Friday 11 March 2011

Persephone

I have heard much on the blogs about Persephone and since I had some birthday money left (from January, I'm very frugal!) I decided to choose a couple for myself. I sent off for the catalogue (I much prefer reading a paper catalogue than browsing a website), and settled down to choose two books. This was very difficult. The problem was exacerbated by the Persephone reading weekend when I was tempted by lots of wonderful reviews for interesting books. But a choice had to be made and I chose The Wise Virgins by Leonard Woolf and Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey.

I chose The Wise Virgins because I fell slightly in love with Leonard Woolf after reading Victoria Glendinning's biography of him. This may seem a slight reason for choosing a book, but as I said, the choice was so great, and I'm not slightly in love with any of the other authors. I chose Cheerful Weather for the Wedding to continue the Bloomsbury theme.

I am very impressed by the speedy response at Persephone. I ordered the books on Wednesday afternoon and they arrived Thursday morning. And, unexpected bonus, free bookmarks!

So, now I'm all set for Persephone reading weekend 2012.

9 comments:

  1. The bookmarks are stunning, aren't they? I mean the books are absolutely fine as well, but those bookmarks....

    I hope you enjoy your selections.

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  2. Will you be able to resist to the next Persephone Weekend.

    The bookmarks do make them very special.

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  3. The Persephone books are so elegantly presented aren't they? I was very fond of The Making of a Marchioness. Couldn't get on with Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, but lots of my fellow bloggers loved it.

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  4. I have been wondering about the Leonard Woolf biography and I am so pleased that it left a positive response. I had a similar reponse to a memoir by a former employee of the Hogarth Press - I forget the name - who Leonard Woolf took an interest in and encouraged. The Wise Virgins is still on my wishlist, and i liked Nice weather very much - a quiet gem.

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  5. Annie - I do love a freebie!

    Jo - I fully intend to join in next time, maybe I'll have added to my collection by then.

    Nicola - yes they are. It will take me years to build up a decent collection but I'm already imagining how they'll look.

    Jane - I can thoroughly recommend the Leonard Woolf biography, I loved it and lent it to a couple of people who also loved it.

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  6. Good choices! I love the Strachey so much, although it does divide Persephone fans - and I read The Wise Virgins about six or seven years ago, and remember nothing at all about it. Must revisit...

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  7. Simon - there were plenty of other Persephones I could've happily chosen, and I fully intend to explore further in the future! But I'm very pleased with my first choices.

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  8. I hope you don't wait a whole year before reading them. I actually just read The Wise Virgins and I thought the writing was wonderful. Cheerful Weather was also good, a very quick read.

    And how lucky you are to get your Persephones so quickly! I usually order from The Book Depository to save on shipping (since I want SO MANY Persephones). I ordered some in January which took about 2 weeks -- some Christmas Persephones took almost 5 weeks to arrive, though the weather was terrible. I sometimes think I should splurge on ordering directly and getting the lovely bookmarks.

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  9. Karen - no, I intend to get to them sooner than that! I'm glad you enjoyed The Wise Virgins, I'm looking forward to it.

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