Georgette Heyer Fans discussion
Heyer in General
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Where do you get your Heyer?
Ooh, that is disappointing, I didn't realize they have been changing the words. I have many of the UK edition paperbacks, but I have been recently buying the US Kindle books when they go on sale. Surprisingly, the US ebooks seem to use British spellings like "honour". I have a few of the 1st editions- the later ones are not too expensive. Since Heyer was an extremely popular author, they printed a LOT of first editions, so they are reasonably priced, but the older ones cost the earth.
Check used bookstores and library book sales. If there's anyone in Rhode Island, the Providence Public Library has a good number of the original hardcover books and the OSL has the rest they can get for you. If I can, I try to read the earliest edition of a novel I can find. I love the smell of old books and the atmosphere of reading an old book. Plus they seem to have less typos and mistakes than reprints. The library is my best friend!
Andrea IS Catsos Person wrote: "What is OSL?"Our local library system. Because the state is so small, the whole state is connected to the Interlibrary loan network. I LOVE it but my neighborhood branch closed so it's not so convenient to get books now.
Oh. Is you neighborhood library closed for good or are they on furlough?
Andrea IS Catsos Person wrote: "Oh. Is you neighborhood library closed for good or are they on furlough?"For good. The city decided they didn't need 4 libraries - that was too much of a drain on the budget of a city in financial trouble. They closed two and kept open the main library and one big branch. I'm glad we have a real library but I hated to see the 100 year old neighborhood branch close.
A lot of libraries around the country seem to be closing after funding failures, but then some of them do re-open. Sometimes it seems like a form of political blackmail: "Pass this levy or else!"
Well, I hope that these closures are temporary and that under better economic conditions, they re-open.
Kim wrote: "Most of my Heyer novels are paperbacks I've owned since the 1970s, some of which are a bit fragile! I also have a small number of first editions, which I've been given as gifts and I now have a few..."All of mine are paperbacks which I bought at the British Bookshop in Frankfurt, Germany in the 1960s as fast as Pan published them. In spite of multiple readings the only one to have deteriorated seriously is The Grand Sophy and I now have it on my Kindle.
Jacquie wrote: "All of mine are paperbacks which I bought at the British Bookshop in Frankfurt, Germany in the 1960s as fast as Pan published them. ..."Were you reading them for the first time then, or had you read them as hardbacks? I was lucky enough to find a full set in my library (because once I'd read one, I had to read the rest one after the other!). Does the fact that TGS was worn out indicate that it's one of your favourites (as well as A Civil Contract)?
Were you reading them for the first time th..."Yep. I'm not sure the Special Services Library had the books so I just bought the paperbacks as they came out.
I'm not sure why TGS wore out. I may have had it longer as well as reading it a lot. Cousin Kate (which I disliked intensely) is pristine!
Jacquie wrote: "Were you reading them for the first time th..."Yep. I'm not sure the Special Services Library had the books so I just bought the paperbacks as they came out.
I'm not sure why TGS wore out. I ma..."
Yes, I'm not keen on Cousin Kate either.
Oh you should try it again, I loved it! It's the ones where they're married before they fall in love that I don't re-read much.
Louise wrote: "Oh you should try it again, I loved it! It's the ones where they're married before they fall in love that I don't re-read much."I still struggle with The Convenient Marriage, mainly because I hate misunderstandings and miscommunications.
I was introduced to Heyer only this year and have been plowing through all the ebooks available through my library. I've now reached the end and am at a point where I need to buy the others. I'll probably get the ebook versions because as much as I love books and the physical feel of them, ebooks are just so much easier to carry around and read while eating or doing other things.On the other topics - I didn't mind Cousin Kate as much. I also don't mind the ones where they're married before they fall in love, except for April Lady (that was too frustrating for me!)
My least favorite Heyer novels are The Convenient Marriage and April Lady. I agree with Hj that misunderstandings can be an annoying device in fiction. I keep wanting to grab the two characters and force them to confide in each other.But I'd like to own every Heyer novel (at least the romances), so I need to dig up all my copies and see which ones I'm missing. And I hope we Heyer fans can pass on our enthusiasm to the next generation because I hate to think about good books dying off from lack of new, younger readers.
I have just listened to the audiobook of The Convenient Marriage and bumped my rating to 5 stars! I really, really loved it. April Lady I thought was fun too. I get my Heyers on Amazon or eBay and own all the romances except 2. I also have a few mysteries and most of the historical fictions.
I'm waiting to see if AMZN has a sale on her kindle titles this August. I think GHs b-day is in that month. The rest of the copies that I do own are the Sourcebooks reissues.
Andrea (Catsos Person) wrote: "I'm waiting to see if AMZN has a sale on her kindle titles this August. I think GHs b-day is in that month. The rest of the copies that I do own are the Sourcebooks reissues."Good to know! I'll be keeping an eye out in August and hoping for a kindle sale too!
Oh, yes, yes, I'm also waiting for the sale. Her birthday is August 16th, which is also mine, thus easy for me to remember. I had not yet discovered her when they had the last sale but now I have and have her listed as an author to notify me about price drops in ereaderiq.com. Thus have picked up several when they were 2.99 or less. My favorites so far are These old Shades, Devil's Cub (the best!) and The Grand Sophy.
I have most of her romance titles on Kindle and the old fashion book. Over the years as my paperback copies have worn out I have tried to replace them with hardbacks. Many of them have been reprinted in hardback but usually in very limited quantities.
For US readers: I just saw this posted on Facebook --"some Georgette Heyer novels are on sale on Kindle now -- The Black Moth free; 4.39 Arabella, 2.99 Frederica, 2.99 The Foundling, 2.99 Black Sheep, 2.51 Lady of Quality..."
I can't verify it, as I'm in the uK (where, of course, they are not reduced).
Gosh Hj, thanks for posting. I'm not on FB, so I wouldn't have known!
It's true these books are marked down! I just purchased. It's terrible that they aren't marked down in the UK as well. How unfair!
AFAIK you can get The Black Moth free all the time from Project Gutenberg -- it's in the public domain.
This is for those in the US -- here is an article from AbeBooks about how Heyer is in their top ten and how they have lots of her books second-hand. http://www.abebooks.co.uk/books/histo...
The last one I bought was The Grand Sophy for my Kindle, replacement for my falling apart paperback. All of my paperbacks were acquired before 1980 when I lived in Germany and shopped at the British Bookshop in Frankurt.
HJ wrote: "This is for those in the US -- here is an article from AbeBooks about how Heyer is in their top ten and how they have lots of her books second-hand. http://www.abebooks.co.uk/books/histo......"Wow - thats amazing. Some of her straight historical covers are hard to get hold of in NZ now. It's second hand or from Australian sellers.
HJ wrote: "This is for those in the US -- here is an article from AbeBooks about how Heyer is in their top ten and how they have lots of her books second-hand. http://www.abebooks.co.uk/books/histo......"I checked to see if they had Venetia, since it is still MIA, and the price came up in pounds, not dollars. How fun!
The original editions are hard to find outside of the library in the U.S. The Source Book reprints are all over the place. I have some across some original editions at a used/rare book store but I didn't buy them.
QNPoohBear wrote: "The original editions are hard to find outside of the library in the U.S. The Source Book reprints are all over the place. I have some across some original editions at a used/rare book store but I ..."I've found older ones, but not first editions...
I love the new covers on the Sourcebook editions but these editions are riddled with typos and misprints. My daughter, Anne, says that the ebook of "The Talisman Ring" has no italics. She has that book memorized, I swear. I listen to GH audiobooks ALL THE TIME. I love the Flo Gibson narration of "Arabella," and dislike what I see as mispronunciations of "Beaumaris," "Brough," and "Nonpareil" in the Audible audio version narrated by Phyllida Nash, but I've come to love Nash's nuanced reading of Mr. Beaumaris's lines. I love her readings of "The Talisman Ring" and "Cotillion." I wish Audible would put out Nash's narration of "The Corinthian."
Lori wrote: "I ... dislike what I see as mispronunciations of "Beaumaris," "Brough," and "Nonpareil" in the Audible audio version narrated by Phyllida Nash ..."I'm interested in this, since I didn't notice it! I think that Beaumaris should be pronounced Bow-mar (as is mar)-iss or mar (as in marry). Brough is Bruff. Nonpareil is None-pa (as in pacify)-rail or ray. The second n could be half-swallowed, as could the l.
Does Phyllida Nash pronounce them differently? Or do you think they should be pronounced differently?
I like Nash's readings of Heyer too.
Thanks for asking, HJ. Phyllida Nash says "marris" and Flo Gibson says "marry" (which I prefer). I don't know if there is any documentation that Heyer had a pronunciation in mind, but some GH fans see the "marry" pronunciation as a play on "beautiful one to marry." Nash says "Bruff" and Gibson says "Brew" rhyming with through(which I prefer). Mr. Beaumaris's faithful butler is not gruff but he is always pouring wine. Nash uses the French pronunciation of Nonpareil and Gibson uses the Anglicized pronunciation (which I prefer because that was typical of the British). After all, Lord Byron even rhymed "new one" with Don Juan.
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In fact, the pronunciation of the 'eau' cluster as a pure vowel, rather than the diphthong or triphthong implied by the spelling, probably postdates the building of the castle as well, so 'Byoo' (as in 'beautiful') is likely to be closer to the original mediaeval pronunciation than 'Boe'. You get the same thing in 'Beaulieu', which is pronounced 'Byooli'.
'Nonpareil' isn't what you'd call current English, so I've never heard it pronounced, but the Oxford English Dictionary gives the pronunciation as 'nonparell' with the stress on the final syllable.
Thanks SO much, Jenny. I did not know GH derived names from places, as Jane Austen does.
The only "nonpareil" I've actually heard is the candy, and that agrees with the Oxford!
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I didn't know Jane Austen did it too, though!
There are some other names that don't have obvious pronunciations: Sylvester's henchman Keighley, for example, is named after a town in Yorkshire that's pronounced 'Keethley' and Sherry & Hero's friend Lord Wrotham's name is said 'Root'm'.
I gather too that people outside Britain often don't realise that '-ham' at the end of a name is always (at least I can't think of any exceptions, apart from Ham itself) reduced to ' -'m ' (So Sylvester's godmother is Lady Ing'm) just as '-borough' goes to '-bruh' and in names ending -wick or -wich the 'w' is nearly but not absolutely always silent.
Jenny wrote: "Lori wrote: "Thanks SO much, Jenny. I did not know GH derived names from places, as Jane Austen does." Oh yes - sometimes if you're travelling in England you come across whole clusters of Heyer cha..."Jenny, I'm avidly reading you comments about pronunciation on names and places.
There is street in my neighborhood pronounced "Ingra-ham." I wasn't born in the city where I reside, but if I don't say Ingra-ham St, but instead pronounce it "Ingram" the locals will not know what I'm talking about. It drives me crazy to have to say "Ingra-ham." Shudders.
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I, too, am getting a great deal out of this your posts. I guess I wasn't thinking. My true love from first through twelfth grade lived on Alnwick Road. NY towns have many English names. In NY, it is pronounced as it is spelled. Being the romantic I am, I made a pilgrimage there when in England and found it was pronounced "Annik." Why was I surprised? I lived in Malverne which in England is pronounced "Maulvin." :)
Jenny wrote: "Nearly all GH's surnames are placenames, so the pronunciation will be the same as that used for the place. That makes 'Brough' 'Bruff' and 'Beaumaris' 'Byoo marris' - that's in Wales and the Welsh ..."The video of the mayor speaking is fascinating. I'm glad my beloved Mr. Beaumaris is associated with such an illustrious town.
Jenny wrote: "Nearly all GH's surnames are placenames, so the pronunciation will be the same as that used for the place. That makes 'Brough' 'Bruff' and 'Beaumaris' 'Byoo marris' - that's in Wales and the Welsh ..."I know people who don't have traditional pronunciations for their names - and places that have had their names adjusted over time. Also, I have seen English characters who didn't have traditional pronunciation (one with a Welsh name).
Wow fascinating information on the names. Here in New England we have more of an exaggerated or corrupted version of English pronunciations.
Mod
I've been thinking about Jane Austen, Lori ... what makes you think she derives her surnames from place-names? Looking back, I can't see that she uses place-names for her characters any more than 'real life' does. Bennet, Collins, Lucas, De Burgh, Darcy, Hill, Gardiner are not; Wickham and Bingley are. And the ratios are similar in the other books, with the names in question usually being much better known as surnames than place-names, too.
GH, on the other hand, uses almost exclusively placenames after a certain point, though I'm not sure where that point comes.
In haste, I misspoke (again) and apologize. I should have said that Jane Austen drew on famous names, not location names, for people and places. (For instance, the estate Mansfield Park is probably named in reference to Lord Mansfield’s famous judgment in the Somerset [also spelled Sommersett] Case, which emancipated a slave in England.) The excellent book, “Matters of Fact in Jane Austen,” by Janine Barchas, brings many name associations to light. Of this book the Johns Hopkins University Press says, “Of course, the argument that Austen deployed famous names presupposes an active celebrity culture during the Regency, a phenomenon recently accepted by scholars. The names Austen plucks from history for her protagonists (Dashwood, Wentworth, Woodhouse, Tilney, Fitzwilliam, and many more) were immensely famous in her day. She seems to bank upon this familiarity for interpretive effect, often upending associations with comic intent.” As part of the Jane Austen Society of North America—Greater Chicago Region, I recently heard Dr. Barchas describe her wonderful interactive website What Jane Saw , which I’m sure would be of great interest to all GH fans. The site brings the viewer through an art exhibit at the British Institution in Pall Mall, London, which Jane visited on May 24, 1813. I’m sure many a GH heroine attended the same exhibit, and some of her heroes, too. We all know which heroes went willingly and which unwillingly.
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Georgette Heyer Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
Artists in Crime (other topics)Artists in Crime (other topics)
The Convenient Marriage (other topics)
April Lady (other topics)
The Convenient Marriage (other topics)
When you mentioned the change in words I wanted to see what my edition used. I have a Thorndike large print edition and the word it uses for the container under the balloon is "boat".