Novels of Manners: According to Helen Simonson
Right, so I have yet to read Helen Simonson's book, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, but I have read enough positive reviews to get me interested. But today I came across a piece of NPR, by Simonson, titled Three Stories of Gossip Not Even Austen Could Resist , and it got me thinking about my favorite novels of manners.
Of the three books Simonson named, I have only read one, so my reading list just grew. But, I love reading her assessment of the three and now I really want to read her book. Here they are:
The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
I have only read The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth, but Simonson has me interested. From NPR:
"Substitute names from the world of today — tabloid celebrities, annoying heiresses with their own clothing lines, political appointees with a keen nose for protocol — and the book is more textbook than novel."
Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham
"For anyone who thrilled to the recent scandal of Oxford poets conducting smear campaigns, this is a delicious, biting satire of the lengths writers will go to advance their reputations and burnish their images for posterity."
Sounds hilarious.
Mapp & Lucia by E.F. Benson
I have read this book and see so many people in it that I know; it still has me scared.
" The fete, the art show, and control over the gardener — nothing is too petty to fight over, in a war of attrition disguised as a friendly cup of tea."
The article, which you can read in full here , got me thinking about some of my own favorite novels of manners. Vanity Fair is definitely my favorite, I have read it probably five times now and I still can't wrap my brain around half of it.
It makes me wonder what favorites everyone else has on their shelves. Any not already mentioned here?
http://theopeninglines.blogspot.com/2010/03/novels...
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