Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR List

After finishing the massive Wives and Daughters I'm somewhat between books at the moment. I did just start something a couple of days ago,but this seems as good a time as any to make another list. Spring break is less than two weeks away and I do plan to get a lot of reading done. Here's what I'm hoping to finish this spring:

1. Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather. I'm only about 50 pages in to this novella, one of Cather's last works. It's about a young musician living in Chicago which is also the setup for her 1915 novel The Song of the Lark. This one was published 20 years later so it will be interesting to compare the two.

2.  One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes. Chosen randomly for me by the Classics Club Spin. I've heard wonderful things about this novella, set just after the end of WWII. Also it's blessedly short, since I have some really chunky books on this list.

3. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. On my TBR Pile Challenge list. It's about 700 pages long and I've heard it's wonderful. I've wanted to read it since 2014 when there were lots of great lists of books about WWI.

4. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym. I've only got two Pym works left before I've finished all her books. This one fits in with Simon's 1977 Club which should be sometime in April if I remember correctly!

5. Miss Boston and Miss Hargreaves by Rachel Malik. I don't read much current fiction but bloggers seem to love this book. On a recent trip to Paris I picked this up at Shakespeare and Company.

6 One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens. The follow-up to One Pair of Hands, Monica Dickens' memoir of working as a nurse in WWII. Also purchased at Shakespeare and Company, they also have used books. This one was a bargain at only 6 euros.

7. Babylon Berlin by Volker Kutscher. I was absolutely gripped by the TV adaptation of this historical crime series, set in Berlin during the wars. It's streaming on Netflix and if you haven't seen it, you should drop everything and WATCH THIS. I'm trying really hard not to buy any more books but I broke down and ordered a copy online. I suspect I'll get hooked on the series and have to buy all of them as soon as they're translated into English.

8. The Lacquer Lady by F. Tennyson Jesse. Another book from the TBR Pile Challenge, it's Virago Modern Classic about a young woman who goes to Burma in the 1880s. I thought it would work nicely for Asian Pacific Heritage Month in May.

9. A Love Story by Emile Zola. It's been a while since I read a Zola novel but Fanda at Fanda Classiclit is hosting Zoladdiction in April, in honor of Zola's birthday. I got a lovely new translation from the nice people at Oxford World's Classics so this would be a good time to read it.

10. The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott. This is on my list as a possible read for the Back to the Classics Challenge (it squeaks in just under the wire as a 20th Century Classic). There's a free digital audio download on Overdrive from my library so this is a win-win!

Bloggers, have you read (or listened to) any of these? And what's on your to-read list for spring?

My Top Ten Persephones

After reading all the Persephone Readathon posts this weekend, it occurred to me that I've never made a list of my Top Ten Persephones -- seems like the perfect time for this list! I've read more than 80 of the 125 Persephones titles so far and I think I have 18 owned-and-unread on my shelves. I've reviewed most of them and if you click on the titles it will link you to my reviews. I don't own all of them but I wish I did!

In alphabetical order by author, since I really love them all too much for an actual ranking:

Endpaper from the Persephone edition of The Casino

The Casino by Margaret Bonham. One of the excellent short story collections. I don't read short stories very often but I remember these were all excellent and I was prompted to track down more of her work via ILL.

Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton. Charming story about an extended family between the wars, with two competing matriarchs. I know Crompton is famous for the William books but I'd love to read more of her adult fiction. I don't know of any others that are currently in print.

The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Wonderful story of a family in the 1920s. After a terrible accident, the parents are forced to change roles. It's a really interesting look at family dynamics and gender roles. Also one of the few Persephones by American authors.

Endpapers from the Persephone edition of The Village

A London Child of the 1870s by Molly Hughes. Funny and charming nonfiction memoir of a childhood in suburban London by a woman with four older brothers, the first of three volumes (the others aren't published by Persephone but I've since bought the combined edition which is out of print, though used copies are readily available.

The Village by Marghanita Laski. My favorite of the Laski titles available from Persephone, set just after the end of WWII. It's about two families and how the social class structure was changing.

Endpapers of the Persephone edition of Dimanche and Other Stories

Dimanche and Other Stories by Irene Nemirovsky. My first introduction to Nemirovsky, who was rediscovered about ten years ago with the publication of Suite Francaise (also wonderful). Brilliant short stories by a French writer who was tragically arrested and transported to Auschwitz, where she died.

Endpapers from the Persephone edition of Doreen

Doreen by Barbara Noble. Another wonderful domestic story set during WWII. Doreen is a nine-year old girl and her mother, a widowed charwoman, struggles with the decision to evacuate her to a small village to live with an upper-class couple who grow to love Doreen as their own child. The book expertly shows how all the adults love her and how Doreen becomes torn between them.

Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson. A charming story about a spinster who writes a satirical novel about her village neighbors, and how her life changes with the her surprising literary success.

Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson. My very first Persephone read and one of their most popular titles, it's a Cinderella story about a down-and-out nanny who becomes the social secretary to a flighty nightclub singer due to a mix-up at an employment agency.

Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple. I could have picked almost any one of the Whipple titles in the Persephone catalog for this list, or more than one. But Someone at a Distance is a great domestic story about a seemly perfect upper-middle class British family and how the family quickly falls to pieces. Not a lot of action, but really well-drawn, realistic characters.

Bloggers, which are your favorite Persephones? 

Top Ten Tuesday: Retro Book Covers

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is all about the book covers. One of my favorite themes the past few years have been retro-styled book covers. I've noticed that quite a few of them seem to reproductions of classic travel posters, or in a similar style. Here are some reprints from Virago by Winifred Holtby that I just love.

Then there's this one by Vita Sackville-West. I actually liked the cover more than the book.

And I am absolutely drooling over this new series of British Library Crime Classics. I want to buy all of them for the covers alone. I couldn't resist buying a couple of these on my recent vacation, though I've yet to read any of them yet. Not all of them are travel-themed but here are some highlights:

And how about these beautiful reprints of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire series from Virago?

Not quite so travel-inspired, as I think they're all set in the same village, but they do have that lovely retro quality. I think these are modern illustrations but I still love them. I've picked up quite a few Thirkells at library sales and used book shops, though I've yet to read any of them (I want to finish the Pallisers and the Poldark novels before I start the twenty-nine books in Thirkell's series!) 

Most of my Thirkells are Moyer-Bell editions but it's tempting to buy all the Viragos! Which I suppose is their intent, isn't it? I think publishers are working harder to create beautiful books to collect, maybe to offset the ebook sales? Bloggers, what book covers can you just not resist?