What We're Reading III

ivohenry · **Posted:** 17 May 2018, 16:31

Just reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Saw the film a couple of weeks ago was advised by a friend to see film first then read book because there are some changes - inevitable as the book is a series of letters which wouldn't come over well as a film

Jools · **Posted:** 10 Jun 2018, 08:38

Have just finished the Elsie Dinsmore books. Gosh, she obviously thought the best fathers were dictatorial. I think Captain Raymond was even worst than Mr Dinsmore by the end of the series and why kill off Elsie's husband? You also get force-fed a lot of American Revolution history. They are very religious, but I'm glad I persevered and read them all. Not sure I can face the Mildred Keith stories just yet

Victoria · **Joined:** 17 Nov 2011, 02:45 **Posts:** 897

I've been reading in the category "authors who used to be very popular and are now unknown".

One of those is Barry Pain. He was known as a writer of parody and humorous stories. writing at the turn of the last century.

I've just read "The Eliza Stories" which is actually a collection of 5 short books containing short pieces (magazine column length). They reminded me of "The Diary of a Nobody" and I think they would appeal to anyone who likes that book. In a similar vein is "Edwards: Confessions of a Jobbing Gardener"

sealpuppy · **Posted:** 11 Jun 2018, 18:06

I'm having a Georgette Heyer comfort reading week. Read A Civil Contract - still love it. The Quiet Gentleman - ditto, and now Frederica. GH never lets me down. (Apart from the early ones like Powder and Patch, of course)

lizco · **Joined:** 29 Dec 2009, 15:11 **Posts:** 538

Have just re-read GH's False Colours which always makes me smile. My all-time favourite and the one I would take to my desert island is The Grand Sophy.

cestina · **Posted:** 11 Jun 2018, 22:10

I too have been doing some Heyer comfort reading. I love False Colours and the final scene in The Unknown Ajax makes me laugh every time.

But this weekend it was These Old Shades and Devil's Cub..

mrs helston · **Posted:** 12 Jun 2018, 03:01

I just re-read The Talisman Ring - never fails to make me giggle. My all time laugh-out-loud is Friday's Child ("Nemesis" will always make me laugh!)

I have struggled to find similar books to hers though

Regency romances abound but they lack the wonderful Heyer humour...Have been forced to conclude, that, much like Wodehouse, her genius cannot be replicated.

Noreen · **Posted:** 12 Jun 2018, 08:28

mrs helston wrote:

I just re-read The Talisman Ring - never fails to make me giggle. My all time laugh-out-loud is Friday's Child ("Nemesis" will always make me laugh!)

I have struggled to find similar books to hers though

Regency romances abound but they lack the wonderful Heyer humour...Have been forced to conclude, that, much like Wodehouse, her genius cannot be replicated.

I'm a great Heyer fan, and The Talisman Ring is one of my favourites - I especially love Sarah Thane and her brother Sir Hugh - but oddly enough I can't get on with Friday's Child.

Not exactly a similar author, especially in terms of her humour, but if you don't know Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond novels (the series starts with The Game of Kings), you might enjoy them, though they're set in the 16th century rather than the 18th or early 19th. I sometimes wonder if it's mostly the lesser writers who've attempted the Regency period more recently - everyone else knows they risk being compared with GH!

Edited to correct the grammar!

sealpuppy · **Posted:** 12 Jun 2018, 15:04

Friday's Child was my first Heyer but I very rarely re-read it, not sure why; I do love False Colours, Talisman Ring, Reluctant Widow.
I don't know why they haven't been made into tv dramas. A romantic series of films, gorgeous frocks, stately homes, handsome heroes - it needs the Downton treatment but as a self-contained series. As long as it's made in the UK!

LucyP · **Joined:** 30 Nov 2008, 22:28 **Posts:** 258

Another huge Heyer fan here. I have read most of them so often I know what the next word at the turn of the page is. I have some scenes that I read for comfort rather than the whole book - the unmasking of Pru in Masqueraders, the staged cards and drunkenness scene in The Unknown Ajax, the Duke of Avon's 'story' at the end of These Old Shades...wasn't she just a wonderful creator of real worlds and real people.

Doot · **Joined:** 13 Aug 2012, 22:37 **Posts:** 256

Who could not love Cotillion and sweet, lovely Freddy Standen! And I love The Unknown Ajax, The Toll Gate, A Civil Contract, Frederica, The Grand Sophy, Arabella...

cestina · **Posted:** 12 Jun 2018, 20:28

LucyP wrote:

Another huge Heyer fan here. I have read most of them so often I know what the next word at the turn of the page is. I have some scenes that I read for comfort rather than the whole book - the unmasking of Pru in Masqueraders, the staged cards and drunkenness scene in The Unknown Ajax, the Duke of Avon's 'story' at the end of These Old Shades...wasn't she just a wonderful creator of real worlds and real people.

My daughter and I do the same Lucy. We too know much of our favourites by heart. We were very sad when the Almack's List stopped the monthly quiz where you had to identify passages with missing names etc. I must check whether it has returned.

I had tears in my eyes all the way through the Duke of Avon's story at the weekend. And books don't usually make me cry....

Jools · **Posted:** 08 Jul 2018, 20:11

Just read 'Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore' by Robin Sloan. The title alone made me want to read it

It's very good.

MaryR · **Posted:** 09 Jul 2018, 13:05

I read that a good while ago, Jools, and found it mysterious and fascinating. As you say, the title tempts you in. At the moment, I'm enjoying Jodi Taylor's latest, An Argumentation of Historians, having received it for my birthday from a CCBer! :wink:

Jools · **Posted:** 09 Jul 2018, 23:02

Ooh Mary that is on my Kindle waiting to be read! But do I do a series reread first?

cestina · **Posted:** 16 Jul 2018, 18:34

I have just finished the first one in Jodi Taylor's new series, White Silence.

I was a little afraid I would not enjoy it since I don't actually read horror books at all but the horror was bearable and the book is written with her usual light touch so I did enjoy it after all.

I need number 2 to be written very fast now... Has anyone else read it and if so what did you think of it?

ETA it's on Kindle for 99pence at the moment

MaryR · **Posted:** 17 Jul 2018, 19:26

Jools wrote:

Ooh Mary that is on my Kindle waiting to be read! But do I do a series reread first?

Sorry for the delay in replying, Jools! Depends how good your memory is, I suppose, as to whether you need to do a re-read! :twisted:

Just keep in mind what happened in the previous one and you should be okay.

And, like cestina, I have White Silence on my kindle and am now about to start that.

sealpuppy · **Posted:** 21 Jul 2018, 11:54

I'm still undecided about White Silence. I like the whisper of the supernatural but I felt it lurched between thriller and farce and that was unsettling. I really liked the male 'hero' - can't remember his name, it's a while ago - but he reminded me too much of Markham in a different set-up, and that was disconcerting. I do want to know what happens and am looking forward to the sequel, so that's got to be a good mark.

I've just finished The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, another book that took time to settle into. In the end I did like it and if ever there was a film waiting to be made, this is it. You could recast all the women from the stupidly-cancelled Home Fires series and they'd be terrific. I can see it being turned into a series, too.
However, I was irritated by the use of 'like' all the way through. 'It was like he was...' That's sloppy editing on top of poor research and it annoyed me. She's a debut author and deserved an editor who understood the period.

Jools · **Posted:** 22 Jul 2018, 17:13

I also enjoyed 'The Chilbury Ladies Choir's' sealpuppy and agree it would made a good film.

cestina · **Posted:** 23 Jul 2018, 11:04

I have just finished, and hugely enjoyed, Summer Term and its sequel A Young Man's Fancy, by Susan Pleydell. Perfect summer holiday reading. Not that I am having a holiday at the moment. Visitors abound in the dolls house museum at the moment.

I am now reading the fourth in the Oxford Medieval Mysteries series by Ann Swinfen, which I also enjoy. A nice mix of family life, history, and mild detective work. On Kindle Unlimited and also some at 99pence I think.

What We're Reading III

Who is online