It’s the battle of the Penelopes – and which books we’re most likely to read first (top or bottom of the pile?)
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
Oh, Rachel, it is so, so good to have you back on the podcast.
Lovely to have Rachel back, and it was fun to fill in! As for TBRs, mine has such little rhyme or reason that it’s hard to say. Things tend to go onto it and either get read fairly quickly, or languish for years and years – which is not good… :((
I’m so delighted that you used my suggestion — I am forever feeling guilty about all the books that have been hanging around unread forever, so it was nice to be validated by both you and Rachel. She’s so right, nothing kills my desire to read a book that having it on the nightstand waiting to be read.
I haven’t read any Penelope Fitzgerald but I have an omnibus with The Blue Flower and The Bookshop plus one other, I’ve forgotten which. I’ve read three books by Penelope Lively of which I really liked two, Making it Up and Family Album. I think I received Oleander, Jacaranda for a book exchange and just couldn’t get into it. And I also own The Pumpkin Eater so I’m glad that you liked it, maybe I’ll give it a go soon. I am REALLY trying to whittle down my owned and unread books and it’s fairly short.
Also I agree with Rachel, I’ve never been particularly inspired by the books of the 1970s and 1980s. I didn’t read much current fiction when I was in high school and college and maybe the time period isn’t as interesting to me since I remember living through it!
I think Hargreaves is telling you he deserves a regular spot on the mic. No doubt he will have you trained soon.
Poor Anita – will she ever be forgiven? I haven’t read either of the Penelope titles, but I knew the writing was on the wall when one of the books was compared to Ms Brookner’s writing.
The TBR discussion was very apposite. You absolutely do have to be in the right mood for a book, and the thought of being obliged to read a book is very off-putting. I can’t even persuade myself to read books for the podcast as I am currently in the grip of a cosy Furrowed Middlebrow / arcadian Beverley Nichols’ gardens run of reading (even though I get so much more out of the podcasts when I have read the chosen novels). Just moving onto Sweet and Twenties, which is rather sharp and spiky after recent more saccharine reads, but the previous episode convinced me.
Yahoo! I managed to read both books before listening to the podcast. Thanks so much for making me read more by the Penelope’s . I loved both Moon Tiger (Lively) and The Blue Flower (Fitzgerald) and had meant to read more only other books kept getting in the way.
So glad you two also saw the Possession similarities in According to Mark…I thought that was fun and maybe it did influence Byatt?.
I enjoyed both but if pressed, I would have to agree with Rachel. I would opt for the delightful According to Mark because The Bookshop made me a little depressed!
Thank you Jesus thank you