This is part of an ongoing series where I write about a different author for each letter of the alphabet. You can see them all here.
How many books do I have by Susan Hill?
As always, I haven’t quite remembered to include all the books I have in the photo. Every time, I vow I will… anyway, there are 16 books in the pic, but I actually have 17 because I forgot to check my memoir shelves, where I would have found The Magic Apple Tree.
How many of these have I read?
Only seven of the ones that I own – Howards End is on the Landing, Jacob’s Room Is Full of Books, A Kind Man, Black Sheep, The Beacon, In the Springtime of the Year, and The Bird of Night. And a couple of the short stories from The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read but I don’t remember which ones…
How did I start reading Susan Hill?
Quite unusually – it was actually a book called The Battle for Gullywith, which I was sent as a review book in the early days of this blog. I don’t think it has been one of her greatest commercial or critical successes, and it certainly wasn’t aimed at me and my age group. But in that era of blogging, Hill was herself quite active – and, indeed, linked to my blog and occasionally commented on it. She was a forthright presence, for sure, and at some point decided it wasn’t for her – but she is the only author I’ve known to be a real part of the book blogging world. Her most iconic moment was doing a reply to a student who’d been asked to compare The Woman in White and its influence on The Woman in Black – and said ”I’ve never read The Woman in White.”
Anyway, it wasn’t much later that I read the wonderful Howards End is on the Landing, and that sent me off on a hunt for more.
General impressions…
I could be wrong, but I think Hill is best known for I’m the King of the Castle and The Woman in Black, and I haven’t read those. She is an astonishingly prolific author, and writes in quite separate genres and worlds. I don’t have any interest in her crime fiction or her children’s fiction, but I love the short literary novels and, of course, her books about reading. In the former category, In the Springtime of the Year is a brilliant book about grief, and I also really got a lot out of the spin on misery memoir The Beacon. I haven’t read a novel by her that I haven’t admired.
But the books for which I love Hill most are, of course, Howards End is on the Landing and, to a lesser extent, Jacob’s Room is full of Books. Reading memoirs are everywhere nowadays, and I will continue to lap them all up, but Hill was among the first and among the best. Neither book quite does what it says it’ll do, but they are wonderful nonetheless.
Any recommendations from the Hill books I have waiting?
Currently re-reading the Magic Apple Tree; it is one of my comfort reads. Except. Except I cannot visualise that blooming cottage from her description. I make a picture in my mind’s eye and as the book goes one she adds more and more unhelpful details … wait a minute, now it is at right angles to the road … the road is a dead end … the village is to the east and the Fen to the west (or vice versa). This is driving me mad. Please tell me (someone) is there photographic reference online of the actual cottage? Has anyone cleverer than me managed to make a sketch or a plan? Is the apple tree actually in the back garden or the front?
Howards End Is On The Landing was quite fun if only for her caustic comments about Jane Austen!
I didn’t care for Woman in Black at all – the idea was great but the execution irritated me because it seemed that nearly every word had to be accompanied by an adjective.
I read and enjoyed The Magic Apple Tree about this time last year. It felt a bit like a blog actually – before we had blogs. Following the seasons and including things like recipes and what’s happening with the WI and thoughts on hunting. I also find her short ghost stories really atmospheric.
I recommend Strange Meeting. I’m not sure I could bear to reread it now but I read it many years ago and it made a strong impression.
Deb
Oo thanks Deb – I think, when I read Bird at Night, I thought I was gonna read Strange Meeting – will get to it before too long.
I don’t know her, but it seems her books are pretty dark… not really my thing, I’m afraid.
The books about books definitely aren’t dark!
In the Springtime of the Year, I’m the King of the Castle, The Woman in Black and then The Magic Apple Tree and Family were all wonderful reads. Her earlier work fizzed off the page. The Woman in Black was a most frightening but riveting read. Family was an honest account of Susan Hill’s desperation to become a mother. It was poignant and honest. It did not matter what she wrote the writing always pleased. And now a big but. With the advent of her branching into crime books and maybe before that her charm paled. The protagonist ,Simon Serrallier, of whom she has written many novels about his detective work,was just too perfect. There were too many boxes ticked. He always wore the right clothes , ate the best food and drank the most delightful wines. Boring boring boring. And then she wrote about the books she was going to reread instead of buy. Her choices were always just so …..her opinion just spot on ……and I thought enough, enough! So now I am no longer interested in her new books or her opinions. There are times I return to an author I have loved and revisit the joy of their writing but with Susan Hill I cannot summon the interest. Sorry I say move on !
Oo good to know about Family, I think that could be rather wonderful. And also good to know your view on Simon Serrallier – I wasn’t tempted and now I’m even less so.
Impressive collection. I can’t help about what to read next as I think I’ve only read “Howards End…”!!
Ah, well YOU should read the sequel to that then :D
I read The Magic Apple Tree almost 5 years ago and absolutely loved it. Time for a reread!
Oo good to know, thanks
I’ve read a few of her books (one or two crime fiction novels) and The Woman in Black and I liked them reasonably well (I do agree with a previous comment, however, that Black’s detective, Simon Serrailler, is just a bit too, too perfect). In contrast, I loved Howard’s End is on the Landing! A wonderful read that I’ll return to, at some point for seconds!
I’ve reread once or twice and it definitely lives up to it!
I was really disappointed with Howards End is on the Landing, it seemed like a lost opportunity to me. I thought it would have been a lot better than it was. I really enjoy books about books normally. Lucy Mangan’s Bookworm was a great read and I liked Sheila Kaye-Smith’s All the Books of My Life.
It was one of those funny books which most people loved but a few people really didn’t like, and nobody was in the middle! I love All the Books of My Life, and enjoyed Lucy Mangan’s book a lot too.
Oh, but Simon Seraillier is a broken man! Not perfect. This is one of my very favorite procedural series – but yes, it’s quite dark.
I’ve only read part of The Woman in Black, which was wonderfully creepy, and Howards End, which annoyed me and I gave up. Maybe it was just bad timing. I’ve also seen the stage version of The Woman in Black (not the movie) and it’s excellent, just scary enough. I think the movie would be too scary!
HEiotL really did divide people! I can’t cope with scary, so Woman in Black isn’t for me…