2021 Virago Salon

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2021 Virago Salon

1bleuroses
Redigeret: jan 3, 2021, 5:48 pm



Welcome to the new Virago Salon for 2021!

After our lovely festive season, here's a thread for general conversation, bookish news, recommendations, links to your blogs or
anything else you'd like to share.

Here's to a better New Year for us all! 💚📚

2kaggsy
jan 4, 2021, 4:21 pm

Thank you for creating such a lovely bookish nook for us to hide in, Cate. We have just gone back into lockdown again in the uk so books will be an essential refuge again...

3bleuroses
jan 4, 2021, 5:12 pm

Oh Karen, I just heard. Scotland too. Sadly, it looks like things will get worse before they get better. Thank goodness for books and vegan cheese! 😉

4kaggsy
jan 4, 2021, 5:19 pm

>3 bleuroses: indeed! 🤣🤣

5mrspenny
jan 5, 2021, 2:43 am

>1 bleuroses: Thanks Cate - A cosy salon to escape to...

>4 kaggsy: It certainly looks grim for you at present - very wisely your PM announced that your schools will be closed until mid February. That is a most welcome move, no doubt.

I feel so much for the health professionals who are doing an outstanding job under the most difficult of circumstances.
It is always devastating to lose a patient but to lose several on each shift must be taking an enormous toll on their psychological and emotional health as well as physically.

6spiralsheep
jan 5, 2021, 5:26 am

>1 bleuroses: Thank you for the salon. Please direct me to the fainting couch!

>5 mrspenny: I'm sure the lockdown is "wise" but I'm not convinced our Prime Minister qualifies for the word. And, yes, I agree with you about keeping all our health professionals and care home workers in mind. The physical and mental stress on them day after day, week after week, and month after month are dreadful.

Let's hope the vaccine rollout goes well (around the whole world, I hope).

7Sakerfalcon
jan 6, 2021, 7:34 am

>1 bleuroses: Thank you for creating such a comfortable space for us! I think we all need a cosy retreat and good company at the moment.

8lippincote
jan 6, 2021, 8:50 am

I have that same picture on my Pinterest board Cate!!!

Stay well everyone. Things are quiet here in my New Jersey backwater, so I'm not complaining. Along with the rest of you, my admiration for our healthcare workers is off the charts these days. Let's hope we never take them for granted again.

9bleuroses
jan 6, 2021, 1:08 pm

Here's an event I think many of us are interested in - and Alison just read Beauman's book, A Very Great Profession.

Conversation: A Bookstore of One's Own: The Making of Persephone Books
Nicola Beauman in conversation with Mary Warnement

https://www.bostonathenaeum.org/events/7290/virtual-event-conversation-bookstore...

10lippincote
feb 16, 2021, 9:42 am

Just checking in with the group. I look every day but seldom post because I am just not reading. Anything. The last thing was an audio of a Michael Connelly. I always imagined that I would use something like a Pandemic to knock out all those tough books I've been avoiding. But, for me at least, it's been the exact opposite. I want only to be entertained.

I am currently deep into Call My Agent on Netflix. It's all in French (with subtitles) and I had hoped I could follow along without the subtitles. Not! In one episode, the 34 year old, tough as nails agent is stuck in her parents' house in some boring provincial town. Over breakfast, her mother poo poos her daughter's illustrious career and suggests that it is still not too late to sit for the civil service exam.

This made me laugh out loud. My parents to the life! :)

11mrspenny
feb 16, 2021, 4:56 pm

>10 lippincote:: Have you read Miss Benson’s Beetle? I found it totally entertaining.

12kaggsy
feb 17, 2021, 5:34 am

Hi everyone,

I am still here too, and reading up a storm though oddly not any Viragos recently. However, I have the latest Nancy Spain they released which was part of my VSS (thank you Alvaret!!) and it's calling strongly so I hope to get to it soon.

Hope everyone is staying safe and well. We are still locked down in the UK and have also just had some nasty snowy weather (which seems to have passed). Have seen how bad things are in parts of the USA at the moment so hope everyone is fine!

Karen

13lippincote
Redigeret: feb 17, 2021, 9:33 am

Trish - they have it in my library - on audio as well. I read the synopsis and it sounds great! Can't do anything today because I'm at my volunteer job but tomorrow is snowing all day - dreadful weather here in NJ as well. I can download it tomorrow when I'm stuck inside. Thank you!

14lippincote
feb 19, 2021, 9:11 am

Trish - I went in to borrow it and there are 4 holds ahead of me on the audio and 8 on the book. So, alas, i didn't begin it yesterday. But I'm in line! Thank you!

15alvaret
feb 19, 2021, 2:44 pm

I'm still here and still reading. So far I have read three of my VSS gifts, Midnight is a place, Poor Caroline and Q's legacy, and have enjoyed all of them, thanks Lisa!

There's been snow here too, but only of the nice kind, it is finally enough of it so that I can ski on the field right outside, very convenient. Unfortunately it will probably melt next week.

Otherwise most things remain open around here, although other parts of Norway have harder restrictions. To me the greatest strain is really the border restrictions, not that I have any intention of travelling, but being potentially unable to in case of an emergency, even with quarantine and all precautions, makes me feel desperately far from my family.

16spiralsheep
Redigeret: feb 19, 2021, 3:30 pm

I'm enjoying the opening paragraph of the book I'm reading, which wasn't published by Virago but was definitely written by one. The pen name "Soltera" = Spinster in this context:

IT was the question of pounds, shillings, and pence. Should I take steamer from San Francisco to Panama, cross the isthmus, and from the Atlantic side enter Spanish Honduras? Or had I better travel by steamer as far as Amapala, and thence take mules and ride across the country to San Pedro Sula - my destination - a distance of about two hundred and nineteen miles? Thus was perplexed the mind of your globe-trotting servant "Soltera", as she pored over railway and steamboat guides and calculated expenses, in her comfortable but very costly bedroom in the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, in the month of June, in year of grace 1881.


Spoiler: she chose the longer cheaper mule trek.

I'm missing travelling less by reading around the world.

17bleuroses
Redigeret: feb 20, 2021, 7:24 pm

So nice to see everyone! I've missed seeing everyone here after our holiday celebrations.

>11 mrspenny: I haven't read this, Trish, but I really loved The Music Shop. Barbara, you might like that one as well!
Miss Benson's Beetle is on my list.

>16 spiralsheep: Great opening! What's the name of the book?

Speaking of armchair travel, I've been reading Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy in a read-a-long on Twitter and really loving it. Not just the book - which is so good - but also having a reading timeline to adhere to. The discipline of reading a certain amount of pages has really worked for me. Over the past year, my reading was haphazard and I found myself squandering the time that I could've/should've been reading.

On another note, I broke my big toe! I was taking out Orph, our senior, blind dachshund, and slipped on the deck. It just rained (which is a rarity!) and I hadn't considered a slippery surface. I'm back to work, but still wearing the protective shoe. Philip has been a dear and has taken over the grocery shopping. It's amazing how debilitating a broken toe can be. I'm happy with my extra couch time though!

Edited to add that we got our first jab! Our second is scheduled for early March. It was complete serendipity as our county is vaccinating only 65 and over. Last Sunday, we were at the pharmacy when Philip randomly inquired. The pharmacist said that he had a cancellation and did we want it. Well, heck yes! He went on to say that if it went unused, it would be discarded, and what mattered was making sure that it wasn't wasted. Lucky us!

18mrspenny
feb 20, 2021, 8:11 pm

>14 lippincote: Barbara, I didn't realize you had changed your LT name until recently.
Miss Benson is worth waiting for.

You might also enjoy Dear Mrs Bird by A. J. Pearce

I have been reading Kopp Sisters series by Amy Stewart which I have also enjoyed and have just finished Book 3 {Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions. You might enjoy those books as they are set in early 20th century and based on real figures. There was a mention of "Mrs Wharton the novelist" in Midnight Confessions.

>17 bleuroses: Cate - sorry to hear about your injury - it is so easy to do. Hope the toe is mending satisfactorily. You were lucky to be in the right place at the right time to receive the vaccine.
Rollout of the vaccine starts here tomorrow.

I have booked The Music Shop at the library. Miss Brauchmann sounds a little like Miss Benson, who is a really lovable character.

19spiralsheep
Redigeret: feb 21, 2021, 10:45 am

>17 bleuroses: Sorry to hear about your toe. Ouch!

The intrepid spinster was Maria Soltera, a pseudonym of Mary Lester, and the book is A Lady's Ride Across Spanish Honduras (1884).

>18 mrspenny: I'm quite picky about historical fiction but I also enjoyed Dear Mrs Bird, for the plucky girl's own writing style as well as the characters and plot.

20lippincote
feb 21, 2021, 10:34 am

Thx for all the suggestions ladies. I will follow through on them.

Trish - I didn't choose to change my name. Something happened on my computer and I lost LT. When I got it up again I couldn't find 'Romain', and nor could the LT people. So I started from scratch. I still don't know what I did to lose it.

Cate - the Manning trilogies are on my top ten books of all time. And anyone who walks a dog can empathize with your injury. I've slipped several times and my dog pulled me flat on my face, twice.

As for the vaccine - no sign of it here yet. I'm in the over 65 group and only one of my friends has received it. She travelled about an hour from home to get it, and will have to go back to the same place to get her second. I'm registered all over the place locally, but nothing!

I really have squandered a lot of reading time during this pandemic. I painted my house from top to bottom, and I've been exercising daily, but - unfortunately - I never got round to learning a second language or writing the great American novel.

21lauralkeet
feb 21, 2021, 1:01 pm

>17 bleuroses: so sorry about your toe, Cate. I'm glad Orph is still hanging in there though!

>20 lippincote: Barbara, I've been more of a lurker in this group of late and love your "new" LT handle. When I first noticed it, I could tell from your posts you weren't a new member of the group but your profile gave me enough clues to remember you as "romain." Weirdly, when I search LT for "romain" I can even find your library. It's strange that you can't get access to it.

---

I've been rubbish at reading Viragoes and Persephones, despite having a large quantity unread on my shelves. One of these days I'll get back to them. I should probably start with a favorite author.

22bleuroses
feb 21, 2021, 3:12 pm

Thanks so much for the well wishes! 💝

>21 lauralkeet: So nice to see you here, Laura - and Happy Belated Birthday! Orph is still hanging in there to be sure - he turned 16 last month!

>20 lippincote: Have you read the Levant Trilogy? We're doing a read-a-long in November. I'm also reading a wonderful bio of Manning by Neville and June Braybrooke. They were quite close friends and June, a writer herself, wrote under the very familiar pen name of Isobel English!

>19 spiralsheep: Soltera's book sounds so good - she IS a Virago and would be a perfect addition to their Travellers series. Wouldn't it be nice if they revived that?

Happy Sunday all! x

23lippincote
feb 22, 2021, 9:30 am

Laura - It's still there, but for some reason I can't do anything but view it. Everybody had a different opinion - but in the end they decided I had dumped something on my computer that deactivated it. So I started over. I am sure it was something I did, because I lost a bunch of stuff at the same time. I posted for a while as Lippincote/Romain.

Cate - Yes! Not as good as the first trilogy but still very good. Guy was modeled on her husband and I spent most of both books wondering how she put up with him.

24lippincote
Redigeret: feb 22, 2021, 9:35 am

Laura - 3 weeks ago I was one of millions of people around the world who lost computer access because of the latest Microsoft update. There are whole Reddit threads on it! Anyway, a lovely young woman in Mumbai took my computer back to ground zero and reloaded everything from scratch. So I will check it out and see if she fixed what I broke. :)

25lippincote
Redigeret: feb 22, 2021, 9:37 am

Hello World. Am I back?

26lippincote
feb 22, 2021, 9:38 am

I am. But still not Romain!!!!

27lauralkeet
Redigeret: feb 22, 2021, 11:04 am

How frustrating, Barbara. Can you sign out of lippincote and log on as romain? Alternatively, I wonder if it would be possible for the LT techies to move your romain library to your lippincote account so you could access your books again.

28spiralsheep
feb 22, 2021, 12:15 pm

>22 bleuroses: While A Lady's Ride Across Spanish Honduras was entertaining, I'm not sure the quality of the writing was up to Virago house standards. I think there was an academic reprint by an American university and, of course, it's now available from the usual suspects online.

Viragos are haunting me. This quote about the January sales is from my current book: "The great doors were opened and the phalanx of grim-faced viragos cantered through the breach and down the marble steps: it took a good five minutes for the whole formation to pass him as the Ruritanian lieutenant-colonel, standing well clear, reviewed it."

>24 lippincote: I too have benefitted from the efficiency of Indian tech support, although thankfully not recently. I hope you find a resolution to your liking soon.

29bleuroses
feb 22, 2021, 3:34 pm

Today is the birthday of Jane Bowles (born 1917) and in creating a post for my VMCReaders page, I pulled her bio, A Little Original Sin by Millicent Dillon from my shelves.

It's been years since I read it and so opening it again today was a double pleasure to find Trish's lovely note inside. I remember our conversation about it and she so generously sent me her Virago edition to replace my non-virago copy. How wonderful is our dear Trish!

So once again, Trish, thank you from the bottom of my heart! xx

30bleuroses
feb 22, 2021, 3:40 pm

>23 lippincote: Guy is so vile! In Manning's bio, Reggie doesn't come off as obtuse as Guy is written, but then again, Harriet isn't quite Olivia to the T either. Still, a great read.

31mrspenny
feb 23, 2021, 1:48 am

>29 bleuroses: Cate - Thank you for your lovely compliments :-)
hope you enjoy the reread.

32spiralsheep
Redigeret: mar 10, 2021, 2:24 pm

I was picking up my click and collect holds at the library on Monday and the librarian casually glancing at the books said, "Ah, yes, Graham Greene and John Fowles... no... Jane Bowles?!" It was most satisfying.

33bleuroses
mar 10, 2021, 2:02 pm

>32 spiralsheep: I'll say! Two sisters came into my library with the last name Martineau and I said there is a writer named Harriet Martineau, and they replied that they were distantly related to her. THIS in a small town in Central California! Needless to say, it made my day.

But on the other hand, generally speaking, the majority of our patrons wouldn't know John Fowles or Jane Bowles if you paid them.

34spiralsheep
mar 10, 2021, 2:42 pm

>33 bleuroses: I suppose librarians must encounter a wide range of humanity and therefore an equally broad set of responses, but meeting the family of an author one admires sounds a better than average experience. I wonder if descendants feel some obligation to read their ancestral inheritances.

My closest branch library probably mostly deals with English people of above average age, education, and socio-economic status, but I'm sure they mostly borrow murder mysteries and romances like everyone else. This might explain why the librarians remember who I am and pay attention to my loans. I've even swapped recommendations with a couple of them.

35lippincote
mar 12, 2021, 8:57 am

My ex roommate, who was a librarian, told me that librarians come in 3 types: those who like books, those who like people, and those who like books AND people. On my branch's check out desk we have people who comment on what you are reading, not to mention the current political situation, but plenty of others who are just using the job as a way into the County employment system and could care less.

The friendly people only become a problem if I am checking out something embarrassing: a book on irritable bowel syndrome, or a biography of Kim Kardashian. TMI! When that happens, I use the self check out and just wave as I pass.

36bleuroses
mar 30, 2021, 5:29 pm

Hello all and Happy Spring!

Just to let you know, we now have a new thread for 'What Virago Are You Reading - Part XIX'.

The other exciting news is that Virago Press has created a dedicated page for their Book Club on FaceBook which (I hope) will be more structured and with actual discussion. First book for April is Sisters by a River by Barbara Comyns.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/viragomodernclassicsbookclub

It's a private group but they're still accepting requests (I don't think they've put a cap on the membership).
Several of us in the club already - but how lovely would it be to have a nice LibraryThing VMC Group presence!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Cate xx


37SassyLassy
apr 6, 2021, 11:50 am

Interesting to see that Persephone books is moving from Bloomsbury to Bath. Will readers in England find this more or less convenient?

38kaggsy
apr 6, 2021, 4:10 pm

I’m very sad about this as I’m based in east anglia, so a day visit to Bath is not an option....

39LyzzyBee
apr 7, 2021, 3:28 am

I'm very sad too as Bath is quite a long way away and not convenient for anything else I might want to do - I only go there if we are visiting my husband's god-daughter. I loved combining a visit to my best friend with a meetup with booky pals and a visit to the shop.

40lippincote
apr 7, 2021, 8:47 am

I thought that too. When I was based in London I loved doing the bookstores. I love Bath too, but it was always a special occasion trip. I presume they got priced out of their property in London and - as they said in their email - they are mostly a mail only business now.

41elkiedee
apr 22, 2021, 11:58 am

Eeek, I'd missed the news about Persephone. As I live in London and don't really envisage leaving the city in the near future, this is sad for me. But if at least they are continuing to bring out books.....

I have several batches of Persephones to catch up with at some point but will have to be restrained about using birthday/Christmas money as I'm on a very strict financial regime. Hoping I might be able to get some paid work at some point - I've been thinking this for a while but it didn't quite seem like the time last year....

42Soupdragon
jun 18, 2021, 4:06 am

The 'Furrowed Middlebrow' Fiction: Novels by and for Women, 1920s to 1950s, LSE Library Online Event, YouTube -

What were the novels that were read by women in public and circulating libraries in the 1920s to the 1950s? Elizabeth Crawford answers that question with reference to many authors - such as Frances Faviell or Stella Gibbons - that have been recently been republished by Dean Street Press. She has written forewords to more than 35 of these reissues. Crawford is an independent researcher and author of a number of books on the women's suffrage movement.

This event took place in May, and a recording can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-GYXUR17s4

43lippincote
Redigeret: jun 18, 2021, 8:47 am

Got a rote email from Persephone Books in Bath. I loved it. It was like getting a catchup letter from an old friend! So chatty and so interesting.

44bleuroses
jun 19, 2021, 4:45 pm

>42 Soupdragon: Thank you for the link, Dee. Adding this to my queue!

Kate MacDonald's Handheld Press (also located in Bath) has many wonderful online events to watch too. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCps3r8bYMJFIj_I70bK1XTQ

>43 lippincote: I loved it too!

45kac522
jul 31, 2021, 5:55 pm

In case you missed it, the All Virago/All August 2021 thread is open:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/333824