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You'll Enjoy It When You Get There
You'll Enjoy It When You Get There: The Stories of Elizabeth Taylor | Elizabeth Taylor
5 posts | 2 read | 5 to read
Elizabeth Taylor is finally beginning to gain the recognition due to her as one of the best English writers of the postwar period, prized and praised by Sarah Waters and Hilary Mantel, among others. Inheriting Ivy Compton-Burnetts uncanny sensitivity to the terrifying undercurrents that swirl beneath the apparent calm of respectable family life while showing a deep sympathy of her own for human loneliness, Taylor depicted dislocation with the unflinching presence of mind of Graham Greene. But for Taylor, unlike Greene, dislocation began not in distant climes but right at home. It is in the living room, playroom, and bedroom that Taylor stages her unforgettable dramas of alienation and impossible desire. Taylors stories, many of which originally appeared in The New Yorker, are her central achievement. Here are self-improving spinsters and gossiping girls, war orphans and wallflowers, honeymooners and barmaids, mistresses and murderers. Margaret Drabbles new selection reveals a writer whose wide sympathies and restless curiosity are matched by a steely penetration into the human heart and mind.
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review
Tamra
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Pickpick

I am new to Taylor and I really enjoyed this short story collection. Not one that you can speed thru, so I read a couple per day. Quirky, often dreary and melancholy, but always penetrating examination of the human soul and most often that of women. Her writing reminds me of Wharton, unflinchingly razor sharp in her observations of people‘s motives, desires, conditions, etc. Reflective, not plot driven, highly recommend!

More Taylor suggestions?

BkClubCare Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont!! 5y
BkClubCare And I thought the movie just as wonderful 5y
Tamra @BkClubCare thank you! 5y
103 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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Tamra
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I prefer paper to Kindle, but I do appreciate the dictionary feature! I‘ve always intuited what a “bed-sitter” is, but was too lazy to look it up. Now I know for certain it‘s what I refer to as a “studio” apartment.

TrishB I prefer print but love that about the kindle too! 5y
Ashley_Nicoletto I read mostly on my Kindle due to convenience, but I‘ve grown so accustomed to this feature that when I do read in print sometimes I catch myself trying to tap the words in the book. 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️ 5y
Tamra @Ashley_Nicoletto 😜I‘ve done that! 5y
See All 8 Comments
Emilymdxn I never realised this, is a bed-sitter (or I guess more modern word would be bedsit) just a British word? I never totally knew what studios were but I thought they were like artist studios and really glamorous 😢 5y
Lauranahe I‘ve done that! And then feel silly for tapping on my paperback book. 5y
ferskner Yes to everything you said, and also read faster on my Kindle too. 5y
GlassAsDiamonds Hu! I did not know that is what BedSit meant! 5y
100 likes1 stack add8 comments
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Tamra
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Holiday eating has to stop sometime, but not this morning while I read. 😌

TheBookHippie I'm having puppy chow and coffee for breakfast so you go girl 😂🎄❤️📖 5y
Tamra Yay!! I found some delectable butter for banana bread and I couldn‘t resist. Puppy chow is so addicting - better just eat it all now. 😆 5y
Pogue What is puppy chow? 5y
Tamra @Pogue in my world it is Chex Mix cereal with powdered sugar & coca powder & melted butter, toss in pretzels, M&Ms, nuts, - really you can mix in anything. (edited) 5y
106 likes4 comments
review
well.read.panda
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Pickpick

I'm still really enjoying this book. This may be my favorite literary passage about a #cat. From "The Benefactress."

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well.read.panda
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Some interesting notes on living with yourself from this story's town drunk.