Recent reading
Dec. 29th, 2021 07:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regshoeNot quite the last reading post of the year, because I read a few books in connection with one of my Yuletide fics which I shall write about after author reveals... but, other than that, I think this is it for the end of the year.
Fairacre Festival by Miss Read (1968). I wanted something nice and easy and comforting to read on the train, and Miss Read seemed an ideal choice. Good stuff, as always. This one is about Fairacre's collective efforts to raise funds to repair the church roof after it's damaged by a falling tree in a storm—all very heartwarming, with much community spirit and international friendship and generosity. The narrative perspective is a bit weird—it is ostensibly narrated in first person by Miss Read, except that much of the narration describes events for which she is not present, and then it seems to shift into third-person omniscient before returning to Miss Read herself.
Anderby Wold by Winifred Holtby (1923). This one definitely gives a strong sense of being the first novel by the author of South Riding! It tells the story of Mary Robson, who owns a farm in the Yorkshire Wolds and exerts absolute autocratic-philanthropical power over the local village; this is challenged by the arrival of the young socialist David Rossitur, who sets off a wave of trade union organising amongst the labourers on Mary's farm and who also develops a powerful and unexpected relationship with Mary. Holtby's skill in portraying the opposed sides of a conflict in a sympathetic, complicated and very human way is all here, although with somewhat less nuance and complexity and much less ambitiously broad a scope than in South Riding, and a rather over-dramatic ending. Regardless of that, the story and characters are endlessly interesting, and I enjoyed the setting of the East Riding of the early twentieth century. Thoroughly worth reading. Now if only I could find first editions of Holtby's early novels, so I could digitise them for Project Gutenberg...
I'm also working my way steadily through Fight for a Throne: The Jacobite '45 Revisited by Christopher Duffy (2015)—slowly, because it is a bit of a brick, and I won't quite finish it before the end of the year. It's great—all fascinating history, and in even more exhaustive detail than his previous version of the book. I'm really appreciating the military history perspective this time, particularly the geographical detail and the realities of armies marching over such and such a distance, this sort of terrain, to this place and so on. Duffy also makes some historical judgements, deciding (for instance) that Charles might or might not have succeeded had he advanced on London instead of turning back at Derby, but he absolutely should have tried. And the book is full of interesting historical details—I enjoyed the recruiting activities of Margaret Murray of Broughton and Rachael Erskine; was interested to learn that a small number of Native Americans, of all people, fought in the '45 (on the Hanoverian side); and had not before appreciated that the David Ferrier of Flemington was a real person, amongst other things. Unfortunately the book is oddly poorly edited, sometimes to the point of actually making it difficult to understand, but nevertheless it's a very worthwhile thing to read.
Fairacre Festival by Miss Read (1968). I wanted something nice and easy and comforting to read on the train, and Miss Read seemed an ideal choice. Good stuff, as always. This one is about Fairacre's collective efforts to raise funds to repair the church roof after it's damaged by a falling tree in a storm—all very heartwarming, with much community spirit and international friendship and generosity. The narrative perspective is a bit weird—it is ostensibly narrated in first person by Miss Read, except that much of the narration describes events for which she is not present, and then it seems to shift into third-person omniscient before returning to Miss Read herself.
Anderby Wold by Winifred Holtby (1923). This one definitely gives a strong sense of being the first novel by the author of South Riding! It tells the story of Mary Robson, who owns a farm in the Yorkshire Wolds and exerts absolute autocratic-philanthropical power over the local village; this is challenged by the arrival of the young socialist David Rossitur, who sets off a wave of trade union organising amongst the labourers on Mary's farm and who also develops a powerful and unexpected relationship with Mary. Holtby's skill in portraying the opposed sides of a conflict in a sympathetic, complicated and very human way is all here, although with somewhat less nuance and complexity and much less ambitiously broad a scope than in South Riding, and a rather over-dramatic ending. Regardless of that, the story and characters are endlessly interesting, and I enjoyed the setting of the East Riding of the early twentieth century. Thoroughly worth reading. Now if only I could find first editions of Holtby's early novels, so I could digitise them for Project Gutenberg...
I'm also working my way steadily through Fight for a Throne: The Jacobite '45 Revisited by Christopher Duffy (2015)—slowly, because it is a bit of a brick, and I won't quite finish it before the end of the year. It's great—all fascinating history, and in even more exhaustive detail than his previous version of the book. I'm really appreciating the military history perspective this time, particularly the geographical detail and the realities of armies marching over such and such a distance, this sort of terrain, to this place and so on. Duffy also makes some historical judgements, deciding (for instance) that Charles might or might not have succeeded had he advanced on London instead of turning back at Derby, but he absolutely should have tried. And the book is full of interesting historical details—I enjoyed the recruiting activities of Margaret Murray of Broughton and Rachael Erskine; was interested to learn that a small number of Native Americans, of all people, fought in the '45 (on the Hanoverian side); and had not before appreciated that the David Ferrier of Flemington was a real person, amongst other things. Unfortunately the book is oddly poorly edited, sometimes to the point of actually making it difficult to understand, but nevertheless it's a very worthwhile thing to read.
no subject
Date: Dec. 29th, 2021 08:07 pm (UTC)I read South Riding ages ago (after reading Vera Brittain's book about her friendship with Holtby, Testament of Friendship and always meant to explore more of Holtby's work... why must there be so many wonderful authors to explore? I'm forever getting sidetracked!
no subject
Date: Dec. 29th, 2021 08:28 pm (UTC)I've read three of Holtby's books, and like her more with every one—she's one of those authors I read another book from just now and then, so as to savour them and not to get through them too quickly.
why must there be so many wonderful authors to explore? I'm forever getting sidetracked!
Heh, I can definitely relate!
no subject
Date: Dec. 30th, 2021 04:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 30th, 2021 04:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 30th, 2021 09:34 am (UTC)Actually, it's possible that this one could be out of copyright? It seems to be a reprint of the first edition, and copyright isn't always renewed for reprints. You could check with the Gutenberg people, I think they have a team who know how to check that sort of thing.
no subject
Date: Dec. 30th, 2021 04:43 pm (UTC)Hmm, possibly! For Imre I used a reprint which was an actual facsimile of the original, so the material of the new printing was clearly distinguished from the reproduced original edition (including separate copyright pages, which may have been crucial), and they were quite strict about making sure I only used the reproduced original and not the reprint stuff—so I'm not sure how well a reprint like that with a single copyright page including more recent dates would work. However, I can certainly check! Thanks for the link, in any case :) (hmm, and there's also the HathiTrust problem of not being able to download the whole book as a PDF—but, one thing at a time...)