All Virago/All August 2021

Hello fellow Viragoites! I have been a little quiet on here lately as real life has been a bit manic and I can only just manage to keep my blog going. However, it hasn't escaped my notice that we're edging closer to the end of July and our annual tradition of All Virago/All August, so I thought I would start a new thread for this.

I have a number of titles on the list of potential reads and I hope you've all been checking your TBR to see what you could spend some time with! So if you plan to take part, do let us know what you intend to read - it will be fun seeing what everyone chooses! :D

Hooray! Yes, I will be doing it, though in my case not all August and Persephones and Dean St Press books as well as Viragoes. My minimum list is the August part of my 20 Books of Summer list, so ...

Maya Angelou – The Heart of a Woman (If Ali and I have done the previous volume this month)

Angela Thirkell – The Headmistress (I have read this before but want to retain the order)

Angela Thirkell – Miss Bunting

Angela Thirkell – Peace Breaks Out (this will get me to the end of the wartime Thirkells, the end of the ones Virago have republished and probably the end of the ones I want to read)

D.E. Stevenson – Music in the Hills (and I hope the third in the trilogy but we shall see)

Dorothy Whipple – Random Commentary

Excellent! I'm eying up a nice Virago edition of Persuasion for a possible re-read and also Laughing Torso by Nina Hamnett which I've had for decades but don't think I've ever read. There are also lots of Storm Jamesons and Rebecca Wests calling - plenty of choices!

I won't do only Viragos because I shall be doing WIT as well - if I can find a title that covers both of these that will be a result!!! :D

Thank you for starting us off, kaggsy! I've been pretty poor at reading Viragos this year so am looking forward to AV/AA. I recently acquired a copy of Laughing torso so maybe I will read that with you. I also have Desert of the heart which I bought for the book club but then didn't read in time. I'll be back when I've made the rest of my choices!

Excellent! I’ve had Laughing Torso for so long that it’s ridiculous I haven’t read it!

My plans are:
The Vicar's Daughter by E. H. Young (sadly, my copy is not the Virago edition)
The Land of Green Ginger by Winifred Holtby
Good Daughters by Mary Hocking

and maybe:
The Wild Geese by Bridget Boland
Mary O'Grady by Mary Lavin
The Perpetual Curate by Margaret Oliphant
High Wages by Dorothy Whipple (Persephone)

1> Thanks for starting the A/A reading group - I am going to join the group and have been reading through the Persephones and Viragos on my shelves.
I have started Manja by Anna Gmeyner in the Persephone edition.
I also have Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor underway as well as August Folly by Angela Thirkell, both VMC's.

If I can complete these three, I will start The Priory by Dorothy Whipple.
However my success rate at completion of reading projects is not spectacular!!
Happy reading everybody.

I shall attempt some Viragos and Persephones but I will not make a programme but post here when I have read any!

For the last two years I have worked my way through Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire Books. I last read Peace Breaks Out which is book 20 (of 29) but the general consensus seems to be that the post-war books become a reflection of Thirkell's predjudices and, since they don't match mine, I think I might not enjoy them as much, so it may be time for a change.

>6 kac522: Some great titles there - look forward to hearing how you find them

>7 mrspenny: Glad you're joining in - I loved Palladian so will be interested in your thoughts!

>8 CDVicarage: Very sensible, Kerry - I'm not so great about sticking to actual book lists, so may well stray from the ones I've mentioned above!! I never really got on with Thirkell from the start, I'm afraid...

Hi all, I have been very absent of late.
I will be reading some #Witmonth books in August as well as some virago. I will definitely be reading the third volume in the Maya Angelou autobiography and I am contemplating Edith Wharton, Margaret Laurence and Nina Bawden but it depends on what I'm in the mood for. I am hoping to be moving in the next month or so, so I an a bit stressed, and most of the books are in boxes.

I don't know if rereads count but Barbara Pym's Some Tame Gazelle is at the top of my list. I also just finished her A Few Green Leaves.

I've started The ship of widows, a rare Russian title from Virago, although not a VMC. Also on my stack for the month, in addition to those mentioned in >4 Sakerfalcon: are Bobbin up, My next bride, Taking chances, and New York mosaic.

>10 Heaven-Ali: Some nice authors there - hope you can find some non-packed Virago editions!

>11 kayclifton: I don't see why re-reads shouldn't count - and Pym is always interesting!

>12 Sakerfalcon: The Ship of Widows sounds really interesting!

I have read a non-Viirago book by a Virago author, so I guess that counts? Eulogy for the Living by Christa Wolf - a really fascinating fragment of memoir of her time as a child during WW2, fleeing from the oncoming Russian troops as Germany capitulated. Memorable reading, and I wish she'd completed it.

Do we have a hashtag to draw together reviews on Social media? #AVAA maybe unless that stands for something terrible?

I had a look Liz and there appears to be a company using those initials and hashtag, which is annoying… We do need one, though - will have a think!

>13 kaggsy: I think you would like it, as a fellow fan of Russian literature!

The ship of widows was a good read, focusing on the lives of women following WWII which took the lives of so many Russian men.

I've also read Bobbin up which was excellent. It focuses on the lives of the working class women who work at the Jumbuck textile mill in 1950s Sydney. Their lives are hard, with families to support (and, in some cases, endure), inadequate housing, and the fear of pregnancy. But capitalism is a greater threat to their wellbeing than any of these things. The introduction is written by the author looking back some years after she wrote the novel, and she admits that she was naive about the benefits of communism, but stands by her portrait of genuine working class people.

Next up is My next bride.

Just started Harriet Hume

My review up today of a non Virago book by a Virago author - Christa Wolf.

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2021/08/14/she-grieved-for-all-her...

She can be difficult to read sometimes but this was excellent! 😀

My first two done:

Maya Anglou's Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2021/08/12/book-review-maya-angelou-singin-a...

Dorothy Whipple's Random Commentary (a Persephone) https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2021/08/14/book-review-dorothy-whipple-rando...

>18 kaggsy: As you say, Wolf’s writing is never linear or straightforward, but it’s totally engrossing and hypnotic; She is a marvellous author. I've never seen one of her books as a Virago though.

>20 SassyLassy: Oh that's interesting! I have several and here is the image! They're very pretty green editions, but from quite some time ago I think:

I've just started a reread of The Ice House by Nina Bawden.

>22 kaggsy: Great photo. I rarely see Viragos at all outside my house, so seeing a collection like that is quite something.

Edited to reflect the correct person to whom I was responding. (It wasn't to myself)

>24 SassyLassy: I must admit I've seen very few Viragos in the wild over recent years - there was a time I used to come across loads, but even taking into account I've hardly been out of the house for 18 months, I definitely was seeing less of them around. I just with Virago had stuck with the green design! :)

I finished My next bride and enjoyed this seedy slice of life in 1930s Paris.

Now I'm reading Laughing torso and finding it very entertaining. It's not an introspective autobiography, rather a breathless account of what Nina did and the people she met during her 20s and 30s as an artist in London and Paris.

>26 Sakerfalcon: Alas, I haven't got to this in time, but it does sound good!

To finish off AVAA I'm devouring The New House. What an awful mother! (so far at least and I'm not holding out hope).

I didn't manage any actual Viragos this time but if we're including Dean St Press Furrowed Middlebrow this month I read Fanfare for Tin Trumpets, Mrs Lorimer's Quiet Summer and Love Comes Home.

I managed to complete 3 VMCs during AV/AA:
Palladian – Elizabeth Taylor
>9 kaggsy: I did enjoy Palladian.
Obviously contrasts are drawn with Jane Eyre but I found the characters an amusing bunch particularly Margaret. Although Marian and Cassandra were both a bit colourless. I particularly enjoyed the architectural theme and the imagery of the rambling old gothic mansion falling into disrepair.

August Folly – Angela Thirkell
One of the reviewers on this board described some of Thirkell’s novels as just plain silly. I would put August Folly in this category. Some of the parts were so silly that they were funny. The conversations between the Tebben’s donkey and the house cat were very funny.

The Persimmon Tree and Other Stories – Marjorie Barnard
I started this book of short stories a few months ago and put it aside but found it again and finished the stories. Some were particularly moving and her description of the effect of drought on the landscape in “Dry Spell” is brilliant.

I am still reading Manja with about 150 pages to finish. It is a very moving work and I didn’t want to rush it.

I'm also a great fan of Gladys Mitchell, Mrs Bradley and her Amazonian secretary Laura. About 5 years ago, I decided I would read as many of Mitchell’s books as I could find.
Thanks to my local librarian and interlibrary loans, I was able to locate all of her titles except Skeleton Island.
In the process, I couldn’t resist purchasing some of them which are on Mt TBR.

In the last couple of years, Vintage press has reprinted some of her books including Groaning Spinney, Dance to your Daddy and Fault in the Structure.
I love Philip Larkin’s description of GM – “The Great Gladys”

I managed all mine!

Maya Angelou – Singing' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry LIke Christmas https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2021/08/12/book-review-maya-angelou-singin-a...

Angela Thirkell – The Headmistress (I have read this before but want to retain the order) https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2021/08/24/book-review-angela-thirkell-the-h...

Angela Thirkell – Miss Bunting https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2021/08/28/book-review-angela-thirkell-miss-...

Angela Thirkell – Peace Breaks Out (this will get me to the end of the wartime Thirkells, the end of the ones Virago have republished and probably the end of the ones I want to read) https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2021/08/30/book-review-angela-thirkell-peace...

D.E. Stevenson – Music in the Hills (DSP)

D.E. Stevenson - Winter and Rough Weather - an extra! (DSP) reviewed together: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2021/08/16/book-review-d-e-stevenson-music-i...

Dorothy Whipple – Random Commentary (Persephone) https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2021/08/14/book-review-dorothy-whipple-rando...

I finished Laughing torso and very much enjoyed this account of bohemian life in London and Paris in the early C20th. Nina Hamnett knew everybody who was anybody and has plenty of amusing anecdotes to tell about them.

I then ended the month with Poison for teacher which was a romp of a murder mystery set at Radcliff Hall Girls' School which tells you all you need to know about the tone of this book. Great fun.

Well done everyone!!! You all did better than me - I managed one Christa Wolf non Virago title. I’m quite inspired to dig out some Mrs Bradley though…. 😊😊

I finished The Wild Geese by Bridget Boland, which I found very interesting and moved at a good pace.
Also finished The Land of Green Ginger by Winifred Holtby, which was good in the beginning and the end, but dragged a bit in the middle.
And I am muddling through The Vicar's Daughter by E. H. Young. It just isn't grabbing me, like the other two books of hers that I've read.