(no subject)

[skygiants]

Georgette Heyer makes for such good airplane reads. This time fahye told me I had to read Friday's Child, which is the one where two BABIES decide to get marriage-of-convenienced.

SHERRY: UGH! The most beautiful girl of the Season turned me down! I can't believe it!
HERO: That's rough, buddy. :(
SHERRY: I should just marry someone ELSE.
HERO: Yeah!
SHERRY: ...hey, buddy, how about I marry YOU?
HERO: ...well I am a sixteen-year-old orphan and I have basically never left this town so I feel like I will not make the best wife polite society has to offer.
SHERRY: On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, if we get married, I will come into my inheritance and we can buy SO MUCH AWESOME STUFF.
HERO: You make a compelling argument. LET'S ELOPE AND BUY ALL THE THINGS.

So in the first, like, two chapters, they elope and buy all the things, to the tunes of extensive facepalming from everybody they know.

GIL, THE SAGACIOUS FRIEND: Hero is a super sweetheart though. I wish ... Sherry had a clue in his head ...
FERDY, THE DECIDEDLY NOT SAGACIOUS FRIEND: Wait, why is Sherry getting married? I'm confused. Love hanging out with Hero, though, she's the greatest!
GEORGE, THE ANGRY FRIEND: Ugh, the woman I love won't SPEAK to me. Life is TERRIBLE. I would like to cry on Hero's shoulder and then fight a duel. With someone. Anyone. HEY YOU, WANT TO FIGHT A DUEL --
EVERYONE ELSE: Slow your roll, George.

The rest of the book is essentially a repeat of this exchange:

SHERRY: Hero! Why are you hanging out with those disrespectable personages!
HERO: Well, I mean, they are your friends so I thought it was fine? Is it not fine?
SHERRY: Hero! Why are you getting super deep into gambling debts?
HERO: Well, I mean, you do it, so I thought it was fine? Is it not fine?
SHERRY: No, it is not fine, it is STUPID. ...I am stupid.
HERO: I learned it from you, dude. I LEARNED IT FROM YOU.
GEORGE, THE ANGRY FRIEND: Hero, should I fight a duel with Sherry for you? I WILL DUEL HIM FOR YOU.
EVERYONE ELSE: Slow your roll, George.

It's a bit like The Convenient Marriage, except less annoying because the double standards are expressly pointed out; also, instead of being lofty and superior, the hero is as clueless and hapless as the heroine. OR MORE.

HERO: So you know how you said when we got married that we could both do whatever we want, that meant affairs, right? Does that still mean affairs?
SHERRY: NO IT DOES NOT STILL MEAN AFFAIRS OH MY GOD ;___;
GEORGE, THE ANGRY FRIEND: Sherry are you being mean to Hero because I am still totally ready to fight a duel! Any time! LET'S GO!
EVERYONE ELSE: Slow your roll, George.

Overall it is pretty charming and full of hijinks aplenty, although I will warn for two attempted Romantic Abductions about which everyone is just like "lol whatever." One is good-natured and probably deserves the "lol whatever" but the other one I feel deserves MUCH MORE CENSURE even though the abducted lady in question gets off a decisive victory and all the abductor gets is a bad case of sore shins, from kicking.

Comments

[percysowner]

Friday's Child is one of my all time favorite Heyer books. Love Hero, love Sherry, love George trying to marry Isabel. I love Isabel and her thwarting her abductor. This is one of Heyer's delightful books.

[skygiants]

Yes! It's just overall very charming. I feel Heyer does not give Isabella as much credit as I give her. Isabella is great! Nothing wrong with enjoying your time of being the queen of the social circle while you've got it.

[sophia_sol]

Apparently I wasn't paying enough attention when I read this book years ago, because I don't remember it being nearly as delightful as this sounds. CLEARLY I NEED TO REREAD.

[skygiants]

Ha, well, I SUPPORT THIS, but also, everyone's enjoyment/ranking of Heyers is very personal I feel! For ex. I think The Unknown Ajax is one of THE GREATEST and almost no one else ranks it that high, and I don't care nearly as much for The Grand Sophy as most people do.

[sophia_sol]

My opinions of books have been known to change drastically on reread! And the last time I read Friday's Child was quite a while ago I think.

The Unknown Ajax is OBVIOUSLY ONE OF THE GREATEST! Why do other people fail to acknowledge it as such? I just do not understand! I will admit to a great fondness for The Grand Sophy though. Which other Heyers are amongst your favourites?

[skygiants]

IT'S JUST SO WONDERFUL. Everything is hilariously overplayed Yorkshire accents and it's beautiful!

My all-time favorite Heyers are and will forever be The Talisman Ring and Cotillion, but I am also very fond of Sprig Muslin and Sylvester. Then next-rank are probably Frederica, The Corinthian, The Foundling and False Colours, and most of the rest I've read are somewhere in the 'enjoyed with frustrated caveats' category, with Bath Tangle and The Spanish Bride ALL THE WAY IN THE PIT OF JUDGMENT.

[sophia_sol]

Mostly what your list of titles is reminding me is that I've hardly read any Heyer for years and I don't actually even remember my opinions on a lot of them....! But I do remember that COTILLION IS AMAZING and I love it lots. :D And I read Frederica recently enough to agree that I'm super into it too!

What do you like about Sylvester? I do remember not being particularly into that one.

Time for some Heyer rereading in my life, I think? Except my local library has extremely thin pickings, alas.

[skygiants]

Well, self-indulgently, I love meta about writing and books about authors, so everything with Phoebe and her ill-fated novel is COMEDY GOLD to me. I also love Phoebe and her best dude friend Tom and how they have ZERO interest in hooking up. Also, it has one of the great Heyer Trapped In An Inn Sequences -- a sequence in which all the characters are stuck in the same place for a while and transition from dislike or disinterest to deep squabbling affection -- and Trapped In An Inn is one of my favorite things that Heyer does. Sprig Muslin and Talisman Ring also feature great instances of this!

[sophia_sol]

I'VE REMEMBERED WHY I DON'T LIKE SYLVESTER. By which I mean it turns out my sister owns it so I read the first half of it last night when I was supposed to be asleep, but then I got to a part that gave me a sudden presentiment about where the plot was going and I went and looked up the plot summary on wikipedia. And YEP there's my problem: the plot of the book revolves a little too thoroughly around embarrassing misunderstandings and I can't handle it. Which is too bad, because the first half of the book is great fun! And the friendship between Tom and Phoebe is great, as is the trapped in an inn sequence! DAMMIT I hate my embarrassment squick.

I think I shall go reread The Unknown Ajax again instead as consolation.

[skygiants]

Aw, that is too bad! But totally understandable. For me it gets too ridiculous even to be embarrassment-squick-y -- like, by the time we're onto ACCIDENTAL KIDNAPPINGS I'm just cracking up. I absolutely get it, though.

[lnhammer]

You would think that because The Unknown Ajax is pretty much THE GREATEST. Or at least in a tie with The Toll Booth. (Both, I note, have Troll Heroes.)

---L.

[skygiants]

Unknown Ajax fans coming out of the woodwork, EXCELLENT. I know zero about The Toll Booth, though; I did not think there were any good Heyers I had not at least heard of! (Relatedly, lacewood also recently wrote a post extolling the virtues of Troll Hero Hugh.)

[lnhammer]

Er, that's The Toll-Gate. I ALWAYS mess up that title, dangit. It takes place in Derbyshire, and includes a hinky inheritance, smuggling, and the gate-booth upon a toll-road.

---L.

[skygiants]

Intriguing! I shall add it to the list. :D

[sienamystic]

Aaah somebody else who likes The Toll Gate! I think we're rare on the ground.

[lnhammer]

Rarer than I thought, certainly.

---L.

[rachelmanija]

The Unknown Ajax is fantastic. I need to re-read it.

[skygiants]

Me too! I think it was only my second Heyer ever (the first was Cotillion) but I loved it SO MUCH.

[lnhammer]

I just did.

[kate_nepveu]

Who _doesn't_ think _The Unknown Ajax_ is the greatest??!?!!!!

. . . admittedly I have a type in dudes, and it is tall funny smart and competent. So it is kind of highly relevant to my interests. But still, even without that, it has a plot with actual tension, which is not that common in Heyer.

[skygiants]

OKAY SO I'M WRONG, EVERYONE SECRETLY REALLY LOVES THE UNKNOWN AJAX. I mean, I'm happy to be wrong! For whatever reason I have this impression of The Grand Sophy, Sylvester, Frederica and maybe Venetia as being the Generally Agreed-Upon Heyer Tops. But perhaps this is completely misguided.

[bookblather]

ON WHOSE LIST IS THE TALISMEN RING NOT NUMBER 1

[skygiants]

APPARENTLY, EVERYBODY WHOSE NUMBER ONE IS SECRETLY THE UNKNOWN AJAX??

[bookblather]

BUT

BUT

THE TALISMEN RING

LUDOVIC AND EUSTACIE HAMMING IT UP

TRISTRAM FACEPALMING

SARAH LOLLING

HOW

[percysowner]

I've never been really fond of The Grand Sophy. Venetia is middling to me. I do put A Civil Contract at the top of my list. Cotillion is number 2, by a hair. I add in Sprig Muslin to my top Heyers along with Friday's Child, Sylvester, and Frederica.

[skygiants]

Both of those are very middling to me too, but I know people who like them a lot! I've not yet read Civil Contract -- I've been saving it.

[percysowner]

I hope you post if/when you do read it. I'd be very interested in seeing your reaction.

[kate_nepveu]

I feel the need for a poll! Which I will try to remember to do tonight, though feel free to run with it if you have time.

[skygiants]

YESS POLL PLEASE DO IT. If you don't have a chance to do it this week, I'll try to throw one up this weekend!

[kate_nepveu]

Done!

[rushthatspeaks]

I should probably reread this one. I don't remember it very well.

It's true the romance in The Convenient Marriage is annoying, but the scenes just after she hits Lord Lethbridge with the poker are such COMEDY GOLD that I have never been able to get over them. "It might have been a damned salon, in which case we wouldn't have come."

[skygiants]

Oh man, it's true, the poker scenes are PURE MAGIC. They make the entire book worth it. "Horatia walked home," explained Sir Roland. "We were walking home, weren't we? Very well then. She walked home. Passed Lethbridge's house. Went in. Hit him on the head with the poker. Came out. Met us on the street. There you are. Plain as a pikestaff."

"Well, I don't know," said the Viscount. "Seems queer to me."

[rushthatspeaks]

And the thing is, the longer one has had acquaintanceship with Lord Lethbridge, the more explicable the whole thing becomes. I mean, it's a wonder random people off the street don't walk in and hit him with a poker.

... okay, I kind of secretly respect him for how he copes with Roland and Pel in his house being drunk at him. "I have no idea what it is. I have been asking myself that for some time."

[bookblather]

This is in my to-be-read pile, and I feel you should know that when I get to it, literally every time George pops up my brain will chime in with "SLOW YOUR ROLL GEORGE."

[skygiants]

WHICH IS EXACTLY AS IT SHOULD BE. >:D

[ejmam]

VENETIA is made of awesome and I worry about people who do not agree. THE UNKNOWN AJAX is also awesome, with one of the best scenes ever when the cousin gets shot. I think I underrate FREDERICA because it took me so long to find it, but the TALISMAN RING is a thing of joy and beauty than gladdens my heart through the darkest storm. Also FARO'S DAUGHTER has many scenes of greatness.

[skygiants]

I enjoyed Venetia but it's never going to be a favorite because I don't like rakes! Even though I think Venetia's rake is as un-annoying a rake as it's probably possible to get. Faro's Daughter is also hilarious, but I spent most of the time feeling sorry for the heroine's poor aunt. The other three are all in my top tier, though.

[rymenhild]

I am returning after the poll to say: Unknown Ajax: YAWN. If the hero and heroine had any chemistry whatsoever I think I might like it better.

[skygiants]

WAIT, NOW I REMEMBER. YOU'RE the reason I thought Unknown Ajax was hugely underrated! IT WAS YOU.

[rymenhild]

So I get the credit because I personally underrate Ajax? I see how it is.

[skygiants]

You get the credit because you gave me my first Heyer (Cotillion!) and then I went and read Unknown Ajax as my second and was like "UNKNOWN AJAX IS ALSO SO GREAT," to which you replied something along the lines of "ugh, whatever, go read Venetia."

[ejmam]

Yes, I should probably say that Venetia is made of awesome; the book VENETIA has some imperfections. And Dameral (sp?) is annoying, but the author isn't expecting us (or Venetia) to overlook that because he's so cute, which I appreciate.

I have this mental distinction between "top tier" which are the ones where I think Heyer's skills are highest and she achieves what she was trying to do and my personal favorites, and there is some overlap but the lists aren't the same. Like I put DEVIL'S CUB as top tier but I rarely reread that, and FARO'S DAUGHTER has a lot of problems but I skim through for favorite scenes every year or so. ("If I were a man I'd run him through and through and through" "I don't think that's how they do that...")

[skygiants]

I think that's a valid mental distinction! I've never put it quite that way myself -- my top tier just tends to be whichever ones appeal to my id most -- but it makes sense. And there are definitely ones that I don't think are overall great in terms of plot/structure but have PERFECT GEMS of scenes that deserve to be celebrated. The Convenient Marriage, for ex.!

[bookblather]

So I was rereading all your Heyer posts because I'm reading Regency Buck and I just. I have feelings. Who the fuck puts this much effort into trying to kill Perry of all people he is annoying but barely relevant what. But anyway, rereading your Heyer posts and I discovered your fondness for troll heroes, and this is a really elaborate roundabout way of asking if you've read Northanger Abbey, or seen the movie with Felicity Jones, because Henry Tilney is the troll to end all trolls and I will never, ever get tired of him affectionately trolling Catherine every chance he gets.

[skygiants]

NORTHANGER ABBEY IS MY FAVORITE AUSTEN and Henry Tilney is my favorite Austen dude, bar none, FOREVER. Not only is he a beautiful troll hero, but he appreciates romance novels! AND KNOWS HOW TO PICK FABRIC. Perfect man.