For all of you with deficient local bookstores, may I present the inestimable Powell’s Books? My goodness, it’s been donkey’s years since I read any Heyer and I think I need to remedy the lack. Thanks ever so!
Just a question - I’ve never read any of her books, where do I start? What would be your recommendations for the best introduction? Or should I just jump in with whatever I can find, since eleanorigby says they’re getting scarce around here?
Cotillion. Sprig Muslin. The Quiet Gentleman. The Unknown Ajax. The Tollgate. A Civil Contract. Cousin Kate. The Reluctant Widow. The Talisman Ring. The Nonesuch. Frederica.
That should get you going. There are LOTS more, lucky you to be reading them for the first time!!
They may not be getting scarce near you (unless you are near me, in that case they are and hello, neighbor!). You can ILL them. I’d start with maybe Venetia or Grand Sophy.
Keep in mind that GH was insistent on accurate historical detail, down to the slang used. No worries–you can figure out most of it from the context (and she’s kind enough to “explain” some of it). These are light-hearted comedies of manners with well rounded characters and twisty plots (with happy endings), so no Faulkner or Morrison here (and thank god–time and place for that). This is escapist fiction at its best.
I’ve always wondered if GH would translate into science fiction. I’m not a huge SF fan, but take her characters and throw them into a time warp and what have you got? Hmmmm…
Most of my favorite books are historical fiction, including Austen’s Lady Susan, so I think I’ll be alright.
eleanorigby, I think we’re neighbors. I have a pretty good idea what area you’re in, and I’m just down the road a bit. I’ll wave at you the next time I take the Metra downtown. 
Oh, and thanks for the recommendations. I’ll look for them.
I’ve never read Heyer either, but last time I visited my mom I borrowed a sackfull of books and I think there are a couple of Heyer’s in there. I remember The Grand Sophy for sure - I’ll bump it up in the queue.
Okay, I checked out my local used bookstore and found two Heyer’s, The Convenient Marriage and Bath Tangle.
Which should I try first?
Well, it’s probably been 30 years since I read Georgette Heyer. I loved her, but I guess I stoppped in my teen years when I spurned “romance” for sci-fi. I’ve donated all those I had back then - maybe it’s time I went to the library.
StG
How old are you? I’d go with Bath Tangle first. It’s slightly more plausible (cough cough) than CM. Please suspend your disbelief at page one and put your tray in its full upright position…
thirdwarning–well, if you’re on the Metra line, than we are fairly close! :eek:
I’m 53, no inexperienced miss! Okay, I’ll go for Bath Tangle first. And I have no trouble with (im)plausible plots, I just want to have fun.
Well, The Grand Sophy was great fun. I’ll definitely read more. Also in the sack was *Frederica *and A Lady of Quality.
I finished Bath Tangle, and it was pretty good, but sort of rushed at the end. And I could see from the start that Major Kirby and Fanny would end up together I lost patience with Emily as well, but her grandmother would in all likelihood put some starch in her backbone eventually.
Now I’ll start on The Convenient Marriage.
With GH, if you can’t figure out who is supposed to end up together at the close of the story, then you might not be able to read all the multi-syllable words in the books…
Speaking of multi-syllabic words, I learned a couple that I unjustly suspected her of making up. Like “magniloquently”.
When I get immersed in GH (happens about every year or so), I find myself having to refrain from saying things like, “Not to wrap this up in clean linen” or “she’s a diamond of the first water”–I pick up slang easily (and accents), but in my world, saying things like that just gets me funny looks, more’s the pity.
I was so fortunate to be exposed to Heyer in my late teens. I had access to every single book, and I took full advantage! I’m convinced that submersing myself in her wonderful words (and thinking about why they were that way) had a lot to do with my very high score on the verbal SAT.
I just recently went back and re-read a few, starting of course with The Grand Sophy. I’m not sure why that one always has to be first, but it always does. Then I picked up the multi-generation books These Old Shades and Devil’s Cub (isn’t there another - I can’t remember now). And The Unknown Ajax has to be one of the finest she’s done, I read that next. I was smiling through the whole book.
And then the one with Wellington’s army, and the girl from Portugal who marries an Officer. I skip the battle stuff, and it’s great history as well as a great story. That book makes me cry so many times - but genuinely, not manipulating. The last hundred pages or so are gripping - can’t put them down. Good thing I was on vacation while I was reading it, so I could stay up.
I can’t say enough about how much I love those books. Lighthearted, insightful, literary, but willing to show the underside - or at least the underside of the good side. And you learn very accurate social history without ever knowing it’s happening.
Ah, the Georgette Heyer appreciation thread! I was on vacation without teh internets but remembered this was promised to me, and came to this thread posthaste upon my return.
I originally read the novels in German, as I inherited the novels from my Mom who loved “These Old Shades” and “Charity Girl” (I don’t know if that should reflect on my upbringing, heh). I wasn’t too fond of “Charity Girl” for some reason, but have always liked “These Old Shades”. Since then, I’ve re-read all of them in English, and also foisted some onto Mom who surprisingly likes to read them. Georgette Heyer, Mma Ramotswe, and Harry Potter are the only reasons that make my Mom read English books.
My favorite ones nowadays (they are apt to change any minute!) are “Cotillion” - I just love Freddie’s resolve in the face of the Elgin Marbles, and “Friday’s Child” - I like how they are married at the beginning of the book rather than at the end. Also, “Sylvester” - I always have to laugh at the scenes on the boat. Oh, I almost forgot “Devil’s Cub”- how could you not like Mary Challoner?
I also love Beau Brummell in any novel. Which one is the novel where the heroine mistakes the overdressed fop for him and he just quietly shudders? Predictable, but still hilarious. I think that might be “Regency Buck”.
I’m not too fond of her wartime novels and the crime novels, I’ve tried several times but I just can’t seem to get into them, I need my dose of Regency to go with my Heyer experience, I do like “The Talisman Ring” very much.
Barbara Cartland!! Eek! I remember the time - I probably was 14 or 15 years old - when I was fresh out of Georgette Heyer novels to read and thought I could recapture the experience with Barbara Cartland…ah, the mistakes of youth.
I have finished The Convenient Marriage and I could see where the step-grandmother of a former Princess of Wales got the plots for several of * her* books, which I read as a teenager.
Now I need to find some others, but I think I’ll have to go online for them, as the library doesn’t have them, and the local used bookstore had only the two titles. I’ve seen The Grand Sophy and Frederica mentioned quite often, so perhaps I’ll look for them.
Cut to several months later…
I hope it’s okay to resurrect this - I wanted to express my thanks to **eleanorigby **for this thread. I’ve read 10 Heyer novels since February, and enjoyed every one of them: The Grand Sophy, Frederica, Ventia, A Civil Contract, A Convenient Marriage, Cotillion, Sprig Muslin, The Unknown Ajax, Lady of Quality, and The Quiet Gentleman. I don’t even blink at the Regency slang anymore.
It turns out my mom has a copy of all of nearly all of Heyer’s books, in hardback. I still have a whole big stack of them to go!
So far my favorites are The Unknown Ajax and Venetia.
Baker, did you ever read any more? thirdwarning, did you ever try one?