I've just been tagged again! While I have several longer posts bubbling in the background (though don't I always say that), I'm going to enjoy getting my teeth into this one first. Thank you for tagging me, Lizzie! The Outline (one cannot say "rules" for fear of sounding overly formal)
1. Link back to who tagged you.
2. Share the Graphic on your blog
3. Share the Outline on your post.
4. Share a detail you love about the season of summer into fall.
5. List at least 7 random/ specific things YOU love to read about in books, big or small.
6. Tag 7 people who would enjoy taking part/whose answers you are curious to read!
Nos. 1, 2, and 3 done, let's share a seasonal detail... only it is now early winter here and I've just got back from a whirlwind trip to the New Forest so I'm feeling keen on winter. So let's share a wintery detail instead.
I love being out in the middle of the open countryside in the winter when it's completely silent and getting to dusk and the cold is so raw that it's biting your cheeks. Then suddenly you see the light from a farmhouse, or smell bonfire smoke, or see smoke coming from someone's chimney, and it feels like home.
On to the listing of seven random things!
1. Sister relationships
I have two sisters myself, and I love love love it when people write realistic sister relationships. Elinor and Marianne Dashwood... Jane and Lizzy Bennet... Frederica and Charis Merrivale from Frederica by Georgette Heyer... it makes me happy when my own relationship with my sisters is mirrored in literature.
Wrong sisters. But realistic, you know?
2. Married couplesI know that Lizzie did this, but I love it in books. I especially like it when the couple go through a character arc together (and it's even better if they have children who then help in that arc).
3. Set in Victorian London
I mean, what can I say? It's just the best setting... Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, et cetera, et cetera.
4. Descriptions of clothing
Yes, yes, I know, I'm vain. But what can I say? It's so fun to be able to imagine exactly what the characters are wearing. Maybe it's the dressmaker in me. Or maybe I'm just superficial. Anne of Green Gables has some lovely descriptions of clothes in it, as do all of Georgette Heyer's books.
5. The marriage of convenience trope
Hear me out with this one. Obviously, a marriage of convenience is not an objectively good thing. However, I like reading about how good can come out of that bad, and about how the married couples can grow to love each other.
Examples? Georgette Heyer again! April Lady, Friday's Child are two that spring to mind.
6. Heroines being bad at things
Isn't it irritating when the main character is just perfect at everything she tries? Girl of the Limberlost springs to mind... Elnora is just so perfect and talented at everything she puts her hand to, which really annoys me, I have to say. I like it when the characters try something new and are bad at it, or have a hobby that they are bad at. It's far more relatable. (I don't mind it when they are good at some things, I should say - I just dislike it when they are perfect at everything.) An obscure example that springs to mind is A Houseful of Girls by Mrs George de Horne Vaizey. I discovered this book at my grandmother's house, and I love it (I may even prefer it to Little Women). The main characters have hobbies in which they do not excel.
7. Cathedral city settings
I love it when the story is set in a cathedral city (even better if it's a university town too). Oxford, Wells, Cambridge... Elizabeth Goudge's The Cathedral Trilogy is the best example I can think of. Though I love the countryside and would usually choose to live in it if I could (I don't at the moment, sadly), there's just something about a historic town or city that makes my spine tingle.
Wells Cathedral, which I visited a while ago.
I tag:
and anyone else who wants to steal it!
That was very fun, Lizzie - thank you!
Wow - thank you for tagging me! I will try and do this before too long...
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!! XD
DeleteOh, these are lovely! Especially sister relationships :) I'm not sure if I've read any books in which cathedrals figure, but now I feel a great need to XD
ReplyDeleteI know, sister relationships in books are the best, aren't they? Truth be told, I need to reread some cathedral books too XD Recommendations to others just make you want to read the same things all over again yourself...
DeleteI completely agree about the marriage of convenience trope! (As you may have been able to guess, seeing how that's literally the premise of TLWILN :P) That reminds me, have you ever watched The Magic of Ordinary Days? It includes that trope in a way that I liked rather.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really notice Elnora being perfect at everything when I read A Girl of the Limberlost...I was more annoyed by the romance. I much preferred the little romance that sprang up between...Edith was her name, right? and the other fellow. (Help, I can't remember anyone's name :P). I found it both much more touching and much more interesting.
Anyway. Ramblings aside, 'twas lovely to read your answers!
It *does* make for some fun reading, doesn't it? (Yes! TLWILN is that type I like best, but I can't say exactly how without announcing parts of the plot to the world, so perhaps I'll have to email it to you :P) Ooh, no, I've never seen that - I will add it to my list.
DeleteOh, Edith and the other man's romance was the better by far... I suppose the whole book just didn't click with me! The main man, too, was just the sort of guy I personally find irritating, you know? Edith's romance was far sweeter.
It was fun to write, so thank you for tagging me!
Good HEAVENS, this is a ridiculously late reply...I do apologize!
DeleteAw, I feel honored :D (And also ashamed of how little I've worked on TLWILN of late...I feel a New Year's resolution formulating.) I hope you like it...if you (or Emi ;)) check it out, let me know what you think!
I rather liked the book on the whole, but there were things that annoyed me too...I didn't find the lead man particularly irritating at first, but his behavior when wishing Elnora goodbye lowered him quite a bit in both her estimation and my own. She deserved better. :P
Well, this is even later... apologies from me, too!
DeleteYou're welcome! I know, writing is one of those things it's sometimes really hard to get to, isn't it? :/ I'll definitely let you know when I see it!
Yes, same here! He just wasn't honourable... and I fail to see why any of the other characters thought it was acceptable that he chased a moth for another girl at his fiancée's ball. I mean, that's just like he went off in the middle and bought another lady a present or something. I support Edith in that matter... Elnora deserved better. I could rant about this for a looong time, but I won't because we'd be here all night otherwise xD
Oh my goodness, what an extraordinarily late (and long. Mustn't forget the Long.) comment this one is... Awfully sorry, Cecilia! I rather lost track of the blogging world for a while there😬
ReplyDeleteGeorgette Heyer, you say??
She is going to be looked up before many minutes pass, that book cover is being impossible to resist, and if there are things inside to rival that for prettiness, well! I guess I know what I must do then XD
Oh, oh oh oh, you've read A House Full Of Girls!! Now I'm randomly remembering the sister who was up in the attic hammering away at her fingers and her copper both... Good times :P (And you know, that is an excellent point. I always thought Nancy Drew was almost too perfect at everything, myself, and that Trixie Belden was much more interesting with all her scrapes and reality... Which is the same concept, if in different books :P)
Lovely post, Cecilia! You've inspired me to start writing my own post with this, and you can consider it a good deed done, because I'm half done already by now😄
(Lizzie, I'm snagging that recommendation you just gave Cecilia, it sounds so intriguing I can't resist!)
This is now an extremely late reply, so we're quits! :P
DeleteYes, do read them! I would, however, certainly recommend more than others... Frederica is probably my favourite. I can always email you with more specifics if you like?
Ohhhhh, another person who's read it!! *claps hands* Yes, that's the very one - Nan, was it? I love that book so much. I must dig it out and read it again. Which was your favourite sister, from what you can remember of it? Funnily enough, I've never read any Nancy Drew, and from which series does Trixie Belden come?
Ooh, good, I look forward to reading it. (And this tag does seem to be a good one for receiving and giving recommendations, doesn't it?)
*Writes it down carefully* Fredrica it is... Ooh, yes, please do!!! I must say, I read one of her books not long after I sent the previous comment, (and stayed up Very Late reading it, oops XD) and am intrigued by the author now...
DeleteYES, Nan!! I thought of that, and then wasn't sure if I was remembering right, so thank you for reminding me😜 Hmmm, what is the name of the sister older than her again? The one who was going to marry that young man who came for supper while they were house cleaning? I think she and Nan were my favourite of the lot, though it HAS been a goodish while since I read it...
Oh you haven't?? Well, Trixie Belden is a more realistic type of girl detective, with a series all her own, (named after her,) and much more fun, anyway ;)
Just as soon as I think of one more thing I love in books :P I am just a wee tad stuck there at the moment... (I hadn't even thought of that, so it is!!)
Ooh, which book did you read??? What did you think??
DeleteYES, that's it! The older sister... hmm, I can't remember... was it Maud? I have a feeling it was something vaguely like that... Yes, I liked those two best too, especially Maud - something about that type of quiet, gentle character just makes me happy.
Aha, okay! That sounds like it would be more fun. I much prefer realistic detective stories, I have to say... I read one recently that was extraordinarily un-life-like and generally dissatisfying, so I'm always on the lookout for new ones. Do you have any favourites? Have you read Sherlock Holmes (apologies if I've asked you before)?
Yes, it's always the last few things on tags that get me...
So sorry for how long it took me to reply!
It was These Old Shades... And I absolutely love her writing style!! (Though the main character wearing pink silk suits and waving fans was a little off-putting XD) I actually listened to the sequel too, (since my sister, having somehow listened to TOS at the sameish time without us knowing the other was, recommended it,) and I think that was my favourite! I look forward to discovering more of her books😄
DeleteOoh, Maud, it might have been... It starting with an M sounds right...
I knowww, me too... Almost slightly Meg-ish... The sort of person I always think I'd like to grow up into😄
Mmm, favourites... Maybe the Tommy and Tuppence mysteries by Agatha Christie?? I love the intricacy of her writing, and Tommy and Tuppence are so very alive one can't help but fall in love with them!
Firstly, I don't think you HAVE asked before, and secondly, I've read a few, but I think they may need a reread😜 I mainly remember them being very scary to my young mind, and probably missed all the finer points of them for that reason XD
And right back your way😅
I've never read that one but I will do just as soon as I can borrow it from my grandmother's... I've come across a few other men in Georgette Heyer books who do the whole pink-silk-and-fan thing and it's not nice XD. Ooh, hang on, is the sequel Devil's Cub? Because if so, I've read it too and I really like it!
DeleteMe too, being Meg would be lovely.
Agatha Christie is one of my favourites too! I haven't read any Tommy and Tuppence, but I'm always meaning to - I must get down to it, as we actually have them. Which one would you recommend for starters?
Some of them are pretty scary... it's been a while since I actually read them, to be honest, not watched them, so perhaps it's time for a reread. I love the earlier ones especially, from what I remember!
Hi Cecilia!
ReplyDeleteSuch a fun post - I loved learning more about your book taste. :)
Have a wonderful Christmas!
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Have a blessed Christmas!
Delete