Hiya, I’m back from holiday but still busy trying to catch up at work. I’ll post some travel pictures when I can find some time again. There are so many happenings in the world of book business. The BBAW appreciation week is on, with different topics each day. I wanted so much to participate but time is of premium. And there is also the announcement of the Man Booker Prize shortlists which judges claim to be one of the best of recent years!
Since December 2010, Bina@ifyoucanreadthis and myself have read 3 Du Maurier books together:
- Jamaica Inn (December 2010)
- Frenchmans Creek (September 2011)
- My Cousin Rachel (February 2012)
We usually choose to read Du Maurier books in Autumn in the dark wintry months…. 😉 I read Rebecca on my own in April 2010 and it was my least favourite of the top 4 and I wonder could it be the joy of reading along together that makes my reading experience more jovial? I think it is!
So, Bina and I are continuing our tradition of reading another Du Maurier book, this time we will start from the beginning and read Du Maurier’s debut novel The Loving Spirit, as I’m still trying to finish up my Du Maurier collection as you can see here:
I have since added “In Loving Spirit” to the collection of 2010
And I have Miss Chinoiseries (Tze-Wen) joining us this time! Welcome, a very warm welcome to our Du Maurier reading circle Tze-Wen! 😀
The readalong will start from 15 September to 30 September. Reviews will be posted on the last day of September. Is there anyone out there who is interested? Let us know and we’ll kick start the autumn with Du Maurier readalong together!
JoV's Book Pyramid 
This is a DuMaurier that I have not read. Hope u enjoy it. I love your blog’s look — very very nice.
Posted by Diane@BibliophilebytheSea | September 13, 2012, 11:59 pmThank you so much Diane. My only complaint if the small fonts but this blog theme come very close being perfect. 🙂
Posted by JoV | September 14, 2012, 7:52 amI alos enjoy du Maurier’s books. I don’t know this book. Unfortunately, I’m booked full all through October. And I mean full: I have sleepless night thinking how I’m going to finish all these books. OK, not quite. But almost!
Have a good time with this book!
Posted by Leeswammes | September 14, 2012, 5:37 amJudith,
Don’t stress yourself Judith. Would a plan help? that way you can allay your anxiety and tell yourself psychologically what you can achieve and what you can’t. I always find putting thoughts down on paper release some of my stress thinking about the overwhelming workload.
Posted by JoV | September 14, 2012, 7:54 amJo, the stress is mainly blogging/reading related and not really a big-big issue. I can read 12-15 books in a normal month and up to 20 in a crazy month. For September, I’ve got 19 books scheduled… For October, something like 14-15. So, you see, I’m a little worried about this schedule. I think I should schedule a few “free” places in November to pick up the left-over books from October, and then not get myself into agreeing to read quite so many books from then on… 🙂
Posted by Leeswammes | September 14, 2012, 3:42 pmJudith,
That sounds so ambitious Judith but I admire your tenacity and discipline to stick to the schedule. Hope you are well on your way to complete your plan, don’t let it take the joy out of your reading experience though. I like free places and buffers, leave some space to observe the colour of the autumn leaves. 😉
Posted by JoV | September 14, 2012, 9:56 pmI look forward to the travel pictures. Have not as yet read any of Du Maurier’s offering. Maybe, I should change that someday.
Posted by Geosigeosi | September 14, 2012, 7:52 amGeosi,
Start with Rebecca or Frenchman’s Creek. Her books are light read and appeal to women readers some may say but you might like it!
Posted by JoV | September 14, 2012, 10:47 amWelcome back from holiday, Jo 🙂 Looking forward to your travel pictures (and wow, the Jemaa el Fnaa…! What a coincidence I should be reading a book about it!) a lot. Like Judith says, October is quite a busy book reading month, but I’ve got The Loving Spirit firmly booked beforehand 😀 Really like your du Maurier collection by the way!
Posted by Chinoiseries | September 14, 2012, 8:28 amChinoiseries,
Thanks! I swept the whole lot up for a bargain. The used booksellers they sat there for less than half an hour and that’s when I came in and took the whole lot of them. Lucky me. 🙂 I’ll try to publish the travel pictures soon!
Posted by JoV | September 14, 2012, 10:48 amThat is serious good luck 😀 Yay for you! I just realised that no matter the busy reading in October, we’re reading The Loving Spirit in the next two weeks. Which is fine, because I’m “on schedule” with my other readings. So unlike me *gives self pat on shoulder*
Posted by Chinoiseries | September 14, 2012, 10:51 amChinoiseries,
Yay! Great that we are reading together!
Posted by JoV | September 14, 2012, 3:36 pmI’ll have to look to see if I can still find my copy of du Maurier’s The Doll to send you. I might have gotten rid of it (oops!) because the stories were rather upsetting to me; still, it would be a nice addition to your collection. I greatly admire your stack of du Maurier books, and while Rebecca will always be my favorite, I have enjoyed others by her. I haven’t read them all, though. Yet. 😉
Posted by Bellezza | September 14, 2012, 1:45 pmBellezza,
Aww Bellezza, thanks for the offer. I heard about The Doll and it is kind of you to offer to send it to me. I hope you read a few more of Du Maurier soon! 🙂
Posted by JoV | September 14, 2012, 2:19 pmWhen I read this blog title, it seems family.
Lo and behold! I now remember Du Maurier. I enjoy reading My Cousin Rachel a lot!.
I think I still have another of her book somewhere in the common bedroom. I need to hunt it down and start reading it!
Yes, Rebecca. Now I recall.
Posted by Wilfrid | September 15, 2012, 9:31 amWilfrid,
Have a go at Rebecca, it is her most famous title still. Let us know what you think about it!
Posted by JoV | September 15, 2012, 10:01 amYou have a wonderful book blog here! I love your book selections, esp. the ones you’re reading now. Too bad I won’t have time for another read along, since I’m hosting Anna Karenina on mine, but I’d love to read your discussions on A Suitable Boy. Thanks for stopping by Ripple Effects. Would love to visit yours on a more regular basis now. 😉
Posted by Arti | September 15, 2012, 5:51 pmArti,
Thanks so much for your kind words Arti. I really like your blog and would visit it more regularly too! All the best with Anna Karenina readalong. I read Anna Karenina on “half the time” edition, hope I didn’t miss much! but I love the book. 🙂
Posted by JoV | September 15, 2012, 8:48 pmHope you had an amazing holiday! Your DuMaurier collection is still droolworthy and I love that we’ve still got so many of her works left to read together 🙂 Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on The Loving Spirit, it was great to see how she started out as a novelist. I’m being a bad blogger again and will have to post super short posts until the DuMaurier review I think, somehow I’m never in the mood to turn the computer on, lazy me!
Posted by Bina | September 23, 2012, 1:39 pmBina,
It’s not a bad thing Bina. I think the worse thing is getting hook to ‘this’! lol I hope you like the book. You are right, it was interesting to read her debut novel. Very ‘different’. 🙂 Yay, more Du Maurier books that we could read together!
Posted by JoV | September 23, 2012, 7:19 pm