Finally off on holiday!

When you read this, hopefully I'll be waking up in our bungalow overlooking the sea in Cornwall.

I showed you the books I packed last weekend...unfortunately the pile has grown slightly...

* Enchanted Cornwall - I picked up this from the library, as I couldn't believe that I hadn't read it! It's DDM's semi-autobio crossed with descriptions of writing her books (seemed rather serendipitious given what I'm planning for the VVV blog while I'm away - see below). It reminded me that I saw several DDM biogs in the shop near where we're staying when we were down earlier in the year, so it is unlikely that I will make it home without more books. I'm on the look out for my own copy of this.
* Summertime (Coetzee). Paperback reader kindly leant me this from her Booker Reading Challenge. I loved Boy and Youth so really looking forward to this.
* Small Wars (Sadie Jones). I loved The outcast, and really wanted to buy her latest, although I did have a new policy of not buying new hardbacks...however, it was half price in Waterstones on the first day of my holidays....

And then I bought 4 books in Foyles on Weds - I was desperate for one of their carrier bags! One will be featured on the VV blog, but the other three were lovely children's books:
* Head girl's difficulties (Elinor M Brent Dyer), republished by GGBP
* School on Cloud Ridge
* Chiltern Adventure
- both of these by Mabel Esther Allen and republished by Fidra.

I'll be talking more about Fidra Books and GGBP when I get back, but I'm so excited to have these books to take with me.

The B files will be dormant, but you can follow my Daphne Du Maurier posts over on my other blog which are set to provide a bit of a diversion - with the aid of technology I can post without even turning a computer on! I'll be a bit sporadic in posting when I get back from Cornwall as am off to a conference, and then off to the Lakes for my Great North Swim but I promise to resume normal service from 17th September :)

Persephone Reading Week :Round up

As the reading week draws to a close and I depart for the coast, it's time to mention some of the highlights for me personally.

Firstly, the huge number of people involved in reading Persephone books. I'd love to hazard a guess at how many grey spined volumes have been read this week, but it's impossible. Thanks for your enthusiasm, and for joining in!

Second, I got to meet Paperback Reader on Wednesday. We didn't get to the shop, but we met up in Foyles and spotted Persephone books and wanted to buy all the ones's that we didn't have. We were restrained however...

Thirdly, I loved the chance to really tackle a section of my to-be-read books, and move 5 volumes on! And to have such fantastic books - I've really enjoyed all that I've read this week. It is wonderful how one can read books from the same imprint on the trot and not be bored because they are so diverse. I think my particular favourite of the week was Bricks and Mortar (although I've still got Fortnight in September in my handbag for today!)

Some thank yous. Thank you to Paperback Reader who helped make this challenge so wonderful - I was planning to do this reading anyway this week, but she helped make it into a challenge, and has worked so hard this week on posts etc. And secondly, a big thank you to the Persephone bookshop who provided us with the fantastic prizes enabling us to do giveaways each day. And thanks to all of you for joining in!

I am now desperate to re-read a couple of books - mainly Saplings - but also to read the ones I didn't get to this week, and am so looking forward to seeing the books coming out in October! Who's up for another week in 2010??

Persephone Reading Week : Every eye

Having read some quite hefty Persephone books this week I thought it was my turn to read something a little slimmer. Every eye by Isobel English fitted the bill, but although slight in number of pages, it was certainly a well written book. We had a review earlier in the week by HJ Elliot which Paperback reader quoted. I found it a little difficult to get into, as the story is told in the present and retrospectively, but it all comes together in the end to give a wonderful picture of the life of Hatty, a girl who is hampered by a squint, and who eventually ends up on her honeymoon after a miserable relationship with an elderly lover, and a childhood with her uncle and aunt.

I warmed to Hatty considerably after she is asked what books she likes:
" Still cautious but placated almost completely, I answered a little gruffly I remembered "I like good books", and then to illustrate the extent of my knowledge, I like Rider Haggard very much but I can't stand Jane Austen"

Another lovely Persephone to spend an hour or two with!

Persephone Reading Week : Verity's competition winner

Well done to all of you who worked through a complicated set of questions and came up with the correct answer which was of course The Carlyles at home. I hope you enjoyed tracking down the solutions.

12 people submitted correct answers, so the random number generator was used, and the winner is Cristina of Medway Musing. If you email me your details Cristina, I'll make sure you get the book.

Persephone Reading Week: Three non fiction titles

We've seen a lot of discussion of the various Persephone fiction titles, and I know a couple of you have been reading short stories and journals too, and Swati from Green Road books read Round About A Pound A Week, but I thought today I'd like to mention three of the non fiction titles that I own: They can't ration these, Kitchen Essays, and How to run your home without help. Rather than books to read straight through, these are wonderful for dipping into.

They can't ration these is a collection of recipes which were compiled by Vicomte de Maudit a Frenchman living in England in 1940 when war broke out and Britain was concerned about how they would manage for food. It makes use of ingredients such as nettles, dandelions and all sorts of wild creatures to make recipes such as Game Pie Gascony, Biblerry Ambrosia, Truffles in Cinders or Dandelion Fritters. Perhaps this is what we all need in such credit crunched times?! (although I have to say I didn't really fancy any of the recipes!)

Kitchen essays is a Persephone classic. The boo was first published in 1922 and is a compliation of essays written for The Times on various kitchen-related subjects. Essays include "For the too fat" and its companion "For the too thin", "Tray food", "Christmas cheer", "Of wedding breakfasts" and "On savouries" and there are many recipes in the book too. I liked the sound of stuffed salmon rolls "For a motor excursion luncheon". Hugely interesting and entertaining.

How to run your home without help is a book about housework - not something I really enjoy, but I found this book a fascinating historical document in the way that it provides advice for newly weds and people managing their households without help for the first time, sixty years ago. The most important thing is To have a plan:
"The real difficulty facing the single-handed housewife is not knowing the "how". In the past, domestic work was poorly paid, so the false idea has grown up that anyone can do it without any special knowledge. Of course the opposite is nearer the truth. Unless it is efficiently organised as well as carried out, it will take up too much time and effort"
Perfect tongue in cheek house warming present?!

Persephone Reading Week: Third prize draw winner

And the third prize draw winner, from everyone who has commented on our blogs in the last 24 hours is Cristina! She wins today's copy of Good evening Mrs Craven. If you get in touch with Paperback Reader, she can arrange to send it to you. Big thanks to Persephone books (I haven't yet said this) for donating books that we can use as prizes.

Keep those comments coming - Claire will be drawing Thurs and Fri winners...

Persephone Reading Week : Making Conversation (Longford)

Making conversation was the title that I chose to accompany me to London on my day out. Perfect for reading on the trains, particularly as I worried about meeting Paperback Reader for the first time! Of course, I had no reason to worry about a need to Make Conversation, as we had plenty to talk about, Persephone Reading Week Aside, and enjoyed spotting Persephone books in Foyles and trying to find Virago Modern Classics. This is one of the latest releases by Persephone, and particularly interested me because the writer, Christine Longford, spent some of her life in Oxfordshire where I live, and because much of it is set in Oxford.

The title comes from the heroine's inability to get the balance of "making conversation" right - she either says too much or too little.

Forgive me for not posting a proper review, but it was a very long day out (I then went to see Sister Act with my boyfriend (I know, I should have had the Dorothy Whipple book with me too).

I enjoyed it very much, and would really recommend it. It's a much quicker read than the two other books that I have read this week, and I found it most amusing. I left my copy with Claire, so can't give you any extracts - Ihope she enjoys it!

Persephone Reading Week: Second prize draw winner

And, the second prize winner, chosen randomly from all of you who have posted comments/posts in the last 24 hours, is Jackie from Farm Lane Books. Email your details to Claire and she'll get the Good evening Mrs Craven, the wartime stories of Mollie Panter Downes, out to you.

There's another chance to win the Panter-Downes stories tomorrow, so keep on commenting!

Persephone Reading Week: Bricks and Mortar (Ashton)

Having spent most of today at Bekonscot model village, Bricks and Mortar seemed like a highly appropriate choice when I got home, since it tells the story of an architect over 40 years of his life in the 1890s. Having peered at tiny little houses, churches and other buildings (there is a zoo, several schools and a fun fair too!) it felt right to read about someone who plans these things.

Helen Ashton, according to the introduction, wrote about 25 novels in the 1930s, but is now largely forgotten. Another reason why I wanted to read this book this week, is that it isn't one of the more famous Persephone titles and I wanted to bring it to everyone's attention.

One of the things I liked so much about this book was the description of the buildings; the ones he inhabited and the ones that he visited. I think Ashton is really successful in perceiving things in the way that an architect might, and one gets a real sense of this through the book. I also learnt a lot about the architectural profession and the process of designing buildings.

There is a story too - about his marriage, and the subsequent children, and the interference of his formiddable mother, but it is the descriptions of the buildings in the book which really make it in my opinion.

I would love to seek out some more titles by Ashton as a result of reading this book. I like the sound of the one, mentioned on the dustwrapper, about the day in the life of a doctor - if it is anything like this one, then

Persephone Reading Week: Teaser Tuesday

Today we're tying in Persephone Reading Week with Teaser Tuesdays...

"Quote a couple of spoiler-free sentences from the book you’re reading to tempt others."

Here's mine:

"What does baffle me rather is how to get them any spare rooms. I can managetheir own rooms and the servant's quarters but honestly don't see what I'm to do for their weekend visitors" -- Bricks and Mortar by Helen Ashton.

If you're participating in Persephone Reading Week, please post a teaser from the book you're currently reading on your blog, and put a link to it in the comments here, or on Claire's blog. Our favourite will win a Persephone book!