Apologies to anyone who hates roundup type posts – you may want to look away for a few days. The end of December has crept up on me as it always does, and as well as being a little behind on reviews – I have three round up/best of posts coming up.
I’m not going to review the whole of the #readingMuriel2018 year – if you would like to see how previous phases went go to the bottom of the post. For me it has been a wonderful reading year – I had never intended to try and read all Muriel Spark’s novels (twenty-two I believe), though I have still read more than I expected. Last year I read and enjoyed two novels by Muriel Spark, and they gave me the idea to read more. I have read fourteen books by Muriel Spark this year (and one was the Complete short stories) and one book about her (finished late last night) – eleven of these were used for my A Century of Books.
November and December – phase 6 was to read the later novels of Muriel Spark – those two published in the early 2000s; Aiding and Abetting and The Finishing School, her autobiography Curriculum Vitae, Martin Stannard’s biography of her or Appointment in Arezzo – a friendship with Muriel Spark by Alan Taylor. I had The Finishing School and Aiding and Abetting at the ready – but haven’t managed to get to them. I will definitely be reading some of those books I didn’t manage this year in 2019.
So in the end, I read Curriculum Vitae and Appointment in Arezzo and between the two of them I got a more complete picture of Muriel Spark than Curriculum Vitae alone gave me.
I think there were fewer people joining in this final phase – which I was expecting – apologies if I have missed anyone. Please let me know if I have.
My friend Sian read Curriculum Vitae – and enjoyed it, saying it was interesting to get her side of things having heard a lot of negative things about Muriel Spark in relation to her son. She especially enjoyed the bit when Muriel Spark dealt with that anti-Semitic nun. Marcia from BuriedinPrint also been reading Curriculum Vitae, though I don’t believe she has reviewed it yet. I know she enjoyed the Scottish bits. Mary read Spark’s autobiography saying it “shines light on her novels’ contexts and characters, but I found it bitchy and boastful.”
Monica from Monica’s Bookish Life read and reviewed Aiding and Abetting – a novel based around the disappearance of Lord Lucan, she found it to be another page turner from Muriel Spark with an ironic twist at the end. Mike from LT rated Aiding and Abetting just three stars. I know Chrystyna had both Aiding and Abetting and The Finishing School on her Christmas reading pile, but I believe is planning on finishing them in January – it looks like I may be joining her.
I spotted Melissa from Twitter reading The Finishing School – though I can’t be sure she was deliberately joining in #ReadingMuriel2018 or not. Melissa seemed a little underwhelmed with it. It seems Mike was too, saying “while it contains some satirical humour, is very poorly wrapped up in its conclusion.”
So that’s it – a year of Spark, and I for one have thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone who has joined in during the year. If you missed any of the previous phases – you can read about them below.
Phase 1 here
Phase 2 here
Phase 3 here
Phase 4 here
Phase 5 here
I will continue to read Muriel Spark, and in fact I have two more Polygon editions winging their way to me. It seems I have begun collecting a few of them – I do have three in other editions too. Those Polygon volumes do look pretty shelved together, perhaps I will get them all in time. So, you can expect to see more Spark reviews on this blog in 2019 (if I don’t get too distracted by other things).
heavenali 
It’s been a wonderful readalong, Ali, and I only wish I’d participated a little more. I definitely want to read more Spark though, as most of my reading of her work was done pre-blog. And yes – those Polygon editions are lovely. I definitely think you need a full set…. 😉
Are you encouraging me to buy more books? 😉
Thank you for participating where you did.
Those Polygon editions do look lovely. I’ve really enjoyed following the readalong this year, thanks for organsing it Ali. I definitely want to read more Spark – I plan on reading The Mandelbaum Gate for the 1965 Club next year.
Ah that’s a good idea, The Mandlebaum Gate is one I haven’t read. So perhaps I will do the same.
Oooh, what a lovely edition – so much more glamorous than my rather infantile Virago Modern Classics cover (trying to make Muriel all cosy and coy and feminine? what were they thinking of?).
Those modern VMCs from a few years ago, do Spark no favours at all I don’t think.
Even though I have little interest in reading Spark, I have loved reading about the community and enthusiasm your reading project has inspired! Well done for a great year of Spark!
Thank you, I have enjoyed this project. Muriel Spark was an author I never thought I would like so much.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Reading Muriel event and read seven of her titles, and they fit in well with ACOB, too. I have a few of her novels left to read as well as her short stories and the Alan Taylor memoir which I have started. Thank you for hosting the event, Ali! It was fun!
Ooh lovely, seven titles is great. Thank you for your enthusiasm. Really hope you enjoy the Alan Taylor.
Like many others, I’ve enjoyed following your adventures in Reading Muriel this year. She was a wonderful writer, so sharp and inventive, and your posts have really succeeded in conveying her creativity. I’m hoping to read another of her novels relatively soon, and maybe one of the biographies later in the year. Thanks for hosting this readalong, Ali – it’s been such an interesting project to follow,
She is such an interesting writer, much more than I realised before I started. Glad you enjoyed following our progress.
Thanks for hosting this great challenge. As usual, I had good intentions of reading more for it, but you know what happens to good intentions! However, I still have a couple of her books on my TBR and will get to them at some point, so thanks for the inspiration!
There are always so many reading challenges and so many books calling from our own shelves that joining in everything we would like to is just impossible. Glad to have inspired you to read more Spark.
Thanks so much for including me in this round-up. You’re right: I haven’t reviewed CV and I’m not sure I will get to it at this point – although I certainly did take a lot of notes. There are so many great passages in there: succinct, and colourful.
And thank you for finally convincing me to read the book, which I’ve had on my shelves for, oh, probably 20 years, with so many good intentions.
I’ve also finally gotten copies of four of the earlier Spark novels which I wasn’t able to time properly with library loans for your discussions (although it does tickle me to see that she’s still so popular here in the library system that that would be an issue). So I will probably be dipping into those over the next couple of years.
Isn’t it funny how events like this can linger…long after their actual hosting. Well done!
I ‘m so glad Spark continues in popularity. I plan to continue dipping into her books in the next year or two as well. Glad you enjoyed Curriculum Vitae.