tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182642520216901583.post4240355575278102787..comments2023-11-01T02:35:48.057+00:00Comments on Geranium Cat's Bookshelf: Mariana by Monica Dickens - Classics ChallengeGeraniumCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03010199887691558717noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182642520216901583.post-87303084814596005562012-06-07T16:16:33.560+01:002012-06-07T16:16:33.560+01:00I loved Mariana when I read it a number of years a...I loved Mariana when I read it a number of years ago (and put it in the hands of a lot of other people I know who also loved it), and, like you, I like all those details of social history in middlebrow novels. I recently discovered and read Anya Seton's Dragonwyck and learned so much about 19th-century American history I never knew. I will definitely be reading more of hers.Emily Bartonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13971084813206845680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182642520216901583.post-84399614095616438742012-05-31T17:05:51.560+01:002012-05-31T17:05:51.560+01:00It's not funny in the same way as One Pair of ...It's not funny in the same way as One Pair of Hands or My Turn to Make the Tea, but it's a nice read (certainly more so than Grahame Greene!). One Fine Day has very much the same sort of "feel", I guess, and is lovely. I was a little concerned before I started Mariana because I've read two books by Dickens that were rather grittier, and I wasn't in the mood for too much harsh reality, but that's not a problem here - it's fairly gentle, and you do get involved with Mary's hopes and fears. I do recommend it.GeraniumCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03010199887691558717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182642520216901583.post-655884699777256522012-05-31T08:16:28.608+01:002012-05-31T08:16:28.608+01:00The title immediately made me think of Tennyson...The title immediately made me think of Tennyson's poem and the line "My life is dreary,<br />He cometh not," she said. Then when I read your post I realised why!<br /><br />I haven't read this one, although have read others by Monica Dickens, which I loved, One Pair of Hands and others. Mariana sounds worth reading. Although a little later, written about the years immediately after the war One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes would also belong in this middlebrow category.<br /><br />I found this prompt difficult to do, because I didn't think the book I'd been reading fitted into a 'literary movement'. I think sometimes it's false to try.Margaret @ BooksPleasehttp://www.booksplease.orgnoreply@blogger.com