Virago 50th Anniversary Reading Project 2023 - June

2023 sees us celebrating 50 years of our favourite publisher, Virago!

We have set up a reading project to choose books from a section of the VMC catalogue in sequential order, and after some discussion on other threads, have decided to go for equal sections rather than trying to divide up the 50 years and fit books into this by publication date!

To aid us, we will be using our Virago Collection Tracker which can be found in the Group Wiki.

In June, our fifth month, we can choose from books numbered 281-350. These run from The Loved and the Envied by Enid Bagnold to Hester Lilly by Elizabeth Taylor. There are some excellent books in this section so it will be lovely to see what people choose!

This should be a fun way to explore our collections, reconnect with our Viragos and help celebrate the 50 years! We'll look forward to hearing what you choose to read, enjoy and share with us in the monthly threads! :D

I will probably be reading either #332 Celia by E. H. Young or #340 Good Daughters by Mary Hocking.

And since Jane Austen's novels are part of this group, I may find it a good month for a re-read.

>2 kac522: Yes, I was thinking about Austen too - a while since I read her...

As always, there are a lot of tempting possibilities!

Love, by E. Von Arnim
The wind changes by Olivia Manning
Not so quiet by Helen Zennor Smith
Cassandra by Christa Wolf
Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther

are all leaping out at me.

I finished Love and enjoyed it a lot, although it's not quite up with my favourites by Arnim. The title could alternatively be "Age" as the story is really about the impact of the latter upon the former. Christopher falls in love with Catherine when he sees her at the theatre but he is 26 and she is 47, a widow with a married daughter. He declares that he doesn't care, and after some weeks of him pursuing, Catherine retreating, circumstances force them to marry. But can their love survive the shock of their friends, family and acquaintances, all of whom see this as deeply inappropriate. Added to the mix is the marriage of Catherine's daughter, 18 years old, to a clergyman of 49; a relationship which is viewed very differently by society. It's a very interesting study of double standards which are still all too common.

>5 Sakerfalcon: That sounds interesting - particular those double standards which as you say haven't really changed over the years...

I read Poor Cow by Nell Dunn, an interesting portrait of a South London woman surviving in the 60s.

I have just started reading Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott and I hope to finish it by the deadline as it's very short.