2023 Buddy read suggestions.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

I thought it was time to start talking about what the group would like to read next year. I have suggested Crampton Hodnet for January as a possibility to get the ball rolling, but I would like to hear other suggestions from the group as possible buddy reads.

I would love to get through some of my unread Furrowed Middlebrow books, and I've been keeping up with the British Library Crime Classics who have Sing Me Who You Are and The Home coming out next year. I also have piles of unread Persephones and vintage Virago's to read. Any thoughts welcome.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Looking through my physical bookshelves, I have a few that may be of interest here including:

Jenny Wren by E.H. Young
The Way Things Are by E.M. Delafield
Tortoise by Candlelight by Nina Bawden
The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-WestFraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther or Mr Skeffington by Elizabeth von Arnim
Because of the Lockwoods by Dorothy Whipple
Hostages to Fortune by Elizabeth CambridgeFamily Roundabout by Richmal Crompton
Saplings by Noel Streatfeild
I also have lots of Furrowed Middlebrow titles, and would be happy to add to the collection if others are suggested, but particularly Molly Clavering and Susan Scarlett. These are rather light palette cleansers.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Great news Christine.

[Susan in NC]

I’d love to finally get to Crampton Hodnet in January- I picked up several used Barbara Pym novels years ago, and have only read Some Tame Gazelle so far!

[Elizabeth]

I would love to read Crampton Hodnet in January as well. I enjoyed it so much the first time I read it.

I would love to read Jenny Wren and Family Roundabout from your list especially, Tania. (Though I'm happy to read any of them!)

I have lots of Furrowed Middlebrow titles as well. I particularly loved Dear Hugo by Molly Clavering, and I've enjoyed all the Susan Scarlett I've read. I would be happy to read an Ursula Orange and Margery Sharp as well.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Excellent news Elizabeth.

Do you have any preference on timing for Jenny Wren or Family Roundabout? Any time would suit me.

Tom Tiddler's Ground was my favourite Ursula Orange, but I'd be happy to re-read any of the ones available. I also loved Dear Hugo and would love to read any one by her.

We could pick 1-2 a month, so hopefully everyone will find one that they would like to read, but if people would rather just read one a month that is fine, and no pressure to read any of them.

[Pamela]

I’m definitely in for any Barbara Pym reads, looking forward to Crampton Hodnet.

On my physical shelves I’ve got a couple of Rose Macaulay I’d like to read Crewe Train and The World My Wilderness, plus The Echoing Grove by Rosamond Lehmann and The Sleeping Beauty by Elizabeth Taylor

On the Furrowed Middlebrow I’ve got Begin Again by Ursula Orange, and a couple by Molly Clavering, Rachel Ferguson, Frances Faviell and DE Stevenson, but I’m happy to go along with the ones others choose as well.

[Elizabeth]

Tania wrote: "Excellent news Elizabeth.

Do you have any preference on timing for Jenny Wren or Family Roundabout? Any time would suit me.

Tom Tiddler's Ground wa..."

No preference on timing for Jenny Wren or Family Roundabout. I'm happy to pick up any book any month.

I'm happy to read either Tom Tiddler's Ground or Begin Again by Ursula Orange. Pamela mentioned Begin Again.

[Elizabeth]

Pamela wrote: "I’m definitely in for any Barbara Pym reads, looking forward to Crampton Hodnet.

On my physical shelves I’ve got a couple of Rose Macaulay I’d like to read Crewe Train and [book:Th..."

Hi Pamela! Which Molly Clavering and DE Stevenson do you have?

[Susan in NC]

I’m happy to try any suggestions, I went down the Furrowed Middlebrow rabbit hole for another group last year, and adored Dear Hugo and Apricot Sky, and would love to read more by those authors, along with Margery Sharp and Barbara Pym - I’ve only dipped my toe in with those two authors, but would like to try more.

I love Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire series, and have been slowly reading them over the years in order, as they’ve become available- her cast of characters becomes quite unwieldy! She was so prolific, the quality became a bit uneven toward the end.

Love Georgette Heyer, also, Regency romances and Golden Age mysteries. Her quirky characters and sparkling dialogue make the mysteries fun! I own and have reread a few times the Lucia novels, and always have to remind myself E.F. Benson was a man! ;)

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Pamela, I have all of your suggestions, the only one I've read is The Sleeping Beauty which I'd happily re-read., I also have Near Neighbours and Yoked with a Lamb by Molly Clavering, but will happily buy others, and I have all the FM Rachel Ferguson and. Frances Faviell titles, mostly un-read. I have heard great things about A Chelsea Concerto.

[Pamela]

Elizabeth wrote: "Which Molly Clavering and D E Stevenson do you have?”

I have Near Neighbours and Love Comes Home by Clavering, and The Musgraves and Vittoria Cottage by Stevenson

[Pamela]

Tania wrote: "Pamela, I have all of your suggestions, the only one I've read is The Sleeping Beauty which I'd happily re-read., I also have Near Neighbours and …

Tania, the only Faviell I’ve read is The Dancing Bear, and A Chelsea Concerto would definitely appeal. I’d like to read A Harp in Lowndes Square by Ferguson too

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Susan, I totally agree with you about the Mapp and Lucia series, a definite favourite of mine, and easy to forget they were written by a man.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Lovely. I've read neither of those.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Certainly plenty to keep us going here; I'll wait and see if others want to join and have any preference for timings and we can look at scheduling some in.

[Bronwyn]

Of books listed I have The Edwardians and Begin Again that I could read easily. I have some Barbara Pym, D. E. Stevenson, and Elizabeth Taylor, but not the ones mentioned.

I have a bunch on my shelves I’d like to get to soon, but I’m not great at group reads so won’t recommend, but I’m trying to be better!

[Bronwyn]

Oh! I do have Mapp and Lucia in an omnibus and some Frances Faviell on kindle.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Bronwyn wrote: "Of books listed I have The Edwardians and Begin Again that I could read easily. I have some Barbara Pym, D. E. Stevenson, and Elizabeth Taylor, but not the ones mentioned.

I have a bunch on my sh..."


That's ok, no pressure here, you can just join in if and when you feel like it. Also, there is an A to Z list of authors, so you can always add thoughts on them or their books any time you want; and all the ones you mention are there.

[Bronwyn]

I’ll have to check that out. Thanks. :)

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Here's the list. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Elizabeth]

Pamela wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "Which Molly Clavering and D E Stevenson do you have?”

I have Near Neighbours and Love Comes Home by Clavering, and The Musgraves ..."

Lovely! Those would all be great choices, especially Near Neighbours by Molly Clavering.

[Elizabeth]

So many good choices, Tania! I'm really happy to read anything mentioned because I love this time period and the female authors from it so much.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Thanks Elizabeth. I'll look through tomorrow and we can start to put something together.

[Lynnie]

I have Jenny Wren, The Edwardians and Mr Skeffington on my shelves.

I also have The Brontes Went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson
The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins
Miss Buncle's BookD.E. Stevenson (which probably everybody has read!! :o) )

[Jackie]

Miss Buncle's Book was my intro to D.E. Stevenson and I know you will love it.

[Megan]

The Brontes Went to Woolworths is one of my favorites! You’ve got a treat ahead of you!

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Jackie wrote: "Miss Buncle's Book was my intro to D.E. Stevenson and I know you will love it."

Same here. I would happily re-read this one.


How about
Feb - Jenny Wren
March - Crewe Train

Would people like to read just one a month? I'm sure lots of us have variuos commitmants to other groups, but we could read one of the lighter FM titles as well maybe. Several people here have Begin Again and Near Neighbours, so I would suggest starting of with those ones if we decide on two a month, or we could do these ones in the spring.

I'll make a list of books that are of interest to more than one here and we can use that to pick our monthly reads.

[Pamela]

I’m happy with your suggestions for Feb and March Tania. I’d also be happy to read a FM alongside a longer read each month, or else slot one in every other month so if people have other commitments they get time to join in?

Either way I’m really looking forward to the books suggested.

[Elizabeth]

I love the book ideas for February and March, Tania. I'd be happy to read a lighter FM title each month as well. Begin Again and Near Neighbours would be great! Looking forward to your compiled list!

[Peggy]

Tania, the January/February reads sound great.

And Lynnie, I’ve haven’t read Miss Buncle either, so you’re not alone.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

So we can read Near Neighbours
Then Begin Again in Jan/Feb in that order, unless anyone wouls prefer it the other way round.

Then we seem to have two or more people interested in:
Family Roundabout
The Echoing Grove
The Sleeping Beauty
A Chelsea Concerto
Miss Buncle's Book
Mr Skeffington
The Edwardians
The World My Wilderness
And then more loosely D.E. Stevenson
Molly Clavering
Barbara Pym
Susan Scarlett
So we can pick these for the following months. No need to choose now, but we can start thinking about when we'd like to read it, and I'm happy to get other suggestions or more 'votes' for books already mentioned. If I have missed any books off, please let me know.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

By the way, if any one would like to read Jenny Wren, but can't get a copy, there is one on Internet Achive here https://archive.org/details/jennywren....
You can read it online or download it to your kindle or laptop.

I do use Internet Archive sometimes and it's a wonderful source of books that can be tricky to get hold of. You can set up an account which gives you access to more books and is completely free, but you don't need an accout for this one. I will try to check it for other books that we decide to read and post the links.

[Susan in NC]

Tania wrote: "By the way, if any one would like to read Jenny Wren, but can't get a copy, there is one on Internet Achive here https://archive.org/details/jennywren....
You can read it onli..."

Thanks so much for this resource, Tania. Sorry, I was traveling last week and internet was iffy, wanted to weigh in to the above discussion - several titles and authors are appealing. I have reading commitments in other groups, as you mentioned, but as long as the group is flexible about participating, I’m in (availability of titles may be an issue also).

I thought “Crampton Hodnet” by Pym was January, and then February is “Jenny Wren” and March is “Crewe Train”? Where do “Near Neighbors” and “Begin Again” fit in?

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Hi Susan. Sorry I missed this. A few of us thought we'd like to add a shorter work in, but not neccesarily every month so the two Furrowed Middlebrow titles fitted in with that. The threads for all the books stay open, so there's no hurry if you want to read them.

[Susan in NC]

Tania wrote: "Hi Susan. Sorry I missed this. A few of us thought we'd like to add a shorter work in, but not neccesarily every month so the two Furrowed Middlebrow titles fitted in with that. The threads for all..."

Thank you, Tania! The Furrowed Middlebrows seem easy to find on Scribd, May be hit or miss to find lesser known or out of print authors here in the U.S.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Some more interest has been shown for A Chelsea Concerto in another thread, so if it suits people, I thought we could read that one in April and Family Roundabout in May, hopefully, this will give people time to get hold of a copy of that book. And we can maybe choose a lighter read for April, we might need cheering up after A Chelsea Concerto.

[Megan]

Sounds great, Tania!

[Susan in NC]

Sounds good to me!

[Pamela]

Great, I’d be happy to read A Chelsea Concerto in April too.

[Susan in NC]

FYI, for those in the US, A Chelsea Concerto is $4.99on Kindle.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

Thanks Susan. occasionally it is free on Kindle too. I'll keep an eye open.

[Susan in NC]

I was surprised it wasn’t on Scribd, they have a fairly good selection of Furrowed Middlebrow titles.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

That's a shame. I just had a quick look, and this weeks free offering from Furrowed Middlebrow is Evenfield by Rachel Ferguson.

[Megan]

Tania wrote: "That's a shame. I just had a quick look, and this weeks free offering from Furrowed Middlebrow is Evenfield by Rachel Ferguson."

ooh! Thanks for the heads up about the free book; how do you know what each week's free title is?

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

The Dean Street Press facebook page will let you know, but I hardly ever use fb. I check Amazon, search Dean Street Press in Kindle Store, and change the filter for results to 'Price - lowest to highest'.

[Elizabeth]

This sounds great, Tania! Maybe we could pair April's read with a Susan Scarlett.

[Tania, Gloucestershire Wild Daffodil.]

That would be good. Which ones do you have?

[Antoinette]

I do own A Chelsea Concerto, so definitely in for that one. I haven’t read Miss Buncle’s book yet either, so would love to read that one too.

[Elizabeth]

I have all the Susan Scarletts! haha So I'm happy to read or re-read any one of them. Miss Buncle's Book would also be a lovely light&fun complement to A Chelsea Concerto.