Georgette Heyer Fans discussion
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Your Bottom 5 Georgette Heyer's
Sticking to those I've read (so not the earliest contemporaries)Cousin Kate
My Lord John
Beauvallet
Penhallow
Royal Escape
My Lord JohnSimon the Coldheart
The Conqueror
Charity Girl
Lady of Quality
Rosina wrote: "Sticking to those I've read (so not the earliest contemporaries)Cousin Kate
My Lord John
Beauvallet
Penhallow
Royal Escape"
I'd forgotten Penhallow. I'll reread before deciding if it edges out Royal Escape.
Out of interest Rosina, have you read any of them more than once?
Carol ♔ Type, Oh Queen! ♔ wrote: "I'd forgotten Penhallow. I'll reread before deciding if..."I've read Cousin Kate a couple of times, and Penhallow (but that's over a period of 50 odd years of Heyer reading). I'm not even sure if I finished My Lord John the first time.
Here is my list of bottom five of what I've read in no particular order:1) Charity Girl
2) The Corinthian
3) The Foundling
4) April Lady
5) Beauvellet
I would like to add that I have no interest in reading her contemporaries!
Leaving out the mysteries and the oddball historicals (My Lord John etc.), and in no particular order,1. Powder and Patch
2. Cousin Kate
3. The Great Roxhythe
4. A Civil Contract (sorry, all you Jenny lovers!)
5. An Infamous Army
I should say I haven’t read April Lady or Sprig Muslin in so long I can’t remember them, so they’re far from favorites; and it was a tossup between An Infamous Army and The Black Moth (it hasn’t been a great year for me as far as this group goes, has it?). I liked the battle scene in Army but hated the characters.
Yeah, A Civil Contract and The Foundling are tied for sixth place: I felt that each had one good scene, though I disliked the rest, for different reasons.
I haven't read all Heyer's books yet (and doubt I will read the contemporaries), but so far I would say my bottom 5 would be:1. Charity Girl (definitely her most "meh" book so far, nothing sparkled, and nothing was overly interesting)
2. The Corinthian (I've always thought there was too much going on in that book!)
3. The Quiet Gentleman (so, I actually like this one and would re-read it again, but compared to some of her other books it's not quite the best)
4. Sprig Muslin (ditto)
5. April Lady (ditto)
I've mostly only read the romances but:1. Penhallow
2. Beauvallet
3. The Convenient Marriage
4. Powder and Patch
5. A Civil Contract
And depending on how I feel when I finally get around to re-reading them, I'm guessing Friday's Child and April Lady might swap one of the others out.... this is mostly because I don't really romances where they're already married.
What should probably be on there but isn't because I haven't read them is An Infamous Army and My Lord John, because I don't really want to read them, there might be a couple more of those that I'm forgetting.
Abigail wrote: "Leaving out the mysteries and the oddball historicalsYou don't think The Great Roxhythe is an oddball historical? Most unintentionally funny work of fiction I've ever read in my life! :D
Powder and PatchEnvious Casca
April Lady
Cousin Kate
Charity Girl
Cousin Kate Beauvallet
Powder and Patch
April Lady
The Convenient Marriage
I haven't read the mysteries or the contemporaries.
I wrote a long post explaining my choices, but it disappeared.So I'll try again.
I don't own any of the mysteries, so if I have read them it is many years ago
I have most of the romances either in paperback or recent additions on kindle.
All my paperbacks have been reread and enjoyed countless times.
The only exceptions are
The Spanish Bride which I read once, found hard going and haven't kept my copy of it
The Talisman Ring which isn't a paperback but a hardback omnibus with two other books (neither Heyer) so it is a heavy thing to lug around and read. Plus I'm not keen on the story and can't stand the French girl.
So at the moment there are only two that I wouldn't read again
I'm still waiting for some of the ones I've not got to drop in price for kindle, or turn up in the second hand bookshops. Possibly my list could reach five when I have read those
Even though I love some GH novels more than others, there are a few I really don't like AT ALL. I am glad I didn't pick them up in the beginning because I may not have read any others and I LOVE her work.So...
1/ I will agree on 'The Spanish Bride' (but I love, love 'The Talisman Ring)
2/ 'The Black Moth' but I like 'These Old Shades and love 'Devil's Cub'
3/ An Infamous Army'
4/ 'The Foundling'
5/ 'Cousin Kate'
6/ 'Charity Girl'
7/ 'Beauvallet '
8/ 'The Conqueror '
9/ 'The Great Roxhythe'
10/ 'My Lord John'
11/ 'Royal Escape'
12/ 'Simon the Coldheart'
13/ her contemporary novels
To justify my criticism, I find the plots predictable, most dialogues lucking interest, the slang too often tiring and confusing and the secondary characters two dimensional. I know that this is partly true for some novels in this list, but still that's how I feel... :(
I am looking forward to what other people think.
Mod
Cousin Kate
April Lady
Friday's Child
Regency Buck
Black Sheep
But, I like these books, just less than other.
I'm a newbie still by this groups standards as I only started reading GH five years ago. I'm taking my time with them because I'll be sad when I don't have any new books of hers to read and consequently I've only read 18 of them.My lowest ranked books are:
1. The Reluctant Widow - abandoned then later I picked it up and forced myself to finish it
2. Devil's Cub - 2 stars but lately I've been considering rereading it
3. A Blunt Instrument - 3 generous stars
4. Death in the Stocks - ditto on the 3 stars
5. The Corinthian - 3 stars because Pen was an idiot
I'm sure as I read more of her mysteries I'll have more lower ranked books.
Amy wrote: "I'm a newbie still by this groups standards as I only started reading GH five years ago. I'm taking my time with them because I'll be sad when I don't have any new books of hers to read and consequ..."I'm glad to see Death in the Stocks on your low ranking Mela, I wrote an apoplectic review of it some time ago here on Goodreads and it was only someone I trust telling me to give the other mysteries a go that got me reading the others at all! I have calmed down now.
I have always loved the Regencies/Georgians and don't really have a low ranking one. Perhaps Cousin Kate? Not crazy about the Devils Cub/Black Moth genre either .
Lowest ranking of all has to be her supressed ones Barren Corn etc .Also My Lord John , where I thought I might actually die of ennui.........
But the Regencies I will be calling for on my death bed .
I haven't read any of her mysteries--though I suppose I should some day--nor any of the medievals. My least admired among the Regencies are1. Cousin Kate (ick)
2. Sprig Muslin (yawn)
3. Charity Girl (another yawn)
4. The Reluctant Widow (meh)
5. Bath Tangle (loathed almost every single character!)
I'm not fond of Barbara in An Infamous Army, but I love the history aspects and the description of the Battle of Waterloo is gripping. Wasn't it supposedly used at Sandhurst as a text for studying the Battle?
I wonder if it was on a "fiction about Waterloo" list, and that turned into a tale about it being studied. I'd be really surprised if it was really used as a text--as gripping as it is, it's fairly obvious which memoirs and collections of Orders of the Day (Wellington's were published early on and remained popular through the century) she was using, sometimes almost verbatim. And she doesn't quite get the big picture the way some of the Waterloo memoirs do.
Marissa wrote: "I haven't read any of her mysteries--though I suppose I should some day--nor any of the medievals. My least admired among the Regencies are1. Cousin Kate (ick)
2. Sprig Muslin (yawn)
3. Charity G..."
Marissa wrote: "I haven't read any of her mysteries--though I suppose I should some day--nor any of the medievals. My least admired among the Regencies are
1. Cousin Kate (ick)
2. Sprig Muslin (yawn)
3. Charity G..."
I love your comments in the parentheses!
Marissa wrote: "I haven't read any of her mysteries--though I suppose I should some day--nor any of the medievals. My least admired among the Regencies are1. Cousin Kate (ick)
2. Sprig Muslin (yawn)
3. Charity G..."
I was wondering when someone would mention Bath Tangle! Certainly (for me) one of her weaker Regencies.
Sherwood wrote: "I wonder if it was on a "fiction about Waterloo" list, and that turned into a tale about it being studied. I'd be really surprised if it was really used as a text--as gripping as it is, it's fairly..."That is plausible. I'm going to a Heyer conference next month & Jen Koestler is one of the speakers. I'll ask her opinion.
Oh, definitely do! I did a little digging on-line and found references to GH being invited to lecture about the battle at Sandhurst, and the book being included on an optional reading list there.
I've read 29 GH books. My bottom four are (in no particular order):A Blunt Instrument
The Spanish Bride (too many minute details about battles)
An Infamous Army (same as above)
Powder and Patch
I rated all of those with two stars. I used to use the Amazon rating scale before I realized it was different here, so it's possible that, if I were to read and rate them again, I would give only two stars to a few of the books I gave three stars to .
My favorites are The Talisman Ring and Arabella, although I rated Arabella with my old system, so maybe I'd lower it if I read it again. I also rated TTR with my old system, but I remember loving that book so much that I bought a copy of it when I saw it at the library shortly thereafter.
I love this thread! I've been reading Heyer's books for about 15 years, but with one exception (A Blunt Instrument) I've avoided the mysteries and the historicals, at least so far. I might dip my toes in the water sometime with Heyer's books in those genres, but I'm not in a rush given the mixed reviews. I haven't read any of the books on Carol's most hated list!So, keeping that in mind, here are my least favorite of the 27 Heyer books I've read:
1. The Convenient Marriage
2. Friday's Child (left me cold when I read it about 15 years ago, but I'm willing to give it another shot)
Those two are my only 2-star Heyers. Here are my weakest 3 stars:
3. Powder and Patch
4. A Blunt Instrument
5. Cousin Kate
Dishonorable mentions go to The Black Moth and The Corinthian.
And yet the historicals were supposed to be her own favourites. I believe she was working on a vast historical when she died. I think she'd been writing it for many years but it wasn't going anywhere. Hope I'm right about this.
I'm pretty sure that was My Lord John
Was it? I thought it was something about kings of England on a large scale but then I'm not sure enough to doubt you. I think it's time I read some of the biographies again.
Sherwood, I haven't read any of your bottom five either, nor yet most of the books mentioned by others in this thread. I think I'll keep this thread as a handy reference for What Not to Read. :D
Teresa wrote: "And yet the historicals were supposed to be her own favourites. I believe she was working on a vast historical when she died. I think she'd been writing it for many years but it wasn't going anywhe..."Unfortunately you are wrong. My Lord John was published posthumously. Her husband loved her historicals. Even if you don't want to read the book, the introduction he wrote for it is very moving.
No Regencies made my list, but my least favourite is Charity Girl.
When I was younger, Infamous Army and The Spanish Bride were harder, less fun reads. Then I started reading military history, joined the Navy, married a guy who adores reading about Napoleon & his battles (I like Wellington, myself) & started reading Sharpe and the Aubrey/Maturin books. I circled back around to the above titles and thoroughly enjoyed them. Gave me a new perspective on the military men home on leave or cashing out to take up family responsibilities in Heyer and Austen.
*mentally adds Charity Girl to her What Not To Read list*
Carol ♔ Type, Oh Queen! ♔ wrote: "Teresa wrote: "And yet the historicals were supposed to be her own favourites. I believe she was working on a vast historical when she died. I think she'd been writing it for many years but it wasn..."Oh right Carol. I definitely need to read the biographies again!!
I wouldn’t necessarily reject all the least-faves here, Tadiana! I personally enjoy Charity Girl quite a bit, and The Reluctant Widow, several times listed here, is in my second tier of favorites. And on the other side, I put A Civil Contract on my hate list, and it’s a favorite for many! I might have added Venetia but was afraid of assassination. It takes all kinds!
I'm with Abigail on that, I like Charity Girl and love The Reluctant Widow... but then I also have Cousin Kate high on my re-read list.Venetia is near the bottom for me too.
I wonder what it is that makes the difference.
Abigail wrote: "I wouldn’t necessarily reject all the least-faves here, Tadiana! I personally enjoy Charity Girl quite a bit, and The Reluctant Widow, several times listed here, is in my second tier of favorites. ..."*gasps* You don't like Venetia?? That's my favorite! I guess it does take all kinds. ;) Anyway, I'm using a bit of hyperbole here: if we do a group read of Charity Girl or one of the others that my local library has, I'll probably give it a shot with the group. That's my plan for Lady of Quality.
Though I reserve the right to skip any of the historical novels, lol. The historical bits in Heyer's books tend to make my eyes glaze. I don't think I could handle a whole book of that from her. Beside, I'll probably be wading through Alexander Hamilton for the foreseeable future...
Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ wrote: " if we do a group read of Charity Girl or one of the others that my local library has, I'll probably give it a shot with the group. That's my plan for Lady of Quality. We will need another leader for a discussion of Charity Girl though. I've read it since being on GR, still don't like it & don't want to read again. Edit: & of course I'm more than happy to have a group read of Charity Girl here. But I don't think my negative feelings about this book would be helpful. :)
I do have a theory about it & a couple of the other later ones. How you respond to them depends on the order you read them. If you read Charity Girl first it is going to look better than most historical romances. After * Insert your favourite Heyer here* it is going to suck!
Tadiana I would still suggest trying An Infamous Army, but do what I did in my younger years - skim the history! :D
Isn't it great that GH wrote so many Georgian and Regency novels? There seems to be something for everyone to like or dislike but none of the novels are without fans.
Carol ♔ Type, Oh Queen! ♔ wrote: "...Her husband loved her historicals..."That doesn't surprise me. Men tend to enjoy detailed descriptions of battles. My husband has a large collection of nonfiction American Civil War books plus other military history books. I'm sure there's lots of battle detail in many of them, although I haven't tried to read any of that kind. I've read at least one of the biographies, because people interest me more than battle detail. My son is working on a military history minor in college just because he loves that stuff; he doesn't plan to use that knowledge in a career.
I enjoyed the first three books of the Alastair series, so An Infamous Army was a big letdown after them. I also enjoyed Venetia and The Corinthian. It would be a dull world if we all liked the same things. :-)
Oh dear! so strange to see so many of my favourites in other people's bottom 5 since I love Devil's Cub, An Infamous Army, Venetia, and The Reluctant Widow; but I also totally get that we are not clones!. We are obviously all different but isn't it amazing that although we are all GH fans, we all love and hate different GH books? interesting discussions though!
I’m with you on Devil’s Cub and The Reluctant Widow, Susan, so you are not alone!
Well, Susan, none of the ones you listed would be anywhere near the bottom for me, Devil's Cub & These Old Shades are in my top 3. Some of the historicals & a couple of the mysteries would be closer to the bottom. Her more contemporary ones which some have tracked down and bemoaned are not even on my radar screen.
The Talisman Ring and The Reluctant Widow were both disappointing for me as both felt like they were just getting going when they stopped. I'd probably fill up my five with her mysteries as they never got me going in the same way as her historicals.Although My Lord John wasn't fantastic, I'm leaving it out of the list because I felt it unfair to judge since it wasn't really finished. It was enjoyable enough, just missing bits.
Abigail wrote: "I’m with you on Devil’s Cub and The Reluctant Widow, Susan, so you are not alone!"That's great!
I haven't read all of her books having started them only last year. Some I found were exceptional like Venetia but some really just made me yawn and skim. As much as I like her writing, the characters sometimes got just way too annoying. The bottom 5 Heyer books for me in no particular order are :1) A Civil Contract
2) The Convenient marriage
(I had much higher expectations from them but I found them pretty dull!)
3) The Reluctant Widow
4) The Black Moth
5) The Quiet Gentleman
Those that most of the group members have pointed are the ones I haven't ventured into reading as yet, and it chiefly is because many readers have been vocal about their disappointment in those books and I was just put off! Maybe someday I will pick them and form my own opinion!
Seema, on my first reading (a couple of years ago before I joined GR) of "The Quiet Gentleman" and "The Reluctant Widow" I didn't care for them.Upon trying these two again recently, I appreciate them more and found some merit in them.
But I have to say, as much as I like GHs romances in general, they are not all equally good!
Andrea (Catsos Person) is a Compulsive eBook Hoarder wrote: "Seema, on my first reading (a couple of years ago before I joined GR) of "The Quiet Gentleman" and "The Reluctant Widow" I didn't care for them.Upon trying these two again recently, I appreciate ..."
Andrea, I think the problem was, I was on a Heyer binge and the overdose must have just marred my interest. I will give them a re-read though sometime later :)
And yes I do agree, there is a lot of difference between them, and I think it must have been her personal life which must have influenced her work.
Seema, I think my first read of "The Reluctant Widow" "The Quiet Gentleman" as Well as "Cousin Kate" were all reading experiences that also were marred by a binge of GHs books--and I did go on a bender with GH once I read my first of her titles.These three books just didn't hold up well to her other titles that I was reading that became ultimately became favorites.
With the passing of time from the first read of these three and my first binge of her books, I was able to appreciate these three more.
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I don't even have to think about them
1 Helen
2 My Lord John
3 Why Shoot a Butler?
4 Simon the Coldheart
5 Royal Escape
Why Shoot a Butler? is the only one I have read since being on GR. I'm intending to give numbers 4 & 5 another chance. & Royal Escape is the only one that I have read more than once.