It‘s now June so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@quietjenn ‘s pick for us this month is Greenery Street by Denis Mackail. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

A Sunday beer with Miss Read.

It should really be a sherry, but … 😆

I‘m generally pretty hit-or-miss with Emma Donoghue‘s novels but I‘m enjoying this one!

(I‘ve liked Slammerkin, The Wonder, and Room but bailed on a few others).

Omg, everyone! THEY‘RE BACK! 🙀

http://furrowedmiddlebrow.blogspot.com/

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

It‘s Victoria Day today in Canada (National Patriots‘ Day in Quebec) so I picked up this children‘s story written by Queen Victoria when she was ten years old. It‘s illustrated with the paper dolls she and her governess made and painted, which are then added into scenes by a modern artist.

The story itself is sweet and funny; one of the students at the boarding school is a French orphan with an eyepatch who lost an eye due to smallpox. 🫢

I haven‘t read an Elizabeth Taylor (not the movie star 😆) novel in ages and I forgot how much I love sinking into her writing. The forward mentions the Updike quote about giving “the mundane its beautiful due” and that‘s a perfect description of what she does so well.

It‘s a rainy day here today and I‘ve read half of this book in one gulp. 😆

I felt like switching up my reading a bit as I don‘t think I‘ve read any nonfiction for a while. It must be “true crime time”. 😉

It was a good ‘book mail‘ day!

This third book of short stories is #PersephoneBooks ‘ 150th publication and celebrates their 25 years of publishing.

#PersephoneClub

I‘m currently reading (and absolutely loving) this witty Regency-era romp by Georgette Heyer.

Fun fact: It was her personal favourite of all her novels!

This book reminded me so much of the ‘70s era, “woman fleeing a house” covered Gothics that I loved as an early teen.

It had it all: a spooky manor on the moors, an eye-wateringly dim heroine, a dishy hero who catches her every faint, and even a parrot squawking out clues to the “mystery”. We as readers can see how this mystery is going to pan out from a mile away but the journey is campy and fun. A great “flu read”! 😆

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

I‘ve had some sort of flu bug (not Covid) for the past few days and this book is the extent of what my brain can handle.

It‘s like watching a season of The Great British Bake Off with the foreknowledge that all the contestants have a secret and are unreliable narrators. Hmm, let‘s call them “unreliable bakers”. 😆

My current read and I‘m really enjoying it!

I had read quite a few “meh” reviews about this one but I received it as a Christmas gift from a dear friend (so I had to give it a try, of course!).

Many of the talks from the recent Persephone Festival are available to listen to for free (for the next month). I‘m currently enjoying “Wild for Whipple”. 😄 (See link in comments).

#PersephoneClub
@LeahBergen @Cathythoughts @rubyslippersreads @quietjenn @Tamra @CarolynM @sisilia @Caryl @daena @elkeOriginal @Gissy @Aimeesue @Bookbuyingaddict @julieclair @willaful @andrew61

A couple of “series reads” I have on the go.

Dorothy Whipple is always an enjoyable read and this one was no exception. As the afterword states, it‘s a “comforting middle-class drama” but I also found it quite suspenseful due to the titular villain, Mr. Knight. It had the feel of a 1930s Rosamunde Pilcher, if that makes sense? 😆

What did you think, #PersephoneClub ?

#PersephoneBooks

@shawnmooney and I have been reading the novels of Elizabeth Jane Howard in publication order and this is our current read. As usual, it‘s brilliant!

Ah, fleeting beauty! 😭

#PersephoneClub
@LeahBergen @Cathythoughts @rubyslippersreads @quietjenn @Tamra @CarolynM @sisilia @Caryl @daena @elkeOriginal @Gissy @Aimeesue @Bookbuyingaddict @julieclair @willaful @andrew61

It‘s now April so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

It‘s my pick this month 👏 and we‘ll be reading They Knew Mr Knight by Dorothy Whipple. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

My current read for my IRL book club.

I can‘t say that I‘m loving it exactly but I‘ve already found myself teary. 😆

A couple of my current vintage reads.

The Golden Collar (originally published in 1955 as The Smith‘s Hoard and then as Hidden Gold) is a children‘s holiday story. A brother and sister go to spend some time at their great aunt‘s house and end up finding an Iron Age hoard. I‘m always down for a good hoard!

Twelve-year-old Elizabeth is sent to spend the summer with her distracted, scholarly aunt at a Scottish manor house and finds herself mysteriously able to interact with the 18th-century family who once lived there.

“Time-slip” stories were a huge childhood favourite of mine and this 1975 novel is such a good addition to the genre.

Anna and her three daughters are left with very little money after the death of their husband and father. They must pull up stakes and leave their posh London life for a small cottage in Scotland (as one does). It starts off with this very Sense and Sensibility type plot but moves on into the familiar world we come to expect from DE Stevenson.

I thoroughly enjoyed it but liked the first half a wee bit more than the last.

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

Friday night reads!

I‘m loving my first Celia Dale. 👍

I‘m loving this book!

It‘s weird and dark but so funny at times … like a gothic Nancy Mitford. 😆

I‘m currently reading this little gem of a novel, published in 1920. It‘s a light and frothy Scottish Cinderella-type story and completely outlandish (and yet completely charming 😆).

Any other O. Douglas fans here?

My previous read reminded me that I still had this memoir on my shelves. Agatha Christie writes of the time spent with her archaeologist husband on digs in Iraq and Syria in the years before WWII. It‘s incredibly witty!

See, @Tamra ? I‘m really trying to #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks. 😆

Well, I‘m finally getting around to reading this book, about an archaeological expedition to Tell El- Amarna in the 1930s, and it‘s wonderful!

I had a newer paperback edition, and then I found this vintage edition, and I‘ve just recently found and bought ANOTHER book by this author. The bookish fates were telling me it was definitely time. 😆

@Centique @rubyslippersreads

Look at this #FolioSociety set that I found at a secondhand bookshop! Isn‘t it pretty?

I guess I should really get back to reading the series. 😆

It‘s here, @thegirlwiththelibrarybag ! Thank you so much for sharing this vintage Australian children‘s book with me. I just read the first chapter and didn‘t want to put it down. 😆 The Melbourne postcard is so lovely, too.

Thanks again for brightening my day. 😘😘

I had always avoided this Persephone novel as the subject matter (a missing child) seemed so disturbing. Well, it WAS disturbing but also utterly compelling and extremely well-written. It‘s best to go in without reading any blurbs or reviews as it does have some great twists.

A solid #PersephoneClub pick!

Happy Birthday to my dear friend, @rubyslippersreads !

I hope you have the most wonderful day! ❤️❤️❤️

Well, @Centique , this latest purchase is completely YOUR FAULT.

😆😆

This fantastic reference work is comprised of short essays on every Heyer novel in publication order, all 56 of them. Each chapter is interspersed with snippets from Heyer‘s letters, family photos and images of book covers. We read which novels Heyer thought were her best, which ones she tried to suppress, and oodles of other fascinating tidbits. I‘m obsessed. 😆

I highly recommend it to my fellow GH fans here on Litsy!

It‘s now February so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@jlhammar ‘s pick for us this month is Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

I better get cracking on this pick for my IRL book club. We meet next week!

A couple of vintage finds from the weekend!

I‘ve been meaning to read the tagged book for YEARS (the only mystery novel by the creator of Winnie the Pooh).

I‘ve read quite a few (7 or 8?) of Miss Read‘s Fairacre novels but this is my first foray into the Thrush Green series. It‘s quiet and charming and I‘m enjoying it immensely!

Book mail!

A bookshop? Tuscany? How could it be bad, right? 😁

One chapter in and I‘m already craving south Indian food. 😆

Crikey, #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub ! This was a bit of a departure from our usual Scarletts, wasn‘t it? 😆 We get the “meet cute” of a charming couple that we come to expect from her novels but then she throws in a completely terrifying antagonist with an equally gruesome child. It was propulsively readable and I loved it.

My “currently reading” stack (and I‘m loving them all).

I‘ve become quite fond of having some sort of almanac on the go throughout the year. Here‘s this year‘s choice!

My last book of 2023 was Lucy Worsley‘s enjoyable middle grade novel about Jane Austen‘s nieces. I‘ve been feeling a little Egypt-ish of late so I‘m going to dive into the tagged book that‘s been on my TBR for several years now. I‘m trying to start the new year off by continuing to whittle down the backlog of books on my shelves… let‘s see how long that lasts! 😆

Thanks for doing this again, @BookNAround ! Happy New Year, everyone! 🎉

#LastFirst

Oh, my goodness, @AshRob22 ! You totally spoiled me!

I‘m so excited to get to these books and I love all the treats, tea, tea ball, tarot envelope, Swedish dishcloth (my faves!), ghost bookmark, stickers, and earrings. My absolute favourite though? The GORGEOUS handmade cross-stitch bookmark! 🖤 And I loved the spooky buggy burlap wrapping. 😆😆

Thank you SO much and a big happy #CreepyChristmas to you! 😘😘

Thanks again to our host, @teebe !

This is a weird one so far … but I‘m liking it!

This random grab from my shelves (to free up book space!) is a bizarre little reworking of Henry James‘ The Turn of The Screw. I‘m liking it!

I pulled this off my shelf at random to read. Why? To make room for my Christmas book gifts. 😆😆 I‘m enjoying it, though.

New Year‘s book cull … incoming. 😆

Thank you so much for these lovely Christmas gifts, @rubyslippersreads ! I hadn‘t heard of The Darcy Myth but I‘m always down for some humorous literary criticism! And this Ibbotson edition is just so pretty! I can hardly wait to dive in.

Please thank the kitties for the KitKat sampler (they‘re the husband‘s favourite… oh oh). In the spirit of Christmas, I shall share. A little. 😆

Merry Christmas to you, my dear friend! 😘

Thank you so much, @thebacklistbook , for these wonderful #JolabokaflodSwap gifts!! I had heard about this book but hadn‘t seen inside it and IT IS GORGEOUS. I‘m so looking forward to kicking back this evening and paging through it with these lovely chocolates. Happy #Jolabokaflod to you! ❤️❤️

And a huge thank you to @MaleficentBookDragon for always hosting this most festive of swaps! 😘😘

#JolabokaflodSwap23