Wednesday Reading Meme
Feb. 4th, 2026 08:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
D. E. Stevenson’s The House on the Cliff. This was Stevenson’s last novel, and although it’s technically set at the time it was written (the 1960s), it feels more like an interwar period piece. But otherwise it’s classic charming Stevenson. Young Elfrida Jane inherits a house in Cornwall from her estranged grandparents (who disinherited Elfrida’s mother after she married an actor), and the book is all about her settling into the neighborhood, reveling in the possession of her own home, learning about farming and gardening, and swimming on the delightful little beach at the base of the cliffs.
E. M. Delafield’s The Provincial Lady in London. Somehow Stevensons and Delafields often end up going together in my reading, although I think Delafield at her grimmest gets much darker than Stevenson, who doesn’t have a grim mode. In any case, the Provincial Lady books feature Delafield at her most sprightly. In this book, the Provincial Lady uses the funds from her first book (Diary of a Provincial Lady) to get a flat in London, and also meets many literary people on the strength of her newfound literary fame.
Finally, I zipped through Jane Langton’s Her Majesty, Grace Jones. After a neighbor tells Grace that she looks just like the little English princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, Grace Jones decides that she’s obviously a secret, third Windsor sister, growing up in secret in America to take the throne once she gets older! Mostly family hijinks. The kids put on a circus, which is always great fun.
What I’m Reading Now
Hilary McKay’s latest, Rosa by Starlight. Loving this book! Finally, a book that remembers fictional orphans are for Gothic Whump and Adventure and Magic. I believe we may be getting a literal magic cat and I’m so excited.
What I Plan to Read Next
I am going to give Project Hail Mary a try if it kills me. Baffling that I feel so resistant to it, because I really liked The Martian! But here we are.
D. E. Stevenson’s The House on the Cliff. This was Stevenson’s last novel, and although it’s technically set at the time it was written (the 1960s), it feels more like an interwar period piece. But otherwise it’s classic charming Stevenson. Young Elfrida Jane inherits a house in Cornwall from her estranged grandparents (who disinherited Elfrida’s mother after she married an actor), and the book is all about her settling into the neighborhood, reveling in the possession of her own home, learning about farming and gardening, and swimming on the delightful little beach at the base of the cliffs.
E. M. Delafield’s The Provincial Lady in London. Somehow Stevensons and Delafields often end up going together in my reading, although I think Delafield at her grimmest gets much darker than Stevenson, who doesn’t have a grim mode. In any case, the Provincial Lady books feature Delafield at her most sprightly. In this book, the Provincial Lady uses the funds from her first book (Diary of a Provincial Lady) to get a flat in London, and also meets many literary people on the strength of her newfound literary fame.
Finally, I zipped through Jane Langton’s Her Majesty, Grace Jones. After a neighbor tells Grace that she looks just like the little English princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, Grace Jones decides that she’s obviously a secret, third Windsor sister, growing up in secret in America to take the throne once she gets older! Mostly family hijinks. The kids put on a circus, which is always great fun.
What I’m Reading Now
Hilary McKay’s latest, Rosa by Starlight. Loving this book! Finally, a book that remembers fictional orphans are for Gothic Whump and Adventure and Magic. I believe we may be getting a literal magic cat and I’m so excited.
What I Plan to Read Next
I am going to give Project Hail Mary a try if it kills me. Baffling that I feel so resistant to it, because I really liked The Martian! But here we are.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-04 02:15 pm (UTC)Hilary McKay writes novels with whump?! My impression of her is based entirely on the Saffy's Angel family; I would never have guessed. Literal magic cat sounds excellent. Any hints about what kind of magic the cat is likely to possess?
no subject
Date: 2026-02-04 02:28 pm (UTC)The gothic whump is very low-key in whump terms. Rosa has an evil aunt and uncle (who might not be her real aunt and uncle). Think Roald Dahl or A Series of Unfortunate Events.
A cat MAY have spoken at the beginning of the book (but Rosa was four and is not entirely sure of her memory). And now Rosa is in Venice and keeps noticing the cats of Venice... which may of course just reflect the fact that she loves cats, but I feel that there may be more cat magic in store.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-04 03:01 pm (UTC)That circus novel was the one I tried hardest to sell in the traditional way, LOL. But the one agent I ever had significant interactions with (she read two now-trunked novels, Pen Pal before I expanded it, and Pen Pal after I expanded it) pointed out some problems with it, and since then I've thought of *more* problems with it. But who knows! Maybe one day I'll try revising it.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-04 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-05 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-04 11:50 pm (UTC)I got my wires crossed and was like the author of the Eloise books?, but turns out I was thinking of Hilary Knight, who was in fact the illustrator of the Eloise books, but apparently is still alive at 99(!), so this was not entirely a net-zero information rabbit hole.
(Speaking of fictional orphans and Gothic Whump, did you ever read Lois Lowry's The Willoughbys? It's a tongue-in-cheek pastiche of the Fictional Orphan Genre.)
For some reason I have also bounced off of everything else by Andy Weir despite liking The Martian. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
no subject
Date: 2026-02-05 02:35 pm (UTC)I may also bounce off Project Hail Mary, but ideally I would like to at least open the book and try it. Have simply developed a mental block.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-05 06:03 pm (UTC)I also like The Boyhood of Grace Jones, in which Grace is just as extra but now about sailing and Swallows and Amazons and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. <3 <3 Although I'm a little reluctant to reread because there's some gender stuff (tomboy / Not Like Other Girls kind of thing) that miiiight hit different now.
no subject
Date: 2026-02-05 06:52 pm (UTC)