I'm a bad blogger without the discipline to sit down and write. I'm very lucky to live in England, which is full of charity shops and temptations. I started collecting Virago Modern Classics about a year ago and now have about 100. I'm an absolute magpie for them (and Persephones). Unfortunately, I can buy things far more quickly than I can read them and I'm running out of space. There's no chance of my TBR pile running out for quite some time. Let's see, how did I accumulate my most recent purchases pictured above?:
• Blaming and The Return of the Soldier were very kindly sent to me by Mrs B of The Literary Stew. TRotS looks a lot shorter than most of Rebecca West's work (I'm often scared off by length...), so it should be a good place to start.
• I adore Rosamond Lehmann's writing, and was very pleased to find Dusty Answer (which I believe to be many people's favourite) in the Marylebone Oxfam Books, especially as it's one I was considering buying new.
• The Tortoise and the Hare came from Borders. I for one am sorry that they're closing. I remember when the first one opened on Oxford Street- I'd never seen anything like it. I'm so glad a manager wrote back in response to Rachel Cooke's rather smug article. Yes, independent bookshops are lovely, but when a huge business like Borders can't survive competition from the internet, does she really expect small independent bookshops to spring up now that they've closed? (I'm going off topic now, but it still irks me).
• I've been looking for a copy of The Sugar House (in original green to match the other three) ever since I had my heart ripped out by The Lost Traveller, and I thought The Soul of Kindness had an interesting premise. I managed to show some restraint as there were a few others that looked tempting.
• I found Deborah (I'm always interested in Jewish fiction) and The Play Room in a charity shop I'd never been in before- so I felt as if I had to buy something from them...
• I was sent to Oxfam to buy one of their special handmade cards for a distant relation about to turn 80, and having read a wonderful review of Lucy Gayheart by Book Snob just a few hours previously, it seemed like providence.
It's been over a year now since the bulk (or at least a great deal) of my re ading became Virago and Persephone based. Some of my favourites so far include The Diary of a Provincial Lady (the one that started it all off, really) by E.M Delafield, Invitation to the Waltz and The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann, Our Spoons Came From Woolworths by Barbara Comyns, The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Armin, Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther, The Lost Traveller by Antonia White and of course everything by Angela Carter. It's impossible to love every single book they publish (The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy was a recent dud for me, and I normally love quirky coming of age stories), but it's fairly rare to come across one that I won't want to re-visit at some point for whatever reason.
Does anyone else have this 'problem?' What are some of your favourite Virago titles? Of course, the obvious solution would simply not to go into charity shops, but, realistically, I think I need to be more discriminatory with my purchases, however cheap they are. I need to ask myself how likely I am to read it. However, there's always the worry that a week later I'll realise I desperately need it for something and it's terribly rare...
A post with some actual substance will be forthcoming in the not too distant future...
