A Certain Fondness

Mary Stewart Reading Week

Mary Stewart RW

It’s nearly August and time to start planning for Mary Stewart Reading Week! MSRW will be from Sunday, September 15 to Sunday, September 22. Appropriately Ms. Stewart’s 97th birthday falls during this time (on the 17th). What better way to celebrate her birthday than by reading her books?

I envision this as a low key event with any interested bloggers writing a post about any Mary Stewart book of their choosing during the week. I am partial to her romantic suspense novels, but I know many others are interested in reading her Merlin series and that would be wonderful, too. She also wrote a few children’s books.

By now you probably all know how I feel about her writing, but if you’re new to Gudrun’s Tights you can read my thoughts here. You can also consult any of the following resources for more information about her writing, her novels and her life:

Mary Stewart: A Born Storyteller

An Interview with Mary Stewart

Which Mary Stewart Novel Should You Read?

I hope you will join me in September to celebrate the novels of Mary Stewart.

Anbolyn

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34 responses to “Mary Stewart Reading Week”

  1. Lisa Avatar
    Lisa

    I’m very much looking forward to it! I’m reading Nine Coaches Waiting right now, and in the back of my mind I’ve been thinking, “Maybe I should have waited,” but I do now have a Stewart section on the TBR shelves, so I’ll have plenty to choose from for the official reading 🙂

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    1. Anbolyn Avatar
      Anbolyn

      There are so many wonderful Stewart’s to choose from – which ones do you have on the TBR?

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      1. Lisa Avatar
        Lisa

        The quiz suggests I should read Touch Not the Cat, but I don’t have that one yet. Oh darn, that means another trip to the bookstore 🙂

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      2. Lisa Avatar
        Lisa

        Oh, forgot to add I do have The Ivy Tree, Airs Above the Ground, This Rough Magic – and the one set in the Hebrides, I can’t remember the title.

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      3. Anbolyn Avatar
        Anbolyn

        You own all the ones I haven’t read yet! I can’t decide which one I am going to read for the reading week – maybe This Rough Magic since I have read and loved the other two Greek books.

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      4. Anbolyn Avatar
        Anbolyn

        Haha! Touch Not the Cat is a good one – not as much excitement as some of her earlier novels, but I liked the calmer pace.

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  2. Miss Bibliophile Avatar
    Miss Bibliophile

    I will definitely be joining in. I’m not sure which of her novels I’ll be reading. Nine Coaches Waiting and The Moonspinners are the two of hers that I most want to read, but I recently picked up a copy of Thornyhold at a used book sale that seems intriguing as well.

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    1. Anbolyn Avatar
      Anbolyn

      Thornyhold was the first Stewart novel I read and I really liked it. It is a bit different from her earlier novels and has a subtle supernatural aspect that I enjoyed.

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  3. Sam @ Tiny Library Avatar
    Sam @ Tiny Library

    I may join in this one and read my first Stewart 🙂

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    1. Anbolyn Avatar
      Anbolyn

      I hope you can join us!

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  4. lakesidemusing Avatar
    lakesidemusing

    Ms. Stewart shares a birthday with my mother! Your reading week would be the perfect time for me to discover her writing… we’ll see how my schedule looks.

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    1. Anbolyn Avatar
      Anbolyn

      A great person to share your birthday with!

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  5. jessicabookworm Avatar
    jessicabookworm

    I am also looking forward to taking part 🙂 I have three books to choose from.

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    1. Anbolyn Avatar
      Anbolyn

      Yay – I’m glad you’ll be joining in!

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  6. Katrina Avatar
    Katrina

    I’ll definitely be joining in but I haven’t decided on the book yet.

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    1. Margaret @ BooksPlease Avatar
      Margaret @ BooksPlease

      Years ago I read several of Mary Stewart’s book, including the first two of her Merlin books, but I still haven’t read the third. I’ve had the book for a while so I’ll be joining in to read The Last Enchantment.

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      1. Anbolyn Avatar
        Anbolyn

        I’m glad you’ll be joining in, Margaret!

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  7. Helen Avatar
    Helen

    I’ll definitely be joining in and just need to decide which book to read. I’ve just finished This Rough Magic and kept thinking that maybe I should have waited until the reading week. There are still lots of other Mary Stewart novels I haven’t read yet though, so I’ll choose another one to read in September.

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    1. Anbolyn Avatar
      Anbolyn

      I’m so glad to hear you’ll be joining me!

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  8. Belle Read Avatar
    Belle Read

    Should be fun! It is quite enjoyable to read the same author as others at one time. I have not read Mary Stewart, but have wanted to. I am planning on starting with Touch Not the Cat.

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    1. Anbolyn Avatar
      Anbolyn

      Touch Not the Cat is a great one to start with! It was one of the first Stewart’s I read. I’m happy to have you join in the reading week!

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  9. Cat Avatar
    Cat

    I’ll be joining in but haven’t decided which one I’ll read yet.

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    1. Anbolyn Avatar
      Anbolyn

      Great to have you joining us!

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  10. Ruby Scarlett Avatar
    Ruby Scarlett

    Thank you for organising this event, Anbolyn! I’ve only read Nine Coaches Waiting by her. I really enjoyed the book. The quizz told me I should read The Ivy Tree but I think I might be one of the few to pick her Arthurian trilogy. I see it recommended everywhere I go and I’ve been really in the mood for fantasy lately. Hopefully that’s alright with you. If not, then I already have This Rough Magic in my TBR pile and would be happy to read that instead.

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    1. Anbolyn Avatar
      Anbolyn

      Yes, please read any Mary Stewart of your choosing! Many, many people prefer her Arthurian series and I hope we get a few people posting on those. Thanks for joining!

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      1. Ruby Scarlett Avatar
        Ruby Scarlett

        Anbolyn, I’m so sorry to say that I won’t be participating in the event after all. I’ve been trying to find one of her books to read but none of them grabs me and I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future. I’m giving you a signal boost on my blog anyway and I really wish this event the absolute best 🙂

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      2. Anbolyn Avatar
        Anbolyn

        I completely understand! Sometimes we just don’t connect with certain authors or their writing. Thanks for promoting the event anyway!

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  11. Robin Avatar
    Robin

    I’m looking forward to this celebratory week! It will be fun to read all the different posts about her books! I read Thornyhold in August, and I’ve checked The Ivy Tree out of the library to read for your Mary Stewart Week. Thanks for organizing this…I’ve loved her work for many years.

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    1. Anbolyn Avatar
      Anbolyn

      It is my pleasure to organize it! I truly love her writing. Did you like Thornyhold? It’s the first Stewart I read and had me hooked.

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      1. Robin Avatar
        Robin

        Yes, I really enjoyed it. Now I want to read or re-read all of her books! Here’s a link to my post last month about Thornyhold: http://afondnessforreading.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/reading-mary-stewart/
        I didn’t know about your reading week when I read it, so was happy that Lisa [ http://www.tbr313.blogspot.com/ ] let me know about it in her comment.

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      2. Anbolyn Avatar
        Anbolyn

        I’m glad Lisa let you know about the reading week!

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  12. Theresa Avatar
    Theresa

    What a great idea! I’m in.

    Love Mary Stewart… she is a master writer and
    a favorite author of mine over the years!

    (The only hard part is choosing which one to read!)

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    1. Anbolyn Avatar
      Anbolyn

      Isn’t she wonderful? I look forward to seeing what you choose!

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  13. Kim Avatar
    Kim

    I finished Madam, Will You Talk? last night in honor of The Week. I thought I had read them all as a teenager, but I had no recollection of this one. What a corker! I couldn’t read fast enough–actually, I felt like I was reading as fast as Charity’s driving! Thanks for hosting this week. I am so enjoying reading her books again.

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