Reprint Recommendations
I've been meaning to do this for a while, ever since I noticed that a) Harlequin has been reissuing Georgette Heyer's entire backlist, and b) many Heyer fans do not read genre romance, so they haven't noticed.
There will be no mentions of Firebird on this list. We all know Firebird rocks. So does Starscape.
SPRIG MUSLIN, by Georgette Heyer.
And all her other books. (Be wary of a horrid anti-Semitic scene in the otherwise splendid THE GRAND SOPHY. In fact, I would skip ahead from when Sophy goes to visit the moneylender to when she leaves. All you need to know is that she gets what she wants from him.) But I'll use this as an example, because it's so utterly charming.
It's a two-couple Regency romance, but is really more of a comedy and parody of the entire romance genre, but particularly of the "spirited runaway girl" trope. The runaway girl is indeed spirited, but has absorbed the contents of far too many romance novels and taken them far too much to heart. Disasters ensue. The other heroine is practical and wears glasses. In my favorite scene, the spirited girl traps an aspiring playwright in a discussion of a play he ought to write about wicked Queen Katharine, which would include an on-stage autopsy with a tar-soaked sponge to represent her wicked black heart.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0373836244/qid=1092340592/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-3433239-3391102?v=glance&s=books
THE HOUSE OF THIRTY CATS, by Mary Calhoun
A children's book about a girl named Sarah who lives near an old cat woman's house. The local kids, who are a bit scared of her, will ring the doorbell if they want a kitten, and then run away when she gives them one. But when a mousy librarian gives Sarah George MacDonald's THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE, awakening Sarah to the wonders of fantasy-- and when Sarah later catches her reading a book on witchcraft-- she realizes that people may have hidden lives that are more surprising and wonderful than the personas they show to the world. When Sarah goes to get a kitten, she goes inside the house of thirty cats, and finds a world that's just as astonishing and beautiful as any fantasy. When town authorities try to shut down the house, Sarah decides to find homes for the cats by matching their personalities to those of the townspeople-- not their personas, but their true selves.
This is a lovely book, and an example of how much characterization of a large cast of human and cat characters can be packed into a few words.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786816929/qid=1092341001/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-3433239-3391102?v=glance&s=books
HOTEL FOR DOGS, by Lois Duncan
Another children's book, this one by a writer who later became famous for YA suspense. (Of those books, I really like DOWN A DARK HALL and STRANGER WITH MY FACE.) Like CATS, it's a "secret garden" novel in which children create a private little world for themselves. A girl who is forced to leave her beloved dog behind when her family moves to Albuquerque, and in with an aunt who's allergic to dogs, hides a stray dog in the abandoned house next door. Then her brother hides a dog who ran away from its abusive owner. More and more kids who can't have pets of their own hide more and more dogs in the house, until matters come to a highly satisfying climax. Incidentally, the protagonist wants to be a writer, and her dedication and perseverance is a model for any as-yet-unpublished author.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786816945/qid=1092341477/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-3433239-3391102?v=glance&s=books
More later...
There will be no mentions of Firebird on this list. We all know Firebird rocks. So does Starscape.
SPRIG MUSLIN, by Georgette Heyer.
And all her other books. (Be wary of a horrid anti-Semitic scene in the otherwise splendid THE GRAND SOPHY. In fact, I would skip ahead from when Sophy goes to visit the moneylender to when she leaves. All you need to know is that she gets what she wants from him.) But I'll use this as an example, because it's so utterly charming.
It's a two-couple Regency romance, but is really more of a comedy and parody of the entire romance genre, but particularly of the "spirited runaway girl" trope. The runaway girl is indeed spirited, but has absorbed the contents of far too many romance novels and taken them far too much to heart. Disasters ensue. The other heroine is practical and wears glasses. In my favorite scene, the spirited girl traps an aspiring playwright in a discussion of a play he ought to write about wicked Queen Katharine, which would include an on-stage autopsy with a tar-soaked sponge to represent her wicked black heart.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0373836244/qid=1092340592/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-3433239-3391102?v=glance&s=books
THE HOUSE OF THIRTY CATS, by Mary Calhoun
A children's book about a girl named Sarah who lives near an old cat woman's house. The local kids, who are a bit scared of her, will ring the doorbell if they want a kitten, and then run away when she gives them one. But when a mousy librarian gives Sarah George MacDonald's THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE, awakening Sarah to the wonders of fantasy-- and when Sarah later catches her reading a book on witchcraft-- she realizes that people may have hidden lives that are more surprising and wonderful than the personas they show to the world. When Sarah goes to get a kitten, she goes inside the house of thirty cats, and finds a world that's just as astonishing and beautiful as any fantasy. When town authorities try to shut down the house, Sarah decides to find homes for the cats by matching their personalities to those of the townspeople-- not their personas, but their true selves.
This is a lovely book, and an example of how much characterization of a large cast of human and cat characters can be packed into a few words.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786816929/qid=1092341001/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-3433239-3391102?v=glance&s=books
HOTEL FOR DOGS, by Lois Duncan
Another children's book, this one by a writer who later became famous for YA suspense. (Of those books, I really like DOWN A DARK HALL and STRANGER WITH MY FACE.) Like CATS, it's a "secret garden" novel in which children create a private little world for themselves. A girl who is forced to leave her beloved dog behind when her family moves to Albuquerque, and in with an aunt who's allergic to dogs, hides a stray dog in the abandoned house next door. Then her brother hides a dog who ran away from its abusive owner. More and more kids who can't have pets of their own hide more and more dogs in the house, until matters come to a highly satisfying climax. Incidentally, the protagonist wants to be a writer, and her dedication and perseverance is a model for any as-yet-unpublished author.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786816945/qid=1092341477/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-3433239-3391102?v=glance&s=books
More later...