Sometimes I have to give up and admit that I'll never get on with an author that other people cherish. I can understand why John Betjeman admired Barbara Pym. I can see why Jilly Cooper likes her. Philip Larkin allegedly said that he'd sooner read a new Pym than a new Jane Austen. (Did he really? I'm not at all sure that I believe it.)
But this week's BBC Woman's Hour serialisation, of An Unsuitable Attachment, has forced me to conclude that Barbara Pym and I will never form an attachment.
I am not cut out for English vicarage society.
I don't like them.
And they wouldn't like me.
4 comments:
Well, that's a little sad. But each to his own I guess. I think actually living English vicarage society would be brutal, but I love reading about it.
I did try, Thomas. But there's something about that arch English snobbery and the effete Anglican men and the vicarage groupies that all gets too much for me. Put it down to my Irish gene-pool.
By the way, your "Books Read" list for 2010 is really fantastic. Of those that I haven't already read I would be more than happy to copy your choices.
I think my top books of the year were the first few, Thomas. If you've never read Crossing to Safety, I can't recommend it enough; one of those books when you feel bereft parting from the characters. (Discovered through Cornflower's book group, of course, so quite possibly you've read it already.)
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