Just bought

Here's the confession I promised the other day. I've had a bit of a splurge on books this month & this is the result. Penguin have been publishing their $9.95 Popular Penguins for a few years now. This is the latest idea, 50 crime classics in the distinctive green covers. I think these are only available in Australia. Hopefully I'm wrong but if anyone overseas is interested, you may want to look at the whole list here & maybe consider buying them from Readings, one of our best independent bookshops.

As you can see, Lucky decided to have a look at my new acquisitions as well so here's another picture showing the titles more clearly. It's a great list of old & new authors. I'd read about half of the list so these are the ones I chose, all vintage authors which won't surprise anyone, I'm sure. Julian Symons, C P Snow (I didn't know he'd written any crime fiction), Michael Gilbert, Dorothy Dunnett & Dornford Yates who was recently recommended on my online book group.

Apart from classic crime, I've also bought this little lot. Again, Lucky was right there when I was taking the photo.

So, here's a close-up of the books. The Matriarch by G B Stern. First published in 1955 but set in Edwardian London. The story of a Jewish family & the domineering Anastasia, the matriarch of the title.  
Mrs Miles's Diary, edited by S V Partington, the diary of a Surrey housewife during WWII. 
The Morgesons by Elizabeth Stoddard. A forgotten American classic, first published in the 1860s. Agricola & Germany by Tacitus. I've been reading about Roman Britain & the Anglo-Saxons lately & feel it's about time I started reading some of the sources. Tacitus is one of the main sources for Boudicca's rebellion in AD60.
Rumer Godden by Anne Chisholm. I'm sure I read this biography when it was first published but I want to read it again now that Virago have started reprinting her novels.
Two more novels by Nevil Shute, Most Secret & No Highway (coincidentally just reviewed by Thomas at My Porch). I've enjoyed the Shute novels I've read & now that Vintage have republished more titles with their lovely covers, I couldn't resist a couple more. I love Thomas's description of Shute as "D E Stevenson for boys (or engineers)" in the sense that he's a great comfort read & you know exactly what's in store.
The nineteenth century sensation novel by Lyn Pykett. This is an updated edition of Pykett's 1994 book, The sensation novel from The Woman in White to The Moonstone. I've just read Henry Dunbar by M E Braddon so I was pleased to find this as I'm a fan of mid-Victorian sensation.
The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge. I'm still collecting Goudge rather than reading her. This is the third novel in the Damerosehay Trilogy.
Crown of Thistles : the fatal inheritance of Mary, Queen of Scots by Linda Porter. This is more than a biography of Mary, Queen of Scots, it's an exploration of the rivalry between the Stewarts & the Tudors from 1485 to 1568. With the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden this year, I'm keen to learn more about Anglo-Scottish relations before Elizabeth & Mary.

I also have quite a few books on pre-order & I've been tempted to pre-order even more by the news that Virago are continuing their Angela Thirkell list with three more books to be published next May. I've already pre-ordered Pomfret Towers & Christmas at High Rising (uncollected short stories) & now I'm tempted by The Brandons, Summer Half & August Folly as well. I haven't read the Thirkells I already own but that won't stop me buying more.
Virago are also reprinting the Emily books by L M Montgomery. I've only read Anne of Green Gables but I like the sound of these, Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs & Emily's Quest.

 Where will it end? My friends in my online bookgroup laughed when I said that I counted my pre-orders instead of sheep when I couldn't get to sleep at night but it's a very soothing way to drop off. I don't think I've ever got to the end of the list before falling asleep. Maybe I'll post a list of all my pre-orders for any insomniacs who need some help?

Taking a break

I'm taking a little break from blogging for a week or two. Summer has been going on quite long enough for me but somehow it doesn't look like ending any time soon. Summer in Melbourne usually means three hot days & a cool change. So far, we've had a week of temperatures over 30C & there's almost another week to come. So I'm feeling a bit wrung out. I'm doing lots of rereading - A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym, Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, dipping into Kathleen Jamie's Sightlines & reading some of the piles of magazines & journals tottering on the coffee table. I've been listening to Jeeves & the Feudal Spirit by P G Wodehouse read by the inimitable Jonathan Cecil on the way to work which has made me laugh every morning & I've also discovered the delights of history documentaries on Youtube so I've been In Search of the Dark Ages with Michael Wood & having a wonderful time.
I'll still pop in with some Sunday Poetry, Wordsworth this week. And I'll leave you with some links & some bookish news.

The Virago reprints of Rumer Godden's novels are here. I preordered these three last year & they arrived this week. I love stories about nuns & In This House of Brede is one of my favourites. I've seen the movie of Black Narcissus but never read the book & I have a copy of A Fugue in Time that I picked up from a secondhand bookshop. I believe China Court is a sequel or reimagining of the earlier book. Leave & Pages has reviewed A Fugue in Time here.

For all the Ricardians & Janeites out there, here's a lovely blog post about the connections between Richard III & Jane Austen. I knew that Jane was a Yorkist but I'd never really considered before her dislike of the name Richard.

Greyladies are publishing a couple of very tempting books this month. Reading about the Gladys Mitchell book, On Your Marks, about a young PE teacher reminded me of Josephine Tey's Miss Pym Disposes & this recent review has inspired me to reread it. The other new book from Greyladies is Return to the West by Mabel Esther Allan & has a Scottish setting so I have to have that too. I'm calling them belated birthday presents to myself as I've been on the book buying wagon since Christmas.

See you after the cool change!

On not sticking to a schedule

I love taking part in group reads. I belong to a Yahoo 19th century book group which has been responsible for introducing me to some wonderful books by authors I'd never heard of like Allen Raine & Elinore Pruitt Stewart to name just two. I'm also a member of another online group & among much book talk & talk of every kind on topics from marmalade to hats, we occasionally decide to read a Victorian novel in instalments.

As Barnaby Rudge is my last unread Dickens novel, I suggested we read it after some of us had enjoyed Martin Chuzzlewit earlier in the year. I drew up the schedule (about 60pp a week) & started with the best intentions. Well, you know what they say about good intentions! Two weeks in & I'm already half way through. I'm loving it. How could I ever have thought this book would be boring & stodgy? It's the title. Barnaby Rudge  sounds very dull, reminds me of stodge & grunge. It's true that titles have a great influence on whether or not we pick up a book. Anyway, I'm racing through Barnaby, probably because I know nothing about the plot so I'm eager to know what happens next. Stopping at the end of an instalment just wasn't going to happen.

The first half is very melodramatic - two unsolved murders, a woman tormented by a figure from her past, star-crossed lovers, one Catholic & one Protestant, a young man running off to join the Army & Grip the raven, my favourite character. Grip was based on a pet raven that Dickens owned & he's wonderful. I'm sure he's taking notice of everything that goes on & will have a key role to play at the end. We're just getting in to the political part of the plot now with the Gordon anti-Catholic riots on the horizon.

So, I haven't finished a book this week & instead of a review, I thought I'd share a few recent purchases (I don't know how these books appear on the doorstep. They just creep in, one or two at a time...) & some reprints to look forward to over the next few months.

I already have a copy of E M Delafield's Diary of a Provincial Lady. It's one of my favourite books & I always remember laughing all the way through the first time I read it. I couldn't resist this remaindered copy with the Cath Kidston cover & an Introduction by Jilly Cooper.

I got my tax refund a couple of weeks ago so I treated myself to the first two volumes of Agnes & Elizabeth Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England. I've always wanted to read these & Cambridge University Press have brought them back into print as part of their POD Cambridge Library Collection. They're not cheap but they're substantial books (over 600pp each) & these two volumes from Matilda of Flanders to Anne Boleyn are the lives I've always wanted to read.

Then, a book I preordered some time ago arrived, Vintage Cakes by Jane Brocket. I love baking cakes & this book is lovely. Vintage recipes with gorgeous retro photography. I can't wait to sit down with a cup of tea & plan which cake, slice or biscuit to try first.

I love preordering books. Virago are reprinting Angela Thirkell & Rumer Godden over the next few months & I've ordered the two Thirkell titles, High Rising & Wild Strawberries (aren't they the most gorgeous covers?)

as well as three of the Goddens, In This House of Brede (my favourite of her books. Even though I already own a copy, I couldn't resist this cover), Black Narcissus (more nuns, I'm fascinated by them) & China Court (have to read this after reading Leaves & Pages' review of A Fugue in Time here. I have Fugue on the tbr shelves so should really read it before China Court arrives). More beautiful cover art. How wonderful to have Rumer Godden back in print. I've only read a couple of Thirkells but I know her Barsetshire series is much loved, by The Captive Reader among others. Lots to look forward to.