Read the 1940s - June 2019: Wildcard!

Summer is here! Read whatever you like! June is one of two Wildcard months for our 1940s theme read.

As usual, books can be fiction or nonfiction, Viragos, Persephones, books by Virago/Persephone authors, or books that otherwise embody the "Virago spirit." They can be set in the 1940s, or published in the 1940s. In short, there are no rules here -- participants can set rules to suit themselves. For questions, comments, and general chat about the theme read go to our General Discussion thread.

Perhaps, like me, you're using this theme read to whittle down your TBR pile. Visit the Book Recommendations thread for help choosing books to read this month. Or have a look at the very helpful Google spreadsheet created by Heather/souloftherose, which compiles and classifies all the book recommendations mentioned on the thread. The spreadsheet includes a "categories" column that shows which topic(s) each book would be suitable for, but you can choose whatever you like for June!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-b4Y2YrG4VseFT5qn546IjWy0JYst7cOVIrmeBHB...

What's everyone planning to read in June? Be sure to visit here often to join the discussion.

I have failed miserably so far with this year’s challenge. Perhaps the wild card is what I need!!

I have a few reads I didn't get to that I will try to catch up in June:

Chatterton Square by E. H. Young (Family/Women)
To Bed with Grand Music by Marghanita Laski (Relationships)
Few Eggs and No Oranges by Vere Hodgson (Food)

I think three books is quite ambitious especially as Few Eggs and No Oranges is a bit of a brick at 590 pages but I hope to at least start it (it's a diary so I expect it will be a dip in and out read).

I didn't manage anything for May, so perhaps I will do better in June. Although it's still May, I might claim my current read for June. Mrs Tim Carries On by D E Stevenson, the second Mrs Tim book. I have lots of others I could read but haven't decided which to go for yet.

I think I'll read Mr Skeffington, I just need to find my copy. My VMCs are all shelved together, and *should* be alphabetical by author, and I *think* I put vonArnim in the A's not the V's. However, the A's are on the tippy-top shelf and I had to double-shelve the books to fit them in, so I need to get the stepladder and poke around.

>5 lauralkeet: I loved Mr Skeffington! Hope you can find it!

I’m feeling drawn to Elizabeth Bowen for some reason. I wish I hadn’t read her Demon Lover short story collection because I loved it and I’d like to be discovering it for the first time! 🤣

I just acquired a complete set of the Mrs Tim books, so I will read at least the first one of those. I also have Few eggs and no oranges, and I'm sure there a few more that I didn't manage to squeeze in to earlier months.

I am going to finish Curtin's War Vol II by John Edwards which deals with the Pacific War. I have also found a copy of Resistance on my bookshelf and will read that. It is written by Agnes Humbertand are her memoirs of occupied France.

I'm reading The Berlin diaries of a Lithuanian émigré, Marie "Missie" Vassiltschikov, who lived and worked in Berlin during WWII. I was going to save this for the War month, but it's borrowed from a friend and I should give it back to her. It is a fascinating book, full of little social and historical detail. Missie and her sister were landed gentry and so moved in high social circles in Berlin, but both worked for their living and had to live on small salaries. They alternated their office jobs with parties but the reality of air-raids and food shortages soon hit home. Missie's colleagues formulated the plot to assassinate Hitler in 1944 (her social set were not supporters of the Nazi regime), so I'm very interested to read that part of her diary. Much of her narrative could be that of a British woman at the same time - fears for friends at the front, taking shelter from air-raids, trying to acquire basic food and clothing - which brings home the common experiences of being at war.

I read a Persephone book which though originally published in 1957 Maman, What are We Called Now? By Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar was written around 1944 - 1946.

The first part of the book is a wartime diary of the last few weeks of the Paris occupation in 1944.

The second part of the book is essays and reminiscences about the German occupation written later.

I reviewed it today.

https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2019/06/07/maman-what-are-we-called-now-jacqueli...

Hi folks. I am lurking a bit in these parts, having several Persephone volumes and a handful of Virago Modern Classics. I was just over reading through Liz's notes for the group read of Emmeline. It may have to wait until after I retire, but I plan to join in some of these group reads of lesser-known novels written by (mostly) women.

Meanwhile, this thread is a good way to follow what's being read and maybe get some ideas for dipping my toe into this territory.

>11 Heaven-Ali: Maman, What Are We Called Now is one of the Persephone editions that I've actually read. I enjoyed it.

>12 EBT1002: Hello Ellen. Lurk all you want! We have a 1940s theme read going this year with different topics each month, and there's also a general "what are you reading" thread that's a good source for recommendations. Just dive in!

I've now finished The Berlin diaries which was an excellent read. It was moving and fascinating to hear about everyday life in the war from the "other side", as it were. Missie is an ideal observer, as something of an outsider in Germany and Austria and with her varied social and professional connections. Her account of the last days in Vienna was extremely gripping as she faced particular danger from the oncoming Soviet army due to her status as a White Russian. If you can find a copy this is a very worthwhile read.

Now I'm reading Two worlds and their ways by Ivy Compton-Burnett, which I ran out of time to read during the Family month.

Now is my chance to read The Gentlewomen which I will hopefully do.

I successfully located my copy of Mr Skeffington on my topmost Virago shelf, and started reading last night at bedtime. It's been ages since I last read Elizabeth von Arnim, and I just love her wit.

From 1943 I read the delightful The Two Mrs. Abbotts by D. E. Stevenson. The war is a kind of background unifying theme, but there's also a Romance writer, the character Janetta Walters, in crisis. I kept wondering if she was loosely based on a real writer of the time.

Mr Skeffington was a wonderful book, thanks to all here who recommended it. My review:

As Fanny Skeffington is recovering from a serious illness, she imagines a visit from her former husband. They were married only five years; after multiple instances of infidelity she divorced him. He’s been out of her life for more than twenty years, but Fanny finds it hard to banish him from her thoughts. To make matters worse, Fanny’s fiftieth birthday is just weeks away, and she’s having a difficult time coming to terms with this milestone. Fanny sees herself unchanged from the young, beautiful socialite of years past, and to prove it she decides to visit her past lovers.

Not surprisingly, Fanny is in for a bit of disappointment. Fanny’s lovers include a university student, a wealthy older man, and a humble clergyman serving the poor. Surprises abound, on both sides of each relationship, and Elizabeth vonArnim describes each encounter with her characteristic wit. While Fanny never quite accepts her loss of beauty and social status, she begins to understand how her life has fallen short of ideal. The ending is both surprising and satisfying, but leaves the reader wondering whether she has completely learned her lesson.

>18 lauralkeet::Lovely, Laura! I thought it was a great book too. Much less melodramatic than the Bette Davis film (which I also love) but just as good in different ways and with more depth than I’d expected.

I thought I'd reported back here, but it seems I haven't. I finished Two worlds and their ways and thought it was interesting. The style was very artificial, with characters pronouncing statements to each other rather than conversing. The theme was well handled, that of the loss of innocence and painful gaining of experience. When a brother and sister are sent off to boarding schools they soon start to see themselves and their family through the eyes of others, and learn that they are not seen as odd. Both children resort to cheating to try and meet their mother's expectations of their progress, and are found out. This causes much hand-wringing at home - but it soon becomes clear that they are not the only ones to have stooped to dishonesty. It wasn't a bad read, but not one I'll return to.

After that I read Westwood by Stella Gibbons which I enjoyed a lot. Although I wanted to shake Margaret at times for her infatuation with shallow, selfish people, she did seem to have good sense deep within and was making better choices by the end of the book. The dreadful Gerald Challis was both wonderful and excruciating to read about, and the scenes involving his awful play were hilarious. The temperamental Zita felt like people I've known, needing careful handling to keep them from flaring up. The wartime background was well done, with people generally living life as normal, until an air raid comes. I'm so glad it's now easier to find more of Gibbons' books than just Cold Comfort Farm.

>18 lauralkeet: Lovely review Laura - I feel like I barely have time to read at the moment but just ordered myself a copy of Mr S anyway...

I discovered a book from the "Furrowed Middlebrow" list. He is creating a new list of American Women Writers of fiction 1910 to 1960. One of the authors that he recommended was

(description from Wikipedia) Harriette Simpson Arnow (July 7, 1908 – March 22, 1986) was an American novelist, who lived in Kentucky and Michigan. Arnow has been called an expert on the people

of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, but she herself loved cities and spent crucial periods of her life in Cincinnati and Detroit.

The book is titled "The Dollmaker" and it's set in the hills of Kentucky during WW2. Virtually all of the men in the community are serving in the military or have emigrated north to work in factories

related to the war. It is a poor agricultural community and the descriptions of the lives of the women and their children and the suffering that they are enduring is very moving. I've read about 100

pages and it's a long book but it will probably join my list of favorites.

>22 kayclifton: The Dollmaker has been neglected on my shelves for decades--I think I picked it up in the 1970s, but never read it. Bumping it to the top of the pile...

The Dollmaker disappointment. Gertie, the dollmaker left Kentucky and moved to Detroit to be with her husband who was

working in a munitions factory.

The tone of the book changed completely because her life became very depressing. I read a few Chapters and then gave

up.Harriette Arnow has written a few others books which I will add to my TBR list.

I started House on the Rhine this morning. It's good so far, about a large family in post-war Koln.