Read the 1940s - Jan 2019: Family

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Read the 1940s - Jan 2019: Family

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1lauralkeet
Muokkaaja: maaliskuu 24, 2019, 6:43 am

Welcome to our 2019 Read the 1940s theme read!
January's topic is Family.

Books can be fiction or nonfiction, Viragos, Persephones, books by Virago/Persephone authors, or books that otherwise embody the "Virago spirit." They can be set in the 1940s, or published in the 1940s. In short, there are no rules here -- participants can set rules to suit themselves. For questions, comments, and general chat about the theme read go to our General Discussion thread.

Visit the Book Recommendations thread for help choosing books that fit the theme & monthly topic. Or, check out the fabulous Google spreadsheet created by Heather/souloftherose, which compiles and classifies all the book recommendations mentioned on the thread. The spreadsheet includes a "categories" column that shows which topic(s) each book would be suitable for. Below are links to two different views of the data:
* Full spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-b4Y2YrG4VseFT5qn546IjWy0JYst7cOVIrmeBHB...
* Filtered on the "Family" category: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-b4Y2YrG4VseFT5qn546IjWy0JYst7cOVIrmeBHB...

Note that the filtered view does not work on mobile devices, and it may take a few extra seconds to load in your browser. Please let us know if you have any feedback or suggestions for the spreadsheet.

Now, over to you: let us know what you're planning to read in January, and share your thoughts on the books as you read them.

2romain
joulukuu 26, 2018, 8:51 am

Thanks Laura for all your hard work and to the others who went above and beyond!

I will read Chatterton Square this month.

3souloftherose
joulukuu 26, 2018, 2:19 pm

Thank you for setting this up Laura! I'm planning to read two books from my TBR piles which I think will fit the theme - Saplings by Noel Streatfeild which I have in a Persephone edition and Fugue in Time by Rumer Godden which is a VMC.

>2 romain: I don't have a copy but I'm also really tempted by Chatterton Square as I've really enjoyed other E. H. Young books I've read.

4Heaven-Ali
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 26, 2018, 2:36 pm

>2 romain: great choice Chatterton Square is wonderful.

5kac522
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 27, 2018, 5:26 am

I think I'm going with The Little Company by Eleanor Dark (VMC). Don't know anything about it, except from the description on the book cover, which is quoted on LT:

"It is 1941 and the storm clouds of war gather over Australia. In the mountains outside Sydney the Massey family are reunited by their father's death. Gilbert is a successful novelist, struggling with a writer's block in middle age. A socialist and intellectual, he shares his political understanding - and fears - with his sister Marty and Marxist brother Nick. But he is locked in an unhappy marriage with a woman of little imagination and obsessive respectability, and their daughters, Prue and Virginia, are as incompatible as their parents. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor war becomes a reality. As Gilbert and his family are overtaken by the forces of history they must come to terms with their personal and public failures, and watch as the new generation inevitably mirrors the contradictions and turmoil of the old"...."Originally published in Australia in 1945, it combines a moving tale of family life with an acute analysis of politics and war in the 1940s."

Family angst, Marxism and war...apparently this book's got it all... :)

6kaggsy
joulukuu 27, 2018, 5:27 am

That sounds tempting! If I had it, I’d read it! 😁

7Sakerfalcon
joulukuu 27, 2018, 5:43 am

Some fantastic choices for this month! I have Chatterton Square, Because of the Lockwoods and The little company on Mount Tbr so I will read at least one of those.

8lauralkeet
joulukuu 27, 2018, 7:15 am

I'm trying to use this theme read to whittle down my Virago TBR, so I'm looking for books that are already on my shelves. Sapphira and the Slave Girl by Willa Cather seems like a fit (so says Heather's spreadsheet). It's one of the few Cathers I haven't read yet.

9CDVicarage
joulukuu 27, 2018, 9:14 am

I'm going to start by re-reading Ten Days of Christmas - it's seasonal, too - and then go on to Doreen, which was a Virago Secret Santa present too many years ago and is still unread.

10vestafan
joulukuu 27, 2018, 11:28 am

This subject area is fascinating to me, and I will get through a lot of TBRs I hope. I have three books classified as family only in that amazing spreadsheet, so hopefully I will read at least one of Because of the Lockwoods, The River and Chatterton Square. E H Young and Dorothy Whipple are two of my favourite authors, so this promises to get the year off to a great start.

11lauralkeet
joulukuu 27, 2018, 1:27 pm

You can now access a view of the book recommendations spreadsheet filtered on the monthly topic. I added a link to the "Family" view in >1 lauralkeet:, and will post a filtered category view every month. Thanks Heather!

12Heaven-Ali
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 27, 2018, 6:58 pm

I think I will probably read The Casino a Persephone collection of stories. I am also tempted by Molly Keane's Two Days in Aragon set in the 1920s,but written in the early 40s.

13romain
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 28, 2018, 9:26 am

I loved Doreen Kerry. My problem is that I have read many of my Persephones and because I am addicted to the inter war years, and WW2, I have already got to most of the relevant VMCs as well.

14kaggsy
joulukuu 28, 2018, 1:49 pm

Thanks for the link to the edited spreadsheet - most helpful, and I have a few titles which will fit in - I'll try to read one of them during the month! :D

15kaggsy
joulukuu 28, 2018, 1:52 pm

I'm considering the Attia Hosain collection, btw, although that appears to have been published in the 1950s but is presumably set in the 1940s??

16laytonwoman3rd
joulukuu 28, 2018, 4:30 pm

I think it will be Chatterton Square for me as well.

17laytonwoman3rd
joulukuu 28, 2018, 4:32 pm

>1 lauralkeet: Laura, can you add the https:// to the links for the Book Recommendations and General Discussion threads in the first post, until LT can fix whatever glitch it is that loses the formatting otherwise? TY.

18surtsey
joulukuu 28, 2018, 5:55 pm

I think I'm going to start the Mary Hocking trilogy - someone noted in the other thread that the 2nd and 3rd books are set in the 40s. I'm reading Letters from Constance right now and definitely want to read more of her.

19lauralkeet
joulukuu 28, 2018, 6:20 pm

>17 laytonwoman3rd: done, and thanks for mentioning it Linda. Those threads are loading fine for me now, hope they are for others as well.

20romain
joulukuu 29, 2018, 11:51 am

Surtsey - You will love the Hocking trilogy!!!

21Heaven-Ali
joulukuu 30, 2018, 5:54 am

>18 surtsey: I'm a big Hocking fan. I 've enjoyed many of her novels. I hope you enjoy the Trilogy.

22Heaven-Ali
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 31, 2018, 12:31 pm

I have some Stella Gibbons books tbr

The Matchmaker
Here be Dragons
Westwood
(published by vintage)
Would they work for family?

I read The Bachelor earlier this year, which I loved. That could fit into family or refugee/emigration/relocation.

23anbolyn
joulukuu 31, 2018, 5:36 pm

I've only read half of Westwood, but it would definitely fit in the "Family" category.

This is such a fabulous idea - I am going to join in this year as much as possible!

24brenzi
tammikuu 2, 2019, 7:40 pm

I hope to join in on this and read Chatterton Square. Love the spreadsheets.

25Soupdragon
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 3, 2019, 3:37 am

>24 brenzi: Great to see you here, Bonnie.

I'm planning to start Doreen today.

>22 Heaven-Ali: I liked Westwood a lot and yes, it would fit family. I haven't read the others.

26laytonwoman3rd
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 7, 2019, 3:07 pm

Struggling to get into Chatterton Square...

ETA: Tried again... I found it totally unengaging. Onward to something else.

27Sakerfalcon
tammikuu 4, 2019, 3:45 am

I finished Because of the Lockwoods which was a great read. Although written in the 1940s it's set earlier and there are no hints of the events leading to WWII. It's a compelling portrait of two families through which we can explore issues of class and privilege. When Mr Hunter dies Mr Lockwood grudgingly agrees to help Mrs Lockwood get her husband's legal affairs in order. He soon finds a way to reward himself for this act of charity ... it's not really fraud, is it, just a payment for his service .... Over the years the Lockwoods patronise the Hunters, flaunting their material advantages and using them as a foil to feel better about their own lives. The Hunters seem content with this arrangement - all but Thea, the youngest daughter, who finds her own way to rebel and exact revenge. This is a long book but I flew through it. It's easy to read and the characters are all vivid and interesting. We see the decline of traditional industry and the rise of a new class against the backdrop of a northern industrial town. I highly recommend this if you have a copy on the TBR pile.

Now I'm reading The little company, which is harder to get into but interesting so far. The Australian setting is a good contrast with my last read.

28Matke
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 4, 2019, 1:58 pm

I’m reading Mr. Skeffington by Elizabeth von Arminian, Which starts in the most delightfully informal way imaginable. I’ve had on the TBR for along time, so thank you for the prompt to get going on it.

29LyzzyBee
tammikuu 7, 2019, 7:54 am

I've just finished reading Tirzah Garwood's Long Live Great Bardfield and it strikes me that it was written originally in 1943 and covers the war years and living with her children with her husband doing war artist work - it is a Persephone but I have accidentally fitted in, almost, haven't I!

30romain
tammikuu 8, 2019, 9:14 am

About 6 chapters into Chatterton Square. So far, so good.

31souloftherose
tammikuu 8, 2019, 11:48 am

I've finished A Fugue in Time by Rumer Godden. This was published in 1945 and tells the story of several generations of one family who have lived in the same London house for 99 years. The different time periods all blend together in this book as memories or ghosts arise in the characters mind's and the family changes from a late Victorian family with 9 children to the 1940s with only one of those children still in residence until they are joined by their great-niece from America. I find Godden's writing style very unique and very difficult to describe - all of her books are good but this was not her best and she revisits similar themes more successfully in China Court over a decade later. Still, I did enjoy this one.

Next up will probably be Saplings by Noel Streatfeild.

32surtsey
tammikuu 9, 2019, 10:48 pm

I just finished the Hocking trilogy. I'm glad to know she wrote 24 novels -- I'm looking forward to reading many more of them.

33Heaven-Ali
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 10, 2019, 3:57 pm

I 'm reading The Casino by Margaret Bonham short stories which I think will focus on different kinds of family. Only read the first two but enjoying it so far.

34europhile
tammikuu 10, 2019, 6:21 pm

I now have a gap in my fiction reading and will be joining a number of you in starting Chatterton Square. As I acquired this at the annual book fair a few months ago and it's the only novel by E. H. Young I own that I have not yet read, this beginning to the 1940's read suits me very well.

35Heaven-Ali
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 12, 2019, 5:18 pm

I finished The Casino and loved it, such a good collection.

36mrspenny
tammikuu 12, 2019, 10:34 pm

I have just finished Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton. My review is posted on the Books Page. It was a delight to read and I agree with you Ali it is a real page turner.

37rainpebble
tammikuu 13, 2019, 4:12 pm

It has been far too long since I picked up a Godden & I love her writing so much! I have chosen to read her Breakfast With the Nikolides for the January theme read. It is one of her few I’ve not yet read.
It is so interesting to see all of your choices. And so good to be ending ‘the year of hell’ & seeing a light at the end of this tunnel.

38Sakerfalcon
tammikuu 14, 2019, 7:49 am

It's great to see some familiar faces back after long absences! The more the merrier!

I finished The little company at the weekend, and while not the easiest read it was a very good book. The characters mostly have strong social and political views, and the book shows how their ideologies affect their reactions and responses to WWII when it impacts Australia. I hadn't realised that Australia suffered bombing raids although obviously I knew they were involved in the war. The novel is really a slice of life in the Massey family in 1941 and 1942, propelled by character growth and change rather than external events. The political conversations can get a bit dry, but thankfully they end just in time to prevent them outstaying their welcome. It's also a book about writing - or not being able to write - and the identity of an author. I've previously enjoyed Dark's other Virago, Lantana Lane, which is totally different in tone. Both books are well worth reading though.

Next I'm having a break to read Some tame gazelle with the facebook Barbara Pym group, then I will move on to Chatterton Square.

39CurrerBell
tammikuu 16, 2019, 4:57 am

Attia Hosain's Phoenix Fled (4****). I really loved this one but I'm only giving it four stars rather than higher because, as is typical with most short story anthologies, some stories are better than others (except, say, for something like Olive Kitteridge, where the stories are so closely linked that the anthology is close to being a novel).

At least a couple of the stories were a bit obvious ("This Was All the Harvest" – a young man visiting a politician he'd known years ago) or a bit over-the-top ("A Woman and a Child" – a childless upper-class woman who becomes attached to a poor woman's young child), but that's to be expected in such an anthology. I particularly liked the title story, with its ending that was so very true-to-history but totally unexpected from the lead-up.

40europhile
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 16, 2019, 9:40 pm

I've just finished Chatterton Square. I found it a little hard to get into at first, mainly because there were too many characters introduced early on and I was a bit confused by some of them for a while. This was exacerbated later on when they started popping up in each other's households, but by then I was becoming more used to them as distinct individuals. At one point I thought the author had made a mistake with the name of one of her characters but it turned out to have been a case of mistaken identity on the part of another character who was surprised in her sleep!

It was worth persevering to the end. By then it had become a fine character study and portrayal of a marriage and a (virtual) non-marriage, and different ways of living and seeing the world, set during the uncertain political period just before the Second World War. I came to like the two main female characters, and become exasperated by the husband of one of them who believed he was always right and felt that his opinions on the political situation (and everything else) should be sought and given credence by the members of the female sex who, of course, could not be expected to understand these things as he did. He turned out to be very wrong in the end, both about his wife and about the political situation (though the latter finally reached its seemingly inevitable outcome after the novel had ended). In fact I found the ending unsatisfactory, not because it was inconclusive but because I wanted to keep reading about all these people and find out what happened to them afterwards.

I'm not sure what I'll read next, perhaps Good Daughters though it's not strictly set in the right period. I'm looking out for the second book in this trilogy as I already have the third.

41Heaven-Ali
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 18, 2019, 2:42 am

>38 Sakerfalcon: >40 europhile: I loved Chatterton Square such a good book for this month's theme of family. I loved to hate that husband and found the two main women fascinating characters.

I have just reviewed The Casino by Margaret Bonham

I found these Persephone stories fitted this theme perfectly too.

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2019/01/18/the-casino-margaret-bonham-1948/

42romain
tammikuu 20, 2019, 10:13 am

Finished Chatterton Square. Excellent! Thanks to whoever suggested it.

43lauralkeet
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 22, 2019, 3:29 pm

For this theme read, I'm intent on reading books from my TBR, vs. -- shock! horror! -- acquiring new ones. I have 86 Viragoes still to be read that were published 1940 or later. Surely I will be able to find something for each month?

Well, I'm off to a rather lame start it seems. I didn't find a good match on our book recommendations spreadsheet, at least not where reading about the 1940s is concerned (I know there are no rules for this theme read, but I have a personal preference to focus my reading in this direction). I ended up choosing a book published in 1940: Willa Cather's Sapphira and the Slave Girl. This is set in Virginia in 1856. I'm intrigued, because Cather normally wrote about the American prairie, but it's not exactly what I was looking for in terms of our theme.

Fortunately I'm in better shape for February, and I'm going to do a bit more analysis of my 86 books to find ones suited to our future monthly topics.

44rainpebble
tammikuu 22, 2019, 3:26 pm

I had planned to read a Rumer Godden for this month's 1940s family challenge. But chose instead to pick up The Two Mrs Abbotts by Stevenson. I found it to be a low key but wonderful tale, (the 3rd of the her Buncle books), in that nothing truly of note occurs and yet when the story is over one feels as if one has read something very special. I loved it.

45CurrerBell
tammikuu 22, 2019, 7:07 pm

>43 lauralkeet: My own favorite Cather isn't the prairies (nothing against them, though, and I especially need to give My Antonia a reread). My own personal favorite is New Mexico, Death Comes for the Archbishop.

And yes, I'm trying as much as possible to stick by my own TBRs. I've set my own ROOTing for 100 this year, and I'm proud to say that I've already finished 9 TBRs, I've got two more that I'm almost finished, and I'll possibly even hit 15 for the month which lets me way and above break 100 by year's end.

One problem. Fifteen for January? Nice, but I've already bought 28 new books since the New Year.

46Sakerfalcon
tammikuu 23, 2019, 6:49 am

I've just started Chatterton Square. So far I've read 6 books by Young and only disliked one of them, so I have high hopes for CS.

47lauralkeet
tammikuu 23, 2019, 7:16 am

>45 CurrerBell: I loved Death Comes for the Archibishop also, Mike. I'm finding Sapphira and the Slave Girl a bit uncomfortable, to be honest. It doesn't exactly glorify slavery, I guess you'd say she condones it. Everyone working for the family is perfectly happy with their lot, they take pride in making the parlor room shine for the missus, that sort of thing.

48romain
tammikuu 23, 2019, 8:52 am

Same reaction when I read it Laura. We've come a long way.

49kaggsy
tammikuu 23, 2019, 12:35 pm

I’m hoping to get to Dimanche and other stories by Irene Nemirovsky - time permitting! 😁

50europhile
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 23, 2019, 7:44 pm

I'm about two-thirds of the way through Good Daughters and enjoying it. I can't help comparing it with Chatterton Square though.

I've also been to the library and picked up The Persimmon Tree and other stories, The Casino, Breakfast with the Nikolides, Dimanche and other stories, and China Court. The last is not strictly 1940s but it's one of the few Godden's I have yet to read (I read both its predecessor A Fugue in Time and The River as part of the Virago monthly author read the year before last).

51Heaven-Ali
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 24, 2019, 11:25 am

I am about to start Phoenix Fled by Attia Hosein. It has been tagged family in the spreadsheet. Published in 1953 so am I right to assume that the stories are known to set in the 40s. A fascinating period in Indian history if so.

52CurrerBell
tammikuu 24, 2019, 1:37 pm

>51 Heaven-Ali: The stories are set right before partition. At least one or two of them (including the title story) deal with specific partition issues.

53Heaven-Ali
tammikuu 24, 2019, 4:32 pm

>52 CurrerBell: thanks I have read the first two stories. I love the way she writes. It's a while since I read Sunlight on a broken column.

54laytonwoman3rd
tammikuu 24, 2019, 4:45 pm

>51 Heaven-Ali: I'm going to give that one a try, as I failed to engage with Chatterton Square for this month's theme.

55europhile
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 24, 2019, 10:20 pm

I liked Good Daughters, which was a much lighter and easier read than Chatterton Square. I thought there was a superficial similarity between these two novels, principally in the characters and preoccupations of the two parents. Much else was different, though, particularly the lightness of tone and the underlying humour in Good Daughters. As I don't have the second book in the trilogy I will move on to the first pile of library books for now.

ETA: I've now ordered Indifferent Heroes but it's coming from the UK so it may take a while to get here. Not a Virago edition unfortunately.

56lauralkeet
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 24, 2019, 7:13 pm

>52 CurrerBell:, >53 Heaven-Ali: This is really helpful, I was wondering about that book.

Phoenix Fled is also tagged for Relationships (Feb), Travel (Jul), and Peace (Nov) so anyone who doesn't get to it this month will have other opportunities (as well as two wildcard months).

57lauralkeet
tammikuu 25, 2019, 10:07 am

Well, I finished Sapphira and the Slave Girl. I can't say I'd recommend it. Here's my review:

This was Willa Cather’s last published novel, and not her best. In it, she returned to her Virginia roots and attempted to write a novel about slavery. Sort of. Set in 1856, the eponymous Sapphira is the wife of a mill owner, and rationalizes her black “servants” by not actually buying or selling them. Just, you know, enslaving and demeaning them over generations. Oh, okay. No problem.

Sapphira’s husband, Henry, is a spineless character who has essentially moved his residence to the mill he operates. He seems vaguely opposed to slavery but relies on the family’s “servants” to care for his needs. Sapphira’s widowed daughter Rachel is opposed to slavery and keeps her distance, living several miles away with her two daughters. The “servants” are all stereotypically happy in their work, taking pride in making the silver shine and all that. When Henry’s nephew comes to visit and begins to prey upon Nancy, a mixed-race slave of questionable parentage, it seems the only solution is to whisk her away to Canada via the Underground Railroad.

Meh. This novel plods along from one event to another, with no dramatic tension whatsoever. Conflicts and relationship issues are hinted at but left unresolved. Anti-slavery sentiment is expressed, but only half-heartedly, and the narrative is littered with pejoratives that come across as part of Cather’s vocabulary rather than “just” the voice of her characters. Why did I persist to the end? Who knows.

58Heaven-Ali
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 26, 2019, 12:36 pm

Just finished Phoenix Fled some stories fit into the family theme better than others but almost all the stories feature some sort of family. Beautifully written stories, though rather sad.

59laytonwoman3rd
tammikuu 26, 2019, 2:27 pm

>58 Heaven-Ali: Interesting...I'm about half-way through Phoenix Fled, and I'm finding most of the stories fall flat for me. None of the characters feel real to me. I'm going to finish the one I just started, but may not continue with the rest.

60lauralkeet
tammikuu 26, 2019, 6:51 pm

61europhile
tammikuu 26, 2019, 11:37 pm

I'm reading The Persimmon Tree and other Stories. Most of the stories are quite short so it's fairly easy to get through. However, the VMC edition is full of spelling errors which is very distracting. A previous reader has filled it with proofreading marks, which is also annoying. I note from the introductory biography of the author that Marjorie Barnard's collaboration with Flora Eldershaw Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, was first published in 1947, though this edition was heavily censored. The uncensored edition was not published until 1983 by Virago Press. I'm not sure if this would qualify it for the 1940s read but I'm not going to attempt it anyway.

Also I see that Elizabeth Bowen's The Heat of the Day was first published in 1948. From what I have read about it this would seem to fit the relationship category also.

62CurrerBell
tammikuu 27, 2019, 4:52 am

>61 europhile: I found Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow a bit tedious. I gave it a 3½*** review (and 3½*** might have been a bit high of a rating). One of those books you're glad to have read but found it a slog getting through.

63Heaven-Ali
tammikuu 27, 2019, 7:56 am

>59 laytonwoman3rd: and >60 lauralkeet: Well, while I thought the stories were beautifully written, and there was a lot to appreciate in them,
. I liked most of the characters but the sadness of the stories did slightly depress me.

64souloftherose
tammikuu 29, 2019, 2:00 pm

I finished and really enjoyed Noel Streatfeild's Saplings about the effects of WWII on the children in one particular family. I'm not going to get to Chatterton Square before the end of the month but will pencil it in for one of the other months as I'd still really like to read it.

65rainpebble
tammikuu 29, 2019, 4:31 pm

I just completed The Life and Death of Harriet Frean which actually fits much better into our family themed 1940s than The Two Mrs. Abbotts. Caring for one's parents through their dying and death definitely fits the family category. The latter is better suited for the February themed relationships 1940s. And there are relationships of all sorts in T.T.M.A.
I found both books to be very good.

66europhile
tammikuu 30, 2019, 9:22 pm

I finished The Persimmon Tree a few days ago and moved right on to The Casino. I much preferred the latter, a collection which was somehow reminiscent of Elizabeth Taylor's short stories. The stories I most enjoyed were quite amusing, such as: 'A Fine Place for the Cat', 'Miss King', 'The Two Mrs Reeds' and 'Annabel's Mother', but all of them were very good really. It's a pity there is not more work available by this writer. Next on the pile is Breakfast with the Nikolides, another Rumer Godden novel set in India.

67Sakerfalcon
tammikuu 31, 2019, 7:29 am

Finished Chatterton Square just within the month! I really enjoyed it, another wonderfully perceptive book by Young. Bertha Blackett, Miss Spanner and Rhoda were my favourite characters but Mr Blackett is so deliciously awful that I couldn't help enjoying his scenes even while wanting to smack him! Highly recommended.

68vestafan
tammikuu 31, 2019, 11:15 am

Despite my good intentions, I only read one book from the list, but I loved it. E H Young is one of my favourite Virago authors and Chatterton Square did not disappoint.

69CurrerBell
tammikuu 31, 2019, 5:00 pm

>68 vestafan: I've only read one this month too (Attia Hosain, Phoenix Fled) — and that's deliberate. I want to make sure I have one TBR for each month, and I really want to avoid buying too many books this year but instead get through my humongous Mount TBR.

70Heaven-Ali
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 31, 2019, 6:40 pm

I read two for this month's theme The Casino and Phoenix Fled.

I reviewed Phoenix Fled on my blog today.

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2019/01/31/phoenix-fled-attia-hosain-1953/

71europhile
Muokkaaja: helmikuu 1, 2019, 5:20 pm

I finished Breakfast with the Nikolides yesterday. It was well up to the standard I have come to expect from Rumer Godden, slightly reminiscent of The River in its Indian setting and being based upon a young girl's coming-of-age. It seemed to me to fit both the family and relationships themes, as her parents' contrasting personalities and the state of their marriage were crucial to precipitating the events in the story.

I've now read the first two stories from Dimanche and other stories and I'm sure I will like this very much too.

72rainpebble
helmikuu 1, 2019, 5:47 pm

>71 europhile:;
Grant, the Nemirovsky has been on my wishlist for ever so long. I love her writing so much. So I am also sure you will really appreciate it.
And one simply cannot go wrong with Godden. Great choices. I am looking forward to 'Breakfast'.

73Soupdragon
helmikuu 2, 2019, 2:01 pm

I read Doreen by Barbara Noble. Doreen is a working class London child who moves in with a childless, more privileged couple in WW2 and a battle for her affections ensues. For some reason my expectations were low for this, but this was sensitively done, psychologically astute and well written.

74romain
helmikuu 2, 2019, 4:42 pm

Dee - I really liked Doreen too.

75CDVicarage
helmikuu 3, 2019, 7:45 am

I had a good January in the 1940s:

I started with Ten Days of Christmas, which was a re-read. I enjoyed it more this time as I could more easily remember the characters and the family links between them.

Doreen, a previously unread Persephone - my very first, which I think I received from a long ago Virago Secret Santa exchange - which was another good read and, again, firmly set in its era.

Family Roundabout, another Persephone, more light-hearted this time.

I started, but put aside, Farewell Leicester Square as it didn't suit my mood but I'm sure I shall have another go.