I was going to save these for some sort of Weekend Miscellany, but I keep forgetting at the weekend… so here’s a midweek miscellany! It’s also a way for me to test whether or not WordPress have started emailing comments to me again… I thought everything had gone very silent, but it just turned out I wasn’t getting alerts.
1.) Backlisted on Barbara Comyns – I love listening to the wise, wide-ranging, and witty Backlisted podcast, where (much like Tea or Books?) their focus is on older, often lesser-known titles. They’ve done SIAB favourites like Nancy Mitford and J.L. Carr, but imagine my delight when they turned their attention to one of my ALL-TIME faves: Barbara Comyns. The novel under scrutiny is The Vet’s Daughter (my review here) but they also talk about most of her books. It’s fabs. Also: read Comyns.
2.) Beryl Bainbridge Reading Week – don’t forget, this is kicking off at Annabel’s next week. I’m actually on hols, but I’ve read my Beryl and will schedule something for next week, time permitting.
3.) Rachel Ferguson and the indomitable Furrowed Middlebrow – Scott is renowned for his exhaustive research into middlebrow authors so obscure that the ones I write about seem like household names. You might well know Rachel Ferguson’s Alas, Poor Lady or The Brontes Went to Woolworths, but the rest of her oeuvre isn’t discussed much. Scott has written about some early works, and (not by coincidence) The Stag at Bay is now in my hot little hands.
4.) Virago documentary – an excellent Facebook group about undervalued interwar British women novelists shared the fab news that there is to be a BBC documentary about the origins of Virago. Firstly, I am super excited. Secondly, if they mention the Whipple line then I am going to seethe. Thirdly, if they don’t mention it then I might seethe a bit anyway. But yay Virago nonetheless!
5.) What do the French call French toast? – one of my articles for OxfordWords, sorry for plug, but it fascinated me!
I’m so delighted to hear about the Virago documentary! Do you know if it’ll be available in some fashion for those of us across the pond?
I’m afraid I don’t know, but I suspect someone will sneak it online somehow…
Nice links, Simon. The Virago documentary is very exciting!
Can’t wait! I’m impressed the BBC are making it.
I had never heard of the Backlisted podcast – it sounds wonderful! And how exciting that there is going to be a BBC documentary featuring Virago. Also, very clever article on something I really hadn’t thought of before. Pain perdu – now we know!
It is fab! Very conversational and fun. They tend to be reading things I’ve never heard of too.
I’m looking forward to that documentary just hope I don’t forget it’s going to be on. I think I feel exactly the same about the infamous Whipple line.
A podcast recommendation! Lovely. The world needs more book podcasts.
Absolutely :) Let me know of any great ones you enjoy!
I’m sure it’ll be on iplayer :) I never seem to watch TV when it’s actually on.
Aha! I actually knew that about French toast. Comes of living in a French-ass state like Louisiana. :p
Ha! Well, I was SUPER ignorant cos I didn’t know what French toast was for ages – they were forever eating it in Sweet Valley High and I was mystified but intrigued. When I eventually found out it was what I’d grown up calling ‘eggy bread’, something of the mystique was lost.