BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE - SEPTEMBER 2016 - LESSING & LEE

DORIS LESSING

Laurie Lee

Doris Lessing books:

The Grass Is Singing (1950)
Retreat to Innocence (1956)
The Golden Notebook (1962)
A Man and Two Women (1963)
Winter in July (1966)
Particularly Cats (1967)
Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971)
The Sun Between Their Feet (1973)
The Summer before the Dark (1973)
The Black Madonna (1974)
The Memoirs of a Survivor (1974)
The Diary Of A Good Neighbour (1983) (as by Jane Somers)
If The Old Could (1984) (as by Jane Somers)
The Diaries of Jane Somers (1984)
The Good Terrorist (1985)
Playing the Game (1995)
Love, Again (1995)
Mara and Dann (1999)
The Old Age of El Magnifico (2000)
The Sweetest Dream (2001)
The Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog (2005)
The Cleft (2007)
Alfred and Emily (2009)


Collections
This Was the Old Chief's Country (1951)
Five (1953)
The Habit of Loving (1957)
Fourteen Poems (poems) (1959)
Nine African Stories (1968)
Play with a Tiger (1972)
Story Of A Non-Marrying Man (1972)
The Temptation of Jack Orkney (1972)
African Stories (1976)
Stories (1978)
To Room Nineteen (1978)
The Doris Lessing Reader (1989)
London Observed (1991)
The Real Thing (1992)
Spies I Have Known (1995)
Problems, Myths and Stories (1999)
The Grandmothers (2003)
aka Adoration


Novellas
Through The Tunnel (2013)
The Day Stalin Died (2013)
The Old Chief Mshlanga (2013)
An Old Woman and Her Cat (2013)
Report on the Threatened City (2013)
Adore (2013)

Non fiction
Going Home (1957)
In Pursuit of the English (1960)
A Small Personal Voice (1974)
Prisons We Choose to Live Inside (1986)
African Laughter (1992)
Under My Skin (1994)
Walking In The Shade (1997)
On Cats (2002)
Time Bites (2004)
Putting the Questions Differently (2013)

Laurie Lee books

Cider with Rosie
1. Cider with Rosie (1959)
aka Edge Of Day
2. As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969)
3. A Moment of War (1991)
Red Sky At Sunrise (omnibus) (1992)


Novels
The Firstborn (1964)
Gypsies of Granada (1969)
My Many-coated Man (1969)
The Three Winds (1989)
Boy in ice (1991)
Equinox (1991)


Omnibus
Laurie Lee Selection (1984)
The Laurie Lee Collection (1996)


Collections
The Sun My Monument (poems) (1944)
Selected Poems (poems) (1960)
Three Plays (2003)


Chapbooks
Field of Autumn (1990)

Plays
Cider with Rosie: Play (1993)


Non fiction
A Rose for Winter (1955)
Man Must Move (1960)
Transport (1969)
I Can't Stay Long (1975)
Two Women (1983)
To War in Spain (1996)

I will read:

Martha Quest by Doris Lessing



&

Selected Poems by Laurie Lee

I've got a few unread Lessing on the shelf, but think I'll go for The Story of a Non-Marrying Man.

I just finished a Lessing book not on the above list: The Fifth Child (1988). It packs a punch in a short novel, and I can't stop thinking about it. Review to follow in a few days. I now see that there is a sequel (also not listed above) titled Ben, in the World which I've ordered. Depending on what else is happening in my life, I hope to read it as soon as it arrives. I would also like to track down a copy of Prisons We Choose to Live Inside this month if possible.

Last year I read The Grass is Singing, which was a positive surprise. I was daunted by Lessing and expected her to be difficult. Well, her topics and stories may be difficult, but her writing isn't. At least the two I've read.

I listened to Cider With Rosie a few years ago and found it delightful.

Readers who follow the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list may want to note that Lessing has 4 books on the lists: Diary of Jane Somers (2006 list), Shikasta (2006 list), The Golden Notebook (all editions), The Grass is Singing (all editions).

Cider With Rosie is also in all editions.

I will definitely read Cider With Rosie, and may read Lessing's Alfred and Emily.

I am going to try to finish As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning. I started this book back in June in hopes of being ready for September and I didn't get it finished. Now it is down to the wire.

I plan to read Cider with Rosie and, if I have time, African Laughter.

I've finished Cider with Rosie and thought the writing was wonderfully descriptive, but I didn't really find anything in it to raise it above all the other "idyllic British childhood" books.

Today I read Lessing's The Fifth Child, which I thought read like a realistic rehash of Rosemary's Baby. Not the worst book I've ever read, but I don't recommend it.

I will join in with Lessing's The Grass is Singing. I have heard many wonderful things about this small work. I will also be reading Cider With Rosie for my Laurie Lee read. I am looking forward to both books.

I didn't notice it was Lessing month when I asked if I should read The Fifth Child or Beloved next on my thread. I guess that answers that.

I have a novella by Lessing downloaded. It is called Adore. The library has about 3 other works by Lessing. I'll have to take a look at them in light of everything I need to get read and reviewed to see if I have time for them. I know I can manage a novella though!

I've been in a bit of a book slump this past month for various reasons. Although it is on the chunkster side, I'm going to try Mara and Dann by Lessing.

I started A Proper Marriage by Lessing but took it back to the library as it wasn't doing anything for me. Now that I have found where they hid Laurie Lee's books, I have Cider for Rosie to read for last month's challenge - so many books, so little time!

I am about half done with As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee. It is very well written and just flows. I don't know why I had this one on the shelves for so long.

Forgot to post that I did read Cider With Rosie, and enjoyed it very much. It reminded me a bit of A House in Flanders, which I also recommend highly.

I finished As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Lauire Lee. The title is one I have wanted to read for some time, but kept putting off until a book bullet from Joe got me earlier this year. Since the author was also a featured author on the BAC it was a win/win for this title. The writing in this book was exceptionally good. The walkabout took place in 1935 & 36 just as the Spanish Civil War was starting. Except to describe a bygone era the writing and the descriptions did not feel dated, and while it was very good at describing the restless unfocused ambitions of youth, those too, did not feel dated, but very modern in their sensibilities. This was a very good piece of travel writing and a very good autobiography as well.

>21 benitastrnad:. Oh good, I'm glad you enjoyed As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, Benita!

I am very late with the challenge for September. I tried to read Lessing's A Proper Marriage but couldn't get into it. I wasn't until I found where Laurie Lee's books were hidden in the library that I found a copy of Cider with Rosie which I enjoyed especially as this was the illustrated volume. It was a charming book if a bit slow paced.

Lee's A Rose for Winter was free on kindle this weekend so I thought I'd give him another shot. He could paint amazing pictures with words, but I'm just not into his romanticized reminiscences.