Thank you SO much for all your kind words and support recently. I’m not out of the woods yet, but I’m going to make a gradual return to book blogging. And I wanted to clear the decks on the books that have been waiting to be reviewed, some of them for many months.
And, you know me. I love to rank things. So I put 14 books in order, from least liked to most liked. In fact, I only disliked one of them, but I also didn’t fall in love with many of them either. Let’s start at the bottom of the pile.
14. Nice Work by David Lodge
This is my first novel by Lodge, and it’s sort of an updating of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, where an academic type starts shadowing someone at a factory. Everyone in it is annoying, and Lodge is obSESSed with writing scenes of people going to the toilet. There are more in the first third of this novel than in all the other novels I’ve read, combined. Also, his satire (?) of academic speak isn’t heightened or exaggerated, and thus is the sort of conversation I’m so familiar with that it didn’t seem funny at all.
13. Kind Hearts and Coronets by Roy Horniman
This 1908 novel is actually called Israel Rank, but this reprint has changed the title to match the famous film it inspired. In the novel, Israel Rank realises he can inherit a title and great wealth if he bumps off all the people in between. His motivation is the antisemitism he has faced – though the novel decries antisemitism in quite an antisemitic way. It’s described as a dark comedy but I couldn’t really see where it was funny. It’s just rather horrible, and pretty methodical so not especially pacey.
12. She and I by Pamela Frankau
I’d love to suggest a Frankau for the British Library Women Writers series, but this one won’t be it. It’s about a love triangle – and then a later love triangle with the same two men and a different woman, who may or may not be a reincarnation of sorts of the first. An interesting idea, but all very abstract and hard to pin down. And, sign, antisemitic.
11. The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes
This is a novel about Shostakovitch, about whom I know nothing. I think it would be better for people who do – though perhaps then it would be too predictable. As with my other Barnes experience, I found it readable but not more than ‘quite good’.
10. Slowness by Milan Kundera
I love Kundera and I enjoyed reading this, so it’s only placed here because I don’t remember a single thing about it.
9. A field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit
When I picked this up, I didn’t know that Solnit is a widely-known and loved essayist. And I loved the more personal essays here. She lost me a bit when she got too historical – and I found the register slightly difficult to grab hold of at time. Maybe a little too academic for my liking. But an undeniably good prose stylist.
8. The Glory and the Dream by Viola Larkins
A preacher falls in love with an adventurous, frivolous woman (despite her being more or less engaged to another man). Passion overwhelms them – but after they are married, they realise how unsuitable they are for each other. Enjoyable 1930s stuff, but misses that vital spark to make it something wonderful.
7. Shelf Life by Suzanne Strempek Shea
A memoir about working in a bookshop – fun! It also covers a range of other things, including Shea’s time touring as a writer and her experience of cancer. I mainly came away with the intrigue that she hates when people pronounce her surname She-ah, but doesn’t tell us how it is actually pronounced.
6. The Wildings by Richmal Crompton
Crompton obviously liked this novel, because she wrote a couple of sequels. It starts a bit unpromisingly, with every paragraph ending in intriguing ellipses, but I liked it more as it went on – seeing how David Wilding copes with leaving the family firm, and manages his attachments to his jealous wife and his overlooked sister.
5. Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
This is my first Stewart and it was good fun – a woman inherits her aunt’s enormous house, and becomes part of a secretive community. And… could she be a witch? I think I’d love this more if the writing had been a bit better. She does pace rip-roaringly but, sentence by sentence, it’s a little workmanlike. Maybe (and I so seldom say this) it needed to be a bit longer?
4. Across the Common by Elizabeth Berridge
My read of this kicked off a few people buying Berridge, largely because of Reg Cartwright’s wonderful covers – see tweet – but it’s worth a read on its own merits too. It is not the Angela Carteresque surreal novel that the blurb suggests, but a tale of memory, regret, forgiveness that comes out when the heroine leaves her husband and moves in with three elderly aunts.
3. The Game by A.S. Byatt
My goodness, Byatt writes good sentences. I haven’t read her for ages, but this novel about sister rivalry between an academic and a novelist – thrown to the surface when a childhood friend re-emerges – was startling good, sentence by sentence. The reason it didn’t top my list is because I didn’t quite know what was going on in some flashbacks, and felt the whole was not quite the sum of its parts. But I think it would reward a re-read one day.
2. A Village in a Valley by Beverley Nichols
The last of Nichols’ Down the Garden Path trilogy, it’s still not in the same league as the Merry Hall trilogy but it’s good fun – particularly all the sweet stuff about helping a local woman open up a shop, despite the likelihood of it all going wrong.
1. Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope
The only book from the list that I really, REALLY loved is one that took me about six months to finish – because Trollope certainly isn’t concise. The plot is about secret inheritances and couples who might not be able to marry because of poverty, but the plot is dragged out and (especially in the second half) very predictable. What makes this wonderful is Trollope’s delightful turn of sentence, and the leisurely and assured way he takes us through each conversation, reflection, and narrative flourish. A protracted joy.
Dear Simon
So glad to hear that you are better and and I LOVE your rankings!
Have a good and healthy summer!
Andrea
thank you Andrea!
Those were among Barnes’s and Byatt’s lesser books for me, though they (and David Lodge; alas that you didn’t enjoy him!) are my favourite authors. I recently read a Margaret Drabble novel about sisters with a mild rivalry, which I found interesting to contrast with Byatt and wonder what was autobiographical — I’m sure you know they’re sisters. Hope in the Dark is a more accessible one by Solnit. And I would presume Shea is pronounced “shay.” My secondhand copy of her book was unexpectedly signed! I’m glad you’re feeling up to reading and blogging; we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Interesting on Shay – I had assumed it might be She (to rhyme with pea, flea, lea, tea etc.) but am none the wiser. And thanks so much for your lovely comment – even when I don’t enjoy Lodge!
I must have missed your previous post about your illness, but it’s great to hear that you are feeling better, albeit not quite back to normality yet – hopefully that will happen fairly soon…
As you know, I have the Berridge and am very much looking forward to it. (You’ve definitely sparked some kind of mini revival with those tweets of yours!) Maybe she would fit into your BL Women Writers series at some point?
Have definitely been wondering about Berridge for the series! The ones that are possible to find online are a bit too late, but once the Bodleian is back open I can explore others…
Good to see you back to your witty, scathingly reviewing self! Hope you get better soon.
Thanks Marina :D
So glad you’re on the mend, I LOVE your blogs, which feature much of stuff I like and which rarely gets mentioned elsewhere! Lots of love & best wishes xxx
Thank you so much, Sally!
Glad you’re on the mend Simon! And an interesting ranking of books! I love Barnes and Shostakovich so The Noise of Time was perfect for me. I don’t know what it is about his prose but I adore it. Glad to see Beverley up there too! :D One day I will read Trollope…
Bev was never going to be too far down any ranking :D
Bev was never going to be too far down any ranking!
I am glad to hear you are feeling a bit better. I hope you continue to improve. I love many of Mary Stewart’s novels but I will freely admit that her later ones were not as good. I think the best ones were published in the fifties and sixties. The Moonspinners, This Rough Magic, and Nine Coaches Waiting are particular favorites of mine.
I remember you saying Nine Coaches Waiting was great – will have to try that one next.
Good news about the improvement in your health. Long may that continue…..
Yep Trollope can be very baggy – he even admitted as much about Dr Thorne, apologising for the long winded first two chapters, But I forgive him because he can nail the people he really doesn’t like – such as Lady Arabella .
Sometimes I’m in exactly the mood for something that baggy, so you can just luxuriate in the writing and not worry about the rest!
I totally agree with your top two choices.
Did you notice a Pastiche of Cranford In Village in a Valley? Or was that me reading too much into it? Much loved character loses all her money so sets up a shop and friends rally round in support.
I hadn’t thought of that, but very possible!
Have you read Lodge’s Changing Places? That was my introduction to him. The first fart of the day figures into that one! It’s a take-down of [University of California] Berkeley at its liberal peak and is too funny still. #8 and #11 sound good, though I was less than thrilled with Barnes’ the only story.
Excellent post! No pressure to click or anything–here’s my take on the Barnes book–maybe it’s beyond my brain? https://hopewellslibraryoflife.wordpress.com/2019/06/05/review-the-only-story-by-julian-barnes/
No, Changing Places has gone in the charity shop pile, I’m afraid!
Welcome back! I missed your posts. As always, your rankings are so much fun — I’m either comparing my own reactions or getting ideas (or both). I was very interested in Pamela Frankau (#12); I read Wreath for the Enemy many years ago, loved it and then pretty much forgot it. I subsequently discovered several of her books in re-prints, read The Willow Cabin and didn’t love it, in a reaction akin to yours with She and I (i.e., I liked it but wasn’ wowed). I’ve had a copy of Frankau’s The Winged Horse for ages but somehow never get around to reading it.
I, too, liked Byatt’s The Game (#3) although not, perhaps, as much as you. Byatt can be a wonderful writer and I found the story intriguing but I also found it a difficult read and wasn’t always totally sure what, exactly, was going on. As you said, it’s a good candidate for a re-read.
My reaction to Barnes and Lodge is very similar to yours, although I did think the latter’s Changing Places was amusing. Although I haven’t read Mary Stewart in quite some time, I thoroughly enjoyed many of her novels although, like Jennifer, I found that her earlier ones were the strongest. As you said, she’s a great story teller even if the prose is a bit uninspired at times.
As for Doctor Thorne — I loved it! The pleasure was the all the greater, as I didn’t expect to, so it was a wonderful surprise. Many, many years ago I went through a major Trollope period and, hopefully, I’ll have the energy to return to him at some point. Not every novel is great, or even exceptional; his prose can go on and on but — there’s always something there even if it’s “only” an enjoyable read. I think I enjoyed him so much because he created such believable and interesting characters and really has quite an unflinching view of human nature, good and bad.
Elizabeth Berridge sounds very interesting; I’ll have to check her out . . .
Thanks so much! I LOVE Wreath for the Enemy, but the other two I’ve read haven’t lived up to it – though I haven’t read the Virago ones yet. And I don’t think I loved The Game all that much, it’s just that only one of these 14 books was a truly brilliant one in my opinion.
I had Changing Places, but it went in the charity shop pile when I read this Lodge :D
O say it isn’t so! How could you not love The Noise of Time… I will never forget that terrible image of Shostakovich with his bags packed, waiting for the KGB to turn up at his door…
PS I’m glad things are looking up:)
Ha, sorry Lisa! I think it’s mainly my profound ignorance of Shostakovich and the period in Russia.
Thornyhold is nothing like the quality of Stewart’s earlier works, which are pacy romantic thrillers. Try Nine Coaches Waiting or Airs Above the Ground. She also wrote a trilogy about Merlin, which I liked back in the day, though I’m not sure how it holds up nowadays.
Catherine Gaskin was of the same I’ll, but a little more overwrought.
Oo good to know! I’ve had a couple of recommendations of Nine Coaches Waiting, so will keep an eye out.
I’ve missed you and am glad you’re feeling better! Sorry there wasn’t a real stonker in among the 14!
I think I would count Dr Thorne in that – but basically I’m saving all the really good ones to write about separately :D
Glad you are on the mend, I’ve missed your great posts! Across the Common sounds wonderful. The Trollope does as well, but his books to me always feel like autumn and winter reading, so I tend to save them up for (literally) rainy days.
Trollope is my go-to for comfort reads. They are like slipping into a warm bath. I’ve heard he was very popular during WWII and I can absolutely understand why.
Hooray you’re back! And a great ranking. Though I love Lodge, but everyone can’t love the same stuff.
I liked The Noise of Time better than the other Barnes book I read… um… ah… The Sense of Ending. I can’t remember a thing about that book and I had to look up the title of the novel just now. As for Lodge, I started to read one of his books – Small World – found it kind of off putting, and gave up. As for your favorite, I don’t know if I could get through all the waffle to enjoy the writing… Glad you’re feeling a bit better, and hope you recover fully as soon as possible.
Who doesn’t love to ruthlessly rank things? I have read a grand total of one of these, but happily it’s the one at the top of your list. Trollope is a such a joy.
I’m so sorry you haven’t been well but it’s nice to hear you’re on the mend — and got a lot of reading done, very impressive! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed Trollope, I know long novels aren’t your thing and some of them are whoppers. Doctor Thorne is probably my all-time favorite of his novels (he shows up in the next novel in the series as well, Framley Parsonage). There was a TV adaptation not long ago by Andrew Davies and it’s not perfect but it’s pretty good.
I haven’t read Kind Hearts and Coronets but I’ve seen the movie with Alec Guinness, and the musical adaptation, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. I was lucky enough to see it on Broadway a few years ago, and then again in January at my local theater company. They did an amazing job and the singing is not easy! If you ever get a chance to see it I highly recommend it, it’s very funny. (I keep telling myself that SOMEDAY theaters will open again!)