Elizabeth Taylor Centenary: Mrs Palfrey group read

One of the things that I regret most about neglecting this blog so much during 2012 is that I have failed dismally to participate in the Elizabeth Taylor Centenary readalongs organised by Laura.  It would have been the perfect opportunity for me to reread (some for the third time) Elizabeth Taylor's novels which were initially read pre-blog and record my thoughts here.  But it was mostly not to be.

However, I did agree to host the readalong for Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont which was my second encounter with the writer back in 2009 and what I felt at the time was a very memorable read.  And I'm looking forward to re-reading it in the next couple of weeks.  As I'm struggling to balance a few things at the moment and had doubts about the interest of what I could write about it, I've asked a two or three of my bloggy friends to read it, and I am hoping that I may be able to ask them some questions about what they thought about it.

If you haven't read it, then do pick up a copy if you can to join in.  And here to tempt you is the first page:

"Mrs Palfrey first came to the Claremont hotel on a Sunday afternoon in January.  Rain had closed in over London, and her taxi sloshed along the almost deserted Cromwell Road, past one cavernous porch after another, the driver going slowly and poking his head out into the wet, for the hotel was not known to him.  This discovery that he did not know, had a little disconcerted Mrs Palfrey, for she did not know it either, and began to wonder what she was coming to.  She tried to banish terror from her heart.  She was alarmed at the threat of her own depression.
If it's not nice, I needn't stay, she promised herself, her lips slightly moving, as she leaned forward in the taxi, looking from side to side of the wide, frightening road, almost dreading to read the name Claremont over one of those porches.  There were so many hotels, one after the other along this street, all looking much the same.
She had simply chanced on an advertisement in a Sunday newspaper while staying in Scotland with her daughter Elizabeth.  Reduced winter rates.  Excellent cuisine.  We can take that with a pinch of salt, she had thought at the time.
At last the cab slowed down.  "Claremont hotel" she read, as clear as could be in large letters... 

We'll meet back here on November 15th to chat about it.

Virago Modern Classics: Coming Of Age Collection

Wow - little reading has been going on in Verityland of late, and thus even littler blogging on my Virago Venture, but a parcel from Virago is just the thing to whet my appetite and lead to a blog post!  These beautiful hardbacks with dreamy covers are part of Virago's Coming of Age Collection released at the start of August which I think would make wonderful presents.

The blurb that came with the books says "Virago Modern Classics has broken ground with its beautiful, collectible, limited edition hardbacks of perennial favourites*...now Virago Modern Classics has created a unique set of hardbacks - a collection of six modern classic coming of age stories, for adult, and young adult readers alike, beautifully bound and with stunning custom-designed and interlinked jacket artwork by New York based illustrator Mira Nameth.  These are gorgeous books intended to be collected, enjoyed, cherished and pressed into the hands of other readers, whatever their age.  Each has been selected for its striking depiction of a time, a place, and of a young woman on the cusp of adulthood"

The titles are:
Slammerkin (Emma Donaghue)
Invitation to the Waltz (Rosamund Lehmman)
My brilliant career (Miles Franklin)
Tipping the velvet (Sarah Waters)
The river (Rumer Godden)
I know why the caged bird sings (Maya Angelou)

Invitation and My brilliant were already VMCs, the rest were not, although the authors were already Virago ones.

I've read all but the Rumer Godden novel (and Invitation to the Waltz has to be one of my favourite books ever), but as she is an author who I have greatly enjoyed in the past, I am very much looking forward to picking up The river.

[Oh and Virago collectors may be interested to know that these titles don't seem to be numbered]



* absolutely, they are things of beauty which I have written about here

An update and some new VMCs!

It's been exactly a month since I last posted on this blog, I haven't been managing to keep up with much reading at all, let alone VMCs. I have actually been doing some rereading - I have gone back to Rosamund Lehmann (and have Dusty Answer in my bag for work for tomorrow), and I reread My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier last week whilst on my holidays (not sure that a gothic novel is the best choice for a sunny beach holiday, but I did enjoy the reread nonethless.

I was excited to return home from my holidays yesterday to a parcel of new VMCs - three of which I have read before, and two which I haven't. I'm very excited that Virago have decided to reprint Sylvia Townsend Warner, with The corner that held them and Lolly Willowes out at the start of March. I wrote about them a while ago on the blog, and I rather like these whimsical new covers. There is also going to be an e-book release of The dolls house and other stories, which is four short stories which have been recently discovered in the New York Public Library archive. Introductions to the two physical books are by Philip Hensher and Sarah Waters - it's always great to see eminent contemporary writers championing the Virago Modern Classics. I didn't actually own any SWT books so I am excited to have these as part of the collection.

Released on the 8th March is a new paperback edition of Daphne Du Maurier's Vanishing Cornwall. This is one of my very favourite books which I was very happy that Virago brought out in a beautiful hardback about 6 years ago, and now it appears as a glossy paperback with all of the original pictures. This book was described by The Times as "an eloquent elegy on the past of a county she loved so much" and I do recommend it to anybody with an interest in Cornwall or DDM.

Finally, amid these goodies is the second volume of Vera Brittain's autobiography which tells the story of Winifred Holtby. I don't think that I've ever read this book and I am looking forward to learning more about Holtby and the relationship of the two women. If it's as good as Testament of Youth then it'll definitely be worth reading.


(I've just spotted the the STW novels are under embargo until the 1st, so I shall set this post to post then!)

Charms for the easy life (Kaye Gibbons)

Charms for the easy life is the fourth Kaye Gibbons novel that I've read for this challenge and she's an author that I have enjoyed reading who I probably would not have picked up otherwise - the front of this novel compares her to a later Eudora Welty (another author I've read as a result of VVV) and I think that this is true through the way that she writes about women's lives in rural America.

Charms for the easy life follows the story of three generations of women, told by the grandaughter Margaret. It is a story without a strong male presence, neither Charlie Kate her grandmother or her mother Sophia is married any longer, although they have various romantic entanglements, and it is interesting to see a world depicted where women can very much try to make it on their own even though it is the 1930s and there are many obstacles in the way.

Charlie Kate is a "healing woman", with considerable skill, she is the person often summoned when neighbours and other people in the town suffer ill health much to the chagrin of the local doctor who does almost everything he can to impede her work even though it is almost immediately obvious to the reader that she does things better.

What is so striking about this book is the way that the women depend on each other and can cope without depending on men, which makes it an interesting companion read to some of my most recent VMC reading such as Gissing's The odd women.

It's been published just the once by Virago with a green spine but very ungreen cover!

Two Mary Webb VMCs

So last week I decided to tackle two more Mary Webb books which had been languishing in the TBR pile. Not overly enamoured by the ones that I've read so far (is it really only three, it feels like many more), but at least there is only one more to go after these two, the first and last books that she wrote.

The golden arrow was Webb's first novel, apparently penned in just under three weeks. Set in a poor farming community in Shropshire and strongly infused with Christian morals, it tells the story of Stephen and Deb who are searching for a "golden arrow" which is said to bind couples together if it is found on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, an old Shropshire legend. He was originally a preacher, but came to reject religion and convinces Deb to live with him out of wedlock which is the start of their downfall. Although they later get married, Stephen feels tied down and finds it difficult to love Deb in the same way.

The armour wherein he trusted was Webb's last novel and was in fact unfinished. It certainly feels quite "bitty" compared to her earlier works, and it is published here with 10 short (in some cases only two pages) stories. The main story is supposedly a medieval romance, set in the 11th century where an abbot named Sir Gilbert recalls his early life as a knight and his spiritual struggles to follow Christ. It seems to be very much a didactic book about trying to achieve heavenly ideals rather than earthly ones.

I enjoyed the short stories rather more, especially a little one about a woman who yearns to recieve a bouquet of flowers. Quite an extravagance, and really she is lucky enough to have money to put in the gas and to buy tea. However, she gives in to the desire and decides to treat herself to some flowers for her birthday. The day before, she goes to the market, chooses the ones she wants in her bouquet, tells the market seller that they are for a dear friend, and goes home for a sleepless night filled with anticipation of the next day. She waits, and waits and waits. Where are the flowers? Of course her landlady thought that they couldn't possibly be for her. It's like a kick in the stomach after the anticipation of seeing her get the flowers.

Both of these have just been published once by Virago with the original green covers.

The glimpses of the moon (Wharton)

My colleague handed me The glimpses of the moon by Edith Wharton after the Christmas break. She, like regular readers, knows that I have struggled with Wharton books on this challenge finding them difficult to relate to, so she didn't mind too much when I wasn't terribly effusive. Let me be clear however, I was still grateful to have a VMC that I had not yet read put into my hands, and actually, I have to admit to getting more out of it than I was expecting.

Although, like the other Wharton books I have read, this focuses on "society", it had a strong plot line from the start which interested me enough to want to keep reading. Penniless Nick and Susy have just got married and are on honeymoon; we discover that it has been a pragmatic marriage where they think that marriage will benefit them financially and within society. They intend to live off their wedding present cheques and the hospitality of their friends and acquaintances and believe that these will last for about a year before running out. They make an agreement that should one of them have the opportunity to marry someone wealthy, they will break the marriage. However, when a misunderstanding results in them going off with other people, it seems that the time spent together has not just had a pragmatic effect, they have actually fallen in love.

I realised whilst I was reading the book that the reason I think I struggle with Wharton's books is because the emphasis on society life seems to make the characters predominantly interested in superficial things such as money and social hierarchies. Although this was certainly a strong theme in this book, I sensed from early on that perhaps this wasn't the most important thing.

Maybe I should try The house of mirth next which has been waiting for me for quite a while...

This has just been published once by Virago with an italicised green cover. Thanks again to Alison for passing it to me. Bizarrely it has the same number as No place on earth by Christa Wolf.

Story of an African farm (Schreiner)

After two very plot driven VMCs, I struggled a little bit with A story of an African farm. It was recommended to me many years ago by a very dear friend but I had never got around to reading it before now. Although it follows the narrative of two women growing up, it is much more essay and description than actual story.

A story of an African farm follows Lyndall and Em, who live on a sheep farm in the Boer in South Africa. Published at the end of the nineteenth century, the book illustrates that the options available to women in South Africa were as limited as those in England (as illustrated in the last two VMCs that I read, Red Pottage and The odd women). The book describes Em’s willingness to accept her limited options and Lyndall’s refusal, leading her to leave home to attend boarding school and find a relationship, although having witnessed unsuccessful marriages she refuses to consider this for herself.

You can read a more extensive review of the book here .

Although it's been published many times, it's just been published once by Virago Modern Classics with the original green cover.