Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
#persephone
blurb
LeahBergen
The shuttle | Frances Hodgson Burnett
post image

It‘s now April so that means it‘s time for one of our #PersephoneClub reads!

@Cathythoughts ‘ pick for us this month is The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This is a casual buddy read; read and comment on each other‘s posts and reviews as you see them. We usually aim to finish by the middle of the month but that‘s not written in stone. 😉 And anyone is welcome to read along with us, of course!

Tamra I‘m so behind! 😅😅 10h
Cathythoughts Thankyou Leah. I felt a bit guilty about the length of it … so I made a little start already… I think it‘s going to be a good one 🤞🏻😬 10h
andrew61 Looking forward to it Leah although not sure when I'll start. Will be interesting as I've been aware of her children's books so like richmael Compton another writer who straddles both adult and children's fiction. 10h
See All 15 Comments
willaful I hadn't realized it was a long one, I'll get started too. 10h
Bookbuyingaddict Thank you ☺️ can‘t wait for this one ☝️ I ordered it (not Persephone ) and the type is tiny so I‘m sending that back and supporting dear old Persephone , I shall start it after Iv finished the new hunger games book 📕 much love ❤️ reading pals x. Xx 9h
daena I‘ve got my copy, starting real soon! 9h
LeahBergen @Tamra Nah. You keep to your own schedule and enjoy all your reading! 😘 7h
LeahBergen @Cathythoughts I wouldn‘t feel guilty! You‘ve inspired me to FINALLY pluck it down off my shelves. I‘ve owned it and wanted to read it for years! 😆😆 7h
LeahBergen @andrew61 And like Noel Streatfeild, too! 6h
LeahBergen @willaful It is pretty long but I bet it‘s a quick read! 6h
LeahBergen @Bookbuyingaddict The Persephone edition has nice big type. I need that, too! 😆 6h
LeahBergen @daena Yay! 👏👏 6h
Tamra @Cathythoughts long is good Cathy! 😁 6h
Tamra @LeahBergen I‘m going to start it tonight and make it a priority. It sounds good! 6h
Gissy I read Family Roundabout really like it.I‘m so behind in my reviews🤦🏽‍♀️I ordered the book so I waiting for my copy😃 2h
27 likes15 comments
review
Sparklemn
post image
Mehso-so

I saw others refer to Amy Levy as a Jewish Jane Austen. I think this is a fair comparison of the content - sitting rooms, dances, afternoon tea, manners & propriety, etc. However, the characters in the novel aren‘t as fleshed out as in an Austen novel. The writing was sparse and simple.

The P&P quote doesn‘t have anything to do with Rueben Sachs. But I didn‘t willfully misunderstand the book. 🙃

StaceGhost This is on my comps list! I want to compare it to Daniel Deronda, but I love George Eliot so much I‘m scared I‘m going to dislike it on principle 2d
36 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
Blueberry
post image

#Tuxedo. #CoverStories
I chose this because of my memories of the book. I also changed my Goodreads rating from 4⭐ to 5, also based on my still strong memories.

@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Great cover! 3w
51 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
rubyslippersreads
Family Roundabout | Richmal Crompton
post image

I loved this book. I can identify with both ladies—Mrs. Willoughby and her lists, and Mrs. Fowler “dipping into” her books. I just don‘t know how Belle got so many men to marry her. 🤷‍♀️

This is my first Richmal Crompton, but it definitely won‘t be my last.

#PersephoneClub

LeahBergen Me, too! I keep intending to read more of her novels. 4w
See All 6 Comments
tpixie I like that expression “dipping into books”! 📚 4w
JenlovesJT47 I am so far behind on most of my buddy reads, hoping to catch up soon! 4w
CarolynM I read and loved a few of her Just William books in childhood. I definitely want to read more of her adult books now. 4w
62 likes6 comments
review
sarahbarnes
Daddy's Gone A-hunting | Penelope Mortimer, Valerie Grove
post image
Pickpick

A bleak portrait of Ruth‘s life as a wife and mother. Her relationship with her daughter makes it even more clear and painful as her daughter is able to make different choices. I found this really dark and heartbreaking.

BarbaraBB Well said. I read this one recently too and it still lingers in my mind 1mo
sarahbarnes @BarbaraBB it just made me so sad. 1mo
45 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
quietjenn
Family Roundabout | Richmal Crompton
post image
Pickpick

Realizing that I never posted about the #PersephoneClub book this month, which I quite liked a lot, despite being populated with so many unlikable people 😂. But it was so compelling and, as others have observed, such a strong picture of a particular time and class. I'll certainly read more Crompton in the future.

LeahBergen Your model looks a tad cranky. 😆 1mo
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 1mo
quietjenn @LeahBergen that's just Resting Dottie Face. Which is why she is 100% my familiar. 😹 1mo
LeahBergen 😆😆 1mo
rubyslippersreads I‘m late with my review too. 4w
56 likes5 comments
review
Bookbuyingaddict
Family Roundabout | Richmal Crompton
post image
Pickpick

what a winner! Alongside highwages, to bed with grand music, the homemaker & someone from a distance this is in my favourite Persephone reads, actually I think it is my favourite. Iv tried to tag everyone in the group onto this and it wouldn‘t let me post came up with an error code … anyway the way the author captures the complexities of families , the different personalities the clashes the matriarchs of each clan -Mrs fowler & Mrs Willoughby 👇

See All 10 Comments
Bookbuyingaddict Is just wonderful writing ✍️ anyone who loves family dynamics and drama will love this, not one of them has a truly happy marriage and no particular style of parenting is correct. Belle has become one of my most hated fictional characters she is awful 😣 she‘s totally unhinged & poor Gillian! As a mother in modern day she‘d be reported to child services! It‘s also a snapshot of life between the wars in a British town, a way of life which …. 1mo
Bookbuyingaddict No longer exists. I looked up on Wikipedia the list of the authors published works , I enjoyed this so much I‘d love to read her others & I agree with @andrew61 😀very similar to my beloved cazalet chronicles - if you haven‘t read those YOU MUST they kept me going through lockdown , what a treasure trove to discover when we couldn‘t go out! Any recommendations for other similar works I‘d be very grateful ☺️ 1mo
Tamra @Bookbuyingaddict Cazalet Chronicles have been on my TBR so long! 1mo
Cathythoughts I loved the book too. I also love your photo.. pink and grey 🩷 1mo
andrew61 Great review. Yes words fail me with Belle ! 1mo
LeahBergen That Belle! I enjoyed this one so much I bought a couple of her others when I found them. I should read one soon! 😆 1mo
CarolynM Glad you enjoyed it so much😊 I read some of the Just William books in childhood, I didn‘t know she had written books for adults until I saw this one in the Persephone catalogue. I‘m looking out for others now too. 1mo
57 likes10 comments
review
andrew61
Family Roundabout | Richmal Crompton
post image
Pickpick

I very much enjoyed this inter War story of two families and the widowed matriarchs who are very different with parenting styles that put each other at odds. The story of the impact on the children who, in the end, seem lost while the g/children appear to be a thriving new generation.
@quietjenn @Tamra @CarolynM @sisilia @Caryl @daena @elkeOriginal @Gissy @Aimeesue @Bookbuyingaddict @julieclair @willaful @LeahBergen #persephoneclub ⬇️

andrew61 I loved the authors brilliant characterisation of the individual family members albeit the men are all fairly pathetic. The end scenes of Mrs fowler and Mrs Willoughby reflecting on the fact they have missed on a lifetime of friendship because of their images of each other is very poignant. There is so much in this book that I enjoyed and it felt like the cazaler chronicles may have drawn inspiration from the tale. 1mo
Cathythoughts Great review Andrew. Yes poignant that these two women missed a lifetime of friendship together, I‘ve seen this happen with in-laws in families… such a loss at the end of the day. They had so many loved ones in common. 1mo
LeahBergen Great review, Andrew! 1mo
Bookbuyingaddict Great 👍 review I‘m just finishing it now as I type : it has been my favourite ❤️ Persephone since high wages , and yes hadn‘t thought about it but compares beautifully to the wonderful cazalet chronicles. I do love a good family drama 🎭 Iv just realised it‘s one of my favourite troupes 😆 it‘s a 5star read from me- I wish some one would drown Bella 😆 in a vat of tea 🫖 1mo
49 likes4 comments
review
CarolynM
Family Roundabout | Richmal Crompton
post image
Pickpick

#PersephoneClub

I feel a bit guilty for enjoying this story so much since pretty much all the characters were unhappy one way or another. All those unhappy marriages! Did no one ever marry someone they actually liked? Widowed Mrs Fowler was the only one who seemed mostly contented, but even she was tinged with sadness about absent sons. Belle was quite a character - I thought she could be a grown up Violet Elizabeth from the Just William books 😆

LeahBergen What a great review! I didn‘t get the Just William link but it was probably too much of an interval between my readings. 😆😆 2mo
CarolynM @LeahBergen Belle was just the sort of woman I could imagine as a child threatening to “thcream and thcream and thcream til I‘m thick!” in order to get her own way🤣 2mo
BarbaraBB Great review. 2mo
See All 9 Comments
Cathythoughts Great review! All those unhappy marriages were sad to see. The way they were written was very insightful though. 2mo
Cathythoughts I did love Mrs. Willoughby‘s inclusiveness of distant relatives , and her kindness behind her ‘ Sargeant Major‘ style of leading her family. It also made me look at my own role in my family and how much, and how, I move within its orbit… (edited) 1mo
andrew61 Great review. The bit at the end when Mrs fowler and Mrs Willoughby are playing bridge and regretting their feelings towards each other was very moving. I felt I needed a book on each character particularly the g/c Jessica and Gillian. Reminded me a lot of the cazalet chronicles 1mo
LeahBergen @CarolynM Haha, yes!! 😆 1mo
MaureenMc @andrew61 Ooh, Cazalet Chronicles comparison! *stacked* 1mo
rubyslippersreads I wanted to smack Belle, and I wanted to tell Cynthia to snap out of her mooning over Arnold. 4w
76 likes2 stack adds9 comments
review
TheKidUpstairs
Still Missing | Beth Gutcheon
post image
Pickpick

Whew, what an emotional experience! When 6 year old Alex Selky goes missing on his walk to school one day, police are baffled - no one just disappears without ANY trace. As time goes by and leads dwindle, we follow his mother Susan as her determination to find him alive never falters, despite the changing attitudes of those around her.

Cont'd in comments

#AuldLangSpine @CarolynM @monalyisha

TheKidUpstairs I particularly appreciated the depiction of what happens after a case leaves the news cycle (and this was in the 80s, such a drop would happen so much quicker these days), and it is left to those who care to try and keep a case and a memory alive, as other people move on with their lives, and disinformation muddies the waters.

cont'd
2mo
TheKidUpstairs As it is from the 80s, you can expect some things to be a bit dated. I particularly felt it in the depictions of gay men. While it does strive to point out that there is no correlation between gay men and pedophilia, there is a certain scene that really clouds the line in a way that I did not feel was necessary, and did a disservice to the issue.

TW: child kidnapping, pedophilia, child physical and sexual abuse
2mo
BarbaraBB I still remember this one 2mo
See All 6 Comments
sarahbarnes This one sounds like a lot. 2mo
TheKidUpstairs @sarahbarnes it is, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to read it, considering the subject matter (I have a hard time with anything involving children in that way). But it's so engagingly written I found I couldn't put it down. I did have to skim through one part, involving discussion of a child exploration ring, but for the most part the focus is on the process for the mother and the lead detective. 2mo
CarolynM I had grave reservations about reading it for the same reasons, but I‘m glad I was brave enough to do it. I‘m also glad you “enjoyed” it. It‘s just so well done, I think. I agree about the attitude to gay men, but I think it was very prevalent at the time the book was written. I liked that the mother refused to accept that solution. 2mo
63 likes6 comments