I've had Dorothy Whipple's High Wages and Margery Sharp's The Flowering Thorn by my computer for more than a week now. I started a post about High Wages, which is still sitting in the "drafts" folder. At this point it feels deader than Jacob Marley or the proverbial door-nail. I expected to like these books, and I did, very much. I'm giving them both five stars on LibraryThing. For some reason, though, I'm struggling with what to say beyond that - such an odd feeling, because I usually find myself with almost too much to say about books. I enjoyed the characters in both books, the settings, the common theme of young women finding their way in life (in very different ways). But when I try to write more, I just go blank. So for the moment, I am registering my unqualified approval of both books. (I'd like a sequel to High Wages, to see how Jane Carter fares in London. I worry that she won't find it as easy to open a shop there.)
I have been browsing the Persephone list, and I think that Dorothy Whipple's Greenbanks will be my next order. I'm also leaning toward A London Child of the 1870s by Molly Hughes - there are so many to choose from! I haven't heard anything more about an American branch of the shop, but I am still hoping. Until then, the shipping charges will keep me from ordering too many at one time.
Fortunately, it's just writing that's a problem, not reading. I'm deep into Constance Maud's No Surrender, which has added William - An Englishman to my reading list. I can't think of any American novels about the woman's suffrage movement, though Louisa May Alcott endorses in a couple of her books. If you know of any, please let me know!
A London Child of the 1870s is one of my favorites, and its (non-Peresphone) sequels are almost as good. If you get it, one word of caution: there are spoilers in the introduction, so I recommend reading the introduction last. ReaderLane
ReplyDeleteI remember that about the introduction! Yes, definitely don't read it as there is a major spoiler.
DeleteThank you both for the warning! I usually avoid introductions, because of possible spoilers. I'll make sure to with this one.
DeleteAnd thanks for stopping by, ReaderLane.
I loved A London Child too! I liked it so much I tracked down a copy of A London Family, which includes A London Child and its two sequels, so you get Molly's story from 1870-1900. I've been able to get some of the Persephones pretty inexpensively in their original editions, and quite a few of them are also available through Inter-Library Loan -- the only problem is that I sometimes go on a binge and request several at once, only to have them all arrive at the same time!
ReplyDeleteI still have Greenbanks unread but am saving it as its my last unread Whipple. I think I need to save it for a proverbial rainy day.
Oh, I wish I had known there were sequels, before I visited the Persephone page!
DeleteYou've read Dorothy Whipple's short stories from Persephone? I think that will be the last of her books that I look for.
Maybe a short break is just what's needed. I'm struggling with reviews lately, too. Glad it's just the writing and not the reading that's a problem.
ReplyDeleteI am too! I hate the feeling of being unconnected from books.
DeleteI think if I was on Sanibel I'd have trouble sitting down at the computer :)
I always admire your ability to write such detailed reviews of the books you read but maybe a break from writing is what you need right now. At least you are still enjoying the reading!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about wishing for a sequel to High Wages. I was so curious about what happened next.
I have a couple more books that I've finished, but I won't have time to write about them til later in the week - maybe I'll be over this by then.
DeleteI wonder about Wilfrid. I keep changing his part in the sequel :)
A LONDON CHILD OF THE 1870S,
ReplyDeleteA LONDON GIRL OF THE 1880S
A LONDON HOME OF THE 1890S
Omnibus edition of all three of these:
A LONDON FAMILY, 1870-1900: A TRILOGY
and
A LONDON FAMILY BETWEEN THE WARS
all delightful. I especially enjoyed a bit in the 1880's where Molly got her pupils to enjoy reading by having them find interesting passages and keep them a secret until the moment to read them aloud arrived!
I found a copy of the Trilogy - now I need to look for Between the Wars. This is very bad for my TBR list, in a good way!
DeleteNovels about the American suffrage movement are hard to find; I've looked, too, but without success. Which is too bad. It's such an interesting period in time. If you discover any good ones, let me know. And sorry about your writing block! There are some books that I just can't seem to make myself write about...even when I really like them. There are just some books that lend themselves to an easily written review, and some that don't. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI will be keeping an eye out for suffrage novels now! It's curious no one has seen the potential there for exciting stories.
DeleteThere has definitely been more reading and writing this year.
I feel like I still haven't gotten back into the blogging groove for 2016 yet! It's terrible. I think I need to just take my computer somewhere quiet and bang out some posts so that I have a few scheduled in advance and don't feel quite so paralyzed. So many drafts, so few finished posts. :/
ReplyDeleteI only have a short window in the evening, after work, before my brain shuts down. And the weekends just seem to fly by. And if I wait too long after reading a book, I really struggle to write anything meaningful about it.
DeleteI feel like I've been out of the blogging groove for a few years but such is life. I still enjoy it when I can and have perfected the art of not working myself up too much when I am entirely neglectful.
ReplyDeleteVery intrigued by your comment on the lack of novels about the women's suffrage movement in America. I think this might be because the British suffrage movement was so much more dramatic than what we saw in North America - less fodder for fiction here! I wish there were more books out there comparing the movement and its evolution in different countries. For example, why did the militant movement thrive in the UK while the peaceful route was chosen in so many other countries?
I know too little about the woman suffrage movement in other countries - I've resorted to Google, trying to figure out when women got the vote in different countries. The introduction to No Surrender was really informative. I know that US suffragettes learned something about tactics from the British campaigns. Is there a book you'd recommend on the Canadian movement?
DeleteI haven't been blogging much myself, reading more than writing, so maybe there's something in the air. Honestly, I often don't know what I want to say until I actually start writing--for me, I usually have a vague angle, but the writing helps me sort through my thinking on a book. Probably the sign of an unorganized mind, or a weak one, but there it is!
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way sometimes, Jane! I start out with an idea about what I want to say, and then the actual post turns out completely different. And there have been some - the longer ones - where I realize now I was working out some issues with the book :)
DeleteAmerican novels about the women's suffrage movement: try Mary Johnston's Hagar: ""Hagar" is an argument for the emancipation of women, not from moral conventions, but from those that would forbid her to agitate for better social conditions, to earn her own living, to refrain from undesired matrimony, to work for the ballot."
ReplyDeletePublished 1913.
:)
Thank you for the recommendation! I've never heard of Mary Johnston, nor her novel. I'll see if I can find a copy. Those sound like excellent reasons to emancipate women!
DeleteYou're welcome! She was a cousin of General Joseph E. Johnston of the American Civil War. She was extremely popular in the early 20th century (the first woman to hit the bestseller list) and wrote prolifically (three of her books became silent films), but she's been largely forgotten...
DeleteShe was one of Margaret Mitchell and her mother's favorite authors. :)
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Johnston_Mary_1870-1936#start_entry
(Bestseller list in the twentieth century, I should have said. Typed in a rush.) :-)
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