For March, Marieke, my on-line friend in Western Scotland, and I are reading Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson.
In the words of Marieke, "I picked Lark Rise because I saw some episodes of the BBC dramatization and really liked them, because I have it on my bookshelf already, and because it's British and probably somewhat quaint and old-timey, small-villagey and I thought you might like it! Looking forward to it."
Lark Rise to Candleford is actually a combination of three books: Lark Rise (1939), Over to Candleford (1941) and Candleford Green (1943) written about hamlet, town and village life in the 1880s and 1890s. The combination totals about 500 pages, but one could easily read just one of short books and join the conversation*. I've started Lark Rise and have thus far found it to be everything that Marieke expected. It is not, however, updated Jane Austen or Jane Eyre (which I perhaps was expecting just because Marieke first mentioned Lark Rise in conjunction with I Capture the Castle, which is a retelling of Jane Austen and Jane Eyre), it is not Thomas Hardy or Anthony Trollope illuminating the drama in Victorian village life, or even a Laura Ingalls Wilder moved to England (a later expectation after I realized that the books were a fictionalized memoir of growing up in a place long gone by the time of publication).
Let me know if you join us in the reading.
*Marieke and I have yet to figure out the logistics of the conversation, but we will.
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3 comments:
Logistics! Always a challenge. We could easily divide our discussion into 3 parts for each of the sections. Or...
I'll be in touch!
I'm in but am still reading it. When do I need to get it done?
Beth- Depending on where you are, I'd suggest skipping all of Lark Rise and starting with Over to Candleford (the first several chapters of Over to Candleford summarize life in Lark Rise and then a few things do actually happen- nothing dramatic, but at least there are characters).
Marieke and I have been having on-going discussions, summarized on her blog and spoke for a long time on the phone yesterday. We're planning on a few more e-mails. If you have questions or thoughts that would stimulate good discussion, toss them in.
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