― isadora (isadora), Sunday, 29 February 2004 18:43 (twenty years ago) link
I recommend you read Barbara Pym's books in the order she wrote them, too, as the stuff she wrote when she was younger seems a bit wryer than the stuff she wrote when she was older, which is deeper. And it's a good approach to sort of go into things that way.
― maryann (maryann), Monday, 1 March 2004 06:33 (twenty years ago) link
― unknown or illegal user (doorag), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 12:50 (twenty years ago) link
― All Bunged Up. (Jake Proudlock), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 14:52 (twenty years ago) link
― Steve Walker (Quietman), Thursday, 4 March 2004 04:22 (twenty years ago) link
A book that reminded me of Munro's style, also by a Canadian, was A Student of Weather by Elizabeth Hay. I loved the way the details of nature fit into the story.
― meegan, Saturday, 6 March 2004 20:12 (twenty years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 6 March 2004 23:46 (twenty years ago) link
― maryann (maryann), Sunday, 7 March 2004 07:49 (twenty years ago) link
Unbelievably, I'm going to start Excellent Women tomorrow.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 18 June 2018 17:02 (five years ago) link
I just started it. It is KILLING me.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 4 May 2020 09:45 (three years ago) link
I just finished Less Than Angels at Aimless' recommendation! What a treat. Laffs on every page. I retract what I've written about her.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 May 2020 10:47 (three years ago) link
Perhaps there can be too much making of cups of tea, I thought, as I watched Miss Statham filling the heavy teapot. We had all had our supper, or were supposed to have had it, and were met together to discuss the arrangements for the Christmas bazaar. Did we really need a cup of tea? I even said as much to Miss Statham and she looked at me with a hurt, almost angry look, 'Do we need tea?' she echoed. 'But Miss Lathbury...' She sounded puzzled and distressed and I began to realise that my question had struck at something deep and fundamental. It was the kind of question that starts a landslide in the mind.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 26 June 2020 14:35 (three years ago) link
^ftr, Pym, not Munro
― the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Friday, 26 June 2020 18:21 (three years ago) link
I've done a 180 on Pym after reading Less Than Angels and The Sweet Dove Died
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 26 June 2020 19:30 (three years ago) link
Miss Lathbury otm
― carin' (map), Friday, 26 June 2020 19:32 (three years ago) link
I've done a 180 on Pym after reading Less Than Angels and The Sweet Dove Diedi read excellent women recently and didn't really feel it (tho i recognised that tea paragraph as a standout moment), maybe I'll try those two.
― neith moon (ledge), Friday, 26 June 2020 19:42 (three years ago) link
At the risk of stating the obvious, the recent Backlisted episode on Pym was great: https://www.backlisted.fm/episodes/109-barbara-pym-excellent-women
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Friday, 26 June 2020 19:45 (three years ago) link
i read excellent women recently and didn't really feel it
Same.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 26 June 2020 19:48 (three years ago) link
Midway through Less than Angels, can't say I'm feeling it more than Excellent Women. With both of them I feel, aptly enough, like an anthropologist, albeit a bad one who cannot fathom the nature of or reason for the tribe's peculiar customs.
― neith moon (ledge), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 07:33 (three years ago) link
They just really want to know what the new vicar's up to.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 10:49 (three years ago) link
With both of them I feel, aptly enough, like an anthropologist, albeit a bad one who cannot fathom the nature of or reason for the tribe's peculiar customs.
i.e. what it's like to be gay in a world of straight people?
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 12:17 (three years ago) link
Yes it's really that isn't it?
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 12:28 (three years ago) link
Hear, hear!
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 12:39 (three years ago) link
But also what it's like to be closeted from everyone else in the world. You can sense this slightly intoxicating bewilderment she holds in Excellent Women for the likes of William, who's absolutely flaming and comfortable with it.
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 12:42 (three years ago) link
I will read the second half of Less than Angels with this perspective in mind.
― neith moon (ledge), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 15:13 (three years ago) link