To be absolutely honest I wasn’t sure if I was doing this again this year – but late last night I thought, oh why not? The last couple of years I have hosted Daphne du Maurier reading week – on the week of her and my birthday. It has been fun, and lots of people seem to have enjoyed it, so it seemed I might as well do it again. This year it will be the week of the 10th-16th May – Daphne du Maurier’s birthday being the 13th.
Daphne du Maurier seems to have a special place in the hearts of many readers – it always touches me how loved she still seems to be. So, let’s break open the books, settle down with tea and cake and for one week celebrate the life and work of a unique writer.
There won’t be a blog post from me every day – that might be a good thing! I can’t ever manage that level of content in a week – but I will be reading and reviewing two or three books I hope and I always love to see what other people are reading and reviewing.
I feel as if May has nearly crept up on me without my noticing, and so last night I ordered a couple of books, The King’s General and The du Mauriers to go with the Letters from Menabilly that I have been meaning to read for two years. With those books and the temptation to read Rebecca for the third time I will have plenty to choose from when the time comes. My Daphne du Maurier reading last year was so good – I feel like this year can’t possibly match it – I hope I am wrong.
I have a dedicated page for last year’s #DDMreadingweek – where there are links to lots of people’s reviews if you’re in need of inspiration. Nearer the time, I will take the page down to make way for a new page – so it won’t be there forever.
Hope to see lots of you joining in – novels, short stories, biography or letters anything goes.
Wonderful! I don’t think I’ve got any Daphne du Maurier in the TBR but I will journey to the library to see what they have…
Hooray for libraries opening up. Hope you find something.
I have lots of Du Mauriers – several still unread – so I shall try to join in this year.
Oh brilliant, it will be lovely having you join us.
I will am wondering whether to reread Rebecca or My Cousin Rachel–one of those I will certainly read and one other, let’s see which.
My Cousin Rachel is just so good! I hope you enjoy whatever you read.
It’s been ages since I read either, so let’s see which I end up picking.
Well, I’m very glad you’re doing this because I actually have two du Mauriers physically in the house and on the TBR. And enough notice to actually read them – hurrah! 😀
Yay, it will be great having you join in Karen. Happy reading.
I’m delighted to see this come back Ali – hoping to read The Scapegoat this time round.
Ooh I read The Scapegoat last year, such a darn good read. I loved it.
Excellent – good to know!
The Scapegoat is probably going to be my choice too. It’s one I’ve been interested to read for a while so I hope this will motivate me to actually do so.
Oh excellent, I so enjoyed that one. Hope you will too.
Well you have to do it, because you bought me My Cousin Rachel as part of my LibraryThing Secret Santa, didn’t you! So I’ll be reading that!
Ha ha, oh yes I had forgotten I bought you that. It’s so good, I really hope you enjoy it. 😁
I’ve been meaning to try and read her again for ages – I don’t normally click with Daphne – so this is an excellent reminder and push.
Well I hope you click with her better this time, if you decide to join in. 😁
This sounds exciting! I’ve had a copy of Frenchman’s Creek for a couple of years but haven’t got round to opening it yet. Cometh the hour, cometh the book or something like that…
It’s a long time since I read French man’s Creek, it’s definitely in the rollicking good reads category. Hope you enjoy it.
I’m so glad you’re doing this again, Ali! I’ve shared it on my VMC page – hopefully a few new members join in!
Thank you Cate, I hope lots of du Maurier fans will join in.
How lovely, Ali. I’m trying to avoid committing myself to too many reading events this year, but I will see if anything might fit. 🙂
I know all about not committing to too much, that’s absolutely fair enough. If you are able to join us it would be fantastic.
I loved The Scapegoat last year too. The House on the Strand is next on my list, I think — or The Glassblowers intrigues me too. Maybe I should go check out last year’s reviews. Glad you are hosting again!
Great. Looking forward to seeing what you choose to read.
I will definitely try to take part, but I’ve read all of du Maurier’s novels and short stories now so will probably be reading some non-fiction. The King’s General is great – I hope you enjoy it!
Good to hear that you rate The King’s General so highly. Glad you will be joining us.
The King’s General is my very favorite!!! I hope you enjoy it. I’m not sure which book I’ll be reading. I have a few bios and others to go along as well.
Ooh another fan of The King’s General, that bodes well for my reading week. I’m sure the biographies will be fascinating.
I hope so–I doubt I’ll read “straight through” one due to the time I have, but I’ll dip into each a little.
Whatever works for you. Hope you enjoy it.
I would love to join in and am thinking of reading The House on the Strand.
Excellent, The House on the Strand is really good, I found it hard to put down.
I’ve loved reading reviews of DDM during the 1936 reading week so here’s more inspiration, thank you!
Oh that’s good. Lots of great du Maurier books to be explored for you then.
I have Jamaica Inn on my bookshelf ready to go!
Jamaica Inn is so good. Hope you enjoy it.
Hoping to take part. Read Rebecca a couple of times but quite a long time ago! It would be good to read some DDM again. I have ‘The Birds and other stories’ waiting TBR so it would be good read at least one of those stories.
The Birds and other stories is brilliant, she’s such a good short story writer.
[…] and for one week celebrate the life and work of a unique writer.” I would encourage you to peruse Announcing Daphne du Maurier reading week 2021 for inspiration and to keep up with all that is happening during this popular reading jolly. […]
I am so pleased you are running this again this year, Ali! Sadly I don’t have any new-to-me du Maurier novels, however this event is a great excuse to indulge in a re-read. I am tempted to go for her short story collection The Birds. 😃
I read The Birds and other stories last year, such a good collection. I hope you enjoy your re-read.
Thank you, Ali 😊
[…] Baron, by Clara Reeve (1777), as my Classics Spin #26 (May 31st). Finally, I will take part in the Daphne du Maurier Reading Week, hosted by Ali (May, 10th-16th), but I am still to choose which book I will read for this […]
[…] you to Heavenali for again hosting Daphne du Maurier week. May 13 is Daphne’s birthday! I look forward to […]
[…] Today I am pleased to share that the lovely Ali, over at Heavenali, is again hosting her brilliant Daphne du Maurier reading event on their shared birthday week: 10th-16th May 2021 […]
[…] link to a book published that year: The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier. This is my planned read for Ali’s annual DdM readalong next […]
[…] so I need to catch up and stat “Gather Together in My Name”. AND it’s Ali’s Daphne du Maurier Week 10-16 May, and as she bought me this copy of “My Cousin Rachel” for Christmas, it would […]
[…] I’m hoping to take part in Ali’s Daphne du Maurier reading week, which is running 10-16 May. Will I manage a post for it before the end of July? Watch this […]
[…] @Heavenali is hosting Daphne du Maurier Reading Week again. I suspect I will only have time to squeeze in a short story this […]
I do have some DDMs in the TBR but I have a self-inflicted pile of books on the go and I’m not sure that I will be able to join in this year.
But will do what I can!
That’s fair enough, it’s so hard to join in everything. I often find I want to join in more than I am able to.
I heard about this on Brona’s blog and since I have an unread DuMaurier on my shelf I’m planning to join. I also have My Cousin Rachel on my classics club list, but don’t have a copy in hand so am not sure if I can get to that this week. Looking forward to the week!
Oh lovely, I really hope you enjoy it. Thank you for joining in.
[…] hadn’t read anything by Daphne du Maurier for ages and wanted to take part in HeavenAli’s Daphne du Maurier reading week. Frenchman’s Creek was such a great place to start – lot’s of fun, a real page […]
[…] by Daphne du Maurier and therefore I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of participating in HeavenAli’s Daphne du Maurier reading week. I decided to read and review a collection of short stories entitled, Don’t Look Now and Other […]
[…] is my contribution to Ali’s Daphne du Maurier reading week, and much to my own amazement I’ve managed to post on time – hooray! I really enjoyed taking […]
I had so much fun last year rereading Rebecca (late, I believe) and Jamaica Inn (on time, I think LOL) that I’ve been looking forward to this. Last night I finally got past the opening pages of Mary Anne (for some reason, I kept getting all the men in her life confused at the outset there…I recall that you read this one, so maybe you remember how it opens…which is actually kind of clever, for an alert reader *smirks at self*). I”m only about 50 pages in, and distrust my capacity to finish this week…but if it’s anything like Jamaica Inn for pacing I’ll be glued to it!
I really enjoyed Mary Anne, I loved the period. I don’t think everyone likes it as much as some others, but I was gripped. Hope you enjoy it.
[…] HEAVENALI […]
[…] because I read it last September and did not choose it specifically for Ali’s wonderful Daphne du Maurier reading week. But, really, is there a rule that reviews must be limited only to those books that have been […]
[…] Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (2020). Also in May, we had the Daphne du Maurier Reading Week, hosted by Ali. In May, we also had our Classics Spin #26 (May 31st, 2021), and I read The Old […]