GEORGETTE HEYER BITS AND PIECES

A quote about the great Georgette Heyer:

"I doubt she's read a novel since an overdose of Georgette Heyer made her marry your father. Books can be dangerous." (Fay Weldon, 'Letters to Alice On First Reading Jane Austen')

A little word puzzle:

The beginning of each answer should be a letter and when you line up all the letters, you should get a word. That's the idea anyway. =) NOTE - don't read Supporting Characters first because it gives away an answer.

(1) The drink you have when you're not having a drink.

(2) Possessed of accursedly fiendish eyebrows.

(3) Melissa doesn't have one, Sophia doesn't have one but according to George, Amelia does.

(4) From it came death, from it came love and then even more love.

(5) Venetia-mode of addressing her love.

(6) He ain't sober above six hours out of the twenty-four

(7) That's a cure I can't face.

(8) His virtues were extolled until her tongue began to cleave to the roof of her mouth.

(9) She has the Nose but she didn't get the Guy.

How well do you know Friday's Child?: (btw - these ones don't add up to a word. =)

Can you answer the following without consulting your copy of Friday's Child?

(1) The name of the moneylenders to which Hero became indebted.

(2) The name of Lady Saltash's ugly dog

(3) The name of Hero's horrible cousins

(4) Name of Hero's rescuer at Bartholomew Fair

(5) The name of the theatre piece attended by Sherry and Hero at Bartholomew Fair

(6) Ferdy's 'Greek Thing'

(7) Sherry's favourite dinner

(8) Full names of Sherry's friends

(9) What sort of flowers does George give Isabella?

(10) Sherry's insult to Revesby when he refuses to accept his challenge.

On a related note - how do you pronounce WROTHAM? I would have pronounced it 'roth 'em' kind of rhyming with 'Gotham' a la Batman, but I once saw a hideous movie adaptation of what I assume was an equally hideous Barbara Cartland Novel (A Hazard of Hearts) and they pronounced it 'Root 'em' which seems most peculiar to me. =)

Puzzle (not a word puzzle =)

(1) Recipient of the following remark: "...I know your sort! You are a toadeater, and I abominate toadeaters."

(2) Has an eyelid fetish (surname)

(3) He fell for her, she fell down the stairs. (name the female =)

(4) Speaker of the following line: "You look absolutely gangrenous."

(5) Equine yet genteel

(6) a humanoid hake.

(7) knows a lot of queer people

Beautiful Set Downs:

"Shall you be at the masquerade at the Argyll Rooms tonight?"

"I never attend such affairs, ma'am!" he retorted, putting her in her place.

"Oh, then I shall not see you there!" remarked Miss Tallant, with unimpaired cheerfulness.

(Arabella)

Have you ever wondered?:

What sort of facial expression was Pen pulling when she 'twinkled' at Richard? She did it twice!

What would a 'gurgle' of laughter sound like? Is it necessarily pleasant???

What a Georgette Heyer song would be like:

eg country songs: 'Nobody knows you when you're wearing Puce', 'My Life is a Cold Lobster Patty'

'Whose bed have your boots been under?' (Song for Vidal)
'I'm too sexy (4 my shirt)' (Song for Beau Brummel)

'If you like this, then you might like that' Book List

If you're a fan of Heyer, you might like the following Oscar Wilde plays which can be found online:

Importance of Being earnest
http://www.hoboes.com/html/FireBlade/Wilde/earnest/
(I really love this one - it's just so funny! There isn't a serious moment in it, and the discusions about diaries are a scream. On the Heyer Scale of Classification, I would classify it as a good 'un.)

Lady Windermere’s Fan
ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/etext/gutenberg/etext97/lwfan10.txt
(not one of my favourites. It reads like a tepid Heyer ie Cotillion, Powder and Patch, The Foundling, Sprig Muslin..... books that I find that I can read, but don't love.)

An Ideal Husband
http://tom.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/book/lookup?num=885
(this one has more serious elements, but the funny parts are very funny, and Lord Goring reads like he has just walked out of a Heyer novel to moonlight in a play. Another Good 'un.)

I also recommend reading the transcripts of the trial of Oscar Wilde because in the early stages of the trial, Wilde at his very funny and satirical best. Towards the end when the cross-examination really kicks in and all the unpleasant revelations about his sexuality escape, it's kind of sad to see his satirical wit fade - but if you bail out before the end, it's definitely worth reading.

Anything written Josephine Tey
In particular, The Daughter of Time, A Shilling for Candles, The Singing Sands and Richard of Bordeaux. I call Josephine Tey a 'wordy' writer and I think she's fantastic.

Lady Pamela by Clare Darcy
One of the few non-Heyer regencies that I really like. I think it's light and funny, and doesn't go overboard in the Heyer imitation stakes and doesn't try to do the reverse and be overly serious like Balogh. To me, Balogh almost tries too hard to inject gritty reality and misery into her novels. Sometimes they get a bit lugubrious for me - isn't that a delicious Heyer-ish word? Anyway, I can read Balogh, but most of her characters sound like they need therapy or something. Lady Pamela and her beau Carlin are a hoot.

Any of Pamela Belle's historicals
Another 'wordy' writer. If you're a fan of English history, poetry, music, lots of quotes and good writing, then you'll probably like Pamela Belle. Unfortunately she seems to have decided to turn her hand to science fiction and depressing and gory science fiction at that.

Anything written by Robin McKinley
McKinley has done some beautiful retellings in the form of of Beauty, Deerskin and Outlaws of Sherwood. Deerskin isn't for the faint-hearted because it's a retelling of the old Charles Perrault fairy tale, but like all McKinley's books it's starkly beautiful. I also highly recommend The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown which are fantasy novels which read like beautiful myths and legends. I classify Robin McKinley as a 'concise' writer who manages to describe a lot in very few words. I can't recommend her enough. =)

Katherine Neville
Definitely a wordy writer. Her first novel The Eight was huge, and her second novel A Calculated Risk was also big. It's hard to describe these books, but they've got romantic suspense but better than that, they tell great stories and have a LOT of research in them.

Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw
I'm almost positive that if you like Heyer that you would like this play. It's so funny and sweet and 'nice'. I'm just sorry I couldn't find a copy of it online to link to. You'll have to find it in your local bookstore.

Jane Austen and George Eliot - need I say more?

Connie Willis
'The Doomsday Book', 'The Bellweather" and her short stories are excellent. I kid you not.

Almost anything by Anne Stuart
Historicals include A Rose at Midnight and Lord of Danger although I think her contemporary fiction is usually better.

What's to come?

I'm thinking about a 'snuff' section with all references to this disgusting habit.

I'm also pondering a couple of very dodgy covers I have. I'll put them up if I manage to size them properly.