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Tea or Books? #54: Reading Children’s Books as Children vs Adults, and Tom’s Midnight Garden vs The Secret Garden

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , 15 Comments

A children’s books special today, featuring Frances Hodgson Burnett and Philippa Pearce. Not in person, you understand.

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In the first half of the episode, we discuss whether it’s better to read children’s books as children or as adults (especially if we ended up missing those particular books as children). We enjoy ranging over the different children’s books we’ve enjoyed at different times – and would love to hear your thoughts.

In the second half, we look at two garden-focused children’s books – Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was great fun to read them – thanks Lauren for the suggestion!

You can check out our Patreon page, or our iTunes page. And we always love hearing from you, so do let us know any suggestions for future episodes!

(Quick note: I say in the episode that I never met someone who loved reading until I went to university – I meant anybody my age! I did meet some older people who loved reading :) )

The books and authors we mention are:

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
Tea With Walter du la Mare by Russell Brain
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Enid Blyton
Jennings series by Anthony Buckeridge
Jacqueline Wilson
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Lady Daisy by Dick King-Smith (not Anne Fine!)
Little Women by Lousia M. Alcott
Mallory Towers series by Enid Blyton
The Naughtiest Girl in the School by Enid Blyton
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
William series by Richmal Crompton
Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine
Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Judy Blume
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Moondial by Helen Cresswell
Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
Redwall by Brian Jacques
The Time Garden by Edward Eager
Linnets and Valerians by Elizabeth Goudge
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede
Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones
Charlotte Bronte
A Dog So Small by Philippa Pearce
The Priory by Dorothy Whipple
Housebound by Winifred Peck

Tea or Books? #53: Top of TBR vs Bottom of TBR, and The Bookshop vs According to Mark

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , , 6 Comments

It’s the battle of the Penelopes – and which books we’re most likely to read first (top or bottom of the pile?)

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Rachel is back (hurray!) – many thanks to Karen for taking her seat last time. And in this episode we’re doing a suggestion that a different Karen emailed in – do we read books as soon as we get them, or are we more likely to go for books at the bottom of the pile?

In the second half, we compare two literary Penelopes – Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Bookshop and Penelope Lively’s According to Mark. We don’t read anything by Penelope Mortimer, despite what Rachel thinks.

We have a Patreon page! You can get shout outs, cards, and even a book sent every month, plus access to any exclusive Patreon content. We also have an iTunes page, but I’ve never quite worked out what to do with that. Anyway… enjoy!

Oh, and listen out for a feline cameo…

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Penelope Mortimer
Bookworm by Lucy Mangan
Enid Blyton
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
E. Nesbit
Allan Quatermain by H Rider Haggard
King Solomon’s Mines by H Rider Haggard
Child of Storm by H Rider Haggard
Beverley Nichols
Floater by Calvin Trillin
Tove Jansson
Helen Oyeyemi
Sphinx by David Lindsay
The Birds by Frank Baker
Random Commentary by Dorothy Whipple
Vera Brittain
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
George Eliot
The Men Who Stare at Goats by Jon Ronson
The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Mapp and Lucia by E.F. Benson
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
Muriel Spark
Jane Bowles
Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Oleander, Jacaranda by Penelope Lively
Thomas Carlyle
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
Memoirs of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
Daddy’s Gone A-Hunting by Penelope Mortimer
The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Tea or Books? #52: Detective Fiction vs Crime Fiction and Merry Hall vs The Sweet and Twenties

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , 5 Comments

Detective fiction, crime fiction, and Beverley Nichols – what fun!

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Rachel has had to take a quick break from the podcast, but I was delighted to have a special guest in the form of Karen, from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, who took to it all brilliantly. After an introductory chat with Karen, we talked about Golden Age detective fiction vs modern crime fiction – with my usual lack of research, though Karen is rather better informed.

Karen and I are both besotted with Beverley Nichols, and it seemed like a good opportunity to compare two of his books – Merry Hall and The Sweet and Twenties.

Rachel should be back for our next episode. In the meantime, you can visit our iTunes page – and we’ve also set up a Patreon page. Obviously we are very, very happy for people to keep listening without signing up for Patreon, but if you’d like to help us recover hosting costs etc. and get some ‘rewards’ (from shout-outs to book parcels) then you can check out our page.

In the episode, we talk about a wonderful clip of Beverley Nichols – here it is:

The books and authors we mention are:

Nairn’s Paris by Ian Nairn
Leadon Hill by Richmal Crompton
Weatherley Parade by Richmal Crompton
Narcissa by Richmal Crompton
Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton
Frost at Morning by Richmal Crompton
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Eternal Husband by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dashiell Hammett
Raymond Chandler
Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle
Val McDermid
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Endless Night by Agatha Christie
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Martin Beck series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Wallander series by Henning Mankell
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
Jo Nesbo
The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley
The Wychford Poisoning Case by Anthony Berkeley
John Bude
John Dickson Carr
Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers
The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards
Quick Curtain by Alan Melville
Death of Anton by Alan Melville
The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books by Martin Edwards
Murder in the Museum by John Rowland
Calamity in Kent by John Rowland
Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols
The Sweet and Twenties by Beverley Nichols
Crazy Pavements by Beverley Nichols
Yours Sincerely by Beverley Nichols and Monica Dickens
Down the Garden Path by Beverley Nichols
Twenty Five by Beverley Nichols
A Pin to See the Peepshow by F Tennyson Jesse
Messalina of the Suburbs by E.M. Delafield
Virginia Woolf
Noel Coward
Oscar Wilde
Mrs Tim of the Regiment by D.E. Stevenson
Vita Sackville-West
Sunlight on the Lawn by Beverley Nichols
Laughter on the Stairs by Beverley Nichols
Elizabeth Bowen
Molly Keane
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
The ABC of Cats by Beverley Nichols
The XYZ of Cats by Beverley Nichols
This is Sylvia by Sandy Wilson
Nancy Spain
L.P. Hartley
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
According to Mark by Penelope Lively

Tea or Books? #51: Author Parents vs Author Children, and The Boat by L.P. Hartley vs Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

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Literary families, and the reveal on our recommendations for each other – we’re back after a seasonal break. We’ve missed you!

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In the first half of our 51st episode, we look at families where more than one generation has written, and try to determine whether we tend to prefer the parents or children – thank you Paul and Kirsty for your suggestion. And in the second half we find out whether or not our recommendations worked. We each picked a book we thought the other one would love – how well do we know each other’s tastes? I chose The Boat by L.P. Hartley for Rachel, and she chose Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner for me.

In the next episode we’ll be doing Penelope vs Penelope. All suggestions welcome (if you’ve sent one, it will doubtless happen eventually, once I dig it out from somewhere), and you can see our iTunes page here. If you can work out how to do reviews, via iTunes, they are always much appreciated!

The (enormous number of!) books and authors we mention in this episode are:

Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
Mr Men series by Roger Hargreaves
Things a Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls
Bluestockings by Jane Robinson
No Surrender by Constance Maud
The Real Mrs Miniver by Ysenda Maxtone Graham
Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther
Terms and Conditions by Ysenda Maxtone Graham
The Priory by Dorothy Whipple
Money by Martin Amis
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
Faulks on Fiction by Sebastian Faulks
E.M. Delafield
The Unlucky Family by Mrs Henry de la Pasture (not The Unhappy Family!)
Provincial Daughter by R.M. Dashwood
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Trilby by George du Maurier
Only the Sister by Angela du Maurier
Virginia Woolf
Leslie Stephen
Anthony Trollope
Domestic Manners of the Americans by Frances Trollope
American Notes by Charles Dickens
A.A. Milne
Christopher Milne
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft
Angela Thirkell
Colin Macinnes
Denis Mackail
E.F. Benson
Stella Benson
Sitwells
Corduroy by Adrian Bell
Virginia Woolf by Quentin Bell
Bloomsbury by Quentin Bell
Angelica Garnett
Family Skeletons by Henrietta Garnett
Singled Out by Virginia Nicholson
Frieda Plath
Ted Hughes
Sylvia Plath
A.S. Byatt
Margaret Drabble
Margaret Forster
Ivy Compton-Burnett by Cecily Grieg
Appointment in Arezzo by Alan Taylor
Meyer
Bloomsbury’s Outsider by Sarah Knights
H.G. Wells and His Family by M.M. Meyer
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Alan Bennett
Two People by A.A. Milne
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
A Perfect Woman by L.P. Hartley
The Betrayal by L.P. Hartley
According to Mark by Penelope Lively
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
Penelope Mortimer

Tea or Books? #50: Question & Answer

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? 6 Comments

To celebrate episode 50, we are doing a question and answer episode!

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I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas – I’m editing this a few days before Christmas, but I’m going to assume that a wonderful time was had by all. We were really delighted with all the questions that were sent in (thank you!) and have picked 36 of them to discuss in this episode. Tune in in two years’ time for more questions and answers in episode 100!

You can see our iTunes page here, and we always welcome reviews and ratings. We’ll be back in the new year with books we think the other one will love – I chose The Boat by L.P. Hartley for Rachel, and Rachel chose Wallace Stegner’s Crossing To Safety for me.

The books and authors we mention in today’s episode are:

The Railway Journey by Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Coral Glynn by Peter Cameron
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Dorothy Whipple
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
Crazy Pavements by Beverley Nichols
J.B. Priestley (John!)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
The Semi-Detached House by Emily Eden
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Emma by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
Aunt Mame by Patrick Dennis
Barbara Pym
The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch
The Sandcastle by Iris Murdoch
Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
The Shelf by Phyllis Rose
The Year of Reading Proust by Phyllis Rose
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust
The Provincial Lady Goes Further by E.M. Delafield
The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
Tristan Shandy by Laurence Sterne
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding
Humphrey Clinker by Tobias Smollett
Pamela by Samuel Richardson
Shamela by Henry Fielding
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Marilynne Robinson
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
The Runaway by Claire Wong
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Enid Blyton
J.K. Rowling
Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert Jenkins
Mr Pim Passes By by A.A. Milne
The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester
The Gourmet by Muriel Barbery
The Boat by L.P. Hartley
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

Tea or Books? #49: Death of the Author?, and The Woman in White vs Possession

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , , 6 Comments

Wilkie Collins, A.S. Byatt, and the death of the author (sort of) – episode 49 is quite the mixed bag.

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I found it quite hard to describe the first half of this episode – though hopefully it will become clear! – and probably the best thing to do is to tell you how Karen described it when she sent us the suggestion (thanks Karen!). Here goes: ‘is it legitimate to read a biography to shed light on an author’s work, possibly colouring/enhancing your interpretation, or should the novels be allowed to stand alone as works of art and appreciated for themselves, independent of their creator?’

In the second half, we compare The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins and Possession by A.S. Byatt – Victorian vs neo-Victorian – and I Have Thoughts.

In the next episode, we’ll be doing a Q&A – any questions welcomed; pop them in the comments – and early next year we’ve each chosen a book we really think the other one will love. And we reveal them to each other at the end of this episode…

The books and authors we discussed in this episode are:

Swans on an Autumn River by Sylvia Townsend Warner (as published as A Stranger With A Bag)
Katherine Mansfield
‘The Phoenix’ by Sylvia Townsend Warner
The Element of Lavishness by Sylvia Townsend Warner and William Maxwell
Victoria: a Life by A.N. Wilson
Charles Darwin, Victorian Mythmaker by A.N. Wilson
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Virginia Woolf
Mrs Woolf and the Servants by Alison Light
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Agatha Christie
Forever England by Alison Light
Daphne du Maurier by Margaret Forster
Letters From Menabilly by Daphne du Maurier and Oriel Malet
William Shakespeare
Beryl Bainbridge
Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
John Clare
Opening Night by Ngaio Marsh
Elena Ferrante
Dan Brown
A.A. Milne
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Two Middle-Aged Ladies in Andulusia by Penelope Chetwode
John Betjeman
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
No Name by Wilkie Collins
The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins
The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt
The Matisse Stories by A.S. Byatt
The Garrick Year by Margaret Drabble
The Millstone by Margaret Drabble
The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
The Boat by L.P. Hartley
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

Tea or Books? #48: Sad Beginnings vs Happy Beginnings and The Semi-Attached Couple vs The Semi-Detached House

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , 4 Comments

Emily Eden and the openings of books – we muddle our way through episode 48!

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First – do send any questions you have for episode 50 to simonthomasoxford[at]gmail.com. We’re quite excited about finding out what you’ll ask – about us, about books, about podcasting. Anything. If it’s a geography question then I for sure won’t know the answer.

In the first half of this episode we look at the beginnings of books, and discuss whether we prefer them happy or sad – and it turned out to be a very difficult topic to nail down. Your thoughts must appreciated! And in the second half, we talk about two very good novels by the Victorian writer Emily Eden.

Here’s our iTunes page – do rate and review via apps and whatnot should you so wish.

The books and authors we mention in this episode are:

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Men and Wives by Ivy Compton-Burnett
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
The Love Child by Edith Olivier
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Little Women by Louisa M Alcott
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson
The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Greenery Street by Denis Mackail
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Margaret Atwood
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
P.G. Wodehouse
Nancy Mitford
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Don Quixote by Cervantes
‘Miss Brill’ by Katherine Mansfield
The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden
The Semi-Detached House by Emily Eden
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Fanny Burney
Portraits of the People and Princes of India by Emily Eden
Up the Country by Emily Eden

Tea or Books? #47: sequels vs new-author sequels, and A Compass Error vs Pleasures and Landscapes

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , , 4 Comments

Sybille Bedford and sequels by the original author vs sequels by a different author… we need to come up with snappier titles for these things.

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In episode 47, we start with a topic suggested by Karen via email – sequels, and whether or not we like sequels written by a different author to the original book. In the second half, we look at a novel (a sequel, in fact) by Sybille Bedford alongside some of her travel writing – A Compass Error (a sequel to A Favourite of the Gods) and Pleasures and Landscapes. This is also a contribution to the 1968 Club, because A Compass Error was published in 1968.

Check out our iTunes page, leave us a review via an app should you wish. And let us know which books you’d recommend!

Here are the (many!) books and authors we mention in this episode:

Stephen Leacock
Hetty Dorval by Ethel Wilson
The Equations of Love by Ethel Wilson
Swamp Angel by Ethel Wilson
My Remarkable Uncle by Stephen Leacock
Stephen Leacock by Margaret MacMillan
Letters of Margaret Laurence and Adele Wiseman
A Journey Round My Skull by Frigyes Karinthy
Oliver Sacks
Coral Glynne by Peter Cameron
Thrush Green series by Miss Read
The Sense of the Ending by Julian Barnes
The Past is Myself by Christine Bielenberg
Mrs de Winter by Susan Hill
Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee
The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
The Backward Shadow by Lynne Reid Banks
Two is Lonely by Lynne Reid Banks
Rebecca’s Tale by Sally Beauman
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Mrs Darcy’s Dilemma by Diana Birchall
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope
Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid
Old Friends and New Fancies by Sybil Brinton
Longbourn by Jo Baker
Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean
Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne
Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Mary Poppins series by P.L. Travers
Guy Fraser-Sampson
Mapp and Lucia series by E.F. Benson
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
The Starlight Barking by Dodie Smith
The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
The Book of the Green Planet by William Kotzwinkle
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
Closing Time by Joseph Heller
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Paradise Regained by John Milton
Paradise Lost by John Milton
The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Provincial Lady series by E.M. Delafield
Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
Unguarded Moments by Diana Tutton
The Enchanted August by Brenda Bowen
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim
A Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim
In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth in Rugen by Elizabeth von Arnim
A Compass Error by Sybille Bedford
A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford
Pleasures and Landscapes by Sybille Bedford
Two Middle-Aged Ladies in Andalusia by Penelope Chetwode
John Betjeman
The Faces of Justice by Sybille Bedford
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford
A Visit to Don Otavio by Sybille Bedford
A Legacy by Sybille Bedford
The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden
The Semi-Detached House by Emily Eden

Tea or Books? #46: Canadian vs Irish Literature, and My Name Is Lucy Barton vs Anything Is Possible

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Elizabeth Strout is our author this episode – and we also dip a toe in the worlds of Canadian and Irish literature. Spoilers: we know a lot less than we should. Suggestions welcomed, please!

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Tea or Books logoI’m off to Canada shortly, which is why we chose the first topic – and nothing much links Canada and Ireland other than the fact that I’ve thought they’d be interesting nations’ literature to talk about. In the second half, we turn to an American writer – a modern one, no less! – Elizabeth Strout. She’s literally still alive, guys. That modern.

Check out our iTunes page – rate/review through iTunes and all that – let us know which you’d pick in each category, and any other topics or authors you think we should cover in future episodes.

Look out for an inelegant bit where I sub in a clip because I got the title of a Stef Penney novel wrong. #Professional.

Here are the books and authors we mention:

Silas Marner by George Eliot
Ulysses by James Joyce
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
The Folded Leaf by William Maxwell
Jacob’s Room is Full of Books by Susan Hill
Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
Agatha Christie
Another Part of the Wood by Beryl Bainbridge
Sweet William by Beryl Bainbridge
Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
Abigail’s Party by Mike Leigh
I Follow But Myself by Frank Baker
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker
Margaret Atwood
Alice Munro
Elizabeth Bowen
Molly Keane / MJ Farrell
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Seamus Heaney
Carol Shields
The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
Over the Footlights by Stephen Leacock
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Translations by Brian Friel
Oscar Wilde
George Bernard Shaw
The Gingerbread Woman by Jennifer Johnston
My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Anne Tyler
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson (who is Canadian!)
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
A Compass Error by Sybille Bedford
A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford
Pleasures and Landscapes by Sybille Bedford

Tea or Books? #45: Do Literary Prizes Affect Our Reading and The Heir vs All Passion Spent

StuckinaBook Tea or Books? , 17 Comments

A heated conversation about literary prizes AND Vita Sackville-West. Roll up, roll up for episode 45!

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Tea or Books logoIn the first half of this fortnight’s episode, we try to determine whether or not literary prizes affect our reading – which wanders off into a broader discussion of what we’re looking for from book prizes. It might get a bit controversial. And in the second half, we’re comparing two novels we love by Vita Sackville-West – The Heir and All Passion Spent.

Do let us know how you’d vote in each half, and rate/review if you would like to. Our iTunes page is over here, and we’ll back in about a fortnight with a couple of novels by Elizabeth Strout.

Here are the books and authors we mention in this episode:

Where Poppies Blow by John Lewis-Stempel
The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden
The Semi-Detached House by Emily Eden
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Americanah by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie
Purple Hibiscus by Chimanada Ngozi Adichie
That Thing Around Your Neck by Chimanada Ngozi Adichie
Autumn by Ali Smith
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Elmet by Fiona Mozley
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
Elizabeth Taylor
The Hothouse by the East River by Muriel Spark
The Mandelbaum Gate by Muriel Spark
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
Hilary Mantel
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Harvest by Jim Crace
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Lady Into Fox by David Garnett
Arnold Bennett
D.H. Lawrence
Radclyffe Hall
J.B. Priestley
Siegfried Sassoon
Miss Mole by E.H. Young
South Riding by Winifred Holtby
Aldous Huxley
L.P. Hartley
The Far Cry by Emma Smith
Margaret Kennedy
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Rose Macaulay
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride
A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride
Eva Trout by Elizabeth Bowen
The Heir by Vita Sackville-West
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
No Signposts in the Sea by Vita Sackville-West
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Greengates by R.C. Sherriff
Samson Agonistes by John Milton
Knole and the Sackvilles by Vita Sackville-West
The Easter Party by Vita Sackville-West
Grand Canyon by Vita Sackville-West
Dragon in Shallow Waters by Vita Sackville-West
Heritage by Vita Sackville-West
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout