

The Clock Strikes Twelve by Patricia Wentworth

All the Vintage Ladies

They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple

What Me Read

 

Astley Book Farm: the books I bought

StuckinaBook All 22 Comments

I don’t know why it’s taken me so many years to get to Astley Book Farm. I first heard of it years ago, I think perhaps from this blog post that Hayley wrote in 2010. At the time, I didn’t have a car – and without a car, it wouldn’t be very easy to get to this bookshop. While it’s close to Nuneaton, it’s pretty isolated in transport terms – unsurprising, given that it’s a converted farm. I got a car in 2014, but somehow it didn’t happen – until last weekend!

Astley Book Farm is every bit as wonderful as you all told me it would be. Room after room after room, warren-like, with a wide variety of reasonably priced books. And an amazing cafe. And a snug at the end. And a barn of 50p books. It was all wonderfulllll. I can tell I’ll be back there often. But these are the books I bought while I was there…

The Poor Man by Stella Benson
I’ve been doing surprisingly well with Benson books on recent bookshop trips, and was delighted that the streak is continuing.

Encounter by Milan Kundera
Slowness by Milan Kundera
Yes, I have lots of books by Kundera that I haven’t read, but not these. Until now! Encounter is essays and Slowness is a novel. Yay Kundera!

Willa Cather by Hermione Lee
A Woman of Passion by Julia Briggs
Early Stages by John Gielgud
The Gift by H.D.
What is Remembered by Alice B. Toklas
I’m grouping all of these in a lazy way because I bought them all to stock up my biography/autobiography shelf. The Toklas is after reading Two Lives (which turns out to have kicked off quite a chain reaction), while A Woman of Passion is a biography of E. Nesbit. I started in the biography section, which partly explains why there are so many…

Family Matters by Anthony Rolls
Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm by Gil North
There turn out to be so many British Library Crime Classics I don’t know anything about, and I am grabbing all of ’em.

Mrs Carteret Receives by L.P. Hartley
I might not have bought this if I’d realised it was short stories, as for some reason Hartley doesn’t seem like an author I’d enjoy as much in brief bursts. But it’s mine now, so I’ll find out eventually!

A Wild Swan by Michael Cunningham
Whereas I did know this was short stories, and I’m more than ready to try out Cunningham at that!

Old Filth by Jane Gardam
I’ve only read one Gardam novel (God on the Rocks), but this is the one every talks about as being brilliant – so, since it was 50p, I thought it was worth a shot.

I’m pretty pleased with the haul I came away with! There are definitely a lot of modern paperbacks alongside the more unusual finds, but there’s plenty for everyone – and I’m looking forward to my next trip, if only because of the amount of cake options in the cafe that I’ve still got to sample.

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

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , 7 Comments

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

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , 5 Comments

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

A Century of Books

StuckinaBook All 35 Comments

2018 is going to be the year of A Century of Books – henceforth to be known as ACOB. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here before, only on Twitter, but hopefully it’s not too late for people to join in if they’d like to.

What is ACOB, you ask? Back in 2012, I thought it would be fun to try to read and review a book for every year of the 20th century – not in order – and various people joined in, with different targets. Some wanted one book for each decade; some wanted to do it over 2, 3, or 4 years. Essentially, you can make up your own rules. I think Claire from The Captive Reader was the only other person aiming to do 1900-1999 in one year, and… we both did! Here’s what Claire read, and here’s what I read. My post also has some stats and tips; Claire also has some helpful hints on how to get the most from ACOB.

I’m thrilled to say that Claire is doing it again this year! My century is shifting a bit – I’m going to do 1919-2018 – and I’ll keep track of the reviews on this page. If you’d like to, please do join in in whatever form you choose – I certainly found it one of the most rewarding and enjoyable (and, in the final month or so, frustrating!) reading projects I’ve ever undertaken. The best thing about it is that it is the anti-project, as you can more or less read at whim – at least for the first two-thirds of the year…

Let me know if you’re joining in, and… here we go!

1919 – The Sheik by E.M. Hull
1920 – In the Mountains by Elizabeth von Arnim
1921 – Mr Waddington of Wyck by May Sinclair
1922 – The Lark by E. Nesbit
1923 – Sphinx by David Lindsay
1924 – Bill the Conqueror by P.G. Wodehouse
1925 – The Human Machine by Arnold Bennett
1926 – The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
1927 – Leadon Hill by Richmal Crompton
1928 – As Far As Jane’s Grandmother’s by Edith Olivier
1929 – First and Last by V.L. Whitechurch
1930 – Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
1931 – Buttercups and Daisies by Compton Mackenzie
1932 – Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
1933 – A Thatched Roof by Beverley Nichols
1934 – Concert Pitch by Theodora Benson
1935 – Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie
1936 – The Birds by Frank Baker
1937 – Hunt the Slipper by Violet Trefusis
1938 – Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull
1939 – The Priory by Dorothy Whipple
1940 – The Cat’s Cradle Book by Sylvia Townsend Warner
1941 – Soap Behind the Ears by Cornelia Otis Skinner
1942 – House-Bound by Winifred Peck
1943 – We Followed Our Hearts to Hollywood by Emily Kimbrough
1944 – Company in the Evening by Ursula Orange
1945 – The Demon Lover by Elizabeth Bowen
1946 – Prater Violet by Christopher Isherwood
1947 – Tell It to a Stranger by Elizabeth Berridge
1948 – The Plague and I by Betty Macdonald
1949 – By Auction by Denis Mackail
1950 – Anybody Can Do Anything by Betty Macdonald
1951 – Lise Lillywhite by Margery Sharp
1952 – The Gentlewomen by Laura Talbot
1953 – Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
1954 – The Gipsy in the Parlour by Margery Sharp
1955 – Onions in the Stew by Betty Macdonald
1956 – The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
1957 – Tea with Walter de la Mare by Russell Brain
1958 – The Sweet and Twenties by Beverley Nichols
1959 – The Young Ones by Diana Tutton
1960 – The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
1961 – Albert the Dragon by Rosemary Weir
1962 – Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker
1963 – Two By Two by David Garnett
1964 – Further Adventures of Albert the Dragon by Rosemary Weir
1965 – The Millstone by Margaret Drabble
1966 – Random Commentary by Dorothy Whipple
1967 – Stonecliff by Robert Nathan
1968 – Several Perceptions by Angela Carter
1969 – The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
1970 – A Tale of Two Families by Dodie Smith
1971 – A Meaningful Life by L.J. Davis
1972 – The Devastating Boys by Elizabeth Taylor
1973 – The Norman Conquests by Alan Ayckbourn
1974 – Mrs Harris Goes to Moscow by Paul Gallico
1975 – Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban
1976 – Just Between Ourselves by Alan Ayckbourn
1977 – Apple of My Eye by Helene Hanff
1978 – Albert’s World Tour by Rosemary Weir
1979 – The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera
1980 – Desirable Residence by Lettice Cooper
1981 – Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon
1982 – The High Path by Ted Walker
1983 – Another Time, Another Place by Jessie Kesson
1984 – According to Mark by Penelope Lively
1985 – Unexplained Laughter by Alice Thomas Ellis
1986 – The Silent Twins by Marjorie Wallace
1987 – Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
1988 – Man of the Moment by Alan Ayckbourn
1989 – The Education of Harriet Hatfield by May Sarton
1990 – Touching the Rock by John M. Hull
1991 – Ride a Cockhorse by Raymond Kennedy
1992 – The Devil’s Candy by Julie Salamon
1993 – Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
1994 – When Heaven Is Silent by Ron Dunn
1995 – An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks
1996 – Silence in October by Jens Christian Grøndahl
1997 – Naked by David Sedaris
1998 – Family Man by Calvin Trillin
1999 – An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
2000 – Letters From the Editor by Harold Ross
2001 – The Real Mrs Miniver by Ysenda Maxtone Graham
2002 – The Pelee Project by Jane Christmas
2003 – Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras
2004 – A Reading Diary by Alberto Manguel
2005 – The Curtain by Milan Kundera
2006 – Mr Thundermug by Cornelius Medvei
2007 – Two Lives by Janet Malcolm
2008 – Who Was Sophie? by Celia Robertson
2009 – Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
2010 – Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco
2011 – The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
2012 – The Other Mitford: Pamela’s Story by Diana Alexander
2013 – Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala
2014 – The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent
2015 – Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae
2016 – Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
2017 – Scribbles in the Margins by Daniel Gray
2018 – Bookworm by Lucy Mangan

My Best Books of 2017

StuckinaBook All 19 Comments
I always love sitting down at the end of the year and compiling my favourite reads of the past 12 months. Often I haven’t really noticed whether it’s been a good or bad year (reading-wise) until I do this – and I’d say 2017 has been steadily very good. Only one of the books I read is likely to find its way onto my all-time faves, but there were dozens that I’d have been very happy to see on an end of year list. And it’s been a very good year for mid-century books!

 

My usual rules for myself apply – only one book by each author can feature, and no re-reads. Each title links back to my review. Here they are, from #10 to #1…

 

Rachel and I read this for ‘Tea or Books?‘ back in February, comparing it another novel about the Thompson/Bywaters murder case (E.M. Delafield’s Messalina of the Suburbs). It’s probably the podcast ep I’m proudest of, as I think this comparison is fascinating – and FTJ’s exquisite novel won that podcast decision and tenth place on my list.

 

When I read Howards End is on the Landing, there was never any doubt that it would be my favourite book that year. I’ve eagerly awaited the sort-of-sequel ever since, and I did absolutely love it. The only reasons it isn’t higher are that I wanted more about books, and perhaps slightly fewer bizarre pronouncements from Hill. Still, nobody else could have written quite this book.

 

I’ve read any number of Taylor novels, and read this one for a conference on Undervalued British Women Writers 1930-1960. It’s more dramatic and dark than many of Taylor’s novels, but absorbingly brilliantly brilliant.

 

Look, I’m never going to get over how much I love the title of this book – which looks at the history of the ‘Shakespeare authorship question’ over the years. Shapiro saves his unanswerable reasons for being pro-Shakespeare until the final chapter; before this he is wise, amusing, and thorough.

 

This quirky, brilliant novel is a masterpiece of unusual structuring, and entirely beguiling. It was also given to me by a friend who died this year, which makes it (and her recommendation) all the more special.

 

I’ve yet to write a review of this one, but I’ve linked to the podcast episode where we compared it to Eden’s other novel, The Semi-Attached Couple. This is a very funny, very arch novel in the mould of Austen, elevating itself past imitation into something rather wonderful.

 

Also published as A Stranger With a Bag, I only reviewed this collection of short stories a week or so ago – I’m glad I waited to make my Best Books list, because these observant, calm, insightful stories are a thought-provoking delight.

 

I reviewed this over at Shiny New Books, and it’s a hilarious account of a year in the life of a Scottish bookseller. Bythell is quite cynical and snarky, but if your sense of humour overlaps with his then you’ll laugh and laugh – as well as getting a glimpse into the Promised Land.

 

This was a slow burn, and had to be read gradually, but it was one of the most rewarding reads I’ve had in a while. Timothy Casson is a writer who moves to a small village in wartime and wants boating rights on the river – of such small things are masterpieces made. Rachel and I will be discussing this one in the new year…

 

It truly has been the Year of Beverley. I’ve read quite a lot of books by him this year, but I had to pick the one which kicked off my Beverley love affair – I read Merry Hall for the 1951 Club, and never looked back. This (presumably heightened) account of buying a house and doing up the garden is hilarious, charming, and (praise be!) the beginning of a trilogy. Don’t wait as long as I did to read Beverley – if you haven’t yet, make 2018 the year you read him!

Tea or Books? #50: Question & Answer

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? 6 Comments

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