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Georgette Heyer Challenge 2011

I'm up for the challenge. I have read GH's Regency novels (I'm not so keen on the mysteries!) many times in the past few decades and I'm on a bit of a Heyer-reading spurt at the moment, which I expect will continue until I get through them all again. Will audio books count? I've just discovered them and have loved listening to my favourites.

I'm so glad you'd like to take part, thanks for signing up on the Google Docs form. Yes, audio books do count! It would be wonderful to hear your thoughts on them. I haven't read any of her mysteries yet but they don't appeal to me as much as her regencies. Which is your favourite Heyer novel?



I'm so glad you'd like to take part, thanks for signing up on the Google Docs form. Yes, audio books do count! It would be wonderful to hear your thoughts on them. I haven't read any of he..."
Which Heyer book is my favourite is very difficult for me to answer, because I love so many of them. If I could only take one Heyer to a desert island, I suspect it would be Venetia. It's the only one of the romances which can actually make me cry and I seem to know great slabs of it off by heart! The others in my Heyer favourites short list (in no particular order) are Sylvester, The Foundling, The Grand Sophy and Frederica. I also have a particular soft spot for Friday's Child, mostly because it was the first HeyerI read when I was about 13. It is my mother's favourite and she gave it to me to read, so I have a sentimental attachment to it. I am also very fond of Cotillion, which I've only read once or twice before. I'm listening to the audio book at the moment as I commute to work and it's making me laugh out loud! Oh, and I probably should add Devil's Cub to the favourites list. I think it was the second Heyer that I read - way back when - and I still like it very much indeed!


I think I will always feel the same way about Arabella as you do about Friday's Child, there's always something special about a first.
Audio books are wonderful travelling and I can imagine Heyer is perfect to listen to for journeys. I really need to get a set of them.
Karlyne- A whole box- lucky you! That will be a lovely Christmas treat to start reading them. I hope you enjoy reading/re-reading them. I'm sure you'll reach the addicted category :)


I would really advocate venetia although i have neither read Arabella nor Friday's child i believe they are awesome. Venetia is so poetic and the hero, he's wonderful.


Gigi and J.Romemary- Thanks for signing up :) I hope you have fun with the challenge. Also, thank you for spreading the word by posting about the challenge on your blog JR.
Veronica- Venetia is definitely going on my list of books for the challenge then- thank you for recommending it.
Kim- The right voice is always so important with audio books and can make all the difference. Eve Matheson must be very talented. I'm glad that you're enjoying the audio books and that you are experiencing Heyer in a fresh way!


Wish you all a heartfelt Christmas and prosperous New Year.

Merry Christmas to you all too, I hope you enjoy spending time with family!


I too discovered Heyer's Regencies in my teens but can't now (too many years have passed!) remember which ones I've read so I'm starting again and intend to read the whole canon. I've recently discovered her mysteries and love them, and intend to start tackling the historicals soon, so I'm sure this challange will keep me motivated.

I heard a magical read of The Grand Sophy on audio- read by John Westbrook I think. He was hilarious doing brilliant voices especially for the women.



That was a very rational way of putting it. Most of the good regency fiction has its downside in its own characterization. xD
Since my local library has neither of the two, i guess I'll have to begin this year's regency with Corinthian or the Conqueror; been a while since i read them first.

I haven't read The Conqueror, so I can't comment. (Maybe this is the year I will finally bite the bullet and read the full Georgette Heyer canon and not just re-read the Georgian / Regency novels!). However, I do have a bit of a soft spot for The Corinthian, even though I generally prefer Heyer's older heroines. I find both main characters charming.

I'm trying to remember without getting up to look, but is The Conqueror a regency? I stuck it with the historical novels...

I'm trying t..."
Definitely historical. As I recall, The Conqueror is William the Conqueror.





I love Arabella. Particularly the mongrel!
In the past couple of weeks I have listened to The Unknown Ajax on audiobook. I read it a long time ago, but it's not one I have re-read and I very much enjoyed listening to it. Hugo Darracott is a fabulous hero, pretty much in a class of his own as far as Heyer heroes are concerned.
I have now started listening to The Masqueraders. Also not on my all time favourites list and therefore not something which I have read twenty times before! Enjoyable so far, although I find GH's 18th Century language less engaging than her Regency slang (too many Egads! for my taste!). Still, the characters are fun.
I really am on a Georgette Heyer kick. Usually this only happens when I am feeling sick or low in spirits, neither of which is the case at the moment. It's either the challenge spurring me on, or else the discovery of audiobooks, which have definitely enhanced the re-reading experience!

PS I'll be starting Devil's Cub next, which if I remember rightly, is the favorite of several of you? Kim, I now have a copy of the Unknown Ajax, but since I'm going alphabetically through my new copies, it may be a week or two or three before I get to it!


Please read These Old Shades before reading Devil's Cub. You have to get to know Avon, Leonie, Fanny and Rupert before reading about Vidal. It's one of only 2 or 3 instances where Heyer re-uses characters. These Old Shades is hard to find these days, which is sad because it's one of my all-time favorites.


I admire your discipline, Karlyne (and the fact that you have a reading plan!). Apart from starting the year by reading Lady of Quality and Black Sheep so that I could discover just how similar or different they really are, I have since been reading Heyer in an entirely random fashion. So far, they have all been audiobooks on my iPod, which, as I've said before, is an entirely new concept for me. I started the re-reads last year, so I've already got through my self-acknowledged favourites. If those books are going to form part of the challenge, I guess I will have to re-re-read them later this year! In the meantime, it's great to re-discover the likes of The Unknown Ajax and The Masqueraders and to find that I probably should have re-read more often over the years. They sit there on my bookshelf, but aren't nearly as well-thumbed as so many others. Karlyne, I feel sure that you will enjoy them once you work your way down to the latter part of the alphabet!

Please read These Old Shades before reading Devil's Cub. You have to ge..."
Jemidar wrote: "You're about a page from the end, I'm afraid :-(."
I don't think it should be that hard to find. Amazon has is available second hand for 1p +P&P.


Karlyne, of that particular list, I think that Faro's Daughter is probably my favourite too, although I have to say that I'm also quite fond of False Colours. I started The Reluctant Widow (audiobook version) yesterday. I've read it before, but not for ages. Will be interested in your impressions.

My Lord John
The Conqueror
Royal Escape
Venetia
Frederica
Devil's Cub
Penhallow
Footsteps in the Dark.
I haven't read any of them before except for Devil's Cub. I wanted to read more of her mysteries as I've enjoyed the couple that I've read so far, and I also wanted to try a few straight historicals. The list may change as the year progresses, and I may even add to it if I get these read ahead of schedule. My aim is to read between 6-10 this year :-).


I also liked the way that Francis Cheviot continued to be a fop while being a dangerous character: very multi-faceted!
And, Nicky and Bouncer were definitely delightful. I don't want them traipsing through my kitchen and leaving bones under my bed, but in the abstract, I completely loved them!

Voices in audiobooks do indeed make such a difference. Of the Heyer novels I've listened to so far, I have infinitely preferred listening to those read by women. The women appear so much more adept at voicing convincing male characters than the men are at voicing female characters. I've now started listening to The Quiet Gentleman, another of the mystery / romances which I've read but not re-read. Unfortunately, it has the same reader and I already have a problem with the hero! I may have to give up on the audiobook and go back to the traditional paper version, which will be annoying because I'm listening to Heyer novels while commuting and reading other books at other times.
Do you know which Heyer you'll be tackling next?

I'm liking that the characters are less perfect and more unaware of their imperfections than usual. Of course, if they stayed unaware they'd just be big bores, but the changing that's going on makes them loveable.
And The Quiet Gentleman is one of my other favorites, so if the reader on it is turning him (the quiet gentleman himself) into an annoying prig, then cut him (the reader) loose!

Sylvester is a big favourite of mine, consistently in my top five Heyer novels. I love the fact that both Sylvester and Phoebe become more self aware, but do not change their essential characters. Sylvester, one imagines, will always retain his pride (and the type of arrogance which goes with it) and Phoebe will keep her quick temper. You can expect that they will continue to bicker, no matter how much they love each other. (I hope that's not too much of a spoiler for you!!). I also (as usual)love the secondary characters, particularly the Duchess. She is one of the relatively few really likable mothers in Heyer's novels, and her relationship with her son is delightful.
I've just about finished The Quiet Gentleman. Notwithstanding my early concerns, the reader didn't annoy me as much as he did in The Reluctant Widow. He did make Gervase sound a big priggish, but I could look past it! Such a nice hero, and the heroine so refreshingly practical and unsentimental. I've found listening a very pleasant experience, even though I worked out (or maybe just remembered!) the identity of the villain quite early in the piece.
Not sure where to go to next. I was thinking about April Lady, so that I could compare it to The Convenient Marriage, which I listened to a few weeks ago. I haven't read it for quite a while, so other than remembering that it has pretty much the same plot as The Convenient Marriage, I don't remember much about it. Or maybe it's time I bit the bullet and tackled one of the historical novels. The fact that you found The Conqueror interesting, Karlyne, makes me feel positive about it, because we seem to have similar tastes!

I found Phoebe's character puzzling at first. I thought it odd that anyone with a temper like hers could be so easily overset by her stepmother. But then I realized that that's a very human contradiction; I find myself running away from bullies (because I have the means to do so), but I am also very outspoken and hot-tempered when I see others being bullied. So, Phoebe is not so much odd as human!
I loved Sylvester's mother, too. Comparing her to the twins' mother in False Colours makes me have a renewed faith in motherhood. The twins' mother was charming but wearing; Sylvester's was loving and uncomplaining although actually ill. I prefer selfless loving to charming anyday.
I've just started The Unknown Ajax, and I already think I'm going to love it, too. The unknown heir who's going to step right in and inherit over the heads of the "logical" heirs is the theme of Downton Abbey (just aired on PBS), too. I see lots of plot twists and fun ahead.
After I finish up Ajax I may revisit some of the historical novels, starting with The Conqueror. No doubt good for historical knowledge questions on Jeopardy at least.
Oh, and the last time that I read The Quiet Gentleman, I kept looking for clues to see how quickly the villain could legitimately be spotted, and I was impressed with Miss Morville's intelligence! I really liked her, too.

I'm so glad that you like Sylvester, Karlyne. My mother introduced me to Heyer about forty years ago by giving me Friday's Child to read. She's blind now and we started putting audiobooks on CD for her. I gave her Sylvester to listen to at Christmas because she hadn't read it before, but she didn't like it very much. I found this really disappointing and almost started questioning my taste in Heyer novels! So it's a relief to find someone else who appreciates Sylvester. The scene where he tells his mother how things have gone badly is one of the few scenes in a Heyer novel where I can feel almost moved to tears!
I started listening to Cousin Kate yesterday because it was the only Heyer audiobook already on my iPod that I hadn't listened to. I've only read it once before, but so long ago that I don't remember it at all. I was looking forward to seeing whether I liked it or not. However, on my way home today I realised that what I was listening to must be an abridged version. Talk about a disappointment! Now I think I will have to give up listening to the audiobook and track down the novel, as I'm pretty sure it's not on my bookshelf. Still thinking about what I will go to next. Maybe you could let me know when you're ready to start The Conqueror and I could start it at the same time? It would be nice to have someone to discuss it with, particularly as I've never read it before.
Isn't The Unknown Ajax great? Hugo is such a hoot and so different to any other Heyer-hero I can think of. If you aren't there already I'm sure you will really enjoy the climax. I realised after reading The Quiet Gentleman that the theme of the unwelcome heir is something it shares with Ajax, but while I really enjoyed both books Ajax is certainly very much the funnier of the two.
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Books mentioned in this topic
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Authors mentioned in this topic
E.C. Bentley (other topics)Barbara Reynolds (other topics)
Jill Paton Walsh (other topics)
Here are the levels and rules for the challennge:
Inquisitive- read 1-3 GH novels in 2011
Fascinated- Read 5 GH novels in 2011
Captivated- Read 10 GH novels in 2011
Obsessed- Read 15 GH novels in 2011
Addicted- Read 15+ GH novels in 2011
The challenge runs from 1st January 2011 and ends 31st December 2011. You can join at any time within these dates
Anyone can participate
Any of Heyer's novels count for the challenge whether they are regency, crime or thriller (however, most of her books are regencies.)
You can find out more and sign up on my blog post here:
I am also looking for Heyer fans to write some guest posts for my blog on any subject to do with her or her books. If anyone would like to offer, I would be delighted!
I am looking forward to being part of this group :)