Welcome to Litsy!

Dear people-in-the-know,

I joined @Librarybelle ‘s #192025 challenge, and thought I might actually do a little bit of planning. That went as well as expected.

The first book I wanted to put on the list was Mapp & Lucia (the book, not the series). StoryGraph insists it was originally published in 1912 (Yay! Time travel! Uh, no.), Wikipedia says 1931. My copy says 1935.

Would anyone like to declare an official publication date?

Thank you 😊

Afternoon sun 🌞, Lucia 💖, St. Clements cocktail 🍊🍸🍋, un po-di-mu (a little Mozartino) 🎼: how delightfully civilized! 🧐

Rereading Mapp and Lucia 💗
I first read this prior to reading the books earlier in the series, and as enjoyable as they are, they did feel like preludes to this one, in which the two self-imagined queens of their separate social circles finally come within each other's orbits: When (Bourgeois) World's Collide! 🌍💥🌏 😄

#20Series20Days. Day Thirteen

I loved the Mapp and Lucia series (and how much would it bother Lucia that it isn‘t the Lucia and Mapp series)! 😂

Day 8 of #20Series20Days.

I know I just recently posted about these books but no list of my favourite series would be complete without Mapp and Lucia. 💜💙💚

#Top20Series
#FolioSociety

Congrats on the great big Litfluence, @Lizpixie ! 🎉🎉🎉🎉

It‘s always so hard for me to choose favourite books (and even genres!) but here goes...

1. Books About Books: 84, Charing Cross Road
2. Vintage Children‘s Lit: Anne of Green Gables
3. Middlebrow British Fiction Set in the Interwar Years: Mapp and Lucia

Thanks for the fun giveaway, Liz! 😘😘
#Lizpixies3x3Giveaway

I 💗Mapp and Lucia!
Thanks to @Reviewsbylola and her influence, I decided to go on eBay and treat myself to the whole set published by Folio in 1994. 😁

Thanks for the fun idea! @Cinfhen

These are my #top6reads of 2019 so far. I‘ve read a lot of great books in 2019, but these six were obvious favorites.

Miss Mapp reigns supreme over Tilling‘s polite social circles. But when the formidable Lucia (‘Queen Lucia‘) moves to the village, will she be able to #GetOutTheMap(p) and take her rightful place at the head of Tilling society?. (That so nearly works. I thought the hashtag was #GetTheMapOut. Oh well!)

I LOVED the first two of these books. Haven‘t read this yet. The characters are all so AWFUL! 😂😂😂

#lilithjuly

Reading Envy Podcast Episode 155: Music Reading Recommendations with Thomas.

Thomas and Jenny huddle up in the music nerd corner of the pub, trading recommendations for books that include music in all the best ways. We start out with a few non-fiction titles then move into novels.

https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy155

E F Benson is brilliant. This was the perfect book to accompany my English holiday- especially touring a few villages in the Cotswolds that allowed me to picture the small streets of Tilling. Lucia and Georgie are friendship goals 🙌🏻 and their petty feuds with Miss Mapp amused until the last page. I plan on collecting the rest of this series ASAP!!

Reading M&L together in bed. One wasn‘t so pleased about the photo op. 😂

What a fun book! Written in the 1930‘s, this satirical look at country life in a small English village has many laughs. Miss Mapp and Miss Lucia are always looking for a way to one up each other in order to be the Queen Bee of the village. I loved finishing this by the fire in the English countryside and now I need to read the rest of this series. 💗

A little bit of diversion for the train ride from London to Honiton. We picked Mapp and Lucia for our family book club in honor of our trip to the UK. We highly recommend!

Map & Lucia go together like Gin & Tonic!
Enjoying a little down time on the train to Honiton 🚂

M&L reads just like a Persephone book. I loved the rivalry between Elizabeth Mapp and Lucia and hung on to every word, even laughing out loud. The book itself made it easy to forget there were no page numbers. 😂

I truly don‘t know that I‘ve ever read a book without page numbers, but I‘ll tell you, I CAN‘T LIVE LIKE THIS!! Why?!?!?!?!?

Would this irritate anyone else or is it just me?

When the indomitable Lucia moves to Miss Mapp‘s village of Tilling, there‘s bound to be a whole lot of #YouAndMeButMostlyMe . Both ladies are charming, cultured and experts in the fine art of social oneupmanship. 😼😼🧁

#musicalnewyear

/qo

#QuoteOfTheDay

Even though I just read it a year ago, I am re-reading Mapp and Lucia now as a buddy read with @LeahBergen - loving it even more (hardly thought it possible) the second time around!

#QuoteOfTheDay

I‘m starting this today for a “chapter-a-day” buddy read with the darling @shawnmooney .

(Please note the timely and celebratory bookmark 🤣).

#FolioSociety

There is a certain amount which I shan't mention publicly," Elizabeth said. "Things about Lucia which I should never dream of stating openly."
"Those are just the ones I should like to hear about most," said Diva. "Just a few little titbits."
#gossip

Delightful; amusing; gentle comedy of manners: while accurate descriptors, make this sound twee and dated, which is far from the truth. Gossipy, waspish and, at times, malignant are also accurate, and go more to the heart of the humour. There is a well-observed cast of satellite characters, notably Lucia's best friend, the endearing Georgie Pilling, the only person of steadfast and unwavering loyalty amongst the two main combatants' followers.

Mr. Georgie is definitely Lucia's #cheerleader even if very occasionally if sticks his foot out to trip her!
#fiercefeb photo challenge 👍
@batsy @Cinfhen

Two ladies, with claws, who know how to use them in their scrambles to the top of the social tree. And, once there, to cling on for dear life! (Getting down again could be a problem 😼)

I read the first 2 in this series last year, and absolutely loved them. They were written in the 1920s & 30s, and have made me decide it's about time I gave the #192019 challenge ago, to see what else I've been missing.

#shesgotclaws @Cinfhen @TrishB

Another wonderful Christmas gift. 💕💕

#FolioSociety

Sigh. What an absolutely perfect book. I broke my rule of reading only 1 of 13 chapters a day so I could savor it...but I marched through the last third of the book beginning at 10 pm. The lengths and oneupmanship these ladies go to to dominate the village of Tilling was amazing! And ending on such a cliffhanger! 📮📮📮📮📮

Decided to add this to my nightstand books tonight, and after the first chapter am so glad I did! I adore this series, but because I don‘t want it to end, I‘ve read a book about every 3-4 years! This is book 4 of 6. Am I the only one who does that? I‘ve decided to make 2018 the year I read 5-star predictions year round! #currentlyreading

#PublishedInThe1930s
#UncannyOctober

So @MrBook brought it to everyone's attention that @shawnmooney has a booktube channel. And can I just say it is DELIGHTFUL! Just when I thought I couldn't put another book on my radar - he starts talking about this book. Well done, friend 😀👏👏Y'all need to get in on this because he is an excellent reviewer. The link is: https://youtu.be/IED2_WwgDeI

I'm starting the tag #EclipseLit because I am curious about any literature that includes, for example, a scene or premise involving one. Or, a figurative eclipse. I can't for the life of me think of a literal eclipse in fiction, but figuratively speaking Lucia certainly eclipses Mapp in this wonderful novel I read recently!

Curious to hear about other literal or figurative #EclipseLit!

This is a fabulous book with absurdly realistic and endearingly unlikeable characters. Their small, sheltered world is portrayed with both wit and magnanimity. I think to live in Mapp & Lucia's world would be "tarsome" indeed, but I sure did enjoy reading about (and chuckling at) the ridiculous day-to-day lives of the residents of Tilling.

Please see @shawnmooney 's lovely review for a more deft assessment!

I think Mapp has cracked it. The best way to turn around a disappointing Christmas is...bacon! 🥓

Today we went to Rye so I could go and see Mapp and Lucia's house. It wasn't open (don't ask), but I saw it and we wandered happily around Rye for a couple of hours. So lovely.

"Lucia gave him one of those glances behind which lurked so much purpose, which no doubt would be disclosed at the proper time. The bees were astir once more in the hive, and presently they would stream out for swarmings or stingings or honey-harvesting. . . . It was delightful to see her looking like that again."

Well, it looks like my evening plans have been made.

A charming, witty novel from 1935. Lucia, a beautiful young widow, moves to a Sussex village long dominated by the spinster Miss Mapp; their battle for social supremacy pulsates with refined vindictiveness that—no shame here—delighted me, several times to the point of squealing aloud. Amid the hilarity, I thought differently and deeply about things like nicknaming, pet expressions and "home". I loved this a thousand times more than expected.