Weekend Miscellany

Happy weekend – and, if you’re in the UK, happy sunshine! Well, there may well be sunshine elsewhere too, but it has been a long time coming here. I never realise what a difference it makes until the grey skies disappear for a bit, and blossom starts showing itself. Yes, hay fever too, but one can’t have everything.

I’m spending this Saturday at my college reunion – I was still an undergraduate (just) when I started this blog in 2007, and it’s odd and pleasing to think that it’s still going despite all the other changes in my life. Though rather fewer changes than many of my fellow Gaudy-goers will have experienced. Me? I live half an hour down the road.

Hope you have lots of lovely plans this weekend – or, equally lovely, no plans. Here is a book, a blog post, and a link to take you into your weekend.

1.) The book – I saw Hourglass: Memory, Time, Marriage by Dani Shapiro mentioned on Christina’s Instagram, and immediately added it to my wishlist. Some blurb: “The best-selling novelist and memoirist delivers her most intimate and powerful work: a piercing, life-affirming memoir about marriage and memory, about the frailty and elasticity of our most essential bonds, and about the accretion, over time, of both sorrow and love.”

2.) The blog link – Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow has the rare joy of adding a previously-unpublished novel to the roster of the wonderful Furrowed Middlebrow series from Dean Street Press! I won’t steal his thunder, but will send you to his blog post to find out what it is. (I’m hoping if I butter him up, he will read and review some of the British Library Women Writers titles, because I am LONGING to know what he thinks of them. Especially Sally on the Rocks.)

3.) The link – Bored Panda does a ‘weird buildings’ list every couple of weeks, and it’s always the same, but it is also always great. If you haven’t explored one yet, here you go. Enjoy a cat-shaped kindergarten, for starters.

Friends, I have Covid. At the time of writing (Friday evening) it isn’t too bad – coldy symptoms and exhausted – so hopefully it’ll stay that way. Hopefully the days of isolation will help me get through some books, though early signs suggest it might be better at tackling the Netflix queue.

Anyway, whether you’re at home or out and about, here is the usual Miscellany to help kick off your weekend….

1.) The link – I am heartbroken that Neighbours is facing the axe. For those not in the know, it’s an Australian soap opera – and, except my family, has been the longest constant in my life. I’ve been watching for 24 years, and love mocking how silly it is, but love it all the same. If you fancy signing a petition to keep it alive, then what’s the worst that can happen?

2.) The book – everyone is talking about the newly rediscovered They by Kay Dick, reprinted by different publishers in the UK and US in recent weeks. I only know Kay Dick for her interviews with Ivy Compton-Burnett and Stevie Smith in Ivy and Stevie, but if They is even a tenth as good as people are saying, then I’m sure it’s worth seeking out.

3.) The blog post – I was so delighted to see Asha’s review of Which Way? by Theodora Benson at her excellently titled blog, A Cat, A Book, and A Cup of Tea. And those are exactly the three things that are going to occupy the next part of my evening.

I’m going to do a slightly different weekend miscellany this week, largely because I had so many contenders for the blog post that I wanted to include. So this is just a round-up of reviews that I wanted to draw your attention to…

• I read Neeru’s review of Denis Mackail’s The Majestic Mystery ages ago, but didn’t get around to mentioning it. It follows the rule that every novelist in the 1920s and 30s had to write at least ONE detective novel, and Mackail’s is very entertaining. I listened to the audiobook, which is much easier to find than a paper copy.

• So pleased that Barb is back blogging at Leaves and Pages, and particularly since she has read and loved Miss Husband Simon by Mollie Panter-Downes – though, while you’re there, scroll through the other recent reviews.

• Radhika’s review of Elizabeth Taylor’s A View of the Harbour is one of the best reviews I’ve read recently, and it reminds me of why I love Taylor (when I’m in the right frame of mind). I have read this novel and don’t remember much about it, and Radhika’s writing and analysis make me want to go back asap.

• Let’s finish with Lil’s video about F. Tennyson Jesse’s A Pin To See The Peepshow – I love when Lil covers the British Library Women Writers series, and she has lovely things to say about this one too…

Happy weekend everyone! And it’s a VERY happy weekend for me, because – so long as I’m not pinged after I schedule this blog post – I’ll be spending my Saturday in Hay-on-Wye! While the number of bookshops there decreases every time I go, it’s still my favourite place – and I’m looking forward to sharing pictures of my spoils with you on my return.

The spoils I will leave you with, in the meantime, are the usual book, blog post, and link…

1.) The blog post – LouLouReads has reviewed one of my favourite frothy, silly novels – a total delight from cover to cover, and luckily she liked it too. Check out her thoughts on Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert Jenkins.

2.) The link – interesting article on working-class author Ethel Carnie Holdsworth – I’ve only read Miss Nobody, but will be interested to see what comes of this potential revival of her work.

3.) The book – Jane Austen & Shelley in the Garden by Janet Todd sounds like a fascinating novel – Austen is so vivid in Fran’s life that she feels like she knows her. ‘An encounter with a long-standing friend, and a new one, a writer, lead to something new. The three women unite in their love of books and in a quest for the idealist poet Shelley at two pivotal moments: in Wales and Venice.’ Find out more at Todd’s website – I enjoyed her book on Fanny Wollstonecraft back in about 2008, and the premise here is intriguing.

Wow, it has been unbearably hot since the last weekend miscellany. UK houses weren’t built for heat – none of us have aircon – and even my thick-stoned flat only stayed cool for a couple of days. But the rains are coming tomorrow, and that’ll give us something else to complain about. The stereotypes are true: Brits can talk about weather for hours. The exciting thing on my horizon this weekend is my second Covid vaccine! I do have to drive an hour from my house, but it’s worth it – I’ll certainly be feeling safer getting out and about. Wherever you are, I really hope things are improving with vaccine roll-out and cases.

1.) The book – I don’t read a lot of medical books of any variety, but I do when they’re by my friends! Monty Lyman’s The Remarkable Life of the Skin was fascinating, and I’m pleased that he has another one out. The Painful Truth is all about the science of pain and it’s currently on its way to me from Blackwells…

2.) The link – I loved this Guardian article on a woman who decided, in her 60s, to open up her own secondhand bookshop – largely with her own lifetime of collected books. And it’s in Somerset, not far from where my parents lived. How have I not been yet??

3.) The blog post – Perhaps I’ll never get over the excitement of seeing people review British Library Women Writers books, especially when the novel was scarce beforehand and it was unlikely that anybody would ever read it. And I enjoyed Julia’s take on Mary Essex’s Tea Is So Intoxicating – hope you do too.

The sun is out! I’ve been delighting the neighbourhood with my neon teal garden lounger, and some bright yellow short shorts. Summer clearly brings out the classy in me.

Hope you’re having a good weekend, and here’s a book, a blog post, and a link to help you along the way.

1) The book – I love Fitzcarraldo’s non-fiction – which I only specify because I haven’t read any of their fiction. Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton sounds like a wonderful addition to the series: it is about Barton’s time living in Japan, ‘an exceptional debut about the quietly revolutionary act of learning, speaking, and living in another language’.

2) The blog post – is really a link, I suppose, but Lucy Scholes’ ‘Re-Covered’ column for the Paris Review feels like a blog. In this column, she talks about the wonderful Barbara Comyns – including her own history of reading Comyns, and the fact that she is always on the brink of being rediscovered again.

3) The link – I was late to the fan club for Janet Malcolm, but my goodness she is extraordinary. After her recent passing, the Guardian published Helen Garner’s wonderful tribute to her.

It’s summer! Unless you’re in the southern hemisphere, of course. But England is finally getting some sunshine and heat – though it has been raining all day today, but plus ça change. Or pleuvait ça change. That might be my greatest moment ever, so let’s rush on to the book, blog post, and link…

1.) The link – is an oral history of The Devil Wears Prada, because why not. I love this film because I am a human. I did read the book, which is terrible.

2.) The blog post – is a reminder that Sylvia Townsend Warner Reading Week is coming up soon, run by Helen at Gallimaufry. A reminder post went up recently, but I’m linking to the post back in April that gives a bit more detail. I’ve joined in every time, and this time I think I’ll dig out some more short stories.

3.) The book – somebody on Twitter was asking for contemporary funny books, and Sue Teddern replied recommending her own book, Annie Stanley, All at Sea. It isn’t out yet, but that cover is lovely and the description looks like it could be a fun one.

Hope you’re having a good weekend, whatever you are up to!

It’s been a while since I did one of these miscellanies, I think. In the UK, pandemic restrictions start to lift in a couple of days, so it’s quite an exciting feeling – on the edge of being able to go inside friends’ homes and hug them etc! (My least favourite kind of tweet is the “Weren’t we all doing this anyway?” variety. No, most of us were doing all we could to stop the spread of the virus.) Of course, we shan’t all be dashing back to normal life on Monday, but this weekend does feel like the end of something.

I’m still waiting for my first vaccination, though it should only be a few weeks now. And hoping my current spate of dizziness/eye soreness goes away – it’s now a year since all my health stuff started, and I’m no closer to a diagnosis, but generally it is all very, very slowly improving. Praise God, there were only a couple weeks where I couldn’t read at all – at the moment, I just have to steer clear of small print.

ANYWAY, that’s a whistle-stop update. Let’s get onto the book, the blog post, and the link:

1.) The blog post – It’s a vlog post, but I wanted to share a review of O, The Brave Music from Lil’s Vintage World – one of my favourite Booktubers. I so love seeing people discover this book, particularly, from all the British Library Women Writers series.

2.) The link – On Twitter, Marina Sofia shared an excellent article by Alexander Larman in The Critic: ‘A Radical Proposal: Book reviews should review books‘. It has always irked me that broadsheet reviews, especially of non-fiction, scarcely engage with the quality of the book in question. One of the many reasons I prefer reading bloggers – though the bloggers vs newspaper reviewers debate has died down a little of late, hasn’t it?

3.) The book – One of the few still-publishing novelists I love is Jenn Ashworth. I still have a couple of her back catalogue unread on my shelves, but that doesn’t stop me being excited about Ghosted, coming out in June. Find out more at Jenn’s website.

The season has definitely changed here in the UK. The clocks have gone back, the evenings are getting darker, and the leaves are changing. It’s all very pretty but a little miserable to be dark and cold – especially as covid restrictions are likely to get stricter. Where I live, we’re still in tier one – but I suspect it won’t be long before that changes. Just in time for my birthday…!

For the bleaker weather – and to help deal with the anxiety the world is feeling around the upcoming US election – have a book, a link, and a blog post.

1.) The book – somehow I missed the announcement until now, but on 3 November there will be a new Edward Carey novel! I’ve been following his writing output for well over a decade, and love that Little put him more on the map. The Swallowed Man seems as eccentric and interesting as vintage Carey. Find out more.

2.) The link – I have no idea how catching up with TV works in the US, but if you can watch Superstore at this link, then I heartily encourage you to. It’s on hulu as well, and maybe there are other ways. Just for US folk, I’m afraid, but Superstore is one of my favourite sitcoms and their handling of the pandemic is genuinely moving, as well as very funny.

3.) The blog post – Books and Wine Gums has been enjoying a lot of the British Library Women Writers series – do check out her thoughts on Mary Essex’s Tea Is So Intoxicating.

I hope you have lovely, socially distanced plans for this weekend – maybe the last of our sunny weather here in the UK? Well, there’s already an autumnal snap in the air (and a hole in my roof, leaking water into the living room… thankfully fixed now, and somehow it managed to leak in about the only place where books aren’t piled up. Phew!)

Whatever you have planned, here’s a book, a blog post, and a link. Oh, and make sure you’re registered to vote if you qualify for American elections! Please help protect the rest of us who can’t vote there. And yes, I’ll nail my colours to the mast, that means voting the Biden/Harris ticket. At this point I’ve stopped even pretending to have sympathy for people who would vote for somebody as cruel, narcissistic, ignorant, racist, sexist, and unpresidential as Trump.

Welp, that got more political than this blog has ever been, I suspect! Here’s the normal bookish stuff…

1.) The blog post – please check out Ali’s wonderful list of 10 Vintage Books of Joy. It’s not the usual sort of book list you see, because many of these are a little out-of-the-way – but they’re all brilliant. Well, the eight I’ve read are, and I’ve now bought Something Light to add to my sprawling Margery Sharp collection.

2.) The book – I have a review copy of this on the way, but thought I’d mention now: Felix Unbound by Cathy Gunn. What would happen if your cat turned into a human? I love animal metamorphosis stories (and wrote about them in my DPhil – Lady Into Fox is wonderful) and so I hope this lives up to its premise and its promise.

3.) The link – the British Library shop is doing 3-for-2 on fiction paperbacks and you KNOW that includes the British Library Women Writers series! And, indeed, preorders. So I heartily recommend you get your mitts on them soon – let me know if you want advice about which to choose…