Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Diana Pavlac Glyer’s The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community, which I quite enjoyed. I am a total sucker for books about writers groups/writers friendships in general, and the Inklings in particular, and I recommend this for people who are interested in either

Comments

[lost_spook]

This book had the added interest of a sequence where the characters put on a British history pageant, starting with the Romans and working their way onward from there.

It's something that crops up a lot when looking into local history of the 1930s (in particular, but also the 20s and sometimes after) - schoolchildren putting on pageants of the history of their town from whenever it started to the present day. It seems to have been a thing, although often covering the popular story type of history. (I think they're putting one on in a minor Streatfeild novel I read once as well, which might well have been a bit later, but then she was writing in the 30s too.)

He has been neglecting Bunny disgracefully in favor of Kinglake, in fact, and Bunny decides to retaliate by… cross-dressing in the clothes of the absent lady of the house?LOL, Raffles. I think there's nothing 'practically' about it: the slash is there. Tell me when they actually kiss at the end. ;-D

[osprey_archer]

The Miss Read books were written in the fifties, but they're set in a country school so perhaps the history pageant trend has only just arrived there.

Bunny's crush on Raffles is visible FROM SPACE and 100% canon IMO; the real question is whether Raffles returns his feelings. Is he fond of him in his odd way? Or does he just keep him around as a useful duffer? Certainly he's not slow to leave Bunny behind when they get caught and Raffles sees a chance to make a break for it.

[lost_spook]

No, it was no doubt still going - as I said, it crops up a lot in local histories (i.e. in the country!) and Streatfeild's got a 1950s one. It does seem to have been a particularly big 1930s school thing, though - as with most things, it probably started before and continued on for a while!

Poor Bunny! He should have gone with McKenzie to the dark room instead. Or, hmm, maybe not, lol.

[osprey_archer]

HDU, Bunny is clearly going to be FOREVER TRUE to his one true love, Raffles, even if Raffles may never love him back. No dashing off with McKenzie to cheat in the dark room!

[lost_spook]

But he's so keen!