Bright Young Things discussion

Use this thread to tell us about your favourite book written between 1900-1945.

What is it that you love about this particular book? what are the characters like? what is the writing style like? what about locations? what genre is it? what makes it different from the type of fiction you get now?

I'm tempted to say The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame because I only just read it last month and loved it quite intensely. However...if I must only name one (and many came to mind) I will say Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

What is it that you love about this particular book?

It has a gothic quilty I liked. I enjoyed the sense of mystery, and especially the way that mystery and the nature of certain characters was revealed.

What are the characters like?

They run the full spectrum from innocent to evil. Max is secretive, the narrator naive and insecure. There are snobs, and rogues, and one who may actually be insane.

What is the writing style like?

Deceptively simple. It's the sort of book you pick up and suddenly find your on chapter two.

what about locations?

We start on the Riviera, but soon move to Cornwall. I've never been. I was last in England more than thirty years ago. My dream vacation would be a trip to St. Ives [follow this link: http://www.stives-cornwall.co.uk/thin... - I want to go to all of these places and then simply relax for week and maybe drive through the surrounding country].

Daphne Du Maurier's Cornwall. Bret Hawthorne shows off Cornwall to great effect.

What genre is it?

That's up for debate. Some would simply label it a gothic romance, which I find almost demeaning. I would place it in the category of general fiction. It is a robust novel of romance and mystery and a fully developed plot and cast of characters.

What makes it different from the type of fiction you get now?

Actually, I don't know that it is. Obviously the depiction of sex and violence have developed exponentially in the seventy years since this was published. However, du Maurier has influenced and/or inspired generations of writers. I haven't always liked her other books - save for her wonderfully macabre short stories and her novel
The House On The Strand (which I recommend to everyone).

I love Rebecca too but my favourite has to be...

Selected Stories by Katherine Mansfield

A totally amazing writer.

How come you don't nominate In a German Pension: 13 Stories? I've often thought of reading it...but just never have (yet).

Ivan wrote: "How come you don't nominate In a German Pension: 13 Stories? I've often thought of reading it...but just never have (yet)."

Sounds like a good plan...if you don't nominate this for April I will!

I was surprised that I liked Rebecca. It never sounded like it would be my kind of book. But it was very readable and it did keep my interest. Maybe because it turned into a murder mystery. And I like those.

Gosh, what a question! I would probably have to say Anne of Green Gables, which has been my favorite forever. I think some Waugh is a close second though. Vile Bodies, Brideshead, ... They're all so amazing in so many different ways. Pick one favorite book for the period is so hard!

I think my favorite, of the very limitted selection I have read, would have to be The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. It was a short little book, but she packs a lot into few pages. The last line may be one of the most heartbreaking in literature.

Jennifer W wrote: "I think my favorite, of the very limitted selection I have read, would have to be The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. It was a short little book, but she packs a ..."

This was such a beautiful piece of writing. Loved it.

Ivan wrote: "Jennifer W wrote: "I think my favorite, of the very limitted selection I have read, would have to be The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. It was a short little boo..."

I, too, liked Return of the Soldier. Maybe I kept reading to find what was making these people tick and to try to figure out this bizarre living situation.

I don;t know that I've decided on a favorite, though.

I did find my copy of The Big Rock Candy Mountain by one of my all-time faves, Wallace Stegner. And am reminded just how readable he is and how much I enjoy his writing; whether it is short stories or novels.

But it may also be one of
Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey books, like Five Red Herrings or Gaudy Night.

I've been meaning to read Rebecca and The Return of the Soldier for a while now, but other books got in the way. Now I am even more curious about them.

My favourite so far is Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Love how VW connects people, love the car going down Bond Street with everyone wondering who is in it, love how the little things become important and I love how in depicting one ordinary day she is able to criticize war and the upper classes while still keeping it light and flowery. And the fact that it takes place in London doesn't hurt either:)

Mrs. Dalloway is also high on my list. I read it in college and remember really liking it, but I don't remember much of the specifics. I need to reread it.

I still haven't finished Mrs. Dalloway. I guess I don't like it very much or just haven't been able to get into it. I haven't finished The Hours yet either.

Impossible to say. But to my surprise, the books which have been influential are either post-1960 or 19th C. The only candidates seem to be The Sun Also Rises, Ulysses, Mrs. Dalloway, and That Awful Mess On the Via Merulana (Carlo Emilio Gadda). And again to my surprise, I would now, as opposed to twenty years ago, have to rank them Gadda, Hemingway, Joyce, Woolf. Shocking.

Jan C wrote: "I still haven't finished Mrs. Dalloway. I guess I don't like it very much or just haven't been able to get into it. I haven't finished The Hours yet either."

I liked The Hours but not Mrs. Dalloway.

Oh, and my favorite book written during that time period is Brideshead Revisisted.It's hard to choose just one, isn't it?

I haven't read Brideshead Revisited yet - perhaps this is one for our next nominations!

I love Woolf - Mrs Dalloway in particular makes feminine concerns somehow substantial in a way that literature hadn't done before. Katherine Mansfield pips Woolf for me though (only just!).

I totally agree with Charles - it's funny how your tastes and opinions change over time!

We haven't read Brideshead Revisited yet? But we've read a book about Waugh and one or two of his other works.

I suppose I ought to add Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End, though I could too easily not play fair and make a big long list.

There's a run on Mrs. Dalloway. Have we discussed this some time in the past? I don't know how to find old threads.

And Stevie Smith's Novel On Yellow Paper and Gertrude Stein's murder mystery Blood On the Dining Room Floor and... grr.

ooh - novel on yellow paper - I keep forgetting about that but it's on my tbr pile!

If you click on the heading 'group reads archive' you can open up the list of past group read conversations.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

Charles wrote: "I suppose I ought to add Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End, though I could too easily not play fair and make a big long list.

There's a run on Mrs. Dalloway. Have we discussed this some time in the p..."

I think I recently started Parade's End. I picked it up a few years ago at a used book sale. It seemed very readable.

Ivan wrote: "We haven't read Brideshead Revisited yet? But we've read a book about Waugh and one or two of his other works."

Yes, I remember we read Vile Bodies. Did the group read Mad World? Is there an old thread on that?

Yes and yes.

The Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead thread can be found here:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

We read this back in 2010.

Thanks, Ally.

Ally, you shouldn't have let me in on the secret. I was poking around and tricked myself into starting a thread on Hiemito Von Doderer, who would also be on my favorite authors list. As if I didn't have enough to do.

I do have to say that as a 'snapshot' of the world of the 'bright young things' you can't beat...

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh