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Square Haunting
Square Haunting: Five Lives in London Between the Wars | Francesca Wade
25 posts | 6 read | 20 to read
A beautiful and deeply moving book.Sally Rooney, author of Normal People An engrossing group portrait of five women writers, including Virginia Woolf, who moved to Londons Mecklenburgh Square in search of new freedom in their lives and work. I like this London life . . . the street-sauntering and square-haunting.Virginia Woolf, diary, 1925 In the early twentieth century, Mecklenburgh Squarea hidden architectural gem in the heart of Londonwas a radical address. On the outskirts of Bloomsbury known for the eponymous group who lived in squares, painted in circles, and loved in triangles, the square was home to students, struggling artists, and revolutionaries. In the pivotal era between the two world wars, the lives of five remarkable women intertwined at this one address: modernist poet H. D., detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, classicist Jane Harrison, economic historian Eileen Power, and author and publisher Virginia Woolf. In an era when womens freedoms were fast expanding, they each sought a space where they could live, love, andabove allwork independently. With sparkling insight and a novelistic style, Francesca Wade sheds new light on a group of artists and thinkers whose pioneering work would enrich the possibilities of womens lives for generations to come.
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Leftcoastzen
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#bookmail is the best mail ! The tagged book is definitely a blame it on Litsy ! Browsing the books I found the The Hanging on Union Square, looked fascinating,to me anyway!

batsy Nice finds! Tagged book has been on my TBR for awhile. The other one looks really interesting. 1y
Leftcoastzen @batsy yep! The descriptions of Hanging hits a lot of my interests!😁In the back there are a couple of great Asian related books that Penguin is reprinting , I read years ago but got them back in the day from a university press . 1y
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LeahBergen Square Haunting is waiting on my shelves, too. 🙄 @batsy 1y
TrishB I enjoyed Square Haunting 👍🏻 1y
Leftcoastzen @TrishB your review was one of the reasons I wanted to add it to the TBR mountain.😁 1y
batsy @Leftcoastzen Thanks! I haven't heard of No-no Boy and it's been added to the list. I've been meaning to read America Is in the Heart since I read Elaine Castillo's wonderful novel, which she framed as a kind of response to Bulosan's book 1y
Leftcoastzen @batsy that‘s one I need to get to. 1y
TrishB Cool 👍🏻 1y
44 likes9 comments
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jlhammar
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One of my favorite reads from 2020. See comments for short video with Wade talking about the book from Mecklenburgh Square.

#OminousOctober #Haunted
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eggs ❤️ ✍🏻 🖤 1y
Kimzey Your recommendation plus video makes me want to read this! I‘ll add it to my ever-growing stack. Beautiful park! (edited) 1y
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batsy I have this on my TBR. Thanks for sharing the clip. 1y
Leftcoastzen Wow , thanks for the clip !I have been remiss in not adding book to my TBR . I have an obsession with private parks , stayed at the Gramercy Park hotel mostly so I could get in the park! 😁 1y
LeahBergen This is waiting on my shelves. 👍 1y
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TrishB
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Pickpick

A feminist overview of five non conforming women living in a London square in the first half of the 20 century (not at the same time).Some more famous than others but all trying desperately to be independent.
Enjoyed this 👍🏻

charl08 Oh I really liked this one. Ended up buying my own copy! 2y
TrishB @charl08 yes I can see why! 2y
Cathythoughts Sounds good. Stacked 👍🏻♥️ 2y
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jenniferw88
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Pickpick

4.75 ⭐

Not sure if it was me (tired easily atm), or the book but for some parts I kept drifting off. However, I did learn about H D, Jane Harrison & Eileen Power so still a pick.

#2020 #192025 @Librarybelle

Do you think I could use it for #nonpatriarchalsociety #pop22 #booked2022? Some of the women did get married but the emphasis is very much 'A Room of One's Own'. @Cinfhen @squirrelbrain @Kalalalatja @Cortg @Laughterhp @Megabooks @KarenUK

Cinfhen Yes!!! I think that‘s a clever choice 🤓 2y
charl08 Wonderful book. 2y
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Librarybelle This is on my to read list! 2y
squirrelbrain Great choice for the prompt! 2y
Cortg This sounds fascinating! I would totally use it for the prompts! 2y
KarenUK I‘m totally stealing this idea! 💕 2y
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jenniferw88
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#twofortuesday @TheSpineView

Every time I read Harry Potter I discover something new!

Nonfiction, women's history, London

Tagging @Cinfhen @sprainedbrain @squirrelbrain @RaeLovesToRead @PuddleJumper

Cinfhen Thanks for tagging me Jenny xxx 2y
RaeLovesToRead Thanks for the tag! 😁 I did this one earlier 😊 2y
squirrelbrain Thanks for the tag! 2y
41 likes3 comments
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Jess_Read_This
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🎄Christmas Haul Part One with a distinct Bloomsbury theme. I recently bought an annotated Mrs. Dalloway so have some Woolf 2022 reading goals.

Has anyone read either of these? I‘d love to hear your thoughts/reviews on them.

#christmasbooks #bookhaul #virginiawoolf #bloomsbury

elkeOriginal From the Servants description: “That room of Woolf's own was kept clean by a series of cooks and maids” - OUCH! 2y
elkeOriginal The Servants book looks fascinating! 2y
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Jess_Read_This @elkeOriginal That‘s been one on my radar this past year. It sounds super interesting! 2y
TrishB I have the tagged one but not read yet! 2y
Augustdana Really enjoyed square haunting, have to check out the other book!! 2y
jlhammar Square Haunting is very good. Enjoy! 2y
Jess_Read_This @jlhammar and @Augustdana I‘m so glad to hear it‘s a good one! I was pretty excited to finally get it. It‘s been on my book radar all year too. Thanks for reaffirming to me it‘s a good one. 2y
Jess_Read_This @TrishB Lol- that‘s the story of my life! I have many tagged books but they sit waiting for me to get to them! 2y
Librarybelle Square Haunting is on my to read list…they both look so good! 2y
Jess_Read_This @Librarybelle I thought so too! I love a good below stairs kind of book, so am very intrigued on the Woolf one. And Square Haunting just sounds fascinating to me. 2y
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AnneCecilie
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Pickpick

Mecklenburgh Square, Bloomsbury (London). The interwar years. A time and a place bursting with intellectuals and authors. Wade focuses her attention on five of its residents: H. D., Dorothy L. Sayers, Jane Ellen Harrison, Eileen Power and Virginia Wolf. Apart from Wolf I hadn‘t heard about any of these. In their own ways they all defied the Victorian notion of the woman as “the Angel of the house”. They were authors and travelers and professors.

AnneCecilie I loved learning about these women. I‘m even on the waiting list at the library for Sayers debit crime “Whose Body?” and was pleasantly surprised that there was actually was a waiting list. Karl Eric Anderson made a video on his YouTube channel about this book walking around the square and his enthusiasm made me want to read this. 3y
LeahBergen Oh, I‘ll have to watch that video when I get to this book. 👍 3y
66 likes2 comments
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JenniferP
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I‘m just starting this and think it‘s going to be just my kind of book.

TrishB Oh I have this one on my tbr! 3y
rubyslippersreads This looks great! 3y
batsy I really want to read this! 3y
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charl08
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I didn't know this. How scary.

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charl08
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I now have an ear worm

# Always find me in the kitchen at parties...🎉😂🎤

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charl08
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You cannot unroll that snowball...
Fascinating collective bio - Jane Harrison, a classics scholar I'd never heard of before.

Cathythoughts Love the snowball image ✨ 3y
Blackink_WhitePaper Nice quote 💐👍 3y
charl08 @Cathythoughts isn't it lovely? 3y
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charl08 @Blackink_WhitePaper one of those people I want to know more about now! 3y
Moray_Reads Brilliant analogy 3y
charl08 @Moray_Reads I love this book. ❤ 3y
44 likes1 stack add6 comments
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charl08
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Extremely short, with wide-rimmed horn glasses, Alexei Remizov spoke in a friends primarily remembered his mischievous grin. Occasionally he wore a wizard's hat he had fashioned himself, and he was known to leave the house with a monkey's tail protruding from a slit in his jacket. Harrison.... was fascinated by his work.

(Illustration by Remizov from the web)

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charl08

Sayers never expected Gaudy Night to achieve commercial success. Whether you advertise it as a love-story, or as educational propaganda, or as a lunatic freak, I leave to you,' wrote Sayers to her publisher, Victor Gollancz.

One of my favourite books.

charl08 Tempted now to reread... 3y
33 likes1 comment
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charl08

Cournos didn't want to marry Sayers, and told her as much; but he let it be known that he wanted to have sex, using protection. Sayers had qualms...

Interesting to hear the RL inspiration (I am assuming) to Harriet Vane's first beau.

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Augustdana
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I‘m on one of the final chapters of this book, and it‘s been a delightful read. I‘ve got my tea and I‘m wearing pants! Actual pants! It‘s a cool and clear 20 Celsius, and just the loveliest evening.

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Augustdana
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Happy weekend! Two of my favourite things are London and Virginia Woolf.

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kspenmoll
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#indie #supportindiebookstores #indiect
#Indiebookshop #RJJuliaBooksellers #bookmail
#MarvelousMay #gratitude #keeplitsypositive

I splurged and supported one of my CT indie bookshops, RJJulia Booksellers. My package was accompanied by a thoughtful postcard of thanks. It also arrived quickly! Suare Haunting was featured on their website- looked right up my alley to be clicheish (made up word?). 📚😁

JoScho Yay for new books and supporting Indies 🖤🤗 4y
Crazeedi Nice!👍💖 4y
55 likes2 comments
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Verity
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Also on offer on kindle - Q9.98 - and I was in as soon as it said group biography of women in London between the wars, even before I read that one of them was Dorothy L Sayers!

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charl08
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Thinking about how the women saw themselves before success was assured.

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charl08
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Opening to this book about #VirginiaWoolf and #DorothySayers and their counterparts.

Augustdana OH MY GOD! This checks off a lot of my interests. 4y
39 likes1 comment
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Booksnchill
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A small Book Depository “haul”. Square Haunting is a group biography about 5 women who lived in Mecklenburgh Square near Bloomsbury- H.D. The poet, Dorothy L. Sayers, Jane Ellen Harrison classicist and translator, Eileen Power historian Broadcaster and pacifist and Virginia Woolf. Hope this is as good as it sounds.

Suet624 Sounds great! 4y
LeahBergen I just recently ordered Square Haunting, too. 👍🏻 4y
Booksnchill @LeahBergen this hardbach is beautiful- the design is printed on the cover! 4y
Booksnchill @Suet624 It did to me as well! 4y
64 likes4 comments
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charl08
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I gave up my subscription.
Still sell it in the supermarket, though...

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REPollock
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Pickpick

This unusual book feels a bit like psychogeographical biography. The author takes a specific location--Mecklenburgh Square in London--as the structural conceit to write what amounts to five mini-biographies about famous (or once-famous/now-lost) women writers, artists, activists, and revolutionaries in the early 20th c. If you enjoy deeply researched biography, this is "Five for the price of one." Received a #netgalley copy for an honest review.

Suet624 I would love to meet the woman in the photo. Is that the author? 4y
REPollock @Suet624 it‘s one of the women in the book, poet Hilda Doolittle! 4y
Suet624 Thanks! 4y
batsy I'm so keen to read this one! 4y
23 likes1 stack add4 comments
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REPollock
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Next #netgalley ARC!

21 likes1 stack add
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REPollock
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Next ebook from #netgalley - the prologue has already sucked me in!

BarbaraTheBibliophage Are they slippers or just slippery?? 😂😂 Actually, they‘re so creative and gorgeous! 4y
REPollock @BarbaraTheBibliophage they really are a-peeling! 🍌😂 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Hahaha — good one! 😂😂 4y
20 likes4 comments