I have the first of those Cazelet chronicles on my Kindle! I grabbed them a few years ago when I was reading Martin Amis's INSIDE STORY, which is kind of a hybrid novel/memoir. Elizabeth Jane Howard was his stepmother and he was talking about how much he regretted not reading them until after she had died because they were so wonderful. I haven't gotten round to starting it yet for all the same reasons I haven't started the zillion other books I want to read but when I looked them up I was like "oh my god where have these books been all my life??" This reminds me to read the damn things.
Before she married Kingsley Amis, btw, Howard was married to Robert Aickman, whom I wrote about recently! They wrote a book of "strange" short stories together although I've never read it (again no reason why except it used to be hard to come by, but a British small press put out an edition quite a while ago).
I struggle with listening as well. I HAVE trained myself to listen to podcasts and audiobooks, but it took some effort and I don't retain some information as well (I also don't like not being able to go back and check something earlier in the book). When people give me verbal directions to a place though their voice turns into the teacher from Charlie Brown.
YES to the verbal directions. My dad used to love to give me directions and he would use hwy numbers in other states like I knew what he was talking about. I retained zero percent.
I didn’t know about Howard’s marriage to Aickman. But I was frustrated when I read about how she set aside her own writing in order to support her Amis’ career. It makes you wonder how many fantastic women writers we never even learned about.
Oh absolutely. It's sad how that's the story of so many women artists. And it's still true even today I think--I'm reminded of how many short story editors have told me over the years that they get substantially more submissons from men than women but that the women's submissions are, on balance, usually stronger as a group. I think women just really struggle to give themselves permission to pursue art and it must be 100 times harder when the man is both hugely successful and a strong personality.
I have the first of those Cazelet chronicles on my Kindle! I grabbed them a few years ago when I was reading Martin Amis's INSIDE STORY, which is kind of a hybrid novel/memoir. Elizabeth Jane Howard was his stepmother and he was talking about how much he regretted not reading them until after she had died because they were so wonderful. I haven't gotten round to starting it yet for all the same reasons I haven't started the zillion other books I want to read but when I looked them up I was like "oh my god where have these books been all my life??" This reminds me to read the damn things.
Before she married Kingsley Amis, btw, Howard was married to Robert Aickman, whom I wrote about recently! They wrote a book of "strange" short stories together although I've never read it (again no reason why except it used to be hard to come by, but a British small press put out an edition quite a while ago).
I struggle with listening as well. I HAVE trained myself to listen to podcasts and audiobooks, but it took some effort and I don't retain some information as well (I also don't like not being able to go back and check something earlier in the book). When people give me verbal directions to a place though their voice turns into the teacher from Charlie Brown.
YES to the verbal directions. My dad used to love to give me directions and he would use hwy numbers in other states like I knew what he was talking about. I retained zero percent.
I didn’t know about Howard’s marriage to Aickman. But I was frustrated when I read about how she set aside her own writing in order to support her Amis’ career. It makes you wonder how many fantastic women writers we never even learned about.
Oh absolutely. It's sad how that's the story of so many women artists. And it's still true even today I think--I'm reminded of how many short story editors have told me over the years that they get substantially more submissons from men than women but that the women's submissions are, on balance, usually stronger as a group. I think women just really struggle to give themselves permission to pursue art and it must be 100 times harder when the man is both hugely successful and a strong personality.
My dad and I are so excited for some of these recommendations!
😂😂 board game rules read out loud indeed makes me want to run into the night