Yes, she's experienced a bit of a revival but not nearly enough in my opinion haha. Which of hers are your favorites? I think An Unsuitable Attachment tops them all for me, but I also especially love Excellent Women, Crampton Hodnet, and No Fond Return of Love in addition to Some Tame Gazelle. Lucky for us she wrote so many!
Yes, authors that make an effort to describe meals and food always delight me. In fact, this week I’m making the Latvian stew described in A Gentleman in Moscow. As soon as we read that chapter, I turned to my husband and said, “I’m making that this winter!”
I started Some Tame Gazelle last year when I was on a Barbara Pym streak. I never finished it but now I might! Lots of great suggestions!
Wasn't the ending of In This House of Brede rather devastating from our vantage point, where we see how the changes so naively accepted, along with rather manipulative rationalizations from those in charge, destroyed the orders? And indeed, that particular order now has all the characteristics of having lost the thread.
It's been almost a decade since I read Brede and though I remember quite a bit of it (especially the child loss part--my oldest was a newborn at the time), I actually am a little hazy on the ending! I need to revisit it. How sad regarding the current order.
I hope you find some books to love here. I feel like for some of them I should have added a caveat. Sometimes I love a book for how powerfully it shows the truth by contrast. The family in Guard Your Daughters, for instance, is so affectionate and loving in some ways and quite disordered in others. But then I think a book like Never No More should be read by far more people for how it celebrates what is true and lovely while not denying the darkness that exists in this world.
I need to read more Alice Thomas Ellis. I've read The Summer House and Fairy Tale and both were quite good.
I read Elizabeth Bowen's Last September in grad school and have always meant to go back and read more of her work.
I see a few other new to me books that I'm adding to my list as well. And making a note to check out the audiobook of Howl's Moving Castle-- I love that novel!
Ooh! I'm glad to hear you had a good experience with The Summer House and Fairy Tale! I remember DWJ said that reading a loud a lot to her children made her sensitive to how her work would sound when read aloud, and as a result, her prose just sings on audio! I've listened to the entire Howl's Moving Castle and Chrestomanci series on audio and they are both really well done.
Yes!!!! I've likened her books to a portkey before. I pick them up and I can't put them down until I've raced through. And they are 400-500 pages. She is some writer!!
Your opening paragraph—I couldn't have said it better! I love reading everyone's end-of-year book lists. Yours is lovely and intriguing. I've had 'The Feast' on my to-read list for years; I just have to track down a copy. And Barbara Pym's name keeps cropping up and making me think I need to try something of hers...perhaps a candidate for my summer reading list this year.
The Provincial Lady books are a delight—they've made my own top-ten lists in two different recent years!
Barbara Pym makes for great summer reading--especially her earlier lighter novels. Her later ones read a bit more bleak, which makes sense. She was dealing with cancer, a life of unfulfilled romances, and probably the most demoralizing for her, years of publication rejection after initial success. The Feast is also perfect for summer reading!
Are any of the later Provincial Lady books as good or better than the first? It just completely captured my heart. What a delight!
The second Provincial Lady book is very like the first—essentially a continuation, really—and the third one, The Provincial Lady in America, was actually one of my favorites!
Oh good, some more titles! I am currently enjoying The Priory by Dorothy Whipple (after really loving They Were Sisters, thanks to you for your suggestion). Have you read The Priory yet?
How cool that the Benedictine Abbey that Godden's book was based on is still in existence and accepts prayer requests. There's a Carmelite monastery near my house that has a prayer line I call often, and also The Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles has a place to submit prayer requests on their website.
I'm tickled to hear about Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton and it sounds wonderful. We have 5 daughters, and the title will likely give my husband a chuckle.
Oh yes, Farmer Boy - don't read it on an empty stomach. Mother Wilder is always making something delicious sounding!
I loved the Priory though felt like it was a little overly long near the end. But oh my goodness I remember thinking the characterization of Anthea was wildly good. Dorothy Whipple can make you feel ten different ways about a character through the course of one of her novels.
Calling up or submitting prayers to convents and monasteries is an underutilized spiritual resource!
Guard Your Daughters is a charmer, but also one to make you think about what children really need. I read it with my sister and we laughed a lot about the relatable sister moments. I'm hoping to write a post on it soon.
I actually have the Little House Cookbook and I need to set aside time to make some of the recipes from the series with my kids!
Looks like I have a lot of good recommendations to hunt down in the coming year! I love reading twentieth century British literature, and so many of these look to be a delight.
Yes! Twentieth century Brit lit is definitely my favorite literary time period to read from. I'm actually trying to branch out more this year into works in translation, poetry collections, etc. We'll see. I always tend to gravitate back to my comfort zone :)
Great list full of some of my favourites! I can't wait to put the ones I haven't read yet on my tbr, I'm trying to figure out if I've read that Barbara Pym and I don't think I have. And it's been a couple years since I've read some Alice Thomas Ellis but I have an entire shelf devoted to her!
Some Tame Gazelle was her first published novel. I love it because Pym wrote it in her twenties but based the two sisters, Belinda and Harriet, off of herself and her sister, imagining what they'd be like in middle age. There's something just really charming about that to me. I'd love to know which Alice Thomas Ellis novels you've read and what you thought of them! I'd read her first volume of Home Life essays and really loved her voice. I'm so happy her fiction was even better than I anticipated!
Ohh then I haven’t read that Pym for sure! I would have to look up the titles, but I have a good collection going that I need to revisit! I also loved Home Life!
What a unique list!! Excellent inspiration for my own reading this year! And you’ve convinced me that I cannot put off reading Brideshead Revisited any longer!
I really enjoyed the Close Reads podcasts alongside reading it (for the first time). TBH I didn't love it, but I know for me, that's often been the case for first reads. Will try again, but the podcast folks really made it more rich!
Oh, Alice Thomas Ellis is a gem!! Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but her brand of odd delights me. My favorite of hers is The 27th Kingdom. Also The Sin Eater, although that one is a bit more heartbreaking.
Glad to find another Alice Thomas Ellis fan! The Sin Eater and Fairy Tale are on my to read list this year, but I might just make it a year of ATE and plough my way through all of them.
Great list...some old favourites, and some I hadn't heard of, thank you!
As an aside: the cover of the Maura Laverty 'No More Than Human' is a very familiar painting to me - it is by my Great Uncle, William Leech, and hangs in the National Gallery in Dublin. Alongside other more famous artists, such as Laverty...I'm off to see if I can find a connection 😊
I appreciate book suggestions that are not stuck on contemporary fiction, though I enjoy contemporary fiction. You made me want to reread my Barbara Pym’s, and I’d been thinking about rereading North and South, so now they are on my list. If I can suggest. This last year I went to Maine. I have a habit when traveling to seek out local authors. My favorite find from my Maine travels was Spoonhandle by Ruth Moore. I believe you, and your readers, would enjoy.
Oh! I'm thrilled by the recommendation for Spoonhandle. Thank you! I hadn't heard of it before but after looking it up, it looks like it's right up my alley. I've never been to Maine but I have this attraction to it fostered by Maine writers and artists like Sarah Orne Jewett, Dahlov Ipcar, and Barbara Cooney.
I really struggle to find contemporary fiction that I enjoy. I always find the prose and dialogue wanting. I think it's something to do with my mind steeping so much in 20th c. syntax that I've just maybe over-acclimated to that world of writing. But if you have recommendations, I'd love to hear them! I've tried Elizabeth Strout, Amor Towles, Anthony Doerr, Leif Enger without much success.
I Have Sarah Oren Jewetts’s The Country of the Pointed Firs on my bedside table. But have not read it yet. Like you, I think I learned to read and, therefore, think in 20th century syntax (thank you for that observation). I do enjoy contemporary writing and have liked to the authors you mentioned, but not in the same way. Reading Spoonhandle felt like coming home. Last year, I also read Stoner by John Williams. It was not an easy novel, but there is something about the deep interior portrait of a stoic man that was so satisfying. Plus, Stoner’s character taught at the University of Missouri where I did my graduate work. Though not in the same time period. Recently, I read a contemporary Maine author, Monica Wood. Any Bitter Thing. I don’t know if you would enjoy it because it has a more contemporary style, but I really enjoyed Beyond That, The Sea by Laura Spencer Ash. Looking forward to more recommendations by you.
The Country of the Pointed Firs is a balm to the soul. I love your description of Spoonhandle. I think I'll have to time reading it for after I get through something depressing or difficult. I've got some Elizabeth Bowen and Ivy Compton-Burnett to read soon, so maybe after one of them.
And how funny--I jut finished up Stoner. I have mixed feelings about it, but I couldn't put it down and I can't stop thinking about the central question of 'is a life of the mind enough even when everything else feels a failure'. Or at least that's what I took to be the central question. Still chewing on it.
I'll look into the Monica Wood and Laura Spencer Ash books. Thank you for those recommendations! And glad to have you here!
Fantastic post. Great to see my girlfriend Barbara Pym getting some love ❤️. Also included were 2 of my big faves Emma and North and South. Actually I have loved all the Austen and Gaskell novels I've read. Some of those mid century ones look very intriguing. Many thanks.
Thank you so much for the kind comment! I agree. Everything I've read from Austen and Gaskell has been superb. I'm really looking forward to reading Gaskell's Ruth soon. And I'm happy to see another devotee of Barbara Pym. She's the most excellent woman ;)
I viewed it more as a character study. Not sure Stoner’s life would have been much different if he stayed on the farm or studied agriculture and returned to the farm. Whatever path you take you bring your personality. Stoner’s was forbearance.
Absolutely love a fellow Barbara Pym fan!! I love Austen and Waugh too but you don’t hear as much about Pym.
Yes, she's experienced a bit of a revival but not nearly enough in my opinion haha. Which of hers are your favorites? I think An Unsuitable Attachment tops them all for me, but I also especially love Excellent Women, Crampton Hodnet, and No Fond Return of Love in addition to Some Tame Gazelle. Lucky for us she wrote so many!
I love Excellent Women, but I haven’t read an unsuitable attachment yet and now I know which one to check out!!
I was surprised and delighted to see Barbara Pym on here too! I love her stories and all her women in sensible shoes
"all her women in sensible shoes" Delightful! And so true :)
Yes, authors that make an effort to describe meals and food always delight me. In fact, this week I’m making the Latvian stew described in A Gentleman in Moscow. As soon as we read that chapter, I turned to my husband and said, “I’m making that this winter!”
I started Some Tame Gazelle last year when I was on a Barbara Pym streak. I never finished it but now I might! Lots of great suggestions!
Mmmm! I hope your Latvian stew turns out as good as it sounds! I remember my mouth watering while reading that part in AGIM.
Great selection of classics. I have read the Elizabeth Bowen book. A big fan of her work.
I'm looking forward to reading more of her work this year. I was blown away by her prose.
I recommend The Death of the Heart and The Last September
I was wondering what to try next from her so those are very helpful suggestions. Thank you!
I'm excited about this list!
Wasn't the ending of In This House of Brede rather devastating from our vantage point, where we see how the changes so naively accepted, along with rather manipulative rationalizations from those in charge, destroyed the orders? And indeed, that particular order now has all the characteristics of having lost the thread.
It's been almost a decade since I read Brede and though I remember quite a bit of it (especially the child loss part--my oldest was a newborn at the time), I actually am a little hazy on the ending! I need to revisit it. How sad regarding the current order.
I hope you find some books to love here. I feel like for some of them I should have added a caveat. Sometimes I love a book for how powerfully it shows the truth by contrast. The family in Guard Your Daughters, for instance, is so affectionate and loving in some ways and quite disordered in others. But then I think a book like Never No More should be read by far more people for how it celebrates what is true and lovely while not denying the darkness that exists in this world.
Also Five for Sorrow Ten for Joy is one of my favorites and I also was delighted when I found out the order still exists.
Yes! The story of their founder is so powerful!
I need to read more Alice Thomas Ellis. I've read The Summer House and Fairy Tale and both were quite good.
I read Elizabeth Bowen's Last September in grad school and have always meant to go back and read more of her work.
I see a few other new to me books that I'm adding to my list as well. And making a note to check out the audiobook of Howl's Moving Castle-- I love that novel!
Ooh! I'm glad to hear you had a good experience with The Summer House and Fairy Tale! I remember DWJ said that reading a loud a lot to her children made her sensitive to how her work would sound when read aloud, and as a result, her prose just sings on audio! I've listened to the entire Howl's Moving Castle and Chrestomanci series on audio and they are both really well done.
Such a good list! You’re the 3rd person in a couple of weeks I’ve seen recommend Dorothy Whipple, so gonna have to pick her up soon!
Yes!!!! I've likened her books to a portkey before. I pick them up and I can't put them down until I've raced through. And they are 400-500 pages. She is some writer!!
Your opening paragraph—I couldn't have said it better! I love reading everyone's end-of-year book lists. Yours is lovely and intriguing. I've had 'The Feast' on my to-read list for years; I just have to track down a copy. And Barbara Pym's name keeps cropping up and making me think I need to try something of hers...perhaps a candidate for my summer reading list this year.
The Provincial Lady books are a delight—they've made my own top-ten lists in two different recent years!
Barbara Pym makes for great summer reading--especially her earlier lighter novels. Her later ones read a bit more bleak, which makes sense. She was dealing with cancer, a life of unfulfilled romances, and probably the most demoralizing for her, years of publication rejection after initial success. The Feast is also perfect for summer reading!
Are any of the later Provincial Lady books as good or better than the first? It just completely captured my heart. What a delight!
The second Provincial Lady book is very like the first—essentially a continuation, really—and the third one, The Provincial Lady in America, was actually one of my favorites!
Oh good, some more titles! I am currently enjoying The Priory by Dorothy Whipple (after really loving They Were Sisters, thanks to you for your suggestion). Have you read The Priory yet?
How cool that the Benedictine Abbey that Godden's book was based on is still in existence and accepts prayer requests. There's a Carmelite monastery near my house that has a prayer line I call often, and also The Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles has a place to submit prayer requests on their website.
I'm tickled to hear about Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton and it sounds wonderful. We have 5 daughters, and the title will likely give my husband a chuckle.
Oh yes, Farmer Boy - don't read it on an empty stomach. Mother Wilder is always making something delicious sounding!
I loved the Priory though felt like it was a little overly long near the end. But oh my goodness I remember thinking the characterization of Anthea was wildly good. Dorothy Whipple can make you feel ten different ways about a character through the course of one of her novels.
Calling up or submitting prayers to convents and monasteries is an underutilized spiritual resource!
Guard Your Daughters is a charmer, but also one to make you think about what children really need. I read it with my sister and we laughed a lot about the relatable sister moments. I'm hoping to write a post on it soon.
I actually have the Little House Cookbook and I need to set aside time to make some of the recipes from the series with my kids!
Looks like I have a lot of good recommendations to hunt down in the coming year! I love reading twentieth century British literature, and so many of these look to be a delight.
Yes! Twentieth century Brit lit is definitely my favorite literary time period to read from. I'm actually trying to branch out more this year into works in translation, poetry collections, etc. We'll see. I always tend to gravitate back to my comfort zone :)
Been looking forward to this since the first! :)
Haha! If you read any of them I want to know your thoughts!!
Great list full of some of my favourites! I can't wait to put the ones I haven't read yet on my tbr, I'm trying to figure out if I've read that Barbara Pym and I don't think I have. And it's been a couple years since I've read some Alice Thomas Ellis but I have an entire shelf devoted to her!
Some Tame Gazelle was her first published novel. I love it because Pym wrote it in her twenties but based the two sisters, Belinda and Harriet, off of herself and her sister, imagining what they'd be like in middle age. There's something just really charming about that to me. I'd love to know which Alice Thomas Ellis novels you've read and what you thought of them! I'd read her first volume of Home Life essays and really loved her voice. I'm so happy her fiction was even better than I anticipated!
Ohh then I haven’t read that Pym for sure! I would have to look up the titles, but I have a good collection going that I need to revisit! I also loved Home Life!
What a unique list!! Excellent inspiration for my own reading this year! And you’ve convinced me that I cannot put off reading Brideshead Revisited any longer!
Ahh yes you must read Brideshead! One of the very best novels I've ever read.
I really enjoyed the Close Reads podcasts alongside reading it (for the first time). TBH I didn't love it, but I know for me, that's often been the case for first reads. Will try again, but the podcast folks really made it more rich!
That's a really good tip, Haley! Thank you for sharing!
Oh, Alice Thomas Ellis is a gem!! Definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but her brand of odd delights me. My favorite of hers is The 27th Kingdom. Also The Sin Eater, although that one is a bit more heartbreaking.
Glad to find another Alice Thomas Ellis fan! The Sin Eater and Fairy Tale are on my to read list this year, but I might just make it a year of ATE and plough my way through all of them.
Great list...some old favourites, and some I hadn't heard of, thank you!
As an aside: the cover of the Maura Laverty 'No More Than Human' is a very familiar painting to me - it is by my Great Uncle, William Leech, and hangs in the National Gallery in Dublin. Alongside other more famous artists, such as Laverty...I'm off to see if I can find a connection 😊
That's incredible! Thank you for sharing that connection. I love paintings on the Virago covers. They always capture the spirit of the novels so well.
Yes, Virago covers are great aren't they? I have this picture in poster form, and also inherited a small Leech diptych, a seascape.
I remembered of course, as soon as I had posted, that the famous artist was Laverty, not Laverty 🙄
Oh that Leech seascape diptych sounds like a treasure!
Mm, it has special memories of my Dad bidding for it for me, and also of a trip to London to collect it with my best mate 🧡
I appreciate book suggestions that are not stuck on contemporary fiction, though I enjoy contemporary fiction. You made me want to reread my Barbara Pym’s, and I’d been thinking about rereading North and South, so now they are on my list. If I can suggest. This last year I went to Maine. I have a habit when traveling to seek out local authors. My favorite find from my Maine travels was Spoonhandle by Ruth Moore. I believe you, and your readers, would enjoy.
Oh! I'm thrilled by the recommendation for Spoonhandle. Thank you! I hadn't heard of it before but after looking it up, it looks like it's right up my alley. I've never been to Maine but I have this attraction to it fostered by Maine writers and artists like Sarah Orne Jewett, Dahlov Ipcar, and Barbara Cooney.
I really struggle to find contemporary fiction that I enjoy. I always find the prose and dialogue wanting. I think it's something to do with my mind steeping so much in 20th c. syntax that I've just maybe over-acclimated to that world of writing. But if you have recommendations, I'd love to hear them! I've tried Elizabeth Strout, Amor Towles, Anthony Doerr, Leif Enger without much success.
I Have Sarah Oren Jewetts’s The Country of the Pointed Firs on my bedside table. But have not read it yet. Like you, I think I learned to read and, therefore, think in 20th century syntax (thank you for that observation). I do enjoy contemporary writing and have liked to the authors you mentioned, but not in the same way. Reading Spoonhandle felt like coming home. Last year, I also read Stoner by John Williams. It was not an easy novel, but there is something about the deep interior portrait of a stoic man that was so satisfying. Plus, Stoner’s character taught at the University of Missouri where I did my graduate work. Though not in the same time period. Recently, I read a contemporary Maine author, Monica Wood. Any Bitter Thing. I don’t know if you would enjoy it because it has a more contemporary style, but I really enjoyed Beyond That, The Sea by Laura Spencer Ash. Looking forward to more recommendations by you.
The Country of the Pointed Firs is a balm to the soul. I love your description of Spoonhandle. I think I'll have to time reading it for after I get through something depressing or difficult. I've got some Elizabeth Bowen and Ivy Compton-Burnett to read soon, so maybe after one of them.
And how funny--I jut finished up Stoner. I have mixed feelings about it, but I couldn't put it down and I can't stop thinking about the central question of 'is a life of the mind enough even when everything else feels a failure'. Or at least that's what I took to be the central question. Still chewing on it.
I'll look into the Monica Wood and Laura Spencer Ash books. Thank you for those recommendations! And glad to have you here!
Fantastic post. Great to see my girlfriend Barbara Pym getting some love ❤️. Also included were 2 of my big faves Emma and North and South. Actually I have loved all the Austen and Gaskell novels I've read. Some of those mid century ones look very intriguing. Many thanks.
Thank you so much for the kind comment! I agree. Everything I've read from Austen and Gaskell has been superb. I'm really looking forward to reading Gaskell's Ruth soon. And I'm happy to see another devotee of Barbara Pym. She's the most excellent woman ;)
I viewed it more as a character study. Not sure Stoner’s life would have been much different if he stayed on the farm or studied agriculture and returned to the farm. Whatever path you take you bring your personality. Stoner’s was forbearance.
That’s a good point. I think you’re right that his life wouldn’t have been much different if he stayed on the farm.
But I think there’s something to be said for getting out of a book whatever we see. Being lost in a life of the mind can be a lonely place