Reading etc.

Just before my mother died, I went to a wonderful exhibition of Mary Swanzy’s paintings in the Crawford gallery.  She was apparently a second cousin to Oswald Swanzy who would have been…unpopular locally. 

As well as the beautiful paintings there was a recording of an interview she gave on television shortly before she died in the 1970s.  I was very struck by it at the time but then my poor mother died and this post stayed in my drafts but now is its time to shine.

In her television interview she was sharp as a tack and very interesting on the Dublin she had known growing up in the late 1800s (she was born in 1882) and the Dublin of the 70s.  She commented bitterly that “You line your streets with motor cars” and that “The visual eye is hurt.”  That is even truer today than it was in the 70s.

She waxes nostalgic for a time when everybody lived over the shop and you didn’t have to take a car way out into the country to get out of Dublin.

When pressed on the poverty there must have been in the 1890s compared to the 1970s she agreed that “You never see a bare-footed child; you never see a raggedy child.”

She harked fondly back to an earlier time and a friendlier Dublin though she did call it  “Friendliness without familiarity” reflecting her own age and class.

Speaking of herself and her age, she commented to the interviewer: “We all turn into dowdy old ladies, you know.” She was quite fascinating which is hard to convey with a couple of quotes. I have had a look online to see if the interview is available but it seems not, unfortunately. Definitely worth a look, if you ever come across it. She talks a lot about art as well, obviously, but it was her descriptions of a long gone Dublin that I found most evocative.

It’s still only mid-November, but yet inspiration is running a bit thin.  Here is a list of my favourite re-reads (books or authors) for when I am not feeling strong.  Do tell me yours.

We had a big hardback collected Fr Brown Short Stories by GK Chestertonbook at home when I was growing up but I only turned to them when I had read “The Queer Feet” in a school anthology.  I am still very fond of them.

My sister-in-law introduced me to “The Diary of a Provincial Lady” by EM Delaware and I love it.  I still have her copy – for which I am truly sorry – and the sequel (which I bought for myself and is very good also but not, alas, as good).  It’s a series of diary entries by the slightly hapless provincial lady of the title.  Laugh out loud funny sometimes.

I very much enjoy the “Mapp and Lucia” books by EF Benson.  The later books, set in lovely Rye, feature two middle aged middle class English ladies who are bitter rivals.  The earlier books before  Lucia moves to Rye and encounters Miss Mapp are hilarious also.  Delightful.

Any regency romance by Georgette Heyer as explored extensively recently.

The Terry Pratchett “Discworld” books. I particularly like Tiffany Aching, junior witch.  Some of the “Discworld” books are better than others but I usually enjoy one that features Death and/or witches.

“Pride and Prejudice” is everyone’s favourite Jane Austen book for a reason.

All of PG Wodehouse.  Like everyone, I love Bertie Wooster but I also have a soft spot for the golfing stories.

Agatha Christie’s Poirot and Miss Marple detective stories are great for a comforting re-read.  There was an excellent article in the Irish Times recently about how well she stands the test of time.

Like many another person, I do like “Cold Comfort Farm“.  Comforting and funny at the same time with a neat happy ever after ending for everyone.

I’m a big fan of children’s books.  I’ve been re-reading the CS Lewis “Narnia” books for years.   I have also re-read all of the JK Rowling “Harry Potter” books a number of times which considering that the first one came out when I was 28 suggests an ongoing openness to children’s literature.  I really enjoyed the Noel Streatfeild books when I was a child and I still like them.  “Apple Bough” is my favourite.

I’m a big fan of the Saki short stories which I first discovered in school through “The Lumber Room” and the slightly sinister “Sredni Vashtar”.  Now though, I like the chronicles of the utterly, vile and unscrupulous Clovis the best.

I enjoy the Myles na gCopaleen collected newspaper articles which my father introduced me too when I was young (by introduced I mean he was always re-reading them and I was curious).  Consistently clever and funny.

“The Valedictorian of Being Dead” by Heather Armstrong

I got this as an ebook from the library. I’m not a massive ebook fan but it was grand. I’ve been reading this woman’s blog for about 15 years. She is a consummate overachiever who has suffered from severe depression. This is about a radical treatment she underwent after a bad bout of depression. I have always enjoyed her writing and I found this an interesting read.

“Farewell Leicester Square” by Betty Miller

An interesting book about being Jewish in England. The author is mother of the more famous Jonathan and, most excitingly of all, lived in Cork, down the road from my parents when she was young girl. Covered here in what is now called the Irish Examiner but was for many years the Cork Examiner. It’s still quite true to its roots.

“Girl Woman Other” by Bernadine Evaristo

I didn’t expect to but I really enjoyed this story of different black women largely set in Britain. It won the Booker prize and I never really regard that as a recommendation but it is, actually, very good. It has no full stops though which drove me crazy.

“The Ratline” by Philippe Sands

I found this a bit overlong. It’s about a German governor of a Polish province during the war, Otto von Wächter. The author had a number of Jewish relatives who were from the province and killed while von Wächter was in charge. What makes it strange is that the author befriends von Wächter’s son who was a small child when he last saw his father and is now an elderly man.

It feels slightly weirdly exploitative in that the author uses the elderly son of the Nazi but they are also friends. And then von Wächter did such terrible things that it seems churlish to object to working with the son to set them right. The author clearly likes the son but he (the son) seems very naive. It left me feeling a bit morally confused.

“Such a Fun Age” by Kiley Reid

This is about race in America. It follows the lives of a black babysitter and the white woman who employs her. It’s really well written and entertaining with lots of twists and turns and enlightening as well. Recommended.

“Pompeii “by Robert Harris

This could be subtitled “The engineer’s tale”. It’s about a Roman engineer trying to fix an aqueduct just before Vesuvius explodes. It’s alright.

“Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens

This was the hit of the summer. I didn’t love it I have to say. It’s about a girl who is abused and lives alone in the swamp but manages to turn her life around. Not my kind of thing but alright.

“Queen Mary: The Official Biography” by James Pope- Hennessy

I was sent to this by Slightly Foxed the lovely literary quarterly featuring old or out of print books. Mr. Waffle got me a subscription for my birthday and it was a great present. To read this you have to have a relatively high tolerance for 19th century German princelings and their family trees, but, that aside, it is very entertaining. Also, you will be totally on top of morganatic marriages by the end and who doesn’t want that?

“The Charmed Life of Alex Moore” by Molly Flatt

I rather enjoyed this slightly odd sci-fi offering. A girl whose life is a bit grim, in a normal average way, suddenly becomes a complete over-achiever. The reasons for this are…surprising.

“The Missing Wife” by Sheila O’Flanagan

This author is a very popular author of “women’s fiction” and I read an interview with her in the paper where she said a lot of people didn’t read her books out of snobbery so I thought I would give her a go. I chose this one at random from the library. She is a very good writer and the story zipped along. It was about a woman who is an abusive (not physically), controlling relationship and how she gets out. I found it convincingly menacing and unpleasant. The problem was that that really made it quite an unenjoyable read for me. I found the new life a bit lightweight and unconvincing but the horrible husband was really cleverly done.

“Queen Adelaide” by Mary Hopkirk

As, I am sure you are aware, Queen Adelaide was Queen consort to William IV and my reading of the Mary of Teck book has given me a bizarre appetite for the lives of lesser know Queens consort. I saw this in a secondhand bookshop and felt I would give it a read. It was a bit dull, to be honest but, you know, alright. Quite down on the Fitzclarences and Dorothea Jordan (the King’s actual first family although he didn’t marry Mrs. Jordan) which contrasted with my memory of Claire Tomalin’s “Mrs. Jordan’s Profession” which I might read again, actually, for another view of dull but worthy Adelaide.

“The Quest for Queen Mary” by James Pope- Hennessy ed Hugo Vickers

This is all the bits that didn’t make it to the official biography – notes, letters etc. Hugely entertaining even if you haven’t read the biography. Highly recommended.

“Grown-ups” by Marian Keyes

I like Marian Keyes and some of this book was very funny and some of the characters really interesting. But bits were unconvincing and she can be a little preachy. Overall though, an enjoyable read.

“Imperium” by Robert Harris

I am unsure why I keep coming back to Robert Harris as I don’t enjoy his stuff very much. This is a very popular book but not really with me. If you’re interested in Cicero – go for it. I felt I was learning lots but I am unsure that this is a sensation I enjoy in my leisure time.

“Will this do?” by Auberon Waugh

God, I thought this was absolutely hilarious. He is the oddest man and I would say could be quite unpleasant in person. But he’s funny and, to be fair, laughs at himself as well. Evelyn Waugh sounds awful.

“The Unfortunate Fursey” by Mervyn Wall

This is a very peculiar book. It was written in the 50s and is a satire on Church and State. It tells the story of an innocent, virtuous medieval monk who ends up surrounded by demons and married to a witch. It’s just odd and I am not sure that it’s as funny today as when it was written.

“Rivers of London” by Ben Aaronovitch

This is a combination of magic and modern policing. I quite enjoyed it although the plot was complicated. There are loads of books in the series and I plan to read them all.

“Moon over Soho” by Ben Aaronovitch

PC Grant and his magic entourage solve another crime.

“Whispers Underground” by Ben Aaronovitch

More magical London.

“Broken Homes” by Ben Aaronovitch

The author really lets his enthusiasm for architecture show in this one. PC Grant is an architect manqué and so, I suspect, is the author.

“Foxglove Summer” by Ben Aaronovitch

PC Grant has a trip out of London and, happily, for the first time, nobody dies.

“Rodham” by Curtis Sittenfeld

The premise of this book is that at the moment Hilary could have married Bill, she said no rather than yes. It imagines different futures for them both. I found the early part, before it headed on the fictional path, hard going. After that, I really enjoyed it but I feel it is intrusive. Curtis Sittenfeld writes beautifully and that is always enjoyable. She clearly likes Hillary Clinton but, a bit like the Laura Bush book (American Wife), it’s hard on its subject in the sense that I can’t imagine that this would be anything but a very annoying and uncomfortable read for Hillary Clinton.

“Troubled Blood” by Robert Galbraith

The latest Strike novel. 900 pages. I loved it. And you know when you’re really enjoying a book and it’s very long that is just the most delightful feeling. For my money it’s the best of the detective novels to date. Recommended.

I tweeted a picture of all the Georgette Heyers in the house a couple of years ago.

All the Georgette Heyers in my house ?@georgettedaily? pic.twitter.com/ysPaoxKuda

— Anne (@Belgianwaffle) December 23, 2018

I have considerably increased my stock since then.

These books come from a range of sources:

• A lot of them are old editions from the 50s and 60s that come from my parents’ house. Though I have already rescued many of these, there are still more.
• Some of them I bought myself before my parents’ copies became mine.
• Many of them came from a friend of my parents who handed them over before she died (a delightful woman, she was the aunt of a famous Cork actress and I often point to the Waterford Crystal bowl she – my parents’ friend – gave Mr. Waffle and me when we got married which sits on our mantelpiece any say to the children “Harry Potter’s Aunt Petunia’s aunt gave that to us” to universal indifference).
• One was a really thoughtful present – a first edition given to me by a friend in Brussels many years ago.
• A further six (yes, six) hard cover first editions were given to me for my 50th birthday by one of my bookclubs.

So, I’m going to talk about them all and if you are not a Georgette Heyer fan, you’re probably best off turning away now. Like Stella Gibbons in “Cold Comfort Farm”, I’m going to asterix the ones I think are best.

** “Arabella” is a lovely not quite rags to riches story. It was one of my mother’s favourites and I am very fond of it myself. I love how Arabella’s family who largely don’t feature in the book are so elaborately and lovingly drawn in the first few chapters. There are some wonderful set pieces involving Arabella’s well developed sense of justice.

I am not a massive fan of “Bath Tangle”. I will read it, if I’ve read all the others too often but I find the heroine a pain which is never great. I have three copies of it all the same (one of them a first edition), just to be on the safe side.

“The Black Moth” is pretty dire. Famously, it’s her first book written when she was 18 to amuse her convalescent brother (I say famously as this is inside most of the books in the about the author bit, so only famously for a certain value of famously). As a rule, any of the books that features characters saying, “‘Pon rep” are not a good bet. Free tip for you right there.

“Black Sheep” is another one set in Bath and I just don’t seem to really go for Bath ones though they have given me an abiding wish to visit Bath, as yet unrealised.

“Charity Girl” is ok. The title character is a bit mawkish (as Georgette herself would say) but her con artist father is worth the price of admission.

**”A Civil Contract” is one of my own favourites. It’s about an avowed marriage of convenience and how the parties get on. There are some great characters including the hero’s first love who is hilariously dreadful and his mother who is unbearable.

“The Conqueror” is just dreadful and I retain it for completeness only. I read it many years ago and I can’t face re-reading. It’s historical, about William the Conqueror and unreadably awful. Worse even than “Beauvallet” which I haven’t read since I was a teenager.

“The Convenient Marriage” isn’t bad but not quite as good as it might be. It’s one of the few set almost entirely inside a marriage.

“The Corinthian” is not one I particularly like. Pen is an annoying heroine and acts her age which is, if I recall correctly, about 17. On the other hand, it is a regency romance, so that’s something.

**”Cotillion” is one of my favourites, possibly my favourite. The slightly gormless guy gets the girl and it is enjoyable and full of fun. The father of the hero is a consistently entertaining bit player and there are loads of great characters. A real ensemble effort with a great cast of characters. I have four copies including a first edition.

“Cousin Kate” has an over elaborate an slightly gothic plot line involving madness and murder which does not appeal to me but, you know, it’s grand.

“Devil’s Cub” is one of the few sequels she wrote (it’s a sequel to “These Old Shades” which was very popular). I don’t love it. I didn’t love “These Old Shades” and felt no particular joy in being reunited with these characters which is at least part of the charm. But I’ve re-read it. More than once.

**I love “False Colours”. I am beginning to realise, as I write this, that I like best the ones with a great ensemble cast. This one has that. It’s about twins who swap places and as well as the hero and heroine, whom I like, features an elderly dandy, a former mistress and a miserly uncle all of whom are quite funny.

“Faro’s Daughter” is alright. It features a rather annoying Irish sidekick who says “me darlin'” a lot and that tends to annoy.

*”Frederica” is a classic with loads of great characters. I find Frederica herself a bit irritating from time to time but overall it’s a lovely book.

*”Friday’s Child” is one I do quite like with some fantastically entertaining characters including the dastardly Sir Montagu Revesby who gets his comeuppance and cousin Ferdy who is dim but charming but I always had a reservation about this one because Sherry is always threatening to box Kitten’s ears (also very stupid nickname) and I am not sure the domestic violence trope has aged as well as it might.

**”The Foundling” is a favourite of mine – not really a romance, just a coming of age story about a charming if unsure hero. The romance is incidental. It features an inept but entertaining villain.

*”The Grand Sophy” is many people’s favourite Georgette Heyer and was mine until I made a college boyfriend read it. “It’s alright except for the anti-antisemitism in the middle,” he said. Once seen, cannot be unseen.

“Lady of Quality” is another dull Bath epic. Only alright, if you ask me.

**I reread “The Nonesuch” very recently but I can’t find my copy anywhere. Ominous. I thought I might never read it again. We had it in the cabinet in my mother’s nursing home and I used to read it to her when I visited. Partly for her, partly for me. We both loved the heiress Tiffany Wield; bold as brass and inclined to tantrums. I was so sad after my mother died that I thought I might never read it again but I did.

“Pistols for Two” is a book of short stories. They are pretty deftly done and a good introduction to her style. Some are better than others and the title story is probably the best.

“The Quiet Gentleman” features a practical and enjoyable heroine but the murder mystery aspect is not for me.

“Regency Buck” is only alright. I would not recommend it but I have read it a couple of times.

“The Reluctant Widow” has a special place in my affections as it’s the first Georgette Heyer book I ever read. It’s not very good but I was not, it appears, a very discerning 13 year old. I still remember my complete shock that the heroine marries the hero. “But she didn’t even like him,” I thought on my first introduction to a not uncommon romantic trope.

“Sprig Muslin” is a bit idiotic. It’s about a runaway who an older man protects which finally leads him to appreciate his fiancée’s true worth. Alright at best.

“Sylvester” is not for me, I fear. The hero has weird eyebrows and that’s probably the most interesting bit. The plot involves kidnap and is needlessly convoluted.

“The Talisman Ring” is set pre-Regency period and like anything of hers outside her best era, is poor. The heroine is deeply irritating.

“These Old Shades” is alright. I used to like it better when I was younger. It’s outside the Regency period and, as ever, these are just not as good, in my view.

“The Toll Gate” is another one that is more detective than romance but I have a bit of a soft spot for it as I have a lovely first edition and neither the hero nor heroine is irritating.

**”The Unknown Ajax” is such a favourite of mine. I have read it more times than I can say. It made me keen to visit Rye (it’s set nearby) which is, incidentally, well worth a visit. The hero is a delight, the heroine is great and all the bit characters are richly rewarding. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

*”Venetia” is reasonably good. The story is a bit unlikely but the heroine is engaging and things really pick up when her new sister-in-law and her mother turn up at the house.

I also re-read a fair bit of Terry Pratchett whose Discworld books I find appealing and undemanding which is ideal for a pandemic.

I listened to all the Harry Potter books on audio walking around the block at lunchtime. It was a lengthy commitment but I quite enjoyed it. I find some aspects of the books a bit disturbing now. I mean house elves and their weird speaking patterns and enjoying being enslaved? What exactly is that about?

I also re-read all the Hercule Poirot short stories. I must say, I thought they held up pretty well. A much better read than I remembered.

It’s not quite re-reading but Mr. Waffle got me a subscription to Slightly Foxed for my birthday which is a quarterly publication which has essays on older books which have fallen out of favour or are not widely known and I found it a real pleasure to read. Unlike the London Review of Books which was, frankly, anxiety inducing it’s undemanding and comes infrequently. I love it. They’ve also got a wonderful monthly podcast.

I gave up my intensive re-reading on my summer holidays. Probably for the best but the publications above took me through the early phases of the pandemic and I can only say that I am grateful for old favourites.

“Paula” by Isabel Allende

A friend gave me this to read. I am not a big fan of magical realism and did not enjoy it. She gave it to me in perfect nick and I returned it sodden as I had got caught on the bike in a downpour. I felt very bad, she said graciously, “Never mind, it’s part of the history of the book now.” I liked that very much and it made me feel less of a heel.

“The Second Sleep” by Robert Harris

I’m not a huge Robert Harris fan but I liked the concept here and I thought parts of the execution were clever and it sustained my interest to the end, but I did not love it. It imagines a post-apocalyptic world where they are in a new middle ages about 800 years after the apocalyptic event.

“Persuasion” by Jane Austen

A classic re-read. On re-reading I found Anne Elliot unspeakably irritating. Regrettable but there it is.

“Becoming” by Michelle Obama

I got this for Christmas 2018 and put off reading it as I didn’t think I would like it much but I really enjoyed it and found it a very good read. Preferred it to her husband’s books, I have to say.

“An Almost Perfect Christmas” by Nina Stibbe

Vignettes of the author’s Christmases past. Light reading: mildly entertaining and undemanding. I liked it and occasionally it made me laugh out loud.

“No Coward Soul: A biography of Thekla Beere” by Anna Bryson

This is the story of the first female Secretary General of an Irish government department. She got the job in 1959 and it was, if memory serves, 36 years until the next female SG appeared and there are still only 2 as I write so not a huge improvement. The writing is a bit pedestrian and there is too much about industry and commerce policy in the 1950s and 60s for my liking but it’s an interesting book and she was an interesting person. Maybe not for everyone though.

“Nine Perfect Strangers” by Liane Moriarty

A page turner and quite well written. It’s about a bunch of people in a spa/retreat each with his or her own secret. Probably too many characters. I did really enjoy the author character though.

“Night Boat to Tangier” by Kevin Barry

I hated this book. It’s not a novel, it’s poetry. That’s fine if you want poetry but it is masquerading under a novelistic form and I did not enjoy that. I must confess that some of the writing is almost eerily beautiful and there were set pieces and lines that made me laugh. It’s largely set in Cork and it is lovely to see my home eloquently described in print. And the author is eloquent. Not enough though. Also, what Irish novel mentions early on that one of the main characters is Protestant and then fails to refer to it at any point later on or make use of it in any way? I refer the author to Chekhov’s gun: “Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.”

“Lady in Waiting My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown” by Anne Glenconner

Did I enjoy this? Oh yes I did. The writing is pretty awful but what a story. This woman has had a really unusual life and being lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret is the least of it. Very well worth a read.

“Dandy Gilver and a Deadly Measure of Brimstone” by Catriona McPherson

Still reading all the adventures of English sleuth Dandy Gilver. She’s married to a Scot and they all take place in a different Scottish location. They’re set in the 1920s and 30s and I love them all. They also make me really, really want to visit Scotland. That said, this is my least favourite of the series.

“Dandy Gilver and the Reek of Red Herrings” by Catriona McPherson

More wonderful Dandy.

“Dandy Gilver and a Most Misleading Habit” by Catriona McPherson

Still hard at the sleuthing.

“The Turning Tide” by Catriona McPherson

The last in the series to date. I hope Ms. McPherson is busily drafting the next one as I have now read all of the published volumes. Alas.

“Three Homes” by Lennox Robinson, Nora Dorman and Tom Robinson

Herself got us tickets to see a Lennox Robinson play for Christmas. Prior to this, I had not realised he was from Cork and I became fascinated by him. I got this volume co-written by himself and his brother and sister from the library. I fear that it is now out of print.

I loved the descriptions of Cork, from the 1880s on and the stories in the book. He talks of his father coming out of the Protestant cathedral in Cork (a spot I know well) and seeing a crowd cheering for the Prince of Wales and he throws his hat in the air with the best of them. It transpires, however, that they are in fact cheering Parnell (which he as a unionist would never have done) and what’s more, his silk hat was lost for good.

They also refer to a habit in magazines to have pictures of famous people at various ages and titling them, say, “Miss Ellen Terry, aged 5, aged 18 and present day.” Obviously, by the time they got to “present day” the celebrities would be more raddled with age than when in their prime and the family got into the habit of describing anyone older as “present day”. This is something that should clearly be revived.

If you can get your hands on it, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I absolutely loved it. It is gentle and kind as well as entertaining and a perfect read for plague season.

“My Uncle Lennox” by Seán Dorman

Continuing my Lennox Robinson inquiries, I got this self-published autobiographical novel out of the library. Lennox is a bit more peripheral than the title might have you imagine. Mildly entertaining in places but not much extra insight into Lennox.

“Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I didn’t expect to like this much but I did. I’m going to read the rest of the author’s books now. It’s about people who have been away from Nigeria for a long time and then come home and their notions. It’s also a love story.

“Ulysses” by James Joyce

I didn’t read it, I listened to it on audio book (shout out to the wonderful library app BorrowBox which allows you to download audio books for free). It was 27 hours. I mean, the story only covers one day, so that seemed excessive. Interesting in places and actually quite funny from time to time. Very Dublin and an awful lot of what was around in 1904 is still unchanged today. I was actually going past Davy Byrne’s pub when the recording was talking about Bloom’s gorgonzola sandwich there and I went in his footsteps as far as the national library. Glad to have listened overall but a definite slog.

“The Improbability of Love” by Hannah Rothschild

Thought this was only alright. Somebody finds a painting in a junk shop that turns out to be by Watteau and it leads to all kinds of romantic entanglements.

“House of Trelawney” by Hannah Rothschild

Better than the previous offering but still not my cup of tea. English landed gentry have large house and have fallen on hard times. Adventures of various family members and relationship with the house and each other. Has its moments.

“Daughter of Empire: My Life as Mountbatten” by Pamela Hicks

Not the best written book I have ever read but very entertaining in places. The author has a fund of funny family stories from a very unusual and well-connected family. Undemanding, makes good plague reading.