Georgette Heyer Fans discussion
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Group Reads 2017/2018
Sheila wrote: "I already picked up my copy at the library last week. Looking forward to reading it!For once the weather is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing at this time of year in southern Californi..."
We had bad storms over the weekend. I had thought my view looked different but couldn't figure out why. Turns out a huge macrocarpa tree has come down at our neighbour's. Fortunately no real damage at their place - & our view now much improved. I've texted them (they are on holiday) so they don't get a shock when they come home!
Carol ♔Type, Oh Queen!♕ wrote: "Sheila wrote: "I already picked up my copy at the library last week. Looking forward to reading it!For once the weather is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing at this time of year in sou..."
Aaargh! We've had so much snow that roofs are collapsing all over the place, so when our neighbors up the hill (we spend half the week in the valley) sent me a picture of our cabin's roof with the snow slid off and the chimney intact, I was seriously happy. I hate the thought of anybody losing a tree, but I'm glad it's improved your view. The old silver lining, in fact!
Macrocarpa is sort of ugly pretty - no great loss & they will have a ton of firewood. & my husband is now half way to agreeing to getting rid of our own monster sized one. Then we will really have views to brag about! :)
Carol ♔Type, Oh Queen!♕ wrote: "Sheila wrote: "I already picked up my copy at the library last week. Looking forward to reading it!For once the weather is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing at this time of year in sou..."
Oh, we've had some of those mishaps, too. Even a relatively minor storm can cause downed trees, mudslides, downed power lines, fires, you name it. It is a delicate ecosystem (very different from where I grew up!)
Carol ♔Type, Oh Queen!♕ wrote: "Macrocarpa is sort of ugly pretty - no great loss & they will have a ton of firewood. & my husband is now half way to agreeing to getting rid of our own monster sized one. Then we will really have ..."I have to go look up a picture of macrocarpa!
First link that came up was a NZ lumber site, so maybe they ought to mill it - and MAKE BOOKCASES! heeheehee....
It's summer here and we had a 42 degree Celsius day - hottest in 17 years!
Thanks Carol, I have it all ready to go! My husband goes into hospital on 1st February so I am looking forward to reading it while he recuperates from surgery. I also have Devil's Cub and The Grand Sophy on standby as I need comfort reading! Sorry about your 'summer' - hopefully it will switch back to normal soon! Here in Scotland, there is frost on the ground, a nippy wee wind from the north and sunshine! Pretty neat really!
Where is 'here' Belinda?
Karlyne wrote: "First link that came up was a NZ lumber site, so maybe they ought to mill it - and MAKE BOOKCASES! heeheehee...."Bookcases- yay! Seriously, glad all is well and nobody was hurt or damage done in NZ or Idaho - and enjoy sunny California, Sheila!
Susan in Perthshire wrote: "Thanks Carol, I have it all ready to go! My husband goes into hospital on 1st February so I am looking forward to reading it while he recuperates from surgery. I also have Devil's Cub and The Grand..."Best wishes to both of you, Susan - I have a procedure February 9 and my doctor says a week or two taking things very slow then another 4 weeks of gradually increasing activity, so I've got to get my bookshelf in order to have plenty of entertaining reads queued! Forgive me if my reviews are awash in fluff pieces and rereads...as Susan says, comfort reads are in order, if I want melodrama and apocalyptic doom I'll turn on the news. ;)
Stay cool down under, Belinda! I know you've had devastating wildfires in past summers with the heat, I hope that's not happening this year (sorry, I generally try and stay up on the news around the world but I'm rationing my news consumption lately for the sake of my blood pressure...)
Susan in NC wrote: "Susan in Perthshire wrote: "Thanks Carol, I have it all ready to go! My husband goes into hospital on 1st February so I am looking forward to reading it while he recuperates from surgery. I also ha..."Thank you Susan! and all the best for you on the 9th - comfort reading is definitely in order!!
Good luck to both of you Susans, and enjoy all of your comfort readings! I'm not in the mood for anything other than comfort reading, either, because I'm about as a-political as anyone can be - and the "news" from both sides pretty much nauseates me equally. Blech!
Thanks for your good wishes, ladies, and Karlyne, I hear you! The anger on both sides is so disheartening, I fear for our country...bring on the comfort reads!
I finished Black Sheep, an old favorite, and moved immediately to Persuasion. I am sick at heart at the meanness that is blasting through everyday, and I need a place to rest and renew. So glad for this group, Heyer, Austen, Thirkell, Pym, and others who write with compassion and humor about the human condition.
Kim wrote: "I finished Black Sheep, an old favorite, and moved immediately to Persuasion. I am sick at heart at the meanness that is blasting through everyday, and I need a place to rest and renew. So glad for..."I picked up a copy of The Warden (Trollope) at the thrift store last Friday. It has been a perfect antidote to the news. And best wishes to the Susans and all!
Ladies, even though I am thousands of miles away - I am with you. Thank goodness for this group - where even though we may disagree on the finer points of Georgette's characterisation or plot development, we can be in a group of like minded, kind and supportive friends! Long may it continue and help us survive the slings and arrows of the forces outside! Thank you for the kind thoughts for my husband. It means a lot!
Sending best wishes to both Susans, it is good you have advance notice to the procedures. My lengthy stay in the hospital was a surprise, as accidents are, and I spent a frustrating few months sending my husband on quests to find my books. I knew exactly where they were, but he simply could not see them and never looked beyond the first layer of books. Then at some point he tore my set-up apart, and I had no idea where things were and no ability to find them as I was bed-ridden for months. My first adventures with my crutches involved finding books, I eventually found some favorites & tbrs in a cat carrier...do not even know what possessed me to look there, I guess I had exhausted all the reasonable possibilities. ;-)
The very best to the Susans! I know the news is awful and I do wonder what's ahead. But we'll always have each other here.
Ladies, you are the best! Kim, you were my inspiration for getting all my books in order in a nice, easy to find TBR pile; I remember last year when you were all so kind as my mom was suffering her last illness (she died a year ago tomorrow, I can't believe it), and you related how important books were to your painful recovery after your accident. As you say, mine and Susan's husband's procedures are planned, so we can get our ducks - and books - in order!And like Susan, I am so grateful for such a kind, supportive, like-minded group to discuss our beloved books with - sometimes it seems a mad world and books and fellow readers are such a lovely refuge. Thank you all!
Sheila wrote: "Kim wrote: "I finished Black Sheep, an old favorite, and moved immediately to Persuasion. I am sick at heart at the meanness that is blasting through everyday, and I need a place to rest and renew...."Ah, that's where I started my Trollope journey (why does that sound rather trashy?!) I enjoyed the Barsetshire books so much - the Pallisers have me drowning in the parliamentary procedure at times, but I do enjoy the way he writes women. I want to dive into "The Way We Live Now", it sounds like it would fit the news very well, also.
Ladies, you made me tear up - in a good way!
I enjoyed "The Way We Live Now", I want to see the tv adaptation of it too.I saw the Pallisers years ago, but have never read it... possibly because the main couple didn't sit right with me as a couple.
Gosh all the best Susan and Susan! I live in Perth, Australia. I think all right minded people world wide are concerned about what trump is doing. My family certainly discusses each new development in aghast as we did at the Australia Day barbecue last night. Thank goodness for safe places to rest such as Heyer and Austen and thank goodness for nice communities such as this which reminds you of truly lovely people whom are courteous and kind to one another.
Recently, I've re-read Can You Forgive Her? and read The Warden. I read entire Palliser series while living without a tv and stereo for some time after moving into my first apartment in Texas, finished them in ten days. I alternated between them and two anthologies of short stories. All were sent to me by my mom for my birthday. I am going to keep going with Trollope as soon as I finish Dance to the Music of Time 12-book series. Just 3 to go.
I recommend Trollope's Miss Mackenzie. It's very Austenesque. Not as witty as Heyer -more subtle but it would make a good comfort read. I pulled out some of my favorite Regency comfort reads too.
QNPoohBear wrote: "I recommend Trollope's Miss Mackenzie. It's very Austenesque. Not as witty as Heyer -more subtle but it would make a good comfort read. I pulled out some of my favorite Regency comfor..."Thanks for the recommendation, I've picked up several stand-alone Trollope novels at used book sales but not that one, sounds appealing!
Belinda wrote: "Gosh all the best Susan and Susan! I live in Perth, Australia. I think all right minded people world wide are concerned about what trump is doing. My family certainly discusses each new development..."Thank you for your kind words, Belinda, I am so grateful I found this wonderful community - sometimes I feel like an oddball because I read so much, I am so glad to have people to discuss books with!
Kim wrote: "Recently, I've re-read Can You Forgive Her? and read The Warden. I read entire Palliser series while living without a tv and stereo for some time after moving into my first apartment in Texas, fini..."Wow, you are a better woman than I - with the Pallisers I'm having to space them out with several other books in between, I think I'd pull my hair out if I tried to read the whole series at once! I love his language and humor, but sometimes I need a quick, satisfying fix a la Heyer or Sayers or Christie.
I think I would like to read more Trollope. I started watching Dr. Thorne, an adaptation of a Trollope novel. It seemed very Austenesque with money, society and cross-class romance. Trollope was a big fan of Jane Austen.
Oh, yes, that's why I enjoyed the Barsetshire series so much, they really were Austenesque and so timeless and wise - who you marry really could lead to or detract from your future happiness! Easier to divorce now, of course, but still...and the Palliser novels can be fun but the recurring theme of politics and the young women who sacrifice themselves and their fortunes to bail out their scapegrace male relatives or try and get their best friends to marry said bad'uns makes me crazy! I'm enjoying Madam Goesler and Lady Glencora so much, no doormats with these ladies...and I guess I have to include the Becky Sharp-like Lizzie Eustace with those two strong women, even if she is an awful person!
Best wishes to both Susans--full (and speedy) recoveries to all. I spent chunks of 2012-2015 recovering from 8 surgeries on my left leg. Books saved my sanity! My dear husband made many a library run on my behalf and made sure my e-reader was always charged. Thankfully, he did NOT mess up my bookshelves.I found it very hard to concentrate on new (to me) books during those times--I did a lot of re-reading. Heyer got a good workout!
It has been eons since I've read Trollope. Y'all have just about convinced me to give him another go. Charles Finch's mysteries are Trollope-like to me. Not nearly as wordy (who today is?), but the mood, setting and attitude are very reminiscent.
I like Charles Finch's works as well, Barb. Much shorter than most of Trollope's works, though. It was my right leg, spent so long in hospital/trauma rehab center. My first day coming into my tr center room, my roommate had Jerry Springer blasting out of the tv, which we were supposed to share. My husband and I used our time to shut it off except for occasionally watching Big Bang Theory or Masterpiece Theatre when I had the room to myself. He would sit near me, and read while holding my hand when the painkillers or the post-PT exhaustion knocked me out. For a long time, I would fall asleep after a page or so, but then I started being kept awake by roommates with dementia who would attract a crowd of nurses aides @ 3 am trying to keep them in bed & I would read until things settled down & all the lights & hoopla ended. Lady across the hall kept trying to escape & alarms would whoop & staff would be running down the hall yelling at her to stop. She was fast in her wheel chair. Anyway, books were my refuge.
Thanks Barb! And Lord love a duck, eight surgeries would've put me around the bend - you and Kim are my heroes in patience and perseverance!And I've been thinking of giving Charles Finch another try - I read the first but heard the second (September Society I think) was rather lame and might go right to the third one (something to do with Fleet Street).
My word Kim that was certainly an experience!!! Hope you're well on the road to recovery.
Still trying to build strength and endurance. Get tired easily, but had a heart attack a couple of months before my fall that damaged my knee, broke tibia from knee, split tibia to ankle & shattered some bone along the way, and the combination of heart medication & trauma recovery has made life challenging for some time. As Monty Python says, "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition." Or a fall down a flight of stairs ended by a concrete stoop.
Kim wrote: "Still trying to build strength and endurance. Get tired easily, but had a heart attack a couple of months before my fall that damaged my knee, broke tibia from knee, split tibia to ankle & shattere..."Oh, Kim, I am sorry! I knew about your accident but not the heart attack - and may I say your rehab facility sounds like the one my mom spent three weeks in last year. She was luckily alone in a room but the patients yelling, moaning and trying to escape were quite unnerving - I was up there every day with books, a thermos of coffee and conversation or I think she would've gone round the bend...Lady, I think you've got a book in you! Mom always joked she'd write one but she didn't make it - I'd buy yours if you ever get around to writing it! ;-)
I sent out missives as things occurred to friends, relatives, church family. Everyone was hooked on texts from trauma center. Friend from church said she is glad I am better but misses my stories and thoughts from inside the health care system. ;-). I am glad to not be going through it anymore, but it was interesting in awful, wonderful, and funny ways.
Funny thing is, I was in the best trauma recovery center in the area. Had to have my doctor fight to get me there. Cannot imagine what a worse one would have been like. My amazing husband spent every hour he could with me, would go to meetings on campus & then drive & do e-mails/phone calls by my side if he had to...hated when he left at night.
Jeez Kim you really went to town on it! So much in one go. Thank God for books!! They've kept me going through many a bad time.
Teresa wrote: "Jeez Kim you really went to town on it! So much in one go. Thank God for books!! They've kept me going through many a bad time."Amen, sisters! And seriously Kim, sounds like your missives put you halfway there - already written and a built in audience! Think about it, you just have to add your youthful adventures and life abroad serving in the navy and raising the kids. Sweet hubby could
be your coauthor!
Oh Kim, I hear you and would be glad to collaborate with you on a book. After my last operation in 2015 my surgeon sent me off to rehab. I picked the place closest to home with a decent rating, so the the DH could visit more than once a day. The longest two weeks of my life(actually closer to 3 given how slow their discharge protocol worked). My room mate was a sweetie, but she was addicted to 'screaming' TV--Maury Povich, Let's Make a Deal, Price is Right--followed by the soaps, so on and so on. To add insult to injury, the food service forgot I was there several times a week--so I would have to badger them for my meals!
Yeah, I lived to tell the tale--my friends were likewise shocked and amused by my reports. Don't ever want to do it again!
Barb in Maryland wrote: "Oh Kim, I hear you and would be glad to collaborate with you on a book. After my last operation in 2015 my surgeon sent me off to rehab. I picked the place closest to home with a decent rating, so ..."There we go, ladies - I don't expect a cut of the sales, just an ARC would suffice!
Kim - I didn't know about the heart attack nor exactly how bad those breakages were. What an ordeal you've had; I am so delighted that you are coming through it all. Same with Barb - 8 surgeries! That is just taking it all to another level! I agree with my compadre - the other Susan - that there must be at least one great book there! I am sure we'd all happily read it. It's funny how old friends are the ones we pick up to read when we need comfort reading. When my husband had his first operation in September and was in hospital for a couple of weeks, I turned to Georgette of course - but also some real oldies - Jane Aitken Hodge, Paula Allardyce, Phyllis Whitney, Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, Mary Stewart. You have all inspired me now to dip into Trollope again - it's been ages since I read anything of his although I have seen a lot of adaptations on television. Thanks for all your good wishes!
We're always complaining about our health service here but it's seems to be a picnic compared to what ye both have endured. Yes add me to the list for a copy of your first book. Sounds like you could even make it a horror:)
Yes your stories are quite horrifying!
Parts were horrible, Carol, but I also met some incredible people along the way. Also, because my husband and I were polite to our caregivers, we were treated as well as an overwhelmed staff could. They brought him coffee and cake or cookies in the evening as because he did so much for me, it took a lot off their shoulders when he was there.
Kim wrote: "Parts were horrible, Carol, but I also met some incredible people along the way. Also, because my husband and I were polite to our caregivers, we were treated as well as an overwhelmed staff could...."Agreed, being polite to overworked caregivers goes a long way- mom was in rehab on Halloween so we brought a big plastic pumpkin full of candy and left it in her room. She was very popular and the staff appreciated the treats!
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For once the weather is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing at this time of year in southern California. I'm enjoying the occasional rainstorm!