November Books

[slemslempike]

Jessica Quits the Squad! - Francine Pascal (Kate Williams)
What did it mean? - Angela Thirkell
Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens
A Concise History of the Sex Manual - Alan Rusbridger, Posy Simmonds
One by One - Penelope Gilliat
The School in the Woods - Dorita Fairlie Bruce
Rameau's Niece - Cathleen Schine
Towelhead - Alicia Erian
Carol Goes on the Stage - Helen Dore Boylston
Carol On Tour - Helen Dore Boylston
The Chalet School Girls in India - Priyadarshini Narendra

I was disappointed that the SVH book didn't have all the bits I remembered - it only goes right up to the quitting, so I'll have to wait to find the others before I can relive the rival squads bit. But I'd forgotten (because it's DULL) that this is where Jessica hooks up with Ken Matthews (quarterback!), and Elizabeth is jealous because they used to have a secret thing when Todd was away. Oh! I think this is how Jessica blackmails Elizabeth into being on the squad! The School in the Woods was a nice read, though as I haven't read the other Tony books for a while, I probably missed some bits. chaletian was kind enough to lend me the Carol books, which were great, and I now need to track down the intervening books. Carol wasn't too perfect for words, though verging on it, and the theatre bits were really interesting. helenmia lent me The Chalet School Girls in India, which was okay - the author has lots of good details about India, and ties up the loose ends of various plots well. I did find her comments on Anglo/Indian relations thought-provoking, because it made me wonder about how EBD would have written it. Narendra is able to put typical views of the time into the characters' mouth, but within context.

What did it mean? was quite, quite lovely. I especially liked the endlessly reproducing Bunces, and the cheerful upper-class acceptance of the ways of the poor. I didn't take to Jessica at all, and would have liked to see more of Lydia's children, but all in all it was a good story, although the authorial intrusions were somewhat wearing by the end of the book. The Penelope Gilliatt looked brilliant from the blurb, about prostitutes collecting dead bodies in the streets, but it was really not about that at all. It was quite good in parts - it's from the 60s, I think, and a woman discovers that her husband had an affair with his (male) best friend when he was young, and she just thinks that it's lovely, and rather sad that people can't see that. I really enjoyed Rameau's Niece, particularly the part where Margaret is talking at cross-purposes with her friend about hating Art - only friend is talking about art, and Margaret is talking about her friend's husband Art. Towelhead was moving anad incredibly uncomfortable to read. The way that Jasira's abuse didn't subsmue her own desires, and the tensions between these were really difficult.

The Complete History of the Sex Manual is mostly just quotes from a few manuals from various eras strung together, and very funny in places - I especially liked the warnings of lesbianism, where in one school one single girl was responsible for spreading it to the whole student body. Well done that girl.

Comments

[oursin.livejournal.com]

The only good thing about that history of the sex manual is the Posy Simmonds illos, because there is seldom any bad about Posy S. Otherwise it is totally scissors and paste.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Yes, most of the way through it I felt that it would have been more entertaining to read the actual manuals - he used so few examples, and it's not like there would have been dull bits to cut out, they're all fascinating. Oh well.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Since you liked What did it mean? you must be a true lover of Angela Thirkell, as I am. Don't you find her a slightly guilty pleasure?

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I've not really read that much Thirkell, to be honest. I quite like what I have read, but I suspect that if I read a lot all in one bunch then I would get very irritated indeed. I don't really do guilty pleasures - I don't find enjoyment necessarily in opposition to criticism or disapproval. I think I liked What did it mean? in part because I found just how patronising they were very funny indeed. What other Thirkells would you recommend I try - I know that some are generally disliked.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

My favourites are probably High Rising and Summer Half. I like all the ones with the school in. When you read the whole lot you notice shocking EBD-isms.

[frightened.livejournal.com]

I geekily like to keep track of pen-names. (For instance, it gave me glee to find out that the family-saga writer "Jessica Blair" is in fact a bloke.) Is "Francine Pascal" a pseudonym, then?

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Not exactly, Francine Pascal is a real person (and I think it's her real name, though I may be wrong), and she has written several books, including some of the early SVH ones. However, the various Sweet Valley books are written more along the lines of the Stratemeyer syndicate (the people behind Carolyn Keene/Nancy Drew books and others), in that Pascal writes a vague outline, and then ghostwriters write it out along the familiar lines. Kate Williams is the person who fleshed out the outline for Jessica Quits the Squad!. I do believe, though, that Kate Williams, and Laurie Johns (who wrote the early SVUs) and the others are group pennames, and the real writers behind those are sometimes the people who the books are dedicated to. However, I don't know why I think that, and I am prepared to be told that I have made it up entirely.

I like knowing pseudonyms too! I think it's because I was shocked when I was little and found out that Martin Waddell was also Catherine Sefton. And I liked knowing about the Bells/Brontes.