Sunday, September 24, 2023

Five Things

There are five things I want to share with you today:

A fun Georgette Heyer quiz was provided by Regency historical writer Anne Gracie. I was annoyed to get one wrong! Can you do better?

Georgette Heyer
Everyone seems to be reading Claire Keegan lately. I don’t usually care for short stories or novellas but I enjoyed Foster and Small Things Like These, and I was curious about her. This article from the Guardian interviews her about her new book but does not ask how she wound up going to college at Loyola University in New Orleans, which I am curious about.

The Washington Post recently asked, Do unread books make you feel guilty? I say, Not really, although I do sometimes make concerted efforts to read books I own vs. library books.  I have hundreds of unread books so would live in a perpetual state of guilt if not strong minded!

I bet you didn’t think Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Tubman, and Pocahontas had anything in common. However, a Harvard professor has written “Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation,” describing how these three, and many other young women, explored and reinvented themselves in the natural world, among both the flowers and the weeds.
The BBC had an interesting article the other day about cozy mysteries, asking Are they brilliant entertainment or 'twee and insipid'? I think the point of the article is that authors like Richard Osman aren’t writing thrillers but their (very popular) books aren’t traditional cozies either. I enjoy the classic British mysteries of the 30s and 40s but am not otherwise a big cozy fan myself, although it's unfair to imply all are insipid.

3 comments:

Lory said...

Fun links! I have not reread Heyer enough to put all the names and quotes together, but the quiz was a chance to relive some favorites (glad to see Cotillion and Friday's Child represented).

I do tend to feel guilty about unread books that I own. Each time I move (and I just did) I do some purging. But then I also feel guilty about books that I got rid of and want to read later. I can't win!

CLM said...

Yes, I often regret the books I give away but I try not to do so until I have read them, at least. The house still has piles of books in nearly every room, however.

I picked up two books at a book sale on Saturday from UK series I had never heard of which I felt I could justify because unlikely to be in the library. But I am trying to be more judicious in my purchases.

Anonymous said...

I got 11 right in the quiz.