Georgette Heyer and me

Quite recently I had my annual rereading of Georgette Heyer - a kind of tradition of the last several years. The books read this year:

Cousin Kate - I read it for the first time, and didn't like it much. It was not a romance, but a thriller with elements of a romance, and it didn't quite work for me. The insanity has just brought sadness, and the mother's drive - anger, and the romance itself didn't quite work, and I can hardly remember Hero and Heroine by now... It wasn't bad, but flat I would say.

False Colours - now that was a pleasant surprise. I remembered it (from reading many years ago) as a twins' switch and mistaken identities and fluffy problems of young and dashing. But now I decided that this book just cleverly pretends to be about twenty-something twins, but instead the heroine is their mother ( I have to admit, all names flew out of my head), and it is her life and her romance that have the highest stakes here. The love affairs of her sons are pretty much uneventful - even when Kit pretends to be his titled brother and falls in love with brother's fiance, the problem is resolved soon enough (the fiance, Cressida is not stupid - which I love- and soon enough knows whom exactly she is in love with), and since then their problems have more technical character - where is Eve, the other twin, and how to exchange back without anyone noticing. The problems of their young and beautiful mother, however, are more of ontological character - how is she to live? She likes not being married to her late husband, but she hates being called Dowager, and she finds it impossible to live with her daughters-in-law, or alone, or with any female companions, plus she is extremely impractical, and have accumulated massive amount of debt that just keeps growing... Good thing she can always hit upon a solution that looks crazy but works out quite happily.

Overall, when reading lots of Heyer in short period of time, one starts noticing some things and getting confused in others. For example, some stories I can never remember whether I read them or not. Some stories I didn't want to finish, and some I keep rereading over and over. I skimmed through Heyer's biography once, and I remember an author made a suggestion that Heyer had two types of heroes and two types of heroines and paired them up in different combinations. It looks true, however I don't quite agree - I think it is more like she had several sets of qualities and character traits that she mixed and matched creating characters either interesting or forgettable. Another thing is that when I read Georgette Heyer and p.G. Wodehouse together, I had a distinct impression that their character inhibit the same universe - not ours, but another, the happier one, where Freddy (from Cotillion) is a direct ancestor of Berty Wooster.

The class notions are as troubling as they a regency-appropriate. I mostly suspend my frowns, but occasionally I cannot help being annoyed by them.

My current favouries:

The Grand Sophy - it has a monkey, one of the best heroines, and a host of the most ridiculous characters and situations. One thing that doesn't sit well with me is that that Hero and heroine are first cousins. not good for their progeny in genetic sense.
Frederica - great fun all way round
A Civil Contract - not a romance, but great novel about married life. Plus, it was fun to read about pregnancy and babies - to compare and contrast, so to say.
Cotillion - an unlikely hero, an adorable heroine, good cheers
the Foundling - I feel for the poor Duke! And cheer up for him ;)
Sprig Muslin - I usually read the last third of it, because the heroione's family is abominable, and deserve the big smackdown.
False Colors

Books that everyone likes. but me:

These Old Shades - May-December romances are not my thing, plus I don't quite enjoy old rakes settling down.
Venetia - I love the heroine, but not the hero - a woman broke his heart, and now he is a rake, and glomps on an unsuspecting heroine because he thinks she is not noble enough? no, thanks.