Virago Reading Project 2024 - April

This is the thread for our April author Rumer Godden. By my count she had 16 books published by Virago.

Here is a list of her Virago titles:

The River
Black Narcissus
Kingfishers Catch Fire
Breakfast with the Nikolides
The Battle of the Villa Fiorita
A Fugue in Time
Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy
Cromartie v. the God Shiva
China Court
In This House of Brede
Listen to the Nightingale
Thursday's Children
The Dark Horse
An Episode of Sparrows
The Dark Horse
The Lady and the Unicorn

I imagine her best known work is probably Black Narcissus which was made into a well-known film, and interestingly a good number of her Virago books are for children.

So please do leave any comments on your reading of Rumer Godden during April, and we'll look forward to hearing from you!

I just finished rereading An Episode of Sparrows and loved it just as much as the first time. I like books written for adults with children as main characters.

I requested A Fugue in Time from the Library Network that I patronize. I also discovered that it was made into a Hollywood film titled Enchantment and released in 1948. It starred the British actor David Niven who was an Academy Award and Golden Globe winner for two of his other films.
The DVD is available at the same library network so I will borrow and watch it after I finish reading the book.

I hope to read In This House of Brede, which I have in a non-Virago edition (Loyola Classics, I think).

I've got Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy and Breakfast with the Nikolides to choose from - I have no idea which one I'll choose yet. I'm going to see how best one or the other fits with the April category challenges.

I've read quite a bit of Godden over the years. The two books of hers that I already have and that I haven't yet read are the two I'll go for this month: The Dark Horse and Thursday's Children.

I read In This House of Brede last year and absolutely loved it. I'm starting China Court now.

I just recalled that a few years ago I read A Greengage Summer another Godden book but obviously not a Virago. It's on my list of favorites.

>8 kayclifton: I think that's the only Godden I've read. It was brilliant, but I don't think it's ever been a Virago, which is a shame...

I've had a mixed experience with Godden and think I need to be in the right contemplative sort of mood to appreciate her. April is not looking like it'll be a contemplative sort of month so won't be taking part this time. Shame really, as I have several of her books on my shelves waiting to be read including a Virago edition of House of Brede.

I'll check in to see how you're all doing.

I just borrowed from the library Take Three Tenses: A Fugue in Time the original title of the book. The edition was published in the US in 1945. It's amazing that public libraries still have books in their collections from so many years ago. I hope that I enjoy it.

I'm reading In this House of Brede and loving it so far, I'm wondering if there is a touch of mystery in the story or is this only a character study of the nuns.

>12 almin: I'd say it's only a character study of the nuns.

I have just borrowed another Godden book that is not a Virago. The title is The Dark Horse. It involves a race horse and nuns. That should be interesting ?????

>14 kayclifton: I loved The dark horse! The seemingly strange combination works!

I'm going to try and fit in Gypsy, gypsy before the end of the month.

Although I'm not joining in this month's read I have read most of Rumer Godden's books over the years. The first one I read - or rather had read to me - was Miss Happiness and Miss Flower when I was eight, at primary school. Of course we wnt on to Little Plum and, I think, The story of Holly and Ivy. As a teenager I read Greengage Summer, In This House of Brede and several others. I'd worked my way through most of her adult books by my mid-twenties and have returned to many titles again and again since. Annoyingly I only started keeping written records about 2007 so, although I know I've read some, I don't know when.

>13 CurrerBell: I agree...throughly enjoyed.

I read Gypsy Gypsy which was not one of Godden's best although it had its moments. It's set in France, and as usual Godden conveyed the sense of place very well, and the atmosphere of a parochial community. But so much of the plot turns on the superstitions of the villagers, who are portrayed as rather simple, towards the family of gypsies who camp in the grounds of the manor house. Henrietta and her Aunt Barbe precipitate a tragedy - Barbe by manipulation and Henrietta through passivity. The plot moved at a good pace and was suitably tense.

I just finished Thursday's Children 3½*** and liked it a lot better than I thought I would. I thought I'd be bored by the technical descriptions of the ballet, and to an extent I was, but it was easy enough to skim over these if I felt like it. Now, granted, Doone was just a bit too twee, although Crystal was more realistic, and Mama was an excellent "stage mother." Dad's conversion from thinking dancers were queer to supporting Doone came, perhaps, a little too quickly, though.

Next on to The Dark Horse, which is (like Thursday's Children) short enough that I should be able to finish it before month's end. With the Indian setting, I'm also expecting to like it better than Thursday's Children.

I started Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy this morning and so far I'm liking it.

I'm halfway through The Dark Horse and I'm amazed at Godden's knowledge of horse racing. That aspect of the book is quite interesting.

>20 LisaMorr: I liked Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy much better than In This House of Brede. The latter, I thought, tended a bit too much toward idealization; the former was a lot more nitty-gritty.

Finished The Dark Horse 3½*** – nice story, but the "happily ever after" was a little too sweet for my own taste.

>22 CurrerBell: I really liked Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy! I'm so glad the monthly reading project finally got to me to read this (I've had it forever!).