Paperback Reader » Nancy Mitford

Recent Acquisitions

Paperback Reader — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:30:40 +0000

I promised that I would share my birthday loot and here it is. First of all, a big thank you to Verity and Simon T who both sent me lovely birthday surprises in the mail; from Verity there was a copy of Carbonel by Barbara Sleigh, a children’s novel about the eponymous Royal cat (when I read the book I really must post a photograph of the cover as it is stunning) and from Simon, The Haunted Woman by David Lindsay, a mystery that he enjoyed a lot. I trust both Verity and Simon’s judgement implicitly so I look forward to curling up with both of these books.

Does anyone else treat themselves to a little birthday something? It’s not a tradition of mine but this year I could not resist the Penguin Decades edition of The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter, especially as it was released the day after my birthday and on the first day of the Angela Carter month I am hosting. This is one of only two Carter novels that I haven’t yet read hence the treat; you can expect my thoughts at some point this month.

I was the delighted recipient of an Amazon giftcard from my lovely in-laws and deliberated over the remaining books that you see above. I ordered books from my wish-list, ones that had been tempting me for some time.

Caramelo by Susan Cisneros has been on my radar for a few years but it was this review by Eva that more than convinced me that I had to read it. I’m a huge family of epic family sagas and this sounds like my type of book.

I was a big fan of Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri last year and I’ve been wanting to follow that experience up by reading her novel, The Namesake and then her newest collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth, which I already have on my bookshelves.

I’ve already picked up a copy of Don’t Tell Alfred by Nancy Mitford in the new Penguin designs and added a copy of Wigs on the Green to my collection. I will, however, be discovering Nancy by reading her more famous and popular works first.

I am currently reading Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola for The Classics Circuit and have been desiring The Ladies’ Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) for some time. A novel about a department store? Of course that would be one I’d need to read (I worship at the alter of shopping).

I have documented my discovery of Shirley Jackson via blogging, the best author discovery to date. Since reading “The Lottery” and Penguin’s reissue of Jackson’s work, I have been coveting her collection of short stories and I am delighted that I now have a copy in my possession.

Speaking of Shirley Jackson, I read somewhere that The Well by Elizabeth Jolley was similar to Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I read a Jolley short story in a collection last year and sought out her novel-length work; The Well won the Miles Franklin Award in 1986 and sounds intriguing.

Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred has been on my wishlist for a few years and when Kimbofo opted for Fledgling as one of her choices for the Not the TV Book Group, I decided to start with that instead. I have since read some very compelling reviews by Eva and both Teresa and Jenny from Shelf Love, and I am very excited to read it (vampires? there just aren’t enough of them in literature and popular culture, if you ask me /tongue in cheek).

Lastly, I opted for Emily of New Moon by L. M. Montgomery, which is the first in a trilogy. Even though I devoured the Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea/The Island etc. series as a child, I have never read any more of Montgomery’s work and it is about time that I rectify that.

Have you read any of these or looking forward to finding out more once I do?

I also have some other recent acquisitions of the review copy variety but I will share those separately at a later date.

Recent Acquisitions

Paperback Reader — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:01:50 +0000

When I arrived home from London earlier this week I was greeted to a number of book parcels, which cheered me some after a dreadful train (well, six trains) journey and five-hour delay due to signal failure on the west-coast and and then a smashed car window awaiting us. There are a couple more proof copies and early birthday books that aren’t photographed but the latter will hopefully have others to join it in a few days…

The proof copies that are featured were unexpectedly sent to me by Sceptre and Windmill books, respectively; the first is the much-anticipated new novel by David Mitchell, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, and the other is Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey, which has been receiving some very favourable whispers in the book world.

Victoria from Virago (Abacus is another imprint of Little, Brown) offered to send me a copy of Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig after reading my response to the Orange longlist; this is one of the shortlisted titles that I am most looking forward to reading and whilst I was in Glasgow Verity text me to inform me that it is “AMAZING”. Now I am conflicted whether to read it before the other Orange title that I am desperate to read: The Still Point by Amy Sackville… which do you suggest I read first?

Virago also sent me a copy of Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood after I won it in one of the Twitter competitions they regularly hold. This is a collection of some of Atwood’s short stories and one of the few books of hers that I didn’t own.

I was also the delighted recipient of the Man Booker-winning The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer from Bloomsbury; I have been wanting to read more Gordimer since reading July’s People earlier this month.

Contests to win a signed copy of Solar by Ian McEwan have been hosted by a few bloggers recently and I was the lucky winner from Simon of Stuck-in-a-Book. The premise of the novel doesn’t appeal to me all that much but I have a feeling that it’s going to continue to be discussed this year and I’d like to be privy to the content!

I am not a fan of posts that are simply means to show off books that bloggers have been sent by publishers and I realise that this one is quite abundant with books that I have received directly from publishers… if it’s any consolation, I caved and bought The Still Point and Don’t Tell Alfred by Nancy Mitford (in the cute edition that some of you are and aren’t as fond of as I am) as I was keen to read both.

Have you acquired and/or read any of these?

Claire’s Corner

Paperback Reader — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:40:53 +0000

When India Knight posted about the new Nancy Mitford editions published next week by Penguin (Fig Tree Press) I was apoplectic with excitement. The covers are cute and quirky and I covet them. Now, hold onto your jaws people, I have a confession to make … I haven’t read any Nancy Mitford yet. To be honest, I haven’t read any of the Mitfords (the other sisters do seem to be overshadowed a little by Nancy) but this is the year that I will finally do so, along with Barbara Pym and Iris Murdoch; it will be the year for reading great English women writers who have fallen out of fashion some. I know that Nancy and I are going to become firm friends; I loved her blink-or-you-will miss it cameo in The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice and so many of you love her and have told me that I will too. I have a feeling, however, that these editions may help some. Have a look at the forthcoming titles (March 4th in the UK); her most famous ones are there as well as Don’t Tell Alfred and a re-published early novel, Wigs on the Green, which Time Out describes as “Intoxicating… Middlemarch high on champagne and Viagra”. I wonder whether my birthday next month will bring me these? If not, I know what I’ll be wishing for when I blow out the candles.

This week’s Claire’s Corner has turned into (almost) a weekend miscellany as opposed to a midweek one but I hope that it will blend nicely into my next order of the day, which also has to do with birthdays…

I had high hopes for this weekend because somehow I got it into my head that the 28th was my first blog birthday. The 28th is playing havoc with my memory (it may have something to do with there being a family baby due then); yesterday I was convinced my stepfather’s birthday was on Sunday also but it’s actually a day earlier and just as well I was prepared. As it is, my blog birthday has been and gone last Saturday! On the 20th of February 2009 I posted for the first time about the film adaptation of Persephone Books‘ Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and three days later -a post that also saw the influence of Persephone Books- saw my first comment by the very lovely Simon T of Stuck in a Book. Serendipitously, Simon’s was a blog that I had read for months before I began my own and I never commented until I had my own space. I came to Simon through this post by Danielle of A Work in Progess which I discovered when googling the Virago Modern Classics 30th Birthday editions (it’s all about birthdays, isn’t it?!) This post by Danielle led me into the blogosphere and it also brought Persephone Books to my attention for the second time; I promptly bought Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winnifred Watson and that brings us back full circle to my first blog post a number of months later (the post I found was an old one and I then proceeded to read all of their archives and bookmarked their blogs). So, a big thank you to Simon and Danielle.

Now, to celebrate my bloggiversary -almost a week late or not- I would like to offer one lucky reader a book of their choice but not any book, one that I have either blogged about in the past (you can find a list of books reviewed under my Books Reviewed tab) or that I have recommended to you personally. My only other condition is that the book is available from The Book Depository and you can enter by commenting with your choice between now and Friday 12th March 12pm GMT when I will draw the winner.

Speaking of my first commenter, Simon, please visit this post if you are a UK book blogger interested in a meet-up in May. I’ll be there and I’m looking forward to meeting Simon again as well as some other familiar and unfamiliar faces.

Penguin Modern Classics

Paperback Reader — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:30:00 +0000

Do you remember my silver bookshelf? If you do (or if you click on the link to refresh your memory) you will know that I possess silver Penguin Modern Classics in abundance and have more than an entire shelf-full. Of the newer white Penguin Modern Classics I have only added three -photographed above- to my collection this year and two only because they are new releases and unavailable in the silver.

I do like the new white Penguins but mainly for their tactility; the paper is pleasant to the touch and I like the matte finish. Aesthetically though I prefer the glossy silver Penguins. I have tried to convey with my choices above the richness and diversity of the cover art (photographs and paintings) available in the silver; in my opinion the bottom Penguins pop more as they are vivid and striking whilst the white ones above are muted. Granted, the white ones have a more classic and uniform design and I do like the boldness of the author and title. I’m not sure … is it change that I am averse to? I admire Penguin’s development through the years and their trailblazing progress in book cover design but are the white Penguins really more modern and fresh than the silver? Are we as consumers more attracted to an understated, classic design nowadays or do we not judge by the book cover at all?

A Little Tea & A Little Chat at Persephone Books

Paperback Reader — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:14:00 +0000

Serendipitously both Darlene and I today have written about having tea at Persephone Books. Where Darlene was lucky enough to attend one of the shop’s book chats, I was visiting to collect the prize copies that Persephone so very kindly offered Verity and I for this week’s give-aways.

Last month I popped in on my way home from a job interview and spent a couple of hours in the pleasant and wonderfully welcoming company of Nicola and Lydia. Imagine my disappointment though when I first arrived to find the door locked! Lydia had to go to the loo, you see, which I promptly forgave her for. My first stop was the basement where I was in Persephone lover heaven to see all the titles stacked up and the wonderful bookcase of slightly damaged copies. If I hadn’t been wearing a suit, I would have plopped myself down in front of them, amongst dust and some cobwebs (Lydia warned me of spiders), and meticulously chose copies but as it was I chose at random whilst Lydia kindly carried a box of Good Evening, Mrs Craven upstairs and put them in a lovely jute bag. As well as thanking Persephone for their generosity, I would also like to take the opportunity to express my wonder at their customer service and quality of book provided: I have bought or been sent new books in worse condition from other booksellers than the ones supplied for prize copies but Persephone are unwilling to sell anything less than pristine, which is admirable.

Whilst waiting for Nicola, who was on her way, Lydia and I discussed our mutual Master’s degrees as it transpired that we had both done similar courses at different Universities and then the Booker longlist as it had been announced the previous day (Lydia, like me, was most excited about The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds), leading to a longer conversation about The Little Stranger, which Sarah Waters had sent as a gift to the shop, as she is a huge admirer, and which Nicola later said I was welcome to borrow if I hadn’t read. Following Nicola’s arrival and settling down to Elevenses (Nicola, I was charmed to notice drank from a Nancy Mitford, Pursuit of Love Penguin Classics mug) we engaged in some general literary chat, as well as discussion covering blogging and Verity’s and my challenge, Simon at Stuck in a Book who is thought of highly (and rightly so), my career goals, and publishing.

The literary chat was fascinating and, in my opinion, you would be hard-pushed to find someone as enthused and passionate about literature and the book industry as Nicola Beauman. We spoke of The Group by Mary McCarthy which I had recently read and loved. I told Nicola that I thought it should be a Persephone and she is of the same mind but, regretfully, she was unable to obtain the publishing rights to it. Interestingly, the Persephone title that took the longest to obtain the rights to was The Wise Virgins by Leonard Woolf and she would also love to possess the rights to The Expendable Man within the United States.

We also touched upon Stella Gibbons and the possibility of Persephone publishing one of her titles but Nicola told me honestly that she hasn’t found a book that challenge Cold Comfort Farm. Indeed the vision of Persephone is to publish wonderful books because, as a reader, Nicola only wants to publish wonderful books.

The new Bloomsbury Group project was covered as was the original and beautiful cover art of Virago Modern Classics; the Editor-in-Chief of Bloomsbury, Alexandra Pringle, began her career in Virago editing and choosing the artwork for those iconic covers. Nicola also told me about this article, at that time forthcoming, and enthusiastically recommended the novel Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig.

Another highlight to my shop visit was spying the reproduction endpapers for the new books (forthcoming – Oct 22nd) which, of course, are typically beautiful.

I was struck by how friendly, welcoming, and warm both Nicola and Lydia were and not just to me but to their customers. The customer service is fabulous and their passion for books is apparent as they happily discuss non-Persephone titles with visitors to the shop.

There is definitely an endearing quality to the shop as well as to the imprints. India Knight describes Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and The Making of a Marchioness as “bed books”, along with beloved classics I Capture the Castle, Pride and Prejudice, My Cousin Rachel, the Anne of Green Gables books and everything written by Nancy Mitford (The Shops p. 108). I love “bed books” and the indulgence of comfort reads and fairy tales for grown-ups but there is also a lot of substance amongst Persephone Books, some of which we have seen this week.

I spent a lovely morning at Persephone having tea and I am only sad that Verity wasn’t there to join me.

I had to include in this post the beautiful artist’s reproduction of the shop by David Gentleman as it is one of my favourites.

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets

Paperback Reader — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:47:00 +0000

I adored this book. I finished it in bed last night after reading the majority of it on a blanket in the park under the blazing sun yesterday afternoon; I took a break whilst reading it for no other reason than to read The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters and now I wish I hadn’t and had devoured it at once. It is like a bottle of Champagne – bubbly and indulgent yet a wonderful treat. From the opening pages I knew I was going to love The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets from the first allusions to The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Enid Blyton, and Shakespeare (of course I can’t find those quotes just now despite my uncanny memory for the location of quotes upon the page. It reminds me that I need to start writing quotes down as I am reading). I am an avid fan of literary allusion and inter-textuality – why not refer to those books you loved as a child, and still do, in your own writing? It really is delightful for a fellow reader and bibliophile. Worthy of note also is Rice’s subtle allusions to the story being a book and that Aunt Clare is narrating her life story to her niece Charlotte, with one of the titles entitled “The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets”. I love little tricks like that! It isn’t gimmicky or full of literary pretension but simply and passionately prose from a lover of books.

Likened to Nancy Mitford and I Capture the Castle I should have known that I was going to adore The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets; I haven’t read Nancy Mitford yet, although I intend to do soon, but I Capture the Castle is one of my all-time favourite books and there were many similarities (not least impoverished family in huge but crumbling house/mansion/castle). I was also reminded of Rebecca on occasion (another of my book loves) in the way that Milton Magna Hall -Penelope Wallace’s family home- becomes a character in the novel, just like Manderley (Sarah Waters achieves the same with Hundreds Hall in The Little Stranger, Margaret Mitchell with Tara in Gone With the Wind and, to an extent, Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice in its centrality to the plot), and is a vivid “memory” in the reader’s mind as if we have actually visited a house that does not exist, in the way we sometimes think we have met such strongly rendered characters. Is that just me? am I romanticising this too much? Anyway, I am thoroughly enchanted.

Enchanting, delightful, charming … words often over-used, especially by myself when it comes to descrbing wonderfully delicious books but I truly mean these adjectives! (and my excitement is conveyed by emplying numerous exclamation marks, like a giddy child.) This is a modern novel (2005) that captures nostalgically the 1950s and hearkens back to the wonderful novels of that era and prior. I’m not entirely sure but I even think that Nancy Mitford even makes a cameo appearance at the party at the Ritz, “Ah! If you want to talk books with someone, you must meet meet Nancy.” Furthermore, in Eva Rice’s dedication she acknowledges Ruby Ferguson as a great inspiration; the same Ruby Ferguson who wrote the beautifully bittersweet and romantic Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary, which I was “enchanted”, “charmed”, and “delighted” by earlier this year.

From the back cover: Set in the 1950s, in an England still recovering from the Second World War, THE LOST ART OF KEEPING SECRETS is the enchanting story of Penelope Wallace and her eccentric family at the start of the rock’n'roll era. Penelope longs to be grown-up and to fall in love; but various rather inconvenient things keep getting in her way. Like her mother, a stunning but petulant beauty widowed at a tragically early age, her younger brother Inigo, currently incapable of concentrating on anything that isn’t Elvis Presley, a vast but crumblng ancestral home, a severe shortage of cash, and her best friend Charlotte’s sardonic cousin Harry…

The opening lines: “I met Charlotte in London one afternoon while waiting for a bus. Just look at that sentence! That in itself is the first extraordinary thing, as I took the bus as rarely as once or twice a year, and even then it was only for the novelty value of not travelling in a car or a train.”

One of my favourite sections: “I don’t want to sound too C.S. Lewis about what happened next, but suffice to say that I padded across the room and pulled open the wardrobe door and stuck my hand in. What I encountered was not Narnia, but something even more enchanted.”

I was a little disatisfied with the ending but I think for the most part that was because I didn’t want it to end … and yet conversely I also wanted more of a resolution. It is my only complaint though (that and having no idea who Johnnie Ray was).

As many bloggers have pointed out before me: do not be put off by the cover of the book and think this is chick lit because it is not. Nor is it groundbreaking or even heartbreaking (well…) but it is divine (although not sublime)… it is what I thought was a lost art: a simply wonderful modern book.

(Image and Synopsis courtesy of Waterstones.com)