When I start making my Christmas wish list each year, I should really be forced to surrender my credit card. Because what inevitably happens is that I end up ordering half the items on the list for myself. Since my family seems to have an unwritten rule that they will collectively never give me more than three books a year, I don’t feel too bad about stealing gift ideas but I am a little concerned that I got started so early this year. Just think of how much of my list I might work through before December even starts! And at least I had my priorities straight – one should always start by growing one’s collection of Persephone books:
How to Run Your Home Without Help by Kay Smallshaw – I adore any kind of cleaning or housekeeping guide book and actually have collected quite a few over the years. This promises to be one of the best of that collection, based on a quick flip through.
A London Child of 1870s by Molly Hughes – Adam Gopnik’s mention of this book in Through the Children’s Gate put it on my TBR list long before I’d ever heard of Persephone Books.
The Village by Marghanita Laski – I still haven’t read anything by Laski but, of the four books by her that Persephone has published, this is the one that has intrigued me the most. Also, the afterword is my much-adored Juliet Gardiner.
Consider the Years by Virginia Graham – I’m not usually one for poetry but Persephone is slowly winning me over. And as though I was ever going to be able to resist a wartime book, regardless of form.
Hostages to Fortune by Elizabeth Cambridge – I read this over the summer and the more time that passed, the more I wished I had my own copy. This copy has a slightly crunched spine (oh the joys of Book Depository’s soft shipping envelopes) but I can’t say I’m particularly bothered by it.
What do you think of my choices, fellow Persephone addicts? I feel like I haven’t heard a lot about most of these, certainly not recently, so if you’ve read any of them, I’d love to hear what you thought.
The Captive Reader 
Well, the only one I’ve read is Hostages to Fortune, and you already know I love that. I’ve been meaning to read Consider the Years for a bit now – I would never normally read poetry, and I loathed Judith Viorst’s collection, but having loved other (non-poetry) books by Virginia Graham, I’m wondering if this one would convert me…
See, I loved the Viorst so, after that, am much more willing to try Persephone-approved poetry. And then seeing your copy and review of Here’s How made me that much more intrigued by Graham, so here we are. What I’ve read so far has been quite amusing so I have high hopes for it.
Ah, the first two are definitely on my list to get to. As to your shopping your Christmas list, I had to chuckle. Our Half-Price Books sent out a week’s worth of coupons this week (a different percentage off one item every other day, that culminates tomorrow with a 50% off) – their timing of these is ALWAYS “more than I can bear.” 😉 I go to shop for other people and leave with a little something for myself as well — never mind that the coupons are only for one item. In true hypocrisy, I do not allow my children to buy themselves anything from mid-October until after Christmas lest things be duplicated — oh, the burden of bibliomania! 🙂
Oh dear, I can’t even think how out of control I’d get if people were sending me coupons! I had to smile at your comment about not letting your children buy themselves anything from October on – such a universal mom rule! My mom always had her Christmas shopping done by the end of November so I used to have to hand over my wishlist at the begining of October – such a long time to wait to know if you’re getting what you want!
I never get books for Christmas – rarely as gifts at all. So I do tend to buy them for myself. in fact, I just ordered a copy of Westwood, since I couldn’t find one in the stores here. I am afraid to even look at the Persephone site, since I know I’ll give in to the first temptation I see.
I love the cover for Westwood. Such a pretty book to add to your collection. And you might be clever avoiding the Persephone site. Once you start buying, it’s so difficult to stop since you always want more!
I loved How To Run Your Home… I was exhausted by the end of it thought just imagining all the housework women were expected to do in the evenings after work. I enjoyed all the others. The Village isn’t my favourite Laski, that will always be Little Boy Lost, but I love WWII & post-WWII novels so it was fascinating to see how far the village will retreat to the “old ways” after the inclusiveness of the war.
For me, one of the dangers of reading housekeeping books is feeling so overwhelmed by all the tasks they remind you of that doing any actual cleaning of your own home becomes outrageously daunting! The Village is the Laski that has intrigued me the most so I think it is a good place to start; even if I don’t end up loving it, hopefully it will get me excited to read her other, more universally admired books.
Because I buy so many books people are always reluctant to buy books for me because they think I will have what I want already, and I have all but one of the Persephones you’ve shown here but only, thus far, read the Kay Smallshaw, which is lovely and very much of its period.) But then, I collect housekeeping books so it made a lovely addition to those. I almost finished reading The Village but I didn’t think it all that good otherwise I’d have finished it!
That is always the danger when buying for a book lover, which is why I take such care to make incredibly specific lists each Christmas. My family is still laughing at me over last year’s list, which included photographs of the desired editions. I’m sorry to hear you didn’t like The Village but am now even more excited about How to Run Your Home Without Help!
I’m trying to restrain myself from buying books right now since my Christmas wish-list is essentially all books! I got stacks of Persephones last Christmas AND Mother’s Day, so I have a ton of them on the TBR shelf, including Hostages to Fortune.
I do highly recommend both The Village and A London Child, two of my favorite Persephone reads this year. I think The Village is my favorite Laski so far — it lacks the intense emotional punch of LIttle Boy Lost but it makes its own statement in a more quiet way.
I hope you have not read all of Gopnik’s article on A London Child since it contains a major spoiler! However, the book is just delightful and I was also able to track down the next book which I also enjoyed. I think there’s a third but I’ve gotten distracted and still haven’t had time to look for one. I think there are reasonably priced copies on sale at Alibris and Abe Books.