20 Books of Summer 2021

I took part in this excellent challenge in 2020, and it was so enjoyable - and productive - that I'm happy to do it again this year. It's run by Cathy of 746 Books, and the idea is to choose 20 books from your TBR shelves and read and review each one over the months of June, July and August. 

If you feel 20 books are too many, you're perfectly free to do 15, 10 or whatever you like, and if you change your mind about a book, you can simply exchange it for another one. Cathy's very kind!

The joy, for me, of this readathon is that it focuses my attention. I don't think we should put ourselves under pressure to read faster than anyone else - that's no fun - but this is more about enjoying (or not) those books you've been meaning to open for months, or indeed years. I have many happy memories of sitting by the river reading through my list last summer, and a few of the books I chose became some of my top reads of the year. I was especially thrilled to discover Marghanita Laski - her The Village was a real highlight, and I still think of it often. John D Burns' The  Last Hillwalker was another 5 star read, as were William Trevor's The News from Ireland, Jim Crumley's The Nature of Spring and Olga Wotjas' Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Vampire Menace. 

I didn't, in fact, manage to review every single one of my twenty books - but it doesn't matter, I still read far more than I would otherwise have done, and had a great time. 

So here is my selection for 2021:

The books on the left (excuse the thumb...) are all part of the Project Food theme I started in January, those on the right are a random selection of titles I found on my shelves.

The food books are:

Delights and Prejudices by James Beard

I read this book as a teenager, simply because I found it on a shelf of the little branch library in which I spent most of my time. I had no idea who James Beard was, I had never been to America, let alone turn of the century Portland, I had never had a cook, Chinese or otherwise, and if I had used ten eggs to make an omelette, then used another ten when the first one went wrong, I'd have been in very big trouble - but I was captivated by this memoir of Beard's childhood and his recipes for such exotic dishes as clam cakes and Charlotte Russe. I recently saw a copy of this fascinating book on ebay and I'm looking forward to revisiting it, especially as I've been reading The Alice B Toklas Cookbook. Toklas and Beard share many (extravagant!) culinary similarities, and in his book Beard recalls a picnic at which Alice 'roasted as delicious a chicken as I ever ate.'

Home From the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean

I first came across the late Stuart McLean when I spent a winter in Newfoundland. In those days he was the host of The Vinyl Cafe CBC radio programme, and his gently humourous stories about the proprietor of a record shop, his family and friends - all decent, kind people coping with everyday events in their lives - cheered me up on many a dismal and stormy day. In 1995 McLean started to publish collections of the stories from the show.  I've recently found so much pleasure in rereading another Canadian, Bill Richardson (see below) and I know I'll enjoy The Vinyl Cafe just as much.

The Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast Pillow Book by Bill Richardson

The Bachelor Brothers are Hector and Virgil, twins who have inherited a house and a private income from their formidable mother. They live on an island in Vancouver Bay, and welcome to their home people who appreciate books, time to read and time to think. Having lived in the valley all their lives, Hector and Virgil are embedded in the local community, and so the reader learns not only about them and their guests, but also various local characters. Richardson's gentle, often funny, and sometimes moving, writing shares a similar understated style with Stuart McLean's. I was introduced to the first Bachelor Brothers book (this is the second) years ago by my great friend and fellow Barbara Pym enthusiast Susan, who lives in Philadelphia. Thank you Susan; I've loved Hector and Virgil ever since. 

Bitter Lemons by Lawrence Durrell

This book, published in 1957, is about Lawrence Durrell's life in Cyprus in the three years preceding publication. I've read Durrell's memoir of his time in the diplomatic service, Esprit du Corps, which is very funny, and by the looks of it Bitter Lemons will also be an entertaining read, as well as an insight into life on a then almost totally undeveloped island over 60 years ago.

Death and Fish by Ian Stephen

I read part of this book a few years ago, then events intervened and I never finished it, so this seems like a good opportunity to start again. It's the (fictional) story of the narrator (a fisherman)'s life on the Isle of Lewis in the last century, his personal experiences and the impact of national and international events on the island. At 565 pages it's the longest book in my selection, but I think it will be worth it. Robert MacFarlane calls it 'a bright book and a brilliant book', and I trust his judgement.

Writing at the Kitchen Table by Artemis Cooper

This is the authorised biography of Elizabeth David. I'm not sure if I will like it or not, as I have to admit that I find David quite irritating sometimes (yes, shoot me now...)  Artemis Cooper is of course an excellent writer, so I will see how I get on with this one.

Snails Eggs and Samphire by Derek Cooper

Derek Cooper was the voice of The Food Programme on Radio 4 for decades; this is a collection of his food writing over thirty years. Chapter titles include 'Tea and Honey' and 'The Glow on the Pudding'; I'm already intrigued. What's more, this is a book I can dip in and out of when I only have a short time in which to read. 

The Fat of the Land by Peter de Polnay

I kmow nothing about this author except that he was Hungarian, had a colourful life, sometimes house-sat for Nancy Mitford, and published prolifically - at least 80 books. The Fat of the Land (a novel) first appeared in 1948. De Polnay's first wife, Margaret, designed his book covers, and this one looks like a harvest festival arrangement. We shall see...

Apple Bough by Noel Streatfeild

Noel Streatfeild was a favourote author when I was a child; I loved The Growing Summer and A Vicarage Family, and also read and re-read (and still have) The Years of Grace, a book of advice for girls, which I recall was very keen on 'personal niceness' and also informed me that fat girls were always 'very jolly'..... Apple Bough appears to be about the young siblings of a famous child violinist, who are fed up with having to trail around the world after him as he tours, and want only a permanent home of their own.  My copy has illustrations by Margery Gill, whose realistic black and white drawings are so characteristic of 1960s children's books.

One Man's Meat by Colin Watson

Colin Watson apparently wrote twelve Flaxborough novels, of which One Man's Meat is the ninth. His detective, Inspector Walter Purbright, is described as 'tolerant, decent, honest and impartial.' I am beginning to discern an unwitting theme in several of this year's selections...

The non-food books are probably going to be rather less demanding of both time and effort;

Play with Fire by Dana Stabenow

Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak thrillers are always good, with gripping plots and lots of interesting background about life in the Alaskan National Park, and its First Nation communities. Play with Fire is the fifth novel in this excellent series.

Betrayed in Cornwall by Janie Bolitho

The late Janie Bolitho may not have been as accomplished a writer as Stabenow, but I have found her Rose Trevelyan mysteries quite addictive in their way. In this, the fourth in the series, painter and photographer Rose investigates the death of a young man who has fallen off a cliff in suspicious curcumstances on the opening night of an artist friend's exhibition. 

Harnessing Peacocks by Mary Wesley

I've recently started reading Mary Wesley again, and enjoyed The Camomile Lawn much more than I had done when it first came out in 1985 (no doubt I was then too young to appreciate Calypso's and Polly's alternative lifestyles, and probably thought them very badly behaved - it's embarrassing to think how judgemental I must have been in those days...) I found an ancient DVD of Harnessing Peacocks, and enjoyed it despite its dated production, so I am going to read the book. It's about a girl who runs away from home when the males of the family decide she must terminate an unplanned pregnancy, and who ultimately finds herself a rather unusual career. 

The New Rector by Rebecca Shaw

This is the first in Rebecca Shaw's Turnham Malpas books. I've read several others, and each time I say I won't read any more - but as with Janie Bolitho, I find myself unable to stop. I'll be interested to see how the whole thing started. 

Further Adventures of the Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett

I loved this series so much as a child. I re-read the first book recently and was very pleased to find that it stood the test of time. I know this is technically a re-read, but after all these years I can't remember a thing about it, so I'm going to include it in my 20 this summer.

Angel by Elizabeth Taylor

Elixabeth Taylor has many devoted fans. I've read a few of her books over the piece, and enjoyed them, but I can't say I'm a devotee. Nevertheless, having read At Mrs Lippincote's last summer, I thought I'd continue with Angel, which no less an author than Hilary Mantel describes as 'quietly and devastatingly amusing.'

Thunder on the Right by Mary Stewart

Since discovering Mary Stewart a couple of years ago I've loved every book of hers that I've read, though my favourite remains my first, Madam, Will You Talk?  Thunder on the Right has been recommended to me several times; it apparently features 'tension and intrigue in the moutainous Pyrenees' (though how the Pyrenees could be anything but mountanous is a bit of a poser.) There's also a mysterious convent. What more do I need?

Rosemary at St Anne's by Joy Francis

'A young person with the very best intentions, she (Rosemary) is constantly getting into hot water thourgh no fault of her own....Who dropped water on the Headmistress? How did the caterpillars come to appear on her plate?...The sky darkens a while...but - thanks again to a scrape of Rosemary's - the story closes in sunshine and all are happy.'

I can never resist a school story.

The Friendly Young Ladies by Mary Renault

'Stifled by life with her bickering parents in a bleak Cornish village, Elsie Lane flees to London to find her sister Leonora who escaped eight years earlier. But there are surprises in store for conventional Elsie; not ony does Leo live on a houseboat, she writes Westerns for a living and shares her boat - and her bed - with the beautiful Helen.' 

I'd hate to live on a houseboat myself, but the menage on this one does sound interesting.

Guilt in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope

This is the 14th of Rebecca Tope's mysteries featuring house-sitter Thea Osborne. I'm afraid it's yet another case of addiction to a series of variable quality, but I've liked some of them so fingers crossed.

So there it is. I've tried to include a mixture of genres - mysteries, memoirs, children's books, narrative cook books, general fiction - and I'm looking forward to getting started next week.

If you've read any of these, please let me know what you thought. And if you want to join in with 20 Books of Summer, you can find all the details on Cathy's website,