chesilbeach

I finished it yesterday, but I'll leave commenting until the Reading Circle in December.

It looks like Barchester Towers for Wiltshire then as it can be read out of order. Are we going for Tom Brown's School Days for Warwickshire? It's certainly the most famous to me of the ones mentioned. If so, that takes us onto: West Midlands Middlemarch by George Eliot The Rotters' Club by Jonathan Coe What Hetty Did by J. L. Carr Nice Work by David Lodge Worcestershire Black Swan Green by David Mitchell Any other suggestions?

Hmm, is it a male author?

Is it a horror story?

List updated for Suffolk and Tyne and Wear, so since Wiltshire has come up now, let's do that one next along with Warwickshire: Warwickshire Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters Wiltshire The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon Brideshead Revisted by Evelyn Waugh Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

Thanks Janet. The new nominations for the two counties are: Suffolk: The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald Sacred Country by Rose Tremain The Hundred and One Dalmations by Dodie Smith Cecilia by Frances Burney The Sea House by Esther Freud Tyne and Wear: Another World by Pat Barker The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall Skellig by David Almond

Yes!!! Well done

Nope, not The Thirteenth Tale

No, definitely fiction.

I think it was you putting all the known facts into a single sentence that inspired me, Hayley! Anyway, next is ... It was 1958. My uncle and aunt - who even then seemed old - had taken me up to Haworth House, the old Brontë residence, for a visit. I had been learning about William Thackeray at school, and since the Brontës were contemporaries of his it seemed a good opportunity to further my interest in these matters.

Sorry willoyd, I got a bit confused! So with the previous comments noted I've put The Pursuit of Love for Oxfordshire and Summer Lightning for Shropshire. Next two counties are: Suffolk: Sacred Country by Rose Tremain The Hundred and One Dalmations by Dodie Smith Cecilia by Frances Burney The Sea House by Esther Freud Tyne and Wear: The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall Skellig by David Almond Any other suggestions or nominations for either of these two?

I think I've just had a flash of inspiration ... is it Chocolat?

I'd forgotten we were going to include Lark Rise to Candleford for Oxfordshire. That narrows it down to: Oxfordshire The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson With a lack for suggestions for Rutland, it looks like we'll have to go for Set in Stone. Thanks for the suggestions for Shropshire, Marie, as that is our next county, so we might as well show all the choices now: Shropshire Something Fresh by P G Wodehouse A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters Precious Bane by Mary Webb I've gone for Something Fresh which I think is the first Blandings book?

I think we'll have to put Lady Chatterley's Lover down, as I don't think anything else can compare to that in terms of infamy fame, and people can refer back to this thread for other options. For Northumberland, as most of us don't really know any of the books, I think we should go with Janet's suggestion of The Stars Look Down for now. I noticed that although the paperbacks are expensive, they were all new editions published only about six months ago, so perhaps they will come down in price next year, and then there is always the Kindle edition for those that have access to them, or the library, as my library does have copies of it available. If we come across something more famous later on, then we can always change it. Onwards we march ... Oxfordshire The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter While I would love to read the Pym again (and I probably will), I think in terms of fame, The Pursuit of Love has it hands down for me. Are there any other suggestions of books I've missed, or anyone want to argue for either of the other books? Rutland Set in Stone by Robert Goddard I've struggled to find anything for Rutland, and this is a fairly recent novel (1999) listed only on the Leicestershire local government website about literature in the East Midlands, so any and all other suggestions welcome!

I can't say it was a pleasant read, but I am glad I read it so that I could make up my own mind, as not everyone dislikes it. I think that while Robin Hood is famous as a character and especially linked to Nottinghamshire, I'm not sure that any one book could match the fame of Lady Chatterley's Lover as its own entity. I've been having a look at the A J Cronin books, Janet, and none of them are cheap in the paperback versions, but like you said the Kindle editions are much more reasonable in price, and I can see copies of the book in the library system here, so I would imagine that could be another option if we go for that one.

I've started one of the December reading circle books today - Girl, Stolen.

That's what I was hoping for! Umm, is it a British author?

I'm enjoying not googling the answer immediately and trying to guess! I thought of Hardy first off too, Kay. Is it George Orwell?

They get my votes too, so I think we might as well settle those two counties as that's a 100% vote. That brings us on to ... Northumberland Ruined City by Nevil Shute The Stars Look Down by A. J. Cronin The Throwback by Tom Sharpe Nottinghamshire Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire by Howard Pyle Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe I don't think I've heard of any of the Northumberland books, and wonder if there are any others? For Nottinghamshire, I would have to say Lady Chatterley's Lover simply because of the enormity of the publicity and the implications of the trial.

If only she had the space to lay them out for dominoes - she could make the design with a BCF tribute for us!

Book dominoes world record http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24830613

I've gone with An Awfully Big Adventure as that would stand out as the more famous to me, as I don't think of Educating Rita as a book to read (as I would with a Shakespeare play, for example), and also Mill on the Floss as there is no real competition! The next two counties are: Norfolk The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley Love on a Branch Line by John Hadfield Restoration by Rose Tremain Northamptonshire Mansfield Park by Jane Austen Mistress Masham's Repose by T. H. White Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore

Great idea for a thread, muggle! I've just been singing along to this, so it has to be my first choice ...

So we've now got: Lincolnshire Jack's Return Home by Ted Lewis The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot Merseyside An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge

I'm not sure we're getting any sort of agreement for IOW, so maybe we'll just park that one and come back to it at the end, and maybe do a poll or something. Leicestershire, on the other hand, looks like a landslide for The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend, so that settles that one. Moving on, we have: Lincolnshire: (I couldn't find anything I'd even heard of for this one) Merseyside An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge All suggestions welcome!