Ten things I Love About... "A Provincial Lady Goes Further"

Sometimes it is hard to describe a book or review it because it is really good or really special or really difficult to describe. "The Provincial Lady Goes Further" by E.M. Delafield is one of them. The story of the provincial lady and her friends and family. The flegmatic husband Robert, the wild kids and the independent girlfriend. And of course the oh so French nanny and the stuck-up neighbor - the list goes on and on. It is a really wonderful book but I can't describe it so here are ten reasons why I love it - and they are all quotes!

1) On being a published author at a party: "...Pamela lavishly announces that I am very, very clever and literary - with customary result of sending all the very young gentlemen into the furthermost corner of the room, from whence they occasionally look over their shoulders at me with expression of acute horror."

2) On being a published author when having tea with elderly family members: "Tea and seed-cake appear, we partake, and Aunt Mary hopes that my writing does not interfere with home life and its many duties, and I hope so too..."

3) Having spent much time and effort to go to society event: "...on reaching party and seeing everybody else, at once realise that I am older, less well dressed, and immeasurably plainer than any other woman in the room."

4) About vanity: "Two small artificial curls - Scylla and Charybdis - always worn under bathing-cap..." (who would have thought they had extensions in the 1930's?!)

5) The dry humour of the Provincial Lady: "Lady F. says Shall we have coffee in the drawing-room? - entirely rhetorical question, as decision naturally rests with herself."

6) About having a second home in London, a small but independence-inducing flat: "Return to Doughty Street flat, and experience immense and unreasonable astonishment at finding it almost exactly as I left it..."

7) On clothing crisis (oh how well I know that!): "Question of clothes remains unsolved until eleventh hour, when I decide on black crepe-de-chine and new hat that I think becoming."

8) On the trouble with having staff: "Ethel's afternoon out, and customary fatality of callers ensues, who are shown in by Cook with unsuitable formula: Someone to see you, 'm."

9) On going to meet terribly successful niece of girlfriend: "Have a strong impulse to turn straight round and go home again, sooner than confront so much efficiency, but non-stop train renders this course impractical."

10) On introducing traditional husband Robert to rather ...untraditional... friend Pamela: "Pamela opens her eyes very widely and says she has hear so very much about him - (who from? Not me) - and they shake hands. Can see from Robert's expression exactly what he thinks of Pamela's finger-nails..."

If you like a little bit of 1930's glamour and lots of dry humour and witty remarks, please do not miss out on the Provinsial Lady. She really is an acquaintance worth making!

"The Diary of a Provincial Lady" - Delightful country pursuits

The provincial lady lives in the English countryside, spending her days trying to negotiate with Cook and Madedemoiselle (daughter's governess/nanny), finding a new parlourmaid, avoiding visits from Lady B. and keeping account of the days in her diary.
On the surface this could seem like a dull account but rest assured that it is by no means so. Actually this book is really really funny. There is the provincial lady's own family: her husband Robert, a man of (very very) few words, her children Robin and Vicky, the sensitive and über-Gallic Mademoiselle and the servants who are the real rulers of the house.
The village where the provincial lady spends her days is also peopled with the most wonderful characters. The incredible condescending Lady B., Our Vicar and Our Vicar's wife, not to mention Mrs. Blenkinsop and her daughter Barbara.
This tale is so sweet, it is pure joy to follow the provincial lady as she ventures into London society - and into financial trouble with London dressmakers - and goes to France on a well-deserved break. She is such a lovely lady, somebody I would really love to share a cup of tea with.
Is this an outdated story, you may ask?
No it is not, actually it reminds me very much of Bridget Jones's diary with the exception that "The Diary of a Provincial Lady" is written better and captures the humour in everyday things much better. The themes are the same though: what to wear, whom to know and how to pay the bills. This is a mature, literary kind of chick lit that puts many of the modern chick lit novels in a bad light. It is a new little favourite of mine!

Another Tuesday, another teaser

Another Tuesday, another teaser. This time it is from "The Diary of a Provinvial Lady" by E.M. Delafield:

"Read admirable, but profoundly discouraging article in Tide and Time relating to Bernard Shaw's women but applying to most of us. Realise - not for the first time - that intelligent women can perhaps best perform their duty towards their own sex by telling them the truth about themselves."

I love the the provincial lady, she is a wonderful companion on my morning bus trip into work!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading at http://www.shouldbereading.wordpress.com. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Hello Mr. Postman

Yesterday my dear postman brought a packet to the door with yet another book so here is a quick review of the treasure that have landed in my mailbox this week (many I tell you).

L.M. Montgomery: Anne of Ingleside

E.M. Delafield: The Diary of a Provincial Lady

Sarah Waters: Fingersmith

Amanda Craig: Love in Idleness

So lots to read this week! Wonderful :-)

Stuck In A Book

Last night I was blog-hopping around reading what all you lovely people out there are posting and I came by a really cool blog, Stuck In A Book at www.stuck-in-a-book.blogspot.com. Simon who writes on Stuck In A Book writes some really cool posts with intersting stuff and I loved his pictures from Malvern in his latest post. Really lovely summer pictures. He does this list of 50 books that he thinks are really great but which too few people know. I for one didn't know many of the books so I started reading about them and got so inspired that I bought two of them straight away. So now I'm waiting for the nice mailman to deliver "Miss Hargreaves" by Frank Baker and "The Provincial Lady" by E.M. Delafield. Thanks for the recommendations Simon :-)