#Madonna 1997

[itsallmadonnasfault]

Madonna and Ingrid shopping in NYC, February 1997

[fictionadventurer]

Top 5 obscure light vintage novels! (Not sure if my previous ask got eaten, but also curious about this one specifically)

The strictest definition of what I consider "obscure light vintage novels" requires a book to meet a lot of criteria:

Published before 1960

Not recommended to me by anyone I know personally (including on tumblr)

Doesn't have a fancy Oxford-Classics-type edition with an introduction. (And none of the author's other books are well-known enough to have one)

Has a realistic setting

Ideally written by a woman or centered around a female main character

Which means that very few books fit this list. But of those few, here are my top five.

Desire by Una Silberrad: Flawed but fascinating Edwardian novel about an eccentric heiress who meets a soulful author and eventually winds up working for him when she loses her money and he inherits his father's pottery business. Fascinating characters, amazing romance, lots of interesting themes. I'm also going to count the author's other novels in this category, because she's come to epitomize "obscure light classic" for me. The Good Comrade is a much frothier novel with some great characters, and Curayl is highly flawed, but its silver-tongued hero lives rent-free in my head.

The Ark by Margot Benary-Isbert: I finished this book less than twenty-four hours ago (so I could include it on this list). It's a 1953 German novel set in 1947, about a refugee family building a home after the end of the war. It reads like, if you can believe it, a cozy post-apocalyptic novel. These people are living through some terrible things, but they make the best of things and manage to find joy. It's chock-full of fascinating details about life in post-war Germany, and reminds you that the people on that side of the war were human too, losing people and places they loved, and doing their best to live in terrible times. There are some superstitious elements later on that I wasn't crazy about, but otherwise I adored this story.

The Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy: Novel from the 1880s about four sisters who open a photography studio to support themselves after their father's death. Extremely underwritten (one of the girls meets an old flame and marries him between chapters), but a very easy, pleasant read with interesting historical details, and some nice sisterly relationships that remind me just a bit of Little Women meets Oscar Wilde.

The Heir of Redclyffe and Countess Kate by Charlotte Mary Yonge: Books by one of the bestselling authors of the Victorian age who's completely forgotten today. Both get too preachy at times, but make up for it by having amazing characters. The first one is a family saga about cousins caught up in an old feud, and the second is like if Anne Shirley suddenly found out she was a countess.

The Rosary by Florence Barclay: The bestselling novel of, like, 1920. It gets very melodramatic, but I was also surprised at how grounded and witty the characters were. I remember very little about it, but I have fond memories of the reading experience, and it earns a place on this list because when I want to find an "obscure vintage light novel", on some level I'm thinking I want to find a book like this.

I know you didn't ask, but I find myself wanting to list five novels that don't quite meet the strict criteria above, but are close enough that I want to highlight them.

The Dean's Watch and The Rosemary Tree by Elizabeth Goudge: Goudge isn't exactly obscure in this section of tumblr (which is why I heard of her in the first place), but she's obscure enough that a lot of her books are out-of-print or otherwise hard to get, and these two in particular are among the best books I've ever read.

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery: Montgomery is extremely well-known, and this book has an ever-growing and very devoted cult following, so it's not exactly obscure, but it's much less well-known than most of her other books. A deep cut, if you will. It fits perfectly within the light vintage novel category, and has long been one of my favorite novels of all time.

Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon: It's got an Oxford Classics (or similar imprint) edition, and is well-known as one of the very first sensation novels, but it's not exactly known among people who don't deep-dive into Victorian literature. I read this last month and loved it. It's a cozy sensation novel with an amazing main character, great atmosphere, and a plot that manages to grip you even while not much happens.

Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther: It's not exactly obscure if it has a movie adaptation, but from what I know, the movie basically ignores the book, which isn't that well-known today. Charming slice-of-life from the very early days of WWII England.

Helen by Maria Edgeworth: Not exactly beloved, and Edgeworth isn't exactly obscure, but this is a lesser-known novel that fits well within this category. The first half had some moments that were so dull I considered not finishing, but the second half was gripping enough that I can mention it as a nice, obscure surprise of a book.

[kindergrrl]

Outtakes of Courtney Love, Madonna, and Tina Turner for Rolling Stone’s November 1997 “Women of Rock” issue.

📸: Peggy Sirota

[obsessedwithjohnjr]

John with singer Madonna (they went out on a date back in 89 but they never dated) And John did try to make her pose as his mom (Jackie Kennedy) for his magazine but she refused

Madonna and John at the ‘Mike Tyson vs Evander Holyfield’ boxing fight on June 28, 1997

[eyes-of-laura-mars]

[madonnaciccone]

[popgodz]

[dontyouloveher]

With Mick Jagger - 1997

[grrl-beetle]

Madonna

[quitecontraryy]

Love is a bird, she needs to fly Let all the hurt inside of you die You're frozen when your heart's not open

[littletroubledgrrrl]

The Spice Girls should've dressed up like Madonna and the women on "Three's Company" during that scene where they're doing a photoshoot dressed up as people from pop culture in the past (i.e. Charlie's Angels, Marilyn Monroe, Twiggy, Diana Ross, etc.).

[itsallmadonnasfault]

Madonna 1997

[madonnawhorecomplexsblog]

1997 Vanity Fair spread.

[edsonjnovaes]

THE PRODIGY O FENÔMENO DOS 90 e MADONNA OBCECADA!

THE PRODIGY O FENÔMENO DOS 90 QUE DEIXOU A MADONNA OBCECADA! – Caixa Véia. 20 dez 2023 Keith Flint, vocalista da banda The Prodigy, morreu hoje, aos 49 anos, de acordo com informações da imprensa inglesa e do próprio grupo, foi encontrado morto em sua casa, em Dunmow. Músico, cantor e dançarino, ele nasceu em 1969, em Londres, e foi nos anos 1980 que conheceu o DJ Liam Howlett, que seria seu…

[eyes-of-laura-mars]