nora 🍐

I thought it looked familiar!

Barbara Comyns and her daughter, Caroline, circa 1937

Barbara Comyns later in life

#NYRBWomen25 I finished THE JUNIPER TREE this morning, Barbara Comyns’s final novel published when she was 77yo. It’s everything I love about her writing. Here are a few rabbit holes I went down while reading this enchanting retelling.

Uh oh - ok off to read those thoughts…

I’d say it’d be worth your time pushing through, been thinking a lot about those 2 unpredictable ladies since finishing it

I really like that Mavor had the balls to write this book, it’s so unexpected but i seem to remember you described the writing as ‘precious’, i agree with you, the writing was too stuffy for my taste and probably loads flew over my head but i’m glad for the experience reading it!

Thank you so much for your kind words and your contributions! So glad the month ended on a high note for you!

Just read 2 serious ladies and i would describe it that way too, or maybe it’s the characters who are not interested in making sense and the book does in some ways? Looking fwd to the discussion!

Chat I really think we had some interesting stuff to say here. How to talk about a book that isn’t especially interested in making sense?

A stack of 4 books on a mantelpiece, a plate of mandarin, a porcelain dog, vases with flowers and an oxalis plant. The books are: Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles, A Green Equinox by Elizabeth Mavor, Restoration bu Ave Barrera and Business as Usual by Ann Stafford & Jane Oliver.

The books I read in September 📚 (not pictured: 🎧 Rural Hours by Harriet Baker) #booksky #spinsterseptember #womenintranslation

Two Serious Ladies was my fave #spinsterseptember read. It was unusual as it shows little to no interiority from the characters. Felt like watching a Lynch movie: eerie, unpredictable, full of dread, at times disturbing but pregnant with meaning. A stumbling & hypnotising f*** you to conventions.

Surprisingly, Agatha Christie & her miss Marple were knocked off their thrown this year and Lolly Willowes left the limelight. Some other titles you liked: Miss Buncle’s Book, Rhine Journey, Cranford, Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day and Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead. #spinsterseptember

A huge thank you to those of you who participated, you made this month so fun & enriching. Some #spinsterseptember stats if you’re interested. Most read book was Excellent Women (2nd one was Hampton Cradnet). Pym was the most popular (followed by Brookner, Hanff, EH Young & Muriel Spark)

Two Serious Ladies by Jane Bowles, Business as Usual by Ann Stafford & Jane Oliver an A Green Equinox by Elizabeth Mavor

The three books I read for #spinsterseptember 🍏 #booksky

Yay for Lolly Willowes and for Spinster Autumn! 🙌💕

I only managed to read „Lolly Willowes“ for #spinsterseptember (AT LAST!), but the hashtag contains so many interesting titles, I‘m doing #spinsterautumn .

#spinsterseptember rec from @blithespirit4.bsky.social

I started this due to Jacqui's review and I'm loving it so much. It reminds me of LM Montgomery's and Dorothy Whipple's writing, two favorite authors of mine. Happily sliding this one in on the last few days of #SpinsterSeptember.

Hush, Gabriel! by Veronica Parker Johns I wanted to add a second novel to my #SpinsterSeptember contribution, so went through my shelf of ‘would these make good British Library Women Writers suggestions?’, flicking thr…

My second and final book for #SpinsterSeptember is Hush, Gabriel! by Veronica Parker Johns - a murder mystery which started brilliantly but sadly rather derailed...

Just discovered the hashtag #SpinsterSeptember for books, and I think "The scent of water" by Elizabeth Goudge would fit very well in the category. I guess I'd like to reread it soon, it breathes calm and taking possession of an old house and a different life.

Thank you for your wonderful contribution Steffen and for highlighting these books 🥰

September reading [✓]
Favourite: Well, my least favourite, weirdly, was Austen, probably because she goes on to be so much better. I guess Warner gets the gong for a wonderful book that plays with the form of the novel.
Thanks to @pear-jelly.bsky.social for #SpinsterSeptember.

Ooh yes! Thank you so much Jennifer, bookmarking this for later, sounds 👌💕

[Image Description: a graphic featuring a photo of Shawn, and the words Friday Reads: Some sucked, some weren’t for me, and some sucked me right in]

Friday Reads: Some sucked, some weren’t for me, and some sucked me right in

youtu.be/4BYjN-XR4gQ

#SpinsterSeptember
#Victober

Image of a paining by Jansson of the artist Tuukikki Pietla, her longtime companion. Bent over her artists table in a studio surrounded by art.

Really enjoyed Fair Play, Tove Jansson. “She began to anticipate a solitude of her own. She felt something close to exhilaration, of a kind that people can permit themselves when they are blessed with love.“ #SapphicSeptember
*technically* #SpinsterSeptember 📚💙

Read: Anita Brookner: Look At Me (1983).
Such a sharp, acidic, adult, wonderful book about people and relationships. Minimal plot but full of thoughts and ideas.
There will be more Brookner.
#SpinsterSeptember

[Image Description: a graphic featuring a photo of Shawn, and the words Nuanced spinsters and other fickle folk: A review of E.H. Young's 1922 novel, The Misses Mallett]

Nuanced spinsters and other fickle folk: A review of E.H. Young's 1922 novel, The Misses Mallett

#SpinsterSeptember

youtu.be/8oBWAfSCbHo

Front cover of Rumer Godden's novel IN THIS HOUSE OF BREDE, showing a stylistic weathervane atop a cross with angular sections criss-crossing the sky and the rooftops of the buildings visible at the bottom of the cover, all done in a water-color style.

I was recommending it to someone & that reminded me that I think Rumer Godden's IN THIS HOUSE OF BREDE (I never thought I'd fall in love with a book about a woman joining a contemplative abbey, but it was such a page turner for me-so good) would probably be a good suggestion for #spinsterseptember

Paperback of The Spring Begins on a yellow patterned background

A powerful read: I've called "The Spring Begins" by Katherine Dunning "brutal" here, and Simon Thomas calls it "amoral" in his Afterword! It's also lyrical, descriptive and a real page-turner! librofulltime.wordpress.com/2025/09/24/b... @britishlibrary.bsky.social #booksky #SpinsterSeptember 📚💙

Yes 🙌 love the way you describe it, one of my favourite reads of last year 😍

A recommendation @pear-jelly.bsky.social. Perfectly controlled pacing: onward and inward journey, past infusing present, emergence of heroine's agency, quiet and subtle and powerful. #spinsterseptember