Books July to September
Oct. 16th, 2017 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slemslempikeAn Awfully Big Adventure - Bainbridge, Beryl
My Louder Than life Story - Blessed, Brian
The Luminaries - Catton, Eleanor
Nemesis - Christie, Agatha
The Christmas Surprise - Colgan, Jenny
Little Beach Street Bakery - Colgan, Jenny
Pandora - Cooper, Jilly
Frost at Morning - Crompton, Richmal
To See Ourselves - Delafield, EM
A Winter Away - Fair, Elizabeth
Jeeves and the Wedding Bells - Faulkes, Sebastian
Sisters at the Chalet School - Fletcher, Amy
A Tiny Bit Marvellous - French, Dawn
Cotillion - Heyer, Georgette
The Sex Lives of Cannibals - Joost, Maarten
Dead Now, Of Course - Law, Phyllida
Company in the Evening - Orange, Ursula
Bewildering Cares - Peck, Winifred
Brownsea Silver - Peyton, KM
Winter Solstice - Pilcher, Rosamunde
Voices in Summer - Pilcher, Rosamunde
Whose Body - Sayers, Dorothy L
Outsider: Almost Always, Never Quite - Sewell, Brian
Hidden Figures - Shetterly, Margot Lee
Miss Melville Rides a Tiger - Smith, Evelyn E
Miss Melville Returns - Smith, Evelyn E
Wild Strawberries - Thirkell, Angela
The Headmistress - Thirkell, Angela
The Demon in the House - Thirkell, Angela
Private Enterprise - Thirkell, Angela
Pomfret Towers - Thirkell, Angela
Peace Breaks Out - Thirkell, Angela
Northbridge Rectory - Thirkell, Angela
Miss Bunting - Thirkell, Angela
Marling Hall - Thirkell, Angela
Jutland Cottage - Thirkell, Angela
Growing Up - Thirkell, Angela
Enter Sir Robert - Thirkell, Angela
Cheerfulness Breaks In - Thirkell, Angela
Before Lunch - Thirkell, Angela
August Folly - Thirkell, Angela
Ankle Deep - Thirkell, Angela
A Double Affair - Thirkell, Angela
Revenge Wears Prada - Weisenberg, Lauren
It took me AGES to get into The Luminaries, I must have started it about five times before eventually sticking with it, but it was worth it in the end. Gold-era New Zealand, with quite a lot of characters to keep track of, and subplots, and I can't really remember why I liked it so much at this distance, but hey, read it if you think you'd like that sort of thing.
I'd thought that Pandora was one of the earlier "name" books by Jilly Cooper, but it turned out it was part of the Rutshire chronicles, so I dug in. I liked Cooper's take on the Young British Artist scene, and was very amused that the cure for being lonely and pissed off your mum died is for your mum's ertswhile lover to take you out to dinner to tell you about it.
The title of The Sex Lives of Cannibals is, unsurprisingly, not much enjoyed by the i-Kiribati, about whom he is writing. It's a better book than the title, but I can why it was not well received. It is mostly about the author being hapless as a newly-arrived i-Matang, as a trailing spouse for his partner who's heading up an NGO in Kiribati, and how he adjusts to his new way of life and learns about the i-Kiribati. I empathised very much with his desperate attempt to find some sort of media to consume, having left behind his CDs in the US, and relying on an old video of Princess Diana's funeral (I think?). The inter-Ministry dance competition was one of my favourite points, but we didn't manage to find out if it was still a thing, 20 years later.
I enjoyed the film of Hidden Figures hugely (after seeing the first 15 minutes three times withtiniago in a free screening with a faulty copy and then buying my own ticket for the whole thing), but thought that the book might be a bit samey after knowing the stories. Not so! I thought it was a really excellent combination of meticulously researched detail, and engaging stories about the women she was profiling. I really recommend it, but my mum read it for one of her book groups and they weren't nearly as impressed.
I was aware of the Miss Melville books through attempting to buy Evelyn Smith (no E) books on ebay, and getting them in amongst my school stories. So in Malawi when I found a double edition on a hostel shelf I took the opportunity. I feel that I should have started with the first one, as I would like the back story of how she became an undercover assassin. Nonetheless, I enjoyed them, with her involvement in the art world, her stiff upper lip demeanour, and mild romances.
I went on an Angela Thirkell binge through Russia, into the South Pacific, and have also been reading in Kabul. Utterly incongruous with the surroundings, but exactly what I wanted to be reading. I am able to overlook the racism and classism enough to find it so insularly cosy, with even the war only intruding enough to create something for the characters to talk about. I have gone into the later ones, which are noticeably not as good as the earlier books, but I still very much enjoy. I've run out of the ones in e-book, so I'll be looking more closely in charity shops etc when I'm home for the last ones.
I read Revenge Wears Prada in Fiji with Jess, and remember turning to her in the middle of lunch one day as I had to share that Andie's best friend and her husband were about to screw her over, and she was just going to LET IT, and I couldn't bear it. However, I was unfair to Lauren Weisenberg, as Andie actually womanned up and left her dreadful husband and had a better life without him.
My Louder Than life Story - Blessed, Brian
The Luminaries - Catton, Eleanor
Nemesis - Christie, Agatha
The Christmas Surprise - Colgan, Jenny
Little Beach Street Bakery - Colgan, Jenny
Pandora - Cooper, Jilly
Frost at Morning - Crompton, Richmal
To See Ourselves - Delafield, EM
A Winter Away - Fair, Elizabeth
Jeeves and the Wedding Bells - Faulkes, Sebastian
Sisters at the Chalet School - Fletcher, Amy
A Tiny Bit Marvellous - French, Dawn
Cotillion - Heyer, Georgette
The Sex Lives of Cannibals - Joost, Maarten
Dead Now, Of Course - Law, Phyllida
Company in the Evening - Orange, Ursula
Bewildering Cares - Peck, Winifred
Brownsea Silver - Peyton, KM
Winter Solstice - Pilcher, Rosamunde
Voices in Summer - Pilcher, Rosamunde
Whose Body - Sayers, Dorothy L
Outsider: Almost Always, Never Quite - Sewell, Brian
Hidden Figures - Shetterly, Margot Lee
Miss Melville Rides a Tiger - Smith, Evelyn E
Miss Melville Returns - Smith, Evelyn E
Wild Strawberries - Thirkell, Angela
The Headmistress - Thirkell, Angela
The Demon in the House - Thirkell, Angela
Private Enterprise - Thirkell, Angela
Pomfret Towers - Thirkell, Angela
Peace Breaks Out - Thirkell, Angela
Northbridge Rectory - Thirkell, Angela
Miss Bunting - Thirkell, Angela
Marling Hall - Thirkell, Angela
Jutland Cottage - Thirkell, Angela
Growing Up - Thirkell, Angela
Enter Sir Robert - Thirkell, Angela
Cheerfulness Breaks In - Thirkell, Angela
Before Lunch - Thirkell, Angela
August Folly - Thirkell, Angela
Ankle Deep - Thirkell, Angela
A Double Affair - Thirkell, Angela
Revenge Wears Prada - Weisenberg, Lauren
It took me AGES to get into The Luminaries, I must have started it about five times before eventually sticking with it, but it was worth it in the end. Gold-era New Zealand, with quite a lot of characters to keep track of, and subplots, and I can't really remember why I liked it so much at this distance, but hey, read it if you think you'd like that sort of thing.
I'd thought that Pandora was one of the earlier "name" books by Jilly Cooper, but it turned out it was part of the Rutshire chronicles, so I dug in. I liked Cooper's take on the Young British Artist scene, and was very amused that the cure for being lonely and pissed off your mum died is for your mum's ertswhile lover to take you out to dinner to tell you about it.
The title of The Sex Lives of Cannibals is, unsurprisingly, not much enjoyed by the i-Kiribati, about whom he is writing. It's a better book than the title, but I can why it was not well received. It is mostly about the author being hapless as a newly-arrived i-Matang, as a trailing spouse for his partner who's heading up an NGO in Kiribati, and how he adjusts to his new way of life and learns about the i-Kiribati. I empathised very much with his desperate attempt to find some sort of media to consume, having left behind his CDs in the US, and relying on an old video of Princess Diana's funeral (I think?). The inter-Ministry dance competition was one of my favourite points, but we didn't manage to find out if it was still a thing, 20 years later.
I enjoyed the film of Hidden Figures hugely (after seeing the first 15 minutes three times with
tiniago in a free screening with a faulty copy and then buying my own ticket for the whole thing), but thought that the book might be a bit samey after knowing the stories. Not so! I thought it was a really excellent combination of meticulously researched detail, and engaging stories about the women she was profiling. I really recommend it, but my mum read it for one of her book groups and they weren't nearly as impressed.I was aware of the Miss Melville books through attempting to buy Evelyn Smith (no E) books on ebay, and getting them in amongst my school stories. So in Malawi when I found a double edition on a hostel shelf I took the opportunity. I feel that I should have started with the first one, as I would like the back story of how she became an undercover assassin. Nonetheless, I enjoyed them, with her involvement in the art world, her stiff upper lip demeanour, and mild romances.
I went on an Angela Thirkell binge through Russia, into the South Pacific, and have also been reading in Kabul. Utterly incongruous with the surroundings, but exactly what I wanted to be reading. I am able to overlook the racism and classism enough to find it so insularly cosy, with even the war only intruding enough to create something for the characters to talk about. I have gone into the later ones, which are noticeably not as good as the earlier books, but I still very much enjoy. I've run out of the ones in e-book, so I'll be looking more closely in charity shops etc when I'm home for the last ones.
I read Revenge Wears Prada in Fiji with Jess, and remember turning to her in the middle of lunch one day as I had to share that Andie's best friend and her husband were about to screw her over, and she was just going to LET IT, and I couldn't bear it. However, I was unfair to Lauren Weisenberg, as Andie actually womanned up and left her dreadful husband and had a better life without him.
