The L-Shaped Room

A couple of oldies that I found at the bookshop this weekend (and that I‘ve somehow never read 🤷🏻‍♀️).

BarbaraJean I have that same edition of Goodbye, Mr. Chips! The L-Shaped Room was the first (maybe only) “adult” book I read by Lynne Reid Banks. Quite different than the books of hers I read as a child! 😆 5mo

merelybookish Great covers! 5mo

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Tamra What iconic covers! 5mo

Ruthiella I‘ve long had The L-Shaped Room on my TBR because of your book twin Simon Thomas! 😅 5mo

LeahBergen @Leftcoastzen @merelybookish @Tamra I‘m quite liking the pink and black. 😆 5mo

LeahBergen @BarbaraJean I liked this Mr Chips because it‘s illustrated! And yes, the subject matter of this Banks is a bit different than her children‘s stories. 😆 5mo

LeahBergen @Ruthiella Haha! It‘s long been on my TBR, too (maybe because of Simon Thomas? I can‘t remember now 😆). This is actually a replacement of an uglier old edition - maybe I‘ll actually get to it now?? 5mo

MemoirsForMe Love these vintage covers. What treasures! 😍 5mo

Cathythoughts You found two good oldies ♥️♥️ 5mo

LeahBergen @UwannaPublishme @Cathythoughts I‘m always drawn to these oldies. 😆 5mo

Centique Oh they‘re glorious! I will have to look out for that edition of L Shaped Room, it was my mother‘s favourite book ❤️💙 5mo

Centique @LeahBergen @Ruthiella its worth a read, pretty ground-breaking for the time! But there is a really nasty racist remark or two in there about one of the other boarders in the house. Maybe its part of the protagonist‘s naïveté but yikes. ? 5mo

LeahBergen @Centique It was your Mother‘s favourite? Now I really must get to it soon. 🥰 5mo

rubyslippersreads Great covers! 5mo

AnishaInkspill I;ve not read goodbye Mr Chips but seen a couple of screen adapatations, and this fictional biography of the Brontes by Lynne Reid Banks got me better aqcuainted with the 3 sisters.

Dark Quartet: The Story of the Bront�s

2mo

LeahBergen @AInkspill I have a copy of Dark Quartet waiting on my shelves! 2mo

AnishaInkspill @LeahBergen awww fanstastic!!! 2mo

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Centique

The L-Shaped Room | Lynne Reid Banks

pick

I‘ve been meaning to read this 1960 book for years as it was a favourite of my late mother. It‘s about Jane, a 27 year old woman living at home with her father, who is thrown out when she announces she is pregnant. She goes to live in a dilapidated London boarding house. The people she meets are unexpectedly supportive and that‘s great BUT my god the racism in here is So Bad. I think that Banks was emphasising ⬇️

Centique How much Jane‘s “class” of people looked down upon the people in the boarding house, but holy cow it‘s rough to read. Still a reminder of the kind of hateful speech that was widely accepted in 1960. On the other hand the maligned characters are the best and most supportive to Jane. ⬇️ 3y

Centique I think for a modern reader this reads more as an indictment of attitudes of the time than a story of Jane overcoming hardship although the friendships made are really lovely. 3y

Reggie I stacked it because you make it sound good but I don‘t think I could read it any time soon. 3y

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Centique @Reggie you‘re right I think. It‘s kind of like take a sweet story about finding friends in a rough time and then add The Most Racist Comments made by multiple characters 😳😳😳 But hey my eyes are opened a bit wider now. 3y

Centique @Reggie it would be kinda fun to buddy read it with a friend and get horrified together at the language used. 3y

CarolynM It's a long, long time since I read it, but I think I thought part of the point was the wrongness of judging social outcasts for being outcasts. 3y

Centique @CarolynM yes I think she made that point really well. Interestingly though she was interviewed decades later and said that on rereading it herself the level of racist language she‘d used shocked her. I guess she intended it to be obviously unfair at the time but it‘s worse than that. 3y

andrew61 I do like 1960's kitchen sink dramas. I have a 2nd hand copy this somewhere so may give it a go . 3y

LeahBergen I‘ve had a copy of this waiting on my shelves for years. I‘ll give it a go one of these days. 3y

Centique @andrew61 @LeahBergen I hope you both enjoy it. It certainly is a good read and has a lot to take from it. 3y

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CarolynM

The L-Shaped Room | Lynne Reid Banks

The quintessential 60's novel about an unwed expectant mother #SeptemberDanes #Pregnant
Her family's treatment of her qualifies this for #EmotionalReads too. #ReadingResolutions

Cinfhen, Kalalalatja, Jess7

LeahBergen I recently found an old copy of this at a book sale. 6y

CarolynM @LeahBergen There were a lot of them around. It was just about compulsory reading when I was a teenager in the 70's 6y

Kalalalatja Stacked! 6y

Rissreads I‘m stacking too! 6y

sisilia I loved this book 😍 6y

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Cinfhen

The L-Shaped Room | Lynne Reid Banks

#FierceFeb No playlist is complete without a song from my #Inner80sGoddess ❤️One of my favorite Madonna videos....#PapaDontPreach This book is set in the late 1950s. Jane Graham, arrives at a run-down boarding house in London after being thrown out of her home by her father after telling him she is pregnant. Feeling alone & unworthy she meets others who help her realize her worth. Read it for college...

batsy

batsy Perfect choice for this 👏🏽💜 I want to read it. 7y

NatalieR I ❤️ the queen Madonna!!!! 7y

Cinfhen Madonna 🖤🖤🖤 @NatalieR 7y

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BookishMe That was the first pop song I listened to!! 7y

CarolynM Blast from the past! I remember this book very fondly. 7y

erzascarletbookgasm I‘ve not heard of this book 🙈 but love Madonna! #80sgirlatheart 7y

Cinfhen I don‘t remember much from the book @CarolynM but I certainly remember this song @erzascarletbookgasm @BookishMe 🤟🏽🖤🎶 7y

sisilia I loved this book 😍 I‘m lucky to have a secondhand copy; I think it‘s out of print now 7y

Cinfhen Of course I didn‘t save my copy @sisilia 😬🙄 7y

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