Try Anything Twice

by Jan Struther

"Giving a party is very like having a baby: its conception is more fun than its completion, and once you have begun it, it is almost impossible to stop." Famous for her creation of the much-loved Mrs Miniver, Jan Struther here turns her attention to peacetime life - its parties and its everyday contemplations. Displaying all the wit, warmth and vivacity of her celebrated heroine, she describes how, casting aside years of reluctance and seizing a small toasting-fork (there being no trowel available), she discovered the delights of gardening Part of the charm of this collection of essays and sketches lies in its portrait of a vanished world - but most important is the sheer zest of Jan Struther's generous and unconventional mind.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Pen name of Joyce Anstruther

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Try Anything Twice is a collection of essays about the trials and tribulations of life as an ‘upper-middle-class, lower-middle-aged Englishwoman‘, as Struther herself puts it. They cover such diverse topics as the pleasures of making lists, the perils of foreign travel and the horrors of arranging for family photographs to be taken. They read very much like the articles in the Style section of the Sunday Times: they focus on aspects of life which may be a bit frivolous but they do so in a way that is intelligent and witty. Unsurprising then, they they were first published in journals such as The Spectator, The New Statesman and Punch in the 1920s and 1930s.

What I enjoyed most about this collection of essays was how well they have aged: clearly the life of the upper-middle-class, lower-middle-aged woman from whose perspective Struther writes with such humour hasn’t changed very much in the intervening eighty years. A lot of the situations are instantly familiar for a modern reader, and Struther is easy to identify with even if the specifics are completely alien because she writes in such a way as to make the concerns that she expresses seem universal. Her essay ‘Cut Out the Stars’ about economising in the face of hard times as only the privileged can, is one that I found particularly apt given the current financial situation in this country.

Although Struther is usually entertaining, in these essays she never shies away from using her humour to impart tough truths and convey harsh opinions. I found ‘The Toys of War’ to be a particularly skillful critique of modern violence and inhumanity through imagining a child playing with toys that accurately emulate warfare. As with all essay collections, I found some better than others, but all the essays (including those which were left out of the Virago edition but can be read for free online) are definitely worth reading.

[Gowri N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 'Try anything twice' (1938), Jan Struther has done what Jerome K Jerome did in 'Idle thoughts of an idle fellow' (1886) fifty years ago. There are over 30 pieces here, some are obviously better than others. Each chapter is a sketch of everyday life, covering a number of situations: foreign travel, conversations with children, domestic issues, ideas on war... Struther's observations about people and situations are spot on and her sense of humour is velvety; not too smooth but textured and lovely to touch.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jan Struther is such a good author, I wish she had written more books. The 3 other reviews provide more detail and reasons to like this collection of essays.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun! Generally entertaining with some laughs aloud. It's always good to read a book like this and see how little humans and their worries have changed. Especially interesting to see the idea of reducing news consumption as it's so worrying - I'd thought that a more recent idea. But her turns of phrase! Need to read this frequently so they sink into my subconscious more securely. "Inscrutable, delightful sardine"

[JimZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a collection of ~40 essays from the author of “Mrs. Miniver,” Jan Struther. I believe the time period that she wrote these was in the 1920s and 1930s, and she wrote them for British newspapers and magazines (including Punch, New Statesman, Spectator). Some essays were dated, and probably were appreciated for only that period of time in which they were written. However, some were nice to read or poignant to read or just interesting to read and for that I will give the whole collection 3.5 stars.

There was one essay that I liked entitled ‘Winding and Unwinding’. It hit home to me...that if one has to travel to and from a certain location many, many times, and over a protracted length of time (years), one tends to notice different things depending on whether one is approaching the location or leaving the location, and one notices both constancy (which can be nice) or change (which sometimes evokes concern...such as a store going out of business or a ‘for sale’ sign suddenly appearing outside a home).

Another thing I liked about the collection is that the essays were short — most were 4-6 pages in length.

Note:
• Well, here’s the whole book online — https://digital.library.upenn.edu/wom... — with the permission of the Maxtone Graham family (Jan Struther was a pen name and her real name was Joyce Maxtone Graham), and the assistance of Joyce Maxtone Graham's son, Robert Maxtone Graham, in 2001.

Reviews:
• https://www.stuckinabook.com/try-anyt...
• http://veritysviragoventure.blogspot....
• this reviewer apparently liked ‘Winding and Unwinding’ too, and they put down their thoughts about it more eloquently than I!: “...There are also some lovely pieces recording blissful holidays, and also some which discuss the mundane journeys which are regularly undertaken, yet are significant for the landmarks passed and memories evoked.” https://northernreader.wordpress.com/...