Reading the 20th Century discussion

Having just listened to....


....the latest Backlisted podcast....

....I am completely sold on Arnold Bennett

They even compared Riceyman Steps (1923) to Hangover Square

I have yet to read anything by him but am very keen to read Riceyman Steps and other works

Anyone fancy a buddy read of Riceyman Steps? Or some other work by him?

More about today's Backlisted Podcast...



In this episode, Andy and John are joined for a second time by Kit de Waal. Kit is a writer and activist whose debut novel My Name Is Leon was an international bestseller, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, long-listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award for 2017. Her second, The Trick of Time was published to great acclaim in 2018 and her most recent, a YA novel called Becoming Dinah, was published by earlier this year by Orion Children’s Books. She is the editor of the anthology of working class writers, Common People published by Unbound and the force behind the Kit de Waal Creative scholarships, for budding writers from a low-income households or marginalised backgrounds. For all this, and for being generally a force for good in the book industry, she was named 2019 Futurebook Person of the Year. Her previous appearance on Backlisted was on episode 26 back in 2016, where she talked about So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell.

Kit is joined by the writer and journalist Charlotte Higgins, the chief culture writer of the Guardian. She is the author of several books on aspects of the ancient world. Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain (Cape, 2013), was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction and the Wainwright Prize. Her latest book Red Thread: On Mazes and Labyrinths (Cape, 2018) won the 2019 Arnold Bennett prize. Charlotte has written for the New Yorker, the New Statesman and Prospect and in 2010, she won the Classical Association prize for her books and journalism, awarded for the person deemed to have done most to bring classics to a broad audience. And in 2019 she was chosen for a British Council showcase by novelist Elif Shafak as one of ‘ten brilliant women writers’ working in Britain today.

The main book under discussion is Riceyman Steps by Arnold Bennett, first published by Cassell & Company in 1923, and which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in the same year. Before that John rediscovers his North Eastern roots via Dan Jackson’s excellent new history The Northumbrians and Andy reflects on his recent re-readings of Kazuo Ishiguro.

Books mentioned:

Arnold Bennett - Riceyman Steps; The Old Wive’s Tale; Anna of the Five Towns; The Card; Clayhanger; Helen With the High Hand; Buried Alive; How to Live on 24 Hours a Day
Kit de Waal - My Name is Leon; The Trick of Time; Becoming Dinah; Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers
Charlotte Higgins - Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain; Red Thread: On Mazes and Labyrinths
Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go; The Unconsoled; The Buried Giant;
Dan Jackson - The Northumbrians
Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary
Virginia Woolf - Jacob’s Room

https://www.backlisted.fm/episodes/10...

So let's talk Arnold Bennett


What have you read?

What do you recommend?

I have read both The Old Wives' Tale and Anna of the Five Towns. Both I liked a lot. Both I recommend.

Thanks Chrissie - that's very helpful

I don't know, do you want me to paste in my reviews? They explain a bit more about each.

Anna: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and

OWT: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks again. I'll save the reviews until I've read the books. Where possible I like to go in with minimal knowledge. A personal recommendation is enough for now. I look forward to the books, and then enjoying your reviews.

I have also read The Old Wives' Tale, one of my 5-star reads. My reviews sometimes contain introductory material from the author, and I think you won't mind this:

Bennett gives us the inspiration for his story in a preface to the edition I read, wherein he states that he frequented a certain restaurant in Paris. ... an old woman came into the restaurant to dine. She was fat, shapeless, ugly, and grotesque. She had a ridiculous voice, and ridiculous gestures. ... I reflected concerning the grotesque diner: "This woman was once young, slim, perhaps beautiful; certainly free from these ridiculous mannerisms. Her case is a tragedy." He then was reminded of de Maupassant's Une vie. He thought he could make something of these two observations.

Sold. Thanks Elizabeth. Looking forward to it even more now.

I have also read both Anna of the Five Towns and The Old Wives' Tale and thought they were excellent. I would be up for more by Bennett, so I'd like to join in on Riceyman Steps, but I couldn't get to it right away.

Judy wrote: "I have also read both Anna of the Five Towns and The Old Wives' Tale and thought they were excellent. I would be up for more by Bennett, so I'd like to join in on Riceyman Steps, but I couldn't get..."

I would be up for this, too, but not soon as you say, Judy. I don't have a copy, nor does my library, but I would be happy to acquire one and go against my current prohibition of doing so. ;-)

Splendid. In the UK there are free and very cheap Kindle editions available

Nigeyb wrote: "Splendid. In the UK there are free and very cheap Kindle editions available"

Yes, very cheap here too. It isn't the money that keeps me from making yet another purchase, it's the volume of books I already have that should be read. I simply must make inroads! So, I'll let myself make a purchase here and there, just not as freely as my inclination might take me.

I too am interested in Riceyman Steps. When shall we read it? This on is not set in the Five Towns.

How about a buddy read in mid-March 2020 for Riceyman Steps? I don't really mind when we do it and will probably read it before then anyway, but given there are others keen to join in who need a few months it sounds about right.

I'll provisionally schedule it for then however if there is a consensus to do it earlier or later we can change it.

March sounds good to me, Nigeyb.

I can do it then. I will probably read The Card: A Story of Adventure in the Five Towns and Helen with the High Hand - An Idyllic Diversion before then. Thanks for bringing Bennett to my attention again,

Great news Chrissie. Looking forward to our discussion - especially as you seem to already be quite familiar with his work

I think that would be the earliest time for me. Thanks!

Splendid Elizabeth.


I'm delighted this buddy read is something others are keen on too

I see that Bennett has published some collections of stories. One of them is called Elsie and the Child and Other Stories.

Thirteen tales about various residents of London, the first of them being Elsie Sprickett, the domestic servant who had already appeared in Arnold's well received 1923 novel Riceyman Steps.

I see that Riceyman Steps and this collection are free on Project Gutenberg. I don't know if the UK has something similar. Some of those transcriptions are just like reading the original, while others are a hot mess. Free is free, but if a poor transcription, cheap is better.

Thanks Elizabeth. Project Gutenberg is available in most countries although copyrights vary. I tend to prefer Kindle editions but sometimes Gutenberg is very useful!

I send the Gutenberg edition to my Kindle.

In any case, it interesting to see that Bennett published short stories, something I had not thought about.

I am sure I saw a free Kindle edition of Riceyman Steps - there are certainly editions under £1. I expect it's the same situation in the US. I have never tried sending a Gutenberg edition to a Kindle however I have some software that could achieve that.

Nigeyb wrote: "I have never tried sending a Gutenberg edition to a Kindle however I have some software that could achieve that."

Me too. I just email it to my kindle address and download.

I finished reading Anna of the Five Towns two days ago. While it was not as good as The Old Wives Tale, it was good enoughh to spur me to purchase (for free) Kindle copies of both Clayhanger and The Card: A Story of Adventure in the Five Towns and will be deciding by tomorrow which one to have as my next Kindle read. Any input is welcomed if not necessarily followed.

I may join in the Riceyman Steps read as I like Bennett and, as I attended Brother Rice High School, I have often been called a Riceman. (Actually, the more common refrain, said in derogatory tones by fans of opposing schools' sports teams, was "Rice boys are Nice boys.")

Thanks Brian - that's interesting and helpful


I hope you do join in the Riceyman Steps read

I'm about 75% through....


Arnold Bennett's Riceyman Steps (1923)

...which we are all going to discuss soon

It's somewhat bleak but still enjoyable and, despite its age, very easy to read and follow and with an unpredictable and surprising story.

Arnold Bennett was hugely popular in the early 1900s in England and his straightforward writing and natural storytelling skill was mercilessly pilloried by Virginia Woolf and his reputation has never recovered.

On that top, I came across this quote...

Bennett’s later fiction, such as the 1923 novel Riceyman Steps – which appeared a year after Woolf’s Jacob's Room and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction – is closer to modernism than Woolf would have us believe.

In his 1992 book The Intellectuals and The Masses: Pride and Prejudice Among the Literary Intelligentsia, 1880-1939, critic John Carey cast Arnold Bennett as his ‘hero’, portraying Bennett as the champion of the ‘masses’ against the intelligentsia such as Woolf’s Bloomsbury Group.

There's going to be plenty to discuss

Wow! You're early for this. Isn't this scheduled for mid-March?

Riceyman Steps sounds great, Nigeyb. I am looking forward to it.

I liked The Grand Babylon Hotel so hope this one is as entertaining

Jill wrote: "I liked The Grand Babylon Hotel so hope this one is as entertaining"

I'm looking forward to it as well.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Wow! You're early for this. Isn't this scheduled for mid-March?"

Yes it is. I'm trying to get ahead of the game. A new strategy for a new year.

Nigeyb wrote: "Yes it is. I'm trying to get ahead of the game. A new strategy for a new year.
"

LOL. I'm hoping to keep my head above water for all of my reading commitments. But glad to hear I didn't have it marked wrongly on my sheet as mid-March - I panicked for a moment or two.

I've now finished....


Arnold Bennett's Riceyman Steps (1923)

It's great, and I am excited to be discussing it with you lovely people in March 2020

If the rest of Arnold Bennett's books are a patch on Riceyman Steps then this is just the start of a beautiful journey.

Here’s my review

4/5

Tania wrote: "I went to a local book exchange today and picked up Riceyman Steps! Now I shall be able to join in with the buddy read."

Wonderful news - really looking forward to discussing Riceyman Steps

Do you ever notice that one thing leads to another, especially reading-wise? I was looking at Margaret Drabble this morning and see she has a biography of Arnold Bennett, titled curiously Arnold Bennett. I'm not even thinking of reading this - at least not any time soon - but I pass it along in case others are.

Good intel - thanks for sharing

Sue wrote:


"I've only recently discovered Arnold Bennet. I read his How to Live on 24 Hours a Day

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Splendid review Sue - thanks

I have How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, and am now even keener to read it

Thanks Nigeyb, I've just downloaded that Backlisted episode. I'm expecting another major assault on my TBR as a result! I enjoyed your review or Riceyman Steps too.

Thanks Sue. I hope you enjoy the podcast

Here follows my review of Arnold Bennett's Clayhanger:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Chrissie wrote: "Here follows my review of Arnold Bennett's Clayhanger:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Great review Chrissie :-)

Thanks, Sue. Just today I downloaded onto my phone the next in the series--Hilda Lessways.

Sid wrote:


"Love Wodehouse in almost all his forms - especially Blandings and Jeeves & Wooster! And I was actually thinking of suggesting Arnold Bennett's The Card as a buddy read at some point. I loved it 40 years or so ago and would be very happy to re-read. Would anyone else be interested?"

Oh go on then Sid

I have the Complete Works on my kindle. Purchased for the princely sum of 49 pence and, as mentioned, I'm keen to continue my AB journey

We read and discussed Riceyman Steps here...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Great - maybe in a month or two's time? I've something of a backlog at the moment. I'm not sure how buddy reads work here, so I'll leave it to you.

I’m very flexible so just name a month and I’ll set it up

How about May? That gives me a few weeks with the pleasant delusion that my backlog will be smaller by then... :o)

Perfect

And here's the discussion thread for The Card....


https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

All are very welcome to join in