I’ve been coldy most of the week, so haven’t done much reading or blogging – slowly working my way through A Pin To See the Peepshow and (spoilers for the next podcast ep) it’s marvellous. But I’m hoping I manage much more reading throughout February than I did in January. For now, let’s have a link, a blog post, and a book.
1.) The blog post – is the exciting return of Shiny New Books! As I mentioned last year, I’m no longer on the editorial team – but will be an Editor at Large, and also very much like the look of the new format. New reviews will come every Tuesday and Thursday. Find out more by heading over to the new-look site.
2.) The link – for people who like going to academic conferences, let me draw your attention to one in May. It’s the second conference about British Women Writers 1930-1960, held in Chichester this time. I couldn’t get to the previous one, and I’m kinda furious about that since there was a panel with papers on Richmal Crompton and E.M. Delafield. You can’t imagine how much I’d love to have heard that. ANYWAY, I’ll be giving a paper there, and the whole thing will hopefully be fascinating.
3.) The book – I’ve been reading Jennifer Walker’s biography of Elizabeth von Arnim on and off for 18 months (it is v good, it’s just somehow happened that way!). If you were put off by the hefty hardback, then you might like to know that the ebook is now available.
Hi, Thanks for your comment and link to the Chichester conference. I’m sorry you couldn’t come to Hull, too, but look forward to seeing you in May.
Sue Kennedy
University of Hull
Thank you, Sue! I look forward to seeing you too :)
“Pin” is marvellous, isn’t it? One of my favourite Viragos ever. In fact, it’s so good that I’m rather scared to read “Messalina of the Suburbs” because it can’t compare!
I finished Pin in the early hours of this morning and it’s quite phenomenal. I’ll be going straight on to Messalina – I think it might feel quite odd to read the same story again through a different lens, but an interesting experiment!
The biography of von Arnim sounds good; I love her writing.
And she wrote so much, bless her!
Giving a paper! You fancy bastard! Are you excited?
Haha! I am putting ‘fancy bastard’ on my CV. I’m actually hideously blase about it – I’ve done maybe 8 or so now – but I am *quite* excited. I’ll be more excited when I’ve written it…
At last I may have found someone who can help me. I refer to Ivy, and your enthusiasm. For 50 years I have been reading her – living with her, you might say – and now she seems to be taking me over. To such an extent, in fact, that I have gone beyond addiction and am needing therapy. Maybe I need a lawyer to prevent her stalking me and preventing me from reading other writers and getting on with writing of my own. I hated her when I first read her ( HAD to read her for an essay), and still hate her for the sadistic way she plays with my attentions. The isolation is the worst. I feel abandoned and misunderstood. The woman is as much a tyrant as Matty or Duncan Edgworth, or the appalling Anna Donne. Is help at hand via your blog? – Laurence Cole
Ha! It sounds like you don’t need help at all – it sounds like you’ve got everything perfectly sorted out!
I’m filled with envy over the thought of that conference! Hopefully I’ll be able to attend. What’s your paper on, if you don’t mind me asking?
Oh, I hope so Diana!
My paper is on ‘who owns the Brontes’ – i.e. the highbrow and middlebrow battle over who inherited the tradition of the Victorian classics, looking specifically at Rachel Ferguson’s The Brontes Went To Woolworths.