Our July read (and @catebutler ‘s pick for us) is The English Air by DE Stevenson. Our September read ( @elkeOriginal ‘s pick) will be A House in the Country by Ruth Adam. I can hardly wait!

Here is our new rotation of picking and voting. I added our two newest members on to the end (I hope that‘s okay with you all?). Please excuse the handwritten post: my PicCollage was glitching. 😆

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

My current reads.

Did anyone read The Abbey Girls books? This is the first/prequel to that series.

Hello, #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub!

I thought I‘d post a record of our reads to help out our newest members when they‘re choosing their picks for us to vote on. The first two titles were random buddy reads that formed our group and the rest were members‘ choices.

@catebutler , you have our July pick and @elkeOriginal has September. Would you two like to offer up your choices now for us to vote on? It‘s helpful for those ordering overseas. 😊

Jane and her cousin Lucilla are fresh from school in the aftermath of WW1 when they discover that their guardian has gambled away their inheritance and they are left with only 740 and a cottage. Through various money-making schemes they meet, and have a lasting effect, on their new neighbours.

A sweet and witty tale for whenever you need a little “lark” of your own. Loved it!

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

What a wonderful #RecipeSwap parcel, @Avanders !!

The recipes sound amazing and how thoughtful of you to send the spices for your chili. I think I‘ll try that recipe first! The book is gorgeous; I loved Eight Ghosts, another one in this English Heritage series, so I‘m very excited! All the stickers are so cute and I think I‘ll have a cup of that Salted Caramel tea this afternoon. Thanks so much! 😘

And thanks to @BennettBookworm for hosting! 😘

My best friend is reading this with her book club and I thought I‘d tag along (as I think it‘s been sitting on my shelves for about 15 years 😆).

It‘s #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub time again and I‘m just cracking this one open.

How is everyone enjoying it so far?

@CarolynM @catebutler @Cathythoughts @erzascarletbookgasm @LeahBergen @quietjenn @rubyslippersreads @Ruthiella @Tamra @batsy @Centique @elkeOriginal

Our two big charity book sales are back; the first ones since 2019. 👏👏

Here‘s a shot of some of today‘s finds (not shown: a few more Enid Blytons and some Ladybirds 🐞).

My #RecipeSwap package arrived today, @Avanders , and I‘ve hidden it in the cupboard. 😆
Thank you so much! ❤️

@BennettBookworm
#LitsyRecipeSwap

I‘ve just started this and I can already tell that it‘s absolutely my sort of read!

Thanks again to @Cathythoughts for this lovely gift. 😘😘

My current read (tagged) and I think I‘ve come to realize that my love for vintage books is directly correlated to my love for people on spines. 😆😆 Anyone else?

And along those lines I‘d like to thank you all for allowing me to post about somewhat “niche” books on here. One of the things I love most about Litsy is seeing all the little idiosyncratic reading preferences of everyone out there. It makes for such a welcoming community. ❤️❤️

My current read and a random grab from my Anita Brookner shelf. I have so many that I‘ve bought for cheap from charity book sales that I just grab a couple, read the first pages, and decide which one grabs my attention at the moment.

Here‘s the latest winner. 😆

My #RecipeSwap went to the post office today, @BennettBookworm !

💛💛💛

#LitsyRecipeSwap

Everyone blamed Bob, the terrier, for leaving his ball on the stairs but … was someone trying to kill her?

#JohnnyBergen, the terrier, chose my next read. And I think he‘s trying to tell me something.

Happy Easter (Passover, Ramadan) weekend to all who celebrate or, like me, just have fond childhood memories of chocolate rabbits. 😊

🐰🐰🐰

@EvieBee , you asked to see the cover of the pink book in my previous post. Here it is!

I had to show you the spine, too, as I love the image of the woman waiting for her tea. 🫖

Here‘s another book I have on the go and it‘s my first (but definitely not my last!) by this Scottish cozy middlebrow author.

Twenty-five-year-old Beatrice, a shy homebody, is left at loose ends when her mother dies; she has a comfortable income but no home to call her home. She moves from Glasgow to London stay at her wealthy brother‘s house but as the family can‘t be bothered with her she strikes out to find where she fits in.

Continued 👇:

Fascinating! And clearly we have been missing an opportunity for another good Litsy swap (like the Jólabókaflód swap)! ?

Here‘s the short article:

https://ingebretsens-blog.com/its-almost-time-for-paskekrim-or-easter-crime/

I‘ve just started the third of the Marlow books, a vintage children‘s series about the large Marlow family and their adventures during various school terms and holidays.

In this instalment, it‘s the summer holidays and Nicola discovers the art of falconry with a neighbour boy.

#GirlsGoneByPublishers

This is the lovely and heartbreaking Bildungsroman of Muriel, who we watch grow from an awkward child to a struggling adult in the confines of Edwardian era, middle class Yorkshire. There were two options available to a woman of her class and time: snapping up the first remotely acceptable husband or tending to your aging parents for the rest of your life as an unpaid and unappreciated spinster.

What do you think of her choice, #PersephoneClub?

Friday night reads. And yes, those ARE dog toes on my desk. #JohnnyBergen

#KindredSpiritsBuddyRead
#PersephoneClub

Today‘s book mail is another republished work by #BritishLibraryWomenWriters. 💗

In this satiric and witty 1928 novel, Daisy Simpson tries to navigate her lacklustre social performance and “keep up appearances”.

Book mail!

“Do you know, Sergeant, there are men and even women who would cheerfully kill me to get what I found today?”

Sergeant Wigan escorts home a tipsy bookseller who‘s been celebrating a huge find, a signed copy of Keats‘ Endymion. The budding bibliophile copper strikes up a friendship with the bookman and finds himself on the case when his new friend is discovered murdered in his impressive library.

#BritishLibraryCrimeClassics

I had an urge for something “gothicky” and randomly plucked this one off my shelves.

A creepy manor house on the creepy fens with a creepy father and a lonely child. What‘s not to love? 😆

I‘ve been spending a bit of my Sunday afternoon with this recommendation from @rubyslippersreads .

With lots of secret nods towards vintage girl‘s school fiction (a love of mine!), I‘m finding this middle grade boarding school tale quite quirky and delightful.

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

@Cathythoughts ‘s pick for us this month is The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby. 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‘ve just started the next read for my IRL book club.

Summer, 1930. Dr. Edmund Bickleigh is hosting a tennis party and has discovered that he needs to kill his wife. And that‘s good enough to intrigue me! 😆

This is one of the classic crime novels mentioned in Peter Swanson‘s Eight Perfect Murders (for any of you who‘ve read and enjoyed that one).

Day 31: #Walks

Sure, Mrs. Elton. Very natural and simple. 😆

And with this post I have completed the entire month of the #200PnPCovers challenge! It‘s been a while since I‘ve done a daily posting challenge and this was lots of fun.

Thanks so much for hosting, @CrowCAH and @mabell !

Day 30: #Travel

I purchased this bookmark and book on my own travels to Jane Austen country. The author is a direct descendant of Jane‘s brother Edward Knight and was the last of the Austen Knight family to grow up on the Chawton estate (where Jane had her most productive writing years).

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

I‘m just starting this Canadian true crime that looks at the investigation into a serial killer who preyed on men in Toronto‘s “Gay Village” (and how the police initially screwed that investigation up). The murderer‘s arrest in 2018 was big news here in Canada.

Day 29: #Tea

This was a gift from the lovely @CrowCAH for #AVeryAustenHolidaySwap 💙💙

#200PnPCovers

@mabell

Day 28: #Soldiers

A miniature of Frank Austen, the elder of Jane‘s two successful military brothers. He was ultimately named Admiral of the Fleet.

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

Day 27: #Sickness

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

Day 26: #Siblings

Fanny Palmer married Jane‘s youngest brother and her experiences as a Navy wife ended up influencing Austen‘s writing (especially her novel, Persuasion).

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

Day 25: #Rich

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

Day 24: #Proposals

In which Jane Austen herself received a proposal and could have been Mrs. Jane Bigg-Wither (😳) … if she hadn‘t changed her mind overnight and retracted her acceptance.

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

And here‘s another one I‘m currently reading (from my true crime shelf 😉).

Day 23: #Prejudice

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

I was feeling a bit Pym-ish today so I allowed myself to start this one (I‘ve been rationing my Pyms 😆).

Day 22: #Pride

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

Day 21: #Parents

Silhouette portraits of Jane Austen‘s parents.

Can I just say that I‘m happy these are no longer in vogue? I wouldn‘t relish my own beaky nose and weak chin handed down for posterity. 🤣🤣

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

This seafaring gothic novel was a random grab from my shelves and I‘m very much enjoying it so far!

The story opens in 1833 and is narrated by Hiram Carver, a shipboard surgeon who is looking back at his time aboard the USS Orbis, but is now telling his tale as a doctor working at the Asylum For the Insane. 😬

Day 20: #Novels

Well, that was easy. 😉

#200PnPCovers
#FolioSociety

@CrowCAH @mabell

Day 19: #Music

“Mrs. Bates, deprived of her usual employment, slumbering on one side, Frank Churchill, at a table, near her, most deedily occupied about her spectacles, and Jane Fairfax, standing with her back to them, intent on her pianoforte.”

Any Regency gal worth her salt knew how to rock the pianoforte. 😆

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

Friday night reading.

I was feeling like being in the slightly odd and dark world of Patricia Highsmith for a while. 😄

Day 18: #Money

I bought this little coin purse when I toured Winchester Cathedral (where Jane Austen is buried).

(And I‘m quite enjoying all of our interpretations for these prompts! 😆😆)

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

Day 17: #Marriage

“Mr. Elton is going to be married!”

This is an edition that I own with the lovely Fritz Kredel illustrations.

#200PnPCovers

@CrowCAH @mabell

Anyone else? 😆😆

Day 16: #Mail

Wouldn‘t it be nice to receive some mail from Jane? 😁

#200PnPCovers
#FolioSociety

@CrowCAH @mabell

Bedtime reading. 😆

I know that @CarolynM is a fan of this series … did anyone else read these as a child? Jean Estoril is a pen name for Mabel Esther Allan and I‘ve read some of her other books but not these.

#JohnnyBergen