Is it a coincidence that this week of grey-covered celebration is also one where I'm shaking my fists at modern technology?
Today we're moving onto Persephone Quarterlies - if I were feeling in a literary theory mood I'd describe them as institutional paratexts, but as it is I'll call them journally bookish things.
There are 32 PQs and, so far, four Persephone Biannuallies, since the books started coming out every six months instead of every three. Accompanying the new publications of Persephones, the first few pages are always concerned with the new titles - the authors' biography and some details about the books. But there is so much more to these. Elaine from RandomJottings very kindly gave me a present of all the past PQs - and so I've been able to read along with the very early PQs, which really make the reader feel they're part of the process.
I'm heading to bed, so can't think of anything more that I wanted to say about the PQs... except that they further demonstrate why Persephone are both so great and so addictive. They make readers feel even more involved in the company, and love the books as a collection. I can't think of any other publisher which strikes the chords of nostalgia and community in quite the same way.
I've changed this post to be some advice for how to deal with Stuck-in-a-Book if you're using Internet Explorer... basically the columns etc. are created in HTML using percentages, and thus should work on all screen sizes and resolutions, but IE is being silly about it. The first column has probably slipped under all the others. My attempts at solutions...
1) Download Firefox... it really is just better. I'm a complete computer ignoramus, but I find Firefox much easier to use, plus it has (apparently) better virus prevention stuff. Click here for their website.
2) If you'd rather stick with Internet Explorer... try making the window smaller (click the box next to the red cross in the top right-hand corner), then dragging the window in horizontally, slowly. Sometimes this makes the column appear at the top...
3) Erm... suggestions welcome! You should be able to read posts and comment either which way, but for links to other blogs, and other bits and pieces, you'll have to scroll waaaaay down.
Some housekeeping to start with: firstly, as well as the old address, you can now get to this page at:
www.stuck-in-a-book.co.uk
Secondly, Our Vicar reports that the left column has slipped on his computer... anyone else finding this? Sorry to harp on about page arrangements...
The week of celebrations continues. Pace yourself with the trifle and ice cream; you don't want to eat too much and get over-excited. Actually, since this is a Persephone party, we should probably have Madeira cake and Earl Grey. Much more civilised. Yesterday I made tiffin, but that consisted almost entirely of sugar, so perhaps not a good idea.
Today's post might just be for the dedicated Persephone fan, as I've put together a little Persephone quiz... no cheating, now. See how many you can get right...
1) Dorothy Whipple is the author with the most Persephone books under her belt - who's second?
2) Three of Persephone's books were originally published in the 19th century. How many can you name?
3) Which Persephone reprint has sold the most copies?
4) One of the Persephone titles has been filmed as The Reckless Moment (1949) and The Deep End (2001) - which one?
5) By my reckoning, 7 of the Persephone authors are male - name as many as you can!
6) Which Persephone novel features the character Alex Clare and a convent?
7) Which Persephone author's real name was Kathleen 
Beauchamp?
8) Name the longest and shortest Persephone books.
9) Fill in the place names in Persephone titles:
Good Things in --- : Florence White
Farewell --- Square : Betty Miller
The --- Stories : Katherine Mansfield
A --- Child of the 1870s : Molly Hughes
10) And, a really difficult one to finish with, can you remember the titles of the Spring 2009 Persephones, yet to be published!
Continuing the week of Persephone Birthday celebrations here at S-i-a-B (and do keep telling us in the previous post about your favourite Persephones and how you found out about them, and put your request in for a chance to win a Persephone book of your choice) - I don't think I've ever talked about one of my favourite Persephone books. Appropriately enough it was one of the first three to be published, so it's now ten years since it came back into print.
Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple was Whipple's last novel, published in 1953 and received no reviews at all. For a once bestselling novelist, this was quite a blow - and, what's worse, it was a wholly undeserved silence. I've only read four of Whipple's books - SaaD, They Knew Mr. Knight, Greenbanks, The Closed Door and other stories, all except Greenbanks published by Persephone - but Someone at a Distance is the best of those. A lot of people agree that it's her best novel, and it should have been treated with fanfares and red carpets.
The plot appears, on the surface, to be conventional. A contentedly married couple, Ellen and Avery, are disrupted when a French companion arrives and runs off with Avery. The narrative moves back and forth across the channel, looking at the dignified devestation of Ellen and the homeland and family of Louise, the French interloper. What starts as a not unusual trio is given enormous depth and believable emotion when we investigate why Louise acts as she does; witness Avery's confusion and attempts to organise his life and mistakes; Ellen's need to look after her two children as well as retain her dignity and integrity. And all the time the reader is asking him/herself - who is the 'someone at a distance'? Whipple sometimes creates some great titles that make you think all the way through the novel, and while I have set views on which character the 'someone' is, others disagree.
I'm a big believer in judging books on their writing, rather than plot - and Whipple is a prose writer par excellence. Not showy or grandiose, but both moving and compulsive - Someone at a Distance is a fairly long book, but I wouldn't be surprised if you read it in one or two sittings. Dorothy Whipple may well be the great undiscovered English novelist - certainly Someone at a Distance is an excellently constructed, sophisticated and emotionally taut novel which should never have been allowed to go out of print.
As well as being one of the first three Persephone Books titles published, Someone at a Distance was one of the first Persephone Classics, and treated to a wider publication and beautiful cover. I love the uniformity of ther Persephone library, but I also think this Persephone Classics cover is the most beautiful cover I've ever seen. And so I had to own both...
I'm sure lots of people here have read Someone at a Distance - thoughts? Who do you think the 'someone' is? If you've not read it, I really encourage you to give Dorothy Whipple a try.
Happy 10th Birthday, Persephone Books!
March 1999: Persephone published their first trio of books - William - an Englishman by Cicley Hamilton; Mariana by Monica Dickens; Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple. Ten years later they have 81 books in print, and I have just over half of 'em on my shelves.
I discovered Persephone through their reprint of Richmal Crompton's Family Roundabout, already a favourite of mine, in January 2004, so I came in at the 5th anniversary - nice to know I've been reading them for just over half the time they've existed, though I'm sure a lot of readers of this
blog have been there from the very early days.
I know I'm not the only one who loves, adores and cherishes Persephone books - so I'm handing over this week on Stuck-in-a-Book to a celebration of Persephone! To kick off we're going to be find out people's favourite Persephone book, and the one they really want to read. Here's a link to all of them, in case you need reminding - once you've decided, comment with 1.)your favourite one, 2.)the one you want to read. If you've not read any (and where have you been for the last ten years?) just do number 2.) - and at the end of Persephone Birthday Week I'll send someone's choice to them. How exciting!
And while we're at it, if you also love Persephone Books, why not tell us how you found Persephone in the first place?
I'll kick off proceedings -
1.) Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton remains my favourite
2.) I've not read A House in the Country by Jocelyn Playfair yet - my copy is currently with a friend in Liverpool, so I'll be reading it before too long!
Get commenting. And pass round the party hats.
(Firstly, make sure you don't miss the previous post on Mary Ann Shaffer's favourite books - it's so interesting, and may be hidden by my unusual trick of posting twice in one day)
Hopefully you'll have spotted a change or two at Stuck-in-a-Book! I've spent the morning playing with HTML, using websites written in language so simple that even I go understand it... so, feedback please! Does the new three-column look work on your computer (I know it's different on different screens - let me know if one of the columns has disappeared to the bottom of the page, or if everything has gone crazy). Less technically - what do you think? Better or worse??
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by the late Mary Ann Shaffer was one of my favourite books last year, and so many people in the blogosphere and the wider world agreed. Someone a little while ago asked, on my earlier post about the novel, what Mary Ann Shaffer's own favourite books were - and we are so privileged that Shaffer's daughter Morgan has given us the answer. Here is her reply:
The odd thing is, we actually have a list of my mom's favorite books, but it took me a while to locate it. And, because you asked such a perfectly unique question, I wanted to make sure it was answered properly!
My mother was an avid, voracious reader. Never without a book in her hand - everywhere she went. (She was a librarian so her choices were endless.)
You may be sorry you asked, but here they are (in no particular order):
Time and Again
A Very Long Engagement
Corelli's Mandolin
Angle of Repose
Atticus
Flaubert's Parrot
Covenant with Death
In the Time of Butterflies
Women of the Silk
The Samurai's Garden
Birdsong
If a Lion Could Talk
My Antonia
Brideshead Revisited
The Pursuit of Love
(is it time to rest, get a glass of milk, make a potato peel pie?)
Straight Man
The Playmaker
A Dry White Season
House of Sand & Fog
A Gesture Life
English Passengers
The Human Stain
Fall of a Sparrow
Black Dogs
Possession
Raj
The Shell Seekers
Colony
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Cold Mountain
Poisonwood Bible
There you have it! My mother loved to recommend books, so I hope you find at least one that brings you enjoyment.
Morgan M.
