Civil to strangers (Pym)

I'm excited that another Pym novel has made it back into print - it looks like Virago may be bringing out the complete set of her novels, as I see from Amazon that Crampton Hodnet (such an underrated Pym novel) will be out in May 2012. I just love this colourful cover which has Barbara Pym written all over. It's out today, 7th July.

This week's acquisitions

It might be lent, but I have still acquired some books due to the generosity of a publisher and one of the readers of my blog. Sophie from Virago kindly sent me the new Barbara Pym, Less than angels, which is coming out at the start of April - I read this last year, but look forward to having the opportunity to peruse this new edition which has an introduction by Salley Vickers. The Winged Horse was kindly sent to me by Heather who reads this blog and spotted it in a second-hand book-shop and posted it all the way from the US! Thank you Heather!


Don't the collection of Barbara Pyms look pretty on my shelves?

New acquisition

Thanks to Sophie from Virago for sending me the latest Barbara Pym. I wrote about Pym earlier in the year and am excited that there has been another addition to the set. I've already read this one, but it was one of my favourites and I am looking forward to rereading it.

I believe that Virago will be bringing out Less than angels in April to add to the collection.

Barbara Pym 531, 536, 541, 543

I'm glad that you all seemed to enjoy reading my Daphne Du Maurier posts while I was on holiday; I was so impressed by her output when I saw it in the series of blog posts. What an amazing writer!

I re-discovered Pym earlier this year, having read some of her books when I was younger, and was instantly re-captivated by her wit and amazing social commentary abilities. She generally describes middle England and its characters but in a way that I would defy anyone to find amusing.

The only VMC I read while I was away was a Barbara Pym and that was Excellent Women, which is the latest Pym to be re-released as a VMC. There is a little mystery about it though, in that it was published as one of the anniversary hardbacks (which was the edition that I read), and the back of the book claims that it is VMC #30. However, this doesn't seem to correspond with the list that I have, and indeed I've not seen any other edition of Excellent Women.

Excellent Women is the "excellent" story of "spinsters, vicars and anthropologists" as a reviewer on Amazon puts it. It is the story of Mildred (the spinster) who becomes embroiled in the lives of her new neighbours downstairs, which takes her beyond the world she has previously been involved in (working part-time for the Gentle-woman's association and acting as a pillar for the church (the vicars)) to one involving anthropology and being taken out on dates. It is really interesting because it presents the concept of the single-unmarried woman, and shows that many of them "Excellent women" who were fairly content with their lot, but given the opportunity could really expand their world.


Here are the two Virago editions:


The hardback edition features a cover design by Orla Kelly and has an introduction by Alexander McCall Smith.

I'm going to take this opportunity to highlight the other Pym books which have been republished very recently by Virago as Modern Classics. I own the whole set, and think that the covers are wonderful (and indeed have been the subject of a post by Paperback Reader, although I read them previously in the non-VMC editions. Here they are:



A Glass of blessings is going to be released at the beginning of December, and although I've read it, I shall pre-order it to complete my set!