Retro Reads discussion

Hi everyone

I've had a look through our suggested reads thread for everyone's group read ideas, & talked to Hana & Tadiana & have come up with some titles for a poll. They are;

Decision at Delphi by Helen Macinnes (Carol Will lead)
The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning (first part of The Balkan Trilogy (lead Hana)
In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden (lead Hana)
Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons (lead Carol)
Pink Sugar by Anna Buchan, Pen name O. Douglas(lead Tadiana)

Also suggested was If Morning Ever Comes an early Ann Tyler.

None of your moderators can lead the Tyler book. If a member is prepared to lead this book, please post in this thread by Monday noon my time. This will be Sunday for those in North America.

I'm feeling quite excited by these titles!

I'll put the poll up Tues my time, Monday North American time. :)

Thanks Carol!

thank you, Carol!

Oh, all of those titles look good. Thanks, Carol.

NB: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Anna Buchan originally published all but one of her books under the pen name O. Douglas

They all look good, though I have my fingers crossed for Pink Sugar. Thanks, Carol.

& the poll is now up! :)

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

Edit: Just remember O. Douglas is the pen name for Ann Buchan

How to choose ...

Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ wrote: "How to choose ..."

If all things were equal I would honestly be happy to read any of them! :)

Just a reminder that the poll will be closing in the next day or so! :)

& we have a winner!

Decision at Delphi won by a comfortable margin.

I will put up the threads on the 12th of October - or just before.

Thanks for all those who voted. :)

Gee, I haven't read this one in eons! Looking forward to it. Now, to track down a copy...

It's been eons since I read it, too! Maybe the comments on the threads will bring it back to me (no McInnes in my library ☹).

I'm delighted about Decision at Delphi. Given the glacial pace of operations at our library I took a chance and ordered DaD a month ago. I'm hoping it will arrive by October.

If you think I'm kidding my copy of Vittoria Cottage just arrived today--I requested it back in early May. I'm so late to the party that I'll be helping the waiters clear the tables and wash the dishes but the first chapter is so enticing that I'm going to go ahead and maybe add some late comments...from us folks Downstairs.

@Hana, that's great - read and post on Vittoria Cottage anyway. I loved that book and would enjoy more comments about it.

Karlyne wrote: "It's been eons since I read it, too! Maybe the comments on the threads will bring it back to me (no McInnes in my library ☹)."

Same here! Very much want to read it, but my library doesn’t have it, and with the mails being so slow, I’m afraid to order one - I may be in same boat as Hana, get it in time for Christmas...😳

I plan to download it onto my Kindle, having given away my complete collection of Helen MacInnes years ago, sigh.

Oh no!

Well I had better give everyone some warning that your moderators have decided to make second place getter In This House of Brede our November read. I just need to confirm the starting time with Hana. :)

Abigail wrote: "I plan to download it onto my Kindle, having given away my complete collection of Helen MacInnes years ago, sigh."

I will probably go the Kindle route as well, with it being so hit or miss getting books delivered on time!

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Oh no!

Well I had better give everyone some warning that your moderators have decided to make second place getter In This House of Brede our November read. I just need to confirm the ..."

Thanks, Carol, good to know!

Sounds good about November! I've always wanted to read that.

Ordered a copy of Decision at Delphi yesterday. Fingers crossed that it arrives by 1 Oct. Looks like one of my libraries has one copy of Brede. Maybe I should order a copy, just to be safe...

Excited about how October & November reads.

My library has a copy of decision at Delphi available as an e-book. Yay!

It costs my library around three dollars to order in a book, so I decided a while back that I'd rather get a copy from Abe's, which usually runs $3.99 for an old paperback (I spent about $7 for Vittoria Cottage, but I knew I'd love it). I mean, after all, the library is going to get most of my books eventually, anyway!

Karlyne wrote: "It costs my library around three dollars to order in a book, so I decided a while back that I'd rather get a copy from Abe's, which usually runs $3.99 for an old paperback (I spent about $7 for Vit..."

Good point!

Hana wrote: "I'm delighted about Decision at Delphi. Given the glacial pace of operations at our library I took a chance and ordered DaD a month ago. I'm hoping it will arrive by October.

If you think I'm kid..."

I still plan to read Vittoria Cottage, so maybe we’ll be be catching up on the comments together. 😊

Lesley wrote: "My library has a copy of decision at Delphi available as an e-book. Yay!"

Mine too!

Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "Oh no!

Well I had better give everyone some warning that your moderators have decided to make second place getter In This House of Brede our November read. I just need to confirm the ..."

For Kindle readers, In This House of Brede comes up as a Kindle deal quite often, usually $1.99.

Barb in Maryland wrote: "Ordered a copy of Decision at Delphi yesterday. Fingers crossed that it arrives by 1 Oct. Looks like one of my libraries has one copy of Brede. Maybe I should order a copy, just to be safe..."

Hi Barb

The Decision at Delphi read starts on the 12th of October. :)

Hana wrote: "I'm delighted about Decision at Delphi. Given the glacial pace of operations at our library I took a chance and ordered DaD a month ago. I'm hoping it will arrive by October.

If you think I'm kid..."

Hana wrote: "I'm delighted about Decision at Delphi. Given the glacial pace of operations at our library I took a chance and ordered DaD a month ago. I'm hoping it will arrive by October.

If you think I'm kid..."


I'd like additional posts about Vittoria Cottage too, Hana! I loved it.

Carol
Thanks for the reminder! That gives me another week or two for the book to arrive. May that be enough...

Meanwhile, I just put up the threads for our September read, Green Grass of Wyoming. It's set just ten years before Vittoria Cottage but in the Rocky Mountains rather than in an English village. There are contrasts (cougars and bulls can kill you and you have to drive forever to get to the next town in Wyoming!) but also similarities (everyone knows everyone else). In the world of Green Grass of Wyoming, the great struggles in the background are the years of the Great Depression and the horror of the Dust Bowl; while in Vittoria Cottage the terrors of World War II and the deprivation that followed are very much part of the lives of our characters.