I received a lovely package from Betty Janet yesterday. Very unexpected - which makes it even more lovely (Betty Keira got a package from Betty Magdalen a couple of days ago...we'll be posting about the contents of that sometime next week. Stay tuned).
A week or two ago we had a post called "Life After Betty", wherein we discussed authors t
hat might possibly be alternatives to The Venerable Neels. One of the suggestions was Georgette Heyer...and lo and behold, Betty Janet kindly shares her wealth with us! This is a very timely gift - I am really and truly in need of some reading next week.
hat might possibly be alternatives to The Venerable Neels. One of the suggestions was Georgette Heyer...and lo and behold, Betty Janet kindly shares her wealth with us! This is a very timely gift - I am really and truly in need of some reading next week.On Tuesday I will be taking the train down to Betty Keira's. That's 5 hours of reading time. Georgette looks like she will fill that in quite nicely, thank you.
I giggled a little at the the other book. Did you see the author? Carola. (Which I am totally reading "Corolla", as in a car made by Toyota - which my family may or may not have owned back in the 70's. Or possibly the 80's. But I digress...). I'll save her for the ride back - along with my Neels homework for the following week.
*(I just looked it up on About.com: Dank u wel ("dahnk oo vel")
I picked up an extra "A Girl to Love" at Goodwill the other day. Who's the most needy? Betty Marcy? Has "The Zombie Bride" agreed to read one yet? Others? I'll be happy to mail to whomever. (I know I have more duplicates, but I have to find the boxes at the bottom of closet first--don't hold that breath.)
ReplyDeleteI have a formal suggestion for post-Betty reading: Mira Stables. Regencies (and one very early Victorian), no trips to Brighton (although the books are quite lovely and not prissy or unBetty at all), and smart. You can read a review of four of her books here.
ReplyDeleteDank u wel Betty Magdalen. I can see that I need to write some authors names on a card that I can keep in my wallet (because whenever I get to a bookstore my memory seems to get left at the door).
ReplyDeleteI read your review of Mira Stables (I wonder that's a psuedonym?) and will definitely put her name on the card.
I know I have two Mira Stables--The Byram Succession and The Fortune Hunter (?--I think that's the title but I'd have to dig it out to be sure). Byram is one that is a very tattered copy but you're right (and I might lend it to Betty Debbie if she promises very nicely to return it)--Stables writes with such a gentle bit of feeling that not even dramatic plot events feel as though they strain credibility.
ReplyDeleteI think "Fortune Hunter" is by someone else. Here's a list of Mira Stables' books, although you have to scroll down to her name.
ReplyDeleteJoan Smith is also on that list; some of hers are spectacularly good & funny; others not so much. It makes you realize how impressive Betty Neels's consistency is. There are better and not so good, but nothing's boring or pointless.
Pretty thrilled to see those books so lovingly displayed! I hope you'll enjoy them! It is truly difficult to think of a worthy not substitute but segue from Betty. Perhaps Frances Parkinson Keyes? But her books are so very old-fashioned, love them even as I do. And perhaps too much Brighton (even though muted) and some really nasty other women.
ReplyDelete(an e-mail from Betty Maria)
ReplyDeleteI'll join in the chorus recommending Georgette Heyer...especially her regencies, Georgian romances, contemporary (30's and 40's) mysteries (wit and some romance as well as murder--though do not recommend Penhallow), even most of her hard-to-find straight novels (Pastel, Helen, Instead of the Thorn).
For those who like regencies, Fiona Hill might please. I love The Country Gentleman, but others are also good.
Are there any other Bettys who like scifi? Anne McCaffrey (e.g., Dragonflight) and Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (e.g., Agent of Change; Scout's Progress) have strong romance stories and good characters. (Lee and Miller acknowledge their love of Heyer.)And just hints of Brighton (though, now that I think about it, between wed [or local custom equivalent] people).