I thought I would do a wee round up of of my latest reading. I always have a book or sometimes two on the go, but during my recent bout of covid, I read a lot more. Here are some quick reviews from my Early Summer reads.

I read these first two books just before I came down with the virus.

Etta Lemon was a Christmas gift from my elder daughter. She knows my reading tastes very well. I had actually misplaced this book for ages and kept looking for it, so I was glad to find it again. It’s a biography of Etta Lemon, one of the three Victorian women who were instrumental in starting what became the RSPB. It tells her story and that of her campaign against the feather trade. Wild birds were hunted and slaughtered - some species to the point of extinction, to provide trimmings for womens’ hats. Etta was a formidable campaigner and worked doggedly all her adult life to bring about and end to this practice. During her time, the RSPB grew increasingly influential, and yet she was side-lined and ignored. I have to confess I knew nothing about her.

The book looks at her life and work, and also, in parallel, compares her story with that of the more well known Emeline Pankhurst. It examines how the different attitudes and circumstances of both women played a part in their different campaigns. Etta Lemon, herself, was anti - suffrage and there was a most interesting discussion around that. I really enjoyed this book and learned so much. I thought it was very well researched and touched on aspects of women’s history that I wouldn’t otherwise have known.

Jane and Prudence, by Barbara Pym was an absolute joy, as all her books are. Set in 1950s England, with rationing and food shortages still in evidence, it tells the story of Jane, as a scatty vicar’s wife and her attempts at matchmaking for her younger, glamourous friend, Prudence.

It’s a very funny story and introduces some incredible Pym-esque characters, such as Fabian Driver and Mrs Dogget. She just evokes those run-down, slightly seedy, post war Britain vibes perfectly and I always enjoy her books.

I’d had this on my shelf for a few years, thinking it might be a good read aloud with the boy. Sadly those days are over and the book remained tucked into a bookshelf. When I was struck down with the virus I wanted something to take my mind off how I was feeling, and often a good vintage childrens’ book is just at the right level. This was absolutely perfect. A rollicking spy adventure, set again in the 1950s, with a whiff of John Buchan about it. Alastair Cameron travels to Skye to stay with a distant relative and before he even arrives, he becomes involved in a myster,y which follows him to the island. There were more than a few twists and turns in this exciting wee story. I really enjoyed it.

Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford was a nice wee read. Not much happens in it, to be honest. Its just really scenes of women’s lives set in a provincial town in the 1840s. The women, all either unmarried or widowed, call on each other, gossip and reminisce. There are some gentle adventures - the visit of the conjurer, the failure of a savings bank and others, which I won’t reveal. All very low key stuff - a few poignant lines and some very witty moments. A perfect read when you need to rest and recuperate.

Father, by Elizabeth Von Armin (Enchanted April) was a similar gentle read, although there were bleaker undertones to the tale. Set in the inter-war years, Jennifer has devoted her life to looking after her Father - a promise to her dying mother. Father is an acclaimed writer, but is a household tyrant. One day he arrives home for lunch with a very young and beautiful woman, to whom he has just been married. Jennifer is delighted by this turn of events (cue one of the funniest scenes I have read in a while), promptly shoots off to rent a cottage in the country and live off her small inheritance from her mother. It’s not all roses though. I’ll say no more. It started really well but I think she ran out of steam at the end. It is still a very enjoyable read with some very sharp commentary on the restrictive lives of the surplus women left after WW1

I also read Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen , but I forgot to photograph it. This was definitely my least favourite Austen. I just didn’t take to any of the characters and felt the plot and the prose was boring. It just didn’t have the sparkle that her other works have. Sorry, but there it is.

This has been my favourite book of this selection. Barchester Towers, second in the Barchester Chronicles series by Anthony Trollope. I absolutely loved everything about this book. A continuation of The Warden, this moves the story on in a masterful way into the world of church politics, with all the backstabbing, plotting and wild assumptions that ensue. It is wickedly hilarious and Trollope’s use of the ‘fourth wall’ is inspired. I definitely tried to savour this book and take it slowly - and yet I found myself reading ‘just one more chapter’.

I definitely fell wholesale into Trollope’s world and was reluctant to leave those wonderful characters. I’m currently watching the 1982 BBC series on Youtube, where the characters are so far living up to my imaginary ones. Dr Grantly is maybe slightly too thin, and the Rev. Harding maybe too plump, but all in all it’s easing my withdrawal symptoms.

I did consider going straight on to the next book in the series - Dr. Thorne, but I decided to save it for another time. I aim to work through all the Barchester and Palliser novels though, so look out for them in the future.

And now on to the books I am currently reading.

Both Word from Wormingford and Letters from Hamnavoe are collections of columns the authors wrote for local newspapers.

Ronald Blythe wrote for the Church Times about life in the Parish of Wormingford in deepest Suffolk. His entries are based around the liturgical year, starting at Advent. I started reading it then, and have dipped into it every Sunday morning. I’m being very restrained and savouring a few pages every week. It is delightful - tales of rural life - bluebell picnics, Eastertide, parish characters and history, illustrated by John Nash’s beautiful engravings.

Ronald Blythe mentioned Letters from Hamnavoe in his book, and actually goes to Orkney to visit the poet George Mackay Brown. I was encouraged by this chapter to seek out the actual book, and it is just as delightful. Again, a compilation of his columns for a local newspaper - The Orcadian, the range of subjects he covers in this collection of short pieces is deep and vast.

And I’ve just started The Shell Seekers. I think I am the last person I know not to have read this book. I have read Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher, and had a love/hate relationship with it. On one hand, I loved the cosiness of it all - the roaring fires, the bracing walks by the loch and the softly falling snow. The perfect Christmas atmosphere. But I had trouble with the excruciatingly stereotypical idealisation of a highland village, and I struggled to put that aside. I was also not very keen on the two main characters - in fact I actively disliked them.

So I have been quite resistant to picking this one up after I bought it in a charity shop a few years ago. However - two chapters in, I am quite enjoying it. It just seems where my reading head is right now, coming after a book I really loved. It feels pleasant and safe. I’ll report back.