The time is 5.10pm here in Wellington, NZ.
Sometimes the quotes on the front of a book can be immediately heartening. Excellent Women (an encouraging enough title!) was referred to as 'endearing' and 'amusing', which, when judging by the cover, does put you in a positive frame of mind.

I then noted that the quote was from the person who'd written the introduction to the book, rather than from any kind of critique, but decided to forge cheerily ahead anyway.


This kind of ambitiously positive attitude is just the sort sported by the heroine of Barbara Pym's novel it turns out. Mildred Lathbury (what a wonderfully British name) is an excellent woman, self-sufficient and independent, relishing spinsterhood in all its joys.

Her quiet life is thrown into somewhat of a disarray by the arrival of a tempestuous, squabbling couple into the downstairs flat of her previously peaceful home. The husband appears to be attempting to charm her. The wife seems to want to confess all sins to her. Mildred would just like to make sure that the church bazaar is going to run smoothly.

Apparently Pym's style is frequently compared to Jane Austen - and now that I am finally reading my first (!) Austen I can see how this fits. It also reminded me a little of Stella Gibbon's Cold Comfort Farm.

This book is filled with delicate humour and superb characterisation. I did find the pace rather slow, not so much a rollicking night out with salacious details, but rather more unwinding like a polite garden party peppered with snatches of shadowy gossip. And sometimes that can be just what you're in the mood for!

--
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym. Recommended as a very light read.
Published in 1952. Set in post-WWII London.
#47 from 'The List'

Posted by Bel. The time is 8:27pm here in Wellington, NZ.

"Cold Comfort Farm" has been an absolute delight to read. Loved it! LOVED IT! I'm going to put it up there with "I Capture The Castle" and "The House of The Spirits". Instant Bel Classic hot off 'The List', folks!

This is the flat-out funniest book I have read so far (from 'The List') with the resolute perkiness of the main character, Flora, balanced by the determined melancholy or absurd eccentricity of the rural family members she becomes entangled with. It's "Emma" meets "The Royal Tenenbaums" set in the wops, except that I have never read "Emma" but I heard that "Clueless" is pretty much the same and I could reenact that for you if need be.

My only grumble is the inane cover this edition was wrapped in (click on the image for an enlarged view, if you dare). The kooky 90s style illustrations may have somewhat set the tone, but give the complete wrong impression about the era and the various characters.

I would like to see something more in the style of this here, which is the version of "I Capture The Castle" I purchased for myself (and have already loaned out twice):

Fusspot, I know, but fact of the matter is, we do judge books by their covers. And why not - the cover is our best immediate reference for what's going on inside. Let's try not make everything so hideously off-putting, shall we?

"Cold Comfort Farm": Highly recommended. Witty country mouse/city mouse fun, with a black comedy edge. #28 on 'The List' gets a resounding high (four out of) five. Next up: Gertrude Stein's "Three Lives"...