Georgette Heyer Fans discussion
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Critterbee❇
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Nov 02, 2015 11:04AM
As someone who has never read Mary Stewart, but who greatly respects the opinions and recommendations of this group, which Mary Stewart title should I read first?
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Critterbee wrote: "As someone who has never read Mary Stewart, but who greatly respects the opinions and recommendations of this group, which Mary Stewart title should I read first?"Oh, boy... My very favorite is Madam, Will You Talk, Wildfire at Midnight is chilling, The Ivy Tree makes me cry, and Nine Coaches Waiting is a lovely Cinderella story. I'd probably start with those. Or just read them in order of publication!
(She had mainly three different phases of authorship. The first phase includes the earliest works up to the Merlin books, the second is the Merlin group, and the third is often called the later cottage books. People tend to divide into camps as to which is best!)
I moved with 10,000 pounds of books. I taught Literature & Writing during my last tour (Naval Academy Prep School) at the college level, and so many of my books were considered to be part of my professional package. I had to put my grades in the computer at the end of the semester, & my husband flew home from London where he'd been for a few months already to help with the move. He got to the house @ 3 am, I kissed him & flew out the door & drove to the base in a snow storm & entered my grades which had to be in by 6 am, then I put in a work day. He supervised the move for the first & only time in our marriage, sent my books but put out bookcases in storage. That led to our first visit to an IKEA to buy replacements for the 3 1/2-4 years we would b there, & to a very exciting car trip in an American car, driving on left-side on roundabouts @ high speeds with bookcases on the roof & through the back windows with our 9-year old trying to help us change lanes and merge. We've earned our silver threads.
Oh, and check out the Mary Stewart Goodreads book club! Several of us belong to it, too.
Kim wrote: "I moved with 10,000 pounds of books. I taught Literature & Writing during my last tour (Naval Academy Prep School) at the college level, and so many of my books were considered to be part of my pro..."Oh, my word! What a picture! The town that we just moved to has a roundabout, and I'm loving it. Of course, there are rarely more than two cars in the vicinity, and everybody is so panicked by it that I'm pretty sure most people are driving with their eyes shut, and rarely at more than 20mph... I can't imagine a Big City one!
Yeah, very complex, & people drive 90 mph, literally, and actually know what exit they want, while we were trapped going around and around until we finally could change lanes and get our exit. Such adventures. It is all more entertaining in retrospect.
Is it the Madam, will you talk about Mary Stewart one? I joined it recently...
Critterbee wrote: "As someone who has never read Mary Stewart, but who greatly respects the opinions and recommendations of this group, which Mary Stewart title should I read first?"I am definitely in the camp of people who prefer her earlier books but I love so many of them it is hard to choose one to recommend! The titles Karlyne recommended are all good ones but I think my favorites are the ones set in Greece: My Brother Michael, The Moon Spinners, This Rough Magic
Kim wrote: "Yeah, very complex, & people drive 90 mph, literally, and actually know what exit they want, while we were trapped going around and around until we finally could change lanes and get our exit. Such..."I know! I feel the panic! I'd probably end up in the middle, shivering and shaking!
And, yes, that's the Mary Stewart one I meant. I thought you and Critterbee would both enjoy it. We're getting ready to read The Moonspinners now, but they leave the threads open so that anyone can comment on any book while they're reading. It's a great group!
Leslie wrote: "Critterbee wrote: "As someone who has never read Mary Stewart, but who greatly respects the opinions and recommendations of this group, which Mary Stewart title should I read first?"I am definite..."
And now that you've brought them up... I think my favorites change as I re-read them. It really is hard to rate them, because I feel that I've actually lived them!
Hi, Critterbee, I would second The Moon Spinners and This Rough Magic among the romantic thrillers, and add The Crystal Cave for historical fiction/fantasy.Kim, you mentioned D. E. Stevenson—have you read Elizabeth Goudge? Quite similar, and most delightful. A lot of Georgette Heyer fans would probably like both.
I read Elizabeth Goudge as a teen-ager, and am rereading her, as well. She is another great favorite. I came across so many great authors wandering through the stacks of the library at the college in our town, it was heaven.
Kim wrote: "I read Elizabeth Goudge as a teen-ager, and am rereading her, as well. She is another great favorite. I came across so many great authors wandering through the stacks of the library at the college ..."Elizabeth Goudge is the pick of my litter!
Hana wrote: "Kim, thanks for reminding me about The Making of a Marchioness. I just ordered my copy since I have a sense a British classics binge urge is setting in. I did not know about the PBS v..."I didn't like that one so much but I loved the Penelope series
I'm watching Indian Summers on PBS but I'm finding the soap opera elements a bit too much for me and what the heck was PBS thinking allowing last night's episode to air on TV without a warning? It was too smutty and there was too much blood.
QNPoohBear wrote: "Hana wrote: "Kim, thanks for reminding me about The Making of a Marchioness. I just ordered my copy since I have a sense a British classics binge urge is setting in. I did not know ab..."Totally agree - when it showed here in the UK- I gave up on it very quickly. IMHO It is far from being a "Jewels in the Crown" . Shame because I love Julie Walters!
I am enjoying Home Fires more than Indian Summers. They seem to be trying too hard, throwing in every kind of scandal and drama. Jewel in the Crown was grounded in the series of books, this feels like soap opera. I need well written characters that I care about, these are not doing it for me.
Critterbee wrote: "As someone who has never read Mary Stewart, but who greatly respects the opinions and recommendations of this group, which Mary Stewart title should I read first?"My favorite Mary Stewart book is and always has been Nine Coaches Waiting, with Madam, Will You Talk? in second place. Third place is a big shuffle between about 4 different books. She has a lot of great ones, if you like the old-fashioned romantic suspense genre. I think there's a fair amount of overlap in the fan bases of Mary Stewart and Heyer.
And the Mary Stewart GR group is great! (says one of the moderators there) Come join us. ;) Here's a handy-dandy link to the group home page: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
I started with Madam, Will You Talk? when I found it on my mom's bookshelves somewhere around the summer between 6th and 7th grade, and it remains a favorite that I reread for comfort. Nine Coaches waiting is great, and I love the Greek Isles ones...The Moonspinners is great, and has a whole different feel from the Disney movie, I loved Airs Above the Ground as I was horse crazy during junior high & high school, and rode cross country with my best friend. My husband took me to see the Lippizaner stallions when we lived in D.C. I just love her stories and return to them frequently. I also reread Helen MacInnes, I discovered her at approximately the same time...maybe 8th grade. My son likes reading her books that are set during WW II.
Kim wrote: "I started with Madam, Will You Talk? when I found it on my mom's bookshelves somewhere around the summer between 6th and 7th grade, and it remains a favorite that I reread for comfort. Nine Coaches..."I especially liked MacInnes' non-spy books. I remember one called "Rest and Be Thankful" about (I think) the titled ranch in Wyoming where writers went to write. I've always kept an eye out for it in old books shops, because I'd love to read it again and see what it's really about!
I still have a shelf of old Helen MacInnes books too - including a tattered copy of "Rest and Be Thankful" (which I don't remember at all!). Wish I could lend it to you Karlyne!
Leslie wrote: "I still have a shelf of old Helen MacInnes books too - including a tattered copy of "Rest and Be Thankful" (which I don't remember at all!). Wish I could lend it to you Karlyne!"I wish you could, too! I'll be getting a library card at a bigger library soon, so I'll try to remember to see if they have it. It's always fun to see how bad my memory is.
I didn't realize that MacInnes wrote non-spy novels! I'll have to see if my library has any.
Tadiana ✩ Night Owl☽ wrote: "I didn't realize that MacInnes wrote non-spy novels! I'll have to see if my library has any."I just read a review of Rest and Be Thankful on Goodreads, and now I really must find a copy!
Karlyne wrote: "I just read a review of Rest and Be Thankful on Goodreads, and now I really must find a copy!"And that reminds me of one of my favorite YA books in the entire world, The Sherwood Ring, where the ancestral home (haunted by friendly and helpful ancestral ghosts) is called Rest and be Thankful. If you've never read this, go find a copy! It is absolutely delightful, an oldie but goodie.
Tadiana ✩ Night Owl☽ wrote: "Karlyne wrote: "I just read a review of Rest and Be Thankful on Goodreads, and now I really must find a copy!"And that reminds me of one of my favorite YA books in the entire world, [book:The She..."
I haven't read it, but on reading your review, it looks as though it was written about 10 years after Macinnes'. Is "rest and be thankful" a quote from somewhere, I wonder? It sounds Biblical, but then so many pithy sayings do! I'll go see what I can find.
Karlyne wrote: "Tadiana ✩ Night Owl☽ wrote: "Karlyne wrote: "I just read a review of Rest and Be Thankful on Goodreads, and now I really must find a copy!"And that reminds me of one of my favorite YA books in th..."
"Rest and be thankful" is the name of a mountain pass on the A83 in Scotland.
Well, for Pete's sake! It's a spot on a northern highway in Scotland, commemorated by a stone erected by the workers who built the original military road in 1753 at the top of the pass. Well, that settles it! I'm getting my passport in order!
We were writing at the same time, Susan!
I've just been searching on amazon and found Rest and Be Thankful for only £1. As well as many other Helen MacInnes books. Which do you recommend?Can't find the other book that was mentioned as a kindle edition though.
The story of the stone on the road in Scotland reminds me of my first youth hosteling trip. My friend and I were not very experienced walkers or campers, and we had loaded our rucksacks with way too many things for our one night sample of a youth hostel close to her home. So we struggled up a long windy steep road, and when we reached the top there was a chapel (Methodist possibly) with a board outside with a large poster "Cast your burden on The Lord and He will sustain you"
It didn't put us off hosteling and I have visited many parts of Britain and stayed in some unusual buildings.
Jay-me (Janet) wrote: "I've just been searching on amazon and found Rest and Be Thankful for only £1. As well as many other Helen MacInnes books. Which do you recommend?Can't find the other ..."
Great story! Made me laugh, and I'm guessing it does you, too. Now, of course!
Dare I share the tale of the “between the sheets” interpolation? When I sang in my college’s chapel choir, we were taught—so we didn’t look too bored or sleepy?—to mentally add the phrase “between the sheets” after each line of a hymn: e.g., “A mighty fortress is our God [between the sheets], a bulwark never failing [between the sheets].” You get the idea. Your story about casting one’s burden on the Lord reminded me.
It's kind of like our family tradition of adding "in bed" at the end of every fortune we get out of a fortune cookie when we go out for Chinese food. :)
Karlyne wrote: "We were writing at the same time, Susan!"Yes - great minds think alike!
If you ever get to Scotland, a drive up through Rest be Thankful is absolutely worth doing - you would love it!
I wish we had thought of that when we were living in the UK and took a driving holiday all through Scotland, stayed in Holy Loch and stayed at Kilverock Castle near Inverness, went to Iona, saw Gretna Green on the way up. It was a magical trip for us. Of all the places we went that I knew my people had lived, it felt the most like home. I had started reading Cross Stitch, which was the original version of Outlander, on the trip and we traveled to many of the places mentioned in that story...standing stones, Fort William, Culloden, etc. it was a trip when my whole family seemed in harmony, which is rare in a family of five with strong personalities.
Kim wrote: "I wish we had thought of that when we were living in the UK and took a driving holiday all through Scotland, stayed in Holy Loch and stayed at Kilverock Castle near Inverness, went to Iona, saw Gre..."Glad you had such a fabulous trip Kim. There are so many beautiful spots here - it is difficult to pick any particular one out. Interestingly, the tv series Outlander has done a fantastic job for tourism in Scotland this year. We visited Doune Castle in the summer and could not understand why there were a) so many more tourists visiting than normal and b) why all of them except us seemed to be from North America! It was only when we saw Diana Gabaldon's books on sale and discovered that they had used Doune Castle for filming that we realised the reason! If only film or television companies would make programmes out of GH books! There would be walking tours round Bath and Mayfair and the villages West Sussex and Yorkshire showing where our heroes and heroines lived their lives!
Those places probably got a bump whenever they make a new Jane Austen film or TV show. :)
Tadiana ✩ Night Owl☽ wrote: "Those places probably got a bump whenever they make a new Jane Austen film or TV show. :)"Well of course Bath already has Jane Austen walking tours; and the other settings she used for her books are very well known. However, Georgette Heyer's settings in West Sussex and Yorkshire are all as real, but not as well known as Austen's.
Just asking: I'm a high-school-English substitute teacher. Yesterday, when The Boy Most Likely to Grow Up to Be Cedric Brandon told me that I'm his favorite substitute teacher, was that a good thing or a bad thing?
Revealing my ignorance here: who is Cedric Brandon? I did try Googling but got mixed results.
HJ wrote: "Revealing my ignorance here: who is Cedric Brandon? I did try Googling but got mixed results."SORRY! In "The Corinthian," one of my favorite GH's, he is a friend of the hero's and is described as "a rakish young gentleman of lamentable habits, and a disastrous charm of manner." A wise older woman remarks of him, "What an engaging scapegrace!" I have a total soft spot for the Honourable Cedric Brandon and wish he had a book of his own. But it causes me some uncertainty when such a boy calls me his favorite substitute teacher. Does that mean I'm a clueless pushover? Not sure.
Lori wrote: "HJ wrote: "Revealing my ignorance here: who is Cedric Brandon? I did try Googling but got mixed results."SORRY! In "The Corinthian," one of my favorite GH's, he is a friend of the hero's and is described as "a rakish young gentleman of lamentable habits, and a disastrous charm of manner." A wise older woman remarks of him, "What an engaging scapegrace!" ..."
Of course I remember Cedric! Sorry, I forgot about the GH connection for a moment there.
I'm not sure I'd be able to spot a nascent Cedric, although I'd love to meet an adult one. But I would take it as a compliment, if I were you. Cedric is very perceptive and honest!
HJ wrote: "Lori wrote: "HJ wrote: "Revealing my ignorance here: who is Cedric Brandon? I did try Googling but got mixed results."SORRY! In "The Corinthian," one of my favorite GH's, he is a friend of the her..."
That's reassuring, HJ.
BTW: I am lucky to live near Chicago because a first-class theater has adapted three GH novels as plays ("Talisman Ring," "Cotillion," and "Pistols for Two"). But I keep hoping they'll do "The Corinthian" so I can see Cedric rant at Piers's father. That is a great, great scene.
It is always the outspoken mischievous students that grab your attention, along with the mega-stars. Just don't forget the well behaved ones, who are trying to be so good and who often get overlooked.
Critterbee wrote: "It is always the outspoken mischievous students that grab your attention, along with the mega-stars. Just don't forget the well behaved ones, who are trying to be so good and who often get overlo..."
So very true!
Hey Everybody!I recently received a galley from Endeavor Press of "The Clandestine Betrothal" by Alice Chetwynd Ley. First published in 1967, it is set in regency times. I am currently about half-way through, and am enjoying it.
I am noticing a lot of similarities to GH, and also a lot of sentences that seem taken from GH and a bit re-arranged. I understand that there were a lot of regency characteristics that would appear in any regency books. Also, GH might have influenced her immensely, being the preeminent authority on regency times.
I guess I am wondering if anyone here has read this author, and what the opinions are about her.
I enjoy the book because of the similarities. So far it lacks the flavor of GH, the flair for setting down a few sentences about the second housemaid and creating a vivid, in-depth portrait. It is almost like a 'lite' or diet version of GH. I feel very judgy writing that, but the author has passed, so she cannot be offended, I hope.
The name doesn't ring any bells with me, but I know that Heyer had a lot of trouble with, if not out-right plagiarism, at least something close to it! I seem to remember that she actually sued Barbara Cartland (she of the heaving bosom genre) and, I think, won?
Well in the middle, it got a bit silly, but I will finish it to the end and see how it compares overall. Going into it completely unaware made the similarities seem greater, and then continuing it while comparing it to GH just made it seem inferior.
It must be 50 years since I read her stuff and frankly I can't remember any of it! However, she wrote loads of romance books and was deemed to be one of the better ones. She was Chair of the Romantic Novelists Association in the UK. She wrote her books from the mid 40s so definitely influenced by GH. I don't believe she was regarded as a plagiarist (unlike Cartland) but I think simply that she also liked the regency genre and used it frequently but was just not as good as GH. I must now have another go at her books to see!
Barbara Cartland wrote the same book over and over. All her heroines had heart-shaped faces. She made Harlequin romances seem literary.
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