August 2010, what are you reading

Leo62 · Post by **Leo62** » Sat August 14th, 2010, 12:29 pm

[quote=""annis""]Kasthu, as yet I haven't made much progress with South Riding, due to the' flu affecting my current powers of concentration

I did become intrigued by the ancient administrative structure of Yorkshire, though when I checked out the background for the word "Riding" and discovered it had nothing to do with horses, and everything to do with the Viking Danelaw![/quote]

Is that South Riding by Winifred Holtby? It's years since I read it, but from what I remember it's very good - a great example the kind of social-drama kitchen-sink story that's deeply unfashionable now...

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Sat August 14th, 2010, 1:15 pm

[quote=""Leo62""]a great example the kind of social-drama kitchen-sink story that's deeply unfashionable now...[/quote]
What is a social-drama kitchen sink story, especially in the context of the danelaw?

If I had to guess, I'd say that term perfectly defines the Help, --being about both dramatic social changes and kitchen sinks -- which is a runaway bestseller.

Nefret · Post by **Nefret** » Sat August 14th, 2010, 2:10 pm

Just started... Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Sat August 14th, 2010, 2:54 pm

Just finished Marianne by Juliette Benzoni. Man, what a ride and what a surprise at the end. Off to hunt down the next in the series.

Madeleine · Post by **Madeleine** » Sat August 14th, 2010, 3:16 pm

[quote=""Leo62""]Is that South Riding by Winifred Holtby? It's years since I read it, but from what I remember it's very good - a great example the kind of social-drama kitchen-sink story that's deeply unfashionable now...[/quote]

Have just read that South Riding is going to be adapted for TV, I think it has been done already, back in the 70s. Makes a change from Austen, at least.

Edited to say it was filmed in 1974! The new version will star Anna Maxwell Martin (from Bleak House) and David Morrissey.

Leo62 · Post by **Leo62** » Sat August 14th, 2010, 5:47 pm

[quote=""MLE""]What is a social-drama kitchen sink story, especially in the context of the danelaw?
[/quote]

South Riding is set in the 1930s. It's the name that derives from the time of the Danelaw.

Madeleine - that's great news! Great cast too. I just about remember the 70s version; think it starred Dorothy Tutin. Can't remember who played the hero.

Miss Moppet · Post by **Miss Moppet** » Sat August 14th, 2010, 6:34 pm

[quote=""Leo62""]Is that South Riding by Winifred Holtby? It's years since I read it, but from what I remember it's very good - a great example the kind of social-drama kitchen-sink story that's deeply unfashionable now...[/quote]

Yes, South Riding is really good. The main character is a headmistress but it shows a whole cross-section of society. It's close to a Condition of England novel, but it's also a wonderful story.

I'm just about to finish Time's Legacy by Barbara Erskine - only a few pages to go - and then I'm going to start The Mists of Avalon.

annis · Post by **annis** » Sat August 14th, 2010, 6:53 pm

Pleased to see that Holtby's South Riding is to be remade as a TV series. The copy I have must have been a tie-in for the first TV series as it has a picture of Dorothy Tutin as the headmistress, Sarah, on the cover.

A Riding (a corruption of the Old Norse word thrithjungr) was a term for an administrative area dating from the days when the Vikings ruled Yorkshire (that's how the Danelaw got in there). Like many people, I suspect, I wrongly had the idea that the term was associated with an area that could be covered by an administrator on horseback in a certain time (a day, a week, or whatever). South Riding is set in the context of the local council that administers the fictional area and so deals with many aspects of community life. In fact, it is set in out in chapters focusing on different areas of governance - Book 1 Education, Book 2 Highways and Bridges etc

SonjaMarie · Post by **SonjaMarie** » Sun August 15th, 2010, 1:24 am

I've finished reading "Stealing Athena" by Karen Essex (453pgs, 2008).

A novel about the "rape" of the Parthenon of it's marbles by Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin, hence the "Elgin Marbles", and his amazing wife Mary who suffered through her husband's quest and though she does lose a lot in the end because of her divorce, her children, her good name, she comes out a winner in my eyes.

The flip side to the story that alternate's through Mary, is that of Aspasia, the concubine of Pericles' who had the Parthenon made. Another amazing woman.

Over all a good book, though Elgin's obsession with the marbles got a bit annoying and repetitious! He certainly had tunnel vision where they were concerned! And it did drag in a few places.

Lady Mary is a fascinating and remarkable woman and I eventually want to read Susan Nagel's biography of her "Mistress of the Elgin Marbles".

Should the marble's be returned to Greece? It's hard to say. Part of me agrees with Elgin's view *sigh* that if left they would've been eventually destroyed by the Turks or taken by the French (Napoleon also wanted them). Some of them might be too fragile to move from the British Museum (their current home). The other part says, they should be reunited in the land of their birth. Greece has even built a museum that could house them if ever they were returned. I regret that I never saw them on either of my visits of the museum when I was in London.

SM

annis · Post by **annis** » Sun August 15th, 2010, 4:30 am

Taylor Caldwell wrote one of her better novels about Aspasia and Pericles -- The Glory and the Lightning. i think I've still got a copy stashed somewhere

I'm sure I saw Karen Essex mention somewhere that it was this painting of Phidias showing his work at the Parthenon to his friends (including Pericles and Aspasia) which inspired Stealing Athena