All Virago, All August

I know it is a bit early but:

Hello & welcome to our annual ALL VIRAGO, ALL AUGUST 2017 thread. For those of you who are new to this, some of our group like to set aside a time each August to read one or more Virago, VMC or Persephone. We include Persephone due to the fact that many of us who read the Virago also enjoy the Persephone. Should you care to join in, the Virago you choose may also include Virago fiction & nonfiction. They do not have to be VMC to count. Nor do they have to be a Virago publication. For example I have been unable to find a few in the green & have gone on to purchase said books from a different publisher or for my Kindle. These count as well.
It is always a pleasure to come to the thread and read the posts regarding books we are planning to read & have read during this time. Hopefully we will have some lively discussion of our reads. I am especially looking forward to any conversations regarding the newer published Virago youth or children's publications, should any of you choose that category.
For those who choose to join in, welcome & enjoy. For those unable or who choose not to, I know you will be enjoying some wonderful books as well. I realize that there are a lot of challenges out there for this summer. If you plan to read our August Virago Monthly Author, Christina Stead, (she received 5 votes so at least 5 of us should be reading her) you can count that read & 'spit, zip; you're done'! If you choose to just read one, that is.

So come one, come all who are interested. Let us know what you are reading and what you think of the Virago when you've completed it.
hugs all round,
belva



I know this photo belongs to a member of our group but am unable to remember the owner of this lovely collection. I happened to come across it on google images & thought I would share.

(edited to say that 'they' killed my photo of your lovely Virago bookcase so I am very thankful that you shared an updated photo with us, Laura)

>1 rainpebble: well that's funny, Belva! I scrolled down and thought "those bookshelves look a lot like mine," and then I read your comments beneath the photo and I can confirm that photo is my Virago collection, taken when I had just topped 100 books. If you look carefully you can see the shelves on either side of the green spines do not contain Viragos, and there was room to grow. Here's another photo, when my collection reached 215:



LT says I'm now at 308, and the same bookcase is filled to overflowing. Not a bad problem to have though. :)

What beautiful bookshelves! I would love to be able to house all my viragoes on one bookcase; all those green spines look so good together.

I plan to join All Virago all August - though not sure about Christina Stead. :)

>4 Heaven-Ali: Likewise - I've had a long experience with Stead recently and I'm not sure if I'm up to another at the moment!

>2 lauralkeet:
How lovely, Laura. Your collection is beautiful and the case that houses it is beyond gorgeous. And WOW!, you have tripled your collection in the meantime!
I have mine housed in a Barrister's Case but it overflows to 2 other bookcases. At least they are all along the same wall. My B/H calls them my 'wallpaper'. lol

>4 Heaven-Ali: >5 kaggsy:
Ali & Karen, I definitely hear what you are both saying. I have yet to hear any reports about someone really, really liking, let alone loving her. But as I have several (& did vote for her for that very reason) I am obligated to trying at least one. I will choose with great care.

Good reads, all.

>2 lauralkeet:
I thought I would just share mine as well. The flowers blocking my Virago were from my son for Mother's Day.

>7 rainpebble: that's quite spiffy, Belva! And those flowers are absolutely beautiful too.

>5 kaggsy: >7 rainpebble: I haven't read Stead but have decided to try her. I just ordered A Little tea a little chat so i can join in with August's author too.

For what it's worth here are my Virago shelves (the top two in the picture, and double stacked):



Alas, not so lovely as Laura and Belva's.....

>9 Heaven-Ali: Good luck! I'll be interested to hear what you think!

My Viragoes are shelved in the general fiction collection (but my Persephones are all together). I am planning to do All Virago / All August and added these books to the end (August section) of my 20 Books of Summer challenge:

Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes Were Watching God

Mollie Panter-Downes - One Fine Day

Amber Reeves – A Lady and Her Husband

R.C. Sheriff – Greengates

Gladys Huntingdon – Madame Solario

One FIne Day is a wonderful book!

>13 kaggsy: Yes, I am really looking forward to it! It's only the fact I haven't actually got many Vs and Ps in the TBR that's stopping me grabbing it now!

>10 kaggsy:
I think your shelving and books lovely, Karen. I am squinting really hard but cannot quite make out what you have hanging in front of the upper shelf. Are they sachets?

>12 LyzzyBee:
Ah Liz, I am so jealous if you are reading Their Eyes Were Watching God for the first time. It is one of my most beloved of the Virago. The closer I got to the end of the book the slower I read for I did not want to put this one down. It is so special.
And I'm in much agreement with Karen regarding One Fine Day. It is brilliant. I am sure you will love it.

I am loving the photos of our Virago. I hope more of you will want to share yours with us over the next couple of months. And perhaps even your collections of the Persephone.



(from the Persephone site & bookshop...so envious of those of you who frequent this shop)

the link: http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/about-us/

>15 rainpebble: I don't know why the picture came out so small, Belva, but those are coloured decorative paper lanterns strung across the front (no flames involved!) I tend to fill the book room with pretty stuff and sparkly lights as an antidote to the nastiness of the world out there....

>16 rainpebble: My Persephone collection is fairly small but if I can get a decent snap of them all together, I will share it!

Loving the Virago shelfies! Gorgeous cases/collections, Laura, Belva and Karen. 🍏

Can't believe we're approaching All Virago/All August once again! According to our wiki, this will be the 7th Annual AV/AA. As usual, I'll be sharing much of this on the FB VMCReaders page (reviews, etc) but also plan to participate. It's 'Summer in Cornwall' for me as I'm re-reading Du Maurier as well as diving into Winston Graham's Poldark series.

Thank you, Miss B, for leading us into another glorious Virago August. Happy Summer to everyone and Happy reading! 💚

>19 bleuroses:
Ah Cate, it is wonderful to 'see' you here. Your thoughts and comments are always appreciated so much both here and on the F/B VMC Readers page.
I too, have been loving the Poldark series both in book form & on PBS.

I didn't realize that there was a Poldark series produced back in the 70s. I'm wondering if I can find that at my library. Hmmm

I've never read anything by Christina Stead so I don't know what the "controversy" (if that's the right word) is about her. But I'm going to get through my CS backlog for AV/AA – and I do have one or two VMCs of her as well as (just acquired) hardcover volumes of Letty Fox and The Man Who Loved Children.

I've also been planning an "Ann with an E!" marathon. All I've ever read are Green Gables, Avonlea, and Rilla of Ingleside so I'm going to go straight through on a read/reread, starting with the Norton Critical of Green Gables with its supplementary materials. Ann (with an E!) isn't Virago, but I've got the Emily trilogy in the VMC editions that were just published not all that long ago. And I'll have to check out the VMC of Jane of Lantern Hill, though I don't have a copy of that one.

Mike - Christina Stead is not easy to read but I always found it rewarding when I had finished one of her works. I would suggest you read The Man Who Loved Children in preference to Letty Fox: Her Luck. The first is said to be loosely autobiographical and is an excellent work on the dynamics of family relationships.
The late Hazel Rowley wrote a very incisive biography of Christina Stead if you can find a copy.

>22 mrspenny: Thanks! I'll start with The Man Who Loved Children, then. I just got it over the weekend at one of my "dens of addiction" (Bucks County Bookshop) along with Letty Fox – both in really nice-condition hardcovers. I've also got The Little Hotel and (in VMC) The Beauties and Furies. I really do want to take advantage of the monthly Virago reads to do some ROOTing.

>21 CurrerBell: And I just noticed that I've got one of those lovely coffee-table books, The Annotated Anne of Green Gables (Oxford University Press), which I've never read. (I guess my Green Gables read must have been in one of those "generic" editions.) So I'll read the Annotated edition and then switch over to the Norton Critical for its supplementary materials (which includes an "appreciation" essay by Margaret Atwood). And I just ordered Anne of Ingleside (the only "Ann with an E!" I don't have) on Abe.

I think I'll target The Man Who Loved Children too. I've read Letty Fox: Her Luck and The Little Hotel and liked them both well enough to collect a few of hers but haven't retained much about them (it was probably about 20 years ago).

This is a big one, but I will take a look at the shelves to see which/whether other Viragos could slip into the reading. The idea that they do not have to be VMCs and that non-fiction is also eligible makes that seem ever-more likely.

CurrerBell Did you know that Anne of Ingleside was published, for many years, with some text missing from the original? I don't recall what the offensive bits were (it's in my mind that it was something deemed too unpatriotic for publication, but I might have muddled some other reading about her changing opinion about the war and its engineers over time with this tendency). The recent edition edited by Benjamin Lefebvre restored the missing material and some older editions were intact as well. If you are reading the annotated version and the Norton (both of which are on my shelves too), it sounds like such details might matter to you. (I really like Atwood's essay and Alice Munro has written one about LMM's Emily books as well.)

>24 buriedinprint: No, I didn't know that. I just ordered Anne of Ingleside from Abe, so it's not going to be the recent edition. I'll have to see what happens and then maybe get the Lefebvre edition. Thanks for the alert!

ETA: something deemed too unpatriotic for publication, but I might have muddled some other reading about her changing opinion about the war and its engineers over time with this tendency
Are you talking about Anne of Ingleside or Rilla of Ingleside? I ask this because of your reference to "the war."

I definitely want to participate! I think I've only read 1 (!) VMC this year so far - Frost in May and have put a pile on a table for next month. The pile includes every VMC that I own that is also a 1001 book that I haven't read already and I'll try to read as many as possible next month:

After the Death of Don Juan
The Birds Fall Down
The House of Mirth
The Passion of New Eve
The Well of Loneliness
The Optimist's Daughter

I have the Pilgrimage series also, but not planning on reading all of those in August. My focus this year has been on series, and I only included the Frost in May quartet for this year - I'll include Pilgrimage for next year.

>26 LisaMorr:
That is an ambitious list, Lisa. I have not yet read a couple of them but the ones I have read I thought quite good, with the exception of the Angela Carter. She & I seem to have a love/hate relationship. I did love her The Magic Toyshop. In fact I thought it brilliant. At any rate I look forward to seeing what you have to say about your August reads.

And if you had been able to read only one VMC this year, Frost in May would be an excellent choice. Good luck with your reads.

We have a very busy August planned what with 2 family weddings, 3 house warmings, 2 new babies in the family & the showers that go along them with and our 44th wedding anniversary get-away to Hawaii. So I know that I won't be able to get 6 Virago/Persephone read (LisaMorr) but 'have Kindle will travel' and I will do the best I can to keep up with you all.

My hopeful reading for AV/AA:
Dorothy Whipple's They Were Sisters; Persephone #56; ROOT
Mary Renault's The Friendly Young Ladies; VMC #147; ROOT
Christa Wolf's
The Quest for Christa T; VMC #75; ROOT;
Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays; VMC #315; ROOT;
No Place on Earth; VMC #398; ROOT
Christina Stead's The Little Hotel; Virago fiction; our MONTHLY AUTHOR READ; ROOT

I very much doubt that I will be able to read all of these but a TBR list is a good place to start. And it goes without saying that any or all may be changed up at any time. ;-)

I am really looking forward to ALL VIRAGO/ALL AUGUST this year. I hope the rest of you are as well.

I love the kitty sleeping on the shelf of books. Cats & books just somehow seem to go together.

>27 rainpebble: Thanks - thanks for starting this thread. I did pretty well with AVAA last year and hope to continue the trend!

I wasn't able to participate in AV/AA last year but I really hope to this year. I might read 1 Virago but will mostly concentrate on my Persephones as I have quite a backlog of those! This is a good opportunity to get some of them read.

>28 rainpebble: That's a NICE list! I am straining towards my Vs and Ps I can see on the front shelf of my TBR ...

I haven't done a list but I will definitely read *something* from my Virago or Persephone pile alongside my War and Peace read. Got to try and fit in a Women in Translation book too - it will obviously be a busy month!

>33 kaggsy: I'm sure you can find a WiT that's a Virago or Persephone, though.

I might be able to fit in something at the beginning of the month, but will be away in India travelling as light as possible for most of the month so I don't expect to bring any Viragos with me. I'll make up for it in September and look forward to reading all your accounts then too.

>34 LyzzyBee: I should be able to, shouldn't I?? 😀

>35 Sakerfalcon:
Claire, you mentioned that you will be away traveling in India for August and Rumer Godden immediately presented herself to the forefront of my mind. I so envy you......having this experience. I hope you will be able to share a few photos with us upon your return. And yes, traveling with books can be exhausting. Enjoy, my dear.

>30 LisaMorr:
You are most welcome, Lisa. I recall how well you did in last year's AV/AA and am sure that you will do well again this year. We will all do well even if we are only able to read one Virago/Persephone.
:-)

>31 anbolyn:
I admire that you are focusing on your Persephone. I tend not to go to them and yet most all of them I have read have been very good. I made sure to get at least one in my planned reading for August this month. I hope you enjoy yours very much and look forward to seeing which ones you read as the month goes on.

>32 LyzzyBee:
Thank you Liz. I put a lot of thought into it and went through my library numerous times before choosing the authors and books that I wanted to read. I also went through my Kindle as I will be gone for a couple of weeks in August and don't want to carry real books with me. I was thrilled when I found an Elizabeth Taylor (for my Kindle) that I didn't own in hardcopy.
I look forward to seeing what you choose to read as we move through August. :-)

>33 kaggsy:
Karen, I love War and Peace and have read it numerous time beginning in my high school years. I hope you are loving your read of it. And I am thinking that you can probably find a Virago or Persephone 'in translation' if you want to go that way. Good luck & I will be looking forward to your reads & comments as well. :-)

>33 kaggsy: >34 LyzzyBee:
Does 'WiT' stand for "Women in Translation"? If so.....I am being redundant today. lol

>42 rainpebble: Yes, it does, sorry, I should have been clearer. I see it written WiT a lot even though I never manage to join in with the month in question, and, indeed, none of the books I have on my list fit the requirement!

>42 rainpebble: What Liz says! Oddly, I can't see any Viragos currently on my shelf that are translated and previously unread, so I may have to dig in the Persephones or just look for a handy Russian (I'm sure I have one or two...) Technically speaking, I suppose I could cheat and read a Colette since she's a Virago author... ;)

Several Persephones though, Karen, including Manja and the other German book - On the Other Side - Also, Into the Whirlwind, the Etty Hillesum, Dimanche, Maman What are we Called Now? I loved Manja and I LOVED the Maman book which I reviewed on this site. Others have loved Hillesum...

Oh, you are QUITE right, CurrerBell: I did think you had ordered Rilla, only because I was thinking that you had left the last for the last. No worries about editions then: very sorry if that caused any concern.

Am quite enjoying the talk of reading plans for August. I can especially relate to the ideas of targeting specific "letters" in an effort to narrow the choice and also the idea of combining with other events/plans (e.g. WiT).

Beautiful! For hanging or for snuggling? I'd love it for either, but the idea of a quilt for a bed or comfy chair with images of books and cats does seem especially charming.

>45 romain: :) coincidentally I had just pulled Into the Whirlwind off the shelves so that may well be the one I get to! I'm considering a short Angela Carter, too.

>46 buriedinprint: I read Rilla of Ingleside a couple years ago for a "women on the homefront" WW1 theme – I think here in the VMC group. If I'm not mistaken, it's the one "Anne with an E!" that has a more serious, somber tone.

The ones I've read are Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and Rilla of Ingleside, but I'm going to restart at the very beginning for a straight-through, especially since I've never read the Annotated edition or the Norton Critical supplementary material of Green Gables.

And then, specifically for AVAA, I've got the Emily trilogy and Jane of Lantern Hill.

>39 rainpebble: rainpebble: I spend so much money on them that I figure I need to start reading them! I already picked out my first one - Greenery Street.

I'm not making a list for AV/AA because I have so many books to choose from I don't feel I need to. However I have a copy of A Little Tea, A Little Chat by Christina Stead for our August author of the month. I shall read according to my mood but I hope to get a few VMC or Persephone books read. I have been eyeing up Saraband lately so I might just pull that from the shelves, and I have books by E H Young and Elizabeth von Arnim that look tempting too. I shall report back.

I'll be reading four by Christina Stead (only two of them Virago) for the August Read.

I also want to get going on my planned Anne with an E! marathon and also include the Emily trilogy and Jane of Lantern Hill. All of these are Virago now that VMC includes the entire Anne with an E! series.

And I found, at The Title Page, a beautiful hardcover, seemingly from just at the turn of the 20th century (though it doesn't include a printing date), of Elizabeth and Her German Garden, so I'm going to try to get on to the Elizabeth trilogy as well. I'd been waiting on this until I found German Garden because I have the other two but I want to read them in order. I'm hoping I can lay my hands on the second book, Solitary Summer, which I know I've got around the house somewhere. I'm pretty sure I know where The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen is.

Pretty big order (especially since I've got other reading for the Reading Through Time group), but I can carry it over into September since I don't have any Nina Bawdens so I won't be doing her for the September Read since for ROOTing purposes I'm trying to get through books I already have.

I'm currently reading This Real Night by Rebecca West which will be my first read for AV/AA.

I always do AV/AA but am now doing mostly Persephones. I have still to figure out what I will be reading though.

I've been reading Murder in the Dark by Margaret Atwood alongside War and Peace - Atwood's amazing!

I'm coming up on my final semester of college, so I don't think I'll have much time to read for pleasure for awhile, but here's my hopeful list:

The Lost Traveller, Antonia White
A Very Great Profession, Nicola Beauman
Excellent Women, Barbara Pym

>56 surtsey: welcome! those are some great books to round off your summer before you have to put your nose to the grindstone again. :)

>52 CurrerBell:
MIKE..........I am so sorry. I totally forgot to send you your books! Will get them off to you tomorrow for sure.
Two of them are Elizabeth von Arnims. Solitary Summer and Elizabeth and Her German Garden. (along with a couple more Virago) I didn't want to P.M. you as I cannot see the 'conversations'. S S is the newer Virago cover and E & H G G is the 1996 VMC edition.
Again I am so sorry.

***hangs head in shame***

I think I promised a couple of others a book or two as well. If I promised you a book please refresh my memory so I can take care of that commitment. We have had family issues ongoing ever since returning home from Az this spring and some days I don't know if I am coming or going.

I am thinking that I owe Safari West by Mary Hocking to you. :-(

If you do not want to message me publicly here, as I cannot see any messages on my profile page, you can email me at:

belvahullp@hotmail.com

with titles, name & addresses. Please do so as I don't want to let anyone down. Thanks.

>56 surtsey:
Welcome surtsey. We are so happy you are joining us and as lauralkeet said you have chosen so well for your AV/AA reading. I've yet to read the Beauman but both of the others are wonderful.
Happy reading and best of luck with your final semester. An exciting time in your life, for sure.

Belva, don't worry about Elizabeth and Her German Garden. i found a gorgeous hardcover at The Title Page, a very early edition. Solitary Summer would be great, though. I may have Solitary Summer around the house, but if I do, I'm not sure where it is.

I'll email you at hotmail with my address. And since you're still having trouble with your messages, and if you're not getting any help from the Bug Collectors Group (as I think someone's suggested), then you might want to try the FAQ Group.

If your messages have actually been lost, you might want to contact Tim or Loranne to see if they can possibly recover them.

Again welcome everyone to ALL VIRAGO/ALL AUGUST where you can read not only VMCs but all Virago both fiction & non-fiction, Persephone and I think that we can also count other volumes by Virago and Persephone authors.
I, like all of us, look forward to reading & tracking your reads & your thoughts on those reads.

I will be starting my month off with Christina Stead's The Little Hotel. I am hoping to enjoy it; we will see.

>57 lauralkeet: Thanks! :) I'm especially looking forward to A Very Great Profession - I read Beauman's The Other Elizabeth Taylor recently and (for the most part) really enjoyed it.

>59 rainpebble:
Thank you! I was happy to find this group - I've gone through almost all the Elizabeth Taylor books at my library this summer and no one I've talked to has heard of her, or any of the other Virago/Persephone authors I've discovered recently. I'm glad to have you all to share my enthusiasm with.

I have started with the newest book of Dorothy Whipple short stories. So far, so good! Will take it one book at a time because I have nothing calling my name at the moment.

>62 surtsey:
Sarah, you will find that almost all of your Virago friends here adore Elizabeth Taylor. She is so wonderful
to read & to reread. She took mundane everyday lives and made them a thing of beauty. If you've not yet discovered Mary Hocking or Barbara Pym, I think you would probably appreciate their work as well.
I am so happy that you are here. :-) And we could do with a fresh influx of enthusiasm.

I am trying to read The Little Hotel but am having so much trouble with my eyes. For the past many months I have only been able to read by squinting my eyes and now they are watering and burning whenever I open a book. I have only read a few pages thus far into the month. :-(
I am awaiting cataract surgery and looking forward to a good outcome. But being unable to read makes me really sad.

I have neglected my Virago reading for sooooo long, I'm ashamed of myself. But, by a happy coincidence, Winifred Holtby is one of the authors selected for the British Authors Challenge for August, and therefore, I will, at long last, read South Riding, and kill two birds with one stone. (No actual birds will be harmed in the completion of this challenge, I promise!)

Belva - darling - you need audio. My eye sight is pretty awful too. My local library is the County one and as such has hundreds of audio books and then I reserve others from satellite branches. Not a lot of older worthy stuff but I've done all the Michael Connelly's on audio and much of the new British stuff - including Bookers - as well. I listen while cooking, cleaning and even gardening and I also listen in bed.

>67 romain:
Yes Barbara, I really do need to break down and go for the audio. I have put it off too long already. Elaine has been attempting to convince me as well. I guess I have just become too prideful & stubborn in my dotage.
Do you listen on your phone or a tape deck/CD player? The audio books I have been looking at seem really spendy; also to add audio to the Kindle books looks to be spendy as well. But perhaps I need to be purchasing fewer Kindle books and adding the audio to the ones I do buy, counting each one as two. lol

I get all mine from the library Belva. I reserve and order from branches as well as my main library. I could never afford to buy or even do Audible. It used to be just best sellers but in the last few years I have found a lot of much better stuff has been bought by the library. Paperbackswap do audio too.

I carry an ancient cd player around the house and plug it in while I am ironing or cooking or even waiting for the dye to take on my hair. I plug it in on the deck while I'm gardening but sometimes that gets a bit embarrassing if there is a sexy bit in the book and my neighbors can hear it. I have also downloaded to my IPod. You can do e-audio from the library as well. You should explore your options where you are.

Belva - Timberland Regional Library system, which I believe serves Morton, has 604 audio books listed. You type in audio in the search engine or put in sound recording under format. They have 4 Whartons for instance and all the Robert Galbraiths (JK Rowling's pen name for murder mysteries) but you would have to reserve them from bigger places than Morton. Type in someone you like and then scroll down their list looking for a little CD symbol next to the word Format.

Regarding audio books yes to the library system but also you can pre-buy blocks of books on Audible and they come out a LOT less spendy then. I can't remember how much it is but I top up Mr Liz's Audible subscription every now and again and as long as he reads about 12 books a year the vouchers last. They have a lot of good, intelligent modern books on there.

Thank you all so much for the advice.

I actually do have a Timberland library card so I will be checking them out. Sweet of you to research something I hadn't thought of, Barbara. I was thinking I could only get books on tape or CD from the library. I've not used it much the past few years as they carry very little on the shelves so browsing is pretty much out. I will see what they have on audio.
I went to Amazon last night & added the audio to a few books I already have on my Kindle and as August is my Thingiversary month (10 years now) I am counting those as my 'celebration books.'

>65 rainpebble: good luck with your cataract surgery!

I finished my first one for AVAA, The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty. It's about a young (well, youngish, I'm not sure of her age) widow who comes home when her 70+ year-old father tells her he needs to see the doctor for trouble with his eyes. Her widowed father married a woman not much older than her when he was 70, and the new wife and the daughter don't get along. I found the new wife to be horrid and pretty much wanted to smack her. Well, the father goes in for eye surgery and the remainder of the book has the daughter exploring her parent's life together as well as her own short-lived marriage. This is a 1001 book and I expected more. I didn't find it very satisfying.

I then started The Passion of New Eve and it's going a bit slowly. I enjoyed Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop as well Wayward Girls and Wicked Women, an anthology she contributed to and edited, but this hasn't quite grabbed my attention yet.

So I have made a good start to AV/AA - I have read This real Night by Rebecca West which was great.

Took a break for my book group read and then read The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey which was also a solid four star read.

I did read forty pages of Christina Stead's A Little Tea, a Little Chat but couldn't get into it - so have laid it aside for now, we shall see if I get back to it.

Now taking another break from AV/AA to read something for Women in translation month. Hopefully can get back to more VMC next week.

>75 Heaven-Ali: Not sure what "Women in translation month" is, so this suggestion may be totally off the wall, but the very first VMC author was also a translator – and Antonia White's translations included Colette's four Claudine novels (the "canonical" English translations), Shackle, and a number of Colette's stories (see Collected Stories of Colette and The Tender Shoot and Other Stories).

There may be other Colettes that White translated but those are the ones I've got in My Library. The only one I've read so far is the four-in-one collection of the Claudine novels (4****, though my interest isn't really in Colette but in White as a translator and in the influence of the Claudine novels on White's own novels).

Uh ---- Could I read a Virago author but not a book that Virago chose to print? To be specific, I'm enjoying Mary Hocking's Daniel Come to Judgement at the moment. I'd like to feel that I'm part of something bigger.

So far I have managed a slim Margaret Atwood Murder in the Dark which was absolutely brilliant and reminds me I need to read more of her work.

I'm hoping to read some Colette for WIT month (and she is a Virago author) but I have a bit of a book hangover after War and Peace so not sure what next.

I've read and adored One Fine Day and have just started Their Eyes Were Watching God - oh my GOODNESS! Both sent to me by dear Belva for my Not So Secret Santa, and coming in very handy this month. Behind with reviews though!

Isn't One Fine Day wonderful? Definitely one of my favourite Viragos!

>65 rainpebble: Belva, I do hope you get things sorted out with your eyes - sounds absolutely rotten. If it's any consolation, both of my parents had cataract surgery and thought the results were miraculous. My mother, in particular, was stunned by the renewed sight and the wonderful colours in the world around her. So I hope this is done for you soon, and at least maybe audio books will keep you going for the time being. x

Thanks all.

>74 LisaMorr:
Lisa, I have loved most every Welty I have ever read, though I have yet to read The Optimist's Daughter. And regarding Angela Carter, I have long enjoyed a LOVE/HATE relationship with her works. Loved The Magic Toyshop & couldn't get it out of my mind when I finished but absolutely abhorred The Passion of New Eve, not to say you won't end up having appreciated it. ;-) Good luck.

>75 Heaven-Ali:
Ali, I enjoyed This Real Night and love, love, loved The Orchid House. Great choices for the our special month of reading our beloved Virago.

>76 CurrerBell:
Interesting bit of literary trivia there Mike. I had no idea that Antonia White had done translations.
I have only ever read one Colette, The Other Woman, and it totally blew me away. It was a book of short stories that I found fascinating, gripping and a bit creepy, which I loved about it. It is also a VMC.

>77 LizzieD:
Dear Peggy, of course I think that Virago authors should count. Can we all be agreeable on that? And our beloved Hocking is very much a Virago author. Her Good Daughters trilogy immediately come to mind but she has written so many excellent books. I love her and do, by all means, count her.

>78 kaggsy:
I am biting my tongue on the Atwood, Karen. And would love to know how you fared with W & P. Have you posted to your blog as of yet?

>79 LyzzyBee:
Oh my, Liz. I think I just broke my arm whilst patting myself on the back for gifting you such AWESOME books as your VSS. Had totally forgotten what I sent you. I think that everyone who has read One Fine Day has loved it and the Zora Neale Hurston is going to blow your socks off!
Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of my most beloved Virago.

>80 kaggsy: >81 kaggsy:
Yes, yes & yes! One Fine Day is beyond wonderful, Karen.
And I am looking forward to a good outcome. I will find out today when I go to the Pacific Laser Institute for my evaluation if I will be a good candidate. I should be. Thank you for the good wishes. :-)

What great picks you all are making for your August reading, both Virago & not. It is so interesting to read your thoughts on your reads. Thank you all for participating.
I may not be here often for the next 10 days as we will be on the road & in the air for much of it but will try to check in via my phone.
Great reading peeps.

hugs all round,
belva

>82 rainpebble: Not only did White do translations (French-to-English), Belva, but she probably did more translation than she did original writing and almost certainly made more money from her translations. As I recall, she got into translation work in one of the government agencies during WW2 – intelligence or propaganda, I assume – and then someone suggested to her after the war that she could make a living at it. I recall seeing some translation of Maupassant (and another of some totally forgettable of a contemporary), and I've got (in Folio Society) her translation of Voltaire's History of Charles XII (of Sweden, reigned 1697 to 1718).

Remember her mental health issues that caused hospitalizations for depression (narrated, of course, in Beyond the Glass as well as in one of the stories in the Strangers anthology). Accompanying this depression was writer's block, which limited her output in original writing and which I think she attributed to the incident that concluded Frost in May.

I've got Jane Dunn's Antonia White: A Life and keep meaning to get around to it.

>82 rainpebble: Good luck Belva - hope all goes well and you'll be back with us soon. As for Atwood - do I take it you have reservations???? My review of her book will be up at the end of the week.

And yes - I finished War and Peace on Monday (despite supposedly planning weekly readings and postings - I couldn't handle that!) I have done some interim reports on the blog, but my final concluding piece is scheduled for Monday 14th. What a fabulous read - one of the books of my life, definitely! :))

>82 rainpebble: Belva, I can highly recommend reading *anything* by Colette - one of my favourite authors and I adore her work. Her collected short stories is devastatingly wonderful, and I'm planning to re-read one of her novels soon. Does that count for this month as she's a Virago author? :)

Of course it can count. I believe romain is doing a Virago author as well. I think that we can all agree that Virago authors deserve a place in our salutary month.

No I did a Whipple short story collection. The latest one from Persephone. I enjoyed the last book of ss by her I read but this one was the dregs of her collection. 2* max. I am now a couple of chapters into The Homemaker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. A Persephone but a VMC author.

I have a lot of reading I have to do for a work program I have coming up in September (I'm a librarian) , but I am slowly reading Frost in May by Antonia White and it is so chilling. My natural rebellious nature kicks up whenever Nanda has run-ins with the nuns!

>87 romain: Oooh...thanks for the reminder about The Homemaker...it was my first Persephone, and I haven't read it yet.

>87 romain: I love The Homemaker

>82 rainpebble: You were inspired indeed. It's hard to put Their Eyes were Watching God down!

>76 CurrerBell: Women in Translation month is a social media thing celebration of women writers in translation. Collette would be a fab choice as she wrote in French and has been translated into English. Antonia White might not count if she was the translator.

>77 LizzieD: so glad you're enjoying Daniel come to Judgment, one of MH's I have on my shelf but have yet to read.

>82 rainpebble: A bit off topic for this thread, but my final thoughts on War and Peace are up now Belva if you want to read - needless to say I adored the book and was incapable of sticking to the weekly schedule!

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/in-which-the-best-laid-...

I picked up another VMC author currently published by Persephone. Minnie's Room by Mollie Panter-Downes. A mixed bag of short stories, some which left me unmoved, but others which were so beautiful I was sorry to finish the book. My third book by her.

My first conscious read of a VMC edition has been the enchanting (and just completed0 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor, a new to me author. I hope to make Taylor an intimate reading friend -- her style makes me think of Virginia Woolf. . .if Woolf had been an extrovert.

Now that I've discovered this group and VMCs, I may also have discovered a new enthusiasm!

>97 Heaven-Ali: Oh, you have so many wonderful Taylor books to look forward to, not to mention all the other VMC authors. Enthusiasm can become obsession!

>98 Soupdragon:

Thank you. . .I'm doomed.

I have now also read Chatterton Square by the fabulous E. H Young - absolutely loved it, I think it will have to be my favourite of her books.

Nominations thread for our final 2017 VMC monthly reads here

>97 Heaven-Ali: >98 Soupdragon: >99 rainpebble:

Dear Lime,
When it comes to VMC 'doomed' is a wonderful place to be. :-)

Finished The Passion of New Eve and I can't honestly say that I liked it - just too weird, too surreal for me.

Now I'm going to read a non-VMC, but a Virago and a VMC-author, The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. I'm hosting the AwardCAT for the Category Challenge group, and this month includes the Miles Franklin award; in addition to The Great Fire, I'm going to try and squeeze in My Brilliant Career as well.

I am steadily working my way through my Persephones but trying to favor VMC authors. I started Lady Rose and Mrs. Memmary thinking that the author was the woman who wrote The Brontes Went to Woolworths etc but of course I had the wrong Ferguson. Rachel...Ruby... whatever!

Anyway this book started off very slowly for me. I had imagined something along the lines of The Shuttle and, to add to my disappointment, I did not immediately like the writing style. But as I got further in I became quite engaged. Like other people on this site I figured out the ending in the first few chapters, although this did not spoil the book for me. I even went so far as to look up the Holyrood House portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie that Lady Rose was so captivated by. It turns out that this portrait of a man she believed to be her soul mate has now been proved to be a painting of his better looking brother. :) Don't want to give away any of the plot, but Lady Rose does something in the final chapters of the book that made me furious.

My latest review for AV/AA Chatterton Square

http://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/08/20/chatterton-square-e-h-young-1947/

Now reading Saraband by Eliot Bliss. Which I am enjoying very much.

I finished South Riding, and enjoyed some parts of the story very much. I have to say the local politics sections left me fairly unengaged, and occasionally bewildered, but the more "human" story lines were fine. Ending a bit overblown.

Anne of Green Gables (Norton Critical Edition), a reread of the novel and a first read of the Norton supplementary materials. Dang it, I've got The Annotated Anne of Green Gables (the Harvard Belknap "coffee table" edition) around the house somewhere and I'd been meaning to use that "luxury" edition for my reread of the novel – but it's misplaced from the box it's supposed to be in and I'll only find it in the course of some (major) household cleanup.

I think all eight of Anne with an E! along with other L.M. Montgomery have now been published in that VMC children's series (and I think Susan Coolidge's Katy books are too).

Anyway, I'm planning on a straight-through of Anne with an E! in chrono (rather than publication) order. That will be a reread of Anne of Avonlea and Marilla of Ingleside and a first read of the five that come in between. I've also got the Emily of New Moon trilogy and Jane of Lantern Hill in the new Virago editions and they'll come next.

>107 CurrerBell: Didn't know about the VMC children's series. It would be wonderful to come across the Katy books. It's easy to find Anne here.

WOW! I am so impressed with all of the reading activity here. You people are choosing some wonderful titles & authors. I wish I could say the same for me-self.
As I was packing for our trip I hurriedly grabbed 3 fairly thin reads off my shelves, all by Christa Wolf. I had not read her before nor seen much discussion on her or her books. What with all of our travel time, between driving & flying, I managed to read (& round-file) all 3. The Quest for Christa T; (2*), Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays; (3*), (I preferred the essays to the novel) and No Place on Earth; (1*). My very simple reviews or comments can be found on my reading log here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/251185#6151798
at the bottom of the page.
Last night I completed my Stead and hope to get a couple more Virago/Persephone in before the month's end.

>108 romain: What Katy Did

I picked up Into the Whirlwind at random, thinking I would read one chapter a night till the end of the month. I mean - this is a book about the Russian gulags, folks! I read it cover to cover in 36 hours and loved it. An extraordinary book, as Ali says in her review on this site. 5*

>109 SassyLassy: Christa Wolf is an amazing author. Try her non VMC City of Angels or, The Overcoat of Dr Freud.

>112 LyzzyBee:
City of Angels or The Overcoat of Dr Freud actually sounds good. If my library can get it I will try that one. Thank you for the rec.

Spent the last week doing some serious house and yard work. The house is spotless and I have rewarded myself with a couple of days on the couch, reading. Just finished To Bed with Grand Music by Marganhita Laski. What can I say? Where to begin? To whom can I compare the lead character, Deborah Robertson? Becky Sharp? Well if Becky Sharp was alive and well and whoring her way around WW2 London, perhaps so. Holly Golightly? Amber St. Clare? But enough slut shaming. There must've been thousands of women who dropped their boring husbands and whining toddlers in favor of multiple affairs with the Yanks and Free French; there's just not an abundance of books about them. Refreshingly honest. 5*

I've reviewed the wonderful A Lady and Her Husband, a Persephone done for AA / AV. Really hoping I can get the other two i have to read done by the end of the month! https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2017/08/22/book-review-amber-reeves-a-lady-a...

>114 romain:
What a delightful rec of To Bed with Grand Music, Barbara. I am very glad I have it waiting in the wings for me. You made me laugh right out loud; woke my hubby from his snooze in his chair. "Slut shaming" indeed! ;-)

Yes, don't miss it Belva. Hated Deborah - such a MEAN girl - but loved the book!

>114 romain: I loved this, too! - both the book and your review!

Finally got another Virago author in (and translated by one too) plus for WIT month - my review of Colette here:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/the-price-of-love-witmo...

I love Colette.....

>119 BeyondEdenRock: Another Colette fan here, and it only took one small novel to push me into fandom. An early one, Chéri, an autopsy of a love affair between a prostitute and younger man, Chéri. Perfectly captures the brittle Jazz age Paris in attitude and tone. Haven't read La Fin de Chéri, written 6 years later.

Colette is remarkable and if I had the time left I'd love to read her books again from start to finish!!

My reading has been all over the place since my mother died earlier in the year, but War and Peace and a number of green books have pulled me back.

I finished Rebecca West's 'Saga of the Century', and though I was concerned that it was unfinished I found much to appreciate in Cousin Rosamund

Elizabeth Taylor has never let me down, and I was very taken with In a Summer Season.

I finished reading The Misses Mallett this evening. I'm still turning it over in my mind, and I think that it isn't her best book but still there are moments when the writing and the characterisation is sublime.

I've also been looking at Virago cover paintings, and there will be a post with a number of them on my blog sometime this weekend.

Sorry about your mother Jane. I must've missed that. After my mother died I spent a year reading the life after death books in the library. I read other things too but I kept coming back to that section, looking for comfort.

I think I can squeeze one more book in this month. I feel guilty that they have all been Persephones so will look for another by a VMC author.

Finished Borderline about a week ago. Janette Turner Hospital never disappoints.

>122 SassyLassy:
I am so sorry about your mother, Jane. I too, was unaware. When I lost mine last year I was so thankful to have some good memories to focus upon. Praying your memories are wonderful and will bring you comfort.

>124 rainpebble:
I am happy that you are enjoying your Persephone, Barbara. I really need to focus on some of mine this winter. I think that I have found more consistency in mine than in my Virago.

We have had so much activity on this thread this month. You all warm my heart.

I finished Year Before Last by Kay Boyle with my morning coffee while sitting out on the back steps with my pups. So nice to enjoy the outdoors with a good book. This VMC is filled with interesting information and is steeped in the culture of schools for the very young in an early 1900 depressed area of England. I thought it quite good.

I didn't read as much as I'd hoped to this month -- I've been pretty preoccupied with a cookbook I was gifted recently, Deep Run Roots: Stories and Recipes from My Corner of the South. (The chocolate orange beet cake is especially good.) I read In This House of Brede, The Lost Traveller, The Home-Maker, and In a Summer Season. My favorite was probably The Lost Traveller, although I was really drawn in by the first half of In This House of Brede -- it just started to drag towards the middle, and the whole theme of self-renunciation didn't always sit well with me. Surprisingly was a little disappointed with In a Summer Season. I don't know why.

Does anyone listen to the Backlisted podcast? They had a really great discussion of Rosamond Lehmann's Weather in the Streets.

I finished Saraband while on holiday a slow moving thoughtful book, I really enjoyed it.

Reviewed today https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/08/28/saraband-eliot-bliss-1931/

I also read a Margaret Atwood - does it count for AV/AA - it's a virago publication though not a VMC Stone Mattress nine wicked tales absolutely outstanding.

>130 rainpebble:
Ali, you can count your Virago fiction & nonfiction as well as your VMCs & Persephones. :-)

I finished The Great Fire by VMC author Shirley Hazzard - I really enjoyed it!

>131 LisaMorr: Great to hear - I'm reading Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and published by Virago, which was a 2003 finalist for the Stonewall book award; I'm hosting the AwardCAT month on the 2017 Category Challenge thread, which includes the Miles Franklin and Stonewall awards.

Lisa, I love Sarah Waters and have read most of her body of work, a couple of them more than once. Fingersmith is quite good and was short-listed for the Orange/Bailey's Prize in 2002. Thinking back my favorite has probably been The Little Stranger.

>133 romain: I really liked The Little Stranger; the only other one I've read so far is Affinity, which I also really liked.

I just loved Greengates and reviewed it yesterday https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/book-review-r-c-sherriff-greengat... and I'm now working my way through Madame Solario although I'm having a very challenging time at work at the moment and fear I won't finish it by the end of the month / end of 20BooksOfSummer.

I read another VMC author in Persephone - Mrs. Oliphant's The Mystery of Mrs. Blencarrow. Both novellas in this book were excellent with the second one being particularly good in my view. Easy quick read and another Persephone bites the dust!

Lyzzy - I have enjoyed the two R C Sherriff's I've read and if I had read your comments earlier in the month I might've read Greengates. I have been watching a bunch of old British movies from the 30s-50s in the last few months and he is listed as the screenwriter on loads of them including Goodbye Mr. Chips, The 4 Feathers, Lady Hamilton, The Invisible Man, The Dambusters etc. Who knew?

>136 rainpebble: Yes, it's interesting that he did that, isn't it. I heartily recommend Greengates, a lovely read.

Now reading my sixth title for AV/AA The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns .

So having read books for women in translation month and other books that have fallen in my way, my AVAA tally isn't as good as some years.

So this August I managed

This Real Night by Rebecca West
The Orchid House by Phyllis Shand Allfrey
Chatterton Square by E H Young
Saraband by Eliot Bliss
Stone Mattress nine wicked tales by Margaret Atwood
The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns

>138 europhile:
I think you have done outstanding, Ali. And kudos to you for accomplishing 6 Virago what with your Women in Translation Month challenge as well. You bring a lot to our AV/AA month of reading. Thank you for participating.

I read all Persephones

Every Good Deed - Dorothy Whipple (meh)
The Home-Maker - Dorothy Canfield Fisher (great) (VMC author)
Minnie's Room - Mollie Panter-Downes (good) (VMC author)
Lady Rose and Mrs. Memmary - Ruby Ferguson (good-ish)
Into the Whirlwind - Evgenia Ginzburg (great)
To Bed With Grand Music - Marghanita Laski (great)
The Mystery of Mrs. Blencarrow - Mrs. Oliphant (good) (VMC author)

I rented the movie of Into the Whirlwind (Emily Watson as Ginzburg) from the library and might watch that tonight!

There are 11 cooking or gardening books in the Persephone collection which I will not 'read'. Apart from those I have now actually read 72 of the novels.

I have read two VMC's this month:

The Puzzleheaded Girl by Christina Stead (ok but nothing special)
An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden (very good indeed)

Also one in a non-VMC edition:

A Fugue in Time by Rumer Godden (a very interesting experiment in use of time and character which she later repeated, apparently more successfully, in China Court. I also intend to read this).

Well done with the Goddens Grant! And well done for soldiering on with the Stead. Like I said before - I finished one Stead and abandoned a second. Life is too short.

Just finished the movie of Into the Whirlwind which is called Within the Whirlwind and takes us through the entire 10 years in the gulag rather than just the first 3 in the book. Lots of amalgamated characters and whole sections missing but still very good.

Thanks, Barbara. I'm really interested in that movie (I didn't even know there was one!), and the book. I'll try to track them both down.

Gosh, well done everyone! I only managed two Viragos this month - a Colette and an Atwood, both of which I loved.

Grant - you think a book about ten years in the Gulag will be a slog but it is broken down into very very short chapters of about 5 pages each so it is easy to pick up and put down. I've read Solzhenitsyn so was expecting it to be much tougher. I have to tell you, also, that it was really life affirming.

Funnily enough our library has the movie but not the book (wrong priority in my opinion!). I will see if I can get them to order it.

>140 romain:
WOW Barbara! Seven Persephone with having read 72???? I am really impressed. (**long distance pat on the back to you**) Good on you.
I appreciate your active participation in our special month of AV/AA.

>142 kaggsy:
DITTO! Life is certainly too short to spend time on a book that one is unable to appreciate in some way.

I've been caught up with War and Peace for most of the month, but I've read four VMCs on the side:

Cousin Rosamund by Rebecca West
In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor
The Misses Mallett by E H Young
A Suspension of Mercy by Patricia Highsmith

I read a paltry 2, but that's 2 I hadn't read:
Daniel Come to Judgement by Mary Hocking (non-VMC, not her best, but good anyway)
The World My Wilderness by Rose Macaulay which I loved

Well I think you have all done marvelous.
Just waiting to read the final count & posting of each of you before I sign off on 2017's All Virago / All August. Kudos all round!

Christina Stead, The Beauties and the Furies, was my only official VMC. But for Stead-in-August, I also read The Little Hotel and The Man Who Loved Children.

For another VMC author, I reread Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea and first-time read Anne of the Island. Note that these are scheduled for VMC publication this fall. And note that Lucy Maud Montgomery is already a VMC author based on the Emily Trilogy, Jane of Lantern Hill, and Rilla of Ingleside.

So, strictly, I have one Virago for August; but I've got six if we include the other two Steads and the three of Anne with an E!.

Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes Were Watching God - done, loved

Mollie Panter-Downes - One Fine Day - done, loved

Amber Reeves – A Lady and Her Husband - done, loved

R.C. Sheriff – Greengates - done, loved

Gladys Huntingdon – Madame Solario - got part way through it but couldn't take it away for the weekend, so didn't finish it in time. Still counts though, right?

Lyzzy - a lot of books you really enjoyed. Lucky you!

>153 LyzzyBee:
Right LyzzyBee.

>154 LisaMorr: Yes, I picked well!
>155 rainpebble: That's OK then!

I finished Fingersmith, so that makes 4 for me this August:

The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

>157 Sakerfalcon:
Yea you, LisaMorr!~!

Yea all of us!~! What a terrific AV/AA.
For those of you who wish to continue posting here.......feel free. I will be back when I'm feeling better (a nasty case of bronchitis) to do a warm wrap-up.
As for myself, I am thankful that I am yet able to read if not sleeping as I am down so much. I have read They Were Sisters (wonderful) and am now reading The Friendly Young Ladies & quite enjoying it.

Here's my final review of Madame Solario, I can read other people's reviews I've saved up now! https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2017/09/07/book-review-gladys-huntingdon-mad...

>159 Heaven-Ali: I need to get this off the Tbr pile and start reading it! I think I bought my copy at our last London meetup. Thank you for including the photos in your review, they really set the scene.

>158 Limelite: Hope you feel better soon, bronchitis makes one miserable, and then it often leaves you speechless. Rest. Read. Rest. Read. Rest.

I finally reviewed my last AVAA book The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns.

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/09/10/the-vets-daughter-barbara-comyns-1959...

>162 Great review! I'm glad you've decided that Comyns is for you after all; she's one of my favourite Virago authors.

I'm mostly a lurker in this forum and I'm rather late to the party, as I'd been away from LT most of August. However, I thought I'd post anyhow and mention that I did finish 3 Viragos in August. One was Rainbow Valley by L. M. Montgomery, featuring Anne's children. Another was a non-VMC, Sarah Dunant's Birth of Venus, set in 15th century Florence, and this one I enjoyed very much.

The last is also a non-VMC, I Call Myself Feminist, a collection of short essays on feminism by 25 women under 30. The essays were of mixed quality but the book contains a large number of quotations from notable women as well. I think it would make a terrific gift book for a teen or young woman who's interested in feminist issues.