Play Book Tag discussion

Another close call, but one tag pulled away from the others in the end, and that tag was:

British literature

Please share your reading plans and recommendations below.

Remember, for the regular monthly reads, the book can be shelved as "british-literature" on Goodreads, or be a book that is not yet shelved that way but you feel should be.

One way to find books to read for this tag is to please visit:

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

We encourage people to link to additional lists below if they find them.

Happy Reading!!!

Anita wrote: "Remember, for the regular monthly reads, the book can be shelved as "scifi-fantasy" on Goodreads, or be a book that is not yet shelved ..."

I think you mean to say shelved as "british-literature" ....

I actually voted for this one, although I had choices for the three. Never once expected it to win.

I have just finished a William Boyd novel, and I would like to recommend him to other readers.
Other names that come easily to mind:
Iris Murdoch
Penelope Lively
A.S. Byatt
Rose Macaulay
Anita Brookner
Rosamunde Pilcher
Barbara Vine

Graham Joyce
Iain Banks
Christopher Brookmyre
John Banville
P.G. Wodehouse
China Miéville
Roddy Doyle
Francis Spufford

For myself, I think I will start with the latest from Ian McEwan - What We Can Know

I forgot to vote, but yay! I’m very happy that this won.

I just a few minutes ago received a book from Amazon: The Kingmaker's Daughter, by Philippa Gregory.

It will be perfect!

I hadn't researched the tags at all this time, but going through just now, I found a good number of likely candidates on my tbr and I will probably read something completely different, My list:
Rivers of London
When We Were Orphans
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Lolly Willowes
The Beach
They Came to Baghdad
Shuggie Bain
The Crossing Places
Our Wives Under the Sea
Once Upon a River
The Last Bookshop in London
Before I Go to Sleep
Dissolution
Transcription
A Street Cat Named Bob
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
The Secret Book of Flora Lea
The Silence of the Girls
Raven Black

Well, I read a lot of mysteries and romances set in England, so I think those count as well as literary fiction. I see there are some mysteries mentioned above.

Robin P wrote: "Well, I read a lot of mysteries and romances set in England, so I think those count as well as literary fiction. I see there are some mysteries mentioned above."

They were on the list when I looked through it.

I will be reading Ken Follett's The Armor of Light which has been on the short list for a while now.

Excellent--this was tied for my first choice, but I voted with it as my second. I'm not yet sure what I'll read; none are new territory for me, but I'm sure I have something :)

This works for me. I have many options on my physical bookshelf, including:
The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch
Atonement by Ian McEwen
Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz


I will have to see what my mood is in November:)

This will push me to finish Bleak House in November.

And I will try to finish Little Dorrit.

I’m planning to read the next book in the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear, Elegy for Eddie. I think it also fits November flurries since key characters are veterans of World War I.

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "I have just finished a William Boyd novel, and I would like to recommend him to other readers.
Other names that come easily to mind:
Iris Murdoch
Penelope Lively
[author..."

OK I will give Boyd a try. I liked the masterpiece adaptation of [book:Any Human Heart|77866], and this is a good time to try one of his novels. I’m not sure if I want to start with a thriller or a novel about an entire life. Probably the latter. I was interested in the one involving the Shelley’s because it reminds me of Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley.

I’ll see what’s readily available first.
Added - I can easily get: Any Human Heart and Restless. They both sound good to me.

What are your favorites?

NancyJ wrote: "Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "I have just finished a William Boyd novel, and I would like to recommend him to other readers.
Other names that come easily to mind:
Iris Murdoch
[autho..."

Restless is still on my TBR, but looks good. [book:Sweet Caress: The Many Lives of Amory Clay|23848587] and Any Human Heart would be my first picks from his fictional biographies; Trio, The Blue Afternoon or Waiting for Sunrise from his more contemporary novels

Looking through some of my reads, here are some I can recommend that were tagged British Literature:
Circle of Days
Murder on the Marlow Belle(4 tags)
A Peculiar Combination
Universality
Yours Cheerfully
Birds of a Feather
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy
The Summer Before the War

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "I have just finished a William Boyd novel, and I would like to recommend him to other readers.
Other names that come easily to mind:
[author:Iris Murdo..."

Great, I think I’ll start with Any Human Heart.

NancyJ wrote: "Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "I have just finished a William Boyd novel, and I would like to recommend him to other readers.
Other names that come easily to mind:
Iris Murdoch
[autho..."

Which is the one featuring the Shelleys?

Booknblues wrote: "Looking through some of my reads, here are some I can recommend that were tagged British Literature:
Circle of Days
Murder on the Marlow Belle(4 tags)


I loved The Love Song of Queeny Hennessy, and a couple other books by Rachel Joyce. I’ll give Miss Benson's Beetle another try. (I couldn’t finish it before the due date last time.) her new book is The Homemade God.

I also own books by Ali Smith, Kate Atkinson and Jeanette Winterson - Spring, Summer How to be Both, One Good Turn, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, The Passion. The Ali Smith books are short but they always take a long time because I stop to look things up.

Other books that might fit:
The Lost Words
My Friends - Hisham Matar
The Names
Queens of London
The Uncommon Reader

Plus Sense and Sensibility. I feel like I’m forgetting something else I wanted to read for a long time.

Some longer books:
Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis
Family sagas by R.F. Delderfield

Other authors:
Angela Thirkell - humorous
Christopher Fowler - humorous mysteryies
Pat Barker - historical
Charles Todd -historical mysteries
Mary Balogh - historical romance

a very short and effective book is Whale Fall

Robin P wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "I have just finished a William Boyd novel, and I would like to recommend him to other readers.
Other names that come easily to mind:
Iris Murdo..."</i>
the last tone I read: [book:The Romantic

Book Concierge wrote: "Anita wrote: "Remember, for the regular monthly reads, the book can be shelved as "scifi-fantasy" on Goodreads, or be a book that is not yet shelved ..."

I think you mean to say shelved as "britis..."

Ahh, the perils of copying and pasting!!

Algernon (Darth Anyan) wrote: "I have just finished a William Boyd novel, and I would like to recommend him to other readers.
Other names that come easily to mind:
Iris Murdoch
Penelope Lively
[author..."

Oh, thank you for pointing out that the latest[author:Ian McEwan|2408] is a fit. That's definitely on my radar.

Also considering Our Evenings.

A few more British authors who are among my favorites:
Barry Unsworth
Tom Rachman
David Mitchell
Hilary Mantel
Martin MacInnes
Hari Kunzru
Robert Harris
Michael Frayn
Aminatta Forna
Louis de Bernières
Sara Baume
Julian Barnes

Thought of a few more:

Ali Smith
Edward St. Aubyn
Bernard Cornwell
Diane Setterfield
Zadie Smith
Natasha Brown
David Nicholls
China Miéville
Penelope Fitzgerald
Muriel Spark
Siri Hustvedt
Bernardine Evaristo

And don't forget non-fiction:
Simon Winchester
Tim Butcher
Robert Macfarlane

I've read all but 8 of the books on the first page and have no desire to read those, but will check other pages :)

I am posting a definition of British literature in case it helps some of us decide what to read:

British literature is the body of written works from the United Kingdom, including England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that spans centuries and genres.

Joy D wrote: "I am posting a definition of British literature in case it helps some of us decide what to read:

British literature is the body of written works from the United Kingdom, including England, Scotlan..."

Thanks Joy. That’s more expansive than I thought. I like that it’s all genres, so we can read nonfiction, and we aren’t limited to high brow definitions of literature.

I'm always trying to talk people into reading After Story and while it is not tagged British Literature it is about an indigenous daughter and her mother who travel to England from Australia to do a tour of "England's most revered literary sites."(from blurb.)

I think it qualifies.

I put it on my TBR, BnB. Not sure if I'll get to it this month, but I can't resist your strong recommendation. :-)

Thanks for the reminder, BnB! It's been lurking on my TBR. I won't get to it this time but moved it up a bit.

Jgrace wrote: "And I will try to finish Little Dorrit."

We'll have to push each other! It's perfect to finish a Dickins for British Literature!

I’m going to read a strange variety of books that have been sitting on my nightstand and my Audible library.

On audio I have Wade Davis’s Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest, one of my mountaineer son’s favorite Everest books and a TBR Challenge book for this year.

From the library (and soon to be overdue) I have a newer release about four women who were part of the first Oxford class to enter the university knowing they would be awarded degrees at the end of their studies: Joanna Miller’s novel The Eights. It doesn’t meet any challenges, just looked great and a colleague highly recommended it.

“British Literature” primarily makes me think of the classics. I would love to get to a reread of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, as I read Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea earlier this year. Sadly, that does nothing to advance either my library stack or my challenge lists, so it might fall by the wayside. I could do an audio, but I purchased a lovely copy in print as I find her prose well worth the time of reading it.

Someone also mentioned that they thought Florence Knapp’s The Names might fit the tag. It just came in on audio for me on Libby, so I’ll definitely get to that one.

I just submitted my dissertation on a topic relating to Scottish folklore and the power of lore in society during the Middle Ages. My doctorate focuses on Scottish history, with a particular emphasis on the Norse influence during the early Middle Ages. If anyone is interested in Scottish history during any period, I’m happy to point towards some great fiction and nonfiction works.

Joy D wrote: "I am posting a definition of British literature in case it helps some of us decide what to read:

British literature is the body of written works from the United Kingdom, including England, Scotlan..."

I appreciate you posting this, Joy. As my kids and students would say, “I was today years old” when I learned that nonfiction is considered literature. Color me embarrassed. Just goes to show even old professors still have things to learn. When I think “literature,” all the fiction genres come to mind: novels, short stories, plays, poetry. I also tend to think of “literature” as something that is at least a modern classic (written fifty to ninety-nine years ago). To be honest, I even struggle with when to tag a new novel “literary fiction,” usually settling on whether or not the quality and staying power of the writing rise to a certain standard.

Of course on GR the tags/genres are notoriously unreliable, representing only how readers categorized the books.

Here is my TBR list.

1) Middlemarch - George Eliot
2) The Tempest - William Shakespeare
3) Silas Marner - George Eliot
4) The Wind and the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
5) A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
6) The Razor’s Edge - W. Somerset Maugham
7) Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
8) James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
9) The Only Story - Julian Barnes
10) The History of the Kings of Britain - Geoffrey of Monmouth
11) Mary Poppins Comes Back - P.L. Travers
12) Circle of Days - Ken Follett