I took a trip to the excellent bookshop in Wantage this morning and, as ever, came away with a lovely little haul. Here’s what I bought…
Aftermath by Rachel Cusk
I have to admit that I didn’t love the only Cusk novel I read, which had beautiful writing but seemed almost determinedly aimless – but I was more drawn to this memoir about the end of her marriage.
Long Distance by Penelope Mortimer
This is one of Mortimer’s novels that I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody talk about – having discovered how brilliant The Home was last year (coming out very soon from British Library Women Writers!) I am intrigued. It does sound very experimental – a woman who is ‘without a past, or without any clear memory of her past’ who is ‘taken into a strange community living in the mansion of a huge estate. Are these people part of her forgotten life? Is she part of theirs? Or are they meeting for the first time, as strangers?’ Colour me interested!
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
I’ve been meaning to get hold of this for years, and really enjoyed Heartburn last year – this is the one I hear people talk about most when they celebrate Ephron.
The Fly on the Wheel by Katherine Cecil Thurston
I hadn’t heard of this until I heard that Manderley Press were reprinting it in a beautiful new edition. I may well end up with one of their editions, but this Virago Modern Classic can be testing ground if I want to spend a bit more on something lovely!
Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton
As I just wrote earlier this week, I really loved The House by the Sea – and had gone to my shelves intending to read Journal of a Solitude. Turns out I didn’t own it, but I was pretty confident that I would stumble across a copy soon. And hey presto, I did!
London Street Games by Norman Douglas
I collect the Dolphin editions – by which I mean I buy them when I stumble across them, rather than anything more purposeful – so I was pleased to find this one. My first dustjacket in the collection, in fact!
Not a huge haul, but really pleased with everything I found. Have you been buying anything recently? And which of these books would you go to first?
All lovely finds Simon – I would have picked up the Sarton! :D
The Virago for sure! Very envious as it’s one I do not have. Great haul.
Lovely books. I was in New York this week and shopping at the Strand I found a copy of Sunlight on the Lawn by Beverley Nicholls. I’ve had Merry Hall and The Sweet and Twenties on my list since I heard you mention them. Alas, only book three in the Merry Hall trilogy was there. I took a chance and bought it. It will now sit on my shelves until I find Merry Hall someday – which hopefully I will like!
intriguing collection, thanks for sharing
Thanks!
Lovely ! I went to my library yesterday and they were having a sale. I bought a Persephone; Making Conversation by Christine Longford. I’ve never heard of her, but the preface by Rachel Billington compares her to Nancy Mitford. Also a 1950’s book called British Canals. I haven’t the remotest interest in canals, but it has lovely engravings and black and white photographs and I couldn’t bear the thought of it going to be pulped !
I have read Making Conversation and somehow remember not a thing about it, but hope you enjoy! Can’t go far wrong with a Persephone.
I don’t know how you can move about your place, with all those books, but hey, if you get trapped in there, what a wonderful way to die – READING!
I did manage to cull a few recently, so there is the odd gap on the shelf!
Very nice finds. I’m envious. Increasingly, this Canadian finds himself importing Canadian books from the UK. My latest haul arrived this past week from a bookshop in Oxfordshire:
Dove Cottage by Jan Hilliard
Return to Today by Margerie Scott
The Shanty Sled by Hulbert Footner
Hot Freeze by Martin Brett
I’ve not read the first three, but know Hot Freeze well. Eight years ago, I helped return it to print as part of the Véhicule Press Ricochet Books series. The edition that arrived last week is the Max Reinhardt UK first. The jacket’s author bio alone makes it worth the purchase. Here’s an excerpt:
“In the past there has been a spate of American and pseudo-American ‘toughies.’ Brett’s books are tough all right, but not in imitation Hollywood style. They are Canadian – and Brett tells us thgat they mirror certain happenings in a big, beautiful corrupt and lovable city – Montreal.”
Should add that Brett (real name: Douglas Sanderson) was a transplanted Brit from Kent.
As might be expected, the author photo captures him at his typewriter with cigarette in hand.
I haven’t heard of any of those, but Return to Today by Margerie Scott sounds very intriguing. I wonder which bookshop in Oxfordshire they came from? It might even have been the same one I got these books from!
Not the same one, alas. My haul comes from Wallingford. The Margerie Scott does look promising. Another transplanted Brit – this one from Leeds – she appears to have spent most her adult life moving back and forth between London and Windsor, Ontario. By London, I mean London, England, not London, Ontario (which does have its charms).
Ah yes, I think that used to be a shop and is now run from home. Wallingford is a lovely little place – I once got a week away from buying a flat there, before pulling out for various complicated reasons.
Yes I found my first Elizabeth Taylor book, Angel, as well as Dickens at Doughty Street by John Greaves. Very happy.
Angel was my first Taylor too, and set me off loving her. It’s quite different from her others, but brilliant.
Wow – I love this selection! What a wonderful stash. I am waiting for a library copy of Journal of a Solitude and see they also have ‘I feel bad about my neck ‘ which looks intriguing. I would be happy to try any of the others too. I have read Rachel Cusk’s ‘Life’s Work ‘and ‘Aftermath’ but a long while ago (I admired without necessarily liking her as an author).
I have had some happy book finds recently too: I found a Bloomsbury edition of ‘A Room of One’s Own’ and read that last week (my first Woolf – better very late than never! I enjoyed and admired it much more than I was anticipating); I then saw ‘Between the Acts’ in a second hand shop, so was able to get that too.
My other finds have been ‘ The Tortoise and the Hare’ by Elizabeth Jenkins which I read two years ago and loved but did not own, and Katherine Frank’s ‘Emily Bronte’ (charity box at Tesco so worth a try). Lastly, I bought The Stone of Chastity (Margery Sharp) in preparation to read for Karen’s 1940 club. I loved ‘Four Windows and A Foolish Gentlewoman).
I wonder what you will read first of your new ones? My current read is ‘Winter in the Air’ by Townsend Warner’. I finished A World of Love (Bowen) last weekend.
Happy Reading!
I am also reading Winter in the Air and find the stories so satisfying. They are like segments of a tangerine, tangy and leaving you wanting to know more. What does happen next to these characters? And I am so grateful to this podcast for introducing me to Margery Sharp. Enjoyed Cluny Brown and recently read Fanfare of Trumpets which had a wonderful cast of characters.
I love your so very apt description of the stories in ‘Winter in the Air’. I am not usually one for short stories but these are really staying with me; the characters are so well drawn in so few pages and I love the descriptions ofm nature and domestic scenes too.
Like you, I have this podscast to thank for discovering Margery Sharp. I have not read Cluny Brown or Fanfaren of Trumpets yet though so will be all the more eager to search out copies of those after your mention of them
So glad you’re onto your first Woolf! Her reputation often omits that she can be very funny – I think A Room of One’s Own is delightfully drily witty. And brilliant to have The Stone of Chastity, which I really loved – definitely her silliest that I’ve read, but Sharp is always fun.
I really enjoy you reading along with Tea or Books choices, and await to see if you agree with me and/or Rachel in our preferences. As for which of these I’ll read first – at the moment I want to get straight onto the Sarton, but it depends if I strike while the iron is hot…
I agree, I thought ‘A Room of One’s Own’ showed that Woolf had a dry sense of humour. I think I had expected it to be more stuffy but she achieved a wonderful balance of thoughtfulness and analysis without coming across as if she was lecturing.
I have finished ‘Winter in the Air’ (I won’t comment yet but will await the podcast!) and have just started ‘Journal of a Solitude’. The first paragraph of the book’s first diary entry I found absolutely wonderful, beautifully capturing what she was feeling. The perspicacity of her writing is incredible. I predict you will actually love it!
Oo that has definitely pushed Solitude even closer to the top of the tbr pile, thank you!
My most recent book haul was a selection of Thirkells I got in Sedbergh. All later ones and bought more to complete the collection than anything else. Then I went into a charity shop and found a copy of her book about Tony Morland, The Demon in the House for the princely sum of £1! Did offer more but they wouldn’t take it. I know some people say her writing drops off in her later years but I’m impressed by her productivity.
Oh lovely! Yes, I’ve had more luck with her early/mid books than her later ones, but always nice to have a full collection.
Seems like an interesting haul you got there!
London Street Games intrigued me most; is it really a non fiction about children games of Victorian era?
It is indeed!
Oooh, what a great haul! Quality over quantity ;) Nora Ephron is brilliant, one of my heroes – that’s definitely the stand-out from the stack, in my eye. Enjoy!
Just collected ‘I feel bad about my neck’ from the library and have read the brilliant first chapter (though now even more glad it is winter and I not too hot to wear a scarf!). I was going to put it on the tbr pile but it has jumped straight onto the ‘read now’ alongside the Sarton and ‘The Stone of Chastity’. I didn’t realise Nora Ephron wrote When Harry met Sally, You’ve got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle – all wonderfully heart-warming films.
Some great finds there. I have wanted to read The Dly on the Wheel for years, just never come across it. I wonder if it’s a rare find now. Penelope Mortimer is an interesting writer, my copy of The Home arrived a couple of days ago, really looking forward to it.
Lovely haul. I hope there are some you love. I am waiting for the day that books from Dean Street Press and British Library start showing up here in Oregon at Thrift shops, yard sales and library sales. I have yet to find any in my library here in Oregon. But I do find them on ABEBooks, thankfully.
Lovely finds! I’ve recently acquired two pony books and a slightly random novel thanks to my husband’s trip to the San Diego Public Library book sale. I have read The Fly on the Wheel but had no memory of it! https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/book-reviews-to-the-lighthouse-and-the-fly-on-the-wheel-virago/ And I’m all behind like the cow’s tail with my blog reading!