Finally, here are my first two books in my #20BooksOfSummer challenge (for more info on the challenge, see my first post on the topic). These are not connected apart from by virtue of being part of the project, and of standing a little outside the main run of the TBR, “Patricia Brent, Spinster” being an ebook and “Oxford Guide to Plain English” having lived in a little pile of what I like to call “books for work”, separate because you never know when you’re going to want to/have to read them. Oh – another link – both of them fill in gaps in my Reading A Century project, too, which is another reason why I wanted to get them read, apart from mere tidiness.
Herbert Jenkins – “Patricia Brent, Spinster”
(ebook, bought June 2015 (I thought I’d already downloaded it but couldn’t find it on my Kindle: the shame!))
OK, OK, Simon from Stuck-in-a-Book and all the other people who exhorted me to read this novel were right. It’s charming, delightful, a dear of a book and unputdownable.
Patricia Brent is only in her 20s, but is marked down as a lonely spinster by the fellow inmates of the rather pretentious boarding house she inhabits in London. Sick of their goading and cattiness, she resorts to inventing a fiancé, and then weaves her way into a delicious web of deceit when challenged somewhat passive-aggressively to prove it, springing upon a hapless chap in a cafe and persuading him to take part in her misleading ploy.
Of course, then the chap in question turns to (seem to) be actually keen on Patricia, and starts to send her flowers and telegrams, but she’s that horrible combination of proud and embarrassed, and a whole comedy of misunderstandings and crossed wires starts to develop, helped along by the quite horrific fellow-boarding-house-dwellers, the “rising politician” whose secretary Patricia is and his dreadful wife and her marvellous father, and the background of London coping with World War One, ever present, and intruding dreadfully in one scene.
What with a Troublesome Aunt, a solicitious major domo at the boarding house who moves subtly from caricature to rounded and sympathetic character and a set-piece which shows all of the characters for who they really are, plus the breathless Lady Peggy who inexorably gathers the main characters under her win, it’s a cheerful and very funny book with a strong and interesting core and a heart-warming story, very akin to those Persephone Books stalwarts about Miss Pettigrew and Miss Buncle. Charming.
Here’s Simon’s original review which made me want to read it and here’s my friend Ali’s review, too!
This book fills in the year 1918 in my Century of Reading and is Book 1 in my 20 Books of Summer challenge.
This book will appeal to anyone who loves the aforementioned Miss Buncle and Miss Pettigrew; anyone interested in social changes and society in the First World War.
Martin Cutts – “Oxford Guide to Plain English”
(October 2012)
The author of this book co-founded the Plain English Campaign although is no longer associated with it, so has a good background for writing this book about that marvellous thing, Plain English, which helps people to write clearly and understandably. I’ve just broken one of its suggestions, by the way …
The book is fairly small but has just the appropriate amount of information and detail. It sets out a useful set of 25 suggestions for writing (covering planning, structure, sentence structure, layout and then specific types of writing and audience) and then has a chapter covering each, including useful worked examples to explain and clarify the points the author is making. There are also quite a few “amusing” examples of typos and mistakes – this is a bit of a bugbear of mine, and I’ve criticised it elsewhere, but it’s not too snarky and doesn’t take away from the usefulness of the book itself. (I don’t like it because I work with people whose English is not their first language and people who are not confident about their writing, and I don’t like any hint of mockery, which could really put them off. That’s why I don’t tend to be found sharing funny signs, etc., in public. Anyway.)
It’s written – of course – in a clear and also approachable style – not too personal and overbearing, either (there is a funny section about a small argument with The Telegraph about split infinitives). It concentrates on factual report and letter writing, but the general points extend to all kinds of writing except the most literary and/or experimental. The fact that I didn’t find anything that surprising, shocking or new suggests that I can be reassured that I’m on the right track with my own writing – hooray! Overall a useful book that should be added to the shelf of anyone who writes for a living or for pleasure.
This book will appeal to anyone interested in writing. By the way, if you need a Plain English editor, my friend and colleague Laura Ripper is qualified in Plain English.
This book fills in the year 2009 in my Century of Reading and is Book 2 in my 20 Books of Summer challenge.
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Currently reading … NOTHING! That last book got finished just after lunch and I am not sure what I’ll pick up next – maybe something else from my first eight #20BooksOfSummer as these are only the first two …
anewlookthrougholdeyes
Jun 23, 2015 @ 16:37:28
Love your nonjudgmental approach to variations in English. Depending, of course, on the context and clarity isn’t it more important to express yourself than to worry about linguistic errors? Very good review on Plain English.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 23, 2015 @ 16:43:39
I do try to help my clients to eliminate errors, but I’d never point errors out or laugh at them publicly. But I know it does amuse people reading this sort of book and that I am overly sensitive about such matters!
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heavenali
Jun 23, 2015 @ 18:06:54
Patricia Brent, Spinster is so charming right up there with Miss Pettigrew and Miss Buncle I agree.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 23, 2015 @ 20:59:17
Definitely, and I’m going to look out for his other books, too!
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BookerTalk
Jun 23, 2015 @ 20:31:19
I’m a huge fan of the Plain English campaign. I use their guidelines extensively to coach people in work but I’ve not seen this particular book. Like you I have a pile of ‘books for work’ that I never seem to get around to reading
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Liz Dexter
Jun 23, 2015 @ 21:00:06
It was difficult to find this one and I had to order it from the bookshop. This 20BooksofSummer thing seems to be getting me to read these books that live outside the proper TBR, like work ones, hooray!
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kaggsysbookishramblings
Jun 24, 2015 @ 09:08:22
I confess I’m one of those who rushed out to buy Patricia after Simon’s enthusiastic review – but I’ve yet to read it. It does sound lovely! 🙂
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Liz Dexter
Jun 24, 2015 @ 09:09:35
Simon and Ali both went on about it to me. It’s very well worth a read!
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Samantha
Jun 24, 2015 @ 11:21:22
I just tried to read Patricia Brent, Spinster, with such high expectations. Simon’s never steered me wrong before, after all, and anything described as charming and delightful by people whose opinions in books I trust is automatically added to my to-read list.
However. I went in expecting to love it and I couldn’t even finish it. Was it just me? Was no one else bothered by issues of agency and consent? Patricia made it very clear, several times, both by her words and her actions and even her internal monologue for the reader that she was not interested in pursuing the supposed engagement, even if she might have been somewhat attracted to him, and yet he refuses to leave her alone and accept her choice. At the point where his sister announces that they must MAKE Patricia love him, I couldn’t take it anymore. I recognize that it’s of its time, but I read an awful lot of early to mid-twentieth-century British lit and am not normally so bothered by its institutionalized sexism. Is it perhaps a difference in tone, considering this book was written by a man rather than the women authors I usually read? Not sure if you have any answers, though I’d love any insight you might care to share.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 24, 2015 @ 11:28:26
Oh, that is an interesting comment. Hm. I read Patricia’s seeming lack of interest as part of her rather reticent and retiring personality, in contrast with the other women’s very outward-facing desires and actions. And as a sort of fairy tale. To me it fitted in with the Miss Buncles and the Miss Pettigrews of the (literary) world; quite traditional women jumping into a different type of world from the one they were used to. I thought Patricia was wry and detached, but also horribly embarrassed by her one, sudden outward action in the restaurant at the very beginning. And I’m usually quite aware of the patriarchal etc. attitudes in these books, so I obviously read it differently (or got pushed into doing so by the male writer …??).
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Samantha
Jun 24, 2015 @ 13:53:26
Lack of interest is one thing; saying “no” and having that not respected is another. I couldn’t keep reading, but I did wonder if later in the book it would be revealed that she really didn’t mean it, and that her narrative to the reader was slightly unreliable. Which doesn’t excuse the actions of those around her, but would at least make for a happier ending. Is that what happened?
I did like Patricia’s character quite a lot!
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Liz Dexter
Jun 24, 2015 @ 14:01:19
It depends where you got to, really. I think it was made clear that she was really terribly embarrassed by her out of character behaviour and so pushed him away hugely; she stands up to other people, e.g. her boss’s wife over her embarrassing dad, so it didn’t feel like an issue of consent to me by the end of the book. But it’s a very interesting question. What did Simon have to say about that? I must pop over to his review again to have a look.
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Simon T
Jul 09, 2015 @ 20:39:25
Popping in late (sorry! I kept looking out for this review, but somehow missed it) to say how glad I am that you loved this as much as I did. I’ve just listened to another of his books, The Return of Alfred, as a Librivox recording and – well, if you think Patricia Brent, Spinster had a lot of coincidences in it, then think again!
Samantha’s comment has given me pause for thought. It’s a really good point; I think I read the book as a sort of fairy tale, and that made the morals of the characters less subject to examination, for me – in the same way that I don’t question whether Sleeping Beauty should be kissed without her consent etc. Which isn’t really a defence. I will have to think on this more!
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Liz Dexter
Jul 13, 2015 @ 21:29:29
Thanks for popping by, Simon – and for the fab recommendation! I will look out for his others, too. And I agree with what you say about Samamtha’s point, too. Do let me / us know any further thoughts you might have!
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Terra
Jun 27, 2015 @ 02:31:24
I definitely plan to read Patricia Brent, Spinster. It sounds charming and original, two qualities I admire in a novel.
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Liz Dexter
Jun 27, 2015 @ 10:49:12
Yes to both – and it’s free on Kindle so there’s no excuse. Hope you enjoy it!
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State of the TBR – July 2015 | Adventures in reading, writing and working from home
Jul 01, 2015 @ 15:40:10
FictionFan
Jul 02, 2015 @ 18:14:52
I’ve had Patricia Brent, Spinster sitting unread on the Kindle ever since Ali reviewed it, so glad to hear you thought it was charming too. Must shove it up that priority list…
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Liz Dexter
Jul 02, 2015 @ 18:24:11
Heartily recommended from over here!
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