Book Suggestions for the group to read

[Susan]

Theresa, thanks so much! It worked. What a resource!

[Theresa]

Great—I’m so glad! Yes, it’s an amazing resource. I highly recommend it along with Project Gutenberg for great freebies.

[Mela]

I vote for two mentioned books:

A Lady and Her Husband by Amber Reeves
The Rector's Daughter by F.M. Mayor

The first one is in the public domain and the second one is on archive.org - so I will be able to read them.

[Tania]

I loved The Rector's Daughter, though I think you need to be feeling pretty emotionally robust when reading it, it's just heartbreaking. It should lead to a good discussion though.

I haven't read A Lady and Her Husband, (maybe a good January choice)?

I'm keen to read One Afternoon as well. I'm going to Bath next week so I was thinking of picking tjis one up, along with The Carlyles at Home and one other, not sure which one though, the third one is always the hardest choice.

[Antoinette]

I own One Afternoon!

[Tania]

Excellent. Potentially we could have A Lady and Her Husband in January, One Afternoon in Feb, and the The Rector's Daughter in March?

Any other suggestions gratefully received.

[Antoinette]

Is there any for December, Tania? I haven’t noted any. Funny, I never heard of A lady and Her husband. I’ll see how easy it is to get. I own The Rector’s daughter as well, so perfect!

[Tania]

Oops, no. We can shift them forward then so A Lady in Dec, One Afternoon in Jan and The Rectors Daughter in Feb.

A Lady and Her Husband was written by the daughter of Maud Pember Reeves, who wrote Round About a Pound a Week. It does look rather interesting. It is available for a free download from Project Gutenberg.

[Antoinette]

Thanks for the info, Tania!

[Tania]

You're welcome.

[Susan]

I have One Afternoon, but am happy to go with this order. I am a see bit behind anyway.

[Tania]

That's great Susan. I leave the thteads open, so you can read and comment at you leisure.

[Tania]

I picked up One Afternoon today.

[Gina]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I will add these to our group "to-read" list for December, January and February.

[Tania]

Great! Thanks Gina.

[Gina]

It's time to add some new books for 2024!
This month we're reading One Afternoon by Sian James, and in February it's The Rector's Daughter by FM Mayor.

Based on some of your suggestions, we'll do in Greenery Street by Denis Mackail in March,
April: Midsummer Night in the Workhouse by Diana Athill
May: The Second Persephone Book of Short Stories

I'll add these to our bookshelf.

As always, feel free to contribute to this thread to provide suggestions for future reads!

[Tania]

Thanks Gina.

I'm really looking forward to re-reading Greenery Street.

[Susan]

I’m looking forward to the Diana Athill book!

[Dianne]

Have we read Miss pettigrew lives for a day? I have that one.

[Mela]

Gina wrote: "...Based on some of your suggestions, we'll do in Greenery Street by Denis Mackail in March,
April: Midsummer Night in the Workhouse by Diana Athill
May: The Second Persephone Book of Short Stories

I'll add these to our bookshelf.

As always, feel free to contribute to this thread to provide suggestions for future reads!

Sadly, I can't find copies of those three books, available for me (I was sure I do have "Midsummer Night in the Workhouse" but I can't find it).

My suggestions for next months:
Maman, What Are We Called Now? by Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar
The Carlyles at Home by Thea Holme.

Both are available on archive.org.

[Tania]

Mela, there is a copy of Greenery Street on internet archive, but it has been labelled wrong. I believe if you search for Denis Mackail and go to The Majestic Mystery, you get a book that has a collection of different stories, one of which is Greenary St.

[Tania]

Dianne wrote: "Have we read Miss pettigrew lives for a day? I have that one."

We have, but we do re-read books so could do this one.

[Dianne]

Ok good to know! I'll look for the others coming up.

[Susan]

My library has the Diana Athill book available via Hoopla as an ebook. I was surprised but delighted

[Mela]

Tania wrote: "Mela, there is a copy of Greenery Street on internet archive, but it has been labelled wrong. I believe if you search for Denis Mackail and go to [book:The Majestic M..."

Yes, I see it! Big thanks!!!

[Tania]

You're welcome. Glad you can join.

[Susan]

What is February 2024's book?

[Susan]

Found it! (Hadn't scrolled back far enough)

[Gina]

Hi everyone-
We're reading Midsummer Night in the Workhouse for April and The Second Book of Persephone Short Stories for May, but we should choose books for the next few months after that! I think we'll do Because of the Lockwoods as suggested by Antoinette for June, and maybe Miss Pettigrew for July - it's been a little bit since we've read that one and Dianne had suggested it. Any suggestions for the August book?

[Mela]

Gina wrote: "...Any suggestions for the August book?"

I am still for:
Maman, What Are We Called Now? by Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar
The Carlyles at Home by Thea Holme.

[Susan]

It’s been awhile since the group read The Exiles Return by Elisabeth de Waal which I’ve got waiting on my shelf so maybe we could add that to the list at some point.

Also, I couldn’t find the folders for Midsummer Night in the Workhouse by Diana Athill. Can someone point me to them? I was excited to find my library has the title available as an ebook through Hoopla. Diana Athill has such a unique voice, I think I’m going to enjoy this one despite the somewhat gloomy title.

[Tania]

Susan wrote: "It’s been awhile since the group read The Exiles Return by Elisabeth de Waal which I’ve got waiting on my shelf so maybe we could add that to the list at some point.

Also, I couldn..."

Sorry Susan, and anyone else reading this book, I 've been having internet issues, but have managed to get a thread up for this book now. Enjoy! https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Gina]

Thanks for creating that new folder, Tania! Sometimes those folders are not the easiest to work with.
And thanks for the suggestions! Let's do The Exiles Return by Elisabeth de Waal for August.
So we'll do Because of the Lockwoods for June, and Miss Pettigrew in July.
Mela, I'll add those other two suggestions for the fall!

[Susan]

FYI - audible has Midsummer Night on the Workhouse read by Athill herself!

[Tania]

Susan wrote: "It’s been awhile since the group read The Exiles Return by Elisabeth de Waal which I’ve got waiting on my shelf so maybe we could add that to the list at some point."

I've also had this one waiting on my shelf for some time. As well as The Carlyles at Home, which looks really interesting.

[Susan]

Susan wrote: "FYI - audible has Midsummer Night on the Workhouse read by Athill herself!"

Cool! Adding to my wish list

[Susan]

Gina wrote: "Thanks for creating that new folder, Tania! Sometimes those folders are not the easiest to work with.
And thanks for the suggestions! Let's do The Exiles Return by Elisabeth de Waal for August.
So..."

This sounds like a great line up. I’m curious about The Carlyles at Home and Maman, What Are We Called Now? and look forward to reading them this fall. Also, they’ll give me an excuse for a new book order from Persephone…

[Mela]

Gina wrote: "...Let's do The Exiles Return by Elisabeth de Waal for August.
So we'll do Because of the Lockwoods for June, and Miss Pettigrew in July.
Mela, I'll add those other two suggestions for the fall!"

Great.
By the way, I can't find a copy of The Second Persephone Book of Short Stories but I will try to find at least some of these short stories in other collections.

[Gina]

It's about time to think about books for the fall!
Mela had suggested Maman, What Are We Called Now? by Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar and The Carlyles at Home by Thea Holme. I think we'll do those for Sept and Oct.
Anyone else have suggestions for November and December?

[Susan]

Has the group read The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins yet? A nice melodramatic case of stolen identity might be fun over the holidays.

And it’s available on Project Gutenberg for folks who don’t have a copy: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1623

[Gina]

We haven't read that one yet - thanks, Susan! And that's great that it's available through Project Gutenberg also. :)

[Tania]

I have a copy of that one too, so would like to read it.

Would anyone like to read London War Notes by Mollie Panter-Downes? I was thinking of reading it soon, but would wait if there is interest in it as a group read.

[Susan]

I have a copy of London War Notes and would be happy to read it with the group. It’s a long book so the company might help me finally get through it. And she’s a fabulous writer

[Tania]

It is, but I find shorter 'chapters make it easier for me. 😀

[Susan]

Yes, particularly over a whole month

[Gina]

Thanks for those suggestions, they sound great! Let's do The New Magdalen for November and London War Notes for December. I'll add them to our bookshelf!

[Gina]

Hi everyone-
We should probably start thinking about books for 2025 - anyone have any suggestions? We are always open to a re-read!

[Mela]

I will have some suggestions, but I need to check if they are available on archive.org. Sadly, the website is temporarily offline. When it returns online I will answer.

[Tania]

I'll have a look at my unread pile, I have been fairly good at getting through them so it is diminishing, but I know there are still a few left to read.

[Tania]

Unread I have

Manja by Anna Gmeyner
Despised And Rejected by Rose Allatini
Into the Whirlwind by Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg
The World That Was Ours by Hilda Bernstein
The Children Who Lived in a Barn by Eleanor Graham

I have also had a bit of a look for books available elsewhere, not Internet Archive which may be down for sometime, also the recent court case went against them, so they may no longer be able to lend books that are otherwise available.

Project Gutenberg has
William: An Englishman by Cicely Hamilton. I haven't read this for years and would love to re-read it
The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Flush: A Biography by Virginia Woolf

Libravox has
The Young Pretenders by Edith Henrietta Fowler