Thursday, December 5, 2013

More new arrivals

More lovely books have arrived in the last couple of weeks. Lots of preorders coming home to roost as well as some surprises that I had no intention of buying but I couldn't resist such bargains. With Christmas just around the corner, I had to have this lovely anthology from Vintage, Round the Christmas Fire. There are some lovely treats such as ghost stories by Edith Wharton & M R James, diary entries from Francis Kilvert & Adrian Mole, extracts from Nancy Mitford's Christmas Pudding & Jeeves & the Yuletide spirit by P G Wodehouse. I've decided to make it my Advent treat & read one story every day. A lot less fattening than chocolate.
Period Piece by Gwen Raverat is the latest memoir to get the gorgeous Slightly Foxed treatment & the binding is a beautifully Christmassy red. I love the Slightly Foxed Editions & have collected them all. I read Period Piece many years ago & loved it. Raverat was a member of the lovably eccentric Darwin family & this recollection of a Cambridge childhood is just glorious. Funny, witty & illustrated by the author. If you've never read it, you're in for a treat, perfect Christmas holiday reading.

Virago have been adding to their Modern Classics with the Emily books by L M Montgomery. I've only read the first Anne book but these looked so lovely & many people prefer the Emily books to Anne so I'm looking forward to reading them.

Angela Thirkell is another new addition to the VMC list & I love the beautiful covers of these reprints. Pomfret Towers & Christmas at High Rising have just been published & there are three more to look forward to next year. Desperate Reader has devoured them already & you can read her enthusiastic reviews here & here.

Lucinda Hawksley's new biography of Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria, has received some press coverage due to the scandalous revelations of illegitimate births & love affairs. I've always been interested in Louise who seems to have been quite the rebel, an artist & sculptor who seems to have led a life far removed from that of most royal women. Lucinda Hawksley's previous biographies of Lizzie Siddal & Katey Dickens were excellent & I can't wait to read this one.

I was contacted by Michael Walmer, a publisher who is reprinting late Victorian/Edwardian books that have been overlooked by the other reprint houses. Simon at Stuck in a Book thought I might be interested as Michael is based in South Australia. Well, I was interested & Michael has kindly sent me two books for review, I Pose by Stella Benson, which Simon has been enjoying & The Twelfth Hour, Ada Leverson's first novel. The books are POD but are excellent quality. The covers are attractive & the fonts look like the originals. I'm looking forward to reading them both.

Now, the books I couldn't resist. My favourite remainders bookshop, Clouston & Hall, had a Special Selection of OUP World's Classics. At about $8 each, I wasn't going to refuse to look through the list, obviously. I've read the Willa Cathers before but it was many years ago & I'd like to reread them & I can't do that if I don't own copies, can I? I also bought The Paston Letters (I have Helen Castor's book on the Pastons, Blood & Roses, on the tbr shelves so this is an essential companion read), The Italian by Ann Radcliffe, A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne, Gwyn Jones's History of the Vikings, Polidori's The Vampyre, & Dickens's Sketches of Young Gentlemen & Young Couples which is an early work reprinted last year for the Bicentenary. Luckily I'd read lots of the books on offer or I could have spent much more!

21 comments:

  1. What beautiful finds. I've never read Angela Thirkell but I've heard if you love Barbara Pym and Stella Gibbons then one should read Thirkell. Those editions are lovely. Congrats on that pile of OUP classics; that is enviable.

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    1. Well, I'm collecting Thirkell but have only read a couple so far so I hope I continue to enjoy them. Clouston & Hall do have some lovely bargains. I've been buying from them for over 30 years.

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  2. So lovely books. I have read Angela Thirkell's High Rising, and I loved it. The new VMC editions have such a beautiful covers, I look forward to have all these reprints.

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    1. I admit the VMC editions have tempted me to try Thirkell, they're so lovely. I hope they continue to reprint her.

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  3. Lyn, another wonderful "haul". My SF Period Piece arrived on Monday -- have just read the first couple of pages and already love it. Miss Read is waiting in the wings!
    Heather

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    1. Period Piece is charming, I hope you enjoy it. I'm about halfway through Miss Read & enjoying it very much.

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  4. The Emily books are wonderful Lyn, I'm an ardent Lucy Maud fan & I totally recommend them. Quite a few parts of the trilogy were based on Maud's own life and, without giving anything away, there are some extraordinary twists in the Emily story after she grows up. I envy you reading them for the first time. :)

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    1. I haven't read much LMM apart from her Journals which are heartbreaking. It's good to have a recommendation for the Emily books.

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  5. So disappointing! Amazon had Christmas at High Rising allegedly in stock (the Viragos aren't published here), and the minute I ordered it, they said "they needed more time to let me know when it would be available." That's just mean. :)

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    1. What a shame! I ordered mine from the Book Depository, you could try there. I hope you can get hold of a copy.

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  6. Period Piece is such a gorgeous book - how lovely that it has been brought back into circulation. And I think it was you who introduced me to Clouston & Hall, Lyn: I finally made it to their 'truck sale' in Adelaide this year and picked up some great finds.

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    1. C&H are wonderful, I've been buying from them for over 30 years & they have some great bargains. I've been to their sales in the past but won't get to this weekend's one as I'm trying to get organised for Christmas. I also don't need any more books, as you can see!

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  7. I love Period Piece and also Willa Cather, especially Shadows on the Rock and Death Comes for the Archbishop. Hadn't heard of the Emily books, but must try them. So many books, so little time . . .

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    1. I haven't read those Cather novels so more treats to come. I do want to read more LMM & the Emily books were so lovely, I couldn't resist.

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  8. I am new to your blog, but have enjoyed reading your most recent posts. I am a fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery's books and have special memories of reading them aloud to my four daughters. We love the Emily books almost as much as the Ann books. They are so full of interesting characters and detailed descriptions. Just thinking about them makes me want to read them again....if there weren't so many other books on my list to read:)

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  9. I'm glad there are lots of Emily fans out there. I'm sure I'll enjoy them when I get to them. As you say, it's hard to justify rereading when there are so many new books to read.

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  10. Just downloaded Clovis from Gutenberg Many Thanks!

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  11. If I just left a comment mentioning Clovis ..I meant Emily (and can only conclude I need more sleep!)

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    1. That's ok, it's very early in the morning here although I would have been puzzled by Clovis if you hadn't added the correction!

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  12. Danielle here http://danitorres.typepad.com/workinprogress/2013/12/short-story-sunday-tobermory.html had been reading Saki and I'd added both it and Emily to my download list and then I got totally confused...I obviously have no ability to multi task :0)

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    1. Yes, I thought Clovis was Saki, I've been meaning to read the stories as I really enjoyed Tobermory & a couple of other stories that were recommended on a podcast a while ago.

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