Welcome to the first Weekend Miscellany of 2013! I hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year, whoever you were with. As of Thursday, I’m back in Oxford, having refuelled on cat, countryside, and family.
1.) The blog post – lovely Thomas at My Porch has had a clear-out, and (as well as admiring his lovely shelves) you can put your name in the draw for his duplicate Dorothy Whipple books. US residents only, though, since he wanted to keep the Whipples in a country where they’re difficult to find. It’s open til 31st January.
2.) The link – I’ve yet to listen to it, but Mary has passed on the info about a Radio 4 programme on the incredible Margaret Rutherford. Click here for it. If I had a time machine, I’d probably (mis)use it just to go and see her on the stage as Miss Hargreaves. What bliss that would be…
3.) The book – I really loved The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice (it was in my top books of 2008), so I was very excited to receive a review copy of her new book, The Misinterpretation of Tara Jupp – with a lovely note from Eva too. My reading will be taken up by Vanity Fair for the foreseeable future, but Eva Rice’s is one of many 21st century books I’ve been holding off until A Century of Books was finished. If it’s half as good as The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, then I’ll adore it!
And not forgetting… the readalong of Cheerful Weather for the Wedding is coming up soon! A lovely lot of people seemed keen – see here for details – I suggest we post reviews sometime in the week beginning Monday 28th January, and I’ll post links and have a discussion here. Fun fun!
I am so excited about Eva Rice's new book! I already have my library hold placed (the library very usefully show all on order items in the catalogue) and cannot wait for its release! And I'll have to give a listen to the Margaret Rutherford programme – thanks for the link.
I think the Eva Rice one will come up soon – I hadn't realised it hadn't been released yet.
And, annoyingly, I didn't follow my own advice and listen to the Rutherford programme, and now it's unavailable! Doh.
Oh, am SO Envious about Eva Rice's new book (I loved her first book, too). I had put in a request via ILL on what I thought had been her new book and it was out there for ages and ages until I had to finally give up–alas it hadn't been published but lots of libraries were planning on ordering it. I'm so glad to hear, though, that she does indeed have a new book forthcoming, so I will go look for it now to see when it is going to be released! Thanks for the heads up! :) I've got my copy of Cheerful Weather out and ready!
I hadn't realised it was still unpublished, so I shall take advantage of my luck and get onto it soon!
So pleased to have you on board for Cheerful Weather :)
Ooh, very glad to hear there's a new Eva Rice book. I loved The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets – I picked it up off the bookshelf of a friend I was staying with and almost couldn't put it down to go to sleep, and since I've bought my copy I haven't stopped lending or recommending it to friends. I'll await you letting us know what you think of the new one…
I didn't realise that! Fun – if you like that, you should definitely read some Nancy Mitford (if you haven't already?) A strong influence there.
I've never heard of The Lost Art of Keeping Secreta before – but your review & the comments above sent me straight over to the library site – and miraculously, they have a copy.
Oo, hurrah! You'll love it, I reckon.
Oh, I hadn't spotted the Margaret Rutherford programme, I shall go and listen to that. Thank you! If you get that time machine, can I tag along? I'd love to have seen her as Miss Hargreaves.
There'll be room for a few of us, promise. Although, annoyingly, I didn't listen to the programme myself before it disappeared! Silly boy.
A good Miscellany for my morning, thank you. You might mention to Thomas/My Porch that none of the options his blog offers allow some of us to comment (I think!). I don't have a google account, aim, or any of the other things.
Standing by with Cheerful Weather.
thanks Sarah! Thomas replies somewhere below…
YAY! A new Eva Rice book! I'm so looking forward to it :-)
And it's looooong!
I hope there's room in that time machine for me. And then please can I borrow it for a tour of great art exhibitions of the past?
You, me, and Jodie can have a nice trip together. I'll make some emergency repairs, and then it's yours.
Lots to enjoy here, thanks Simon!
thanks :)
Sarah, you can always email me at onmyporch [at] hotmail [dot] com
lovely, thanks Thomas.